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[kjmutrgv-blog]

Music ... Studying

I first off would like to say.. music is my favorite thing. I tend to hear it eveywhere I go, sometimes I wish when exams were given they would allow us to hear music or at least the melody. Regardless , I have a very diverse taste of music, country music is my heart and soul, as well all oldie music, but I do like hearing modern music as well. My top five favorite songs right now are :

Florida Georgia Line : God , Your Mama, And Me ft The backstreet boys .. YES, I know the backstreet boys !!!

The ChainSmokers and ColdPlay : Something Just like This 

Neon Noah : Dreaming with the Lights on 

Luke Combs : Hurricane

Wilderado : Wheat

[nayleaorta-blog]

Nice recommendations! I wish classes, or just school in general, could incorporate music more into the classroom. I have not met a single person who dislikes music so I think it would be a great way to keep the students’ attention and make learning a bit more fun. I will have to check out country music a lot more now, too. 

[lizzieelizondo286-blog]

Music is my getaway from everything in life. I just let the music flow. I love, love, love country music! I mean I like all kinds of music, but country is my favorite. Although my heart belongs to country right now I’m not in big a country phase. I also need upbeat music to keep me going and sometimes to dance out my stress. Yes, go ahead and laugh but it feels good after! Plus I know the words to like every song, so I am always, always singing my lungs out. Right now my favorite songs that are getting me through finals are the following:

Bruno Mars, That’s What I Like. Always on repeat!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMivT7MJ41M

I also really like The Weekend’s, I Feel It Coming.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFLhGq0060w

Calvin Harris, Frank Ocean, and Migos Slide. 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFQqAZBOwfQ

A couple of country songs I’m into right now …

Maren Moris, I Could Use a Love Song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ-B9ntKOnw

Thomas Rhett Ft Maren Moris, Craving You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooFnUCUI8Vg

Honestly… there are too many country songs that I LOVE and I cannot list them all because I would probably fill up your whole Tumblr feed. LOL.

[kjmutrgv-blog]

OHHHH my goodness I LOVE ALL THESE SONGS REBLOGGING FOR LATER !!! 

[nayleaorta-blog]

I am not a huge country fan but I am open to any suggestions. I really liked your recommendations on your post. 

[nayleaorta-blog]

Music Keeps Me Sane

Music. Without it I think I would go insane. I do not like silence unless I'm reading in that case I favor the complete quietness. I listen to music as I am doing homework, as I'm driving, as I'm getting ready in the morning, as I am eating, as I'm relaxing, etc. The brilliant thing about music is that there is a song and/or genre for any type of mood that you are in or the activity that you are doing. My taste in music is eclectic. I listen to different types of music genres. I don't have one favorite band or singer because I listen to different types of genres therefore all the artists that I like are so different that I can't compare them. As I was growing up I, unknowingly, was influenced by the music that my brothers would listen to. They would and still listen to The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, The Gorillaz, Tears for Fears, The Beatles, Pearl Jam, ACDC, CCR ( Creedence Clearwater Revival), Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin,  and many many more. They also listened to a lot of Spanish music as well such as Jaguares, Café Tacuba, Enanitos Verdes, Hombres G, Soda Stereo, Caifanes, and Molotov. Because of my mom I would listen to Michael Jackson, Kenny Rogers, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Johnny Cash, Selena, Emanuel, Mijares, Juan Gabriel, Lucero, Amanda Miguel, and so on. My dad would and still listens to corridos which my body just natually rejects, sorry dad. I do like mariachis so I guess that's something. On my own I discovered My Chemical Romance, Fall out Boy, Green Day, Foo Fighters, Fleetwood Mac, Coldplay, Panic! At the Disco, Paramore, A. F. I., R. E. M., Linkin Park, Tupac, Eminem, N. W. A., Public Enemy, Elton John, Queen, Billy Joel, Madonna, and since I was a child during the 90's I gravitated towards NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, T. L. C., and a lot more. In my later years I have gotten into Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Lady Gaga, Florence and the Machine, and a lot of Kpop (who would have thought). My favorite Kpop artists include Big Bang, BTS, 2ne1, F(x), and Shinee, among others but those happen to be my top five and, yes, in that order. I could give more examples but then this post would just turn into one big list of the music artists I listen to and, like I said, there are many many more artists that I haven't listed. The ones that I have listed are the "better known" artists in their respective genre. I am open to any musical suggestions so please comment and suggest any. Without these artists I don't think that I could sanely get through each semester. 

