wiki 5 -  20/20 - a good post... while a skit is not quite a speech... you did a good review of what you felt Pastor Schwab could have done...and I agree with you!

     Pastor Schwab did an okay job at speaking in chapel on Monday.  Personally i think he should have included himself in the skit some how.  It seemed to me that he got other people to do his speaking for him.  His introduction to skit was not the best.  First off he was mumbling a little and the message was not very clear.  I was not sure what was going on until the skit got going.  The three students that performed the skit did a great job.  They all spoke clearly and I had an easy time following along.  Also there pauses seemed good and added intrest to the over all performance.  I think that Pastor Schwab should have said something at the end of the performance.  Like he should have gotten up and restated what the main theme was or something to that effect.  Even if he did not restate what the theme was he should have done a prayer or benediction.  When the music started playing everyone seemed confused because their was no real closing to the performance, it was just over.  

wiki 4  - 20/20  - Good post I agree with you about the speeches...Dani's was VERY good!

     This week in Symposium everyone in  the class had to present a speech.  We started presenting persvasive speeches on Thursday and many of my class did a good job.  Danielle Pierson's speech about the swine flu was very good.  It made me want to go get the swine flu shot.  She really seemed like like she had done her research and knew what she was talking about.  I liked her introduction and how she related her speech to the new hand sanitizer bottles that are in every classroom at Lutheran High.  Her speaking was very calm and controlled which made her easy to hear and understand.  Kyle Sonderegger was called on to give his speech on Thursday also.  Instead of doing a persuasive speech he did an entertaining speech.  Kyle kind of shot himself in the foot when was he was walking to front of the class he told Mrs. Staude that his speech would be short.  Kyle's speech was entertaining but he was cut off when the fire alarm went off.  Since the fire alarm went off in the middle of his speech Mrs. Staude gave him until the next day to do his speech.   

wiki 3 - 10/23  - 20/20 - good posting. He did do a good job.. especially since, as you say, he did EVERYTHING!

     This Wednesday Pastor Clausing had the chapel sermon.  I thought that he did a very good job at presenting the confusing bible story.  First off he does a great job at using his hands to gesture and he also has great delivery.  I had to do the computer for chapel on Wednesday and thing that i noticed was that Pastor Clausing is not afraid to step back form the podium.  I never noticed this from my seat before, but it is something that a good public speaker should do.  Trying to stay behind the podium can make audience feel as if you are trying to hide form them.  Pastor Clausing did a great job at presenting the confusing story.  The way he broke down the story and explained it showed that he knew what he was talking about.  Another thing that i noticed was that Pastor Clausing did everyting in the chapel.  He did the intro, the song, the sermon, and everthing else.  If I had to do this it would be very hard for me because that is a lot of stuff to focus on and in all the different things it requires a different style of public speaking.  

wiki 2 - 10/16  - 20/20

     I tought that the activity we did class today was very interesting.  Doing an thirty second speech after only knowing the topic for a minute is a lot harder that I thought.  When Mrs. Staude explained the activity i thought that it would be no problem and I could catch myself saying the forbidden words.  My first time up I had said one of the words and did not even realize that I had said it.  It was awkward for me to just ramble on about something and to just say what ever came to mind.  This was acward because I not use to doing speeches that way.  Also listening to the speeches was interesting because of the ways that people rambled on about different things.  One of my classmates went form his topic of cows to how many bowls of cereal he ate for breakfast and then he went on to tell us how he did not have milk for lunch.  While this was sort of entertaining the speech seemed weird and all over the place.  I thought this was a good exercise because it showed me how many times I say the forbidden words and how they distract people form my speech. 

wiki 1 - 20/20- good entry! Lots of details noted!

