Poem!

"Untitled"

Time stood still, as the earth took a pause.

She took a breath, and entered a new world filled with unknowns.

She looked slightly invisible as white coats and clip boards surrounded her like the sea.

The pajamas gave her away.

No coat in the dead of winter, and she didn't even seem fazed.

Her hair was less than perfect, but who did she even have to impress anyways?

A hand pointed her toward 8 East, and it's as if her face went blank

And all she was focused on was following that hand

that pointed to her life's end.

I saw that girl open that door,

And drop to her knees as she looked at that someone

She had lost forever.

wiki 5 20/20 - good job.. acting is another "form" of Public speaking in a way. You have to take on a tone and an attitude and carry it through!

Due: 11/6/09

Bethany Lions and Rachel Krause' skit they performed on Monday.  They performed a skit that was relating to something about Jesus but I really didn't understand the overall message...however, they did a great job of performing in front of an audience and keeping the audiences attention.  As they performed the skit they held a sheet with all their lines on them.  They did an excellent job of looking out at all the different directions of their audience and not just looking down and reading their lines without any eye-contact.  Their voices went well with what they were saying as well (they had good inflections).  If Rachel was getting frustrated describing something to Bethany her voice would reflect that frustration, and if Bethany was confused, her voice sounded confused.  Also, they had very good hand gestures.  They didn't over-exaggerate hand gestures like some people end up doing.  Their posture was very good and they acted out the skit very professionally.  GREAT JOB BETHANY AND RACHEL!  

Due:  11/5/09

This was on the chapel Monday when Bethany Lions and Rachel Krause did their skit.  They made up a skit i guess and performed it to the audience.  Im not quite sure what the message was that they were trying to get across...however there presentaion overall was very good I thought.  They both didn't seem nervous at all, and seemed very confident in themselves and what they were saying.  They had a script in front of them that they were reading their lines off of but they didn't just look down at it the whole time, they kept good eye-contact with each other and the audience as well.  They acted out the skit very well because their voices went good with what they were saying....I mean that if they seemed confused or happy, they showed that in their tone.  Their hand gestures weren't over-the-top either.  They used their hands only when necessary and when they tried explaining or doing something.  I think overall they did a great job.  It's hard getting the audiences attention doing a skit thing like they did and everyone i was sitting around seemed to be intrigued and listening to what they were saying.  It's also hard getting across a point when you do a skit thing like they did....I didn't really get what the message was but I know other people did...so that's good that they were able to get across a point somehow.  GOOD JOB BETHANY AND RACHEL!  

wiki 4 - 0/20 - no posting

wiki 3 - 20/20 - I enjoyed your comments... interesting that you said he tried to connect TOO much... that's one that I don't hear often but when I do, I almost always know what you mean... you don't expect an adult speaker to sound like a high schooler. Right?

Due: 10/23/09

Cross Country Coach who spoke on monday:

 Mrs. Staude, I totally notice now what you said once in class about how are gym is set up weird and when the speaker talks they ignore the people sitting directly facing in front of them.  When he talked he would glance at them but mostly turned his body towards the group of people on either of his sides.  He however did have great eye contact with the audience and his voice range was great.  Something that I also noticed about him was his hand gestures.  I couldn't get myself to exactly focus on what he was saying because everything he talked about he would flail his hands in the air.  He put too much emphasis on his hand gestures that I stopped listening to what he was saying and found myself to be staring at his hands.  I spoke to some other classmates and they completely agreed with me.  He seemed to try and connect with us almost too much...(if that makes any sense).  He memorized his speech so he always had eye contact with the audience and wasn't worried about looking down at a card or anything like that.  Overall, I think besides the over emphasis on his hand gestures, he did a great job!

wiki 2 - 20/20 - excellent job... good observations.The remark about the guys deepening their voices made me smile! :-)

