Blog 6: Personal Directions for The CATW

 

Section 1:

Before the test I must have about 9 hours of sleep. On the day of the test I cannot be late, and if I am late I will not be permitted to take the CATW test. I must arrive at the class room early. I cannot use a pencil on the test because the scanners for the test will not be able to scan pencil writing. At the day of the test I must have a pen. As the test begins I will read the given passage carefully and underline important ideas from the text. As I begin writing on the scrap paper, I will pick one idea from the text that I think will be the most significant idea of the text and I will begin writing a response to that idea. In the opening paragraph I will write an opening sentence and I will write the name of the passage and author to show what I am referring to and what I will be talking about in my essay. Right after I do this I will continue by writing a summary of the given passage, and I will follow up with a thesis that helps me respond to the most significant idea I have selected to discuss in my essay. As I continue with the second paragraph I will start developing the essay by explaining the significance of the idea I have selected for the essay. I will claim whether I agree or if I disagree and I will give examples to support my own claims. The examples I give have to be from a book I read, something I learned in school or something I have experienced. I will then finish my essay with a conclusion. After I have finished my essay I will go over it again and see whether or not I am missing something. I will make sure there are no grammatical mistakes and I will make sure all the requirements from the instructions of the test have been fulfilled.

Section 2:

As I can see from my previous practice tests, I have almost no grammatical or spelling mistakes. I do not have a problem with anxiety or timing myself either, but I have problems with developing the essay. The problem I mainly encounter is repetition of ideas, no matter they be mine or from the text. I can also get stuck on explaining the same thing over and over throughout the entire essay. Another problem I encounter in the development of my essays is the lack of consistency with my examples. I give examples but at times I do not think they are to be met with the situation I am talking about. I have to help myself out with these things and make sure I don’t make these mistakes.

Section 3:

I plan to help myself go through these problems by writing on a scrap paper first some ideas of how the essay should go and then read over it seeing if there is any inconsistency of any kind or any form of repetition. After I find some, I will make sure to get rid of them and to replace them with sentences that make better sense and are not repetitive but more consistent.

Blog#5 Gone Baby Gone

In the movie titled, “Gone Baby Gone” we see the writer portray two different kinds of ways of thinking, Consequentialism and Moral Absolute.

            Lionel, Remy and the Police Captain all believed in their theory that if they kept Angie away from her mother, Helene, and that if the Police Captain raised her as their own, she would be safe and out of harm or any bad influences. Angie’s mother, Helene, was a drug addict and Lionel, Remy and the Police Captain all believed moving Angie to the Captains house would be the right thing to do in order to keep her on the right path. The way they thought of the situation is called consequentialism. This is the way of thinking where Lionel, Remy and the Police Captain thought of all the benefits Helene’s daughter Angie would have if they followed up with their plan to move Angie to a different place. They faked the death of Angie in order to save her, without considering what her mother Helene would have to go through after the “death” of her daughter  

The main character of the movie, Patrick, did not believe this was the right way for them to help a child, because he believed taking the child away from her own mother was too much for the child to handle. He also believed that as Angie’s mother, Helene deserved a chance to once again be united with her daughter again. Here we see Patrick’s way of thinking was different than that of Lionel, Remy and the Police Captain who all believed it would be better if Angie was to be separated from her mother. Patrick’s way of thinking is called Moral Absolute where all Moral and Ethical beliefs come first, then come the consequential ideas.  

The Movie takes the side of one thinking way out of the two. The movie chooses Absolute Moral. This is mainly to show the flaws of what Lionel, Remy and the Police Captain all believed. The movie shows that Patrick chooses the way of Moral Absolute and he proves the simplicity in Lionel, Remy and the Police Captain’s plan wasn’t the only way of getting things done.

