Blog #1: Welcome to a Bloggy World Fall 2011

This is your first blog prompt. Read the entire entry and respond on your blog, print out a hard copy and bring to class. (Be sure your name and URL are on the copy you print out.)

It's the beginning of a new semester and with that comes the stress of delegating classes, studying, tests, maybe work, family, friends, personal and fun time along with trying to be successful in all areas. Have you ever really thought about how you manage everything in your life? Really thought about it; broken it down sort of thing? Maybe you don't have time to really think about how you manage your everyday life, and maybe it isn't that important to you to think about it. But if you're not thinking about how you manage your life and just going with the flow, chances are you probably don't really think about other issues.

And it's more than just thinking about issues, it's about challenging, questioning, analyzing and exploring issues. Breaking them down into pieces and examining each piece and how they work together to make a whole. Just like a business person or accountant would do with numbers, or how a biologist/chemist would do with cells/atoms and elements.

If this is your first time writing in a blog I challenge you to examine, question and analyze this idea of writing your thoughts or opinions on an internet blog as a journal. How does this make you feel? Uneasy, excited? Consider the fact that you have security settings that you can manipulate and that you are being required to do this for a class rather than a decision you have made on your own. Consider its purpose and who your audience is. Do you want for the whole world, or just for your teacher? What kind of style should you write in depending on that audience? Will you write in first or 3rd person, will you speak directly to an audience or not?

Will you put up a picture of yourself? Your interests? Your email address? How much information do you want people to have access to about you? What did you name your own URL? How does it make you feel to have a URL?

This isn't your first time blogging??

If you have had a blog in the past, your own, for my class or for another class, then I challenge you to examine, question and analyze your experience with having a blog. Consider why you had one, how it made you feel, and how you manipulated the security settings for your own sense of security. Consider changes you may make now that you have grown and developed as a writer/blogger. Consider how writing a blog may have helped or hindered your writing ability. Will you continue writing in the same style, tone and voice or are you going to change? Who will be your audience?

So, this is your very first blog prompt/journal entry for the semester!! Are you excited? LOL! Probably not, but that's ok. Maybe, hopefully, eventually, you will begin to actually enjoy this process. Just remember: Always think outside the box!

Final Farewell to Summer 2011

Dear class,

It's finally over! The semester that is, because I'm sure that none of you are glad that we will not be spending any more class days together, right? :)

This semester went by far too quickly, I had forgotten how fast summer semesters are, particularly those that only meet twice a week. But we got through it, and for the most part pretty unscathed. Unfortunately, for me anyways, the semester did not allow me the opportunity to get to know many of you that well. :( Either way, having the opportunity to teach, inform, mentor and get to know anywhere from 30-120 students (depending on the semester), from all walks of life, is a humbling and rewarding opportunity. I am a strong believer that a teachers job does not consist of simply teaching in a classroom and it's crucial for teachers to treat their students as individuals and not blank faces or numbers.

Over the course of the semester we had conversations and arguments, listened to each others' perspectives and learned from one another. My hope is that through those conversations, blogs, powerpoints, group activities and presentations that I have equipped you with the tools necessary to continue through your undergraduate studies as strong critical thinkers who are intrigued and enticed to ask question after question after question; because it is the questions that lead to research and research leads to solutions and new ideas.

As you have become critical thinkers, you have in turn become stronger writers, and we all know that you did a lot of writing , granted some more than others, (a lot that you may have felt was "pointless" or "busy work") but I have seen the growth and the development in all of you. Some of you simply becoming more refined, while others improving dramatically. I would like to think that most of you have walked away with a better appreciation for the art of writing and the art of rhetoric and the ability to persuade. Additionally, now that you know the techniques involved in argument, whether it be to persuade, inform or entertain, you can appreciate the importance of knowing who your audience is, what your purpose is, how to appeal to your audience through the use of logos, ethos and pathos, what kinds of claims can be used, and how not to commit a fallacy.

For this final blog I would like for you to write an entry describing your experience during this semester in class. Tell me what you learned, how you feel as a writer after taking this course, and what you would recommend that I do differently or better. Touch upon whether or not the expectations you had of yourself and myself at the beginning of the semester were met or not.

My final thoughts...if you see me around campus don't be afraid to say hello or think that I would have forgotten you. One of the greatest aspects of teaching college is bumping into a student over the years and witnessing their growth and change (this year the first classes I taught are graduating and I'm still in touch with many of them). If you ever need to get in touch with me for help or advice or a letter of recommendation, please feel free to ask (but remember that I won't lie, so make sure I'm the right person you want to ask!). Feel free to keep in touch via twitter or Facebook (look up Natasha Olivera, I have an account just for my students) and you can always follow my crazy parenting stories on my blog stumblesthroughparenthood.com :)

In one way or another you have all touched my life and you will not be forgotten. I wish you all luck with your future endeavors and college experience and that you make the most of it and your potential. (can you tell I'm a mom!? :) )

With love,
Natasha

Neutrality Policy on Homosexuality?

In 2009 the Minnesota school district adopted a curriculum policy that bars teachers from taking a position on homosexuality in the classroom. It has come to be known as the "Neutrality Policy", and opponents of the policy claim that it's a censorship policy. Currently five students in Minnesota's Anoka-Hennepin School District are suing the district, alleging that the policy enables a hostile environment toward students who are either gay, or are perceived to be.

The official district policy, “Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy” (SOCP), reads as follows:

“Teaching about sexual orientation is not a part of the District adopted curriculum; rather, such matters are best addressed within individual family homes, churches, or community organizations. Anoka-Hennepin staff, in the course of their professional duties, shall remain neutral on matters regarding sexual orientation including but not limited to student led discussions. If and when staff address sexual orientation, it is important that staff do so in a respectful manner that is age-appropriate, factual, and pertinent to the relevant curriculum. Staff are encouraged to take into consideration individual student needs and refer students to the appropriate social worker or licensed school counselor.”

Using the skills and strategies that you have been learning this semester in deconstructing arguments, recognizing their strengths and weaknesses and why, as well as questioning critically any issue or topic to understand it from a multi-dimensional perspective, watch the interview conducted by Sanjay Gupta on CNN with Candy Kushman and Rosalind Wiseman and write a response on your blog.

School district's neutrality policy impacting bullying?

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/21/video-school-districts-neutrality-policy-impacting-bullying/

This post will be worth two grades, therefore, be sure to put all of the tools that you have learned to use and compose a strong response!!!