11 year old Kimberly Wakes up, goes to school and comes home. Thats atleast what everyone thinks. Kimberlys parents and verbally abusive to her. Therefor she lacks beliefe in herself. She has difficulty reading and writng and is in danger of being held back. Her Social Studies Teacher Mr.Porter cannot help but notice her struggle but also notice's her potential to become great. He takes it upon himself to pay a little extra attention to Kimberly to see where her weak and strong points are. Kimberly is happy to be reciving the positive attention she's always wanted. Kimberlys parents soon notice that shes reciving extra help when she stays after school so her parents dont allow her to stay after school. Kimberly then falls into a depression because she can no longer get the attention she deserved.
Her teacher Mr.Porter makes it his mission to find a way to help Kimberly reach her full potential no matter what he has to do. He Begins meeting her at lunch and sending her home with work packets and instructions so that she can refer to his comments so she can complete her work better. After many months of working her reading and writing levels start to rise but its already the end of the year and ger chances of being promoted to the next grade are very slim. Mr.Porter finds it only fair to fight for her as she has fought for herself. He confronts the principle of the school with her new reading and writing levels showing her potential to increase her grades enough to be able to go to the next grade. The principle will only give her one chance to pass. she must pass a basic learning test and if she passses she will be promoted to the next grade and will be able to be able to continue in her path to sucess.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
HW #42- More reasurch more thinking.
Question: Why does violence occur in school?
Accusation: School is the battle feild for bullying, isolation and violence.
insights: I wonder in my mind what it is about the set up of school that causes there to be violence? School is set up to put kids of the same age in one grade and kids of another age in the other, there is social interaction everyday between students. Everyone has different personalities and ways about going things. there some teenagers who feel they dont belong and it makes them vonerable for other people to think the same thing. Our previous cool unit we talked about the characters that we play and who is and isnt cool. The people who are considerd popular and cool usually are the ones making fun of other kids and it drives boys and girls to act there anger out in ways of violence. Some kids inflict this anger on themselfs by trying to commit suicide and cut or cause injurys on themselfs. And then there the kids who feel they must inflict the pain on everyone in and around the situation because its there only way out of there feelings.
Accusation: School is the battle feild for bullying, isolation and violence.
insights: I wonder in my mind what it is about the set up of school that causes there to be violence? School is set up to put kids of the same age in one grade and kids of another age in the other, there is social interaction everyday between students. Everyone has different personalities and ways about going things. there some teenagers who feel they dont belong and it makes them vonerable for other people to think the same thing. Our previous cool unit we talked about the characters that we play and who is and isnt cool. The people who are considerd popular and cool usually are the ones making fun of other kids and it drives boys and girls to act there anger out in ways of violence. Some kids inflict this anger on themselfs by trying to commit suicide and cut or cause injurys on themselfs. And then there the kids who feel they must inflict the pain on everyone in and around the situation because its there only way out of there feelings.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
HW #41 internet reasurch on schooling
ABC News/ Primetime- How mean can teens be? http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=2421562&page=1
In this article, the main idea that is being pitched is that being in school isnt the only way to be mean to other people anymore. it states that girls are more likley to be mean to each other then boys and that girls go for the "emotional jugular".
What i noticed about this article was that they clearly mentioned that new technoligy now a days makes it easier for teenagers to be mean to each other but what i think there missing is where it all begins. In school. Without school the chance of these kids meeting is slim, the pressures of teenage existance lies within the battlefield of school.
Rachel Simmons, author of the book Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls. http://www.rachelsimmons.com/books-and-articles/odd-girl-out/
Rachel Simmons book adresses the issue of "the hidden culture of agression in girls. " which happens to be a hidden issue in most middle and high schools. Her book tells a story of a girl who becomes unknowingly involved in the cruel world of girls. Thinking that these girls are her friends they begin to slowly torment her. the torment included death threats, hate mails and social exclusion in adition to emotional blows. She finally becomes fed up and tries to commit suicide. Thankfuly she survives and is now aware of this secret world of girls and begins to rebuild the pieces of her life.
