Final Reflection

College Writing Final and Reflection Michael Edlefsen

A. General Questions: Make sure you rename this document as your (last, first) name and save it to your desktop. Type in (or copy and paste) your answers when it is appropriate. Please type your answers in a different color or font to make sure I can see it when you submit me your document. Write as much as you want. Generally those who have complete and coherent answers will do better than brief, limited or missing answers. When you are completely finished with your final, please make sure you used conventional English and used spell check before you email it as an attachment to my preferred email address. Save your work frequently in case your computer or Internet is slow, etc. When you are finished with all of your answers, please go to the top of the screen and click “File” and go down to “Export.” Choose the file “Word DOC.” Make sure your document is named your (Last, First) name Final and click “Export.” Please attach this file and email it back to me. Once I have confirmed receipt of your email, you should clear the entire desktop of your laptop by dragging everything into the trash. Go to the Finder at the top of your screen and empty the trash. Once you have completed the entire final, you must also post it to your blog. Call your blog post “Final Reflection.” If your blog has working links and pictures that link to their original sources, you will do better on this final. Good luck and thank you!

What Miss Boeser’s preferred email address?
eboeser@bloomington.k12.mn.us
What is another email address Miss Boeser might use for other purposes?
eboeser@bloomington.k12.mn.us
Fill in the blanks with the missing information from your course standards/parent letter:
A student’s grade will be divided into the following components:
45% ACADEMIC WRITING: essays must be handed in on paper with a Turnitin originality report.
30% PARTICIPATION:
BLOG/WIKI/NING: Each student is required to post journal entries online
CLASS DISUSSION/WRITING GROUPS: Students will respond in class to literature, nonfiction and journal posts, as well as work together to proof and edit papers.
PEER REVIEW: Students will read and respond to the work of their peers in writing groups
10% HOMEWORK: including vocabulary assignments and daily assignments
5% TESTS AND QUIZZES:on novels and nonfiction from class, including vocabulary
10% FINAL EXAM:on novels, stories or terms we have covered in class.

Explain what you would do or where you would go if you need help with MLA format. Post links below if you need to.
-Go to JHS homepage
-Click on media center
-Click on citations
( HYPERLINK "http://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/indschool/tj/mediacenter/cite.html" http://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/indschool/tj/mediacenter/cite.html)

What website do you use to turn in your papers?
Turn it in
( HYPERLINK "http://www.turnitin.com/static/index.html" http://www.turnitin.com/static/index.html)

What “website” or webpage did the Media Center set up to help you with your Problem-Solution Paper?
Hot topics
( HYPERLINK "http://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/indschool/tj/mediacenter/ht.html" http://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/indschool/tj/mediacenter/ht.html)


If you wanted to look up something in the Academic Search Premier, which database would you use?
Gale Group

If you wanted to get an article from the StarTribune, but you can’t find it at HYPERLINK "http://www.startribune.com" www.startribune.com, what database would you use?
ProQuest Star Tribune

If I want to find information on school or district usage policies, where would I go?
Go to JHS homepage
click on school info
Click on stdent handbook

Over the last two terms, we have read four books as a class. Rank them in order from the book you liked the best (#1) to the book you like the least (#4). First, fill in the title of the book under the rank (number) you are assigning. Below the title, write in the author. Last, assign the books a percent out of 100, so that the sum of your scores equals 100.
#1 Little Brother.
Cory Doctorow.
40%.
#2 The Perks Of Being A Wallflower.
Strphen Chbosky.
40%.
#3 The Kite Runner.
Khaled Hosseini.
15%.
#4 Beloved.
Toni Morrison.
5%.

Write a brief reflection about why you liked your favorite book of the four.
I liked Little Brother the best because it was exciting. It had suspence and was pretty belivable. I also liked it because of the types of technology they use in the book. I can understand some of the things they are talking about like the moded Xboxs.

Write a brief reflection on your least favorite book.
My least favorite of the books was Beloved. The Book was very hard to get into. I feel the book should have never won an award it did not teach anything. It also has disgusting parts and was not intriging to me.

Write the name and author of the book you chose to read on your own or with your book group. Make a link to your book’s wiki:
Always Running: La Vida Loca by Luis Rodriguez
HYPERLINK "http://alwaysrunning.pbwiki.com" http://alwaysrunning.pbwiki.com/

First, explain what made you choose this book and how you feel about your choice now that the term is over.
Sam Jones had heard of the book and that it was good. I liked the choice we made because I enjoyed the book and felt it gave me a new perspective on gang life.

Second, Divide 100 points between your group members, explaining what you felt each person contributed to the paper, vocab, etc.

