...VMy Writing While Growing Up I grew up in a family of writers. My parents are both writers. My dad was an editor-in-chief at a major internet magazine while I was growing up. While I was a young child, both my parents owned and contributed to a programming magazine. I was always encouraged to write as a child. My parents would always help me edit and change my writings in school. Even my brother has always been a writer. He was always telling stories growing up. When he was in middle school he even wrote a book. Growing up in a supportive family of writers has given me a negative outlook on writing which has made me the writer I am today. Since I can remember, I have always been told I am a good writer yet for some reason I have always fought the writing process. English was one of my worst subjects in high school. Yes, it is my native language, but the reading part is not my problem. Writing the essays was my biggest challenge. Starting an essay has always been the hardest part for me. I was taught to always start at the beginning and finish with the end. Later people told me I could write the beginning last, but I was stubborn. I had to write it first. This hindered me. I would usually wait until the last minute because I did not know where to begin. Procrastinating has always been my fall back when writing. Even now, I am writing this essay on Sunday at 2:30pm the day it’s due. My parents would never push me to write, they would ask the usual parental question of, “Did...
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...Holly Green 19 June 2015 Belief Paper Teaching writing at the middle school level requires a specific focus on fundamentals and the product. Students are required to perform well on state level writing tests and master the basic functions required to produce persuasive, expository, and argumentative writings. Adhering to certain “tensions” throughout the development helps successfully achieve this goal for teachers and students. While more attention should be given to creativity and the students’ freedom in constructing a piece of writing, the demand for success from local, state, and federal administration directs the core of writing. I believe focusing on specific practices at this level of education will benefit the students’ success on demanding assessments. Clearly stated, “Quality writing is the victim of time and influence from external testing regimes.” (Ryan, 80). Controlling the assignment and focus on instruction is vital for a teacher. Middle school students need specific direction and continual guidance in order to produce a successful piece of writing. By giving the class a detailed expectation of each part of an essay, the students know what is needed to produce that. Defining length requirements, organization of thoughts, and conventions help students learn the specifics needed to write successfully. Student receptivity takes precedence over student activity. In accordance with controlling the assignment, production of an essay can be mastered...
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...1-15-15 First Year Writing Essay Throughout my life, writing has always been a skill necessary for me to excel in many of my classes. Whether it was for research papers, or short journal assignments, writing was always a key component in order to achieve the best grade possible for my classes. Ever since I stepped foot into Elementary school, my skills as a writer have been average or slightly above average at best. My writing style is basic and I usually follow somewhat of a similar formula for most of my papers. My weak points as a writer would be my creativity and vocabulary. I also wish to improve my ability to draw the reader in during my introduction paragraphs. I always seem to take ages to write my introduction paragraph for my papers, and this causes me to spend a lot of time on my essays. My strong points as a writer would be my structure and my ability to get my message across to the reader. I am confident in my writing in the sense that I can get the job done, but know that my writing could be heavily improved. There are three instances in my life that made me realize my skills as a writer. The first would be my English tutor, who guided me at the beginning of middle school. She laid down the formula and gave me the skills in order to ace all of my basic middle school papers. The second would be the realization that my writing was not good as I thought it was after my first couple of papers in High School, and finally the last instance, which was my college...
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...Along with 2 donkeys and 2 geese and 3 ducks Jodi Picoult is a famous writer warm-hearted books. She is the writer of many famous books such as My Sister’s Keeper, Handle with Care, and Change of Heart. Her mother encouraged her to write books, and now she has almost 26 books and more coming. I think you should read Jodi Picoult’s books because they are breathtaking, plot building, heartbreaking books. Early Ages- Jodi Picoult was born on May 19, 1966 in Nesconset, NY. She is currently 48 years old. She attended the Princeton University where she got her degree in English and Creative Writing. She also got a degree from Harvard for Masters in Education. At prince ton she studied creative writing with Mary Morris. Soon she started teaching at...
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...Finishing my eighth grade year, I decided that middle school seemed fairly easy and that I needed to challenge myself. When I scheduled classes for high school, I made the bold decision to take speech and creative writing, even though I knew it might ruin my goal of having a perfect grade point average in the future. I recognized that I was a weak writer and a poor public speaker, but that only increased my efforts to succeed in those two areas. Learning the importance of confidence, speech and creative writing proved to be two of the most valuable classes that I have taken so far. Throughout my entire highschool career, I have studied through the most challenging math and English curriculum and the one Advanced Placement class my school offers. Coming from a small school, I understand the importance of how well a tight-knit group of students can work together and the friendships that are...
