Final essay

Judith Botello

Dr. Preston

Expository Composition 1^st

1 June 2014

My Senior Year Experience

People always told me how fast high school would go by and I never believed it. They would also mention that year senior year would go by even faster because you have these amazing things to look forward to like prom and grad night. Well, they weren’t kidding, these four years went by really fast and senior year was by far the most fast and also best year.

This class is so much more than I expected it to be. When I first found out who the teacher of this class would be I was scared, I though “What did I get myself into, this guy is going to be crazy hard! He has a PhD!” now looking back at it, I’m so glad I stuck with it because it has been the best and most diverse class I have taken. This class has done more for me in just one year than all my other classes in my high school career. A lot of people, including myself, are scared of change but when the change is this good there is nothing to be afraid of. I have realized that I am more responsible than I ever imagined I would be at 17.  This course has helped me become the person I am today. It has helped me build relationships with my parents, employers, colleges, classmates, and friends. I’m not afraid to take risks, knowing I could possibly fail, which at one point was my biggest fear. Failing is an opportunity to learn, if that’s what you decide to make of it and yes it can be scary, but you must fail a few times only then will you learn and succeed.

For this class we were so independent; we were each in charge of our learning experience and what we got out of it. We were given the opportunity to learn about anything we wanted to while still meeting the high school district’s curriculum and that was interesting. It wasn’t boring, busy work or pointless. We didn’t need to memorizes things that in our minds were pointless to our interests because we found a way to connect everything in a way that was interesting to us. Being taught practically the same way for 11+ years, we’ve grown used to those ways and those ways only. Change is hard, especially after the years and years of repetition. None of us were willing to take the risk, to take the first step. We didn’t have to earn this independence. It was just given to us, and no one really took full advantage of it. That is probably my biggest regret, and I probably speak for majority of the class as well.

There is a universal theme that I see right off between a majority of the masterpiece presentations. Most of the projects are intended to help others, create something for someone else to enjoy, bring a smile to someone’s face. Each one of us has to be passionate enough about the subject to do what we are doing and that is also another thing we have in common. In my opinion, it goes shows how none of us are really self-centered in life. We have such a wide variety of topics that all have similar qualities.

Amparo and I did our masterpiece together and we worked on volunteering and giving back to other people. We both volunteered our time helping the kids in the resource program on campus. By doing this, we were not only helping out the teachers and people that are in charge, but also spending time with the kids in the program and helping them out around the classroom. That takes a lot of time and dedication, but to us it was all worth is and I personally loved doing it. It not only brought a smile to the kids face, but also to mine and the adults who saw us every day.  

Mackenzie is spreading awareness about human sex trafficking. I had no idea that was still a thing until she gave her presentation and informed me more about it. She wants to create safe houses for people who are victims of sex trafficking and get the word out there that this is still an issue. I hope she gets the funds and support she needs in the future because she could become a huge inspiration for many people and just make a huge difference in those affected by this.  

Austin is interested in comedy. He wants to entertain people with jokes and stories. He wants to be able to really make people laugh. Everyone loves a good laugh every once in a while and he wants to be able to do that for people. I enjoyed listening to his stand-up acts in the classroom and I think he could make something out of this, even if it were just for a hobby. He is pretty entertaining!

This year has been the most challenging of them all. I have learned a lot about the person I am and the person I want to be. I enjoyed this whole year and everything that I experienced. I really enjoyed being in the Expository Composition class. Whether it being networking, communication skills, developing relationships, creating connections, using my resources, not procrastinating; I learned a lot this semester that will be very useful and help me out next year in college. And I really don’t think that those are things that I would have learned in a traditional English class while managing to have fun and learn as much as I did and all these skill are skills that I will always remember.

To anyone reading this, if you ever have the opportunity to take an open source learning class -TAKE IT! You learn so much and these are skills that will help you throughout the rest of your life. I was very lucky to have not only this amazing opportunity but an amazing teacher to teach this class and having him as a teacher made this class so much more wonderful. With that being said, thank you Dr. Preston. 

