Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Writing Reflection

Ideas and Content:In my Julius Caesar essay I demonstrate appropriate ideas and content. I provided appropriate ideas and content because most of the information I got for the essay was from the Julius Caesar book. In my Alchemist essay I demonstrated appropriate ideas and content also. I provided appropriate ideas and content by finding facts from the book and also finding more details from the book to support the fact.

Organization:My writing provides examples of good organizational skills. One of those example is putting an indent before I start off every paragraph. Also another example is using a hook in the first paragraph which will attract the reader to what they are reading. I can improve by having a clearer thesis statement, add more specific topic sentences and adding more detailed transitioning sentences.

Personal Growth:Between my Alchemist essay and the Julius Caesar there is improvement. The improvement between the Julius Caesar essay and the Alchemist essay are mainly the writing skills. The writing skills that have improved are my use of vocabulary, grammar and punctuation. Also I have improved a little bit on my organization skills. Like including a interesting hook to grab the reader's attention. I also had a clear thesis statement and had topic sentences for each paragraph.

SLR:An SLR that is used to construct my essay was Reason Critically. For the essay you needed to reason critically so that you could have an idea of how to construct the whole essay. Also you need to reason critically to know where specific things are needed. Also you need to reason critically to make the essay make sense and what order to put stuff in.



Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Marcus Brutus' Motivators


“Let us be sacrificers, but not butchers.” This quote states that he wants to kill Caesar but in a different way from Cassius. Brutus kills Caesar not for personal reasons but for the good of Rome. He kills Caesar because he wanted Rome to stay as a republic and not turn into a tyranny. The two motivators that drive Brutus into killing Caesar are his honour and also his patriotism. He also has other small motivators that connect to the two main motivators, which are patriotism and honour.

Brutus killed Caesar for two main reasons. One of the reasons Brutus killed Caesar was because of his patriotism. Brutus was motivated by patriotism because he thought that Caesar’s ambition was giving him too much power, therefore he thought that if Caesar gained too much power he would take over Rome as a tyrant and Rome would not be a republic anymore. Patriotism motivated Brutus to join the conspirators and lose his trust with Caesar. After killing Caesar Brutus went to confront the people of Rome and explain why he killed Caesar. Brutus states “Caesar this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.”(Act 3, Scene 2, Lines: 20-21, Page 128) The quote is saying that it’s not that he didn’t love Caesar but he loved Rome more therefore he killed Caesar for the good of Rome. The quotation shows that Brutus was motivated by patriotism and was driven to kill Caesar before he got too much power and become a tyrant. Also Brutus thought to himself what had to be done, after all the conspirators left his house. Brutus says, “It must be by his death; and for my part; I know no personal cause to spurn at him; But for the general. He would be crown’d; How that might change his nature, there’s the question.”(Act 2, Scene 1, Lines: 10-13, Page 62) The quotation states that he had no personal cause to kill Caesar but he wanted the good of Rome therefore he killed Caesar. This shows that he was driven by his patriotism and his love for Rome. The reason why he killed Caesar he wanted the people of Rome and himself to be free.

The second main reason that Brutus killed Caesar was because of his honour. Brutus was motivated by his honour because he wanted to do what he thought was the right thing to do and he did what he thought was the good of Rome. He followed his honour and h decided to kill Caesar. Also within his honour Caesar’s ambition, his thoughts, the conspirators and the republic of Rome motivated him. Because of that he gave up his friendship with Caesar and lost trust with Caesar. AfProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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r the conspirators entered Brutus’ house he had a conversation about plotting Caesar’s death with the conspirators. He says “ No, not an oath. If not the face of men, The sufferance if our souls, the time’s abuse- If these be motives weak, break off betimes, And every man hence to his idle bed.”(Act 2, Scene 1, Lines: 114-117, Page 70) The quote is saying that if they are going to kill Caesar later on they should not be hiding and not be scared, they should be proud and act normal. He is saying that what happens if when it comes to killing Caesar you will be hiding and scared. It shows that Brutus is honorable and that he accepts what he has to do and does not get frightened or scared and walk away. They should be proud of the good they are going to do for Rome. Brutus and the conspirators are at the senate house after killing Caesar Brutus talks to the conspirators and says “ Grant that, and then is death a benefit: So are we Caesar’s friends that have abrig’d his time of fearing death.” (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines: 103-105, Page 112) He is saying that they should accept that Caesar is dead and that his death was a benefit to Caesar because has to worry less and didn’t need to worry about death anymore. It shows that Brutus was motivated by his honour and his honour was powerful enough to kill Caesar for the freedom of Rome and its’ people.

