Wiki 5- 11/5/09

wiki 5 20/20 - did you ask  him why he didn't use the pulpit? Just curious!

Last Saturday Pastor Schade gave the sermon at Immanuel St. Charles for the Saturday night service.  Overall I think that he did a very good job.  He kept his voice loud enough for everyone to hear him the entire time.  I was towards the back of the church and had no problem hearing him.  He didn't move out from behind the podeum at all but no pastor really does that  i have ever seen.  I have no idea why he didn't use the pulpit though, maybe because there weren't very many people there.  He still managed to use a few hand gestures that I could see but i felt that he could still have done more.  He connected well with the audience by talking about a subject that many people wonder about.  He spoke about what is the correct attire for church.  I felt more interested in what he was saying becaus the message applied to me.  He also didn't speak in a monotone voice the whole time which also helped me from getting bored or dazing out.  He also asked the audience questions to think about as well which helped me pay attention better.

wiki 4 - 20/20 - good post... what about that bird? Would you have ignored it, or acknowledged that you knew it was there... and then moved on?

Wiki 4-10/29/09

This Wednesday Pastor Clausing presented chapel. Pastor Clausing has been public speaking for a while now and is pretty good at it.  He does a good job of not hiding behind the podeum and moving around the middle of the tarp.  He also does a good job with his eye contact.  He looks around the gym at everyone and does not concentrate in one area.  He also seems to have practiced his speches alot.  He doesn't really have to look at a paper on the podium very often and doesn't ever reaally say words like um or uh.  I also give him alot of credit for not letting the bird in the gym effect his speech.  I saw a good number of people following the bird instead of looking at Pastor,myself included sometimes.  One thing that Pastor Clausing could work on is his hand gestures.   Many of them are small and down at his side.  He could try to raise them above the podeum a little more and use a different gesture besides the sam on all of the time.

wiki 3 - 20/20 - good posting.

Wiki 3-10/21/09

The speaker Monday for chapel was Vicar Mizel.  I think that he did a very good job.  He had his message memorized helped him connect better with everyone because he never had to look down at a sheet of paper or notecards.  His eye contact was also very good.  He looked at the whole gym and didnt focus on just one section of the bleachers.  Another thing that was good was that he stepped out from behind the podeum and stood in the middle of the floor.  This made him appear confident in what he was saying.  He used actions very well.  He threw in hand gestures during his message which kept the audience interested the whole time.  His voice was loud enough for everyone to hear.  I never had to listen very closely or worry about missing some of the message.  He also did a good job of emphasizing all of his main points.  Overall I think that Vicar Mizel did a very nice job and made it seem like he knew his material very well.

wiki 2 - 20/20 good post... I agree with you!

Wiki 2- 10/15/09

Today Mr. Kuhlman and the seniors of the football team led chapel.  I think that Mr. Kuhlman did a very good job with his message.  He spoke loud enough for everyone to easily hear him and he walked around the gym to keep everyone involved in what he was saying.  His eye contact was also very good. He made his way around the gym and looked at every section of the bleachers. He also used his hand gestures cery well and asked the audience questions which made them feel a part of what he was saying.  He wasnt stuck to the podeum the whole time.  It seemed like he had what he was going to say memorized very well.  He never really stuttered or seemed like he forgot what he was going to say.  He connected well with the audience by asking everyoneone what their own talents were and even told a story.  Overall I think that Mr. Kuhlman did a very good job and kept everyone interested in what he was saying.

wiki 1  - 20/20 - great job.

10/8/09

The speaker that presented chapel monday was pastor arlie from our savior lutheran.  There were many good things about the way that he presented but also a couple of things that he could work on relating to public speaking.  One of the good things that he did was that he related well to his crowd.  He used stories from past experiences that connected well with us.  He also looked around the whole gym when he spoke.  He didn't really concentrate on one area which made everyone feel involved in the message.  There were also many things that he could have worked on though.  He spoke in a very monotone voice.  This made his message seem kind of boring. Even at the main parts of his speech his voice did not change.  He also leaned on the podium alot when he spoke.  Another thing that he did was that he played in his pockets alot. This was a little distacting to me.  Overall I think that the material that the pastor had was good but the message could have been better if he would have not spoke in such a monotone voice.

Building Trust In Yourself

            Jeff lay alone quietly on the rough cold Detroit sidewalk.  He could hear sirens off in the distance, and he wished they were coming for him, but all he could do was lay there.  He didn’t want to try to move his legs or attempt to get up, for he was still trembling.  It felt like his heart was still beating 100 miles per hour.  He was bleeding badly from his nose and his lip was cut severely.  He also had a black eye.  The two men in dark green shirts were still fresh in his mind.  He remembered them so well that it seemed as if they were still standing in front of him.  One was short and husky with baggy jeans and had a cross tattoo on his left forearm.  The other was on the tall side and was not as heavy as the other man.  He had a gold chain around his neck and Jeff remembered seeing a switchblade sticking out of the edge of his left pocket.  He could still hear the men laughing and grunting as they beat him within inches of his life and robbed him of everything that he had.  He tried his best to fight to get away, but he was no match for the two older men.  Jeff was only a junior in high school and was not very strong.

