October 8th, 2005
Genre 3
Journal Entry
October 5, 2005:
Today was no different than any other day, I still heard the constant laughs and whispers whenever I tried to speak in class. I feel so stupid whenever it happens. I can only explain to my friends by relating it to my favorite movie Mean Girls which uses the phrase its like "word vomit". I compare it to this because the sounds just keep coming out of my mouth uncontrollably. I can't wait to go to speech therapy tomorrow. I love my speech teacher she makes me feel comfortable to talk. She understands my disorder. I wish she could be there with me tomorrow when I have to recite my poem. I got it perfect when I recited it to my mother and speech teacher but I know I will stutter in front of the class tomorrow. I'll be writing tomorrow to inform you of how my day went.
October 6, 2005:
Well let me start out by telling you there is nothing I wanted more earlier than this day to come to an end. It had to be one of the most humiliating days of my life. It started when I woke up this morning I immediatly thought of the dreadful moment to come of reciting my poem to the class. The anxiety began before my feet hit the floor. I got to class and listened to others recite their poems flawlessly. It finally came my turn, I took a deep breath and began to produce the first sound, but nothing came out. My speech teacher calls moments like these silent blocks and let me tell you this block lasted what seemed an enternity. Throughout the entire poem I stumbled on words and paused for several seconds. Those had to be the most horrifing 15 minutes of my life. It's days like these I begin to feel defeated or discouraged from success. I don't think anything can help me. All of those precious and frustrating moments in speech therapy and nothing to show for them. I wish more than anything I could control the words that come out of my mouth. Nobody knows the struggles I face on a daily basis.
KimLucas
2. Audience: The child is the audience because it is his journal.
3. Say Back: The first entry is discussing the anxiety a child is experiencing because he has to say a poem in front of his class and knows he will stutter. He also talks about how the kids make fun of him when he stutters. The second entry discusses the problems he had when saying his poem. It also shows how discouraged he is because he has been trying so hard and has nothing to show for it
4. I really like your second entry. It seems very realistic. I like the part that says "The anxiety began before my feet hit the floor." This is so true! Anytime I'm dreading something I think about it as soon as I wake up. I also like how you discribed the stuttering as "word vomit."
5. Address: I think the first journal entry would be better if you incorporated more emotions into it. One idea is you could discuss more deeply how the kids treat him or how he feels when they make fun of him.
sirk4
Audience: The journal was written for the clinician
Say Back: The author was describing a girl's feelings the day before and the actual day that she had to give a speech in front of her class. The journal describes how she feels about talking in front of her class, and also what actually happened in terms of her stuttering when she tried to give her speech.
Bless: I really liked how you described the block the girl experienced. I thought this was a really good description of what most likely happens when someone experiences a block. Also, you did a really good job talking about how the girl feels when everyone laughs at her because of her stuttering.
Address: The sentence, "Throughout the entire poem, I stumbled on words and paused for several seconds," was a little vague. It would be helpful to discuss the words she stumbled on, and how did she stumble? Did she have prolongations, repetitions, etc? Was the pause a block, or was it just her anxiety? I think it would help if you made this sentence more informative.