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...The hate side of my relationship with writing stems from school. This is because most of the writing assessments dont allow me to have creative freedom. 9 times out of 10 we have to write about something like why we love school (we don't) or sometime you had to do something specific that you can't remember ever doing. And then when you get to write something that has a plot instead of a 5 paragraph essay about why school shouldn't be start earlier, you have to write from a prompt that sounds like something you would find in a children's story contest. I understand why we are given prompts, i just wish we could have more creativity with them instead of writing with a specific prompt. That is why i partly hate writing. The love side of my...
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...Alternative Funding Ziada Meraz Program Planning and Grant Proposal Writing in Human Services HSM/270 Shelley Johnson Feb 15,2015 Alternative Funding Traditional funding through government agencies and corporations who donate to organizations and agencies is becoming harder and more competitive to attain; more organizations are relying on them when less money is available. The economic conditions are making it hard for more tradition funding methods to bring in enough revenue to match the amount of grants requested. More and more agencies are turning to non-traditional sources to generate the income they need to keep their programs operating. Even those sources are becoming more difficult to find, but with a little work and a lot of creative talent they can be found. The Santa Rosa Philharmonic Youth Symphony (SRPYS) is no different than other organizations that strive to provide a human service to a target population. In this case, the population is the youth of the Santa Rosa and surrounding areas that appreciate music and want to further their musical education. The local schools have lost funding for their music program and this organization wants to help pick up the deficit by offering a program to allow students to continue their education. The funding is all that is necessary since the agency already exists, has a facility, and has staffing which can work with students; the budget to run the additional program is the stalling point to the inception...
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...As an undergraduate, I tailored an education combining English, creative writing, theater, and consciousness and transformation to satisfy my different interests, and they all managed to complement my goals in education. As a right fit for Mason, I will represent the value of innovation during my studies and well into my career. I will approach education from a background of academic rigor and strength, but also from well-being and consciousness practices. A highlight of joining the Secondary Education program would be working under the guidance of Dr. Kristien Zenkov. I believe that his work on the “Through Students' Eyes” project is a great representation of how academic rigor and well-being come together. This is the kind of work that I hope to do in the future. I am confident that only George Mason University...
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...Here at Gulf Coast Academy Charter Schools the language arts program is my favorite. Each year the classes are interesting and engaging with a series a series of amazing books. Always remember to follow along with the book or risk failing the test that you will have each Friday. The test will review the previous chapter you have read so far. In language arts if you happen to fail a test you can stay after on language designated clinic days to repair the grade to at least a seventy percent. One of the Language Arts teacher at Gulf Coast Charter Schools says, “The best book the incoming sixth grade class will be reading is The Watson’s go to Birmingham, because it teaches you a lot about the civil rights movement.” You will have many writing assignments. One of the...
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...“The Pigman” by Paul Zindel was a creative story that should be read by middle school students in the eighth grade and/or older. “The Pigman” mainly takes place on 190 Howard Avenue. . . . . YU1-6994, or commonly knowns as Mr. Pignati’s house, over the course of a few months during the winter. Lorraine and John are both sophomores (in the 10th grade) at Franklin High. John lives with his father, mother, and older successful brother. He has an unsteady relationship with his parents; arguing a lot, gets himself in trouble frequently, doesn’t listen and doesn’t receive any discipline. He also really hates school. Lorraine lives with her mother who works hard to raise just enough money to support both of them, and are tight on surplus money. Her mother is very over protective but wants the best for Lorraine. Mr. Pignati is an older man who lives by himself whose wife passed away a little while ago. He often enjoys visiting a baboon, Bobo, at the zoo. Mr. Pignati always has a warming smile on his face and enjoys company. Norton, also a sophomore at Franklin High, is a flat out trouble maker....
