English 1010

2006-12-01T12:44:00.001-08:00

Week 16

Class Review

I have enjoyed taking this class this semester. I loved how we were able to share our ideas and our opinions on things that we had read. It was interesting for me to hear what others thoughts were on a particular subject and the reasons why they thought that way. I enjoyed the beginning of our semester because we were we were able to interview a person in the class, and then we were able to tell the class about the person we interviewed. I felt like we all became such good friends throughout the course and we learned a lot from one another.
I felt like I have learned many things while attending this class. I feel like I have become a better writer. I learned how to write papers in other ways than the normal five paragraph thesis essays that we always wrote in high school. I was so grateful that I was able to write about things that I was interested in, and also write about things that I wanted to do more research and do more reading on. I always hated writing papers in high school because we were always assigned a subject and I was never interested in the subjects that I was given. It made me dislike writing but ever since this class I have enjoyed writing because I can write what I think and feel and I can also choose something that interested me. It makes the writing process a lot more enjoyable.
The thing that I wanted to spend more time on would be when we peer reviewed each others papers. I know that we didn’t have a lot of time because our class isn’t very long and we needed to get a lot of other stuff done but I enjoyed getting input from others. I enjoyed when others could help me and could show me what could make my paper stronger. I felt like I became a better writer by listening to others, and that going to the peer review days was something that helped me become a better writer.
I feel that they articles that we read were very beneficial for my schooling. I know that in a lot of my other classes we have to read and remember the information that we have read. I thought that the articles that we read were very interesting because it made us think and made us form our own opinions on certain topics. I think that forming an opinion is something that is crucial in our society today. We are always voting and choosing things that will later be major factors in the way our lives are lived because of what or how we choose. During our class we were also able to talk about what we thought was interesting or what we agreed or disagreed with while we read each article. I loved having our discussions because it made me think of very different view points and brought up bigger questions. It even changed my opinions in some ways because I was able to see why someone else would think differently than me.
I have always enjoyed English; it has been one of my favorite and best subjects. I think that I have learned a lot more in this class and I have benefited from taking the course. I know that it has improved my writing and reading skills. I also know that it has helped me analyze the way I read things and has helped me use the things I read in my life. I am glad that I took this class because it has helped me in all of my classes that I am recently taking, and I know it will help the classes that I take next semester and the classes I plan on taking in the future.

2006-12-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

2006-11-29T12:17:00.000-08:00

Week 15

Peer Review Experience:

During this class I have really enjoyed doing peer reviews. I know it has helped me write better papers, and it has improved my sentence structure. I know that the peer review has helped me in the way I write because others have shown me how I could better word a sentence and structure my paragraphs and sentences. I enjoyed reading others papers and correcting things I felt sounded weird or that were unorganized. I enjoyed learning more about my peers and the views and opinions they had on certain topics.
I was sad that we didn’t get to do a peer review for our paper four. I felt like I did a lot worse because I didn’t get to have as many people look over and revise my paper. I know it would have been a big help for each of us if we would have been able to do a peer review on that paper, and if we read each others papers. I loved how we did revisions on all of our other papers though; it made me a lot less stressed and gave me a chance to write a rough draft. When I have to write a whole paper with out a rough draft I feel that I don’t get to revise it as much as I would like to. I was glad that we got to write rough drafts and have many revisions in our class this semester.
Sometimes I felt like some of the students in our class wouldn’t give enough help. I felt that they just said things that were nice because they didn’t want to sound rude. When someone is revising my paper I don’t care if they sound nice, I want to know what sounds weird, what is spelled wrong, or anything that sound confusing. I want to get a better grade on my paper, and I want to come out with a stronger, bolder paper. I don’t mind when other students tell me things like, “Your paper isn’t formatted right,” or “You aren’t clear in this area.” I felt that there was a great deal of people that were a slight withdrawn towards my papers because of the fact that they thought they were being rude if they said anything, or that they would offend me or my paper.
I also felt that there were a few people who weren’t as good as writers then me. I am not saying that I am an amazing writer or anything like that. I simply felt that there were a couple people who read my paper, and I didn’t get anything positive out of them reading it. They seemed bored and uninterested and I didn’t appreciate the little I got from them. They also seemed as if they just sped threw it and didn’t try to fix anything. It seemed as if they just want to hurry and get it over with.
There were many people who sat around me who were a great benefit for my paper though. They told me things that I never thought of that I could put in my paper, and they were the people who made the peer review such a positive and enjoying experience. I was able to get a better grade on my paper, and I learned how I could structure things better through out my paper. I felt that we all used our time wisely and we were able to help each other.
I felt like I helped students with their papers also. I was able to give the students more information that I knew more about on their topic and was able to list things that they could make certain sentences and paragraphs stronger. I also helped to show them how to do a work cited and how to format the papers.

