Is Technology Benefiting Education

Yes.  Enough said.  You don't even have to step into a classroom to get a college degree anymore.  As long as people are being honest about it (which is always an issue) then technology is a great thing in the education field.  As long as people don't abuse the technology it will help.  Browsing useless websites is abusing it.  Using it for information is not.

Banning Spanish or Any Other Language

Banning Spanish or any other language in the United States would be a terrible idea.  What happened to the land of the free?  This country was based on freedom whether it be religion, language or anything else.  Our Forefathers would not be very happy with us if we went against that.  If we banned all other languages, then wouldn't other countries ban all other languages except for there national language?  People would have to spend much more time learning a second, third or fourth language in order to do business or even visit another country.  If I were to talk about Spanish only, it's not that hard to learn.  English is the international language.  Just learn enough of the other language to get by if you needed to.  I think any country banning a language would lead to worse problems than we already have today.

Sales of Organs

Pros of selling organs:  The people selling make money.  The people receiving get to keep living.  The government could tax the sales.

Cons:  They could be overpriced.  The government could overtax the sales.  Overpopulation could set in because people would be living longer.  If you can sell your organs then the debate on abortion would continue.  Doctors might have a moral dilemma with putting an organ into someone that had been sold for profit. 

What is composition?

What is this class about?

To me, composition means spreading information to others that need it in the form of text.  The reason I use the term "text" is because it's not longer by means of pen and paper necessarily, but by email or some form of technology.  I think that most people believe that composition is just essays and books, but it covers so much more than that.  You can be reading instructions on how to install a new dishwasher.  Isn't that technically composition?  It's hard to answer this question because people have different connotations of words.  This might be because of the different types of composition that they have read.  In today's world there is no way to go about your business by speaking to everybody you meet face to face, although direct confrontation is important.  I think it has changed drastically in the past 60 or 70 years.  Composition changes daily.  Enough said.

Wear Purple Day Reflection

        People are afraid of change.  I have to admit that I am not someone that likes a major change everyday, but that doesn't mean I am afraid of it.  If someone were to say that we are a hetero-sexist society would be 100% correct.  It's too big of a change for people to deal with.  I think that people are being brain-washed by the Fred Phelps of the world, into thinking that homosexuality is immoral and should be frowned upon.  Once again, I'm not saying that I support gay marriage or homosexuality, but I'm not someone that is against it either.  I think it is just a part of society like anything else.  It's not like homosexuals are running around the streets causing problems everywhere.  They are just trying to to live their lives the way they believe they should be lived.  "How we treat one another is what civility is about," sums up how everybody should live their lives.  As long as nobody is causing a problem, everybody should be able to get along. 
         I think the same thing is true for women suffrage.  Men are afraid of the woman controlling the world.  Their father, and their father's father all taught them that the man should bring home the bacon and wear the pants in the house.  As soon as a woman possesses a little bit of power, the man wants to get a divorce because or his demotion.  I completely understand why the man would feel like less of a man.  But to adapt to this, the man just needs to deal with it. 

Free Write - Drama Queen

I think that the term "drama queen" is a sexist term.  I believe that it is only directed toward females.  I have heard "drama king" as well.  Most of the time when you have a drama king and a drama queen, they are friends or are associated with each other some way or another.  That's why you have to divide it into the two terms.  It would be confusing if you called both of them drama queens.  If you call a guy a drama queen, it's kind of like a double insult.  You are calling them dramatic and a girly-man.  I have never been on the receiving end of being called a drama king of queen so I think that either term is funny.  I'm a mellow person.  If someone called me dramatic, they would end up being the dramatic one for making a mountain out of a mole-hill by calling a mellow person dramatic.  It's typical for women to be more dramatic than men, especially in high school.  This is probably because girls have nothing better to do and don't confront people with their problems directly.  Mean Girls, the movie, is a perfect example of this; girls going behind other girls' backs and starting a rumor that snowballs into something else.  Drama is complicated.  That's why I don't get caught up in it.

