Geoff+Ferguson


 * //Geoff Ferguson's Page//**

=Second Seven weeks=


 * __Paper proposals__**

[|**Barack Obama**] Would create a national health insurance program for individuals who do not have employer-provided health care and who do not qualify for other existing federal programs. [|John McCain] Opposes federally mandated universal coverage. Would increase awareness and promote the use of existing children's health insurance programs while expanding community health centers. Supports health care tax dividends for low-income Americans, //My stand on the issue-// I think that this is the most important issue that also brings the most hipe in the upcoming election. Seeing that americans every year struggle to get care because of financial situations is somthing that shouldnt be happening. While many belvie that their should be goerenment interaction to help in aiding this large issue many do not konw waht will have to happen for this to take place. Health care is something that is very costly and something that i think should be watched for in the upcoming election as i belive that although it may be costly the governemtn should take some step in making care more easliy gotten for those in need. there does not need to be total control by the government but should be overwatched and maybe helping those who need it. **__Education 1ST CHOICE__** [|John McCain] Voted for No Child Left Behind. Stated during GOP primary debates: "We need more charter schools. We need vouchers where it's approved by the local, state school boards. We need to have, clearly, home schooling if people want that … We need to reward good teachers [|**Barack Obama**] Would reform No Child Left Behind, ensuring access to high-quality early childhood education programs and child care opportunities, recruit well-qualified and reward expert, accomplished teachers. Make science and math education a national priority //My stand//- schooling it seems year after year continues to somehow find a way to slip into the debate. I think that schooling and no child left behind is somthing that was a great step for america i belvie that mcCain and his views to reward those who teach well is a great idea and insentive. yet with this it will be hard due to geographical locations of where teachers are at and the willinginess of therir learners. __**Same Sex Marriage**__ [|John McCain] Supports definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, but opposes a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Says individual states should decide the issue. [|**Barack Obama**] Opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposes a constitutional ban. Supports civil unions. //My Stand//- While my christian background has given me a bias to the topic i would never accept this as marriage. A country supposably based around god and christianity has become so corrupt that they went lenghtsn to bend the rules of a bible to form a law which is in contridicting order. Marragie is a man and women and always will be. although i do not care if they want to live together and be considered together yet legally thier should be no mis understanding that it is not accepted in this country. i am not saying that it is wrong or i will not associate with one beacuse i know gay couples and am fine with it i just dont think that under this countrys belifes it should ever be accepted. All issues and stands of each candidate are pulled directly from CNN.com. http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/
 * __ Health care __**

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END OF MID TERM
Re-formatted on Feb 19th for ease of accessibility
 * //__From earliest due date to most recent__//**

__**Jan 11th- Myth education discussion questions posted on wiki**__ Four questions: 1. In writing the most important thing is flow. With this it is important to keep your readers attention. And in many cases today it is difficult to pull your reader and keep then interested in your writing therefore you use certain styles and techniques often times breaking rules of grammar to hold your readers attention. When reading something in proper English it carries a much more serious tone and often times is considered boring. to use proper English is important in certain areas yet there is also times where the rules must be bent. 2. Many elderly folks will say English is being ruined. Or often times they will ask questions like" what" ..." what does that mean" There are a number of slang terms that have evolved over the years and are constantly being formed. One of the easiest places to see English language and its change is in middle school as kids text message one another. Also in chat rooms you will always see internet language and in turn the kids change all of there writing into this internet and cyber world chat. The internet and texting can be blamed for a number of changes in the English language. 3. There are times that I will you 'bad' English and a friend will correct me yet it is something that I just don’t pay attention to. The use of bad English when in a chat with a friend or peer I believe is something that just happens natural.. There are certain things that when I hear someone say a sentence using ' bad' English in my head I will be like what? but I will not be the one jumping to the scene in your face telling you the proper way and how you screwed up it is something that happens natural. 4. I find accents one of the coolest things in the world. When someone talks 'different' or sounds different than what I think is normal I find it to be one of the coolest things to listen to and subtly mock in my head. Sometimes the thoughts in my head come out as words but often times it just makes me smile and generalize a first impression about the person. I do not think that southern accents automatically means hick nor does a Boston or northeastern accent mean hard ass I think its just a nice tone difference to the human ear.

