Wednesday, April 30, 2014

4/30/14

Quick write

Since this is a free quick write I just wanted to let everyone know that I am losing my voice. I sound like a boy going through puberty and no one seems to understand me. Until I meet up with my mom later to go shopping I am done talking for the day, if anyone wants to talk to me they can text me or try to understand my gangsta' sign language. The Lord knows how hard I tried to avoid getting this cold, holding my breath and moving my face away whenever people start coughing or sneezing around me. I snooze I lose! I really wish I was in my boyfriends house, sleeping in his soft warm bed and eating soup.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

4/28/14

Quick Write: Think about one of the most important memories you have. Indulge yourself in it. Can you taste it? Smell it? Feel it? What if that memory were taken away from you? Would it still exist?


The most important memory to me would be the last time I had saw my grandmother. I can feel the warmness in her room, the smell of her nail polish, and the metal pressing against my thighs as I sat on the air vents. If this memory was taken away from me, I don't know how'd I feel if that memory was taken away from me because it is something only I can personally remember, with my feelings and thoughts of that moment included but it would still exist, just not from my point of view. My mother and sister were there that day so the only way I'd be able to hear about that moment would be through them. It wouldn't be the same. 

Final Reflection: You previously interpreted the quote “I think, therefore I am.” Interpret the quote once again as it relates to Clive. In other words, does Clive know he exists? Does he exist? What does all of this say about memory? Finally, what’s your brainy explanation for Clive only remembering love and music? Post this final reflection on your blog.

Clive does exist and he knows he exist because of his memory of love and music, you can't remember something that didn't happen so if you can then that means that it did which means you were there when it took place and in order for you the be there you have to physically exist as well. "I think therefore I am." In order to think you have to have think about something. Thinking about an events that took place requires you to have a memory, thinking about how you're feeling requires for something to happen in order to get you to feel anything, and in order to have a memory to make all of this happen you have to be there when that moment is taking place. Your brain records moments that you witness, it records what the eyes are watching, what the heart is feeling and what the brain is thinking. So if you're thinking, you do exist. Only memories, thoughts, and feelings can happen to those whom exist.

4/23/14 - 4/24/14


Quick Write: What does imagination mean to you? How important is it? What about memory? Can you have one without the other?


To me imagination is the creative part in your brain, you imagine things and you create things in your mind. It is important to have imagination because if not then it's as if your brain is just blah and boring. However, memory to me is more important because a memory is something you remember that actually took place, something that was real and not made up in your imagination. But can you have one without the other? Of course you can, remembering something as small as what you did 5min ago and not be imaginative is very possible, or not being able to remember anything because of some type of problem going on in your brain but having an imagination is very possible as well.

Friday, April 11, 2014

4/11/14

Quick Write: Reflect on what you learned in detail this week in at least one well-organized paragraph.

 During this past week I have learned a great amount of things. Some of the things I learned was what locked-in syndrome is, some of the causes, and a man named Jean-Dominique Bauby with the syndrome that wrote a memoir about his life with the syndrome, which later turned into a movie. So what is locked-in syndrome? Well, locked-in syndrome is a condition in which a patient is aware and awake but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all voluntary muscles in the body except for the eyes. What can cause this is Lou Gehrig's disease, diseases of the circulatory system, medication overdose, multiple Sclerosis, damage to nerve cells, particularly destruction of the myelin sheath, caused by disease (e.g. central pontine myelinolysis secondary to rapid correction of hyponatremia), a stroke or brain hemorrhage, usually of the basilar artery, or traumatic brain injury. However,  the chances getting locked-in syndrome is about the about same chance as winning the lottery so it is rare but not impossible. This rare disease happened to Jean-Dominique Bauby, a well-known French journalist, author and editor of the French fashion magazine ELLE and writer of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly after catching a massive stroke. So how can a man with Locked-in syndrome write a memoir? With his left eye. There's an alphabet he uses that contains the main letters used in the French alphabet that helps him blink to the letters he wants and make sentences out of them. 




Wednesday, April 9, 2014

4/9/14

Quick Write: Do you believe animals have souls? Explain.

 I do believe animals have souls. Animals are living, breathing, thinking, feeling creatures just like us. Just because we don't walk on four legs and speak their language doesn't mean that animals are any less living to have one. To animals we are considered animals, we kill one another, we love one another, we are somewhat just like them.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

4/8/14

Jean-Dominque Bauby

Positive, growth mindset kind of guy with a good sense of humor. He sees him self in a situation where he's as good as a vegetable but keeps himself going by using his imagination to see the better in things and to keep himself busy.

Friday, April 4, 2014

4/4/14

Quick write.

