Response to Audre Lorde's essay

In her essay, Lorde illustrated that the librarian cared about her learning more than her actual teachers did. The librarian was kind and read to Audre even though she was acting out. Her other teachers on the other hand, ridiculed her for not following directions exactly, even when she had done more than she was asked, like when she wrote her whole name instead of just the letter "A." Also, the mother of perpetual help seemed to be inappropriately named, as she didn't help the students with their reading or learning numbers, she would simply put you in the racistly named good and bad groups if you could or could not read. She even ridiculed Audrey when she broke her glasses for being naughty and had the other children pray for her mother for having such a bad child. Audre's teachers didn't care about her or her educational progress, but the librarian did even though she didn't have to.

Educational Narrative: Final Draft

Beep! Beep! Beep! Drats. It’s 4 am. And I have an English paper due in 5 hours. Okay, 10 more minutes.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I could get up now, but…no, I need 15 more minutes.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Okay, I really need to get up now, English paper due in T minus 4 and a half hours—minus showering, driving to school, and first period. I have about two hours. Now get out of this nice comfy bed, go down a few cups of yesterday’s coffee, and get to work. …Could this have been avoided? …Nah, this is not the time for a big epiphany that I need to change my life and blah, blah, blah—this is the time to analyze the diction and syntax of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But I just can’t seem to stop thinking about how wonderfully glorious it would be to go back to bed right now… Nope! I’ve put this off for weeks, I need to do this now. Let’s see, Huck Finn…this would’ve been so much easier had I actually read the whole book…

This right here is one of the many examples of the binds my procrastination got me into throughout high school. It would usually go something like this: I would get an assignment, put it off until the night before it was due, get sleepy, and then put it off even further, to the point where I was getting up at 4 am or skipping gym to write it in the locker room. If I would have just done my assignments in a timely fashion, I could have saved myself so much undue stress and sleep deprivation. Plus, it wasn’t like what I was doing instead of homework was so important; I wasn’t saving puppies from burning buildings, or building wells in Africa. No, I was either being lazy at home, or off doing something stupid or just unimportant.

Here’s the thing though, it wasn’t just my schoolwork that suffered due to my procrastination—it was also things that I care about. I stopped climbing, stopped meditating, stopped planning out trips I was going to take, stopped painting, stopped caring, stopped everything. I just stopped. I’ll do it tomorrow I told myself.

How did I get this lazy you ask? I guess it started a couple years ago, when I was in middle school. I had just moved to a small town in Oregon with my mom, I lived there for about five years. I went through some hard times in that little town. I just found it so much easier to put off all my problems and go do something else. Then it just snowballed and I found myself not only putting off problems at home, but also my schoolwork. My life just turned into a constant search for distractions.

So when did I finally realize that it was indeed time for a big epiphany that I needed to change my life? When I hit a low point in my life and counted up everything that my laziness had cost me. Among these casualties was the opportunity to go to a university because I couldn’t bring myself to work hard enough for scholarships or even apply for them. I missed out on a chance to go to Tanzania and teach because I couldn’t bother myself to fundraise. Going to Africa has been a dream near and dear to me since I was a kid and I let it pass me by out of sheer laziness. Eventually I had a giant cloud of guilt and worthlessness hanging over me and with every late assignment, every eye roll at a sloppy paper, it got bigger and bigger. It became utterly impossible to face.

But it was something I had to face, and I had to tell myself that I wasn’t unintelligent, I had the potential to do good things with my life, I was just letting laziness be a constant roadblock. After I had finally come to terms with my procrastination and how I was the only one responsible for what I had lost, I knew had to change my life. At first, it didn’t go so well. What do you think I did when I told myself I need to stop procrastinating? You guessed it. I said I’ll do it tomorrow. What is the harm of one more day of procrastinating? It’s only one day. It’s not only one day, it will turn into a lifetime if you let it.

But I had to start working hard eventually, and I did. I got a job, I enrolled in Olympic College, and got back into all the things I care about. It wasn’t easy because old habits die hard. When I’m having a hard time or I’m feeling overwhelmed, its instinct to go out and find something to distract me. But I just have to remind myself of my goals and all the things I care about.

I believe that procrastination is intellectual cancer. Think about it, if you were to spend four hours a day on something you cared about or enjoyed—let’s take drawing as an example. Can you imagine how good you would be at drawing after a year? That’s one thousand four hundred and sixty hours. Or if you spent a few hours a day doing research on a certain societal problem and blogging about it or something like it, you could inform a lot of people and get them involved. You could make a big change if you wanted to. But, statistically speaking, people spend between two and seven hours in front of the television or their respective technological devices. That’s around seven hundred and sixty to two thousand five hundred fifty-five hours a year. If everyone would do something that mattered in that time, we could get a lot done! As the wise Benjamin Franklin once said, “Don’t leave until tomorrow what you can do today.”

