keithwhite

Introduction My name is Keith White. This portfolio is for English 1010. The purpose is to show what I have learned over this semester of English. Bio Poem:

Keith Courageous, confident, creative, ambitious Brother of a brother and a sister he calls "Midget" Who is known for his music, at least for a while Who loves to do anything to see someone smile Who feels underrated but doesn't work hard Who needs to work harder so he can go far Who fears nothing except for failure Who gives his all to not live in a trailer Who would like to see the world, but wants more to be seen Resident of a nightmare, chasing his dream White

Formal Essay: Michael Schiffer Does it Again in __Lean on Me__ __Lean on Me__ is a true story written by Michael Schiffer, about a high school spiraling downward fast to failure. Academy award winning actor Morgan Freeman stars as a high school teacher at Eastside High that was transferred to another school. Twenty years later he was brought back by the board of education as principle of Eastside High to save the school. Directed by John G. Avildsen, this inspirational film shows how determination, motivation, and a friend can help a troubled teenager heading in the wrong direction turn his or her life around and reach their goals. Starting out, Morgan Freeman plays as a high school History teacher at Eastside High known as Joe Clark. His co-worker Robert Guillaume, also known as Dr. Frank Napier, interrupts his class to inform him that the rest of the board is having a meeting without the two of them. Joe Clark angrily stomps down the hallway and into the meeting asking why he wasn’t invited. After arguing with the other men for a few minutes they tell him that he is being transferred to another school. Upon hearing this, Joe Clark is furious and leaves the school. On his way out he says, “This place deserves exactly what it gets!” The movie then jumps ahead to twenty years later. The present day school is terrifying and uncontrollable. The school is filled with drugs, gangs, fighting, students who harass other students and teachers, and no rules. The mayor, Alan North, also known as Mayor Don Bottman, is informed that if his students at Eastside High don’t get their test scores up, Eastside High will be taken over by the state. Mayor Don Bottman needs at least seventy-five percent of his students to mass the minimum basic skills test; he currently has thirty-three percent. When Mayor Don Bottman receives this news he panics. Mayor Don Bottman is currently up for re-election and his job is on the line, so he calls the one man that he knows can save the school, Joe Clark. Joe Clark enters the school as principle and immediately expels all of the students that attended Eastside High for more than five years, use or sell drugs, and have done nothing productive since they’ve been there. Joe Clark then lays down the law by setting very strict rules and having mercy for no one; including teachers. Joe Clark is hard on the students and even harder on the teachers, but he soon comes to realize that maybe he needs to stop and listen. After closing his mouth and opening his ears, Joe Clark wins the hearts of his fellow students and staff. Joe starts to get involved with the students personal lives and reaches out to the parents to help the students at home. After Joe is well respected and well liked by his students and staff and everything is going well, a fight breaks out. A drug dealer, former student from Eastside High, enters the school and beats up another student who owes him money. After this event Joe Clark puts chains on the doors to protect his students. This drama film would appeal mostly to teenagers. __Lean on Me__ is more than just a drama; it shows how character, motivation, and friendship can steer a young person’s life in the right direction towards success. People who enjoy emotional films with a good message and a happy ending will enjoy a day in class with Morgan Freeman in __Lean on Me__. I chose this essay because this was the first review I ever had to do and I enjoyed doing it. I thought this essay was better than my other essays and I chose this movie because it is my favorite movie. Journal Entries:

How to Write with Style In this essay “How to Write with Style,” Kurt Vonnegut writes with a very simplistic style which relates to his overall point; keep it simple if you want to be understood. Vonnegut says, “If a sentence, no matter how excellent, does not illuminate your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out.” Vonnegut suggests that writing with simplicity gives the reader a break and makes the reader want to read more because it is easy to understand. The most surprising advice to me was “Have the Guts to Cut.” I’ve always thought that the bigger words you use, the smarter you sound. But after reading this I realized that Vonnegut is right, I’d rather use small words that are easy to understand than big words that don’t make any since with what I’m writing. My favorite advice in this essay, and the advice that spoke to me and my writing style the most is, “Do Not Ramble Though.” I like this advice because he explains it by saying; “I won’t ramble on about that” which to me is the best example of how to not ramble.

