Blog 12 (Extra Credit)

HAVING HAD NO IDEA WHAT THIS NOVEL WAS ABOUT, I did not have any expectations when I began reading it (POW 6, past participial phrase not part of main verb).  After reading this book, I would recommend it to readers of any age.  The Fault in our Stars, A BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED NOVEL, takes the reader on an emotional journey (POW 1, appositive set off by commas).  Hazel and Augustus— TWO YOUNG CANCER PATIENTS— represent the ultimate love story. (POW 3, appositive set off by dashes).  John Green does an excellent job of capturing the balance between the frustrations of cancer and the bliss of young love.   Hazel, WITTY, STRONG, AND INQUISITIVE, is one of the most lovable characters I have ever encountered in any novel (POW 7, adjectives out-of-order). After all that she has gone through, the reader wonders:  HOW CAN ANYBODY SURVIVE THROUGH ALL OF THIS? (POW 9, rhetorical question).  Once the reader begins to understand her, Hazel is an extremely selfless character.  Initially, she would rather ignore her only chance at love THAN risk hurting Augustus when she dies (POW 11, use of than).  IGNORING THIS IDEA, Hazel allows herself to fall in love with Augustus and experience something she thought she never thought she would find: TRUE LOVE (POW 5, present participle phrase not part of main verb & POW 4, appositive set off by colon).  I think that readers of all ages will find Green’s novel to be captivating and engaging.  The narrator (HAZEL) is relatable, funny, and honest with the reader (POW 2, appositive set off by parenthesis). If you are looking for a novel that will inspire you, THEN The Fault in our Stars is an excellent choice (POW 10, use of then). Through the characters of Hazel, Augustus, and Isaac, Green depicts the true struggles of cancer patients and those that survive them—A TRULY EXCELLENT WORK OF FICTION (POW 8, dash to emphasize the last element of a sentence).

Blog 9

I do not have any piece of writing that I want to use for this week.  Nor do I have something specific that I want to write about for this week.  I am going home this weekend AND surprising my parents AND surprising my little sister (POW 2, simple sentence with compound verbs connected with ands).  I was going to tell my little sister and dad and THEN surprise my mom, but I decided to keep it a secret from all of them (POW 6, use then).  I hope that they do not suspect anything, but somehow my mom seems to find out everything about my life. 

Being a horrible liar, I tend to have a hard time keeping things from people—especially my mom—so who knows if my grand plan will even work or not (POW 8, one-sentence paragraph).

I love going home for the weekend because it is so relaxing and stress-free; HOWEVER, I never seem to get much done when I go back there (POW 1, use of however correctly).  I would rather work on my homework and grad school applications at home THAN at my house here in Pullman, but it is difficult to concentrate on schoolwork when I am at my house with my family (POW 6, use of than).  I blame my dogs (POW 7, long sentence and short sentence after).  Whenever I come home, I spent hours taking my dogs on walks or just laying around with them.  Doesn’t everybody do this? (POW 4, rhetorical question). 

This weekend will be full of quality family time, relaxation, home cooked meals—and hopefully a little productivity (POW 3, Dash to emphasize last element of a sentence).  What are you doing this weekend? (POW 5, real question).

Blog 8

Mellie, A QUIET FRESHMAN GIRL, is a powerful character that many young adults can learn from (POW 1, appositive set off by commas).  After being raped by a fellow student, Mellie becomes introverted and withdraws herself from everybody around her.  Though there are attempts by a few people (HEATHER, MR. FREEMAN, AND IVY) to reach out to her, Mellie continues to shut herself down from the world around her (POW 2, appositives set off by parenthesis).  Melinda goes through the motions of everyday life, but she does not talk or interact with people.  Her life—A MESS OF SADNESS AND LONLINESS—no longer seems important to her (POW 3, appositives set off by dashes).  The reader is able to see how depressed Melinda is after she was raped (POW 5, participial phrase). Though nobody knows of Mellie’s reason for shutting down, the reader is able to see the profound impacts and consequences that can result from sexual assault or rape.  This novel should be taught in the classroom because young adults should learn from Melinda’s horrible experience: THE INEXCUSABLE SEXUAL ASSAULT (POW 4, appositives set off by colon).  Speak, POWERFUL, CAPTIVATING, AND EMPOWERING, should be taught in high school classrooms around the United States (POW 6, adjectives out-of-order).

