Blogging Around

Nick's post described some of the positives and negatives of blogging. He said how blogging was useful in remembering what went on during the week and in developing good writing. However, he also said that he was stuck sometimes, because he couldn't think of anything to write about the prompt that we were assigned.

"Nick,

I agree that blogging was very useful for recording ideas and learning about myself through writing. However, like you, there were several times when I simply had nothing to say about a particular prompt. Maybe good way Mr. Allen could have prevented this would be to have us use whichever prompt we wanted for each week, but make sure that we used each one at least once before using the same one twice. That way, we could pick a prompt that we actually had something to say about."


Mitch's blog also discussed positives and negatives of blogging. He said that, while writing blogs was helpful for him, sometimes he wished the prompts were more interesting and fun to write about.

"Mitch,

I agree with your post, though I think it would be almost impossible to have a prompt that is simultaneously interesting and pertinent to class. These two things tend to be polar opposites. Whenever we do something for school, whether it be reading a book (even a good one), or writing blog posts, it sucks all the fun out of it. That being said, just because writing blogs wasn't fun doesn't mean that it wasn't worthwhile and valuable, which apparently both you and I think it was."

Metacognition: Blogs

When I first found out that we would be blogging this year in English, I was a little apprehensive. I thought that I didn't have anything important enough to say to put in a blog. What I soon realized, though, was that I was using the blogs more as an internal thing than external. By that I mean that I really found out a lot about myself while reading blogs that I had written. Whereas previously I had thought that the blogs were about sharing my thoughts with the world, I soon discovered that it was about clarifying and delving deeper into my own thoughts. This was pretty cool, and I often benefited from these looks into my own thought process.

Another great thing about the blogs was reading my classmates' posts. Sometimes I would do this as part of a brainstorming process, to gather ideas for my own post. Other times, the assignment would be to read other people's blogs and comment on them. In the process, I learned a lot about other people in Academy. For example, did you know that Jon Choi is an atheist? I was shocked when I learned this from reading his blog.

The experience of writing and reading blogs was very rewarding, and I'm glad that we did them. Hopefully, next year in English we will have similar assignments that help us grow and recognize our growth.

Carry it Forward: Compassionate Imagining

In class, we have been learning about compassionate imagining and how it relates to Life and Times of Michael K by JM Coetzee. At first, I was skeptical of this concept. This may be because I was caught up in the clearly false claim that imagining is impossible without compassion and vice versa (I can imagine I can fly; does that mean I automatically empathize with the situation of birds? I don't think so). However, semantics aside, it's a very powerful concept. It's a new take on the old cliche about walking a mile in someone's shoes. Compassionate imagining really makes sense because you can't really try to understand someone and their actions unless you put yourself in their place and consider how that person is feeling.

I will definitely utilize the technique of compassionate imagining in the future. It seems corny, but before I judge someone, I'll stop and do some compassionate imagining first. That way, I won't pass judgement on anyone unfairly, or without knowing what's going on with them. This will definitely make me a better person, and help my relationships with others.

Best of Week: Narration in LTMK

Since I was practically dead on Tuesday and subsequently missed school the next two days due to being really sick, chosing something from class to be the best of the week is pretty slim pickings. Therfore, I will have to go with the discussion we had in class on Monday about why Coetzee chose different narrators for different sections of Life and Times of Michael K. It was kind of interesting, and it really made me think about the author's thought process. This conversation had a special connection to me, because my short story happens to be narrated from two different perspectives; the first part is first-person and the end is third-person. Though I didn't have any deep, significant reason to do this (I was stuck and bored, and I wanted to mix it up a little bit), our discussion made me realize that good authors really think about every little thing they put into the story, and evaluate how it strengthens the overall effect of the book. Next time I write something, I will definitely put some more thought into the little things, and I'm sure this will greatly benefit my writing.

Metacognition: Writing My Short Story

Writing my short story was pretty frustrating. Initially, it went great. I wrote my story fragment, and it was actually pretty decent, especially considering I wrote it. I felt like it was open-ended enough to leave the reader thinking and that not knowing the whole story actually enhanced it and made it more mysterious. When I fleshed it out for my first draft, I added some details, but mainly just polished what I already had. At this point, I still felt that my story was going in a good direction. Then, I discovered that we were supposed to write a "middle", I was confused. I hadn't intended for what I had to be a "beginning", I had tried to write a full story. I tried my hardest to extend the story, and failed miserably. My story suddenly became about as interesting to read as Heart of Darkness. I was frustrated that I was being forced to do something that made my story considerably worse. The next assignment was to create an end for the story, and I was actually pretty satisfied with the ending I did. Though switching from first person to third person was kind of a cop-out, all in all, it wasn't too bad. Though I'm very disappointed with the middle of the story, I think the beginning and end are pretty good, and I look forward to maybe revising the middle to make it better.

Metacognition: Jane Eyre Project

When I first found out about the assignment to culminate our reading of Jane Eyre, I knew that it would be very different from the one for Heart of Darkness. In most ways, it was a lot better. The project did present a unique set of difficulties, though. First, my group (Corey, Nick, and me) had to find an effective, efficient way to collaborate. We thought about making a Google doc and then each person editing it on his own. We eventually decided against it, though, because it would be hard to create a dialogue with any flow or rythm if we each did our part separately. Instead, we decided to meet at my house a couple times and work together, face to face. This turned out to be an even better choice than we anticipated, because when one person had an idea, someone else thought of a way to make it better, and we kept building off each other's suggestions. It was also a lot easier to make it like a real conversation when we weren't working on it by ourselves. What's more, though we had fun, we were also focused on finishing the project and it probably took a lot less time than if we hadn't worked on it together. All in all, I think our project turned out great (dare I say A-worthy?), and I'm proud of how our group collaborated. Hopefully, we can do more of these types of projects in the future.

360 Degrees: Knowing the Future

Recent events in my life have caused me to think about the value of being able to predict things. For me, the value would have been upwards of $3,000. My dad's office had a March Madness pool in which over 300 of his coworkers participated, at $10 a bracket. However, I am currently in a 43-way tie for 154th place and, barring an incredibly unlikely turn of events involving Dayton's victory over West Virginia being nullified (maybe due to some scandal involving preformance-enhancing drugs/academic ineligibility/cheating/bad officiating/an unfair advantage since the game was being played in Dayton) and West Virginia, after reentering the tournament, making it to the Elite Eight, I have no shot of winning. My only consolation is that I am crushing my dad, who is in an 18-way tie for 291st place (he had WVU making the Final Four).

After musing on my downfall, I started thinking about how great it would be to be able to predict the future. Not only would I be $3,000 richer, but I would also be a lot more certain about what decisions I should make and what ramifications my actions would have. What's more, I would be able to help other people by predicting bad things that might happen to them. This is kind of like a preview I saw for a movie that I don't remember the name of. Nicholas Cage is in it, and he plays a guy that can predict future disasters and tries to prevent them.

Though being able to predict the future seems cool, in reality it would totally suck. Instead of living in the present, I would be constantly preoccupied with what was going to happen. Just think about how much less fun the NCAA Tournament would be if you knew the outcomes of all the games beforehand. The spontenaiety, surprise, and unpredicabilitude is what I like most about it. In fact, those are the best things about life in general.

In conclusion, though it would be pretty awesome to be able to predict the future (not to mention helful), the many cons outweigh the pros, in my opinion. While it would be great to have my whole life mapped out and figured out in my mind, what makes life so intriguing is the endless possibilities and the unlimited potential of the future. I wouldn't give that up for anything, not even that $3,000.