Jan.19/2010
321 Juniper Ave.
Penticton, British Columbia
Canada V0H 1K0
Mr. Kleats
Junior Soccer Coach
123 Main Street
Sportstown, British Columbia
Canada V2A 1W3
Dear Mr. Kleats,
My name is Mikaela Peters and I am the mother of Josiah, who is currently on your junior soccer team. I am thankful for the time you have committed to coach junior soccer but I have sat in on many practices and have noted some concerns I would like to bring to your attention.
When I drop my son off to soccer, we end up sitting in the vehicle for 5-10 minutes awaiting your arrival. I realize that soccer practice begins immediately after school lets out, but I would appreciate if you could arrive on time to your soccer practices. Furthermore, I have noticed how the team focuses more intently when your practices are more organized. I understand the position you are in can be stressful and disorganized with so many children and so little time but may I suggest making practice longer or having a member from your senior team help you coach junior soccer? I would appreciate if you could spend the same amount of one-on-one time with each of your players, whether they are the 'stars' or not. By doing this, you could help the whole soccer team's skills and then there wouldn't be so many children sitting on the bench during games.
Lastly, I would appreciate if you would refrain from using foul language and aggressive behaviour with the children. In my opinion, too much emphasis is placed on winning and not enough on having fun. My son rarely admits the fun in soccer as he feels over worked and stressed when he arrives home. I hope you understand where I am coming from and will take into account my concerns. If not, I feel it will be in the best interest of my son to not attend your team in the future.
Sincerely,
Mikaela Peters
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Assignment 9: Synthesis Essay
The short story called, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", by Neil Millar, has a more respectful approach of parents to their children opposed to the short story, "Be-ers and Doers", by Budge Wilson. Neil Millar's story, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", speaks about himself, a parent, who has uncovered an important matter, through a simple question, in which he believes can, "alter the life of your children for the better and the life of their future partner". Millar asks the anticipated question, "what kind of children do you want to raise?" causing the reader to stop and ponder of what their true expectations for their children are. The narrator, Neil Millar, begins his inspiring essay by setting the scene of, "a loving parent striving to give your children the best life you can offer", by relating to most parents with children. The narrator's goal is to help parents, "raise well-rounded, confident, considerate children that show gratitude and appreciation for all that is given to them", through his essay. Millar also brings up the issue of how negative behaviour in a household can reflect into a child's life by asking the reader a simple question of, "will the current behaviour in your household make that happen?" Lastly, the narrator points out that throughout generations, expectations and values change for both parents and their children, and asks, "But are your mother's old values working for you and, just importantly, are they working for your children?" Millar ends his essay by encouraging parents to start, "directing your children to take on small tasks" and overtime, "increase the tasks", to help their children become responsible and appreciative.
The parenting in the story, "Be-ers and Doers", by Budge Wilson, is the type of parenting the author of, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", speaks against. This is because the author of the story,"The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", encourages parents to focus on helping their children become, "well-rounded, confident, considerate children", opposed to the mother in, "Be-ers and Doers", who only cares about her children becoming doers like her and not be-ers like her husband. The narrator of, "Be-ers and Doers", observes her family from when she was young until she, herself, is a mother. The story is set on a small farm on the South Shore of Nova Scotia where the narrator is the oldest sibling of a younger sister and brother. The mother in the story, "was a little narrow wisp of a women", who, "was fond of pointing out to them the things the father didn't do". She had extremely high expectations for her children to become doers, like herself, especially the youngest son, Albert. Throughout Wilson's story, Albert grew up hearing the nagging mother preach that, "bein' ain't good enough. You gotta do, too. Me, I'm a doer", in which is a perfect example of what the narrator of, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", speaks against by asking, "will the current behaviour in your house hold encourage your children to become well-rounded". In a matter of time, Albert's character begins to emerge as he grows, revealing he is a be-er and not a doer, and the, "nagging begins to accelerate in earnest". Instead of pursuing her son's character to become "well rounded", as the narrator states in Neil Millar's story, she decides that, "If it's the last thing I do, I'm gonna light a fire under his feet". Near the end of the story, Albert surprises his mother by saving the family and house from a fire, resulting in the fact that the mother becomes proud that Albert finally became a do-er like herself. Albert confesses that, "Yer jest proud o' what you want me t'be".