I think this book is a perfect example of the topic im trying to convey.Like i said ealier school is the battle field for this hidden culture. In the adult world these kinds of acts are unaceptable and there consiquences but why is it that when it happens in schoolthere arent any consiquences? If anything its even more crucial for these consiquences to be enforced in school because it shapes how we become when we are adults. adults are better equipt to handle problems like this but were only teenagers, our minds arent fully developed, were going through puberty and life changes.
Continuation...
School Shootings, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting
The website gives an over all over view of the reasons and stories behind schools shootings and the type of kids who become violent and why.
The two reasons they mention on the list are alienation and persecution which is basically they have no one to interact with in school because they have been exiled from social interaction and they feel personally targeted and mistreated.
In this article, the main idea that is being pitched is that being in school isnt the only way to be mean to other people anymore. it states that girls are more likley to be mean to each other then boys and that girls go for the "emotional jugular".
What i noticed about this article was that they clearly mentioned that new technoligy now a days makes it easier for teenagers to be mean to each other but what i think there missing is where it all begins. In school. Without school the chance of these kids meeting is slim, the pressures of teenage existance lies within the battlefield of school.
Rachel Simmons, author of the book Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls. http://www.rachelsimmons.com/books-and-articles/odd-girl-out/
Rachel Simmons book adresses the issue of "the hidden culture of agression in girls. " which happens to be a hidden issue in most middle and high schools. Her book tells a story of a girl who becomes unknowingly involved in the cruel world of girls. Thinking that these girls are her friends they begin to slowly torment her. the torment included death threats, hate mails and social exclusion in adition to emotional blows. She finally becomes fed up and tries to commit suicide. Thankfuly she survives and is now aware of this secret world of girls and begins to rebuild the pieces of her life.
I think this book is a perfect example of the topic im trying to convey.Like i said ealier school is the battle field for this hidden culture. In the adult world these kinds of acts are unaceptable and there consiquences but why is it that when it happens in schoolthere arent any consiquences? If anything its even more crucial for these consiquences to be enforced in school because it shapes how we become when we are adults. adults are better equipt to handle problems like this but were only teenagers, our minds arent fully developed, were going through puberty and life changes.
Continuation...
School Shootings, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_shooting
The website gives an over all over view of the reasons and stories behind schools shootings and the type of kids who become violent and why.
Many of the shooters told Secret Service investigators that alienation or persecution drove them to violence. According to the United States Secret Service, instead of looking for traits, the Secret Service urges adults to ask about behavior:
| “ | 1. What has this child said? 2. Do they have grievances? 3. What do their friends know? 4. Do they have access to weapons? 5. Are they depressed or despondent?[5] |
Monday, February 8, 2010
#39- First School Assignment
Part A- One question I have for school is why do we get homework, like it really ticks me off to know that after I sit in school for six hours I have to go home and continue it again. the reason I fail someone of my classes is because I'm too tired to do my hw and I think its pointless. A school experience that I've always remembered was in 3rd grade when I first came to this school called PS.116(worst school of my entire life) I had a teacher named Teresa and she was always yelling at someone and one day she decided to yell at me because someone was reading there poem and i couldn't hear so i asked for them to read it again and she embarrassed me in front of the whole class by saying "what do you think your cute or something, hes not gonna read it again to shut up and be quiet." it really upset me and i never liked school again.
Part B- School is good in the aspect that it gives us an opportunity to meet people from different places in the world. It lets us create bonds with people we become close to. the only thing making me go to school everyday is knowing that I'm going to see my friends and get away from problems at home and its a change of scenery. The suck part about school is for me personally its very challenging at times. it determines my future and pushes me to my limits sometimes. During those times it makes me never want to go to school again but the system has made it so that I don't have a choice, either go to school and make a good life for myself and suck up the hard times or give in the towel and be a "Failure" a lot of us don't want that.
