Common Core for Dummies

For my English Comp 2 class, I chose Common Core for one of the two major research papers.  This paper was actually pretty fun to research, because it was about education in Oklahoma.  I already knew, after moving here and seeing the step-daughter's school system is one of the worst school systems I have ever personally seen....

The fact is, Oklahoma ranks extremely low in its education and it shows.  If something isn't done to fix this runaway state government, we'll find that Oklahoma will be dragging the entire state down into the abyss of uneducation....  Anyways, here's the research paper, hope you enjoy it!

The Absense of Creativity in the Classroom is Killing the Future

After interviewing my teacher friend from North Carolina, I realized that most of the data I was writing my research paper on was almost null and void.  Since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, there has been a new curriculum introduced, but again, it is being hamstrung by the politicians.  Only time will tell how much has actually changed, but honestly, I doubt much will.

My final paper was turned in on 12/8/14.  Its pretty long, but everyone that read it liked it, and some people who only read part of it wanted to read all of it....  As of right now (as I write this) I honestly don't know what grade I got, or the comments on it.  Hopefully I'll get it back from my teacher when I see her in the hallways.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy my final paper in English 1113.

Proposal for Research Paper

For my third and final major essay, the research paper, I had to write a proposal to write about what I wanted to write about.  The umbrella topic was education, and my first thoughts went to how education is broken in the USA.  From the concept that you cannot have imagination and grow up, to the leeching of fun out of it, to the idea that the entire high school system is based on trying to get people into an industrial plant, its all broken.

So, I thought and thought about how to write this short little thing, hoping it would end up being okay, and apparently it was.  So here it is, the proposal for my research paper:

Go See a Play at the Local Playhouse

My second major essay for English Composition I was the Community Observation paper.  which was turned in on Halloween of 2014.  In this one, we had to go around the local community of Tahlequah, OK and find something to write about.  I chose the NSU Theatre Company, which is the college's theatrical company which has a Playhouse just off campus in downtown Tahlequah.

Even if you are not living in that area, I still suggest you go check out your local theatrical company, they work very hard to put on a great show, and many times raise money for local charities.

I ended up getting a 97 on this one.  I had a few run on sentences.  I actually went back and edited this one a bit after her comments, because I gave it to the NSUTC's coordinator, Dr. Robyn Pursley, whom I interviewed for the paper.  My teacher's comment at the end was, "Good work!  You present engaging material supported with evidence."

How Reading and Writing Showed Me How to Live

As part of my time in college, I took English Composition I and had to write a few essays.  Three of them were a major part of my grade.  The first essay was the Personal Narrative Essay which was turned in on Sept. 10th. 2014.

I ended up getting a 98 out of 100 on it.  The final comment said, "Your essay provides ample everyday imagery and detail to fully address the prompt.  Your ideas are complete and engaging.  Watch out for sentence fragments and grammar."

Anyways, many people wanted to read it for themselves, so here it is, I hope you enjoy it!

Free Write 05

Now that I've gone and aced my English Composition I class I've decided to share some of the selections of writing that I had to do in it.  Every Monday morning we had to pull out a sheet of paper and free write an essay over some subject or another for part of the participation grade.  Of course I didn't put dates on any of them so I don't know in what order they are, or when some of them were, but here is the last one I'm sharing.

Not sure exactly what we were asked to write about on this one, but I obviously wrote about how high school kills the joy of reading and writing, along with a great number of other things.  It was one of the basis's of my final paper.

Free Write 04

Now that I've gone and aced my English Composition I class I've decided to share some of the selections of writing that I had to do in it.  Every Monday morning we had to pull out a sheet of paper and free write an essay over some subject or another for part of the participation grade.  Of course I didn't put dates on any of them so I don't know in what order they are, or when some of them were, but here is the fourth one I'm sharing.

Apparently this particular one was about argumentation.  Every time I think about the word argumentation, this is the gist of what I think about:

Free Write 03

Now that I've gone and aced my English Composition I class I've decided to share some of the selections of writing that I had to do in it.  Every Monday morning we had to pull out a sheet of paper and free write an essay over some subject or another for part of the participation grade.  Here is another one with a date, amazingly enough.  12/1/14.

In this third free write I'm sharing, we were to write about our Thanksgiving.  Man, thanksgiving 2014 was a rough one....  Unfortunately I didn't really have time to make it as long as I wanted to, as so much went crazy...but I did the best I could.  I hope you enjoy this one!

Free Write 02: The Best Place in the World

Now that I've gone and aced my English Composition I class I've decided to share some of the selections of writing that I had to do in it.  Every Monday morning we had to pull out a sheet of paper and free write an essay over some subject or another for part of the participation grade.  This one, I actually had a date on, which I'm surprised by.  10/1/14.  Anyways, here's the second Free Write I'm sharing.

We were asked to write an essay about the best place in the world, more or less.  So here it is, free write number 2.

Free Write 01

Now that I've gone and aced my English Composition I class I've decided to share some of the selections of writing that I had to do in it.  Every Monday morning we had to pull out a sheet of paper and free write an essay over some subject or another for part of the participation grade.  Of course I didn't put dates on any of them so I don't know in what order they are, or when some of them were, but here is the first one I'm sharing.

If I remember correctly, the subject we were writing about was about visual rhetoric and when a picture spoke to you in a certain way...or something like that....  Anyways, the first free write.

A Return to College

For those of you who don't know, Lisa and I have returned to college.  Its one of the main reasons her and I vanished for so long with the blog, as we've been trying everything we could to stay afloat financially, while trying to decide what our future will hold.  Anyways, periodically I'm gonna through my essays and work online onto the blog just for the fun of it.

Our first assignment in English Comp 1, was to write an essay over our first day/week of college, picking an event and showing what it meant to you.  It was more of a participation grade, as we had to read other people's papers in class and tell the class what we got out of it.  Here is my essay, entitled A Return to College.

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An essay on poetry

Once upon a time, I was scared of poetry.  I thought it was silly, and that there was no true way to get a clear and consistent thought across using such a format.  Rhyme and structure, beats and verse....  Its all very daunting.

Then I tried it.  Its very easy to get swept up in a poem, and get side tracked.  One of the hardest things is to just go back and read it, and see if the flow works well.  Also tough to stay away from, what I call, the cheater rhymes.  The best example is The Tyger, by William Blake:

What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

An Essay on Writing - Part 2/2 (Trial, Error, and Accomplishment)

(( Continued from Part 1/2 ))

I know that some planning is key.  Once upon a time, I wrote a short story that people absolutely loved.  So I wrote another, then another.  People loved the story, so I decided to write more of them for people.  Then a friend of mine said, “You realize your main character changed names?”

I remember writing the stories and thinking in the third, “Its time to give this guy a name.”  I thought I had written the first two stories trying to keep everything nameless, but after rereading it, I didn’t.  In fact, other details changed, like eye color....  It was my first time trying to write a series and realizing I need an Outline.  So I went back, reread those stories and took tons of notes along the way.  Then I went back and rewrote the first two stories, and started to conceive and plan the rest of the series.