Don’t Forget The Audience

I got 2 more blogs to write, but it’s ridiculous. How am I suppose to write 2 good posts right now? I mean, I know that the teachers wanted to make sure that we keep blogging every week, but sometimes, it’s just impossible. We really don’t have time to blog some days. We are busy students. Good ideas do fly by constantly in my mind, but I’m a student that needs as much sleep as possible.

I’ve been grumpy enough recently, so I’ll stop here. And I’m not looking for any excuses anways.

I’m sure EVERYONE is busy now trying to make up the 10 posts they need. Trying to interact with each other, and commenting on each other’s blogs in the last minute. Since I’m a person trying to be a true writer, I would like to make this the last post for school (we need to have 19 new posts, but this is the 18th post).

Even though I do not meet the requirement of having 19 new posts, I’m proud of myself as a writer. I’m sure I’ve written some real stuff here. Because out of all the posts in this blog, there are several posts that I can go back to and say, “wow, these are good.” I think those posts are worth more than the rest of the posts here. And I do believe in the phrase “quality over quantity.” So, what differene does it make as a writer, to have 18 new posts and not 19 new posts? I’d rather have 4 excellent posts than 19 crappy, rushed, thoughtless posts.

Again, I’M NOT LOOKING FOR ANY EXCUSES.

But I just want to inform the teachers, how students feel about what they do. Like Mr. Burell said in the comment on one of my post, “[I can] teach [my] teachers and admin how it feels to be their student.” And I feel like I can do it now, at least about blogging.

credit to MëL

Blogging should be required, but should not be graded. It should be required, but at the same time, there should be no rules (read this post by Clay Burell about blogging at school). Just tell your students to start by writing about something they like. That’s how I got to enjoy writing for the first time.
Then tell your students to start writing about any frustration you have. I did this last year (I didn’t enjoy writing much at the time), and at least I felt “expressed.”

It’s the “expressed” feeling that you get that makes you want to write more.

We know there are stuff going on in our head. But it’s always hard to express them. Writing is a tool to organize our “stuff” in our head, and let them out. Writing is the bridge that connects our brains and the paper. But it takes some time for people to find the right bridge. That’s why many people say they “hate” writing in the beginning.

I’ve realized, that nobody can hate writing. We all feel good when we are “expressed.”

Writing is your expression. It is your angry face in the shape of alphabets. It is your smile in the shape of words. It is your laugher without a sound.

I know I’ve been writing too many grumpy posts recently, but that’s just how I’ve been these days. I’ve been grumpy. And today, I’m grumpy.

Here we go…

KIS is too cocky!!!!

(But today’s attack is not solely against KIS, so don’t worry those KIS supporters)

I’d say most of the international schools in Korea that produce(?) and send quality students to quality universities, are cocky. When a Korean student from an international school goes to universities that are hard to get into, Hagwon is the main factor that led them to these universities.

College counselors are important, too. But getting high scores on SATs is always a plus to your road to college. And it’s usually the people with SAT I scores of over 2000 that gets into colleges with good names.

How do they get over 2000 on SAT I? It’s easy. Go to hagwon, and just keep reading. It’s the students’ dedication to hagwon that gets them high scores on SATs. Usually hagwon teachers help students write the admission essays. It’s the HAGWON that leads them to those colleges.

So why do all these schools try to take all the credit for sending the students to good colleges? If the schools made SAT prep programs like hagwons, then they should advertise their schools saying, “10 people went to Harvard from our school.”

KIS thinks we’re cool because the students carry around MacBooks in school. But carrying around a laptop doesn’t make a school cool, although it will certainly make the school look cool. Did KIS get MacBooks so we can look cool? I hope not.

What are some of the cool things we do with our laptops?

And most of the KIS students would be shouting, “iMovies!” right now. It is unique that we don’t write papers for our English final exam. Instead, we make movies using iMovie. But, is that really cool? Because I think there’s more potential to this than making a funny iMovie just to get grades for English class. I would understand it if it was for a movie making class. But does making iMovie enhance our skills in English…?

KIS is just trying to look cool by trying to use MacBooks whenever we can.

I’ve had too many teachers assign us to “make an iMovie” for this and that. I had to make an iMovie for my World Geography class and Asian Studies class. I was surprised when even my Spanish teacher told me to make an iMovie. It is obvious KIS is trying too hard…to look cool.

And out of all my class, Writing Seminar is one class that I think “is cool.” Yep, you guessed it right, it’s his class.

