Franklin Vs. Malcolm

Franklin was brought up learning how to read and write. In fact, his education began so early he couldn't even recall a time when he could not read. As though he was born doing it perhaps. In contrast to Malcolm's story, who had little exposure to reading or any education for that matter. They are similar in the way that they developed as men and great articulators of the English language through reading and continued education. They both gave examples of the great significance reading had in their lives and both revered education as the most important and influential part of their lives. Their thirst for more developed them into the potent leaders they both became. While Malcolm struggled to understand the words he read, it was that very same struggle that motivated him to learn more. In contrast, Franklin had the encouragement and support of those in and around his life that played a major role in influencing his desire to become a better reader/writer/learner.

Successful Pre-Writing

     In the past, the types of pre-writing that have provided me with the most success have been brainstorming, listing, freewriting/looping, mapping, and clustering/branching. When I brainstorm I like to write my idea down in a visible place for everyone to see and then have them write their ideas on their own paper. I think that having a main topic or idea visible to draw inspiration from is an easy way to keep the brainstorming focused. Although, in my experience, I still get a lot of unusable or unrelated ideas when brainstorming, so I use it less often than other pre-writing techniques. While listing, mapping, or clustering/branching I like to start with my main idea and write down anything and everything that I think is relevent. I'll even write down things that are vaguely relevent because I never know where my paper will take me and it may be the idea, or at least the trigger word, I need to pull things together in the end. Those techniques are my favorite to use and I keep my list, map, or otherwise right next to me while I write. When I freewrite I will often "loop" back and pull a sentence or two out to start a new idea or paragraph before continuing to write, which helps me quickly write a long rough draft without much effort. I like to think of it as a self-feeding system. I just stand back and let the words flow and then look back for a second or two to grab and expand on an idea I've already written. So, basically, I use a combination of freewriting and looping at the same time to help get ideas flowing and expand on old ones.

Collaboration #2: Abbey, Emmy, and Nahshon

After reading Malcolm X "Learning to Read" we concluded that this can help us because he wrote about his intense desire to read and his passion to learn. It just started out that he just wanted to read and write, fix his penmanship, after which had started into something bigger than that. He carried on with his passion for writing and reading to help other people along the way. We could also write in this way, to help other people who may read our paper to understand and to try and achieve something for themselves. He wasn't doing this for a badge, or a degree, he did it for himself. His own self gain, and eventually to help teach other people the ways of Elijah Muhammad. He gives us a good view on what we should write about, what inspires us and motivates us.

Collaboration #1: Abbey, Emmy, and Nahshon

We understand that our assignment is to write a paper about a real learning experience that we have had in our past.  We want to draw the reader in with creative writing, using fact and models.  We need to use a lot of details to describe our personal experience and to convey to the reader exactly what we want them to get from the paper. We need to include our obstacles and solutions to create a connection between the reader and the writer. Although the paper does not need to be formal, it must be written in proper English.  The use of casual writing will help to connect the reader to what they are reading.  Finally, we also understand that since this is a paper about a personal experience, we can use use the words I, me, or my.

Cutting it close! My viewpoint on the assigned readings...

     While reading the post "How I Learned to Live Google-Free" I felt like it was really random. The ideas, in my opinion, didn't flow in a logical pattern that suited my personal preference and felt more like a rant than anything else. However, Romero did include some details on how to do-it-yourself and where to get the information, so I liked that a lot. I intend to use that aspect of his writing in my own paper because if other people share similar interests with me the information will be readily available.
     When I read the post by Feross I noticed that he had a very clear introduction and used that as a launching pad for the rest of his post. I very much enjoyed his "beginning to end" approach where he started from the interest he initially had in programming and told of his journey of learning along the way. His post had a positive tone and you could tell that he really enjoyed programming.  I want to follow suit and maintain a positive tone throughout my own paper while following a very natural progression of thought from beginning to end. I will also consider having a introductory section to my own paper if it doesn't interfere with the fluidity of the paper.
     Feross and Romero had a few things in common between their posts. They both used plenty of subtitles to start new thoughts or sections and they both used very casual language throughout the body of the text. I liked the use of subtitles because it gave me a very clear idea of what I was about to read. It also gave me the ability change gears if needed to allow a new thought to form that may not be related to the previous paragraph. I liked this style because it reminded me of reading scientific papers that have defined sections that allow the reader to easily relocate information later on. The use of casual language in writing a paper isn't something I've done before, but it seems much easier than writing a scientific paper in the third person.
     All in all, there was some great information, from both posts, in terms of style, tone, and progression, that I will be able to use in my own paper and I look forward to sharing my "significant educational experience" with you soon.

Jan. 8th

First day of class! Setting a blog has been a major pain in the neck. Am I right?