Managing choices

            This blog post topic really made me sit back and think about the choices that I've made, make and will make in my life.  I really have to think over the choices I make because my choices do not only affect me but they also  affect my young son and my family.  When you have a family and children you really need to become selfless and make the decisions that will be best for them first then you.  Usually doing things out of the spur of the moment are usually out of the question, planning is definitely you're friend.

            I am currently going to school for nursing.  So that is my passionate and I would venture to say that it is my talent as well.  So in the future I hope that my talent and passion and knowledge for nursing and in life will lead me to a nursing job once I am done with school.  Also I think one of my gifts and talents in life is being a mother.  So I thrive daily to be the best mom that I can be!

              

Emperor's Club reflections

1.  Yes, I do think some of the statements seem correct.  In fact immaturity is eventually out grown, ignorance can be educated, drunkenness can be sobered, but stupid does not last forever.  I believe that Mr. Hundert says this to Bell so that he will see that him acting inappropriately in class will not be tolerated.  I think he also said this to embarrass Bell.

2.  Mr. Hundert is so shaken by Bell because he is not use to the type of behavior Bell exhibits.  Bell is rude and mouthy to Mr. Hundert.  He interrupts Mr. Hundert and acts inappropriately in class.

3.  Bell has a big influence on the other boys.  He has a such a big influence on them since they boys have never been exposed to the behavior like Bell's before.  They follow him, like when they rowed over to the all girls school and also when they played the prank on Mr. Hundert.  They probably think what Bell is doing it cool and fun.

4.  When determing who will be in the contest Mr. Hundert is faced with the ethical decison to either keep the contest as is, where Bell would not be in the contest, or to drop the third contestant that deserves to be in the contest so Bell can be in, even though he should not be.

5.  During the contest Mr. Hundert notices that Bell is cheating.  Mr.  Hundert gives Bell a question that he would not know that answer to, and one that would not be found on the cue cards, so Bell lost.  When Bell was confronted about his cheating he was rude and disrespectful to Mr. Hundert.

6.  I think that in a way Mr. Hundert choose to host the contest again because he felt bad about changing Blyth's grade so that he was not in the contest but Bell was.  He did this so there could be one real winner and maybe that Bell could redeem himself from cheating before.  I think he hopes that meeting with his students again, especially Bell, they will show how they have grown into fine young men.  However, Mr. Hundert's hopes are squashed when he finds out that even in this contest as a grown man Bell is cheating.  Even though he is disappointed the other students give him a plaque showing Mr. Hundert how positively he has affect their lives.

7.  I would say sometime we believe that we would or want to be successful at any cost.  We may want something so bad we don't care what we have to do or sacrifice to get what he want.  When Bell is confronted by Mr. Hundert about his cheating his son over heard the whole conversation while he was in the bathroom stall.  This issue is never resolved in the film.

8.  I think Mr. Hundert returns to teaching because he does see that he can have a large and positvie affect on students life.  After receiving the plaque from his old students he feels very appreciated and acomplished as a teacher.  Also once he starts teaching again Blyth's son is one of his new students.

9.  I think that Mr. Hundert has students think for themselves and to think creatively for themselves.  This would be one way that Mr. Hundert teaches using the probelm posing aspect from the Banking Concept of Educatjion.

10.  Mr. Hundert shows his students how to think for themselves and to respect other people.  The study of the classics showed the students that they could make a difference in the world, much like the people that they study.

The best teacher

            Sometimes the best teachers in life are the untrained ones.  When I was younger, I don't ever remember what grade I was in anymore, every night my mom use to set aside time with me before bed time and I would read out of my chapter book to her.  I recall that this was one of my favorite times of the whole day she let me read to her, making me more comfortable and more confident in my reading skills, as well as an overall better reader.  When I needed help finding resources to write papers my mom would always help me out.  Not only this but when writing papers, when I was younger, and I needed ideas she always seemed to have the best topics and ideas.  She did not only help me with ideas but she also encouraged me to use my freedom and write about whatever was on my mind, or whatever I was passionate about. When I was in middle school I absolutely hated math!  I remember growing up my dad use to always help me with math problems.  Also he would always look after my math homework once I had completed it to help me with any problems that I had gotten wrong.  He would help me solve the problem, not just do it for me like some parents might.  I never really thought about it before today, but my parents have always helped me out with and throughout my education.  Throughout my life they have probably been my best teachers not only with my education but also with life lessons as well. 