1) peer edited our argument essays.
  4 - I was the only one here and Ms.Becker help me improve my introduction to my argument essay

2) strengthened our final drafts by revising them based on the feedback we got.
  4 - I changed my topic and became more connected to it. I feel more confident writing my essay now then I did before.

3) participated in a Socratic seminar on public selective schools.

  4 - During the Socratic seminar I asked a well developed question, I participated,  I listened to my peers, gave my opinion, used a good tone of voice, and made eye contact with everyone.

4) analyzed and connected some essential questions and quotations to literature. 

  4 - I connected a quotation by Henry Ford to one of my literary books Fahrenheit 451, I connected my knowledge on mindsets to the main character Guy Montag and to the dystopian setting.

5) reflected on the impact of the neurological condition known as locked-in syndrome.
  4 - After watching the video in class yesterday on locked-in syndrome I added my 3 observation, 2 essential question and 1 feeling I had towards the video and the situation itself. I connected the situation the lens of mindsets and to my own personal opinion.

Thursday, April 3, 2014

4/3/14

Quick write: Identify the people, places, things, ideas that make life worth living for you personally.

The people that make life worth living for me would be my younger brother and my boyfriend,  I love them both to death, they mean the world to me and for them I try to be the best person I can be every day. My mom has a role in this too but it's mostly motivation, I want to grow up and not be a disappointment, to show her that I've gone above and beyond, I've followed my dreams and to have her living worry free. She's put up with all my faults and over looked the negative when no one else could and because of this I owe her, I have to achieve greatness for her. Thinking about this how could I forget my grandma? My grandma is also my motivation for me, she believed in me more than anyone else and for her I am also going to become something great. The future is worth living for me, I want to become successful, I want to travel and experience this beautiful planet I live on and eventually start a family, experience having a life develop in my womb and raise my future babies with love, give them the best life they could imagine and raise them to be correct so when they get older their children (my grandchildren) will grow up to be correct and so on and so forth. These are the things that make life worth living for me.

 3 - 2 - 1 

  3.
1. Lock in syndrome can be caused by massive stoke and other things.
2. People with locked in syndrome that want to die are not allowed to by law.
3. People with Lock in syndrome are in complete paralysis, except for their eyes.

  2.
1. Will there ever be a cure for this?
2. Why wont the courts let them end their life?

  1.
1. Sad

   Questions on Jean-Dominique Bauby :
  1. How did he get the technology to write a memoir?
  2. How did he write a memoir?
  3. What could he have done to prevent the stroke?
  4. Is he happy with his life?


What do you think makes life worth living in general? How might this relate to mindset?
 I think your family, love and happiness is what makes life worth living in general. Relating this to mindset I think people with the fixed mindset would want life to remain the same but someone with a growth mindset would accept any challenges and obstacles interfering with their life and try to see the positive.  

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

3/31/14 final reflection

Describe, analyze or evaluate how today's Socratic seminar clarified the issues of mindset and ability tracking for you. What still confuses you about these issues? Do you find mindset psychology useful? Explain.

After having the group and partner Socratic seminar today it really gave me more ideas to add to my essay and it made me want to change the topic a bit. While discussing mindsets and hearing everyone's point of view, I can see how tracking is related to a fixed mindset and the problems with selective schools. 

4/2/14

Interpret the main character in your novel using the framework of mindset. Does the character have a fixed or a growth mindset? Explain why.

In Fahrenheit 451 the main character is Guy Montag. At the beginning of the book Guy has a fixed mindset, everything in world shouldn't be questioned and the knowledge you already have is all the knowledge you need. However, throughout the book he comes across a young lady that gets him thinking about whats really out there in the world and Guy ends up questioning his surrounding, his wife, the government, his chief and himself. His mindset goes from doing the same thing every day because that all he and everyone around him knows to wanting to learn, wanting to know more about the world and what it really means to think and to figure things out.


Choose one of the quotes below, interpret it, say whether you agree or disagree and connect it to at least one book you have read.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. Henry Ford

Interpretation: Anyone that stops learning is old, no matter what age. Anyone that keeps learning stays young.

I agree.


I agree with this quote because you can never stop learning, there's always something new to learn in this world and once you decided to stop you're as good as being called old. Too old to learn, too old to put your mind to work and discovering new things. Not only do I agree with this quote but I can relate this quote to Fahrenheit 451 , in this book learning is prohibited and owning a book will have you arrested and your house burnt. Since learning is prohibited the mind is basically going to waste in this dystopia, everyone's mind is wrapped around television, having 3+ televisions in one rooms and everyone is just a walking zombie.