Sam Jones 35%
Josh Vought 30%
Mike Edlefsen 35%

Third, write anything else you want to say about your involvement in this project before I grade it.
I feel my group and I did an equal share of the paper and project and that no one person did all the work or didn’t do any.

B. General Reflection Questions:

1. What would you say is the most important thing you learned in this course?
That in college I will need to spend more time writing my papers and perfectin them.

2. What did you learn to do well? How do you know this?
I can read faster because this whole term ive been reading books and it took me longer to read Little brother than it did to read Always Running which are about the same length

3. What would you say is your weakest skill in College Writing? Explain why you think this.
Research because I like to write papers without using reserch which i need to change because you always need some kind of research in a paper.

4. What kinds of digital skills (those required to use new technologies) did you learn?
The wiki, Blogger, and Ning were all new technoliges for me. I have never really created a website which is what we were doing on the wiki.

Copy and paste in some examples of your best work (or the work for which you are most proud) from your blogs or wikis or Ning.com. Explain why you think they’re particularly good. HYPERLINK "https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=blogger&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Floginz%3Fd%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.blogger.com%2Ffollow-blog.g%26a%3DADD_SERVICE_FLAG&passive=true&alinsu=0&aplinsu=0&alwf=true&hl=en&skipvpage=true&rm=false&showra=1&fpui=2&naui=8" Make working links to these posts when you upload your answers to your blog.
I feel Amir does not see Hassan as his best friend even though he is. He thinks because they were brought up different they can't be friends. This is part of the reason he does not play with him when other kids are around. I think this is one f y best work because I know what the question is asking and I feel I answered it well.

On which of the assigned papers do you think you did your best writing? Do you feel this way because of how peers talked about your work, how much effort you put into it, or the grade the teacher assigned? Explain your feelings.
I think I did my best on the POND essay because I had four people proof read and they all said it was a good paper.

7. As a result of taking this course, what do you think are some things you want to work on in the future in your writing?
I would like to work on all aspects of my writing so I can stay strong in all spots not just one.



8. How did you work best: alone, with a partner, and/or with a group? Did it vary depending on the assignment? Explain.
I feel I did the best in a group because if I had a question while doing a paper they were working on the same paper so they could answere it easily. Papers were als more diverse because it was three diferent styles instead of one.

9. Was peer feedback valuable to your learning? How?
Yes beause if I did somthing wrong people were not always holdng back when they would tell me if thy though a part of my paper was bad.

10. How did teacher comments influence or change your writing?
When i got a teacher comment on a paper it was esier to follow because it was in writing.

11. Where physically did you work the best (at home, in class, the library, etc.)?
I feel i work best at home because i have my own spot where I always do homwork and at school i can be distracted esier by people.

12. Explain which project you worked on that you liked the best or that you found most interesting. Explain where the project was done (its context, blog, wiki, paper, PowerPoint, Google Docs, etc.), why the project was done (its purpose), and what learning experiences were accomplished.
I liked our last wiki the best because I enjoyed the book which made esier to read and also write about. I als feel I put the most effort into this project.

13. How did your digital writing change at all over the last two terms? Do you think you will use any of these tools in the future because of these changes?
I will use the different tools and writing styles I have picked up in the class in the future but may not use the online websites.

C. Essay Assignments Evaluation
Please rate the assignments from 1 (low) to 10 (high) and write your comments in the space provided, including what you liked or didn’t like about the work you had to do. You may delete the row of numbers and leave the number you are rating the assignment.

1. College Application Essay: 3
Write a reflection on this assignment, including what you liked or disliked about it.
I did not like this assignment because i had already recieved a scholarship offer from a school two years earlier so there was no college I needed to write to.

2. Compare/Contrast: 8
Write a reflection on this assignment, including what you liked or disliked about it.
This paper helped me see contrast in a book more clearly.

3. Role-play Problem-Solution: 7
Write a reflection on this assignment, including what you liked or disliked about it.
I did not like writing this but It helped me be able to think from somone elses perspective.



4. Teen Issue Problem-Solution Paper: 8
Write a reflection on this assignment, including what you liked or disliked about it.
This paper was an esier paper for me t write because of my topic choice.

5. POND Essay: 10
Write a reflection on this assignment, including what you liked or disliked about it.
This was a fun paper for me to write and I felt I did well

6. Argument Essay: 2
Write a reflection on this assignment, including what you liked or disliked about it.
I did not like this paper because it was the most difficult to write and it took me the longest.

7. Literary Criticism: 6
Write a reflection on this assignment, including what you liked or disliked about it.
I like this paper beecause it was with my group but felt it was still hard to write.

8. Book Group Literary Analysis: 8
Write a reflection on this assignment, including what you liked or disliked about it.
I liked this paper because I liked the book and feel I put the most effort into it.

