This week, my weekly artifact is my biology lab. I cannot tell you how many times I have cursed that class. Every time that I thought that I was getting the hang of things, I got another dose of reality. We are required to know so much material in a very little amount of time while still managing our other classes, which is basically impossible. I had a BIG test Tuesday. To sum everything up, I bombed the first test so the importance of this one could not be understated. Last week I was so consumed in my other classes that I pushed off studying for this test. It wasn’t until Sunday (two days before the test) that I was able to START studying. Talk about procrastination! I sat in my room and studied, for what seemed like eternity. On Tuesday, I was basically brain dead, but I knew the majority of the information. When the dust cleared, I had made an 81! I know that doesn’t sound spectacular, but if you knew my first grade an 81 would sound like a miracle from God. With only a month left in the semester, it’s very easy to forget our school work. I can start thinking about May 11th and immediately forget about an assignment due the next day, it’s just human nature. I needed this week to show me that the semester is not over; it’s actually at a very important part. The next month deserves all of the effort that I can put into it, not a half-a** effort that will merely get me through the semester. I don’t want to just get through the semester, I want to get through these classes with flying colors!
Connect 10 — Amazing Introductions
Usually, I tend to read a book before it is adapted into a movie. I love how the first few chapters, maybe even pages of a book can grab you and not let you go until you’ve completed the entire thing. To me, books are far superior to movies for that simple reason. Movies are great, don’t get me wrong, but the connection is not there. One of my favorite books is “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn which was mad into a movie two years ago. I was weary of the book. The synopsis on the back seemed vague and dull, but I had still heard good things about it so I decided to try it out. I’m not lying when I say that after the first page I was hooked. One page! It usually takes me a good three or four chapters to become immersed into a book, but this first page was astonishing. It started with a man telling what sounded like a love story to his wife. As it went on, the love story went south. The narrator’s story went from thoughtful and compelling to dark and dangerous. I couldn’t believe how the author managed to evolve the character’s portrayal in one single page. I couldn’t put the book down after that. I finished the entire book, which I might add was pretty lengthy, in one day. I don’t think I left my bed that day, but I finished the book. When I watched the movie, I was so excited to see that the filmmakers didn’t stray away from that beginning storyline. The movie put me on the edge of my seat, as if I had no idea what was coming next.
Prejudices
When I think of someone who is prejudice, I think of many people of my Facebook feed. These people are of different races, religions, and economic backgrounds but they are each similar in the fact that they publicly express their dissent of others. I read their posts and am sickened to see how a person of one race can call someone else a racist and then follow that claim up with racist sentiments about that same person. I don’t know how the author from Rereading America would feel about these people. He couldn’t argue that it was economics fueling their rage as they come from all types of backgrounds. If I had to choose one cause of their hate, I would say that they feel like they are threatened. Out of fear, these people put down others in the hopes of weakening the “enemy”.
Annotated Bibliographies Unit Reflection
The research that I have done this semester has really changed the way that I think of things. I had really strong views on almost every myth at the beginning of the research period. By the time I had finished, I had a completely new way of thinking about everything. When I looked at political correctness, I knew that it could be bad but the thought of it leading to terrorist attacks and other criminal acts had never crossed my mind. With the annotated bibliographies, I was able to see education in Mississippi in an entirely different way, and I have lived here my whole life. I think that these research projects have taught me that nothing is exactly as it seems, you need to do a little researching. I am really glad that we did these annotated bibliographies instead of going straight into the research paper, because the first myth that I chose was awful. I looked at three myths before I settled on the one about social class and education. My first choice, “George Orwell meet Mark Zuckerberg”, looked interesting at first glance but once I began to research the topic I found that it was probably the biggest bore in the book. I would have say that the most surprising thing to come from research is how specific sources can get. When I started looking at social class and education, I read a lot of broad articles that pretty much summed up what Anyon talked about in the textbook. There were thousands of articles on the Ole Miss library database that popped up when I searched this topic, but none of them were different enough to advance me further into the researching process. I think I had made it to the six or seventh page of the library search results when I saw an article about education statistics in America with data from each state. I saw that Mississippi ranked lowest in almost everything which got me thinking. So, I searched “Mississippi Education Social Class”. This was the moment that my paper began to take shape. Each article that I found was so specific: “Mississippi Delta Education Hindered by Social Class”. I had hit the jackpot! I think that the researching process forces you to simplify your searches in order to get you to the sweet spot. One of the biggest lessons that I am going to take away from this project is not to give up. After throwing out my first three myths I felt like my obituary was going to say “Death by Annotated Bibliographies”. Once I had picked a myth, I was faced with the challenge of actually doing the research, writing the bibliographies, and putting everything neatly on a word document before Friday – this was Sunday. On Sunday and Monday I wrote all eight of my bibliographies and thought that every writing particle in my mind had been sucked dry. I never wanted to look at an annotated bibliography again. But, I knew that I had to look at them again and not give up if I wanted to get a good grade. I was so committed to these little monstrosities that I even went to conference with Mrs. Forgette to make sure that I was doing them right. I know that the annotated bibliographies were extremely helpful and that I learned valuable lessons, but I am beyond happy that they are over.
