Cover Letter

Dear Professor,

                ENGLCOM’s reading and writing component, obviously and undoubtedly, became an effective learning center for all my blockmates and me. All our Tuesdays and Fridays wouldn’t have been fun and exciting without you having to fill our young and avid minds every time we meet! To be honest, even though you frequently asked us to write several essays during the last few meetings, I was actually deeply challenged every minute in class since it was the only time you gave us to write our essays. Despite all those miseries we had to face, the new writing skills I acquired from this class, of course, paved the way for me reaching this point. Points do not necessarily end, though. Sometimes they should be considered to be one of the many starting points in one’s life to develop newer skills in order to face tougher challenges.

                With ENGLCOM reading/writing component, writing essays became one of the few methods in expressing my feelings to other people as we were asked to utilize online blogs. Not everyone may be able to communicate effectively verbally. I, judging from my experiences way back in high school, admit not having my mass communication skills reaching its true potential. This subject filled a gap I always had between people when it comes to being able to comprehend each other’s feelings and expressions clearly. Owning a blog also has corresponding responsibilities as well. Every entry made is visible to people surfing the net from all around the world; therefore, I learned how honesty and respect are essential in writing decent essays. My opinions can not be completely in sync with other which is why considering various people’s opinions is important. In line with the blogs each of us owned, you asked us to critique each other’s to learn to analyze other’s strengths and weaknesses. With this instruction, I was able to grasp a wider view of different writing styles from my blockmates which helped me in adapting newer skills in order to make my essays more colorful.

                My essay on comparison and contrast was, for me, one of my decent works. Although it is not considered to be a major paper, I find it interesting because it helped me think deeply about my thoughts on entering college for the first time, which was not too long ago. Also, while writing essays, I found out how I am able to gather my thoughts effectively which I don’t normally do. For an instance, there may be some things I don’t think of but is actually in a deeper level of my mind that can only be reached or accessed during writing! This style of mine that I discovered definitely helped me in knowing myself more fully and clearly.

                When you asked us to revise our papers, most of the time, I noticed how I would unconsciously correct some of my grammar as I write along. Revising papers helped me avoid grammatical errors and maintain parallelism throughout the whole paragraph.

                Sadly, this term is about to come to an end and there are still a handful of writing skills I have yet to learn. Still, I am very thankful for all the knowledge you passed unto me – may it be for academic or everyday life purposes. If ever I get the chance of having you as my professor, I would never hesitate on choosing you to be my English mentor again. Until then, we shall see each other around the campus!

To Love or Not to Love?

                Dating has been and will always be a worldwide trend. Intimacy, which almost all people would like to have, can only be pursued with dating. But of course, to engage in dating also requires heavy responsibilities and maturity. As the media display more and more positive images of dating, teenagers couldn’t bear to want to find out how it feels like being in the realm of dating. Parents, therefore, would sometimes try to stop their children and justify that the right time has not come yet – a child’s life should be first concentrated on his/her studies. So when is the right time for teenagers to date? Moreover, should they actually be allowed to date?

                While I was surfing in the internet, I bumped into a site where intelligent people can have formal debates through type-written arguments. Viewers from all over the world are also allowed to vote to determine the debate’s winner. One topic, initiated by a user named epicuriousluxurious(2011), talked about the issue regarding teenagers dating. Fortunately, another user, WriterSelbe(2011), accepted the former’s debate request which led to my extensive research about this issue. All of their arguments were valid and had very good justifications.

                Gaining intimacy from someone will undoubtedly improve and further develop one’s personality, usually also from the conflicts and experience dating can provide. While a few bad experiences can be present in dating, fun times and magical moments will not lose their places as well. These things can serve as inspirations for a teenager’s academic life. Of course, teenagers would not want their partners to be hindrances in their studies. In this manner, they will strive harder to keep a good image for their partners. Most parents argue that dating can lead to sexual intimacy in a teenager’s  relationship, however, according to WriterSelbe, teenagers, at some point of their lives, will most likely engage in sex regardless of relationships. Preventing teenagers from dating will only make sex less meaningful Rather than having it(sex) be something that their relationship brought them to, it would be something their sexual frustration brought them to.” (“Teens should...”, 2011) Lastly, dating does not necessarily be directed to marriage. We can not expect every relationship to work out at first; however, WriterSelbe pointed out that no relationship is a failed relationship – the experience gained from the interactions make up for it. The older a person gets, the pain acquired from a broken relationship will cause more severe damage; therefore, dating as early as during teenage years is proper to be able to identify when a relationship should be stopped.

