Group Lesson Plan!

I finally got the chance to co-create a lesson plan and it was a lot of fun! (: I would definitely use fakebook in class for the following reasons:

• It is creative
• Involves a close reading of the text
• Easy to monitor
• User Friendly
• Unique for each student
• Something students are familiar with
• Involves Non Print Media!

After reading a lot of the comments, I found some things that I would change. A lot of people said that three statuses/interactions a day would be too many. The suggestion was to ask them to have 10 or so by Friday. The problem I see with that is if you are only taking two weeks to teach the book, everything will be very cramped. Like we mentioned in class, if you give students a week to do it, chances are, they will wait until Friday and do all of the statuses/interactions in one sitting. While the project will be complete, they really aren't fulfilling what I say as the purpose. I think having three interactions/statuses a day will keep the students on track. Plus it really won't take any longer then five minutes to complete. As long as they remember their username and password that is (: I appreciate all the ideas/critiques though and I will certainly keep them in mind. I'm looking forward to seeing the other lesson plans. Great job to those who have already gone! (: 

Presentations Day 1

After viewing two of the presentations today, I'm realizing how many great ideas I can obtain in the next few class periods. Both the lesson/tasks shown today were very well thought out. What I liked about both of them was that they covered a lot of different things. The one lesson plan covered a novel, while another covered a short story. Some involved process drama, some involved filming, and they all involved participation. I think each of these lessons will be a great asset to us as future teachers. The great thing about these, is their flexibility. These lessons can be linked to just about anything, with a little tweaking perhaps. I'm looking forward to doing my group's presentation on Monday. I also like the idea of classmates suggestions as well. It is always good to have constructive criticism. Each idea given can be one that you had not considered before and ultimately be very beneficial. So far so good! Looking forward to seeing our next few lesson plans! (: 

Reflections

On my way to school today, I took some time to think about all of the tools that we found during class this semester. There were a couple, in particular, that stood out to me as great lesson plan ideas. I actually really liked the 6 Word Story that I presented. I think that that would be an excellent beginning of the year exercise. It is not lengthy by any means, but it is a great introduction to narrowing down larger subjects. It is also very creativity and each students' individuality will be apparent. My groups lesson plan is revolving around the fakebook website. Once again, I think this is another great tool that can be used! It is fun, interactive, and easy to use. Certainly the more user friendly the tools are, the better! Anytime you use technology, a risk is being made. Like in class today, the laptop cart was not working out very well. These things happen and that's just a part of technology. But with that risk, if it works out, you are teaching your students multi-modal ways of learning. I think that a lot of the tools presented could be tweaked to fit into any lesson. It will be interesting to see the ones that I will choose to use as I start making lesson plans! (: 

Cultural Clash

My friend, knowing I'm an English major, sent me a link to a Youtube video that he found. It's a video of an English teacher rapping Shakespeare with a student, a rap battle to be exact! I watched this video and realized the importance and value of having different cultures collide. If students feel that they can't relate to hard material, such as Shakespeare, there are different methods that can be incorporated. I think that the rapping is a phenomenal idea. It's out of the box and allows students a different outlet, an artistic one, to mix in with English. In my Young Adult Lit class, we had a brief speaker come in who did something very similar. For extra credit in one of her classes, this speaker memorized part of a Shakespeare play, put it to music, and rapped to it. She told us how she helped out at a school program and taught students how they could do this with other pieces of literature. I love this idea because it is not something that is typically done and students could really relate to this. There are kids that really respond to things such as music, art, technology, etc. Clearly, because of this, there is such a need to take some of these ideas and run with them. Creativity is something that the world can never have enough of (: 


Here's the link to the Rapping Youtube Video!

Manifestation Determination

Something I learned that interested me in class today, was about the term "manifestation determination." Besides the fact that it rhymes, it sounds pretty interesting. What manifestation determination does, is allows teachers to discuss with parents, school board, principals, etc... about a student that may be acting out in class. It seems simple. However, if the student has any sort of disorder, such as an emotional behavioral disorder, and their disruption is a result of that disorder, they cannot be penalized. We are learning about Tourettes syndrome in class and all of the side effects. 10% of students with Tourettes have what is known as "copralalia." This is the involuntary use of obscene words. So if you have a student in class, who uncontrollably swears, that student, by law, cannot be held accountable for that. The same would go for a student with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, a disorder in which people experience acts of rage and aggression. If a student walked up to a teacher and assaulted them, a manifestation determination could be held. But if the act of violence was a direct result of their disorder, then they cannot be expelled. To the best of my knowledge, this is how I understood manifestation determination. Our professor mentioned how many teachers are upset about this idea. If anyone has any comments, feel free! (: 

Easter!

