Argument Paper ROUGH DRAFT

With public schools suffering from large budget cuts, the education system is being forced to cut various resources and programs. Once extra-curricular and after school programs have been done away with, music and arts programs now face the threat of being cut from public schools as well. Many will argue that music and art classes are not truly academic and therefore not essential to students’ education like other subjects; however it is imperative that music and arts programs continue within schools because they are significant and beneficial parts of a student’s education and academic experience.

One of the main arguments used in ridding school systems of art and music programs are that these programs are “unnecessary” in schools because they are simply extra periods of recreational time for students like recess. Many people will argue that art and music programs do not offer students the opportunity to learn and develop any academic skills. However research has shown that students who excel in music and arts tend to possess better reasoning and academic skill and develop better social skills. A 12-month research project conducted at Stanford University found that students who participated in fine arts several times a week were, “4 times more likely to be recognized for academic achievement, 4 times more likely to participate in a math and science fair, 4 times more likely to win an award for writing an essay or poem, 3 times more likely to win an award for attendance, 3 times more likely to be elected to a class office in school.”(Americans for the Arts, 2009)

            Furthermore arts and music programs not only increases students’ academic skills but self-expression, creativity, and imagination, skills that are rarely taught within standard core subjects of math, science, and history) are taught, developed, and utilized in these subject areas. Art and music classes are the only subjects where a students are constantly taught to be original and creative. During many core classes, like history and science, students are encouraged to memorize information in order to understand, unlike art and music classes which encourage students to create in order to understand.

While studies have shown students do in fact learn academic and social skills in arts and music classes, many students do find these classes as enjoyable and relaxing, allowing children to have fun and learn in a stress-free environment. Just because the students are having fun, does not necessarily mean they are not learning. Having classes like art and music, in which children believe are “easy” and fun classes, is beneficial in a students’ busy day. After sitting in a class all day and learning about less interesting subjects from a textbook, it is important for students to have a period dedicated to a more non-traditional style of learning. This gives them a break from sitting, reading, and listening and allows them to move about and actively do something. Also, many children find art and music more interesting than other subject material. This interest helps keep students motivated during the school day.

Lastly, many students who do not excel in traditional subjects may be passionate about fine arts – these classes and programs give students the opportunity to be exposed to difference areas in which their passions lie. Many students may find that their calling may be for one of the fine arts and that they wish to pursue a career in it. Despite the stereo-type of the “starving artist”,  statistics show that “the arts produce jobs generating an estimate $37 billion with a return of $3.4 billion in federal income taxes”(American Arts Alliance Fact Sheet, October 1994).  

Give thanks for one thing that's easy to be grateful for...

So this may sound  stupid, and a bit superficial but something that comes to mind quickly when I think of what I'm thankful for is my dog Cali, or as most people call her chubby puppy. Honestly though, that over weight chihuahua is the golden child of my family - everyone freaking loves and obsesses over her so much that is is borderline creepy. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that as children me and my brother were deprived of a dog. My parents absolutely HATED animals in the house and only let us bring home pets that lived in cages. When they grew up  in the Philippines  most dogs were strays or kept on farms, and the idea of a dog wearing clothes or having special toys or food was ridiculous. However this all changed last summer when I accidentally stole a dog and brought her home.

I rescued this dog we later named Sangria and eventually found her owners. When I went to drop her off home, I realized I had found her on the block she lived. Her family had been away on vacation and the house sitter accidentally let her out. Anyway I had Sangria for almost a month until her owners came. At first my parents nagged me to bring her to the pound, but I just couldn't. Sangria was so little and fragile the idea of her in a pound was heart-breaking. Eventually though my parents fell in love with her. By the time Sangria's real owners found her me and my mother were in tears as we gave her away, and a few weeks later we brought home from the pet store a little puppy of our own.

So while I am most obviously grateful from my adorable little dog, I am also grateful for all the people  that make sure all animals are safe and taken care of. For the people who work and fight for animal rights, and just pet owners in general who treat their pets with love and care.

Response to Nugents Newblog, 11/17/11

Nugents Newblog: Just Part of the Job 

Reading John's post about this "problem" child that he has been able to bond with and his views that building a connection with students is part of the job, is honestly a much needed fresh breath for me in an often discouraging and depressing journey into the realities of teaching. I have found during my experiences in high schools, both as a student and as a teaching-in-training, many of the teachers seem to feel that their job entails teaching the material to the class and that is it. As if connecting with the children, learning their personal interests, and being considerate of different perspectives and situations is "going above and beyond" rather than simply part of the job you take on as an educator.  As English teachers we hope to motivate students to be better readers, writers, and thinkers,  but ultimately what we are striving for is motivating students to be better human beings -  to be intelligent, sensitive, creative, considerate, and curious humans and to be successful and most importantly happy in the world. So why don't teachers  model this to their students through their interactions and relationships with them? 

