"They Say, I Say"

Alex Recchia

Professor Rinke

WRT 150, Composition I

October 26, 2011

Dave Eggers says in the article, “Serve of Fail,” that college is too long. He states that students should deserve time off because of how hard they work throughout the school year, but also shouldn’t because much of their time is also spent playing foosball. There are many hours and days that are wasted and could be put into our communities. He believes that colleges should think about making service requirements in order to graduate. He had done volunteer work in college and thought it was too easy. He needed a push from a college or university to continue. Students can gain many benefits from getting involved and it would help America. Students can help the world and become lifelong volunteers. The three main points of this article are colleges should make service requirements for students because there is time in their lives for it, college is about completing requirements, and the pushing of volunteer work can make student lifelong volunteers. Dave Eggers used personal examples which tied in to support what he was writing about. It made it interesting to read how he connected his skills of playing foosball to how he became a lifelong volunteer. He appeals to logic because he incorporated statistics and facts about how America could gain from more volunteers. He also appealed to ethics because some people believe that community service is right and shouldn’t have to be required to participate in. It goes along with people’s beliefs and morals. It shouldn’t be left for criminals and delinquents, it is good for everyone. 

            Ramaley says in the article, “Service learning, more than a fad,” that service learning is a trend. Money is tight for Minnesota’s colleges and universities and many things are being limited. Educators found that problem-solving is paired with education is more than a fad. It can help with tight money problems on and off campus. Service learning can be tutoring or mentoring younger students, delivering meals to homes, and inviting neighbors to campus activities. It helps students have a better understanding of what they are learning when they learn through real-world activities.  They develop awareness to responsibilities of citizenship. Students will be excited about the work they are doing. The three main points of the article are service learning can be done in many different forms, real-world experiences deepen learning in students, and community interaction makes people feel excited about work they have accomplished. The author appeals to logic because she says that people should do more and spend less. They should save money, which is something everyone tries to do. It appeals to emotion because the outcome experience can inspire and make people feel excited. It appeals to ethics because people can believe in whether or not service learning makes a person more aware of their responsibilities of citizenship. 

            The Monitor’s Editorial Board says in the article, “How to reduce student dropout rates: link volunteering to studies,” that volunteering is key to keeping kids in school. Mr. Cruz starts kids volunteering early on in their education. Starting in elementary school, gardens are tended and trout is caught. In high school, students help immigrants study for their citizenship tests. Students reflect on all the work that they are doing and aren’t just doing it because it is on a list. Service learning adds to students having great attendance and a low dropout rate. It increases civic awareness and keeps students focused on learning. The three main points of the article are volunteering connects to academic success, engaging in the real world increases the likely hood students will stay in school, and starting volunteer work in early education is the key to keep kids staying in school. The author appeals to logic because there are many statistics to back up examples and to give information. It appeals to ethics because it is a person’s belief in whether or not starting kids volunteering early on is the reason that will keep them in school. Emotion is expressed through what is felt after reading the statistics. It can leave each person feeling differently. 

            I think the three main points of all the articles combined are starting volunteer work at a young age will help with academic success, real world experiences deepen learning in students and gives many benefits, and colleges should make service learning a requirement. I agree that starting volunteer work at a young age is beneficial with academic success and keeping kids in school. It helps them gain knowledge and experience on different activities in which they can learn from. I believe that real world experiences are the best way to learn. It gives people on the job training which is up close and you can get a lot out of it. It is beneficial to grow as a person, as well as with academic success. I don’t agree that colleges should require service learning in order to graduate. I don’t believe that all students waste time or have extra time to volunteer. It is nice to do, but it doesn’t fit into everyone’s schedule. Students try to fit in jobs and study time and other exercising activity to stay healthy. 

            All three authors agree that service learning is beneficial for everyone. They all say that leaning in real world experiences is the best way to deepen learning. They all agree that students will feel accomplished and happy about the work they have done. This will make them keep volunteering because they feel good about the good deeds they are doing. They differ because one of the articles says that volunteering should be started early on, while Dave says that it should be required in college. Starting early on would be beneficial if service learning is required in college because they will already be doing it. They also differ because Ramaley is the only one that brings up money involved and how people should volunteer more and spend less money.

Letter To Myself

Dear Alex,

                You are a very talented dancer and will be dancing even when you are in college.  It is a big part of your life and it will help you become the person you are in the future. Dance has helped you with your confidence over the years. The more confidence you have when you dance, the better you will look out on stage. As your dance teachers will tell you, if you feel like you look weird doing a movement, you probably do. You have to try your hardest and the more effort you put into the movements and think positive, the better you will look. You just have to have confidence in yourself. You have been dancing for a long time and I want to give you advice on how to be better as an overall dancer. 

