14V: Investment

When I think of this word of the week, investment, I think of the commitment and the time put into a topic or idea to have a greater outcome. The official definition is, an act of devoting time, effort, or energy to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result.

Two other words I chose this week to define are:

Thanks: I chose to define this on behalf of Thanksgiving. It means to express gratitude towards something.

And here is a random word this week: Paragon. This means a model or pattern of excellence or of a particular excellence 

14I: Music Monday

I was in my room on a Monday night doing my homework, when my friend from Newtown was up at Southern. I decided to go meet her at the event she was at in the Farnham Programing Space. There I saw one of the winners of the voice, Javier Colon. He was actually the first winner of the voice. Now I’ve never heard of him before this but I will be an advocate for him in the future. He had an amazing range and his voice was so powerful, and with the mood he had, he made everyone feel his positive energy and want to sing along. Plus I got a free t-shirt out of it. Overall it was a great night spent with a great friend.

Photo Link:http://www.berkleegroove.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Javier-Colon.jpg

14B: It Doesn't Get Much Cheesier Then This

                This past year has been full of change and finding a new normal for not only myself, but for everyone in this new environment we call college.

                The first thing I’m thankful for is the opportunities I’ve been given. One I’m referring to is the opportunity to go to college and live on campus. This may not seem like a large deal to some but living at college has been my ideal thought ever since I was a child. All of this wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t get a scholarship from my town that paid a large portion of my tuition. Without this, I know I wouldn’t be able to live on campus, and possibly not be able to go to Southern. Without all of this, I wouldn’t have met some of the amazing friends I have made and the opportunity to pursue my dream and intended major of becoming a teacher.

                One of the other opportunities I have been so graciously given is the things I’ve been given towards my musical career. I have been able to meet, preform and work with many Broadway actor, directors, and producers. These are opportunities given because of tragedy but enhanced into a resume builder and career in music.    

                What I’m also thankful for is the most cliché of all: My family. Though we may disagree on some things, I love them. They have helped me reach Southern and let me fully experience the college life, which I am truly grateful for.

                I’m also thankful for my freshman inquiry class. Not this may not be something I say I’m thankful for at the dining room table, I really am grateful for this class. Without it, I wouldn’t know how to register for my classes, stay motivated, or even be remotely prepared for the work load I would acquire as a freshman

                This year has been a bumpy ride, but everything has happened for a reason and I’ve learned so much and I feel so blessed.  Happy Thanksgiving Everyone, have a great holiday!!

Photo link:http://coolrain44.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/thanksgiving-charlie-brown-snoopy.jpg

14A: The Thrills of Finals

                I have always been a nervous test taker. I study as much as I can, though I can still feel so unprepared. I get clammy, I forget half the things I studied and I rush through the exam just to have a feeling of slight relief.

                And though some people may consider me a thrill junky, taking tests is not exactly what I had in mind. So I’ve decided to take things at a different direction this time. Obviously I will still be studying for my tests, I am going to take a break from the whole college life for a little while. I mean, I’m going to get off campus and in a more carefree environment to study, where I’m not surrounded by the constant pressure of school.

                You see, when I’m around school, or in school, it makes me more anxious and nervous. But with the different approach, I’m going to be staying in my dorm a lot more, or going off campus to a friend’s house to study. When I’m around a school environment less, I can step away from the books for a minute and take a breather without the constant reminder that being in college is a huge deal. I need to focus on the tests more, and less about the overall outcome of the tests.

                As I’ve said in many previous posts, you need to think of all the possible outcomes of your actions and decisions, the plan is to focus on that less. My plan for finals is to strictly focus on studying the information of my exam. Don’t think about, “what if I fail,” just think about knowing the information and taking the exam. Relax and test on!! 

link for photo:http://www.uisjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Finals.jpg

Final Rough Draft

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w0yTJ-l_U0&feature=youtu.be

13V: Purpose

This week’s assigned vocab word is purpose. When I hear this word, I self-define it as, something or someone that specializes in a specific thing. Whatever that thing is, that is its purpose. The dictionary defines it as, “have as one's intention or objective.”

