Thursday, June 20, 2013
no red pill blue pill response
I think that this poem by Ana Cristina Pratas made no sense to me. She said many different random things which shouldn't have gone together. There were parts of her poem that I understood and enjoyed but then I read the next line and it completely ruins it and throws me off. But all together I get what she's trying to talk about.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Power
Power can be defined from different outlooks and in different ways. In some countries being born into certain families of royalty and wealth gives you power. That’s power not given by choice. In this country individuals can be driven to power through determination and will. There is an equal opportunity to obtain it.
In my opinion power can be defined by wealth, knowledge, and ones voice.
Money can commonly determine a persons status in the world. It can bring in estate, big business, and a “successful” life in general. All of these things can be seen as power. The more money you have, the more access you have to the things of the world being big or small. The wealthy are the privileged and so they contain more power than those who don’t.
Somebody once said power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, even though I don't know who said that or if it's even close to the way that it was said, I know that it's true. The reason that it is true is that people are essentially just smart animals, we always are going to do what is best for us personally. We care about what is best for us because we are the ones that can feel what is happening to us, it only makes sense that we would want the best feeling and enjoyment possible for us.
Most people take the power they get to a further level. They start abusing it to the point where they lose everything they've ever strived for.
It is the power over ones life, which is the greatest power of all. Everybody has it, it’s just a matter of embracing it and using it correctly.
In my opinion power can be defined by wealth, knowledge, and ones voice.
Money can commonly determine a persons status in the world. It can bring in estate, big business, and a “successful” life in general. All of these things can be seen as power. The more money you have, the more access you have to the things of the world being big or small. The wealthy are the privileged and so they contain more power than those who don’t.
Somebody once said power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, even though I don't know who said that or if it's even close to the way that it was said, I know that it's true. The reason that it is true is that people are essentially just smart animals, we always are going to do what is best for us personally. We care about what is best for us because we are the ones that can feel what is happening to us, it only makes sense that we would want the best feeling and enjoyment possible for us.
Most people take the power they get to a further level. They start abusing it to the point where they lose everything they've ever strived for.
It is the power over ones life, which is the greatest power of all. Everybody has it, it’s just a matter of embracing it and using it correctly.
Loyalty
Loyalty is a feeling or attitude of devoted attachment and affection. Loyalty is a noble quality that is found not only in human beings, but also in animals, such as dogs, horses or elephants. Loyalty involves obedience, sacrifice and compassion of the heart.
Loyalty is a very broad term which may be applicable in case of one's family, locality or the country. A loyal person is ready to sacrifice even his own life for the sake of his master, friend, relative or the country. A loyal person bears a moral character, honest outlook, and disciplined manners.
Loyalty is like a shadow it’s something that’s with you all of the time, but sometimes it’s hidden. Most people don’t show their loyalty hidden, but loyalty is something that’s not supposed to be hidden. To me loyalty is when someone is there for someone else. Loyalty is a characteristic many people should strive to have. It earns the trust and respect of many. A loyal person would never be able to fail someone because they are trustable. Loyalty is everywhere and there are many different kinds of loyalty.
Loyalty to strangers is one of the many different kinds of loyalty. We have all showed loyalty to strangers at least once. When people follow rules somewhere either at school, work etc. This shows loyalty. Loyalty doesn’t only earn the respect of someone, but being loyal to a stranger show that you respect them even if you don’t know them. When we follow rules at some place it shows we are staying honest to the rules and the rule makers. Our honesty shows loyalty.
Another type of loyalty is to friends. We all have friends, but there are many components to being loyal to your friends. When your friends tells you something and they expect you to keep it a secret, keeping this a secret shows loyalty. Not keeping the matter a secret will show disloyalty. Disloyalty will lose a friend’s trust and it will be really hard to regain a friend’s trust when it’s been lost. When a secret, which is supposed to be kept, gets out the friendship itself is in danger of breaking. Helping a friend is also another component to loyalty. Helping a friend when they don’t think they need it shows much more loyalty than when they ask you for help. Sensing that a friend needs a helping hand is a great ability to have.