[kjmutrgv-blog]

Writing, Shitty Drafts, I will not use writing as a punishment

Response to: “I Won’t Use Writing as Punishment. I Won’t…” by Roy Peter Clark,Shitty “First Drafts Anne Lamott from Bird by Bird, “ and “Rhetorical Criticism of Online Discourse” by Brandon Jones. When reading “I Won’t Use Writing as Punishment. I Won’t…” by Roy Peter Clark, I realized throughout my education I have witnessed writing being used as punishment by teachers just like in the text. Luckily, as far as i can remember,  I have never been punished by having to write. A negative attitude was never an issue when it came to english, but it was with math. So I could relate to the concepts  “it was too old-fashioned or obsolete to reprint” (4). Clark exposed this is super old and the ideas are old but, we are still here and we are going to talk about, so I guess here we are  it’s worth thinking about.. Own level of anxiety and confidence.  Anne Lamott from Bird by Bird states “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something – anything – down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the downdraft – you just get it down.” Lot of practice ahead of us   and application at the same time confidence, at this point it has a relationship Self reflection : thinking about assessment and final assignment. Anne Lamott from Bird by Bird is very quotable. She expresses writing and how hard it is : tons of stuff about writing and culture and the vulnerability of self reflection. She expresses that writing is hard as well as finding self disclosure not saying the samething over and over again is not right most commonly assigned narratives a thing people do. Rhetorical Criticism of Online Discourse  By Brandon Jones states you always get back what you sow. Thing that happens when you teach, One way to write a position paper Composition form as a model See something kind of in the middle where we are at Author puts forward a reasonable argument draws sources and here’s the thing about internet rhetoric. Contradiction in the begining … fine but hard to read Reason for no evidence and for contradiction Rhetoric and the internet : students have not followed or looked into internet See how further drafting can improve this piece have distance and topic and its self Don’t know how to say the thing you are thinking about because it’s hard to say Redundant : student writing.

[nayleaorta-blog]

While reading your post I couldn’t help but think that you were one of the lucky ones that did not get punished by having to write. I think that by being punished to write as a kid, I had lost interest in my English classes for a few years. I was good at it but I would never look forwards to it until I got to high school and met my sophomore English teacher who made me fall in love with my English class again. I think out of all the articles we had, Anne Lamott’s was my favorite because it reassured me that everybody is human and none of us are born as writing gods. I really liked your post. 

[lizzieelizondo286-blog]

Writing, writing, and more writing

This week, our readings were actually very interesting because they’re relatable. Writing is something we all will do for the rest of our lives whether we like it or not. I found it so funny how most of us could recall our elementary days were teachers would make us write, “I will not talk when the teacher is talking” or something along those lines. But Roy Clark’s article, “I Won’t Use Writing as Punishment… I Won’t” is to remind us teachers that students start looking at writing in a negative way if it’s used as a punishment. As it is stated in Clark’s article, “the joy of writing is not dead in today’s children unless it is killed in the bud by adults.” I can say I agree with this because there is no one else to blame but the adults who bring writing out as a negative thing to children. Teachers who encourage their students to let their thoughts flow into writing are the ones who should be applauded for not ruining writing.

With the same topic on writing, the second article by Anne Lamott, “Shitty First Drafts” is something everyone in the world has gone through. No one has mastered their first draft, and that’s what makes it so important in students’ writing process. She states, “almost all writing begins with terrible first efforts” and if this were not true, then you would probably be a super hero genius. But on a serious note, I feel this is what gives students their story meaning and creativity. Within the first draft, students don’t know what they are trying to say exactly but have an idea. As they revise and develop their drafts more, they start finding their footing and create a good piece of writing. As a future teacher, I will highly encourage first drafts, and want to see them in my classroom a lot more so I can have my students observe their progress they have made along the way.

I believe with writing being so important in school, teachers should be more aware as to how they promote it to students. We want to encourage them, not scare them and make them hate writing. We need to introduce it as a safe space for them to feel comfortable and at ease when they are writing. Most teachers don’t know what damage they are doing by turning writing into a punishment and looking down at first drafts.