Part B- School is good in the aspect that it gives us an opportunity to meet people from different places in the world. It lets us create bonds with people we become close to. the only thing making me go to school everyday is knowing that I'm going to see my friends and get away from problems at home and its a change of scenery. The suck part about school is for me personally its very challenging at times. it determines my future and pushes me to my limits sometimes. During those times it makes me never want to go to school again but the system has made it so that I don't have a choice, either go to school and make a good life for myself and suck up the hard times or give in the towel and be a "Failure" a lot of us don't want that.
#38-Cool Art Project
The insights this piece of art gives is a way of life. If you cannot be loved then your life has no purpose. It starts off small when were younger, as crushes. As we grow it turns into something deeper. We feel that if we cannot be loved or liked then we are not socially accepted.
Are the Beatles right when they say "All you need is love?" Do we try to act cool to attract someone to love us. As teenagers in our social group we stand out when were not like everyone else. For a teenage girl in a group of four if shes the only one without a boyfriend then how does she look? And why is it that we look at each other that way? Does our need for cool lessen when we do find love? I think so because we don't have the need to impress anymore because we have met our goal. When we think about someone who has the perfect life we think about this person having the perfect husband or boyfriend and being happy. So being cool may not be that fun anyways. You have to expose your cool to attract someone, but things never works out the first time so your "Cool" is constantly being damaged.
The Process for my art project was fairly simple. I choose something that meant a lot to me and i took my own feelings and observations and wrote what I did above. I did this project alone.
Finding this art and posting it I think wouldn't be as cool as experiencing it.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Final Cool Paper
Cool is a way of life that only creates two paths for us. Each path branches out into sub-paths that are like the requirements for either the cool path or un-cool path. These paths don’t allow us to be authentic in any way and force us to become actors performing a character.
“Cool” has no limitations. It doesn’t stop at the way people look, it goes deeper then the outside and goes inside a person. Down to the way someone looks, dresses, acts, talks, walks, lives and feels. Cool is like a competition to be the best at the inside and outside. it’s a never ending domino effect to see who’s going to be the coolest in the end. Is there a supreme “cool” that has a final say in who is cool and what isn’t cool?
I personally think cool is a feeling. That the reason why we look at the way someone walks, talks, dresses and acts is because it gives us a feeling. We may have been taught to feel a certain way towards someone’s appearance and there over all persona , we still do it either consciously or unconsciously. When we look at someone in the street and we think there cool, we might feel that way because what we see in them we wish we had in ourselves. So its secretly an emotional thing. We would never dare say it out loud because that would be un-cool of us. It would be un-cool to surrender to our inner feelings and admit that we wish we could be like someone else, because of the attention they get and the life style they live in because they are considered cool.
This leads me to theorizing about cool. Where does this sense of emptiness come from? and our need to have meaning? I think the main source of feeling meaningless is the want to be approved of. We desperately seek approval because it makes us feel important. To say it would make us happy is an understatement. Some people would feel more then happy because they would feel life would be perfect if we were liked by everyone. I also think that our extreme need for a sense of meaning comes from our families and friends who are the closest people to us (in most cases). we have the need to be accepted in both our social and cultural worlds. when one doesn’t work the other seams a lot harder to do because we know in our heads we cant do both. In the end its just a fight to keep up. In extreme cases Some people become over whelmed and feel that they have no way out. They are not seen as popular and everyone thinks a certain way about them and think about things like suicide and hurting themselves. This whole idea of cool can be deadly.
