Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone.

 When I saw that for this weeks blogs we had to do something out of out comfort zone, I was nervous. I didn't know what to do because I don't like stepping out of my comfort zone. Usually when I go downtown I take a taxi, but I decided to try something different and take the bus. I was a little nervous because I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know who would be on the bus, if it was safe, and I didn't know where we were supposed to get off. We went to the bus station at 10:10 for the 10:20 bus. The bus didn't come until 10:50, which frustrated me. When the bus finally came, a ton of students got on as well. There was a lot of students on the bus going downtown for Halloween. They were being very loud and distracting, so the bus driver stopped the bus and wouldn't drive until everyone got off. My friends and I weren't being loud, so we got to stay on, but everyone else had to get off. There was other people on the bus going to work and they were getting really angry because no one was getting off the bus. I got scared because they were screaming at people and I thought there was going to be a fight, but there wasn't. We also took the bus on the way back. There was so many students waiting to get on the bus. A cop had to come and tell people to back up so the bus could open the doors. Everyone wanted to get on, so there was a lot of pushing and shoving. I was squished so much my feet were off the ground. We finally got on the bus and made it home fine. The experience was definitely out of my comfort zone, and I don't know if I would do it again. 

Uh Oh Midterm Grades!!!

When I saw my midterm grades I was satisfied. I wasn’t very happy but I wasn’t really disappointed. High school was a lot easier because of the amount of work I had. My senior year of high school I never got homework. My classes were extremely easy and in order to get a good grade in the class I didn’t have to do much. However in college, it is the opposite. The work load is so much more and you have to study a lot in order to get good grades. I believe so far in the first semester, I have studied a good amount, but I know I need to study even more to get my grades to where I want them to be. I am happy with my English grade and I hope to maintain what it is now. My math grade was good until the midterm so I know I have to work hard to get it back to where I want it to be. I would like my inquiry grade to go up so I have to work harder and participate more. My Western Civilization grade is not good because I didn’t study as much as I should have on our first test. I have another test this week so I am really going to try to study a lot so I can do better and raise my grade. I am satisfied with my Italian grade but I would be very happy if I could get it up. So far I am satisfied with my grades but I am going to work very hard to get them to where I want them to be!

What is Going on in Schools in America?

 

There were three readings this week. “Grade Inflation in American Education”, “Student Expectations Seen as Causing Grade Disputes”, and “Generation Me: Are We In A Narcissism Epidemic”? In these articles it talks about how kids now feel entitled to get an A on an assignment just because they handed it in. Students think that just because they show up to class and do their assignments they should automatically receive an A. I don’t think this is true. Although there may be some students that think this way majority of student know they have to earn the grade by trying hard on the assignment, not just doing it. They also talk about grade inflation. Some schools, mostly I.V. league schools are making grading easier so students can get a higher G.P.A.  I honestly don’t know if this is true or not but if it is, I don’t think it’s fair. I think grading should be the same at every school and no one should get an easy way out by easier grading, especially I.V. league schools. You have to be very smart to get into them so in my opinion they should be the last ones having grading easier. In the article they say they grading is easier so the students who graduate have a higher G.P.A and look better for jobs. Also, this makes the school look good with everyone having high grades. These articles were very interesting. Although I don’t know if these things are really going on, if they are it should stop.

Midterm Video!!!

What Makes a Person Motivated Academically and Athletically?

I did my midterm project on motivation. I thought it was going to be very hard, which some of it was but overall it was a great learning experience. I learned how to use imovie. I learned how to edit videos, and make them more creative. It actually turned out to be pretty fun making this project. However, I got extremely frustrated at some points. When I tried to add a video clip in after I did everything else, it deleted one of my slides. I didn’t know how to get it back, so I had to redo that slide. I was very angry because I couldn’t figure out how to get it back. Also this made me not try to add anything else in because I thought other things would get deleted. Tyler was a big help in doing this project. He taught me how to use imovie and showed me how to put the project together. Also, interviewing the people, it was interesting to see their different perspectives on motivation. Many of them had similar opinions, but some had different which made it unique. Overall, this was a great learning experience. This will definitely help with future projects. I had fun interviewing the people, making the movie, and seeing the final video. I think for my first time doing this it came out very good!  

Role of a Peer Mentor.

What is a peer mentor? A peer mentor is usually an older more experienced student that helps out new students.  They help people adapt to their new environment and help them if they need anything. In our Inquiry class, our peer mentor is Kaitlyn. She is a wonderful peer mentor. She is outgoing, very friendly and extremely helpful. When I first walked into class on the first day I was just expecting my teacher, but there was also an older student there. When we found out she was our peer mentor I was very excited. I knew this would be helpful because if I couldn’t get in touch with my teacher to figure something out, I could ask her. Although at first I was a little nervous to go and talk to her because she was an older student and didn’t know what she was like, I quickly found out she was very nice. I think Kaitlyn adds a positive energy to the class. She always has a smile on her face. What I have learned from Kaitlyn is that time management is important along with doing all of our work. Even if something isn’t fun, it has a purpose that will benefit us in the future. Managing all the work we do will help us in years to come and other classes we have. Overall, I enjoy Kaitlyn as our peer mentor and I think she contributes in the class. I feel comfortable asking her anything and I know she is there if I need her.

How Life Can Change in a Blink of an Eye.