Addiction I am most definitely addicted to music. I have my headphones in at all times, even when I’m in class at Chopticon, and no matter how much I get in trouble for having them in I still continue to wear them. I love to make music as well as listen to it. I feel like music calms me down when I’m angry, gets me pumped up when I need to get pumped up, and makes me happy when I’m sad. For some reason once I start listening to music it’s awfully hard to stop. If a song starts playing that I like, I have to listen to the song until it’s over. After one song is over I have to hear what’s going to come on next. I always tell myself, “If I like it I’ll listen to it then cut the radio off as soon as it’s over, and if I don’t like it I’ll cut it off now.” Unfortunately there are not many songs that I don’t like. I am addicted to music, but it’s an addiction that I don’t ever want to give up. The Perfect Paragraph In this essay “The Perfect Paragraph,” William Safire states that the purpose of paragraphing is “to give the reader a breather by sensibly breaking up the prose. A paragraph is to a writer what a quick intake of breath is to a singer—a little interruption that makes possible refreshed continuation.” Safire suggests that paragraphs are made to give the reader a break and tempt the reader to keep reading instead of looking at one big block of words and getting scared. Safire goes on to explain that you start a new paragraph when you have completed an idea and make the paragraph complete by “including beginning (topic), middle (evidence, argument) and end (conclusion, transaction). Safire says that the only problem with this advice is the narrowness of newspaper columns. He says that “It is like feeding a baby tiny spoonfuls of mashed banana, building an appetite between insertions of the spoon in the ready-to-squall mouth.” In my opinion, Safire uses this as an analogy about ending a paragraph when you’ve made your point and starting a new one with a good topic sentence. Research Abstract: How Hip Hop Negatively Effects Youth Today According to most older people, teenagers today are far worse than past generations. Lecturer Chris Killion states that “There have been studies done that show a correlation between rap music and increased criminal behavior, sexual activity and drug use” (Killion 3). Some say the parents are to blame, some even blame technology; others blame hip-hop. According to Jason Harris the obvious problem with rap is the negative stereotypes that black men are thugs, women are just objects used for sex, and African American males are mainly interested in money, guns, sex, and drugs (Harris 2). Others such as Professor Murray Forman argue that “rap has a positive influence by helping young blacks to detail cultural perspectives” (Reeher 5). Can the positive influences of rap outweigh the negative, or is rap just bad all together? Hip Hop has both positive and negative influences, but the negative is a lot more evident. Almost everywhere we turn we are influenced somehow by hip hop. Hip hop is not just music; the content within the lyrics influences the way people dress, speak, and act around others. Since almost all rap music is about doing drugs, making money, and mistreating women, teenagers are likely to try to portray this image. Rap music is considered “cool” so teenagers use rap as an example of how to fit in. Often times youth try to do what other people do to fit their image. So if the newest song out is about smoking weed, teenagers are going to smoke weed to seem cool. When kids see teenagers smoking weed, they are going to want to smoke weed to fit in, thus increasing the crime rate. Rap music also influences teenagers to be prejudice against police. Since majority of hip hop artists are African American and come from a bad environment, they emphasize their mistrust for police.

I chose this topic because I like hip hop, I'm a teenager, and it seemed like an interesting topic.

Final Reflection: This class has been very beneficial for me this past semester not only in CSM, but also in high school. This semester I have learned about comma splices, the FANBOYS, juicy quote sandwiches, run-on sentences, how to write essays, how to write thesis statements, and how to write a research paper. I have learned that taking notes as you read is very beneficial and will help a lot in the long run. I learned how to transition between paragraphs. I have also learned how to make my thesis statement tie in with my concluding paragraph. This class has made me a more confident writer and a better reader. I believe this class has made me more mature and responsible. This class has expanded my vocabulary and tremendously improved my grammar. I think the one thing I benefited most from was the research paper. I learned how to do a works cited page, cite sources, outline a paper, and use noodletools. Doing journals for every class throughout the semester really helped improve my writing skills and learn from my mistakes. I think the class was very helpful because of the journals and being able to constantly stay in contact with the teacher. This class benefited me in high school and I believe it will greatly benefit me in life.