In conclusion, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", by Neil Millar, renders to have a much more respectful approach of parents to their children rather than Budge Wislon's story, "Be-ers and Doers", due to the fact that the parenting skills in Millar's story "drives right to the heart f the matter" to alter the life of their children by staying true to discipline and noticing your children's values instead of making your children's values for them, such as the mother tried to do to her son, Albert, in Wilson's story. In Wilson's story, "Be-ers and Doers", the mother, who was self-absorbed, decided that her son was going to be a smart, busy, doer, like herself, when in actuality she almost ruined him be setting impossible standards and making him work too hard. The parenting skills in Millar's essay, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", approaches parents in an inspiring way to help grow respectful children.
The parenting in the story, "Be-ers and Doers", by Budge Wilson, is the type of parenting the author of, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", speaks against. This is because the author of the story,"The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", encourages parents to focus on helping their children become, "well-rounded, confident, considerate children", opposed to the mother in, "Be-ers and Doers", who only cares about her children becoming doers like her and not be-ers like her husband. The narrator of, "Be-ers and Doers", observes her family from when she was young until she, herself, is a mother. The story is set on a small farm on the South Shore of Nova Scotia where the narrator is the oldest sibling of a younger sister and brother. The mother in the story, "was a little narrow wisp of a women", who, "was fond of pointing out to them the things the father didn't do". She had extremely high expectations for her children to become doers, like herself, especially the youngest son, Albert. Throughout Wilson's story, Albert grew up hearing the nagging mother preach that, "bein' ain't good enough. You gotta do, too. Me, I'm a doer", in which is a perfect example of what the narrator of, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", speaks against by asking, "will the current behaviour in your house hold encourage your children to become well-rounded". In a matter of time, Albert's character begins to emerge as he grows, revealing he is a be-er and not a doer, and the, "nagging begins to accelerate in earnest". Instead of pursuing her son's character to become "well rounded", as the narrator states in Neil Millar's story, she decides that, "If it's the last thing I do, I'm gonna light a fire under his feet". Near the end of the story, Albert surprises his mother by saving the family and house from a fire, resulting in the fact that the mother becomes proud that Albert finally became a do-er like herself. Albert confesses that, "Yer jest proud o' what you want me t'be".
In conclusion, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", by Neil Millar, renders to have a much more respectful approach of parents to their children rather than Budge Wislon's story, "Be-ers and Doers", due to the fact that the parenting skills in Millar's story "drives right to the heart f the matter" to alter the life of their children by staying true to discipline and noticing your children's values instead of making your children's values for them, such as the mother tried to do to her son, Albert, in Wilson's story. In Wilson's story, "Be-ers and Doers", the mother, who was self-absorbed, decided that her son was going to be a smart, busy, doer, like herself, when in actuality she almost ruined him be setting impossible standards and making him work too hard. The parenting skills in Millar's essay, "The Most Powerful Question a Parent Can Ask", approaches parents in an inspiring way to help grow respectful children.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Assignment 6: Expository Essay- Certain experiences mark the beginning of maturity
Maturity- a psychological term used to indicate that a person responds to the circumstances or environment in an appropriate and adaptive manner.
Certain experiences mark the beginning of maturity in a person by growing them and helping them learn from their mistakes. Being mature isn't determined by how introverted or extroverted a person is or by how they have fun but by the knowledge they've gained throughout life to make responsible decisions. For instance, a child is not born knowing how to make life decisions and know how to be responsible but as they grow and learn, they make mistakes that every human being has made, and learns from those mistakes, turning them into important circumstances in their life, in which they will gain knowledge and the ability to forgive themselves and try again. That person has learned the road in which they should not go down and they teach others how to not make those mistakes, which is recognized as the beginning of knowledge, which will soon lead to maturity.
