College Success:Blog 4

This student uses aural as their learning strategy and is their top learning strategy because they learn more when someone tells them, then being hands on. This student takes notes and later comes back to them to fill it in with any other things they came up with from the lecture. They explain their notes to another student and help another learner by describing what they learned in class when they were absent. When it comes to studying for exams they would read the question out loud then listen to their own voice while they answer the question. When this person prepares to study they sometimes get lost in the lecture that they stop writing then later come back to the notes once they got more information from their fellow students and textbook. Some of these stratergies would work with me because reading the question out loud then hearing my voice answering the question will embed the answer in my head to that question. Taking notes here and there would help me a little because it will refresh my brain to see what subject we were on and get me back to that state of mind to help me study. Another would be communicating with another student to catch other main ideas that i missed in the note taking so it can help me have a bigger perspective on the subject to help me understand it.

Literature Circle Blog #3

 

What are the consequences of sacrificing your pride in order to overcome your struggles?  In chapter 15 Juan Salvador arrives in California because of a letter his sister has sent him regarding his mother dying if he doesn't go soon to California.  When Juan arrives he slowly starts to realize that Mexicans like him self are treated like dogs from the Americans.  The first time he sacrificed his pride for his struggles was when he got a job setting up dynamite where he noticed how he was getting treated.  The Americans slurred his last name in a way that dis-- respected him but he ignored them.  It wasn't until he started drilling with the other American drillers when he began to notice that they were giving him the eye to show him that they didn't like him.  Juan ignored this as well but he was keeping a steady drilling on the rock that the Americans became competitive and started to race him. Juan and the Americans kept racing but after awhile it came to him and an American named Jack.  The competition grew but the lunch horn blew and they stopped working.  Juan followed the Americans to where they went to wash their hands and realized the Americans dropped the cup when it was his turn to wash his hands.  Juan ignored this thinking it was a mistake but when he bent over to try to pick up the cup the American kicked it away.  This made Juan lower his head and suck his pride so he could later overcome this struggle by showing off to these Americans how good of a driller he was.  Unfortunately Juan came soon to realize that this back fired in he almost got killed with a bunch of tools coming straight towards him from up the rock. "I shouldn't have pushed so much"(pg 258) Juan said to the Mexicans who were digging below him were he was drilling. In this quote Juan shows that if he wants to overcome this unfair struggle he faces with the Americans he has to sacrifice his pride to overcome this so he can feed his family.  Juan realizes if he doesn't do this he will put his family in jeopardy because he won't have a job if he talks back to these Americans like if he was American that demanded to be treated right.  Juan now knows that he has to sacrifice his pride to overcome his struggle.

