Blogging Around

Choi's post was the metacognition about blogging. Basically, I agreed with his points about the versatility and freedom of blogging.

Albert X said...

Hey yo Choi

I enjoyed your blog and agreed with your points about the pros of blogging. I agree that the blogs allow you to define your thoughts so that you can better articulate them. I also agree about the flexibility of the blogs in that they allow us to talk about basically whatever we want, which is something we don't usually get to do.

I agreed with Mitchel's approach to the WHAP test. We took an extremely non-stressful approach to do well on the WHAP test. Our respective Grade:(effort + preparation) ratios were nice.

Albert X said...

Hey yo Mitchell

I like your strategy for the preparation of the WHAP test (that is, not having any preparation at all). This is extremely similar to the strategy I used to approach the WHAP test. I didn't study at all either, and thus, I didn't get stressed out before the test. In reality, I didn't really expect the test to be that hard; I figured I could, at the very least, get a 3 without doing anything to prepare for it. But, I did better than I thought, and I think I got a 4 or 5. Studying probably would've helped with the multiple choice section, but I think we learned enough in class to handle the written portions.

Metacognition: Blogging

This is rather broad, to apply "how I was thinking" to all my blogs, so this might not be exactly what you're looking for.

For each blog, I first checked what the blog prompt was, and then checked what I had to do in order to complete the blog prompt. I thought about what I could write, and then tailored what I wanted to write to the blog prompt. If we had a choice as to what blog prompt I wanted to use, I chose the one that I thought I actually had something to say in (and usually, I wouldn't have much to say on many of the blog prompts).

As to what I thought about the blogging in general...
I think it was interesting to be able to write and read what other people thought about certain subjects, and in that respect, I thought it was good. But sometimes, because it's an internet assignment, teachers like to assign things when we don't have class (i.e., on Memorial day, we were assigned this) and they like to make things due when we don't have class (i.e., this is due today, but despite the fact that we don't have class today, we still have to do this blog). In that respect, I think it's rather unfair to be able to assign blogs out of class and make them due out of class.

Metacognition: Best of Week Blog

Which blog to do first, the choose your own prompt, or the Best of Week prompt. Well, let's see what my choose my own prompt would be. Don't like that... don't like that.. can't do that... Hmm, I could do a Connection.. oh wait, that would be for Social Studies, not English. Yeah, I don't like any of these blogs. I guess I'll do another metacognition. But what will I do the metacognition on? The Jane Eyre project was a while ago... we haven't really written anything in English in a while... oh, I guess I could do it on my Best of Week prompt. Yes.. let's do that.. first I have to do the Best of Week though. So.. what was best of week? There was some stuff about PoV and themes, Michael K as God... we finished Michael K... we got grade sheets, we talked about the test on Monday. Hmm.. I'd rank those at about the same level of interest. We missed a day of English for the AP test... Can't really write about that though, not for Best of Week for English... Alright, the Michael K as God thing was interesting, and I disagreed with it, so let's write about that. It's easier to write about what you disagree with than what you agree with anyway. Let's see.. hmm it's been a while.. what were the things that likened Michael K to God? "I am what I am", "Miracle", and "He escaped the system." Was that it? Am I missing something? I probably am... that's a pretty weak case for a strong an assertion as Michael K being God. Oh well, let's write about my disagreement with that.

