Elbow's Revising with Feedback

In the past, when I'd seek someone to revise my paper I mainly had in mind for them to make grammatical corrections and reply with things like "oh this sentence sound a little awkward" or "maybe you could move this sentence here". Those were the main responses I expected when would pass my paper to someone to be revised. However, while studying the chapter "Revising with Feedback", I came to realize the importance of the comments from my peers not regarding the flow or my grammar, comments I often times looked over and didn't really consider. Elbow explains how when someone else is reading your paper, you should be more interested in the revisers opinion and thoughts rather than your message you where trying to deliver in you essay.

 I know it sound strange not to focus on you focal message when that is the purpose of writing, but by listening to others opinions you will be able to understand how outsiders may disagree and that way you can better construct your paper to defend your message. When righting a paper, you are not only sending a message or making a statement. You are defending that this idea and the reasons behind it are comprehendible and true.

I Don't Know

For a while I was sure of what I wanted to do as my career. Until I was questioned about it and I was not content with what my answers had been. So I was stuck and I decided to ask for advice from the people who I deem as wise. I received wonderful advice from our lovely teacher Ms. Fletcher and others who were or are currently in the college proccess. A lot of it was very helpful, especially the short and simple "don't mess up." But I have come to a realization that no matter how much advice I get, no one is going to know what the best major for me is or what I should do with my life. All anyone can really do it just speak from their own experiences and hope that they help someone else. As for me I have to go with the flow and do what I think I want to do and even though I am not sure about what I want I have the freedom to experiment with my life. I want to try new things, go to different places, but most of all I want to be independent. I was able to come to this obvious conclusion with the help of Elbow's writing without thinking. I really can say that these presentations benifited me. I know that with time everything will all fall into place and things will be good, thanks fletch.

Blind read-arounds

            I remember the first time that I heard Ms. Fletcher say the words blind read-around.  You know where people in the class sit and read what you have written (in this case our personal statements).  Freaking out I remember looking at everyone sitting at my table with this oh no she did not just say that look.  I was already freaking out with the people sitting at my desk read my personal statement now other people were going to read it. I know I’m not the only one who remembers it I’m pretty sure there where others out there who felt the same way that I felt. 

I remember thinking great people are going to sit around and judge my writing, what if it sucks, what if I make no sense. There were so many things going through my head at that moment.  I thought that I was going to dread the times that we had to have blind read-arounds.   

Now I have no problems with blind read-arounds.  I see them as an advantage; they help me out a lot.  Blind read-arounds help me out a lot.  They help me to see what it is that I need to do to improve my writing.  I get feedback on what I need to add, take out, grammar errors, or anything else that needs to be fixed.  Not only does it help me on making improvements I receive complements on my writing.  People that read my writing were telling me that I had great details in my writing and that it helped them to read my writing more clearly.  I’m glad that we had these blind read-arounds for our personal statements because to me they helped a lot. 

AF: Common App Glitches

Here is an article about the glitches in the Common App this year!

F for F***

And if you are one of those people who is reading this just because there was a four letter word in the title that started with the letter F then shame on you, although that was my purpose. Tee hee. Well, F actually stands for five; five things to think about when going or applying to college/university. 1. Do not procrastinate! Procrastination seems to have become a growing epidemic. It is the most bitter sweet thing you could ever do. 2. Do not stress out about your major. If you are not sure apply with undecided. You will have time to thinks things through as we approach the end of the year and you can always change it. 3. Don't overwhelm yourself! Take on projects or deadlines that you can meet. The struggle should not be real.

4. Have a positive outlook. Do not let yourself be taken over by pessimist ideas or thoughts. If you think you will fail a test or not get into your dream school then it can really affect your mood, learning process, and over all personality by lowering your self confidence. But then again don't become an extreme optimist because that can cause you to become lazy and believe that everything will always work out in your favor.

5. Be good to yourself! Do not deprive yourself of sleep, food, and leisure. Incorporate the right amounts of work and me time. You learn best when you have a full stomach and enough sleep. Do not over do it. Find a balance and keep it that way. Composure is key.

10 Rules For Going To College When Nobody Really Expected You To

I really liked this this passage I read because it was very simple and I could easily figure out whatbitvwanted to tell me and help me out with. My favorite rule was 10 because it made a lot of sense when it says be a total student. I liked this rule most if all because being a total student in college can be very streesful but seems like it will help a lot. When I go to college I plan on being a total student because I want to work very hard at something I'm gonna be doing for the rest of my life. That's how I look at college; as something that's gonna give me my future and make life a lot easier with having a career that I love to do and not just a job that I don't enjoy being at and only being there for the money. I also like rule 5 because it talked about missing home and how you shouldn't go home because you miss it. Another thing it talks about is questioning yourself about being at the school. I really like this rule because I feel like when I go to college if I'm far away I'm gonna question myself and want to go home. He says that you shouldn't do this  if your at a small college or elite college because either way it's all gonna count towards your future in the end it's not worth it. This is some of the things that I liked about this passage that I read 

The beauty of it

At this point in our lives and, being a senior in the class of 2014 we've all had our fair share of stressful events. This is not the point I want to make though. I believe its time to actually take action against the stress. Today in ERW we have kind of had time to reflect and, hangout and listen to one of Ms.Fletchers selected virtual speakers. Days like this a must in a typical high schoolers life. The whole class period I sat and uncontroably shook my leg thinking what do I have to do in this class. I shook Keith's hand and look at him and said nothing. Ms.Fletcher generously gives us plenty of time to work on papers in class and, all she asks in return is too me her deadlines. Thats not hard to do in theory yet, I always find something thats more important than getting her work done. This is not living stress free. I want to apologize to the people in our class for not meeting my essay deadlines. I'm not helping you become a better editor and, you're not helping me become a better writer. Heading into the second quarter lets all take stress free actions.