Final Blog.

I feel like this course has helped me develop different skills in writing that will help me prepare for future writing classes, and other writing in my lifetime. This class has taught me a lot using the grammar tutorials and fun ways to find creative writing through stumble upon and blogger. I think That using blogger was a great way to develop these new writing tactics, from being a part of the 21st century. I think that if this class was an actual writing class with pen and paper writing assignments that it wouldn't have been as beneficial to myself. I like the way that this class has adapted to our generation and used technology to develop skills while we could have fun doing so.

One specific thing that I have never been the best at in writing is probably spelling, and proper grammar. Thanks to spell check I didn't have this problem with this course because it was on a computer. In this class the grammar lessons we had to complete were an easy way to quickly understand and be able to apply it in our next blogs. Using blogs that we previously created we were able to correct them seeing where we made mistakes and be prepared to apply it to our future blogs. I liked being able to complete these grammar blogs, because we could pick and choose what lessons we thought we needed help with. I chose lessons that I wasn't familiar with and learned different ways to make my writing better. Although sometimes I completed the lessons I found that I didn't make the mistake in my blogs that I needed to correct.

The thing that I'm most proud of creating in intro to writing is my mid term Prezi project. I liked this project because It gave me the opportunity to tell someone my story that i've struggled with for a short, but devastating time of my life. Although I had some technical difficulties in the Prezi software, I had the chance to do a lengthy and full process of me writing "The Blessing in Disguise. This project was a lot of work for me, but I didn't have a shorter version that could cover everything that I have been through. One thing I could have done better in is rereading my blogs. After rereading some of them I saw that I made some mistakes that I shouldn't have made. I think that most of these mistakes were made by distractions in class, or typing errors because I'm always too focused on typing fast and not efficiently. 

As a whole I think that this class has been very beneficial to me. I enjoyed the way that the class is very laid back and we are giving assignments with a specific due dates. This class may not have been teacher instructive, but the way that it was set up using blogger and Saki I found was perfect. This class can either be a pass fail course, I found that some of my class mates got distracted with other internet sites and social networks.   

My final thoughts of this class is that it was a great learning process and I liked the way it was set up. The only thing that I was confused about was the way things were graded. Other than that I am glad to be a part of Intro to writing.

 

Parallel Structure!

I COMPLETED ANOTHER GRAMMAR BLOG! This parallel structure tutorial was something that I've never heard of also, but once I read through the examples I knew what it was. I've never heard it called a "parallel structure". After I completed reading the definition and reading their given examples I figured out why it was called a "parallel structure" I don't think that I make this mistake to commonly in my writing, but I think it helped me develop a new smooth way of writing. This tutorial was very helpful, because not only did it show me how to find the errors in the sentence, but it showed me how to correct it. This tutorial is great and got to the point very quickly and easily. Using the red corrections I think was beneficial for someone to visually see where are how they made the changes in the sentences. 


After completing all six of my grammar blogs I think I've become a better writer and more self conscious about the skills of my writing. Knowing about this website produced by Bedford/ St. Martin's is very helpful to anyone that would need hep with any specific skill in writing. I think that the way they created their website and tutorials is a fast way of helping someone, or clarifying a confusion someone would have while writing. If I have any questions on how to form a sentence while I'm writing, I will definitely come back to this website as a helpful source. 

Comma splice!

After completing another grammar blog, this one one was one that I've never heard of through out completing middle school and high school. After I completed reading the definitions and examining a few of the given examples I figured out what a "comma splice" was. Comma splices are probably something I'm not the strongest in and I could use some work on in this skill of writing. The use of commas can be tricky to some people if you don't know where to put them or if it should be a period or not. The majority of the time I have a good Idea where to put them, but sometimes I put them in unnecessary places. This tutorial I think has been a lot more helpful than the other grammar blogs I have completed. In this grammar blog there were different examples to use and compare that clarified what a comma splice was in an easy short way. I think that this website is useful for myself and any others wanting to check up on how to perfect their writing.

PHOTOBLOG!

I visited a very interesting photography blog. This blog didn't have the normal entries, but to a photographer the blog was full of great information. The blog had many pictures that you could scroll through and when you clicked on the photographs it gives you the whole run down on how the photo was created. When you clicked on each of the photos that jumped out to you, it would show- captured, camera, lens, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, shooting mode, exposure bias, metering mode, IOS, flash, image quality, raw converter, or if it was cropped. Not only did this blog show exactly how the pictures were taken, the blog also had tutorials on how they edited the photo in photoshop. I found that the most helpful too see what type of tules artists use in photoshop, because there is so much that it's hard to discover with just ones self. I also enjoyed that there were free downloads of trial software that you could test and apply to your photos to see how each artist used the software to apply them to their plain photographs. Another feature I liked about this blog was it showed the original photo before the editing and the comments were supportive and helpful to the artist. The only thing that I didn't enjoy about this blog was that it was based of the artist's website, and it was hard to find. It was a little confusing to me when I first visited the website, but once I figured it out I kept coming back to see different techniques of photographs, digital imaging, and digital editing. 

