Poem 6 I Have Been to a Place

I have been to a place.

That is surrounded by water,

that the sun glistens, and

the moon sparkles off of.

 

I have been to a place.

That has sand as white as snow,

and sand soft as the clouds

 

I have been to a place.

Where plam trees stretch

as far as the eye can see.

Where the sun is always shines

 

I have been to Cancun.

 

Poem 5 Life is Like...

Life is like a rodeo.

You have to ride the beast,

and hold on for dear life.

It seems to last an eternity,

but it is only very short.

Every now and again

your gonna get knocked off,

but you just dust yourself off

and work your way back to the top.

 

Poem 4 Silent Man

Ten minutes into the sermon,

he silently snuck in the back door.

He slouched down as he slid into the back pew.

Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best,

but him, he wore old, tore up clothes,

he supported a long, straggley, grey beard.

Once the preacher was done,

he spoke to no one and was the first one out.

 

Poem 3 First grade

First day of school.

Scared, nervous, timid, and excited

all these describe me.

I see the enormous 8th graders

as they tower over me.

I dodge and duck

as I try to avoid being crushed

by one of these giant.

I find my way to 

my classroom door,

relived to be alive.

For now at least.

to start the first grade

 

Poem 2 Home

Many think of home as a building

A place to eat, sleep,

and do your everyday rituals

But not me

Home is where you feel the most comfortable

I find home on the pitch

A rectangular piece of grass,

with goal posts and nets on each end

that's when I am at peace

That's when I am at home

 

Poem 1 What Color?

What color am I?     

Someone might ask

Me,

I'm a shiny yellow, 

full of energy, happy,

and always enjoying life

I'm also a royal purple

Cause I like to stand up

and be a leader,

I also liked to be different

So ask yourself sometime 

What color are you?

wiki 5 20/20  - Interesting! Glad to see you're using your skills with outside events!

Week 5 by Kelsey

For this weeks wiki i will be evaluating Kelsey. She was my tour guide at Rockhurst University, on Monday when i went to see the campus. She did a very bad job on her speech rate because she spoke to fast and it was hard to ask her questions. Her pauses were also bad because there weren't any because she was talking way to fast. Her volume was loud enough, i could hear her the entire time. She did not have a problem with up flecting while she spoke to us. She had a good quality voice that was fine to listen to. She also did a good job on articulating and pronouncing all of her words, that wasn't a problem. I think that she did have a problem with her posture because most of the time while she was walking us around the campus she would turn her back to us, which was kind of annyoning and not appropriate when you are trying to connect and talk to someone about the college and campus. 

 

wiki 4 - 20/20 - you noticed a lot considering you said you weren't paying attention. The bird... interesting... should he have ignored it or acknowledged that he knew it was there?

Week 4 by Pastor Clausing

This wiki i will be evaluating Pastor Clausing. He did a very good job with his speech rate and his pauses inbetween his points. His volume was also plenty loud enough for everyone to hear. I did not have a problem with inflections. He spoke with a very monotone voice that helped everyone to pay attention better and not get distracted. He had a good quality of voice that sounded good and was nice to listen to. He was very clear when he pronuced his words, i had no problem understanding any of his words. The only distraction during his sermon was that their was a bird that was flying around during his whole sermon. even though there was nothing he could do about this but it was also distracting. Also he was kind of boring with his sermon so i had a hard time paying attention to his whole sermon so i was not really paying to much attetnion which was not a good thing.

wiki 3 - 10/23  - 20/20- Good posting!

 

Week 3 by Vicar Mizel

For this wiki I will be evaluating Vicar Mizel. He had a good speech rate and used his pauses in between points. His volume was also plenty loud enough for me to hear everything clearly. I thought he had a little problem at times with his pitches because sometimes he would change his pitches at times, which was kind of annoying. The quality of his voice was pretty good for most of the speech. He also did a good job of pronouncing and articulating all of his words. His appearance was good he was dressed nicely. He also had a good posture by standing up right and keeping his head up. He did not really use any facial exspressions during his sermon that i saw. I thought that he did a very good job on eye contact, he did not exclude any part of the crowd that he was speaking to. I thought that his movement during the sermon was very good He was planted in one spot for it but he also was not walking around to much so that it got to the point of being distracting. I think that his gestures were a little over the top. He used both hands for all of his gestures which i thought was a little to much.   

 

wiki 2 - 10/16  - 20/20- good entry. There was QUITE a bit of difference between Mr. K and the boys.

