8/31

My parents- They read to me as a child and first sparked my interest in reading.

Mrs. Gaw, 1st grade teacher- Taught me basic reading and writing skills.
Mrs. Rookey, junior year English teacher- taught me many composition skills
including how to write an argumentative research paper.

9/2
My special place to write is at my desk at home. Ive spent countless hours there
writing papers for English classes all the way back to middle school. I once sat in
front of that desk for six hours writing my five page senior project research paper. It
was a long process but I eventually ended up getting an A on the project. I think
that desk is a special place for me because thats where I associate getting work
done with. It helps me focus and stay on target when Im working on something.

9/9
I dont think book fairs were all that influential to my literacy narrative. I always
went to them but never spent a great deal of time reading the books. Id always be
more tempted to look at what else they were selling instead of reading any one
book. Another reason they werent very significant is because I never bought
anything from them. Id either forget to ask for some money or Id not find anything
that interested me.

9/14
Right now I dont think there is anything related to my literacy narrative. That being
said I would like to look into my familys literacy narrative and see if that may have
played a part in my own.

9/16
The first time I experienced PowerPoint was during my 6 th grade social studies class.
I dont quite remember what the PowerPoint was on but I feel like it was the romans
or something. If I saw it now I dont think it would be very interesting but at the time
it was pretty cool.

9/21
I think looking back on where youre from is important because if you didnt look
back youd never be able to reflect on your decisions and the path youve walked. It

also helps you focus on where youre path will lead you next. Looking back also tells
a great story. Its a unique account of the series of unlikely events that have led you
to where you are.
9/30
My last family reunion my family rented a large cabin in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. It
was a very spacious place but still ended up being pretty crowded. It had an outdoor
deck with a hot tub on it. It also had five bedrooms and a large den area. Even with
so much space it had no chance at containing all the strong personalities of my
family.

10/7
If you steal from one author its plagiarism, if you steal from many its research
-Wilson Minzer
I like this quote because it somewhat reflects how I feel towards research. I feel like
most writings based off research are just rewordings of things that have already
been written.

10/19
At this point in the project Im having trouble finding information past my great
grandparents. Ive found plenty of info relating to my family up until them but
finding things past that has proven to be a bit difficult.

10/26
When Im doing a research project my best strategy is setting aside an hour or so
and just googling my topic. I search for several key words and sift through the first
page or so of results. If I cant find much with one keyword I just try a different one
until I get something. When I do find something useful I write it down and where it
came from then keep looking. If I see something Ive written down in multiple places
I give that bit of information more credibility.

11/2
At first I didnt think the research was very interesting partly because I wasnt
getting very many results at it. Once I caught a break it became much more
interesting to me because I got to add two new generations of people to my fathers
side of the family. The restriction on slides made me be much more selective on
how I set up my presentation. II had to condense it much more than I expected.
11/4

In general to me peer review hasnt been tremendously helpful. There are

exceptions of course like my group for my 1201 assignments but most of the time
the only comments Ive gotten have been the typical good job type things. When I
peer review I try to be more helpful. For all of our 1201 assignments to receive full
credit we have to submit a draft copy with peer revisions on it. My roommates and I
always switch and review each others. When I do mine I always make sure to go
sentence by sentence and check every detail because the course is so specific in its
grading policies.

11/16
It is extremely important for us to care when something like this happens no matter
what country it happens in. When something this horrific happens it doesnt just
affect one country it affects the whole planet. An event like what happened in Paris
should bother everyones basic human sympathies even if they didnt know anyone
personally affected.

11/18
A tough decision Ive had to make was to skip all my classes on a day where I
wasnt feeling well at all or to tough it out and go. This decision was hard because it
was a Tuesday and I have four classes on Tuesdays. I ended up skipping because I
figured I wouldnt be paying much attention anyways.