Freewrite

In my formal response to Edmundson's I am going to try and write with the graing and stick with it throughout the response. In my response, I will make sure it is not as "jumpy" as Edmunson did in his essay because, to me, if something is like that then, there will be confusion because the response/essay will have no flow. It is much easier for the reader to follow the response/essay if it flows; going from one idea to the next smoothly. Unfortunately in Edmundson's essay there wasn't really any smooth transitions in his essay and I will make that a top priority in my response; that it flows from one idea to the next.
I will use quotations within my response so it can be more powerful and my point will be more obvious as I am writing the response. I will most likely use some of my points from my last blog but go into deeper depth with them. I would also like to go into depth with the logos, pathos and ethos that are mentioned, or hinted to, throughout his essay and make them some kind of points in my response.
Some of the points that I would like to talk about are:
-about the money, especially now that Congress didn't pass the bill.
-about how students don't really notice the education they are learning but other things like: other students, food, parties, ect.
-how students should get to pick the classes they want to go with their major and have any they have to take.
-how teachers and students should keep their class interesting, so students don't dread going to it or fall asleep in class
These will be some of the topics I would like to talk about in my response. These will probably be my biggest points that I hit on in my response.

If anyone has any really good tips for writing a really good response/summary please feel free to comment on this blog with them.

The Edmundson Essay

This essay was a little hard to read with the grain for to main reasons. One being that he seems to be writing from a professors stand point about college students. I can not relate to him for I am only a college student and not a professor. He is also very choppy and jumpy throughout his essay. He seems to just bounce from one idea/problem to another not giving enough information on his statements or enough information to back up what he is leaving out. Another reason is that he seems to be very sarcastic and he talks down to the audience, which would most likely be students of some kind. To be quite honest he seems very full of himself. There are some other things that I liked and didn't like in his essay.
He seems to blame things that go wrong on the students. This is only half true. Professors are just as responsible to make sure the students are learning what their supposed to be learning, or have an understanding of it. So, if the majority of the students in a class missed the same questions then there is a problem with the way the professor taught that material and they need to correct the situation. Now, here me out I am not saying that all a students bad grades is because the professor is a poor teacher. I am saying if more than three-quarters of the class missed the same questions then there is a problem. However, he does touch on some good points in his essay.
One of his points is that he believes that students should solely pick their classes and not have required ones. I completely agree with him on this because, he states, that students lose focus on what they are supposed to be doing. However, if they are in a class they pick that directly affects them then they will pay more attention in the class. So, if I was a psychology major and was taking both psychology classes and chemistry classes, I would pay less attention to chemistry and more to psychology because it directly affects me and my future because that is what I am majoring in.
It is also true that students do get bored with school. I agree with him on this remark. I also like the idea/plan he states about trying to keep the class "fresh." Giving class curves on a test will make them happier but do other things to keep them entertained. If it is a small class, take them outside on a nice day and go over things outside. If it is a cultural class give students extra credit to come into class, one day, dressed up as the culture that is being studied currently. Just to have an activity relating to the class so the students are not only learning but have a good time to will definitely boost their mindset to pay more attention in class.

Chapter 6

Chapter 6 has been one of the most beneficial chapters I have read, in this book, thus far. I, personally, am not a very good reader. I am usually very slow and sometimes it takes me more than one time to read the text to understand it. It also doesn't help me when I had to read and carefully analyze the text to answer questions.
Chapter 6, gave me some awesome tips to ensure that my readings, and answering questions, goes a lot smoother. Tips like reading with and against the grain; which is taking, and understanding, both sides of what the author is for and against to get the best understanding of what I am reading. Taking short, marginal notes while I am reading, will allow me to enhance certain areas of text that could be necessary at a later time.
Another is to identify quotes in the passage. This is important because I can for an opinion whether or not I agree with the given quote. The quote could, also, raise a whole new set of problems or just bring the reader into more confusion. The last bit of information that really helped me was modifying the way I read.
Since I am a slow reader, I should skim through the text really quickly to pick up key points in the beginning and ends of paragraphs; especially the conclusion paragraph. Then after I have the gist of the reading, I can fully read the article at my pace. If necessary I can read it again but maybe just a little bit slower to ensure I comprehend all the points the author is trying to make.

Contrasting View Points

Part A
Beep! Beep! Beep! My alarm clock is going off and I have to get ready for class. As I sluggishly wake up, I make my way to the shower. As I step into the nice, hot, and steamy shower I immediately wake up. After I put on my attire for the day; I grab my brand new book bag with my recently bought books and supplies, and head out of the building. As I walk out, other cheerful students pass by and show a smile as I do the same back. The cool, crisp morning air brushes against me as I make my way to the ISAT building. As I get closer to the trees that are by the entrance to the building, I can hear the birds singing their merry morning songs. What a great way to start off my day.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Aw, come on five more minutes. Another Monday, this means another long week of classes. As I barely roll out of bed, I have to get ready for my eight o’ clock chemistry class at ISAT. I look over and see my roommate sound asleep. He is so; lucky he gets to sleep in because his class isn’t until twelve thirty. I am tempted to just throw something at him so he has to suffer with me and be up for the time being. After I leave my dorm building I see other students who are much like me; a zombie. As I make my way to class, I realize that it is extremely humid out and that today will probably be a scorching hot day. I have to walk all the way to Memorial Hall and back when the day is at its hottest. This week is going to be the worst.

