Journal 8

Overall I enjoyed the class I am not a big fan of English and I think it would have been torture taking the class with any other professor because it would have just been all research papers.  I think using blogs is an awesome idea that should be kept.  I know before this class I didn’t know how to use a blog and it was more entertaining than doing everything on Black Board.  Some of the movies I enjoyed very much and then others I found it hard to write about them and they didn’t hold my interest.  My favorite film was definitely “Waiting for Superman”, it actually brought tears to my eyes, I think if you teach ENC1102 again this movie is a must see.  Having had you for ENC1101, I knew how peer critiques worked but wasn’t too excited about it.  One thing that I found difficult was keeping up with blog comments and who I already commented on or how many comments I need to make.  Also, one thing I can say coming out of this class is I now know how to write a paper in MLA format, I definitely didn’t know before the class started. 

Superman

Public Schools Need a Change

This film has by far been the most interesting in my opinion. Waiting for Superman opened my eyes up to how much children are being let down by the school systems.  Also, it made me realize how difficult it can be to get into a better school system.  The statistics on graduation and drop out rates in the video and online truly astonished me leaving me worried. But Michelle Rhee really intrigued me, everything she has been doing for the school systems and the fact she isn’t afraid of anyone or anything, she takes charge. 

            To begin, until I saw this film I did not even know the name Michelle Rhee, it is not a household name, at least not in Florida.  Maybe it could be because my field of study is education and I want to be a teacher, but after viewing Waiting for Superman I wanted to learn more on Michelle.  In my opinion she is exactly what every school system needs; I admire everything she has done. After reading and listening to her story, she went straight to work. “She closed twenty-three underused schools.  She fired principals whose students did poorly on standardized tests. She cut through roadblocks that were keeping supplies from getting into classrooms. And she negotiated an agreement with teachers, making it possible to remove people who were unqualified or ineffective.”(The Mark of a Leader), she made all of this possible within three years after starting. So many parents do not realize that their children are not getting the great education that they deserve. For example, when a parent asks, “What did you do at school?” from experience most kids reply with, “I don’t know.” or “I don’t remember.” Most parents don’t even question it, but what if they really haven’t done anything and don’t want to say it. I think Michelle Rhee’s response to parents complaining about the schools closing, that they went to and grew up in said it all, “. . . Parents were not seeing that the schools they were getting so emotional about had been failing their children for decades, ensuring that 90% of them would never go on to higher education.”. Why would you want that for your child? She took on so much when filling this position in D.C., more than 47,000 students in 123 public schools. (Students First) Finishing up, “A mere two years later, academic achievement on standardized tests had improved significantly. Elementary school students’ proficiency in math had gone up 20%. DC was the country’s fastest-improving state for fourth-grade reading.”(The Mark of a Leader) The Duval County school system could use someone like Michelle Rhee to take over in my opinion.

            The lottery was brought to my attention and while I knew what it was before watching the film, I never understood the frustration that came along with it. Tears were brought to my eyes as we watched most of the children’s number not be called. When you want something so bad and it is in the hands of a computer system that randomizes names and numbers or on tiny bingo balls, it is scary and nerve-racking. Another fact I learned was the difference in applicants and spaces available in the schools is enormous, it isn’t just ten children have applied and there’s six spots available, it is a much larger number of applicants trying to get in the six spots. I researched the numbers from the video; the fifth grader in D.C. was one of sixty-one children trying to get in one of the twenty-four spots, the first grader in Bronx was one of the 792 applying for one of the forty spots, and the other fifth grader who is a girl was one of 135 trying for one of the ten spots available. (The Myth of Charter Schools) What really hit me was that for most of the students applying, for the better schools it wasn’t because the parents wanted them to go to these schools, the kids wanted it for themselves. Students and parents want schools that don’t have teachers who don’t put forth the effort students deserve, such as teachers in Charter schools; I believe that is why there are so many people that get in the lottery. 