The two other vocab words I have chosen to define are:

Rituals: Sacred acts done over and over to remind people of the original event

Substantive: Belief in spiritual beings-typically decanted ancestors 

13I: The Hunger Games Refresher

I’ve never been much of a book reader, but movies that are based upon books, always seem to be the best. The Hunger Games is no different. I saw The Hunger Games for the first time two years ago, the night after it premiered. It was fantastic. So when the news broke that the second one was coming out, Catching Fire, I was thrilled. So to fully prepare myself for the premiere, I saw the first Hunger Games in the Student Center Theater. It was a nice, inexpensive, on campus way to spend an evening. Plus when I saw the Hunger Games last night, my mind was fully refreshed!

13B: I'll Help You....Creatively

                Those of you that have read my blog before, remember my midterm video project: The Perks of Living on Campus. This video explored the positive aspects of college life. For my final video project, we make a slight change. This will be focusing on the problems of college and ways we can fix them. My project is based upon how the poor college student make money.

                To make a creative appeal to my last project I did many things. Some of the things I did that positively affected my grade, I will incorporate into my final project, in the hopes of an even higher marking. Last time, I put music throughout the whole video. The songs I chose were upbeat and had a happy feeling to them. This gave the video a positive feeling which, in the long run, is what I want people to feel, it’s great to live on campus! For this final video, I plan on doing the same thing. Lake last time, the songs chosen will incorporate a happy feeling, maybe even some hopeful songs, to make them feel, “Anything’s possible, and if I truly try, I can get a job!” Also, like last time, I will include some personal photos of me and my experiences. Maybe I’ll post a picture of me at the job I paid for college with, or I will post a photo of me at my new job back in my home town.

                Though I will be keeping some of the old techniques I used in my last video, I will spice it up with some new, creative ones as well. As I discussed in my previous post, I will be posting a video of me filling out an application to a job, maybe on campus. This is a creative way of helping people walk through the process of filling out an application. This will hopefully show people how easy it is, so I can reach my overall goal of making money as a college student. 

13A: May the Finals Begin

The first semester of college is coming close to an end. We have all had to change and morph into a cliché college student just to get the great grades we were hoping for (stay away to the wee hours of the morning, spending your downtime studying for tests you feel completely unprepared for and going to the office hours most professors strongly advise and suggest but most students end up avoiding.) And if there hasn’t been enough stress already, finals are about to begin.

                This week, I will be intensely focused on finishing my rough draft of my Inquiry 101 class final, before I go home for the thanksgiving recess.  This project is supposed to pool together all my knowledge and resources of what I’ve learned this semester into one great video project. The video will be focusing on have 5 distinct components; describing the problem, exploring possible outcomes and proposing the best solution(s), providing useful information about resources on campus that students can access in dealing with the problem, ample research, interviews, quotes from readings, facts, or other evidence to support both the description of the problem and the proposal of the solution(s), and using creativity to engage your audience.

                The problem I have chosen to address and find a way to solve is, the lack of money college students have and how they can go about making money whilst in school. I chose this topic because it is a problem that many college students face, especially here at SCSU. As college students, we are constantly wanting to be independent and go out and act like the adults we so desperately want to be. But this reality is hard to face as a college student.

                To make this final, high college-level material I have many things planned to be put into the project. I will include, ways to research jobs either on or near campus, as well as look at possible transportation to get to jobs off campus. I will also include specific examples of jobs on campus and how you would go about applying for said jobs. Along with that, I will hopefully acquire a job application and record a video of me filling out an application, sort of like a tutorial. With all this information, it physically tells you everything you need to do to get a job and how to apply. This video is informational and a great utilization of my resources put into one simple video for you to find a job. Keep a look out for it!!

