Using Blogging in the Class

             Not once, did I ever think that I would be blogging as part of a class. Blogging, an online tool that enables a writer to write about any subject and post/publish that work to the online world. Giving blog posts was an awesome way to encourage students to write often, and making a "one post a day" rule was rather ingenious on Dr. Hamon's part. Though the "one post a day" rule made meeting the weekly quota a little difficult to remember to do among all of life's distractions, it has definitely allowed me to become more comfortable with my own writing and has even boosted my confidence as a writer. Use of visual aids and adequate written material in my blog made it easy to see that I put forth above average effort, which might or might not be said for all of my classmates of whom I had the pleasure of reading subsequent blog posts. As a teaching tool, blogging was a great way to see how each individual student writes as well as getting to know what's important to them. I will note that at first I only used our class wiki for choosing topics to write about, and did so until I could no longer stand to write about those subjects. Once clarified that we could pick our own subjects, as long as there was a regard to the readers (our classmates), I thoroughly enjoyed choosing subject matter that I felt all could chime in on and would induce thought. I hope  all of my readers also felt the same and I wish all my classmates luck in their future endeavors.
 

Using Google Drive In The Class

              In my English Composition I class with Dr. Hamon, I got the opprotunity to take part in a flipped classroom. This implies that we used several technological resources most commonly accessed through the Internet. Google drive was among these tools we now had access to after creating a Gmail account. Google Drive and Google Docs quickly demonstrated their usefulness in a classroom. We, as scholars, were able to share documents  with the teacher as well as other students for assessments and revisements in real time. This of course also enables the instructor to see when who did what, not to mention eliminates the overuse of paper for assignments. I was very impressed with these online tools and expect to continue using them because I can't afford not to.

 

 

Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

              As another quarter at South University comes to an end, I find myself reflecting. I learned a lot about the importance of having an "Online Identity" and how to maintain that online persona so that it may help in my professional and personal development  Right away in my English I class, with Dr. Hamon, we started a Gmail account and began our online journey. Many of the things I learned I find to continue to be very useful. Information about the flipped classroom was intriguing, as well as tons of information on the writers triangle and the APA citation format. It was a good class... I recommend it to anyone... : )

The Cost of Living

               It's kind of amazing that from the moment you're born, you are having to pay to live. Well, at first it's your parents paying, but don't worry... 18 years and you'll owe the government. Now I understand "in theory" why we must pay taxes, but hasn't the cost of living gotten a little out of hand? It seems that the majority of problems stem from money and the desire to have it. What happened to the good 'ol days where people used to barter services, skills, and excess products? I scratch your back, you scratch mine; right?...
               You're telling me that money, a paper representation of an amount of gold, means so much to the purpose of life? Just because it is rare, we must base our lives around it and it's pursuit. If we all were concerned with having the best we can have, then working together is the best way. If our goal was to help everyone achieve an acceptable standard of living and beyond that working to provide and use specialized skills for the benefit of all instead ones-self, that would be the end of war, countries, hate, and most importantly money.  

Images & Stereotypes

             In our world of technology and mass exposure, a trend of what people (especially women) should look like has been poisoning our minds. Unrealistic expectations of self image are not only helping to control what consumers are demanding, but also causing severe emotional and physcological damage. Generalized assumtions and stereotypes are commonplace giving rise to eating disorders, self loathing tendencies, bullying, and even deaths/suicides related to and direct results of the images that advertising companies want us to see. Why spend so much time and effort creating a desire to be something that is not attainable. Look at the video below and see the "magic" of photoshop and then the next time you're looking at a magazine remember that it isn't real.

The Current Situation Concerning Police in America

              A very hot subject for many people is the police shooting of a young man in Ferguson, Mo. Over the years there have been many suspects that were shot and killed by police officers. The question/topic on everyone's mind seems to be, "Did the police really have to KILL that person?"
              My respect and understanding for what police officers do is unquestionable. Having someone in my family work as an undercover policeman definitely put things into perspective. Police officers have families that they want to go home to, and many times even a routine traffic violation can turn into a life threatening situation. So I get it, police officers risk their lives to help keep our streets safer... but aren't there rules on what they are allowed and not allowed to do? Is it really necessary to shoot a suspect in the head when an officer is fully trained and capable to shoot them in the leg and properly subdue the antagonist?
              Granted, if a suspect makes a move for an officers gun the said officer has only a quick moment to react and protect him/herself. It's so hard to draw the lines sometimes. What do you think?

