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#Post#: 26--------------------------------------------------
Outside Reading Assignment #2 - Personal Narrative
DIR By: MrLyon
Date: September 13, 2012, 9:38 pm
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For your second outside reading assignment, please search the
Internet for a personal narrative or personal essay that
contains adult-level subject matter, word choices, and language
conventions/techniques. This narrative may NOT be any narrative
that was previously read by any member of our class (check the
first outside reading assignment to see what has been written).
Attempt to find a narrative that illuminates some significant
trait or characteristic about the narrator - this will help
immensely when writing your own narrative!
After reading your narrative, provide an in-depth analysis of
your selected piece of literature based upon the "magnificent
seven" traits of strong writing. In what way does the
narrative's author use ideas, organizational techniques,
sentence structure, word choices, voice, and mechanics in order
to convey meaning and illuminate purpose? What choices has the
author made to help make his/her work successful?
The "Outside Reading" subpage on the class website contains all
requirements for outside reading assignments; as a reminder,
your analysis must be 300 words at an absolute minimum and
should make numerous references to specific portions of the text
(including individual words and sentences from the narrative) to
back up your points. Please also remember to include a link to
the narrative in your response so that others can find your
selected piece of literature.
DUE DATE: Wednesday, September 19
#Post#: 27--------------------------------------------------
Re: Outside Reading Assignment #2 - Personal Narrative
DIR By: cblock07
Date: September 14, 2012, 5:53 pm
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When you think of movie stars, and famous people you think of
show-off people. Well in this personal narrative that I read,
this is the complete opposite. In the Personal Narrative I read
was about Tony Danza. He did so many things you wouldn't think
of that a famous person would do. One trait that he has it that
he is a caring person. He quit show business to become a
high-school English teacher in Philidelphia. Since there wasn't
much drama, he decided to stick around through the end of the
school year for his students' sake. That shows how much he cared
about their learning and made a commitment. At another point of
the narrative he said he assigned his students to read a certain
book and then he ended up buying them the book. After he was
done teaching he realized what a great connection he had with
most of his students. Tony said he would send them texts
messages. He also gave the high school commencement speech. He
was like family to most of the students. There are good stories
in the book that are about how involved in the students' lives
he became. He taught his students so much about "you have to be
constantly learning". Tony really wanted his students' to be
successful and learn a lot. He did a program called Teach for
America. That was when he taught at the high school in
Philidelphia. He did it for a good cause. In this personal
narrative there were many places where it showed many traits
Tony had. Sometimes people think that most famous people
wouldn't be so generous like this. But for Tony Danza that was
different.
HTML http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/09/14/tony-danza-on-his-new-book-about-teaching-who-s-the-boss-and-twilight.print.html
#Post#: 28--------------------------------------------------
Re: Outside Reading Assignment #2 - Personal Narrative
DIR By: cblock12
Date: September 17, 2012, 12:37 pm
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I read a narrative about a young man, I'm guessing a young
adult, telling his audience about one experience with losing his
wallet. The narrative explained in great deal how much of an
important asset a wallet is to many people. This narrative got
into detail about this, and really focused on how much of a
importance it is to many people not just him. Then he talked
about the incident when he lost his own wallet. He explained the
story as nothing was as important as his precious wallet, not so
much for the physical things (money, credit car, gift
certificates exc.) but the sentimental value of it. I think that
the wallet has sentimental value to him because it may make him
feel like an adult and make him feel responsible.
The narrator explains this accident of losing his wallet as more
of a picture than just losing a wallet. I think the author had a
deeper meaning that just the wallet, I think it was about
losing something that means a lot to you, and fearing the lost
of it again. The author explains that his wallet flew off the
top of his car when he was driving away from a hotel, and found
gift certificates. But the next day he received a call from his
grandmother telling him that the police contacted her asking her
if she knew a Ellie Stricklen, which was the narrator, telling
her that they had found their wallet. The narrator was beyond
happy, not so much for the fact that he had his wallet back, but
because it had a deeper meaning to him. The author explains this
by telling his readers the point of his narrative, but it taught
him an important lesson, so I think it was important for them to
include this “However, I was fortunate enough to get it back.
The carelessness of my misplacings have taught me a lesson,
simply think before I act. This is something everyone is taught
numerous times. Only now, it is easier for me to apply that to
my actions. If I follow that idea, I could avoid future problems
like this, preemptive caution.”