Good teaching

I believe good teaching is based on the knowledge that every student is different. Every student has different talents and different weaknesses, so education can't be so homogenized in trying to produce one type of person, a person who, after graduation, goes and gets the highest paying job. Teachers should try to cater to each students specific needs, if possible, regarding pace of learning, strengths, weaknesses. Good teachers should also try to motivate their students, past turning in all assignments, but motivate them to enjoy learning and finding what their passions are.

The point of my educational narrative

The point I would like the readers to take away from my essay is that it's so easy in the moment to put off a task, but in the long run it just creates so much undue stress. You have to face your problems or tasks and deal with them instead of searching for distractions, or everything will build up and your left with this giant mess of unfinished work or stress or what have you. Don't leave until tomorrow what you can do today.

Educational narrative rough draft

Beep! Beep! Beep! Drats. It’s 4 am. And I have an English paper due in 5 hours. Okay, 10 more minutes.

Beep! Beep! Beep! I could get up now, but…no, I need 15 more minutes.

Beep! Beep! Beep! Okay, I really need to get up now, English paper due in T minus 4 and a half hours—minus showering, driving to school, and first period. I have about two hours. Now get out of this nice comfy bed, go down a few cups of yesterday’s coffee, and get to work. …Could this have been avoided? …Nah, this is not the time for a big epiphany that I need to change my life and blah, blah, blah—this is the time to analyze the diction and syntax of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. But I just can’t seem to stop thinking about how wonderfully glorious it would be to go back to bed right now… Nope! I’ve put this off for weeks, I need to do this now. Let’s see, Huck Finn…this would’ve been so much easier had I actually read the whole book…

This right here is one of the many examples of the binds my procrastination got me into throughout high school. It would usually go something like this: I would get an assignment, put it off until the night before it was due, get sleepy, and then put it off even further, to the point where I was getting up at 4 am or skipping gym to write it in the locker room. If I would have just done my assignment in a timely fashion, I could have saved myself so much undue stress and sleep deprivation. Plus, it wasn’t like what I was doing instead of homework was so important; I wasn’t saving puppies from burning buildings, or building wells in Africa. No, I was either being lazy at home, or off doing something stupid or just unimportant.

Here’s the thing though, it wasn’t just my schoolwork that suffered due to my procrastination—it was also things that I care about. I stopped climbing, stopped meditating, stopped planning out trips I was going to take, stopped painting, stopped caring, stopped everything. I just stopped. I’ll do it tomorrow I told myself.

How did I get this lazy you ask? I guess it started a couple years ago, when I was in middle school. I had just moved to a small town in Oregon with my mom, I lived there for about five years. I went through some hard times in that little town. I just found it so much easier to put off all my problems and go do something else. Then it just snowballed and I found myself not only putting off problems at home, but also my schoolwork. My life just turned into a constant search for distractions.

So when did I finally realize that it was indeed time for a big epiphany that I needed to change my life? When I hit a low point in my life and counted up everything that my laziness had cost me. Among these casualties was the opportunity to go to a university because I couldn’t bring myself to work hard enough for scholarships or even apply for them. I missed out on a chance to go to Tanzania and teach because I couldn’t bother myself to fundraise. Going to Africa has been a dream near and dear to me since I was a kid and I let it pass me by out of sheer laziness.

After I had finally come to terms with my procrastination and how I was the only one responsible for what I had lost, I had to change my life. At first, it didn’t go so well. What do you think I did when I told myself I need to stop procrastinating? You guessed it, I said I’ll do it tomorrow. What is the harm of one more day of procrastinating? It’s only one day. It’s not only one day, it will turn into a lifetime if you let it.

But I had to start working hard eventually, and I did. I got a job, I enrolled in Olympic College, and got back into all the things I care about. It wasn’t easy because old habits die hard. When I’m having a hard time or I’m feeling overwhelmed, its instinct to go out and find something to distract me. But I just have to remind myself of my goals and all the things I care about.

I believe that procrastination is intellectual cancer. Think about it, if you were to spend four hours a day on something you cared about or enjoyed—let’s take drawing as an example. Can you imagine how good you would be at drawing after a year? That’s one thousand four hundred and sixty hours. Or if you spent a few hours a day doing research on a certain societal problem and blogging about it or something like it, you could inform a lot of people and get them involved. You could make a big change if you wanted to. But, statistically speaking, people spend between two and seven hours in front of the television or their respective technological devices. That’s around seven hundred and sixty to two thousand five hundred fifty-five hours a year. If everyone would do something that mattered in that time, we could get a lot done! 