With Easter coming up on Sunday, it is amazing to see how fast this semester has gone for me. With these last few weeks coming up, I know that I'm going to be in for a lot of work. Even knowing that though, it is exciting to have another year under my belt. I can imagine that it will feel the same when I am a teacher. If by the end of the year my students have a deeper appreciation for English and reading, my purpose will be fulfilled! The different classes that I have taken this semester have given me so many ideas to use in my classroom. Up until this semester, I had not taken many classes that asked me to step out of my role as a student, and think like a teacher. Having these classes now makes me feel better equipped for teaching. I feel like I have a lot of great ideas that I would like to use and am excited about what lays ahead. Gaining these experiences from professors are so helpful because many of these lesson plans have already been tested, and are successful. I may not use the activities in the same exact fashion that I was introduced, but a little tweaking is never a bad thing. It is important to individualize your lesson plans for each class, because each class is unique. As a teacher, I'll have to figure out what works best for them, even if it means changing a couple things on my behalf (: That's just part of the job!  

Activities

I enjoyed learning about different activities that can be incorporated into the classroom. Lectures are beneficial, but not every student responds well to lectures only. Using multi modal ways of teaching will enable you to accommodate for all of your students. I really love the graffiti board idea. I did things similar to this when I was in high school. It is a great way to bring the class together but also allow them to add their individual thoughts to the group. For students who are usually quiet, it gives them a chance to voice their opinion as well. Last Wednesday, we talked a little bit about using skits in class and how they are effective. I think that they certainly can be effective, if you have a group of students who are enthusiastic to do it. I do think it is important to pull kids out of their comfort zones sometimes, but you have to make sure that by doing it, you are not defeating the purpose. If the students are going to absolutely dread the activity you have planned, then the point of the lesson may be lost. It could work the opposite way though! Sometimes the very thing you dread doing, after doing it, you can't imagine why you hated it for so long. It's like riding a roller coaster for the first time. You may be nervous and even uncomfortable to ride it for the first time, afterwards though, you realize you conquered your fears and had a good time. I think doing activities like these in class include a little bit of a risk, but I think it is beneficial for the students to try and learn best as many ways as possible. (: 

Taking Advantage of Blogs

The other day I decided to take some initiative and check out this website for some other blogs. In particular, I was looking for other teachers' who decided to keep blogs of their own. I stumbled across a couple really good blogs, filled with a lot of great information. The nice thing about these blogs were that they were personal. It wasn't written in a formal paper, instead, it was very down to earth and had a personal touch to it. A lot of the bloggers gave insight, talked about observations they made, and gave some great ideas for lesson plans. I found some blogs that even discussed topics that we've touched upon in class. It just made me realize how much information and how many opportunities are at our fingertips. There are other people, just like us, who have experienced similar things like us, and they are also keeping blogs! I think blogs are a great opportunity to reach out to others and share ideas. I'm not sure how long or if I will keep the blogs going, but I will definitely continue to check out blogs done by others. Not only blogs, but other websites also carry vasts amounts of information. I would definitely recommend to you guys to check out some other blogs. See what other teachers' are going through and check out some lesson plans that have been taught and were successful. You never know what you'll find! (: 

20 Shot Story: The After Effect

Well the 20 Shot Story is complete! I think it went really well and I had a ton of fun with it. I've seen our video about five times by now and I still find myself laughing each time (: It ended up being a very fun time despite a couple bumps in the road. Below I'm going to make a list of some issues we had to deal with and how we solved them.

• Flip Camera = Dead ): This made the video process a little harder to complete. After every shot, we had to plug the camera into a laptop for a minute or two to let it charge. The positive part about this = it gave us some time to talk about how we wanted this shot to be filmed.
• Time Frame = At first, it was a little complicated trying to find a time in which all of us could meet up. I figured it was going to take longer then fifty minutes to film all twenty shots. Luckily we all had a little extra time after class to get it all done. Also, the extra day we had to story board really helped us. 
• Video Uploading = After we shot our scenes, we had to figure out how to upload it onto a computer. The actual uploading was actually pretty easy. Then there was a little trouble trying to save the video onto a file that would work on all the computers. Eventually, a group member uploaded it to YouTube which allowed the group members to access it. 
• Storyboarding = The story board was very helpful actually. Without it, it would have taken a lot longer to physically work out every shot. We ended up modifying a couple scenes along the way. If we forgot something in one shot or wanted to add something to clarify a part in another, it all worked out smoothly in the end.