"I was scared, tired and under prepared...."

So because I'm terrible at coming up with titles I usually title each blog with lyrics that remind me of what I intend on blogging about. I do this because it is often how I deal with most thoughts I have floating around in my head or events that happen in my life - I automatically relate it to music. Anyway, today the title of my blog perfectly explains how I felt about taking my last and final teaching certification exam, the CST. Unlike the experience of taking the LAST and the ATS-W, I have this terrible feeling that I will most likely be re-taking the CST.

While I don't consider myself anywhere NEAR a literary genius, I did graduate with a Bachelors in English with a concentration in Literature. So when I opened the book to study for the CST I expected the practice questions to be somewhat easy for me. Well I was completely wrong! The sample questions were difficult and I spent a decent amount of time trying to familiarize myself with the format of the test, the types of questions, and the material that would be on the test, however for this type of test cramming information would be useless so I tried not to stress too much and opted to go to bed early the night before the exam. The next morning for whatever reason even when I began the test at 8:15am I was still half asleep. In fact I was so tired that I took off my sweat shirt and took the exam in a spaghetti strap tank top hoping that feeling cold would help me stay awake. As I was reading the test questions I felt myself not paying attention and not caring, all I could think about was leaving and speeding home to my nice comfy bed. Some where in the middle of the test I felt myself  completely stop caring, I tried a bit but ultimately I felt that I was too under prepared for this exam and will have to re take soon.

Although I admit that I was not as prepared for this test as I could of been, I definitely think that having to use my brain so intensely at such an early hour on a Saturday was a huge part of my ability to take the test. Not only did it cloud my thinking, it completely demotivated me even when I knew that it was the last and final test I would have to take for certification AND that I paid $80 just to take it.     

My father is....STAR applied

My father is a strange fellow. I can't sincerely say me and him have, in my 22 years of existence, ever truly understood each other. His line of thinking remains an infinite mystery to me - an unreasonable tradition of logic in today's world. Even with his earnest attempts to communicate I feel as if I'm trying to decipher ancient artifacts - piecing together  the rare shards of his behavior I have collected and studied through out the years. The distance between my father and me is excessive, and I'm ashamed to admit a large part of this riff is my fault. But no matter how far my father seems I have always felt his love - I hope he feels mine too. Is it possible to love something you barely understand? I suppose that is one of the feats of the parent/child relationship.

My father is....original from journal

My father is a strange fellow. I can't sincerely say me and him have ever in my 22 years of experience truly understood each other. His way of thinking is a complete mystery to me, an unreasonable tradition of logic. Even when he tries his hardest to communicate with me I feel like I'm trying to decipher ancient artifacts, piecing together the little of what I know about him to make some sort of sense to me. The distance between us is great, and I'm ashamed to say a large part of that is my fault. But no matter how far my father seems I have always felt his love - I hope he feels mine too. Is it possible to love something you barely understand? I suppose that is one of the miraculous feats of the parent/child relationship. 

I taste blood... literally.

So Halloween is usually my favorite holiday! However this year because of work and unexpected snow most of my plans were cancelled and I was not able to celebrate Halloween the way I usually do every year. On top of the terrible weather Saturday, the next morning around 3am I woke up with a terrible throbbing pain in my mouth! The pain was so unbearable that I could barely sleep. After popping about a million and one Motrins the pain became some what tolerable and I counted down the hours until the dentist's office would be open, only to realize that it was Sunday and the office would be closed all day.

Now I've had toothaches before (I have a horrible record with teeth. I had four root canals done by the time I was 17 years old.), but this one was just plain annoying. It wasn't completely unbearable, it was just distracting. I couldn't sit in peace without thinking about the pain and wondering what was causing it or when would it disappear. When Monday morning surely but eventually arrived I called Dr. Hakimi at exactly 10am, when their office opened. Luckily, they were able to squeeze me in and within the next 15 minutes I was sitting patiently in the waiting room.