            Graduation should be something that every student looks forward to and works towards, not dropping out. Dropouts are defined as individuals ages 16-24 who are not enrolled in school and have not completed or obtained a GED. (High School Dropout Rates) According to the article I read, from 1967 to 2010 the percentage of dropouts declined from 17% to 7%. That is a large decrease but the percentage in 2010 was still too high in my opinion. (High School Dropout Rates) In 2011 it was at 3.43% and dropped to 3.01% in 2012. Students dropped out most frequently in the tenth grade, then 9^th, followed by 11^th, and 12^th.  This year my neighbor entered 11^th grade and there were weeks when she would come home and someone she knew in 10^th or 11^th grade didn’t like Oakleaf, the school she attends, so they dropped out.  I personally know a large amount of students that were scheduled to graduate this May that will not be, because they don’t want to go to Oakleaf and can’t go to another school so they have dropped out.  I think this has to do more with the teachers and administration at Oakleaf, I say this because I know students at other Clay County schools and they aren’t having these problems, there aren’t a large amount of students dropping out.

            Michelle Rhee really left an impression on me and I admire her. She showed everyone that with hard work and determination, no matter how hard something is, you can make a huge difference. The dropout rates need to decrease, and students need to be excited about learning.  Also, we need the same enthusiasm from the teachers in Charter Schools in every school.  If these things change, the success rates in public school systems can greatly change for the better. 

Journal- Superman

                I really enjoyed watching this video, Waiting for Superman, probably my favorite video we watched his semester.  It opened my eyes to how lucky I was to go to a school in Clay County, obviously the schools in Clay County aren’t the absolute best schools but they are better than most and definitely beat Duval County schools.  I knew about lotteries in the schools but until I saw the emotions on the children’s and parent’s faces it really never meant anything to me.  It brought tears to my eyes watching those little girls not get into the schools they wanted to go to.  Already studying to be a teacher, after watching this makes me want to become one even more; I want to make a difference.  I want to be the one teacher in the school that parents and students know I am there for them and that I am there to educate.  I’m not a parent but I do have sister’s that are primary school age and it worries me that my sisters come home and say that they watch videos (in Duval) or all they did was workbook pages and the teacher didn’t do much with them (in Clay).  I do not think that teachers are strict enough these days, if a class complains enough about what they are supposed to be doing the teacher will put off the work or make the assignment easier for the kids, I mainly am talking about high school with this comment.  Now that I am even more aware of everything in the school systems I know whenever I have children and they are school age I will consider my options very carefully. 

Miss Representation

Unrealistic Visions

“Images in the media today project an unrealistic and even dangerous standard of feminine beauty that can have a powerful influence on the way women view themselves.” (Serdar) In the media, being thin is what is considered to be attractive and beautiful.  The perception that you have to be model thin to get attention from guys leads to eating disorders. According to the video Miss Representation, sixty five percent of women have eating disorders. Not only is keeping a thin body important but so are other aspects of the body; nose, lips, cheek bones, breasts, and many other feature. People spend a lot of money because they are fixated on the “perfect” look and I just see no reason for it.

            On commercials, movies, shows, and magazines girls are presented half naked and sexually.  Girls strive to be what they see even when that leads to hurting themselves. This goal isn’t an impossible goal for everyone but for a good majority of women it is impossible and when women don’t see improvement and are having a hard time that’s when eating disorders occur. Not every girl that claims she’s overweight is which leads to women being underweight. A study showed that “ 75% of women consider themselves overweight when, in reality, only 25% were.”(Rader Programs)  Other problems can go hand in hand with the eating disorders or even cause the eating disorders.  It’s never good to have negative thoughts about yourself, but it’s even worse to have multiple negative thoughts a day. Unfortunately, negative thoughts are the norm these days, and “women experience an average of 13 negative thoughts about their body each day, while 97% of women admit to having at least one, “I hate my body” moment each day.” (Rader Programs) Women shouldn’t have these thoughts every day or any day for that matter, but because of what the media puts out there women are often put down.

            Being thin is only one part of fulfilling the look of the media.  You have to have the nose, and the eyebrows, cheek bones, and so much more. Cosmetic surgery can change a person’s whole appearance and most women are using this to reach the ideal look. A lot of money is spent by women as well, “Americans spent 10.4 billion on cosmetic surgery in 2011.” (Ron Dicker) It amazes me that so much money was spent on cosmetic surgery when we are in a recession and almost every American is in debt. Also, there are risks that come with cosmetic surgeries. Some of these are; nerve damage which cause numbness or tingling, scarring, fluid buildup under the skin, infections, and many other things.  It’s not just about having the look, it also has to be about feeling good and keeping safe. 

            On the other hand, women choose to put themselves through all of this, they have a decision and no one is making them do anything.  More individuals need to learn how to lead their own path in life and be who they are meant to be.  But, it is easy to follow along with others when peer pressure and media get into your head and under your skin. No one is perfect and no body is perfect, everyone has flaws and sadly other people influence our decisions on how we will look and feel. Everyone needs to start taking the negatives people throw our way and turn them into positives, by constructing healthy diets or exercising properly, not damaging our bodies.

            Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. –Oliver Platt The media, in this case is the beholder, voicing their opinion into other people’s minds.  Not all media is negative, there isn’t enough positive though to outset the negative. Unfortunately the opinions lead to eating disorders and tons of money wasted on cosmetic surgeries.  Just think about is, how different the world would be if we didn’t worry about others and were happy within ourselves? Also, think about all the bills that could be paid towards or family vacations you could plan instead of paying for plastic surgeries. Why are we allowing the media and the news to determine how we live our lives and what we think about ourselves?

DIVE!

Everyday Problem

                “Dumpster Diving is definitely not for germophobes, the faint of heart and high-browed souls who look down on we who brave the cold, heat, rain and snow for unwanted items discarded in dumpsters.” (Dumpster Diver’s Paradise) I myself am not a germophobe but I most certainly do not have the heart to go diving into dumpsters.  Some people do it for the right reasons, donating to charities and shelters but then others do it just to save money and giving them the benefit of the doubt who wouldn’t want to save money. “Dumpster diving has become a hot new trend in America. In fact, dumpster divers even have a new trendy name. They call themselves freegans.”(Michael)   Incredible and mind blowing amount of foods are wasted every year, even every day.  Unfortunately a larger group of grocery stores throw it out instead of donating which is why groups of people go and spend time looking through dumpsters.

            First off, why don’t we start off with a few facts a statistics?  It’s obvious that everyone waste food even though we would like to think we do not;  whether its food we buy when dining out and we only it half, not taking the rest to go or if it is food that we buy for the week, forget to eat, and then it expires before we know it. “Consumers in North America and Europe waste about 209 to 253 pounds of food per person every year . . . the amount of food we each waste in the U.S. per year would feed us for about one and a half to two months.” How crazy it that to you, think it all the money that can be saved! It gets even more shocking when you look at it globally, “one-third of the food produced for human consumption is lost, about 1.3 billion tons.”(Webber)

            Some grocery stores throw out the foods that will be expiring in two days or if the packaging says “sell by:” and the date is the next day. These foods gets taken off the shelves and thrown into dumpsters in the back, some of these dumpsters are behind gates, and some aren’t.  After doing some research on a local grocery store, Publix, is donating to Second Harvest from stores in Clay, Duval, Nassau, and many more local counties and other states.  242 different Publix’s donate to Second Harvest, perishable and nonperishable items. “The company estimates it has already donated thousands of pounds of food to Feeding America food banks since the programs pilot and rollout over three years ago.” (Second Harvest) Pounds of foods like cheese, milk, meats, fruits, and vegetables are sent out on trucks. As I mentioned above sometimes the dumpsters are locked behind fences. This puts the dumpster divers (freegans) at danger because hopping that gate is illegal, the type of people diving into the dumpsters are the same type of people that are going to neglect the laws and will be determined to get the food.

            Unlike the above reason some people do it just because it’s easier and cheaper.  Dive! The video we watched started with the main guy diving through different dumpsters and taking home most of the food to his house.  The few times his wife was spoken to on camera she once made it seem that it wasn’t that they didn’t have the money to buy groceries but  they didn’t want to spend the money. I think that he was wasting the food by always bringing it home, this is a negative I see in dumpster diving. The main guy on the video said that most of the time the meat thy brought home wasn’t able to fit in the freezer and it sat in the house and rotted. Just because you are pulling the food out of the dumpster and its not being throw away and wasted by the store doesn’t mean you are not wasting it. 

            All in all dumpster diving is not a bad thing if you are doing it for the right reasons.  Shelters and charities are always offering room and food for thousands of people, in and out every day and they need more food to guarantee every person is fed. The dumpster divers that search every night to send food for people in more need than themselves are fantastic people.  The freegans probably aren’t likely in donating food, as defined in one article, “freegans consider dumpster diving to be a great way to save money on groceries. Others do it because they want to live more simply.”(Michael)

