Original Diagnostic Essay
Have you ever taken the time out to think, what would life be like if you were to wake up tomorrow with a superpower? What would your superpower be, and what would you do with it? Now many people would pick something such as having the ability to fly, or having magic powers. Or who knows? I’ve even heard of wanting to be able to walk across water. But, the superpower I would choose is to have the ability to know how people feel and what they are thinking. Now I’m not choosing this power because I want to be nosey to see what somebody is thinking; but more for helping better me as a person.
For as long as I can remember I have been known for being the very outspoken and talkative child, which can be good. But with this trait comes good and bad. Some of the good is being able to make people laugh and brighten up their day with something as little as saying “Hi, how are you doing?” to someone walking down the street. Or even being able to make people think as to why certain things happen. Such as, if you are standing on a moving train and you jump why do you land in the same spot? This is one of the many questions I have asked in my lifetime and have yet to get an answer that explains why. Then there are the unfavorable things that come with my personality. There are many people who can deal with me and understand where I am coming from and many who can’t. There are times when my outspoken and talkative personality backfired at me.
For instance, every year out of my twelve years of being in school, there has been a teacher who mistook my curiosity and me being outspoken as being a major disruption when really all I wanted was to be informed. Now if I had the superpower of knowing how they were feeling or what they were thinking I would be able to understand the reaction I get from certain people. Knowing how they were feeling at the time would help me one, to understand, and two, to be able to fix how I approach people or went about asking certain questions.
Not only would I use my superpower dealing with people I meet every day but as well as at home. It is a saying that family knows best; that could be from knowing how to deal with situations and even knowing you as a person. But let’s admit we all would like to know more about the people we know best. There are always days when there is tension between you and someone you know. But, just imagine it being inside the four walls you live in called home. There may be days when your parents may be mad because you forgot to wash the dishes. Or days when your wife is mad because you left the toilet seat up. All being real life situations which happens in every household but would never know that person was mad at you. That’s until the one day you do that one little thing again you never realized you were doing yet again. Due to the reoccurrence of something so little, it caused an argument. Now just imagine you had the superpower of knowing what people were feeling. Some of those many pointless arguments with your wife or parents could have been avoided just by knowing the little silly things you were doing that bothered them.
So just by knowing the way someone is feeling so many things could be avoided. That’s dealing with any kind of relationship. There’s a failure of communication in the world today which makes it so hard for people to understand each other. Now in my situation I understand some of the misunderstanding may be the way I go about things that make people feel uncomfortable, which is why I would want this superpower to fix it. Having this superpower would change my life by taking away many hardships I have come upon. Understanding how people feel will change how I go about certain things, as well as help me find something about myself that I never known.
Now we all know that this will never happen in real life but it doesn’t hurt to dream. As well as it doesn’t hurt to listen or observe your surroundings. We all have been hearing for the past few months now that it is time for a change, which may be true. But the way I comprehend this phrase is it is time for us as people to appreciate each other more. No I’m not going to magically wake up tomorrow and have a superpower, but I can wake up tomorrow with a different outlook on life. Taking the time out to actually think of what I am doing. You may not know what the person who’s receiving your message is feeling, but, you do have control over your feelings and thoughts as to where you can stop and think how it will come across to the other person.
So, when asked if I had a superpower what would it be, and my response is to know how people feel or what they are thinking. Maybe what it is that I really want is the superpower to have self understanding and the ability to make a better person known as me!
Revised Diagnostic Essay
Have you ever taken the time out to think, what would life be like if you were to wake up tomorrow with a superpower? What would your superpower be, and what would you do with it? Now many people would pick something such as having the ability to fly, or having magic powers. I’ve even heard of wanting to be able to walk across water. But, the superpower I would choose is to have the ability to know how people feel and what they are thinking. Growing up in a world where there are many different people and personalities can cause a lot of conflict. Now I’m not choosing this power because I want to be nosey and see what somebody is thinking; but more for helping better myself as a person. Most of all, to fulfill this underlying fantasy of being a super-villain.
For as long as I can remember I have been known for being the very outspoken and talkative child, which can be good. With the trait of being outspoken and talkative come the good and the bad as well. But, if wanting to be a super–villain why would I want to be good? Some of the good is being able to make people laugh and brighten up their day with something as little as saying “Hi, how are you doing?” to someone walking down the street. Or even being able to make people think as to why certain things happen. Such as, if you are standing on a moving train and you jump why do you land in the same spot? This is one of the many questions I have asked in my lifetime and have yet to get an answer that explains why. But now there is no more Mr. Nice Guy. Out with the old and in with the new.