Week 2 by Seniors and Mr. Kuhlman

This wiki will be about the chapel that Mr. Kuhlman and the assorted seniors from the football team that helped him with it. They all did a pretty good job of keeping a good steady speech rate and they did not do to long of pauses in between their sentences. They also had a very good volume, the entire time I was able to hear everything loud enough and clear. Their was a few of the speakers that had a problem with up flecting towards the end of their sentences. The quality of voice for some of them was fine, but some of them did not pronounce their words very clearly and mummbled. Their appearance was good none fo them wore anything that was inapropriate. Some of  the speakers had a problem with their posture, like they would lean on the stand of stick their hand in their pocket. None of the speakers really used facial expressions while they spoke. Eye contact was pretty bad most of the speakers did not even look up from their paper. they did not do any movement they pretty much just stood in one spot the whole time. The also did not use gestures to make a point. 10/16 

 

wiki 1 - 20/20 - good response! He had some difficulties.. and you noticed both the good and the bad. Good write-up.

Week 1 Speech by Pastor Arle

For this wiki I will be talking about the speech of Pastor Arle when he did chapel on Monday. First his speech rate, which I thought was a little to slow. He took up to much time in between words, and because of this he lost a lot of peoples attention so they stop listening to what he had to say. He also left to long of pauses in between his points which also led to people losing interest. His volume was for the most part of his speech was loud enough for me to hear, but if someone had poor hearing they wouldn't of been able to understand some of what he said. His inflection was some what annoying at times because he keep raising his inflection at the end of his sentences. I think that his quality of voice was good for most of his speech. He also did a very good job at saying his words correctly. His physical delivery was overall ok. he did a good job at making eye contact with every part of the room, he didnt exclude anyone part of the room. The only part of his physical delivery that i though was bad is that he did not really move away from the podium, he pretty much planted his feet and stood there the whole time.10/6 

 

 

Short Story

The Dream

            “Today’s the day,” Paul said to himself as he sat up in his bed and rubbed his eyes. Today was the day he would leave the life, the world, and the friends he had to go to a foreign nation. Paul is an average 18-year-old kid with an athletic build. He has tan skin, brown hair and deep greenish-blue eyes. He was raised in a small town outside of Dallas, Texas and had only left the country once to go to Mexico for a week with his family. Ever since he was able to walk, he was kicking a soccer ball around. He had always dreamed of playing professionally one day. During his past season a former scout from England spotted him. The scout was very impressed by him and called up an old friend who was the manager of Manchester City Futbol Club. The owner said he would take a look at him, but offered no guarantee and not to get his hopes up.

            After Paul had completed his first semester of his senior year, he packed up his things and bided fair well to his parents and friends. He boarded his flight to London. With nothing but a promise and a phone number from a man that he barely knew, he landed in London with no clue where to go.

“Hello,” an unsure voice said.

“Wayne, it’s Paul,” anxiously said.

“O, hey Paul you made it out. Where are you?” Wayne asked.

“London?” Paul said, not really sure of where he exactly was in London. Wayne told Paul to board a train that would take him to Manchester. When he got there Wayne would be waiting for him. Once he arrived, he saw Wayne and they went back to Wayne’s house. He would be staying until he would be able to support himself. That night, as he lay in bed, he couldn’t believe that his dream could possibly be coming true, but it hadn’t yet. He still needed to go to try outs the next morning and impress the coach. The odds were against him; he was just some kid, with no money, that no body had ever heard of.

            After a night of little rest, Paul awoke to the sound of rain pounding down on the roof. He had never seen it rain so hard. When he got out to the field the rain had not let up at all.

 He ran out to the practice field and introduced himself to the coach, who said, “Alright kid get out there and show me what you got.” Unable to respond, it felt as if his stomach was in his throat. He had never been so nervous. Paul ran out on to the field into what seem liked a waterfall of rain. Immediately, the ball was played to him and he stood there frozen, unable to move. Another player came in and swept the ball right off of his foot. The rest of the tryout was full of the same. He couldn’t even stand, he kept slipping and falling to the ground because he had never played in such wet conditions. The coach had seen enough. He yelled out to Paul to get off the field. In shock Paul walked off the field and headed back to Wayne’s house.

            Paul straggled into the door with his head down in shame.

