2-27-12

Everyday you learn something new. My research has been going pretty well so far. I have found may sites by individual cities about graffiti, most of witch are .gov. I have also found many .org sites that outline financial effects of graffiti as well. There are a few .com articles that I hope to use, they are from sources that I find reputable, like the New York Times, but I still have to get approval for them first. In my research I found a few articles about graffiti internationally, in cities like Athens. I cant spoil the surprise, but I find it very interesting. I also found an article while looking for more information about the 2004 Olympic Stadium in Athens. Apparently after building the stadium and holding the Olympics, the stadium was abandon. It is now destroyed, and there are many refugees and gipsies living in the remains. It's terrible to see a country build something so great to hold the biggest sporting event in the world, then leave it to rot.

 "Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown

2-24-12

Everyday you learn something new. So far I think the direction we are going in our study of Tuesdays With Morrie are looking pretty good. I like the idea of doing literary questions and group discussions on it. I'm not as excited about the literary elements, but maybe those will seem better after I read and attempt to do them. I hope that I will like this book. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society wasn't really that bad, It just got a bit slow in some places. I don't really think it was very gender based, it's just that many guys in our class weren't very big fans of it. I don't know if Tuesdays With Morrie will be that much different, but it will be interesting to see what people think over the next few days.

"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown

2-22-12

Everyday you learn something new. Today was a pretty good day for our project. Since I haven't posted about it before my group's topic is graffiti. One of my group members actually told me a lot of interesting information about it. I always thought that graffiti was mostly gang related. He told me that more of an artistic release for people, mostly teenagers or young adults. I found out about existing programs in Phoenix (Graffiti Busters) while looking for group contacts. My personal job for my group is communication/education. I am supposed to manage our group contacts and educate the community about graffiti. It seems like a pretty big and important job. I was given the research assignment of financial effects of graffiti. I am planning to start my research today. I think this will turn out to be a great project.

"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown

2-18-12

Everyday you learn something new. After the recent discussion in class I have thought about 21st century learning, since we were told it would play a part in our projects. Being a teachers son I hear about all the programs that are being brought in like PBL, and its really interesting. The focus of some of these things seems to be attempting to give students a bit more freedom, but it doesn't seem to be a good idea to me. As children we can't really be trusted with the freedom to be that independent. Some people would not gain anything because they are too free to just do some kind of really bad project. I think the idea is good but it needs to be refined for the reality of how children our in this time.
"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown

2-13-12

Everyday you learn something new. I feel the need to voice my opinion on the way things have been going in our class. Last Friday Mrs. Schwarting went a little crazy and got mad about how nobody was working on their project. Even though I rebelled a bit then some of the things she said were valid complaints. Mrs. Schwarting said that people weren't taking the class seriously. That is very true. People don't take that class seriously. She said that people weren't putting enough effort into their work. I don't really know about others. but for that specific project I didn't put enough into it. The only thing I feel she said that was wrong was specific to that day, that we all said we needed more time. We didn't all say that it was about 50/50. I also think there is nothing wrong with doing our class work at home. We really need to do something to put some structure into that class, because unfortunately some people cant handle so much freedom.      

"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown

2-10-12

Everyday you learn something new. I have been thinking about my groups project. Even with the research that I have done I still haven't had a good idea for our group project yet. I think I cant really find much because I don't live in the community. I talked to my group and there hasn't been much of anything we can do from them either. I think I need to  talk to some active people in the community to find better ideas. What other places should I go for ideas? I have also tossed up visiting community centers and looking at bulletins and talking to people there. I hope can find a great topic for my group. We'll definitely need it.

"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown

2-8-12

Everyday you learn something new. I recently observed something that I found very interesting. I was at a meeting to apply for a home through Habitat For Humanity. The fact that the people were present there suggests a financial struggle. I noticed that before the meeting started, most everyone present there was using a Smartphone. I'm not opposed to the idea and I don't think it's really a bad thing, Its just something that's become part of society. Everyone has a smartphone now. I remember when it was the really cool new thing, and now it's just commonplace. I'm sure I will continue to see things like this as I grow up, it comes with advancing society and technology, but this is the first time it has really hit me. I continue to wonder what might come next. I guess I'll see that in a few years. 

"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss, you'll land among the Stars" - Les Brown