Grey’s Anatomy
I can’t wait another 2 weeks to see the NEW Grey’s Anatomy. I won’t be here next Thursday which I may cry because of that. Just saw the previews for next week and it looks funny…not so much drama and sadness. Grey’s Anatomy is getting intense and it’s amazing. I love the new season and I also got the 3rd season for my birthday which I was very excited about. I didn’t get to watch it yet since I got it because I have been so busy with school, work, and then the make up work that I am doing for next week. I did watch the 3rd season while it was on TV but I must see it again. It’s such a great show and I think you should just watch 1 episode if you have never seen it. You WILL be addicted when you just watch it once. They need to make a movie out of it..but then again I don’t know because then that may ruin it. Fine, seasons just need to go on and on forever. It better not ever go off of the air because everyone loves it and there will be a protest..haha! Well, until 2 weeks from now…keep me updated please!!
Florida..Here I come!
So…it’s finally here and I can’t believe it. I am leaving for Florida on Sunday afternoon and I can’t wait. I won’t have work or school for a week straight. I will also be getting paid from work while I’m gone because I have PTO that I have to use before the end of the year and I can’t really take any during November or December because we (Commerce Bank) are so busy. Yes, they were bought by TD Banknorth however it won’t take place till next year. They will either be converting some of the TD’s to Commerce or closing them. No huge changes as of now though! Back to Florida though….I am kind of upset that I am missing school because of the work and important information that I will be missing but it’s a GREAT break from all the craziness that is going on. Well, hopefully I will do one more blog before I leave! YAY for Florida!!!!!
Scholastic Bookfair @ Rowan (until 10/12)
The Students For Literacy Club at Rowan University is having a Scholastic Book Fair in the Education Building Room 3091 as a club fundraiser until Friday at 6pm. Exact times are posted on the outside of the door. It’s a great time to stock up on kids books, especially if you’re a parent, teacher, or education major. I picked out a bunch of books that were on sale for $2 each, which is like, amazing. I’m using them to start up my own library for my classroom when I’m teaching. I’m sure I’ll read these books when summer comes around and I actually have the time to read them. Also, I’m working the register there tomorrow and Friday, so come check it out and say hi!
– Ariel
Yay for the weekend*
The weekend is here…thank god! It’s also my birthday weekend which makes it even better. I will be 22 which is weird because I feel like I just turned 21. Saturday night a whole bunch of my friends are going out for my birthday. We are going to a place in Philly called Mad River. I am so excited…it’s going to be a great weekend. My birthday is really on Monday the 8th but there is no way that I can go out during the week because I have school everyday. We should definitely have off from school for Columbus Day which would make my birthday even better. Sunday is a family birthday dinner which means that I will be getting presents which is always good! Sunday also means that I only have 1 WEEK till Florida. WooHoo! What stinks most about the weekend is that I have work today, Friday, and Saturday from 7-3. I guess I can get over that because the rest of the weekend is amazing! The gym won’t see me this weekend and healthy eating won’t happen this week or while I’m in Florida. O well, it happens when you want to have a good time and not have to worry about what food your eating. Anyway, Happy Birthday to me and let’s get this weekend started!
-Brittani
school is CRAZY!
So this week has been crazier then most, if that is possible. It just seems like I got all of my big assignments this week which is good in a way but also horrible cause I am doing nothing but worry about them now. Most of the assignments are in my Teaching Literacy class. At least now I know when all of the major assignments are due and when I have to work on them. I only have 1 assignment due during the week that I am in Florida for my Communication Theory class which is awesome so I don’t have to worry too much about missing my classes. I will still worry that I am missing something important however I know that I won’t be missing any assignments. Its only an essay which I will do before I leave for vacation so that it is done and handed in before I go. I want to have fun and not have to worry about the work that has to be done when I get home. I need a vacation after this semester is over also because it is just a lot of time, work, and energy that I am putting out. In the end it will pay off but right now I am dreading every day of it. I don’t mind school at all it’s just all of the work and then holding a job is very difficult. VACATION is only 9 days away and I can’t wait. It’s going to be an awesome time!!!
-Brittani
Comics and Cartoons
I enjoyed reading “The Vocabulary of Comics”. It puts the idea of cartoons in a whole new light and answers the question, “Why is our culture so enthralled to the simplified reality of the cartoon?” The article referred constantly to theories and ideas I learned in my Communication Theory class, likethe idea of icons as representatives and extending our identities into objects in our environment. This is what makes cartoons so successful. In a nut shell, Cartoons emphasize the concept an object represents rather than the physical object itself making a cartoon more appealing to people than a realistic picture. The whole idea is something I never really thought about before, but it’s what makes cartoons so powerful, which can be a positive or negative aspect depending on the concepts introduced through the cartoon. This sets the basis for the argument about cartoons and children and whether violence on televised cartoons is partially the cause of an increasing violence rate in today’s youth. That’s a whole other blog within itself…
– Ariel
Today’s Youth and Technology
As I was reading all of the group’s chats I noticed that alot of the groups made the same observations. Also, someone in group 4 mentioned that, “if you grow up staring into a screen youll never know that you don’t have to and that it feels better not to”. I had that same thought sooooooo many times. I mean, the computers and technology are great, but it does not have to consume us.
