River City Writers Interview

I went to the follow up interview this morning that included Stacey Sullivan, Joshua Prager, and Christine Kenneally. It was really interesting to hear how passionate each of them were about their research. I guess it was hard for me to understand why they loved it so much, but then I realized that if I were writing a paper on a topic that I loved then I would love the research as well. For the longest time I've been wanted to write a piece about how gender is actually socially constructed and how our society has created a beauty ideal for both men and women to follow. After this morning I'm even more motivated than ever to finally get started. I'm not going to go into this to get published, I just want to find out as much as possible and inform as many people as I can about the subject. It was very entertaining to hear Josh Prager speak about his experiences with sources and other writers, he was very charming and entertaining! I'm absolutely fascinated with Christine Kenneally. She seems like a very interesting and intellectual woman who is very passionate about her work and that's very inspiring. I can't imagine what it must be like to be Stacey Sullivan! To do the things she's done and be where she's gone during those dangerous times is beyond incredible. She's obviously a very strong woman and I admire that greatly. This whole experience of the reading and interview was very special to me. I feel like my mind in open to new things and I can't wait to get out into the world actually learn!

Part 3

The innovation of the World Wide Web, the lifestyle of communication altered by email, it's no secret that times are changing. We are quickly changing out of the slow moving Industrial Revolution into a fast pace Information Age. This constantly growing and amazing modernization has opened up many new career opportunities, as well as a change in skills and knowledge needed for success. Correspondingly, a change in the way our schools are run locally, as well as nationally, need to be altered in order to accommodate these new developments. . If we expect the children of the future to prosper and lead successful fulfilling lives, we must first make it change where it all begins, education. School assessment has been the centerpiece of the educational strategy for decades, just as the industrial age dominated our previous way of life. By moving forward into a new age that includes new intelligence that is needed to succeed in the world today, we must move our educational methods in a new direction. Before we can consider which direction our educational reform should go, we must first look at how school assessment is used today. By identifying the negative and positive affects we can see what works and avoid past mistakes.

In Memphis Tennessee, it's no secret that students in the city's school system are struggling. Just be looking at the State of Tennessee Memphis Report Card for 2006 you can clearly see that system is a complete disaster. The student academic achievement shows subjects
such as math, reading/languages, and social in grades K-8 were given terrible scores between 42 and 45, which amounts to a D. Even more distressing was the score of 41, otherwise an F, for the subject of science. If you compare these results with the records from the previous year, you'll find that Memphis City Schools are just barely improving. Clearly, the city's technique must be improved and in order to do that we must locate the underlining problem.

A major problem with the method of school assessment is the way in which teachers choose to use the system. It is often said, “What you test is what you get.” In other words, what the assessment tests focuses on determines then content of education and the methods in which educators teach. Lorrie Shepard from the University of Colorado has done extensive research on this issue and has found that "teachers taught the precise content of the tests rather than underlying concepts; and skills were taught in the same format as the test rather than as they would be used in the real world. For example, teachers reported giving up essay tests because they are inefficient in preparing students for multiple-choice tests." (3) Teaching students in this manner focuses on drill and practice on only basic skills and knowledge that is tested. "A study of eighth grade teachers from every state revealed that the majority of teachers make instructional changes as a result of mandated tests, and the nature of those changes is at odds with the recommendations of the curriculum and evaluation standards. For example, in response to the use of such tests teachers increase their emphasis on basic skills and pencil-and-paper computation and decrease their emphasis on project work, the use of technology, and cooperative effort.(4)” This type of education denies students of skills such as critical thinking, reasoning, and communicating are not only crucial to the learning process, but also living in the real world. It has been proven that perpetual drill does not increase tests scores, but has the
opposite affect. In fact, students who have been taught based on the method of understanding and critical thinking do better on tests compared to those who are taught through endless drill and practice (3). "Of course, students, particularly new learners, need some direct practice in skills, but low-achieving students suffer the most from this approach, because if their initial test scores are low, they often are given dull and repetitive skills instruction that does not enable them to grasp underlying concepts (1)."