Weekly Artifact
One thing that I am going to take away from this week is planning is key. This week alone I have two papers due, three quizzes, and two midterms. I don’t think that I would have mad it this far into the week without the meticulous planning that I do. Every night I make a list of everything that I need to accomplish the next day. On an extremely busy week like this, I even say what times I need to focus on each specific course. Last semester I did not do this and I think that it hurt my grades. I know that I get more done when I can look down and say “I’m right on schedule!”. A little planning never hurt anybody!
Weekly Artifact: Stop Procrastinating!
The most important thing that I can take away from this week is that I need to stay on track. It’s so easy to push away an assignment for what you say will be an hour or two and then end up days later hurrying to finish your work. I know that this is a very real problem for myself. I pushed off writing my annotated bibliographies for a day which turned into two. When it came time for me to start writing them, I was way behind and really confused. The topic that I had picked turned out to be awful and I had to pick a new one at a time when I should be polishing my finished product. Because of my procrastination, I missed the opportunity to pick up extra points which would have been very useful considering the sloppy paper that I turned in a couple of weeks ago. I know that after Spring Break I will not be able to procrastinate because there won’t be any more breaks in our schedule.
Discussion Forum
The question that I am asking today is “Do you think that standardized tests improve or hurt education in the United States?”. The myth that I am reading is about the social classes and how they affect the different types of schools that kids go to, which doesn’t talk that much about standardized tests. However, when I was doing research on the myth, I saw an article that said standardized tests are focused on more heavily in middle class and working class schools whereas creativity is seen as more important in the more elite schools.
Annotation Connect 10
Question 5. Describe how today’s course material relates to something else you are learning in another course.
I would have to say that what we are doing right now correlates with what I am doing in both my Philosophy and Political Science classes. In these classes, I spend most of my time reading material and then expressing what the author was trying to say. The annotated bibliographies are meant to get us to read an almost excessive amount of material relating to our topic so that we can hopefully write a great research paper. In Philosophy, it’s virtually impossible for me to not read the book if I want to pass the class because I’ve never seen any of the material before. This research paper remind me a lot about my philosophy class since I know absolutely nothing about the myth that I’m attempting to write about. I know that these annoyed bibliographies will allow me to learn so much more about what I’m writing about.
Weekly Artifact
The biggest thing that I am going to take away from this week is something that had nothing to do with my classes. For the past two weeks I have been working non-stop. I have spent my hours in the library than in my own room and yet I still seemed to be getting behind in my classes. On Thursdays, I don’t have class until 4 in the afternoon and I get out on Wednesday at 12, so I decided that I was going to take a break from studying to have time to myself. I don’t think that I have done this since the first week back this semester. I know that I can’t do this every week, but I think that I needed time to let my mind rest. When I finally woke up Thursday, I felt like a new person. I think that I was more productive after the day off than I was before.
Discussion Forum Question
The question that I am asking today is “Do you think that businesses should check the personal social media account of their employees or do you think that this is an invasion of privacy?”. The article that I read didn’t lead me to any great questions because it was so straightforward. I sat in front of my computer for several minutes trying to come up with a question but nothing was happening. Part of the article talked about how social media is being used by companies when they are hiring so I decided that this could be something worth debating. Unlike last week, I don’t have a firm stand on either side of this question. Even though this question wasn’t the focus of the reading, I feel that it will help contextualize the message that the author was trying to get across.