[kjmutrgv-blog]

I too agree with you ! Writing is very important in everyday school work it just English class … writing can be used and incorporated in all subjects … like your said encouragement is key… yet how would you encourage them ? Is there a a better way to ease students into writing ?

[nayleaorta-blog]

I totally agree with you, writing is seen as a punishment rather than a form of expressing our thoughts, concerns, feelings, etc. I remember every time an essay was assigned to us or any for of writing assignment all you heard was grunting from the entire class. In elementary, whenever we would misbehave we would have to write our vocabulary words fifteen times each instead of five. Writing shouldn’t be seen as tedious or punishable assignment but it should be seen as an alternate way to express ourselves.   

[nayleaorta-blog]

Where to Start?

Shitty first drafts. We all have them. Anne Lamott writes that even the most prestigious,  respected, and famous writers have shitty first drafts. They are not writing angels that magically sit in front of a computer and spew out wonderfully written works of art. It just doesn't happen. She lets her reader know that she is one of the many victims of horrible first drafts and her experience in having to write food reviews. She would collect her notes and have everything ready for her to start writing but she didn't know how. She would occupy herself with other things, in a sense dragging her feet, before she began writing. The more I read the article the more I thought that she had set up a hidden camera in my room and documented my process of writing an essay. It was relatable. This reminded me of another article that we had to read for class which was "Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers" by Nancy Sommers. In that article, Sommers mentions that student writers begin writing and revising at the same time. They do not feel comfortable or confident enough to just write whatever comes to mind without worrying about the grammar. To them, the student writers, it has to be perfect from the beginning. I think that the more you do something the more tricks you find to better yourself at that one thing. In the beginning, I'll admit, I would focus more on the grammar of my paper rather than the content. Now, that I have had more experience in writing, I found an easier way (for me) to begin writing. I have come to learn to do as Lamott has described in her article. I type my ideas down and make it sound as if I am describing the topic of my essay to a friend or family member (by family member I mean my mom). I type as if I am having a conversation with someone and use slang or, sometimes, use curse words to get my ideas across. After I let out everything that I want to say, I leave it alone for some time, about a day, and look at it again and begin to delete what is not useful and elaborate more on what I do find useful for my essay. This is how I have written my essays recently, especially my Teaching Philosophy Statement. I think that a person must learn to write shitty first drafts because it is a skill that experienced writers have learned. Stop worrying about sounding perfect from the very beginning and let the ideas just flow, man. Peace and Love!! What is your process of writing an essay? Will you incorporate this article in your classroom to teach the students how to start an essay? I know I will

[nayleaorta-blog]

Let’s Work Together Guys! -No!

Collaborative work, everyone has had to do in one point of their school career. It is mostly dreaded by the top students of the class and happily welcomed by the students who are at the lower spectrum. This is because, through my experience, the top students do all the work and the students who generally don't apply themselves in class don't apply themselves in a group. In Jessica Restaino's article "Writing Together: An Arendtian Framework for Collaboration," she mentions the importance of natality, plurality, and record which are three major concepts by Hannah Arendtian. "Arendt’s valuing of natality—or new beginnings—underscores our shared need for each other, as our actions are insignificant without the presence of others." We need human interactions to function which is why it is important to do collaborative work.  Plurality, or human togetherness, is explained as something that is feared because we don't know how the other person will react when we express our thoughts to them but because of natality we can make it work. Lastly, we need to record everything. Keep a log of how the group has worked so that we can learn from it in the future. If it was a good experience then we could continue doing what we have been doing, If it was a bad experience then we learn to make changes. There have been great examples to collaborative work. For example, Roberts-Miller have worked with each other for many years and have produced great works. Unfortunately for me, like I stated earlier, my experiences of doing collaborative work have not been great especially in middle school and high school. I wouldn't necessarily claim to be the top student but somewhere along the lines of upper middle student sometimes just middle middle student. I dreaded having to do group work because the outcome was all the same. I was left doing all the work or at least the majority of the work and my group members would do minimal to no work. What really irritated me was that we would all get the same grade. It was my blood, sweat, and tears that went into the work!! Anyways, as I got older I had just accepted the fact that this is how it was going to be for the rest of my life. Then I attended college and guess what? I was right. I won't say that all my experiences doing collaborative work in college were bad like in middle school or high school. There have been groups that I have been a part of where we all pull our own weight. I do understand that we need human interactions to function in life but because of other people's lack of interest, it makes it difficult to want to work in groups. Have any of you had similar experiences like the one that I have had with collaborative work? Have your experiences been better than mine? If so, you are one of the lucky ones! What are your views on collaborative work?