Photo link: http://img2.findthebest.com/sites/default/files/431/media/images/College_Students_are_Poor_171699.jpg

12V: Interdisciplinary Perspective

 This weeks assigned vocab word:

1.        Interdisciplinary Perspective: Interdisciplinary means involving more than one academic subject.  So with perspective that means have outlooks on one or more academic subjects

2 other word I learned this week:

1.     Mercurial: at a constant state of change.
2.       Neuroplasticity: refers to changes in neural pathways and synapses which are due to changes in behavior, environment and neural processes, as well as changes resulting from bodily injury.

12I: Win/Win

This week, I decided that, my room had too many people in it and everyone was talking. Though I love having company, I decided that I needed to get my homework done. So when I went to the student center by myself, I got food and sat in the couches in the back. Not only is this comfortable, but it is also secluded from everyone else, so in case I do know someone, there is a smaller chance of running into them. This was a good place to study and there was food, it was a win/win situation.

Photo link:  http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/pixelsaway/pixelsaway1110/pixelsaway111000056/10982792-win-win-strategy-concept--white-chalk-writing-on-a-small-slate-blackboard-isolated-on-white.jpg

12B: Back by Popular Demand...!!!

For my last week’s blog post, I made a series of inquiry questions that you would expect on a quiz or assessment for our INQ 101 class. Now, back by popular demand, we will be doing the same thing based on this week’s readings. But this time I will focus more on less questions. The first one I came up with was:

Q: In what ways will a liberal arts education help you to find a job in the future? How will you stand out from other people? Use evidence from the readings to explain your reasoning.

                Now let’s start with, why this is a college level inquiry question. There are 3 parts to this question. The first part makes you refer to the readings but you also you have to have to have some opinion based and you must use critical thinking to link it between your readings and opinions. The second part of the question goes back to the first part and makes you use your previous knowledge to further explore the topic. The third part is just explaining, to get full credit you need to explain using evidence, maybe even quotes.

                Now to further help you understand a college level question, I will be answering this to, what I believe, is a college worthy answer.

A: In this week’s readings we learned all about the liberal arts education program. As said in the article, “What is college for?” it says, that when kids find classes boring, they find a lack of interest studying for them outside of school. But with the liberal arts education program, people can choose classes they actually might enjoy and explore those further, hence enhancing their want to study and raising their rate for success. With the liberal arts, it will help you stand out in a group of potential employees in a job interview because you have something you specialize in. It shows that you can teach children something specific and it’ll have that advantage against every other interviewee. With that said, it will also help you to have a potential back up career in case you can’t find one in education.

12A: Liberal Success

In my high school, I got to make my own schedule. Some of the classes were mandatory but I would get to choose my other ones. Some classes I would take for fun and others for an easy A but in many ways this is a good comparison to what it is like now in college.

Many universities now offer what is called a liberal arts education. This program teaches you to go outside the box, it teaches you to explore other things besides you major, for example. There are several reasons this is so important. Not only does is help you learn about new things but it could lead to the discovery of something else you want to do with your life, or it can allow you to stand out among

a group of job applicants.

My major is a perfect example of a liberal arts education program here at Southern. For the education major, you have to choose a second major as well. They do this for many different reasons. First, they want teachers to be specialized in soothing other than education (math, reading, writing, science, etc.)  This will help you stand out in a group of potential employees in a major and have something you specialize in. With that said, it will also help you to have a potential back up career in case you can’t find one in education.

In this week’s readings we learned all about the liberal arts education program. As said in the article, “What is college for?” it says, that when kids find classes boring, they find a lack of interest studying for them outside of school. But with the liberal arts education program, people can choose classes they actually might enjoy and explore those further, hence enhancing their want to study and raising their rate for success. 

Photo link:http://sites.psu.edu/lindsayz/files/2013/01/Liberal-ArtsCartoon-1.jpg

11V: Innovation

The word i have to define this week for inquiry is innovation. When I hear this word I think of older times when the world started advancing in technology and stuff like that. The actual definition of innovation is the act or process of change. 

