Hosting a Good Conversation Online

I know it wasn't required to post anything on the Art of Hosting Good Conversations Online article, but this actually made a lot of sense to me, and these are just a few of the bullets that caught my eye! :)

• Make newcomers feel welcomed, contributors valued, recreational hasslers ignored.
• The ongoing goal is civil discourse: all kinds of people having conversations and arguments about a variety of subjects and treating each other decently. 
• Provide a way for people to get to know each other beyond their usual masks. 
• A host is like a host at a party. You don't automatically throw a great party by hiring a room and buying some beer. Someone needs to invite an interesting mix of people, greet people at the door, make introductions, start conversations, avert fisticuffs, encourage people to let their hair down and entertain each other. 
• Good hosts model the behavior they want others to emulate: read carefully and post entertainingly, informatively, and economically, acknowledge other people by name, assume good will, assert trust until convinced otherwise , add knowledge, offer help , be slow to anger, apologize when wrong, politely ask for clarification, exercise patience when your temper flares. 
• under the right conditions, online communities grow. They are gardened.
• Keep the rules as few as possible. Keep them simple and based on ordinary human courtesy 

Vocabulary #2

1. Accoutrements: additional items of dress or equipment, or other items carried or worn by a person or used for a particular activity

• The accoutrements for wrestling are wrestling shoes, a headgear, and a singlet.

2.Apogee: highest point of development in something; climax

• The apogee of her trip was when she went to see the Eiffel Tower.

3. Apropos: with reference to; concerning

• The teachers apropos about the Egyptians made better sense to her students than the books example.

4. Bicker: argue about pity and trivia matters;(of water) flow or fall with a gentle repetitive noise; patter

• Once the student wouldn't stop bickering about her tardies she was sent to the office. 

5. Coalesce: come together and form one mass or whole

• The group tried to coalesce all their ideas, but in the end it only caused more confusion. 

6. Contretemps: and unexpected and unfortunate occurrence 

• The contretemps of the car crash put fear in a lot of the drivers.

7. Convolution: a coil or twist

• She had so many topics she wanted to put into her essay it turned into a convolution of random sentences.

8. Cull: select from a large quantity 

• The company culled the applicant with most experience.

9. Disparate: different in kind; not allowed for comparison 

• Twix and Resess have such a disparate taste, that I decide to take both.

10. Dogmatic: inclined to lay down principles as incontrovertibly true

• The dogmatic rules were so outrageous, that the employes hardly ever followed them. 

11. Licentious: promiscuous in sexual matters, disregarding accepted rules.

• Her licentious behavior was restricted at the restaurant.

12. Mete: a punishment or harsh treatment

13. Noxious: harmful, poisonous, very unpleasant 

• The noxious fumes were coming form the sewer.

14. Polemic: a strong verbal or written attack on someone 

• To get a better understanding of the election, the teacher assigned the class the watch the polemic sciences of the debate.

15. Populous: having a large population 

• California is the third populous state in America.

16. Probity: honesty and decency 

• Probity was the main rule in their house.

17. Repartee: witty comments or replies

18. Supervene: occur later than a specified or implied event or action, typically in such a way as to change the situation

19. Truncate: shorten something by cutting of the pot or end piece 

20. Unimpeachable: not able to be doubted, questioned

Little help?....anyone?....someone?!

I'm having a little trouble understanding the Beowulf, and for some reason the resources that were left in the comments from that one post from Dr. Preston earlier they won't work on my computer so I'm a little stuck :( and I don't know if it's just a bad day for my computer but the mind map keeps showing blank as well? someone send me a sign!! haha

My Opinion Isn't (A) Right..... :(

I've reviewed the article "The right to your own opinion" for the past three years, in Mrs. Byrnes class, last year in Dr. Preston's American Let class, and again this year. Each year it gave me something new to think about, reminding me all over again that my I really don't have a right to my opinion. What really caught my attention though was when we discussed that even in school our opinion doesn't matter. We are never ask about what we think or feel, its always, " this is how it is, and that's how its going to be." Never once has a teach asked me about what I feel about an assignment, until last year when I met Dr. Preston. He wanted our feed back, and he let us know from the beginning that this wasn't a one man job, we all had a say, and we all had to work together.

Back to the article though and the socratic seminar, I didn't take too many notes because I just wanted to focus on what the class had to say but here's some things I jotted down.

• you can't CHANGE an opinion; you can INFLUENCE it tho
• you are entitled to your own opinion, but you should be willing to listen to others opinions 
• you should have evidence, something to bak you up
• we are all connected; 
• limbic: part of your brain that deals with emotions 
• michales example of how she likes to argue
• she argues with her emotions rather that logically
• saying " I have the right to my own opinion" is like throwing in the towel
• Daniele knows a lot about physics haha 

Vocabulary #1

1. Adumbrate: to represent in outline; to indicate faintly
The teacher adumbrated the syllabus to the class.

2. Apotheosis: the highest point of development of something.
The apotheosis of the school year was graduation.
3. Ascetic: practicing service of self discipline 
The ascetic lifestyle of the family cause the youngest to be a rebel.

4. Bauble: cheap, ornament; trinket
The yard sale consist of many old baubles.


5. Beguile: enchant; charm; take away by cheating or flattery
The little sister beguiled her older brother to give her the last cookie.

