The Future

     I have learned a lot in this class. I've learned some basic textbook definitions and I've learned how to structure my papers better.
     I think what I'm going to use the most is how I research things now. I feel that I have gotten a lot more into my papers than I did in high school. This will really help me in my graduate studies in a couple years because there is a lot of writing with music theory and history.
     I really liked how I could see how my writing evolved and I hope that I continue to through next semester.
     Good luck on your finals and have a good Christmas!!

Self Review

     Alright so it is very evident that I still have a lot to do on my paper. I read through my research paper and decided that a better argument to make would be that "music classes should be mandatory through all years of schooling through high school." I think with how much research I did about how music directly helps brain function means I have more to back that than my previous argument anyway.
     I know that I do have a lot of actual body writing to do still but I feel that I have a pretty good start to it. I am going to pull in a lot more research especially pertaining to the test scores in the us, especially since the list just came out of how we compare to the rest of the world.
     Well I have a lot of work to do so I hope you're not freaking out about finals too bad. Good luck!!

Naysayers

     Alright so I am planning on writing about how funding to the fine arts should be the same (or arguably) more than the sports program in public schools. After some research and reading some old debates from highschool I suspect that the following points will be my "naysayers" main argument.

-Children in sports have higher academic standings.

and/or

-The fine arts are all funded by the school and the sports "boosters" raise a lot of their own money.

     I'm sure I'll come across another few counter arguments but I feel confident in my knowledge of the subject.
     I hope you guys had a wonderful break!

Rogerain Argument

     Alright so this sounds pretty simple to me. Basically you are going to write a structured debate, BUT, also include in some way an opposing view to your topic. This will give you a chance to disprove anything and make the audience lean towards your side.
     For example I am (hopefully) doing a paper on why fine arts funding should be either the same or more than athletic funding. An opposing view I could use is how parents think that their children being in sports makes them keep their grades up. And then I would point out that (this is a made up statistic) the average grade point average of an athlete in school is 2.6 and they only need to make a 2.0 to participate.
     I think overall you just need to present your evidence in a way that would make most of a general audience side with you on an issue. With that in mind you do have to make your "naysayers" be able to at least see your point of view if not fully agree with it.
     Hope you all have a great holiday!!

Self Review

     So far I am quite satisfied with my draft. I know that I have to lengthen it but I already have some ideas on some more information that I'm going to research.
     I feel that so far I have presented pretty well (with some help at the writing center). I am planning on digging deeper into my subject and possibly expanding it to involve all aspects of music and the brain. By that I mean seeing if there has been any research done about how music effects someone with special needs, and how music can be therapeutic to people in harm. I also want to see if there is any extensive knowledge about music and alzheimers patients.
     I feel that I have a really good start on my paper and hope all of yours are coming along well!

Music and Math

     My informative research is on how fine arts can enhance learning skills in the academic environment. When I started delving into this project I was already aware of the statement that music helped with math education. Knowing this statement I had actually never seen any study that produced this information until I started looking for it.
     "One particular study published in the journal 'Nature' showed that when groups of first graders were given music instruction that emphasized sequential skill development and musical games involving rhythm and pitch, after six months, the students scored significantly better in math than students in groups that received traditional music instruction." So while digging I found this in an article and was wondering what the difference was in musical instruction between these 2 groups. 
     As it turns out sequential instruction (instruction involving pitch and rhythm  was a way of learning that stimulated the brain more than traditional learning (given music and practicing).  Sequential (sometimes called "Mozart" learning because his music also stimulates the same part of the brain) learning doesn't necessarily guarantee a math genius, but it does stimulate the part of the brain that involves problem solving ie, math.
     I have a lot more research to do on this subject so I wish you all the best of luck and hope you're hacing as much fun with your assignment as I am.

"The Correlation Between Music and Math: A Neurobiology Perspective." Serendip Studio. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

Don't Judge a Book...

     "It's what on the inside that counts"...
But is this statement true? I'll admit that before I read anything I take in the immediate visual statement of it, wether that be a cover or the background on a web page. Honestly I think that the first glance at any reading greatly affects how the reader reacts.
     Just imagine you're handed 2 documents. 1 a standard MLA typed 4 page essay, and a printout of a colorful blog entry containing the same information. I think that if you were forced to read both that most people would drudge through the black and white copy and take in a lot more of the colorful counterpart. I feel that this is a big reason why elementary and even secondary education text books are often littered with colors and pictures to try and pull the student into them.
     I think that if a document is more visually stimulating it automatically seems more interesting because of the spectrum  of visual aspects that can be used. Using C.R.A.P. effectively can both make your document look more interesting and actually may help the reader maintain more information.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

