Blog over Class Period 28 October 2010

I thought class today was a nice break from what we usually did. It was nice to stop talking about the essays that we need to write or when something is due for once. Watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer provided a good laugh too. I did not fall asleep during it, so it is definitely a good thing to perhaps emulate in the future, but perhaps something not as cheesy as Buffy.

PS: I also enjoyed you giving the class a snack. It really went beyond what is required of you as a teacher. 

Favorite Book

My favorite book is actually a favorite book series. This series is by the author Vince Flynn. The book series follows a CIA super spy, Mitch Rapp, that is a no joke, do whatever it takes kind of guy. Most of the books are about Mr. Rapp fighting and killing terrorists. The books are very popular because it deals with Islamic terrorism as a main issue, which is a popular entertainment medium today because it dominates American culture while we are at war with countries in the Middle East.

The books are very interesting and easy to read very quickly. Of all the books that I have read in this series, I can easily read the book in three days or less. I am a fast reader, but I usually do not read books in less than a three weeks, if that says anything about how good these books really are.

The books also deal with political themes as well, as Mitch Rapp often has to fight tooth and nail with the president and his aids, along with Senators and Representatives. The author does an excellent job of researching his books. He talks with industry insiders, including public servants and current and former CIA workers to make sure he has the most accurate information there is, in which he forms a great fiction work out of it.

These books are very good, and I cannot wait until I read the next one.

Blog about anything you want

I believe that the library should have a better selection newly released books. The only ones they seem to have are ones that are almost a year old, and most of them are non fiction books either about Barrack Obama or Rush Limbaugh. I think that the library should make a better effort to keep a better record of both non fiction and fiction books. There should be new books every couple weeks that are from the bestseller lists, which contain quite a few non fiction books.

Studies prove that people who read a lot not only have a bigger vocabulary, but are also all around smarter students. If the school really wanted to increase grade percentages, they could do a better job of implementing more interesting reading material into their library.

Outline for Research Paper

I am writing my paper on the topic of prosecuting soldiers because of any actions that they perform in while at war overseas. This topic has been in the news a couple times over the last few years. I derived the topic by branching out from a broad topic of the military.

I can use Ethos in this paper by finding documents about previous events that may relate to my topic.

I can use Pathos by stating my own opinion on the matter, and why I believe in that position. I can also use opinions of others in this part.

For Logos, I will derive the best position by noting the consequences of each position and which one is better for everybody.

3 Questions for Research Topic

1. Is the Iraq/Afghanistan War justified?
   - Do actual soldiers think the war was right
   - Is it too expensive to continue
   - Is the terrorist threat still worth fighting

2. Is a powerful military too expensive?
   - What are some of the scholarly views on this topic
   - Does it just amount to wasting money
   - Will a World War III ever happen? If not, why do we need a better military than other countries?

3. Should soldiers be prosecuted for killing while at war?
   - Are there any other cases like this that can provide an opinion on the subject
   - Is this a major political topic right now
   - What do soldiers think? What do civilians think?

Class on 12 October 2010 Reflection

At first, I thought moving the class into the circle was a little weird, but it ended up working. I actually would have preferred to stay in the normal seating for the grammar lesson for first group though. I enjoyed passing around the stuffed animal and saying what we wrote down for the various topics that we discussed. It was definitely one of the better class periods that we have had lately.

Proposal Essay Revisions for Draft 2

I did several revisions for draft 2 of my proposal essay. Most of which were simple but necessary in order to improve the overall quality of the essay.


The first set of revisions that I did was to read through the entire essay and fix any errors that the computer was not able to recognize. These consisted of using the wrong "there" or the wrong "to". I also changed the wording on some of the sentences in all three paragraphs. Doing this help improve the flow of the essay and to help illustrate the point further.

The next thing I did was go over my sources and change a few. I made sure they were sighted properly and that they were authorized sources. I also changed a few from "dot com" sources to .gov sources that gave the same general information.

Finally, I went over the formatting of the essay and made sure everything was correct. I used the literacy guide to check that the margins were correct and to make sure my title and information was formatted correctly.