Blogging Around: Chelsea and

In Chelsea's post where she connects collaboration on the volleyball court to collaboration in a classroom, she talks about how there needs to be leaders and followers and how there needs to be a trust factor between all of the collaborators.

I found this very interesting how you tied sports to academics. Soccer season ended about a month ago and I could connect a lot of what you said to my team. I noticed how 90% of the time it wasn't the best team the triumphed but the team that could utilize the strengths and weaknesses of each individual player to reach a common goal. The leaders, whether they were given the title of captain or not, were the players who could unite the team and allow members to use their strengths.
I certainly agree with you on the importance of collaboration in school, but I feel that collaboration does not occur as often as it appears. I remember in junior high how there were, unfortunately, the people that no one wanted in their group. And often, those people would be excluded from the group because people thought that they had nothing to contribute. But, if you took enough time to figure out what that person was good at, then the project could be completed using everyone's strengths. This returns to your idea of balance, and how it is the leader's job to identify the strengths of each individual and the followers job to use their strengths, and when both of those roles are filled, then the goal can be reached in the most efficient manner.

My second comment is on Fatima's iMedia post where she asserts that the female image of Disney characters teaches young girls that they should be really thin and seductive and young boys that they can only like the 'hot' girls.

Fatima I respect your opinion, but I just don't agree with you. I grew up on these videos, and I watched them for pure enjoyment. I didn't once think, "I can only like girls who's stomach is narrower than her hips." I find Disney's depiction on their female characters absurd and ridiculous like you do, and they probably have that depiction of them because of society's pressure, but I don't think that a young child is going to interpret that message from these movies. Maybe I have this view because I am a boy, but I remember having a discussion similar to this last year in English class and many people agreed with me, including girls.

iMedia: Pachelbel Canon in D Major

Song

This is a rather famous piece, and if you haven't hear of it then I would be shocked. It is the traditional wedding song that is played by a string quartet at some point be it at the reception or as the bride walks down the aisle. But no matter how forward thinking some people are or revolutionary, this piece is a must have. It is comforting to me at least to know that no matter how far we move ahead, we still maintain solid traditions from our past. It is sad thought that most of what we remember of the past is song. Ask anyone questions about history and my guess is that few will answer correctly. History is our warning. If we don't heed it, then it is bound to repeat.
Pachelbel Canon has always been one of my favorite pieces of music. I had this old cassette tape that I would fall asleep to each night that had soothing ocean waves breaking on the shore in the background. It was a part of my childhood, and it's one of my top favorite songs right up there next to The Gambler, the artist is escaping me. To me Pachelbel Canon always cleared my mind and help me relax. It is too bad that I ended up playing the tape one too many times, and now you can't hear the middle section of the composition, and I have misplaced it. The soft, placid notes will always resonate in my head when I want them to.

Connection: King Lear to the Erosion of a Mountain

King Lear starts off as a mountain in the beginning of the play and as the play progresses, the mountain slowly begins to erode and become one of the Appalachians, which in my opinion shouldn't be considered mountains. His daughters are the constant force of the elements that batters the cliffs and courses through the cracks in the rocks during Spring. Goneril is the wind howling in her wrath. Regan is the water that passively pushes itself through any obstacle, but sometimes turns to ice and snow and becomes a blizzard. And Cordelia, well, she is the animals that migrate elsewhere when the sides of the mountain become too harsh, but return when the snow melts the grass begins to appear. Seeing the four "major" characters in the way really helps me to characterize and understand who each of them is. Since I find Shakespeare difficult to understand, I find that I make sense of his works best when I can identify what type of person each of the characters is, and that helps me decipher there responses to the different situations and predict with more accuracy what I believe will occur. But, my analogies of the characters will change as situations that I couldn't explain with the existing ones are explained to me.

