Memorization

When it comes to memorization I use only one and that's rehearsal because repetition equals perfection. When it comes to any subject I repeat the most important facts I need to know or any information that I know that is going to pop up for the test or quiz. Rehearsal is effective as for memorizing because repetition makes you get whatever you are reading. For example when it comes to having a test for a math class I tend to forget the formulas very fast so what I do is write down the formulas and start repeating them so I know I get them down. Once I do that I start remembering the formulas from the class and start using them throughout my years. Rehearsal in sports has made a huge benefit to me because in a sport in able to become good at something you need to practice until you have it down like the back of your head. Once you have hours and days repetition on a sport that sport becomes second nature to you. When it comes to science I rehearse by reading and re-reading the text so I get where we are at as in a time frame of the class and so I can answer questions. In addition knowing what we are studying and knowing the cells or anatomy that we need to know for an upcoming test. So to summarize it all up rehearsal is one of the top ways for someone to memorize something important in their class. Furthermore, besides memorizing it helps, the study habits for yourself and others in other countries. Seeing the problem itself with the memorizing I can see why so many students themselves don’t remember a thing about a certain subject because they don’t have a study habit.

Transfer Motivational Conference Blog

The biggest highlight for me was the people who put there time into the Puente program to help students succeed in college and later on in life. I attended a workshop were they were discussing about students who wanted to go to college but weren't citizens yet. They got into detail and explained to the class that you could still go to college even if you weren't a citizen but you had to fill out a couple of forms to attend college. My point of view of that class was that it wasn't very helpful on helping me out as in my future for college or right now. I see it this way because the motivation/drive that brought me to college to receive a associate and bachelor degree later on in college was basically being reinstated at the motivational conference and its workshops. So I really didn't gain anything from going there but just meeting other Puente students and interacting more with my fellow Puente students. Besides the motivational conference not really helping or motivate me I did get to see other students gain a lot from the conference and giving them a motivational boost that they can make it through college even with all the odds stacked against them. From looking at the body language of the other Puente groups it seemed to me that our Puente group from Foothill was the most energetic there. We did get complaints of being to disruptive but I didn't see it as that, I saw it as if we were the most motivated out all of the Puente groups and we displayed it at the motivational conference. So to summarize it all up I think as a group some of us might have gain a little knowledge going to the motivational conference. But overall I think we already had that motivation that the motivational conference was trying to give us and the other Puente groups.

Anzaldua Blog Response #2: The Anti- Essay

Anzaldua writes in a way were she uses a metaphor to start off her essay then gets into the essay explaining that metaphor she used in the beginning. By doing this in her writing she grabs the reader to keep on reading and has them wanting to read more to answer their question from the metaphor she created in the first paragraph. What makes her text an academic text is the problem of the Spanish language having many varieties of languages in its own part and why don’t we stick to that medieval Spanish? Since these issues are brought up, this engages the reader to join the conversation and submit their own point of views. What made the text anti-academic was the discussion about the Spanish language starting to change in her personal view than staying on the academic part of it. It’s different from a traditional essay because Anzaldua is trying to get on a personal level on the subject to have the reader connect with the subject more. By doing this Anzaldua grabs the reader to keep reading and really find out what she really is trying to say in the text. She does this type of writing because from the start she throws a curveball at them with a metaphor. Then once the reader finishes reading that first paragraph they have a drive to read the whole text so they can solve that metaphor and see how it connects to the rest of her text. “Pocho, cultural traitor, you’re ruining the Spanish language” this quote I believe shows us as a reader the purpose of writing this essay. Reason being is because it’ not that some of us Spanish speaking people intertwine our language with English but to create a language that fits our society as a group in a English society. This new language does not have to do with us watering down our Spanish with English but evolving it to another language that our kids will understand us due to the big divide between both cultures. We are just trying to keep some of that Spanish language we’re proud of but incorporate the language that we are forced to learn to succeed in life so that we still hold our roots but let them grow to what they are surrounded by in life.

How to Tame A Wild Tongue Blog

I was stunned to the unusual mix of languages the Anzaldua uses in this excerpt because of the message she is trying to get across. She gives many examples of the different languages she uses by describing how she talked Spanish compared to other people/cultures. Anzaldua compares these different Spanish speaking cultures and shows the reader how a society can change the way a group of people speak and how it affects their accent as well. Anzaldua goes into depth giving the readers the proper word and way to say a word in Spanish. Then she shows how other Spanish speaking cultures write and pronounce that word. This gives the reader examples on how different cultures have a way of speaking a certain language. Furthermore she describes the similarities between the cultures and the way they say words but then the differences as well. Showing how one culture keeps these letters in a word instead of the other letters. This is what caused the mixture of languages and it made one language more difficult to decode to find out what one word really meant or the definition of that word. I find this intriguing because it shows you how a language can be transformed by a majority group of people that influences a minority group of people to speak their language. That would later on leave that culture to speak with the majority group accent. In addition, to that it would make the minority group change the way they spoke their language and form a new language. Anzaldua is trying to show to the reader that their isn't one set language for the languages broken down into simplified categories. She wants to prove that language isn't set into you and that's it. It actually stays evolving into a more complex language that seem like codes when people talk to one another and other people.

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.