Brutus says he wanted to kill Caesar in a honorable way but not a barbaric way. But at the end Brutus actually did kill Caesar in a barbaric way and not the way he wanted and thought it would be like. Brutus killed Caesar mainly for two reasons. Those two reasons are because of his patriotism and his honour. Both motivators caused Brutus to act in a confident way. His honour led him to joining the conspirators and his patriotism led him to killing Caesar for the good of the Roman people. Brutus achieved his goal he wanted to complete which was killing Caesar before he gets too much power. Brutus achieved his goal because he was determined. Brutus was determined to save the people of Rome from tyranny, ensure that Rome stays a republic, stop Caesar from getting too much power and gain freedom for himself and the people of the Roman republic. The goal was noble at first because after that they were not ruled for a while and stayed as a republic. But then Anthony got Octavius in charge and Brutus died therefore at the end the goal was not very worthy.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Collage Reflection




Think Creatively:

In my collage there are some creative element to it. For example one of the creative aspects of my collage is how I set up or put my images. they are creative because I overlapped the picture to make them have texture and it represents them having to leave somethings in the refugee camp. Another creative aspect of my collage is the way i used the fire to overlap some of the images. It is creative because it shows that the pictures that were overlapped with fire were the things that the lost boys have escaped.

Reason Critically:

I reasoned critically on my collage by putting certain images near them. I put certain images near to some other images because those images connected somehow. An example is how I put the picture of a person on top of the American flag because when the lost boys of Sudan arrived in America they were shocked because of the necessities they needed and the different things they needed to overcome like getting a job or going to school. Another example is by putting the dove near the racism sign because a main conflict that the lost boys faced was racism and that racism was stopping them from getting peace.

Communicate Effectively:

My collage creates awareness for the lost boys of Sudan I included various images. In those various images I included images about their conflicts, their journey, the new stuff they faced and what things that they had to leave in the refugee camp. An image that represents the new stuff they had to adapt to in America was the food. They had to get used to eating fast food. Another new thing they faced in America was electricity.They had to learn how to use electricity in their new home and adapt to using it.

Live Ethically:

My collage created empathy because it showed mainly sad images and some of the stuff they had to leave back at home or the refugee camp. One of those things was like leaving their Dinka ethnography like the cows and the totem poles. The collage might change peoples'emotions because there are several images asking for peace or help including the help button.


Thursday, March 11, 2010

The Lost Boys Of Sudan: Peter Nyarol Dut

Peter was living in the refugee camp for about 10 years. One day Peter found his name on the list that was going to America. At first he didn't know if he should go or not. But at the end Peter decided to go to America to start out a new and better life. But when he arrived and settled in America he had many difficulties to face. Some of the difficulties that Peter faced in America was getting into school, making friends, finding a job, buying a car, earning money, learning how to fit in, moving into/finding a new house, adapting into the culture, paying the rent, buying food and sending money back to their families. Also they had to adapt to the different foods they ate, the clothes they wore, keeping their culture and also trying to fit into a group of people.

When Peter arrived in America he was shocked by many of the new things that he discovered in America. Most of the things he discovered were new fir him and it was a shock for him and he didn't know how to use most of the new things he had discovered. Some of the new things that Peter needed to adapt to in America was the use of clean water, electricity, how a car works, going to a large school, using pots, stoves and heat to cook stuff. But after staying in America Peter became a successful person went to college and got used to how the different things work in America.