Banking Concept of Education

1.    Friere uses that concept of "narration sickness" to say that education is suffering.  He says that there is the subject, which is the teacher, and the listening objects, which would be the student.  Friere is basically saying that teachers get in front of their class and talk "at" the students giving them 'lifeless' facts and information which the student must retain and memorize the information.

2.  With the standardized testing in high schools today these tests are simply facts.  The questions are not relatable to life, and many times these tests quite frankly are just a test of students memorizing skills.  They may not get how the question connect to our daily lives, or how they can use the information on a daily basis after learning it.  To me if students don't know how they can use the information or if they can not relate it the their own lives then they will not be as interested in actually learning it, they will just memorize it to pass a test or quiz.

3.  I actually currently have a teacher at USF that, to me, uses the banking concept of education to teach.  When reading the list that Friere had there were many that came to mind when I thought about this teacher.  My teacher makes slides and just simply reads them to us, he does not elaborate or try and explain further.  When someone asks the teacher a question he isn't sure how to answer in a different way so he simply re-reads the slide.  Soon I think students caught on not to ask questions because he would read the slide again then move on.

                 He talks 'at' us not relating the subject matter to real life.  We only have test and quizzes so we must memorize the bland material then take a test or quiz to show how much we have memorized.  This information is rarely retained after the quiz or the test because I never  understand the way things work or why the work or how I will someday use the information.  To me this is a disadvantage to my education.  It is nothing personal at all, I just dislike this teaching method.

4.   In my college experience I had a Composition teacher who was an excellent teacher.  Yes, I believe that she did practice the concepts of problem posing education.  She had quite the opposite teaching method of that of the banking concept of education.  In the class we wrote a lot of papers as well as read many novels and other pieces of literature.  When she spoke about the literature you could tell she had study it, possibly even read it a million times.  She was interested, she asked us questions and made us think about the answers.  She didn't just talk at us and make us memorize information she had us read the material then we would talk to each other about it.   She wouldn't sit up at the front the whole class period and give us dead facts about the piece.

                We were not only graded by taking test but we were also graded for class projects and our writing pieces.  On our writing assignments she would give us feedback and give us comments to improve on our skills.  When we asked questions she found a way to answer until we understood.  Also she gave us many different resources to find things for our papers, like telling us about online resources etc and she taught us how to site these sources.  She also taught us how to create a resume, which would eventually come in handy for us all.  To me she was an excellent teacher that made me think, not just memorize.

5.  I think that the Athenians, from Neil Postman's "My Graduation Speech", would have embraced the concept of problem-posing education.  The Athenians were very community oriented so dialogue and communication were big parts of their community.  I would say all but one of my classes at USF this semester practice the problem-posing teaching style.  The only course that I have that is strictly banking concept theory would be my Micro Biology course.  I think I would benefit more if it was taught the same way.  It is a tough subject to begin with, then only to be taught to memorize information and everything is so lifeless, it is hard to learn and concentrate. 

Letter From Birmingham Jail

Response to LFBJ:

     "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" said Martin Luther King Jr. in his letter from Birmingham jail.  To me this letter was much needed after the letter that the clergymen sent to King.  In their letter they made it sound like he needed to step back.  They stated they want no violence, that King's attempts were basically useless and the racial issues in Birmingham would work themselves out eventually.  King wants the clergymen to know that he is not an outsider coming in to cause problems, it is quite the opposite.  King was invited to come there as a part of an organization, in which he is the president of, he is not there to cause violence.  The organization and King see the racial inequality in Birmingham and they know they must address it.  King also makes it known that Birmingham has a lot of racial violence, like bombings and injustice in courts against blacks.  He wants the clergymen to see that his work is not violent and that he sees the facts and sees that Birmingham needs help with equality.  Also King points out that he did try talking to leaders of Birmingham and basically got only broken promises.  There was a need to take things a step further if he could not get anywhere with them.  The letter from King shows he is very passionate and feels very strong about equality.  Just from reading the letter I can tell he was a very good leader for this task.  He makes valid points and makes the facts none to others that may overlook them.

