Southern Pride ! (9I)

This Friday I attended the Southern football game.  It was so cold outside!  I am so not used to this cold weather yet.  It was really fun though, me and my friends all sat together and it was exciting watching a football instead of cheering at one.  Although it wasn't the same, it felt good in a way.  It was exciting but they unfortunately lost.  The score I believe was 41- 20.

Vocabulary (9V)

Critical Thinking

• way of finding out if something is true, partially true or false.
• leading to skills that can be learned, mastered, or used.
• coming to conclusion by reason

I think the best way to critical think is to have discussions.  It's most important in college as well.

Other Vocab 

Decision

• conclusion reached after consideration 

Us college students are always making decisions, such as in our work or even social involvement things. It is important to always make the right decisions.

Obstacle 

• something that blocks or prevents progress

There are many obstacles that some people go through to get where they want to be.  This can be an any situation.  That doesn't mean you can't achieve what you want.  Just like Sonia, she went through obstacles and still managed to pursue her dream.

So far so good ! (9B)

As of right now, this semester I am doing very well.  My grades right now are A+,B+,B,A,B.  I really want to get the B's up to A's by finals and I know that I have the capability of doing that.  I feel that it's crazy that midterms are already over.  It's all going by so fast!  I was really happy on how my midterm grades and I feel that I can do just the same when finals come around.  I feel that I am reaching my goal of having a 3.0 GPA or higher.  If I keep up with my work like I have been doing I don't think there will be a problem.

I feel that I could probably work a little bit harder in order for my grades to be all A's.  That's my main goal right now.  I feel that if I keep up with studying, doing my homework, reading, then I can achieve my goal.  I have had many successes with all my my tests, quizzes, and essays I have written.  I have to say in the beginning of the semester it was all new to me and the work load hit me really hard because I wasn't really used to it at all.  As the first or second week went by I realized that I had to make study skills and figure out how I'm gonna manage my time with work and social things.  I decided that I was going to my homework before anything I have to do whether if it's going to the gym or hanging out with my friends I make sure all my work is done.  I never want to be behind because then everything just gets messed up and I always get mad at myself.

Besides that, I have been success with all my studying and plan to keep it that way.  I really want to be successful and achieve my goal.

What does this mean to you ? (9A)

Critical Thinking,

Some people interpret the words critical thinking in different ways.  When I think of critical thinking I think of it as conclusions that a person comes to based on facts that they know, books they have read, their own experience and feelings, and your own ideas.  I think that critical thinking is your ideas, and that everyone can think in a different way, based on what they know and how their minds work.  I think that someone can never be wrong, and if that something that you decided to do works for you, then stick with that plan.  I think Critical Thinking is a really good skill to have, especially in college.  We are always using it even if we don't know.  I also think that it is a hard thing to develop as well.  It takes time and patience to actually have a really good understanding of critical thinking.  Critical Thinking is an important skill to have in college because we have many papers to write, and also even in class discussions we use critical thinking.

Some students never want to be wrong, therefore we are nervous to state opinions without the facts of critical thinking.  It is a good thing to develop critical thinking especially if we are using it in college now, even though I never really used much of it in High school.

Final Draft Video Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwxbzJpigjw

Asking the right question (8I)

This past week I made an appointment with one my professors for my Media class.  I went to her office hours in the TE6 building located near the dorms.  I asked her two questions along with me taking a quiz that I have missed due to the fact of me missing class for a personal reason.  I asked her "how she was grading the tests and quizzes"  She said that they worth 40% of our grade.  I also asked if we failed at least 2 things how much it would effect our grade.  She said it depends on what the assignment is and that if we had to we could work it out.  My teachers name is Margaret DiMauro.

Vocabulary(8V)

Mastery

• comprehensive knowledge or skill in a subject or an accomplishment 
• control over someone or something

I think that in order to become a master at something it takes hard work and effort.  It also takes patience as well.  I think of Master's degree which is a high degree to pursue.  It takes people years of college to achieve this degree.  This goes for every other degree as well.  In order to have mastery in a subject you need to know every little single thing about it.  It takes hard work and anyone can become a master if they have the patience and do what they need to do to work up to the expectations.




