Writing Center

For me, going to the writing center was an essential part of my essay writing. When I met with Jen I had a lot of jumbled thoughts and a lot of different ideas. The conversation we had allowed me to piece together all of my thoughts and ideas into a cohesive outline for my paper. She explained to me her point of view of the sonnet and how she thought it would relate back to the play. Once I got her perspective on things, then my thoughts started to take over. Overall the writing center was extremely helpful.

Need to Know Questions

1. What happened to the town of Trona?
2. How did Dirk and his friends come to be in power?
3. What is the box that he keeps opening in the car?
4. How does the empty supermarket manage to feed all of the people in the town of Trona?
5. Why does Ray remain married to his wife if clearly he is unhappy?
6. What happened to Ray's wife?

A Writer

A writer is somebody that has the ability to convey their thought and speech onto paper, blogs, etc. A writer is somebody that is able to transform what they think or what they say into something that people can read. I think I am a writer simply for the fact that nothing I say or think makes sense, but as soon as I being writing everything flows and makes sense.

Just Add Water

At one point in time, there was water. Water is essential to the product to make it whole, but just how essential is it?

Excess Greed and Waste

Excess waste or greed looks like that one uncle during Thanksgiving who keeps going back for seconds, and thirds and fourths. He doesn't realize that there isn't a surplus of food and there are a lot of other people that want to eat. This selfish mentality is exactly what excess waste and greed looks like. Your uncle will eat and eat and eat, making a huge mess along the way. A mess that he will not be forced to clean up.

“Collaborative Learning and the Conversation of Mankind”

To better help students understand the material they are learning comes the technique of collaborative learning. Collaborative learning is when two or more people learn together and collaborate ideas. In the article "Collaborative Learning and the Conversation of Mankind," Kenneth A. Brufee states how many students did not want to receive offered help on their work. "These programs failed because undergraduates refused to use them. Many solutions to this problem were suggested and tried, then mandated programs that forced students to accept help they evidently did not want." It is pointless to force somebody to do something they do not want to do. I would suggest that these schools show the students the consequences of not asking questions to things they do not understand.

Collaborative learning is an excellent idea to help students learn to their full potential. By working with other students, one gathers different ideas and perspectives from different people to work with and form their own judgement. Having an array of different ideas allows room for broadening ones own horizons and seeing things from another point of view. Not only will this aid in the educational side of learning, but also the social. Working with another peer instead of a superior such as a teacher will allow the students to feel more comfortable. It will also take the pressure off of them so that they can fully express their ideas and not worry about saying the wrong thing.

Communication is a very essential tool to learning and understanding. The article states "To the extent that thought is internalized conversation, then, any effort to understand how we think requires us to understand the nature of conversation; and any effort to understand conversation requires us to understand the nature of community life that generates and maintains conversation." Having a basic conversation with another person is an easy way to broaden ones horizons. Such ideas as collaborative learning and peer tutoring makes learning and understanding material that much easier.

Hass and Jones

Both Haas and Jones' poems demonstrate how language is a slippery vehicle. The usage of the words presented in each of the poems shows nature in the making. In Rodney Jones' poem Hubris at Zunzal he says "No image like the image of language." Words are used to present an image in the readers head. Each and every word holds a power influence over whomever is reading them. Both of these authors use the imagery of language to portray their different ideas. For Robert Haas, the lack of language paints a more vivid image for the reader. As much as he tries to describe in essence how beautiful the trees are, he cannot find the proper word to describe them. Haas and Jones present the same idea from opposite sides of the spectrum. On one side, Haas' side, language is a slippery vehicle because there are somethings in life that cannot be described solely using words. On the other end of the spectrum is Jones who presents the idea that language provides its own sense of imagery.