Therefore where are we getting this idea about being cool? Marketing companies create commercials and make teen magazines targeting our insecurities and give us the idea of how we achieve being "cool" and for some teenagers its really stressful physically and mentally. a lot of teens strive so hard to be just like what the magazines show and when it doesn’t happen it can send people into a state of even lower self esteem. It makes people want to try even harder. A lot of teens ask themselves why cant I be like that, why cant I look like her because she has the perfect life but we never really look at the person being marketed to us. that person might have the same exact problem that a lot of other teenagers too. Either way no one FEELS perfect, everyone has some kind of insecurity.
Which leads me to my next point. When people feel they need to measure up to everyone else, we start to alter our outside to fit into one of the categories we have created for ourselves. it becomes a desperate race to alter our bodies as fast as we can s that we don't have to bear the pain of un-coolness any longer. a very common form of self expression is tattoos. usually the idea behind the tattoo is the most significant part but people who feel pressured might do it to fit in. Guys who pledge to a fraternity usually have to preform some kind of initiation. The initiation is usually some form of public humiliation so there desire to fit in has increased because if they don't succeed they are seen as a "pussy" or a "punk" because they weren't man enough to finish.
what do we do when the real person we are isn't who we really want to be? how do we deal with knowing that we don't measure up? is it so bad that we want to be like everyone else if it makes us happy... it's not in my place to say but there are always pros and cons. The cons may be that our decisions will always be influenced by the people we wish to be. it renders us incapable of thinking on our own. The only pros would be that there's a possibility of achieving the goal of being cool.
when we look at ourlives really closly theres one thing we cannot deny is, that were all going to die sooner or later. So whats the point of making cool our mission to be when were going to die anyways? why do we waste our time? what is so controlling about being cool? i feel that some poeple may think if they are able to make that a accomplishment in there life that theres lifes will be more meaningful and that when they die they accomplished what they wanted.
In conclusion, its already pre determined who is and isnt going to be cool and we cant do anything about it. all we can do is make the best of the path that were given and if we must rebel then go big or go home., life is too short for small changes that arent significant.
“Cool” has no limitations. It doesn’t stop at the way people look, it goes deeper then the outside and goes inside a person. Down to the way someone looks, dresses, acts, talks, walks, lives and feels. Cool is like a competition to be the best at the inside and outside. it’s a never ending domino effect to see who’s going to be the coolest in the end. Is there a supreme “cool” that has a final say in who is cool and what isn’t cool?
I personally think cool is a feeling. That the reason why we look at the way someone walks, talks, dresses and acts is because it gives us a feeling. We may have been taught to feel a certain way towards someone’s appearance and there over all persona , we still do it either consciously or unconsciously. When we look at someone in the street and we think there cool, we might feel that way because what we see in them we wish we had in ourselves. So its secretly an emotional thing. We would never dare say it out loud because that would be un-cool of us. It would be un-cool to surrender to our inner feelings and admit that we wish we could be like someone else, because of the attention they get and the life style they live in because they are considered cool.
This leads me to theorizing about cool. Where does this sense of emptiness come from? and our need to have meaning? I think the main source of feeling meaningless is the want to be approved of. We desperately seek approval because it makes us feel important. To say it would make us happy is an understatement. Some people would feel more then happy because they would feel life would be perfect if we were liked by everyone. I also think that our extreme need for a sense of meaning comes from our families and friends who are the closest people to us (in most cases). we have the need to be accepted in both our social and cultural worlds. when one doesn’t work the other seams a lot harder to do because we know in our heads we cant do both. In the end its just a fight to keep up. In extreme cases Some people become over whelmed and feel that they have no way out. They are not seen as popular and everyone thinks a certain way about them and think about things like suicide and hurting themselves. This whole idea of cool can be deadly.
Therefore where are we getting this idea about being cool? Marketing companies create commercials and make teen magazines targeting our insecurities and give us the idea of how we achieve being "cool" and for some teenagers its really stressful physically and mentally. a lot of teens strive so hard to be just like what the magazines show and when it doesn’t happen it can send people into a state of even lower self esteem. It makes people want to try even harder. A lot of teens ask themselves why cant I be like that, why cant I look like her because she has the perfect life but we never really look at the person being marketed to us. that person might have the same exact problem that a lot of other teenagers too. Either way no one FEELS perfect, everyone has some kind of insecurity.