“It went that well, huh?” Wayne asked. Paul nodded and went to his room. He tried to think of a way to get home, to pick up where he left off back home. He hadn’t a clue of how he was going to do this, so he just closed his eyes and dozed off.

Later, he was awoken by Wayne’s shouting, “Come on now Paul, don’t give up just yet! Lets go out, and I will buy you a drink.”

 “No that’s okay I’m just going to lie here,” Paul muttered still half asleep. After a little bit more debating with him Wayne was able to get Paul to get up.

They showed up at club 21, which was a “hot spot” in the area, where only the rich and famous went.

“I have heard of this place. How are we gonna get in here,” Paul asked?

“I have my ways,” announced Wayne with a smirk. Paul followed him to the back where, a very large man who knew Wayne and let them in. They made there way through the crowd down to the bar and ordered some drinks. Paul had drunk with his parents before and gone to a few parties, but this was the first time he was able to order a drink legally.

“All right Paul, get out there and meet some nice young ladies,” Wayne said with a playful shove. Paul made his way through the crowed dance floor, and spotted a beautiful girl. She was pretty short, very tan, with long curly black hair. He gathered up some courage and said to himself, why not. He made his way up to here and introduced himself.

“Hey, my name is Paul,” he said anxiously.

“Hi, my name’s Elizabeth but just call me Liz,” a little voice said. Paul and Liz talked for a little over by the bar. Then another guy came up and gave Liz a hug. Paul was beyond embarrassed, she has a boyfriend he thought, and began to walk away.

“Hey Paul, don’t you want to meet my brother Christiano,” Liz asked. What a relief, he thought. Finally, maybe my luck is changing around here, and was it ever. As he turned and looked, he couldn’t believe what he saw. Her brother was Christiano Ronaldo, one of the best soccer players in the world. In shock Paul stared dumbfounded but didn’t really come out with any words.

Christiano just laughed and shook Paul’s hand saying, “You treating my little sis good, right?” Paul nodded and began to tell Christiano about his little saga. After awhile, he felt a little more comfortable around his idol, but was still in awe of him. “O, it’s no trouble man, I can give coach a quick call and get you another run out for my team,” Christiano announced. Paul couldn’t believe his ears; He was going to receive another shot at his dream, which he had all but forgotten about by now.

The next day, Paul awoke to the sound of bacon sizzling on the stove. He got ready and went to the kitchen where Wayne had made him a nice breakfast with toast, bacon, eggs, and a cup of orange juice. By his plate, he found a note with direction to the field and that said good luck. He made his way outside, it was a beautiful day not, a cloud to be seen in the entire sky. Paul hopped onto the bus and rode it to Fifth Street and got off; from there, it was only a few blocks walk to the field. He straggled up to the field, unsure of what he was to do. Luckily, Christiano spotted him.

 “Come on Paul, let’s go meet the coach, he’s a good guy once you get to know him,” Christiano said with a chuckle. “Coach, this is Paul, the player I was telling you about,” Christiano said.

“O yes, all right son, get out there,” coach said. Paul nervous as could be said a little pray to himself and made his way onto the field. The pressure he felt was almost unbearable. Paul had a slow start and he was unsure of this was a good idea. I don’t know if I can handle this. Finally the ball was played to him; he received and sent a long ball across the field to Christiano, who was making a diagonal run into the box. The ball bent in right behind the defender and Christiano sent it screaming into the back of the net.

“Hmm… maybe we can use this American,” Paul overheard the coach say to his assistant. With a sigh of relief the rest of the tryout went exactly how he wanted to.

Once the tryout was finished Paul stood with the other players and introduced himself to some of the other players.

“Paul, could I have a word with you?” the coach yelled to him. Without even thinking about it, Paul ran over to the coach. “Well son…” the coach began as Paul stood there anxiously unable to breath and unable to stand still because it felt as if his stomach was in a knot, because he was so nervous. “We would like for you to come join us,” the coach asked. Paul stood there saying nothing, but his face light up with excitement. “So is that a yes?” the coached asked. Unable to control his excitement he hugged the coach. “O.K. son, alright, that’s enough of that now, well I guess I will see you out here tomorrow then.”

Standing there in shock, Paul just took everything in. He couldn’t not believe it himself; he was going to be able to live out his dream. He rushed home to tell Wayne everything and thank him forever thing that he had done for him, and he was going to call Liz and ask her if she wanted to go out and celebrate.

wiki 5 - Good work Blake! Very detailed comments.

