Entry 11: Goodbye Blogging World

 When I found out we were doing blogs for class I had mixed emotions. I was excited because I like writing and scared for all hell because I didn't know what I could talk about that was personal yet relevant to other people. My biggest piece of advice is to not OVERTHINK your entries. While there may have been a moment or two of writer's block and not knowing what to say, I really enjoyed blogging. 

In terms of an english class, blogging is a way to practice skills that you have learned and show that you know how to use them without a boring worksheet. It is your own ideas and changes as you go, which is really important when teaching people to be their own writers and not use a typical writing format. I think this is a good way for teachers and students to know where they stand in a class, performance wise. I also like that when you get stuck with an entry you can look at blogs of other classmates or simply other blogs on the internet to come up with new ideas or ways to say something. For as much as I enjoyed writing blogs,I enjoyed reading other people's even more. 

For myself as a student, blogging helped me realize that I need to focus on digging deeper with my information when I write. For as long as I can remember, I could BS a paper and focus more on how I was saying something rather than what I was actually saying. I have always been a wordy person and this pushed me to make my words say something instead of sounding good. This is an important lesson in writing that every student goes through at some point in their schooling. These blogs can really help you develop and grow as an author and thinker, if you take them seriously. 

When taking this class, don't be afraid of the work load. It can be done. Don't be afraid of the papers, they will get better as the semester goes on. Don't be afraid of the blogs. You will have a love/hate relationship with them. 

Entry 10: Appreciate Your Teachers

Growing up my mom was an aid in a special needs preschool classroom. At a very young age I was exposed to the behind the scenes work that teachers do on an everyday basis. I saw how hard these teachers worked and how under appreciated they were by the people I called my classmates. Many of the people close to me think that I am crazy for becoming an Ed Major. Truth be told I am very afraid for my future as an educator. But the idea that I can have an impact on a student the way many of my teachers have had on me, outweighs any fear I could ever have.

The amount of work that goes into running and maintaining a classroom is tremendous. Students often complain about the amount of time spent in a classroom, without realizing that their teachers show up at least an hour before them every morning and leave many hours after them. This also increases for teachers who sponsor any clubs or coach any sports. There is a huge time commitment and sacrifice that comes with becoming an educator.

One major time commitment of teaching is creating lesson plans. Writing lesson plans and scheduling a week or a day can be very difficult. More times than not, lesson plans do not turn out the way that they are intended to. But teachers are forced to improvise and make it the best lesson they can. They have to take into account the different types of learning styles in their class, the allotted time for each subject and the available materials to create an activity. I know teachers who thought they had created a sure fire lesson plan that fails miserably. I have had teachers redo entire lessons because they were not satisfied with the outcome. Teachers do everything in their power to assure that their students are learning the material.

Another reason to appreciate teachers for is the fact that they spend their own money to stock the classroom with supplies and decorations. Imagine how cranky your mom gets spending excess money on school supplies every fall and multiply it by twenty-five. Teachers today are no longer given a decent budget to supply their classrooms. They use the little amount of money that they are paid to assure that you as a student have the best materials that you can. They also help supply students whose parents struggle financially with school supplies and often snacks at school. Not only is there a cost for a degree in education, but there is a cost to keep teaching.

Appreciating your teachers should not be limited to just one week throughout the year. There doesn't have to be a grand gesture, but show appreciation and respect for all that your teachers do.

Entry 9: Me, My Self and Media

In today's society media is everywhere. It has changed the way that people do everything from everyday activities to large scale projects. Personally, media is a big part of my life and the lives of the people that I surround myself with. 

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Youtube are all part of my everyday routine. I spend a good portion of the day looking at makeup tutorials, do it yourself projects, easy recipes and product reviews online. I love having the ability to get ideas for anything from nearly anyone around the world.

In the world of social media, there is a page for everyone. I can  argue that anyone who says that hate social media, hasn't found the right site or profile to follow. 

While my boyfriend may not be mesmerized by a Kathleen Light's makeup tutorial like I would be, he can certainly lose him self in a binge watching session of Optic Gaming videos. 

There are so many ways that media can bring people together and really improve the ease of an everyday routine, but it does have downsides. 

One thing I find really important with media, as with anything else, is balance. There has to be a time and place for media use. While you are working, driving or at the dinner table,it is best to have the devices put away. 

While there are so many benefits to media I think the video below does an amazing jobs of laying out some of the down sides: 

What do you think? Is it time to put away the devices and get back to a time before or are media a great new way of living? 

Entry 8: Enabling Parents

In an earlier post I had talked about parents that are too strict with their children, causing them to become sneaky in their older years. I wanted to acknowledge that this is not the case for all parent/child relationships and that there is another extreme on the other end of the parenting spectrum. 

Enabling parents. 

There are some parents who feel the need to do everything for their child. Enabling them to depend on mommy and daddy for the rest of their lives. While this may seem caring and harmless. It is leaving an everlasting effect on the twenty-somethings of today.