          In high school, you are going to be switching dance studios. Choose to go to Linsey’s Cheer and Dance center. This studio will help you so much in becoming a stronger dancer. Looking back on my overall dancing experience my senior year, I thought that it was my last year. I am telling you what I regret, hoping that you will change to better yourself. Practicing at the studio isn’t enough. I regret not practicing enough at home, because I could have improved so much if I would have made this change.  Practicing at home will make you become persistent in moves that you are not as strong on as others. It will also strengthen your endurance. Dancing regularly will build up your endurance. Dancing a couple times a week at the studio isn’t enough. Trust me; you are going to need a lot of endurance for these dance numbers. Spending time at home, working on skills and dances will strengthen your abilities. Practice makes perfect! You want to be the best you can be, and stand out among other dancers. 

          I know if I would have practiced more, I would have more control and be persistent. It will help you on stage and knowing that you have confidence that you will do the best you can. Your dance teacher will invite you back to dance when you are in your first year of college. Dance for as long as you can! You are a great dancer, and you can keep improving if you listen to my advice. When you have a choreographer come in and teach dances, make sure you present yourself with confidence. Try your hardest and it will pay off in being in more of the dance. Don’t hold back because then you will feel like you’re not as important as others in the number. Show them what you can do! Practicing at home will benefit you with your skills and technique. 

          Stage presence and emotion play a key role in dancing. Practice this at home also listening to music and knowing what the song is about. You want to be able to portray certain emotions because the more emotion and passion you feel when dancing, captures the audience. That is really important. Even if you have all the skills and tricks and are doing everything right, if you don’t show any emotion it is boring to watch. 

          You will make many great friends from dance who will end up being your best friends. You have danced with the same people for a long time, most of them for over ten years. These people are like your second family. They are always there for you and help you with many things. Don’t lose these friends; always stay in touch with them.

          I wanted to give you advice to better yourself as a dancer. I have this one regret that I wish I could have done something about. I always wanted to be the best dancer I could be, and practicing more at home would have helped improve myself. So practice at home because it will help you with your endurance and persistence. You are very talented and put emotion into your dancing. With practicing at home, you can improve all these skills and be the best dancer you can be, with no regrets on wishing you could have been better. 

   

                                                                                      Love, 

                                                                                     Yourself in the Future :)

        

Mini Pop Culture Analysis

Grey’s Anatomy is an award winning medical drama. It is about the lives of the main characters who are residents, interns, and doctors. The characters work at Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital. The setting takes place at the hospital and at the character’s houses. The show is based on medical jobs and the character’s relationship problems. There is a lot of pop culture behind the television show.

It became popular because it has won many awards for writing, acting, and directing. It has become one of the most successful television shows.  It is a medical drama that shows trauma and realism of what goes on in hospitals. It has ethical issues, heroes, and relationships between doctors. A main focus of Grey’s Anatomy is focusing on the characters, making their lives interesting and their personalities likeable. People get attached to characters and want to follow their lives. The storylines draw in attention and allows people to escape into the show. It is inspiring for people to want to become doctors and nurses from watching these types of programs. The main audience that Grey’ Anatomy attracts is college-students and adults of any background.  The characters consist of a cast of all different racial groups, which makes it cultured.  The show creates a diverse world of doctors, which helps its success rate.

I think that this television show became popular because of the emotions that go along with the characters. Grey’s Anatomy falls in the higher end of popular culture because it can touch people. The audience feels the emotions that the characters are feeling. The audience can relate to the different emotions, such as fear, betrayal, and joy which cause them to become attached. I also think that the music plays a big part in making the television show a hit. Every episode is titled by a famous song. They use music that ties into the theme to help tell the mood of the storyline. The music choices are always great, and help in making songs become more popular.

            The show became more popular over time. It became known over previews over the television that are always suspenseful and leave you hanging to find out what happens. Conversations between people also bring a bigger audience to watching the television show.  The internet and websites also give information on the episodes and what is going to happen. People see this and then become more interested.

            An issue that arises from this television show is sexuality. Characters have different love interests that people may see as morally right or wrong depending on what they believe in. One of the characters is trying to find out what gender she would rather be with. There is an ethical issue with one of the doctors dating and getting engaged to a patient. Hospitals have rules with doctor and patient relationships. People make perceptions about real-world doctors based on this program. If the television doctors are perceived as brave, then the audience will perceive real-world doctors the same. The show has morals about acting respectful in a work place and passionate about their jobs.

