Peer Reflection 2

As the second peer evaluation, I have chosen Sevim's blog. In her blog, she has wide variety of paragraphs. The posts are focused on the main themes and developed with approriate supporting ideas. She did a good subject analysis when writing her reflections. She could have been more creative, but still her paragraphs are highly intellectual. In her reflecion on Facebook, she reflected the author ideas explicitly. Also, she has controlled voice to the reader. This is another point that I liked on her blog. Her posts were well-organized. She has majors and minors in all her reflections. In addition, she has not a single paragraph including one or two sentence, which is nice for the supporting of the ideas. She employed necessary connectors in her paragraphs, too. The understanding of the writings was clear because of the proper language use. She has only few minor grammatical mistakes that are not affecting the fluency of the reflecitons. We can understand that she prepared herself for the writings since she has proper evidences and examples for the wrtings, and she made the essential reseach to write the reflections. The texts were coherent in general. Her ideas were totally related to her subjects. After having read her blog, I gained new perspectives on some subjects espacially on language learning and Aziz Sancar. Another point that I like is she avoided using repetition. That is, she used different vocabulary each time. In conclusion, she has done a good job in general sense. If she corrects her little mistakes, she will have perfect paragraphs.

to Sevim Akalın ( http://sevimakalin.blogspot.com.tr/ )

Peer Reflection 1

As the peer evaluation, I have chosen Nermin's blog. She has written a reflection on cats. I like cats, too. Therefore, I decided to give reflection to her. In her paragraph about cats, the content is totally related to the main theme with the examples and she has a coherent structure in her paragraph with the explicit explanations. For example, I liked the Youtube analysis about cat videos. Throughout the paragraph, she has a positive voice to the reader. The paragraph was not boring; on the contrary, it keep me reading enthusiastically. The reason why I keep reading is she used appropriate conjunctions and enough length sentences, which make the paragraph well-organized, in my opinion. The paragraph was easy to understand. She considered grammer thoroughout the text, but there were some grammatical mistakes about the usage of plural verbs (is-are) and proper verb use (become-make). However, she wrote well in general sense. She prepared well for the paragraph. I can easily understand it because the text could be read fluently with the proper evidences on cats. Also, one important point is that she used variety of vocabulary. There was hardly a word repetition. In conclusion, she has a good writing on cats. The paragraph was a nice reflecion in general sense.

to Nermin Boğaz ( http://norman439.blogspot.com.tr/ )

Free Reflection 2 (Transhumanism)

People of the Future

Transhumanism is an intellectual and a popular movement that aims to enhance human intellectually, physically and psychologically by developing high technologies. Even today, Transhumanism has some common daily practices. 

One is cyborg which means a being that has both organic and biomechatronic parts. This sounds very futuristic but actually it is not because mechanical parts are commonly used by many people now. For example, one who has hearing loss can hear properly with hearing-aid. Also, there are contact lenses, vision restoring devices and vision prostheses for the people experiencing seeing problems like myopic and astigmatic. 

Another practice is body modification. It is the deliberate alteration of the physical appearance for some reasons. To illustrate, some people have piercing and tattoos to show their passions and styles. In some cultures, neck rings which prolong the neck are very important for their belief. Apart from all these, some people desire to impress the people around them. For instance, breast implant is very popular among some women as they want to look more attractive. In addition, some people have subdermal implant to demonstrate their body art and create shock. These are some common daily practices of Transhumanism. 

In conclusion, it is obvious that Transhumanism will be more common in the future.

Free Reflection 1 (Falcon 9)

Writing Space History

Elon Musk’s company SpaceX managed to build the first space shuttle (Falcon 9) to land on the earth horizontally. Before Falcon 9, SpaceX had two failed attempts. In the first, the shuttle inflated when landing. In the second, another shuttle inflated again in the air after having been launched. Falcon 9’s mission was to carry eleven communication satallites. Although it was delayed two days, it completed the mission after taking off 200 km high. In my opinion, this project is very important for new researches because it will be easier to carry the equipment needed for space observations. Also, this kind of space shuttles can be used more than once ,so the cost will decrease by this way. Another aim of this project is space transportation and colonization. SpaceX is planning to establish a private courier company;thus, I think we will be able to send our cargos to space in the future. In addition, the space shuttles like Falcon 9 is considered to be used in Mars colonization projects. To my way of thinking, a life like in ‘’Star Wars’’ will not be far as long as these advancements continue.

Launch and Landing of Falcon 9

Reflection Task 1a ( About Me)

For every student the meaning of METU is different. As to me, METU

means two main things. The first one is prestige. METU is highly

appreciated university in Turkey. It was ranked top 100 in 2013, which

puts METU one step forward any other university so we benefit from it

as METU students. The other thing is the opportunities of METU. For

example, if we are interested in a sport, we can do it in METU since

there are gyms, swimming pools and a stadium. Also, there are a lot of

community from different subjects. Elective courses are also charming

as we select courses from different departments.

To be honest, I have come to METU because of its high point but the

real motive is I wanted to study bilingual program so I cared this in

my choices. Because METU has a German minor program, I have chosen

METU FLE department.

I am satisfied with being a FLE student and I feel confident at METU.