As you can see, each of these 'little bumps' ended up working out and sometimes even helping the process! The only thing I would change about this project would be to have a little longer to do it. If I was doing this in class, I would allow the students to film their 20 Shot Stories but then I would collect the cameras and do the uploading myself. That way, I can watch the films before they are shown and eliminate the students from worrying about having editing software. Especially if some students don't have access to computers at home. All in all a fun project and thanks to my group for working hard and making it a great time (: 

20 Shot Story

Since our 20 Shot Stories are due soon, I figured I would write my thoughts about them. At first I was a little optimistic about doing it. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. Initially, it was a little harder then I anticipated to get the storyboard drawn out. My short story was "The Yellow Wallpaper" and it's a rather long..short story (; It was hard to decide what exactly to use in our 20 shots. It's important to make sure that the audience fully grasps the story. Sometimes I tend to forget that just because my group read it, doesn't mean that everyone else has. Once we had the beginning sketched out, it got a little easier by the end. I think we did a good job as a group putting the storyboard together, especially picking out what is important to use in our shots. Hopefully the final product will run just as smoothly as everything else so far (: 

Justification for Reading

Being an English major, I guess it may not surprise people that I love to read (: Over Spring Break, I actually had some free time which is incredibly hard to find in the middle of a semester. I got to read books that have been gathering dust on my shelf. Although, typically I'm into reading the more 'adult' books, I found myself drawn to looking through some young adult literature that I've had for years. I actually opted to read one of those quick stories simply to gain the experience of reading it. I figure that like a speaker in my class said, it's important to be able to inform students about books that they may like to read. If you are trying to promote reading in your class, then surely you will have to expect that some students will ask you for good books. Like many other English majors I've encountered, I find that a lot of people have lists of books that they have been meaning to read. Along with my many other books, I decided to start writing down some YAL as well! This summer I want to read as much as I can, not only for fun, but to gain knowledge about different books, genres, and authors. With popular books such as The Hunger Games coming out, I want to stay on top of my game. Keeping up with the latest books will allow me to stay in touch with the changes that are taking place in literature. This way I'll be able to suggest books to my students and hope that it compels them to want to read more. If you guys have read any great books, I'm certainly open to suggestions. I'm always willing to add books to my list! (:

Many Great Questions of Life

A lot of my friends had their Spring Break over this past week. Which was a pretty big let down for me since ours just began. Anyways, when I was hanging out with my friends, we were talking about school. My one friend asked me, why English? Of all things to teach, why did you choose English? I could have given a generic answer like "because I love English!" Although that's true, that's not really why I wanted to teach English. My passion is in reading and analyzing literature. It is something that I have always excelled out and was the first thing that I was so proud to do. From a young age, I wanted to read all the time. Even when I couldn't read, I would look at the pictures and make up words for the story myself. For as long as I can remember, reading has been such a huge part of my life. Therefore, why not make a career out of it? It's something I love and that is what makes all my hard work pay off. It's the fact that I'm educating myself. It's the fact that I'm following a dream that I've had for a long time. It's the fact that I'm learning how to educate others, hoping they will grow to have a passion like I do. All of these things, that seem tedious, stressful, and overwhelming WILL pay off. So with Spring Break having just begun, take some time for yourself. Read a book that you've been meaning to read and let yourself enjoy reading again (: Be safe, have fun, and see you all in a week! 

Advanced Aviary

Since I did a presentation Monday on advanced aviary, I decided to include it in my blog for anyone that wanted more information on it. The site is an editing site that can be used mostly for editing pictures and creating audio. After spending some time working on the site, I was able to create a pro's and con's list:
Pros:

• The website is free! Always a great start (:
• It is really easy to register for an account, all you need is an email account and need to create a password. 
• The tools allow you to create pictures as well as edit any of your own.
• There is a "Help" section that answers a lot of commonly asked questions.
• There is also a blog especially for advanced aviary, where people share tips and ideas.
• It allows you to save all of your work on your account.