Two other words I learned this week are 

• Impavid: meaning to have no fear, not to be afraid
• Dire: dreadful, causing fear or suffering

11I: Dodgeball

This week I decided to go see my friend play dodge ball. Though I do not play and intermural watching her play. Not only do the teams get really competitive, but they are all really supportive of everyone on the team. The team play 3 games against each other and the tea with the best out of 3 wins. When I watched them play, they were down to the third game with one win each but sadly my friend loss. Though they lost it was fun to watch and we took a trip to conn after!!



Photo Link: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCs8EOh7xnEB750e715E91tJ_6ygo2cZZ-Cg18QHSK-2h6HelLKYJ8KX4jSH4m3a-NHC0zy1gvPV96bZa7rre0I_T9SSDkgxeq7mo_6q_N86hSgS2_g2DPE1zdT2WjYfPnwmFVLtZqFks/s1600/patcheso.png

11B: My Peer Analysis

                What makes a question good? How do we know if its “College-level” or not? But have no fear!! I’m going to provide you with examples and an analysis of a good question. AND along with that, I will tell you what to expect when taking a college level question!!

                I will be looking at the blogs of my fellow classmates and choosing my favorite ones. These questions will best exemplify a college level question and what to include when write and answering it.

                The first question that is a good example of a college level question is By Paige is, "What are some ways college students can cultivate creativity, and how it can important to their future?” I think this is a good question because it asks you to explore your college life, something all of us inquiry students are going to. This will give us a chance to relate it to us personally and with that, we will probably elaborate further on the question. This questions also has some requirement for looking into your readings into what good creativity, or how you create good creativity.

                The next question I analyzed was “How can boredom produce creativity?” which was created by Kali. Though this is only a one part question, you can answer it in a multitude of ways. You can first answer it factually. In the reading it talks about how boredom is the prelude to creativity. You can also answer this question opinionated. You can compare yourself to how you think when you’re bored. But if you want a good college level question, you should answer it all of the possible ways.

                Both of these questions are good examples of college level questions basically because they make you explore more into detail thoughts. They make you critically think, which is what college is all about.

11A: Creative Minds Think Alike

This week’s readings were based upon the time and patience that goes into creating good imagination and creativity. For this week’s blog, we are asked to come up with possible quiz questions that we believe could appear on an assignment for these readings in our INQ class. These questions must be college level questions that cause you, not only to prove that you did the reading, but make you analyze and come up with a theory on your own.

                The first question I thought of was, “In what ways does boredom and loneliness spark imagination and creativity? Do you agree with this theory, why or why not?” Now what makes this a college level question? This is a two part question. The first part (underlined) is a more factual analysis of the question. It makes you think back to what you learned and base your answer on the readings. The second part (not underlined) is more of an opinionated analysis of the information of what you learned. With this you get a well-rounded outlook on the question, and if you read the reading, a question like this should come easy.

                The next question I thought of is, “What sorts of things are distracting us from ‘The Joys of Boredom’? In what way is this stunting our creative minds?” Like the previous question, there are two parts to the questions. Though both parts seem to be more factual analysis of the readings. But like the first one, with this you still get a well-rounded outlook on the question, and if you read the reading, a question like this should come easy.

                The next question I came up with is a little different from the first ones. “For your homework you read about 32 different types of new coming inventions. Which invention do you think will most benefit the health/wellness of American society as a whole? Which part has little/no positive benefits to Americans health and benefits?” Unlike the other questions this is three parts. The first part (Underlined) is and explanation of what you read. The last 2 parts (italicized and just bold) are factual opinion based questions.

                The last college-level question I made was, “In what ways has college stunted or helped you creativity and imagination. Use specific examples and relate it to what you’ve read this week.” Though this question is a little more general then the others, it helps us relate to college, which is the point of our inquiry class. It causes you to think over a broader spectrum.

                The question I am going to show a sample answer to you is, “In what ways does boredom and loneliness spark imagination and creativity? Do you agree with this theory, why or why not?”