D. Tools Evaluation
Please rate the following electronic tools we used in the following aspects of interest and usability. First enter the URL (web address). Make sure you link it in your blog. Please rate the tools from 1 (low) to 10 (high) and write your comments in the space provided, including what you liked or didn’t like about the technology. You may delete the row of numbers and leave the number you are rating the assignment.

1. Class website: 10
URL: HYPERLINK "http://missboeser.googlepages.com/collegewritingterm2" http://missboeser.googlepages.com/collegewritingterm2
Comments: This made it very simple to get to all the websites we used.

2. Personal Blogs from Term 1: 5
URL: HYPERLINK "http://bambiisscary.blogspot.com" http://bambiisscary.blogspot.com/
Comments:

3. Term One Role-Play on Internet Access and Usage: 6
URL: HYPERLINK "http://roleplaycwp4.ning.com/profile/JakeTaylor" http://roleplaycwp4.ning.com/profile/JakeTaylor
Comments:

4. Term Two Discussion Questions for Book assignments: 7
URL: HYPERLINK "http://collegewritinghybrid.ning.com/profile/MikeE" http://collegewritinghybrid.ning.com/profile/MikeE
Comments:

5. Large Group Wikis: 4
URLs: HYPERLINK "http://kiterunnercwp1t2.pbwiki.com" http://kiterunnercwp1t2.pbwiki.com/ HYPERLINK "http://tellmeyourdiamonds.pbwiki.com" http://tellmeyourdiamonds.pbwiki.com/
Comments:

6. Small Book Group Wiki: 9
URL: HYPERLINK "http://alwaysrunning.pbwiki.com" http://alwaysrunning.pbwiki.com/
Comments:

This part of the final involves using HYPERLINK "http://www.bubbl.us/" http://www.bubbl.us/ and the Argument Map you created there. You must successfully follow these instructions.
Sign in to your account.
Double click on the map you made.
In the upper right hand corner, click “Sharing.” Note that” “SHARING allows you to give other users access to your sheets.” If you have already added me as your friend, please allow me Read-Only access, which will allow me to view your sheet but not make any modifications.
Next, click “Submit.”
You must also embed your map into your blog for this reflection/final.
In the bottom corner of your page, click “Menu.”
Next click, “HTML Embed Code”
Paste the code that appears and save it here to later embed into your blog in order to display your map. What you have should look something like the code below. Please paste your code (note that it will be really long) here:

F. Use this space to write anything else you want to say about the course, your final total grade or comments to the teacher.

Dear Charlie

September 16, 1991


Dear Friend,


Wow you read To Kill a Mockingbird too?! I read it a few years ago and I thought it was awesome. In a project I had to do I made a box like in the book with things Jem and Scout had in it. I also saw the movie which I didn't like as much because it was in black and white. It was a very good movie though and pretty true to the book. I did like the book better though but that's usually the case anyways. We have clubs like earth day at our school too. One club puts on a peace day which I personally think is a waste of time. We have a marathon in between our two high schools and lots of kids just do it to get out of class. I can't believe that kid your sister was hanging out with hit her. I would have killed that kid if I were you. I bet watching your brother on TV is cool. I got to do the same thing because one of my brothers went to the University of Nebraska on a football scholarship. I hope to go somewhere in the big 12 that is my favorite conference.

Sincerely
Jake








December 26, 1991

Dear Friend,


That is very nice that you visit your Aunt Helen's grave. She sounds like my aunt because I got to stay up late and stuff when I was at my cousin's house. We got to stay up late and eat ice cream my aunt also used to let us rent movies to watch. I feel sorry for your aunt Helen and how she was molested. No one deserves that and it's awful how her dad didn't even believe her. You should not feel that her death was your fault. You can't choose when you were born and December 24 is a great birthday. You get to see all your family for your birthday and Christmas. It is such a loving time too it's my favorite holiday.


Sincerely
Jake









January 1, 1991

Dear Friend,


You need to stop being peer pressured into taking drugs. It may feel cool and you might see weired stuff but in the long run it is not good for you. You were found asleep in the snow. You could have died. In the letter you wrote you just rambled about nothing. You started talking about trees being dragons. When you take drugs like that you don't get anything out of it. You need to stand up for yourself and say no at least once in a while.
Sincerely
Jake

Little Brother Questions

1. How does Marcus’s comment that he’s “one of the most surveilled people in the world” set the tone for the novel? Is the statement true? Compare the school Marcus describes in the opening chapters to your own in terms of surveillance, discipline, and student-administrator relationships.