10/16/09

Mr. Kuhlman.  Mr Kuhlmann is a great public speaker! He really connects to the audience and gets everyones attention.  His eye contact is broad and seems to leave no one out of what he is saying.  The gym is a very hard place to connect with everyone because it is spaced out so much.  Mr.  Kuhlmann takes time and walks around to each group to make sure he connects as much with them as he does with anyone else.  His body movement and hand motions go with exactly what he is saying, and don't take away from his sermon.  He seemed very confident and well organized! He wasn't one of those public speakers who ignores a certain group of people.  He had visual aids to help him out as well (some of the football players who are seniors).  They had speak the word of the Lord and the gospel message and it was so funny to me because when they would speak into the microphone they seemed to deepen their voices to sound more masculine.  They were very well prepared and connecting well with the audience. 

 wiki 1 20/20 - great response work!

10/9/09

pastor Arle:  Pastor Ale came to speak to us all for chapel on monday.  He was an older man who spoke very lightly so when he talked I could here some phrases and then his voice would go really low to where no one could hear him.  I didn't think he looked nervous or anything like that, but he spoke to us like we were younger.  He spoke about something (I am not quite sure what exactly it was) and then linked it to a tomb stone at the end.  His speech from beginning to end didn't connect very well to the audience.  He looked down at his feet a lot and then when he looked up he seemed to target a certain person.  His facial expression stayed the same throughout the whole speech too.  He just seemed to have a dead look on his face with no emotion whatsoever.  He had a few light hand gestures and mainly stayed around or in front of the podium.  He seemed organized but just didn't connect the whole sermon very well to the audience.  Everyone I talked to at the end of chapel seemed really confused on what the exact message was.  This was mainly due to his pitch and volume because he kept one certain low volume so it was very hard to stay intrigued on what he was trying to get across.  He seemed to emphasize the wrong syllables and so that made it sound funny so it was hard to pay attention to all he was trying to say because I was focused on something else other then his actual message.

2.  I am answering your last question on the story "Sixteen" about why people put up with disrespectful or even abussive treatment from the person their dating just to keep the relationship.  Many people have heard the saying "blinded by love."  Many teens and even adults are blinded by what they might see in a person compared to what another person sees.  In the story, the girl was so amazed by the night and the boy, that she didn't think about anything other then how amazing he was and how he was so known at school and how it just happened that they ended up skating together.  She never thought about the fact that he might be a player, or might even be bored so he had nothing better to do then to skate with her.  He seemed to be using his moves right because she was completely and tottaly star strucked.  Many people are blinded by the things that they want to see and what the true reality is of that certain person.  Many teens do this today.  Teens think that they are madly in love with someone then that person does something to hurt them and they just let it slide because they think that he/she did nothing wrong and, "it's ok because they will never do it again."  The girl in the story let the boy make her feel warm and fuzzy on the inside then led her to believe that he was going to call (which obviously he never does).  Many times, teens leave it on themselves that that certain person didn't call them because they are not good enough for them.  There are so many reasons why teens let this behavior happen.  The girl should just stop thinking he is going to call and go on with her life.  That guy isn't worth her time and neither is any person who is going to treat you in a bad way. 

Good job on Wiki 2! I appreciated your frank opinions and your common sense. You obviously have a strong and healthy sense of self-worth! That is SO important for a young person! How's project #4 coming?

When I begin to write it, do i write it on here or at home? I wasn't quite sure.  

WEEK THREE

1.  At what point in the story did you start to catch on?

Well, first off, this story was so confusing in the beginning.  I didn't really know where the author was heading or trying to tell the reader about Mr. Stendhal and his intentions with this "House of Usher."  Towards about the third page I started to catch on to the plot and why Mr. Stendhal had the House of Usher built. I then became very intrigued with the plot and the weirdness of the whole story! I was surprised that I actually liked the story because at the beginning, I wanted to just close the book after the first page.  That the thing about Bradbury though, he is a very unique writer. I hated how it took me until about three pages to catch on, but then once I did, I ended up actually liking the weirdness and creepiness that the story had to offer. 