As I said earlier, loyalty can be found in animals, your pets, for example a dog. Even though your dog doesn't have the ability to speak it shows its loyalty through actions. Your dog stays by your side through thick and thin. They see when you come home with a frown they go lay on your lap and keep you comfort. When you might be in any danger, could be minor or extreme, your dog protects you and stays loyal to you.
Being loyal builds trust, and those are one of the main characteristics one should have and need in any kind of relationship, being loyal will get you far in life.
Loyalty is a very broad term which may be applicable in case of one's family, locality or the country. A loyal person is ready to sacrifice even his own life for the sake of his master, friend, relative or the country. A loyal person bears a moral character, honest outlook, and disciplined manners.
Loyalty is like a shadow it’s something that’s with you all of the time, but sometimes it’s hidden. Most people don’t show their loyalty hidden, but loyalty is something that’s not supposed to be hidden. To me loyalty is when someone is there for someone else. Loyalty is a characteristic many people should strive to have. It earns the trust and respect of many. A loyal person would never be able to fail someone because they are trustable. Loyalty is everywhere and there are many different kinds of loyalty.
Loyalty to strangers is one of the many different kinds of loyalty. We have all showed loyalty to strangers at least once. When people follow rules somewhere either at school, work etc. This shows loyalty. Loyalty doesn’t only earn the respect of someone, but being loyal to a stranger show that you respect them even if you don’t know them. When we follow rules at some place it shows we are staying honest to the rules and the rule makers. Our honesty shows loyalty.
Another type of loyalty is to friends. We all have friends, but there are many components to being loyal to your friends. When your friends tells you something and they expect you to keep it a secret, keeping this a secret shows loyalty. Not keeping the matter a secret will show disloyalty. Disloyalty will lose a friend’s trust and it will be really hard to regain a friend’s trust when it’s been lost. When a secret, which is supposed to be kept, gets out the friendship itself is in danger of breaking. Helping a friend is also another component to loyalty. Helping a friend when they don’t think they need it shows much more loyalty than when they ask you for help. Sensing that a friend needs a helping hand is a great ability to have.
As I said earlier, loyalty can be found in animals, your pets, for example a dog. Even though your dog doesn't have the ability to speak it shows its loyalty through actions. Your dog stays by your side through thick and thin. They see when you come home with a frown they go lay on your lap and keep you comfort. When you might be in any danger, could be minor or extreme, your dog protects you and stays loyal to you.
Being loyal builds trust, and those are one of the main characteristics one should have and need in any kind of relationship, being loyal will get you far in life.
Elections Essay #2 - Should Voting in Canada be Mandatory by Law?
Election Days are held to express the views and opinions of the entire country and over the past few years, they have failed to do so. Some consider voting a right that they have and they can choose not to exercise that privilege. Others may not vote due to their insecurities about all of the parties involved. A significant amount of citizens do not vote because they believe that their vote has no impact on the outcome of the election. It is our duty to as citizens of Canada to express our opinions and have a say in how our country operates. The number of non-voters that think they are insignificant to the total outcome of an election add up to around 40%, therefore creating a media circus after every Election Day doubting the legitimacy of the election. Voting should be mandatory in Canada to make all of its citizens influence the way that the country is run.
A major responsibility as a Canadian citizen is to let your voice be heard and your opinion accounted for during an election. We pledge our allegiance to Her Majesty, the Queen, and promise to fulfill our duties as Canadian citizens when taking the Oath of Citizenship. Non-voters consider it a freedom of choice when they choose not to participate in an election but they have to remember that they received the citizenship card to have a say in how the country operates.
Passing a bill through the government and making voting mandatory would be good for the citizens even if the government has to take the initiative. The number of Canadians that neglect elections requires the government to take action and make voting mandatory.
A major responsibility as a Canadian citizen is to let your voice be heard and your opinion accounted for during an election. We pledge our allegiance to Her Majesty, the Queen, and promise to fulfill our duties as Canadian citizens when taking the Oath of Citizenship. Non-voters consider it a freedom of choice when they choose not to participate in an election but they have to remember that they received the citizenship card to have a say in how the country operates.
Passing a bill through the government and making voting mandatory would be good for the citizens even if the government has to take the initiative. The number of Canadians that neglect elections requires the government to take action and make voting mandatory.
