English 12B

You learn something new everyday. My senior year I took English 12B, and it helped me learn about how digital literacy plays such an extreme role in my future as a student and as an employer. It has changed my personal life as well.

Digital literacy plays such an important role in my future. I am pretty sure by the time I have children, we won't have books anymore. Everything will be done online. In our world today, it is a must to understand digital literacy. My future as a student is based off of technology. This year, we had to blog. This was new to me, but also it is an example of how technology is so important. We communicated woth other students and with our teacher over a computer. We barely ever use text books, or write out assignments on paper. We are always doing our work on the computer. This isn't a bad thing it is just different than how it was when I started elementary school. We take tests, do assignments, and research everything on the web. I can honestly say, I don't use a dictionary anymore. I just go to dictionary.com and type in the word. This seems a little lazy as I think about it. You can even read books on the web now! When I start college next year, I will have to get a laptop because all papers will have to be typed.

Now, as an employer technology is still greatly important. I will need to know how to use a computer to be successful. Payroll, documents, and schedules are all kept on a computer. Right now I work at a restaurant and all orders are put on a computer to send to the cooks. Someday, I will most likely work in a office and my job will be done on a computer. I will need to know how to use microsoft word and excel.

Not only has digital literacy have an importance in my education and career, but also in my personal life. Almost everyone has a cell phone. With cell phones, we text and send pictures, and even send emails. With my personal computer, I go onto to myspace and facebook and you tube. This is a way of communicating with your friends. You don't call them, you text them or send a message over myspace. All of these things show you how much technology has taken over. I chose to do my last 2 years of high school with JeffcoNet (Which was the best decision I have EVER made). This is an online school, and so therefore I do all my school work online.

As you can see, digital literacy plays such a huge role with my life and for my future. I use it everyday. As a student I use it for my education, and as an employer I use it to be successful with my job. But I think that technology plays the most important role in my personal life. I have grown up with a cell phone and don't know what I would do without mine. This honestly isn't my fault, I have grown up with one and don't know what it is like not to have one.

Art Critque

As I was at the Denver Art Museum, I saw a piece of art that really stood out to me. It was called "One Month Late", by Rachel Lachowicz went to Cal Arts. The date of the painting was in 1992. Rachel Lachowicz went to Cal Arts. She uses lipstick, instead of paint. And she also uses men, instead of women. Rachel is a very interesting woman.

In this art pience, the color red is used. Paint isn't used in this art piece, Rachel uses lipstick instead. The setting is just neckties, and a pair of high-heels. I believe the mood is bright and happy. I think this because the color red to me, is a happy color. It makes me think of love. This art piece takes place in the present. This piece tells me, that Rachel loves the color red and likes to be different. I tink this because I have never heard of an artist using lipstick instead of paint.

"One Month Later", I think tells a story about how this artist is a girly girl and she likes to be different. I honestly don't know what her message is. The society in this art piece, has to be special and loving. It is about men and women because of the high-heels, and neckties.

I chose this piece of art because it is unique to me. I have never seen an artist use lipstick. Also the color red made it stand out to me because itis so bright. I like it and think Rachel is a very talented woman. It kind of reminds me of Valentine's day, this is probably because of the color choice. It also reminds me of love and how life can be so different and unique. You can make your own person and be who you want.

The artist, Rachel Lachowicz is a different type of artist. She makes everything stand out more and makes it unique in her own way. In this particular piece, she uses neckties and high-heels. Her whole entire piece is done in lipstick. As you can see, this art piece really interested me and caught my attention quickly.

State of the Union Address

As I was watching Obama's speech, I felt is was most directed at young adults. Young adults have a lot to do with our country's future. Their education, parenting values, and finances mean a lot. "And dropping out of high school is no longer an option...It's not just quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country, and this country needs and values the talents of every American." I believe in this quote. Too many Americans are dropping out of high school for no reason.

In the speech, the education of young Americans is going to go further than it has been. There will be no dropping out, and our president, asks us to further our education at least one year. I think this is fair because it is us giving back to our country and showing we are making an effort and care. There is going to be a lot more money for college scholarships. I think this is going to give Americans more incentive. This shows that he really does care and wants our education to be more successful. When you drop out of high school, I believe that you are quitting on your country, and not only on yourself. You shouldn't be selfish and only think about yourself, you need to think about your future.

When you think about your future, being a parent may come to mind. Which leads back to education. When you're a parent, your children depend on you. In this speech, Obama is asking that our generation starts education in our home with our children. We need to start going to parent teacher conferences, helping with homework, and reading books to our children. Education needs to start the day a child is born. I think that starting education early is a fantastic idea. You have to commit time to your children and their education to help them be successdul. You can never start too early with an education.

