So I was free-writing and came up this poem. Feel free to use it for your own inspiration or as an idea for your homework!
Prompt: Write a poem about what you are thinking of now.
Response:
Learn To Fly
Flutter, and rise up;
Trembling legs, fearful eyes
Stare down the cliff and then
Back at their mother.
It was a rite of passage.
Older brothers and sisters,
Yelled from the back, impatient,
Awaiting their turn to be free.
Small steps, soft whimpers,
Fearful edge, disapproving stares,
They were all watching.
There was no choice.
She jumped, high,
And fell.
She flapped, twice, and
Saw the ground approaching.
She croaked and flapped once more.
It was working.
She rose up and steadied,
Shouting in delight as she passed over her family.
She swooped down and
Joined them again,
But stood at the back,
Casting disapproving stares,
At her brother who had
Taken up a fearful stance.
Showing posts with label Poems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poems. Show all posts
Monday, April 6, 2015
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
College Application Essay Examples
Applying to colleges means having an essay for show and tell. Here are two examples that you could read to grasp an idea on what you could write for your college application:
Example 1:
If string theory is really true, then the entire world is made up of strings, and I cannot tie a single one. This past summer, I applied for my very first job at a small, busy bakery and cafe in my neighborhood. I knew that if I were hired there, I would learn how to use a cash register, prepare sandwiches, and take cake orders. I imagined that my biggest struggle would be catering to demanding New Yorkers, but I never thought that it would be the benign act of tying a box that would become both my biggest obstacle and greatest teacher.
On my first day of work in late August, one of the bakery’s employees hastily explained the procedure. It seemed simple: wrap the string around your hand, then wrap it three times around the box both ways, and knot it. I recited the anthem in my head, “three times, turn it, three times, knot” until it became my mantra. After observing multiple employees, it was clear that anyone tying the box could complete it in a matter of seconds. For weeks, I labored endlessly, only to watch the strong and small pieces of my pride unravel each time I tried.
As I rushed to discreetly shove half-tied cake boxes into plastic bags, I could not help but wonder what was wrong with me. I have learned Mozart arias, memorized the functional groups in organic chemistry, and calculated the anti-derivatives of functions that I will probably never use in real life—all with a modest amount of energy. For some reason though, after a month’s effort, tying string around a cake box still left me in a quandary.
As the weeks progressed, my skills slowly began to improve. Of course there were days when I just wanted to throw all of the string in the trash and use Scotch tape; this sense of defeat was neither welcome nor wanted, but remarks like “Oh, you must be new” from snarky customers catapulted my determination to greater heights.
It should be more difficult to develop an internal pulse and sense of legato in a piece of music than it is to find the necessary rhythm required to tie a box, but this seemingly trivial task has clearly proven not to be trivial at all. The difficulties that I encountered trying to keep a single knot intact are proof of this. The lack of cooperation between my coordination and my understanding left me frazzled, but the satisfaction I felt when I successfully tied my first box was almost as great as any I had felt before.
Scientists developing string theory say that string can exist in a straight line, but it can also bend, oscillate, or break apart. I am thankful that the string I work with is not quite as temperamental, but I still cringe when someone asks for a chocolate mandel bread. Supposedly, the string suggested in string theory is responsible for unifying general relativity with quantum physics. The only thing I am responsible for when I use string is delivering someone’s pie to them without the box falling apart. Tying a cake box may not be quantum physics, but it is just as crucial to holding together what matters.
I am beginning to realize that I should not be ashamed if it takes me longer to learn. I persist, and I continue to tie boxes every weekend at work. Even though I occasionally backslide into feelings of exasperation, I always rewrap the string around my hand and start over because I have learned that the most gratifying victories come from tenacity. If the universe really is comprised of strings, I am confident that I will be able to tie them together, even if I do have to keep my fingers crossed that my knots hold up.
Example 2:
Before even touching the camera, I made a list of some of the photographs I would take: web covered with water, grimace reflected in the calculator screen, hand holding a tiny round mirror where just my eye is visible, cat’s striped underbelly as he jumps toward the lens, manhole covers, hand holding a translucent section of orange, pinkies partaking of a pinkie swear, midsection with jeans, hair held outside ways at arm’s length, bottom of foot, soap on face. This, I think is akin to a formation of self. Perhaps I have had the revelations even if the photos are never taken.
I already know the dual strains the biographers will talk about, strains twisting through a life. The combination is embodied here: I write joyfully, in the margin of my lab book, beside a diagram of a beaker, “Isolated it today, Beautiful wispy strands, spider webs suspended below the surface, delicate tendrils, cloudy white, lyrical, elegant DNA! This is DNA! So beautiful!”
I should have been a Renaissance woman. It kills me to choose a field (to choose between the sciences and the humanities!). My mind roams, I wide-eyed, into infinite caverns and loops. I should fly! Let me devour the air, dissolve everything into my bloodstream, learn!
The elements are boundless, but, if asked to isolate them, I can see tangles around medicine and writing. The trick will be to integrate them into a whole, and then maybe I can take the photograph. Aahh, is it already there, no? Can’t you see it? I invoke the Daedalus in me, everything that has gone into making me, hoping it will be my liberation.
Music is one such element. The experience of plying in an orchestra from the inside is an investigation into subjectivity. It is reminiscent of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: the more one knows the speed of a particle, the less one knows its position. Namely the position of the observer matters and affects the substance of the observation; even science is embracing embodiment. I see splashes of bright rain in violin arpeggios fading away in singed circles, a clarinet solo fades blue to black, and a flute harmony leaves us moving sideways, a pregnant silence, the trumpets interrupt with the smell of lightning. Perhaps in the audience you would sense something else.
I think of rowing as meditation. Pshoow, huh, aaah; pshoow, huh, aaah. I can close my eyes and still hear it. We glide over reflected sky… and lean. And defy the request for “leadership positions,” laugh at it, because it misses the entire point, that we are integral, one organism. I hear the oars cut the water, shunk shunk; there are no leaders.
Once I heard an echo from all quarters. “Do not rush,” said the conductor, “follow the baton.” “Do not rush,” said the coach, “watch the body in front of you.” Do not rush. I write about characters’ words: how they use words, how they manipulate them, how they create their own realities; words used dangerously, flippantly, talking at cross purposes, deliberately being vague; the nature of talking, of words and realities. Perhaps mine has been a flight of fancy too. But, come on, it’s in the words, a person, a locus, somewhere in the words. It’s all words. I love the words. I should be a writer, but I will be a doctor, and out of the philosophical tension I will create a self.
Example 1:
If string theory is really true, then the entire world is made up of strings, and I cannot tie a single one. This past summer, I applied for my very first job at a small, busy bakery and cafe in my neighborhood. I knew that if I were hired there, I would learn how to use a cash register, prepare sandwiches, and take cake orders. I imagined that my biggest struggle would be catering to demanding New Yorkers, but I never thought that it would be the benign act of tying a box that would become both my biggest obstacle and greatest teacher.
On my first day of work in late August, one of the bakery’s employees hastily explained the procedure. It seemed simple: wrap the string around your hand, then wrap it three times around the box both ways, and knot it. I recited the anthem in my head, “three times, turn it, three times, knot” until it became my mantra. After observing multiple employees, it was clear that anyone tying the box could complete it in a matter of seconds. For weeks, I labored endlessly, only to watch the strong and small pieces of my pride unravel each time I tried.
As I rushed to discreetly shove half-tied cake boxes into plastic bags, I could not help but wonder what was wrong with me. I have learned Mozart arias, memorized the functional groups in organic chemistry, and calculated the anti-derivatives of functions that I will probably never use in real life—all with a modest amount of energy. For some reason though, after a month’s effort, tying string around a cake box still left me in a quandary.
As the weeks progressed, my skills slowly began to improve. Of course there were days when I just wanted to throw all of the string in the trash and use Scotch tape; this sense of defeat was neither welcome nor wanted, but remarks like “Oh, you must be new” from snarky customers catapulted my determination to greater heights.
It should be more difficult to develop an internal pulse and sense of legato in a piece of music than it is to find the necessary rhythm required to tie a box, but this seemingly trivial task has clearly proven not to be trivial at all. The difficulties that I encountered trying to keep a single knot intact are proof of this. The lack of cooperation between my coordination and my understanding left me frazzled, but the satisfaction I felt when I successfully tied my first box was almost as great as any I had felt before.
Scientists developing string theory say that string can exist in a straight line, but it can also bend, oscillate, or break apart. I am thankful that the string I work with is not quite as temperamental, but I still cringe when someone asks for a chocolate mandel bread. Supposedly, the string suggested in string theory is responsible for unifying general relativity with quantum physics. The only thing I am responsible for when I use string is delivering someone’s pie to them without the box falling apart. Tying a cake box may not be quantum physics, but it is just as crucial to holding together what matters.