Part B
It is amazing how the same situations can be totally different with a different look on it. The tone can be determined based on the word choice. At the same time, students can relate to both sides of this situation. It has to deal with the way the story is told. In the positive angle of view, I used words like: steamy, new, cheerful, crisp, ect. All of which give a positive look on could just be another normal day with the same old routine. As for the negative however, the word choice gave readers a negative look on the day. Words like suffer, zombie, scorching make the day sound like nothing good will happen and that it is going to be the worst day ever.
As you can see word choice and angle of view can influence any piece of writing. Word choice and angle of view can influence: an article on a controversial topic, like stem cell research, or just someone’s view on a common topic like a movie or the day. It all has to deal with the way the story is told and with that authors can influence their audience to take a specific side of a certain topic.

Loose Change

The "Loose Change" documentary has widen my field of vision about the attack on the World Trade Centers that fateful day of 9/11. This documentary is also extremely biased. It is definitely blaming the government for not preventing what happened on 9/11. Unfortunately since the government has withheld so much information about what has happened, and when that info leaks out, it makes the government look extremely bad. Still though, we can not completely trust this video; just because someone "said it" doesn't mean it is hard concrete evidence. There will always be speculation about what could have been done by us or the government.

The directors use LOGOS, ETHOS, and PATHOS to get their point across. He uses all three of these appeals to try and get people to believe that his reasons are true. Maybe they are, maybe they are not. Again there is no real evidence that this is true. He goes on to say that the towers collapsed because of demolition on the early floors of the building. He says that this is true because of a "fine dust" that was on a floor and that the government said the destruction of that floor was because of fire rushing down the elevator shafts. So, if the government said it was that; then how does he know about the "fine dust?" I hardly doubt he was there.

I am not necessarily disagreeing with the director on his reasons for everything happening. It has happened in the past where the government has hidden what has really happened, then released it later. As you can probably tell I have very mixed reactions and feelings to this film so far. I will probably not have a definite "side" chosen for a few years. Year after year new things come out and eventually we, the public, will find out the truth about what led up to and what happened on that unforgettable day of September 11, 2001.

Angle of Vision

I never realized, that every day, people tell stories in different ways to different people. This is called "angle of vision." It basically means that when people are telling stories to their friends or family, they intentionally leave out information. For instance, your best friend and your dad both ask you what you did on Friday night. You will most likely tell your best friend everything that happened at the party you attended. However, you may not tell your dad about the party at all. You may tell him that you went out to a friends house but make no mention that there was a crazy party going on. Or you may leave out/ad in details depending on who the story is being told to. This often happens to many stories. Stories are changed because of who it is being told to and/or to make it more interesting than what actually happened. It is the "angle of vision" that influences peoples opinions, on certain subjects, because it is how, the story, it is told to a specific group of individuals.

Get It Right

Believing...
The publication of capital punishment would be a great way to earn money and possibly help stop crimes. Think about it. Privatization of executions charges a small fee and most of the public does not see what is going on. If, however, the execution was done in a stadium and people were charged a high price; the state could make a huge profit from it. The Romans did it with gladiators and that would fill the coliseum up with eager people to see criminals of some kind fight to the death. With the publication of executions this would bring embarrassment to the criminal and with people seeing how embarrassed he is this would bring fear to those who wish to commit such a heinous crime. They would not want to feel like the criminal being executed and bring shame to their family for which the will be ridiculed for having a criminal family member.

Doubting...
Are we Barbarians? Selling tickets to a criminals executing and it being in a stadium is sick. Yes back in the Roman times they had gladiator fights but people still continued to steal, kill, and what not. Who is to say that, even with this way of executing prisoners, that crime will slow down. We are turning murderers into stars when we do this. Then you will get the people who say, "Wow, I want to be just like him." Killing someone is not something to be glorified. It is something that should just be delt with quick and privately. Private executions also puts less stress and embarassment on the family. It would be easier for them to have some 10 to 15 people watch rather than a stadium full of people.

Virginia Looks to Shift Toward Wind Power

I have recently read the article in The Breeze (originally from The Washington Post) "Virginia Looks to Shift Toward Wind Power." This article is well informative in showing that, with these new wind turbines, it will produce 20% of the states electric needs. It also states that with this new power we will reduce the amount of pollution from the coal-burning we use as current electrical power.

The U.S. Department of Energy released a report stating, that the country would be generating 20% of its energy by 2030. Which is good right? However, this article does not focus on the negative side of this new energy plan.
With the construction of the turbines brings problems. Problems with destroying wildlife habitats, building on untouched lands, and creating some pollution to the area which is being constructed on.

Now, I am not opposed to this new plan to bring new less pollutant energy to the country but, we need to look at all aspects of what will happen. This article does, again, give good information and facts about what can/will happen but neglects the negatives of what can happen from the construction.