Media's Effects on Political Elections
Mao ZeDong once said that power comes out of the barrel of a gun. While that is still true, power also comes out of the manipulated images created to change ones thinking process and behaviour. Through the world of third person communication, technologies have generated various types of media.
Practically, in every attitude of the election campaign will engage the media. In fact, media is the ultimate platform where all political parties will be fighting on. Whether by budging through television and news reports or by purchasing time and space on mass media, parties must always use media to hype voters for support.
Media organizations have their own agenda. They tend to sell themselves to the audiences with their star reporters, journalists, and as much as they can cover over the course of election. Inevitably, news will be discriminately selected, stories will be twisted, and they will be promoted with personal views and reactions. Mass media, therefore, will have powerful influences on voters.
now that the election is over, I have to wonder: did any of the tweets, Facebook groups, or YouTube videos actually make a measurable difference?
Certainly, many of the candidates had active social media accounts, and the a lot of the Twitter hashtags were on fire during the election. But online activity is very difficult to link with the offline behavior of marking a ballot with a golf pencil. Ultimately, once you're behind that cardboard partition, voting is a private action. A secret ballot is, after all, secret.
In many ways, this stands in stark contrast to how things work on the web. Social media marketing and advertising is very measurable. Hyperlinks can easily be tracked to generate a myriad of stats and reports on our collective online behaviour.
It reminds us that 2008 was called the “social media election”, with 1.8 million tweets sent on election day… and that now, in 2012, there are 1.8 million tweets sent every six minutes.
Barack Obama’s appearance at the Democratic National Convention caused over 52,000 tweets to be sent, on average, every minute, resulting in about 4 million tweets total during his 39 minute speech.
And other representatives are jumping on social media too: 9 out of 10 Senators and Representatives have their own Twitter accounts.
The infographic also points out that 4 out of 10 people will use social media to help them make a decision come election day, so the candidates had better do all they can to present themselves in the best light, in 140-characters or less.
People slowly drift away from how things were the way they were, media is growing, the numbers on the social media accounts are growing each minute. In the end not everything on media is going to be good, you can never believe everything you see/hear with the media.
Practically, in every attitude of the election campaign will engage the media. In fact, media is the ultimate platform where all political parties will be fighting on. Whether by budging through television and news reports or by purchasing time and space on mass media, parties must always use media to hype voters for support.
Media organizations have their own agenda. They tend to sell themselves to the audiences with their star reporters, journalists, and as much as they can cover over the course of election. Inevitably, news will be discriminately selected, stories will be twisted, and they will be promoted with personal views and reactions. Mass media, therefore, will have powerful influences on voters.
now that the election is over, I have to wonder: did any of the tweets, Facebook groups, or YouTube videos actually make a measurable difference?
Certainly, many of the candidates had active social media accounts, and the a lot of the Twitter hashtags were on fire during the election. But online activity is very difficult to link with the offline behavior of marking a ballot with a golf pencil. Ultimately, once you're behind that cardboard partition, voting is a private action. A secret ballot is, after all, secret.
In many ways, this stands in stark contrast to how things work on the web. Social media marketing and advertising is very measurable. Hyperlinks can easily be tracked to generate a myriad of stats and reports on our collective online behaviour.
It reminds us that 2008 was called the “social media election”, with 1.8 million tweets sent on election day… and that now, in 2012, there are 1.8 million tweets sent every six minutes.
Barack Obama’s appearance at the Democratic National Convention caused over 52,000 tweets to be sent, on average, every minute, resulting in about 4 million tweets total during his 39 minute speech.
And other representatives are jumping on social media too: 9 out of 10 Senators and Representatives have their own Twitter accounts.
The infographic also points out that 4 out of 10 people will use social media to help them make a decision come election day, so the candidates had better do all they can to present themselves in the best light, in 140-characters or less.
People slowly drift away from how things were the way they were, media is growing, the numbers on the social media accounts are growing each minute. In the end not everything on media is going to be good, you can never believe everything you see/hear with the media.
poetry that moves - when we two parted by Lord Byron
WHEN we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.
The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame. They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell. In secret we met
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.