HTML http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=25932
#Post#: 29--------------------------------------------------
Re: Outside Reading Assignment #2 - Personal Narrative
DIR By: cblock06
Date: September 17, 2012, 5:08 pm
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The personal narrative I read was called "Car Accident." It was
about somebody who was getting ready for school doing their
normal daily activities and on their way to school, she was saw
a deer in the middle of the road and swerved around it but was
going too fast and flipped his car and got thrown out of it. The
lower half of her body was squished by the car after she flipped
it. Her sister crawled out of the car window and her dad came
after shortly. The author uses organizational techniques with
explaining how the accident happened. With waking up, getting
ready for school, and on the way to school swerving to avoid the
deer in the road and going off the road and crashing. Her word
choices make this stronger with explaining how it happened and
what she felt like when the car was on her. “…I lie on my side,
sandwiched between the cold, soft dirt and the hot, slick metal
of the car. The weight of the car pressed down on the lower half
of my body with monster force.” The sentences are very detailed
with her pain and what was going on when the accident happened.
She was calm getting ready to go to school but when the accident
happened, her tone changed a lot after the accident. She went
from being very calm to being very scared and humiliated on what
happened at the accident. The accident has taught her to be
more careful when she is driving and taught her to be more
careful and cautious. “I have now realized how precious life
really is and that it can be taken away in a single minute. This
is even easier when you are driving a car.” Her experience makes
this personal narrative successful because it shows people how
one simple mistake like driving fast can kill people instantly
and that she is very lucky that she survived the accident.
HTML http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=18901
#Post#: 30--------------------------------------------------
Re: Outside Reading Assignment #2 - Personal Narrative
DIR By: cblock11
Date: September 17, 2012, 6:27 pm
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I read a personal narrative about someone’s body image and how
they perceive themselves. From reading this personal narrative I
believe that the author is demonstrating his security with who
he is on the outside and the inside. Within the article the
author says “I take pride in the fact that there is no one else
on this earth exactly like me. Not just my inner beauty, but my
outer beauty makes me different from everyone else.” This
sentence also shows the authors own beliefs in people and
society. The author goes on to talk about how he “would never
have plastic surgery because when [he] looks at myself… [he]
sees a beautifully sculpted masterpiece that God has made just
for [him].” The author believes that he is the way he is and he
is beautiful the way he is and isn’t insecure because he knows
that he is beautiful the way he is. Today we look at magazines
and sometimes wish to look like them or have some part of our
body to look like theirs. While the author wants nothing to do
with changing himself in any way shape or form. He is
comfortable and confident in whom he is which is what the author
is demonstrating in his narrative. The author goes on to talking
about him and what he looks like he describes himself as having
“a very animated face…endless snowflake blue eyes…it is easy to
look at my nose and then laugh to lighten the air” and he admits
that people will always have different opinions of him. Some may
find him attractive, some may find him ugly, and others may find
him unhealthily skinny. But all that matters to him is the fact
that he can say that God made him that way and no one else can
take that away from him. The fact that no one else looks like
him. This narrative has taught me that I should love myself the
way I am because I am one of a kind, and no one else can be like
me.
#Post#: 31--------------------------------------------------
Re: Outside Reading Assignment #2 - Personal Narrative
DIR By: Cblock08
Date: September 18, 2012, 2:56 pm
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The personal narrative that I read was called A Canoeing
Adventure. In this narrative, the author tells a story from four
years ago about how he and some students from college, wanted to
go on a canoeing trip. He took them out and on their first day,
they had trouble finding their way back to the camp site due to
their map blowing off into the water. It was getting dark and
there were many dangers that could have arose, so they decided
to sleep in their canoes on the water. In the narrative the
organization is clear. The author separates the narrative by
events that happened. First he told how he and his father used
to canoe and than he explained how when he was at the college,
most people had no clue on how to canoe. Also in this narrative
the author is confident and glad that he brought the students on
the trip. The authors voice stays happy and calm all throughout
the narrative to make the reader move along smoothly with no
depressing parts. Throughout out the story, everyone was happy
and this made the author happy. He thought that after the trip
no one would want to ever go back with him but it was the exact
opposite. Everyone wanted to go back. The author learns that
sometimes its okay not to be prepared. Besides not having a map,
the students did not have enough food. Sides the organization
and voice that the author uses to make the story more engaging,
he also uses imagery. In each paragraph as they are canoeing
along or finding their way back to camp, the author illustrates
the environment around them. If the author had been prepared and
had an extra map, than the trip would have been less exciting.