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...Writing Activities: Telling a Story in your English class This is an activity you can do if you're talking about interesting experiences, achievements, or telling stories. Give the students a few minutes to write about something that they've experienced in the past. The examples I give them are: paragliding or bungee jumping, meeting their girlfriend or boyfriend, a special vacation, eating an interesting food, etc. When the students are finished writing, have them put their names on the paper. Collect them. At this point, I'll usually put the students in teams of 2 or 3. Then, read the papers out loud to the class and have the students write down the name of the person they think it is. Exchange papers with another group, give answers and you have your winner. This works well in my classes because even though there are about 20 people, they know each other well because they are all the same major and have all their classes together. If there are some students not of the same major who are repeating the class, I'll make sure to put them in a group with other students who know the majority of the students. This could also work well for a smaller, more advanced level class of mixed-major students as a "get to know each other" kind of activity. I had some fun with the options on my cheap digital camera this week. I noticed that on many photo programs there are magazine templates available with some of these cameras with such titles as BOSS,FORTUNE, ADVENTURER, etc. so I copied...
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...When it comes to writing, my attitude is instinctual negative. I never feel confident when I am faced with a variety of writing task in and outside of class. Since middle school I realized, that writing, no matter in what language, is one of my weakest subjects in school. Especially academic writing represents always a challenge for me. It is not only time consuming, but also a lot of work. For example, when writing about topics I am not familiar with, I have to do research, that takes a lot of time and energy. Since there are many rules to follow, I as well must worry about how to use words and sentences wisely, written in certain tenses and structures. Furthermore, my resistance toward writing is also influenced by various types of fear. For example, the feeling of fear, not to meet my and the professor's expectation inhibits my mind and unable me to clearly express myself by using words; leaving the paper blank. Moreover, I am getting nervous and anxious, when I need to write essays under time pressure due to deadlines. The pressure is overwhelming. I definite enjoy reading more than academic writing. Reading allows me to be creative; stimulate my imagination/able to picture images in my mind, without any pressure. Nevertheless, fact is that I lack of creativity when it comes to academic writing with all its boundaries and limitations. Even though, I know that I don't have much confidence in my writing skills just yet, I believe the more writing I do; the more comfortable I...
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...Observation Reflection During my days observing at Coeburn Middle School, I witnessed great opposition to benchmark testing from teachers and students. I talked with each teacher I observed and overall each were equally worried about testing. Due to benchmark testing, I was placed in different grade levels. I also observed many strategies from teachers to employ their students to start enjoying reading. Mrs. Wright, whom teaches 6th grade English and Social Studies, expressed to me that she hoped that she could try many different books in order to hopefully get students who do not typically like to read to start enjoying reading. However, as she was explain her system for AR points and books, to me I witnessed that most students in the class...
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...A Literary Autobiography My inclination for writing stems from a great love of books, which began in early childhood. My mother started reading to me in infancy, and by the second grade I was reading full-length novels. First it was Nancy Drew mysteries; the classic ones, of course. By the fourth grade I was consuming the entire Chronicles of Narnia in a month, and soon after came the Harry Potter series, which, at the time, was incomparable. I still credit my affinity for languages and proficiency as a writer with this early passion for literature. This was around the same time I first wrote a story. Looking back on it now, the story was dreadful, but to my fourth grade self it was pretty fantastic. My teacher seemed impressed that I had taken the time to write detailed descriptions, and so, overlooking the convoluted and nonsensical plot, used this story to justify giving me the English award upon sixth grade graduation. By this point, I was devouring thick novels in the span of days, and with the encouragement of my parents and teachers, I was...
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...Creative Spark Talk Analysis: “How Schools Kill Creativity" by Ken Robinson Jeff Talley University of Phoenix PHL/458 May 20, 2015 Faculty Name: Sonya Walker Creative Spark Talk Analysis: “How Schools Kill Creativity" by Ken Robinson At the TED conference in February 2006, Ken Robinson argues that schools are only teaching education and not creativity, which the school system should be concentrating on. He feels the students of today are not taught so much in the arts and music area. There is only a strong focus in educating the students in the math, science and literacy areas. Robinson also goes on to say that the sad part about this is if a young student enjoys either or both of the arts and music area, they are told that those areas will never get them a job in their future. He feels that having creativity (music and the arts) in the educational curriculum is just as important as literacy, math and science and that educators should treat it the same as the core subjects. Students lose their creativity when they are told at a young age that they are wrong because they don’t ever want to make another mistake again. When a child is growing up they don't care that they are wrong. Now, when a child is told that they are doing something wrong they don't ever want to make another mistake ever again. This in turn will cause...
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