[auroraluna1-blog]

Literate Misfitting: Disability Theory and a Sociomaterial Approach to Literacy by Elisabeth L. Miller offers an insight on disabilities issues and the grounds that society has organized them. Society removes some barriers, but also restrict choices for the disabled. Both try to favor certain disabilities but not all cater to the classroom needs for literate practices. The social conception of “normal literacy” values can differ in some education classrooms. For example, a school may not have sufficient funds to cater to all disabled student needs. In that sense, a student may be send to another school miles away from their home. Also, a disabled student  may need a home bound restricted environment where a teacher needs to teach from their home. The article states that a person uses their body as a technology tool for advancement. It can be as simple as moving a finger through a text or as difficult as reading text over and over again. I believe an issue that still stands today from a pedagogy stand point is that teachers may not know how to cater to a disabled student needs. A disabled student by law has the right to attend a general education classroom. Therefore, a general education teacher may not be prepared for that situation. Consequently, the student might fall behind or not pass to next grade level. I believe, the article informs readers of an exciting issue that has existed and continues to exist. I found extremely interesting how the world invents things that caters to mass population but not for disabled population. Therefore, not considering if a disabled person would take advantage of such invention. Although, one can argue that some inventions cater only the disabled. The concept remains, because most things in fact favor a large population versus the disabled population which then transfers into the classroom.

[nayleaorta-blog]

Hey Aurora,

I think you what you said about how the “world invents things that caters to mass population but not for disabled population.” There are places that I have visited that don’t have ramps for people in wheelchairs and since my mom is partially blind she can’t read the small font menus at restaurants but they don’t offer larger font menus so I have to read the menu out loud (which I don’t mind). In the school setting, I have heard from friends who are teachers that other teachers do not want to deal with students who have a harder time learning such as dyslexia, ADHD, or any other form learning disability because, in my opinion, they are too lazy to teach. The teachers end us sending the students out of their classrooms. As for the equipment funds for students who are disabled, I think that is seen more in low income schools but even then, some schools who can afford it don’t emphasize on making the campus “disable friendly.” How would you make a campus more conscientious about students with special needs? 

[nayleaorta-blog]

Is it Favoritism or Understanding?

In the article “‘An Ethical Obligation’: Promising Practices for Student Veterans in College Writing Classrooms,” D. Alexis Hart and Roger Thompson discuss a study that they have conducted which aims “to understand the ethical obligations that faculty and administrators face whether veteran students and military family members disclose their status or not, and what obligations writing programs may have to help better serve their veteran populations.” As future educators we have to be aware about the writing prompts we assign to not only veterans but to any student in general. There may or may not be students that feel uncomfortable writing about personal experiences in their reflective essays. This article talks about how we should treat veterans the classroom and understand that there may be some aspects about being in the military that they might not want to disclose. We should not single them or any other student out and have them speak on behalf of their social group. It was an interesting article to read but the article that I was able to relate to the most was “Disability in Kairotic Places.” In this webtext, it talks about how teachers should view learning through the lenses of a student who is disabled. It mentions the ethics of accessibility which “this ethic refers not only to an expanded understanding of the physical and material conditions needed for learners and teachers of composition, but also to the responsible and respectful attention we need to pay to the differences people bring to the educational spaces of composition programs, classes, and assignments.” The website brings up the point that what we need to rethink our idea of “normal.” We take for granted our everyday activities because we don’t have to think about it but it is different for someone who is in a wheelchair.  Both readings talk about accommodating people whether it be because they are disabled or are veterans. We as teachers should be aware that not all students learn the same and encourage to have diverse individuals in the classroom to learn from one another. This benefits both the teachers and the students. But there will be some students and even parents who see this as favoritism since we are “catering” to the needs of certain students and not the rest. After reading the Kairos article, I was reminded of when I was in elementary school and how the administrators, teachers, and staff would make the campus understanding to each student’s differences and encouraged interactions with diverse individuals. It may be an obvious notions to say “hey! Guess what?! We need to respect each other,” but if you don’t instill those ideas in a kid’s mind at a young age then they may turn out to be an unlikable human being. Anyway, each school year my class would have a few students who had learning disabilities such as dyslexia, anger problems, or they were deaf. The teachers throughout elementary would ask us to volunteer to help our peers with dyslexia to read the stories assigned. We were also taught that when a student with anger management problems was having an episode to give him/her space and not argue with that student. The school even provided sign language classes for all students so that we can learn to communicate a little bit with the students who were deaf. I was fortunate to have attended school where, at that time, the parents or students hardly or never complained about favoritism. My mom was part of the PTA and she would talk to me about the lectures they would have on the diverse students at the school and helped the parents become more understanding as well. I guess my questions are: were you fortunate enough to have attended school where they instilled diversity to the students like mine? If so, how? If not, do you think it would have benefited you? Do you think that by accommodating certain students in the classroom we are prone to favoritism?

