Ask a probing question.
Share an insight from having read your colleague's posting.
Offer and support an opinion.
Validate an idea with your own experience.
Expand on your colleague's posting.
My Work:
Student:
"One of my favorite memories is when I went to the beach with my family. I was 13 and it was the first time I can remember going to the beach. I Can remember how the warm sand felt on my feet. I Can still smell the saltwater in the air, and I can feel the warm sun on my face. I can hear the waves crashing on the shore, the birds chirping in the sky, and kids laughing as they play in the sand. I enjoyed ocean so much, I didn't want to leave. Whenever I think about the beach, this memory comes to mind."
Me:
1. I was wondering if you liked the beach or the mountains,
2. I miss the beach greatly since we moved away.
3. Different places have different benefits, like by a Great Lake, in New England, etc.
4. I know that German is the biggest percentage of an ethnicity in the US. They must have a different experience, maybe visit the beach like you did. I personally don't know of family by the sea, but otherwise I was born in and mostly grew up in Florida, on the beach. I have some German, I think. I really like it and appreciate my heritage in different ways as an adult. So, I'm not used to the sea by New England but also grew up in New Orleans and so am used the water in hot climates, something fun. I learned to appreciate the sunshine, too, and feel comfortable about the heat in general, even if it were a dessert.
5. I personally would wear beach shoes at the beach because I don't care to step on whatever I used to step on, plants, etc., and worry about it. I live in Orlando now and it feels like home to be back in Florida, since 2005/2006 with my parents.
Student:
One of my fondest memories was the night I got off the bus at Great Lakes, Illinois, the location of the Navy recruit training center. It was in April of 2005, a very cold night around seven o’clock. I’m with about forty other people, all bunched up in a little bus. As soon as I get off, the cold air just crushed my face. But I didn’t have long to feel cold, because I had a Navy RDC screaming at me to get in line. It was one of those moments when you think, “what did I get myself into?’. I’m a long way from home and I’m going to have to deal with this for 9 weeks. It was a long night that night, a lot of processing stuff. I got head my shaved, had to take a urinalysis test with a guy staring at me, got a c-bag full of goodies and marched down to the coldest building ever (which happened to be my barracks).
This memory was definitely life changing for me. I was an 18-year-old kid. First time being away from home like that. I got thrown into the fire of becoming a man. I will admit, I was pretty immature before I joined the military. It made me become a respectful man quickly. This memory helped me realize that to become something I want to be, I had to go through a tough time to get there. Things aren’t going to be easy in life. If I didn’t have this memory, I’d forget how far I’ve come since my youth, that that night I crossed over from being a boy to becoming a man.
Me:
1. Do you feel that there are other activities that give a similar experience as the military?
2. It made me think in the end how I changed to a Catholic high school and was in church choir as a child and teenager. I felt it prepared me to enjoy life, but later I was picked on somehow.
3. I agree it was a good idea, not too late at 18.
4. I was in Army JROTC for a year in high school, and I became popular then, too, a good experience, though I was pursuing the creative and performing arts and could not stay.
5. It seems like people got out a lot when they graduated high school and are proud of it as life goes on for some reason. Some people try to become models and actresses, and they say high school is a good time for that, too. For me, I wish I posted online sooner, but I was so busy and did use e-mail, though people didn't like IM-ing me nor wanted to webcam then. Later, strangers I didn't particularly like wanted my time and to do that.