Hwk 41

History of Education:
"History of Education." Wikipedia. 23/Feb/2010. Web. 24 Feb 2010. .
Education has been around since pre literate time periods; individuals achieved it orally, through observation and imitation. Many skills were learned by doing everyday tasks such as agriculture, fishing, construction, stone work, boat building, etc… After there was a development in writing, there was a faster pace in learning to write stories and poetry. The idea of education has been around for a while; it was developed naturally and then modernized through each generation.
This piece of writing should be referred to when there is any information needed on the development of education. It gives information about how education has been around in different parts of the world. By reading this, you will learn the history of how different societies have made different discoveries which have impacted their educating material.

Madrasah(مدرسة‎):
"Madrasah." Wikipedia. 20/Feb/2010. Web. 24 Feb 2010. .
This text talks about religious schools in the Middle East that are attended by Muslim students. It states the history of how they were created and the different levels of education. There are many Madrasahs throughout many countries which base all their knowledge from the religion of Islam.
This article gives information about what is taught in these schools. The history of how the Madrasahs were created and who had found them. It contains information about the different types of careers one can obtain by attending this type of schooling. A common one is becoming an Imam, which means you need to be committed to everything you are being taught , for example becoming Hafiz.

Cliques:
"How Cliques Make Kids Feel Left Out." Kids Health. Web. 24 Feb 2010. .
This piece of work discusses what cliques are and how they can affect others. It explains the difference between being friends and being in a clique. Also the feeling one could have when being left out. Basically it talks about all the reasonings behind cliques and what it can lead to.
This can be referred to as a guide for someone that is troubled or wants to know more about how cliques are created and what types of situations they can cause. It gives advice to the people that may feel left out and are going through some rough times. This text can show the reader how cliques can affect other students, which may lead to problems in school.

Student Expectations:
"Student Behavior and Expectations ." Forthill Middle School. Web. 24 Feb 2010. .
This piece of writing discusses what is expected from students from a
teachers point of view at a school in California. It lists all the rules and regulations that students are expected to follow throughout the school year.
This text should definitely be referred to if you are a student or expect to be a student at this school. Many of theses rules inform students about their behavior and respect towards the school which is common throughout many schools. When reading this, the reader will learn what is expected from the young individuals that attend this school, or are planning to do so.

What is the Purpose of School?:
"THE FISCHBOWL." Blogspot. 01/Feb/2009. Web. 24 Feb 2010. .
School is basically needed to have standards, aiming for good grades on tests, improving our learning and thinking abilities and having competition towards others to see how you are a unique student amongst others. The author doesn’t give one simple answer about what school is all about. He seems to change his answer because there is no one answer to such a question. Everybody is obligated to their own opinion.
This reading shows the opinion of an individual and what he feels like the actual purpose of school is. We all have been in a school or a school related environment since we were very young. Keeping this in mind we don’t seem to know why we actually attend this place for such a long time. The author of this blog gives his honest insights about this topic.

Hwk 40

Part A:

Me (Interview 1):
How do you think the neighborhood around a school have an affect on a student’s learning?
A neighborhood can have a big affect on a students learning. For example if the school a student goes to is a school that belongs to a neighborhood known to be full of sexual offenders and people doing drugs, then the child will either feel uncomfortable going to school or pick up from other peoples negative behaviors. If the school is located in a kid friendly environment where the others surrounding the area have a positive impact for younger individuals, then they will feel safe and look forward to going to school. Also pick up on their positive behaviors.

How would your ideas about college be different if no one had influenced you to go to college?
I guess I wouldn’t be too serious about going to college. Right now for me college is mandatory. If I wasn’t influenced by others and society about college I would be doubtful about my future and wouldn’t see myself doing anything productive in the future.

Do you think you would go to college/grad school if you could get the same job without going?
Yeah, I would still go because going to college and grad school helps you determine if you are really capable of doing what you want to do in the future. You will be trained and experience what you are interested in doing. This will help you feel as if you really gathered all the knowledge and insights you needed to be where you are. If you skip college and grad school and start to work in the field you are interested in, then you wouldn’t be performing tasks using prior knowledge and experiences taught to you by professionals.

If school was reduced to three days, how would that increase your desire to go to school?
Hmmm, I think I would be happy and relaxed for the first week or two of school, but it may cause some negative effects one me. For example I would get lazy about doing my school work, I would start to slack off and try doing everything on the last minute. It would increase my desire to go to school because I would want to actually be doing something and consider myself doing something productive more often. I would get to learn more insights from others and socialize as well with the people I see in school everyday.

Mom (Interview 2):
Do you think by going to a private school instead of a public school a student will have a better chance of succeeding?
It depends on how willing the student is in learning and how caring they are about their education. If you are not committed to your studies then it doesn’t matter what school you go to because you will not get far in your studies. The material taught in these two types of schools may be different, but it depends on you and how serious you are about learning.

How does success in school connect with success in society?
In school we are all taught many things that we will use in some part of our life. It may not be all the things taught by the teacher, but we will remember our experience of being a student in school. By taking all the things we have learned in school, we will be able to make decisions in the outside world. Hopefully these decisions will make a positive impact in our society. Since we have been familiar with schooling since we were all very young, it has helped shape us into who we are now. We take away many things from school and they help us play our part in society.