6. Burgeon: grow quickly; flourish
The number of ants burgeoned in the kitchen as the rain started coming in.

7. Complement: to complete; to make perfect; full quantity
Her shoes complemented her outfit.
8. Contumacious: stubborn ; willfully disobedient
All the high schoolers were contumacious when they had to return to school after summer.

9. Curmudgeon: a bad-tempered; surly person
The old man was such a curmudgeon, that no one ever want to bother him.
10. Didactic: instructive; inclined to teach
Her mothers didactic methods always made more sense. 

11. Disingenuous: insincere; lacking in candor
His disingenuous personality made me seem arrogant and boring.
12. Exculpate: to free from blame; vindicate, innocentOnce the results came in, the suspect was exculpated and sent home. 

13. Faux pas: an embarrassing or tackless act
Falling on stage was a faux pas she will never forget. 

14. Fulminate: to issue denunciations; to pronounce with condemnation
Martin Luther King Jr. fulminated against slavery.

15. Fustian: inflated language in writing; worthless; cheap; twilled cloth with a short nap, usually dipped in dark colored dye

16. Hauteur: arrogance; disdainful pride
At first the man had this hauteur demeanor, but he turned to be a very respectful man.
17. Inhibit: to hinder; to prevent; to restrain
Waking up late inhibited Danny from getting a good parking spot.

18. Jeremiad: prolonged lamentation; mournful complaint, list of woes
19. Opportunist: the policy of adapting actions and decisions; someone who practices opportunism
Her goal is to become more of an opportunist, rather than focus on the negative.

20. Unconscionable: not right or reasonable
Lying to your parents is unconscionable.

reflections on week #1

1.  Unlike last year, I won't really have anything preventing me from being on my blog,  or attending class. The only activity I have going on is Ballet folklorico at school nd at Hancock, nd then being in the marimba band, but that shouldn't really affect or get in the way of anything.
2. I think my best learning experience was being in Dr. Preston's American Lit class last year, and I am definitely glad I didn't switch back to an AP class last year. What changed my way of thinking and actually gave me a new look on school was our topic on hacking and remixing. At first hacking seems like something computer nerds would do but it made me realize that it's just a new way to see things in your own way. We were allowed to remix subjects that can connect to our thinking and not the standard thinking. It gave us the chance to be creative and an individual.
3. What I'm mostly looking forward to is going over remixes and hacking, to see what everyone can put together. This class already seems comfortable, and not afraid to shout out nd share ideas, so I'm excited to see what everyone is capable of putting together.

Senior Resume

( I wasn't sure if these questions only pertain to this year, or just in general)

Student Activities:

• Ballet Folklorico
• Marimba Band
• Employ at Panera
• Latinos Unidos Club
• Righetti Girls Varsity Wrestling team

Community Activities/ Service:

• Ballet and Marimba band performances
• Red Cross volunteer

Employment:

• Panera
• baby sitting
• lawn mowing

1987 AP Exam

Weeeelllll this actually wasn't as easy as I thought this was going to be, yet since Dr. Preston is giving it to us, I should've know this would be a little challenging. To be honest I found the first set of questions challenging, it took me some time to understand the first passage, and I had to read it over a couple times. 

I think the multiple choice ones were easy to figure out, its just that I really had to read and go over the question to cancel out my options. 

I would say Questions #1 and #7 were hard because you have to interpret the meaning behind a phrase,  and you really had to go over and analyze the little details, causing me to re-read the story a few times. 

The poem was difficult to keep up with, mainly because of the way it was written and the diction. It seem to have that old english style, and though it was fun to read it was a little confusing. 

In question #20 when you have a set of lines that you have to describe and see what the author used, with had difficult to see how a rule or thesis was implied. 

I think what made this hard for me to understand is the vocabulary, I've realized I really need to brush up on vocab, and expand my selection of words. 

Essay #1

 Having to move at a young age would always be a hard and scary experience, yet when one door closes another door opens. In the novel, "Poisenwood Bible" by Barbra Kingsolver, an American family moves to Congo, while fifteen year old Rachel Prince has the hardest time accumulating this new foreign lifestyle. Refusing to see any good in this new adventure, as time goes by Rachel realizes that life in Congo was both alienating yet enriching to her new world.
What caused the stubborn beauty queen to hate Kilanga was her background of status back in Georgia, and being a baptist. Entering Cong was hard for her to get used because of the lifestyle nd the culture of their people. Seeig the "nakedness" offended her, automaticay shutting anyone who tried to associate with her, making her feel more alone and alienated.
As the years went by she became more opened and willing to connect to others. She also got involved with he own hotel, making her a very successful and wealthy person.

My BIG Question!!!

My big question from last year was what is y purpose in this world, yet I feel like that's everybody question, and I wanted something thats more me. So my big question is, how can I be truly happy?

Poetry #1

1. The poem is called Laughing heart, by Charles Bukowski.
2. Since this poem is emphasizing the idea of having you control your own life end live the way you want, I think its ironic that that a corporation would use this poem to advertise their merchandise, because they're using it to encourage people to buy their jeans. When the poem says, " Don't be clubbed into dank submission," its saying don't give in, or let people tell you how to live, yet this commercial is saying they should buy levi jeans. 
3. Charles Bukowski had a very  difficult life growing up with an abusive father, bullying, and a bad skin condition that made him feel left out. I feel that this poem was a sense of hope for Bukowski, from his troubled life this showed him that life can be dark but there is light somewhere.
4. The answers I got from one and three was from going back to my blog from last year and see my earlier post about The Laughing Heart.