Journal-Dive

After watching the film Dive! in class last week I was educated on a lot more than what I thought dumpster diving was.  Honestly, I was ignorant to the subject of dumpster diving, when I hear dumpster diving I think of homeless jumping from dumpster to dumpster looking for food, that was not the case in the video.  There are people that go to different grocery stores after closing and collect all the left over, thrown out foods from the day.  They take what they can and it is usually a lot because the grocery stores will throw out anything soon to expire, such as the next day or if there’s one bad avocado in the bunch the whole shipment is thrown out.  But there are risks that come with it, getting sick, dealing with police officers, and not having enough room to store it all. I would personally never do this and I do not know anyone in my life that has had to. And if I did ever have to do this because of financial situations and if I had a child I would not subject them to this because it can be very dangerous, they can become ill from it and I see no point in having to put a child through it.  I would find another way to feed my child but that is just me, I understand in the video the child was never sick but everything’s a mystery and anything can happen.  The guy in the video has so much food at his house and stated that it was just rotting, so what is the point in taking all that food from the dumpster and bringing it to his  house… On the other hand I think bringing it to shelters and charities is a great idea and that if people are going to do this that it should be brought to shelters. 

American Dream

Turn It into Reality

                “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” (Walt Disney, Brainy Quotes) After listening to the speech given last week I began to think about my dreams and goals and continued to question, am I working as hard as possible to make my dreams become reality? The final conclusion to this question was no.  There are so many opportunities people pass up every day that can assist in pursuing their dreams. Reading through an article online it was shocking what little hope there is to land a dream job. In a survey of 8,000 people, “just less than 30 percent of people land their dream job or work in some related field.” (Quartz, Huff Post Business) Taking advantage of things such as community service, internships and other opportunities that pertain to your dreams can give you a great head start. Also, realizing and using the mistakes you have made and the obstacles you have overcome makes it easier for your dreams to come true. 

            First off, everyone makes mistakes and we either have to learn to live with them or we just try to ignore them. From previous experience I’ve found it is easier to live with mistakes made and take a lesson from them than just try to ignore it like nothing wrong has ever happened. Becoming a teacher has always been my biggest dream and my junior year I started really working towards this dream. I started in the Early Childhood Program at my high school and while there each time I made a mistake I taught myself how to correct the mistake. One time while in the program I let the children play instead of working on the lesson; I was suspended from teaching the kids for two days but on my day back I made sure the lesson that was supposed to be taught three days ago was taught and every child understood. At first I didn’t quite comprehend why I was in trouble for this but after reflecting on what I allowed I realized that even though the children are four they have plenty to learn and they also have time set aside for playing.  Another mistake I think I made but needed to make was last year during spring semester. For my field experience I wanted it to be easy and fun so I decided to spend my time in a local high school; I didn’t enjoy it at all and I couldn’t stand working with the older kids.  Lesson learned was for my dreams to succeed I cannot take the easy way out. 

            Another way is becoming involved within the community, schools, and businesses.  Starting off, being involved in college connects you with important, higher up people in your career choice. Working with more experienced people can help with recommendation letters for internships or even better, jobs or can lead to special opportunities. Multiple studies show that odds are an internship will land you a job. In the most recent years the percentage of people offered jobs after an internship has gone up; “In 2008 employers extended job offers to nearly 70 percent of their interns, up from 57 percent in 2001.” (Caswell, Statics Show Internships Lead to Success)  After working a while with the children during one of my field experiences I was invited to one of their fieldtrips by the day care director, I considered this a special opportunity. They also told me I may come back at any time just to interact and spend time with the children, which is not feedback every college student receives.  After receiving my AA I hope to land an internship at the elementary school right down the street from my house. It is a great school and if I was to do well then maybe I can land a job there after I finish college and earn my Bachelors degree and that would conclude my dream. But, I have a feeling that after the dream I have planned at the moment is reached it will not stop there and I will want to go for my Masters degree.

Courage and determination are two more important ingredients to fulfilling ones goals and dreams.  I will be the first one to admit that I lack courage seventy five percent of the time; I have a fear of failing and an even worse fear of people seeing me fail. Since courage has never been a strong suit of mine, the past few months my determination to work on this problem has risen.  I am not afraid to make a fool of myself anymore because I am determined to become an awesome teacher and if it means others seeing my downfalls and confusion, well it is what it is.

Basically if you are willing to work towards your dream to make it a reality you have a great chance of a positive outcome.  I know this is cliché’ but follow your heart and listen to your head as well, unless they disagree then listen to your heart it knows what will make you happy.  Working towards your dreams has many different components to make them come true. Working through mistakes and taking it for what is head on is just one small part, also becoming more involved to get ahead, and having enough courage and being determined are all things that can help out.