Planning for Action

This week I have been working on my presentation for the upcoming community showcase on November 5th.  I am starting to struggle with how to get my project going.  I know that my topic is something I am passionate about but sharing my passion with the community is going to be hard for me because it is difficult to find a place to start.  My first quarter goals were to get my plans in motion for my project and I have done that in terms of knowing what I need to accomplish but I haven't put my plans into action yet. Have you ever had a moment when you don't know where to start because you had so many options?

Is technology going to conquer us?

In this blog post I want to talk about the effect technology has over us, especially younger people who have grown up in the digital era.  Technology has changed the way we communicate with everyone whether it be texting our family and friends or having a conversation with another person on social media.  I think younger people have an unhealthy addiction with their cellphones but I also think the dependence on technology and phones stretches across all age groups.  The stereotype that only young kids depend on their phones is very untrue.  Everyone that has a phone for a long period of time is going to feel dependent on it because of how fast and easy it is to communicate with the world.  Even though older people might be able to go longer without using their phone because they know what it's like to not have that access to the internet, after a while they would start to miss it too. For me personally, not having my phone when I'm not with friends can start to affect my mood because I feel alone and I don't have anyone to talk to.  Technology and constantly texting all the time does start to affect our social skills for sure.  Last year I hated talking to people on the phone because I was nervous about having to sustain a conversation with someone and not being able to think about what I wanted to say before I hit "send".  Even calling my extended family, people I have known my entire life, would make me nervous.  This year I have worked on this problem just by picking up the phone and calling my friends and family and talking to them more. I am a lot more comfortable talking on the phone than I used to be and I believe that as long as our society doesn't become so comfortable with being online all the time that we can't call someone on the phone, technology won't conquer us.  If we don't lose the face-to-face connection with people then technology can never conquer us.

Failure vs. Success

This week in class we talked about failure in school and personal life.  We watched a ted-talk by Carol Dweck and some of her points were grading with not yet instead of failure and having a growth-mindset.  Grading with not yet is supposed to be a way of saying "you didn't fail, you just aren't there yet. Keep trying." I really like this idea because everyone takes failure differently and some people give up when they consider themselves a failure. The idea of "not yet" would be an encouraging way to help students get through challenging obstacles.  Her other point was the growth-mindset.  A person with a growth-mindset looks at obstacles and is excited about facing them.  The last thing she said in her ted-talk that stuck out to me was that we should praise wisely.  Instead of praising inteligence or talent, praise effort.  This stuck out to me because it can be hard to watch someone be praised for something that is so easy for them and then no one praises or acknowledges your effort.  Some days when you are tired of facing challenges and you want to give up, you need that praise because it keeps you going.  The class discussions this week changed my views on failure vs. success in school and life because I realized how easy it is to give up and not want to face your obstacles, but having a growth-mindset helps you conquer your obstacles because you know you can improve and do better.