                Many parents nowadays contradict how relationships can benefit their teenagers. In contrast to what I mentioned in the previous paragraph, pain cause by relationships, according to epicuriousluxurious(2011), may inflict emotional trauma upon a teenager’s well-being. C. Sellers and M. Bromley’s(1996) research  says that 32% of students report dating violence by a previous partner, while 21% report violence by a current partner. Moreover, B. Fisher and F. Cullen(2000) proposes that victims may remain in abusive relationship for many reasons, including: fear or perpetrator, self-blame, minimization of the crime, loyalty, or love for the perpetrator, social or religious stigma, or lack of understanding. This can cause future relationships to be hard to initiate because of the fear instilled by broken relationships. Well, not all teenagers are mature enough, too; therefore, they are intellectually unable to maintain serious relationships. While teenagers engage in a relationship, they also have to cope with their studies. As a result, attaining high grades will almost be impossible as the student’s relationship may serve as a distraction. Also, experience from dating may not be necessary as most people believe it comes naturally and does not require practicing.  “How can teenagers who are generally, mentally unstable excel in maintaining a relationship and in getting exceptional grades? Most students have the ability to achieve exceptional grades such as a GPA above 3.8; distraction is the culprit.” (“Teens..”, 2011)

                I believe each teenager has different views in dating. Some may see it as a serious thing that must be thought for so long, while others may perceive it only as a little thing called puppy love which is merely for pastime purposes. Whichever view a teenager may have, given that he/she is ready, his/her parents should allow him/her to go for it. Teenagers should be old enough to know how to make decisions for themselves. Parents need not always to take control of their son’s/daughter’s life, rather, they just have to guide them in making important and critical decisions – just my two cents.

B. Fisher and F. Cullen, (2000) “Extent and Nature of the Sexual Victimization of College Women,” (Washington:NIJ, 2000)

C. Sellers and M. Bromley, (1996) “Violent Behavior in College Student Dating Relationships,” Journal of Contemporary Justice

 “Teens Should Not Be Allowed to Date in High School.” (2011) Retrieved Dec. 1, 2011 from http://www.debate.org/debates/teens-should-not-be-allowed-to-date-in-high-school./1/

Cover Letter
1.       Extended Definition “All For One.. One For All!”	November 18, 2011	92/100
2.       Argumentative Essay “To Love or Not to Love”	December 2, 2011	88/100
3.       Paragraphs ·         Compare and Contrast “Lifeas a Student” ·         Cause and Effect “GTFO - Go Take Your Film On” ·         Descriptive “Horror Movies”	November 8, 2011 November 8, 2011 October 16, 2011	100/100 27/30 90/100

All for One.. One for All!

Nowadays, teams have been widely used around different organizations since they provide better organizational effectiveness. Teams, according to Ian Brooks from the prominent University College Northampton, may have a stronger sense of a shared commitment more than groups. They possess synergy which is developed when a group's efforts become greater than the sum of the efforts of its individual members. Teams, in general, should consist of two or more members. While the number of members may be a decent indicator of its effectiveness, there are still other factors present which can alter a team's overall performance.

For this essay, I will focus more on defining self-managed teams. This kind of team works with little or no supervision from a superior. From the term itself, the team's members manage themselves accordingly as to what they prefer which aims for the common goal each of them shares. Of course, with self-managed teams, the members will most likely have various set of skills. This advantage is utilized through the complexity of tasks. However, not all self-managed teams are better than an individual in terms of working process. Brooks provided three factors to assemble a good self-managed team, namely stability, size, and expertise. In short, teams should be stable, small, and smart. Without understanding and trust amongst each other, a team's effectiveness will surely diminish since individualism will result in differently oriented goals between the members. Keeping a group small is a must for avoiding social loafers, more often known as free riders. People considered to be free riders in a team give little to no contribution at all but want to take credit after the team achieved its goal. In terms of expertise, an effective team does not really require great wisdom from each of its individual members. Rather, this factor means that the team as a whole must be knowledgeable of its task. A team must be independent since self-managed teams do not have a superior to coordinate their work process and problems.

Today, different organizations who evidently utilize teams have successfully made their own unique names in the business world. This goes to show that teams have developed through out the years. Whichever kind a team may be, however, it should always take the heat as a whole, make decisions as one, and work en masse!