There are many people who can deal with me and understand where I am coming from and many who can’t. It is a saying that family knows best; that could be from knowing how to deal with situations and even knowing you as a person. But let’s admit we all would like to know more about the people we know best. There are always days when there is tension between you and someone you know. But, just imagine it being inside the four walls you live in called home. There may be days when your parents are mad because you forgot to wash the dishes, or days when your wife is mad because you left the toilet seat up. Both of these are real life situations that happen in every household but you may never know that person was mad at you, until the one day you do that one little thing you never realized you were doing yet again. Due to the reoccurrence of something so little, it caused an argument. But if having the ability to know what people are thinking, many of those pointless arguments with your wife or parents could have been avoided just by knowing the little silly things you were doing that bothered them.
Not only would I use my superpower dealing with people at home but as well as people I deal with everyday outside of home; particularly in school. There are times when my outspoken and talkative personality backfired at me. For instance, every year out of my twelve years of being in school, there has been a teacher who mistook my curiosity and me being outspoken as being a major disruption when really all I wanted was to be informed. But you know I will no longer try to make these teachers happy. If I had the superpower of knowing how they were feeling or what they were thinking I would be able to terrorize every teacher who has sent me to detention, put me on time out, and especially the ones who took recess away from me. Knowing how they were feeling at the time would help me to manipulate any situation at hand.
Now just imagine you had the superpower of knowing what they were feeling. Each one of these situations could have most likely been avoided. But due to the suffering I’ve experienced because teachers misunderstood me and instead of expressing their thought put me on time out, it’s now time to make them suffer. At times when I was a child I felt teachers knew if they were mad they could take their frustrations out on me. They knew they only had to say one thing to trigger me to make me react and talk back to them. Well not anymore, because with my superpower I know what their intentions are and will not react the way they want me to.
Many times when dealing with teachers they’ve found me to be the one to always talk back and be rather sassy, well not this time. Due to past events when dealing with me my authorities now used stern voices to get me to do as told. A fancy way of saying they were yelling. Now what kid do you know wants to be yelled at? Usually I would get very defensive but this time I will not. When being told to sit down by a teacher in their “stern voice” I will do so without confrontation. Although killing me inside, knowing that deep down inside it’s killing them because I actually listened, is worth me sucking it up. They will no longer use me as their victim due to their frustrations. Today they will be their victim of their frustrations. Who’s ever heard of a super villain using their powers in such ways as being kind? Ever heard of the phrase kill them with kindness? In my eyes I think that’s the most brilliant thing anyone can do. I can get back at those teachers and not get in trouble for it.
So just by knowing the way someone is feeling so many things could be avoided. That’s dealing with any kind of relationship. There’s a failure of communication in the world today which makes it so hard for people to understand each other. Now in my situation I used my superpower in a humorous way to get my point across. Having this superpower would change my life by taking away many hardships I have come upon. Understanding how people feel will change how I go about certain things, as well as help me find something about myself that I never known.
Although we all know that this will never happen in real life, it doesn’t hurt to dream. As well as it doesn’t hurt to listen or observe your surroundings. For the past few months we all have been hearing that it is time for a change, which may be true. But the way I comprehend this phrase is it is time for us as people to appreciate each other more. No I’m not going to magically wake up tomorrow and have a superpower, but I can wake up tomorrow with a different look at life, take the time out to actually to think of what I am doing. You may not know what the person receiving your message is feeling, but, you do have control over your feelings and thoughts; you can stop and think how your emotions come across to the other person.
So, when asked if I had a superpower what it would be, my response is to know how people feel or what they are thinking. Maybe what I really want is the superpower to have self understanding and the ability to make a better person of me. But until then, here’s to wishful thinking and terrorizing those teachers!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
How shitty are my first drafts?
How shitty is my first draft? Have you ever taken the time to ask yourself this question? Well, after reading Shitty First Drafts this has made me think as to why I have never really taken the time out to make my first draft somewhat decent. The answer to this just might be laziness. Throughout my career of being in school almost every time it was time for me to write an essay, I wrote one draft and that was it. There were very few times when I actually sat down and wrote a second draft and tried to revise my paper. Even then it wasn’t really revision. But this isn’t with every writer. There are some people who actually brainstorm and take their time with their first draft to get their thoughts out. But for me, after reading Shitty First Drafts and being in my English I learned that all I was doing was editing my paper. Doing this by only checking for some grammatical errors that could easily be fixed. Never really taking the time out to revise, reconstruct, and make my paper a better one.