Worksheet with Clergymen’s Letter and Civil Rights movement  (due on blog, Friday Oct. 14)

1.)    Passive resistance is challenging a larger power by non-violent methods.  One obvious person that practiced passive resistance would be Martin Luther King Jr. he is this through non-violent protests and sit ins.  Another person who practiced passive resistance would be Rosa Parks, she had a problem with sitting in the back of the bus so she non-violently made her point by not moving to the back of the bus when a white person wanted her spot.

2.)   

 

The first word that came to my mind after viewing this picture was segergation.  It is easy to see that all the white people are sitting in the front of the bus and the blacks are sitting in the back.  There wasn't any information attached with the photo when I found it but I would obviously have to assume that this was around the time in which Martin Luther King Jr. and others were fighting for equality.

This is a picture of three young boys protesting that they do not want to go to school with blacks.  This picture clearly shows discrimination against black.  One of the reactions to this photo was that it is even sadder that the pictures shows young boys.  It is obvious to me that we get our values etc from our family members and friends and to me it is obvious that these children were taught to be racist.  They didn't know any better growing up.  This is something that we have for the most part changed.  However I don't see why parents would teach their children to hate another race, there are way more important things that we should be teaching our children.

3.)    I do believe there is still discrimination today in our community.  One examle took place just recently I believe it was this summer.  There were a couple men that were trying to get into a local bar called the 18th Admendment and they were told they would not be able to enter.  The men stated that they were dressed like other white men they were getting into the bar and they were not allowed in because they were African American.  These men were college graduates from Augustana college and they believed that because of their skin color they were not allowed in, this story was in the Argus Leader months ago and it really caught my eye that indeed people may still be discriminated against.

Pathos, Logos, Ethos

4.)  The topic of my next essay is inequality and discrimation towards same sex couples and marriages.  I can incorporate ethos in my next essay  by showing people my voice through my essay and explaining my points.  I can incorporate logos in by telling people the facts, and show there is a large discrimination against gays in America. 

Sculpture Walk

“Pagean Apples” by Chris Kilbane

"The beauty of knowledge can turn to misery."

    1.

a.  Tree

b.  Flame/fire

c.  Movement

d.  Vibrant

d.  Symbolic

2. There are many things that I like about “Pagean Apples”.  My eye traveled throughout this whole piece.  Just from looking at the sculpture I could clearly tell it was a tree of some sort, but after reading the small sentence at the bottom of the sculpture it all made sense to me.  I like how this piece makes you think and is thought provoking and symbolizes more than what you may think from just a quick glance.  I also love the colors used in the “fruit” instead of using fruit on the tree square boxes of flames were used instead, to possibly represent danger.
3.  Overall there weren’t many things I disliked about the piece.  One of the only things I didn’t really like was that I had to look up so high to see it.  Besides a little viewing inconvenience I liked the sculpture.
4. Yes, if there was a proper place to display this sculpture I would purchase it.  One reason I would purchase the piece is because it is visually appealing to me.  Also I think it would look really good in a garden, since it does look like a tree, but it would contrast the other trees or plants well and really make you see and think about the differences.
5. I believe that the subject matter of this sculpture represents the tree of knowledge, from the Bible.  You can obviously make out the tree and then where the fruit should be there are cubes of flame there.  Fruit is normally round and one color and these boxes full of flame show quite a contrast to what would normally be there as fruit.  The sculpture is very interacting with the viewer.  You see it and you can’t help but stare and it and wonder why the tree has flames on it.
6. Yes, this sculpture has a strong frontal presentation.  Also this sculpture is interesting from all sides and angles, it look just like a tree as you walk around it.  As you look from the different angles you can see how it is much like a real tree.  The natural lighting on the sculpture when I viewed it was very strong, it was really bright out, but when you look at the sculpture in person the light really hits on the flame boxes, bringing them out.  The sculpture was made out of iron; it was sculpted into a tree.
7. I would say that the sculpture is angular, even though it looks very similar when switching angles it is not geometric.  The sculpture to me was detailed.  The bark on the tree was textured and the colors on the boxes made them stand out.  The sculpture was both smooth and rough, the bark was rough much like real bark, and the flame boxes were smooth.  This sculpture was representational of the tree of knowledge.

