Blogging Around

The first post I read was by Tessa. It was about the way that ideas seem to randomly appear in your mind and can eventually connect into something great without you even realizing that you have had these ideas all along.
My comment:
Tessa-
I really enjoyed reading this post! It caused me to think about things that I might not have thought about otherwise. I liked how you started with something simple and personal such as your story and connected that to a more universal theme that everybody can relate to. I have had similar experiences to yours but usually never manage to get my ideas down onto paper. I think it would be really interesting to try recording my thoughts and ideas as you do and look back and reflect upon them. And if you ever finished that story I'd love to read it! :]

The next post I read was by Emily. It was about how the things we do affect us as well as the people around us and how important it is to realize this.
My comment:
Emily-
I really enjoyed reading your blog post because it is something that everybody can relate to, but they may not realize it without somebody pointing it out to them. I was going through the same thing as you during volleyball season and kept complaining that I never had time to do what I wanted. Looking back on that now, I realize how selfish that sounds and that I could have spent my complaining time as conversation time with my family. Things are slowing down now that volleyball and homecoming have passed, but we are all still swamped with homework. I think that the important thing for us to remember is that we should spend the time that we can with our friends and family because ten years from now how we did on one homework assignment won't matter nearly as much as the great memories of the people we love. Great post!

Metacognition: Writing a Poem

To me, poetry is one of the most beautiful forms of writing that there is. It takes a lot of talent, time, and patience in order to write a good poem. In English class, we have all been going through the lengthy and fascinating process of creating a poem. I feel that in order to really appreciate good poetry, you have to experience how difficult it is to actually write a poem. By now, we have each written at least three drafts of our poems and are starting to understand what professional writers go through (on a much smaller scale, of course). Looking a the poem I began with and looking at the poem I handed in as my third draft, there are drastic differences between them. One of the most interesting things I discovered while writing this poem is that things that I wrote and felt really confident about sounded dumb and out of place when I read them again in a week. This taught me that not every creative impulse I have will be a great one, but some of them will be, so I just have to be patient and wait for the good ones to come along.

Best of Week: "Study with nachos"

This past week of school has been a particularly busy and difficult one filled with many tests and quizzes. Dealing with this kind of work load can be very stressful and often teachers try to pretend like they are sympathizing, but they don't do anything to make the situation better. One piece of advice given to our academy class this week that I found particularly useful was when Mr. Allen told us all to "study with nachos." He didn't just mean that we should eat while studying, although that always keeps things more interesting, he meant for us to help each other with our work load and relax while doing it. My classmates and I took this to heart and over the weekend various groups of us got together and collaborated on our english essay test. This was very helpful and lessened some of our stress. It was nice for a teacher to give us a solution for once instead of just telling us that everything will be okay, even when it's not.

Connection: King Lear and Allie (from The Notebook)

As people get older, they tend to go through an experience where they become dependent on others, often referred to as "a second childhood." A character undergoing this stage in life in King Lear is Lear. He is nearing the end of his life and knows it, so he rations his kingdom between two of his daughters and depends on them to take care of him. While reading this, I recalled a character named Allie from The Notebook. Allie is a very elderly woman who lives in a retirement home and greatly depends on her nurses and family to take care of her because she has alzheimers.
Even though Lear and Allie lived in completely different times, they can relate to each other because of this common stage in life that they both undergo. As I said before, they become dependent on others to maintain a somewhat normal lifestyle. For Lear, these people are his daughters. For Allie, they are nurses. Even though Lear doesn't have alzheimers, his old age still cripples him from running a kingdom, similarly to how Allie's disability prevents her from living in her own home. This connection shows me that problems we encounter today have probably been around as long as people have been on this planet. Knowing this makes me feel like I'm not alone because other people have had to deal with the same things I do, and have gotten thought it.

