TEDtalk Video

I agree with a majority of the TEDtalk video. Schools suppress a student’s ability to be creative. The video states that there isn’t a school that teaches dance the way in which they teach mathematics. This holds true for a majority of the world. Granted, there are select performing arts schools but they are few and far between. Schools attempt to pummel reading, writing, and arithmetic into the minds of the students; regardless of if that is what they are interested in. The video makes a very good statement which provoked my thought process. It stated that, “the body Is a way to transport the head”. It is saying that schools don’t focus on the physical side of learning. A school attempts to strengthen the mind as much as it can in the time they students are there, leaving the body inept to proper education. The reason schools today focus on the teaching the subjects they do, or so I believe, is because the original public schools came into being because of industrialism. They were designed to teach the subjects that would help the most in the workforce, not the things that intrigued the students and provoked intellectual thoughts. In the early days of college all the way up until the mid-to-late 1990’s, having a college degree would guarantee you a job upon graduation.  In today’s society, degrees aren’t worth anything. Just because you received a BA degree doesn’t guarantee you a job in the workforce. Now, because of academic inflation, you need MA or Ph.D.

Overall, the video was very parallel to my thoughts of education and how it hinders creative ability. School’s need to be changed to allow those that aren’t the smartest in math but are Picasso's in training, to be able to nurture that ability in order to allow that student a chance to succeed. If a student is more artistic then they usually had the ability to take one or two classes a year that were designed to cultivate their gift, on top the five classes required in order to fulfill their “basic” education.

Class Discussion 1/28

Today we talked about success and failure of a student. After watching six snippets of shows and movies regarding students, teachers, and the value of education we had a very thought provoking discussion. We talked about what makes a student “successful” and there were to substantial ideas about when success starts. One, which I agree with, is that success is built into a child as young as preschool. The second idea that was proposed was that success has the ability to be achieved in an instance, saying that it isn’t something that you must work towards for a long time. I know that I seem to think of success as an object, not an action but to me success is something that is achieved over years of learning from experiences and the trials and tribulations of life. I can see how one would think that success is something that a person can decided to achieve in a short time. One student explained how she was heavily involved in equestrian and then when she transferred she realized the importance of an education and the impact that great grades have over average grades.  From a young age I was constantly told of my potential from my teachers. Every year my teachers would push me to achieve my potential at that point in time. The older I became, the more potential I had. I was never allowed to slack; I was pushed to pursue endeavors that others would find nearly impossible to achieve to them. This has allowed me to realize that my potential is always increasing and that I take advantage of the opportunities afforded to me in order to maximize that potential.

We also discussed how learning was a choice, not a requirement. Both sides of the argument were defended and pressured. Some argued that the government requires a child to go to school until the age of 16 and those students don’t have a “choice” to go to school. Others argued that you have the “choice” to get on the bus, and walk in the door, and go to class. Students started to knit pick each other during this argument. I feel like, if you are going to go to school you might as well apply yourself to the fullest and allow yourself the opportunity to be a successful student, rather than a failure who goes for social hour and free food. 

Response to class 1/23

In class we discussed how to leave a “good” comment. After looking at the examples on our sheet we were all able to see what made those comments differ from others. We came to the consensus that posing a question to the writer typically was the best choice. This allows for the writer to be able to expand on the idea in ways that, perhaps, they didn’t think of prior. I know that when I read the comments left by my peers, I am able to look at the topic in a new light.

We also stated that making a connection with the writer is an integral part in the commenting process. This allows the writer to better understand the commenter and be able to respect their opinions more. If the writer doesn’t respect the opinion of the commenter then the writer is more unlikely to ignore the comment, or just not feed into it. I know that when someone leaves me a comment I like to see that I am not alone in what I am writing. It makes me understand the person commenting more, and where they are coming from in their writing. 