Guns, War, & Honor

           In the beginning of civilization, disputes often came to an unavoidable conclusion. Originally the two opposing forces would gather their best warriors, post up on a field and fight until the last man was standing. As upsetting that the two sides could not come to some sort of diplomatic solution was, the loss of human life was overwhelmingly more tragic. But this system of testing a collectives ideals and battling until defeat had it's positives. Warriors had to have the conviction to carry out his duty for the cause of his/her ideals, country, and countrymen. It is in this that I feel that modern weapons and warfare are inferior.
            Any coward with enough fear and malice in their heart can pull a trigger. There aren't any warriors but only assassins, trained to kill and follow orders. Why not then settle current problems and tensions between countries fairly and ethically. If there is going to be a war, select 500 of each countries best warriors and without weapons assemble at a battleground. Last person standing wins... It would sure beat the current system involving, thousands, even hundreds of thousands of lives lost. I understand it is within everyones rights to "bare arms", but at what cost? I dunno, I might just be rambling...

Relationships & Communication

              As with all relationships, communication is key. I'm a Puerto Rican/Italian and therefore, stereotypically speaking, come from a loud and expressive family. I once heard an Italian saying, "It's not how often you and your spouse fight thats important, it's how well you can work things out afterwrds that counts." I truly believe this.
              Too often, the common misconception is that couples and friends should have similar ideas and not disagree with one another. The truth is that you probably won't agree on everything with anyone. Having disagreements are normal and shouldn't create anxiety. Working through disagreements and learning to respect ones opinions and feelings as well as compromising is part of every healthy relationship. At the Tae Kwon Do school I teach at, we tell the students as a rule to be mutually understanding and respectful to others at all times.

Staying Motivated

            For the most part, I've been writing this blog to the readers of my English Comp I class. Since my readers are also students and scholars, I wanted to ask... "Have you remained motivated"?
            I'm going to college to advance my career and provide the type of life I want for my family and myself. Those are my afirmatons, but still I find myself overwhelmed and staring defeat in the face. How do I keep pushing? How do I persevere and stay motivated to study hard, and succeed? If you've got any advice on how you stay motivated, let me know.

Homeschooling

          On the subject of homeschooling, there are many people that feel it is still inferior to public schooling, but why do they feel this way? Most of the time you'll get answers like, "Kids don't get proper socialization when homeschooled" or "I don't have time to do all that work". These may have been true at one time, but now are common misconceptions.

Freedom to Kill

              America... land of the free. With so many freedoms, could any of them be considered problematic?
              When on the subject of national health standards, one could ask if it is ok for a company like "McDonalds" to sell food that is known to be unhealthy and provides a significant percentage of the population with unhealthy dietary choices. The arguement being that, it is within our means to choose whether or not to eat this food. But with advertising, unbeatable pricing, and the sheer convenience of things such as fast food it's no wonder that one of Americas biggest killers is obesity. So why not make it illegal to sell something that can potentially kill you? Because it is our right to choose to kill ourselves???... I thought suicide was illegal. If as a country, nay as a species, we thought about the greater good and only focused on making health a priority for all of us, we could be way farther along as a species.
               Even on the subject of GMO's, we seem to be conflicted as a nation. Genetically modified organisms that allowed an easier mass production of food has also genetically changed the make-up of the food we eat, and could have negative and/or unforeseen repercusions. In many countries GMO's are illegal, but not in the united states. Isn't that messed up?

The Writer's Voice

            When writing, a writer must first consider his/her reader. If the reader is a scholar or an industry 

professional, then the writer must write in a fashion that is conducive to mutual understanding amongst those readers. If the writer is writing to kindergarten students, then perhaps the writer should stick to smaller words and even incorporate illustrations with the text. This concept is coined the writers "voice". Similar to speaking in a particular vernacular to be understood by the individuals receiving the message, a writers voice is the essential persona that the writer wishes his/her readers will perceive.     

Education reform anybody?

           How many of you can think back to all of the things we had to learn in high school and wonder, "why?"...
            What has knowing the pythagorean theorem helped you with in your life? What about the quadratic formula, has knowing that greatly improved your life? It seems to me that high school was mostly spent wasting my time learning things that I would never use again. And most people would probably agree that they haven't used a significant amount of the knowledge that they aquired during high school. I understand that some of my personal ideals on what should be taught in high schools could be considered quite controversal. Myself included, along side many of my peers from my childhood have, since high school, had hard times financially. Why not teach how to balance a checkbook, or how to establish credit in high school. How about teaching high school students how to be self sufficient, eg. learn how to have a balanced diet and how to cook meals. This is knowledge most would say is for the parents to teach their children, but when a parent is working all the time and trying to keep everything at home functioning where is the time to adequately teach all of these life skills. Shouldn't high school be more about preparing an individual for the real world? So many high school students graduate and have no life skills, they only know how to go to class and do homework. Specialized skills like advanced algebra and Chemistry should be a part of focused college classes that pertain to ones individual area of study. Things like English and mental math should be more of a focus so that when students leave high school they can add, subtract, multiply, and divide easily in their head and should be able to speak, read, and write efficiently. Forget competing with countries like China where students don't even have a summer break, functional skills are what we need. What do you think?    
           

