They Say, I Say Articles

          In my class this week, we were given three articles to read and summarize by what the article was about and then I summarized about what I thought was important in the articles. The three articles were all concerning the idea of Service Learning. The articles were about the same point but were also different in how they thought it should be handled.

            The First article was How to Reduce Student Dropout Rates, by the Monitor’s Editorial Board. This article was addressing Service Learning by stating that it would be helpful if they had it involved in schools to help teens stay active in school and how Service Learning can prevent dropout rates from increasing. One thing that they said that was important was that Service Learning bridges school work to the real world and it keeps them better engaged in learning. Another statement was that adding Service Learning to school programs would be a promising strategy for prevention of dropouts. My opinion on this article is that dropout rates in high school are much higher than they should be and that schools need a better method of prevention of dropouts and I think Service Learning is a effective way because it gets students involved with people and their communities and it’s just a better way to learn than sitting in the classroom. Also with high school students being under pressure of many forms, Service Learning can give students a second chance to get their education and to help others out that really need it.

            Service Learning More Than Just a Fad, by Star Tribune was my second article I read. This article also addressed Service Learning in schools but it’s after the fact that it was already put into schools and students were already getting involved. This article’s main point was that Service Learning is all for the common good.  Do more, Spend less was a statement that they had said about service learning simply saying do more for other people rather spend money on yourself. Service Learning is also a way where faculty can get involved with their peers and community. My statement on this article was that Service learning is a way of problem solving that involves a higher learning. It deepens your learning by engaging students in situations they normally wouldn’t be a part of. It makes a connection with the student and their community.

             The last article I read was; Serve or Fail, By Dave Eggers. Egger in the article explains lives of college students and how they have time for different activities like Service Learning. One point he makes is that “College is too long”, which makes college students uniquely suited to have the time to benefit from getting involved with others. Also he states that colleges should require Service Learning for graduation. He mostly is trying to say in this article is that college students do have 4 or more years of college and they should do some good in those years other than work and sports or parties. And college students can get real world experience by getting involved with organizations and can even make a difference in some one’s life. I think by students engaging in Service learning it would have a profound effect on them and steer them in the right path. Another thing I should say is that college should give credits for service because by doing that they will get students involved and it will change twice as many people’s lives besides only one or two people trying to do it alone.

            Overall, these articles are trying to point put the fact that Service Learning can be a great impact on anyone’s lives, people who volunteer or the people we are helping. Either way someone’s life is getting changed for the better. It’s better for schools, peers, and the communities we live in. I think everyone should be a part of Service Learning and make a difference in any way they can.

A letter to myself

Dear Michelle,

                I’m Michelle; I’m you from the future. I’m writing this letter to help you prevent a mistake in your life that you’ll regret in the future if you do it. I know what your friends are going to ask you to do, but what they want you to do is not something you need to be doing. Your friends are going to try and persuade you to skip school with them, and I am trying to convince you that skipping school may be fun at the time but it will hurt you in the future. The friends that are skipping and trying to get you to skip aren’t your real friends; they don’t really care about you like they say. Those so called “friends”, are only a bad influence on you and your education. I want to share with you some things that can help you in resisting the temptation to skip school.

                The first thing you can do is to get rid of those friends that are those bad influences. Keep friends that are close to you in school, friends that stay in school, and friends that give you good advice and keep you on the right path for yourself and your education. Secondly, don’t feel pressured into skipping school. Skipping isn’t as cool as you think it may be. Listen to that inner voice of yours that tells you it’s wrong, since you do know what is right and what is wrong! I know you think it may be fun to get a day off from school, and as much as you dread going but your education and going to school every day is the best thing for you. So when those people are trying to pressure you, the best thing for you to say is NO!! Just tell them straight up that you’re not into skipping and you’re not interested. Then tell them to leave you alone. The third thing you can do to keep your mind off them is to stay focused on school and school only. Keep yourself busy by getting all your work done on time, don’t procrastinate, study, and be unsocial until all your work is complete. Another thought to keep your focus is to think about your future.  Think about what you’ll benefit from by not skipping and staying in school. You’ll have better grades, get scholarships for college, be enrolled in the nursing program. Everything you ever wanted you can have if you do what you have to, which is SCHOOL! Saying no and staying on track you’ll have fewer struggles in the future. You will have all the money you need for college, the great grades and your future to your career will be bright! The last most important advice I could tell you is to listen to your mom. Your mom knows what’s best for you as I have learned. And even though you may think she’s just full of it, she’s the one that will give you the best advice you will ever need. When it comes down to it, she is also your best friend in the end because she is the one that cares for you the most and the one that will be routing you on walking across stage for graduation. Well anyways, Good Luck and I hope you take my advice because I know what’s best because I have done it!

