last assignment

During this first semester of my college experience has been a good one. I have learned that I can be self disciplined when there’s no teacher to watch over what I am doing and that online classes are a good choice for me. I have learned that I need some help on my writing. I can write essays I just need to remember that revising my essays are a huge part of the writing process. I have noticed that I can write a much stronger essay if I give a lot of effort into it. I plan on just keeping up with the revising on essays when I move into the next course. The best thing about the ELOISE course was that I had a week to do all my work and that I never had to have someone actually teaching me. I like the independence of it and the will I got from doing everything on my own. I know that I will take more online courses in the future. I like not going to class and being able to do everything on my own. I never really had an a-ha moment. I just tried to get threw my work and move onto the next week. I think that this class helped me a lot in my procrastination and being able to remember that I did have work to do without being told. This class did a lot for me and I’m glad.

what i am thankful for

I rarely stop to reflect on everything grate that has been given to me. This thanksgiving was a special one for our family. Two years ago my uncle and aunt moved away to Washington and took their two daughters with them. However this year we were able to see their girls but unfortunately my aunt and uncle couldn’t join us. It really made me thankful that all my family could be together this year. I also have grown to appreciate my parents and all they do for me. They let me live in their house for free, they feed me and drive me around since I don’t have a car. My parents don’t have to do this for me seeing that I am 18. One of the things that is going well for me right now is my boyfriend. I am so thankful to have him in my life. He means the world to me and he makes me happier than anyone else.  I am also thankful for the friends I have. I know I can go to them when I need the extra support and they always know what to say. One of the things I am very grate full for that most people take for granted is my kitten.  without her my days at home would be boring, she keeps my house interesting since she literally has a heart attack at the slightest movement. I recently just got a job a McDonalds restaurant and I am truly grateful for the extra income to help me jump start my life. But the most important thing I am thankful for is my life. Everything in my life I take for granted and in one minute the people that mean the most to me could be gone. I am absolutely grateful for everything in my life.

Revision

This article explains exactly what I am going threw with my own revision and deciding how to revise my essay’s . I learned that revising is not the same as proofreading or editing. I always thought it meant making a few changes and calling it a day. In the article it talks about how to handle taking what you think is really good but having to “throw it away” for the good of the essay and this I am having trouble with. I also am having a hard time making my thesis in my original essay flow with the rest of my essay. From this article I learned that it may take many revisions before getting a truly good essay. The article also says that to help check the flow of your essay you should write it down on paper to see hidden mistakes, read the paper allowed, and don’t try to revise everything at once. I also learned not to fall in love with your paper or you will have a harder time changing anything. The ideas I am going to use in my revision process is writing out my work on paper and to read the paper allowed. I am willing to take any critique an use it to better my article. I am also going to revise my essay more threw out the week instead of just once a week. I am also not going to revise as I go anymore because from the articles stand point it does more harm then good. I also need to check my paper for contradictions, loose ends, a bad conclusion and an off topic thesis. From this article I have discovered many tips that can help me finish my final portfolio so I can pass this class and move on to the class I need to take to transfer out of COS.

Essay 3

The school I visited was Golden West High School. I interviewed three teachers that are all involved in very different aspects of the school. I interviewed Mr. Kennedy a senior civics teacher who had been teaching at Golden West for 27 years. Mr. Verissimo is a world history teacher, head coach of the varsity baseball team and was also a student at Golden West high school. The last person I interviewed was Mrs. Myers the schools dance teacher. She started 5years ago when the school decided to add dance as an alternative to P.E credits. I chose these teachers for all different reasons. I had Mr. Kennedy my last semester of my senior year and he knew a lot of the history of the school. Mr. Verissimo was not only my boyfriends coach so I was comfortable to ask him questions but he was a former student and is involved in sports. I chose Mrs. Myers because she is new to the school and is one of the newest tradition at Golden West and she is also know and many students “second mom” for her caring and understanding nature. When interviewing these teachers a common issue I asked about was the dying traditions and the new attendance policy. I feel that this was a good experience and a plus to having attended this school just last year the teachers remembered me. I have also interviewed these teachers before when I was on the Pathfinder news paper staff so I knew how to interview, how to go into deeper detail on answers that were given and these teachers I picked were more than happy to help me with this essay.  When writing this essay the hardest part was coming up with a good intro to make my reader want to read my essay. This essay was really easy to write I knew what I wanted to know when I went into it and asked questions that focused around my topic. I actually wrote my essay and when it looked like I needed another quote I went to the book’s to see if I could find a quote that fit with my topic. When I revise this essay I plan on including more quotes and make a stronger intro.

