BLOG 5 - TED TALK - THUS ENDETH THE LESSON

Now comes the tough part.  I need to take the millions of ideas floating around in my head and pull out 3 or 4 earth shattering points.  I think that I need to practice!  Are we talking practice? PRACTICE ?  Yeah practice!  Food is universal, relevant, and relatable.  I love food and I think that you all should love it too.  The problem with food today is that we are inundated with horrible food.  How do we wade through the sea of quantity to find the last bit of quality?

We’ve become a society of could we do it when we should be asking should we do it. Case 1 – DiGiorno pizza now comes with toll house cookies!  We don’t want you to eat a mere 3,000 calories in that pizza, please eat these cookies too for an additional 3,000 calories.  My stomach just twisted.  Case 2 – Hot Pockets are born of the devil.  The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was in making people believe that he didn’t exist hence, the creation of Lean Pockets.  That same old Hot Pockets flavor now with half the gas!  Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the microwave, Hot Pockets introduces Pretzel Pockets. 

The quality argument is most evident in advertising.  Franchises have gigantic advertising budgets and the commercials have become more and more misleading.  Case 1 – The Olive Garden – Uncle Luigi came all the way from Sicily and we’re going to take him to the Olive Garden.  Are you kidding me?  Uncle Luigi did not travel half way across the world to go to the Olive Garden.  Case 2 – Long John Silvers – I’m a shrimp boat captain and when I’m home from the sea, I go to Long John Silvers.  Really?  Really?  If you’ve ever eaten at Long John Silvers, the shrimp tastes like the fries, the fries taste like the fish, the fish tastes like the hush puppies, and none of them taste like anything resembling food!  Forrest Gump was a shrimp boat captain and he wouldn’t eat at Long John Silvers.  By the way, he was a moron!

The sea of quantity is obvious but, can quality win out over quantity?  Is quantity all bad?  Can we go back to the way food used to be?  Is it too late?  I need you to close your eyes and think about the best meal that you’ve ever eaten.  Did it come in a bag or box?  Did you cook it in the microwave?  Let me ask you something that digs a little deeper.  We’ve spend a lifetime thinking outside of the box when it comes to food but, what if the box was broken? 

BLOG 4 - YOU CAN ALWAYS LOOK IT UP - OR CAN YOU?

You can always look it up and yes, you can still look it up! The point of looking something up is to establish a baseline knowledge of the subject matter. We shouldn’t expect students to master subjects that they look up in books or on the internet. These are not realistic expectations for kindergarten students or college students. Research is used as a secondary source of knowledge and this is the student’s role to learn what they can through their own resources. The role of the teacher is to take the student’s research to the next level. The students build their block of clay to class and the teacher helps them shape it into a work of art. It helps if the students brings something to the table through baseline knowledge and that is definitely something the student can look up!
Rote learning has its place in teaching. I learn my basic math tables through memorization. I didn’t need to know why 4 + 4 = 8 when I was 6 years old . I just needed to know the answer. I wasn’t searching for a deeper meaning. I learned the basics by rote and then could add to that baseline knowledge as my through deeper levels of learning. We’re getting caught up in labels and the labels tell us that rote is bad and you need to go deeper. Don’t let labels dictate your schooling. Students dictate how they learn something. Rote learning worked for me so, it can’t be all bad.
According to the article, specialists in vocabulary estimate that in order to understand something that is read or heard or looked, the percentage of already-known words necessary for comprehension is around 95%. That percentage seems a little high for my tastes but, I do agree that it does take a fairly high percentage of already-known words for comprehension to take place. I have to admit that I know 100 percent of all the words in this article but, for the most part, I’ve had a hard time comprehending everything in this article. Honestly, this article reads like stereo instructions.
The author trots out a line-up of impressive academics that have been locked up in a classroom for the last thirty years researching theories, scholarly journals, and all matters of cognitive projects. The problem is that if you ever put these giant brains in front of a room full of students, they would look like a deer in headlights! Absolutely frozen for all the world to see. This is a case where looking it up has gone terribly wrong. I smell a another theory.