Here is the prompt: In the past you have probably never paid attention to whether or not you were appealing to your readers' logic, emotion, or character. Go back and think of times when you have written and have done so. Do you have an idea of how to appeal to your reader? What of these three appeals will you need to work on the most? Are you good at giving examples? Are you pretty logical? Do you know how to sound like a good, moral person? Spend some time writing about these three appeals and how you perhaps compare to the author you are analyzing and how you measure up and what you need to work on.
 * __Jan 16th- Journal 1__**

If I think back to some of my older writings I believe that this issue is an I never paid to much attention to in a direct way. If I read back some of the writing holds decent attention yet I struggled to capture full trust in my writing. As if my writing was interesting yet it didn’t capture reader’s logic, character, nor emotion. Although certain feelings would become more attractive to others I believe that this is an issue that will progressively get better as my writing abilities continue to grow. I believe that I do a good job in my writing as connecting examples, showing the picture as it is read. My writing is appealing in this matter that you can connect certain ideas to the reader yet it doesn’t fully pull the attention to a specific point in life. I think overall my writing is not bad and meets more than just minimums but I don’t think it has reached its peak. I think that just looking back there are improvements to be made yet there are also a number of great progressions and learning abilities. My writing is very morally right and ethically. By using true examples and supports of respectful others, it is something that can and is trusted. This can be a down fall is if sometimes it’s too true and real that it almost becomes Dahl. I continue to learn more about my writing and learn new techniques to better my writing.

__**Jan 21st- A2 Summary of online article**__ The web of language "Sorry, Dr. House. Study correlates neat handwriting with academic success" http://webtools.uiuc.edu/blog/view?blogId=25&topicId=1147&count=1&ACTION=VIEW_TOPIC_DIALOGS&skinId=286

Year after year a number of different, and often times new, never tested, implications are made throughout the classrooms of America. With little to no background of what might happen, or how these implications will affect the student’s ability to learn and absorb new information, the hope for the implications is in good judgment as its ultimate goal may be to make the students well-rounded and better learners. No matter what the change may be, all are put into effect for the high hopes of what is truly best for the students from the instructor’s standpoint. No matter what grade level or subject matter, different instructors bombard their willing students with a number of different teaching styles. As changing from teacher to teacher is something that may be difficult for many kids to absorb there seems to be one thing that is common to all classrooms, the ability to write, in the terms of penmanship. From the blog //The web of Language//, written by Denis Baron, brings about a very interesting topic in his post “Sorry, Dr. House. Study correlates neat handwriting with academic success” as Denis takes us back in time and explores the idea of old fashion penmanship and its importance. The article focuses on the changes that have been made throughout the class room since the 1950’s. As Denis writes how the emphasis was in writing and ones neatness. “…schools to push handwriting skills as an essential skill because legible handwriting was necessary to secure an office job.”(Baron, 1). As baron accepted the fact that this could have been the case in the 19th century, a number of other things, including the needs for good penmanship, have changed and are continually changing with time. Baron goes onto quote //Newsweek// in their statement “handwriting fluency is a fundamental building block of learning” (Baron, 1). The reason for such an argument was backed by saying “when handwriting becomes automatic, children write faster, better, more, and they’ll learn faster, better, and more” (Baron, 1). Yet bound to happen with time these statements and beliefs would be filed away as technology would make its break thorough into the class room. “Stories about these writing dinosaurs.”(Baron, 2), when speaking of the latest and great technology, the typewriter! Although the push for the typewriter in the classroom had sufficient support, it came to the wrong place, at the wrong time. The countries state of depression would keep the typewriter from the appearance in many classrooms due to the lack of money in the economy. As Baron reminisced his times working with the typewriter, it was technology that wouldn’t stay around for long as they were too bulky, and hard for many to learn the proper use. Once again it was out with the old and in with the new, as the 21st century has come, and technology has cleared leaps and bounds from the 1950’s, Baron Claims “his students insist that their computer keyboards are wired more directly to their thoughts” (Baron, 2). Following all the changes that have taken place in the classroom Baron brings his thoughts to an end “accepting handwriting as a curiosity or an art form” (Baron, 2). A topic that is often overlooked, as just changes in time, Baron brings about very interesting ideas and shows the evolution in the classroom. After reading the article I take a look back at how in my short 19 years of life I have seen my own penmanship change, not only style, but the practice of it. Trying to think about the time it would take for me to write this short response only sends chills down my back as I have already corrected a number of grammar and spelling errors. I find that I have a much easier time putting my thoughts to paper through a keyboard versus a pen and paper. Maybe it’s just the generation I have grown up in, always having a computer and keyboard at my disposal, in agreement with Baron and his writing, I am completely fine with accepting my poor penmanship and the loss of hand written documents for “unlocking the mysteries of learning.”(Baron, 2)

