Week 11 Blog Post

 Dear, High School Senior,
The book, "The Transition to College Writing" provides an insight about adjusting to college. Below is a partial summary of two points from the book and some I personally believe he left out.

Inside of chapter one within "The Transition to College Writing", Hjortshoj’s reflects on the differences between High School and College. Two differences that he expresses on that I agree happens with my own experience translating to college is High school teachers are usually generalists, college teachers are specialist and principles of academic freedom in college. In other words, College professor or specialist in this field which impact what and how the class is taught. This impact how a class is structured and goes. Same goes with high school but is often structured off how a state curriculum.  While, with academic freedom this also allows for college professors to teach their classes however they chose to. This is semi-applicable with high school teachers due to the state curriculum.

However, with those differences, I have experience two differences that Hjortshoj's left out from his writing of differences between high school and college. One is failure is natural and excepted in college at some point, while high school failure is catastrophic, in other words, at one point or another you are going to fail a test, quiz, or an exam. However, this failure is not the end of the world typically because it depends on how one reacts to the failure. While, in contrast, failure in high school is viewed as the end of the world for most college bound students. The reason for this despair is due to how grade point average (GPA) can be affect by a failure on tests, quizzes, and projects. GPA is what drives a college bond student since college admission/scholarships are based on off GPA. A second idea that I believe Hjortshoj left out is how the difference with independence varies between college and high school. Independence as it relates to high school and college is two opposite ends of the spectrum. For example, in high school independence is viewed as having the ability to do activities outside of school, like hanging with friends. On the opposite end we have college independence, this includes free independence to do whatever one pleases, but this is different from doing things with friends.

With these differences in mind, often leads to an effect on an individual’s viewpoint on college, typically these viewpoints are false. This incorrect viewpoint can also be called myths. These myths occur because we as human beings like to have expectation on possible life choices/opportunities. An example of this is how we see factory or skilled job as a non-life long job and college is your only choice to be successful. Theses myths lead us to think college is our only choice and leads to struggles later with selecting major and repaying loans after not completing college. This only one choice of a myth that we have and relate to college. There are many other myths that affects us on are decision making in college.

What is Executive Functioning and Why it's Important?

Most college students excel at skills necessary for being college ready. These skills are also connected with a success of a student in grade/high school. With this being said, these skills are often coined executive functioning. Now that we have established what a general usefulness of executive function, but what is it?  Executive Functioning is a collection of skills that affects an individual’s ability to organize and act out cognitive and physical thoughts to achieve a goal. These collections of skills include:

o        Impulse Control

       §Regulating impulsive and inappropriate behavior from occurring.

o        Emotional Control 

       §Controlling and checking emotional responses- tends to affect dealing with stress, failure and others form of stresses. 

o        Flexible Thinking

       § Open-mindedness towards new ways of thinking and the unexpected events. 

o        Working Memory

       §Also, called short-term memory, this is where learning new information takes places at.

o        Self-Monitoring

       §Assessing self-progress towards a goal/desire. 

o        Planning and Prioritizing

       §Selecting and achieving a goal or desire and partaking in the necessary step to the goal.

o        Task Initiation

       §Starting and stopping old and new tasks.

o        Organization

       §Keeping items/ideas in groups, so one can effectively retrieve them at a later time or date.

These skills collectively influence how a student of any level approaches academic and nonacademic work. An example of this is how an individual approaches addresses an problem or a decision choice. An everyday decision that is related to decision making is planning an activity. Without the skills listed above that as person typically has, planning any activity may become a challenge. An example is if a person lacks in flexible thinking, a person who plans activity and one-thing changes may actually cancel the completely planned activity because of one little change, instead of adapting/changing the activity due to the change. Overall, executive functioning is often over looked since most of the skills are acquired naturally in most cases. However, the word most does not mean always occurs; knowing how well you executive functioning is and address an issue can improve your academic and nonacademic abilities substantially. 

Week Nine Blog-Biggest Regret

I realized this on November 14, 2014. I lost my grandmother that day. The following day I read this obituary, "Mildred Marie (McClure) Davis, 74, of Grover Hill, passed away peacefully at her home on November 14, 2014.

Marie was born on August 21, 1938 in Continental, Ohio, the daughter of Everett and Violet (Fruchey) McClure. She was one of seven children. She graduated from Grover Hill High School in 1956.