Tutorial for Word Choice

I just completed the tutorial for word choice. This advanced tutorial I think was better than the other ones I've completed this far. The examples that were given were really good. The way they showed the incorrect, and correct ways were very helpful and clear, using almost the same sentence. When I went to my google recorded blog, I listened to it again and I didn't think that the word choice was in effect during my blog as it was in the examples given in the tutorial. I also think that the examples of the formal writing doesn't exactly apply to the type of blogs we've been writing so far. In this class for future thoughts an idea to practice formal writing would be to write a letter to someone famous, or to a teacher that you've had in the past telling them how your college experience has been for the first semester.

Fragments.

After scrolling through the intermediate Fragment PowerPoint, I found that I didn't have any of these errors in my google recorded blog. I think that if anyone had confusion on sentences the fragment PowerPoint would help clarify their confusion. This PowerPoint wasn't in the best form of helping someone that is very confused, but to me it got the point across fast. The PowerPoint was supportive, but it could have used some more examples and answers that were't immediately there.

Run on sentence.

After completing the intermediate run on sentence PowerPoint, I came to conclusion that I've made a mistake like this in my recorded blog. My mistake wasn't as bad as the examples in the PowerPoint, but I found myself correcting the sentence anyway. I found it harder reading the blog in my head and finding the run on sentences. Recording the blog and hearing myself speak really helped deciphering the run on sentences. This PowerPoint has helped me developed a self conscious tactic of rereading my sentences more as I go to see if I have created a run on sentence.

As part of an intermediate level of learning run on sentences I don't think that it was at the level intermediate, or I'm confused on what the diffuclity level they are based on. I think that that PowerPoint was helpful, but it wasn't very clear on explaining how or why they were run on sentences. The PowerPoint just pointed with an arrow where the mistake was.

BLINK 182!

BLINK 182 is my favorite band. I've been listening to their music for as long as I can remember, and I still love their older music. Their album they currently just released "Neighborhoods" is what I've been currently been listening to the most. The Majority of their songs I can relate to myself, or they are just really good and funny. The band consists of three members, Travis Barker (drummer), Tom DeLong (vocalist/guitarist), and Mark Hoppis (vocalist/bass guitarist). Travis Barker is my favorite in the band because I love percussion, and Travis is the best drummer in the world. Although these three musicians are very talented the bad started in 1992 and broke up in 2005 from not getting along. All three of them separated creating their own bands such as "+44+, "Angles & Airwaves", and "Box Car Racer." I was very upset when the band broke up, because it was all I would ever listen to. Eventually the bad got back together by fate. In 2008 Travis barker was on a plane when it all of a sudden crashed in South Carolina due to technical difficulties. Mark and Tom heard about the awful news and decided to visit Travis in the hospital. When Travis recovered the visit at the hospital turned into a reunion. Things fell into place and the band eventually got back together. After they got back together they started to collaborate and develop new music and planed world tours. This September I was given the chance to see them in concert in Charlotte, North Carolina. Not only did I just see them in concert, I was in the front row right against the stage. It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to and it was the most fun I've had in a while. At the concert they played songs that were off there new album that wasn't released at the time. It was great to see my favorite bad in concert and so up close. I cried a little and sang my guts out at the concert!

AMAZING PUMPKIN CARVING ARTIST

About a week ago in New York Botanical Garden, an amazing pumpkin artist, Ray Villafane presented his carving out of a huge pumpkin. Ray used two pumpkins in the process of building this magnificent pumpkin creation. The first pumpkin was 1,683 pounds based on top of of a 1,815.5 pound pumpkin. Ray used his first large pumpkin to carve a large zombies. The detail of the zombies were how I would vision  zombies, and the use of the guts of the pumpkin on their head and hands I think is a great way to add detail. The zombie crawling theme of the pumpkin carving was perfect for Halloween, many zombie lovers thought the theme was very appropriate. I wish I could have gotten the chance to visit Botanical Garden to see the worlds biggest pumpkin carved. I enjoyed stumbling upon this because I'm an artist myself, with the specialty in sculpture. I liked to see what different types of material artist create their final pieces out of, wether it be out of clay, steel, or a rare short lasting pumpkin. Spending hours on this giant pumpkin zombie carving I would really be upset when the pumpkin started to rot. Hard work like this is only going to last in a photograph and just visited in a park. As the pumpkin rots, however I think the zombie would look more dead and have more death zombie characteristics. Maybe next Halloween instead of just carving faces, and designs into my pumpkin I'll take more time and create something like this. Seeing more artistic subject matter like this opens my mind to make my own creations.