Welcome to my blog! Luckily, I already had an account on Blogger since I keep online journals, so it wasn't hard to set up a new one especially for this class. I absolutely love this idea. I'm glad this class allows me to keep a record of my thoughts while I learn. Anyhow, Dr. Thomas [you!] has asked us to write a letter of introduction as our first blog. So here is everything you need [and not need] to know about Kim-Thoa Tran.
Where she's from:
~I was born in Odessa, raised in Houston. True Texan to the bone, except for the accent.
Classification in college:
~I'm barely a junior. :)
Previous experience in writing:
~Well, if you count the essays teachers made us write for tests such as TAAS, TAKS, COMPASS, and research papers, then I cannot possibly count it all.
Writing that wasn't required:
~Well, when I was 8 I tried to submit a fiction story to Reading Rainbow and received a complimentary bookmark for my efforts. In my middle school years, I had a crush on a particular boy, and he inspired me to write sappy love poems, and my parents inspired me to write angry ones. Also, starting from 5th grade and still ongoing, I kept journals to remember events that happened to me, mainly because I had few friends and needed to tell something my musings. In high school, we received extra credit in World Geography [9th grade] for writing opinion papers. I even saved one of my papers because my teacher commented that I should be a journalist. I was so very proud. :) In my honors English class, I loved writing poems and submitting them to the school paper for extra credit. One of my poems affected my teacher so much, he pulled me out of class and questioned my depressed thoughts of myself. I used to love writing poems and those opinion papers. I find that I do better when my grades aren't dependent on required papers. I like writing when I am not forced to. For me, writing generally comes easily, although that doesn't mean that I get good grades on my papers.
Course goals:
~To learn about the real meanings and foundations of poetry and how it has evolved. I know that the poems I used to write are nothing compared to the ones we are taught in school. I'd like to learn why that is so, and what makes them so wonderful. No, that was not sarcastic. I'd also want to be exposed to the greatest poems of the world, just to feel more knowledgeable and to appreciate this special form of art. I also hope to earn an A in this course. That would be nice.
Learning/Teaching strategies you need to know:
~I'm not smart...in fact, I think I learn things slower than some people, especially when it comes to critical thinking. Also, I usually don't ask answer questions in class because I fear of getting ridiculed for the wrong answer, and I don't ask questions because I'm not intelligent enough to ask the smart questions, or questions that can't be answered using the textbook. And I know this is an online course, but I hope that somehow, you can still elaborate important points from the book because I feel stupid when I read it by myself.
Interesting facts:
~The first thing that comes to mind when I am asked this is my family. I am the oldest of eleven kids that all belong to one mother and father, and there are no twins. It is so rare to find another family as big as mine nowadays. I have horrible memory so I can't offer an interesting story about me, but I'm pretty sure I have them written down somewhere.
I hope that my information was sufficient. Although you mentioned that it should be paragraph form, but it might take me awhile to adjust to formally writing on blogs. I can't help making words boldface and adding little creative types. If it is going to lower my grade, please let me know.
Until next assignment,
~Kim