Other Vocab

Tedious

•  too long, slow or dull

Many people can be tedious with many things they do, it could be school work, or with anything they do.



Comprehensive

• complete, including all aspects of something 

You need to be comprehensive in college, especially with reading.  You need to comprehend all the material that it going on.

The Journey (8B)

   "Always smiling, even on bad days"

When all of us Freshman attended orientation we were handed a book called My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor.  I think that a lot of things can be learned from this book if people take the time to actually read it.  Sonia faced many struggles in her life.  She has positive attitude though.  This is how she reached her goal to be what she dreamed to be.  Sonia had diabetes at an early age in her life, and her father passed away when she was young as well.  She was very stronger though.  This can relate to college students and can teach them, that life isn't easy and there will be hardships throughout your life, but that doesn't mean you cant be successful.  Sonia also has a very strong bond with each and every one of her family members and shows it really strongly.  Her and her mom never really got along at first and the bond wasn't really there at the beginning, but as the novel went on they worked on their relationship and became closer than they ever were.  Just like kids who don't see their families in college all the time.  This shows to always keep them in your thoughts because they are always going to be there through the challenges and whenever you have problems.

I believe this book shows people to not be afraid to open up to our families and to let out our struggles and the challenges that you may be facing in your life.  Sonia never mentioned that she was suffering with the diabetes until she passed out which is when everyone found out the news.  I feel that many people have problems, and some like to keep it to themselves, when really holding it in is getting you no where.  We shouldn't be afraid to seek out and let out all the problems instead of letting them build up inside of us.  Everyone has their own personal story.  Sonia gives off the vibe of meeting new people and learning about their cultures and to support the different ways of people living.  This can give us a better understanding of the world.  

Here at SOuthern, it is full of many different cultures and many different types of people.  Sonia I think teaches students to never give up, and that you can always improve on anything.  I feel that Sonia is a very strong willed woman, and her attitude towards all of her challenges she faced was awesome.  She never gave up and kept going forward even with all the hardships.  I believe that we should never take anything for granted, push ourselves to pursue our dreams, and work as hard as we can, because if you give everything you got, there's no way you can't get what you want.

              

              

Exploring (8A)

As I was looking through the blogs on the page, the two that caught my eye the most were "The Rest is Still Unwritten" and "In Briana's Mind."

http://brianaq.blogspot.com

Briana's Blog really caught my eye because I like the way it is organized.  I like the way she talks about her thoughts and how she talks about them to the full extent and really goes in depth in what she is talking about.  What I like that she does, is she puts more than one picture with each of the posts.  Her blog is really creative and I like the way it is organized.  As I was reading some of her posts, the one the really caught my eye was when she was talking about the challenge that she had to get through.  She explained the whole thing where it was really easy to understand and it was well written.  All of her posts are really well written and easy to understand and follow through.  I believe that her blog is an A+ works because you can really tell that she works really hard and puts in a lot of time to create her blogs.

http://stepphhr7.blogspot.com

In Stephanie's Blog I noticed that she always writes a lot about every topic.  I noticed that it always interesting and well written and I can read the posts without being bored.  One of the posts that really caught my eye and I really liked was "the climb."  She explained her experience of her involvment that she did that week. It was really interesting and she really explained how her experience was trying to get people wanted to climb up that mountain too.  It really made me have interest and doing it.  I also like the way her blog is organized.  It has very pretty light colors, nothing that is too crazy or that takes your eye of the words.  She goes into depth with each and every one of her blogs and you can tell that she takes a lot of time and effort towards them.  I think that her blog is an A+ work.

We got the SPIRIT !(6I)

This Friday, Southern held their first pep rally.  It was so exciting and the spirt was awesome.  In high school, I was always in the pep rally's when I was in High School and I always loved them.  I would always be so nervous/excited the day of pep rally.  The cheerleaders, dance team would perform their routines in a 50 minute time spand.  It was kind of like the Pep rally on Friday, but I found Southern's way more excited because there was a lot more people.  It was really exciting and I wish I was in it, but it was fun just being able to watch it!