TED TALK 4

Capitalism has hit us like a hurricane. It has left mayhem and devastation in its wake. We have become a society of people that eat horrible food, drink terrible beverages, and compromise our taste at every turn. The very existence of Taco Bell proves my point. I rest my case and we’re on to Long John Silvers. The only hope out there exists in a few small spots in our country and these are the places that I would like to talk to you about today.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania is one of the last places on earth where a true farmer’s market exists in the world. Local farmers and bakers bring their goods to market every day. Fresh produce straight from the farm and baked goods to die for. FRESH! Imagine that every day you could eat something daily that isn’t in a box and frozen. Butcher shops selling fresh goods from their farms. Things that are never frozen with no preservatives. Is this still possible in today’s society? There are two places in Lancaster that you need to check out before you die. The first is the mercantile market in downtown near Franklin and Marshall college. Local merchants with baked goods that will melt your face! The second is Ginny’s Diner. Ginny’s is an old school stainless steel diner with homemade food and hardy portions. This place will straight up kill your diet but, what a way to go! A trip to Lancaster is like stepping back in time to a place where people actually cooked and food didn’t come in a box or a bag. You may not think that this is possible but, it happens here every day.
Bagliani’s market is Hammonton, New Jersey is the other place that I would like to talk to you about today. Bagliani’s is part deli, part market, and part butcher shop. They make everything on the property. The butcher shop cuts and prepare their own steaks, chicken, sausage, and various other delicacies. They offer a selection of over fifty cheeses. They make their own pepperoni! They have a full deli that offers everything under the sun. They roast their own turkey! FRESH! Every day they make these numerous selections. I’m beginning to slobber on my keyboard. I’ll be right back. I’m sorry but, I have to go to Bagliani’s market.
I’m back. The absolute avalanche of garbage that we eat everyday cloud the clear cut choice of quality over quantity. Malcolm Gladwell’s observation is incomplete. We have a plethora of choices in our society today but, somewhere along the way, we accepted quantity over quality.

SCR PROJECT - A.C. Rescue Mission

Name of Resource :  Atlantic City Rescue Mission
Location of Resource : 2009 Bacharach Blvd., PO Box 5358 Atlantic City, New Jersey 08404
Detailed description of services provided : 

WHO DO THEY HELP?

• Poor and homeless men, women, and families in southern New Jersey
• Deinstitutionalized mentally ill with no support
• Individuals addicted to alcohol, drugs, and gambling
• Elderly or disabled with no family and little income

HOW DO WE HELP?

• Meals in our dining hall
• Safe shelter for men, women, and single mothers with children
• 18-month residential homeless recovery (Overcomers Program)
• 120-day Work Readiness Program
• Individual and group counseling
• Two chapel services each day
• Daily Bible studies
• Job placement program, in partnership with local businesses
• Assistance in finding permanent housing
• Classes for our residents in life skills, parenting, GED/Literacy
• Transitional housing

HOW MANY PEOPLE DO WE HELP?

• Serving 700 meals per day
• Housing 192 men, 60 women, and 9 families each night
• Provide an average of 280 emergency food baskets each month to local families in crisis

The Atlantic City Rescue Mission is a wonderful community-based resource that provides people with an avenue to re-establish their foothold in society.  The individuals in the mission are from all walks of life and have fallen on hard times.  The mission provides people with a second chance and helps then along every step of the way.  They provide many resources that a school-based community would provide along with a number of community-based resources.  As a future social studies teacher, I feel that it is imperative that we teach our students the life skills necessary to survive in the world.  Volunteering in the community should be a part of all school curriculum.  We have a great resource in our community and everyone should experience the Atlantic City Rescue mission. 

TED TALK TOPIC 3 - PELLE ATTACKS

HOW SPAGHETTI SAUCE RUINED THE WORLD

In the world of Malcolm Gladwell, the world became inherently better when we were given variety.  We were given 40 spaghetti sauces because 2 didn't meet the needs of consumers.  We now have 40 mediocre spaghetti sauces and as a result, no one can cook, we're all obese, and guess what?  We now have 40 spaghetti sauces that suck instead of just 2.  Imagine the best spaghetti sauce that you've ever eaten.  Did it come in a can? Did you buy it in the supermarket?  If you answered yes to either of these questions, please come to dinner with me.  The best spaghetti sauce that I ever had was my Grandmother's sauce.  Luckily, she passed the recipe on to me.  I can't give you the recipe but, I'll give you a clue.  It didn't come from the sauce aisle in the supermarket. 

At what point did we sacrifice substance for variety?  When did we choose convenience over content and culture.  In Florida, there is a fast food Italian restaurant called Fazoli with a drive-thru because we can't wait 8 minutes for that spaghetti to cook!  How hungry do you have to be to eat drive-thru lasagna?  It used to be a matter of pride that you cooked your own food and it equated to a family connection.  I want to bring the old school back. 