Do you know how to defend yourself?

             Do you know how to defend yourself? For most people the answer is, unfortunately, no. For some the answer is yes but this a false sense of confidence, which can sometimes just make a bad situation worse. Does anybody really "know" how to defend themselves you ask... Yes. Can anyone learn to defend themselves? Sure... With the proper mindset, an individual can be more prepared for a self-defense situation even without years of in-depth training.
             Simple concepts like being aware of ones surroundings can be a huge contributing factor when it comes to avoiding bad situation. What about when you can't avoid having to physically defend yourself? Remember the concept "Flight or flight". If a situation is life threatening, then you must have it in your mind that you will do whatever you must to survive. There are no rules like "no hitting below the belt or no biting" in self-defense. Claw, bite, gouge... anything that you can do to get yourself out of that situation where your life might be threatened. Theses are things that you already know how to do, but are you willing to do it or will you freeze. That's what I'm talking about when I say "it's a mindset".
              I've been training in martial arts for 23 years, and I've been teaching Tae Kwon Do for almost 11 years now. In that time I've cultivated a mature understanding of self defense, and I've taught many. The most common misunderstanding is that you should know some fancy moves, and sure knowing proper technique will greaten your chances but isn't completely necessary. But knowing how to jam ones thumbs into an eye socket isn't exactly rocket science, you've just got to think quickly and logically about how you can put an attacker out of commision.

"DOC2" : The Flipped Classroom

            So the next assignment in my English Composition I class is now underway. This time, my professor asked for an informative paper analyzing and explaining the flipped classroom teaching module. Now I've already talked about this topic before, so where do I begin.

         First, the search for information.I'm about to begin an hours long search for credible information pertaining to the "flipped classroom". It will be grueling, but seeing as how this topic interests me it shouldn't be too bad. 

             Then the writing begins. I know that my audience/readers are college students and more 

specifically my fellow classmates in my English Composition I class.

            Finally, for now, my fellow scholars can have a look and help me revise and refine my paper. Then the process can begin a new...    

Flipping the Classroom, is everybody on board?

 

 

 

               Did you know, the Internet's genesis can be dated back as far as 1958? We've had since then to improve it's capabilities and broaden it's function. It's only recently that we've been able to tap into the Internet's true potential, especially as a teaching tool. Though as with all change, it has been met with some resisitance. Results are looking are positive, through feedback from students and results from grades.

               So where does this resistance stem from... those who are still a part of the "read & rememeber, write & recite"  age of learning. There are still some that have not yet adapted to the technology of the 21st Century, and they don't mean to. So I ask you, will
"Flipping the classroom" eventually be the standard for learning once some of the "old school" move on?

 

 

 

 



Writing in a group... What works, what doesn't

             So in some of my other blogs about my "DOC1" assignment, I talk about how writing a paper in a group was very difficult for me at first. I just wanted to talk about what I thought worked well for my team, and what didn't work well.
             Once writing a paper was assigned for a group of people, the first logical thing to do would be to first get everyone on the same page on what we want to talk about, and what jobs we would divide amoungst ourselves. Our paper had a stipulation of having 1000 words, and so one could automatically assume that between four people we would split up the document to 250 words each. But bringing together four seperate opinions about one subject is no easy task, especially if you do not commincate successfully with your team. If all four people write seperatly, with no common central idea or organization, the paper will not be graded well.
             Things that might help a group with this situation would be to first as a group, find and write at least 3 credible resources that support the main idea that was agreed upon. Then, decide who will do what by a certain time (preferably before the first draft is due). After the writing phase is complete then begins the editing and revisement phases. Thats when you and your team can make sure you've covered all points assigned and confirm that the paper is written in the correct format with no grammatical errors. Following this order or organizational pattern would've made my group work better together.

Final Thoughts on "DOC1"

       

  Some of the information that I learned about keeping a professional image, I will remember forever. It was really interesting to think about how potential employers do background checks online using google and facebook, and if there is anything distasteful with my name or picture next to it, it could affect my professional career.
         As for woking together in a group, I learned that connecting four different ideas into one can prove to be difficult. It isn't impossible, and I believe my teams paper was pretty good . We ended up with an "A", so it couldn't have been that bad.

Flipping the Classroom

           In the "flipped classroom", one of the coolest advantages is that the instructor can modify a class lesson just before the class. The teacher is able to do this because they are using assessments to gauge what students are grasping. After getting the results from said assessments, an intsructor can adjust the class lecture to cover material that students might not have completely understood. This is some really important feedback, and one could deduce that a teacher who uses a flipped classroom technique is more concerned with what their students are actually absorbing than a teacher that lectures and says "you either get it, or you don't". For me, I am intrigued with this teaching technique and I'm thankful that my English professor is using this teaching model.

