Final Assessment

Over this past semester my main focus was to become a better writer than when I went into English 101. I feel that I have accomplished many of the goals that I had set for myself. Some of those goals were how to brainstorm and map ideas, how to effectively revise my writing, and how to integrate others ideas into my writing. I know that I have a lot to still work on in my writing, but I feel I have made a giant leap from where I was.

When ever we were told that each post we did had to be about writing I automatically thought about dropping the class, because I have never been good at picking a topic to write about. Then when I got the book On Writing by Stephen King I started to realize that I could use some of the ideas he was talking about in his book and use them in my blog post. One of the post that best demonstrates how I used his book to write my post is What do people usually write about? I felt that this post was a huge improvement from the previous ones. In the first couple post we had I did not use anyone elses ideas and you can tell the improvement in this post.

I also saw that when ever I started to put my post in paragraphs that they started to make more sense and had a much better flow to them as well. In the post What does it take to become a good writer I started to put my main ideas into separate paragraphs which made all the ideas I had come together into one great post. Not only did putting my ideas into paragraphs make the post sound better, but I was also able to write longer post.

One of the main goals I wanted to work on was having consideration for the audience. In many of my past English classes I have been told to work on this goal. I felt like being in this class and having it on the computer made me accomplish this goal. The one post that I think especially relates to the audience is Tell Me a Story. In this post I felt that many audiences could relate to what I wrote. 

I also had a huge problem with procrastination before I took this class, but with every post I found my self getting up early just do it. I do not know if it was because I was having fun, or if I just wanted to get it out of the way. Having fun in this class was my major goal. I am not the type of person who likes to sit at a computer and write all day, but I found myself having fun when I wrote most of the blog posts. The one post I had the most fun with and was probably the best post I had was The 12 and half writing rules you will only need! This post is a great example of everything I learned in this class this semester. I put my main ideas into separate paragraphs, I also used others ideas and put them into my own writing, and I also had great consideration for my audience. 

Even though I accomplished many of my goals for this semester there was still a few I have to work on. I still need to work on proofreading every assessment I do. I also need to work on my introduction and conclusion in every paper or post that I do. This class has helped me out in all of  these areas, but I still need a ton of work to be the writer I know I can be. There is many more areas I need to work on but these are the big ones. I also would like to say that I enjoyed taking this class this semester. I did not think that I was going to do very well on a computer based class, but I proved my self wrong and I want to thank you for that. The advise you gave all of us I know has made us better writers and you can't take many classes that you learn as much as I did in this one.

The Perfect Quarterback

For as long as I can remember I have never been good at finding a quote that goes along with a picture, but when I saw this assignment I thought I would challenge myself to find a perfect combo. In this picture Peyton Manning is conducted his offense to make the right play. Around the league Peyton is known for being one of the smartest quarterbacks, and that is what he is showing you in this picture. 

The quote that Brian Urlacher says about Peyton really describes this photo. Brian Urlacher is one of the best players in the league and knows how difficult it is to play against Peyton. What Brian is trying to say in his quote is Peyton is always two steps ahead of everyone else on the field. It's almost like Peyton sees the play happening before it happens. If you do happen to fool Peyton you better know it is  not going to happen again.

"You’re not going to fool Peyton Manning. He knows where he’s going with the football before the snap.—Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Urlacher

For this week in ds 106 I  choose to tell a story about my favorite baseball card. The card that has always meant the most to me is Chipper Jones rookie card for the Braves. Ever since I was a little kid Chipper Jones has been my favorite baseball player. Now that he is close to retiring his rookie card means a whole lot more to me.

What makes Chippers card so valuable to me is he has been with the team his whole career. As a huge baseball fan you have to respect a player that stays with one team his whole career. Chippers rookie card just isn't my favorite because he is my favorite player, but his rookie card was the first Brave card I ever got. My grandma got his rookie card for me for Christmas one year. This one card has so much sentimental value to me. 

When I was a little kid I would always look at this card and say that is going to be me in 10 years. I always looked up to Chipper as ball player. I tried to field, hit, and throw just like chipper. I even had his #10 all the way through high school. Chipper is and will always be my favorite baseball player, and his rookie card will always be the first card I take out when I am looking through all my old baseball cards.

Tell me a a story

Who would of ever guessed that a 19 year old college student would still love to play Nintendo 64. Probably no one because not many people even still have a Nintendo 64. Everyone now either has a PlayStation or a x-box.