My brother is 13 years old, he is one of those people who is constantly on the computer, and he likes role playing games like War Craft and lord knows what else, I don’t know, I’m not into that stuff. But he grew up with the computer and knows it better than anyone in my immediate family. He would spend days on end on the computer or in front of the TV or some kind of screen rather than going out and getting fresh air. He does do other stuff, like karate and piano lessons, but he is deffinately a computer geek.
When I heard that quote I mentioned earlier I thought of young people such as my brother who use computers as part of their every day lives for practically anything. It consumes them. Honestly, I don’t think it’s healthy to rely on an inatimate object that long for that much no matter how great and influential it is. Everything in moderation.
– Ariel
First Day of Observation :-)
Today was the first day that I observed for my Teaching in Learning Communities II class. We are observing in the Cherry Hill School District which is not that far from where I live. The school is a middle school called Rosa International School. It is not a regular middle school that you would find in your own town instead it is an International Baccalaureate Organization. This means that they aim to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect. It is really a different school to observe at which is very interesting. Also their grade levels are called LC1 thru LC8 in which LC stands for Learning Community. What the student learns in Language Arts will also be talked about during Math. This is really neat how what they learn in one class is talked about throughout the whole day in other classes. I am observing a 6th grade Language Arts teacher. I didn’t get to sit down with her yet and observe however I did meet her and she seems very caring and informative. The school also promotes community service and has many different ways of learning. Another thing that I found out was that the teachers get an hour a day to sit down with other teachers of their Learning Community so they are able to keep up with what everyone is teaching. The teachers are then able to discuss what was taught in other classes. The teachers also get a half hour of their own time to do their prep. Along with all of these breaks, the teacher also gets a half hour lunch break. It is a different way of learning and teaching which seems to be working out very well in the school district. The principal told us that they ranked # 2 in reading and #3 in math for the NJ state tests. That is an amazing accomplishment. I believe that alot of the schools around the area should try this method in their school system because it seems like it is successful. If anyone would like the check out the website click here.
-Brittani
The Writing Arts Dept.
I’m really impressed with the curriculum in The Writing Arts Major at Rowan. Coming into it i wasn’t really sure what to expect, i was wandering around during registration asking random teachers what department I should be in for writing. Right now I have Writing Arts, The Writers Mind and Comm. Theory. I really like all of these classes because the subject matter is up to date and i have a sense that I’m actually learning things that are happening right now. Writing is always in motion and I’m impressed with how the department keeps up with that motion.
In my Writer’s Mind course we’re working with ebonics and translating conventional sentence’s to slang. I feel like this ties into my Writing Art’s course where we’re learning about technology. The need for formalized writing outside of the business and science worlds is slowly declining. Through txt messaging and instant messaging we are beginning to see a change in language values. It’s no longer a big deal whether someone can spell or construct absolutely perfect sentences so long as their meaning can be drawn out. I for one am all about this change. I feel that when writing, especially for my generation, it’s important to keep vocabulary and thought process in mind. People my age do not want to read wild narratives watered down with tones of adverbs, we want to read what we would think. Thick metaphors and solid analogies speak strongly to us. I think that Nietzsche’s essay, “On Truth and Lies in a Non-Moral Sense,” would be a really good read for anyone facing writing in our time. In that essay Nietzsche talks about perception and breaks down what it means to define something. His basis is that the only true way to explain something is in terms of something similar or dissimilar. I’m trying to find the essay online, when i do i’ll post a link.
-be smith
*Best Chat Room Log*
The chat log that I enjoyed the most was from group 4. I believe that this was most interesting because it was kind of like what our group talked about in our chat room. They talked about what the future looks like according to technology. The future is going to be so advanced that people might not even have to interact with each other. Text messages and all of the different chat tasks that you can do online may cause people not to interact on a face to face basis anymore. People won’t even have to leave their houses for anything at all. Pretty soon everything will be done online and be delivered to your front door. They also talked about how people get rejected and how it is much easier to accept rejection online rather than face to face. I believe that people are able to accept rejection and just cancel out an IM or window while online. This chat log also talked about plagiarism which talked about important points. It is very hard and demanding that you quote everything that you take from a source. I think that people should not be charged with plagiarism when they accidentally cite something in the wrong way. That’s a little extreme when the student is trying their hardest and actually tried to cite the source. Plagiarism is a serious matter however sometimes there are very extreme consequences. Overall, I enjoyed this chat log because of all of the different topics they talked about caught and kept my attention. It was very interesting to read about what my classmates thought about the topics that I also had to talk about. I like to read about everyone’s opinion on the same topic that I was given.
-Brittani
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