Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Blog Assignment One

Today I asked you about the importance of literature in and beyond the classroom. You had a chance to reflect on that question in your journals. Then we discussed our reflections in class. Here I would like you to devise a thesis statement about why the study of literature is important.

Please, please, please take some intellectual risk here. Do not restate our conversation today, do not be obvious, do not copy the submissions of others. BE YOU. This thesis should reflect what YOU think.

Remember: you will write two entries (as opposed to one big blob). One is your thesis, the other is your thoughts on a classmate's thesis. Casual register applies.

64 comments:

  1. Literature is an aspect of life that ranks high importance because it retains the past, morals, and valuable information need to learn, thrive and succeed.

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  2. Literature is the key to individuality. There are no right or wrong answers in literature. People can interpret a theme based on their own perspectives. It allows people to have the knowledge to express themselves, and learn valuable life lessons while doing it.

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  3. I agree with what Grace said, literature is your opportunity to own your individuality and create your own perspectives based on the knowledge you've received from the literature.

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  4. I really liked your thesis Sara! I liked how you mentioned that it teaches us about our past. Literature has been around for many years, and when you read books about the past, it usually shows the morals and views of the time. It's important to read books of earlier times because its shows how much our world has changed.

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  5. Respecting literature is the first step in comprehending that stories can help a persons life by the message that it provides.

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  6. There are many was to express yourself and through words is one of them, literature lets you express how you feel and what you are thinking verbally.

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  7. Miranda I really like how you said we can express ourselves through literature. It is true that we can find ourselves in stories, and even when we read books we find new ways to say things to elaborate on our emotions.

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  8. I agree with Iliana. I think it is true that you have to honor the literature in order to understand the real moral. The message will also help you later in life.

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  10. Sarah, I like how you said that it helps you to thrive and succeed; that was my thought process as I read the question. I agree with that completely; with language and literature we can become more successful in numerous areas of our lives, not just in one area.

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  11. Studying and analyzing literature allows us to become more civilized, gain deeper thought, think critically, and gain insight about each other and the universe we are in.

    (sorry, I didn't read all of the other ones, and I realized mine sounded similar to Grace's so I deleted the old one and made a new one).

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  12. Throughout the years of our lives we have analyzed many different trypes of writing. This not only prepares us for our future, but allows to be able to think critically and outside the box to find a deeper meaning of life.

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  13. Sarah, I like the fact that you are using a very unique topic in the sense that throughout human histroy all humans have the desire to "thrive and succeed", which can be a huge reason why humans are impacted by literature. Good work

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  14. Literature improves your life because it increases vocablulary and teaches life lessons.

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  16. I agree with jonathon because we analyze literature all the time and we gain a lot through it.

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  17. Literature helps one understand the people around him or her. It creates people in differing circumstances, putting the reader in each one of their shoes, and thus, promotes understanding and tolerance rather than judgement and prejudice.

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  18. Jonathan, your point that the analysis of literature improves critical thinking is interesting. There are too many interpretations of a piece of work to standardize on one, so critical thinking is, indeed, a nessecarry element in the interpretation of a literary work.

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  19. literature gives us a chance to practice analyzation and it helps people better understand stories sthat they an get something ot ofthem and possibl learn a lesson.

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  20. Alex, interesting idea, i like it. Literature does help us understand others. Great idea

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  21. Literature helps us understand different morals in life and how we can connect them into different situations that we face on a daily basis.

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  22. Through literature, we can look into the lives of others and understand how they chose to react to certain situations. By doing this, we allow ourselves to think, what would I have done in that situation? By asking ourselves this question we take away life lessons from the reading.

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  23. I like Joseph's idea. Analyzation of stories does help us learn in real life. Good job. Ms G rocks

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  24. I agree with Sarah. One of the best ways to learn is to look at history and other's past mistakes, or even successes.

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  25. The study of literature is important becuase it teaches one life lessons, new vocabulary, also it teaches one how to analyze a story in depth rather than just scratching the surface.

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  26. I agree with andrew, literature does help us understand morals and helps us relate them to our own lives. Good job, and Ms. G does rock!

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  28. Literature leads the path to imagination. It allows our mind to think of ideas in new and untouched ways, at the same time admitting us to penetrate the surface of simple ideas and make them new and complex.

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  29. Thesis: Studying literature is important because literature feeds the soul and gives one messages and life lessons that will help formulate better life choices.

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  30. I agree with what Jonathan said. I like how you said that literature prepares us for adulthood and helps us find deeper meaning in life.

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  31. Sarah I agree with your thesis, because the valuable information in literature allows us to learn from the past mistakes made in history.

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  32. Literature shapes our morals by helping to teach us lessons important to life.

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  33. I agree with Andrew, morals are important to how we live our lives.

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  34. Thesis: The study of literature is beneficial because literature gives us to opportunity to learn from others' mistakes which improves our ability to make wise decisions and avoid failure.