I am beginning to realize that I should not be ashamed if it takes me longer to learn. I persist, and I continue to tie boxes every weekend at work. Even though I occasionally backslide into feelings of exasperation, I always rewrap the string around my hand and start over because I have learned that the most gratifying victories come from tenacity. If the universe really is comprised of strings, I am confident that I will be able to tie them together, even if I do have to keep my fingers crossed that my knots hold up.
Example 2:
Before even touching the camera, I made a list of some of the photographs I would take: web covered with water, grimace reflected in the calculator screen, hand holding a tiny round mirror where just my eye is visible, cat’s striped underbelly as he jumps toward the lens, manhole covers, hand holding a translucent section of orange, pinkies partaking of a pinkie swear, midsection with jeans, hair held outside ways at arm’s length, bottom of foot, soap on face. This, I think is akin to a formation of self. Perhaps I have had the revelations even if the photos are never taken.
I already know the dual strains the biographers will talk about, strains twisting through a life. The combination is embodied here: I write joyfully, in the margin of my lab book, beside a diagram of a beaker, “Isolated it today, Beautiful wispy strands, spider webs suspended below the surface, delicate tendrils, cloudy white, lyrical, elegant DNA! This is DNA! So beautiful!”
I should have been a Renaissance woman. It kills me to choose a field (to choose between the sciences and the humanities!). My mind roams, I wide-eyed, into infinite caverns and loops. I should fly! Let me devour the air, dissolve everything into my bloodstream, learn!
The elements are boundless, but, if asked to isolate them, I can see tangles around medicine and writing. The trick will be to integrate them into a whole, and then maybe I can take the photograph. Aahh, is it already there, no? Can’t you see it? I invoke the Daedalus in me, everything that has gone into making me, hoping it will be my liberation.
Music is one such element. The experience of plying in an orchestra from the inside is an investigation into subjectivity. It is reminiscent of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: the more one knows the speed of a particle, the less one knows its position. Namely the position of the observer matters and affects the substance of the observation; even science is embracing embodiment. I see splashes of bright rain in violin arpeggios fading away in singed circles, a clarinet solo fades blue to black, and a flute harmony leaves us moving sideways, a pregnant silence, the trumpets interrupt with the smell of lightning. Perhaps in the audience you would sense something else.
I think of rowing as meditation. Pshoow, huh, aaah; pshoow, huh, aaah. I can close my eyes and still hear it. We glide over reflected sky… and lean. And defy the request for “leadership positions,” laugh at it, because it misses the entire point, that we are integral, one organism. I hear the oars cut the water, shunk shunk; there are no leaders.
Once I heard an echo from all quarters. “Do not rush,” said the conductor, “follow the baton.” “Do not rush,” said the coach, “watch the body in front of you.” Do not rush. I write about characters’ words: how they use words, how they manipulate them, how they create their own realities; words used dangerously, flippantly, talking at cross purposes, deliberately being vague; the nature of talking, of words and realities. Perhaps mine has been a flight of fancy too. But, come on, it’s in the words, a person, a locus, somewhere in the words. It’s all words. I love the words. I should be a writer, but I will be a doctor, and out of the philosophical tension I will create a self.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Reading Response: Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters To A Young Poet
“How should we be able to forget those ancient myths that are at the beginning of all peoples, the myths about dragons that at the last moment turn into princesses; perhaps all the dragons of our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.” Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet pg. 52
I travelled to Beijing last winter to visit a close friend from high school. On my way to her home, right as the sun was setting, I heard the sound of a rock band playing from a courtyard. Turns out it was five young Chinese musicians who wanted to practice their songs before a school performance.
Though the band did attract a few listeners, not everyone liked the music. At the start of the third song, a middle-aged homeless woman pushed to the front of the crowd and began screaming at the musicians about noise pollution. They tried their best to ignore her, but she wouldn’t leave, and continued to yell at an even louder tone.
There were a total of about thirty people, all of us watching in shock and doing nothing to help as the scene unraveled. I remembered shrinking back, even though I scolded myself not to, because one, the homeless woman was beginning to get more physical, and two, I was afraid. The woman eventually started throwing objects at the band and, at one point, even tried to jump onto the stage.
One musician, who became very upset, stopped singing and pushed her to the ground. He proceeded to kick the woman, who began crying.
It was at that moment a tall Chinese man silently pushed his way through the crowd and crouched next to the woman. The man asked her if she was okay and if she needed any help. Though I couldn’t hear what was said, I felt moved by the way the man helped bring a troubled woman to her feet. I felt moved by the way the man tenderly wrapped his arm around the woman, and directed her away. And I felt moved that the man did something we were all afraid to do.
I couldn’t help but wonder how true Rilke’s words meant. How many times are we given the impression to fear dragons because they are heartless, brutal creatures? How many times have we took actions to differ? And how many times are we still not able to understand that the dragons possibly are secretly princesses in waiting?
Too many.
Too often have we lived by the idea that dragons are villains and so, must be slayed. The possible idea that they could also be heros produces so much tension that we frequently turn to fight our mind in self-destructive ways.
Still, we should support dragons even if they are our greatest fears, because, in the end, their terrible image is just our imagination, or as Rilke says, a myth. By leaving the misconceptions we cling to, the stories we fabricate, the false visions we keep, and the lies we spread, we will be able to destroy the real dragons: ourselves.
Maybe this homeless woman was a princess in disguise. And maybe, just maybe, she was waiting to find a person who could act with beauty and bravery.
I travelled to Beijing last winter to visit a close friend from high school. On my way to her home, right as the sun was setting, I heard the sound of a rock band playing from a courtyard. Turns out it was five young Chinese musicians who wanted to practice their songs before a school performance.
Though the band did attract a few listeners, not everyone liked the music. At the start of the third song, a middle-aged homeless woman pushed to the front of the crowd and began screaming at the musicians about noise pollution. They tried their best to ignore her, but she wouldn’t leave, and continued to yell at an even louder tone.
There were a total of about thirty people, all of us watching in shock and doing nothing to help as the scene unraveled. I remembered shrinking back, even though I scolded myself not to, because one, the homeless woman was beginning to get more physical, and two, I was afraid. The woman eventually started throwing objects at the band and, at one point, even tried to jump onto the stage.
One musician, who became very upset, stopped singing and pushed her to the ground. He proceeded to kick the woman, who began crying.
It was at that moment a tall Chinese man silently pushed his way through the crowd and crouched next to the woman. The man asked her if she was okay and if she needed any help. Though I couldn’t hear what was said, I felt moved by the way the man helped bring a troubled woman to her feet. I felt moved by the way the man tenderly wrapped his arm around the woman, and directed her away. And I felt moved that the man did something we were all afraid to do.
I couldn’t help but wonder how true Rilke’s words meant. How many times are we given the impression to fear dragons because they are heartless, brutal creatures? How many times have we took actions to differ? And how many times are we still not able to understand that the dragons possibly are secretly princesses in waiting?
Too many.
Too often have we lived by the idea that dragons are villains and so, must be slayed. The possible idea that they could also be heros produces so much tension that we frequently turn to fight our mind in self-destructive ways.
Still, we should support dragons even if they are our greatest fears, because, in the end, their terrible image is just our imagination, or as Rilke says, a myth. By leaving the misconceptions we cling to, the stories we fabricate, the false visions we keep, and the lies we spread, we will be able to destroy the real dragons: ourselves.
Maybe this homeless woman was a princess in disguise. And maybe, just maybe, she was waiting to find a person who could act with beauty and bravery.
Reading Response: A. R. Gurney's Love Letters
“Andy: I’m writing because when I telephoned, you just hung up on me. One thing about letters: you can’t hang up on them.” A. R. Gurney, Love Letters pg. 27
Dear Technologically Influenced Society,
I cannot remember the last time I received a letter, perhaps, never. In our technological world today, letters are snail’s mail, which takes way too much time to write when opening a chat box or sending a simple text message reaches the person instantly.
But what’s wrong with snails? And what’s wrong with taking things a step slow? Why is everything so fast-paced, so dependent on technology, and so distant? Why are we so impatient? On average, we have a hundred years to live. That’s 36,525 days, 876,581 hours, and 3,155,692,000 seconds of life, and writing. Is the time not enough?
Just 50 years ago, there were no cell phones, or widespread computers, or online messages. Information that we could quickly google today took hours to research in the past. This wasn’t because people at that time were poor, or just disliked technology, but simply because the products didn’t exist for everyone to use.
Rather, people communicated with each other through—gasp—letters, and personal visits. What? But was that even possible? Yes, it was.
Have we reached the age where we do not recognize how to write letters anymore? Or are we just too lazy and tired? Is the art of writing lost forever?