[lizzieelizondo286-blog]

Teaching Teachers, Teacher Things

There were two interesting questions we discussed in class today that reflect back on the articles. The first article, “Teaching Writing Teachers Writing,” by Shelley Reid is an eye opener for us future educators, to get us thinking about the course work we are going to be assigning our students. Reid discusses how teaching writing teachers “can extend their professional awareness and increase their pedagogical empathy” (Reid 198) to allow students to become “true learners” (198) in their field. I believe this is important to ensure that we are ready enough to teach our students to challenge themselves to perform at a higher level. By giving teachers assignments that prove to be deliberately difficult and critically reflective, we are educating teachers to be “ready to help their own students think critically, adapt to changing rhetorical situations,” (199) but we don’t want to discourage students, which is why I believe the most important thing to do is to help them “become confident, lifelong writers” (199).  Students often feel overwhelmed and don’t feel like they are getting their point across when writing their essay, and sometimes we as educators need a little reminder of what that feels like, or the work they are assigning is too much, just as some of the comments prove. As they mention this in the article it reminds me of one of my English courses in high school where the teacher would assign us another essay after we had just started revising the ones we turned in. It serves as a good reminder of what we are putting our students through and help them along the way. I like the strategy presented in this article, even though it seems a little intimidating. This also proves to help teachers see themselves and how they can improve their teaching skills.

Not only does teaching writing teachers benefit the students, but they themselves can benefit from it as well. When assigning exploratory, these pedagogy instructions can also “help teachers gain confidence as professionals in the field,” (210) resulting in further engaging with students. As teachers begin to reflect on their experiences as writers, it can help teachers find their purpose and answer the question “how are you learning to write?” (213) This proves to be beneficial to students and teachers as they can connect their theories to their own personal experiences to further challenge themselves. Should all future educators go through this course before stepping into a classroom? Would it hurt us if we didn’t? I think it would hurt us because we wouldn’t be able to better “develop flexibility and engagement” (197) in our field as students, learners, theorists, and most important, teachers.

[nayleaorta-blog]

Hi Lizzie,

I think that future educators should go through this course because as you stated, it helps “teachers see themselves and how they can improve their teaching skills.” It benefits both teachers and students. It would hurt us if we didn’t experience it because it gives the teachers a sense of how to teach writing. I also agree with you in that teachers should experience the difficulty the students face when writing essays. Some teachers assign writing prompt after writing prompt and the student gets overwhelmed. I really enjoyed the points you made in your post.

[auroraluna1-blog]

Experiencing Difficulty

Teaching Writing Teachers Writing: Difficulty, Exploration, and critical reflection by Author Shelley Reid offers strategies to help future teachers prepare for their future classroom. The author questions if an assignment should be tailored to individual pedagogy-education programs? She describes writing pedagogy as practice to productive guidance through a difficult learning expereince. Thus, believes a learner who want to pursue a teaching career should experience or relate to same difficulties. In my opinion, I agree with it helps be a critical learner, and helps explore strategies. Also, that a student can benefit and make more connection to theories and pedological practices. However, some student’s in college or high school are not at same learning level. Plus, not all teachers provide the support needed or have time to adhere to individual needs. Therefore, the difficult material will work for some students, but not for all. This approach if taken into action must cater to all students and provide needed tools. The author states, “student’s think critically adapt to changing rhetorical situations and become confident, lifelong writers” (w199).  My message translation of the author is: push students away from their comfort zone and seek find growth through hard work. As a college student, my experience from an extreme difficult class is please let it be over and after it is, I want to erase it from my memory. In conclusion if a class is too difficult, a student might withdraw rather than push forward. Thus, in my opinion we must not confuse the word “difficulty”. Thus, it’s actual definition is: a thing that is hard to accomplish, deal with, or understand. Instead, use terms as provide critical, challenging, exploration and reflection material. Past core standards towards higher goals with intent to help student succeed an exempt the word difficulty all together.