The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame. They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell. In secret we met
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Summer 100WC
...the light was so bright...
http://100wc.net/
http://100wc.net/
One
step, two steps... the cottony sand beneath my feet danced with the silky fabric
of sea water as they floozies forward and back… ancient soft melody of the nine
sisters dribbles my eardrums… notably peaceful and amiable. But is the great
deep sea really as calming and companionable as it seems on this cloudless twinkly
night? NO! Its mood changes as exceedingly as we breath in and breath out, and
as extreme as a suppose ‘love’ turn on one another. Look at the tower of light,
the light was so bright it guides the ships to safety. But one push of the
button, it will be the cause of the ships’ annihilation…of my extinction.
Monday, June 17, 2013
Genius Hour Docs: Cakes 101
The link to our Prezi:
http://prezi.com/vj0-ykpfz2mv/present/?auth_key=cmheahg&follow=054jkd1fnbzf&kw=present-vj0-ykpfz2mv&rc=ref-27733217
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B554LwLelZArck1Id1dmNDRRVFk/edit (Process Log)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B554LwLelZArWmF4blBNbFVKUlU/edit (Proposal)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B554LwLelZArQzdRdzZ0SWpWNUk/edit (Rubric)
http://prezi.com/vj0-ykpfz2mv/present/?auth_key=cmheahg&follow=054jkd1fnbzf&kw=present-vj0-ykpfz2mv&rc=ref-27733217
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B554LwLelZArck1Id1dmNDRRVFk/edit (Process Log)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B554LwLelZArWmF4blBNbFVKUlU/edit (Proposal)
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B554LwLelZArQzdRdzZ0SWpWNUk/edit (Rubric)
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Motivation By Tony Gurr
Tony Gurr's blog post was somewhat confusing, even after reading it several times. After the first few pictures, I was lost. I had to re-read the post again, at least 2 or 3 times. The style of his blog captured my attention even though some of the text seemed a bit off topic, but the pictures had strong meaning behind them.
I'm scrolling through the blog reading the post from the very beginning to the end, but i stopped at this picture...
I was laughing at this picture for quite a while. I mean look at each of the students in the class, and it totally relates to our classrooms today. You have students eating lunch, talking so much during class, daydreaming, sleeping, fooling around, and the list goes on. Every class room is unique and different, but it seems like there is a lack of motivation and management in the classroom, but it should be about classroom leadership. I agree with Tony that classroom leadership is better than classroom management. Anyone can manage a class, but very few can take leadership in a class. By watching other students take action in classrooms this could make other students motivated to try as well. We need leadership in our classrooms, not for our teachers to motivate us, but our peers and our friends. Depending on certain teachers, there's minimal motivation given to students. For example, someone is failing math class and gives up on studying for the provincial; this shows that the teacher lacks motivations for their students and it seems like teachers just want to teach the course and move on. Isn't the main point of motivation to make sure students are engaging the in course.
We need great teachers to be like this...
I agree with Tony's post on motivation, sometimes we need to change the way things are being taught. Just by giving students a bit more freedom for choices when it comes to work in class, such as assignments and tests students will be a lot more content. Students have to be the first to motivate themselves, and teachers need to allow these changes of students taking over their learning, and to make learning engaging for both students and teachers.
I'm scrolling through the blog reading the post from the very beginning to the end, but i stopped at this picture...
We need great teachers to be like this...
Students need to try new things and experience real-world examples and opportunities not just worksheets and tests, otherwise, how are students going to be motivated and how are they going to learn? If our society lacks motivation than how can we encourage the next generations to do the same if our teachers aren't pushing students and little harder and faster to success. With more choices and voices our classrooms can be a bit more welcoming. Learning should be about doing things that bring joy to yourself and others around you.
I agree with Tony's post on motivation, sometimes we need to change the way things are being taught. Just by giving students a bit more freedom for choices when it comes to work in class, such as assignments and tests students will be a lot more content. Students have to be the first to motivate themselves, and teachers need to allow these changes of students taking over their learning, and to make learning engaging for both students and teachers.
Motivation - By Tony Gurr
Initially as I scrolled through Tony Gurr's post on motivation I was super confused. I quickly scrolled down and all I really saw were pictures with a few sentences in between each. This style of portraying a message was new to me, I've never really seen it done before. I had some doubts of course, how could Tony portray a strong message through a series of pictures? This definitely intrigued me, and I scrolled back up to truly read through the entire post.
