Blackberries

My other blog that I chose was from “Blackberries” by Yusef Komunyakaa. It was about a boy who picks blackberries from the woods and tries to sell them. As he collects them he eats them and while doing this he daydreams about history. A car passes him while he is near the road and the two children in the back seat brought him back to earth from his daydreaming. First of all, from “They left my hands like a printer’s / Or thief’s before a police blotter,” it is as if this is a daily job for this young Child, and this child had been doing this job for quite some time. The child does not want to do this job but he has no choice due to his family being so poor. I believe that  the author uses the word” Terrestrial sweetness” to describe how rich the berries taste. However, at the same time, the young child cannot enjoy the sweet juicy fruits. As I can see from the third stanza “An hour later, beside City Limits Road / I balanced a gleaming can in each hand, / Limboed between worlds,” after the boy fills out his basket, he aspires to sell his blackberries to make a little money. We understand that this young boy in the poem didn’t have a childhood corresponding to the childhood of the others. Instead of a child who plays, jokes, giggles and has fun, he must make money for his family. I feel sorry for this child, but this is his life and not anyone can change this for him. In the last stanza, “The big blue car made me sweat. / Wintertime crawled out of the windows” the author gives us a clear gap between lower class and upper class people, which is meaningful to how different their lives are. The upper class people, also called the “rich people” relax inside enjoying their comfy lives, while, the young boy suffers in the treacherous summer. Also, as we can see from the lines “I saw the boy& girl my age, in the wide back seat.” People who purchase blackberries must have a luxury car, and therefore, their children live in a very comfortable family setting in comparison to this, young boy, who is only ten years old, who lives in such a brutal environment. The young boy also has to face all kinds of problems that he isn’t supposed to deal with in his young age.

The Fish

The Fish is a poem that was written by Elizabeth Bishop. In this poem there were two types of irony. In the beginning of the poem she talks about how she caught a big fish, in which she goes in great detail about. This fish being as big as it was said that he didn't fight at all. The poem talks about how big this fish really is when she says “He hung a grunting weight" but also of how he is “battered and venerable and homely". When it came for her to describing this fish she talked about how his "skin hung in strips like ancient wall-paper"," its pattern of darker brown was like wall-paper", and "he was speckled with barnacles". The list continues of how she describes this glorious fish. All of these descriptions tell you how old the fish really is. After describing the appearance of the fish she starts to describe the insides as well. She talks about “the coarse white flesh packed in like feathers", " big bones and the little bones, the dramatic reds and blacks of his shiny entrails", and "the pink swim-bladder like a big peony". She then talks about how she stares at his eyes and his face. As she looks at this fishes poor face she notices his lip where it says “hung five old pieces of fish-line". She describes these hooks as two things from “medals with their ribbons frayed and wavering" and "a five-haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw". She talks of how she kept staring at the fish and "how victory filled the rented boat". The speaker is realizing how big of a catch this fish really was and that catching him on his worst day was nothing special. In the end the speaker sees all this that she has thought and lets the fish go. One of the irony points is that she talks and talks about this fish for over 2 pages and how great this fish is and everything, but in the end lets the fish go. Another point of irony was that he caught this great fish and decided to let him live and lets him go, but with all the oil in the water the fish is going to die anyway.