Cons:

• For beginners, the site is pretty advanced. While it does have tutorials, it doesn't exactly tell you how to use the tools. 
• There are so many tools and different pages that I found it almost overwhelming. 
• Some of my creations would not save on the computer because they were too big or could not save in the format I needed. 
• For teachers, I'm not really sure if this could be used in a classroom for much, especially with how advanced it is.

Recently though, I found out there is a basic aviary webpage that seems a little easier to use. I think this site would be great for personal use. I think it would be fun to use when I have some free time and want to enhance some of my pictures. For people on Facebook, it is really similar to picnik. I think it would be fun to use this site to create a book cover, but it would have to be with a class that has advanced skills with technology. 

Getting Our Hands Dirty

In class, we were asked to create a podcast on any story or short story of our choosing. Prior to this assignment, I had never listened to many podcasts before nor I had ever created one. Clearly, this was all new territory for me. Our group decided to do a podcast on the book Breathing Underwater. (Great Young Adult Literature book btw). We used a website called PodOmatic which was a very user friendly webpage. We picked our parts, wrote out our parts, and got ready to record. However, whenever using technology, you always run the risk of problems. For us, PodOmatic was not able to pick up our audio from either the laptop or the microphone we plugged in. (Anticipating any problems ahead of time is always a good tip). We ended up recording our audio on my iPhone, emailing the audio, and uploading it onto PodOmatic. 


This just goes to show that while technology is outstanding, it is not fool proof. As a teacher, if using technology, be prepared to have back up or adaptations in the event of something not working. Luckily for us, the iPhone worked just fine and we successfully uploaded it onto our page. Sometimes it is not always that easy. To ensure that you aren't caught off guard, just always be sure to have a back up assignment or another way that the task can be completed. I enjoyed making our podcast and can see how this would be beneficial for students to do a book review. All in all I had fun doing my assignment and look forward to hearing what other groups decided to do in theirs (: 

Pairing

pair·ing/ˈpe(ə)riNG/

Noun:

An arrangement or match resulting from organizing or forming people or things into pairs. The action of pairing things or people.

Something interesting that a lot of my professors having been bringing up in class is the idea of pairing books together to spark interests in student learning. I know in high school, I had to read Shakespeare, A Tale of Two Cities, Grapes of Wrath, and so on. A lot of times, I felt myself struggling to finish the book, let alone comprehend it. I understand the importance of covering the "classics" in English class, but I also value the importance of students wanting to read the text and be enthusiastic about learning. Therefore I have really put some thought into books that would be great to be paired together. For instance, in my Young Adult Literature class, we talked about pairing the book The Scarlett Letter with Judy Blume's Forever. I think that students would better understand a difficult novel if it is paired with a book that has similar central ideas, plots, characters, or symbolism. It would also be a great way to encourage students to expand their realm of reading and allow them to search for books that they might like to read. I think all around that the idea of pairing literature would be very beneficial for students understanding of books that can be tough to get through on their own. I want to be able to adapt to best fit the needs of my students so that they can succeed in class, but also come out with an appreciation of literature.

Feel free to leave some suggestions of books you would pair together (:

Digital Youth

I was able to learn a lot from Sara Kajder's book "Adolescents and Digital Literacies: Learning Alongside Our Students." In particular, I really liked chapter two of that book because it talked about the 'digital youth era.' I feel like I have really grown up in this era and that is why I was able to identify with this chapter very well. When I was little, computers had just made their appearance so I basically did see the evolution of technology starting at a very young age. All around us we see the effects of this. Kids in third grade with facebooks, every student having a cell phone, in particular smart phones, and almost everyone having access to some sort of computer. The reason I liked this chapter so much was because the statistics were very interesting (as shown below)


-64% of online U.S teens had created some sort of content on the Internet in 2007.
-100% of public schools now have access
-3/4 of teens age 12-17 search online to access information about current events
-45% of online users report that information found online was significant in their decision making
-55% of online teens (12-17) self-reported having a profile within a social networking site
-80% of online teens (12-17) read/engaged within social networking sites, with more than half doing so at least weekly.
-50% of all high schools use communication and social networking tools, girls' use outpaces boys' use by an average of 12 percentage points. 