As I was reading through the post I found myself entertained and mentally agreeing with pretty much everything he mentioned. One picture that really hit home was:
I believe everything within this picture is true. Think about it, if you didn't like someone why would you take the time to listen to their voice or thoughts or opinions. It may seem harsh to put it that way, but hey we're a bunch of temperamental teenagers here. The fact that we go through so many troubles already with friends, family and school already takes a toll on us. Now add in a teacher we dislike and you have the final missing piece to your puzzle of why we just give up on learning. No matter how good of a person you are it is highly impossible for you to sit there for 2 hours for 10 months trying to absorb information from somebody when you truly dislike them.
The second point I believe is 100% true. Majority of tests are about memorizing facts. We study and study and study and try to drill these facts in to our little brains. We finish the test, and then toss away all that information aside, to be forgotten. Personally, I think testing does motivate students to learn but learn in a "bad" way. It's true we do learn facts when we memorize but tests encourage us to memorize all these facts to get a good grade, but never actually utilize this information and learn from it. I believe when you mark somebody on a test, it's like you're marking someone on how well they can memorize facts and information. We don't learn from memorization. We learn from expanding, using the knowledge, applying the knowledge on things etc... Therefore the more you test, the more we try to memorize, and in the end less information has been absorbed.
How would you feel if you had no voice to speak your mind? Everyday, us kids unwillingly go to school. We sit there for 6 hours while teachers pile on a bunch of homework and tests. We sit there, listening obediently to the teacher who most of the times do not give us many choices or allow us to use our voice to speak up. Through all 16 years of my life in school, it is rare to hear a teacher ask, " What would you guys like to learn in this course?" or "What do you guys want to do?" I believe we should be treated as equals in the classroom instead of the teacher having all the power. It's OUR education, so why can't we have a say in how learn things, or what we should learn? By giving us more choices and voices, it creates a more open and welcoming environment in the classroom. This is the ideal environment for kids and I can guarantee you that kids will thrive.
I fully agree on what Tony had to say. In order for kids to gain motivation to learn, we need to change the ways we're being taught. It's the little things such as more choices, less tests, new ways of gaining knowledge. It's not only the teachers responsibility, the students must also motivate themselves. If both can be achieved then I believe that is when kids will truly be learning.
Motivation By Tony Gurr
Tony Gurr's blog post was some what baffling. I wasn't use to the way of presenting as Tony Gurr has presented his blog. His style of displacement caught my observation and interest. Therefore I refreshed the page and read the post again until I understood what Tony Gurr's post meant. The words seemed to be off topic at the beginning but reading it the second time while relating to the images made me laugh often from the easy jokes that lures the readers in. For example in the beginning when Tony Gurr explained that long lasting passion burns from the inside, he also dared the readers to contradict him. Here I believe he both created a strong hook and also taught the second lesson of teaching: a voice. Tony Gurr posted this blog post to educate others, he made an example of asking for the learner's voice by asking them to contradict him. I may be reading into it too much but here I think that this is a great lesson in teaching others of how to teach.
In the end I made a conclusion: I will not become a professional teacher.
Why? I do not trust myself in holding the decision of a child's future. Just as Tony Gurr's post says: (If the student does not like me or does not have an inner passion for the subject which may require tests or other events, he or she will not learn well.)
I agree with this image, teachers should give the students a reasonable amount of voice and choices so they don't feel as if they are prisoners.
I also understand that a teacher can only create an environment and provide encouragements to the student to be motivated to learn, not to create motivation and try to stuff it down the student's throat. Motivation is ignited by passion, and passion can only be lit by the owner, not a by stander. Emotions can only be obtained by the individual, not by others because it is the individual's emotions, not others. Again teachers must be open, suggestive, encouraging...
Tony Gurr's one of the last images made me laugh too. Ms.Pushover considers if she has choose the right career when all the students are goofing off. Here it is very sad because she did not realize that all children has those times of fooling around. She is not only wasting her own time, she is also throwing away the precious few years that the students have which will determine the rest of their life.
Learning and teaching is everywhere.
Students and teachers are everyone.
Students and teachers are everyone.
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