The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Franklin's paper was tedious to read. I know that it's the product of the time in which it was written, but my god is it wordy. He takes an awfully long time to say something. By the end of the sentence, I was no longer interested, I was just wondering WHEN it would be over. lol. His vocabulary is broad. He supplies examples and anecdotes to draw the reader in. It is interesting to see the style of writing and some of the grammatical differences the paper has, as compared to the proper style of writing today.

In contrast to Malcolm X's paper, this paper is not user friendly. While he does include anecdotes and such, the paper is still pretty stiff. Which I guess is par for the course for that time. Casual was different then, if it existed at all, I don't know. Or maybe that just represents who he was as a person. Maybe he was just a super formal guy. Malcolm's paper has a much more casual tone to it, regardless of the fact that it's a serious topic.

Beyond the fact that both are about learning to read and how they used that to their benefit, there aren't too many similarities between these papers. They both feature the use of a large vocabulary. They both provide examples to paint a picture. For example, Malcolm tells the reader about reading during the night and pretending to be asleep when the guards came around. Franklin tells about how he secretly borrowed books and returned them before anyone noticed they were missing.

Overall, each paper serves as a good example of an educational narrative. Despite my personal preference for Malcolm's paper over Franklin's, neither paper is "bad". Franklin's paper is simply a product of his time, and as such, it's harder to read and relate to.

Malcolm X's "Learning to Read"

First of all, his story is amazing. While others may have given up because it was hard, Malcolm X persevered and taught himself to read. I personally feel that his attitude is a rare thing to see today. As it pertains to education especially. I feel that passion and desire to learn is the exception and not the rule. That's not to say that there aren't students out there who don't want to learn. Look around at OC and you'll see all the Running Start students, who clearly worked their butts off to get to where they are and are still working hard. Or those who are continuing their education, having graduated high-school many years ago. Not to exclude anyone else, because we all have our reasons for being here and we're all working hard.

In regards to how I can use this as a model for my own educational narrative, Malcolm X's "Learning to Read" is a great example. The tone of his paper is casual. It's almost as if you're having a conversation with him. Despite having that feeling, his paper is a testament to the things he learned in his time in prison. His vocabulary is broad and rich. I found myself wanting to read more, disappointed that there were only 3 pages. His paper accomplishes what it intends to. It is a great example of an educational narrative in that I can clearly picture him sitting in his cell, copying out words from the dictionary as well as sitting in the dim light from the hallway, reading after lights out.

How to get an A. (Anna Riley)

Aside from the obvious, don't plagiarize and follow the MLA style, we feel that an A worthy paper will start with a topic that was an educational experience for you.  We want to begin at the point of interest, and then revert back to the beginning. We want to make sure that the narrative is written with all events in order so it’s clear to the reader. Throughout the paper, we want to illustrate the story with plenty of detailed examples and dialogue. The only way we can do this is by using our own voice and applying our personality to the paper. In Feross Aboukhadiejeh’s story, he applies his sense of humor that makes the reader feel as if they can relate to it. We need to make sure that we apply the same sense of familiarity to a wide-ranged audience and not an exclusive age group. Due to the informality of the paper, we do not need an unnecessary thesis and can speak from first person. By following the above, one has the ability to achieve an A on this first paper.

Pre-writing

While I'm aware that pre-writing is a great way of working towards writing a good paper, I can't. I never have. I find that when I pre-write, the words become false and boring. I edit too much. I second guess things. I have NEVER been able to sit down and write the way I'm "supposed to". The most I've ever done is jot down ideas. I've never really done an outline or anything. And even when I did, it was only to please my teacher. Then I ended up changing the entire paper later. Maybe I've been lucky up until this point. In high-school, 99% of my papers (and big projects) were done the night before. I'd get an idea, or a sentence would pass through my mind and I'd be inspired to write 5 pages.

I'm also a super fail at writing research papers. I can write an opinion paper that would knock your socks off, as long as I'm at least interested in the subject at hand, but I just never got the detail work down.

Not that this has really anything to do with what the blog post is supposed to be about, but, I'm a little wary of writing these posts and having other people in the class read them. While 99% of the time I feel like I'm 30, I feel a little naive when it comes to school. I don't feel like I'm on the same level as other people. So posting like this is nerve wracking because I don't want to sound stupid.

Anyway, I apparently have a tendency to get off course in my writing so I should probably end this before it gets weird. lol.

Feross v. Spectrum

It really is hard to read things that I have absolutely NO interest in, and I love reading. Feross' "How I learned to program computers" is boring. So, ridiculously boring. That said, it provides a good point of reference for judging "How I learned to live Google free". The two blog posts are vastly different.

 Feross' post was very straightforward. He didn't really waste much time trying to draw readers in. Which I guess isn't really his intention, seeing as if you're reading it, you must really be interested in him or learning how to program. His post was pretty much in order as far as a timeline goes, but the information means little to anyone who doesn't already know something about the topic at hand. Truth be told, I have no clue what any of the acronyms stand for.

The post about learning to live Google free was actually interesting. It was informative, yes, but not boring. I find it more than a little ironic that we are using Google blogger to write about said blog post. But I was actually able to read all 6 pages and not just skim, which I'll admit, I did while reading Feross' post.

As this applies to my own educational narrative, I have a good example of what not to do. I don't think Feross' style of writing is one that I'll want to model my own paper after.