On December 22, 1956, she married Roland Rex Davis at the United Methodist Church in Grover Hill, Ohio. They were married nearly 58 years. She was blessed with three sons: Kelvin (Sandra Carter), Greg "Gus" (Lori Dealey), and Robbie (Jessica Welch). She was the proud grandmother of eleven grandchildren: Joshua, Jacob (Stacy Hatfield), Justin, Janelle, Natalie (Ben Winans), Nathan, Ryan, Caleb, Corey, Christopher, and Cara. Marie was also blessed with six great-grandchildren: Madisyn, Rhianna, Brayson, Cale, Caroline, and Careen.

Marie retired in January of 1996 from the Wayne Trace Local Schools where she served as treasurer for 20 years. She also served as the Latty Township Clerk for many years.

Marie enjoyed spending time with her family and supporting them in everything that they were involved in. She logged many hours in the stands at her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren’s sporting events.

Marie is survived by her husband, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her siblings: Dana (Sue) McClure, Barb Dotson McClure, Larry McClure, Cleona (Garry) Miller, Earl (Allison) McClure, and Vinal (Leslie) McClure. She was preceded in death by her parents, a brother, Russ "Rex" McClure, and a sister-in-law, Deb McClure. 

Funeral services will be conducted 11 AM Monday, November 17 at Grover Hill Zion United Methodist Church with Rev. Paul Miller officiating. Burial will follow in Middle Creek Cemetery, Grover Hill.

Visitation will be 2 – 8PM Sunday, November 16 at Den Herder Funeral Home, Paulding, and one hour prior to services at the church on Monday. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations made to Grover Hill Zion United Methodist Church or Grover Hill EMS."

This had lasting impact on me because I realized she was actually gone and I realized my biggest regret in my life is not saying I love you enough. I regret this because I saw her a few days before her death and did not say I loved her. However, there is no way to fix this regret, but I can change how I say it to currently loving family members. 

This relates back to community theme since, communities away come together in times of need and time of lost. An example is bring food to the family whom is going though lost. This happens because the struggling family often the thought of food on their mind. This shows how family issue and communities are intertwined.

DC Trash Problem Solutions

In my last blog post, I brought the attention to you all of the DC trash campus problem. Even though DC campus is small, this campus still has a lasting impact on the world around us. Some examples of how the world has been altered is by animal has who perished and/or have been affected. Below is a video of an animal who has been affected by our trash. 

This example only showed how just one form of human trash can have a short or long term effect on an animal.

Last week, I stated that, "Everyday countless students take plastic or Styrofoam to go containers to class. These ends up in the trash. Styrofoam does not degrade well and takes even longer than plastic. These containers can leave a lasting impact on the environment." There are several ways to monitor and fix this issue. One is reuse the plastic to go boxes provided by the cafeteria service. A second way to combat this issue is to use the plastic containers inside the dorms, so there do not end up in the landfill immediately. A third way to lessen waste at DC is to provide biodegradable and edible utensils. A fourth and final way to combat waste is to alter or start up new or current recycling programs.

Blog Post Week Five: Political Community

A political community can be described as a group of people who follow and believe in a set political mindset. A common example of this is the battle between "The Left V. The Right". This battle includes the Republicans and the Democrats, which myself personally never understood, but these two groups have their own doctrines in which the two follow. Some of the republican doctrine included avoiding tax increases, opposes abortion, and oppose the marriage of gays, while the democrat’s doctrines are typically the opposite. They included new taxes rate depending on income, for legal abortion, and supports gay marriage. Theses political community play an active role in reversing or stagnating a community's developmental progress. A political community can lead to formulation of an unhealthy community or a healthy one.

 An example of this is when a political community alters approach towards its ideology. An example of this was brought up by Robert Reich. Robert questioned Trumps move of placing Stephen Bannon above the director of national intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Reich article also discusses the new policy of putting America first and how it is a dangerous route. Trump's decision has caused several responses. Some responses within Reich article include, "Here’s the big worry: Trump is unhinged and ignorant. Bannon is nuts and malicious."  This quote offers a vivid example of how these groups can tear a community apart. Political differences can make normal conversations into ugly ones.  While in a healthy community, this group can have a more positive than a negative impact. Why this is true because these questioning of these ideas can lead to an effective debate and lead to have somewhat of a consensus. Each type of community can alter how their approach these disagreements and questioning. Changing one's outlook can change the course of a community’s long-term development.