Literature Circle Blog Response #2

1. What circumstances make hope impossible or possible? The circumstance of Dona Guadalupe and Don Victor family living in La Lluvia de Oro makes hope impossible by the bandits who roam around their village. Everyday they have to worry about the bandits taking their gold, which they did. In addition, it makes it even harder for Dona Guadalupe's family to leave La Lluvia de Oro, because they wanted to use the gold to help them get out so they could go to the United States. "Then one day, Lupe and Sophia were sitting together, listening to the breeze-just being quiet-when, for no apparent reason, they both started to cry. They’d worked so hard and suffered so much. And, not only had the bandits killed Don Tiburcio, they’d taken their gold, raped Paloma and two other little Indian girls, killing all of them. Oh, la vida was just too difficult to bear at times.” (pg198)
The circumstance that happened when Dona Guadalupe and Dona Manza spotted a rock with gold turned the hope that was impossible to possible. This discovery boosted their moral and confidence, which help motivate them in breaking down the gold again to nuggets. "Look, see that rock in the middle of the plaza? Now that the sun has come out, it shines" says Dona Guadalupe. "My children and I were commenting on that same stone the other day," "Now that the roots have turned up the cobblestones, every time it rains, there seems to be a little color here and there, all over the plaza" says Dona Manza. “So what are we waiting for?” “Maybe it’s gold!” says Dona Guadalupe. “It’s gold!” screamed Lupe. (pg 200-201) You can just feel the excitement of everyone in the town grow with their hopes as well.
To say that one circumstance brought the peoples hopes down or up is out the question because every time they went through something horrific something amazing happens and lifts them up again.
2. What is the value of family? Victoriano shows what the value of family is by showing the reader how much he cares for his little sister Lupe and how he would die to make sure anything never happened to her. For example, Victoriano says "We'll take care of you," "Truly, I'd die a thousand deaths before I'd let anything happen to you, Lupe." (pg 188) Another example of what is value of family is when Dona Guadalupe explains to Lupe why she was okay with her sisters running away with the guys they loved. Dona Guadalupe explained to her that the times were tougher now and they just didn't have the money to throw a bunch of weddings. So Dona Guadalupe let her older daughters run away so that they could get married because when a man steals a families daughter to run away they are considered partners/married. Here's a part from the book that shows this “I told her to, mi hijita." "Lupita, it was going to come to this anyway. And I want my daughters protected before the bandits come again." (pg 188)So to tell you what the value of family is, well it's the most important thing in your life if you love your family. The value for your family can never go away and if someone ever tried to take it away, you would stand up. It just comes to this the value of family is un-explainable in words but through your actions in life is what will show you the value of family not someone describing it to you. They can't write it on a piece of paper as a definition and tell you this is what value of family is. No, it’s on you, the individual who defines what value of family which has many definitions is.

Nikki Giovanni

Leave your cell phone at the classroo...

Leave your cell phone at the classroom door?

1.  What causes the digital divide (those who have technology and those who do not)?

       The gap between past and present generations is what causes the digital divide.  The younger generation tends to be the ones who are used to the technology in this time and the technology that is evolving.  Reason being that the younger generation is comfortable with this technology is because they grew in the era where they taught the technology in class. 
    The older generation is not used to the technology that's out here in the world today because they didn't have it availabe to them when they were growing up.  In addition, the lack of knowledge of technology the older generation don't really try to learn it.  They see it as to confusing to learn the technology and to keep up with the evolving technology.  

Literature Circle BLOG 1

In the first scene I drew Juan running up the rail road tracks towards the train that his mom and his family were in. The scene took place pages 121 through 123. I selected this scene because I felt this was a turning point for Juan on changing his ways on not taking life serious. I learned a lot about Juan's character because it showed when push came to shove he knew the way he acted wasn't the way he was suppose to be. In addition, Juan came to realize that he needed to be serious about life and not get caught up with his ways of playing around. Juan started to see why his sister and his mom always told him you need stop playing around the way you do or it would soon catch up to him One word to describe this scene I would have to say is DIGNITY.
The second scene I chose was of Emilia yelling at Juan not to go looking for wood and to wait for their mother. But Juan refused and replied back to his sister saying I he had to. The scene took place in pages 147 through 149. This scene was the turning point was Juan became a man inside and not a child anymore. Juan came to realize that he came to peace with himself and knew what he had to do for his family to survive. Juan couldn't be unsure of not making it back, he was confident of making it back as if he knew and that's what changed him to become a man. Furthermore, Juan now realized why his mother was so calm and seen why she never felt down when things seemed like they weren’t going well. The word I would choose for this scene would be RESPONSIBILITY.

Reflection on Munoz

What are some concrete examples of why people change their name? People change their names for these main reasons: give them better opportunities and to fit in. The first reason why people change their name is because they want to fit in. People feel they need to change their name because they feel as if their not getting treated the same as someone else with a white name. For example, someone with a name like Estrella would want to change their name to star to fit in with the white culture because right when someone sees that name on a sheet of paper their going to say "Oh she's a Latina!" In addition, to that the teacher or who ever the person is will mistreat the girl named Estrella because of her name's ethnicity background. So, because of that someone with a non-white name would want to change their name so they won't get mistreated like that. When someone just has to read your name to see how they should judge and treat you it makes people like Estrella change their name to Star. Reason being because she wants to fit in with everyone else and not feel vilified by her name.
People changing their name to get better opportunities might sound ridiculous to some people, but don't be fooled because people do. A bunch of people change their names because they feel their native name isn't going to help them get a job or other opportunities. As I explained in my first paragraph how people already decide to change their name because of not fitting in, well same applies for better opportunities in life. For example, people who have the same experience and education in a career are going to get the job based on their name and what ethnicity it usually represents. Like if one of the persons is named Raul and the other John. Who do you think the employer will choose? John of course because the employer feels much more safe knowing that they have someone white working for them and they can trust him on getting the job done.