Not only did letters discontinue, but also cards, which were gradually replaced with e-cards, and then short emails, and now text messages, all done with a click of a button. Somehow, getting a text message for a greeting doesn’t feel as exciting as getting a letter or card in the mailbox. Sending a text message was more like saying “I don’t want to come over. Can we just talk here?” or “I don’t feel like spending the time to buy a card, write something in it, address the envelope, and wait for a response from you.”
There was a special feeling when a letter was placed on your hand: the slight cracking sound as you sliced open the envelope, the smudged, coffee-stained pages that slid out, and the beautiful stokes and raised bumps outlined on those pages. The style and language, the pauses, the smell, the longing and happiness or sadness, and the secrets shared were only with you.
Andy said, “You can’t hang up on letters.” Ever after many years, when you grow old and wrinkly, that letter, unlike a text message or call that loses meaning over time and eventually forgotten, will still be with you.
You could always revisit it again and again, as many times as you like. When you write a letter, you’re giving your reader something to remember you by, after you’re long gone from this world and life.
So, let’s continue to keep this letter-writing tradition alive.
Sincerely,
A Distressed Writer
Dear Technologically Influenced Society,
I cannot remember the last time I received a letter, perhaps, never. In our technological world today, letters are snail’s mail, which takes way too much time to write when opening a chat box or sending a simple text message reaches the person instantly.
But what’s wrong with snails? And what’s wrong with taking things a step slow? Why is everything so fast-paced, so dependent on technology, and so distant? Why are we so impatient? On average, we have a hundred years to live. That’s 36,525 days, 876,581 hours, and 3,155,692,000 seconds of life, and writing. Is the time not enough?
Just 50 years ago, there were no cell phones, or widespread computers, or online messages. Information that we could quickly google today took hours to research in the past. This wasn’t because people at that time were poor, or just disliked technology, but simply because the products didn’t exist for everyone to use.
Rather, people communicated with each other through—gasp—letters, and personal visits. What? But was that even possible? Yes, it was.
Have we reached the age where we do not recognize how to write letters anymore? Or are we just too lazy and tired? Is the art of writing lost forever?
Not only did letters discontinue, but also cards, which were gradually replaced with e-cards, and then short emails, and now text messages, all done with a click of a button. Somehow, getting a text message for a greeting doesn’t feel as exciting as getting a letter or card in the mailbox. Sending a text message was more like saying “I don’t want to come over. Can we just talk here?” or “I don’t feel like spending the time to buy a card, write something in it, address the envelope, and wait for a response from you.”
There was a special feeling when a letter was placed on your hand: the slight cracking sound as you sliced open the envelope, the smudged, coffee-stained pages that slid out, and the beautiful stokes and raised bumps outlined on those pages. The style and language, the pauses, the smell, the longing and happiness or sadness, and the secrets shared were only with you.
Andy said, “You can’t hang up on letters.” Ever after many years, when you grow old and wrinkly, that letter, unlike a text message or call that loses meaning over time and eventually forgotten, will still be with you.
You could always revisit it again and again, as many times as you like. When you write a letter, you’re giving your reader something to remember you by, after you’re long gone from this world and life.
So, let’s continue to keep this letter-writing tradition alive.
Sincerely,
A Distressed Writer
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Reading Response: Mother Tongue by Amy Tan
These responses are all college work. This one is a short analysis to Amy Tan's Mother Tongue.
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“I am fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language--the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade.” Amy Tan, Mother Tongue pg. 52
Great art takes inspiration, and inspiration comes from many different sources. It can be a direct experience of your life; it can come from nature, from God; or it can be a person who is close to you. Without inspiration, every work of art will only be a mere reflection of skill without its own story. Amy Tan herself writes all of her work with her mother in mind as the reader, her inspiration. She writes to show the beautiful and passionate side of her mother that people can't see. In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan describes how all of the Englishes that she grew up with, normal English and "mother tongue" English, has shaped her first outlook of life. And through the essay, Tan wants to send a powerful message of how we ought to view people by their beautiful side, but not by their shortcomings. Writing the essay in narration, Amy Tan has depicted very clearly how "mother tongue" or "broken" English affects her as a child using both her excellent diction as well as the broken usage of English. Throughout the essay, she intelligently weaves many humorous stories to lessen the inevitable dullness of telling someone's past. And even though the essay shows many of her mother's limited usage of English, which can lead the audience to misunderstand her mother, Amy Tan never forgets to express her admiration for her mother. Whenever Amy Tan talks about an experience she had with her mother's broken English, she always includes beautiful and positive vocabulary such as: vivid, full of observation, intimacy, etc. to reintroduce her mother as a very important woman in her life, the person that helped her to see things the way she is seeing things now, the way that makes sense of the world.
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“I am fascinated by language in daily life. I spend a great deal of my time thinking about the power of language--the way it can evoke an emotion, a visual image, a complex idea, or a simple truth. Language is the tool of my trade.” Amy Tan, Mother Tongue pg. 52
Great art takes inspiration, and inspiration comes from many different sources. It can be a direct experience of your life; it can come from nature, from God; or it can be a person who is close to you. Without inspiration, every work of art will only be a mere reflection of skill without its own story. Amy Tan herself writes all of her work with her mother in mind as the reader, her inspiration. She writes to show the beautiful and passionate side of her mother that people can't see. In "Mother Tongue," Amy Tan describes how all of the Englishes that she grew up with, normal English and "mother tongue" English, has shaped her first outlook of life. And through the essay, Tan wants to send a powerful message of how we ought to view people by their beautiful side, but not by their shortcomings. Writing the essay in narration, Amy Tan has depicted very clearly how "mother tongue" or "broken" English affects her as a child using both her excellent diction as well as the broken usage of English. Throughout the essay, she intelligently weaves many humorous stories to lessen the inevitable dullness of telling someone's past. And even though the essay shows many of her mother's limited usage of English, which can lead the audience to misunderstand her mother, Amy Tan never forgets to express her admiration for her mother. Whenever Amy Tan talks about an experience she had with her mother's broken English, she always includes beautiful and positive vocabulary such as: vivid, full of observation, intimacy, etc. to reintroduce her mother as a very important woman in her life, the person that helped her to see things the way she is seeing things now, the way that makes sense of the world.
Reading Response: Running the Table by Frank Conroy
The following is my analysis on Running the Table by Frank Conroy.
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“I did not get bored with repetition. Every time a ball went in the pocket I felt satisfaction. When I missed I simply ignored the fact, reset the shot and tried again.” Frank Conroy, “Running the Table” pg. 29
I've played tennis ever since I could remember, but somehow, at eighteen, I still wasn't very good at it. You'd think that ten years of summer leagues and many close cousins who'd been the stars of their teams would have rubbed off on me, but you'd be wrong. I mean, I wasn't completely hopeless. I was pretty fast, and I could strike fast throws back five or six times out of ten, but I wasn't about to be scouted for championship teams.
My team that summer, the Aces, wasn't anything special, either. We had two or three pretty talented players, but most, like me, were just barely what you could call decent. But somehow we'd almost scraped through the first round of playoffs, with only one game standing between us and semifinals. Predictably, the game had come down to the last match, and it was my turn to play. It was like one of those moments you see in movies. The scrawny girl who no one really believed in makes a few miraculous strikes, winning the big game for her team and becoming a local legend. Except my life wasn't a movie, and any hopes my teammates or coach might've had for a last-minute chance to victory were crushed with my missed hits and points lost.
I was inconsolably angry with myself. I spent the entire car ride home tuning out my parents' words of consolation, replaying my match over and over in my head. For the next few days I was miserable thinking about how, if it hadn't been for me, the Aces might have been on their way to a league victory, and nothing anyone said could convince me that the loss wasn't on my shoulders.
About a week later, some of my friends from the team got together at the park to hang out. When I arrived, I was a little surprised that no one seemed to be mad at me. After all, I'd lost us the game, and they had to be disappointed about not making it to the semifinals. It wasn't until we split into teams for an impromptu pickup game that I started to realize why no one was upset. Maybe it was the excitement of reaching the playoffs or the pressure of living up to my cousins' examples, but sometime during that game, I'd lost sight of why most of us played tennis. It wasn't to win the championship, as cool as that would have been. It was because we all loved to play.
Conroy seemed to realize that and cared more for playing the game than actually winning it. He didn’t mind missing a shot and racked up hours and hours of practices to get better. Like Conroy, I didn't need a trophy or a Hollywood come-from-behind win to have fun playing tennis with my friends, but maybe I needed to lose first to remember that.