While the article by Rosie Gray, focuses on the Anti-Democracy Movement. She discusses how Steve Bannon has been in contract with Curtis Yarvin. Yarvin ideology focuses on that democracy does not work. It is a flawed concept that is inefficiency and solves nothing. Yarvin prefers thee NRx or a rejection of democracy, for autocratic rule. This community seen as an unhealthy community due to its following of autocratic rule. Both healthy and unhealthy community may see this move as a way of ending their ways of life. Autocratic ruling can directly change their ways of life and their own personalize choice in decision-making. Proof of this treatment is when Rose article states, "The core of our problem is that there is no one with the secure authority to fix things. The core of our solution is to find a man, and put him in charge, with a real chain of command, and a clear ownership structure." and "The only viable path to restoration of competent government is the simple and hard way:

Become worthy.

Accept power.

Rule.”  

These two quotes show how one person can take away a community's ability to make choices for themselves. These communities can combat this by standing up to the NRz movement and over thrown the group if it continues that far.  

DC Trash Problem

Easter is around the corner and all the fun with it will be here before you know it. Though out the day, the family had numerous of bonding moments. These bonding experiences include a day full of conversation and  food.  After all the food, has settled in everyone’s stomachs, the cleanup begins. the dessert and food containers are emptied, the bottles/cans are gathered together. Once everything is straightened up, excess food is either taken home or dumped. What ends up getting dumped, includes all the disposable utensils and one use of cookware. 

According to Toxics Action Center, in 2007, reported that each American discards an average of more than 1,650 pounds of garbage every year, or approximately 4.6 pounds per person each day, nearly double the 1960 average of 2.7 pounds per day. We as individuals are also making an effecting choice on the issue. An example of this is here at Defiance College. Everyday countless students take plastic or Styrofoam to go containers to class. These ends up in the trash. Styrofoam does not degrade well and takes even longer than plastic. These containers can leave a lasting impact on the environment. There are numerous ways to fix this issue. Tune in next week to see some of the ways to combat the trash problem on campus and in the world/community in general.

URL: http://www.toxicsaction.org/problems-and-solutions/waste

An Example of How Everyday Interests can Become a Symbol of Our Lives

  An example of an interests we grow up liking is a show like The Brady Bunch , sports like football, or a hobby like blogging; some interests stick while others fade though our life time. Some of these interests can become a symbol of our lives. An example of my own past interests in sewing. Sewing has shown me how to deal with loss, wear, and love within my life. 

If you have ever been around a sewing machine you often, have to fix some wear and tear on fabric. The wear of the clothing represents the trials and tribulations of my life. One of the initial trials of my life was when I was born. My brother and I were born three months premature.  One difficulty I had was speech problems/difficulties. The speech difficulty I had was I roll my R’s. These speech issues prepared me for life’s challenges. On top of my speech disability, I additionally overcame a number of physical characteristics of being a premature infant. Some of these characteristics pertain in terms of development compared to my fellow peers.

On top of the wear of the clothing, the sew machine fixes and mends the clothing by the use of thread and needle.  The overall tightness of the stitches shows how I am tight-knitted with my family. I am close with my family, because they helped take care of us at a young age. While we were in the hospital, much our family stop to visit us. After leaving the hospital, our grandma would take care of one or both of us while our mom went to college and our father went to work. This is one example of life's love within my life. 

Besides the mending of the clothing, the sewing machine also provides light in order see what you are sewing. The light provided myself with seeing and understanding the loss within my life. Again, my grandmother often would help take care of me while my mother and father again were working/acquiring education. She was a key factor in my life. She would always take us school shopping before school started to make sure we had new shoes and clothes for school. In addition, I lost our first dog after being struck by a car. At the age of 10, I watched as she was put down, while my mother just wanted to leave. I wanted to stay so she would not have to die alone. These are just two examples of loss within my life. 

Lastly, I hope you all began to see that the objects you have in your life could represent you in ways more than you realize. An example of my own life is: how your family has made sacrifices to get you to the point where you are today.  How objects can help shed some light on going life crisis. All of these ideas can be symbolized into any everyday object.