Nabil (Interview 3):
What type of an environment does a student need to succeed in school?
A student needs an environment that is filled with others that are willing to help one another. Teachers that are always there pushing for their students to do their best in and out of school. Adult figures that are there for the child when they are in need for any type of problem and providing them with a solution.

How does success in school contribute to success in society?
When you do well in school you become a smart and positive person in life. This leads for you to be successful in the future which means you will be successful in society because you are doing your part.

How has the influence of others affected your decision to go to college?
Even though others have made my decision to go to college un-doubtful, I would still go to college if others hadn’t pushed me. I guess they have made my decision to go to college more permanent. If I wasn’t pushed to go to college, I wouldn’t be too serious about college; it would only be an option.

Do you think you would do better in school if you were to construct your own curriculum?
I think it depends on what the school has to offer you. If it’s all the basic stuff, then I wouldn’t be too excited about constructing my own curriculum. If they had to offer a wide variety of subjects then I would feel that I would do better in school because I would be focusing on something I am interested in and might be using in the future.

Nedra (Interview 4):
What type of environment does a student need so they can succeed in school? Why?
A student needs to learn in an environment that they will feel safe and comfortable in school. Students need to be surrounded by people that will offer different skills to help them out. They need to be able to relate to others and be able to grow from them. They need a sanctuary that they will not mind spending long periods of times in. All these things are important for a child to succeed in school because if you do not feel safe then there would be no way you will be able to learn much. You need to be surrounded by others that you can relate to, and also differentiate from so it will help your mind expand in all directions.

In what ways does success in school contribute to success in society?
School is an atmosphere that provides us with skills. If we master the material they teach us in school, then that will lead many of us to have an advantage in society. We will be able to build off of what we learned in school and try to make our society better for all of us. It will help us know more about the system of society and together we can overcome problems that we have to deal with. With gathering ideas from others we can create solutions we can all agree on.

How has the influence from society and others affected your decision to go to college?
Part of succeeding in society is that your level of knowledge is primarily looked at by the years of education you have received. How much you spent your time on learning new material and how well you did in doing so. College is very important to me because I want to go into a field that will help me get good money. To do that in this society, I have to stay in school for a while and do well. This will help determine where I will end up in the future. Our life now days depend on our education; no education then you’re screwed.

In what ways do you feel a Private/Public school teaches interesting material?
In my experience different schools seem to focus on different things. I was in a private school when I was younger, and I noticed that there was not a lot of test taking or diversity in the classrooms. It was pretty laid back, they weren’t very strict. They looked at me as a person not as a student. In my private school (Calhoun) the classes were much smaller, less people in total and there was more interaction with the teachers. Personally, I don’t think going to a private school benefited me. In public schools they offer learning from students as well as teachers. They push us to do better as well.

Michelle (Interview 5):
Do you think you would be better off in school if you constructed your own curriculum? How so?
Yes, because I will be able to choose the material that I would like to learn. I wouldn’t be learning any of the useless stuff that I will not need in the future. If I choose my own curriculum, then I would be more interested in school because I would be learning the topics I like. This will hopefully help me do better in school. I think that we all need to know the basics to survive the outside world like math, but still be able to choose what we are interested in as well. For example taking a life skills class and taking algebra.

What do you think about the idea of school being reduced to three days a week?
As long as we are able to learn everything we need to know in those three days then I think it would be better. We will be able to get more time to do homework and study for tests and quizzes. It will also give us more time to do more extra-curriculars, and spend more time with our family and friends.

How does success in school contribute to success in society?
The society views education very highly, which will lead us to having better careers and being successful at we do. When everybody is happy then we are all able to contribute positive things into our society.

Part B:

I wanted to focus on one of the questions I asked a few people throughout my interview: How has the influence of others affected your decision to go to college? Most of the answers stated that they would still go to college, but they wouldn’t feel too serious about it. They feel as if the decision to go to college is made permanent because the society asks for it. If they weren’t influenced to go to college, they would still go because they wouldn’t feel as if they would be able to succeed in what they want to do with their life. The option of college would still stay in the minds of many, but only a few of us will actually get to go if we weren’t pushed to do so.

I think society plays a big role in our education and how we will end up in the future. If we weren’t pushed to succeed in school then our generation would suffer with many problems in the future. Our education seems to be priceless because it determines our future in many cases. The competition is rising year after year and it is getting harder and harder for all of us to receive the best education out there. In some cases, many of us are lucky that we are able to receive an education. The individuals that never receive a good education don’t do well later on in life in many cases.