__**Jan 25th- Paper 1**__

post here

__**Feb 1st- Brute debate**__

When I first hear the word brute there are a number of different faces or people that I have encountered throughout my life. I find it difficult to put one phrase behind the true meaning of brute, yet there are characteristics of what I describe as a brute that I find common in almost all of these encounters. I see a brute not as male or female, yet as one who is careless and lacks fear, and pain. A brute in my eyes is one that acts out not thinking about what the outcome may be, often times risking injury to them yet there still is no hesitation. Although I find it tough to define I find that this is my best example to the true meaning of the word brute. In this short story as we relive what would become one of the doctor’s worst nightmares I think that the doctor at the time of his actions is best described as a brute. Yes the man was past drunk, and it took a haul of officers to arrest him. He would fit the definition of the brute. But I would say that behind this mans façade is a lonely man who knows nothing but to look to alcohol as an escape. Therefore he will not be a true brute. As it was the time the doctor acts out against patient is the moment in which the two mean become categorized as one, a drunk, and two, the brute. How the doctors act out in a wreck less fashion not thinking of the reaction that is yet to come defines this man not only as sick but a brute. He has lost respect for not only his patient but for himself in not considering what will happen from his actions. The doctor has lost all fear as to what is next or the pain as to how he could do something of this nature with such a high title. Therefore it was at that point that the doctor became the brute by my definition.

__**Feb 4th word definition "sophisticated"**__

Etomology =sophisticated=

Main Entry: so·phis·ti·cat·ed Pronunciation: \-tə-ˌkā-təd\ Function: //adjective// Etymology: Medieval Latin //sophisticat//us Date: 1601 1: deprived of native or original simplicity: as a: highly complicated or developed : [|complex]  b: having a refined knowledge of the ways of the world cultivated especially through wide experience 2: devoid of grossness: as a: finely experienced and aware  b: intellectually appealing — so·phis·ti·cat·ed·ly //adverb//


