Blogging Around

I read Marika's blog about how much she liked blogging this year, as the free writing let her self-express, despite having it as an assignment.

"I think it's nice that you found a form of self-expression through blogs. It seems like your thinking really benefited by having this forum. Do you think you will continue blogging without it as homework?"

Kyle talked about how blogging has helped open his mind, and led him to start his own blog, which he thinks lets him be comparatively more creative and individual, as opposed to narrow prompts.

"Kyle,
To start, I'm pretty impressed you have a personal blog getting 60 hits a week? Are they all people you know?

It's interesting me that you don't really few this as a blog. Blogs seem to be about whatever you want them to be about. After all, most journalists syndicated and staffed now write blogs supplemental to their columns and/or reports. Seems like they have dictated scopes on what to write about.

If that doesn't convince you of some merit of having a prompt, defer to your opening paragraphs- this helped you think about things you wouldn't normally consider, which probably helps your thinking process and can't be arrived at without some external challenge.

At least you get the best of both worlds.

Mitch"

Albert made funny comments on how to finish his short story, reflecting on the feeling of futility accompanying the process.

"Albert,I think your musings on how to write your short story are both hilarious and also serve to shed light on how difficult the writinhg process can be. It's nice that in the face of such adversity you still retain humor."

Metacognition: Blogging

Blogging this year has been interesting. I usually enjoy going through the thought/writing process, even though it sometimes has felt forced and tedious. Reflecting and thinking about what we've learned in class outside probably has helped me internalized some of the information better, although on occasion the given prompt has been in the wrong direction given the project at hand. When I've gone to start writing my blogs, I've found that the first 2-3 paragraphs that fall out of my head suit the purpose, but it would be nice to have to rustle around the attic if not for a little longer than in a different place. This may have to do with the way I approach the prompts; a duty or a conversation starter. I feel like too often, despite the best intentions this homework assignment has seemed like the former, and I don't think it has to. Giving prompts similar to the "do you mind" questions we've been faced with in class, or even reverting to the prompt "answer a do you mind question" would let students focus on a subject that currently piques their interest. To keep it centered on the curriculum, the assignment itself could say connect the answer/insight arrived at from answering the do you mind question to X aspect (project or discussion) of class. I was pleasantly surprised by the utility of blogging, and I think going through a similar process mentally for more of my other classes should be useful in the future.

Blogs seem like they should be written when the blogger has something to blog about. Unless you used to be called journalist.

Best of Week: Michael K as Moses

Although this entry may seem self-serving, as I thought of the idea I'd like to share, I only bring up Michael K as Moses because it is somewhat fresh in my mind as I didn't have the chance to talk about it in class.

When Moses was a small boy in Pharaoh's court, as the Midrash tells us, in order to test his viability as a rival to the King, Moses was presenting with a crown containing hot coals, and a crown without coals. Moses, being a smart child, went for the non-coal-crown, but, wanting to give Moses a chance at getting to the burning bush, an angel changed his hand at the last second, causing Moses to burn his hand on the crown, instinctively touch his mouth to cool it, and give himself a permanent lisp.

Like Michael K, Moses was unable to effectively communicate with people. We already discussed other parallels between the two in class, but the most important difference is that Moses had Aaron to talk to the people, completing his narrative/role, and making him a great leader.

This makes me think about the importance of being able to communicate with people, and that you can be god's own son, but if people don't want to listen it doesn't matter what you have to say. I'll strive to communicate well with people in life, but understand that it might be a mater off chance whether or not I get an "Aaron." (Or if i deserve one for that matter) Better yet, I could be someone else's Aaron.