360 Degree: Grades

One of the first things that comes to mind when you think of school is grades. But, are grades important? Are they necessary?
School should be about learning, not about how well you do on a test. Why must we quantify learning? In doing so, learning no longer becomes enjoyable. It becomes a chore, a drudgery. You study to pass a test, not for yourself. Education becomes a game of survival where those who are most successful have the most opportunity. How high you climb in social ladder is determined by your grades in high school or even junior high. Should the weight of that all be placed upon the shoulders of adolescents who at that period in their life want nothing to do with school, unless, in my personal opinion, something has gone haywire in their head.
Without grades, where would the world be? Some people have to succeed and others have to fail in order for the world to function. Grades are a way of determining who those people are. Also, how would be know if a child needed help in an aspect of their learning if grades didn't show that to us? And, is there another option other than grades and test scores to determine those most in need? Without the competition in schools, how can we get students to achieve their full potential if there is no incentive? What I see when this happens though, is that there are some students who attempt to reach the incentive, and then there are others who decide that it is impossible to achieve and stop trying. Is is possible to find a middle ground or an alternative measurement for success?

Metacognition: Kite Runner Essay

I found that it was extremely helpful to start with the body paragraphs, move to the conclusion and then back up and finish with the introduction paragraph. That way, I could phrase my thesis to fit my paragraphs, not the other way around. I normally don't do it this way, and I often have a difficult time letting go of ideas that I really like in the opening paragraph, so I think that this approach will benefit me for the future. Also, as I was writing the essay, I found myself stopping and going off on some irrelevant tangent that was not related to my thesis at all, but were very intriguing possibilities that I unfortunately had to omit due to the narrow focus of my thesis. I like this about my thinking, that its sporadic; it jumps around. But, this thinking really irritates me when it comes to writing a paper because I can never stay focused. I just want to write where my mind goes, but I can't allow myself to. With this essay, if I were to have more time to squeeze out the details, I would place most of my effort into the opening paragraph. I really wanted to keep the idea of skeletons flowing throughout the paper, so I knew I wanted to reference them in my opening paragraph, but it doesn't seem to flow as seamlessly as I would like. That I feel is the major improvement that needs to be revised.

Blogging Around

In Sean's "Best of the Week" post he asserts that he is amazing, the alpha in the class, and also briefly voices his opinions about The Kite Runner, saying that he believes this book to be sub-par overall.

Sean, I find that you are taking a task that you find to be meaningless and pointless and creating it into an opportunity to have fun within the parameters of the prompt. I think that this is a very valuable tool to be able to use.
Though, I feel that didn't take the assignment seriously. I found it hilarious and refreshing, but this time, I feel like you neglected the prompt and just let your creative mind wander.

In Sam's "Connection" post she compares literature to artwork saying how important it is not to rush through each one.

What you said is of the utmost importance, and I completely agree. If we rush through anything, we are bound to miss something. That is why whenever I have a reading assignment I try not to leave it for the end of my homework list so that I can gain the most meaning. Even now, when I visit the Art Institute (I can still only be in there for about two hours max) if I stand in front of a painting long enough, I keep noticing these small details that provide new meaning. Although, I have to disagree on your opinions about Pollocks. They are very emotional, I see that, but I don't see them as great artwork. Whenever I look at one I cannot stop thinking about paintings that we did in elementary school with marbles and shoe boxes.

Connection: Juxtaposition to Bones

For a while now, I have been trying to find a suitable way of describing the TV show, one of my favorites, Bones, to others, but oddly enough, I have never found the right words. It was as I was watching the second episode this weekend that I could finally come up with the means of portraying how it was more than just a crime show.

The juxtaposition that I would like you to view begins at roughly 41:48.
Click here for the link to the video

When we first were learning about juxtapositions I was very confused, but after seeing the ending of this episode, not only did I gain a better understand about the characters and the relationship that they share, but what juxtapositions were clicked in my head. I found it ironic that television put it into the right context for my brain to comprehend. By placing the lives and lifestyles of both Temperance Brennan, the anthropologist, and FBI agent Seely Booth. I thought that it was an intelligent filming choice to have this juxtaposition early in the television show because it allowed for a better, more comprehensive understanding of the main characters in the show. Not to mention, but this technique of using a juxtaposition early on in a story or even a show is incredible valuable because it allows one to quickly provide complex information about the character. This, I imagine will be incredibly useful when we are doing our sonnets and short stories; it will be almost a necessity. This also tells me a lot about Temperance Brennan. She can only connect to bones; bones are her life, her world, whereas Seely Booth leads a normal life and can connect to people, but yet, he still seems so distant. This makes me wonder...

