In Class Writing Prompts

Journal Entry 1

Toolbox

Attention Grabber:                                                                Need to capture reader’s attention, give the readers something that interests them from the start so they will want to continue reading.

Word Choice:                                                                      Is very important in sentence structure. One word can change the very meaning of the entire sentence. Needs to be appropriate and relate to the matter otherwise it may not come across the way you may hope.

Punctuation:                                                              Comas, exclamation marks, periods all contribute to how you write your paper. When placed in the wrong spot can disrupt sentence structure.

Detail/Emotion:                                                             Detail is always how you show your readers the whole picture you are trying to create in their head while writing. It’s important to capture everything in your writing, every sense, every emotion, and every detail.

Journal Entry 2

Quote: Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.

                                                                                                                                                -Franklin D. Roosevelt

                I don’t not like this quote but I don’t completely agree with the statement. I think happiness is freedom, meaning the freedom to do what you want to do and not be judged. Happiness means to me joy and feeling complete or whole, by not being stressed out knowing who I am in life and having if possible everything figured out. Happiness can come from many things and I feel that the definition of happiness is different in everyone’s life. One way I find happiness is through my faith, I believe in Jesus Christ and I know that as long as I trust in Him and follow His will I continue to be happy and achieve greatness. I do agree with Roosevelt that happiness lies in the joy of achievement, because with anything you do you want to it succeed. To see something you put your own creative effort and time into and to know and see it all come to life that could achieve happiness in one’s life. I know that in my own life I become happy when let’s say for example I put all my effort into studying to for a test. I may know I’m going to get a good grade but once I see the results of that test are what I expected it makes me joyful and know that all that study was worth it.

Journal Entry 3

“There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance. We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.” ― John Lennon

I agree with this quote and I think that if we do love ourselves we can be more confident and show love to others. I think love also has a lot to do with trust, in the quote he says when we love we open up, open doors to new opportunities. This quote also really inspires me because when we love it can accomplish many things. If we live in a world based off of love and positivist instead of hate there would be an endless amount of opportunities that will continue to inspire many others.

Journal Entry 4

Shattered Glass Prompt/ Quiz

I think that the actions of Stephen Glass were handled properly by firing him. His actions can be forgiven but I feel that a man like Glass would continue to do the same thing over again he would lie compulsively and if you continue to forgive him and move on without consequences you would let him make a fool of you, and you would be fooling yourself. I think that all the editors responding appropriately by backing the editor. Glass was given second chances but he chose to ignore those and continue to lie and make up stories. I think that the suggestion by one of the new republics staff to get Stephen Glass help was a good idea it seemed to me that Glass and some problems mentally. Because I feel that someone who lies knows when they've been caught in the lie but Glass continued with the lies never giving up on him made up story finding anything to make it seem true in his head. If I was an editor at another magazine similar to the New Republic, no I would not hire him because of the sole fact that the majority of the facts and stories he comes up with are false. If this were a magazine that talks gossip Glass would be perfect for the job, but that’s not the case. If I was on the committee that needed to approve Glass to become a lawyer I would disapprove as well. In law today lawyers are only concerned for their clients, even if the client is 100% guilty they will find ways to get them out of anything. So I would not allow Glass to go on as a lawyer because of his skill at lying and we don't need any more of that in our government. Forgiveness doesn't always require giving someone a second chance as I Christian I am obligated to sincerely forgive and not to hold grudges. So yes I will always forgive but that doesn't necessarily mean I will trust that individual. If I were to continue to give Glass second chances of course he would abuse that and take advantage of the situation, and like I said by doing that you would look like a fool and give him the permission to make a fool of you. Glass' punishment I think was enough, well he has no job and will probably be unemployed for a long time. As you could tell in the movie that job meant everything to him even if he was trying to get someone to show him sympathy I believe that the job at the New Republic was his dream. Glass was still a young man when this event occurred so I think that the editor took the right precautions by firing him and I really think he just didn't want to have to deal with him anymore. As a liar Glass showed repent in ways that he thought would get him by, by making other excuses to reason his previous lies. 

Journal Entry 5

Audio Visual assignment

This image to me shows a lot, it shows how you can’t trust the media always, how they only show what they want to show or what the government wants them to show and stray from the truth most times. You cannot always trust your first source you have to do research on your own because into today’s society many of the facts are altered and you can’t trust what these news channels are showing because it’s just a cover up they either dramatize the topic or they don’t tell the whole story because it is a threat to the government and the reason it by being “better for our society” or that they are just trying to “protect” us and remain a peaceful nation. But how can we be peaceful if we can’t trust our government?