2.  This is answering question #2 about the second story you gave us to read about Bradbury.  While I was reading the story, the house came to life in my mind.  I think that is what Bradbury was trying to accomplish by this story it to get the reader to see the house in their mind and "feel" something for it.  When the fire started to destroy the house at the end, I actually felt bad for it.  Bradbury built up all this background on the house saying how the mice cleaned it every day and how it basically took care of itself.  I didn't want the house to "die" because to me it seemed like a person.  Even the way Bradbury described the cries coming from the house and how it was trying to put our the fire but just was not able to.  It made me feel sad for the house knowing that it couldn't do anything to help itself from being destroyed and in the end, "dying." 

WEEK FOUR

1.  Discuss the power of the ending of the story...esp. the part where Patsy keeps the identity of the horse to himself...

I think the ending of the story was very significant to the rest of it and the ending had a lot of power.  When Patsy wins the race, he accomplishes goals that he couldn't even dream about.  HE was able to gain money from winning the race in order to pay a good doctor to help heal his mother from her sickness.  As we discussed in class, the ending is significant to the beginning of the story because the horse that killed his father and basically put a hold on the Patsy's life, was the same horse that he won the race on in the end of the story.  I think the author is trying to tell the reader something but that interpretation of what she is saying is up to the reader.  It was strange to read about the horse that ruined a life, also was able to "bring" one back (Patsy's mother).  The whole build-up of the events throughout the story all led up to the powerful ending when Patsy won the horse race and was able to pay for the best doctors and medicine out there, and see his mother become healthy once again.

2.  I am commenting on the SPEACH TO AMERICA'S STUDENTS that you read in class.  I think you had a great idea about how the speech connected with the "pre-judging" theme we are focussing on in class.  Obama was talking about how other judge people on there lack of talent, money, social status, and many more things.  He talked about how the Harry Potter author got turned down so many times before even getting her book published.  Although he made some good arguments, I still go no agree with anything he says.  I just felt like he was kind of putting a big "weight" on the students of this generation to "do good or your letting down your country."  It came across to me like he was telling about his past life and how it was bad, but then saying how great of life he has now and on and on...  But as you said about how people pre-judge someone, I am basically pre-judging Obama based in some things he says without really knowing him.  Sometimes people judge others based on what the believe of there morals.  Thats what I base my opinion on with Obama.  I think the President however, is the most pre-judged because the WHOLE country is listening to what he says and watching his actions to "help" the country.

WEEK FIVE

I am just journaling about what we dicussed in class today on 9/15/09 about the short story, "One friday Morning."  We talked alot in class about how mature Nancy Lee was and how she handled her particular situation like an adult.  The news about Nancy Lee getting the scholarship was so exciting to her but she kept it from her parents because she wanted to keep it a suprise.  When Nancy found out that her scholarship had been revoked due to the color of her skin, she was upset yes, but she handled the situation with the utmost maturity.  She didn't go back into the assembly angry or sad about what just had happened, but she took it as an opportunity to focus on her future goal of making a difference with other children's lives and fixing the unequal opportunities based on the color of someone's skin.  Nancy Lee was a whole-hearted young girl who was totally college-bound to say the least, and the Scholarship commity who revoked Nancy's opportunity at their school would be missing out on a great girl because of their decision.  

2.  Would YOU want to live in a family that kept "secrets" from one another the way the Hawley family did?

I think that the secrets the Hawley family kept from one another were only in the best interests for each other.  My parents have always taught my brothers and I to be open about anything and everything and always tell the truth.  However, in the Hawley's case, the dad had a pretty good reason to not want his wife to know about how she was going to die soon.  He wanted her to live each day without worrying about what will happen to her, and live each day to the fullest with no regret of what she will miss out on.  When the story comes to an end, Minta finds out that her mother knew all along that she was going to die and kept the secret from her husband and her daughter.  She didn't want them to worry about her either or treat her in a different way because they would know she wouldn't be around much longer.  I think that certain "secrets" that families may hide from one another may be in the best interest for the other person(s).  Although being open about anything and everything helps make a family bond stronger.  

wiki 5 - good work... I found your last entry to be the most interesting particularly in light of how you described your own family. Good thoughtful answer on that one!