Why is Temperance Brennan so unconnected?
Why does Seely Booth isolate himself and close himself off from others?

Best of the Week: Is Assef a Sociopath?

I think that the most important thing that was discussed was whether or not Assef is a sociopath. He is a cruel person that uses people and does terrible things to them. But why is Assef this type of person? One possible answer is that Assef is facing a problem that he has by handling the situation poorly and responding with something that my Health teacher called the reaction formation. The reaction formation response is when you behave in the opposite of how you are feeling. Perhaps Assef is lonely and is demonstrating that loneliness by being angry and cruel to the people he encounters. But you also have to wonder, is it Assef upbringing or his nature that made him who he is? Personally, I believe that any person's personality is strictly determined by his/her experiences. In other words, we are who our experiences shape us to be. Two possible solutions to Assef's personality are either poor or strict parenting. Theory #1: Assef's parents did such a terrible job that he never distinguished the difference between right and wrong and never experienced guilt, which psychologist consider a learned emotion, so he feels no shame when he does something that we believe to be horrible. Theory #2: Assef's parenting was superb. His mother, of whom we know little about, is a passionate believer in Hitler and all of his values and thus instilled them in her son to make him the terrible person that he is today. I am leaning, more like falling, towards theory #1 because it seems much more plausible in the context of the book. For example, at Amir's party, Assef did all the talking for his parents almost like he had control over them not the other way around.

The most likely place that I see myself using this information, is in analyzing characters in novels. The question that I always enjoy contemplating the most is: why is the character in question the way he is? If you can understand the characters, then, I believe, that you can understand the novel and the messages that the author is attempting to portray. Another instance when I can use this, is in everyday life. It will help me from criticizing someone or their work, and tell to myself that I don't know anything about this person so it is unfair for me to make prior assumptions. This will also help me live up to the Code of Living that I shared in the previous post.

Carry It Forward: The Code of Living

The Code of Living is a unique idea at Cheley Colorado Camps, the camp that I have been attending for the past six summers. I find it fascinating. Fifty to sixty teenagers, some who have never met, and as a group write the rules and standards that we, as campers, want to hold our self and others to; the belief being that a person is more likely to follow the rules if they are a part of the process of creating them and they can see their influence. All the campers sign it, like a contract, and receive a blue kerchief that symbolizes the code that they are striving to live up to. And I find, that I become a different person for that one month. Let me share with you this summer's Code of Living.

Initiative
Have the courage to be the one to take the first step.

Communication
Communicate honestly so we may trust each other. Communicate thoroughly so we do not misunderstand each other. Communicate respectfully so we may strengthen the bonds of our community.

Individuality
Have the courage to be yourself. Put your own spin on everything you do. "Dance like no one is watching." Do this keeping in mind that your actions as an individual affect the community as a whole. A complete puzzle is made of unique pieces.

Passion
Do everything with heart and purpose. Make each step your strongest. Push yourself.

Appreciation
Be thankful for what you have. Be proud of what you accomplish. Be glad for the help you receive along the way.

What is so special and unique about the Code of Living is that each year, it changes. Returning and new campers arrive at camp the next summer and different traits are selected with the input of all. No Code of Living has or will be the same.


What I attempt to do is carry that code of living with me throughout the rest of the school year and try and force myself to be who I am at camp. It is a tough challenge and there have been times when I have realized that I have not been living up to the code. I have let myself down. And maybe, my actions will rub off on someone else. All the North students will roll their eyes when I say this, but it is similar to paying it forward. Held together by a fragile strand of trust that each individual is responsible for keeping in tact.