I think it's very important to look at the teacher's choice of educational methods. Are they choosing to focus on basic skills because they're pressured by the city, or are they even qualified for the job? With scores as low and gruesome as Memphis City Schools I can easily see the stress and strain educators are under to make an improvement. But if studies have shown that their method of teaching is inadequate to increasing test scores, why are they not rethinking their education plans? One answer could be a lack of motivation. Public school teachers in Memphis only make about $38,693 a year. The is far from a justified salary for the people responsible for the education of our future leaders. Surely every teacher in Memphis is qualified for the job and deserves more recognition for their contribution, right? Surprisingly, if we look at the State of Tennessee Memphis Report Card you will find that over 1,721 core course are not taught by qualified teachers. However, the No Child Left Behind program require these courses to be taught by qualified educators, yet the school systems are reporting that there are almost 2000 courses taught by incompetent teachers. This could very well be contributing to the failing school system. If we want to expect the students of Memphis is improve in their learning, it is more than clear that a big change must be made.

Last Nights Reading

I'm going to be perfectly honest, except for the fact that I was going to be hanging out with Nina, I was really dreading going to this River City Writers reading last night. But I fell in love with the entire event. I don't know about you guys but I'm a HUGE book nerd. People make fun of me at my work because I spend my breaks reading in the food court instead of eating. To hear each author read from their book was so surreal for me. When I read a book, I'm so focused on the story that I completely forget someone actually sat down and spent maybe years writing it. To hear each writer read from their very own works in the way it was originally intended to be read, was one of the neatest experiences in my life. By the end of the whole thing I was ready to go to Barnes and Noble and buy all three books. After the night was over I realized that I never give nonfiction a chance. I love fiction, it's mind boggling for me to read a book like Harry Potter (don't laugh! I love Harry Potter!) and to think about how in depth the author's imagination must be to come up with all these different lives and world so vividly. But after last night I realized that nonfiction wasn't boring at all, it just depends what type of subject you want to read about. Each author's book sounded absolutely fascinating to me. I honestly can not stand baseball, but I can't wait to read Joshua Prager's book because it captivated me. Stacey Sullivan's book sounds absolutely fascinating! I just can't believe that one roofer in the United States made such a huge cultural impact that lead to Kosovo declaring it's independence. And probably the first book I will read is Christine Kenneally's. The question of where language started is something that I've wondered for a long time and I'm very excited to read the research that she's done on the topic. And Nina and I had so much fun! She's one of the most down to earth, sweetest girl I've ever met!

Todays HW (boring!)

Sullivan

• Milosevech - past president of Yugoslavia and Serbia and is compared to being as evil as Hitler. Bad man!

• Yugoslavia - describes three of the political entities that existed under the Balkan Peninsula.
  * Bosnia and Herzegovina - a country off the Balkan Peninsula of Southern Europe.
  * Albania/Kosovo/Serbia - a country in Southern Europe, northeast of Kosovo/A Muslim region that recently declared it's independence from Serbia/Christian terriorty that killed thousands of Muslims from Kosova as a means of "ethnic cleansing"
  *ethnic cleansing - a term used to describe the previous events in Yugoslavia, refers to genocide to remove an ethnic group.
  * Hague - located in the Netherlands, it is the home for the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

• George Soros - is originally born from Hungry and is an American financial speculator, stock investor, and political activist.

• Detente 2004 - a French term meaning relaxing or easing

• Abu Graihb - a prison west of Baghdad, a site where Saddam originally tortured executed dissidents and later where the USA's military tortured Iraqi detainees

1. Were you ever tempted to quit your research and journalism because of the dangers you were faced with?

2. What was your motivation to find out the true events in Kosovo?

3. How would you compare citizens in that region compared to Americans here at home?

Josh Prager

• "The Giants win the pennant" - a well known American culture phrase that became popular after Bobby Thompson played a part in the Giants win over Brooklyn.

• "The shot heard around the world" - a baseball term referring to the Bobby Thompson's walk-off homerun that ended up winning the Giants the National League Pennant.

• Bobby Thompson/Ralph Branca - Branca entered the game in the ninth inning and surrendered a walk off home run to Bobby Thompson, allowing the Giants to win.

1. Has baseball always been a point of interest for you?

2. How did you come to idea of writing a book about this event about baseball?

3. Do you think the Giants would have won without the spy signaling the pitches before they were thrown?

Christine Kenneally

• "I" - teachers discourage the use of "I" in most writing, especially nonfiction. It is not promote a professional tone and instead makes the writing personal.

