My attempt to keep this updated

I'm rather looking forward to next semester, a new start for everything. While I have enjoyed everything this semester, it seems I am stressed beyond belief. I don't know how I feel about the movie we watched in comp. I tried to get into it, but it just didn't do anything for me. The written part (the words she said), those were interesting. I'd be willing to look into derrida a bit more, but the documentary itself was not one I'd chose to watch again. I didn't take anything from it. Had the documentary aspect been better I may have enjoyed watching it, I don't want to say they were a painful two days but they weren't of much enjoyment. I'm just ready for the semester to be over. My paper is underway- the argument of why movies should be considered as classroom classics. I'm just hoping I can finish it along with my rewrite of Galileo, my portfolio of my tech class and my experiement write up for science. AHHHHH thank goodness classes are done on tuesday and finals will be done soon.

an update...it's about time

I absolutely love this new paper idea. The idea of looking at text written/performed/created today and thinking that it will be used in years to come is one that I have often thought of. There are so many well written books (Lovely Bones written by Alice Seebold is one that often comes to mind) by authors today that are over looked in the cirriculm. Also there are so many great movies out there (Big Fish, the one I'm looking at for my paper, is a great example of theme and symbolism and meaningful). In my AP English class last year we watched clips from American Beauty (now one of my favorite movies). It is such a deep and theme-filled movie that would be great to teach in a class. The one issue that comes to mind is appropriateness in a classroom, American Beauty is probably not one parents want their students to be watching. I have to think about this because I'll be in a classroom one day teaching, so this is an important issue to me. Students need to expand their minds and while something may not seem relevant to them at the time of reading, it can prove relevant to later life. Expanding the mind is one thing that students take for granted and it's the one thing that is most imporatnt to academic growth. Alright, that's enough of my heated disucssion.

just a little stressed about everything

I guess I am just a little stressed out, mainly about comp and history. It seems like I can't get above a B grade on any of my paper and that's frustrating. I know a B is good, above average but it's tough when I was used to getting A's on papers in highschool. It makes me wonder if I'm cut out to be in the honors program. I really like the idea of our next paper for comp, it gives me a little more hope. It's just frustrating because I really like the concept of the honors program, plus I am getting a lot out of my classes especially history. Comp not so much, it just seems like a lot of one sided arguing lately, but maybe that is just because of the topic of discussion (religion). Hopefully the next few class periods will be more productive, monday I just didn't want to go to class but the discussion turned out to be fairly good so I was happy. I was hoping I would have something a little more insightful to write in the blog but it just seems like a lot of ranting and raving and nothing good. I should get started on the freewrite for wednesday and hopefully it will turn out alright.

and religion discussion again

It seems like we have a had time focusin on the text in this class. It seems like we always get off topic and on to the topic of why some religions think they are better...blah blah blah. Honestly, I think it would be much easier if we could stick to the text during class, but it seems that no matter what, whatever setting we are in or where we are, people are always going to try and preach. Your one religion is the one you know best and that's what you're comfortable talking about. When we step out of our comfort zone people become very defensive and the converstaion turns to more of an argument. If people were more open minded and willing to talk about what they don't know, things would be easier. I am curious to know what religion people are and the views these religion take. But it seems there are the few who always talk and the others can't get a word in edge wise. Not that I mind hearing their views, but it all seems so off topic. Hopefully before the time we have to do our papers, we can get some actual discussion in about the text. I thought the looping idea was a good one though, it helped me out a lot in planning my paper.

And more religious discussion

I really think this is going to be interesting when we try and discuss religion in comp. Just the discussion of trying to set ground rules was bad enough. While I enjoy the discussion and there's a lot more of it then in history, I think the discussions we have in history are deeper. I get a lot more out of history then I have been in comp, at least so far. The paper made me think a lot, but I would have liked to talk more about the topics we had to write about. Hopefully this topic of discussion will be different. I think religion is a great topic to talk about, people always seem to get so into it, which is great. Sometimes this causes problems though. Hopefully there won't be too much arguing in class and more information passed along. I'm sure there is a lot I could learn from everyone in the class about religion, like different views and just different religions in general. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

freewrite on religion discussion

Religion is a topic which can be rather touchy for some people to talk about. Some people are very strict in their religion while others are very lax. When taking about religion in a classroom setting you need to provide an environment in which everyone is comfortable. Religion should not be a subject where people are embarrassed to talk about or offended when other make comments. No one should be embarrassed to be who they are and no one should make them feel uncomfortable. While people are allowed to have their own views, no one should criticize ones beliefs. People are entitled to their own ideas and opinions. But no one should be put down because of what they believe or the stereotypes out there about certain religions. Discussions need to be open minded when talking about religion. You never know, you might learn something you never knew. I was taught by my parents to lean what you can about other religions. It not only makes you more open-minded it can help to give you a deeper understanding of your own faith. I am catholic and I will openly admit. While I do not agree with everything the church says or does, I should not feel embarrassed to be who I am because of these stereotypes floating around. People need to get past them and learn facts before they judge. Comfort is the main focus when talking about religion.

So far I am really enjoying this class. I wasn't sure how tough it would be, being an honors class at all. But I think it's going really well. The paper on the other hand, I don't know about that. I topics seem a bit vague and it seems as if I used more information I learned in history than what we have talked about in comp. I really liked the three reading thing we did in class on Wednesday. It really made me think more about my paper, even though I already knew more had to be added. I could actually write notes and know exactly what I wanted to change about the paper. It helped me to get everything out, although it was hard to judge the paper from how a reader would read it, seeing as I wrote it and I know exactly what I wanted to say. Hopefully the meeting on Friday will help to finalize my ideas and know exactly what to put down on paper and make it sound decent. That's about all for now..