Other statistics can be found but I found this ones to be very prevalent. Knowing these statistics now, it is imperative as to why teachers' need to be aware and educated about the 'digital youth.' Technology is expanding every day and it is beneficial for our students to be able to use all of the materials that are available for them to use. Therefore it is just as important for teachers' to be able to effectively teach the usage of these materials as well as incorporate them into engaging lesson plans. 

Creative Lesson Plans

In class, we have had the opportunity to see many lesson plans and see how they could be incorporated into the classroom. One that I remember well was the lesson about the story trees. The idea is for the students to think creatively with one another to create a story. I liked this lesson because it allowed students to choose the direction that they wanted to take the story. It also allowed students to not only start their own story, but build off their peers' stories as well. I think this would be a great ice breaker for a new class. It will encourage student interaction not necessarily face to face, but through their online story trees! This lesson would also be great because some students really thrive with their creative edge. Allowing these students to have an outlet for their creativity is always a great experience. I think that the students and teacher alike would be able to learn things about one another. Students would really engage in this lesson because it is giving them the freedom to choose their own path.


In my Young Adult Literature class last week, our professor told us that one of the days was a free range, arts and crafts sort of day. We got to use glue sticks, scissors, and construction paper to create a book cover. Even  though I'm in college, I must say it was a nice break to have that slow day. After we were done with the craft we were allowed to look at things posted around the room or do a free write in our journal about the book we had read. Having that opportunity to chose what I wanted to do and at what pace to do it was really refreshing! So if I enjoyed an activity like that, I am positive high school age students would as well! (: 

Taking Initiative

I decided it was time to check out some of the websites that our books provide for us. There are thousands of sites available buts what's nice for us is the books found some that are aimed for educators. Whether that means they are user friendly, free, or available to students...all of it is really beneficial if taken advantage of! Without further ado... here are the ones I checked out so far.
1. PBworks:
    PBworks seems like a really great websites to use not only in a classroom, but in the business field. It acts similar to a wikispace because it is essentially a giant website for collaboration. It allows you to create a username and have so many users access your data. The site suggests that it is a great tool when used to collaborate between students and parents. It allows you to post documents, add links, embed videos and many more. There is a free trial of it which gives you limited access but if interested, that would be a good start to see if you like it or not. To subscribe for a classroom for 1 year would be $99 and to subscribe for an entire campus would be $799 a year. 


2. Clipboard
    Initially I was looking up clipmarks.com but that site is being taken down and it directed me to clipboard instead. I liked this site because it allows you to highlight portions of websites that you want to keep and saves them for you. I think that this would be a great organizational tool for everyday use and even studying. Not sure how it could be incorporated into a classroom but I'm sure there could be a way (:


These sites and many others were found in the Hick's book, chapters two and three. Enjoy!

Class Activities

Many of you are in the Young Adult Literature class with me as well so this may be a little repetitive for you, but for those who aren't this is something really interesting that we did in class on Monday. We have been discussing different types of learning disabilities and in particular, disabilities associated with reading. On Monday, our professor passed out papers to us individually, face down, and asked us to not turn them over until indicated. Then she explained that when she says to, we will turn the paper over and have a short time period to read the paragraphs. Afterwards, we are going to have a quiz on what we read.


After flipping my page over I started to get a little nervous. My font was all smushed together and swirling all over the page. As a few seconds went by though, I calmed down figuring everyone else would be struggling with this text as well. After a short minute flew by she told us to stop and asked how the reading went for us. Most people just nodded their head or said "Fine." Next the professor began asking questions about what the text was about and hands were going up all around me. People were note only answering her questions but giving insight and their opinions about it. At that point, I felt really dumb needless to say! I couldn't understand why everyone else was getting this so quickly and I struggled to comprehend the first three sentences before the time was up. It was very frustrating and confusing for me to sit there as everyone was answering questions.


After she asked a couple of questions, she filled us in on the trick. She gave about half of us the paper with the messed up font and gave the other half what the paper would look like to readers without a learning disability. Once I realized that I must admit I was pretty relieved. I was happy to know that my struggles were not because I didn't grasp something I should have understood and that other people were in the same boat as I was. The moral of this lesson is to be wary of students who do struggle with learning disabilities. This activity gave me a personal insight into the frustrations a student could face when asked to do a simple task such as read a paper. If you notice a student who may be slacking or falling behind in class, don't automatically assume they are being lazy. Learning disabilities are very real and very prevalent and could explain their lack of achievement. Many of the students may not even be aware if they do have a disability.