            Jeff finally worked up the strength to get up off of the cold cement and continue his walk home.  It was getting dark outside, but all of the lights from the city offices and skyscrapers lit up the sky.  His legs were shaking very badly and it seemed like walking was the hardest thing he ever had to do.  When he could finally see his old blue house in the distance, a serious question popped into his mind.  How was he going to explain this to his parents?  What was he going to say happened to all his money?  He didn’t really want to tell them because he knew that they would worry about him all the time and not trust him to walk home by himself from the baseball diamond anymore.  A thousand thoughts raced through his mind as he walked down his street and up to the steps that led up to his back door.  Jeff reached the back door just as the street lights came on, which is when he was supposed to be home for dinner.  Jeff’s family ate dinner later than most other families in the neighborhood because his father worked two jobs and did not get home until later.  When Jeff walked into the living room he could see that his mother was in the kitchen setting the table for dinner, and his father was still in his room changing out of his work clothes.  Jeff quickly walked to the bathroom down the hall and wiped the blood off of his face and brushed the dirt off of himself.

When he walked into the dim light of the kitchen his mother screamed “Jeff, what on earth happened?” 

Jeff quickly responded, “It was a curveball and I took my eye off of it, that’s all.” 

His mother examined his eye which seemed like an eternity and then finally said “Alright, but be more careful next time” and went on with preparing dinner. 

Jeff explained to his father what had happened to him during dinner. 

His father didn’t seem to care very much and said “you’re supposed to catch the ball with your glove and not your face.”  After dinner Jeff went straight to bed in order to get some extra rest for school the next day.

School the next day was just like any other day.  Jeff was not one of the most “popular” kids in school so no one really said anything to him about his eye and his busted lip.  He did receive a few extra weird looks from the other students but that was about it.  On his way home from school that day Jeff took a different route home, because he couldn’t bear to look at his blood stains on the sidewalk from the night before.  When he was about three blocks from his house he noticed a run down meat market that had been turned into a fighting gym out of the corner of his eye.  The gym was sort of buried behind a grocery store.  He immediately thought to himself that if he could learn to fight, that maybe he could do something to protect himself if he were to ever get jumped again.  He quickly ran up to the door and grabbed a brochure and took it home.  He lay on his bed staring at the brochure for hours when he got home.  All he could think about was how cool it would be to be able to defend himself.  He wouldn’t have to worry about getting picked on and he would know in his mind that he would be able to stick up for himself.  After many hours of thinking he decided that this was something that he wanted and needed to do.  He took 150 dollars out of his drawer at home, which would cover the cost of two months of fighting classes.  He had been cutting grass all summer so that he could finally save up enough money to get a really nice baseball glove.  He thought that this was more important though.  He knew that he couldn’t tell his parents what he was doing though, because he knew that his mother would freak out if she knew he blew his money on fighting classes.  She was one of those mothers who believed in saving all of your money and putting it toward something that could last a long time.

The first day of fighting class was one of the most hard-working days of Jeff’s life.  Mr. Robinson, Jeff’s teacher was a very straight to the point kind of guy.  He didn’t like to waste time messing around and wanted to teach his students everything that he knew about fighting.  Jeff was working out muscles that he didn’t even know he had.  He didn’t care though.  All he cared about was developing enough skill to be able to defend himself when he needed to.  Jeff returned to the fighting gym everyday after school for two months.  He could feel himself getting stronger and gaining more skill everyday.  He also found himself being able to hit the baseball much farther than he had used to.  The fighting classes helped him in everyday life as well, as Jeff became much more confident in himself.  At the end of the two month session Jeff was very confident with his fighting abilities.  He had learned how to defend himself when someone was coming at him and learned many ways to escape when someone had him pinned on the ground.

            After Jeff’s classes were finished he still continued to workout and perfect his moves everyday after school.  He couldn’t continue to go to the gym anymore because he didn’t have enough money saved up in his jar for another month of classes.  He was fine with that fact though, because he felt that he had enough skill built up from the past two months to do what he needed to do.

One cloudy night the next week Jim was walking home for dinner from the ball field, just before the street lights came on.  He was walking his normal route he always took when suddenly he heard voices behind him off in the distance.  He turned around and didn’t see anyone there, so he kept on walking towards his house.  After a couple more seconds he heard the voices again, and he could feel that they were getting closer.  Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder, just like the last time.  Immediately Jeff pictured the two guys in green shirts.  All he could remember was him lying on the sidewalk helpless as can be.  In a split second though, those horrible thoughts were gone.  He knew this time would be different.  This time he was not scared.