            I think Grey’s Anatomy is a growing trend. As the seasons come, more and more people tune in to watch the show. It can relate to the other medical drama television shows, but follows the relationships between doctors. It adds other special effects to make it better to attract the audience in. It allows the audience to escape and follow the characters’ lives. The show created catch phrases that people now talk about. The female doctors on the show give names to the male doctors. There is “McDreamy,” “McSteamy,” and “McVet.” They also made other words with the “Mc” prefix. This trend has been seen on other shows as well.

People can learn things that happen in the medical world because the medical cases and things they do are accurate to real-world experiences. I think society can gain awareness from this show. I think that Grey’s Anatomy has made a positive influence on society. It will continue to be successful for as long as it the writers continue to make the television show last. It will continue to attract more people.  

Education Needs A Digital Upgrade

 In my years of schooling, I think that teachers should have better prepared me for the tech requirements in college. They taught me how to use the internet and research information. We used a program called type to learn, which taught me how to type faster to increase my typing skills when writing papers. I was taught how to use PowerPoint and create slideshows for projects I had. It was a new way to present information to classmates. In high school, we started to turn our papers in over the internet, which prepared me for college. In college, there are a lot of assignments that need to be turned in online. A suggestion I have to make students better prepared is to have more online assignments. Teachers should make online quizzes and homework assignments to get students to navigate around to different websites. They should introduce programs to make movies. They should teach how to send emails and blogs because in college there are a lot of communicating activities for assignments. 

In the career field of Neonatal Nursing, I am going to have to use technology.  I am going to know how to use specific software programs. Nurses carry around PDAs so they can access patients medical charts, take notes, and look up information. I am going to have to learn how to read monitors to know patients vital signs. Nurses use technology to keep track of vital signs. They connect technology to a patient so they can closely be monitored. I think that my schooling at Oakland will prepare me for my future as a nurse. They seem to be teaching us a variety of programs already, and there will probably be many more to learn. The nursing program will better prepare me to use these types of programs.

I feel that I write better in a relaxed setting. I don’t have an audience or people around me so it is a quieter environment. It allows me to concentrate and be more focused, so I can come up with thoughts. I feel that when I type it is easier to come up with what I want to say. When you blog, you can share any thought that comes to you. It is relaxing to do. 

If I was a science teacher, I would use many programs to help better my students for future jobs they may have. I would give out experiments to be done over the internet. Students will have to figure out how to conduct them on their own, so they will become more independent. This can help students who want to work in laboratories. I will also use more computer programs, use the internet, and use more multi-media programs. Each generation, technology keeps increasing. All you can do is keep students up to date on all the programs being used, so they are prepared for the high-tech jobs that our future has. 

The tone of this piece is how technology is increasing, and we need to keep up on all these programs for future jobs. I agree with the thesis. I think that technology will keep increasing, and people are going to be more involved in computer jobs. It is important to know how to use these programs because soon every job is going to have technology. Students should be taught from early on how to use different types of programs, so they keep up in our world.

Literacy Timeline

• My parents use to talk to me constantly when I was a baby. They would repeat words over and over again until I repeated them back. The more they talked to me, the more I understood what they were saying, and I comprehended it.

• When I was a baby, my parents taught me a few words in Italian with hand motions.

• My parents would sit me in front of the television. I would watch "Barney" and "Teletubbies." They were entertaining and kid oriented. "Barney" taught life learning lessons through songs and dances. He was always friendly and had a great attitude. I would pick up songs that were on the show and sing them. "Teletubbies" did activities that little children enjoyed doing, so they can relate to each other. They had televisions on their stomachs that played messages that kids can learn from.

• My parents use to read to me. They would read Dr. Seuss. The books rhyme and repeat words over and over again. They are fun and creative so it brings kids to want to read them and pay attention. It has pictures that allow connections to be made to the words in the story.

• I went to Messmore Elementary School. In first grade, they took us out in the hallway and read with the teacher one on one. They wanted to see what our reading levels were. We would read out in the hall a couple times a week to help improve our reading skills.

• In elementary school, we had daily reading and answering questions. It taught me how to read something and comprehend what they are saying. I had to think about it to answer the questions.

• I had to write a book in elementary school. I had to put sentences together to form a story.  It allowed me to be creative, and come up with pictures.

• Dancing has also helped me. I have been dancing throughout my whole life. I started dancing in kindergarten and I am still dancing today. It got me to understand the meaning of songs and lyrics. You get to tell stories through movements with your motions and body language. It makes you listen closer, and think more. You have to memorize movements, which improves memorization skills when trying to learn new things.

• I took Spanish for four years. It helped me to be literate in more than one language. I can read, write and comprehend the language. It taught me about their culture and different writing formats and structures.

• The internet today has made me even more literate. I have been using the internet more often since junior high since new websites have come up. I use it for research, essays, email, Facebook, and much more. I communicate more online now, than I did ever before.