We are most human when we are bored, and though we feel as if we accomplish nothing when we are, it is actually the best time to. In this week’s reading boredom is defined as the prelude to creativity and loneliness is the prelude to engagement of imagination. I believe this is because when we are alone, we are left alone with our own thoughts and minds. Hence we come up with new ideas in our mind. I agree with this. When we are by ourselves, we usually get to thinking as a way to entertain ourselves and with this, we can spark something new.

Photo Link: http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/lightwise/lightwise1202/lightwise120200033/12353881-imagine-and-invent-as-human-imagination-and-creative-man-as-the-intelligent-brain-with-a-front-facin.jpg

10V: Creativity

This week’s vocab word:

Everyone is creative in some way; academically, artistically or many other ways. I believe I have a fair amount of creativity as well. Mine is in the art department, I am musically creative. Creativity is defined as: the use of the imagination or original ideas. When you use what you’re good at that defines who you are, to create something, you are being creative.

Other words I learned this week:

                Exchange Theory: Maximize your rewards and avoid costs. You can bargain with things like money, personality, commitment, etc.

                Habitual Effect: When you become used to something, like a habit, and it becomes boring after a period of time. You lose passion. 

link for photo: http://www.creativitypost.com/images/made/images/uploads/psychology/iStock_000021431921XSmall_610_300_s_c1_center_center.jpg

10I: A Whole New World

                This week I had a chance to take a bus down to University of New Haven. I took it with my friend Sam so she could go see her boyfriend. The bus ride, though cheap, took us about 50 minutes to get there, but if we took a cab, would have taken only about 10 minutes. But when we got there it was so different and strange to be on another college campus in the same town. The rooms were completely different. What felt the weirdest to me was how we all live in the same town and know of similar restaurants but that’s generally it. We live in two totally separate world, but it was nice to see how they live too.

Link to photo: https://alumni.newhaven.edu/image/unh-message-header.jpg

10B: This is Me

                In my blog, I try to discuss different parts of my freshman year of college and ways to succeed, while incorporating personal experiences and tips that I’ve acquired, not just from my first few months at college, but over a life time. Though this blog post may be a little different. For this blog post, I will be answering a series of questions that talk about myself and different inspirations and values that I hold.  

                Listed below are questions that I’ve decided to answer this week:

1.       What is the first creative moment you remember?

2.       Was anyone there is witness or appreciate it?

One of the first creative moments I remember as a child was probably writing my first song. Though I was thirteen and had known nothing of “love” I as if I had lived it all before. I’d write about a man coming to protect me from all wrong and things along that nature.

My best friend from back home is actually my neighbor, so we spent all the time in the world together. So, for me, it comes as no surprise that I wrote this song while I was with her. We wrote of love we have never felt, and of heartbreak that would appear only in the scariest of nightmares. But we used to write together and see who came up with the best song (naturally I always won because I was the older of the two of us!) And with all of this being said, it is great to experience a creative moment with a friend, or someone in general, because they can verify that it really is great.

3.       What is the best idea you’ve ever had?

4.       What made it great in your mind?

The best idea I’ve ever had… well this is tricky to narrow it down to one topic. We’ve all experienced a few spontaneous ideas here and there, but my all-time top would have to be the choice of coming to college.

For one, in today’s society, it is hard to get a good job without a college degree. But also, I know the journey is going to be long and stressful but I know that in the end, I will be happy with my choice. If I didn’t go to college, I wouldn’t have been so independent and have made the effort to take control of my own future

And for the last set of questions today:

5.       What is the dumbest idea?

6.       What made it stupid?

7.       Can you connect the dots that led you to this idea?

Probably one of the dumbest ideas I’ve had in my life was taking a break from my job at the daycare I had previously worked at. I loved working there with the children, and since I am going to be a teacher in the future, it only helps my resume. I originally took a break because I was applying for school and I was getting stressed with all the senior school work on top of that. the thing that made it so tough, was the fact that I couldn’t return when I wanted to because they filled my spot. That was my favorite job, and I regret that I threw it away.

I’m happy to have shared a little information about myself with you this week, hope you look forward to more next week J