Brooks, I. (2008) Organisational Behavour: Individuals, Groups, and Organisation, USA, Financial Times Press

Life as a Student

Believe it or not, students nowadays, especially those who belong in the elementary and high school levels, would rather do something else besides attend school. In fact, most students from my Twitter timeline only take time "tweeting" just to rant about how school is literally taking over their lives. Stacking homeworks, endless exams, terror teachers - why do these things have to make our lives miserable? There are two major timelines a student would remember all his life - mainly high school and college. As much as students hate school, I'm positive that by the time they graduate to engage in this challenging world, they would've said something about missing the good ol' days, well, at least from my experience. What could be those ol' days they mostly refer to - high school or college?

High school is mostly rendered as the preparatory level for college. Its teachers will mostly give research homeworks with full guidance unlike college ones, now called professors, will not mind a student's means of performing, but rather care only about his/her outputs. The student count in high school is obviously fewer than that of a college. College can be a mini-version of the world, while high school, a bigger version of a family. In terms of physical size, there's no doubt collegiate schools outsize most high schools out there. When taking college, students must choose a particular course in which they strive to be professional in. High school merely offers the same basic subjects for everyone. Now, I'm only taking my first year in college. Fortunately, making new friends came very smoothly for me. I can foretell that, in time, the intimacy I once had with my friends during my time as a high school student can also be achieved with the new friends I acquired from college despite the shorter time to be allotted. To conclude, I guess different judgments will come from diversed students. Some may say high school provided more joy and excitement while others may think college life is the real thing.

GTFO - Go Take your Film On

Almost every child of this generation would rather stay at home than go to a cinema to watch a movie on a Friday or Saturday night. Well, that's what I've observed of other kids, including the kid who I was, for the past few years. From an ordinary child's perspective, of course, an hour of pure computer gaming will never surpass the leisure of sitting silently in a movie house. Contrary to what these kids think, watching a movie may actually do them some good compared to mass killing in a fantasy non-existent. I, myself, was one of these kids and believe me, I wish I could've read something I am writing about now.
During my years of dullness in life, my family would always try to make me watch a movie with them but I always declined. Now, I've finally realized I was wrong to do so. Being updated with movies actually has its rare perks. Firstly, a person who frequently watches movies will be able to cope with one's friends with the present stuff. Knowing the latest trends in movies, one can engage in conversations more easily than others. Have you ever gotten this feeling of burning sensation after watching a movie? This is simply what I would like to render as inspiration. We may relate our present lives with the movies in a way we may strive to live a life like that of the story presented in a particular movie. Stories usually end with happy endings, right? Movies also resemble books. According to my close friend, which I really agree to, books are a great source of knowledge. With movie scripts containing words beyond our comprehension, we will able to improve our literacy skills by putting them into use in journals or even in our daily conversations with people. The concepts and structures of the movies' stories are also great realms of learning such that knowing all these can boost our creativity in a pinch. Making our own plays in English class will definitely be easy as pie.
These are just a few of the advantages I've gathered during the long course of my "life-changing" phase. I'm sure there are more other things out there to be discovered. Why don't you go watch a movie and find out?

Horror Movies

Even in the early days, horror movies had been part of the many, exciting movie genres out there. These kinds of movies may either come as imaginative fantasies or simply every day real life situations. No matter what century it is, I am pretty sure horror movies never fail to leave their viewers awestruck with the way they are presented and at the same time, dead frightened with their storyline. Some, in fact, may even be stricken with what I'd like to call "horror aftershocks" wherein people may relate the movies' frightening content with their present environment.
Admittingly, factors that make up horror movies can be monotonous yet sometimes unpredictable. As I've mentioned earlier, we can generally categorize horror movies into two major worlds - fantasy and reality. Both have definitely no exceptions in being scary. Fantasies may include deadly aliens, slimy monsters, or even creatures beyond the imagination of a human mind while real life stories, bloody serial killers causing disgusting, painful, deaths. All of these, of course, are accompanied with frightening sound effects which send shocking vibes to their audience. These may came as quiet, mysterious silences which will later be followed with loud, 'heart-strickening' sounds of doom.
People would most likely prefer other genres such as romance or comedy rather than choosing horror movies simply because the former may relate to us, people, more emotionally and mentally. Despite all these facts, I don't think horror movies will eventually lose its place in the movie industry. Well, they can certainly be a good criterion for a director's creative mind!