Advanced Creative Writing Post #5: Technology

So for this blog post, I am writing about technology. Since I wasn't given a particular focus on what exactly to blog about pertaining to technology, I am going to blog about technology in schools and in the classroom.



Since I have been in school (from 1997 to present day), the technology in schools has dramatically increased. In the last few years alone the use of computers has sky-rocketed. Schools have gone from having the occasional computer in the library to having carts of laptops that teachers and students can use. You can even check a laptop out at the library now. The technological age of education is coming into full swing. I still remember when classrooms used chalkboards, man did I hate those (it's a texture thing with the chalk). And then they were upgraded to white boards. I actually own a white board myself. It hangs in my room and is one of the most useful things I own :). Anyways, most teachers still use white boards, but the global learners have once again upped the ante. Seeing as the global learners are attempting to really introduce twenty-first century technology into twenty-first century education (seems like common sense to me), the newest board is the smartboard. This is not only a digital white board, it is an interactive interface for all kinds of programs that allow teachers to reach in new directions when teaching. One of my personal favorites about the white boards is a physics program. The user can draw objects and what not and deploy the program and real-life physics take effect. Besides, it saves on things like chalk, markers, and the like. Even right now I am participating in a new-wave technology that has entered the classroom: blogging. Blogging is now an easy and effective way for students to all see the same information, to share ideas on an accessible interface, and it really reduces the time for a teacher to look at it and give feedback (less emails/papers and the ability to address more than one student at a time). In fact, while I was in my Epistemology class last year, I participated in live blogging. This is a blog that literally takes place in real time and when the session is over it logs it all. It's kind of like having a computerized class discussion, except your students can be anywhere. I participated from home once or twice :). Technology is coming a long way in classrooms. The ability to find practically limitless information on the internet and to be able to express things with far more than pencil and paper has really increased the livelyhood of education, in my personal opinion.

Advanced Creative Writing Post #4: The Future

I know that I am supposed to be writing this blog post on rock-climbing. But that's not what has gripped my mind today. My mind is echoing with the thoughts revolving around the future and what is to come. So, I am going to indulge myself and write about the future in, hopefully, an intelligent and thought-provoking way.

The future is never far from my mind these days. High school is ending, college is coming up fast, and deadlines are falling like raindrops in a storm. My future is not by any means certain and the many complications because of this saturate my subconscious, constantly being stirred up by life's twists and turns. Several months ago, a friend of mine (coincidentally the same teacher for which I am doing this blog post for) showed me an article that had been written about society's view of time. I don't remember at the moment who the author of this article is, but I do remember what this article was about. According to the author, society's concept of time can be stripped down to this basic philosophy: what's next? We live in a world governed by the idea of what comes next.

1. You are born.
2. You go to elementary school so you can get the education required to go to middle/Jr. high school.
3. You go to middle/Jr. high school so you can get the education required to go to high school.
4. You go to high school so you can get the education required to go to college.
5. You go to college so you can get a degree.
6. You get a degree so you can get a good job.
7. You get a good job so you can get a good salary.
8. You get a good salary so you can get a good home.
9. You get a good home so you can get a good family.
10. You get a good family so you can have kids and start the whole process of indoctrination all over again with your kids.

It's all focused on what you're going to do next. There's no time to stop and enjoy the present. There's no time to stop and smell the roses. But what happens when there isn't a next step? Or that next step isn't what you planned? What happens when you finally realize that you can't plan for everything, that you can't always know your next step? We have to make the time to do the things we want to do. When it comes down to it, wouldn't we rather live a short life we love than to live a long life we hate? I would much rather roll out of bed to get in my crappy car to go to my low-paying job that I love than to get in a fancy Mercedes to go to a high-paying job I abhor. Right now, my family, my girlfriend, and I are all freaking out about what colleges we're going to and if we'll be able to be where we want to be once we're out in that deep sea of life. And truth is, we don't have a clue. I don't know if I'll be going to the same college as her, or even if it's a college that my parents want me to go to. I don't know if I'll get to college and find exactly the kind of experience I am looking for. I don't even know if teaching is what I will come out with the skills to do. (Wow that was a poorly structured sentence lol). But I am going to do my best to accept that and roll with whatever life throws my way. I am determined to not let the uncertainty taint the enjoyment and fulfillment of my days.

Advanced Creative Writing Post #3: Sunset

Sunset, the opposite of sunrise. It's when the sun goes down instead of coming up. No, seriously though, it is just as amazing as the sunrise. The sunset symbolizes the end of the day. Although there are still several hours after the sunrise until the day is officially over, the day's work usually ends with sundown. The night is spent winding down and getting ready for the next day's work and activities. It's also the awakening time of vampires and other things that go bump in the night, but that's beside the point.

Random things about sunset:

• Sunset is the ending glory for heroes as well. Riding of into the sunset is the standard cliche for the end of a hero movie.
• Sunset marks the end of the day for Davy Jones (and later Will Turner) to return to the sea for another ten years in the Disney movie series Pirates of the Caribbean.
• The Earth's atmosphere "bends" the Sun's rays and delays the sunset by about three minutes.
• It looks different on different planets due to the atmosphere and terrain.