2006-11-24T00:31:00.001-08:00

Week 14

Experience

During this past week I was able to go and visit some of my relatives during the Thanksgiving break. We all decided that it would be fun to go to Las Vegas this year so we all stayed down there for three nights and four days. While I was there I noticed how much people worry about actors, actresses, dancers, singers, and performers. People seemed to worry about where they were at what they are doing. These performers were advertised on billboards, moving vans, taxis, in the Las Vegas magazines, and even on the television. It seemed as if everyone needed to know everything about these performers just to be able to function.
I decided to write this week’s blog on an article I read about the pop singer Justin Timberlake. Throughout the article many questions popped into my mind. I started thinking about media hype and questioned myself if I really cared about these people. I read an interview that Justin talked about his new album. He seemed pretty excited about it and said that it was going to be his best so far. I started to wonder if singers just say things like that so we will buy their albums. I also started questioning if he only talks kindly to people who interview him. I know that all movie starts and singers aren’t rude, but I can’t see them being kind to people all the time because that is a part of being human.
While in Las Vegas my family and I went and walked around a famous wax museum. They had stars made out of wax that resembled the stars perfectly. It was fun to see the stars that I really liked, but there were people sculpted there that I wondered why they even put them in the museum. I understand when a person is famous because of something they are talented at such as acting, singing, and dancing or something they have discovered or accomplished but I feel like the people who are on reality shows, and people who try to put themselves out there for the attention shouldn’t be admired by us. I just think that you should do something useful in order to get attention or to be admired.
Another reason why I decided to write this weeks article about stars was because I was watching the CMT awards last week. Earlier I heard on the radio that many people thought that the recent American Idol, Carrie Underwood would win the female vocalist of the year award, and that she was competing with Faith Hill. I thought it was amazing how a girl so young and new could beat out Faith Hill, who in which had been singing for years and who had won this award several times before. During the CMT awards they announced the nominees for the female vocalist of the year and Faith Hill stood up as if she knew she was going to win. The name was then called out and Carrie Underwood had won the award. Faith Hill threw her arms up in the air and used body language that showed us that she was angry. While I watched this I wondered why a person would do that. Don’t you think that Faith Hill has enough? Can’t she let someone else win the award? I really enjoy Faith Hill don’t get me wrong, but when people do stupid things like this for attention it really makes me think of them otherwise. I use to really like seeing famous people but after seeing and reading through many things this past week I feel that sometimes we worry about them too much. They are normal people and we need to treat them like that. We shouldn’t worry and waste so much time on what they are wearing and where they are going. I think it’s pointless and useless.

2006-11-24T00:31:00.000-08:00

2006-11-16T14:50:00.000-08:00

Week 13

Research Update

I am writing paper five on my same topic, which is elementary education. Throughout paper four I talked about the benefits that and education can have on our lives. I emphasized why an education is very vital in our society and why it can have such a positive impact in our lives. I gave many examples of why an education can be beneficial for each person’s life and the lives around them.
Since paper four I have been thinking of what else I would like to research on this topic. I want to find more things that would be interesting for me to learn and apply to my elementary education knowledge. While I was doing research for paper four I was able to talk to a friend about what she thought was interesting about an education. She pointed out that education in the United States is very different than the education in other countries. I thought this was very interesting and I asked her why she thought that, her reply was that we as Americans are lazier than other countries, and we try to find the easiest way out of anything, especially when we feel that it is hard or that is boring. We feel like we should be entertained and enjoy everything that we are doing.
I decided to do some more research on this and found an article that talked about Japanese education. I found out that they learn things at a very young age and that an education is their top priority. They are tested harder in subjects and have to study more than they would have to if they lived here in the United States. Through out this article I remembered a kid who was in my math class last year. He was a sophomore and I was a senior and he seemed to know more than I did. I always told him that I thought the class was very hard and that I had to study so much. He said that this class was so easy compared to all the classes that he took when he lived in Japan. I couldn’t believe it, I felt like this was so hard. He told me that they learn more while they are younger and that school is longer for them there. They don’t get out as early as we do so they are able learn more. He said that you had to do your homework or you would never understand what was going on in class. You could not just try to act like you did it or get it from someone else because you had to know to learn other things.
For my paper five I want to research more on why an education is different in other countries. I want to know if it is because of their culture or if there are any other reasons. I feel that we need to be educated just as much or we will be a few steps behind the world. Knowledge is everything, it helps you progress, prepare, and enjoy. I want to research more so that I can find out why Americans aren’t quite as worried about getting a good education. Is it simply because of our laziness? All people aren’t lazy in the United States, so I feel that there must be other reasons. This conversation with a friend and an old math friend has sparked a question for me to research. I am excited to find out the reasons why we are simply passing up a good thing.