Responsibility, which plays another huge role in growing maturely, is known as a particular burden of obligation upon one who is responsible. To grow in being responsible will lead a person straight down the path of being mature. Responsibility is taught by one's self and will only grow if pursued eagerly by that person. For example, responsibility is required in order to graduate by being loyal to your work ethic and effort. But if a person has no motivation to handle commitment or to pursue effort then the virtue of responsibility will not grow in them and they will not be able to succeed and grow maturely. Therefore, the slack of that person will become a habit and they will have a hard time growing in responsibility and maturity later in life.
In conclusion, there are two important matters which make up maturity: knowledge and self-pursued responsibility. When both of these are accomplished a person has strong knowledge, growing mature characteristics, and a strong ability to make responsible decisions, enabling others to follow and learn in that person's foot steps.
Certain experiences mark the beginning of maturity in a person by growing them and helping them learn from their mistakes. Being mature isn't determined by how introverted or extroverted a person is or by how they have fun but by the knowledge they've gained throughout life to make responsible decisions. For instance, a child is not born knowing how to make life decisions and know how to be responsible but as they grow and learn, they make mistakes that every human being has made, and learns from those mistakes, turning them into important circumstances in their life, in which they will gain knowledge and the ability to forgive themselves and try again. That person has learned the road in which they should not go down and they teach others how to not make those mistakes, which is recognized as the beginning of knowledge, which will soon lead to maturity.
Responsibility, which plays another huge role in growing maturely, is known as a particular burden of obligation upon one who is responsible. To grow in being responsible will lead a person straight down the path of being mature. Responsibility is taught by one's self and will only grow if pursued eagerly by that person. For example, responsibility is required in order to graduate by being loyal to your work ethic and effort. But if a person has no motivation to handle commitment or to pursue effort then the virtue of responsibility will not grow in them and they will not be able to succeed and grow maturely. Therefore, the slack of that person will become a habit and they will have a hard time growing in responsibility and maturity later in life.
In conclusion, there are two important matters which make up maturity: knowledge and self-pursued responsibility. When both of these are accomplished a person has strong knowledge, growing mature characteristics, and a strong ability to make responsible decisions, enabling others to follow and learn in that person's foot steps.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Assignment 8: Dave Cooks the Turkey
The short story of "Dave Cooks the Turkey", by Stewart Mclean, is a hilarious story of an everyday dad who is told, by his wife, to cook the Christmas turkey, a skill that many men lack. Throughout the story Stewart Mclean uses three techniques of humour to express himself. The three techniques include blunder, caricature, and satire. Blunder is wit based on a person who makes a mistake, which makes them appear foolish. This technique is used many times throughout the story. Dave appears foolish infront of his wife when she caught him saying 'uh oh'. "I thought 'uh oh,'" said Dave. "I didn't say 'uh oh.' Thinking 'uh oh' isn't like saying 'uh oh.' They don't send you to jail for thinking you want to strangle someone." "What?" said Morley. (Pg. 7) Another humorous technique that was used was caricature, which is an exaggeration of a person's mental, physical, or personality traits, in wisecrack form. Caricature is used when Dave is complaining about what his wife does in her spare time explaining that "They drank tea, or beer, and the host baked something, and they worked on stuff." (Pg. 5) Lastly, satire was used throughout the story. Satire is wit that is critical humor including sarcasm, that makes fun of something. For example, Dave thinks, "Oh. Great, I'll get the drinks", when he notices that Jim and his mother were coming over for super. Because Dave did not want Jim and his mother to come over he sarastically told his wife that he'll prepare the drinks, when the truth is that was the last thing he wanted to do. In conclusion, Dave is someone who has wit, exaggeration, and sarcasm which was presented in the story in the forms of blunder, caricature, and satire.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Assignment 7- Narrative Essay: Certain experiences mark the beginning of maturity
I was born with something called atopic dermatitus, also known as eczema. Growing up, it never occured to me that I was different than other children, I was who I was and I believed that eczema made me Me. I was included by others; as long as you could play tag you were in the group. As I began to grow older, and started school, it only became worse and I realized that I looked different than others and they saw me as that. My parents told me that I was special, just in who I was, and that there was a reason for why it was me this had happened to, but I didn't beleive them.