How does this happen?

A parent can become enabling to their child for many reasons. Some of these reasons could be that they are the only child, or that they have lost a loved one. Many time when a child experiences a traumatic event in their young life, parents will coddle them to make up for the hardships for a short time being. This is not being an enabling parent. The problems occur when the behavior continues for a long period of time. What ever the reason may be, there should always be balance and discipline while raising a child. 

Effects of enabled children. 

Children who come from enabling parents are often lacking in initiative or responsibility. This stems from the fact that they don't have to do anything because their parents will do it for them. This starts to have major downsides in the school years. If a student gets in trouble for talking, they will place blame on another student. There will always be an excuse as to why their behavior or actions were not what was expected. 

Working in a restaurant where most of my coworkers are in their early twenties. Throughout every shift I see team members expecting exceptions to rules and special treatment because this is the type of privileges they were given while growing up. There is an omnipresent lack of initiative and responsibility when dealing with young adults who had their every need catered to as a child, teen and young adult. 

Finding balance. 

Too much of even the best things in life will eventually become a bad thing. There is no denying this fact. That is why parents have to monitor their enabling behavior to assure that their child is developing skills necessary for their future. This can be done by having rules and schedules in place. If the rule is broken or the scheduled every once in a while, there is no need to panic, but they should be followed to majority of the time. 

To parents.

When you have rules in place, do not think you are being the bad guy. If you tell your child no, do not think you are the enemy. Children need boundaries and guidelines. Most of all remember, you are the parent. Not them. 

Entry 7: #Hashtag

What the hashtag? 

I loved when the hashtag trend began and my mom kept asking why I put a pound sign next to everything I posted. It was something the majority of teenagers do or have done and its hashtagging. It is a pound sign # next to a word. If you don't know, hashtags make it easy to find posts related to yours or to find your post within a group of posts. 

There are many types of hashtags. Ones with a purpose and ones that are just kinda there. 

Two of these images are popular hashtags that have surfaced over the last few years. One is not. The #blacklivesmatter is a hashtag to bring attention to the way that black people are treated in the United States. Whether you are for it or against it, it has been a popular topic in the news and social media. People are trying to come together and use social media to their advantage. The use of hashtags is to come together with people of the same beliefs as you and show your support. 

People argue that a popular hashtag may not accomplish any sort of change. This is true. But isn't spreading the word and showing support better than dismissing the topic all together. While hashtags may not raise money themselves, it has the potential to reach someone who can afford to donate money to a cause and help in that way. It has the ability to bring issues to the public's attention and educate them, to make a better decision. There may not be an overwhelming amount of financial support coming from a simple hashtag, but there is no harm in it. 

The third picture is of a post that may not be going towards a cost, but to someones self interest. Many people use hashtags to gain followers on social media, get connected with people of similar interests or simply because they feel like it and they can.

Whether you #Love it or #Hate it. Hashtags are a trend that I do not see #dying any time soon. 

Entry 6: Strict Parents Making Sneaky Kids

Growing up I was very fortunate to have very open and understanding parents. I was given independence at a very young age but I was also given the responsibility to do the right thing and keep my parents in the loop. For the most part I would say that I am a very level headed nineteen year old. 

I also know of some people who had parents that were not as easy going. Many of my friends and coworkers had very strict parents growing up. This does not mean that they weren't doing the same things that I was in high school. While they may not have been allowed to date or go out at night. It does not mean that they weren't. I never had to sneak or lie to my parents about where I was going or what I was doing in high school. There are so many kids that sneak out and put themselves in danger because of the fact that they are having to be sneaky about their lives. 

It is important for teens to learn how to make decisions for themselves and be responsible for their actions before they move out and are on their own. 

There are so many kids who grow up with strict parents and go crazy after high school. There needs to be as ease into adulthood instead of teens having to ask permission for every little thing in life then being expected to know how to live for themselves. 

Entry 5: Shorter Classes: Hit or Miss?

In an article by Anne Ryman, the topic of shorter class schedules at ASU is discussed. This doesn't mean shorter class times but shorter semester length. A class can be finished in 8 weeks as opposed to the traditional 15 week semester. This also doesn't mean less work, students get the same amount of work in either class set up. 

Are these classes a hit or miss?

Without doing research I would say yeah these classes are a hit, same amount of credit hours in half the time? Sign me up. The article makes these classes seem like a great alternative to traditional classes. The idea of finishing college a year early would be very appealing to most students. The article also skims over the fact that these short courses are a lot of work and are very time consuming. Which is a huge deciding factor for students. College students do not have a lot of free time on their hands as it is and I think using this article solely to decide to enroll in 8 week courses would be very misleading. 

Overall this article is a great overview of the courses but I would not recommend it for a student looking to do research on wether or not they would be successful in a non-traditional course set up.