Mini-Pop culture Analysis

When you think of pop culture, what comes to mind? Is it celebrities, music, and movies? Well that is exactly what pop culture is along with more. Pop culture can be old and famous toys or familiar TV shows, anything that is or was popular in our society.

            For my pop culture analysis, I chose to write about the popular children’s TV show “Sesame Street”. Sesame Street premiered for the first time on television in 1969. It became popular very quickly. The television show appealed mostly to children; it taught educational subjects like reading, your ABC’s, and numbers, as more of a fun way to learn. It became popular so fast because the TV show had such high ratings that they made tapes and DVDs, they advertised on TV, made clothes with the characters on it, and plush toys of characters for the kids to play with while watching the show etc. It also became a growing trend because the families of children thought the show was really great for their kids so families everywhere continued to the growth of the TV show. Sesame Street wasn’t just another child’s television show, it was educational and the kids seemed to really connect with the show because it’s interactive with your child.

            Sesame Street as a television show developed no cultural issues that some would. It included the main characters as “furry monsters”, like Elmo that kids enjoyed. And children of every race and culture starred on the show as characters as well. People of all race and culture thought the TV show was great and that it had and great impact on their children. Based on what I know about high and low culture, I believe Sesame Street falls under low culture. Even though it had great success but I think its low culture because we the people of low culture influence it on our children for them, and I think people of higher culture are so worried about other things and that their children would be wrapped up in what their parents are doing. I’m not completely saying people of high culture don’t influence it on their children, it’s just the TV show is more popular in the low culture stature.

            Since the show premiered it has had an unbelievable impact on our society. Sesame Street gave children the benefit to make learning fun for them. As well as society has had a benefit from it because some teachers use it in lesson plans to bring the show into the classroom, and it just prepares the child for school, and that makes schools better because all the children are doing better at learning from the benefits. Sesame Street influenced our culture as a whole because families can give their child a head start at learning. Furthermore, Sesame Street has had a positive impact on children and society. I believe the TV show will continue to grow and continue to teach children educational values. Sesame Street is a great part of our pop culture, which influenced millions of children.

My Time Line

• 1993- I was born.
• Loved to watch and interact with Barney shows on TV.
• 1999- Started Elementary School, Liked to color and draw pictures.
• 2004- Started Middle School, Liked reading and playing music I played the Violin. Also really liked reading the book "The Diary of Ann Frank".
• Before my dad passed away in 2001, he loved to write poetry. My mom showed me it after he passed and it really connected me too him and his writing. And it made me think more about what his poems really meant.
• 2007- Started High School, Loved to learn about Biology and Anatomy.
• 2009- Started taking Spanish classes to learn the language, but also since I was a child I grew up in a Hispanic neighborhood so I have been around the Spanish language my whole life and I have always tried to learn and understand what my friends and neighbors were saying.
• 2011(Present) - I am still perusing my love to learn about biology and anatomy and also to learn the Spanish language. And also learning new things everyday about improving my writing and reading skills.

Questions on Mondays Reading

1. Literacy was important to Sherman Alexi because he lived in an Indian reservation where everyone that lived there was illiterate. Since no one else knew how to read or write Alexi was determined to learn. He wanted to go to school and get off the Indian reservation for a better life. He also wanted to prove to everyone that he could learn and that he didn't have to grow up like they did that he could be different. I think that is was just as essential for him to learn how to be literate because I wanted to learn and go to college to be successful just as he wanted too.

2. I think my development in being literate was connected to my culture because my family was always thought to be smart and well behaved. In school I was expected to be smart and to get good grades just by where I came from and who my family was.

3. The narrative I enjoyed most was "Two Questions", by Lynda Barry. I enjoyed this one most because her creativity and weirdness made the story interesting to read. The pictures she drew connected with the story with detail, like when she said she love to draw as a child she portrayed that in her pictures. And she made her point about wanting to go back to where she was a child and she just wrote without pressure and she showed it her story.

4. The circular narrative is to make one point in the beginning of the story to draw your readers in and then repeat the point at the end of the story to pull it all together. And as I said in question 3, I think Lynda Barry’s story was a circular narrative because she starts the story off about the two questions she was always pressured to answer and then ended her story saying she now feels no pressure from those two questions anymore.

Career goal/Writing and communication

My career goal is to be a registered nurse and to work in a hospital. I think i will have to use my writing skills to write down clear notes of patients problems and issues and report daily on all my patients to tell how they are doing for the doctors. Also i will need great communication skills to talk to patients, doctors, and concerned families of the patients. My writing and communication will need to improve to higher standards of working as a nurse and working in a hospital.