When I was 11 my family and I moved to Pentiction . By the teen years my eczema started to worsen and my parents began to send me to a local dermatologist. The dermatologist had never seen a case as bad as mine so he immediatly sent me to one in Kelowna, who almost couldn't handle it himself. Treatement didn't work; the dermatologists couldn't uncover what was triggering my breakouts and told me that it was something I was going to live with. In grade nine I was excited to start high school in a new place but I was only stared at as others wondered what was wrong with me. I began to become very insecure and felt I needed to cover up with jeans and heavy hoodies. In the summer I would rarely go to the beach, and when I did I was stopped and asked by people if I had been attacked by an animal or fallen into a rasberry bush.
I began to believe that outward beauty meant everything and felt it was something I was definetly lacking. As time carried on I decided to become home schooled, as the dermatologist thought it may be stress that made it worse. As I grew older and began to mature and find myself, I realized that it doesn't matter what people think of you and you are only wasting time worrying about what others are saying or thinking. It was when I came to that point of confidence in myself when my eczema went away. Dermatologists say it was something I just grew out of, I also belive it was something that happened to make me a strong, confident person.
Through my experience I have learned not to care what others think of me and I can now understand others with insecurities and problems. Right now I teach a girl's group called "Beautiful Girl" for middle school girls where we learn the importance of inner beauty and self confidence. I am glad that this experience has happened to me because I have matured so much through it and it has made me confident in who I am and that is something that nothing can take away.
When I was 11 my family and I moved to Pentiction . By the teen years my eczema started to worsen and my parents began to send me to a local dermatologist. The dermatologist had never seen a case as bad as mine so he immediatly sent me to one in Kelowna, who almost couldn't handle it himself. Treatement didn't work; the dermatologists couldn't uncover what was triggering my breakouts and told me that it was something I was going to live with. In grade nine I was excited to start high school in a new place but I was only stared at as others wondered what was wrong with me. I began to become very insecure and felt I needed to cover up with jeans and heavy hoodies. In the summer I would rarely go to the beach, and when I did I was stopped and asked by people if I had been attacked by an animal or fallen into a rasberry bush.
I began to believe that outward beauty meant everything and felt it was something I was definetly lacking. As time carried on I decided to become home schooled, as the dermatologist thought it may be stress that made it worse. As I grew older and began to mature and find myself, I realized that it doesn't matter what people think of you and you are only wasting time worrying about what others are saying or thinking. It was when I came to that point of confidence in myself when my eczema went away. Dermatologists say it was something I just grew out of, I also belive it was something that happened to make me a strong, confident person.
Through my experience I have learned not to care what others think of me and I can now understand others with insecurities and problems. Right now I teach a girl's group called "Beautiful Girl" for middle school girls where we learn the importance of inner beauty and self confidence. I am glad that this experience has happened to me because I have matured so much through it and it has made me confident in who I am and that is something that nothing can take away.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Assignment 5: An increase in profanity (foul language) is indicative of a decline in society's morals.