Hwk 39

Part A:
Interesting:
- Looking at different social groups from a viewpoint
- How a certain group of kids interact with one another yet change while being with another
- Hurrying to get out from our previous class, yet we have not one ounce of excitement for our next class
Fascinating:
- How in middle school all the “cool” crews would be in the cafeteria, and in high school everybody is no where to be found in school during lunch period
- You would not know one thing about someone, but since you get assigned to the same class this year you are very close to them
- How many of us think not much of this content will help us in the future, yet we have spent so much of our life learning this stuff
Powerful Questions:
- How do the roles we play in school differentiate from the ones we play outside of school?
- How does a new kid adjust to a certain level in the hierarchy of school and how does this affect them?
- Who created the idea of schooling and kids receiving an education?
Ideas:
- School should start later in the day
- We should have more time to spend with our family or outside of school in the day
- Schools have created young individuals to function like robots
Experiences:
- Usually the people that maintain the cool role in school maintain the cool role wherever they are
- Even though you get to see certain people throughout the day, you may not say one word to them throughout the whole year
- By being accepted by others, then you are able to survive in school without any hard times
Part B:
Role playing is a big part in school. There are many roles that are played throughout our lives in school. For me it’s stayed the same most of the time, but I have tried trying out different ones; I usually fit in yet don’t have myself in the spotlight. I have a couple of close friends that know a lot about me, and then I have friends that I talk to but they don’t know too much about me. I personally do not like to be known by everyone so that people can start to make certain assumptions about me. Even though it has happened many times throughout ones life, we never actually notice what goes on behind the people fitting themselves into these certain roles. Most of us have changed our learning environment at least a couple of times. We will arrive to school on the first day trying to pull off a good look so that if someone actually notices us we would automatically be put under a certain label. We never really notice this process at the moment, but it’s really interesting how making the decision of socializing with certain people in school can affect one in many ways.

The big questions here are how did these roles become what they are today? Can anyone fit into these roles? Is there a guide to being cool in school? I think it all depends on how we were all raised to be in our families. Much of who we are has to do with how we are all raised when we were younger. After starting school at the ages of four or five, we usually have no idea what we are in school for; some maybe familiar with the idea since they have spent some time in daycare. Later on after becoming familiar with the concept of school, kids usually incorporate what they have been taught at home with how other kids behave in school. I guess this completes the product (child) and this is usually how the child will be throughout their school life. There are ways that one can be changed from a certain role, but it all depends on them and how the people surrounding them in school affect that certain one person. I have witnessed this many times and experienced it on my own as well. Some consequences that role playing produces can be envy of what role is being played because you may not be the only one wanting to play this role. All these roles are open spots in school; it depends on how willing one is to fit into this certain role.

Hwk 38

Link to video (on Jenise's blog):
http://jenisekl.blogspot.com/

For this art project, I took part of a video project with some classmates including: Jenise, Cindy, Amanda, Michelle, Chelsea and Beatrice. Originally we had about 3 ideas going on and we were thinking of making them into one video, but we didn’t have enough time to shoot all these different scenes so the only idea we worked with was the music video. Since Andy showed us Lil’ Mama’s Lipgloss video as an example of what cool is in our society, we decided to make our own version to that. In the video there are 3 nerds (Me, Amanda and Cindy) and we go around the school and do what we think is cool, but we never actually get to be cool. There is also a cool role that is being played in this video which is by Michelle. In one part she trips one of the nerds; later on she gets transformed into a nerd to fit in with a certain role. While the viewer watches this video, I want them all to realize that there is not just one way to be cool. There are various ways to pull off the concept of cool. In some societies cool maybe wearing fitted hats, baggy jeans and name brand shoes, in other societies something cool would be incorporating a nerdy look into their everyday wear. There is a whole cycle to be cool, nobody knows what they are trying to be, and they let others make the decisions for them. The person in the baggy jeans may think it’s cool to pull of the nerd look, while the nerd is trying to pull off the baggy jeans look to be cool.

There were many ups and downs for this project because we were letting it get to us and we started to stress out over the smallest things. The first step we took was creating a group and coming up with ideas. After collecting the ideas we started to elaborate on the ones most of us were interested in then we went from there. At first we were thinking of doing 3 different things and making them into one video. Throughout the whole time we were playing with that idea and we started to film the first part which was the music video. Later on we realized we were not going to have enough time to complete all three different parts of the video; so we decided to pay attention to the one part we already started with. We weren’t exactly done with filming what we had in mind, but from what I hear from Jenise she was able to fit in certain parts by adding parts that she filmed herself, and made it work. Since this was a group project we all contributed many parts for this video to be what it is. I contributed by having my role in the video, coming up with ideas to make the video better, helping others stop stressing so much, getting other people to join our group, doing what I was told to do without causing any trouble and keeping each other updated with how everything was turning out, also offering my help when it was needed.

There are many forms of art that can be created. Making art is cool I guess, but I wouldn’t say I am crazy about it. There are many different ways to think about it actually. Everything that surrounds us has something to do with art. Art is cool, it just depends on how one perceives the idea of art. I mean if a five year old brings up a drawing of a stick figure it may not be as exciting as it would be to watch one make a magnificent origami sculpture. Art is really cool; it just depends on what amuses the individual. In my eyes, I think that everything is a form of art. Trying to be cool is a form of art as well because we change our appearances to try to fit in with a certain crowd. I think art is cool because without it our world would be colorless and there would be no meaning