Failure(6V)

Failure 

• Lack of success 
• omission of expected required action

I think failure can be a good thing in a way.  If someone fails at something then it could make them stronger and teach them a lesson.  I have failed at many things in my life and it only made me stronger and a better person.  It taught me how to motivate myself to make sure I did better the next time around with whatever situation I was in.  Some people are taught that failure never can be tolerated and that it will automatically make you a bad person.  Turns out, failure can actually make YOU the better person.  I believe that failure leads to a person being more successful.

Other Vocab Words

  Success

• achievement, something desired
• gain of fame or prosperity 

Now that I am in college, the only thing I want to do is be successful.  I believe that if you put you mind to it that anybody can be successful.  It's the way you perform your work.  If you give 100% in your work and take the time to study, read, and write your papers, there is no way that you can't be successful.

Connotation 

• an idea or feeling that a word invokes in addition to its literal or primary meaning.

This vocab word I learned in my media class this week.  At first I didn't understand this word completely, but as the class went on I came to the full understanding.   We learned to study the connotation of images, words or sayings.  Ex: exploring ads and explaining what they mean.  

Pushing to the limit (6B)

Since I graduated High School and now in college, it is a big difference.  The work load is so much more and a lot harder than High School work.  I never really failed at any subject in school, besides Math.  Math is a subject that I always had to work longer and way harder to do.  It just doesn't come easy to me.  I sometimes get so frustrated doing it that I will start to cry.  My sophomore year of high school I remember being in a really hard math class that I was failing.  I would fail every test that I took in the class.  This taught me how to become stronger in this subject though.  I knew I had to work way harder in math, so I would always stay after with my teacher for extra help.  I knew that I had to.  It taught me a really good lesson though.  It taught me that failure actually made me succeed.  By the time the mid term came for that class I scored a really good grade on it.  I was so happy.

Now, in college, I find to see that I am still failing at Math.  I am only in Math 95, the lowest math class here that they offer.  I have trouble doing some problems, and math labs.  I feel that I don't fully understand the material that I'm being taught in the class.  I even try and work with some of my friends but I still seem to have trouble.  I have talked to the teacher about getting extra help and she is all for it.  I am thinking about going to a tutor as well.  I feel that if i work hard and push myself that I will become better at math.  If I practice the problems over and over that It will soak into my brain and I won't have as much trouble.

I intend to get extra help and work harder with my math problems.  My mid term is coming up next week and I am going to study extra hard and make sure that I know the material to the full extent so I can receive above a 90 on the test.  My goal is to get anything higher than a 90.  I know I can push myself and have that motivation to work harder in order to achieve my goal.  I have faith in myself and I hope to become better at Math by getting extra help or having a tutor.  Anything is possible when you put your mind to it!  I would love to be a better math student, sometimes it's hard because students are better at some subjects than others, but I know that it's going to teach me a lesson and as time goes on I hope to become better at this subject !

Failure to Succeed (6A)

There are many people in the world who fail at something they do.  It can be a sport, something involved with school, or even a relationship.  But does this mean that you are a failure?  I think failure is a part of life and can be a huge impact on certain people.  Some people can take it way more serious than others.  In my opinion I believe that failing can make you succeed.  If you fail at something you do, it can make you a better person in the long run.  Some kids have those parents where if they fail at something then they get yelled at for it and punished.  I believe that if you are a parent that you should be happy with your child's effort.  If they fail, it teaches them the lesson to do better.  They can perform things better than they did the first time, therefore they won't fail the next time at what they are doing.

Many students struggle with certain subjects in school, and could have a failing grade.  I think that if you practice the material over and over that it will help just a little bit and it will increase their grade.  If the failing still continues then I would suggest a tutor or maybe talking to the teacher for extra help.  If a student is failing in school because of a hard subject they have trouble in, I believe that it will make them work harder and make them succeed more in the class.  If a student is failing in class because they never show up, never study, then that's a different story.  That's a student choosing to fail, rather than a student trying their best.  Some kids will be pressured by their parents to not fail or they get in big trouble.  Some parents help push their child, and then others might not even care about how their child is doing.  It's sad to say, but very true.