 * __Paper__**

Geoff Ferguson Word Definition Sophisticated English 101 The English language is known as one of the hardest languages for one to learn due to a number of very confusing, and often times contradicting, rules. With helpful sayings such as I before E except after C, and the knowing that the letters A,E,I,O, and U are always considered vowels, we can continue to mix things up, as sometimes we through the letter Y into the vowel category. As rules are constantly broken, often times it seems near impossible to master such a language. Changes in the language can also be prevalent in the definitions of many words. Although the original meanings to a number of words have not changed, year after year the American language publishes a list of new words and new definitions. The language, that will continue to re shape it’s self, can best be described as very sophisticated. In fact, even the word sophisticated, which in its original definition would not be correct use in describing the language, as its definition has also changed with time. Today the Merriam Webster Dictionary would define sophisticated as highly complicated or developed. Which alone, can be used to describe a number of different things depending on ones beliefs or values? While this may be the current and most modern use of the word, its original meaning was //corrupt//. While many natives’ would not even know how the word has aged with time, it is easy to see just how difficult it can be to grasp such a language. While the dictionary gives the modern definition to the word sophisticated, I will argue that the word is one that that can have different meanings depending on the context of its use and may very well change from one person to another. Defining sophisticated may be quite the task, as interpretations will vary, and how it may be a characteristic to a number of things, but by defining sophisticated as three general topics the definition will become more understood as it gains a universal meaning. To begin the better understanding of this complex word grouping sophistication by technology will begin a more universal understanding. The technological field is one that has many things that are considered sophisticated. Technology is something that holds many mysteries as there are a number of complex ideas behind today’s best technology. With sophistication’s more modern definition, technology is one of the most common things that have been generalized to be the best fit to its definition. The reason being for the grouping of technology is to reflect all that goes into today’s technological advances. The practice and study to create new things, that in many ways are smarter then the human mind, makes such a topic sophisticated. While technology covers such a large range of different ideas, anything in this field has many characteristics that are considered sophisticated. Sophistication, in the means of technology, has a much larger meaning and helps to create a more universal definition to this complex word. Many times confusing the definition of sophisticated happens because values from person to person vary on almost any topic we cross in life. Sophistication of the human mind is something that may never be understood because the amount of differences from one another. To categorize the human mind will be a second grouping which can help to create a better understanding of the word. Human interaction is something that has happened at one point of anyone’s life, for many, human interaction happens everyday, and while it has become second nature to many, it can be a skill that takes a lot of practice and nerve for others. The interactions that humans make on a daily basis become sophisticated for a number of reasons. One being the minds nature of self consciousnesses. When interactions happen for the first time between individuals the human mind plays games with itself, often times creating an uncomfortable feeling that seems to circulate the brain building anxiety. The mind works in a very sophisticated fashion often times causing people to think only of worst case scenarios, which in many cases are only personal fears, or memories of the past, that are difficult to overcome. In a number of situations throughout my life I can remember the feeling of how it was to meet new kids on the play ground, or even within my own sports teams, the reason being of my worries was only thoughts made from ideas or fears that my mind had created, to the idea of rejection. While interaction is something that can be very easy to a number of people, to others it could be the worst 30 seconds of their day due to the unknowns of the human mind. As interactions are becoming more important everyday in the working world, some may never conquer their mind to overcome certain fears of a simple, “Hello.” As human interactions can show in a number of ways things that the brain will do in an uncontrollable fashion, it is only a small piece to the puzzle of what makes the mind so sophisticated. Things that come as a natural to the mind such as breathing, you don’t need to remind yourself to breathe in, or breathe out… Nor do you tell yourself to walk each step, there are things that our minds do without a thought of continually reminding yourself to do so. The area of the mind has, and will always be studied due to its complexity and immense sophistication. While sophistication from the past two groupings was more specifically based around ideas more common to everyday human life. A final grouping of the word, to help create better understanding is one that covers a larger interest to the people. The definition of sophistication of emotions creates a final group. While stronger emotions differ with specific topics, rank of values and beliefs are most common with controversial topics, often times ones reasons for their values or beliefs are what brings about the sophistication. While emotions are easily triggered, sophistication plays the largest role when stating what’s right or wrong. Emotional beliefs and feelings can be expressed extremely different from one to another, as are their reactions. Emotions become something of sophistication due to the idea many people can not even explain their own emotions to themselves. While sophistication is almost an under-statement to ones emotions and how they are triggered it fit’s the modern definition and umbrellas a number of things that can help to describe the true meaning of such a complex word. While to define a word such as sophisticated can be extremely difficult to even those that are considered natives of the American language, sophisticated represents something that is not remotely connected in the words definition, as is shows, history, change, and the complex American English. As sophisticated represents a single word in what is known as the worlds largest language, it is only one word that’s meaning has changed with time. While interpreting such a definition, there will be one thing that will always hold true, the modern day English language can be down right… Sophisticated.

__**Feb 6th- Journal 3**__

Please write Journal 3 in your wiki page (and label it with "Journal 3" and the date). Here is the prompt: When you wrote paper number two on the definition of a word, what specific argument strategies did you use? Why did you choose these specific strategies? Did you feel that they helped you organize your argument, or did using theim m make it more difficult for you to write? Why do you think this was so? How do you feel about your logos, pathos, and ethos in this piece?

When i starting writting my word definition paper for the word sophisticated i found it very difficult to begin my paper by not truly knowing waht kinds of approach i was going to take the papers purpose. I found it difficult to begin writting and to continue to stay one one thought. In the paper itself i also fund myself using the repition of the word sophisticated too much. I used argument stratagies more from illistratiopn than taht of any others. if ound that it was easiest and best to paint a picture of what the word ment to my and the definition was most useful when bringing the painted picture into the readers head. The orginizing through this was alittle more precise and also gave a little bit of variance as i argued with different topics for different readers. by arguing from this stand point it was easy to connect more with the readers logic and thefroe connected more with logos. As i am still learnign to write in more of a defined and centeralized idea i still find it hard to think from the readers perspectivei. By stating this i mean that i write in order of what is understandable from my point of view but certain times when i re read i notice that sometimes a reader may not understand things in the same sence that i meant for the paper. Although the paper was fun and challenging to write i think it really healped me with critical thinking.

__**Feb 18th- Paper 3**__

post here _