“I did not get bored with repetition. Every time a ball went in the pocket I felt satisfaction. When I missed I simply ignored the fact, reset the shot and tried again.” Frank Conroy, “Running the Table” pg. 29
I've played tennis ever since I could remember, but somehow, at eighteen, I still wasn't very good at it. You'd think that ten years of summer leagues and many close cousins who'd been the stars of their teams would have rubbed off on me, but you'd be wrong. I mean, I wasn't completely hopeless. I was pretty fast, and I could strike fast throws back five or six times out of ten, but I wasn't about to be scouted for championship teams.
My team that summer, the Aces, wasn't anything special, either. We had two or three pretty talented players, but most, like me, were just barely what you could call decent. But somehow we'd almost scraped through the first round of playoffs, with only one game standing between us and semifinals. Predictably, the game had come down to the last match, and it was my turn to play. It was like one of those moments you see in movies. The scrawny girl who no one really believed in makes a few miraculous strikes, winning the big game for her team and becoming a local legend. Except my life wasn't a movie, and any hopes my teammates or coach might've had for a last-minute chance to victory were crushed with my missed hits and points lost.
I was inconsolably angry with myself. I spent the entire car ride home tuning out my parents' words of consolation, replaying my match over and over in my head. For the next few days I was miserable thinking about how, if it hadn't been for me, the Aces might have been on their way to a league victory, and nothing anyone said could convince me that the loss wasn't on my shoulders.
About a week later, some of my friends from the team got together at the park to hang out. When I arrived, I was a little surprised that no one seemed to be mad at me. After all, I'd lost us the game, and they had to be disappointed about not making it to the semifinals. It wasn't until we split into teams for an impromptu pickup game that I started to realize why no one was upset. Maybe it was the excitement of reaching the playoffs or the pressure of living up to my cousins' examples, but sometime during that game, I'd lost sight of why most of us played tennis. It wasn't to win the championship, as cool as that would have been. It was because we all loved to play.
Conroy seemed to realize that and cared more for playing the game than actually winning it. He didn’t mind missing a shot and racked up hours and hours of practices to get better. Like Conroy, I didn't need a trophy or a Hollywood come-from-behind win to have fun playing tennis with my friends, but maybe I needed to lose first to remember that.
NYU General Chemistry I Significant Digits Essay
Hi everyone,
As the title says, this is an NYU essay assignment for General Chemistry I for Professor John Halpin. If you're not in this school, but also have to write a response on significant digits, this is it.
The following is the essay question. My response is pasted right after.
Good luck!
Required Length: 3 - 3000 words
Directions: In a logical, grammatically correct essay, describe to the reader the nature of significant figures and the procedures to be used concerning them in this course. Be sure to address the items in the "guiding questions" section, but remember that you are writing an essay, not just answering a list of questions.
In a numerical value, how do you know which digits are significant and which are not?
When performing a measurement, how you know how many significant digits to record?
Comment on the nature of the last significant digit in any measured value.
When you are given a numerical value that is the result of a measurement, what do the number of significant digits tell you about the precision of the measurement? About its accuracy?
What rules are followed in determining the number of significant digits in the answer to a calculation involving measured values?
What is an "exact" number? How does it affect calculations?
In a multi-step calculation, how should significant figures be handled?
How does the course policy on significant figures differ from that of the textbook?
How should you round an numerical result so that it contains the proper number of significant digits?
Follow the links to the web sites found in the "Source Material" section and use your textbook ("Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change", by Martin S. Silberberg) to gather information about handling significant figures. Write a comprehensive, coherent essay concerning the nature of significant figures, how they are recognized, how the are assessed after performing a calculation involving measured data, and how numbers are rounded to the proper number of significant figures. The "Guiding Questions" below are intended to help you to determine what concepts should be included in your essay, but do not simply write a list of answers to those questions - write an informative essay on the subject of significant figures.
My response:
The idea behind significant figures, sometimes called significant digits, is to verify that the amount of precision and answer is not overrepresented when making a big calculation, and thus, is not more precise than the numbers used to compute that answer. In other words, this is just a method to get everyone to understand and consent to one universal way to write a measurement and level of precision behind that measurement.
There are five rules used to determine the amount of significant figures in a number. The first rule is that non-zero digits are always significant. For example, 678 has three significant figures, while 8.3762 has five.
But here’s the tricky part: how about zeros? Well, depending on where the zero is placed, sometimes it can be considered significant, and sometimes it can not. By the second rule, zeros sandwiched between non-zero digits are always significant. Let’s say we have the number 8067. We know that the 8, the 6, and the 7 are all significant digits. However, from the second rule, since the zero is wedged between non-zero digits, it, too, is significant. So there is a total of four significant figures in this value.
Then again, a value doesn’t have to have only one zero, and the zero doesn’t have to be in one place. For example, let’s say we are given the number 206008. Well, since the 2, the 6, and the 8 are significant and since the zeros are sandwiched between them, they, too, are significant. So there is a total of 6 significant figures in this number. The same goes for decimal points. We can have 3.007009, but as long as we have 3, 7, and 9 (significant figures), the zeros between them are all significant. So there is a total of 7 significant figures in this number.
The third rule is that zeros that come before all non-zero digits are never significant. For example, let’s say we are given the number 0.000876. All the zeros that are before, or to the left of, the non-zero digits (4, 9, and 1), are not significant. So there is a total of 3 significant figures in this number. In simple terms, it doesn’t matter how many zeros you have. None of those zeros before the non-zero digits are significant.
However, that rule is used when we have zeros that are before, or to the left of, non-zero digits. What about zeros that come after, or to the right of, non-zero digits? By the fourth rule, if we have zeros that come after non-zero digits, and there is no decimal place in that number, the zeros are not significant. For example, 66,000 has only 2 significant figures. But, if we have zeros that come after non-zero digits, and there is no decimal place in that number, the zeros are significant. For example 8800. has 4 significant figures, while 88.000 has 5 significant figures. In other words, count trailing zeros only if the value has a decimal point.
Lastly, the fifth rule is that for numbers in scientific notation, disregard the exponent and apply the previous rules to the value. For example, 5.6078 x 10^16 has 5 significant figures. Notice the different methods the textbook and lecture notes use to determine significant figures for trailing zeros. While the textbook says that placing a decimal point to the right of the zeros will make the zeros significant (for example, 300. has three significant figures), what we do is use scientific notation to show which zeros are significant (for example, 3.00 x 10^2 has three significant figures). The reason for this method is to avoid ambiguous zeros. For example, if we measure the length of a cabinet and obtain a measurement of 500 cm, who’s to say that the measurement isn’t 499 cm or 501 cm, or even 501.3 cm, long? Since the zeros of 500 cm (with one significant digit) appear ambiguous, we must write it in scientific notation to reduce this ambiguity.
When you make a calculation, you use the right number of significant figures in order to present information about how precise it is. But if in doubt about whether a number is significant, assume that it isn't. For example, if a question asked for 800 L of water, assume the answer to that question is known to one significant figure. In the end, it’s up to you to determine how many significant figures are left, since what you put down presents not only the measurement but also information regarding its quality.
In many measurements, the way to calculate the number of significant figures is to include one estimated digit beyond the values shown on the scale. Why? For example, if we have to measure the length of a table with a ruler, and our essential measurement is 105 inches, we would have to estimate an extra digit since “105” tells us that the random uncertainty is a few parts in the value. That is, the larger the number of significant figures, the more precise the result.
So, this brings in the question whether the idea of significant figures link with precision or accuracy. Well, imagine you were asked to measure the width of a bed several times. Since the ruler you use doesn’t change, you will most likely end up with similar measurements again and again. This is precision, which refers to how close your measurements are to each other. What about accuracy? Well, you don't know if the ruler you used was accurate or not, unless you compare it against a ruler you knew was accurate. For all you know, the ruler may be damaged or stretched, and therefore, impossible for you to know if the values you measured agree with the correct value. Through this, you can see that significant figures are associated only with precision.
Another point worth mentioning is that there are two types of numbers: exact and inexact. Basically, exact numbers do not affect calculations of significant figures, while inexact numbers do. For example, there are exactly 12 eggs in a dozen. An inch has exactly 2.54 cm. And, there are exactly 20 people in a room, not 20.5 or 19.567 people. On the other hand, an inexact number is any measurement. For example, if I measure the length of a piece of paper, I might get 340 mm, or if I am more precise, 341 mm, or even 341.2 mm. In other words, the values I get will never be exact.
This leads to rounding. When rounding with significant figures, there are a few rules used to help retain precision in the final measurement. First, round only at the very end since rounding early means losing significant figures for use in the next calculation. Second, while the textbook wants us to drop the trailing digits followed by a 5 if the last significant digit is even, and round up if the last significant digit is odd, we are not. For our case, if the last significant figure is followed by a 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, round up. For example, if we have to round 7.688 to to three significant digits, the result will be 7.69. Likewise, if the last significant digit is followed by a 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, then drop the trailing digits. For example, if we had to round 65,103 to three significant digits, the result will be 65,100, namely, 6.51 x 10^4.
