Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Metacognition: Jane Eyre

While reading Jane Eyre, I saw a slight change in my reading habits and began to understand more of how I work as a reader. There were some parts that would just be descriptions for a full page. For these, sometimes I would read enough to capture the essence and then would skim the rest of the paragraph or page until something 'interesting' came up. I've always been the type of person who has read novels where something is always happening. I need something in there to keep me wondering and pulled towards the novel. I wish that with this book, I would've taken more time to read these slower passages and see the beauty that came from the writing. To be quite honest, I feel that at times I would read just so I knew would be prepared for a reading quiz. Yes, at times they could be obnoxious or what I found annoying, but in the future, I'd like to not be so quick to dismiss such passages from the start. Though I tried to become more aware as the novel went on, I hope that in the future, I would be more careful with parts like these and take them slowly rather then just try getting past them.

However, as the novel progressed, I began trying to read these more and paying attention to these details. As hard as it was at times, I attempted taking breathers and reading slower to take it all in. I know in class we talked about Jane's submission to others and looking for something to admire in other people, while putting herself down. Then I realized that this occurs in our society as well. We sometimes look to others whom we perceive to be better off in some way or another. We see people bashing on themselves because they don't think they are good enough. Over the reading of this novel, I began to make deeper connections between our society and Victorian society. I began to see the importance of Jane's story and how it might've impacted female readers of that time period.

This really shocked me about my thinking, because without really noticing it, I was able to make valid connections within and outside of the text and this illustrates an improvement I've made over the reading and year as well. This book may not have been my favorite this year, but I learned that I can bear with it and learn something from it. Yes, it might've been much too slow for my taste, but that shows how our society differs from Jane's and we can then compare fast and slow cultures as well as how the culture impacts the speeds of life. After reading Jane Eyre and thinking about my thinking while I read it, I was able to not only pinpoint what I've liked about my reading and learning habits, but what I would like to improve as well.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

360 Degrees: Our Future

The end of our sophomore year is nearing. And with each day, we come closer and closer to our future: college and beyond. And this is something my parents are taking advantage of. Recently, they've been trying to have college talks and talks about possible majors. Well this really doesn't work for me. Why? Because I have no idea; I'm still just a sophomore!

Sure it's good to have plans for the future and have goals, but there are definitely positives and negatives to this.

Positives:
1) Having planned out what you want for the future makes you more motivated to try and reach those goals. If you know what type of school you want to go to, then you will work accordingly in high school to have the necessary means to (hopefully) get into that school. Also, when the time comes and you do have to make decisions, you'll have a general idea of what you do want to be doing and will feel accomplished being ahead of the rest of us.

Negatives:
1) It's good to have an open mind. Sometimes with these goals and plans, you forget that you can in fact change them. It's really about what you want to do, not what you wanted to do when you were five (yes, I suppose that's an exaggeration). If you don't keep an open mind then you won't be able to end up doing what you truly love or discover something that in the end will be what you want to do for the rest of your life.

2) Living in the Now. We're told to live in the moment and have fun while it lasts. So why doesn't this apply now? We should be having fun in our youth. I'd like to think life isn't there for you to waste your time while you're young to plan for when you're old, then do things while you're old, and then sit around while you're even older (at least I hope that's not the case). So how can we live in the moment if all we do is plan for the future?

Sure it's good to have plans-as a matter of fact my schedule for the next two years is planned out, and when I tell people, they laugh. But in a way, it feels good to know what I hope to be doing. But remember not to get bogged down in these plans; there's room for adjustments. We should have goals, but they can change to meet our needs. I guess what I'm saying is, planning can be good, as long as you don't get tied down to the point where you can't budge no matter how hard you try.

Personally, I'm going to enjoy the rest of this year while it lasts and try not to worry about colleges at the moment. But let's face it, I do think about them. And while I can't even get myself to think about what I want to do in the long term, I should realize that within the next two years, I should hope to figure it out. Maybe I won't be so quick to shut down these conversations over time, but maybe at the moment it's because I don't want to be stuck to one decision I make without know what else is out there. Because in the end, I don't want to be jumping around everywhere at the age of 24 still figuring out what I should do, yet I don't want to be close-minded about what's out there right now.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

An Inconvenient Truth: Technology is Good

Yes, this blog entry is probably way overdone, but I'm going to go ahead and do it anyway. Everyone goes on about how great technology is-we can connect with others, get things done more efficiently, etc, etc. And yes, I use technology a lot, trust me. Don't get me wrong-I do appreciate it and value its many uses, however, after a recent class discussion, I began to see many more drawbacks beyond the obvious, for those who aren't on equal footing. As much as I love surfing the web and getting carried away when I am bored, sometimes I question how beneficial technology really is for everyone.

Recently in Oracle, we were discussing editorial topics and came across poverty levels and then shifted more towards technology. We started talking about how 90% (or was it 95%?) of students in our school have access to computers at home. This blew my mind-how do students without computers they do their homework?

Every class of mine besides social studies and math are heavily computer based in terms of getting homework done. How do these kids succeed in school if they can't get their work done? I'd like to think that these students have special accommodations so that they can, but let's face it, people won't necessarily be vocal to teachers about not owning a computer, when most people around them have completely different financial situations.

Even if they do own one computer, what about their siblings who need to do just as much work on the same computer? We check the web for homework in many classes or in others find out what's due just the day before, so it's hard to plan ahead and decide who gets computer time. And many of us take for granted internet-just because you have a computer doesn't mean you have internet. And this doesn't solve many problems-you can't do online homework (so rather, after typing up your essay, you sit there and play solitaire).

And even with labs in school you can use, it can be hard to get rides home if your family struggles financially. When we talked about this in class, all the dots just kept connecting. There were so many layers to this problem. It makes me think now, are these students going to fall behind because of what they don't have access to?

What we accomplish with technology is great (and I'm sure it makes teacher's lives easier). We can have ease of access to numerous resources and links. However, if you're easily distracted when it comes to the internet like I am, you'll waste a couple hours without even realizing it and procrastinate and then get all stressed out. If we just did more work without computers (sorry trees, but everyone prints anyway) we might accomplish more. It'll give us ample opportunity to do more with our time and hopefully it can be ensured that everyone has the same resources at the least. So, while you read this from your computer, next time while you try to think of something to do while you're bored, instead of surfing the web pointlessly, read a book. Paint a picture. Chill outside. Ponder away.
 
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