It was kind of difficult thinking of a memorable experience I've had from adulthood. Being 19, I feel like I haven't been an adult for very long and not much has gone on. But after thinking about it for a while, I chose my experience in joining Ready, Set, Teach. RST is a class that my friends and I took last year during our senior year of high school. The students got to leave campus for a few hours everyday and go visit a certain elementary school. The class was more geared towards students who wanted to become teachers in the future but the majority of us took this class just so we could leave school in the middle of the day.
At our elementary schools, we were each assigned a certain classroom to help out with during the year. I was assigned a 2nd grade gate class with nineteen kids in it. I was a little nervous and dreading it at first because I knew that was a lot of kids and I wasn't sure if they would even like me or not. But after their teacher introduced me on the first day and told them why I was there, the kids automatically treated me like we were best friends or something. After the first couple of weeks of getting to know everybody, I actually looked forward to going to their class everyday. When I would walk in the room every morning the whole class would scream my name and get all excited. It was pretty cool. They were always asking me what high school was like and they were all amazed that I knew how to drive a car. It is so funny how children are so interested in the littlest things.
At the beginning of the time while I worked in their class, the teacher would have me rearrange the bookshelf, grade papers, or go make copies. Which was mostly boring, busy work that I didn't really enjoy. But soon after that, she started letting me read books to the class at story time and even give them their spelling test on Fridays. It was way more fun because I got to interact with the kids. Some days I was even in charge of teaching the class their math or reading lesson for the day. That was a little more intimidating because that was a lot more important than just reading them a book. I didn't want to screw up the lesson and teach them the wrong thing. But I ended up doing alright.
There were a couple of students in the class that were severely failing their spelling tests. The teacher let me work with them in a small group everyday on the side of the classroom. We made up a game where I would describe one of their spelling words and the kids tried to guess which one it was. The first one to guess the word had to spell it correctly to get a point. It doesn't sound too great, but to them it was the best game in the world. The kids in the group took their spelling tests separate from the whole class and we always played that game right before. Apparently that game works somehow because they would always pass it afterwards!
At the end of the year it was kind of sad saying goodbye to them because I knew most likely I would never see them ever again. The only reason I joined this program was to leave school early but it ended up meaning a lot more. Before this experience, I never even thought about being a teacher in my life. My mom is an elementary school teacher which made me not want to do it even more, seeing all the work she has to do. But after this experience, I realized I really enjoy working with kids and it made me consider this as a possible career choice for my future.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Saving The Sea Turtles
If you asked a person what they thought about street lights, an average person would think they are very helpful tools in guiding a person safely down a street in darkness, or protecting people from danger when we cannot see clearly. What people don't think about is the negative effects of street lights or any kind of bright light close to the ocean or beaches.
Many innocent lives of helpless baby sea turtles are taken away every year just because cities put up more artificial lighting. People think they are saving lives by doing this but at the same time they are taking away many lives. I'm sure many are unaware of this problem and don't even know that they are contributing to it. I honestly didn't even know this was a problem until we watched the movie The City Dark. In the movie we met a man that explained the way turtles make it to sea. After they hatch and crawl out of their nest in the sand, the sea turtles follow the light of the moon and make their way safely to their new home in the ocean. But with so many lights so close to the shore line, it confuses the baby turtles and they don't know which way to go. They end up getting lost and dehydrated and many die. Fortunately for the turtles in the movie, the crew helped all of them get to the water safely.
But what if nobody was there while the turtles were hatching? Most of the time people aren't just sitting around a turtle nest just waiting to help them to the ocean. So most of the time, the turtles die. From some of the articles I have found online, I have learned that most types of sea turtles are already endangered and if this goes on for much longer, the sea turtles may even become extinct. Not many people are aware of this and there surely isn't going to be someone waiting at every turtle nest. Things need to improve so the turtles can make their way to the water the way nature intended. We need to let everyone know of this problem so we can come up with solutions that could save the sea turtles.
Many innocent lives of helpless baby sea turtles are taken away every year just because cities put up more artificial lighting. People think they are saving lives by doing this but at the same time they are taking away many lives. I'm sure many are unaware of this problem and don't even know that they are contributing to it. I honestly didn't even know this was a problem until we watched the movie The City Dark. In the movie we met a man that explained the way turtles make it to sea. After they hatch and crawl out of their nest in the sand, the sea turtles follow the light of the moon and make their way safely to their new home in the ocean. But with so many lights so close to the shore line, it confuses the baby turtles and they don't know which way to go. They end up getting lost and dehydrated and many die. Fortunately for the turtles in the movie, the crew helped all of them get to the water safely.