[lizzieelizondo286-blog]

Hey Aurora,

There’s a question that you state within your blog post that I find important, and I believe teachers should always ask themselves that when preparing assignments for their students. I agree with your view on how this technique might not work for all future educators, so I stopped myself and asked, “how are we sure they will be teaching our students the right way?” Well, there really isn’t a “right way,” everyone learns and teaches different. Your blog post opened my eyes to see a different point of view and I’m glad it did because as educators we often over look these tiny little details, that are actually very important. It shouldn’t be about how difficult something is, but how well a student is able to comprehend the material. And it is true, students will be pushed away, but I believe that is when we step in and try our best to motivate the student to grow and think critically. I really liked your view on this article!

[nayleaorta-blog]

Hi Aurora,

I have also had the same experience as the one you stated in your blog. The classes in high school and even in college that I felt were more difficult than the others were the classes that I have the least recollection of because at the time I was worried about just getting through the assignments one at a time and passing the class rather than actually learning. Unlike me, there were other students that seemed to enjoy the structure of those classes. It goes back to “everyone learns differently.” I can handle “difficult” material but just at a slower pace so that I can fully understand and apply it later in my life. Your post made me remember (or tried to remember) these classes and I do wish that my teachers had motivated me to push forward and/or take some time to explain the material thoroughly rather than bombarding us with work so they can have enough grades in the grade book.

[nayleaorta-blog]

Understand the Student

This week we read four articles and of the four I found the article by Shelley Reid, "Teaching Writing Teachers Writing" a bit more interesting than the rest. Reid mentions that in order to teach writing difficulty the teachers need to participate in it as well. Teachers need to walk a day in the shoes of their students, so to speak. Experience what they experience so that there could be a deep level of understanding the difficulties the student goes through. "Teachers who experience writing difficulty not only connect emotionally to their students, something they might do after writing what their students write, but they gain clarity about how students learn to write better." (Reid, pg. 201). By teaching writing teachers in this way then they will be able to teach their students to perform at a higher level. The increase of the writing difficulty helps the students but we must not only focus on that. "If we are to productively increase writing difficulty and exploration, we need also to design assignments to help students participate in critical reflection." (Reid, pg. 211). I have had teachers in the past that would assign essay after essay with little to no time in between to question as to why our writing style was "wrong." I guess the teacher expected for us to improve by continually making us write essays and not spending time on reflecting on what we turned in. I have also known, from friends, of teachers who assign two essays during the whole school year because most of the time was spent on the reflection aspect. My niece's English teacher, on the other hand, assigned a reflective essay at the beginning of the school year and when she returned the essays back to the students she took the time to have them revise their work sentence by sentence. It surprisingly did not take as long and by the end of the month or so the essay was "well written." There has to be a balance with the difficulty of the assignments and the time the students have o reflect on them. By teaching writing teachers how to do so then they can show their students. Going back to what I stated at the beginning, we as teachers must place ourselves in the students shoes and think whether or not the teaching method I am using is beneficial. That way we can decide whether we are challenging the students and if they are understanding why they received a certain grade.  

[nayleaorta-blog]

Is My Info Credible?