CATW Practice 2

    Neglect can be the cause of death for many elderly citizens in our society. In a passage adapted from "The Woman Who Died in the Waiting Room" by Jeneen Interlandi, the author presents us the story of an elderly woman named Esmin Green.
    Esmin Green, one day waiting in Brooklyn's largest psychiatric hospitals waiting room, passed away. It wasn't until someone finally came after 60 minutes and checked that they found out she had passed away. The main idea the author presents is neglect Esmin Green faced and others still do. "As disturbing as the cicumstances of Esmin Green's death were, They should not have come as a surprise".
    There are many reasons for neglect itself, and one of them can be neglecting the needs of another due to lack of financial support. In the case of Esmin Green we can see this first reason aswell as lack of rescources. "The mentally ill typically wait twice as long for treatment as other patient populations do". This mainly happens because we do not have as many Facilities for the mentally ill as we are willing to provide.
     In my own personal experience i have seen a person pass away just because there wasn't half the equipment required to help that person present in the ambulance.

CATW Practice 1

                The Illinois House passed a bill that would allow young people who are illegal in the U.S to pay in-state tuition rates at Illinois state colleges and universities.

                In a passage excepted from “An Education in Citizenship”, Chicago Tribune Editorial, The author explains how unfair it is for illegal residents to be paying lower tuition fee compared to the amount paid by legal residents. The most significant idea the author presents is, why even insist on Citizenship?

                I agree with the author, because there is a distinction in the rights that are to be expected as a legal citizen. “The notion that someone can have no legal right to be present in the country but be entitled to a very expensive and valuable benefit of citizenship is absurd in its face”.

                There must be a reason the legal citizens of this country might have accepted for this to happen. The idea that someone who is not allowed legally to be present in the country and is allowed an higher education for a lesser amount than the average citizen contradicts itself because those people are not even to be living there.

     "Advertisements are the most prevalent and toxic of the mental pollutants". In the passage, "Hype", excerpted from Kalle Lasn, the author talks about how much of a mental pollutant advertisements are. The main idea is in the very first sentence of this passage. "Advertisements are the most prevalent and toxic of the mental pollutants". The idea of this sentence is to make us fully aware about how advertisements work and how they effect everyone.
    The image that we get just by reading the first line of the passage has the most significant idea of the entire passage. As we read on we can  tell what the writer actually means by this single statement. as being the "most prevalent" of mental pollutants, the author is telling us of how there is almost no escape from mental pollutants. They do, in fact, feel as if though a part of our lives. Where ever we may look we will almost always see a logo, slogan or anything of the sort, that will be conveyed to us as an advertisement.
    I agree with the author in this case as even now all around me are logo's and pictures that represent different companies and different brands. Of course these advertisements might be considered mandatory for the sale of different kinds of products, but by the mass numbers we receive all of them in one day is too much for us. so much as that it can be also considered a minor form of hypnotism.

Summary of "Hype"

The passage, "Hype" excerpted from Kalle Lasn, explains to us the fact of how big of a mental pollutant advertisements are. The main idea of the passage can be seen in the very first lines of the passage, where the author claims that advertisements are the most prevalent and toxic mental pollutants. The main idea is to explain throughout the passage how harmfully effective advertisements have become in our daily lives.

Blog 1 "Hype"

    The author in the excerpt "Hype" claims that commercials are the most effective types of mental pollutants. this is clearly seen as in the very first line the author clearly states, "Advertisements are the most prevalent and toxic of the mental pollutants".
    In this passage the author maintains what was previously stated in the first line as the main idea of the entire passage. The author here continues to give us views that strike us with realization as to what is really going on. This paragraph states that everyday an estimated 12 billion display ads, 3 million radio commercials and more than 200,000 TV commercials are dumped into North America's collective unconscious. also that where even an average persons eye might rest, there will be a sign there. It will either be a logo, or a billboard or anything in between. the author also reminds us of how unconscious we are by letting us know how gradually the excess amount of commercials have taken over our state of mind.
    In the entire passage I feel the author is correct in their way of letting us get to know all this. Mainly because of how clearly our subconscious has been taken over by extreme advertising that it may result as a form of minor hypnotism.