Every since I was a little kid I have had Nintendo 64, and every time I feel like I need to get away from things you will see playing it. I love all the old games that I used to play as a kid. Every time I play a game on Nintendo 64 it brings up a great memory from my childhood. For you to really know how I feel I am going to explain some pictures that will sum everything up.

These are just a few pictures from the game Mario Kart which was my favorite game to play as a kid. Me and my sister used to play this game for hours. I always used to get mad because she would always beat me.

In this game of course the object is to win the race, but it gets kinda of difficult when the other racers have items that can knock you off the track.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

These are just a couple of my favorite games to play from Nintendo 64. It was fun playing them as a kid and it is still fun to play them now as a college student

DS 106

I chose to do a writing project for my next post. The assignment I chose to do was "Tell Me a Story". In this assignment you are to find a picture of something that you have emotional attachment to and write about it. I chose this blog because if I chose something that has meaning to me, then I can talk about that all day.  

There are so many great writing assignments in DS106 that it was hard for me to choose one to write about. Another one I thought about doing a post on is called "Find Your Voice". In this writing assignment you are to find another authors blog, and talk about the personal voice in their blog. Your suppose to talk about their post, and find ways to use their voice in your post. When you look through these writing assignments you can tell that all these students put in a great amount of effort.

I know that there is gonna be a few people in the class that do not want to do this project in DS106. Personally I love this website, and can't wait to write about the topic I choose in my blog post. If you actually looked through this website you can tell that it is a great way for all of us to become better writers. Many people have complained that they can't think of anything to write about in their blog post, will if you can't find a topic to write about from this website then there is something wrong with you. 

After actually looking at this website you can tell it was very well put together. I am also excited to get started on this assignment unlike a few in the past. I have also found a couple of different topics that I will enjoy writing about in my next several blog post. I can tell that this project is gonna fun for everyone.

The 12 and half writing rules you will only need!

In many of my recent blog post I have talked about if you practice writing every day you will get better at it. Will that just so happens to be one of the 12 and half rules of writing. If you think about writing is just like a sport. If you do not practice you will never be any good. Take baseball for example, if you do not practice hitting and throwing the ball everyday you will never be the player that you want to be. The same goes for writing. You have to practice everything that is in your toolbox.

Another rule is, writers read, writers read a lot, writers read all the time. The other day I had to do a project on Ben Carson. Ben Carson is a famous neurosurgeon who has performed many brain and spinal surgeries. When Dr. Carson was little he was always called dumb by his peers. So one day his mother decided that she would replace t.v with books. Carson always thanks his mom for making him read at such a young age because if he didn't he would not be the person he is today. Dr. Carson has also written many books, his most famous one being "Gifted Hands". So I guess the rule that writers read all the time is true.

One of my favorite rules is, go for walks, dance, pull weeds, do the dishes. Write about it. I love this rule because it is telling you that anything you do you can write about it. Whenever you write it does not have to be a big drawn out story. You can write what you did for the day for practice, because remember we have to practice every day to become the writer we want to be. Sometimes the stupidest things to write about are the easiest to write about. The dishes for example, I could probably come up with a crazy story about doing the dishes from sometime in my life. So always feel free to write about anything you want.

These are only a few rules out of the 12 and half, but to me these are the most important ones. These three rules I have chosen have helped me become a better writer just this semester. I encourage everyone to take a look at them, and see if there is a way these 12 and half rules can help your writing.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/ 

Is there such a thing as writers block?

How many times have you ever been writing a paper, and then boom you are stuck. As writers we call this writers block, but is there such a thing as writers block. I think that writers block is a mind game. We all get stuck on a subject from time to time, but we have to remember we have a toolbox that will get us out of any trouble we are in.

A way to avoid writers block is to write about things you know. If you write about things you know writers block will not exist. Keep focused on the task at hand, and do not start thinking about anything other than the paper you are writing. If you start thinking about the football game that is on T.V then you will probably get off track. Maybe you just need to take a break. Believe it or not will all need time to clear our head and have fun sometimes. After you have cleared your head then come back and try to write your paper.

Always remember that there is many ways to find something to write about. You can always look on the Internet for a subject. There is also a thing called a library where there are books, and you can find ideas from reading books that you like to read. Also if you get stuck when writing about a particular topic then try and find a story about your life that fits with that topic. If you can not talk about yourself then I guess you have more issues than just writers block.