Now that you are familiar with measuring one value, what if we add, subtract, multiply, or divide multiple significant figures? A simple answer is that there are also rules you must use to compute these numbers.
When you only add/subtract measurements, your result can only have as many significant digits as the least significant decimal place of the measurement. For example, if we have to calculate 12.037 - 3.93, our answer can only have 2 significant figures after the decimal point, which in this case, is 8.11.
When you only multiply/divide measurements, your result, without consideration of the decimal point, can only have as many significant digits as the smallest significant number that was used in the calculation. For example, if we have to calculate 2.55 x 4.5, our answer can only have 2 significant figures, which in this case, is 11.
Now what about a multi-step calculation? How would it be handled then? Well, if you are calculating a problem that involves both addition/subtraction and multiplication/division, carry out the arithmetic as you normally would, but keep track of your significant figures during each calculation. In the end, round using the multiplication/division rule. For example, let’s say we have to calculate 3.489 x (5.67 - 2.3). If you can remember from basic math, PEMDAS (parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction) says you have to do the parentheses first. Hence, solving for 5.67 - 2.3, we get 3.37. However, we do not round to two significant digits now because rounding to 3.4 might produce a round off error. Although we use all of our numbers during the calculation, we keep track of the number of significant figures, in this case 2, to use for round off at the very end. Now, solving for 3.489 x 3.37, we get 11.7579. But this isn’t the final answer. Going back to the calculation, 3.489 has 4 significant figures, while 3.37 is supposed to have 2 (as we have mentally marked before). Taking the least number of total significant figures (multiplication/division rule), 11.7579 rounded to two significant figures become 12.
Once again, it’s crucial to remember to only round off at the very end of a calculation to avoid a round off error. Keep at least two extra digits during your calculation for better results.
As the title says, this is an NYU essay assignment for General Chemistry I for Professor John Halpin. If you're not in this school, but also have to write a response on significant digits, this is it.
The following is the essay question. My response is pasted right after.
Good luck!
Required Length: 3 - 3000 words
Directions: In a logical, grammatically correct essay, describe to the reader the nature of significant figures and the procedures to be used concerning them in this course. Be sure to address the items in the "guiding questions" section, but remember that you are writing an essay, not just answering a list of questions.
In a numerical value, how do you know which digits are significant and which are not?
When performing a measurement, how you know how many significant digits to record?
Comment on the nature of the last significant digit in any measured value.
When you are given a numerical value that is the result of a measurement, what do the number of significant digits tell you about the precision of the measurement? About its accuracy?
What rules are followed in determining the number of significant digits in the answer to a calculation involving measured values?
What is an "exact" number? How does it affect calculations?
In a multi-step calculation, how should significant figures be handled?
How does the course policy on significant figures differ from that of the textbook?
How should you round an numerical result so that it contains the proper number of significant digits?
Follow the links to the web sites found in the "Source Material" section and use your textbook ("Chemistry: The Molecular Nature of Matter and Change", by Martin S. Silberberg) to gather information about handling significant figures. Write a comprehensive, coherent essay concerning the nature of significant figures, how they are recognized, how the are assessed after performing a calculation involving measured data, and how numbers are rounded to the proper number of significant figures. The "Guiding Questions" below are intended to help you to determine what concepts should be included in your essay, but do not simply write a list of answers to those questions - write an informative essay on the subject of significant figures.
My response:
The idea behind significant figures, sometimes called significant digits, is to verify that the amount of precision and answer is not overrepresented when making a big calculation, and thus, is not more precise than the numbers used to compute that answer. In other words, this is just a method to get everyone to understand and consent to one universal way to write a measurement and level of precision behind that measurement.
There are five rules used to determine the amount of significant figures in a number. The first rule is that non-zero digits are always significant. For example, 678 has three significant figures, while 8.3762 has five.
But here’s the tricky part: how about zeros? Well, depending on where the zero is placed, sometimes it can be considered significant, and sometimes it can not. By the second rule, zeros sandwiched between non-zero digits are always significant. Let’s say we have the number 8067. We know that the 8, the 6, and the 7 are all significant digits. However, from the second rule, since the zero is wedged between non-zero digits, it, too, is significant. So there is a total of four significant figures in this value.
Then again, a value doesn’t have to have only one zero, and the zero doesn’t have to be in one place. For example, let’s say we are given the number 206008. Well, since the 2, the 6, and the 8 are significant and since the zeros are sandwiched between them, they, too, are significant. So there is a total of 6 significant figures in this number. The same goes for decimal points. We can have 3.007009, but as long as we have 3, 7, and 9 (significant figures), the zeros between them are all significant. So there is a total of 7 significant figures in this number.
The third rule is that zeros that come before all non-zero digits are never significant. For example, let’s say we are given the number 0.000876. All the zeros that are before, or to the left of, the non-zero digits (4, 9, and 1), are not significant. So there is a total of 3 significant figures in this number. In simple terms, it doesn’t matter how many zeros you have. None of those zeros before the non-zero digits are significant.
However, that rule is used when we have zeros that are before, or to the left of, non-zero digits. What about zeros that come after, or to the right of, non-zero digits? By the fourth rule, if we have zeros that come after non-zero digits, and there is no decimal place in that number, the zeros are not significant. For example, 66,000 has only 2 significant figures. But, if we have zeros that come after non-zero digits, and there is no decimal place in that number, the zeros are significant. For example 8800. has 4 significant figures, while 88.000 has 5 significant figures. In other words, count trailing zeros only if the value has a decimal point.
Lastly, the fifth rule is that for numbers in scientific notation, disregard the exponent and apply the previous rules to the value. For example, 5.6078 x 10^16 has 5 significant figures. Notice the different methods the textbook and lecture notes use to determine significant figures for trailing zeros. While the textbook says that placing a decimal point to the right of the zeros will make the zeros significant (for example, 300. has three significant figures), what we do is use scientific notation to show which zeros are significant (for example, 3.00 x 10^2 has three significant figures). The reason for this method is to avoid ambiguous zeros. For example, if we measure the length of a cabinet and obtain a measurement of 500 cm, who’s to say that the measurement isn’t 499 cm or 501 cm, or even 501.3 cm, long? Since the zeros of 500 cm (with one significant digit) appear ambiguous, we must write it in scientific notation to reduce this ambiguity.
When you make a calculation, you use the right number of significant figures in order to present information about how precise it is. But if in doubt about whether a number is significant, assume that it isn't. For example, if a question asked for 800 L of water, assume the answer to that question is known to one significant figure. In the end, it’s up to you to determine how many significant figures are left, since what you put down presents not only the measurement but also information regarding its quality.
In many measurements, the way to calculate the number of significant figures is to include one estimated digit beyond the values shown on the scale. Why? For example, if we have to measure the length of a table with a ruler, and our essential measurement is 105 inches, we would have to estimate an extra digit since “105” tells us that the random uncertainty is a few parts in the value. That is, the larger the number of significant figures, the more precise the result.
So, this brings in the question whether the idea of significant figures link with precision or accuracy. Well, imagine you were asked to measure the width of a bed several times. Since the ruler you use doesn’t change, you will most likely end up with similar measurements again and again. This is precision, which refers to how close your measurements are to each other. What about accuracy? Well, you don't know if the ruler you used was accurate or not, unless you compare it against a ruler you knew was accurate. For all you know, the ruler may be damaged or stretched, and therefore, impossible for you to know if the values you measured agree with the correct value. Through this, you can see that significant figures are associated only with precision.
Another point worth mentioning is that there are two types of numbers: exact and inexact. Basically, exact numbers do not affect calculations of significant figures, while inexact numbers do. For example, there are exactly 12 eggs in a dozen. An inch has exactly 2.54 cm. And, there are exactly 20 people in a room, not 20.5 or 19.567 people. On the other hand, an inexact number is any measurement. For example, if I measure the length of a piece of paper, I might get 340 mm, or if I am more precise, 341 mm, or even 341.2 mm. In other words, the values I get will never be exact.
This leads to rounding. When rounding with significant figures, there are a few rules used to help retain precision in the final measurement. First, round only at the very end since rounding early means losing significant figures for use in the next calculation. Second, while the textbook wants us to drop the trailing digits followed by a 5 if the last significant digit is even, and round up if the last significant digit is odd, we are not. For our case, if the last significant figure is followed by a 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9, round up. For example, if we have to round 7.688 to to three significant digits, the result will be 7.69. Likewise, if the last significant digit is followed by a 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4, then drop the trailing digits. For example, if we had to round 65,103 to three significant digits, the result will be 65,100, namely, 6.51 x 10^4.
Now that you are familiar with measuring one value, what if we add, subtract, multiply, or divide multiple significant figures? A simple answer is that there are also rules you must use to compute these numbers.