     So I got this book as a present a few years ago and I happily read it at least once a year out of comfort. I feel that this book is a good piece to analyze and try to interpret an overall meaning.
     The biggest piece of imagery/symbolism in this book is the use of the tunnel.
It was me standing up in that tunnel with the wind over my face. Not caring if I saw downtown. Not even thinking about it. Because I was standing in the tunnel. And I was really there. And that was enough to make me feel infinite. 
     I fell that this is the most astounding symbolism in this book because he travels through the tunnel 3 times throughout. The first with his new friends, the second alone, and the last time with his friends again after he had a manic episode resulting from recent life events and repressed memories. This is the last statement in the book and I feel that it is the moment that he is finally at piece with himself after a shaky first year of high school.
     The title to this story is almost ironic in a way because the biggest perk, making friends with others and himself, doesn't ultimately happen until the end of the book.  At the end of chapter 1 Patrick says "You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand." And that's exactly what Charlie (the main character) does.  He sees a boy force himself on a girl, he lets another guy kiss him and doesn't say anything, and the ultimate repressed memory is of his aunt molesting him as a child which he also never said anything about. 
     I think the author was ultimately trying to display the underdog clique of a high school society. I think they did achieve this even if to an extreme. It display a good amount of teenage angst and the sometimes awful transition to high school.
     I still love this book and I hope if you have seen the movie that you branch out and get the book from somewhere because it is much more emotionally connectable.

     

Misinformed...

     I think that the largest cause of misinformation is the extreme left and right winged sides that the media has taken. They could both be given a little fact and sway it with their views to try and manipulate popularity for their station by playing to the beliefs of their views. 

     This plays a big role in the presidential elections because they typically try to disprove the opponent that is the opposite in political beliefs. I've seen this happen primarily through "fact-checking." But not in favor of the politician they support more. They tend to try and catch the other opponent in lies. 

     The last election showed me that the media is not interested in proving someone right, but just making them seem right by proving the opposition wrong. I think this is another reason that there is misinformation in media and campaigns. I honestly think that if there was a completely neutral way to get information that gets thrown around during these elections people could make a more informed decision. Now if this is available now or if it ever comes to be I do not think that the people who should use it would. In society everyone is either conservative or liberal, there are no moderates anymore. It is almost an insult to be the opposite of someone else. 

     I think the media has exploited the American people's attitude towards how deeply they hold values that tend to be thrown into campaigns. Unless there is a completely neutral source of information the media is going to continue to misinform in favor of their favorite candidate.

Kruse

     Alright so all that I got out of this essay is that politicians have become less worried about being caught in lies.
     I really liked reading this article because I like being involved in politics, but I was confused as to why it was written. Was it because the author was fed up with Mitt Romney constantly being "fact checked", or was he trying to justify it? Or was the author just trying to tie past correctness to facts of today?
     Naturally I liked this article because at the end it was making the point against Romney and how he blatantly was trying to avoid truth in situations. I really like reading essays that tie events in history to what is happening today. I think it gives us a good vantage point to look at issues of today.

     

Technology

     I really loved reading the article about the evolution of the smartphone because this was written almost a year ago and some of the ideas that they are saying will happen in 20, 30 or 50 years have already happened. Google glass is making world news and Samsung has some out with a new Galaxy phone that comes with a blue tooth enabled watch.
     So does that mean that the speed of the loss of communication is only going to happen that much faster? When it comes to the topic of technology and the control it has on people I almost always think of the communication gap. We are constantly texting and im-ing, and we even say that we don't like making phone calls. But why is that? Are we so introverted that we'll just collapse into an anxiety filled puddle or do we just generally not like talking to people anymore?
     I think communication is going to be the aspect of our lives that gets controlled the most by technology. Even in just the 6 year gap between me and my sister I see a huge display of this. My friends and I will talk to each other and leave the house and walk somewhere to do something together. Every time she has a friend over they just sit and play on their ipods either making videos or taking pictures of themselves.
     Like I said before the communication gap is my greatest concern in the inevitable control of technology over our lives.

The Age of Technology

     I loved the article we had to read for this topic so I am going to adress each technological advancment they talked about and relate to my personal experience with it.

Calculators: I feel like I am not too depndent on calculators. I do use one in my college algebra class but mostly for the larger exponential problems. Other than that I can usually just scribble out a problem and figure it out easily enough on my own.

Auto-Complete: I don't use auto-complete on my phone. I do like how Google Chrome has a spell check function now though. I have become alittle dependent on that because I am usually pretty bad at spelling.

Texting: I. Hate. Text. Language. When my sister texts me it's almost indecipherable. My mom and I make jokes all the time about how long our texts are because we spell out every word.

Search Engines: The claim made in this point was that there was a less amount of information recall using a search engine. I personally feel that when used effectively search engines can be very usefull in an academic situation. It potentially can open the doors to a lot more information that could be available to you that you never wouldv'e thought of on your own.

Email: OK honestly just don't constantly check your email while you're working.

Websites: Websites are very udefull. We use them to write these blogs and check our assignments and grades. But because the internet is a public domain there is a lot of unuseful and frankly inapropriate. As long as you know the difference the internet can be a very useful source of information.

     I personally haven't noticed a change in myself since using technology because I have been familiar with it for such a big part of my life.

(this was the first picture that came up when I searched "the internet")