With all of this being said, as a teacher, just be cautious of the issues at hand and keep an eye out. The sooner you can intervene and get this student help, the sooner they can succeed and be successful in the academic field (:

Class Presentations

As I was trying to figure out what I should do my blog on today, I found myself looking some of the websites that we have talked about in class. Then it dawned on me that I could do my blog on the importance of gaining knowledge through the presentations. The first few presentations that I have seen have been very informative and gave some really good insight on lessons that could be fun and engaging for students. Some of the lessons I liked but saw some ways that I would tweak them to work better in the type of school I would be teaching in.


I think that learning from others' creativeness (not sure if this is a word!) is highly valuable. As future teachers, we are expected to have some level of creativity within us and these lessons that we are seeing are great tools to refer to. I liked the idea of talking about Wikipedia and Facebook in class because these are things that are students are encountering weekly, maybe even daily. Instead of shunning these topics away (even though we all use them) we should show the proper ways to use Wikipedia and how to properly handle social networking sites such as Facebook. Some schools may not allow you to go over these in class but hey it's worth a shot! I think it is important to focus on topics students will want to learn about instead of topics that they are going to forget about by the end of the week.

Stop. Shoot. Send Presentation

So for those of you in my class, you know that I did my presentation on Monday for the "Stop. Shoot. Send" lesson plan. I really think that this lesson would be beneficial to use inside class. I think the students will really enjoy doing this because it involves something that most of us are addicted to..our phones! When was the last time ANY high school teacher ever ENCOURAGED students to use their phones!? I think this lesson would allow the students to engage into the project, learn about photography, study the importance and emphasis of words, and how to narrow down a broad description. Another great way that this lesson can be used is if you are teaching a section on poetry. It reminds me of a type of freestyle/haiku sort of poem and I think that this would be a good intro into teaching those. All in all I guess what I'm trying to say is that I would suggest this to anyone who wants a fun lesson involving technology. It is very modern and I certainly think it would help you gain some brownie points with the students (; I know I would have loved to do this lesson in high school and I hope that if any of you do try it, will get the same results! (Check below for links)


The point of this blog is to give some of the links that I had in my power point for a quick reference for you guys! I realize that papers/handouts can be lost in a sea of other papers that you get from class so in case you lose it, they will be here! 

• Smithteens                 <-- I found this website to be very user friendly and geared toward teens 
• Six Word Stories
• click!

Variety of Students

Currently this semester, I am also taking a Special Education class. I have just finished up my second week of the new semester and already I have learned so much. I never really thought about how, as a future teacher, I need to be equipped in understanding all types of students. Each year, a whole new group of students will be joining my classroom so I better prepare myself! Otherwise I'm not going to be able to assist each student in the way they need for the best possible environment for learning.


In this class, we have just scratched the surface of all the different types of disabilities that a teacher may encounter. We were provided with a handout which can be used as a great, quick reference if ever needed! I was able to find the website for the organization and wanted to share it with you all. I would definitely recommend that you at take a glance at it and even print it out. This website provides the thirteen classifications of disabilities, how they can be identified, and other special services. Having this pamphlet with let me be knowledgeable and have a better understanding for when I do have students with disabilities. I think this is really important because it enables the teacher to create an environment where this student and all the other students can learn in the best capacity. I have included the link below! ( :


National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities 

"Waiting for Superman"

Since we were asked to blog about some important things that we have learned along the way, I decided to think about something that has recently stood out to me. Last semester, a friend told me to check out the documentary "Waiting for Superman." This documentary was an eye opening experience to show some of the not so glamorous sides of the educational system. I remember watching this for the first time and being amazed at the facts and statistics that were being portrayed. Anyone who is interested in the documentary can check out this link and I believe it is on Netflix for anyone who would like to watch it. 


As a future teacher, I believe that educating myself about schools not only in my immediate area, but others as well is crucial. It is important to understand what is happening countrywide in our educational systems and what impacts are being made throughout the student body. I would like to think that if I educate myself on issues and attempt to take an active stance against them, then little by little I will help in solving these problems. I guess my main point of this blog is for everyone to not always assume that things are fine. Make sure you are observant about what is happening around you. By doing this, we will be able to make sure that our students will get the education that they deserve and will be well equipped into moving forward successfully in the years to come.