When you only add/subtract measurements, your result can only have as many significant digits as the least significant decimal place of the measurement. For example, if we have to calculate 12.037 - 3.93, our answer can only have 2 significant figures after the decimal point, which in this case, is 8.11.
When you only multiply/divide measurements, your result, without consideration of the decimal point, can only have as many significant digits as the smallest significant number that was used in the calculation. For example, if we have to calculate 2.55 x 4.5, our answer can only have 2 significant figures, which in this case, is 11.
Now what about a multi-step calculation? How would it be handled then? Well, if you are calculating a problem that involves both addition/subtraction and multiplication/division, carry out the arithmetic as you normally would, but keep track of your significant figures during each calculation. In the end, round using the multiplication/division rule. For example, let’s say we have to calculate 3.489 x (5.67 - 2.3). If you can remember from basic math, PEMDAS (parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction) says you have to do the parentheses first. Hence, solving for 5.67 - 2.3, we get 3.37. However, we do not round to two significant digits now because rounding to 3.4 might produce a round off error. Although we use all of our numbers during the calculation, we keep track of the number of significant figures, in this case 2, to use for round off at the very end. Now, solving for 3.489 x 3.37, we get 11.7579. But this isn’t the final answer. Going back to the calculation, 3.489 has 4 significant figures, while 3.37 is supposed to have 2 (as we have mentally marked before). Taking the least number of total significant figures (multiplication/division rule), 11.7579 rounded to two significant figures become 12.
Once again, it’s crucial to remember to only round off at the very end of a calculation to avoid a round off error. Keep at least two extra digits during your calculation for better results.
Reading Response: Shadow Cities by Andre Aciman
This is an analysis, more so my response to Shadow Cities. Feel free to use the ideas here for your essay.
I was shipped to China right when I was born. It was only after 10 years that I was brought back to America. The minute the plane landed, I felt the automatic distance with my homeland expand.
As I started going to school in America, I couldn’t keep up with the culture that most people had adapted to when they were little. The jokes they made, the actions they did, and the events they attended were all jumbles of puzzlement to me. This wasn’t just a feeling of being excluded but rather a stronger feeling of being exiled. Everywhere I went, after making it to a few lines, no one wanted to continue talking.
I had never felt so alone in a place that was considered home to me. And like Aciman, I wanted everything to remain the same. Why did I have to adapt to a new environment when the new environment could adapt to me? Confusing as it sounds, the feeling that I had to learn new traditions and absorb new cultures terrified me.
I was only ten years old. And with the busy environment my parents had to face (each mastering two jobs and caring for their small business), there was no way I could ask them for help, especially for something as easy as fitting in. Unlike America, China incorporated a custom that involves self-assessment and self-dependency. It’s the theme of every Chinese literature class and the story every Chinese parents insisted on telling.
But this wasn’t a story for me to tell. As much as I hoped everything was a math equation that could be fixed with a formula, it’s not. This was real life, with real people, and real conversations, not just some paper and problem you pick at with your pen.
The feeling of loss and loneliness is just too strong to get replaced with feelings of novelty as change is something we all don’t want to experience. However, one thing we should all realize is that we have to come to accept the world for what it is. Regardless of how much we might dislike it, life’s a process we should all gradually come to treasure.
Friday, June 20, 2014
Portfolio (A Sample Introduction For You)
A portfolio mainly includes a cover page, a table of contents, an introduction, samples of your work, and anything else you feel would give a person a picture of who you are. Since it's always beneficial to at least obtain an image of what to write, I included a sample of a portfolio introduction I had written.
Note: Please refer to the links after each paragraph for the piece described.
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When you look at yourself in the mirror, you might see a person with imagination, a dreamer of speed and vividness, with a personal touch for adventure. Or you might see a person with diligence, a believer of rules and conformity, with a taste for realism. Though we all see ourselves differently, those parts of us emerge when we craft stories and analysis, and study the world around us through unique lenses. During this process, we not only learn from others through their experiences and their concealed past of living, but also find the key in discovering ourselves and the truth to our path. In this school year, I have grasped new ideas through reading and writing alone, and have seen passion worth exploring and pursuing beyond the limits of a classroom.
Stories are forms of self-expression, and therefore, the best way to write beyond the norm. I have found a particular interest in writing stories since I could openly and creatively express myself by getting the reader to understand me better. In “The Science Teacher,” I aim to build a mysterious and eerie mood, and an image of a dangerous teacher who indirectly rids people if they trouble him. Since stories are usually expanded to more than a hundred pages, this piece challenges me to shorten the plot—and the suspense that leads to it—to just seven. Writing is a two way street in which both the writer and the reader must contribute to the story with the writer starting it, and the reader concluding it. To a writer, because a story has no ending, it is up to a reader’s imagination and ability to take over. With “Mr. Johnston was gone.” as the last line of the story, I try to build suspense by leaving the scenario open for the reader to wonder and examine.
http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/short-story-science-teacher.html
In “Beautifully Haunting,” however, I intend to craft a more humorous and lighthearted story of a harmless ghost who haunts a big old apartment building that has previously been a French film studio. Since ghosts are usually associated with unpleasant appearances and behaviors, I try to make Sydney White seem likeable, relatable, and most significantly, human. By portraying White as both nostalgic and friendly (“Each time when she enters my room, she would first offer me a coy smile before drifting into the closet.”), I give the message that ghosts, like humans, exhibit feelings as well, and thus, tearing down the common misconception that all ghosts are cruel, and heartless, only desiring a good scare. What I found most challenging is time-jumping within the frame of the story, traveling from a toddler to a teenager and then to an adult. By carefully inserting “over the years” and “to this day,” I aim to time-jump, and primarily, let the reader know I am time-jumping, without doling out the age. And finally, by generating many plots for these stories, I came to realize that all stories hold something in common: versatility, as anything or any moment, or even anyone, could make a story materialize. You’re feeling happy? Write a story. Spilled water on your shirt? Write a story!
http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/short-story-beautifully-haunting.html
Although a memoir is another form of self-expression, it is different when you compare it to a story as a memoir goes beyond a personal narrative and is an account of a real person’s life. Since everyone who is interesting has a past, and a story worth telling, I plan to center the memoir on a more rebellious side of myself. Using the literary device anaphora, I want to stress the importance of my change from someone who is insensitive and stubborn, to someone who finally realizes and appreciates what she has: the 7 bitter “do not wear,” and the nostalgic “I still wanted to go back… I still wanted to be…” The difficult part in writing the memoir isn’t the events I could say, or the devices I could use, but rather, the actual telling of the story to the reader. This is personal, and fairly emotional, and it is hard to transform these troublesome memories into fine art. But, since I never believe in endings, just like the idea that there are no goodbyes, I took a turn for optimism, making “BEGIN” the last word of the account, because who knows what adventures could happen next; it’s a mystery for the reader to solve.
http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/memoir-feeling-seventeen.html
On the critical side, in David Wallace’s “Ticket to the Fair,” I mainly seek to portray how descriptive and exact Wallace’s writing is. Like a true journalist and author, Wallace timestamps each moment of the day, letting the reader identify exactly when and what is happening, and uses figurative language and overstatements so shrewdly that the piece would appear incomplete and rigid without them. What I also center the essay on is Wallace’s honesty and how he “leaves the readers sensing as if they can see, smell, taste, touch, and hear everything he [Wallace] does.” But the problem and hardest part in analyzing this piece is the question if everything Wallace said is an accurate portrait of the real point. Although it’s his first trip to the fair, Wallace derides almost everything—even horses: “The horses’ faces are long and somehow suggestive of coffins.” Thus, it’s questionable whether Wallace is possibly over-exaggerating what he has seen. Is the fair really as bad as he claims it to be?
http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/annotation-of-wallace-david-ticket-to.html
Lastly, in Robert Frost’s “After Apple Picking,” I aim to capture the many meanings of apple picking. However, since every line of a poem could present multiple allusions, I find it challenging to locate the message Frost wants to portray. Analyzing the poem made me realize that picking apples may provide either an extended metaphor of seasonal transformations, and thus, death, or the feeling of traveling amid a waking and dream-like state. I notice that Frost’s style of poetry, though straightforward and clear, is not written colloquially. That is, Frost’s skill to convey such a depth of sensitivity in his poem through the medium of conversational speech divulges a big understanding of the human language in subjects of sensation, conflict, and struggle that would be inconceivable in any other form.
http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/robert-frosts-after-apple-picking.html
When I look into the mirror, I don’t just see a student with bursting ideas, but also a holder of creativity and passion, with determination to improve her reading and writing skills. These creative and critical assignments have helped me make those improvements and to, ultimately, take the next step on the ladder of literature. Creating stories allows me to artistically express myself. And analyzing novels and poems help me learn to think critically and sensibly. I never thought I would explore outside the box, beyond the limits of literature, and see an unknown version of me—and take an ordinary passage and craft it into artwork.