Short Story

Speech by Pastor Arle

     Over all Pastor Arle speech was good.  He seemed to know what he was preaching about and seemed very clear that he had planned out exactly what he was going to say.  One thing that he did was he made little side comments about things that did not seem to pertain to his speech.  The comment about the grave stone and how the only thing written on it was the word "forgiven" did not in my opinion fit into the overall speech. (I think, since his topic was LABELS, he was telling us that was the only label that really matters - and one we should want...  but I agree, that the way he delivered it without explanation was a tad confusing!)  Pastor Arle voice was very clear and understandable but a few times he would tale off at the end and it would be hard to hear the last words of his sentences.  Another item that may have drawn people away from his speech was his low and monotone voice.  it was a very shouthing voice that had the potential to put some people to sleep.  One thing that Pastor Arle could work on would be to understand the microphone system better.  Right before his speech he dropped the microphone when he tried to turn it on and it was very distraction for the first few minutes of the speech. Also him dropping it at the end of his speech was distraction to the person that was speaking after him.  But, over all pastor Arle's speech was very good and he clearly made his point.   

First Hour

            “Jack, go sit down! It’s bad enough that you were tardy to my class and now you think it is okay to socialize with the people that actually want to learn something!” Mr. Jackson yelled. 

            “I was just trying to figure out what I missed,” I pleaded. Mr. Jackson has had it in for me from the first day of school.  He must have heard that I was a bad kid or something because I am always the one getting yelled at for stuff that other people in the class are doing. 

            “Don’t give me that look! I will see you after class, Jack.” Great now I’ll be late to my next class too. It’s not my fault that I was tardy.  I have heard from the seniors that Mr. Jackson grades each person by how much he likes them.  So at this rate, I’m not going to do well in this class. 

            “During this period in American culture Stephen Crane wrote his stories …” Mr. Jackson preached to the class in his usual monotone voice that bored everyone to sleep.  But don’t ever think about falling asleep, because if he caught you sleeping he would do things that the seniors would not even speak of. And the seniors always try to scare the underclassmen with their horror stories of this and that class. 

            Mr. Jackson continued, “You should have read chapters one thru fifteen last night, and now we are going to take a pop quiz of your reading.”  POP QUIZ Great, I didn’t even read it. What could be my excuse this time? I have tried the left the book at school one, to no success. I could try to argue that fifteen chapters in one night was too much, but he will just shoot me down.

            “Hey, Jack isn’t this ridiculous, that he is going to give us a pop quiz over fifteen chapters?” Austin whispered to me.

            “I totally agree, we should tell him that”

            “Jack stop talking I am handing out the quiz” Mr. Jackson yelled and gave me a mean look. 

            I looked to Austin and he mouthed, “I’m Sorry.”  It really doesn’t matter now I’m just going to get an “F” any way.  The quiz was only five multiple choice and a short answer, but all Mr. Jackson’s multiple choices are trick questions and the short answers are more like essays than they are short, and to top it off we had only get about five minutes to do it.  I just guessed on the multiple choices and I based my short answer essay on things that the smart kids were talking about in the halls yesterday before practice.  Hope it’s at least enough to pass.

            As soon as everyone in the class turned in the pop quiz, that I’m pretty sure was given because a few of the not so popular kids were talking in the back, Mr. Jackson went back to the monotone lecture that he had prepared five years ago and just keeps repeating year after year. I looked at the clock; it was 7:55, only twenty five minutes of class had gone by. Granted that I was only here for ten of those minutes, but it still felt like an eternity. Mr. Jackson just kept on going, and my mind just started to wander. 

            Mr. Jackson was talking about the battlefields and the way that Henry described them… and I started thinking about our football game that was coming up on Friday.  It was only Tuesday, but that game is what gets the whole team through the week.  Then I started thinking about practice that we would have after school.  Hopefully, there would be no conditioning, but everyone knows there will be.  Then I realized how tired I was from practice last night.  How did the evil Mr. Jackson think I was going to be able to read fifteen chapters after practice, that just ridiculous.  The lecture continues. I looked at the clock, even though I didn’t want to because I knew I would be disappointed, only three minutes had gone by.  This class sucks.  I put my head down on my arm so that it could rest but I made sure to keep my eyes open. 