Brainstorming

If I chose to write my educational narrative on how I learned to stop procrastinating:
-I could talk about the trillion mornings I got up at 4 am to finish an assignment
-I could talk about how my work was never as good as it could have been
could I talk about this for 1000-1200 words? I don't know.
I could talk about what opportunities I lost by procrastinating.
that's depressing. 1000 words still seems iffy.
I could talk about that stuff and then go on about how procrastinating will waste your life away and "don't do tomorrow what you can do today"
maybe.
Hey, good name, "don't do today what you can do tomorrow: the taylor tompkins story"
it will include:
-examples of my procrastination (I could go on about that for a year-_-)
-what I lost
-how I overcame it
I will focus on:
-how procrastination is intellectual cancer
In telling this story I will delight in:
I'll be honest, writing this paper is gonna suck because no one likes to look back and write 1000 words on their shortcomings, but I will delight in the fact that it will motivate me more to do stuff that matters.

Educational Narratives discussion

What do all of the Ed. Nars do?
 -They all clearly inform the reader of a topic and sub topics. -They all demonstrate a learning experience. -They all all express the importance of the individual narratives to their lives.

What are some of the features present in some but not in all?
-Some of them engaged the reader more while others were more “matter of fact”
-Some went into great detail. (Names, ages, descriptions of people and places) While others were very plain and straight to the point.
-Some were presented with a cause in mind. Looking to persuader the reader in a better direction. While others were just an event being described.

Why are all these distinctions important?
-Different points should have different features.
To engage the reader or maybe to not overwhelm them.

What do the variations do?
-They add depth to a story, or keep it simple & to the point.

Which appeal do you like the most?
Personally I liked Malcolm X's the most, because it was personal, it was interesting, and there was even some history included in it it.

Most important thing I ever learned

What is the most important lesson I have ever learned? I don't know, I've lived for 18 years, I've learned a lot of lessons! Look both ways before crossing the street? I got it! Procrastinating. Don't procrastinate. I learned that the hard way. All through high school I put off all the work I had to do until the very last possible moments. Too many times I put off assignments until the morning they were due. It caused so much undue stress in my life and none of my work was as good as it could have been. Also, it wasn't enjoyable to wake up at 4 am to write a paper I had weeks to do.

Malcolm X and Mike Rose essay comparison

Malcolm X's and Mike Rose's essays were similar in that they both outlined experiences in which the school system failed them. In Malcolm X's case, he took it upon himself to acquire a "homemade education." He dropped out of school after the 8th grade, and when he was in prison he taught himself to read and write by reading and copying the dictionary. In the case of Mike Rose, he was misplaced into a vocational track of learning where his teachers were ill-prepared and unenthusiastic and the students were not the school's top priority. Rose demonstrates how the school system fails so many kids who just seem to fall by the wayside. The two essays differed because the point of Malcolm X's was more about motivation while it seemed Rose's intention was to illustrate the flaw in the school system, though he did touch on motivation and how if the teacher is unmotivated, the students will be as well. Malcolm X took a specific obstacle, not knowing how to write, and overcame it by being so motivated to learn that he copied a dictionary.

Prewriting technique

The prewriting technique I most commonly use is mapping or making a general outline of topics and subtopics. It's pretty basic and I learned it in elementary school, but it's really helped me with my writing, otherwise my papers would be big unorganized jumbles of words and topics. When I make an outline of an essay, I start with the introduction and jot down a couple of things I'm going to touch on in that paragraph. I then go on to my next paragraph and decide what the topic of that paragraph is going to be and write down a couple of points related to that topic that I will cover. And so on and so forth. If I were to write about giraffes, this is what my outline would look like:

I. introduction
-why am I writing about giraffes?
-giraffes are cool

II. Habitat
-where do giraffes live?
-what do they eat?

III. necks
-they have long necks
-they also fight with their necks

IX. conclusion
-giraffes are cool

Blog post about whatever

For this assignment, I'm supposed to make a blog post about whatever I want. However, I have no idea what to write about so I'm just going to rant about music. What happened to the music industry? Most music nowadays is not very good. It is just the worst. It lacks depth and it's very undifferentiated.  There are definitely exceptions of course, but when it comes to mainstream pop or rap, this is truth. Today, popular music is all about partying and sex and it's very superficial. It seems like it's not really even about the music anymore, it's about image and fame. Also, most of it, rap especially, is very degrading to women. A lot of female pop artists objectify themselves and they have to realize they are setting a terrible example to young people. With old artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, The Beatles, etc., it was all about the music, they weren't doing it to be glamorous or famous or whatever, and they completely revolutionized the music industry. You'd think with roots like that, musicians today would be inspired, but it seems most lost what it's about. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not trying to bash all modern musicians, there are so many spectacular artists today that are extremely creative and talented.