Ted Presentations

Today was the final day. The project we had put in hours and hours working towards for the past month. Today was the day of our TED presentations.
When I first heard that we would be working on the TED projects for a month, it seemed like we had an infinite amount of time to complete them. But, as October went along, two weeks passed with ease and we were already meeting with our groups in person. This signaled the halfway point to the final presentation day and was a great help with organizing our website. For the two weeks after that we all worked together to prepare for our presentation the best we knew how.
As with anything else in life, we had our ups and downs. There were some problems with getting some people in the group to work, and even getting some people to relax a little and not work so much. I thought the revisions we made to the rubric and instructions of the TED project during class helped iron out a lot of the wrinkles that were in the project last year. I liked the aspect of having a group and individual grades because the individual grades motivated us (well most of us) to do our best, and the group grade encouraged us to collaborate with our other group members.
The actual presentation day was full of a lot of useful and interesting information. The different presentations made me think about things I might never have otherwise. There was a slight problem during the beginning with the sound in the Emerald City but it was quickly fixed. One reoccurring problem was that the groups ran out of time for their Q&A session at the end because of the abundant information they wanted to share. Overall, I thought the TED project ran more smoothly than it did last year and I enjoyed it.

Captured Thought: Rain

Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day...
It just so happens that as I am writing this blog, I am sitting on my bed and looking out my window at the little, sparkling droplets dripping from each red and yellow leaf on my tree. To me, rainstorms can be some of the most beautiful forms of weather our planet offers. It comes in many variations such as storms or drizzles, and can last for seconds or days. And in the most beautiful of all cases, a brilliant rainbow with all its majestic colors shines through in the end.
But, for some reason, many people do not feel the same way about rain as I do. It is often seen as a nuisance that causes negative emotions such as fatigue or depression. How is it that one thing can cause such polar opposite feelings for different groups of people? On one end, joy and love. On the other, sadness. I guess it all depends on the way you view the situation. You can either choose to see the beauty in God's creation, or let stereotypes of this depressing weather get to you.

Captured Thought: Men's Egos

For as long as the earth has been spinning, men have been stubborn and egotistical. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't think that men are selfish pigs. They just have a problem admitting when they are wrong (because they are never wrong..ha). A classic example of this typical male behavior is trying to get a man to ask for directions. If you have ever been on a road trip when a man has been driving, often, they know where they are going and can get you there in an unusually speedy amount of time (because they have been speeding..). But, on the rare occasion you seem to be moving a little more slowly and the male driver is scratching his head and looking around, it takes slightly longer to arrive at your destination. If you simply ask if you are lost, he will immediately grumble, "no," and keep driving. Once more time has gone by and you have passed the same restaurant seven times, you quietly suggest that he asks somebody for directions. This is the moment where his alpha male instincts kick in and he suddenly knows more than anybody else in the entire world. He will insist that he knows exactly where he is going and stopping is just a waste of time. Whether you end up at your destination rests solely on your luck from then out. Telling a man to ask for directions makes him feel like you are doubting his ability to fend for himself and triggers something inside him that makes him feel the need to be right, even if he knows he is wrong. There isn't much we can do about this. It is the way men have always been and probably always will be.
I guess women aren't perfect either. : ]

Blogging Around

Leanne's blog is about the word "love" and how it is often abused. She also discusses the nature of "swear words" and asks many questions about why they are considered "bad."

My comment: Leanne-
When reading your blog, I was reminded of thoughts that I have often had in the past. We wonder a lot of the same things, and you prompted other great questions in my mind. I agree with you that age shouldn't matter when it comes to love. When I hear girls using the word constantly to basically every person that they know, it bothers me a little. Love is a strong emotion that only people who have truly been in love understand. Sometimes it is difficult to tell whether you are in love or not, but I agree that whether you are a teenager in a relationship or a happily married couple, the same emotion can be experienced. And as for you thought on swear words, I have often asked myself the same questions that you did. But, for some reason, society views certain words as "bad," so we will just have to accept that for now.

Albert's blog is about homework and the different paces at which students learn. He feels that students learn better with one on one attention, but in large classes, homework is not always needed in order for certain students to keep up. He also mentions that busy, repetitive work can have negative impacts on students.