What is the digital culture?

The digital culture is the whole world revolving around the Internet. Such as using search engines like Google and Yahoo to find sources for someones research paper in a science class, history class and so on. Plus, people are starting to use email as a way to communicate with people. Even instant messaging is being used to communicate when people don't have a phone or if their not trying to use up their minutes. Now that the Internet has become so big some people do interviews online using live streaming video. As well, people use live streaming videos for meetings. Now and days people are using the Internet to answer questions that have to do with medical illness or physical medical problems. Even the Internet is being used to purchase medicines or clothing or mos of the things you can get at stores. The Internet is starting to make people spend less time going places and having them take care of things right in the comfort of their home.
Besides using all the availabilities in the Internet, digital culture also has to do with the programs you have on your computer. Such as Microsoft Word where people write essays or columns for a newspaper. Microsoft Word even lets you turn names or quotes into nice looking word art fonts for front or back covers on your binder. In addition, programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint helps people create slide shows of their favorite pictures, weddings, birthday, holidays and vacations. Furthermore, Microsoft PowerPoint helps people create a presentation for a class assignment as displaying main points, pictures or attaching videos to help the students or co-workers understand the topic more. In addition, to these two programs Microsoft Excel has revolutionized the working industry because managers can create work schedules on it and they can even create a spreadsheet were they can keep up to date inventory. Excel also helps people create a spreadsheet were they can make a business plan. Such as, how much money they need to put in to buy certain things, how much your going to be spending on electricity/water expenses and when they will start making profit off there business. Finally, besides all these Microsoft programs Adobe Photo shop is another helpful program to people if they want to create a web layouts, web designs and even a page layout for their Myspace, Twitter, Youtube and other social websites.
So to answer what is the digital culture in a much easier way, is that digital culture has everything to do with a computer.

Literature Circle Blog 1

The first scene I drew was of Victoriano about to be hanged from La Liebre and Dona Guadalupe trying to give her son her last blessings so she can free him from the ropes they tied to him. Don Manuel is assisting to La Liebre to give Dona Guadalupe more time for her blessing so she can have more time to set Victoriano free and run as far as he can. The scene took place in pages 84 through page 91. I thought this scene was important because it was a turning point in the book were the people from the town stand up for their community and fight back against the soldiers to take back their town. The characters in this scene show loyalty and bravery by supporting the people they knew all their life from their small town community. The connection I had with this scene was I have had points in my life were I have protected people from my hometown of East Palo Alto from bullies who were picking on them. For example one time my mom and I saw a kid getting picked on from these group of kids. We got out the car and told the kids to get lost. In addition we took the kid home to make sure he got home safe and talked to his mom about the situation that had happened. What I learned about history was there was still loyalty and bravery back then. One word to describe this scene would be LOYALTY.
The second scene I chose was when Colonel Manuel Maytorena decided to wait for Lupe to get back from talking with her mom to see if he could be invited to her house to talk to her mother about having her wife stay at there house while he was doing his job. The scene took place in pages 21 through page 27. I thought this scene was important because it shows even though Colonel Manuel Maytorena was a high ranking soldier and could use his authority to do what he wants he still had respect for the people in the small town community. I learned that Colonel Manuel still respected people's rules. I don't have any personal connections with this scene. What I learned about the politics was that they were very powerful back then. They could basically do what they wanted when they wanted. They have a personal choice on how they would act with people in society. One word to describe this scene would be RESPECT.