With new advances in the technological field, there is a demand for an intensification in the education field. With these
new advances comes a demand for students to have better knowledge of the internet superhighway.That is where CyberEnglish comes in.
In CyberEnglish, we focused on issues aboutsocial injustice. CyberEnglish, making your own webpage was a mandatory. In my webpage,Sheila's Webpage dealt with different social injustices. One of these examples is mylincoln article dealing with a boy who left the comforts of a rich school to actually experience the harsh conditions of an inner city school. In my webpage, I had an article dealt with a mother's lost of her son due to homophobia and howantihate can erase all that.While in this class, we read two books. Two of those books were ALWAYS RUNNING and GIOVANNI'S ROOM. ALWAYS RUNNING is a true story about Luis Rodriguez's life as a gang member in Los Angeles. In this book, we see the authors perspective on gang life and the harsh conditions of living in the ghetto. The book GIOVANNI'S ROOM deals with the denial of ones sexuality. The main character, David, narrates his first experiences of homosexuality in a homophobic society. When you go to my webpage, you should take a look at a website about teenagers who actually make a difference. The Insite is a webpage that webpage that proves that teenagers are not all superficial and self-absorbed. Teenagers can make a difference, and there are those who actually prove it.
My Reflections
This school term, I have found myself in a completely new
english class unlike no others. Being in CyberEnglish was like a breath of fresh air as opposed to the other English classes that I have been in. In CyberEnglish, I was given the chance to create my own webpage. Instead of leaving my work on a piece of paper, I am allowed the chance to present my work on the Internet. I wrote everything form my autobiography to essays dealing with certain issues, like homophobia.Rather than show my work to just my teacher, I can share my work to those who are exploring the Internet. Basically in this class, we have no use for a pen and a piece of paper.
Using the computer has helped writing essays much more easier. I like using the computer to write my essays, because I can spot errors quicker and faster. It makes my life easier, but that is not to say that I have abandoned checking my work myself.
I still double check my essays.
When writing my essays, I tend to lean towards typing my work in place of writing it down on paper. I enjoy typing my work. It helps me to write better essays in my opinion. It is very difficult to explain how that is even possible, but I am more confident when I type my essays on the computer. Typing gives me the freedom that I crave when I am writing an essay.
CyberEnglish is a very fun class for many reasons.
Besides the fact that a pen and paper in this class is totally unnecessary, this class is very unconventional. Unlike my other english classes, which follow the usual format:read book, talk about book, write about book, and get tested about book-this class does not do that. We do read books in this class, but we are obligated to read those books on our own. This class provides us with the opportunity to be independant. On the other hand with that lack of restriction, we are tested on whether we have the ability to work on our own, computer or not. Self-discipline is what this class is about. While on the subject of independence, this class rewards us with the freedom to express ourselves. There are no boundaries in terms of creativity. I feel that self-expression is a very important.
Although I enjoy this class, there's always room for improvement. The only way that I feel CyberEnglish could improve
is to fix the computers. There have been times where I've had to encounter a proxy report over and over again. But in order to rid ourselves of these damn proxy reports, we must complain to the Board of Education. The purpose of CyberEnglish is to change all the social injustices in the world through our writing.
Words can heal or wound a person. Words can can better a situation or just worsen it. Though the use of words can be very powerful, we cannot just change the worlds by just those methods alone. We may write about how unfair these social injustices are, but are we actually going out and doing something about it. It would be nice to go out there and perhaps do some volunteer work at a homeless or battered women's shelter. Or we can help certain people to eliminate their homophobic views by helping out in organizations such as GLAAD. My suggestion is together as a group. Then we can find articles about any social injustice that has affected us. Then we go out and find organizations that have been set up to help that certain cause. After finding that organization, sign up and volunteer. Another suggestion is that we should sign a contract that states that we have to do anything humanitarian once a month.
Since being in this english class has allowed me to thrust aside the traditional essay format that I have been acustomed to. Since being in this class, I want to believe that I have written essays that I can be proud of. When I write, I have more confidence in myself.