My Comment: Albert-
I agree with you that the amount of homework teachers assign isn't necessarily best for learning and can often become busy work. I am in the same math class as you and have the option of whether or not to do my homework because I have maintained an A or B average in the class, but I choose to do my homework anyway because I think that practicing what you have learned in class on your own is an important part of actually learning how to do something. But, I believe that some students can pick up on things more easily than others, and if they can maintain a good grade without doing homework, good for them. I am curious about what type of problems could occur from repetitive work, though. I know that it is annoying and unnecessary if you already understand the material, but I am not sure what harm could come from it. I would be interested to elaborate on that.

360 Degrees: Homework

Ever since we were little, our teachers have been giving us homework. And of course, being a kid, I have always hated it. Who wants to do things for school while they aren't even in the building? Nobody. But, it is proven that students learn things better when they apply the skills by themselves, rather than just hearing it from the teacher. Although this is a valid reason to give students homework, is it really necessary to give hours upon hours of work each night? The lack of sleep that many students suffer is not healthy and wears down their immune systems. In turn, this causes students to get sick and miss more school which will cause them to miss out on more learning and have more homework piled up. It's all one vicious cycle. Teachers mean well when the assign homework because they want their students to work to their full potential, but would assigning less cause us to learn more in the long run? I'm not sure what the outcome of that would be, but I think it would be an interesting theory to test. I think that parents would appreciate a lighter homework load as well because they enjoy spending time with their children too. They also have things they would like to ask their children to do, but don't because they are always swamped with homework. What is the proper amount of homework? We need to find somewhere in between swamping and not enough to have a lasting impact. Where is this happy medium? I don't know yet.

Metacognition: Kite Runner Essay

Today, I began the first part of my Kite Runner essay, the evidence plan. I decided to write my essay on secrets and the role that they play in people's lives. At first, I wasn't sure how to split up my body paragraphs, but i came up with an idea to write two about secrets that were kept during the story and one about secrets that were revealed.
Once I had a thesis established and an idea for my body paragraphs, I needed to find examples in the text of both kept and revealed secrets. This wasn't too difficult because of the abundant secrets that were in Kite Runner. The trickier part was to figure out exactly how these different secrets changed the course of people's lives.
While thinking about the way that secrets changed the characters' lives in the story, I began to think about how secrets change people's lives in the real world. It was interesting to think about because secrets aren't usually a topic I find myself thinking about unless I have one myself.

Best of Week: Collaborating in Groups

While discussing the TED project this week, many different ideas and concerns came about that dealt with the challenges of working in groups. Because face-to-face group time is limited, many of us were concerned with getting group members to contribute to the project equally. The most practical solution that we came up with was a form of motivation, individual grades.
In a perfect world, the lure of knowledge would be enough to get all group members to contribute to the project equally. But, previous experience shows us that this is simply not enough for some people. Students, especially academites, are concerned with getting good grades. If a grade is put on the line, most students will be compelled to pull through with their share of work in any project.
Collaborating in groups is a skill that we will all need to use for the rest of our lives, whether it is for a school project or a major business endeavor. There will always be some people who don't seem to work as diligently as others to complete the task, but this week, a possible solution was discovered. Motivation.

Change of Mind: Kite Runner

Although we have not yet finished reading Kite Runner, the story has already caused me to have a change of mind. I have always been good at keeping secrets, whether they are my own or somebody else's. Even though none of these secrets have been as life-changing as the one between Amir and Hassan, I believed that keeping things to myself was a useful skill and a good way to live. Kite Runner taught me a lot about the value of a secret and the effects they can have on people's lives. Seeing the emotional torture that Hassan endured because Amir didn't tell anyone about what happened showed me that secrets can change lives. I also observed that secrets can change multiple people's lives at the same time, even without everybody involved realizing so.
Now that I have this new view on secrets and their capabilities, I will think twice about the possible outcomes that keeping information myself could cause. I hope that I never have to deal with a situation as severe as the one that Hassan went through, but I will treat other situations with the care which that one deserved.