Lesson 3

I started the lesson preparation by reading this week's reading assignments, which were three essays that sounded very interesting. The essays were about the personal beliefs of individuals and they all started with a clear declaration of the belief itself. A belief has to be clear before it can be declared.

I then watched three videos on Paragraph and Essay Development that talked about narrative writing, tone and voice, and how reading improves writing. 

I also made an initial Discussion Board post as part of the weekly assignments.

"I believe that people should take pride in what they do, even if it is scorned or misunderstood by the public at large." from the essay Do What You Love by Tony Hawk perfectly illustrates the point the author is trying to make because the whole essay is largely about following your own dreams as you dream them and not changing your dreams just because they are scorned or misunderstood by others. Not everyone has the same goals or ambitions and we should all be comfortable with that fact, but in reality, not everyone is comfortable with the idea of independent thinking. We all have the choice to keep our dream as we have laid it out, even if all we can do is keep it in our heart and mind until our circumstances change. Circumstances may not be in our control, but nobody can control our desires.

Nobody has the right to control our heart and mind even if we do not have control over our personal circumstances. In his essay, Tony Hawk makes it clear that he chose and continues to choose keeping his dream the way he wants it even if it is viewed as a waste of time by others around him. It is sadly very true that some who have dreams change them in order to fit in with their circumstances or the demands of others, but people shouldn't have to fully walk away from what they love in order to please others. Even if you have to do something else in order to meet personal or familial needs, it is still very possible to hold on to and even dabble in things that contribute to living your dream. 

We may not be able to pursue our dreams full-time all the time, but that doesn't mean we should give them up entirely. There is a beauty in balancing life's demands with activities related to dreams, as life is too short to be focused solely on seriousness and dabbling in dreams can breathe new life into you. However, as Professor Dumbledore said in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone said, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." There must be a balance between living life and living out dreams, as neither can really be beneficial without the other to keep one's self in check.

This week's Grammar Lesson was on Comma Use and I have to admit that the reading and video were very informative, as I have never worked with American grammar before. This is all very new to me and even though I may not get perfect marks on everything, I want to do my absolute best.

I then took the Comma Use quiz and got 100% on the first try because I remembered the FANBOYS rule and took my time doing the quiz.