Carry it Forward: Compassionate Imagining

Compassionate imagining seems like something that will have a great impact on my life. Compassionate imagining is the notion of projecting your compassion onto another thing, person, or yourself and imagining a circumstance that would alleviate the concern of that compassion.
It's valuable to me more as a way of understanding how people think than it is as a tool for life, since I do or don't do it subconsciously regardless. However, understanding that people like to compassionately imagine, or understanding people's or my own thoughts in that context greatly enhances my ability to contextually and comprehend the reasons for people's thoughts, the roots of them, and how to deal with/handle/understand them. For instance, instead of scoffing at someone's empathy for an only slightly misfortuned person or thing, I can instead appreciate that it is only their own misfortune they are trying to alleviate.

Metacognition: Short Story

Writing this short story was a rather tenuous process for me. The relative amount of time I've spent writing daily probably peaked around third or fourth grade, so, as you can imagine, I'm perpetually rusty in my ability to frame, illustrate, and inform, especially in fictional or semi-fictional contexts. Therefore, my thought process was somewhat hindered by inability to express those results in writing, but I think it forced deeper introspection on how to deal with those challenges.
Mr. Allen gives challenging feedback during creative processes. This challenge was compounded with a slight lack of determined direction for me, as I wasn't quite sure how I wanted my story to work or what the central conflict was. Whatever stuck in my first draft, I was given the help needed to shave and smooth it down to something operable. I noticed that in my thought process, despite my initial lack of direction, I tended to want to stick to the story as outlined in the first draft, despite knowing it wasn't directed or perfected, which disappointed me.
These problems were solved in the end by a conference with the above-referenced English teacher, and I feel like that is a course of action to stick to in the future, since there can be no synthesis without both a thesis and an antithesis.

Metacognition: Jane Eyre Writing

Helping to write my group's Jane Eyre dialectic/discussion was a pleasant experience. The thought process was fairly straightforward given the nature of the assignment. Our topic, enlightenment and what happens after, lends itself very nicely to the format as we could easily ascribe certain views and opinions to Bronte and her creation. However, the process became interesting and challenged once we needed to create a philosophy for the Academy student (Deb Ator), which wound up post-dating both of their lives, and relating it to their systems of thought.
Not really doing ourselves any favors, we chose to have the Academite be a Nietzche-based nihilist, providing a strong counterpoint to the idea of enlightenment through religion, god, and loved ones, with enlightenment through selfishness.
Reflecting on the process, I think this was an effective choice to make. Although slightly extreme, it very nicely contextualizes the views and realities of Bronte and Eyre. It often is hard to capture the full implications of anything unless you provide an extreme opposite. I also think that the synthesis of these ideas provided meaningful insight into how we should live our lives- each of the characters were irrevocably devoted to something, which, we discover, is the only way to fulfill ourselves.
I was glad that the group's thinking led us down the path. Although Choi chose and propogated Nietzche (perhaps predictably), I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed my ability to fit in those views with the somewhat more docile ones of Bronte.
The one part of the process I thought could be improved was developing more distinct ideologies between Bronte and Eyre to better illuminate not only why Bronte created Eyre, but also why Eyre has lived on through the centuries.

What if?: Writing a Short Story

The other day in English class Mr. Allen was talking to me about my short story. In the course of the discussion, the nature and likely responses of teenage boys came up. This was contextual to the likelihood that a teenager would stay and help an older stranger who needed help around the house or yard. Mr. Allen concluded that a kid would mostly like try and succeed in getting out of it, while I tried to defend myself and peers. That got me thinking. What if teenagers were selfless?
The most intriguing change would be in adults' perceptions. If teenagers were selfless, most likely brought on by better communal and self awareness, people like Mr. Allen wouldn't be so sure either of how my character or his students would respond to certain situations. We'd have a better reputation, and be able to take on much greater responsibility at home and in the community. That's not to say there aren't teenagers who don't do such things, this is just a question of perception. It seems like problems with substance abuse and accompanying illicit activities either wouldn't exist, or wouldn't be of concern to parents, authorities, or media, since they'd be assured of our appropriate, adult-like disposition to such activities. Isn't that why "responsible" adults drink?
Then again, there's a reason most teenagers are selfish; they're in the process of becoming selfless. Isn't that what growing up is all about?