SUPERBLOG!

     When this blog site was first introduced  at the beginning of the semester, I thought it would be no problem at all to do a small blog every week. Instead it turned into something major. Doing a blog every week was not the first thing on my mind. The first semester of college has many freshmen scatter brained and I would have to admit I was one of them. Being able to complete the blog on time every week is hard because there are so many other things going on that I have little time to sit down and say ok have I done the blog this week. By the time that thought came across it was already thursday afternoon and too late to get the point for that week. Or it would be as I lay down for the night, then hop up to see what time it was usually around 11 which does not give me enough time to read the text then respond with a paragraph to each question. Despite this I do not think the blog should be eliminated altogether, but it should not be required every week.
     Having the blog assigned to maybe once every two weeks, would give first time freshmen a better chance at being able to accomplish this. The required length of the blog would of course increase because there would be more questions, this would not be too much of a load since it would not be every week and can be worked on over the course of two weeks. Students should be assigned the topics that need to be read in advice so if a student has many assignments due that week or the next it will give them time to sit down and read the required text. Every two weeks a student should have four to six questions on a text that was read over that duration of time.
       In class assignments should stay as they were, journals were not particularly tricky unless class was missed a lot in which case, the topic could be received from another classmate who went to class on the day that was missed. Since the journals only had to be one page, it does not need to be shortened unless it was made to be a weekly journal done on friday morning, but this would cause the length requirement to go up and the completion rate to go down. Students who are in 101 usually are not the best with time management, they will tell themselves, I have to go home and finish this and then when they get home a million other things can be happening and they forget. I think the time frame to do the journal should be 10 minutes instead of 5 so that the page will be filled thoroughly.
      Also another way that the blog can be more successful in the future is if it was discussed on facebook. Facebook is used by just about every student, having a page set up that reminds the students of the upcoming blog, and having a place where they can comment and discuss with one another will further the success of the blog. Students will be reminded that the blog is due and try harder to get it done. When they have questions instead of waitin for a reply to an email, or for the next class day, they would receive an automatic response from another student, the page would be in constant use throughout the day allowing the students to freely talk among themselves and even certain days have discussions with their teacher.
       Some may argue that making the blog longer every other week would still be a problem and cause for students not to get it completed, but over the course of two weeks a student will eventually think about the assignment and get it done especially if it is posted all over facebook. These are only a few suggestions in ways that the blog can be improved for future success in class. Freshmen are more prone to get an assignment completed and the contents of their answers with better quality if there is a longer period of time in which the blog can be completed.

week 10 prompt

claim: yes, having good writing skills makes you an excellent student,
reason: because being able to write well means that you have a understanding of what is being taught, and you are able to explain through writing. Also everything throughout college requires you to be able to write an excellent essay. When applying to grad school or doing an application for a scholarship it requires you to write an essay if you do not have good writing skills, your application will be denied. Everything in a professional life or successful school career requires good writing skills.
warrant: good writing skills means that you are able to interpret a prompt and explain through words logically what you are saying in response. Also having good writing skills include being able to construct a promper sentence or paragraph that can be understand by professors or peers.

Discussion #5

1.) who: Cajun people/culture
    what: preservation of the French language
    when: present day
    where: louisiana
    why: Cajuns want to preserve their culture and language, but the language is fighting extinction because of "Amercanization".

2.) sentence one: M she is giving her main idea.
sentence two & three: E supporting evidence #1.
sentence four & five: E supporting evidence #2.
sentence six, seven, & eight: E supporting evidence #3.
sentence nine: A analysis of evidence.
I like the way that Guidry set up her paragraph,but I think it would have been better if she anaylized every piece of evidence separately instead of one sentence.

3.) Then. She give a strong quote from an Acadian musician on cajun culture .
Finally. Guidry states the ways that Cajuns are trying to preserve their culture.
Her conclusion is another strong quote from Mary Tutwiler on what makes Cajuns unique.

4.) Guidry focused on the challenges the Cajuns faced when they were forced to relocate and Americanize.
 To connect paragraphs 4 and 5 she stated how the Cajuns had much respect and pride for their heritage, then went on to talk about how the culture in today's society was thriving.

The passion that Acadian people have for their culture is one of the most important arguments of French immersion in Louisiana now and in the past.

discussion #4

1.) I feel as though everyone who takes the challenge to enter college, has a responsibility to themselves to strive for success. To "claim an education" as Rich put it. We either meet the challenge head on and push ourselves to our fullest potential, or we get left in the dust by those who are striving to be the best. It is important for women to work harder, to study longer, and to get better grades than others, because we already just by entering college have succeeded in not becoming another statistic. Men who enter college are expected to succeed. They should push themselves pass the point of doing good enough. If we go through college as most of us did in high school, barely making it then what would be the point of it all? Also those of us who come from low income families, or families of a different culture should not only strive for success within themselves, but they should work harder to prove to those people who feel as though they shouldn't be here anyway, that they have earned this. We all deserve an education, but it is up to us whether we take advantage of our opportunities.

2.) I think that Rich means by the ethical and intellectual contract between teachers and students is that in college, we as students agree to learn. This is not something that is being forced upon us. We want to be successful in life, so we agree to come to class and learn, not as an obligation but a choice. The intellectual part of this is that in the end once we have successfully gained our degrees we will realize that it was worth it. The knowledge we will gain from our professors is a priceless gift and only we have the choice to take advantage of it or not.

prompt # 3 question # 4

        After reading I realized that our rubric and the section on the characteristics of academic writing are very similar. The section states that a good paper has clear evidence our rubric also calls for enough evidence to support our position in the paper. Also both requires a good interpretation of evidence in your writing. Our rubric calls for both points of views to be considered in the paper, while Irvin wants the paper focused on a particular reader. Overall both expectations of the final paper require the topic to be narrow enough so that whomever the reader may be they will clearly understand your side in the arguement.

prompt # 3 question # 3

       After reading over the section a few times to get an understanding of what exactly is being said, I think that the most useful part of  "Academic writing is an analysis" is towards the end of the section when Irvin states that analysis works better when you "put all the cards on the table". I agree with this statement entirely. Writing down the information that you need to analyze and jotting down a few notes as you read will make the whole process easier. As you continue to write notes and think critically your understanding becomes better and writing becomes easier. I think what makes a good analysis is up for discussion. We can never quite understand exactly what a specific teacher wants in a paper. It is always better to ask rather than guess and analyze the wrong thing, the wrong way.

prompt # 3 question # 2

       In order to incorporate the right evidence into a paper about personal experience is to consider every option available. Personal experience papers do not have graphs and charts, or statistics to refer to so that makes them tricker to write. The first thing Hinton listed is personal experience. While making an argument for a personal experience paper you have to have personal detailed evidence of your particular subject. This will help when trying to argue both sides. Having a certain experience will make it easier to have your side of the argument stand out against the side you are disagreeing with. Being able to clearly argue both sides will give your paper a better outcome. Hinton made a list of all of the aspects of good evidence, I think that the most important on the list is "What kind of evidence would most convince my audience?" This question is important to answer because your audience is everything. Your teacher will be looking for certain key points when reading your paper and the right supporting evidence will make your paper stand out against others.