Brainstorming Ideas - Service Learning Plan

1) We planned on gathering information about a place
2) Interview some people to get a jist of how it works
3) Ask permission for pictures, if not we can obtain them online
4) Poster vs. Website - Website in favor
5) Add the information and publicize it (such as facebook, twitter)

3 Ideas - Dosomething.org

Our three ideas for our project intially were to volunteer at rec centers, to hand out fliers to parents with children, and to make poster boards to display around the school to inform students about recreational centers located near them to give them something to do during the summer.

Quote Choice

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of humanity"

To me, this quote means that a person has not started fully understanding life until they can put their problems aside and try to make a difference. Sometimes being selfish gets you no where.

How Much Oil Has Leaked Into The Gulf?

What I don't understand is how does BP not know how much oil leaked into the Gulf of Mexico? According to this article, oil has reached the ocean floor on April 22nd. 5,000 barrels a day is estimated to be the amount of oil spilling into the gulf, which happens to be 210,000 gallons. It's said that the rate of the oil can go up. As of May 6th, there were 3,000,000 gallons of oil that have leaked into the Gulf. That's insane. Imagine all of the animals that have to suffer through this. I can't even begin to fathom why nothing is being done.

Be The Change You Want To See In The World

To me, this quote means that the world depends on you as a person. The only way to ratify things is to live in that mindset. In other words, the only way to change things is if you are already that way or if you change yourself.

Bread Art

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity." -Martin Luther King Jr.

In other words, a person has not started fully living until they can learn to be unselfish in the world and care for humanity. 

In response to Magnet Schools

Arlene Ackerman... what a mess. I haven't been too fond of her since the first day she started to be honest. Ackerman says that there is not enough diversity in schools... obviously she is completely oblivious - either that or she's just that damn dumb. Has Ackerman been in our schools? Every school I have seen so far has been completely diverse. I don't believe in race anyway! 

A draft? So we're going to draft people into schools now? That is going to threaten the academic balance of magnet schools in many ways. A minimum point system of 1000 - 600 for grades, 200 for behavior. This is just like affirmative action... suppose a student is passionate  about being accepted to Central but is Hispanic (suppose Hispanics make up 60% of Central), and has the grades. However, a Caucasian person (suppose Caucasians make up 10% of Central), who does not have the grades, applies to Central. The white person gets accepted because of a lack of diversity, and the smart Hispanic who cares about school gets stuck in a horrible neighborhood school. That's not fair.

I fear for the future of this generation... I really do.

In Response to The No Child Left Behind article

Barack Obama: Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded, and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down.

Local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down? How are staff members in certain districts letting their students down? This is such a biased and broad statement, to say the least. I understand thousands of students cannot make the 2014 deadline of being proficient in math and reading, but did the government honestly expect them to?

Consider the circumstances that some students come from -- every student's background and home life is different. There are students who come from backgrounds where they are taught to not care about school... a policy known as No Child Left Behind will not fix this. There are always going to be people that just do not care, regardless of how many opportunities that are laid out in front of them. 

For Barack Obama to basically persecute the teachers is completely ridiculous. There are wonderful teachers all over that are placed in neighborhood schools with students that just do not care. Though the teachers try their hardest... when it comes down to it, it is not a one-way relationship.

Ms. ANNE BRYANT (Executive Director, National School Boards Association): We really do know how to turn around schools. It's hard, it's complex, and it has a lot do to with professional development and changing strategies of teaching. But there just is no evidence that changing the staffing, necessarily, leads to greater student achievement.

Of course. How does changing around the school and possibly replacing staff members lead to greater student achievement if the students are not putting forth any effort whatsoever to do anything?

Whether America has the No Child Left Behind law or not, there will always be those who do not feel like participating.

In response to the Stand With Haiti video

What I fail to understand is why exactly does it take 2-3 days to even consider looking at a patient's wounds and providing them the aid that they deserved 16 DAYS AGO? From what I have been following, apparently all of this aid is being sent over to Haiti, yet with every video I watch... nothing. Absolutely nothing. All I see are a bunch of wounded people that have to WAIT and HOPE for medical treatment. It was mentioned in the video that many wait for spinal cord surgeries, just surgeries in general. If someone were to be told to wait in America for a surgery that was needed.. well of course that would be completely unheard of -- so why is it any different in Haiti? Those people are suffering. On the news this morning I saw people clawing at gates, desperate for just a bag of rice. With all the money and the food that is being provided to those people.. how come they aren't seeing any of it? Something just doesn't seem right to me. There are people laying there without limbs, probably in a great deal of pain, yet nothing seems to be done about it.

this year thus far

This school year in a nutshell has been stressful. I've been lacking motivation and have not worked up to my full potential. I've been cutting my grades close, procrastinating, & shirking all of my responsibilities for activities that I felt benefitted me at the time. It wasn't until mid-second semester did I realize that college is in 2 years and I'm running out of time. It was either now or never to shape up. 

This new semester, my plans are completely different. Without coming off arrogant at all, I know I'm an intelligent person whose capable of anything if I put my mind to it. I want to leave the last two semesters I have left with the straight A's that I was capable of achieving months ago, all the while I was being irresponsible. Because of my lack of responsibility, I have suffered greatly grade-wise when I shouldn't have. I've been told that I won't change or I won't shape up, however I suppose actions speak louder than words. The rest of my year is going to be a good one, even if it kills me.