#Post#: 32--------------------------------------------------
Re: Outside Reading Assignment #2 - Personal Narrative
DIR By: cblock13
Date: September 18, 2012, 6:50 pm
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In this narrative, the narrator obviously struggles with trust
and believing in herself. she automatically thought is that she
is going to die. “As thoughts of certain death run through my
mind, the world appears a precious, treasured place. I imagine
my own funeral, then shrink back at the implications of where my
thoughts are taking me.” The author wants the reader to have a
sense of sympathy for the narrator. The sentence structure
allows the reader to put themselves in the shoes of the
character, and basically get the whole picture to see the
character as a whole. The narrator processes some physical
traits that changes the way the reader interprets the narrative.
The character, Amy, is one of those characters who think. She
makes the right choices when she feels harm or danger is going
to come her way. In most personal narratives, the author writes
the conflict as if the character makes a bad choice and turn out
learning their lesson at the end. However in this narrative, the
author thinks first; “Do I turn back? My whole being shouted,
“Yes!” Will I regret it later? I really want to get to the top,
but…” a reader could tell Amy made a good judgment called
because she knows it’s not safe to go back alone; “…with fear
and trembling I decided to go down, but not by myself.” This
narrative is important not only because it gives a good message,
but the wrote it in a way that a reader could relate.
HTML http://www.thewritesource.com/studentmodels/wi-theclimb.htm
#Post#: 33--------------------------------------------------
Re: Outside Reading Assignment #2 - Personal Narrative
DIR By: cblock05
Date: September 18, 2012, 7:27 pm
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The personal narrative I read "Alcoholism& Sobriety: A Personal
Narrative" The narrative focuses on the authors addiction to
alcohol, family members addiction and how he is getting out of
his addiction. The author switched back and forth often. Talking
about the difficulty of staying sober, but also the rewarding
feeling of being sober. "— that I am surviving (I don’t like the
word ‘struggling’) with alcoholism..." I find his word choice of
"surviving" interesting. It gives the personal narrative a
stronger meaning. It shows that he is not struggling or
suffering, he is over coming his addiction, he is surviving. I
also like the word choice "craving" as he describes his
difficulty of sobriety. If the author were to simply say "want"
instead of "crave" the narrative wouldn't be so powerful. When
he says "crave" it's more of a desire, practically impossible to
ignore. The author was already aware the terrible outcomes
addiction to alcohol can lead to, "dark powers of drinking". His
late father was an alcoholic and his mothers first husband was
killed by a drunk driver. He knew the affects of alcohol could
be "dark" and irreversible. I didn't like how it was organized
though, it sounded repetitive and lacked detail. I wish the
narrative was longer and went into more depth about the under
lying cause of the addiction and the healing process of his on
going recovery. The narrative did 'pull at my heart strings' a
bit. Even if the author, in my opinion, didn't go into much
depth talking about an addiction is difficult and sad. I was
some what emotional reading the essay knowing that this author
has suffered so much and is now writing about what he went
through.
#Post#: 34--------------------------------------------------
Re: Outside Reading Assignment #2 - Personal Narrative
DIR By: cblock09
Date: September 18, 2012, 7:50 pm
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The personal narritive I read was called Singing poorly with an
author who is not named. The message was that if you are doing
something that you may or may not be good at still show passion
and effort. It explained the different classes of singing
poorly. 1st is when you sing so badly you need to use technology
to inprove your voice. 2nd is singing with their views. And 3rd
is singing because you love to do it no matter how good or bad
you sound. The narrator is n the 3rd group. He is passionate
with his singing even though he is not too good at it. Using
words like passion and poor convey that he loves to do it,
thinks himself and some other famous singers are not too good.
When explaining each class he gets to the point. Gives examples
and ends with a basic statement. For example in the first class
hee explains that Brittney Spears is not a good singer and has
technology improve her voice, but ends with the fact that she
makes alot of money doing it. Singing poorly is an art. If you
do it with passion it is ok but if you do it as a joke it isnt
too much of an art.
HTML http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=20474
#Post#: 35--------------------------------------------------
Re: Outside Reading Assignment #2 - Personal Narrative
DIR By: cblock14
Date: September 18, 2012, 8:33 pm
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The personal narrative i read was the Lost Wallet. The author
tell a story about how he made a careless mistake which was the
result of losing his wallet. He left his wallet on top of the
roof of his car and drove off without noticing that he left it
there. By the time he figured out that his wallet wasn't in his
presents, it was to late and it flew off the car. The author and
his family looked for that wallet for over an hour and found
nothing besides some gift cards that were in it. The author
eventually got it back after a week or so after the sheriff of
the town found it. Basically, the author is saying that we all
have things that don't seem that important to us now. But when
we misplace or lose that certain thing, it affects us in a
certain way '' The carelessness of my misplacings have taught me
a lesson, simply think before I act'' the author is saying that
careless mistakes can have a big affect on like losing your
wallet
HTML http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=25932
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