Best of Week: Michael K as God

As noted in class, there may possibility be numerous biblical references that might imply that Coetzee may be likening Michael K to God. I'm not using this topic because I feel that I actually believe this 100%, but rather because I found it to be an interesting topic that we discussed in class. So... our logic likening Michael K to God were that he said "I am what I am", someone said that his escape/getting over the wall out of the camp was a "miracle", his escaping from the "system", which supposedly cannot be done, and probably other things that I cannot recall at this moment. So with the first two, we see two instances out of an entire book where somebody might make a vague references that might possibily liken Michael K to God. Or not. I know that I've personally used the phrase "It's a miracle" before, and I've heard other people use it before, and I know that God was not really part of the equation when the phrase was used. Just because the Bible says it, does not mean that everyone else that says it must be referring to the Bible. With the "I am what I am" one, it's more likely that it might be a religious reference. I say this because its an actual line, and not just a one word phrase. I'd probably liken Michael K more to Buddha through this line, and not God, however. If I recall correctly, Buddha also said something along this line (And if not Buddha, another eastern religion.) Michael K's experiences through the book vaguely remind me of Buddha's journey. However, once again, this does not necessarily mean that Coetzee is likening Michael K to God (or Buddha). He might be likening Michael K to Popeye the sailor man. Or he might not be likening Michael K to anyone at all. As for Michael K escaping the system... I really don't think he's actually escaped the system. If he's truly escaped the system, he wouldn't have been constantly pulled into those camps. The system still has a major influence on him. At the end of the book, he's in a city. He's living inside the creation of the system. Of course, I could be wrong. Maybe he really isn't in the system. But, if this is the case, is there really a "system" at all? As we discussed in class, post modernism doesn't apply in all time periods; only recently has post modernism applied due to internationalism. Michael K lives in the 1940's. Is it not possible that the reason he's outside the system is because the system is not developed, or does not exist at all? Would it then really be a miracle to say that he's outside the system?

Metacognition: Short story

Alrighty, another metacognition about my short story. For thought process, or metacognition, see below blog. The end.













No, not really, just kidding, funny joke, haha. Although in all seriousness, my thought process hasn't changed that much since the last time I wrote about thinking about writing about my short story. Basically, I looked at Mr. Allen's comments, and edited my story accordingly. I actively tried to eliminate dialogue, and have more of the character doing stuff, while writing. I also placed pressure on the character. As with the last blog post, I listed possible outcomes/options of/or situations/actions my character was in/made, and chose what I thought was the best one. There were some times, though, that I didn't really like any of the options, and couldn't really come up with another feasible option. I couldn't really think of what to write in those situations, but just went with one of the options. I'll probably end up changing what I wrote in a later draft. While writing, I did have some sort of goal in mind; I wanted my main character not to triumph in the end. This was the one organized principal I had to base the events in my story off.

Metacognition: Short story 2nd draft

So it ended with my character inside a log cabin. Of course, I wanted to kick him out of the log cabin, so I could apply more pressure to him by forcing him to survive in the woods (as per Mr. Allen's comments). Under what circumstances would my character need to be kicked out of the cabin? 1) Cabin explodes. 2) Cabin is attacked. 3) Owner of cabin kicks him out. 4) Conditions for staying in cabin not favorable. 5) Some combination of the above. I tried thinking of 1 and 2, and decided I couldn't really write anything with that. So I went with a combination of 3 and 4. So what now? The cabin owner needs to kick him out, and/or the conditions for staying in the cabin are not favorable, either for the cabin owner or for the main character. What reason could the cabin owner have for kicking the main character out of his cabin? 1) main character is a wanted fugitive. 2) Main character has some kind of deadly disease, 3) cabin owner goes psychotic, 4) main character does something that the cabin owner doesn't like. Ok now this is getting hard. The latter three are less likely... so i'll go with the first one. But... to make things more interesting... the reason that he's a fugitve will be that he broke out of the system of an apocalyptic situation. *disclaimer* I thought of the idea before realizing it was similiar to the matrix. But maybe I subconsciously thought of the matrix and then got the idea. Step 4: write.

