Transcendentalism

In my American Lit class we are currently looking at the work of Emerson, with his ideas of Transcendentalism. It is very hard to describe exactly what transcendentalism is, but I'm going to share a few quotes from Emerson's works and I hope you're able to take your own meaning from them, and that you enjoy them as much as I do. :)

“Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright;

he dares not say ‘I think,’ ‘I am,’ but quotes some saint

or sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the

blowing rose. The roses under my window make no

references to former roses or to better ones; they are for

                what they are; they exist with God to-day” (Emerson)

           "Undoubtedly we have no questions to ask which are 

            unanswerable. We must trust the perfection in the creation 

            so far, as to believe that what ever curiosity the order of 

            things has awakened in our minds, the order of things can 

            satisfy."

Podcast Search

During the time given in class to explore podcasts, I have to admit that all of the podcasts I looked at were about books, and that they all seemed to have the same feel to them. They were almost like radio talk shows, just with out callers calling in to say their peace or change the subject. All of the podcasts I listened to had two hosts, who would talk about books, normally chapter by chapter. I found a great one on the Hunger Games, where these two people for the past couple years have read and made podcasts for every chapter in all four Hunger Games books. I read the Hunger Games series, and they were mentioning things that I either forgot, or missed all together. In the couple minutes that I listened to them I was able to hear their point of view, and compare it to what I remember feeling or thinking while reading. For example (spoiler alert) at the end of the last novel, Katniss is in seclusion and trying to figure out how to kill herself. These hosts pitied her, where as I remember being completely annoyed with her. They were able to show me a different perscpective on something I have already read. I think that is the value of podcasts, as opposed to blogs or papers, because you can take words written on paper and interpret them in your own way, as opposed to listening to the tone of someones voice, or the words they emphasize, or the way they studder when they try to figure out exactly what they are trying to say. It makes it much more personal, and I'm sure my personal podcast is going to have a lot of studdering too, so that made me feel a little better.

Kadjer Ch5

I really liked this chapter! I thought the comparisons between what would have happened if the students were simply writing compared to when they used Voicethread and created their own images was really beneficial. Despite her class being hesitant at first, they really got into not only their work, but the wrk of their other classmates as well. This was reinforced on page 76, at the bottom, where it discusses how this activity developed their classroom community. She did this by, after creating and composing their own work, the class had to draw three people at random to give feed back to. Not letting them pick who they were going to give feedback to was a good way to get them to listen to people's work that they might not have done on their own. For the students who are not comfortable sharing their work in front of the class, the spotlight was on their work, and not so much them.
When I think of students using technology or computers in the classroom, I think of them as working alone. This activity did both encourage personal development and identity, as well as team work. One student kept going back to his Voicethread to look for more comments left by his peers, which is something that would not have happened if they just handed in a paper. I felt this activity took students out of their comfort zone (with using a device they have never experienced before and sharing with people who they might be nervous to share their work with) but it didn't put anyone so far out of their comfort zone that they would shut down from the activity. This was one activity that had me completely convinced from start to finish.

"Guido"

For my Comp and Rhet class, I have to do an Individual Analysis to show how rhetoric has an affect on everything around us. I decided I wanted to do mine on the word "Guido".The Jersey Shore cast calls themselves “Guidos” and “Guidettes”, and being from Eastern Pa, I have the luxury of taking day trips to the Jersey Shore in the summer, and have never heard of a “Guido” or “Guidette” – “Guidette” is the femal counter part to the “Guido” -until this show came out. Since the show came out, it seems like thousands of "Guidos" and "Guidettes" have popped out of the woodwork, so I decided to see where this term came from, and what it actually means.

Originally, the term “Guido” was referred to lower class or working Italian Americans. Over time this became a derogatory term for all Italian Americans. It became a synonym for words like “Guappo”, “Dago”, and “Guinea”.Recently, “Guido” has steered away from disrespecting a person’s roots, and has started describing a person who carries himself or herself in a certain way. Sources date this change in meaning back in the 1970-1980s range, but no one is certain of when it happened. Coincidentally enough, the entire Jersey Shore cast was born in the 1980’s, so this could very possibly be the first generation of “Guidos” that reflects a particular lifestyle. The term actually lost all of its connections to the Italian heritage. A few member of the Jersey Shore cast, who call themselves “Guidos” or “Guidettes”, are not even Italian, which could be the ultimate proof that the term is no longer a reflection of Italian immigrants.
  

  This lifestyle has been endorsed and defined by the Jersey Shore cast in front of millions of viewers. It is believed that the new meaning of “Guido” is a person who carries themselves in an over macho manner. This macho manner does not exclude the women either; they make it perfectly clear that they are "tough" or "bitches".It is apparent that this term has had a complete change in meaning. From being a synonym to words like “Guappo”, whose intent it was to offend, to being endorsed and encouraged by a cast of people on a “reality” television show. The funny thing is that since the show, the term has created a new negative meaning for itself. People make fun of "Guidos" because of the Jersey Shore cast. So maybe it's safe to say the word has evolved in meaning, but not in reputation.

 

weblogg-ed.com

This blog was written from the perspective of an educator, and a parent, which I found to be very interesting. The post inparticular that I read (and all of the comments that followed), was titled And What Do YOU Mean By Learning?. The first part talks about how this man's daughter, Tess, joined her school's track team, and the coach is making her do the high jump, and she is terrible at it but she wants to be better. Tess wants to high jump, and failing at it is apart of her learning process because she is so driven to get it right. She is used to playing team sports, but the high jump is different because she can't rely on her team to make her jump higher. Her sucess is strictly dependent on her.

The second part of this blog is about school and things he has seen in his classroom. Like Tess trying to high jump, a student's success is directly effected by how hard they try, and that is an extension of how interested they are, or how much they want to learn about a subject. This blog then goes into asking how we can find out what our students are passionate about so they are more driven to learn. It discusses that college is not for everyone, and I have to agree. Niether of my parent went to college, because it wasn't for them, but we can (thankfully) live comfortably. If more students are able to find something they're passionate about at a younger age, would they be able to take classes that high school be more meaningful to them? Would my parents have liked school better and found a major in a University somewhere that was for them? My father is a retried cop, who just passed high school, but passed the police academy exams and eventually the Sergants exams just fine.

This blog asked other educators how we can make school more personalized and meaningful so our students want to be there, and they want to learn. One educator suggested that this answer lies with our k-8 teachers, who should be able to unvail student passions at an earlier age, that way when high school comes around the classes they are taking plays directly into their interests and futures so they dont have to experiment with classes to see what they like with only 4 years until they graduate into the real world, or continue on experimenting with 4 more years of (pricey) schooling. When I came to Slippery Rock for orientation I was told that the average SRU student changes majors 3 times. Would we be able to lessen this number if teaching was more personalized in grade school?