"Doc1" Revisited

 

         So after having one group of classmates read and grade my teams paper on professional online identities, I feel very confident. We can write a good paper. Even though there were no comments or suggestions on how to make it a better paper we still got a "B" from the other group. And yet again, after another group read and graded our paper we recieved a "B" without any comments on how to improve. I still feel like the paper is well written, and I am eagerly awaiting Dr. Hamon's grade and criticism.
         Other than learning the challenges of working with a group, I feel I got a lot of knowledge about creating and maintaining a professional online identity. Now as I go through my life, building my career; I will remember what I learned and will maintain an online image that is not only professional but insightful. Thank you Dr. Hamon.

The "Flipped Classroom Technique", What works... What doesn't?...

          The "Flipped Classroom Technique" is pretty awesome in my opinion. This is when an instructor has students watch podcasts and other online materials before going to class and assessing strengths and weaknesses in said material and tailors the instruction to what is needed rather than pure lecture. Not only that, but this teaching model gives students the chance to do, what would have been homework, in class. So if you were doing your homework and you had a question, the teacher is right there.
          I love everything about this teaching model and have no doubts in its effectiveness, but I will say that for those who aren't very self motivated this can be a difficult way to make sure what needs to get done does get done.

"Doc1"... What have I learned so far?

   

          For those of you that don't know, I am currently in an English class at South University. Recently we began our "Doc1" assignment and were put in groups to write "1" paper. This paper was to be on the importance and necessity of building and mainting a professional online identity.
          I feel that I learned a lot from just writing the draft for this assignment. There were a lot of things about using the internet that I hadn't ever given much thought about. Information pertaining to employers checking potential candidates online using tools like google was particularly illuminating for me. But what I hadn't considered would be something I'd learn, was the difficulty of working with others to come up with one cohesive paper. Even in the brainstorming and division of responsibilities, I felt that I might've had less work if I didn't have to go through the channels of communication with three other people. And that is not to disrespect my other teammates at all, each of them put in the work and brought something useful to the metaphysical "table", but organizing four peoples thoughts and ideas about one subject and creating a coherent paper with a clear main point and sub points was difficult for me. That's what I thought was most intriguing about writing Doc1.

First assignment... "Doc1"

              So in my English class, after talking about what a professional online identity was and why it was important, my professor assigned our first class project... "Doc1"! DA, DA, DAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

              All students are to get into groups of about 3 or 4 people each, and collectively write one paper about why we should make sure to have a professional online identity. The paper has to be at least 1000 word and include APA6 fromating. For me, I feel pretty good about a writing a paper. I just completed Public Speaking with an 96% (A) and worked hard on the whole APA6 formating, as well as building an outline with credible sources. Should be a cinch. See you on the flip side of this assignment. For now, the building begins...

Professional Online Identity

              Sooooo, what I do online can have an effect on my career and professional relationships...? Then what kind of online identity have I made for myself thus far? I'm almost too scared to look, but I now know that I must.

             Luckily, all I found on my self was my relatively new Facebook page. After having done research on the importance of maintaining a professional online identity and found out that not only does having a negative online identity hurt your personal and professional endeavors, but having a lack of an online presence can equally hurt your professional development. This, in my case, was true since up until recently had not even cared to join the online networking culture that is today in our world. So what to do now? Online blogs and posts pertaining to my personal career choice to show potential employers my involvement in my field of study. Deletion of any online material with a negative connotation about myself in it. And that's just some of the basic things that can help keep an online identity secure and keep you in control of what other people can see about you online.

Writing to Learn...

            I expect, that all throughout school here at South University, I will have a lot of writing to do. Sometimes I'll be writing to Inform, sometimes to persuade. Though no matter which style of writing I have to do, it will almost always starts with me "writing to learn".

          "Writing to learn" describes the instructional strategy in which writing is coordinated with the learning of content and development of cognitive skills such as critical thinking rather than simply with editorial skills.
          
           So unless I already know so much about a subject that I don't need to do any research, I would still want to do research to have credible information and end up up learning something new in the process. So I would still be writing to learn. Whoa...

My first post...

Hello everyone,

     My name is James Burgos, and as some of you know I am a student at South Univeristy. I just wanted to do this first post so you can get to know me a little... and because I needed to make this first post for Dr. Hamon's English class.
     I was born in New York City 1986 and lived in Brooklyn for my first 5 years of life. In the summer of 1991 I moved to Florida and have lived here ever since; so essentially, I'm Floridian. There have since been many events that have determined my course of action in life. All of which have brought me here (South University). I, for the past 10 years, have been teaching Martial Arts in Boynton Beach Florida. The pay was ok, but nothing compared to someone with a professional degree. Since my current job description includes building motor skills and muscles associated as well as flexibility and range of motion, I figured Physical Therapy Assisting (PTA) was right down my alley as far as a professional program. So that's where I am now... I hope this was at least slighly interesting.