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  35. Literature is not just the study of words but how to use them and understand their variety of meanings. It can shape and mold ideas into poetic arguements, or even to overwhelming sensations. Literature is not life lessons. Literature is just life. The lessons learned are only the opinions on our interpretation of the story.

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  36. Thesis; Literature is the solution to every problem because it teaches human beings morals and lessons about life; lets men and women interact with each other and allows individuals to express themselves meaningfully.

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  37. I am really enjoying what Casey said because imagination truely sheds new light on simple ideas, and can create such stimulating stories and other works of literature.

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  38. Andrew, I liked your thesis. It was simple, yet straight to the point. I agree with it because we do use literature on a daily basis and frankly, I think we would be no where if it weren't for books. There would be chaos because we'd have to start fresh. Since there would be nothing to learn from, we would be making mistakes after mistakes.

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  39. we study literature due to its versatility, literature can be used to express oneself, learn from the morals and struggles of another, or to put oneself in another persons shoes.

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  41. Literature is a very important part of our lives and if we didn't have literature we might not have a very complex form of language or story telling, we may as well just talk in random composition. (sorry about the name, it's Alex Hoover)

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  42. the study of literature is important because it expands the mind capacity for imagination which can later on influence many positive decisions

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  43. Literature... I think It is a way to read the words of somebody wiser than you. After all, a math major will not read about simple math equations such as 2+2=4. They will want to learn more about what they WANT to know and will search for books with extremely complex equations, and therefore, search for someone with a better understanding of the math; in other words, they will search for someone wiser.

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  44. daniel i like how you said that it can help you analize meaning deeper. that statement is completly correct because the more you understand how literature is composed then you can learn more on how to analize it and break it down :)

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  45. i agree with with cam because literature also helps us understand emotions possessed by others. By looking at recent events in authors' lives it is possible to find motives and understand what prompts such writing

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  46. Dear mr. Fletcher
    I truly love how you touched on the subject of failure. Learning to use past examples of failure as a set of rules will certainly help anyone out in the long run. Although as boring as success may be failure sure doesn't seem much better. Kudos.
    Sincerely,
    Cameron

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  47. Cameron, I totally agree that literature allows us to express ourselves. After all, literature is composed of words. If we were stuck with words like " good, happy, smart," we could not express ourselves. Literature allows us to expand our thoughts and express ourselves

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  48. The study of literature is important because it teaches one about history and people, the two things that create not only the individual, but the world around it.

    -sarah manning

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  49. I totally agree with Tanzia, and think that her mentioning of how literature teaches us about morals is very true. If we didn't have literature we wouldn't be able to "express ourselves meaningfully."

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  50. Literature and reading is one of the many rare things in life that restricts no one and invites everyone. It opens creativity and encourages the mind to look beyond the exterior of things and people.

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  51. I really like your thesis Casey! :) I like how you mentioned the fact that it expands imagination and "penetrates the surface of new ideas".

    DEEP.

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  52. jessica, I have to say your choice of words was very eloquent. And I love the idea of something as simple words being built into something so much more dramatic.

    -sarah manning

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  53. Thesis. Literature is an important subject to study because it opens a whole new world of creativity and imagination, allowing us to explore the possibilities of adventure, without enduring the consequences. And through literature, we are able to take away life lessons, and take the journey through our own lives as educated human beings.

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  54. The study of literature has the ability to open you up to the world. It teaches you life lessons, while at the same time can encourage you and broaden your imagination

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  55. Literature allows us to open our minds to new ideas because it helps give us a better understanding of the past to correct the mistakes to create a better future and it helps add a new perspective on different aspects of life.

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  56. I liked what Miranda said because I could personally relate to it

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  57. Tanzia. I completely agree with your thesis. I think it is definitely arguable that there are many life lessons that one would not necessarily learn had they not read a certain piece of literature. By expressing ourselves through literature we can compose life lessons and be able to interact with others with new tolerance and empathy for the people around us.
    -Madeline :)

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  58. I actually have to disagree with Tanzia. Literature does help solve problems, but not every problem can be solved through literature. I do agree with you on the fact that men and women are able to express themselves in a more meaningful way.

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  59. Literature is Important outside of English class in the real world because it helps mus develop skills of analysis and gives us reference to things in history.

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  60. I think julien's comment is correct in that reading literature is giving us a source of something wiser to look at.

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  61. Interesting. Casey, well articulated thought that moves beyond the obvious and shows some real reflection.

    In general strive to make a singular bold statement that clearly evidences a point of view as opposed to a laundry list of characteristics. Don't cover the world, just that small portion that relates to you. That will be only one point.

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  62. It is through literature that the imagination does it's real work, a character can be who ever the writer wants them to be; it is a true expression of ones self.

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  63. I agree with what Julien said because literature is the most versitile of all the other subjects that we learn. In literature there is no right or wrong answer, it is all about letting the inner you out.

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