My 54 Year Love Affair with the SAT

The very first thing that in the story that grabbed my attention was that the SAT originated in highly accredited colleges such as Princeton and Yale. Seeing that the test was only accepted by those colleges made me wonder why other schools didn't jump on the opportunity faster.  The fact that the SAT was a national test, allowed for an even chance for every student in the country to get into the school of their dreams was a first. It still holds true today that the education that  a student receives differs depending on the state and the region.

Furthermore, I was surprised that the students, as well as the parents, weren't informed of their scores on the test. In today’s society, we count down the days until we can log onto College Board and see our scores and then go compare with our classmates.  The first thing I looked out when I was researching colleges was the SAT and ACT scores that the preceding freshman scored and whether or not my scores fit into the upper 75 percentile.

From the beginning I could tell that Mr. Kaplan had great admiration for teaching children. He wasn't the typical teacher that just taught the material that was needed and moved on with his life. He taught his students the how and why, not just the what. I used the Kaplan SAT prep book when I took the SAT for the second time. My score was improved by over 200 points. Mr. Kaplan truly does care about students and wants to allow them to reach their full potential.

Writing History Response

When one asks how I became the writer I am today, one particular memory rushes to mind. When I was 6 my mother would require me to read a book and then take my ink stained composition book and write down the contents of the book from cover to cover. After hundreds of hand spasms, thousands of shed tears, and countless angry words muttered under my breath, I realized why she was forcing me to do this. I slowly learned how certain authors wrote. I was able to learn new writing techniques and was then able to think about why the writer chose to convey the message they did in the way they chose.

Not only did this afford me the opportunity to become a stronger reader and writer but also to become a critical thinker. The ability to critically think is imperative to achieving success in school, work, and ultimately, life.

What does it mean to be successful in life and how do writing and critical thinking allow one to have the upper hand? In my short 18 year tenure in this world, I have been able to take advantage of opportunities that have altered my life forever. At the age of 6 I was placed into an accelerated learning center. I would go there in the morning as well as after school for two to three hours Monday thru Friday. There I was taught Spanish, ASL, as well as advanced mathematics and English concepts. I was in that school for 4 years during which I grew as an individual. Most six years old were focused on having fun and running around the mulch filled jungle gym and going down the seemingly monstrous eight foot Barney purple slide, not thinking about their times tables and reading books to get ready for the upcoming SRI test. In 5^th grade I was taken out of the learning center and allowed to be a normal child after school. During my 5^th grade year I was placed in to the gifted program. I was awkwardly removed from my standard class twice a week to go with the “gifted” students for an hour to work on project that didn’t relate to life or school at all.

Middle school was a little different compared to most adolescent teens. I was placed, again, in a gifted program. This program focused on advanced mathematics and sciences, never an English class. My love for math was found during these three years. My distain for English was able to grow and I detested going to English class, until my 8^th grade year. Mrs. Keith was the name of my 8^th grade advanced English teacher. Standing at over six feet tall with long blonde hair and the demeanor of a mom, she treated each of her students like they were her own kids. The way she approached English was something I had never seen. She would allow the students to pick our writing topics. Whatever interested us is what we were allowed to write on. She taught us the myriad of writing methods and planning methods. Her class is where I was able to find myself as a writer. I found how I write best, in what environments I operate most efficient in, and that it is okay to be emotional in writing. She encouraged us to push our writing, to go outside of our comfort zones in order to really be able to connect with the reader. She taught me how to see the same issue from different perspectives in order to understand the real issue at hand.

When I sit down to write I start with just throwing thoughts down onto a scrap sheet of paper. I was never able to make a web, or diagram, or a list of exactly what I want to talk about. When I was forced to do those methods in school, my writing suffered. I wasn’t able to stray from the organizational patterned and that confined my creativity. When I am able to just throw ideas on a sheet of paper and then start writing my work shows my creativity and my thought process. When a teacher would set a page limit I would freak out. I don’t see the reasoning behind page caps. It forced me to trim my ideas down or for me to remove them completely. Mrs. Keith never gave us page caps. I wrote her a 5 page descriptive essay on my athletic career and how it shaped me as a person, while others wrote only 2 pages.  Having the freedom to just write without limitations allows my mind to wander and think about new perspectives as well as bolster the creativity.