We spend so much time trying to think outside of the box that we have failed to realize that the box may be broken.  We lost alot of ourselves in the pursuit of so-called progress.  I want to add to the quality of life. I don't want things that water down our society.  I want you to spend time in the supermarket and observe the choices.  Check out the ice cream aisle.  Baskin and Robbins would have stopped at three flavors if they knew it would lead to this mess!  The supermarket used to be 8 aisles now it's 25.  I want you to imagine the best meal that you've ever eaten.  I want you to leave class starving for it.  I bet for a large number of you that your meal was something your Mother, Father, Grandmother, or Grandfather made at one time or another. Variety killed that meal!  You spend your life eating food that pales in comparison to that meal.  I hate it and this is why you should hate this too! 

This has been the ramblings of a hungry person and now I'm going to eat something out of a box or bag that's horrible for me but, I've been conditioned to think that somehow this behavior is normal.  In an insane world, a sane man must appear insane. 

BLOG 3 - LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME

As a History major, I may be a bit defensive in this argument but, I don’t agree with author on many of his points. The author wants to dazzle us with statistics and first hand accounts from students about how people aren’t interested in History. Statistics don’t lie but, statisticians do. I’m here to tell you that everyone in interested in History whether they know it or not.
First, no matter what line of work you pursue in the future, you will serve an apprenticeship where you will study the history of the career that you wish to attain. If you’re reading this blog, your probably studying to eventually become a teacher. Your reading about teaching techniques and putting them into place to become a master teacher. You may not realize this but, you are reading a history book. Every line of work uses history as a frame of reference.

Second, the argument about books is dated. History is all around us. We have a television channel dedicated to it. The internet has put everything at your finger tips. The author use a statistic that 5/6 of all people never take a history course after high school. Oh my God, that is horrible! The horrible part is that the author would use a completely false statistic to make his point. How is this statistic even arrived at? I’m calling shenanigans!

Third, We are all living history. We all have a distinct history from our family to our culture to our religion. We sit around and talk to our family about our own history all the time. We sit around the dinner table and eat foods that are distinct to our culture. The luxury of living in the United States is that we have the opportunity to enjoy a multitude of restaurants and festivals from other culture as well. We practice our religion as well as being able to learn about religious alternatives. According to the author, 5/6 of us don’t go to church after high school. Aren’t the Bible, the Koran, and the Torah considered history books? The shenanigans continue.

Finally, We need to stop apologizing for the textbooks and find ways to overcome this mindset. Teachers need to challenge themselves. Malcolm Gladwell writes about stars and systems. Most organizations that rely on stars fail while those that have a solid system in place tend to produce at a much higher level. I propose that you need both because no system works at 100 percent efficiency and neither do stars but, with a combination of both we can maximize our fullest potential. Teachers need to take on the star roles while being part of a system in search of the ultimate solution which is their students’ success. Textbooks don’t hold students back, bad teachers do.

TED TALK 2 THE SAGA CONTINUES

My mind is a raging torrent flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives. I’ve given this a lot of thought but, I still can’t decide on a singular topic. I’m currently reading a book by Malcolm Gladwell that is composed of various stories from his time with the New Yorker magazine. These stories have seemingly sent me into another direction with my TED talk.
As in my original TED talk proposal, I want to encompass what we seen from the TED talk in class and other that I’ve personally viewed to come up with a truly original idea. I’ve looked over the other TED talk blogs and I see some great ideas but, few that seem unique. I want to challenge myself to talk about something that not only interests me but, will be thought provoking to the class. I think about the life of Johnny Cash and the scene from the movie “Walk the Line” where he is asked by the music producer, if you were hit by a truck and laying dying in the gutter and you could only play one song to let people know what you felt. What song would you play? Would you play that song or would you play something different? I don’t want to play the same tune that everybody else is playing. I want to play something truly original because that is what inspires people.
My original proposal was missing one factor that bonds all the TED talks and that is relevance. Relevance to the speaker and to the audience. So let tie these four factors all together now. Passion, Humor, Absolute Conviction, and Relevance are the four binding factors in all our TED talks. The manner in which the speaker arrives at these factors is different but, these four factors are the constants in a river of variables. Is that deep enough or are you hungry for more?
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”The above quote is often credited to Nelson Mandela from his 1994 inauguration speech but, it is actually the work of Marianne Williamson. I find inspiration in things every single day and I want to pass this feeling on to the world. I’m still working on my moment. Please stay tuned!