Dialectics: Education and freedom

Being unsure about what to write about (and how to do this prompt in general), I choose to do one of the examples. Education and Freedom. In our current education system, we have limited freedoms. I.e. we are free to make choices of our classes from a limited selection. However there are many freedoms that we don't have access to. Schedule order, what we specifically learn in the classes, what classes we can or cannot take, our teachers, flexibility of schedule and work load, freedom (for soph&frosh) to go off campus to eat, etc. As Mr. Allen said, the way schools are set up are preparing us to be factory workers and the way the geographical location of classes in the school are set up are limiting the way we think. At the same time, if we were given some of these freedoms, it is quite possible many of us would abuse them to the point that we don't learn anything. Which freedoms can be given which will help enhance student's learning abilities, and which freedoms will impede our learning? If these freedoms must be given out on a student by student basis in order to be effective, won't it be deemed "unfair"? Cycles of problems can occur with the allowance of more freedoms in the education system, and yet problems occur because there are not enough freedoms. An optimal educational system (that satisifies the educated and the educators) will never be attainable by us because of human nature.

Blogging around

My first post was on Nick's blog about craft in Cathedral. I agreed with him that cathedral was great and its craft was great.

Albert X said...

Hey Nick,

I liked your post, and I agree that it is the greatest short story I have ever read, which is not really saying much since I don't read them often. I also thought that the use of form to convey content in Cathedral was brilliant, although I personally probably won't be able to do something like that that well with my story.

The second blog post I commented on was Mitch H's. His was about how he began to see people in a whole new light due to comparisons of Shrek with onion skins. I found the craft of his post humorous, and I enjoyed reading it, although I was somewhat skeptical of his claims.

Albert X said...

Hey Mitch,

It's great to know that you've had an epiphany about personalities. I liked your extensive analysis of Shrek and onions. Nice use of multimedia in your post too. Although I enjoyed reading your blog in general, I especially enjoyed the part where you wrote "This made me have a much deeper appreciation for people around me." Very classic, I approve. But seriously, I enjoyed reading the post, although I might be somewhat skeptical of how you had a revelation due to Shrek and onion skins :P.

Best of Week: Why is this story not about how drugs give you epiphanies?

Not the typical discussion question. But I thought that the way that this question was presented to us made it amusing to answer. People were more interested in the discussion because of the humor of it. In addition, because more people are interested, you can generate a more interesting (from the student point of view) discussion, with supporters for both sides of the argument (although we were only allowed to argue one side). I think that in the future, we should have more of these types of questions, i.e. questions that are relevant to the text and to our lives, that may be humorous, that can generate discussion, and that keep the class interested. I feel that the class was (somewhat) more energized when answering this question than with other discussion questions.

What if?: Matrix and postmodernism...?

Postmodernism is a philosophy that attempts describe our current world. The Matrix seems to be heavily influenced by postmodernism... it may even be an attempt to explain post modernism. However, from what I can tell, the Matrix is not an exact representation of postmodernism. The "system" in the Matrix was (directly) imposed upon human culture by machines, while the "system" in our world is supposed to have been imposed upon human culture by humans. (Although the world of the Matrix is implied to be our world in the future, and therefore we can assume that our "system" existed in the Matrix world as well, just 200 or so years earlier). In addition, the purposes of the systems are different. In the Matrix, the system is used to pacify humans while using them as a power source, while in our world the system was likely created gradually, without the outcome in mind at the start, and probably unknowingly to those who were creating it. What if it wasn't like that? What if somebody purposely imposed the system upon us with the "system effect" as the desired outcome, as in the Matrix? As it is right now, many of us accept the system, despite the fact that we know about the system. In the Matrix, we see that many of the people who know of the system reject the system. Is this a result of the system being forced upon them? If the system we're in right now was imposed upon us by a man interested in riches, and who profited from our actions, would we also reject the system?

Connection: Kurtz and Hitler

The fictional character of Mr. Kurtz from Heart of Darkness and Hitler bear striking resemblances. Mr. Kurtz was, as we know from Marlow's descriptions, eloquent, and through his eloquence, was able to captivate many people. Hitler was also eloquent. He used his eloquence to captivate those who would become his subordinates. In addition both of these people had what we would consider to be racist views of the world. Hitler, as we know, eliminated many people based on qualities he deemed inferior, including being handicapped or Jewish. Mr. Kurtz deemed native Africans as inferior "savages." He also wrote in his book that he would "Exterminate all the brutes."