Raising a child / Parental involvement is overrated

As I was reading the article "Raising a moral child" i was thinking to myself, well obviously everyone wants their child to be a good and moral child right? Well than you have to be a moral parent because most likely that child will pick up on the things that they people who they are surrounded by do. Most parents should realize that they are more influential to their child's life than they think, especially at a younger age. You can raise your child right but once they are surrounded by different people with different morals and different characters, that's when things are out of your hands because your child can be surrounded by bad influences.

Then i read "Parental involvement is overrated" and i thought that those articles somewhat contradicted each other. First of all let me say that I believe that the more involved the parent is in their child's life, they better they child will do.If my mom wouldn't care about my future and my grades i feel like that would probably discourage me from wanting to do my best. So, how are you supposed to raise a moral child but not be involved? Honestly, this just had me stuck. Unless i didn't understand the articles because i had that question as my focus thoroughout the entire reading

Note to Viewers (:

Hello everyone , so you're probably thinking "Oh my gosh Judith , you haven't even done your work for this semester !" Yeah , that's sort of what it looks like but I've been having a lot of techniacal difficulties but I have done all the assignments & I've turned them in to Dr.Preston . So the point of this blog is to let everyone know that I am caught up (:

masterpeice gallery

While looking ath the list from both classes i only found 4 people who's project I could join as we are looking in the same direction . 

• Tina Alavarado 

• Gabi Perverzier 

** Summer Morgan 

° Mackenzie DeLauer 

Essay #1

Question : in what ways, as of now, am I able to help people?

Have you ever wanted to talk to someon but couldn't ? Wanted someone to just listen to you in your times of need but had no one? Well I'm sure we've all been through that and we remover how terrible those times were. I don't want people to feel like that, that is why helping others is important to me .

Helping others in anyway that I can is something that is so important because it could seriously change a life. People sometimes feel like they are alone , like what they are doing is pointless and the reality that's not the way things are. Yeah , life gets rough but all you really need is someone who can push you through those hard times because we all go through them.
The more that I write about this the more I start to realize that I'm more about helping people with sort of like emotional issues and just being able to be there for people so that they don't feel like they hav to go through any situation alone ; bad or good. As of now, I can let my peers know that they can trust me and that ill give them advise and help them in any way that I can & I feel like for the most part I have proved that to be true to my friends .
Would I like to help people in other ways? Of course! I don't want to be limited in the way that I can helps people or who I can help. I want to be able to help anyone with anything but I'm not at that level yet. One day ill he able to do that but I have to work my way there; baby steps to reach my goals.

vocab list

•Samaritan - a charitable/helpful person
•Vouch- assert/confirm as a result of ones own experience that something is true
• Variance - the fact or tranquility of being different,divergent, or inconsistent .
• Facility - Space or equipment necessary for doing something
• Alight - to descend
• protocol - official procedure / system of rules
• immaculate - a person who is perfectly clean and neat . Perfect
• accolade - an award or privilege granted as a special honor ; acknowledgement
• attrition - a reduction in numbers or strength
• spiritually - that which gives meaning to ones life nd draws one to transcend oneself .
• Invest - expend money with expectation of achieving a profit or material results by putting it into financial schemes, ahares , or property by using it to develope a commercial venture .
• awareness - knowledge or perception of a situation or fact
• abjure - reject
• diffident - shy ; lacking in self confidence
• sanguine - cheerful
• circumlocution - an indirect way of expressing something .

vocab choices and resources #2

Resources: 
- Karen Armstrong
-http://www.seedsofcompassion.org/why/
-http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2013/may-june-13/the-compassionate-mind.html
-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSL_xvokoF8
*dalai lama 

Words: 
idiosyncratic- distinctive/ unique
paracetamol- pain relieverdiffident- shy
recapitulate- to summarize
adulation- excessive admiration
egregious - outstandingly bad
abate- decrease or diminish
torpid- mentally or physically inactive
anathema- a disgrace
chauvinist- exaggerated patriotism
imprecation: a spoken curse
ineluctable:unable to be resisted or avoided
mercurial: person who is subject to sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind.
emulate- match or surpass, typically by imitation
disarray- disorganized
opprobrium- harsh criticism
manifold- diverse
abjure- to reject
sui generis- uniquewanderlust- a strong desire to travel

Vocab choices #1

* yes these are all words that we know , but how does the definition relate to my launch ? i wanted to use them in a way i knew for sure would be the right way and this is what i came to. Be patient, its all baby steps.