2006-11-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

Marie AntoinetteQueen of France
1755 - 1793

"Courage! I have shown it for years; think you I shall lose itat the moment when my sufferings are to end?"
—Marie Antoinette

Week 12
I would like to write this week’s blog on a movie called “Marie Antoinette.” I recently saw this movie over the weekend and it popped some questions into my mind that I’d like to write about. Okay, so I know what you are thinking, how is this related to our English class? Well I was very interested in Marie Antoinette; as a result I did some research on her to see who she really was, and what she was like. I wanted to see if the movie that had just come out was really portraying her or was just for our entertainment.
Me and my Mom went and saw the movie on Saturday. At first I wasn’t sure if I would like it because I hadn’t heard if it was good, and I didn’t know anything about the woman named Marie Antoinette. Throughout the movie it shows the young actress, Kirsten Durst playing the part of Marie Antoinette. Marie moves to a different country and marries someone who she hardly knows and likes. She was set up with the Kings nephew when she was a child. They soon are married and she keeps getting letters from her mother telling her that she needs to have a son because if she doesn’t than the king of France position could be filled by someone else. Her husband, Louis XVI, later becomes the King of France. He is extremely young and it is hard for him to run the country because it is hard for him to decide what to do with his country. He listens to men who are older, but ends up giving away a lot of Frances money to other countries. His wife Marie spends most of the money on things for herself. She makes her servants grow her gardens, make her a new dress almost everyday, and will spend most of her time partying.
Their actions come back to haunt the young Queen and King. They are later confronted by a mob, and later removed from their palace. The movie ends with the King, Queen, and their children leaving the beautiful place. I thought the ending was really awkward and I wanted to know what happened next. I went home and did some research on Google, and found out what happened to this young family.
The royal family was later arrested and placed in prison. They were then mistreated. Maries best friend, the Princess de Lambelle was severely killed and her head was cut off and put on a pike and shown to the Queen. Her children were then taken from her, and her husband died from malnutrition and tuberculosis. He was also cruelly beaten by the jail owners. Later Marie Antoinette was accused of crimes that were unproved, and was later executed on October 16, 1793. All of her children except her oldest died in the prison. France was later restored and became a republic in 1871.

Work Cited:

Lucidcafé. “Marie Antoinette Queen of France.” October 2006: Pg 1,2 of 2

2006-11-02T19:41:00.000-08:00

Week 11

I was excited to see that it was my choice for this week’s blog. I always like writing my response to something, recording my thoughts on a question, or writing about anything I thought was interesting throughout the course.
I decided to write this week’s blog on something I had read over the weekend. I work at a place called Pier 49. It’s a restaurant franchise that makes pizza, sells ice cream, and anything else that’s good and fattening. During a Saturday morning shift I was sitting in the front waiting for customers. Saturday mornings are slow, because we don’t get the usual teachers, constructor works, and students in for lunch on this day. While I waited a lady who brings the mail slipped in a package of free magazines that customers could take with them for free. On the front cover there was a cute little girl dressed in a Halloween costume that resembled a baby chick. I read the cover and it said something about ghost hunters. Since Halloween is coming up I decided to take a look. I quickly opened it to page twenty-eight and saw two girls around the age of twenty five explaining that they had met each other during a summer camp, and they quickly became friends when they found out that they were both very interested in spirits and ghosts. I was interested because these women were actually “ghost hunters” this was their occupation and something they both enjoyed doing. They would set up cameras and recorders in peoples barns, buildings, old homes, and even cemeteries to see if the place was really haunted by ghosts.
During the article the women talked about what you need in order to become a good ghost hunter. They said things like: Take a Flashlight- You do not want to be stuck in a scary building without a light. Use a digital Camera- You can check your pictures right after and see if you got what you wanted. Bring a Tape Recorder- You can listen after you have gone through the house/building to see if any weird noises or voices were recorded. After I had read through the “tips” column I thought to myself, are these people just putting on a show? Do you think they really see or hear things? Are old buildings really haunted? I then read that these women even taught classes for ghost hunting, and that they teach you the signs of a ghost in presence. The women told us a few that seemed to surprise me.
During the article I didn’t believe it. After I had finished I kept wondering if this was just put in the article since its Halloween season, or if the article were in the magazine because the girls do this for their career. I was still unsure who or what I believe when I got off of work, so I asked a close friend what he thought. He simply replied that he thinks that there is a lot of weird stuff that goes on. He felt that people can become satanic, and crazy and that weird spirits can come if there is evil present. It made me wonder, what do I believe? During the past couple of days I felt as if I believe my friend. I feel that when there are wicked things then evil spirits can come. When you are just out with your friends and not doing anything wrong, bad, or evil then these things won’t appear. I feel that if there’s a place were people say that there are haunted or evil spirits, then we need to get rid of those buildings. It is not good to get in with things that are scary and satanic.