Dr. Hakimi took x-rays right away and to my surprise it was not a cavity, it was my wisdom tooth. My upper wisdom tooth had been growing in crooked, hitting my back molar and causing a lot of pain. The dentist said he would extract it today. This had me scared senseless because my last experience with getting a tooth pulled was painful. The dentist had not used enough Novocaine and when he yanked at my tooth I felt the pain shooting through my jaw. I reluctantly signed the form allowing Dr. Hakimi and his assistant to do the tooth extraction. The procedure went well, Dr. Hakimi used enough numbing medication. However after the novocaine wore off, my mouth was swollen and sore all day. The worst part however was the blood. All Halloween long my mouth bleed and bleed, and I was forced to taste my own blood all day long instead of munching on candy like everyone else. Sometimes there would be some much blood that it would stain my teeth. I suppose this look was fitting for Halloween.  
 

Tired and anxious...

I'm tired of school and sick of Adelphi. I just want to get into a classroom and experience teaching already. I'm sick of the theoretical bullshit we read about and discuss in class, because it is THEORETICAL. And thanks to the awesome STEP program all I have learned is based on textbooks and class discussions. I mean it took four years for me to observe a real classroom, like really? And now it's not until my last semester of my Masters degree that I'll get a little taste of student teaching! What if I'm horrible at it? What if I'm not cut out for it? I'm a very hands on learner, and after semester of semester of TALKING about being in a high school classroom I just want to spend some real time in one already!

Well that's pretty much all I have to say for now, I don't really know what to talk about on this thing... I'm not in the mood for blogging right now, or ever really. Sorry.

Revised Critial Lens

Duff Brenna argued that “All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature.” In other words one of the main purposes of literature is to prove how emotion ultimately dictates human behavior.  Through literary devices authors are able to create stories which realistically portray the true, motivating power of emotion over reason and intellect. This can be shown to be true in the novels The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald.

For example in The Things They Carried  many of the soldiers, like the character Tim O’Brien, did not find any reason to participate in the war, they were motivated to fight in the war by their overbearing feelings of fear and shame. The author uses symbolism, metaphor, and repetition in order to invoke within readers how emotionally burdened the soldiers felt throughout the novel. The soldiers carry weapons, equipment, and rations, all of which the readers are given the physical weight of in order to clearly understand how literally heavy and burdening carrying these items around were. These items are metaphoric for the heavy and burdening emotions and feelings the soldiers were also forced to carry with them, such as guilt, fear, and shame, as a result of the war. O’Brien uses repetition when listing the different literal and figurative things the soldiers were forced to carry in order to emphasize how consuming and inescapable these feelings of guilt, fear, and shame were for the soldiers. Like the repetition of the list of things the soldiers carried, the burdening emotions they felt seemed endless and forever oncoming.

Likewise in The Great Gatsby Scott Fitzgerald accurately portrays how desire and longing for love and happiness is more motivating than logic and reason.  Fitzgerald uses symbolism and characterization to convey how self-destructing and powerful human desire, love, and naivety can be. Fitzgerald creates an overly-romantic, perpetually hopeful, and naively driven protagonist through the character of Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby has turned himself from the poor, lower-class James Gatz, into the well-known and wealthy Jay Gatsby, all in order to win back his true love Daisy. What is striking about Gatsby is his extreme idealism in the romantic notion that he can repeat the past, win back Daisy’s love, and be truly happy. He believes through hard work and success, anything is possible yet, like the narrator Nick Carraway and readers both realize, Gatsby is chasing a dream that does not and never could exist.

In both The Things They Carried and The Great Gatsby, the authors convey the power of emotion through main themes. The Things They Carried has an ongoing theme of courage and cowardice, in which O’Brien uses irony to show the true nature of cowardice and the hypocrisy of society’s idea of courage.  In many instances, characters in The Things They Carried do things that seem to be courageous not because they are brave or honorable, but because they are afraid of appearing as cowards. This fear of shame and appearing cowardly, instead of bravery and valor, is what motivates the soldiers in many of their actions. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the theme of the American Dream and the inevitable failure one will meet in chasing it. Gatsby’s hopeless chase of his delusional dream of love and happiness with Daisy is representative of the American Dream; it accurately mirrors how Americans naively think wealth and status will bring them true happiness. Through this notion, Fitzgerald perfectly portrays how it is human nature to override reason with emotion and desire.