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A table of contents should look something like this:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1
1. Introduction…………………………..….………………………………………………..2
Chapter 2: Creative Work
2. The Science Teacher…...……………………………………………………………….....4
3. Beautifully Haunting…...………………………………………….…………………….....11
4. Feeling Seventeen…..……………………………………………………………………..13
Chapter 3: Critical Work
5. David Wallace’s “Ticket to the Fair”…………………………………………….………....16
6. Robert Frost’s “After Apple Picking”…………………………………………………........19
Note: Please refer to the links after each paragraph for the piece described.
---
When you look at yourself in the mirror, you might see a person with imagination, a dreamer of speed and vividness, with a personal touch for adventure. Or you might see a person with diligence, a believer of rules and conformity, with a taste for realism. Though we all see ourselves differently, those parts of us emerge when we craft stories and analysis, and study the world around us through unique lenses. During this process, we not only learn from others through their experiences and their concealed past of living, but also find the key in discovering ourselves and the truth to our path. In this school year, I have grasped new ideas through reading and writing alone, and have seen passion worth exploring and pursuing beyond the limits of a classroom.
Stories are forms of self-expression, and therefore, the best way to write beyond the norm. I have found a particular interest in writing stories since I could openly and creatively express myself by getting the reader to understand me better. In “The Science Teacher,” I aim to build a mysterious and eerie mood, and an image of a dangerous teacher who indirectly rids people if they trouble him. Since stories are usually expanded to more than a hundred pages, this piece challenges me to shorten the plot—and the suspense that leads to it—to just seven. Writing is a two way street in which both the writer and the reader must contribute to the story with the writer starting it, and the reader concluding it. To a writer, because a story has no ending, it is up to a reader’s imagination and ability to take over. With “Mr. Johnston was gone.” as the last line of the story, I try to build suspense by leaving the scenario open for the reader to wonder and examine.
http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/short-story-science-teacher.html
In “Beautifully Haunting,” however, I intend to craft a more humorous and lighthearted story of a harmless ghost who haunts a big old apartment building that has previously been a French film studio. Since ghosts are usually associated with unpleasant appearances and behaviors, I try to make Sydney White seem likeable, relatable, and most significantly, human. By portraying White as both nostalgic and friendly (“Each time when she enters my room, she would first offer me a coy smile before drifting into the closet.”), I give the message that ghosts, like humans, exhibit feelings as well, and thus, tearing down the common misconception that all ghosts are cruel, and heartless, only desiring a good scare. What I found most challenging is time-jumping within the frame of the story, traveling from a toddler to a teenager and then to an adult. By carefully inserting “over the years” and “to this day,” I aim to time-jump, and primarily, let the reader know I am time-jumping, without doling out the age. And finally, by generating many plots for these stories, I came to realize that all stories hold something in common: versatility, as anything or any moment, or even anyone, could make a story materialize. You’re feeling happy? Write a story. Spilled water on your shirt? Write a story!
http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/short-story-beautifully-haunting.html
Although a memoir is another form of self-expression, it is different when you compare it to a story as a memoir goes beyond a personal narrative and is an account of a real person’s life. Since everyone who is interesting has a past, and a story worth telling, I plan to center the memoir on a more rebellious side of myself. Using the literary device anaphora, I want to stress the importance of my change from someone who is insensitive and stubborn, to someone who finally realizes and appreciates what she has: the 7 bitter “do not wear,” and the nostalgic “I still wanted to go back… I still wanted to be…” The difficult part in writing the memoir isn’t the events I could say, or the devices I could use, but rather, the actual telling of the story to the reader. This is personal, and fairly emotional, and it is hard to transform these troublesome memories into fine art. But, since I never believe in endings, just like the idea that there are no goodbyes, I took a turn for optimism, making “BEGIN” the last word of the account, because who knows what adventures could happen next; it’s a mystery for the reader to solve.
http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/memoir-feeling-seventeen.html
On the critical side, in David Wallace’s “Ticket to the Fair,” I mainly seek to portray how descriptive and exact Wallace’s writing is. Like a true journalist and author, Wallace timestamps each moment of the day, letting the reader identify exactly when and what is happening, and uses figurative language and overstatements so shrewdly that the piece would appear incomplete and rigid without them. What I also center the essay on is Wallace’s honesty and how he “leaves the readers sensing as if they can see, smell, taste, touch, and hear everything he [Wallace] does.” But the problem and hardest part in analyzing this piece is the question if everything Wallace said is an accurate portrait of the real point. Although it’s his first trip to the fair, Wallace derides almost everything—even horses: “The horses’ faces are long and somehow suggestive of coffins.” Thus, it’s questionable whether Wallace is possibly over-exaggerating what he has seen. Is the fair really as bad as he claims it to be?
http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/annotation-of-wallace-david-ticket-to.html
Lastly, in Robert Frost’s “After Apple Picking,” I aim to capture the many meanings of apple picking. However, since every line of a poem could present multiple allusions, I find it challenging to locate the message Frost wants to portray. Analyzing the poem made me realize that picking apples may provide either an extended metaphor of seasonal transformations, and thus, death, or the feeling of traveling amid a waking and dream-like state. I notice that Frost’s style of poetry, though straightforward and clear, is not written colloquially. That is, Frost’s skill to convey such a depth of sensitivity in his poem through the medium of conversational speech divulges a big understanding of the human language in subjects of sensation, conflict, and struggle that would be inconceivable in any other form.
http://renacheneveryday.blogspot.com/2014/05/robert-frosts-after-apple-picking.html
When I look into the mirror, I don’t just see a student with bursting ideas, but also a holder of creativity and passion, with determination to improve her reading and writing skills. These creative and critical assignments have helped me make those improvements and to, ultimately, take the next step on the ladder of literature. Creating stories allows me to artistically express myself. And analyzing novels and poems help me learn to think critically and sensibly. I never thought I would explore outside the box, beyond the limits of literature, and see an unknown version of me—and take an ordinary passage and craft it into artwork.
---
A table of contents should look something like this:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1
1. Introduction…………………………..….………………………………………………..2
Chapter 2: Creative Work
2. The Science Teacher…...……………………………………………………………….....4
3. Beautifully Haunting…...………………………………………….…………………….....11
4. Feeling Seventeen…..……………………………………………………………………..13
Chapter 3: Critical Work
5. David Wallace’s “Ticket to the Fair”…………………………………………….………....16
6. Robert Frost’s “After Apple Picking”…………………………………………………........19
The Archery Kid: A Profile
I know it has been a while since I posted anything but, without further ado, here’s a profile feature article I written for a cousin of mine. Enjoy!
---
At 13, most kids played Xbox or watched television for entertainment. But not Mark Song.When he wanted to have fun, he picked up his bow and arrow and roamed the forest with his father.
Leaving in the morning at 3 a.m., Mark, like his father, wasn’t big on breakfast, and took an apple to go, eating it from the top down.
“The apple cores are just a myth. Never eat them from the outside in; this wastes roughly 30 percent of the fruit. Eat the seeds too,” Mark remarked as he tossed the remaining piece of apple into his mouth.
After brushing and flossing his teeth not once, or twice, but three times to be sure, Mark donned his camouflaged clothing and headwear. Unshaven and messy, he packed items and tools for the hunting trip, once bending down for his quiver as his dark, unruly hair flew everywhere.Some might even say he was carelessly handsome.In less than 10 minutes, Mark signaled he was ready to go, and hastily stuffed his too-loose short-sleeve camo tee into his pocket pants. His father was just as quick.
Although the thirteen-year-old boy from Pennsylvania was way too young to have an official hunting license, he had already chalked up 6 perfect shots into three 7 and two 8 point whitetail deer and one black bear.
“Right in the heart!” Mark gleefully celebrated every time he made a direct hit.
But he wasn’t a complainer if he missed, or if he only gave the animal a minor wound. He shrugged, smiled his boyish smile, and sat back and waited for the next one.
Mark was simply taking after his father, who once single-handedly shot down three deer in one sitting. Thinking his son would enjoy hunting as much as he does, Mark’s father brought his son when he was 7 to a shooting range. With hours of practice and a side of beginner’s luck, Mark improved his skills and grew to love hunting. When Mark was finally ready, he entered the fields.
Although his father was supportive, Mark’s mother pleaded for him to be careful in the woods. But despite the motherly advice, Mark fell from his tree stand many times, half due to excitement and half due to trying not to fall asleep.
“You have to wake up pretty early to catch them. It’s only that one moment you hear it, the leaves crunching and their subtle movements. And you know you have to get it right. That it’s now or never. You have to hit them like they never knew what was coming! Boom, right in the heart!”