2006-10-26T08:29:00.000-07:00

Week Ten:

I decided to write paper five on something that deals with elementary education. I choose this particular topic because I am a little unsure if I want to be an elementary teacher. I have always thought it would be fun, but I still want to be one hundred percent sure that I still want to. I know the research, and reading for my paper would be good to help me decide.
I printed off a few articles that are related to elementary education, but I haven’t narrowed them down to a certain topic that I want to follow in my article. I will tell you about each article, and this will help me decide which one will be best for my paper.
The first article that I have is called “Environmental Education at Pre-school.” This paper talks about how children should be involved as young as two and three years old because this is a “period of very intense development of all areas of the personality, in which half of the person’s intellectual potential is developed.” (Lubomira pg 258). I thought it was interesting because I never thought of pre-school as being a place where you really learn. I always thought of it as a place where a parent could take their child each day while they either went to work, or so it would give the parent or even the child a few hours to be away from home and each other. This article says that during the younger years of a person it is crucial that they seek schooling, and they interact socially with others because it will help them through out their whole life.
The second article that I read was entitled, “Why Do We Send Children to School?” The title states the article perfectly. It starts about by asking why we need to take our children to school, and what the benefits are from it. They also show a study in the middle of the article to show what the purpose of schooling does. It gives reasons why education is good for students. Some of them include, avoiding cultural pitfall, for example: unwanted pregnancy, AIDS, drugs, and alcoholism. They state that if you are educated you are less likely to start an crimes or problems. I like this paper because it gives a very strong response to the title and why education is such an important thing in our society. I also asked the question on how they feel like their study is very correct, they only asked teachers what their views on education are, but they didn’t ask others who might be against education.
The third article I read was “Helping Children Cope with Fears: Using Children’s Literature in Classroom Guidance.” This paper states that children start to worry about crime, war, and many things that adults think about. They see their parents worrying about these issues and feel as if they should worry about them also. They tend to shy away from the world because they are scared and feel insecure. The paper goes on to say why these fears are developed and what parents should and can to do help their child. It states that parents should get their children involved by reading, because in books the child can see how a character can confront many of the same dilemmas that are faced by the child in our society. The paper shows many books that can help benefit a child that’s in this circumstance.
I really like all three of the articles that I read, I feel like all of them could greatly benefit my paper. After reading through the articles and finding what the benefits of the topic are I feel like I am going to write my final paper on the benefits of education. I thought they each had part that were valuable and could help support me in my paper five.

Work Cited:

Lubomira, Domka. “Environmental Education at Pre-School.”
International Research in Geographical and Enviromental Education 2004: pg 258