When I went into high school, I was, unbeknownst to me, nearing the end of my baseball career. Baseball was my life for 10 years. I didn’t see baseball as a sport; I saw it as a lifestyle. Baseball taught me about pride, sportsmanship, and humility to name a few. In an instance, the life I knew was taken away from me. It was the middle of All Star season on a miserable Florida June afternoon during a regular exhibition game. I had been pitching for 2 innings and my arm felt as good as ever. I was going from the windup, my catcher signaled with three fingers on his inside thigh, meaning curveball inside. At this point in my life I had thrown thousands of curve balls in practice as well as in games. I nodded my head in agreement, then slid my worn out Nike into the worn down mound against the rubber. As my leg rises to form the perfect angle, my fingers slide around the hard leather to grip the gleaming red laces. I continue through the wind up. As I ark my arm back and begin to lunge forward, I felt a bit of discomfort in my shoulder. It was too late to stop the throw. As I whipped my arm around, I felt a pop in my shoulder and fell to the ground. After consulting my doctor, I was informed that I had torn my rotator cuff and that I had two options. Option 1 was to get surgery, and then wait a few months and then be able to play baseball again. Option 2 was for me to give up baseball and go into heavy physical therapy in order to strengthen the muscle around my rotator cuff. I choose option 2. For months after I fell into a state of depression. Everything I knew and loved was taken away from me in an instance. I found comfort in writing. I would write stories of my life and how I was feeling about current event.

I then found a new love, swimming. Once I was introduced to swimming I came out of depression and was living life again. Since I found swimming, I learned how to become better in every aspect of my life. In every school paper of assignment I have always been able to incorporate swimming into them. My favorite assignment of all time was to write a narrative on a 30 minute time period. I wrote about my first districts meet from the warm up until the finish of the race. It forced me to really think about details and how to be descriptive in my writing. The biggest thing that’s I took away from this paper was the ability to convey real emotion through writing. I found it relatively easy to convey emotion. As long as I truly felt the emotion I was able to lace the words I was writing with it.

My stance on writing used to be that it was something my teachers and mom forced me to do as punishment or as filler for the sake of time. I now love to write and do it quite often. I am always looking to better my writing and new techniques to try.  

After going over both of my timelines the connections are pretty obvious on how they connect. My school timeline starts with me at age 6 when I was placed in to an afterschool accelerated learning center. Here I learned ASL and Spanish as well as math and English concepts reserved for older children. This started developing how I write and how my mental process works. I was in the learning center for four years until the age of 10. Early in my sophomore year in high school I was afford the opportunity to submit an invention to the University of South Florida’s Young Innovator competition. I was fortunate enough to have my invention make it to the finals and placed 2^nd in the competition. This experience made me realize that I am able to go above and beyond the norm and that I was different. My junior year of high school was easy for me, so to challenge myself my counselor and I decided to enroll my in the four year school down the road for additional classes.  When I was accepted in to UNCC I was again afforded another life changing opportunity, to be in the Business Honors Program. This program has allowed me to think outside of the box and aspire higher than I thought was previously possible. Following coming to UNCC I rushed and was accepted into Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. This once again changed my life and helped me realize that what I am doing is for more than just myself, it is for the betterment of those around me.