            I started thinking about how I was late.  My car wouldn’t start so my mom had to drive me, but she also had to drop off my little brother, which made me really late.  So come to think of it, it really wasn’t my fault that I was late.  My car is such a piece of you know what.  I really wish I had a truck.  To be exact a Chevy, a Chevy Silverado, a blue Chevy Silverado.  I would make some modifications to it, nothing over the top, just the little stuff.  I closed my eyes so I could picture my truck, but I made sure that I could still hear the boring lecture of Mr. Jackson.  I pictured me driving my truck through a muddy field and having so much fun. I pictured me crossing through town and everyone looking at my beautiful blue truck. 

            All of a sudden a very loud boom sounded and my entire desk started shaking.  I looked up and on my desk was the teachers book.  I guess I had dozed off and now Mr. Jackson was standing over me glaring, like I have never seen him glare at anyone before.  “We are going to have long talk after class,” he said.  I had totally forgot that I was going to talk to him after class already.  I looked at the clock to see how much time I had to  come up with a good story for everything that I had done.  It was only 8:04.  I had eleven minutes.  I figured I could just tell him the truth and he would understand. 

            Then, I started to think about what I was going to tell Miss Ike because I would now be late to her chemistry class.  I just remembered that I did not get the worksheet done that was due today in chemistry.  This day is just not starting out well!  I usually takes Miss Ike a while to collect the homework.  I have seen many people finish their homework in class before she has collected it, so that’s what I’ll do.  Boy, if I don’t get that worksheet done my grade will drop to a “D” and I can’t afford that right now. 

            The bell rang and I hurried out of evil Mr. Jackson’s room.  I heard him calling my name but he was probably just going to yell at me for something else now, so I just kept walking. Tomorrow things will be different.

Week 5

wiki 5 - good job, Joe! Looking forward to your story.

9/15/09

After reading "One Friday morning" I was surprised at how open predejudice was back then.  Like today if someone was going to discriminate someone because of of their ethnicity they would come up with another reason for the person not being able to get what they want.  The Art school could have just told the girl that they found a better painting or something like that. They didn't have to just say O we found out that you were black so we can't give you the scholarship.  After reading the story I thought that it was just about predejudism, but after class I learned it was about more.  After Mrs. Staude started talking about how the girl really didn't get upset, I thought about it and realized that I would have been really upset and that I couldn't have just sat there and son  nothing.   

9/14/09

My first reaction to the story "The New Kid" was that Marty is a really man person.  After he begged the kid to play punchball with they he turns around makes fun of him.  I understand the whole pecking order thing that Mrs. Staude was talking about but the other kids might have thought higher of him if he would have stood up for himself and the new kid.  Even if they did not think higher of him he would have a new friend and he would have to hang with the kids that really do not like him.  The reader can tell that the other kids do not like Marty because of the way they wouldn't let him at first, and they also seemed hesitant to let him play after he found the new to even out the numbers.  I got my story down on paper this weekend but it still needs to have some corrections made to it.

Week 4

9/09/09

I liked the story "The Finish of Pasty Barnes" better than "Antaeus."  I understood how this story showed confronting prejudice.  Pasty had to confront the doctor's prejudice because the first doctor did not take very good care of her because she lived in a certain part of town.  I thought it was very mean for the doctor to treat Eliza the way he did. The way he no sympathy for her and told her that he did not know how long she would be in bed because he was a doctor and no a fortune teller was very mean and if a doctor did that today he would be in a lot of trouble.  I kind of expect that Pasty would some how save his mother by riding horses, but i did not expect him to ride the one that had killed his father.  That was interesting.