In class on Thursday we had a presentation on how to conduct research for our upcoming research essay. I had done research papers in the past so I sort of knew how to attain my information necessary for the assignments. When I first started writing research papers, I would mainly use Google and choose any website with information that I thought sounded "right." I would even use Wikipedia but only as source to get me thinking of what to research not use the actual information presented on that website. Then I would use other websites and maybe a book pertaining to what I am looking for. It would also take me a long time to come up with ideas and just getting started. Now I start my research assignments by choosing what I find interesting about the novel the research is suppose to be on, or the author, etc. I make a list of what I would like to research and then I break each point into smaller and more detailed points. For example, if a book touches on the topic of mental health then I would make it a point. Let's say I am going to research mental health in the early nineteenth century then I break the topic down into how were the patients treated, what instruments were used, and what were the "popular" diagnosis' used at the time. If the book brings up the topic of poor working conditions in nineteenth century England, then I would make that a point and come up with smaller points about that. The topic that I feel has the most information and/or the one I find to be the most interesting is what I choose my paper to be about. Then I begin my "real" research. I usually use the university library database to find articles, journals, etc. Depending on the subject I use textbooks that I have used for my previous courses and I got to the library. I like to get my sources from different places. After the class on Thursday, I thought more about my process and found new places to attain information that I hadn't really thought of before. I also learned to be more critical of my sources. It also gave me an idea of how I would teach my future students on how to conduct a research assignment. I found that lesson to be helpful. How have you're research writing skills changed? Have they stayed pretty much the same? Where do you get your information from? What is the most difficult and/or easiest part of writing a research paper for you?

[lizzieelizondo286-blog]

Sprinkles or No Sprinkles (Bland)?

The readings for this week were very interesting and as we discussed them in class it brought up points that hadn’t crossed my mind. Bell Hooks’ article Teach to Transgress brings in many great points we are sometimes too afraid to bring into the classroom. And you would think as future educators we will be thinking about how to incorporate multiculturalism in our classrooms. But we aren’t because our curriculum is so hooked on us stressing about the state exam that we simply give up and say we don’t have time. Hooks has made a commitment to “ending sexism and sexist oppression, to eradicating systems of class exploitation” (Hooks, 27). Therefore, I believe educators should attempt to do the same for the benefit of their students. I agree with Hooks when she goes into detail on how some people want to change the world, yet they still follow the everyday rules and buy into “domination” as they lead us to believe it is natural. How do we expect our students to grow and learn if we don’t give them the opportunities within the classroom amongst a more diverse group of students? Hooks goes on to state how we should attempt to make certain subjects approachable and I believe by setting a safe zone in the classroom would help the students move on to other ideas.

As one of my classmate’s noted how this could relate to the movie “A Class Divide,” I could make the same relation and make a connection between the reading and the movie because, without multiculturalism, our classrooms will be full of unfair opportunities that our students won’t be able to benefit from. Trying to teach in a classroom that doesn’t have any cultural diversity will hurt students in the long run as they won’t be able to relate or see what they go through is different from every student. How do you think cultural diversity will affect your classroom? Will you be incorporating it? If no why not? Don’t you think students need to seeing things from another point of view? This is something Hooks was able to do as she befriended someone from the opposite race and gave us personal insight to what her parents thoughts were, and even her own thoughts. Personal insight is often overlooked, but in Hooks’ article, it serves her purpose very well.

[nayleaorta-blog]

To answer your questions I think cultural diversity will benefit the classroom because it will introduce the students to new cultures and customs and would make them more aware that this world, especially this country, is made up of more than white elitists. Students definitely need to see the world from another point of view in order to respect and understand one another. I like to think that I would strongly implement these ideas in the classroom. Would you? 

[andrea-yvette22-blog]

Lots of Feminism

I have mixed feelings about the Bell Hooks reading we had to read this week since I agree with feminism but, at the same time I disagree with some of the things she points out in her article. I understand that equality is important and everything I just feel like she is somewhat sexist in the article. I mean not all men are terrible insensitive pigs that have zero respect for women and the authority they may hold. I kind of got that vibe from this article and I disagree completely that we should ostracize men that way.

I read chapter 10 first for the wiki article we had to turn in and I thought the conversation she had with her fellow colleague was interesting at first. They discussed the differences in teaching methods and even how college students react to different methods of teaching. They compared themselves to “dictators” in realizing that the students may feel intimidated by the power the professor holds in the classroom. I can personally agree with that since it is true that the professor may come off as intimidating since they are the main authority in the class and what they say goes. However, after that part in the conversation it strays off completely into feminism which left me more than a little confused.

Hooks starts discussing how she herself as a feminist sees the struggle with gaining common ground as a woman, a writer, and a professor in her age. I realize these are all good issues to discuss and it must have been hard for her but, I don’t see the connection with what this has to do with teaching. I thought she would at least try to connect back to what she first said at the beginning of the conversation or at least mention something else connected to teaching in the classroom but, nope she just kept talking about feminism. Don’t get me wrong though it was all very interesting but the remarks she made just made me feel like she was bias about the whole thing.