But what if nobody was there while the turtles were hatching? Most of the time people aren't just sitting around a turtle nest just waiting to help them to the ocean. So most of the time, the turtles die. From some of the articles I have found online, I have learned that most types of sea turtles are already endangered and if this goes on for much longer, the sea turtles may even become extinct. Not many people are aware of this and there surely isn't going to be someone waiting at every turtle nest. Things need to improve so the turtles can make their way to the water the way nature intended. We need to let everyone know of this problem so we can come up with solutions that could save the sea turtles.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Importance of the Sky
It is crazy to think that for all our lives, we have lived in this world and have never truly appreciated what was right above our heads. To us, Earth is a massive planet. But when you really put it into perspective, we are one of the smallest planets in the entire galaxy. The sky contains so much more than just thousands of twinkly little stars. It is what everybody is a part of. When we look at the night sky, we try to find all the constellations and all the stars that connect to each other to make a picture. But not many people have actually wondered why the stars connect up to make certain constellations or how they even got there. The sky is a great mystery and a wonder that we are a part of.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, eloquently summarizes one of the humanistic values of the night sky: "You could live your life at home never looking up....[but] I ... submit to you that you'll be missing a point of view, ... a cosmic perspective, because ...you'll start thinking of your own environment as all there is. And if that's how you think about where you are, then it rises to an artificial level of importance to you, whereas, when you look at the night sky and you realize how small we are within the cosmos, it's kind of a resetting of your ego. To deny yourself of that state of mind, either willingly or unwillingly, in my judgement, is to not live to the full extent of what it is to be human" (qtd. in City Dark).
Like Tyson said, you'll start to think that your environment as all there is. But there is so much more than that. The Earth is a tiny piece of the entire Milky Way. Our galaxy is so large, that we cannot even comprehend how big it is. When people don't stand back and appreciate we're a part of, they lose a point of view. Some people need to simply go sit in their backyard and just look at the stars. It will really make you think about the world we live in and how important it truly is.
Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, eloquently summarizes one of the humanistic values of the night sky: "You could live your life at home never looking up....[but] I ... submit to you that you'll be missing a point of view, ... a cosmic perspective, because ...you'll start thinking of your own environment as all there is. And if that's how you think about where you are, then it rises to an artificial level of importance to you, whereas, when you look at the night sky and you realize how small we are within the cosmos, it's kind of a resetting of your ego. To deny yourself of that state of mind, either willingly or unwillingly, in my judgement, is to not live to the full extent of what it is to be human" (qtd. in City Dark).
Like Tyson said, you'll start to think that your environment as all there is. But there is so much more than that. The Earth is a tiny piece of the entire Milky Way. Our galaxy is so large, that we cannot even comprehend how big it is. When people don't stand back and appreciate we're a part of, they lose a point of view. Some people need to simply go sit in their backyard and just look at the stars. It will really make you think about the world we live in and how important it truly is.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Watching The Stars
During spring break last week, me and my parents had a fire in our backyard in our fire pit like we sometimes do. We were all sitting around watching the fire and it was all quiet and peaceful. I wasn't even thinking about this assignment when I looked up at the sky. It was really clear and the moon was so bright. There were a lot of stars to look at.
I thought back to elementary school when we studied all the constellations and had to memorize certain ones. I could easily pick out Orion's Belt because of the three bright stars in a row. That was the easiest one to see. Once I pointed it out, my dad looked up and started to pick out certain constellations also. I don't think we saw any planets. I'm not even exactly sure what a planet would look like.
Staring up at the dark sky was really relaxing. It kind of made you forget everything else that was going on in the world. It was really quiet and peaceful. Nobody was talking to each other. We were just all sitting around the fire, staring at the stars.
I'm sure the people from pre-scientific times were either really amazed at stars or they probably just didn't care. Some people were probably amazed because no one had ever found out what stars really were yet. So to them they were just a bunch of shiny, bright dots in weird patterns that lit up the night sky. And then I'm sure some people just didn't care what they were. No one had discovered their importance so they were just unimportant dots that showed up in the sky every night. Also, the moon and stars were very useful to these people because in those times, there were no light bulbs or flashlights to see things. Besides maybe a small candle, there was just the night sky. So the stars were very valuable to them.