Not only do I think this applies to first drafts but as well with everyday speech. As I talked about in another one of my blogs dealing with text speak. I feel today many people search for the quick and easy way to get things done. So my response to Shitty First Drafts is thank you. After reading this I have opened up my eyes to revising and fixing my papers. Although disagreeing with some of the thoughts the overall view is something I agree with. There are many writers, either it be from professionals to students who does not do a good job getting the structure of a paper together. This is why I feel this article was good and resourceful article for me and others to realize mistakes when writing.
Not only do I think this applies to first drafts but as well with everyday speech. As I talked about in another one of my blogs dealing with text speak. I feel today many people search for the quick and easy way to get things done. So my response to Shitty First Drafts is thank you. After reading this I have opened up my eyes to revising and fixing my papers. Although disagreeing with some of the thoughts the overall view is something I agree with. There are many writers, either it be from professionals to students who does not do a good job getting the structure of a paper together. This is why I feel this article was good and resourceful article for me and others to realize mistakes when writing.
Picture source: http://aad.gci.net/images/writing.gif
"Text Speak" vs "Real Talk"
Now living in the world where you see technology everywhere, it’s hard to avoid it. Everywhere you turn you see some sort of technology. It could be from school, to work, on the train, even in the bathroom! In a country that is rapidly growing in the world of technology, it is hard to keep up. Except for one gadget used in our everyday life. This gadget happens to be a cell phone. In this day and age it seems as though if we do not have our cell phones we cannot function. Our cell phones are like our passport through life. We do not realize how much we depend on these gadgets until they are gone. As well as we don’t realize how much cell phone use is embedded in our heads.
With most Americans in a rush, we tend to not talk on the phone, instead we text. Once we stopped talking we had to figure out another way to communicate quickly. The solution to that problem was use of abbreviations while texting. We traded our “real talk” for “text speak”. U will often find ppl textin this way 2 respond quicka. This is okay when talking to your fellow friends, but in the professional world, no. When reading Needleman’s “Is textspeak sabotaging younger job seekers?” I realized how much we’ve been affected by our gadgets. When using abbreviations as done in texting, I feel it should only be done through the phone. There is a time and a place to be someone’s friend and professional. In the text you will find a young teen who has been given a job and in response to his new position he use “text talk” to respond to his authority. I think this is crazy what technology is doing to society and feel this is something which needs to be fixed.
With most Americans in a rush, we tend to not talk on the phone, instead we text. Once we stopped talking we had to figure out another way to communicate quickly. The solution to that problem was use of abbreviations while texting. We traded our “real talk” for “text speak”. U will often find ppl textin this way 2 respond quicka. This is okay when talking to your fellow friends, but in the professional world, no. When reading Needleman’s “Is textspeak sabotaging younger job seekers?” I realized how much we’ve been affected by our gadgets. When using abbreviations as done in texting, I feel it should only be done through the phone. There is a time and a place to be someone’s friend and professional. In the text you will find a young teen who has been given a job and in response to his new position he use “text talk” to respond to his authority. I think this is crazy what technology is doing to society and feel this is something which needs to be fixed.
Reflection on my past!
I’m going to first start off by explaining why I decided to enroll in Tidewater Community College. When I graduated from high school I had all my goals set out for me. Already enrolled in beauty school to become a Cosmetologist I was very much so excited. I never had plans on attending college because I would have my license doing hair. To me that was good enough and that was something I could settle for. With my first free summer set in front of me I had plans to work and save up money so I would be able to attend the school with no problem. Unfortunately, somewhere around July my dream of going to beauty school in the fall was shot down. Due to financial problems my dream of going to beauty school would have to be postponed till January.
While only a month into the summer I was already beginning to get bored and my mother was beginning to be the biggest pain in my life. This is when I decided to hold off on going to beauty school and attending community college since it was quick and accessible. A few weeks later I went up to Tidewater Community College, the Virginia Beach campus. Once there I took my placement test since I didn’t take my SAT’s. The reasoning behind me not taking my SAT’s is because I had no intention on attending any type of college. But now due to my laziness in high school and not having a backup plan I had to rush and cram to try to be enrolled by time the semester started. Once I realized I wouldn’t be able to make it by August I then set my goal to attend the second eight week courses.
Now enrolled in the school and in my classes for the second eight weeks I was ready for a new start. One of my first classes I attended was my English class. As excited and anxious I was to be attending my first college class, that all got shot down because my teacher wasn’t there. Although kind of sad I was a little happy because it gave me more time to prepare for what was about to come. Then the next class came. I attended the class with the same attitude I had on the first day ready to do work. But when I got there everyone was standing outside the classroom waiting. In the back of my mind I’m thinking great the teacher isn’t here again. A few minutes later a dorky looking kid came speeding down the hall, opens the classroom door and sits down in the class. As the rest of us students followed and sat in seat as well. After sitting there for what seems like forever the dorky kid spoke and asked if anyone knew where the teacher was. As few minutes later this dorky kid revealed he was our teacher Paul. A great and exciting way to start of the course if I might say!