1. Marcus's statement is true after he comes back from the DHS prison he is told they will be watching his every move. He also finds out that he has a tracking device in his laptop. Like Marcus's school we too have cameras, unlike his school we do not have cameras in classrooms. Discipline and relationships with teachers is almost exactly the same between our two schools we like and dislike teachers.

2. In what year or decade do you think Little Brother takes place? Cite passages from the novel to support your answer. Do you think the story could happen today? Why or why not?


2. Little Brothers seem to take place only a few years into the future because they still have almost the exact same kind of technology we have now. Another clue that this take place only 5 to 10 years in the future is Marcus remembers 9/11 and is only 17. This story has thing that could and that couldn't happen but for the most part it seems realistic. We have bases where we take prisoners and we have a sort of fast pass for buses.


6.Describe Marcus’s capture and imprisonment. What happens to Darryl? What conclusions does Marcus reach about his government and his community as a result of his imprisonment?


6. Marcus is captured by the DHS after an explosion go off while he is playing Harajuku Fun Madness with his friends Darryl and Van. He is taken by them to a prison and asked for his passwords to his computer phone and other accessories. Marcus later finds out Darryl is in another island from a person who escaped from it. He thinks poorly of his government and that they are not really to find terrorist. He now wants to to get back at the DHS for imprisoning him and his friends.


7. What does Marcus’s refusal to give passwords to and answer questions from government interrogators reveal about his character? How are passwords a recurring motif in the novel?


7. By refusing to the demands it show he really cares about his personal things. He does not feel other people he does not even know should looking into his life. This part of the novel also shows that he is stubborn. He does not give the DHS his passwords and it takes them a few times to get them. In the novel passwords are used by everyone. They need password just to decrypt codes from emails.


9. List some of the technologies Marcus explains in the novel. How much of this information did you already know? How are the explanations in the novel similar to, or different from, your previous encounters with this information? Do you view the Internet differently after learning this information?


9. Technologies Marcus uses are his Xbox with the installation of paranoid software. I have heard of this because my brother has a similar program on his Xbox I set up for him. Another technology is decryption codes I have not heard a lot about this but I now know this is something probably used by a few people. This book did make me view the Internet differently because there were different this I did not know you could do on computers and phones.

Role Play

My name is Jake Taylor I'm a 6'3'' 220 lbs 18 year old at Jefferson High School in Bloomington MN. I am the captain of the football team and play QB. I've been getting scholarship offers from schools such as USC, NU, and FSU. I would like to get full ride but it looks like I'll get 75%. I've been playing football ever since I can remember. I like hanging out with friends and walking onto a field of screaming fans on a Friday night.

I think it's alright for teachers to view what students are doing as long as they are in school. I understand they do this to make sure kids are staying on track. Administrators should not be allowed to look at kids facebooks or other networks because cops do that already. If something is hat bad they will be caught sooner or later by the cops or their parents. Kids have a right to some privacy. If their going on social networks they can only do this from home which id not apart of the school therefor they have no right to look.

Some sites should be blocked such as video games and movie sites because don't need to be looking at movies or playing video games. If kids are able to go on these sites they will be tempted to play video games any time they go on the computer.

Administrators should not be able to look at another students social network site. The sites are somewhat private and not meant for teachers to look at.

tools for police

In the article I read a 16 year old student had posted pictures of himself online surrounded by guns on MySpace.com. MySpace usually a way for teens to talk to friends is now becoming evidence for police in court cases for terrorist threats and drugs. Police have saved lives like when they found 5 boys that were planning a school shooting. Civil libertarians are saying there is too much security. They also say having this kind of security is like shouting your personal information out in a pubic square. I think the police are doing the right thing by looking at pages because if people don't have anything to hide they should not worry. When civil libertarians say we don't know posting on these sites is like shouting in public I think it stupid if we cared that much we could start a petition or protest the police looking at peoples sites.

school tech

1) I think cheating is taking any type of work if it be a famous writer or a friend and placing your name on the paper. If you take another persons paper your not actually expressing your own feeling and thoughts. If you do any copy and pasting the paper is not yours. You can look at other papers to get ideas or references but you need to write about a topic with your own words.

2) Teachers have almost always had to be entertainers because if they don't students will become board and disrupt class and or not listen. In any kind of teaching if it be in school or sports making things fun gets the attention of people and they listen more and work harder if they are having more fun.

3) Yes he should feel guilty because your reading a summery of the book written by someone who actually read the book. You need to actually read the book to fully understand it. Authors did not write a three hundred page book to be read in twenty minutes.

4) Some students can record a teachers lectures and put on a mp3 player to be used on test. Kids can also send text messages back and forth in a matter of seconds. English or some sort of news class. Will use computers in almost every class because they write many papers. Uses of digital recording and audio sounds or voice overs.