I am also happy because there is a good education and instructors are

very proficient on their fields. In addition, that the courses are

currently going well makes me happy. However, there are lots of

homework to do. This is not a problem but we have to read many

materials and practice some research, so these are little bit

exhausting; that is, I am not happy at all.

Before coming to METU, I always thought of learning a second foreign

language so my expectation is that. Also, I expect to be a

professional in ELT.

As I heard from my friends, our department is very competitive. This

may be intimidating but through hard work, determination and focusing

on only myself, I can handle all the challenges that I will face.

Finally, I want to be a linguist because I like linguistic studies,

syntax, etc. However, to be realistic I see myself as a teacher in a

primary or high school.

Reflection Task 2a (Education)

EDUCATION

Education is a highly debated subject. What is its purpose, how it should be and who applies it well are the major questions of this argue. Thus, I want to talk about some education perspectives from some parts of the world. My paragraph focuses on Finland's education system in comparison with the USA's and Turkey's.

Insight into Finnish Education

Finnish Eucation System has been praised in recent years because Finnish students are getting some of the highest scores in the world acording to a test. This test is called the PISA Survey which is conducted every three years by OECD and examines the math, reading and science skills of 15 year-old children. People wonder why they are good while our countries are in such a bad condition. There are of course some reasons. First, Finland works for the equality. I thinks it is very important because as long as there is a gap we cannot educate our children well. For Example,there are few private school in Finland. In Turkey, on the other hand, private schooling and courses have been becoming more common, which makes the gap between the poor and the rich bigger. Second, many national exams (LYS, SAT etc.) take place in many countries every year. In Finland, the public school system’s teachers are trained to assess children in classrooms using independent tests they create themselves. Third, there are no lists of best schools in Finland.The main education policy is not competition between schools, but cooperation. However, other countries including Turkey always try to compare schools. Why is there a comparison between ODTU and Boğaziçi. These comparisons make our education worse and worse. Instead, we should focus on ourselves in my opinion. In brief, Finland is a superpower for me in terms of education since it values equality more than excellence. I wish our education were like this.

Reflection Task 3 (Elon Musk)

My Person of the Year Candidate

If I were a jury member that chooses the person of the year, my candidate would be Elon Musk. There are some reasons why I nominate him as a candidate for the person of the year.

First of all, he is very innovative. He is the CEO of Tesla Motors and SpaceX. Therefore, his companies are producing cutting edge technologies. For example, Tesla Motors has hybrid car working with both electric and fuel. In addition, SpaceX company has built the first space shuttle that can land on the earth vertically. This means there will be space shuttles that can be used more than once in the future. All these innovations carry the sign of Elon Musk.

Secondly, he is a succesful entrepreneur. He has founded the first private space cargo company co-operating with NASA. This company will play a significant role in colonization of Mars. NASA is considering using his company as the transportation stuff. Musk owes his fortune to his entrepreneur personality because he founded the money transfer site PayPal, and he sold it to eBay in 2002. This sale cost 1.5 billion dollars for eBay.

Thirdly, he is very charismatic. He is considered as Tony Stark of the real world. This is so true because he has a cool style and perfect intelligence. Perhaps, he will be able to invent a Iron Man suit in the future. Also, he is party guy. He celebrates the production of first car from the factory and the inauguration of the stock market.

To sum up, he should be the person of the year when we take a glance to the thing he has done so far.

Reflection 2b (Breaking Bad)

BREAKING BAD

Breaking Bad is a crime serial created and produced by Vince Gilligan. It tells the story of a desperate high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer, Walter White. One day, he coincide with his former student whose name is Jesse Pinkman in an drug operation he attended as an observer with his brother-in-law. Then, Walter decided to produce methamphetamine with Jesse and his desperate life turns into an adventurous and criminal life.

The concept emerged as Gilligan talked with his fellow writer Thomas Schnauz regarding their current unemployment and joked that the solution was for them to put a meth lab in the back of an RV and drive around the country cooking meth and making money. Gilligan said, before the series finale, that it was difficult to write for Walter White because the character was so dark and morally questionable: "I'm going to miss the show when it's over, but on some level, it'll be a relief to not have Walt in my head anymore."Gilligan later said the idea for Walter's character intrigued him so much that he "didn't really give much thought on how well it would sell", stating that he would have given up on the premise since it was "such an odd, dark story" that could have difficulties being pitched to studios.

As the series progressed, Gilligan and the writing staff of Breaking Bad made Walter increasingly unsympathetic. Gilligan said during the run of the series: "He's going from being a protagonist to an antagonist. We want to make people question who they're pulling for, and why."Cranston said by the fourth season: "I think Walt's figured out it's better to be a pursuer than the pursued. He's well on his way to badass."

While still pitching the show to studios, Gilligan was initially discouraged when he learned of the existing series Weeds and its similarities to the premise of Breaking Bad. While his producers convinced him that the show was different enough to still be successful, he later stated that he would not have gone forward with the idea had he known about Weeds earlier.

I have chosen this serial because this is my favorite serial. It develops really moral thoughts in humans mind. In my opinion, its message is ''Do the thing you are the best'' but in what ways we need to do this. It is highly arguable. To sum up, Breaking Bad is on eof the best morally touching TV serial.

Resources: wikipedia.com/breakingbad and youtube.com