"Animal Farm" Passage

This week's reading was a speech given in George Orwell's Animal Farm.  The speech was given by Major, the lead pig on the farm.  After doing some background research on the book I was able to understand what was going on better in this speech, which not to mention was a brilliant one.  Major did a great job on addressing the rest of the farm animals in this passage.  He was able to present the animals his argument by using the techniques and elements that make a great speech.  I thought that by the end of the speech he really had persuaded the "comrades" to believe what he was telling them.  The main reason that he was able to persuade his audience was due to his great use of supportive detail to all of his claims on how humans are bad.  After reading this article, I was reminded of a movie that I saw a while back called Barnyard.  I just felt like the movie Barnyard was based off of the book Animal Farm.  I'm sure that there were some connections there, but I did notice that in Barnyard the leader of the farm is a cow and not a pig.  I don't remember the movie real well, but after reading this passage it helped me realize where Nickelodeon got its idea for the movie.  This passage was pretty entertaining for me, because I always love to read or watch animals talk in literature and movies.  I think it is funny to see how each author or director portrays a different diction for the different animals.  It really tells the audience what the author or director thinks about the animal's personality.  

Hoosiers Do The Comma!!!

Our next wonderful assignment is to create a powerpoint presentation to present to the class in our groups.  Each group was assigned a punctuation mark that they were responsible to present on.  Unfortunately, my group received the honors of telling the class about the comma.  I was really hoping that we would get the exclamation point, because that is an exciting and happy punctuation mark.  I found out after extensive research, like the rest of my group, the comma has about 1,205,938 rules for usage in the english language. (that was a joke!!!)  Honestly, there are a lot of rules, but we also decided to research on the misuses of the comma as well.  The comma is often misused so we thought that it would be important to supply some of that information to the class.  Believe it or not, but there are a lot of ways that people misuse the comma also.  When we started this project we were responsible to start a Facebook group to use as a communication tool.  This was a great idea and really shows how Facebook can be used for educational purposes.  Our group was able to link to sites and share information that would have been difficult to do unless we met outside of class.  Overall I think this project is going to be a pretty good experience, because even though we are only presenting information on punctuation marks, we are going to improve our group and oral delivery skills.  However, I am nervous to give our presentation, because I did most of the powerpoint creation!!!

The Missing Comma!!!

"Did You Know? 2.0"

I really enjoyed watching this video!!! I can honestly say that it was the coolest homework assignment that I have ever done.  The way this movie was put together was so simple, but was very entertaining.  However, I was most impressed by the way the creators kept surprising me as I was guessing what the next crazy statistic was going to be.  Many of them blew my mind and absolutely dropped my jaw.  More importantly though I thought this project was an excellent form of visual argument.  It almost reminded me of an advertisement.  I also noticed that they used a lot of repetition throughout the project with the "did you know." The creators recognized the audience and found out how to reach out and pull them in with multiple facts.  Every fact was more and more interesting, so that my attention was on the video the entire time.  I thought that this project was very well developed and was supported with great facts to back up their argument.  It's crazy to think about all the changes that the world has and is going to go throughout during my lifetime.  It is weird to think that my grandchildren will be studying about my lifetime in their history class!!! 

Click here to check out this great video yourself. 

"Malcolm X"

Wow!!!  I can't even imagine the dedication and perseverance that it took to accomplish what Malcolm X did.  To teach yourself to be able to read and write is incredible, but to do it in prison is even more impressive.  When I say this I mean in prison his resources were limited, but he was still able to accomplish this task.  This essay opened my eyes and allowed me to see what a great type of person Malcolm X really was.    

"Proficiency"

I had to take the ninth-grade proficiency test just like Shannon Nichols, the author of this essay.  However, I was lucky enough to pass it the first time I took it.  On the other hand I do know how Shannon feels because I did have a disappointing ACT score.  Just like Shannon, I was an excellent student throughout high school, but I guess when it comes to timed tests that I can't study for I don't do very well.  Initially I felt the same frustration that Nichols described, but I eventually moved on and it hasn't had such an impact on me in the long run.

"How I Learned about the Power of Writing"

This is a very interesting essay, in the fact that the author had such a special gift and cherished it.  I know that I'm lucky to have the education and knowledge that I have, but I am always taking it for granted.  The author used his talent everyday, which inspires me, a person that doesn't like to read and write much to use my knowledge more often.