Final Portfolio

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How I Feel About the Ferguson Case

Honestly if I begin about Ferguson, I probably won't be able to stop. I think that this is the most ridiculous thing that is going on. People are forgetting the police officer's point of view. People are forgetting that the police officer has his own life that he has to protect. Also nobody knows exactly what happened. I don't know what happened, and neither do the protestors. There is no reason why people should be acting the way they do. If people feel the need to speak up about the way they feel, they shouldn't be violent about it. I also feel very bad for the police officer because he cannot live his life normal anymore. He most likely has to look over his shoulder every time he steps outside his house. I think there are so many things that have not be considered that should be considered before people react the way they've been reacting.

Publication Sites

1. Millenium Shift e-journal - This publication accepts work that has relatively the same length as we write in class. Our feature articles would be perfect to submit to this publication because the feature articles they accept are about 1,000 words. To submit something, you just have to email  submit@millenniumshift.com.

2. Crescent Blues - This publication also accepts features that are similar in length to what we write in class so it would be perfect to submit to them. To submit you just have to email crescentblues@hotmail.com/crescentblues@yahoo.com.

"Why School?" Book Club Post #3

The most interesting thing that Mike Rose wrote about is the accuracy of IQ tests. I think that people tend to rely too much on determining intelligence with IQ tests. There is only so much these tests can tell you about someone's knowledge. I liked that he made the point that tests are not the most important things in school because tests can't determine it all. He thinks that the values we learn in high school are more important than how we do on tests, which I agree with. Some people are not good test takers so it's hard to say that somebody learned a lot based on their test scores. For example, some people are better at essay writing than multiple choice or vice versa. Some systems should be changed to determine somebody's intelligence rather than tests, and I think teachers are starting to change their lessons to incorporate every student's strengths.

Portfolio Link

Bridget Figueroa's Midterm Portfolio

"Why School?" Book Club Post #2

I found it interesting reading about the No Child Left Behind Act. The idea that tests are a way of determining how good a school is and whether or not it should stay open. I do like that there is a way of including children that may not have been included otherwise. It is important for a teacher to include all of his/her students that may not have a clear understanding of what the lesson is about. Mike Rose makes a lot of good points in these chapters up to chapter six but he is still stating a lot of facts rather than including his own narrative.

"Why School?" Book Club Post #1

After starting this book, I didn't want to put it down. Since I am an Education major the information in the book really caught my eye. The introduction gave a good sense of what the book was going to be about. The way Mike Rose writes is as if he is speaking to you rather than at you, which I really enjoy. In chapter 1, he focuses on the reasons why we go to school, even though we may not know them ourselves. He felt that it was important to ask students why they go to school rather than those who don't just because there is an obvious answer when asking parents why kids should attend school. By asking students, he can get a sense of the real reasons why they keep going, and for the most part it is because of the teachers themselves and the inspiration they give to their students to continue education. He uses this idea of teaching to move onto chapter 2. In this chapter he gives us a sense of what his life was like while going to school, and then he uses an example of a first grade teacher in her classroom. This was the most interesting part for me. Seeing how her students reacted to what she was talking about was nice to read about because people teach for these reasons, to see their students enjoy what they are learning. I think that sometimes teachers and professors sometimes forget this, and so they just teach what the curriculum tells them to teach even if it is something they are not interested in.
While reading these couple of chapters, I couldn't help but think about the recent issues involving teaching at my high school. Many teachers wrote a letter talking about how they are being forced to teach a certain way, which was dumbing down their lessons. I went to an exam school which was supposed to prepare you for college, but the students are now receiving work that is not challenging and not preparing them.
Below is a link to the newspaper article regarding this situation.
Turmoil at Boston Latin Academy

Profile Help Based on Readings

I think that my profile is going to fall under the category of being chronological. This style makes the most sense to me. In telling an event in someone's life, chronological order is my natural way of telling the story. So the section about the different styles was more helpful for me. Also the section of reading focusing on dialogue was very helpful from the readings. I feel like in a profile dialogue is very important. I want to incorporate as much dialogue as possible so that the readers can hear the person's voice that I am writing about. This is very important to me. I feel like when I read a profile I want to hear the person's voice and imagine their personality based on a few sentences that they say. I want to try to use as many direct quotes as possible.

"Why School?" by Mike Rose

I am extremely excited to read this novel by Mike Rose. One reason is because I am an Elementary Education major. Any articles or books that have to do with the education system interest me. I think that having some background in the education system is important when you are getting ready to enter the education career. Based on book reviews I have read about "Why School?", I am dying to start getting into it. This book seems like it is something that would be interesting to a lot of different groups of people. Knowing about the education system is important when you are a parent as well. Schools tend to surprise parents with new and upcoming lessons that may not necessarily be what the parent was expecting. This book is looking at one of the most important things in America, that we tend to ignore and look past. Education is something that everyone needs to become successful, so I feel like this book is going to be insightful on the reasons why we need school and an improved education system.

"Zepp's Last Stand"

This short story did not catch my eye as much as "Mrs. Kelly's Monster" did. It was slow at first and the story behind Zepp was not clear. I was not able to understand what was going on in his journey until the middle of the story. Once I understood what was going on, it was worth the read. The story was sweet because it was about a man looking to get his final wish.
I understood why we read this story for this class. This was a good example of profiling. I learned a lot from reading this profile. The structure is not exactly the way I would go about doing it, but it was very helpful on what is expected to be included in a profile. The dialogue was very helpful in understanding what was going on. This is something that I want to incorporate a lot of in my profile. I think in this story, and in mine, it is very helpful for the reader to learn more about the person because it is in their voice. The dialogue in this short story was very helpful and it was more engaging.

"Mrs. Kelly's Monster"

I really enjoyed this short story. The details used to describe the aneurism were extremely vivd and it felt almost as if you were in the operating room with all of the doctors and nurses. I think that just by reading this short story, there was a lot that the reader was able to learn about what goes on during surgeries like these. Describing the aneurism as a "monster" was the most interesting part. In a way this humanized the aneurism which made it clear how dangerous it was because as a reader that never had a personal experience with something like this, it made it seem real for me which I really liked.
I wish there was more about Mrs. Kelly. I would have been able to feel as if I knew her and feel more emotional towards the situation if there was more about her. I am not exactly sure why there wasn't more about her.
One thing I kept imagining while reading this was the show "Grey's Anatomy". For some reason this is exactly what I pictured while reading. A lot of the episodes in this show were very similar to the incident that happened in this story. It helped me understand exactly what was going on the operating room because I was able to have a vision of what the author wanted us to imagine while reading this short story.

Profiling Possibilities

1. BSU Football Player (Mario Thompson) - 
I'm interested in profiling Mario because football players tend to have this tough outside exterior, and I feel like it would be interesting to find out more on a deeper level. I feel like there is a chance of finding out something that I would never guess because of the the way he acts around his teammates and his friends at BSU.

2. My Roommate (Whitney Williams) -
I would be interested in profiling my roommate because even though we live together and know about each other, we know the current information. There are things that I would love to know about a specific experience in her past that I never really got the chance to ask about. I think that it could also be an opportunity for us to become closer and get to know even more about each other than we already do. 

3. Alpha Sigma Tau Sister (Erin McCarthy) - 
In my sorority I am friends with a lot of the girls. I would definitely be interested in finding out more about Erin because she is my "anchor" so we should know a lot about each other already, but we actually haven't had the time to get to know each other. This would be a great opportunity to get to know each other even more.