Personal Learning Network, or PLN is what we’ve been doing the whole semester in this class. We use our MacBooks to interact with people from all over the world, and learn how to write for the true audience. Not just that, we learn how to accomplish stuff through networking and meeting new cool people.

I have done some big things in this class. I have interviewed Asian college basketball players, uploaded the interview on our website to spread their words and break the stereotype of “Asians can’t play ball.” Some of them now plays professional basketball right now. I’ve interacted with some real people.

It’s much easier to see what I’ve done if you click here.

Now that’s the right thing to do with these laptops.

Macbook gives us “true audience.” In other words, it is real world out there.

While the MacBooks in the Writing Seminar classroom are shining, the other MacBooks in other classrooms are crying. They say, “what the hell am I doing here?”

So KIS, here’s my message; don’t look cool, be cool.

Credit to DrewVigal

Kobe took away the spotlight for this NBA season.

Credit to Sporting News

LeBron James had a dominant year. His stats were insane. He’s had several explosive games. Still, people gazed at Kobe.

Kevin Garnet made the Boston Celtics, his new team, into a team with the best record in the league. And yet, Kobe grabbed the MVP trophy.

Credit to Damion Sincere

Starting the season with a new member, Pau Gasol, Kobe and the Lakers were expected to be one of the tough teams to beat in the Western Conference. But nobody would have thought they would be this good.

Credit to NBCSports

Kobe has won some championships before. He has won 3 rings playing with Shaquille O’Neal. Now, he is trying to repeat them with Gasol.

Kobe is one of those players that steps up when the team is in desperate. He can score at will, or can flat out shut down the opponents offense. With Kobe on the floor, it’s two birds with one stone; he stops the opponents, and he gives you points.

He can shock the opponents, because he makes those impossible shots that make the opponent’s heads go down.

Kobe Bryant is hands-down the most exciting player to watch in the current NBA.

First of all, our chemistry teacher is the coolest teacher I’ve ever had.

Second of all, last Sunday was the best Sunday I’ve ever had.

Third of all, my sophomore class’s got the best sophomore mates I’ve ever had (and this is the only sophomore class I’ve had).

I had too much fun on Sunday that I’m pretty sure this week is not going to be any fun at all. In fact, if you read the previous post, this week is not fun. Like, NOT FUN.

Anyways, boys in my chemistry class ROCK. We are all too stupid and silly, and that’s what makes it more fun. We say silly stuff, we diss each other, we hit each other, and we laugh about everything. We just can’t stop taking verbal attacks on each other, and everything just seems funny when we say it. And when these group of kids all go to play paintball paintball together, it’s just chaos. And for us, chaos equals fun.

Credit to Joo

I’m reading Spiderman. Why? I don’t know.

An amazing week is awaiting me.

I have to teach some kids for a community service after school today. I have to study for the Spanish test tonight for tomorrow. I have a chemistry final in 2 days, and English concept peper also due in 2 days. And I got 7 more blogs to write, including this, in 3 days, which I think is a ridiculous thing. Do they really want 19 crappy, rushed, forced blogs instead of maybe several not-forced, good, thoughtful blogs? Anyways, that is due in 3 days. Then this weekend, I have a basketball tournament that I REALLY CAN’T MISS. Yep, Saturday AND Sunday. Then on Monday, Geography wikispace project is due, along with Geography test and the English finals project. Oh yea, I still had to edit the interview for my Writing Seminar class…

Yeah, I just crammed everything up there. But that’s how my brain looks. Everything’s crammed in and everything’s bothering each other.

And we have this weird reading block in our schedule, and we have to read a book for 50 minutes before lunch. And nobody really reads. People just take a nap and teachers don’t really realize. I asked my teacher if I could do my schoolwork during the reading block, but she told me I had to read.

I could be editing my interview now. I could be writing my concept paper now. I could be working on my wikispace. But you know what? This thing is going around in my head shooting webs.

Yeah, so here I am, reading Spiderman. Peter Parker is fighting Goblin. I hope he wins.

Credit to manzu

Generally, when people say racism is bad, they think calling people by their race, or disrespecting other race is bad. Then, is this guy a racist?

I think he’s a great guy. He’s making fun of all these stereotypes of each races. And I think this is what the real world without racism would be. And don’t give me one of those, “Uhh… what the heck? You’re not making any sense, this guy’s full of racism.” I will explain why, so calm down.