2006-10-18T12:36:00.000-07:00

Week 9
I have decided to write this week’s blog on our class and our papers. Let me first say that I have always enjoyed English. I love writing. I know that it is not something that I am perfect at, but it lets me express who I am and what I believe. I love to write about things that are important to me, and also feeling like what I say can really have an effect on someone.
Through out my life I have been in various writing, and English courses. I am always excited when the teacher tells us that we can write about something that interests us or our opinion on something. Through out high school we were never given much of an opportunity to do this, we usually wrote papers on something that we had researched. The papers seemed not only long and boring for us as the writers, but also as for the readers. Sometimes I could tell that people who were good writers in my class didn’t care about a paper, because they were disinterested and bored. It was usually a topic that our teachers would choose, and sometimes you had no idea what to write about because you were not interested.
On the other hand, our class has been able to write papers on things that are meaningful to us as the writers. I feel like I am able to write more and I don’t have to make up silly sentences to fill up the requirements of the paper. I also enjoy hearing what others have to say, and helping them with their own papers. Peer reviewing is something that not only lets me hear what others have to say, but lets me see how others write, and checking for errors. I like to find out where the writer is coming from, and what s/he thinks on a certain topic.
This class has been very enjoyable for me. I have been able to express what I feel, and I can write about things that I’m interested in. I love how we can state opinions and not feel worried that it is wrong because everyone thinks about it differently. I like how we get to choose our topic, something that is close to us, and personal. While reading other papers you get to see why something so simple can have such a big impact on one person’s life, and not on yours. You can see why they have certain opinions’ on ideas, and what made them think they way that they do.
I was scared to come to college. I had just graduated and feared that I wouldn’t do well here. During the first week of this class, I thought that I was going to have to start writing huge papers and on topics that I didn’t know much about. But come to find out our teacher was not a “regular.” She wanted us to learn different writing styles, that weren’t the same “thesis five paragraph papers” that we were always required to write. At first I was a little worried that I would write it wrong, but I later found out that she was making it better for us as the writers. We could relate to our topics and we could write how we felt. I really enjoy this writing style because I feel that it is important to let others know how you truly feel. I know that it has made me change because I think about topics more and try to form my own opinion on them. I know it will help me during my next courses and for my future.

2006-10-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

Blog Seven
For my article, I came across a magazine article that was called, "After School Child Programs." The lady who wrote the article was a professor of educational psychology. She was questioning if it was good to make children go to after school programs. She went on to say that some parents only put their children into these programs because they need some one to watch them. Instead of letting the child enjoy themselves they will get the child involved even when they really don’t want to.
I feel that this magazine article is different than the scholarly article because it asks you the question, how do you feel about this? And what side would you take? But within the scholarly article it seemed to have more of an answer to the problem. The scholarly article was simply stated with great detail on what was happening and why it was a problem. The main purpose for the magazine article I read about after school programs for children was to see if children were really benefitting from them or not, and to get the question and some thought into the readers mind.
When I was younger my Mother wanted me to be in a play that was called "The Little Mermaid." Well you can say that it would be every little girls dream, but for me it wasn’t. The thought of getting up in front of grown adults and saying lines that I could possibly forget scared me. I cried because I didn’t want to do it. She always ask me if I wanted to play basketball, softball, and even soccer, when each of the seasons came around. I never wanted her to put me into any of that. Later I finally admitted that I liked dancing and gymnastics, so my Mother immediately signed me up for both so I could enjoy these things after school activities.
Throughout the article the professor states that some parents simply take their children to after school programs so that their children can become social, active, and learn skills that will help them in anything they want to pursue. I agree with the professor in this paragraph because I feel that you can learn very important skills while you’re young. I have also learned that while you’re young it is easier to learn a skill. For example, in gymnastics you are a lot more flexible while you’re younger and is thus easier to get you body over in a back bend. It also helps to be small, because you are more capable of the trick.
The only problem that I feel throughout this article is what the professor also agrees on which is, when parents will put their children in after school programs just because they have a longer work day then their child’s school day. Even if the child doesn’t want to be in this particular program they are still forced into doing it with out any decision of their own. The parents should ask and see which areas their children are interested, this will make the child excited and happy to be involved.
I think the professor got her point across which was that parents should never force their children into anything that isn’t in their best interest or beneficial to the child. They should only be involved in things that are helping their children progress academically, and in their interests. I was very interested in this article because I have never thought about this topic before.

2006-10-06T17:42:00.003-07:00

Blog Six:

