Progress on research paper

I have chosen to write my final essay on the negative effects of texting on our generation. I feel that communicating so much through this outlet is really ruining our social skills and weakening our existing relationships. I thought it would be difficult to find enough legitimate sources for my paper but I actually had a lot of success. I was able to find all 8 required sources for my annotated bibliography and I am hopeful that I will fin more. I haven't started writing the paper yet but just from reading my sources I already have a few ideas on how I think I will go about doing so.

This Is How We Live

The article "This Is How We Live" by Ellen DeGeneres is a hilarious take on the advancements in technology. She points out several new inventions that we all know, the hands free dryer and sinks, the automatic toilets and the cell phone. The funniest part is when she talks about the packaging on products though. I don't know how many times I have cursed out a package that I literally felt like I need the jaws of life to break into; seriously one of the more frustrating advances. Ellen says it's "government plastic-civilians can't buy this stuff." and she's right! The best part is when she says about needing scissors to get into any package "You need scissors to get into scissors. And what if you're buying scissors for the first time? I mean, how can you possibly get in there?" I just found this whole article to be so funny, she's definitely voicing the thoughts that I'm sure many of us have been having.

Pearls Before Breakfast: Joshua Bell on the Subway

Before I read this article, I had no idea who Joshua Bell was. I still can't say that I would listen to his music, I'm not a big classical fan. So it really didn't surprise me that he only got a little acknowledgement for his performance in the train station. I've seen performers in Boston while taking the train before, and I pay them little attention myself. The only time I have ever really stopped to listen to them is when they are playing on the platform I'm on and the train is late. I have never given them any money and really, the thought didn't cross my mind. I think that as a culture, we are on such a time crunch all the time and we are always rushing too much. This article gave plenty of examples proving it; even the one man that did stop to listen only had three minutes to do so before he had to rush off. For a world class musician to go unnoticed and unappreciated is kind of sad, but I think it says more about our culture than it does of his playing. We just don't have time to enjoy something like that unless we have planned ahead of time to do so.

Revision Vs. Editing

For the PowerPoint presentations my group was assigned revision vs. editing. We will explain what the main differences between the two are along with things to look for while doing each. We also will give the class tips on  how to revise and edit effectively. Our project is coming along nicely. Everyone has worked well together and found some important information that has helped make our point clear. 

Progress on community essay

I made my first trip to observe the kids. I spent a whole day with them from 9am when they began their "school day" until 1pm when they went to nap. And returned at 3pm when they woke up until 5pm when they began going home. There was A LOT going on in that classroom! I'm starting to think it is too much to consolidate into one paper so I may have to focus in on a few main parts of their day where they have the most group interaction to observe. I definitely want to include their free play time because that's when I got to see them most uninhibited and kind of pushing the rules a little bit.

Community of Children

I have always wanted my career to involve working with children in some way. I am fascinated by the way they interact with each other; they have no problem telling each other exactly how they see a situation and they behave so spontaneously. They have no fear of rejection or embarrassment. They don't think, they just do. It's so different from the way we conduct ourselves as adults. We are always worrying how our behavior will appear to others and what will people think of us if we say the wrong thing. Of course some of us are less inhibited than others, but we will never find that same wide eyed wonder of the world that we had when we were children again. For our second essay I have decided to observe a preschool class at a local daycare. I want to see how the children interact with not only each other but with the adults as well. It will be interesting, for me, to observe them in such a large group and watch how they handle structured activities in a classroom environment.

Jon Stewart Commencement Address

I really enjoyed reading Jon Stewart's speech. I've been to a few college graduations now for my older siblings and the commencement speeches are usually so boring to sit through. While I was reading this, however, I kept wishing that any of the torturous ceremonies I attended with my family had featured an address like this one. I liked the sarcastic undertone of his jokes and thought they were all really funny. He poked fun at the students and himself and the world we live in while still bringing up some serious issues. He says that his generation broke the world and jokes about it saying "we heard a kind of pinging noise,and,uh, the damn thing just died on us." But on a more serious note he got the point out that he had faith in these students and their generation to fix the world. I loved his quote "Love what you do. Get good at it. Competence is a rare commodity in this day and age. And let the chips fall where they may."  He gave some good advice and was pretty entertaining in doing so.