I find it interesting that not as many things are called to mind about the sunset as there are about the sunrise. You would figure that, being opposites, there would be just as much. I guess I am just not too knowledgeable about the sunset. *shrugs* :)

Advanced Creative Writing Post #2: Sunrise

Sunrise. The beginning of the day, at least to me. The day should never begin in darkness. It should always begin with the beauty and grace of the rising sun. Besides, that would make school start later haha. Anyways, sunrise is one of the natural beauties of the world. If you have never experienced a sunrise, I mean really experienced it, then it is something you should add to your bucket list. Watching the sky change colors and hues and radiate them out through the clouds....it's amazing. It reminds me how precious the world we live in is.

A sunrise marks a beginning. The beginning of a new day, a new life, a new story. Letting our days and our spirits rise with the sun, alighting our lives with the beauty and grace of opportunity, of joy is a truly astounding thing. It reminds us to live in the moment, to live in the here and now. To let the problems of the day set with the sunset and a blank slate to rise with the sun in the morning is extremely hard, make no mistake. But to be able to wake up each and every day and bask in the ability to meet the day fresh in mind, body, and spirit. The sunrise reminds me to keep looking forward. It also reminds me to be conscious of the world around us. I want to be able to wake up every morning and know that I can watch the sunrise. But if we, as inhabitants of this lovely planet, don't start treating it with the respect and care it warrants, we won't have that opportunity. There won't be a rising sun clipping the peaks of wintry mountains, creeping across the sprawling forests and waters. There will only be the harsh rays on a world condemned. We have to take care of the world, to give back what we take.

A sunrise has a lot of meaning when you really think about it. Mostly though, it is a constant reminder to live every day for what it's worth and make each day the best we can for everyone.

Advanced Creative Writing Post #1: A blog about rambling thoughts and nothing in particular

Okay, as the title states, this blog entry is supposed to be about my rambling thoughts and nothing in particular. This is what happens when you sign up for an independent study with a teacher and then when you come back from break he forgets that you did. It's entertaining in some respects. He gets all flustered and you do random assignments like a blog entry about rambling thoughts. I don't even know how long this thing is supposed to be. I'll probably do my best to make it close to 500 words. Oops, going for word count, so five hundred words :).

As much as this is supposed to be about rambling thoughts, I am going to at least try to gear it towards school to some degree, seeing as this is a class and all haha. So it's only the second day back from winter break but it's apparent that the administrative policies and habits are still the same. Time with family has not mellowed their resolve to suck, it seems it is just in their nature. My schedule is way better though :D. I am no longer taking two boring math classes, let alone one after the other. I am now taking this independent study class and another class called EC Reading. EC Reading is literally a class for reading books. I was very happy to be enrolled in that class :D (that smile isn't big enough to express my gratitude for it). I am still taking AP Chemistry first period. I am going to stick with it and even try to learn enough to attempt to pass the AP Exam at the end of the year. I don't expect that will happen though haha. I am also still AP Literature second period. That class is okay, I am still hoping that we will get into a book that I will really be able to enjoy. Slaughterhouse-5 isn't horrible by any means but it's certainly not one of my favorite books. Third period is this wonderful gem of a class and fourth period is my reading class. Irelan keeps telling us we need to pick books our reading level but I have no freaking clue what she thinks is our reading level. I am going to pick a couple of books and such off of my shelves at home and find little reviews for them (and possibly their supposed reading levels) and run them by her to see what she thinks. I showed her The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton today and she said it was below my reading level and that it was the only book that could be. So I am curious as to what she considers my reading level. My fifth, sixth, and seventh periods are all the same, with only a few differences this semester. My fifth period has one new student and our goal is supposed to be more sales-oriented this semester. We will see how that goes. Sixth period now has Maria and Amber in it so I have more reason to laugh and enjoy that class. Drake teaches history in a way that I can actually learn it without wanting to bore through my head with a large drill. We swear we learn through osmosis in that class haha. Seventh period is going to take an interesting turn when we get our teaching field placements. I am excited and I know I will be teaching either at AC Middle or at Alsup Elementary, more likely the former. It will definitely be my first true experience in the world of teaching :D.

Crazy

It's been a while since I've updated this with anything besides school work. I am glad I was able to take advantage of my blog to help me with school and all, but that wasn't its original intent. I know I don't have many followers on my blog and I know this will probably go unread, at least for a while, but that really doesn't matter. I don't plan on spilling my soul to thousands on the internet. No, I have a different place for those inner conversations and revelations. This is more to remind those that are willing to listen that I am still here and have not become a hermit yet.