The article I read for this assignment was, “I’d Rather Smoke than Kiss.” When I read through all of the headings this particular one really stood out to me, because I will admit it, I really like to kiss and smoking sounds a lot worse to me than kissing. I read through the article and found out that a women at the age of 52, started smoking on accident. Her mother was a heavy smoker who smoked as much as four packs a day. Come to find out she was born as healthy as a normal baby, and was very healthy throughout her years growing up in a smoker’s home. She never felt like she would be rebelling if she smoked like a normal teenager would, because her parents would have never minded if she did.
Smoking doesn’t sound like the most pleasant thing to me, but after I read this article I can see both points of smokers and nonsmokers. I found out many reasons why smoking might not be as harmful to everyone then we actually think or stereotype it to be. I simply do not agree with the writer though, I am against smoking, but through out the article I read things that I have never thought about from a smoker’s point of view.
The writer explains how people all across America view smokers as bad people, that just because of this habit and lifestyle they are sinners. Throughout my own life I have know the nicest, and most caring people who have smoked. Just because they do something different then the majority doesn’t make them horrible people. My Grandfather was a smoker through out his life. He was a hard working, kind, Grandfather. He died while I was at the young age of ten. He was suffered from cancer, because of the harsh smoke through out his life.
In the article the writer explains how some people would rather live a joyful short life than a long boring one. Personally, I feel that you should see the effect that smoking has on others, not just yourself. When my Grandfather died, my youngest cousins who were at the age of three and four hardly even know who he was. His life was so short that he didn’t get that precious time of watching his grandchildren grow up. I was amazed when the writer explained that she read a newspaper article that said that smoking was good for social security. Since people were dying soon in their life then Social Security would get to keep the money that would have other wised been spent if these people were nonsmokers. I have never thought of that before, but while reading this I thought, isn’t human life is a lot more valuable than money? But further along in the article I read that the money not being spent on these people could be used for cancer research. I thought that it would be a good idea, but I still wasn’t sure if I’d like to risk a smoker and the people who are around them obtaining second hand smoke just to see money come in from social security, and for research done on cancer coming from smoke that we could just get rid of all together.

2006-10-06T17:42:00.002-07:00

2006-10-06T17:42:00.001-07:00

2006-10-06T17:42:00.000-07:00

2006-09-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

Blog Five:

During this past week in class I was very excited to proof read others papers. I like to hear the views on students in our classroom, and what they think about on certain issues. I asked my new friend, who sits behind me in our class what she wrote about and she said euthanasia. I noticed that she would sometimes wear scrubs to our class, but always thought that it had to do with a nursing internship or something. I finally came to realize that she helps animals and works at a vet. She then went on to say that she had seen a lot of people put innocent animals out, even when they had previously had an owner, but were just lost. She told me that it’s something she feels strongly about, and that she said that it’s unethical. I didn’t know as much as I wanted to on this topic so I wanted to read more on it. She said I could read her paper, and I was very excited, but we were assigned to different proof reading groups. I was sad that I wasn’t able to read hers, but then a girl who had been assigned to my group had the same topic! I was very excited to learn more about possible solutions for the reasons why we harm and kill these poor animals and what can be done about it.
I read through her paper and figured out that she decided to write her paper on this topic because she had recently found a lost kitten. She went on to say that she couldn’t keep the cat at her apartment, so she tried calling around to see if a pound or animal shelter would take it in. I couldn’t believe what I read next, it said that so many animal shelters would put the animals asleep within one week if their owners or no one else would come and get them. I had no clue that animal shelters did this, I later found out that the reason why they’d do this was because the space was therefore limited in shelters, and animals were reproducing too rapidly.
Various solutions for cutting back on animal production and animal killings were to spay and neuter the animals within a certain amount time. I thought this was a good idea, because you can’t kill an animal if it isn’t at hand, but it will still eliminate these bad circumstances from accruing.
There are however, many shelters that do not kill animals. There are few, but more need to follow and do the same. Shelters need to build bigger facilities so they can have the room that they need, and put these animals in an engaging environment, rather then just stuffed in a cage somewhere.
It is my hope that we as people can still keep the name as “mans best friend,” and not treat these animals as if they have no life. I hope to see others act upon how they feel and that we can see our shelters become somewhere where we’d like to place homeless animals, rather than worrying if they are going to be picked up by an owner. I feel that we should never treat any living thing poorly.