Blog Post 7

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is a great novel to be taught in a young adult classroom.  The novel explores issues that many teenagers face in their middle and high school years.  Mellie is a complex character with many personal struggles and difficulties.  BECAUSE she was raped by Andy, she called the police at a party which resulted in the loss of her friends [POW 2, start a sentence with a “because” clause].  Mellie suffers through her freshmen year alone and with a dark secret.  She does not open up to her closest friends who now shun her.  NOR does she tell her parents what happened to her at that party [POW 1, start a sentence with ‘”nor”].  Mellie also faces challenges with her schoolwork, family, relationships, and fitting in.  As her freshmen year begins, she becomes more detached from her those around her, and even from herself.  She falls into such a slump that she is unable to find any happiness at all.  She was provided with the opportunity to play basketball and be part of a team.  However, because Mellie did not participate in her classes she had very bad grades; because her grades were bad, she was unable to play on the basketball team. [POW 6, use of semicolon to mirror sentences].  Mellie becomes detached from the world around her, THOUGH she still is very aware of people making fun of her [POW 4, use of “though” to interrupt main sentence].  The only person who seems to be somewhat of a mentor to Mellie is Mr. Freeman.  He encourages her in class, believes in her artistic talent, and offers a listening ear and compassionate words; he wants to help Mellie [POW 5, longer sentence; shorter sentence].  Finally, towards the end of the school year, Mellie begins to take an active part in her own life.  First, Mellie starts trying harder in her classes; second, she warns Rachel and other girls about how dangerous Andy is; third, she stops Andy from assaulting her again; and fourth, she starts talking to people again and telling the truth about the party [POW 7, use of semicolon as a super comma].  I think that this novel is a great for young adult readers BECAUSE it deals with real issues and emotions that young people encounter [POW 3, end a sentence with a “because” clause].  

Blog 5

When I started reading “Dora Learns to Write and in the Process Encounters Punctuation” I thought that the teacher was not being very constructive in Dora’s grammatical education.  As I continued to read on, I realized that the teacher was actually being very helpful.  AS SHE WRITES AND PUNCTUATES, THE TEACHER ASKS DORA TO TALK THROUGH HER THOUGHT PROCESS [Sentence with compound verb, POW 2].  By doing this, the teacher better comprehends where Dora’s confusion comes from.  Young children often do not see the errors in their writing, so it is important that the teacher is able to see how the children think as they write.   DORA AND THE OTHER STUDENTS ARE ALSO TAUGHT BY EXAMPLE [Sentence with compound subject, POW 2].  The teacher shows DORA AND THE CLASS books so that they can SHE AND THEY can see correct uses of periods and punctuation [Compounded direct object with two personal pronouns, POW 3].  When Dora is confused about the “dots” in her sentences and words, the teacher shows her the differences between her use of them and the use of them in the books.  Although it is hard to teach grammar by example because it differs depending on the context, using examples to teach how periods end sentences is a good idea.  She is also supportive with the students’ work.  THE TEACHER SUPPORTS HER STUDENTS AS THEY BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND PUNCTUATION [Revised S-V-O to make stronger transitive verb, POW 1]. She understands that the learning process is slow, but she still encourages Dora when she sees that she understands even the smallest concept a little bit better.  She is very helpful and supportive of DORA, WHO shows signs of improvement throughout the article [Use of who, POW 4].

I think that the teacher does do a good job overall, especially considering how difficult it is to teach grammatical concepts to such young children.  Dora and her classmates, ALL OF WHOM look to their teacher for guidance, seem to steadily improve throughout the article [Use of whom, POW 4].  The teacher does a good job when she’s physically working with Dora, I think that Dora gets confused when the teacher gives her directions and sends her to do her own to work.  When the teacher asked Dora to read her work “the way it was meant to be” and to “stop at all the periods,” Dora appeared confused (Cordeiro, 63).  The directions are contradictory to her because she had been told that she also needed to drop her voice at the end of her sentences.  I, personally, do not think that the teacher should have told her to drop her voice because this shifts Dora’s focus too much on her voice rather than the content. Due to her teacher’s contradictory directions, Dora feels that she is forced to “choose between attending to her punctuating marks or reading with meaning” (Cordeiro, 64).  Cordeiro does say, “in early writing experiences the child is often faced with abandoning an alternative hypothesis which seems valid” (Cordeiro, 65).  So, while it is not uncommon that Dora feels she must abandon her way of thinking, she should not be getting too many confusing directions from her teacher.

The article makes it clear that Dora struggles with the use of periods.  I think that part of the reason that she has such a difficult time with this is because she is still learning the correct usage of the punctuation mark.  Originally, DORA AND HER CLASSMATES THOUGHT THAT SHE AND THEY should use the “dots” to signify the end of each word [Compounded subject with two or more personal pronouns, POW 3].  Dora and her classmates practiced doing this for a while because it made sense to them.  However, THROUGHOUT THE TEACHER’S LESSONS AND EXAMPLES, SHE AND THEY began to recognize their errors [Compounded object of preposition with two personal pronouns, POW 3].  After Dora looks at a book, she realizes that there are not “dots” or periods between every word.  However, it is difficult for her to understand why the periods went where they did because she often reads her stories differently than a mature writer would read them.  To her, it makes sense that fragments could be considered sentences because this is simply how she reads at this stage in her life.  The concept of reading with the punctuation marks is hard for Dora.  She especially struggles with her use of the period because she does not necessarily understand its function or use in different sentences.  However, she makes progress after each meeting with her teacher; she just needs more practice.