You not only can fail in school or a sport but you can also fail at being in a relationship too.  If you have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, sometimes the relationship can fail because of one person doing something wrong or it's not working out.  That's the couple who has to try and work things out if they want to in order for the relationship not to fail.  People can also fail at their jobs sometimes.  Whatever job they have, their boss can be upset with you, or get mad at you for not doing something wrong.  This can lead to you being fired in some cases.  I think that if someone fails, then it teaches them a life lesson.  My mom always used to tell me that it was alright to fail at something once in a while.  Nobody is perfect, everyone makes mistakes once in a while, whether if their big or small.  Failure makes a person stronger.  If you fail at something, then it gives you the motivation to work harder the next time around.  In one of the articles called The Fringe Benefits of Failures by J.k Rowling that I've read in this week's readings stated a quote " and so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."  I think this quote is very important because I think this simply means when you have hit rock bottom in the situation the only choice you have to work your way back up and try your very best to succeed.

What a Great Experience (6I)

This past week I had an essay I have been working on and I wanted some help on it so I decided to go to the writing center for some help.  This was a great experience because It helped me a lot.  My session was great and it actually taught me how to write better.  It made me improve a lot on my essay and I'm happy I went and scheduled a session.  This experience was great and it actually made me get a good grade on my paper.  I would rate this session an 8 and would recommend it to other students as well.  I would most definitely attend a session again because I would like to continue on receiving good grades on my essays.

Being different (6B)

In these past few weeks as I am in first year of college I have learned and experienced many new materials and study habits in inquiry class.  I have learned in some articles last week that I read and took notes on.  I read about "note taking", how to write a better essay, and even how to not procrastinate as much. (if you do)  These articles really helped me and I actually used some of these methods in my school work this week.  Under the notetaking article it showed me how to be more organized with my notes and how to take them.  This was very helpful to me because sometimes I can be unorganized with my work.  In one article there was a quote that said "Understanding the material everything, and the only thing that matters.  I think this quote is very important to be because it's saying that you need to understand the material in order to be successful.

Speaking of successful, I read an article on Grit this week.  Grit means when you have determination to push through any hardships and challenges no matter what.  In this article Duckworth talks about gritty people.  She said that the intelligent students have less grit because they are determined and are willing to push themselves through hard work so they feel that they don't need to work as hard as others.  I feel that It would be nice to have grit because it shows you have to push yourself through your challenges and can be a very good lesson learned for someone.  If someone doesn't have grit does this mean that they aren't the same as others?

This refers back to fixed and growth mindset.  Someone with a fixed mindset could be the smarter students who don't think that they need to improve on anything and that they already know they are good at what they do and takes the test and gets an A and is happy with it.  Growth mindsets are people who want to improve.  This kind of has to do with being grit. Does this mean that people have to associate with just by what they are?  Some people have more grit than others, and some people have a fixed or growth mindset.  I believe that this doesn't mean that we can't interact with these people just because of how much grit or what their mindsets may be.  If someone has different beliefs than you, I believe that this can help someone and teach them different things rather than just being around the same people all the time.  It is good to reach out to people who are different from you.  

PERSISTENCE (6V)

Persistence

• firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.  

I think persistence means that you need to strive and keep moving forward whenever something in your life seems to get tough.  Being in college, everyone should be persistent in doing their work and making time to study and how they manage their time.  Yes, it is the first semester, and the work load isn't all too bad, but as time goes on the work is going to get harder.  You have to have that persistence in order to make your future what you want.  

When something is very overwhelming to you, and you feel like you just can't do it, you can't give up.  You have to be persistent.  You have to say to yourself , this is my future in my hands, I have to work for it, in order to be successful.  As much as you want to give up, just think of your future and it may have an affect on some people, but it may not on others.  It definitely has an affect on me!  I know I have to be persistent in college.  Persistent doesn't necessarily only involve school, it can be related to anything else in your life that is difficult.  

No matter what, it always pays off in the long run!

Other vocab

Synthesize-  to combine, form a new complex product.

We have to synthesize in every class we are in and on blogs.

Evaluate -

To examine or judge carefully.

We have to evaluate on school work such as tests, essays, homework and whatever we do.  It makes it easier to evaluate your work so you don't have second thoughts or receive a grade you don't want.