That day began one of my most liked classes in my career of going to school. Having class with a teacher like Paul made me view school in a new way. Not only did I have a very good teacher but as well as a very unique class. You had me, the big mouth New Yorker who is very blunt and speaks her mind. Then you had a few foreigners that added a little spice to the class. As well as Ms. Sassy herself who sure wasn’t scared to speak her mind. Then Mr. Cool guy who likes to call teachers out of their name on the first day. Overall my experience in English 111 was a good one and I would take the class again!
While only a month into the summer I was already beginning to get bored and my mother was beginning to be the biggest pain in my life. This is when I decided to hold off on going to beauty school and attending community college since it was quick and accessible. A few weeks later I went up to Tidewater Community College, the Virginia Beach campus. Once there I took my placement test since I didn’t take my SAT’s. The reasoning behind me not taking my SAT’s is because I had no intention on attending any type of college. But now due to my laziness in high school and not having a backup plan I had to rush and cram to try to be enrolled by time the semester started. Once I realized I wouldn’t be able to make it by August I then set my goal to attend the second eight week courses.
Now enrolled in the school and in my classes for the second eight weeks I was ready for a new start. One of my first classes I attended was my English class. As excited and anxious I was to be attending my first college class, that all got shot down because my teacher wasn’t there. Although kind of sad I was a little happy because it gave me more time to prepare for what was about to come. Then the next class came. I attended the class with the same attitude I had on the first day ready to do work. But when I got there everyone was standing outside the classroom waiting. In the back of my mind I’m thinking great the teacher isn’t here again. A few minutes later a dorky looking kid came speeding down the hall, opens the classroom door and sits down in the class. As the rest of us students followed and sat in seat as well. After sitting there for what seems like forever the dorky kid spoke and asked if anyone knew where the teacher was. As few minutes later this dorky kid revealed he was our teacher Paul. A great and exciting way to start of the course if I might say!
That day began one of my most liked classes in my career of going to school. Having class with a teacher like Paul made me view school in a new way. Not only did I have a very good teacher but as well as a very unique class. You had me, the big mouth New Yorker who is very blunt and speaks her mind. Then you had a few foreigners that added a little spice to the class. As well as Ms. Sassy herself who sure wasn’t scared to speak her mind. Then Mr. Cool guy who likes to call teachers out of their name on the first day. Overall my experience in English 111 was a good one and I would take the class again!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Thoughts on Mcmillian's "How not to use Powerpoint"
As I sat in class one day, Paul announced we would be watching a video on PowerPoint. In the back of my mind I was thinking great! First we listened for a couple of classes on how to use ethos, pathos and logos. Now we have to sit through a boring video that’s supposed to show me something I already know how to do. While dreadfully sitting there waiting for the video to start, I then heard a man speak whose voice was very distinctive. When I looked up, there stood a dorky man who looked as though he could be one of my professors. But once he began to present I realized this video was going to be far off from what I thought it would be. McMillian took the approach of using humor to get his point across.
Some points that stuck out to me were the ones that dealt with the displays people use in PowerPoint presentations. For instance when talking about using too many graphics in a slide. Although there may be a lot of information that needs to be given, you shouldn’t have to squeeze a lot in one slide. This is one point I very much agree with McMillian about. To demonstrate his point he stayed with his humorous approach and proceeded to duplicate what these slides look like. Another topic he touched on was presenters putting their speech word from word on the slide. As well as McMillian, I feel displaying your speech in your presentation defeats the purpose of presenting. So overall I agree with the points McMillian was trying to get across. I feel every teacher should show this video to their students if using powerpoint in their class. Susprisingly taking a different approach on giving information such as McMillian does is effective. With that being said I give this video two thumbs up.
Some points that stuck out to me were the ones that dealt with the displays people use in PowerPoint presentations. For instance when talking about using too many graphics in a slide. Although there may be a lot of information that needs to be given, you shouldn’t have to squeeze a lot in one slide. This is one point I very much agree with McMillian about. To demonstrate his point he stayed with his humorous approach and proceeded to duplicate what these slides look like. Another topic he touched on was presenters putting their speech word from word on the slide. As well as McMillian, I feel displaying your speech in your presentation defeats the purpose of presenting. So overall I agree with the points McMillian was trying to get across. I feel every teacher should show this video to their students if using powerpoint in their class. Susprisingly taking a different approach on giving information such as McMillian does is effective. With that being said I give this video two thumbs up.
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