First Dora Revision

             When I started reading “Dora Learns to Write and in the Process Encounters Punctuation” I thought that the teacher was not being very constructive in Dora’s grammatical education.  As I continued to read on, I realized that the teacher was actually being helpful.  The teacher asks Dora to talk through her rationale and thought process when she writes and punctuates.  By doing this, she is able to better understand from where Dora’s confusion comes.  Young children often do not see the errors in THEIR writing, so it is important that the teacher is able to see how the children think as they write [use of the pronoun their].  The teacher also teaches Dora by example.  She shows the class books so that they can look at examples of sentences and punctuation.  When Dora is confused about the “dots” in her sentences and words, the teacher shows her the differences between her use of them and the use of them in the books.  Although it is hard to teach grammar by example because it differs depending on the context, using examples to teach how periods end sentences is a good idea.  She is also supportive with the STUDENTS’ work [I put an apostrophe after the s here].  She understands that the learning process is slow, but she still encourages Dora when she sees that she understands even the smallest concept a little bit better.  She is very helpful and supportive of her students WHOSE writing shows slow signs of improvement [use of the pronoun whose].

     I think that the teacher does do a good job overall, especially considering how difficult it is to teach grammatical concepts to such young children.  While she does a good job when she’s physically working with Dora, I think that Dora gets confused when the teacher gives her directions and sends her to do her own to work.  When the teacher asked Dora to read her work “the way it was meant to be” and to “stop at all the periods,” Dora was confused (Cordeiro, 63).  The directions are contradictory to her because she had been told that she also needed to drop her voice at the end of her sentences.  I, personally, do not think that the teacher should have told her to drop her voice because this causes Dora to focus too much on her voice rather than the content. Due to her teacher’s contradictory directions, Dora feels that she is forced to “choose between attending to her punctuating marks or reading with meaning” (Cordeiro, 64).  Cordeiro does say, “in early writing experiences the child is often faced with abandoning an alternative hypothesis which seems valid” (Cordeiro, 65).  So, while it is not uncommon that Dora feels she must abandon her way of thinking, she should not be getting too many confusing directions from her teacher.

     The article makes it clear that Dora struggles with the use of periods.  I think that part of the reason that she has such a difficult time with this is because she is still learning the correct usage of the punctuation mark.  Originally, she was told by her friends to use the “dots” to signify the end of each word.  She practiced doing this for a while because it made sense to her.  After she looks at a book, she realizes that there are not “dots” or periods between every word.  However, it is difficult for her to understand why the periods went where they did because she often reads her stories differently than a mature writer would read them.  To her, it makes sense that fragments could be considered sentences because this is simply how she reads at this stage in her life.  The concept of reading with the punctuation marks is hard for Dora.  She especially struggles with her use of the period because she does not necessarily understand ITS function or use in different sentences [use of the pronoun its].  However, she makes progress after each meeting with her teacher; she just needs more practice.

My Downfalls: Commas, Semicolons, Colons

Though I have always known that I wanted to teach high school-level English, it constantly slips my mind that this will include teaching grammar and the logistics of the English language.  I love READING AND WRITING ESSAYS AND ALL OF THE TYPICAL ASSIGNMENTS that you would associate with teaching high school English [series of verbs connected with and  no commas].  Even with a mother who is an English major and a harsh grammar critic, I find myself struggling with my punctuation often.

Throughout high school, my teachers critiqued my use of commas.  Sadly, I am not even consistent in my misuse of commas.  Sometimes I use them too often, and sometimes I forget to use them when needed.  I will occasionally combine two sentences with a comma when they should be two separate sentences.  I believe that this is called a comma splice.  I have greatly improved on this over the years, but by the end of this course, I hope that I am able to make few to zero mistakes when it comes to my use of commas.

Examples:

·      Sometimes I use them too often and sometimes I forget them when they are needed.

·      I went to the movie, a lot of my friends were there.

           

While doing some self-reflection during this blog post, I have come to a conclusion: I am scared to use semicolons and colons.  As I look back through previous assignments, I find very few instances in which I used either of these marks.  Furthermore, I do not feel that I completely and comprehensively understand all of the differences between the two.  I have a better understanding of when to use colons, but I have only really used them for lists.  I need to master these two marks and learn to correctly apply them to my writing.  I want to play with the way I punctuate my sentences more often, including using colons and semicolons.  Below is an examples of how I would use colons when writing lists.

Example:

·      I love all of the seasons: WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER, FALL [series of nouns connected with commas and no and’s]

·       

Below is an example of how I believe a semicolon is used, but I am not completely sure.

Example:

·      Hitler was a monster; he was worse than any fictions villain.