A lot has happened this year. Half a year, I guess. My last post was back in June. It's been a year of growth. I really feel like I'm growing up. Right now, school really blows. I've never been one to really hate school. I always have been that nerdy guy that enjoys going to school and learning. You can never have enough knowledge. And the more you know, the more you can do in the world. That's the mindset I went into school with this year. I turned down setting myself up for early graduation to take advantage of things like AP classes, Front Range classes, and scholarship opportunities. I was looking forward to really getting ready to head off to college this year. Boy was I wrong. With all the administrative bull**** this year, the school has really become a prison. I don't think the administration realizes that the institution of education isn't actually supposed to represent an institution. That's the joke part, guys, seriously. I knew that going in that this year was going to be different. We had a different school structure by switching to the acadamies, a new dress code, and a new super-intendent. I did not, however, expect to see everyone getting so royally shafted at every available opportunity. The walk-throughs are particularly ridiculous this year. Before, walk-throughs by the high-up admin like the super-intendent were conducted maybe once or twice a quarter at most. The supervisor would sit in the back of the class for the whole period, watching how the students and teachers interacted and how well they felt the teachers were doing their jobs. This year, somebody must have been smokin something because now they come through twice a week. Doesn't sound that bad, does it? Wrong. Instead of sitting through the entire class and really paying attention to get a real, in-depth experience of that teacher's style and interaction with his/her students, the supervisors (now in groups of twos and threes, the little hyenas) sit in the class for maybe a couple of minutes at most. Even if you can evaluate somebody that fast, I have a hard time believing you're paying attention when the only muscle that seems to be working is your mouth. And it gets better. After sitting and speed-dating with each other, the two waltz about the room. They don't walk, they may prance, slink, sulk, sometimes even buzz but they never walk, especially not silently. They scour the walls and boards for anything that should be there that isn't or vice versa. This usually involves the "objectives" and what not, but we'll get to that in a minute. My favorite part is when they disrupt students to "have them explain what they're learning". Yeah, because we all know you're too damn busy to shut the hell up for five minutes to find out for yourself. That and telling students what is and isn't appropriate to have out in what class. After they've thoroughly pissed the students off, they feel comfortable moving onto pissing the teacher off. This is done marvelously by bringing the class to a screeching halt so that our duo of duh can take the teacher out into the hallway to tell them what they think is wrong. Unprofessional, disrespectful, and downright stupidly contradictory to your job of getting these kids ready for their futures.
Objectives. These are the most retarded thing I've ever heard of. Not because of what they are or for what they are for. Obviously, they are meant to give the "students" (I personally think it's actually for the donkeys upstairs) an idea of what they are learning and what they are supposed to get out of the class unit. What makes these so retarded is the fact that they are to be written in "kid-friendly language." Um.........you do realize your in a high school right? I'm supposed to be learning words like pugnacious, epistemology, irreparable; not mean, think, and broken. I would rather like to get to college and speak like a normal 18-year old, not like an....oh, well an admin :). They've had quite the streak of stupidity this year too. One of our teachers was told she needed to "tone down the enthusiasm, she was being overly enthusiastic about her work". I forgot signed up to be taught by Ben Stein for all my classes (clear eyes, anyone?). This same teacher has had the immense privilege of repeatedly telling the admin that they are correcting her on how to teach the wrong class. As in "I'm teaching Civics this hour and you're correcting me on how to teach World History." Brilliant, just brilliant. When I heard about all this, I really wanted to call the zoo and let them know where those escaped monkeys got to.....
Other than stupid administration policies and decisions this year, there are other things that annoy me at school. At lunch, for instance, we are all crammed into the cafeteria. We have a gigantic courtyard not ten feet from the cafeteria door, but no, we're all confined to shoulder to shoulder sitting space. Now, I'm not against buddy-buddy relations and being close to other breathing bodies, but I don't appreciate having to act like a sardine for 30 minutes of my day. And you know how everyone looks forward to taking those free periods their senior year? Well, over at ACHS, unless you're apparently a dunce, you don't get that option. If you aren't in the bottom 40 of your class, you can't take free periods. How dumb is that? I couldn't believe that. It's not everyday that you're told that Captain Slacker and the Lay-Z-Boys get more privileges than the students who show up to learn.

On a more personal note, this year has been pretty rough. The economy just flat out sucks right now, so both my parents are in constant fear of losing their jobs. That puts a lot of stress on spending money. My mom is never really feeling all that great. Dad's in bad shape, won't admit it, and doesn't want to do anything to change it. My little brother is no shape for me to move out. I feel like he refuses to accept his growing responsibilities in the hope that it will make it all just go away. Sorry, buddy, but that's not how the world works. Trust me, I know. And now with my best friend living with me, I am constantly trying to make sure that he's doing what he needs to be doing to keep this family working. I constantly feel like I'm trying to grow up for the three of us. I'm pretty sure that this house will implode when I leave.
Since my last post I have been struggling with this relationship with a friend of mine. Things got so complicated between us. I really don't feel like re-hashing all of that stuff when I'm finally starting to feel like I can move forward again. I hope everything turns out alright between us. I would really hate to lose her as a friend. She's an amazing girl, she's just made some bad decisions like everyone else. I send all my goodwill to her. I hope you and I cross paths again when our lives are a lot more stable :)

Depressed Ecuadorians

A nice video showing an overview of Ecuador and its time during the Great Depression.