2006-09-22T16:27:00.001-07:00

Blog Four:
I have considered going into elementary education. I have wanted to become a four or fifth grade teacher for a couple years now. I was looking for an article for my major, and came upon one that really stood out to me. It was called, “Child Abuse Reporting by School Counselors and Teachers.” I had no idea that teachers had to deal with this. I thought that only someone who had a job dealing with child abuse was the one who was supposed to report anything they’ve seen, not teachers. I kept reading my article and found out many things that I had no clue that teachers had to keep track of. I just thought they would plan a lesson and make sure that the students understood it.
I was reading through the article and came across a paragraph that talked about teachers. It stated that some don’t like to report any signs of child abuse. They feel that they need proof to back up what they feel, or they will just simply look unintelligent. Teachers feel that having proof such as a bruise or scratch will simply help them back up the issue. But there are so many more different kinds of abuse. Not just physical abuse, but also sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional abuse. The teachers need to report anything that they aren’t sure of. When I heard about this I felt so bad. I couldn’t believe that teachers would let their students go on with this battle in their young lives and not do something about it.
While reading on I wondered why teachers and counselors became such a pivotal role in reporting child abuse. Why were they responsible for the actions of others inside the home? Further on in my article I found out that these educators have an ongoing relationship with children, and that they are individuals who are most likely to suspect child abuse. They are the ones that can suspect when a child is being abuse, not just by seeing a bruise, but also by seeing that the child feels worthless and inadequate.
When an educator feels or thinks that something within the home is going on, and needs to be resolved, they need to report their concern to a child protection agency. The law says that all reports need to be faithful and provide the reporter with enough information. This determines when a teacher or counselor will report an incident, sometimes they aren’t sure how they are going to explain what they feel and show what they have seen.
Many educators agree to child abuse reporting laws, but feel uncertain about the effects in helping the child’s situation. The teachers feel that when they do report they may be doing more harm than good. They are always unaware of what to do in certain circumstance. Sometimes the teacher will wait until something more harmful has happened to the child, because then they know that the child is really being abused. They are scared that if they report something that isn’t really child abuse then the child protection agency will screen them out. I feel that child abuse needs to be taken care of. It is something that can hurt and change a person’s life. I feel that all teachers or school counselors need to take a stand and report anything that is not justice for a child. I know that when I become a teacher, I will do all that I can to follow the law, and decide on my best instincts. I don’t want to sit back and ignore anything that could be harming a sweet young child so much harm.

2006-09-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

2006-09-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

Blog Three

Choosing a major has been a really challenging thing for me. I just graduated from high school and I feel like I’m not even old enough to worry about what I’m doing with the rest of my life. But by being in college it has made me feel like I have to. It just seems like it all came to fast. For the past couple of years I have considered becoming a pilot, but now I think that I would do that more for enjoyment then an actual job. I feel like there are just so many things you could do that I’m not sure which one would is right for me. I’ve tried thinking about what else interests me and feel like I have finally come up with a solution.
I have always enjoyed being around kids. I babysat a lot when I was little and didn’t care much about the money, because I always having such a good time. I think children are very funny and I enjoy getting to know them. When I was in middle school I would come home after school each day and teach my little sister who was in second grade, the same things that I had learned that day at school. I would make up assignments and would show her what to do. I loved feeling like the teacher. Since then I have considered going into elementary education. I feel like I would enjoy it so much that it wouldn’t even feel like work to me.
I have considered teaching high school or junior high students, but I love so many different subjects, not just one particular one. So I feel like going into elementary education would let me teach many things instead of just one area of study. I would love to teach third or fourth grade. I loved my third and fourth grade teacher’s, they were so understanding and kind that it made learning such a positive experience for me.
I feel that at that age you learn so much because you have just started to learn how to read bigger books, and you have learned how to write things all by yourself. I want to help the students feel like they have grown and learned so much over the year. I want to help them with the curriculum that they’ve learned in previous years, but make sure that they have come to understand it completely. I want to show them that learning is such a positive experience, and to show them how things work, and why things are the way they are. I want to show them how hard work can make them feel accomplishment. I want them to feel proud of what they do and to see their work get better.
In elementary schools there is always a principal over the school. This person makes sure that the teacher is teaching the right curriculum and that the students are progressing in the classroom. They make sure that every decision they make will benefit the students. Teachers have to make sure that their students are fulfilling the requirements in their grade level and that the students understand what they are being taught. Teachers want to make sure that their students are prepared for the next year of school, so that they won’t get anymore behind.
I like to see achievement, especially when it deals with a child. I think that elementary education would be a great thing for me to tackle. I want my hard work and dedication to pay off, for me and for the students. I will feel like I have done something to help those children progress further in their lives, especially when I see it.