In Creve Coeur, Missouri

What is “In Creve Coeur, Missouri” I took this as that there was a photographer taking pictures of a young woman taking her last breathes in a fireman’s arms. It talks about how the fireman is bent over the rag body held like impossible laundry pulled too soon from the line. When I read that line and a little more into it all I got out of it was that the fireman was bent over her and holding her, but the body was so ragged that it may have well been burned very badly. It mentions also about her hair standing out like a flame and that she is naked with no name. As I thought earlier about her being burnt I start to realize I may have been correct. With her hair standing out like a flame I start to picture her hair either completely burnt off or just still hot from where most of it was. Her close was burned off of her in this fire and as far as her name she could not speak to tell the fireman anything. She is no longer a baby, almost a child, and not yet a ghost. This young babe girl is so young, but out of the point of being called a babe. I notice she is not a ghost; therefore she is still alive and still unable to speak. She is so small and young to where it talks about her pressing her doll-like fist to his professional chest. Her head falls back and as the fireman tries to resuscitate her they start to wonder if she will live or in the case of the poem stand again. It tells you that the fireman has done this time and time again using CPR. One way it talks about what he does is it states that he’s sucking the spirit back to us from its lair of smoke. With him continually saving people’s lives they say that they will call it a fine surprise, because apparently this doesn’t happen to him much. The last line says that “The snapshot won a prize though it couldn’t revive her that night in Creve Coeur.” There were two things that stuck in my head the part about the fireman always saving the lives of people and the photographer taking the picture of a disaster. The fact that the fireman saved lives again and again, and the fact that everyone around expected him to save her as well was normal. We expect EMT, fireman, ect. to save our lives, but we also realize as much as we would want everyone saved it’s impossible to save them all. I understand that people need to make a living working and his job consists of taking pictures, but to take a picture of a young girl dyeing in a fireman’s arms is just wrong.

The Math WebQuest Curse

The famous and dreadful Math Curse.

Critical Friend Rubric

Criteria	Accomplished (3)	Developing (2)	Beginning (1)	Score & Comments
Introduction	Engagingly describes a compelling question or problem.	A question or problem is described.	The purpose of the WebQuest is unclear.	3.) It has you excited and ready to work together.
Task	Task is doable and engaging, and is connected to learning in the real world. It elicits thinking that goes beyond rote comprehension.	The task is doable and elicits higher order thinking but is not relevant to students lives.	Task requires simply comprehending or retelling of information found on web pages and answering factual questions.	3.) This has good teamwork activity with  good learning of baseball history.
Process Checklist	Every step is clearly stated. Most students would know exactly where they are at each step of the process and know what to do next.	Some directions are given, but there is missing information. Students might be confused.	Every step is clearly stated. Most students would know exactly where they are at each step of the process and know what to do next.	3.) It gives good direction on what to do and how to do it in good step by step instructions.
Resources	There is a clear and meaningful connection between all the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task.	There is some connection between the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task. Some resources don't add anything new.	Resources provided are not sufficient for students to accomplish the task.	3.) There is plenty of good and reliable resources given.
Evaluation	Criteria for success are clearly stated in the form of a rubric. Criteria include qualitative as well as quantitative descriptors.	Criteria for success are clearly stated in the form of a rubric. Criteria include qualitative as well as quantitative descriptors.	Criteria for success are not described.	3.) It gives a good clear rubric for the kids to follow.
Visual Appeal	Appropriate and thematic graphic elements are used to make visual connections that contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships.	Graphic elements sometimes, but not always, contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships.	Color is garish and/or typographic variations are overused and legibility suffers. Background interferes with the readability.	2.) The visualization of this is good, but could use some more graphics to help with the visual connection from the pictures to the WebQuest.
Navigation	Navigation is seamless. It is always clear to the learner what all the pieces are and how to get to them.	There are a few places where the learner can get lost and not know where to go next.	There are more than 5 broken links, misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables, misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	3.) Everything is right there in front and to the point. There is no follow round and go here and there to find something.

WebQuest best/worst

Best Webquests--------World of Shakespeare and Anti-Earthquake
Best means being crative and being able to understand and follow instead of jumping here and there.
Worst Webquests------Foreign Country Presentation and Waves and Sound
Worst means very confusing not being able to follow or comprehend. Basically everything is unclear.

WebQuest The Efficiency Expert

"Saving the Gorillas": This is a good presentation and has good links, but the facts about gorillas are not cared for from most people.
"World of Shakespeare": Strong presention giving that there is many facts out there for Shakespeare. there are many links to find all the information I need. Depending on the age group it might be difficult to come up with a performance with the language he used..
"Anti-Earthquake Designer": This project would take a alot of time, which could be spent on more educational time, but I must say it has excellent groupwork with learnding.
"Foreign Country Presentation": There isnt't that much help with this project through the webquest. I also noticed the organizing is everywhere, but the learning of the different countries is a good learning experience.

"Waves and Sound": There is alot of detail about this project and very confuseing with the specific questions. The major thing is, is that you dont know what the teacher wants you to learn.