Back in the good old days people were good. Everyone knew what morals were and they tried hard to stick on the right side of the moral line. They didn't swear, showed a great deal of respect and self-control, and tried to hold high profiles for good reputation for thier families. So what happend? It wasn't long ago when something along human's timeline switched and new generations arose full of hatred, disrespect, and foul language. Today even women are heard swearing, which someone, 100 years ago, would be astonished to know. I believe that an increase in foul language does play a role indicating the decline of society's morals. Foul language indicates disrespect, lack of proper grammer, and comes across as being 'slack'. It's disrespectful to speak profanity, although many people would disagree with me, because it shows you don't care what authority thinks or says about you when you continually use foul language. Years ago, many farmers would use foul language because they did not have proper grammer, as we do now, and that is why they didn't know better . Lastly, profanity shows disrespect towards authority. For instance, how would you feel if your teacher would yell out foul language when trying to teach you a subject? That student would, obviously, not feel welcome or respected. Or how would the country react if the president/prime minister spoke profanity in their speeches? We would all agree they come across as immature and lacking morals. Lastly, profanity shows disregard to others around us, such as children, and a lack of self-control. That is why many people's morals are declining resulting in profanity.
I do not think that a simple word can indicate declining morals for someone's life. Morality is a set of beliefs distinguishing between right and wrong behaviours. Knowing that, the words you use to speak do not reflect what you believe is right and wrong, especially if you are not using profanity towards somebody. To many people foul language is not "foul" and is only used when in distress or frustration. So then, how can we say that just because someone speaks "profanity" they have declining morals and cannot understand the difference between right and wrong? That is absolutely not up to us to judge a person's morals based on the words they speak. Also, many countries have completely different views on profanity. For example, many words such as 'damn' and/or 'hell' are considered "bad" in the USA and Canada when in Australia, those words are used as everyday words and are not considered profanity. Lastly, why do people use words such as 'heck', 'frick', or 'dang', trying to substitute foul language when they think profanity is wrong. Is it not any different? Change a couple letters around in those words and you are "cussing" just the same. In conclusion, words are words and the way a person speaks should not make people assume they have declining morals.
I do not think that a simple word can indicate declining morals for someone's life. Morality is a set of beliefs distinguishing between right and wrong behaviours. Knowing that, the words you use to speak do not reflect what you believe is right and wrong, especially if you are not using profanity towards somebody. To many people foul language is not "foul" and is only used when in distress or frustration. So then, how can we say that just because someone speaks "profanity" they have declining morals and cannot understand the difference between right and wrong? That is absolutely not up to us to judge a person's morals based on the words they speak. Also, many countries have completely different views on profanity. For example, many words such as 'damn' and/or 'hell' are considered "bad" in the USA and Canada when in Australia, those words are used as everyday words and are not considered profanity. Lastly, why do people use words such as 'heck', 'frick', or 'dang', trying to substitute foul language when they think profanity is wrong. Is it not any different? Change a couple letters around in those words and you are "cussing" just the same. In conclusion, words are words and the way a person speaks should not make people assume they have declining morals.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Parallel Structure
I have lived a breathtaking life, unlike any other; filled with triumph and success. I have climbed many mountains, run daring races, and saved countless cats from towering trees. I am not afraid to jeopardise my life to save others in need. For instance, if there was an old lady who's cat was stuck in a tree I would, bravely, find a ladder and save it for her. Needless to say, I do not need to continue raving about what a wonderful person I am, but I will go on so that others can enjoy the many wonders that make up my life. I save whales and spend long afternoons throwing dried starfish back into the ocean. I recycle plastics to such an extent that I am likely singlehandedly conquering the problem of ozone layer depletion. I pick up hitch hikers and drive them anywhere they want to go, even it means driving for days. I have fought off grizzly bears, to save a nest full of honey bees, armed with only a paper bag (made entirely of recycled materials). I earn money by babysitting needy children and donate my cash to Green Peace. The homeless sleep on my floor and I have an animal shelter downstairs. This is a very abbreviated list of my humane accomplishments, but it should give you an idea of what a gift I am to this world. I often wonder how it survived before me.
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