Bertrand Russell

I have never heard who Bertrand Russell was, but after a quick Wikipedia search and reading a few biographies I realized he was a pretty cool guy. A historian, mathematician, and a philosopher are enough occupations for someone to make some funky commandments. After reading Russell’s passage more then one commandant poked its face and stuck out to me. I know the assignment was to only find one but this was more then interesting to me. The first one, “ Do not feel absolutely about anything.”  Is a bold statement everyone should go by. Information changes everyday. People die, statistics change, science changes. Inevitability every little bit of information changes. No one likes a hard ass either, so If its not 2+2 don’t be so sure. I also liked number seven, although it seems more of a morality trait rather than a “commandment”, it makes you realize it is crucial to share your opinions.  Why be mute to the world, share your opinions because one day you could change the world. Our world is shaped by opinions; religion, politics, and culture. Without it the world would be bland, with out dimension. The last commandment that really stuck out to me was the last commandment. I believe so highly of this quote that I hung it in my dorm room. Sometimes I feel that I get envious from some of the naïve people here. I see them having fun on the weeknights when I am studying. They get unlimited amounts of spending money from their parents, when I had to work for all of mine. But I realize I am going to be the ones with the good grades and all of the money when they are suffering. I appreciated this assignment and I hope there are many more just like it.

my first paper

Did I like writing my first college paper? The correct answer is yes. It got me back into the swing of things. After having a whole summer off, with no summer work writing my first paper was a bit of a struggle. Writing the “meat” of the paper was the hardest part. There were no specific directions to know what exactly I was supposed to write about. I tried steering my paper in the right direction with the best of my ability. With some coffee and concentration I was able to work my way through it. Writing an introduction was a usual procedure in high school however having such a “short” notice to write a paper was a completely different from what I was used to. Usually a paper of this magnitude was considered as a final exam grade. In high school, a paper of this size had a time period of a month (which is completely ridiculous in my opinion). Using a source also wasn’t familiar to me, when writing about a topic that was not an actual “research” paper.  Only when writing about history or a book was when I was asked to have a citation. Writing this paper laid out a foundation for me to write my future papers. I can now produce what is expected after the first paper. Once I receive my grade, I think I will have an even better understanding. As for the next papers I write, I will incorporate all of the knowledge I have learned in the first and reproduce it again.

My major.....

I am a childhood/special education major. I am pursuing my major for many different reasons. I always wanted to be a teacher because of the gratifying feeling you get from teaching. It is so rewarding to teach someone something they didn’t know. I realized I wanted to teach special education children after I became a babysitter. This includes children with mental illness, social problems, and basically any child on the spectrum. I realized that these children needed an extra kind of patience that a lot of people do not have. I think I obtained this patience because I have always been interested in how the brain works. I am also very interested in psychology and my major involves a good amount of that which is extremely interesting to me. When I chose my major I did not know how DEMANDING my major is and all the essays and letters you have to write. Writing is a key aspect in my major and it will still be even in the real world once I have my professional job. For now in college, I have to write English papers, psychology papers, and many papers for my education classes. But once I am in the real world I must type of lesson plans, letters to parents and colleagues, and even administration. I can’t sound like I don’t know what I am talking about because I won’t get anything accomplished. I will be writing on my dry erase board everyday for my students too. I can’t forget to have good penmanship. :)

My Experience With Writing.....

Writing is a key element in society. It is a way we can express ourselves in our daily lives. Unfortunately, writing has always been a struggle for me.  The art of words has never come naturally.  Understanding all the elements of grammar and the proper way to express myself always gave me a great deal of unneeded stress. In my opinion, going to a not-so-strict school district my whole life really set me up for disaster. In elementary school, grammar was not really touched on. Throughout all my years of high school I would always have to start a paper days, weeks, and even months in advance. I always knew I needed extra help in this area. Endless amount of tutors, extra help, and SAT/ACT prep only made a little dent in how much help I needed. As a result of all of this, I picked up reading. I always was an extremely strong reader (which is weird because I can’t express my words that intelligently half the time). My goal was always to improve my writing skills and learn different techniques. I love reading romantic stories, short stories, and action novels.  If I open a good one, I could probably read it in a day or two.  I have always aspired to write like the novels I love reading.  I try to not forget that everyone learns differently and it is perfectly okay that writing isn’t my strong suite. I do hope eventually later on in my college career my writing improves. Soon, I will excel and have no worries.