[nayleaorta-blog]

You make a great point, not all men are sexists pigs some even refer to themselves as feminists as well. Being a feminist, to me, is about having a fair opportunity to both sexes and respecting the opposite gender as you respect your own. 

[nayleaorta-blog]

It’s Called Diversity, People!

Bell hooks presents the idea of gender equity in her book, "Teaching to Transgress." In chapter seven, bell hooks primarily talks about why white and black women don't get along even among feminist groups. The reason goes back to when slavery was very prominent in the United States. White men desired black women and would rape them. White women would see their female slaves as sexual competitors and would highly implement laws and public opinion about white men and black women to be taboo. They would secure their position as the served while their black female slaves were the servants. Black women hated their white "masters" because of it. Instead of helping each other and forming a bond or sisterhood, both races did not get along. Even now, feminist groups fight for the rights for gender equity but only for white race females and forget about their African American sisters. This brings me to how do we teach feminism in the classroom and/or how do we incorporate it. We have to make them approachable and free to be discussed. It may be uncomfortable for some teachers to teach it and for some students to learn about it but it doesn't mean that it wasn't part of our history. We have to know the views of different teachers, especially African American teachers, who have experienced gender inequality. The textbooks only describes the point of views of the white females but they don't go into detail on the other races. While we had the discussion in class, a classmate of mine made a comment about a history professor she had and how he would dodge the section of the feminist movement. He wouldn't address it. I then thought of my previous history teachers and history professors and tried to remember whether or not they spoke about the feminist movement as well. Out of all of them, only my eighth grade history teacher went into depth about the subject. We even had to randomly choose a name from a cup and do research on how they contributed to the feminist movement. Because of my eighth grade history teacher, I got even more interested in feminism. Unfortunately for me, that was the last time I went in depth on the subject. My other teachers and my history professors would only touch the subject for half a class period or just made one statement about it which was something like "this was happening to women, it was bad, and women fought for their rights....the end." Why don't teachers want to go into depth on feminism?

[auroraluna1-blog]

Rule of Reason

The University of Berlin was founded in the 1810’s with a vision of a modern university. However, the foundation was founded with one concept of teaching in that of a humanist education approach. Through the years the educational system has evolved bringing in new concepts of education. In the book” The University in Ruins, by Bill Reading they mention the theology and philosophy approach. A Theology approach meaning the study of law, medicine, or religion. On the contrary, philosophy is based on reason alone. Therefore, they become a discussion of ideas between the original traditional pedagogy approaches of teaching. Now, my understanding is that theology Universities produce technicians for the state, while physiology protects the University from abuse of the state. In my opinion, I can relate this to what a University chooses to teach into their curriculum, but it can also depend on which standards each institute follows. Has anyone ever noticed that higher payed jobs are linked to interest of our government. Many degrees for higher education require more money to be invested and additional state certificationas. Also, many people in our government and educational system have different perspectives of education. For example, many teachers teach what is required versus what they originally believed or wanted to teach. Government plays a role by benefiting from the student and builds them up as an industrial investment for business.

[natalie-mena01-blog]

Omg yes ! I have absolutely notices that some of the  higher paying jobs are directly linked with the government. And absolutely, the higher the education the more expensive. We live in a society that values education and looks at degrees very highly. The problem with this is, many smaller degrees aren’t really praised. And so students know right away that the job market is scarce. Students really don’t choose the jobs they want sometimes because it’s not as respected or it’s not enough pay. So they pick Pre-professional jobs like Pre-med, Pre-law to pursue degrees in. Many teachers have to follow a particular curriculum and so for example, if they want to teach a particular topic using a graphic novel their ideas are shut down by the school district. I really feel strongly that the government has a lot of benefits from the money that we spend at college.

[nayleaorta-blog]

I also have noticed that higher paid jobs are primarily linked to the government while other jobs, like teaching, aren’t. Teaching, for example, is one profession that most people don’t have high respect for and that in part has to do with the few teachers that have strictly taught their students what is required rather than what they want to teach. I enjoyed reading your blog. (sorry, for the double re-blog...I keep forgetting the #)