Which leads me to my next point. When people feel they need to measure up to everyone else, we start to alter our outside to fit into one of the categories we have created for ourselves. it becomes a desperate race to alter our bodies as fast as we can s that we don't have to bear the pain of un-coolness any longer. a very common form of self expression is tattoos. usually the idea behind the tattoo is the most significant part but people who feel pressured might do it to fit in. Guys who pledge to a fraternity usually have to preform some kind of initiation. The initiation is usually some form of public humiliation so there desire to fit in has increased because if they don't succeed they are seen as a "pussy" or a "punk" because they weren't man enough to finish.
what do we do when the real person we are isn't who we really want to be? how do we deal with knowing that we don't measure up? is it so bad that we want to be like everyone else if it makes us happy... it's not in my place to say but there are always pros and cons. The cons may be that our decisions will always be influenced by the people we wish to be. it renders us incapable of thinking on our own. The only pros would be that there's a possibility of achieving the goal of being cool.
when we look at ourlives really closly theres one thing we cannot deny is, that were all going to die sooner or later. So whats the point of making cool our mission to be when were going to die anyways? why do we waste our time? what is so controlling about being cool? i feel that some poeple may think if they are able to make that a accomplishment in there life that theres lifes will be more meaningful and that when they die they accomplished what they wanted.
In conclusion, its already pre determined who is and isnt going to be cool and we cant do anything about it. all we can do is make the best of the path that were given and if we must rebel then go big or go home., life is too short for small changes that arent significant.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
HW 34- The Cool Pose
Is there a path to coolness? Are these paths pre picked to give us all the same results and turn us into characters preforming for other people?
Well from reading the three links that andy gave us i started off with the "Poverty of The Mind" article about the young black youths, and how they all seam to be connected in the way that they all go down the same paths in life. what i noticed when reading this article was that these paths that the young black youth follow are almost like a right of passage. It seams that they "Bahave so self destructivly" as the article said might be because they feel they dont have any other options or other paths to follow. They have been showed the life style of a typical young black youth and they find that to be "cool" because everyone goes down the same path and if you dont then youra loser or your trying to be someone your not which i dont find true. The atricle found that the young black young that graduated high school and went to college were precived as "acting white" becuase thats the path white people follow.
From what we have been learning in class the idea seams tobe that your level of cool has to do with the level of your social status. you typically find more black and hispanic people in the lower class range. It makes it harder for people catigorized in the lower class to be looked at like a normal person as respected becuase people assum your social class represents you as a person when it doesnt.
And this is where we see the "cultural pattern" That things cannot be changed and its sad because it just becomes a never ending situation. we probably will never be able to be as authentic as we want to be.
Well from reading the three links that andy gave us i started off with the "Poverty of The Mind" article about the young black youths, and how they all seam to be connected in the way that they all go down the same paths in life. what i noticed when reading this article was that these paths that the young black youth follow are almost like a right of passage. It seams that they "Bahave so self destructivly" as the article said might be because they feel they dont have any other options or other paths to follow. They have been showed the life style of a typical young black youth and they find that to be "cool" because everyone goes down the same path and if you dont then youra loser or your trying to be someone your not which i dont find true. The atricle found that the young black young that graduated high school and went to college were precived as "acting white" becuase thats the path white people follow.
From what we have been learning in class the idea seams tobe that your level of cool has to do with the level of your social status. you typically find more black and hispanic people in the lower class range. It makes it harder for people catigorized in the lower class to be looked at like a normal person as respected becuase people assum your social class represents you as a person when it doesnt.
And this is where we see the "cultural pattern" That things cannot be changed and its sad because it just becomes a never ending situation. we probably will never be able to be as authentic as we want to be.
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