My writing timeline starts with me at the age of 6 as well. Being in the learning center taught me how to free think. It taught me how to be my own person, to speak my mind, as well as to never change who I am for someone else. To be completely honest though, I have a certain distain towards writing and reading. This stems from when I was younger my mother would make me read a book and then re-write the book cover to cover in order to perfect my penmanship as well as to get me to think like a writer and see if I could see the different writing methods that were used. Those experiences are a major reason I write the way I do today. I am an emotional writer. By that I mean that I will sit down and just type everything that comes to mind and I become very passionate about what I’m writing. Most people that read my papers are able to feel the emotion I was feeling when I wrote it. Going into high school I was an elite athlete. I played baseball from the time I could walk. I went to many little league world series championships, and played against teams from all over the world. My sophomore year that was all taken away from me when I tore my rotator cuff in the middle of my All Star season. That hurt and agony I went through I was able to use it in my writing to really get the reader to have a mental connection with my writing.

Now looking back on both of the timelines I can see the connections. Most of the events in my life intertwine and they one usually leads to another.

Writing Timeline Reflection

Who, if anyone, affected you as a writer in childhood?

                My mother was the single largest contributor to me as a writer in my childhood. As stated above, she would make me read a book and then re-write the book so I could learn different writing methods and think about why a writer would write a book the way they did or what they were thinking about while engrossed in writing. Having to do that as a child really made me loath books and writing for leisure. To this day I don’t enjoy reading but I love to write. However, I can’t write for pleasure. Whenever I try to sit down and write I always convince myself that it doesn't matter what I write, that it will be bad and looked down on. Therefore, I always find something else to work on.

What made your best writing experience your best?

                My tenth grade year my teacher gave us one night to write a 4 page paper on a 30-60 minute time span and for us to explain the event in detail. I loved that assignment. I liked the feeling of being under the pressure to write what I was feeling. She didn't give us the time to be able to edit it time and time again. It was a paper full of emotion and exquisite detail produced in a very short time frame. To this day my teacher swears it was the best piece of writing I ever wrote, and I believed it was too.  The fact that we weren't able to sleep on it and then wake up refreshed and edit it a few times really allowed for the true, personable, message to seep through the words.

What genres do you like to write?

                I love to write fiction that’s based on non-fiction. I like to be able to take real world ideas and experiences and turn them into something new, something different. I am able to take an idea and tweak it to allow for creative freedom to shine through or for someone to be able to see the original idea from a different light.  

What generalizations or discoveries can you make that might apply to other writers?

                That personal experiences can be used to fuel a writers writing and that for a reader to fully understand and connect with a piece the writer needs to write with emotion.

School Timeline Reflection

What did you discover about your path through high school?

                I discovered that my path through school was directly correlated with sports and my academic standing.  I found that from an early age I was held to a higher standard than those my age. My path through school wasn't something that I really wanted to do. I wanted to be a normal kid in normal classes. I now realize that being in the special programs and being held to a higher standard was beneficial and that I wouldn't be the same person I am today had I not been involved in those programs.

Who, if anyone affected you on your path?

                I myriad of people affected me on my path. The list ranges from my mother, to my baseball coach, to my swim coach, to my bosses at work. Everyone I met had some effect on me on my school path.

Who influenced you the most? How did this person affect you?

                My mother had the largest influence on me as a child. My mom is one of the smartest, most successful, most stubborn and strong willed person I have ever met. Growing up I was never good enough. I was always told that someone else was doing it better and that I need to work harder. I was never told of the good that I was doing, just of the wrong. In sports I was always told that I needed to get more help and needed to be the best. Looking back on my childhood I always used to think my mom wasn’t proud of me, but now I realize that she did the things she did in order for me to push myself in everything I did to become the best. Once I achieved being number 1, then and only then, would she admit to me that she was proud and that I had done well.  Some may think that no parent should raise a child like that, but It worked for me. I push myself in everything I do and I do not stop until I am at the top.

What generalizations or discoveries can you make?

                I see that a lot of how I am today stems back to mom and how I was raised. I see that I had a need to win over my mom’s affection and admiration in order to feel good enough. I see how i was raised shaped me into the man I am today and i wouldn't change it for anything. I wouldn't take back any part of past if i could.