Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Love IS ALL I NEEd. : )


I never thought I was loved so much. At times I feel alone but I've always had someone hold my hand through everything. It's weird that my life has never really been bad to the point where it ruins my life. There are moments when I wish I could just disappear, but now I see I was exaggerating because everything I've gone through was never really horrible. My life is good and I should not whine at all. My mom loves me and so do many other people. Love is something I know I will always and forever have no matter what. I love everyone and everything in my life. I'm grateful for this marvelous life. Something I should do is keep my cool and keep going. No whining or crying over stupid nonsense that can be fixed. As long as I'm loved and supported I feel as though I have nothing to worry about.
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CONNECtION 6 3.25.10


Friday, Mr. Maggi showed us a video on YouTube that really opened my eyes to my research paper. The video I think was called "A Vision of K-12 Students Today" which was trying to inspire teachers to use technology in engaging ways to help students develop higher level thinking skills. I thought it was awesome. Mr. Maggi was also talking about how in the old days to look for a book people had to pull out a catalogue that was about 5 feet long. I never really noticed the changes or how much learning had actually changed until I started researching and wondering about it. Today I read an article on how students at a young age are not told about intelligence and the meaning of it. They just learn and feel as though their pace and amount of knowledge is through age and can not develop or grow. Therefore, they do not improve in grades because they are convinced that they can not get smarter or develop new skills. My psychology class has definitely helped me better understand the mind since right now were learning about intelligence. I mostly like this class because I can relate it to my life and other things that I want to know more about.
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Field Trip # 6 3.25.10


Today was a busy day and it stayed that way until the end of the day. I arrived late to my sponsor's but I had already advised her that I would be late today. Like usual Ms. Carney had her students working and today they were working on computers. I asked Ms. Carney if she lets the students use computers often and she replied that she tries to as much as she can. She had asked me if it was easier reading from a website on a computer or reading from a book. I replied that I liked reading from a website but the sides always have something to distract you. I had also mentioned to her that I was doing my research paper on technology with education. She had mentioned that she only had a little bit of training with the technology they presented to her in the classroom. I was glad that she knew that technology is very important to incorporate in her teaching. In my mind when I walked in the class I felt like my research paper was just as I was describing and picturing when I was writing it. I had proven my research paper to myself through Ms. Carney's answers to my questions and just the mere sight of all the students typing, browsing, searching, and clicking. They were reading articles off of websites and making power points. It was quite odd that Ms. Carney saw the importance of technology when not all teachers could see the great and wonderful use of technology. Ms. Carney asked the whole class if it's harder to work on computers and programs rather than worksheets and books. Only 4 raised their hands out of 16 kids that it was harder to use computers. I was impressed by how many students thought computers were better and easier to understand. It sucked that I had to leave early because of softball practice but I really liked today, because I felt what I was trying to prove was right in front of my face.
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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

LONg Lost SONG. 3.17.10

For so long I had been searching for " Los Inovidables" which are fantastic Dominican singers. I love each and everyone of their songs. My favorite song of all is " Quiero estar a tu lado" this means I want to be by your side. All of their songs are about love and sadness. Most of their voices are soft and passionate. They are very creative in their songs and have much symbolism with the words they choose to use. For example, in " Quiero estar a tu lado" a flower represents a heart that has love growing in each and every petal and his love for her only gets bigger and bigger. Another song that I absolutely adore is " No quiero berte llorar" which is a song that explains that he no longer loves his girlfriend and wants to let her know. Although he no longer loves her, he still cares about her. He does not want to see her cry so her tells the truth that he loves someone else, but then he realizes that he still loves her, but now he's in a new relationship with the other girl he thought he loved. It's a complicated song but very interesting. Their way of using words and the tones they use to express themselves capture my ears. I like that they use different instruments like the piano, guitar, drums to make their music. I love "Los Inovidables".
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Connection SOFtBAll NUMBER 5 3.17.10


On Monday I started softball and I had no idea what I was doing or any of the positions of softball. I've seen people play the sport but I never really understood it. It was pretty hard knowing where to go or what to say, but not impossible. I was pretty proud of myself that I went through the whole practice without stopping or thinking about quitting. I realized today at practice that I needed to pay more attention and see if I was doing the right thing. Therefore, I asked Ms. Jones to tell me when I'm doing something incorrect because if she does not tell me I will never better myself. Just like checking your grades. You need to know what type of grade you have in each class to know where to improve. Being unaware of yourself in any type of thing like sports, school, or even your job is very bad. If no one tells you your doing something incorrect then how will you ever improve? Moreover, students although they're doing the homework or taking the test, you have no idea if it's an A or an F. Just like softball you might be doing all the stretches, and warm ups but you have no idea if you suck at this sport and need improvement.
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Field Trip # 5 3.15.10


My Field Trip to the Middle School was on the ball. I was there on time and I had everything ready for my day at the LMS. As I came into the class, Ms. Carney was going over a worksheet she had left for the Substitute on Friday. She was explaining to them that she was very disappointed about some of the students who did not even try to do the work when she came back today(Monday). This worksheet was called " Land of the Ripping Gold" which was a small passage to be read and questions to be answered. The worksheet asked for the main event, main idea in the last paragraph and selecting another title for the passage. She wanted her students to understand that getting a zero on an assignment is very effective to your grade. Ms. Carney had advised me that most students are not even aware of the grades they have. I believe her because when I was in fifth grade I was not aware of my grades either and until sophomore year in High school I also started checking my grades. I had no way of knowing if I was failing a class anyways unless I asked my teacher every week in the Middle School. Another addition to Ms. Carney's lesson was a sheet for good endings. I did not get to see what else she was going to do since this time my friend was not able to give me a ride back to school. Therefore I left early to come back in time for softball practice. I had asked Ms. Carney to email me the rest of her lesson and summarize it for me.
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Old Friend 3.11.10


Last night to my surprise my old friend since kindergarten had sent me a friend request on facebook. I could not believe that she had remembered me. We started sending messages to each other explaining the new things that have happen in our lives. Savanna mentioned to me that everybody from Parkview elementary were all still there and no one had changed at all. I was so glad to hear from her after all these years. The last time I had seen her was in second grade when I went to Parkview elementary school in Stratford. I had moved to Lindenwold over the summer and started third grade which was hard for me since it was new friends and school. Anyways Savanna is a junior at Sterling High School and I had explained to her that now I'm a senior because I had skipped a grade in 7th grade. Savanna looked so different, I did not even recognize her when she first sent me the friend request. She was a very good friend to me and I never thought I would ever see her again. It's very odd how that she was always with me and she never seemed to want to leave me. We were always partners in everything and she loved me like a sister. I know it was a long time ago but even if it was when I was only a child I knew when someone truly did care about me. I guess you never know who will come back into your life but a part of me knew she was.
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