As Duff Brenna once said, “All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature”. This is proven true through the use of symbolism, metaphor, repetition, characterization, and theme in the novels The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. Through these literary devices, Tim O’Brien conveys how fear and shame can be more motivating than reason and morality. Fitzgerald uses these devices to create a novel that represents how truly vulnerable human nature is to emotion, and how desire for love and happiness can be more motivating than logic and reasoning.   

Critical Lenses Essay - Five Paragraph Essay

Duff Brenna argued that “All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature”. In other words one of the main purposes of literature is to prove how emotion ultimately dictates human behavior. Through literary devices authors are able to create stories which realistically portray the true, motivating power of emotion over reason and intellect. This can be shown to be true in the novels The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien uses symbolism, metaphor, and repetition in order to invoke within readers how emotionally burdened the soldiers felt throughout the novel. The soldiers carry weapons, equipment, and rations - all of which the readers are given the physical weight of in order to clearly understand how literally heavy carrying these items around were. These items are metaphoric for the heavy  emotions and feelings the soldiers were also forced to carry with them, such as guilt, fear, and shame, as a result of the war. O’Brien uses repetition when listing the different literal and figurative things the soldiers were forced to carry in order to emphasize how consuming and inescapable these feelings of guilt, fear, and shame were. Like the repetition of the list of things the soldiers carried, the burdening emotions they felt seemed endless and forever oncoming. While many of the soldiers (like the character Tim O’Brien) did not find any reason to participate in the war, they were motivated to fight in the war by their overbearing feelings of fear and shame.

In the novel The Great Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald uses symbolism and characterization to convey how self-destructing and powerful human desire, love, and naivety can be. Fitzgerald creates an overly-romantic, perpetually hopeful, and naively driven protagonist through the character of Jay Gatsby. Jay Gatsby has turned himself from the poor, lower-class James Gatz into the well-known and wealthy Jay Gatsby in order to win back his true love Daisy. What is striking about Gatsby is his extreme idealism in the romantic notion that he can repeat the past, win back Daisy’s love, and be truly happy. He believes through hard work and success anything is possible. Yet, like the narrator Nick Carraway and readers both realize, Gatsby is chasing a dream that does not, and never could exist. Through Gatsby Fitzgerald accurately portrays how desire and longing for love and happiness is more motivating than logic and reason.

In both The Things They Carried and The Great Gatsby, the authors convey the power of emotion through main themes. The Things They Carried has an ongoing theme of courage and cowardice, in which O’Brien uses irony to show the true nature of cowardice and the hypocrisy of society’s idea of courage.  In many instances, characters in The Things They Carried do things that seem to be courageous not because they are brave or honorable, but because they are afraid of appearing as cowards. This fear of shame and appearing cowardly, instead of bravery and valor, is what motivates the soldiers in many of their actions. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses the theme of the American Dream and the inevitable failure one will meet in chasing it. Gatsby’s hopeless chase of his delusional dream of love and happiness with Daisy is representative of the American Dream; it accurately mirrors how Americans naively think wealth and status will bring them true happiness. Through this notion, Fitzgerald perfectly portrays how it is human nature to override reason with emotion and desire.

As Duff Brenna once said, “All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason, that motivates characters in literature”. This is proven true through the use of symbolism, metaphor, repetition, characterization, and theme in the novels The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien and The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald. Through these literary devices Tim O’Brien conveys how fear and shame can be more motivating than reason and morality. Fitzgerald uses these devices to create a novel that represents how truly vulnerable human nature is to emotion, and how desire for love and happiness can be more motivating than logic and reasoning.   

Abortion...

So the other morning I was driving on Community Drive by North Shore LIJ with my friend when we spotted two older men protesting abortion. One man had on a sign with pictures of what I think was fetuses at different stages. There was also writing but I couldn't see what it said because I was driving, obviously it was something condemning abortion. Anyway, my friend Nicole said something I found interesting. She said she thought it was funny that two MEN were protesting against abortion, when they would NEVER truly understand how it could feel to be pregnant. Yes, they are men and they could get a female pregnant, but they themselves would never have to worry about being physically pregnant.

My views on abortion are conflicted: I personally would never have one because I don't think I could live with the guilt, but I don't judge females who do - I believe everything is situational. I don't know you or your life. Furthermore, I'm not God - who am I to judge you? But then again I do believe people should own up to their actions. So for me the subject of abortion is torn, but seeing those two men had me thinking about how difficult it is to debate about such a sensitive topic when you personally have never been put through it. For instance, would my stance change if I had ever been put through that situation? What about rape victims? Also, while people do have the right to be passionate about their pro-life views is yelling at women outside a hospital truly the best way to express their opinions? And also, where were the women? Why two old guys instead?