Now, finances is a little more difficult. Our generation has such an impact on our country's future. Our president is asking us to spend our money and not save it. When we spend money, it can help another business, and then they will spend money. Once we start spending money, other people will start also. It is up to us Americans to start this process. Finances is a complicating topic for me. Obama says that by spending money, is going to help our country, but how can I believe this? Should I just spend all my money I have been saving and hope that our economy picks up? What is going to happen to happen if this plan fails? I have a lot of opinions on our finances in our country. I can't rely on every other American, and trust them. Once I start seeing some change in our economy, I will start spending my money.

This I Believe

So, as I read through my pacing guide I found some essential learning goals I learned while writing my "This I Believe" essay.

2.a(RED)- we produced a variety of academic and workplace texts because we looked at other essays to help us leanr how to write them, and also to give us some other ideas. We had to understand the main theme and the belief.

2e.(RED)- we used peer feedback, editing, and tools to help us with our essays. We had other students look at our essays and give us some feedback on what they thought. We also, got feedback from our teacher. After this we went back into our essays and perfected them into a master piece!

4.c(RED)- we summarize and synthesize ideas and events with a variety of texts. We had to decide what to leave out of our essays. Because while thinking of ideas, we have a lot of thoughts and we have to determine what is the most important and what fits our belief.

6.a(YELLOW)- I would have to say this is probably the most accurate learning goal for this paper. We think about many ideas and personal thoughts. Our essay is dealing with our personal lives. We pick a belief that we believe in, and set our own personal goals. Our belief is a passion and means something to us as a person.

Media Bias

The role the american political system is advertising, is liberal. In articles and interviews. they are putting too much of their own opinion. It should just be the facts, and not your opinion. Also, when they do interviews, they are mostly choosing liberals. Which is totally bias. they should have the liberals and conservatives. We read 3 articles about the same topic, and all 3 of them were different. So this makes me think, "What can I really trust?" those 3 articles were totally different, but all from the same news cast, but with different reporters. So the reporters put their opinions into their articles, so you need to be careful. I can't trust everything I read, I need to look further and take it to the next step. Everyone has their own opinions, but opinions and facts are 2 different things.
Television talk shows. are being bias. They are only bringing liberals onto their shows, and they should have both conservatives and liberals. Because obvioulsy people are going to give their opinions and people should hear about both sides, not only one. When you read an article you need to look for the facts and the opinions, and know how to separate the two. Because you can't believe everything you read or hear. You need the facts!

Graduation Speech

My teacher was asking us what we thought was different about Jeffconet. Jeffconet is an oppurtunity that has helped me become who I truely am. All of us students came here wanting one thing, and that was to graduate! But we are fortunate and on our journey to graduation, we got to learn more about ourselves, our peers, and our teachers. When I came to Jeffconet, I didn't know what to expect and I was a little nervous. It took everyone a while to get to know each other and get comfortable, but once that happened, I met some really amazing people. Now, my teachers, they are some of the most phenomenal people I have ever met! I definately wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for them. They aren't like your typical high school teachers, they are more than that. They give you so much support through everything, and want nothing more than for us to succeed. Some of my best memories here at Jeffconet, would have to be when I came in for Lab on Wednesday afternoons. I got to know the teachers personally and and even spend a little time with them.
I want to thank Ms.Larrenaga for everything she has done for me. Whenever I was having a bad day or was upset, she could always make me smile. Her classes were always such a blast and never boring. She had this way of teaching and getting her point across, that made her the magnificent teacher she is. She always told me how I could graduate and be successful, and she helped me become successful and made me a better person today.

Introduction

What I expect out of this course is to become a better writer, and to learn how to use my blogfolio. I want to learn how to express my thoughts and feelings as a writer, and i think that using a blog is a very helpful way to do so. This course is definately a different kind of course than anything I have ever taken, and I am excited about it!


Some skills I want to learn in this course, is how to learn from others. Also, to learn how to extend my writing skills. By using my blog portfolio, I think that I can learn a new writing techinque and how to express my thoughts with a better understanding, and different format of writing.


I don't have too many strengths in English, but I do have a few. One of them is showing I understand the assignment and getting right to the point. I understand that you need to listen to what others have to say and have an open mind for English. I am also good at spelling, which comes in handy.


I can admit that I have some weaknesses in English! I have a hard time reading and then answering questions on what I just read. It is difficult for me to remember things. I also have a hard time with reading a book that doesn't interest me, but I think everyone has a hard time with that. Last, when I am writing stories, I find it a little hard to put a lot of detail into my writing.