Journal Entry 6

Texas Slang

The friendly creature                       Larrupin’

Walkin’ tall in the cotton                  Howdy

Whomperjawed                               Frog-strangler

Wore out                                         dad gum it

Taken to                                          Catty whompus

Squaddies                                       all choked up

Shoot                                               conniptions

Pole-axed

Plug ugly

Looker

In a catty whompus town far in the west lived Billy and his family. Billy was a pole-axed hillbilly and liked larrupin' around by the swamp. Billy had seven whomperjawed, hillbilly siblings who liked fishing and hunting just like Billy. One day Billy and his little brother Bobby were on their way to go hunting in the woods. While walking around in the woods searching for dinner they heard a loud noise from near by. They jumped to the ground quickly as Billy said "did you hear that there noise Bobby?", Bobby responded "yea, its probably one of dem deers". They got low, ready to hit their target, then out popped their Uncle Tom. Bobby taken by suprise shot the friendly creature in the leg. "Dad gum it!" yelled Billy "that weren't no deer you just shoot that was Uncle Tom!". All choked up Billy and Bobby helped up their uncle, who was injured pretty badly and couldn't walk, back to their home. The boys taken to all that had happened took a wrong turn and ended up walkin' tall in the cotton when they heard a familiar voice. "Howdy" said their friendly dog, Dog. Dog, was a frog-strangler and very smart he could talk, and dance,and carried all types of conniptions in his fur. Dog said "Whoo, y'all look wore out" as he pulled some water out of his fur and handed it to the squaddies who were obviously exhausted. Bobby said " I plug ugly done shoot Uncle Tom and now we looker for a way back home!" Dog was also very good with directions so he sniffed up through the ground and led Billy Bobby and Uncle Tom all the way home.

THE END

Journal Entry 7

Mr. Finger

Using the picture in the next slide, create an essay defining what, exactly, happened to Mr. Finger as you have defined from the visual argument.  This is a re-enactment/creative writing prompt in which you need to incorporate what the author is trying to tell you, what the image conveys, etc. 

Mr. Finger was a poor man, he had four children, three boys and one girl. Mr. Finger was also married to Mrs. Thumb they lived in a small house and had two cats. One day Mr. Finger took a trip to the hospital because he wasn't feeling that well. Once he arrived he told the doctor he was having some bodily pains, the doctor requested to do some test. The doctor checked him out and brought back some bad news. Mr. Finger had terminal cancer. Mr. Finger was devastated he knew he was sick but not that sick, with his deepest apologies the doctor gave Mr. Finger some time to think and told him to go home figure out what he wanted to do and to come back by the office tomorrow. Mr. Finger had no clue what to do but he did know is that people with terminal cancer have a small window of surviving. After hearing this horrible news Mr. Finger instantly thought of his family, the toll this would have on them, he thought about  the extreme prices of the medical bills, how it would lead to their family being bankrupt or even worse homeless. So on the drive home Mr. Finger felt he only had one choice, only one way to keep his family safe and not to see them suffer. Mr. Finger went into his  medicine cabinet and took a prescribed bottle of blue colored pills off the shelf. He opened the bottle and reached for a pill, he placed it in his mouth and tried to swallow but started choking, the pill got stuck in his throat! Mr. Finger dropped the container to the ground as he struggled to breathe, then when he tried to save himself he slipped on a pill on the ground hit his head on the tub and died right there on his bathroom floor. A few moments later (before realizing Mr. Finger had committed suicide) Mrs.Thumb answered a telephone call, it was the doctor. He was informing Mrs. Thumb that Mr. Finger came by earlier and that there had been a mix up in some files. The doctor apologized to Mrs. Thumb and told her that he told Mr. Finger that it was cancer that he had developed but instead it was EBOLA.

Journal Entry 8

MAD LIB'S

Famous Ninjas in History

Although a sparkly secretive bunch, some ninjas became known all over the donut shop for their prissy ways. Here are a few of the most infamous Samurais:
The green Dragon: Famed for the solid gold, fire-breathing Barney that wore on a chain around his knee cap, this ninja's awesomely beautiful moves inspired millions of young castles to take up martial arts.
The Tree Assassin: This ninja was known for his glamorous ability to rot across the tops of the tallest clouds with the stealth and speed of a rocket powered bottle.
Bob the Ninja: Perhaps the most incredible of all modern ninja's, Bob --- nicknamed the dancing ostrich --- could wield his uninterested weapons as precisely with his arm pits as he could with his hands.

Video Games

I love skipping video games. I can play them day and Iron Man! My mom and Jesus are not too happy with my swinging so much in front of the television butter. Although Dad believes that these happy games help children develop hand-ear coordination and improve their learning monkeys, he also seems to think they have beautiful side effects on one’s finger. Both of my blankets think this is due to a/an smelly use of violence in the majority of the purses. Finally, we all arrived at a/an handsome compromise: After dinner I can play 52 hours of video games, provided I help clear the Prince and wash the heroes.