Power Point and Presentation Thoughts

I have had to do two power point presentations that I can think of in the four and a half years I have been in college. So, the power point presentation assignment over our research paper is going to interesting to say the least. Because I am unfamiliar with power point and I am not technologically advantaged, I may have to take a couple of breathers or aspirin while I am putting together my presentation in order to maintain my sanity. I am not against technology nor do I feel it is inappropriate in the classroom since a person must know how to operate a computer on an average level in order to survive in modern society.
Besides not knowing a lot about operating and setting up a power point presentation, I am a bit uneasy about presenting in class. I tend to pay way to much attention to detail and over plan things which might get in the way of presenting the material in a way that will get the class involved. For instance, I might put too much information into a slide or in my lecture notes which will cause me to lose time, the attention of the class, and finally my nerves. It is good to have planning skills and apply them when needed, but not every aspect of life can be planned and written out to the last bullet point.

Writing Troubles

After a whole week of writing non-stop, I am glad to have some down time before the final push into the last week. Before this class, writing was a difficult process for me as I consider myself a slow writer. Now that I have been on a constant time crunch for the past four to five weeks, I have learned some of the tricks of the trade that enable a person to write with speed. Writing should be a laborious task and consideration should be made with every sentence you write. However, a person is allowed pick up the pace a bit as editing and revising tools will always be there at the end to ensure quality prose.
Another struggle with my writing besides the ability to speed write is the sequencing of my ideas so that they make sense to my audience. I have found that keeping a scratch sheet of paper and a pen or pencil by my side while I am at the computer gives me an opportunity to outline my ideas and figure out how exactly they should be formatted. By doing this, the reader is better accommodated to understanding the thoughts of the writer and how they relate to one another. This process should aid the kinesthetic and visual learners out there in the formation of your premises.

Argument this week

During the class argument this week, we debated on the legal drinking age and if the age should be raised, lowered, or done away with. After having had more time to think about my stance on the drinking age, I am still in favor of having the age lowered to eighteen instead of the current twenty-one.
The government of the United States allows a person to sue someone at eighteen. The United States also allows one to carry firearms and buy cigarettes. All of these things have some serious consequences if they are allowed to come into fruition. Why are we not letting people buy alcohol, when a person does not even half to smoke a cigarette, just be in the vicinity of them, to cause serious health problems?
Lastly, the United States allows anyone of the age of eighteen to get married and to vote. Getting married, voting, and the aforementioned topics are personal choices. Thus, drinking and any sort of drug using are personal choices. One of the main aspects and attributes to college of life (whether a person acknowledges it or not) is parties which usually involve alcohol and drugs. Why then is it so important that the legal drinking age be twenty-one when college students will most likely drink before then simply because they want to experience college life?

Research Paper Initiative

Because I am going to begin the tedious process of moving today and also because my research paper deals with the preservation of historical places, I would like to share some insight about living in an old home. Having lived in a house that was built in 1921 for three years has proved to be somewhat of a challenge. The air conditioner leaks water from the vents inside the home, the kitchen floor had to be replaced because it had rotted down to the support beams, and the house is surrounded by a jungle which has blessed my roommates and me with unwanted insects and rodents. Despite all these downfalls and the huge amount of money that will need to be invested into the house, the home has kept a roof over our heads and we have made a lot of memories together. Therefore, it has served its purpose.
One day last winter, I decided to do some investigation on the property and found that the street the house sits on (Normal Street for North Texas State Normal College) once ran all the way up to the front steps of the administration building. I also found that it was originally built as a boarding house for college students and professors. Had I not found out these details, I would have stuck with my original thought of the house needing to be scrapped. Now that I know these facts about the house, I believe it is a way for the students of UNT to acquaint themselves with their roots. They are able to see and feel the history of the University and get a better understanding of college life in the early days. Therefore, these historic places are educational and should be preserved for future generations.

The other day in class, one of my peers pointed out that the textbook we are required to read from is incredibly dry and boring. I could not agree with you more! I have rarely found any sort of textbook to be a helpful learning device as I will now explain.
It appears that the educator’s who take it upon themselves to write textbooks are writing them for their own personal gain, showing how knowledgeable they are about a certain subject or how scholarly they can sound. Giving too much information or writing on a level that is not universally understandable to all audiences is a violation of the main goal of the textbook, which is to educate.
Writing a textbook for personal or scholarly purposes also violates the interests of the students. An educator must at all times motivate and keep his or her students interested and go to great lengths to make sure his or her students are comprehending the material. By writing a textbook primarily for personal gain or scholarly purposes, the educator can no longer lay claim to being an educator as he or she has proven that they no longer have the needs of their students in mind.

Grammar is Important!

In the education class that I am taking, the class had a discussion about the importance of quality writing skills in terms of the level of professionalism that should be present in one’s prose. One of the main wayspoints addressed during the disscusion in order to sound professional was a good foundation in grammar.
One of my peers noticed that in most of the companies that he has worked for over the last few years, the letters sent to employee’s of the companies by their corporate leaders were filled with grammatical errors. My fellow student said that because these corporate leaders have such well paying jobs that seem to take a great deal of knowledge to carryout, they would be able to write a complete sentence. When we were doing peer editing in our English class, I noticed that there were a lot of grammatical errors even if the student did proofread his or her paper.
I am not implying that I am a grammar aficionado by any means nor am I condemning anyone for not having good grammar skills. Recalling my past education in English, I could only think of a few instances where the teacher taught grammar. The teachers put more emphasis on developing our sense of voice and being as eloquent as possible.
Despite the current trend of teachers not teaching grammar anymore, one must be able to write with correct grammar. For instance, when one is applying for a job, the company will sometimes request a cover letter for any resume that is sent in. Not realizing you have left a sentence fragment in your letter because you cannot identify them puts you in jeopardy for even being considered for the job because you sound incompetent.

Paula Deen and her Cuisine

Paula Deen, the Queen of Southern Cuisine as she has been dubbed, has recently been put under scrutiny for the unhealthy lifestyle she is supposedly promoting through her food. What the media and nutritionist fail to see is that her style of cooking will not result in significant health problems if one is to eat her style of cuisine, as she says, “in moderation.” There is evidence to show that not everything she makes is stepped in saturated fat and she herself practices moderation. Plus, there are plenty of other dishes outside of the deep-fried Southern realm that are unhealthy.
Deen has stated herself that one should not eat meals such as fried chicken or short ribs every day of the week because it is unhealthy. Rather, it “must be done in moderation” just like an athlete must monitor how rigorous he or she exercises to not cause injury to his or her bodies. One of the episodes of her cooking show showcased salads such as a Chicken and Orzo pasta salad that substituted vegetable oil with the much healthier olive oil. There was an article published recently that said the Italian favorite Chicken Parmigiana is one of the most fattening restaurant dishes one can order from a restaurant menu.

Online vs. Traditional Classrooms

In the last 5 years or so, there has been a new reform in education based around computers. Though it is good to be tech savvy in the modern society in which we live, it upsets me to see that students now prefer to learn from a computer rather than a qualified educator that can impart their first-hand experience and expertise.

Though the instruction from the computer based classes is formulated by a qualified instructor, the message of the instructor’s lecture is diminished. You cannot ask the computer questions if you still don’t understand something after reading the lesson countless times nor are you able to form the student-teacher relationship that sets the tone and the qualifications of the course into motion. Most importantly, computers do not inspire students to go out into the world and apply what they have learned to real life situations such as money management or writing a resume for a job.

JFK once stated that "man is still the most extraordinary computer of all." The truth in this statement is evident as computers cannot do groundbreaking research that finds a cure for cancer or write a ground breaking novel worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.