School paper/ A Beautiful Find

The school I have chosen is Golden West and with graduating just a few months ago gives me an advantage into knowing how to get a hold of teachers, administrators and even knowing when to visit. I know that Golden West only checks ID cards to get off campus not to get back on leaving everyone a chance to come on campus. However that’s a bad idea because if an administrator notices that your not a student you can get in trouble so of course I wont be visiting that way. To visit Golden West all you need to do is go into the front office and sign in, I plan on going in on Monday.
The three people I plan on interviewing is Mr. Duerksen, Mr. Verissimo, and possibly the principle Mrs. Powell if I can schedule an interview. If I cant come in to set up an interview I will interview them threw email. From Mr. Duerksen I want to find out all that has changed since he went to Golden West (which was one of the first graduating classes). How he feels about seeing all the old traditions be slowly taken away from the school and how much it has truly changed from when he was a student to a teacher. In interviewing Mr. Verissimo I want to find out all about the sports. I want to know all about how the sports at Golden West are doing especially baseball since that’s what he coaches. I also want to know what he thinks of the 94% attendance policy. I also want to interview the principle Mrs. Powell I want to find out why she closed off the campus at lunch to Freshmen which came into affect my sophomore year, why she put what looks like a prison gate around the school, why the traditions from past years have gone and what she plans to do in the future.
The way “A Beautiful Find” was written very similar to how I would have written an news paper article. I feel like I have an advantage because I have interviewed before when I was on the news paper staff and even was the person who would go along with “first timers” to interview for there stories. I have also had the privilege of interviewing these teachers before. I like how “A Beautiful Find” was written and plan to keep the same style of writing but I think that it would be easier to write this essay if I do it in a news paper article and an essay form mixture.

Essay

While working on this essay I have learned that i like to write and that I am excited to improve my writing skills so I can become a better writer then I already am. As I wrote these essays I noticed a pattern I go threw to help complete my essays. I always start in the middle then go back to my intro and the conclusion because for me those are the hardest to write. I have also learned an embarrassing habit to. I still don’t know which where/were or there, their or they’re to use! The easiest part was finding something I was passionate about and to work from there. The best part of the essay I feel is the actual incident I feel like a gave a lot of detail and explained myself well. The most difficult part for me was coming up with a conclusion and an intro. I know that there is more I can do to this essay. Like Mrs. Jensen said one paragraph doesn’t make since so I know I have to fix that. I also found out I don’t like being questioned on my writing or trying to prove my opinion wrong which is a TERRIBLE habit and I am working on it!

Why am I in school

My family has always instilled in me that having an education beyond an high school diploma was very important. However it wasn’t until the summer before my senior year that I really decided to further my education. During this summer I had gotten a cavalier spaniel puppy who I named copper. He was white with brown spots, big brown eyes and was very energetic. I had gotten him knowing that behind his cute appearance he had a skull that hadn’t fully closed yet. This meant that if the skull didn’t close it could cause death by brain swelling. Just two weeks after getting him he had to be put to sleep because there was so much water on his brain it was causing serious problems for copper. He lost sight out of one eye, he couldn’t eat without falling over, if he walked it would be in a circle and he would whine when put down because his comfort from the pain was being held. I held him as the veterinary technician put him to sleep. After the two weeks of watching copper slowly deteriorate I knew I wanted to help other animals like him. From a young age I had always wanted to be a veterinarian but as I got older I found new interests an careers that I thought would be better but now after my experience with copper I knew my place is in veterinary medicine. I decided that I wanted to be a veterinary technician because it’s a closer feel towards the animals. I knew that there would be a lot of schooling and I knew that I wanted to continue going to get my license in veterinary medicine. I am now enrolled in the two year vet program at COS. I am my own motivation to be in school. I know where I want to be in my life and school is what will get me there.