Sources:

• www.givingback.org
• www.kidshealth.org
• www.cspinis.org
• helpingothers.org
• bigfuture.collegeboard.org

1. Foundation- the basis or ground of work
   The foundation was started in the thoughts of one day making a big difference 
2. Organization- association
   The non profit organization focused on children.
3. Donation-contribution
   Her donation was greatly appreciated because not only did she donate her money but also her time.
4. Community service- unpaid work for the community
   her community service consisted of working on the public garden during her free time.
5. Charity- foundation or institution
   the charity needed all the donations they could get.
6. Volunteer- offering yourself for a service or undertaking
   she decided to be a volunteer at the hospital during her free time.
7. Sacrifice- something surrendered or devoted
   In order to do community service she had to sacrifice hanging out with her friends.
8. civic- of or pertaining to citizenship
9. Guidance- learning, direction, advice, counseling
   His guidance meant a lot to her because he is a professional in her field of interest
10. assistance- help, aid, support
    her assistance in these times of need are greatly appreciated
11. Generosity- liberality in giving - largeness or fullness
    Her generosity was greatly appreciated
12. nonprofit- not established for the purpose of making a profit
    the nonprofit organization was very focused on the children. 

Launch

Choosing what to focus on with this project was difficult because I don't know what I want to do with my life! i mean, im only 17 so to focus on one thing is very limiting considering all the responsibilities. There are many things that i enjoy doing but one thing that I've always been passionate about and that I probably always will be is people; helping others in any way that i can.
i can use the internet in anyway that i know how. i can research people who have contributed a lot into giving back to the less fortunate and anything similar. I can use the people around me to get feedback and to get ideas from people who are interested in things similar to my topic.

I want to help people, and not just a small amount, i want to be able to help people around the world. I want to learn what makes people happy; some are fascinated by materialistic things and others by the simple thing sin life, why is that? i want to be able to help rebuild people who have been broken, people who feel like they have nothing left. i want to help people feel good about themselves. i want people to work together and just be happy. can you imagine who much better the world would be? 

Spring Literary Analysis #1

1) "forever..." by Judy Blume is the story of a girl in high school who deal with problems that a lot of high school students deal with: betrayal, relationships,college, and love. Katherine is a senior in high school and while at a new years party she meets "the perfect guy" whose name is Micheal. they start off as friends and the more they hang out, the more they fall for each other.Although they go to different schools they hang out almost everyday; they are in love. They're love is so strong that they decide to completely give themselves up to each other; they really do believe they are in love. then summer comes around and they get jobs, they are states apart from each other. Katherine is a head tennis counselor at a camp near her town while Micheal is working in North Carolina with his uncle. They write to each other basically everyday but that isn't enough because Katherine falls for another counselor at the camp which causes her and Micheal to break up and they realize that it really was just a high school love because when you're so young, your feelings change, you aren't sure about anything.
2) I believe that one theme could be that nothing last forever. They thought they were in love but they're teenagers! you aren't supposed to think about spending the rest of your life with someone, you're supposed to be a rebel and enjoy you're youth because after high school everything changes. In my opinion, this book was very realistic because these are things that a lot of teenagers go through so its easy to relate to some of the situations that were read about.
3) The authors tone to me seemed to change a lot. at times there was seriousness like when they gave Katherine "the talk" because her parents felt the relationship was getting to serious. Other times it seemed really fun and relaxed like when the went ice skiing with Micheal's sister. And other times things were depressing like when one of the friends committed suicide or when Katherine's Grandpa passed away.  
4)   Conflict- In the end Katherine must choose who she wants to be with Micheal or the counselor from camp. Also, she must decide of she wants to go to school with Micheal or in Denver. There are many choices that seemed to be a conflict.
Point of view- everything was from Katherine point of view because she is the narrator of the story, its her personal experience.
Dialogue and tone- what was being said and how it was being said made a lot of difference to me as the reader because it seemed so emotional at times.
Characterization- The kinds of people who Katherine was friends with led her to make some choices that she wouldn't have made otherwise, also, the way that they were described was interesting because sometimes they turned out to be opposite of how they were described.
Setting- where the situations take place mad an impact believe it or not.