"Still amused by prank phone calls"

This has been a concern of mine for quite some time now: am I honestly mature enough to be a high school teacher? Ever since I decided to become a teacher, it's a thought that has been in the back of my mind. Now that I am preparing to student teach at Floral Park Memorial, I'm kind of nervous that the answer is no. This fear was confirmed when an 11th grader I was observing there told me to watch my language. I mean I didn't say it to him, and all I said was "hell", and I know he was teasing me, but still... not good foreshadowing huh?

I think I'm having too much of a problem letting go of my teenage years, which is pretty sad. Observing at FPM made me realize how much I miss high school, how much I miss being a kid: an obnoxious, rebellious, silly, care free, and reckless kid. When it hit me that I would be student teaching at FPM by next semester, I realized a terrible problem of mine - I still act like a kid.  And no, I don't mean this in a positive way. I don't mean this in a "forever young" or "young at heart" type of way. You know that song "What's My Age Again?" by Blink 182? Yeah, I mean it in kind of that way. I mean it in the "that's what she said", "your mom", blasting Eminem and rapping along, doing drive-bys with water guns, and drinking in public kind of way. I mean it in the stupid and irresponsible kind of way. Sometimes I don't know what's wrong with me, it's like I'm not over high school - I'm in denial of growing up. Being an "adult" in the "real world" is not only scary, but ultimately it seems boring. So there I admitted it, not only am I a baby but I'm immature. 

However I have grown up in some ways. In high school I was a master slacker, but I eventually learned to value my education. I still procrastinate like there's no tomorrow, but I actually do my work and put effort into it. I'm no longer a 16 year old girl who's scared of looking like a nerd, or dork, or geek - in fact now I wish I was one. For the last few years I've been slacking on my slacking, I mean if I hadn't I wouldn't be in grad school right?  I just worry that my sense of humor, things that amuse me, and my interests aren't as profound as they should be you know? Sadly and embarrassingly I don't follow politics or really pay attention to the news, but I can tell you how many times Ronnie and Sam broke up this week on Jersey Shore or what outfit Lady GaGa wore to the VMAs. My sense of humor is crude and inappropriate things make me laugh... a lot.   

So how do you act 22 going on 23 anyway? And how do you do it while still having fun? More importantly, how do I go into a classroom of students and expect them to respect me as an adult and an authority if I can't act like one? How can I get them to take me seriously as an educator? How can I motive them to be responsible and prepare them for the "real world", when I myself am still adjusting to the "real world"?

"I spoke the words but never gave a thought to what they all could mean..."

      This the first time I have ever blogged. Even on social networks like Facebook or Myspace, I have never been one to post many statuses or share many of my thoughts. I have never even kept a journal unless forced to for a class. However I'm excited to start this blog and record my ideas because I believe it will be a great way for me to reflect on my words, thoughts, beliefs, and ultimately myself. Even as an English major I know that I, along with many others, seem to overlook and underestimate the strength of our words. Whether written or spoken, we often forget to consider how our words can impact not only ourselves, but also those around us. We seldom take the time to truly and fully understand our own words; how we use them, why we use them, and what they imply. Yet the power behind words is quite amazing. Depending on what is said and how it is said, one can use words to inspire or dissuade, to hurt or to heal, to create or destruct. Hopefully blogging will be a good learning experience because it will give me the opportunity to truly think about my what my words really mean to me and to others.

      Through this blog I hope to be able to reflect on my own writing and therefore strengthen and develop my own voice. It is important for us as students and future teachers to explore and discover our voices so that we can eventually share them with the world. Blogging is also a great way to practice clearly and effectively expressing my voice. As a future teacher I hope to someday show my students the necessity of voice and its value to humanity. While helping students develop their voice, it is important for them to understand that it is their right to be heard - all voices deserve to be heard. 

      We should be sympathetic to any differences in voices, perspectives, opinions, and ideas. We must learn to find the beauty and new knowledge in viewpoints different from our own. And while some people find comfort in words, others may choose to express their voice through different yet still valuable mediums. Whether it be art, photography, music, dance, or theater, every human being has something worthwhile to "say" and contribute to this chaotic mess we call life. If we are hesitant to share our voices and too ignorant to listen to the voices of others, we put ourselves in danger of missing out on the chance to expand our minds and truly experience life.