9/09/09

Personally the story "Antaeus" was not one of my favorites.  I understood where Borden Deal was coming from with the whole country kid in the big city, but it did not seem as if the kids treated him any different because he was from the country.  Yes they could have made fun of him or not interact with him, but they did interact with him and found him to be a nice guy that they learned a lot from.  I thought it was kinda interesting in how Mrs, Staude was describing him as a leader, because in business management we are learning many of the things that she described.

Week 3

Great job on wiki 3!

9/02/09

What do you think about the premise of the future which said "Every man must face reality." (p.111) thus saying that man is "better off" without fantasy, imagination, and fiction. Do you agree or disagree?

I agree that every man has to face reality eventually.  There is going to be stuff in life that you do not like, but you just have to deal with it.  Is man better off without fantasy, imagination, and fiction? No, because those things all add to a persons life.  By reading a fantasy book or a fiction book a person may get a new idea about something or even think about a problem differently.  Also a person can just relax and enjoy one of these books without trying to decode what is happening in a reality based book.  I personally enjoy reading reality based books and watching reality based movies because i can relate them to my life easier. 

9/02/09

I thought that the list of books that people have challenged was very interesting.  I did not realize that people actually challenged stuff the like.  i just thought that so head librarian made the decision on whether or not the book would appear in the library.  I found that I had read a few of the books on the list.  I could not believe that Where's Waldo was on the list.  I understand the argument that it is not a book that someone could read, but really it just suppose to be fun.  I think that some Americans need to get a life and not worry about whether or not the book Where's Waldo is in out libraries.  If they don't like they don't have to check it out.

Week 2

8/26/09

Good work on wiki 2!

When I first started reading sixteen I had no idea where the story was going to go.  Even when she was walking to the skating rink I had no idea what was going to happen.  I do not think that the whole skating thing was a date like the girl thought.  The way that the guy said he would call her back and didn't may have been mean, but they weren't really on a date so he was not obligated to call her back.  I would like to read the sequel to this book.  i what to see what happens when they meet up at school or anywhere else for for that matter.  I think if they meet up again the girl will find out that it was not really a date.

8/24/09

When reading Charles the ending was very predictable.  I was not sure why I thought that I knew the ending, but after being in class I think it was the way he talked about Charles.  I agree with the fact that he was exaggerating what he was doing at kindergarden.  This was obvious by the way the teacher did seem to make a big deal about Laurie's behavior in class.  I thought it was funny how the dad knew what was happening but did not let the mom know.  I did not realize this until class today.  I agree with Mrs. Staude in the fact that Laurie's mother will turn out to be a hover mother.  All in all I liked the story even though it was predictcable

Week 1

8/18/09

When I was reading this story I had no idea what was going on.  The "cinematic" style just seemed random and confusing.  When I was done I understood how Scratchy, Jack and Bride all fit together to form this interesting story.  Mrs. Staude brought up an interesting point about how Scratchy did not shoot Jack when he had the chance.  These two men had dualed it out many times but Scratchy could not stand losing his one and only dualing partner.  The first "scene" of this story added an effect to the story that may have been missed if it were not so detailed.  The effect that this first part of the story added was that the town was very use to having Scratchy come and that they knew what was going to happen when he did come.  This also added a sense of disappointment at the end when Jack and Scratchy did not fight.    Joe Umbach

8/20/09

The story A and P had a twist at the end that i did not expect.  I thought that Sammy was going to get a date or something to that effect.  I did not expect him to quit his job just because his manager gave the young girls a hard time about being in bathing suits.  This twist at the end gave meaning to the plot and showed how standing up for someone can hurt you in the long run.  I am starting to think about ideas for the shot story that i have to write.  I am not sure exactly what i want to do but what ever it is it will be a realistic story.  I liked how Mrs. Staude talked about college today because non of the other teacher really go in to detail about what we are going to have to do and the scholarships that are out there. 

Good work on wk. 1 - I enjoyed reading your insights! I am glad the stories have managed to surprise you in some ways. Hope the rest continue to do so.