It is very important that we protect the night sky from light pollution. I think that everyone needs to be able to see the sky and all the stars it really has in it. Some people in big cities like New York or Los Angeles can't even see the night sky at all. They probably have no idea what constellations truly look like unless they leave their city. It is also important to see the night sky because you can really see what universe you're a part of and how big it is. It is especially important for children to see it because you don't want to grow up and not even know what's actually around you. I think the night sky is a very important part of our education and that is why we need to save it.
I thought back to elementary school when we studied all the constellations and had to memorize certain ones. I could easily pick out Orion's Belt because of the three bright stars in a row. That was the easiest one to see. Once I pointed it out, my dad looked up and started to pick out certain constellations also. I don't think we saw any planets. I'm not even exactly sure what a planet would look like.
Staring up at the dark sky was really relaxing. It kind of made you forget everything else that was going on in the world. It was really quiet and peaceful. Nobody was talking to each other. We were just all sitting around the fire, staring at the stars.
I'm sure the people from pre-scientific times were either really amazed at stars or they probably just didn't care. Some people were probably amazed because no one had ever found out what stars really were yet. So to them they were just a bunch of shiny, bright dots in weird patterns that lit up the night sky. And then I'm sure some people just didn't care what they were. No one had discovered their importance so they were just unimportant dots that showed up in the sky every night. Also, the moon and stars were very useful to these people because in those times, there were no light bulbs or flashlights to see things. Besides maybe a small candle, there was just the night sky. So the stars were very valuable to them.
It is very important that we protect the night sky from light pollution. I think that everyone needs to be able to see the sky and all the stars it really has in it. Some people in big cities like New York or Los Angeles can't even see the night sky at all. They probably have no idea what constellations truly look like unless they leave their city. It is also important to see the night sky because you can really see what universe you're a part of and how big it is. It is especially important for children to see it because you don't want to grow up and not even know what's actually around you. I think the night sky is a very important part of our education and that is why we need to save it.
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Valentine and Hate Poem
The two poems I chose to compare are "Valentine" by Carol Ann Duffy, and "Hate Poem" written by Julie Sheehan. While reading these poems, I caught on to several similarities between the two. Both are obviously written about love and at the same time very anti-romantic. It is easy to see that the authors passionately dislike a certain thing in each poem. Sheehan goes on and on about how much she hates her ex. And in the first couple of line of Duffy's poem, readers think she feels the same way, but further into it, you realize she doesn't hate her partner, she just hates the holiday of Valentine's Day. "Hate Poem" has a very harsh tone to it, stating, "I hate you. Truly I do. Everything about me hates everything about you." While "Valentine" isn't as harsh but the author still informs readers her true feelings towards Valentine's Day using several euphemisms.
A big similarity between the two is that both authors use inanimate objects throughout their poems. Sheehan uses several objects such as sock lint, a hair shirt, and a closed window. All very degrading objects to be compared to. While Duffy talks about an onion.
Duffy believes that valentines are very cliche and does not think that a red rose or a satin heart can express a form of love. She bluntly informs her partner to not expect any cheesy valentine on Valentine's Day by giving him an onion inside a brown paper bag. Something very out of the ordinary that a person would give a significant other on such a day. Keep in mind that onions have many different layers. The reasoning behind the onion is that she wants him to look beyond the superficial layer of Valentine's Day and see that this onion is her gift of love and that she doesn't need an expensive present in fancy wrapping paper or a holiday to tell her to express her love.
Sheehan, on the other hand, uses her inanimate objects very negatively. She obviously had her feelings badly hurt and wanted to seek revenge because throughout this entire poem she explains how not just her, but all these different things hate her ex. This is extremely humiliating for that person since all these things are unable to have feelings. But according to Sheehan, they still hate him. She states, "The flick of my wrist hates you. The way I hold my pencil hates you." The author knew this would be very degrading for her ex. That was her goal in writing this poem and she definitely accomplished that.
A big similarity between the two is that both authors use inanimate objects throughout their poems. Sheehan uses several objects such as sock lint, a hair shirt, and a closed window. All very degrading objects to be compared to. While Duffy talks about an onion.