I was the happiest girl in the world. I was finally going home for the first time since I came to school. However, it turned out to be the worst weekend of my life. I went home Friday and was so excited to be home. I saw my dog which I missed very much, and then I went downstairs to see my cats. When I went downstairs and saw one of my cats Blitz, I started crying. He was half the size he was before I left and had a huge lump on his back and a hole in it. We realized there was a lump on him a couple months ago, but it wasn’t bothering him so we didn’t think that much of it. The lump exploded a week before I got home so my dad took him to the vet. They said it was a tumor and he had to come back in a week and check if it was cancerous. So the Saturday I was home, we went to the vet in the morning and as soon as we got there the vet felt it and said it was aggressive cancer. My world came crashing down. I started crying hysterically and didn’t stop for days. I have never lost something I loved, so this was very hard for me. The vet said we should put him down because he was in a lot of pain. I spent the rest of the weekend with him and my parents put him down on Monday. It was the hardest thing I had to do leaving him knowing that I will never see him again. I love him very much and will always remember him. He was honestly one of the best cats in the world. He loved to jump on the sink and put his head under the water and get soaked. He was born on Christmas along with his brother Frosty who I love very much. He loved to cuddle and would come over as soon as you said his name. He listened very well and was a very playful cat. I know he is now out of pain and it is better for him, but I will always think about him, miss him and love him. I love you so much Blitz, RIP. 10/11/10.

What Makes a Good Blog?

What makes a good blog? Is it the subject of writing, the way a person writes, the look of a blog? There are many different things that can make a blog good. Creativity is a major key. One person in the class that always has a creative blog is Alexis Her blog names and what she writes about are always creative. Another thing that makes a blog good is the language of the blog. Some people’s blogs seem professional and their language flows throughout their pieces. Oscar's blogs are always entertaining. They are overall very good and I look at his blogs for inspiration. He puts in a lot of effort into them and it definitely shows.

Some people might argue with what makes a blog good. Since blogs are free writing, does that mean someone’s blog can necessarily be bad? There may be blogs that are better than others, but can someone’s blog be not good? Some can be more interesting and can keep your attention, however some people’s blogs can still be good if they are simple. I think if someone tries to write about personal things it makes the reader feel more connected to what they are reading and more interested. I have yet to look at someone’s blog and say that it is not good. There may be things that they can do better to make it more interesting, but as long as they are writing and expressing their opinions they are good. I look forward  to reading the different topics each week.

When I Grow Up I Want to be....?

How do you figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life? Some people know what they want to do from the time they are little, others, don’t know for a long time. For me, I thought I knew up until a couple years ago. Ever since I was five years old, I wanted to be a veterinarian. I have always loved animals. I wanted to spend as much time as I could to care for them. When I was younger I had so many different pets, for example iguanas, hermit crabs, cats, a dog, and so many more. I loved exotic animals and one of my dreams was to own a large house and have a lot of horses. I wanted to take in hurt horses and take care of them and heal them. I thought being a veterinarian was perfect because I would get paid to do something I loved. I would get to help animals and be with them all day. I wanted this until about a year ago when I went to the vet for my dog. I talked to the vet and told her how I wanted to be one. She explained I would not have that much time to do other stuff I wanted too other than studying. Since I do gymnastics and I wanted a social life also, I thought I would not be able to handle trying to become a vet and all the work that came with it. She also said how competitive it was to make it in to veterinary school. It is even harder to get in than medical school. Since I have never loved studying I realized that this would probably not be a good choice for me.

I also thought of becoming an accountant. I have always loved math and am good at it so I took accounting my senior year. After taking that class I no longer wanted to be an accountant. The math parts were easy for me but the business part of it was very difficult. Although I don’t know what my major is yet I am hoping to decide one very soon.

What Makes a Person Motivated?

My inquiry question is what makes a person motivated. For my project I am going to interview one or two coaches and a professor. I’m going to ask the coaches what makes an athlete motivated. I’m going to interview my coach for gymnastics. I am trying to think of another coach I could interview but I can’t think of one that I would be able to meet with and talk to. I’m going to ask the professor I interview about what makes a student motivated academically. I want to find the differences in what makes each, an athlete and regular student motivated as well as similarities. I feel like this might be difficult to find time to interview them. I am also going to interview a teammate and a regular student and compare what makes them motivated.  I feel like one of the biggest obstacles I will have is finding the time to interview people. For the most part, I know what I want to ask them and what I would like to accomplish for the project but finding time is going to be the problem. Also I am worried about putting the whole project together.  I am not experienced with technology. I don’t know how to do a lot of stuff using it which includes making videos. I don’t know how to cut the interviews I have and to only put the parts I want in a video. I am looking forward to learning how to do this so if I ever get any other projects like this one I will know what to do.

Friday Night Lights

Friday night was cold, raining and overall just seemed miserable out, however walking over to the football stadium and seeing the field I forgot how bad it was outside. I love going to football games and when I saw our team run out onto the field I forgot about the bad weather and was excited for the game. The Owls were playing against Assumption College which is in Worcester, Massachusetts. The team was undefeated which made the game more exciting. Southern got 2 interceptions and played like they wanted to win. The ending score was 23-17 SCSU! The game was extremely exciting because they beat an undefeated team.

A few of the freshman on the gymnastics team volunteered to walk around asking for donations for Make-A-Wish Foundation.  Although there weren’t as many people there as usual due to the weather, we still received a good amount of money. It was a great bonding experience with the girls on the team. We got to get involved with the people who were at the game. Most of them were very nice and wanted to donate, even though there were some that just said no. At first, I was nervous to walk around asking people to donate because I am shy. I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know if people were going to be mean and just say no or if they were going to be nice and donate. After asking a few times, I felt more comfortable and it was actually a fun experience. I would definitely do it again because it was for a great cause and I had fun doing it.