Free Write - Honesty

Honestly, I don't see why people would lie on a paper.  You have made it clear that you are open to all opinions.  On this particular essay, you even said that the faculty was split on the issue so no matter what your feeling toward it was, you were going to be right.  I understand why people would want to lie about their feelings in an essay, but not in this class.  You are a very open-minded person and want to understand students' points of view on the issue.  I don't know if a teacher can ever be 100% sure that all of their students are being honest in their writing.  I think it will stick out like a sore thumb.  If a student is very negative in class and hardly participates, but then they write about how awesome grammar is, the instructor might find that a bit fishy.  It kind of frustrates me.  It makes people look like all they want to do is get through the class and not get anything out of it.  I hope that nobody in this class will continue to do this.  We have had some good discussions and I honestly enjoy listening to opinions.  We have a diverse class in terms of age and background.  I don't like cheaters.  That's what I'm going to call the liars.

Rap

This rap goes out to the one and only Tre Cop

For my first attempt at a journal rap
It's probably gonna sound like it has some gaps
No promises one day i'll be famous and rich
But feelin' this flow is a cure for the itch

I said I would write about my favorite songs
but I'm sure that would take just way too long
there is one song that I'd like you to find
by the artist Casper called the Cha Cha Slide

This series of moves found at high school dances
makes people look good as it truly enhances
the dancing style, but it takes a while
to get the song down and to  move like the Nile

so now I'm gonna wrap up this four stanza rap
I gotta go find my Cavalier cap
practice starts in a couple of hours
then lift some weights for total power

15 Things

1.  I played the trumpet for 8 years including concert, jazz and marching band.

2.  I was told by my dentist that I don't have wisdom teeth.  (I guess I'm not wise)

3.  I worked at KFC/AW for 2 years.

4.  I can put contacts in, but I can't take them out.

5.  My car's name is Carlos.

6.  I have completed 3 years of Spanish.

7.  I tore every ligament in my ankle when I was running to first base in a baseball game.

8.  Even though I am only 5'11'', I can dunk a basketball.

9.  My favorite color is orange.

10.  I don't think I could survive without Ramen Noodles.

11.  I'm really good at ping-pong.  (any takers?)

12.  I hate it when people argue about politics, especially when they haven't voted in years.

13.  I think the number 13 is very unlucky.

14.  The number one goal on my bucket list is to visit every major league ballpark.

15.  I don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

Literacy Behind Bars - Annotated Bibliography

This selection is about how a man in jail was able to teach himself to become more literate than ever.  When Malcolm X was in prison, he chose to constantly read and copy the dictionary to gain knowledge.  It's as simple as that.  He began copying pages of the dictionary at a time.  Malcolm would also stay up all night reading, but making sure the guards at the prison didn't see him as they passed by his cell every hour.  He refers to his education as "homemade".  Now he takes a book with him everywhere.


X, Malcolm. "Literacy Behind Bars." Norton Field Guide to Writing. 2nd ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 2010. Print.

Mother Tongue - Annotated Bibliography

Amy Tan explains the different types of "Englishes".  Includes information about people using different dialects yet still being literate.  The majority of the reading is about how her mother had a terrible Chinese accent and how people treated her differently because of it.  One incident happened at a hospital.  Her mother went in to get results for a CAT scan and spoke in perfect English.  The hospital still treated her poorly after they told her they had lost her results.  She had to call her daughter, Amy, and have her speak with the hospital employees in order to get an apology.  After telling about her mothers' encounters, Amy writes about her personal experiences with language and what she had to do to improve her reading and writing skills. 


Tan, Amy. "Mother Tongue." Norton Field Guide to Writing. 2nd ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and    Company, 2010. Print.

"the secret of Education lies in respecting the pupil"

I was in an 8th grade science class and we had to do this big weather project that took no less than a week to do complete the entire assignment.  The teacher said that we had to present the entire project to the class in a 10 minute speech.  I lost 20% on the test because I made a note card to do my speech off of.  I guess we weren't allowed to use one and all of the information was supposed to be on a poster.  That was one of the hardest classes to recover from because everything after that wasn't any easier.  You could call it a lack of respect for the student of a lack of information given.  Either way it was a lose-lose situation.  The funny thing about the teacher is that she taught me how to run the hurdles very well.  I think that's the only reason she liked me at all.  It was a mind game that got old really quick.