People think racism is a bad thing. Wow, don’t get me wrong, there’s more too it. The reason why people think it is a bad thing is that, they just think it’s a bad thing (Yep, I said that). I mean, it is a fact that Asian people have yellow skin, Europeans got white skins, and Africans got black skins. But what the heck is wrong with that? He called you a yellow monkey. Well you should be pissed at the fact that he called you a monkey. Who cares what color the monkey is, and well you actually do have yellow skin, so he’s not lying! And Russel Peters does it so well that it just is hilarious. Love the way he just says everything, and he doesn’t care how his words might offend some people, because those people shouldn’t really be offended.

Those anti-racism people will say, “Don’t say racism-tic stuff! It’s bad!” Well, I say, “Say racism-tic stuff, and it’s a joke!” I hope one day there will be a day when people talk about race and laugh about it.

Here, I am only talking about the verbal put-down racism. If one refers to the history of the racism, I would have to say the history was brutal. I am not trying to offend anyone here. Just a post to make our dark world a bit brighter.

Let’s put my very revolutionary title aside, and I’m going to write to myself here.

So I met this cat on the street. It was in a box, and on the box said, “pick me up.” The cat’s eyes said, “I’ve been here for 2 full days, pick me up.” So I picked the cat up, and I liked it. It’s cute, and I’d always play with it. It was fun.

One day, the dog I’ve been looking for for years, came back to my house. I was surprised. So I got my dog back, and now I had the cat and the dog in my house. But the dog and the cat seemed to be always in a fight.

Their relationship got worse and worse everyday, and it got to a point where I just HAD to choose one. So I chose the dog, because I liked the dog more. I felt bad for the cat, but I had no choice. I put the cat in a box, wrote “pick it up please,” and put it on the ground on a street. I said bye to her, and came back home. How miserable I felt, how guilty I felt.

Next morning, I heard a cat crying by the door. I knew it was that cat.

Every morning, the cat would come over to the door, and cry out for me.

.

It is killing me.

Hey teachers, I’ve got something to tell you guys.

So, we’ve been doing this “improve our writing by writing blogs” for about 2 years. Mr. Burell suggested the idea when we were in 9th grade. He said, “writing can be improved by writing about something you like about. Also, blogging will make sure you care about the audience.”

Now, you can scroll up on this page, and see the phrase “Don’t Forget The Audience” at the top. It’s a nice phrase for a title. But if you read the phrase below it, it says, “But Never Forget Yourself.” I did not put that so I could sound cool or anything. In fact, I intended to put more emphasis on the latter phrase.

What is true writing? Is writing for the audience true writing? It might impove the presentation of our post, but would it actually be a true writing?

My point is that, when I write, sometimes I don’t want to think about the audience. Sometimes, I don’t want them to even read my post. Sometimes, I just want to make my posts private. Because when I feel like I’m truly writing, I’m writing for myself. I write, because I want to organize all the crazy stuff going on in my brain on a piece of paper. When I’m blogging for the audience, I’m not “writing.” I call that “typing.”

If you are trying to impress the audience with your writing, then you’re most likely typing. But if you are writing for yourself, so you can put out everything in your brain on a piece of paper so you can feel lighter, then you’re writing.

Feel free to use the words like “he,” or “she.” There shouldn’t be any need to explain who he or she is, since you know who they are. Above all, you don’t want the audience to know who they are. Of course, if you want the audience to know who they are, go ahead and name them.

Now, writing can be for the audience. But it’s never only for the audience. For example, this post is for the audience, but it’s really for me. This post is a message for the audience from me. I’m writing this, because I want everyone to know what I’m saying, not because everyone wants to know what I’m saying. I call this “true writing,” and I feel much more “improvable” this way.

So, to all of those so-called “blog graders,” I just want to know, how do you grade our blogs? According to you guys, we have to have a picture, we have to be commenting on each others blogs, and we have to be interacting with each other. Now, they are great things to do, if you want to go for those multi-media stuff. But come on, it’s English class and we’re trying to improve writing here.

Mr. Burell was never wrong, because he still writes for himself. It’s just that, we’re doing it wrong.

As you can see, I didn’t put any pictures on this post. I would have, if I found a good picture. But I though a picture wouldn’t make the message any stronger. In fact, I believe the message is strong enough on the context already.

 I feel special…

I am now interacting Ko Yada, a professional basketball player in Japan. And for a basketball-crazed fan from Japan like me, it is something BIIIIG.

As I’ve told you guys before, I am doing a basketball project for my English Seminar class. Check out the site here. A cool site trying to overthrow the “asian sucks” notion in basketball.

And we did an interview with him about his basketball career and aspects. You can listen to the interview here.  You can read his blog here.

It’s just amazing that I am doing this for a class in school. It is just so unschooly. It’s more like real-world.