2006-09-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

Blog Two

There are several things that keep me awake at night. The first thing is school. I just graduated from high school and I felt like my classes were hard, but I realize that in college it’s a lot harder. I have to study a lot more to make sure I understand the material, compared to high school where I could just listen to the teacher and still get a decent grade. In college, I have to read more and spend a lot of time out of the class studying. Even when I do this I don’t feel like it’s enough. There is just so much information that I have to remember and sometimes it feels like I get it all mixed up.
Am I making school seem harder than it really is? Am I working hard enough and pushing myself to my potential? Does work add to my stress level? Am I trying to balance to many things at once? Do other new college students feel like they are going through this same thing?
There are lots of different possible answers for different people. For me personally, I feel like there are so many things to do each day and not enough time to get them done. Between working two jobs, going to school, studying, church activities, and finding the time to hang out with my boyfriend, I feel like I don’t get to accomplish everything that I’d like to. Am I being to hard on myself and taking everything on at once?
I know that when I don’t work as many hours at my job and work hard while I’m at school I get a lot more accomplished and I have the time to do other things that need to get done. If I try my hardest at school and do as much while there I find that I have less homework and it doesn’t get built up. I feel a lot less stressed and feel more prepared with tests and assignments. When I have more time to think about school and not other activities then I feel like I have the time to study and it’s a security blanket. I want to do the best that I can through out my years at school and see myself progress. The main reason why school scares me and stresses me out is because I know that you can actually fail. I don’t want college to be a negative experience. I want school to be a positive learning experience. Scheduling and planning out activities can help me get more things accomplished and can help plan out things that need to get done. I know that college will be amazing if my attitude about learning is a positive, and I work hard at what I want.

2006-08-31T19:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was having Sunday dinner at my boyfriend’s grandparents house. His extended family always gets together and spends the afternoon with each other. After dinner we always like to sit around and talk. This particular week we got on the topic of little league baseball and a specific incident that happened in northern Utah.
It was the championship of a nine-year old little league game, between the Yankees and the Red Sox. The Yankees were winning in the bottom of the final inning. The Red Sox had men on second and third, with two outs and their best hitter up to bat. He had already hit a home-run in the game. The Yankees coaches knew they had no chance of winning the game if they pitched to him, so they intentionally threw four balls and walked him, loading the bases. The next batter was a former cancer survivor. He was weak from all of his treatments to cure the disease, and the coaches knew he was an easy out. He had shunts in his head and had to wear a helmet at all times, even when playing in the outfield.
During the at-bat, the cancer survivor was crying because he knew what the coaches had done, and was embarrassed. He took three weak swings and struck out. The Yankees celebrated their championship victory, while the Red Sox players and fans started an uproar, yelling that walking their best hitter to get to their weakest hitter was wrong. The Yankees coaches said it was a good baseball move, and created the best possible scenario for them to win the game. The Red Sox coaches and fans were furious because the Yankees were taking advantage of the kid’s disabilities. That’s what my boyfriend’s family started debating.
One side of the family said that what the Yankees coaches did was totally justified and within the rules of the game. Both teams were playing the game to win, and when the Yankees realized they would have a better chance of winning by walking the best hitter on the other team, to get to the weakest hitter, they took the chance and it paid off for them. Why should one kid get special treatment just because he has a disability if he is out there playing with healthy kids? It was his own decision to play with them and to take the chance that he could possibly be embarrassed. That’s what life is all about. Sometimes you take chances and you fail, but that’s what makes you work harder and want to be better. The kid who had cancer even said after the game that next time he wants to be the best hitter and be the one who is walked in that situation.
The other side of the family thought that when you are that young, it shouldn’t always be about winning, especially when you end up taking advantage of someone with so many obvious health issues. Just because that kid had cancer and is weaker than all the other kids doesn’t mean he should be put in a situation where everyone knows he is going to fail. When kids are that young the purpose of participating in sports shouldn’t be solely about winning. It should be about having fun and making sure everyone has a positive experience. Why should kids have to be taught life lessons at such an early age? That’s what being a kid is all about—trying to have fun and positive experiences in your life. You shouldn’t have to be a grown up and know everything by the time you’re ten years old.
After listening to all of the arguments, I couldn’t decide what side to choose. On one hand, I can understand why the Yankees would walk the Red Sox’s best hitter to get to the kid who they knew would get out. Both teams had put in a lot of time and energy throughout the year to get to the championship game, and they both wanted to win very badly. The Yankees just happened to be put in a position where they could control their fate. But on the other hand, I can understand why the Red Sox would be so mad. It is cruel to make a kid feel worthless and embarrassed because he let his team down, when he can’t control his disability. Nine-year old kids shouldn’t have to be taught such serious life lessons at such an early age. They should be having fun and enjoying their childhood, because eventually they will grow up and have to learn those important life lessons anyway. How do you feel about that situation? What would you do as a coach or parent? Where would you stand if you were in that situation? What side would you agree with? Those were some of the questions that came to my mind as I pondered this issue.

2006-08-29T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!! Just wanted to see if my blog worked!!