 

"Pagean Apples" By:  Chris Kilbane

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Rapturous Arcs” By:  Gregory Mendez

1.

1. Free sprit
2. Rejoicing
3. Refreshing
4. Energizing
5. Graceful

2. There are many things that I like about this sculpture.  It made me feel free.  You see a woman standing on her tip toes and you can tell there is a breeze her eyes are closed, and she is calm.  I like that is sculpture makes me feel carefree, and that it doesn’t hurt my head trying to figure it out.
3. I honestly really like this piece, so there isn’t a lot that I dislike about it.  I like it the way I would say that it needs more detail but it is the simplicity of it that makes it beautiful.
4. No, even though I really like the sculpture and can appreciate it I don’t think it should be a piece just for one person.  Even though one of the goals is to have it purchased, I like that it is out for everyone to see.  The public location for it is good; we can close our eyes and also become free like the nameless woman.
5. I think this represents a free sprit, a carefree soul.  Once again I think the sculpture symbolizes grace, freedom and careless thoughts.  The sculpture is visually interacting, because of the many lines and the way it was made it amazing.
6. Yes, this sculpture does have a strong frontal presentation.  From other angles, such as the back it is not as visually appealing simple because this is a person whom which you can see through.  I believe this sculpture is best viewed from the front.  The lighting works well with this piece, because it comes right through giving us the feeling or lightness and the feeling of being free.  The material has been bent into lines to form the figure of a woman.
7. The work is angular, even though it is more visually appealing to look at it from the front, you can still see the differences from all angles.  The surface is not enhanced with colors or any extra textures.  At first I was going to say that this sculpture was concrete, however when I thought about it again I would say that it is representational.  As I said before I think this woman represents feeling free, feeling light and having no worries.

"Rapturous Arcs" By:  Gregory Mendez

“Choosing From Within” By:  Alisa Looney

1.  
1. Red
2. Movement
3. A person
4. A butterfly
5. Dancing
6. Rejoicing

2. First the color of the sculpture brought me to it, red and only red.  I also liked the clean smooth shapes of it.  I liked how I couldn’t figure it out right away, how I had to step back from different angles and take a second look.
3. This may sound a bit contrasting, however, I did like the color of the sculture but I didn’t like how it didn’t have more color.  In the description at the bottom of the sculpture it talked about how this was representing the opening of new possibilities in our life and our decision to say yes to life but this is only one color.  I feel that life leads us on many paths and this should have been more than one color to represent that a little more.
4. No, this sculpture is one that I feel like should be outside in the public.  Maybe it should be placed at a park or outside a building.  I wouldn’t want to personally own it even though it is nice.
5. As I said before it represents us saying yes to life and new opportunities.  It does this by going off path and showing up movement all around the sculpture, just like a path. 
6. Yes, I think the sculpture had a strong frontal presentation.  Also the sculpture is interesting from all sides and angles.  To me it seemed when I look at the sculpture from one angle it looked like a person, maybe even a dancing person, but then when I switched sides the sculpture almost looked like a butterfly.  The natural lighting did not seem to affect the sculpture in any way.  The material has been formed into shapes and bended and colored red in this sculpture.   
7. This piece is angular, as I said before it looks like a different thing depending on what angle you are looking at.  The piece is fairly simplified.  The surface does not have any texture it is just smooth but it is enhanced by the red color.  This sculpture is representational for our journeys in life and saying yes to life.

"Choosing From Within" By:  Alisa Looney