October C4K Assignments

C4K #3

The third student's blog that I have commented on this semester was for a student named Brandon. On his class blog, it said that the teachers for this class are Haggerty, Bradford, Clevette, and McKenzie. It appears to me that Brandon is currently in the ninth grade.

Brandon's most recent blog post that appeared during the first week of October was from the end of September. His blog post was in response to a topic that his teacher/teachers had assigned to the class as a whole. They were to write about the beginning of their school year. Brandon emphasized how excited he was to be in upper school now that he was in ninth grade. He talked about the new experiences in his new school and the new friends he had made.

Here is the comment I left Brandon:

Hi Brandon!
My name is Amy Archer. I am a Junior at The University of South Alabama. I am currently in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 Class.
I love that you are blogging! It is a wonderful experience, and it will prepare you for the real world when you graduate. You are doing a great job of incorporating different colors and making different words bold so that they stand out! Little things like these really grab the attention of other bloggers.
I am glad that your year is going well! My school year has been overwhelming, but I do not mind the hard work. The reason I do not mind the hard work is because I am conquering one semester at a time in order to receive a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education.
Now here is my question to you: What are some goals that you have set for yourself this school year? How can you make it your BEST school year yet?

Amy Archer

C4K #4

The fourth student's blog that I commented on is a student in a fully online 12th grade AP U.S. & Comparative Government & Politics Course. Her name is Mi. She is in Mike G. Waltney's class at Oregon Episcopal School.

Mi's writing absolutely blew me away! She is an outstanding student. Although, her blog post touched my heart because she prevailed her loneliness from her online learning. She has been frustrated with technology because her class never meets face-to-face. So I decided to take it upon myself and cheer her up.

Here is the comment I left Mi:

Hi,
My name is Amy Archer. I am a student at The University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I am in Dr. Strange’s EDM 310 class. One of our assignments each week is to read students’ blog post from around the world and leave a comment. I have to say, I am more than impressed with your blog post.
You are a wonderful writer, and I cannot tell you how happy I am that I was able to read your post.

You addressed your thoughts and opinions about technology critically, and you made it personal at the same time. I haven’t read something this inspirational in awhile.
I do agree with you that online classes can be frustrating because you do not get face-to-face contact. I do not know if you are enrolled only at an online high school or if you go to a high school each day and take only this class online, but I do believe this class is helping you more than you realize.
I can tell that you are responsible and motivated, so I know that you will make it far in life.

However, I do recommend you take classes that are face-to-face in a classroom if you are not already. Over the past two years in my academic career in college I have taken many classes in the classroom, as well as online. All of my classes are now web enhanced, which means that I have assignments online and resources available for extra help in Sakkai.
You will be ready to enter college head on when you graduate from high school because you are already familiar with blogging and all that technology has to offer.

I know you want that one-on-one attention with your classmates, and it upsets you that you do not see them face-to-face every day, but do not forget how much you are learning through this online class. I am a people person, so I completely understand where you are coming from.
My suggestion to you is to email some of your classmates and set up a study session if it is possible. I have had study groups with classmates from some of my online classes and we would meet at coffee shops and work on the assignments together. I do not know if this is possible for you in your situation, but I hope that you can!


Keep up your hard, diligent work, and never give up! You are an amazing student!


Amy Archer

Surprisingly enough, Mi decided to comment back. Here is the comment she left me in response:

Hi Amy!

Wow, thank you so, SO much for your comment - you have no idea how encouraging it is to hear that you were inspired! Also, you happen to have a serious gift of encouragement in general... it's not every day people tell you that "you'll make it far in life!" So thank you very, very much! That's really, really interesting to here that college classes are more internet-oriented... I thought I might be able to escape it all once high-school ended, but it looks like I have some long years ahead of me. Oh well!

And thank you for your advice - it probably would hugely benefit me to start reaching out to my classmates in a more proactive way, to try and sort of break the tech-barrier in SOME way by making the class experience more personalized. Your study-sesh idea is brilliant, and I'll definitely being keeping that one in mind as we all get closer to the AP exam. Anyway, thank you again so much for you comment - it was a total shot of life!

Mi

The interaction I received from Mi really inspired me to keep diligently commenting on other student's blog post. After my experience with her, even though she is miles and miles away, I realized the importance of blogging and commenting on others post. It also gave me another outlook on EDM 310.

C4K #5

The fifth student's blog post that I was assigned to comment on is from Madrid, Spain. The student's name is Manu. He is in the E1A-Bil IES class at Dionsio Aguado Secondary School. Manu is learning English as a second language. His class was required to write a blog post, in English, describing a celebrity. Here is the description he gave:

He has got brown and long hair and brown eyes. He has played in films like Los Mercenarios. People say that he is the best. He has done a lot of films. He has got a hat. He is from the U.S.A. He has got a big nose. (By Manu).

I decided to take a guess, and here is the comment that I left Manu:

Manu,
Hi! My name is Amy Archer. I am a student at The University of South Alabama in Mobile, AL. I love your class' blog posts about different celebrities! I believe that you are describing Sylvester Stallone. The reason I believe you are describing Sylevester is because he played in the movie Los Mercenarios. In the movie he wore a black hat. He was also born in New York City which fits your description because you said the celebrity was from America.
You are doing a great job practicing the English language! I am currently learning the Spanish language. It is wonderful that your class is blogging and using the Internet to further your knowledge. Keep up the good work!
Adios amigo,
Amy Archer

C4K #6

The sixth student's blog post that I was assigned to comment on was the post a student named Carter. He is in Mrs. Peterson's 7th grade English class. His assignment was to write a post about a character in the book "The Outsiders". He chose to write about the character named "Sodapop". In his post, he listed Sodapop's actions, statements, and the views of other characters.

Here is the comment I left Carter in response to his post:

Hi Carter!

My name is Amy Archer. I am a student at The University of South Alabama, and I am currently in Dr. Strange’s EDM310 class.

I loved reading your blog post! I can tell that you enjoyed reading “The Outsiders”. I have not read the book myself, but after reading your post, as well as Mrs. Peterson’s, I am motivated to read it.

Also, I saw that you root for the Atlanta Braves, and I am happy to say I do too! Keep up the good work!

Amy Archer