Duffy believes that valentines are very cliche and does not think that a red rose or a satin heart can express a form of love. She bluntly informs her partner to not expect any cheesy valentine on Valentine's Day by giving him an onion inside a brown paper bag. Something very out of the ordinary that a person would give a significant other on such a day. Keep in mind that onions have many different layers. The reasoning behind the onion is that she wants him to look beyond the superficial layer of Valentine's Day and see that this onion is her gift of love and that she doesn't need an expensive present in fancy wrapping paper or a holiday to tell her to express her love.
Sheehan, on the other hand, uses her inanimate objects very negatively. She obviously had her feelings badly hurt and wanted to seek revenge because throughout this entire poem she explains how not just her, but all these different things hate her ex. This is extremely humiliating for that person since all these things are unable to have feelings. But according to Sheehan, they still hate him. She states, "The flick of my wrist hates you. The way I hold my pencil hates you." The author knew this would be very degrading for her ex. That was her goal in writing this poem and she definitely accomplished that.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Death
The two poems that I chose to discuss were "Encounter" by Czeslaw Milosz and "Slowly" by Donna Masini. Both of these poems are similar because they both discuss the topic of death. Both of these deaths that occurred had little affect over the author writing about them because they knew very little about the dying object.
In "Encounter", the man that had died was simply an encounter. She did not know him very well. She had just met him, and was just a fling that didn't mean much. In "Slowly", it was just some rabbit that the little boy saw at the zoo. It wasn't like a pet or anything. He saw him for a split second and then he was gone. Both of these poems illustrate how something that can make you so happy and then goes downhill and makes you sad. You never know a good thing till it's gone. Another similarity between these two is that there is a rabbit that dies in both poems. And in both poems the rabbit is there and then is quickly gone.
At the end of "Slowly", the author says "How slow the body is to realize. You are never coming back." I think this statement applies as well to "Encounter" where author is reminiscing and is just now realizing that she is growing older and many of the people from her past are passing away. She didn't think about that before. Because when you're young, the thought of your friends dying doesn't even cross your mind. But now she is coming to terms with reality.
In "Encounter", the man that had died was simply an encounter. She did not know him very well. She had just met him, and was just a fling that didn't mean much. In "Slowly", it was just some rabbit that the little boy saw at the zoo. It wasn't like a pet or anything. He saw him for a split second and then he was gone. Both of these poems illustrate how something that can make you so happy and then goes downhill and makes you sad. You never know a good thing till it's gone. Another similarity between these two is that there is a rabbit that dies in both poems. And in both poems the rabbit is there and then is quickly gone.
At the end of "Slowly", the author says "How slow the body is to realize. You are never coming back." I think this statement applies as well to "Encounter" where author is reminiscing and is just now realizing that she is growing older and many of the people from her past are passing away. She didn't think about that before. Because when you're young, the thought of your friends dying doesn't even cross your mind. But now she is coming to terms with reality.
"Ever After"
"Ever After" by Joyce Sutphen caused the most curiosity for me. The author never tells the readers what happened to their marriage that caused a divorce. This makes me really want to know what happened. I know the author just wants to leave her audience with some kind of mystery, but I don't want to wonder. I want to know exactly what happened.
The author questions what she means to her ex-husband now that they are not together anymore. If she's asking this, she obviously still cares about what he thinks about her. So maybe she did something to make her husband divorce her. Did she cheat on him? Were they in a fight?
The two were obviously once in love if they had gotten married. So something really big must have happened to make all that love just stop. At the end of the poem, the author talks about their wedding cake and how their were so many layers over and over again. Which makes me think she is implying that maybe they were fighting a lot and there were many different layers to their marriage. Maybe the layers symbolize fights they had. It was one fight, and then the next, and then back to the first one again. But I still have to wonder what exactly were they fighting about?
The author questions what she means to her ex-husband now that they are not together anymore. If she's asking this, she obviously still cares about what he thinks about her. So maybe she did something to make her husband divorce her. Did she cheat on him? Were they in a fight?
The two were obviously once in love if they had gotten married. So something really big must have happened to make all that love just stop. At the end of the poem, the author talks about their wedding cake and how their were so many layers over and over again. Which makes me think she is implying that maybe they were fighting a lot and there were many different layers to their marriage. Maybe the layers symbolize fights they had. It was one fight, and then the next, and then back to the first one again. But I still have to wonder what exactly were they fighting about?
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