Characterization
1)   One example of direct characterization is the way Katherine describes herself and her family. She talks about many things, good and bad. she was very upfront about the way they are; their strengths and weaknesses. One example of indirect characterization is the way Katherine describes Micheal when we were first introduced to him. She talks about his characteristics but we don't get to know him on a personal level until later on in the book. another example of indirect characterization is when Katherine describes Sybil,one of her childhood friends. she describes her from how she personally feels about Sybil.
2)Katherine changed a lot. at the beginning of the book she seemed to be very close with her parents and her younger sister but once she started dating Micheal things changed. She would be distant because she was always with him. she would disobey her parents and their rules.She would sneak people in her house and she would sneak out even though her parents were really flexible on her going out, she became a rebel. 3) When i finished the story i felt like i had just hung out with one of my friends and they were telling me about their summer. This story was realistic because so many teenagers can relate to at least one thing in this book. When Katherine and Micheal would get into an argument and she would describe it i felt like i could see her pain as if i were talking to one of my friends. If I wasn't in high school and if i didn't have Friends that go through similar situations i feel like my understanding of this book would be completely different and like i wouldn't have connected with Katherine. At the end of the story I felt like I had met Katherine and even Micheal because they're emotions seemed so real .

Hafta/wanna

Is there a difference between life after high school and life in high school? Maybe ? To be honest, i feel like most people are just doing whatever they can to get by. Yeah, there are those people that really are motivated to be the best that they can be but a lot of them just give up. 
I dont feel like people "magically transform", i feel like we know that its time to grow up and get our act together. some are going to get a job right after high school, some going to a four year, and some community college, well they all involve responsibility and maturity and i feel like we know that for the most part. We goof around and do childish things in high school because we know we wont be able to get away with things like that afterwards.Those who have the mindset that they want to be successful will accomplish it and those who just don't care, well we'll see what happens with those kids. As for myself, I don't know what i want to do exactly. I do know that i want to make myself and those who believe in me proud and prove those who doubted me wrong.
The possibilities are endless, you can literally do anything you want of you really set your mind to it.

The Choice

1. What is the "choice" referred to in the title?

• I believe that the choice is whether the parents have to force their little girl to drink " the poison" or if she will drink it on her own without her parents shoving it down her throat. 

2. Is it a real choice?  Why/why not?  What is the alternative?

• Yeah, i believe it is a real choice. its painful enough for the parents to have to see their little five year old daughter suffer and the fact that they have to force her to drink something that is helping her in one way but killing her in another, that's hard. They might feel a little better knowing that they don't have to hold her down and force it in her mouth. 

3. Why does the author use the word poison in the first line?

• I believe that they used poison because yeah, its helping their daughter kill the bad cells, BUT its also attacking the good cells that she needs to grow. I find that the word poison described the medication very well, i don't know it just made sense to me. 

4. The author's daughter wants to play with a toy that is intended for older kids.  Why?  Do you agree with her?  

• She felt like she needed to play with the toy because she won't live to be eight years old. It makes sense, if you know you won't make it past a certain time you want to try and experience things before you run out of time. 

5. If you thought you might not live to the age of 30 what would you want to do right now?

• I would want to travel and do community work. I would go to the homeless shelter and help. i would play basketball, hang out with loved ones and enjoy the things I love. i would sit down and enjoy a nice book. I would Ride my bike along the beach and then go swimming. I would go bungi jumping and try new and spontaneous things. i would enjoy life. 

6. Under what circumstances does it make sense to endure discomfort--or even force it on a loved one-- in service to a greater/more important cause?

• 
  

7. Is suffering a necessary condition of life and love?

• I feel like everyone must suffer a little so they can appreciate what they have. Or maybe place themselves in a situation of someone who has suffered and that way we wont take the things that we do have for granted.

8. Most readers don't share the author's circumstances, but we feel an emotional response to his words.  Why?

• I teared up a little, i wont deny it. I got emotional because no one deserves to suffer through something as terrible as cancer but the fact that its happening to a five year old. Five year olds should just have fun, they shouldn't have to worry whether they'll make it to age eight. Life is something that most of us take for granted when in reality we should appreciate life more because it is a beautiful thing even when times are rough.