Week 1

8/20/09

I have liked what we have done in Symposium class so far.  I have enjoyed the short stories we have read so far for the most part.  They are pretty easy to read and are not all that boring.  I like how we have big class discussions and do activities with the stories we have read rather than just listening to a long lecture everyday.  It helps to see what other people thought of the story.  It is also nice to know that we are not getting essays shoved down our throat within the first week of school.  Overall I like the way class is going so far.

8/20/09

Does defending someone to someone else only "matter" or "count" if the person you defend appreciates or knows you did it?

Im not going to lie and say that if I did defend someone and they didnt know about it, it would feel as good as if the person i defended found out about it, because it would not.  You should defend someone because you want to and because you want to do what is right, regardless of how many people find out about it.  I still think that if you do defend someone and they dont find out about it, it still "counts" or "matters" because you will still always know that you did it and stood up for someone else.

Good work on wk. 1 - glad to hear you're enjoying class so far. Your answers are interesting and well thought out. I appreciate your candor as well.

 Week 2

8/27/09

Who has the bigger problem? Charles or his mother?

I think that Charles mother has a bigger problem in this story.  She is always in Charles business and it is almost to the point where she is smothering him.  She always wants to make sure everything is absolutely perfect for Charles and never wants to leave him alone.  This probably is a big reason of why charles has been acting up in class.  He doesn't like the fact that his mother is all over his case and he just wants some freedom.  He just acts like a normal kid because his mother isn't there to smother him.

8/27/09

I have enjoyed the stories that we have read in class so far.  All of the stories we have read so far have been simple to read and easy to understand.  I like the fact that we talk about the stories in detail the next day because it helps me better understand the story.  It also helps that we do activities with the stories and connect them to things that happen in real life.  I have not decided which essay prompt I am going to do yet but I understand all of them so hopefully this essay will not be too difficult for me.

Good work on wiki 2! 

9/3/09

I was very suprised to see some of the books that were on the banned books list.  I really didnt understand why books like wheres waldo and james and the giant peach were on the list.  I was also suprised that some of the books that were on the list were assigned for us to read in school.  I think that this list proves that people in our society today can overreact about certain things.  I mean if you really think that a book like wheres waldo is bad for some reason, just keep it from your kid for a while but dont making a big deal out of it.

9/3/09

I was really glad that we were given a day in class to do work for our essay the day before it was due.  It gave me time to get my thoughts together and it also gave me a good opportunity to ask questions if i was confused about something on the prompt.  It made the time I had to spend working on my essay go by much faster because I was able to split the work into different parts because I was able to get a good chunk of the essay done in class.  It gave me more time to proofread and go over my essay at home.

Great job on wiki 3!

Week 4

9/10/09

Why was it so important for TJ to do what he did it at the end of the story?

It was very important fot TJ to be the one to destroy the grass and dirt at the end of the story.  Even though it was not what he wanted, he knew that it had to be done.  Even though he didn't want to do it, it still gave him a much better feeling to do it himself rather than having someone else he doesnt know do it and not ever getting to see the garden again.  It gave him a sense of satisfaction.  It was TJ who came up for the idea of the garden and it was him who organized everything, so he should have been the one to destroy it all.

9/10/09

This week we read the speech given by President Obama to kids in America.  The main idea of the speech was school.  President Obama talked about staying in school and never giving up.  Many points he had made i have heard before from teachers and parents.  He gave many examples of peoples hardships including Michael Jordans.  What I got out of the speech was that yes sometimes times will be tough but we should keep pursuing our goal and to never give.  We need to try hard on our schoolwork and do whatever we can to stay in school.  If we work hard in life good things will happen. 

Week 5

9/17/09

I thought that it was dumb that the girl in "One Friday Morning" got her art scholarship taken away from her just becasue she was black.  It was very unfair for her to have put so much of her time and effort into her art work and then it be taken away just like that.  I do although feel like the girl handeled the situation very maturely.  It could have been very easy for her to scream and make a big deal of the situation.  Instead she decided to take the high road and let it go.  She was just going to try to change things in the future.

9/17/09

When we first recieved our sheet that said we were going to have to write a short story, I thought it was going to be very difficult.  I didnt think that I would be able to write a whole story.  Now that I have decided what I am going to write about and have started writing my story, it hasn't seemed too bad.  My story is about a 19 year old guy who lives in detroit.  He is walking home one night and gets jumped by two men and loses everything.  He decides to enroll in a fighting class so he will be able to defend himself.

wiki 5 - Great job on your posts both this week and last. You have a lot of interesting ideas and I enjoy hearing them. I am looking forward to your story since it's set in my hometown. Are you familiar with Detroit? Did you have to do any research on it to make the setting seem realistic?