• creative writing vs. journalism - Creative writing is what the name implies, creative. You can make up a story and the facts whereas journalism is stricter and focuses of displaing actual facts

1. Why did you feel the need to write about Lily and her condition?

2. Do you still keep in contact with Lilly's parents?

3. Have you heard whether or not Lilly has improved or not?

Why Do You Hate Hillary Clinton?

For the longest time I could not stand Hillary Clinton and I was a big Barack Obama fan. But then I stopped and asked myself where these opinions were coming from. I came to realize I had no reason at all for disliking her but was in fact taking biased opinions and making them my own. Almost every time I watch a discussion on the democratic primaries or read about the nominees, I'm fed with this complete anti-Hillary garble. Almost every newspaper article with her picture shows her in mid sentence with her mouth wide opened and eyes half closed (cleary to give a demented image). While the other candidates are pictures are normal and obviously more appealing. It seems very clear to me that the media is trying to persuade the less informed voters that she's this terrible being that spits out nothing but nonsense. From eveything that I hear, Hillary Clinton is made out to be one of the most hated politicians in our country, but if that's true then why is she neck and neck with Barack Obama? She must be something right even though the media portrays her unfairly.

I also came to realize that even though I'm of aged and able to form my own opinions, I was instead making my parents thoughts my own. Even when I asked them why they hated Hillary they could not give me a concrete answer because they themselves didn't know a thing about her history or where she stands on the issues. And now that I've taken time to research and make my opinion, I'm proud the say I support Hillary Clinton. I think she's completely qualified for the job; she has worked to empower women throughout the world; she's ready to end the war in Iraq, she has a plan to help our environment; she's been a passionate advocate for providing greater educational opportunities to all children; and she's been fighting for universal health care since she was first lady.

If you're a supporter for Barack Obama, more power to ya! But if you're going to hate Hillary Clinton, then have the decency to research and find out the facts. If you do that and still dislike her, then that's cool with me, everybody is entitled to their own opinion and I will never disrespect that. You should do the same!

So There's This Boy

About nine years ago I met this boy named Jacob and I instantly developed a little girly crush on him (I was ten at the time). As the years went by and I got older my interest in him never faded. He intrigued me more than anyone else I had ever met. He was an artist, he could draw anything and everything with accuracy. And what was even more amazing was that he taught himself how to do it all. He was intellectual but very imaginative, so it was impossible for him to bore me. He was quirky and awkward, two traits I somehow find appealing. He was bluntly honest, always a sweetheart, and whether he pretended to be unafraid of society's opinions or not, he convinced me. He wasn't mister popular (he was too real for that sort of thing) but everyone knew him and everyone loved him.

Unfortunately for myself, he had no interest in me as a girlfriend so I took the next best thing. We became best friends, I was like a sister to him but I didn't want to look at him like a brother of course. For years I watched him get his heart broken by girls that did not deserve him. I dated throughout high school and made some bad alternative picks, but my interest in him never went away. And then junior year it finally happened.

We started dating and we've been together since. The best anecdotes I have are about the crazy things we've done. I share a connection with Jacob that I can't find anywhere else (I took some time to make sure). Our relationship goes deeper than just going out. We both have crazy imaginations and could entertain each other for hours just by talking. And then on the other hand, we can go for hours without talking at all and still enjoy each other's presence. We make jokes together about things that no one else can understand. We don't have to try and impress each other, we just have to be ourselves.

Last semester, Jacob came to campus really early one morning (he's not a student there yet) and posted a ton of posters around campus for me to find. He wrote the letters PBN and drew a beluga whale and underneath it said "it's all for you," which is meaningless to everyone else but is a personal thing between us. But it's not just the surprises that he leaves for me that make me proud to be his, it's the little things. Jacob's always there for me, even when I'm not being entirely rational, he's never given up on me. He lets me hog the bed, lets us eat at taco bell a million times in a row even though he doesn't prefer it, runs his fingers through me hair when I'm falling asleep on the couch, draws me little comics featuring ourselves, will watch Gilmore Girls with me occasionally, and shows me just how much he loves me everyday.

So basically, I love this kid, more than he'll ever know.

Yep.

I'm proud of myself.
This is the first week I finished all of my blogs BEFORE Friday.
Go me.