Week 5

Sherburne's From Mother... With Love was a different but interesting story that i really enjoyed. One way that it was different is because it showed the reader a different way to view things when dealing with death and it showed us the story from a different angle than most stories that are like this are told from. Even though it was sad and her mother ending up passing away the story still ended on a good and happy note. which i think symbolized that they were all going to be able to get past the passing of their mother and be able to move on and still have an enjoyable life. 9/16

 

Hughes' One Friday Morning was a pretty enjoyable read. One reason why i liked it is because it was a little different from some of the other stories that we have read so far in this unit. It also had a very unpredictable ending, which i did not see coming. I thought that once they said that she had won the award that she was for sure going to get it. I also like how she showed maturity by not just going home and crying to her mom, but she set a goal for herself so that this would never happen to another little girl like her again. 9/15   

 

Week 4

I enjoyed reading Paul Laurence Dunbar's The Finish of Patsy Barnes. One reason why i liked it is because it had a good ending that was very exciting to read to find out how the story was going to end. Also i liked the irony that Dunbar used by having the same horse that killed his father to help him win the race and by winning the race he was able to earn enough money to hire another better doctor who might be able to help save his mom who was dying. Another way Dunbar used irony was that the name of the horse was black boy and Patsy was a little black boy so i found this ironic.9/10

 

I did not really enjoy reading Deal's Antaeus. One reason why I did not like it was because i thought that it was pretty predictible. From the beginning when they said that they were going to build a garden on a roof i knew that something was going to happen to the roof. It was also a very slow boring read becasue it did not really interest me. It just seemed to be a pointless story so i did not really like it. One thing that i did like about it was the ending when T.J. ran away and tried to go back home because he loved to farm so much, so i thought that that was pretty funny. 9/8

 

Week 3

Great job on wiki 3! keep up the good work!

This was a very interesting story. The reason why I say this is because there wasn't any real characters in the entire story, the main character in the story is the house which I had never seen before. I also liked it because the story was based off of what life would be like if there was a nuclear Holocaust. I thought that it was very interesting that the writer was talking about how some things would continue on like this house that worked on its own, also how even though there wasn't any people around that the fire caught on fire that the house tried to save it self even though it wasn't able to. 9/3

 

I really enjoyed reading Usher II for many reasons. one reason is because I really enjoy reading Poe's work so I liked how I could make the connections from a bunch of his works to what was happening in the story. Another thing that I enjoyed is the irony of the story because the reason why all these people dies is because they burned all of Poe's books. If they hadn't done that they would of know what was going to happen to them and they would of been able to save the self from what was about to happen to them. I also enjoyed it because it was kind of scary. 9/2 

 

Week 2

Good work on wiki 2! I enjoyed your comments.

Overall I liked the story sixteen. Something I liked about this story was the way that it was written. It was different from most of the other stories that I have read before. Another part about this story that I liked is that it is very realistic in the fact that when you are young everything is just ups and downs and the smallest thing will make you feel like its the end of the world, but by going through experiences like this it will help you to mature and to grow up. So the lesson of the story is to not get so depressed by the ups and downs as a child when it really is not a big deal in the long run. 8/25

 

I enjoyed reading the story Charles. One reason why I enjoyed it is because the whole story was based around Charles and throughout the entire story all we hear about is Charles, we do not really know much about anyone else. Then when we get to the very end we find out that our main character does not really exsist, but that it was Laurie the entire who was doing all of the things that she told her parents that Charles did, which I thought was pretty funny. The only down fall to the story was that it was kind of predictible but you were never sure until the end. 8/24

 

Week 1

I did not really like Stephen Crane's The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky. One thing I did not like about the story is how it was writen. Crane seemed to be all over the place and I thought that it was kind of hard to follow. I like to read stories where the author is very direct. Even though I did like the fact that the reader got to see the story from a few different perspectives. I think that it would of been better if the writer would have explained more about who the person was instead of just jumping right into the middle of it. 8/17

 

I did like Kelley's Enemey Territory. One reason why I enjoyed it is because I thought the author did a very good job at getting the reader to paint a picture of what they thought was going on in the story, but then in the next sentence he would reveal something to us that completely changed my view of the story, so I thought that that was pretty funny. There was also something that I did not like about the story which was that there was really no climax in the story, because you think that there is ganna be a big fight between the kids but then the author just ended the story. 8/18

Good work on wk. 1 - Good job sharing your thoughts about these 2 stories!