But there wasone rainy morning Mark would never forget—the day he shot his first black bear.
“I didn’t even realize it. I was so excited, and didn’t know what to do. I have never seen a black bear before, especially up close. I thought it was going to leap up at me, because bears can climb trees really well and this one was just 6 feet away… Of course I was scared! My father never shot one either. But luckily, my body instinctively reacted,” Mark heartily laughs. “I guess after all those hours of practicing… I just knew I had to do it. Miss or not. And I did. Oh, boy! You could hear the whoosh as I let go of my arrow; my heart was beating so fast. But I knew. Even before I let it fly. I had the position; the bear was mine.”
And Mark, indeed, was right. Within a few hours, the bear was dead, and it was his. Stunned at first, Mark called his father, who was waiting at another tree stand, and told him the news.
“Right in the heart!” Mark cheeredas he and his father lugged the bear out of the forest and onto the truck.
“Right in the heart!” He grinned, as his father congratulated him, patting him on the head, and later when they were eating lunch, joking about beginner’s luck.
“Right in the heart!” Heannounced, as he arrived home and as his mother applauded him,taking a picture.
“Right in the heart!” He murmured again, as he fell onto his unmade bed and drifted off to sleep.
---
At 13, most kids played Xbox or watched television for entertainment. But not Mark Song.When he wanted to have fun, he picked up his bow and arrow and roamed the forest with his father.
Leaving in the morning at 3 a.m., Mark, like his father, wasn’t big on breakfast, and took an apple to go, eating it from the top down.
“The apple cores are just a myth. Never eat them from the outside in; this wastes roughly 30 percent of the fruit. Eat the seeds too,” Mark remarked as he tossed the remaining piece of apple into his mouth.
After brushing and flossing his teeth not once, or twice, but three times to be sure, Mark donned his camouflaged clothing and headwear. Unshaven and messy, he packed items and tools for the hunting trip, once bending down for his quiver as his dark, unruly hair flew everywhere.Some might even say he was carelessly handsome.In less than 10 minutes, Mark signaled he was ready to go, and hastily stuffed his too-loose short-sleeve camo tee into his pocket pants. His father was just as quick.
Although the thirteen-year-old boy from Pennsylvania was way too young to have an official hunting license, he had already chalked up 6 perfect shots into three 7 and two 8 point whitetail deer and one black bear.
“Right in the heart!” Mark gleefully celebrated every time he made a direct hit.
But he wasn’t a complainer if he missed, or if he only gave the animal a minor wound. He shrugged, smiled his boyish smile, and sat back and waited for the next one.
Mark was simply taking after his father, who once single-handedly shot down three deer in one sitting. Thinking his son would enjoy hunting as much as he does, Mark’s father brought his son when he was 7 to a shooting range. With hours of practice and a side of beginner’s luck, Mark improved his skills and grew to love hunting. When Mark was finally ready, he entered the fields.
Although his father was supportive, Mark’s mother pleaded for him to be careful in the woods. But despite the motherly advice, Mark fell from his tree stand many times, half due to excitement and half due to trying not to fall asleep.
“You have to wake up pretty early to catch them. It’s only that one moment you hear it, the leaves crunching and their subtle movements. And you know you have to get it right. That it’s now or never. You have to hit them like they never knew what was coming! Boom, right in the heart!”
But there wasone rainy morning Mark would never forget—the day he shot his first black bear.
“I didn’t even realize it. I was so excited, and didn’t know what to do. I have never seen a black bear before, especially up close. I thought it was going to leap up at me, because bears can climb trees really well and this one was just 6 feet away… Of course I was scared! My father never shot one either. But luckily, my body instinctively reacted,” Mark heartily laughs. “I guess after all those hours of practicing… I just knew I had to do it. Miss or not. And I did. Oh, boy! You could hear the whoosh as I let go of my arrow; my heart was beating so fast. But I knew. Even before I let it fly. I had the position; the bear was mine.”
And Mark, indeed, was right. Within a few hours, the bear was dead, and it was his. Stunned at first, Mark called his father, who was waiting at another tree stand, and told him the news.
“Right in the heart!” Mark cheeredas he and his father lugged the bear out of the forest and onto the truck.
“Right in the heart!” He grinned, as his father congratulated him, patting him on the head, and later when they were eating lunch, joking about beginner’s luck.
“Right in the heart!” Heannounced, as he arrived home and as his mother applauded him,taking a picture.
“Right in the heart!” He murmured again, as he fell onto his unmade bed and drifted off to sleep.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Louise Gluck's The Wild Iris
The Wild Iris: Form
Every poet wishes to take off and be free. While some poets believe it’s liberating to utilize their ingenuity within the secure margins of a proper metrical organization or rhyme scheme, other poets, like Louise Gluck, favor reformulating the wheel, exercising free verse to make up the poem's composition as they follow.
The Wild Iris includes seven stanzas of different lengths. Gluck frequently makes the coherent links between the stanzas mysterious in order for meanings to emerge during the white spaces. However, those recurrent white spaces are not present to ease the eye. They are intended to present the readers an opportunity to think in silence and to join the poem's ideas.
The rhythmical practice of enjambment is another approach that Gluck uses to elicit attention to what she's not stating. For example, by ending lines 3 and 17 with white spaces after the word "death" and the phrase "the other world," Gluck leaves the readers to fend for themselves without the safety kit of a period or a comma.
Although the poem does not have a fixed meter, Gluck exercises rhythm to develop the straightforward language and conversational quality of the poem. Recurrent accent on single-syllable words hints at this method’s significance in the poem: "Hear me out: that which you call death," and "I tell you I could speak again." Gluck grabs the readers’ attention by employing a formal metrical structure, in which each of the two lines includes triple spondees.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Writing A Sonnet (Poem)
And lastly, I also wrote, or at least tried to write, a sonnet about writing a sonnet. What do you think?
Writing A Sonnet
To write a sonnet, please use your brain,
And remember that a sonnet has fourteen lines.
One ending couplet with three quatrains,
The A-B-A-B form plus a rhyme.
No one becomes Shakespeare overnight,
But everyone should be willing to try.
And not let good ideas flow out of sight,
Otherwise, your readers will surely cry.
Writing a sonnet requires patience and care,
A keen eye to judge, and a passion to learn.
Do not ever leave words hanging, alone and bare,
Keep them close to you, like something you earn.
Now the truth of a sonnet reveals wherein,
The key to writing does not lie within.
Writing A Sonnet
To write a sonnet, please use your brain,
And remember that a sonnet has fourteen lines.
One ending couplet with three quatrains,
The A-B-A-B form plus a rhyme.
No one becomes Shakespeare overnight,
But everyone should be willing to try.
And not let good ideas flow out of sight,
Otherwise, your readers will surely cry.
Writing a sonnet requires patience and care,
A keen eye to judge, and a passion to learn.
Do not ever leave words hanging, alone and bare,
Keep them close to you, like something you earn.
Now the truth of a sonnet reveals wherein,
The key to writing does not lie within.
Trust (Free Verse Poem)
And of course, I gave another shot at my poetry ambitions with another poem titles "Trust":
Trust
Said the mother who
Kicked me out of her house
When I was ten
Is what I need. But how
Could I trust
The woman who told me
To leap but didn’t
Catch me
Like she said she would? How
Could I trust
The woman who never
Remembers my birthdays and
Who still forgets
Even after I remind her? How
Could I trust
The mother who had thrown
My favorite toy truck
In the dumpster and
Told me she had to ship it to
England for a little styling? Who
Told me the day after
I found my toy truck and
Confronted her that
It had ran away on its own? Who
Told me Santa Claus
Didn’t bring me gifts
On Christmas because
I was a bad girl and
Not because she had spent
My Christmas money on French nails? Who
Had accidentally
Left me in California
A good 10,000 miles away from home
And pretended to not recognize
Me when someone brought me back? Who
Told me she didn’t have
Her reading glasses on and
That’s why she couldn’t recognize me
After DNA tests proved otherwise? Who
Have tried
Countless times
To sell me on the black market
So she could buy a new car? Who
After kicking me out of her house
On my tenth birthday
Told me I shouldn’t be too dependent on her?
Because I’m your mother
She had said
Standing in front of my apartment
In rags and dust looking
For a place to live.
Because I’m your mother
She had said
Twenty years later.
Trust
Said the mother who
Kicked me out of her house
When I was ten
Is what I need. But how
Could I trust
The woman who told me
To leap but didn’t
Catch me
Like she said she would? How
Could I trust
The woman who never
Remembers my birthdays and
Who still forgets
Even after I remind her? How
Could I trust
The mother who had thrown
My favorite toy truck
In the dumpster and
Told me she had to ship it to
England for a little styling? Who
Told me the day after
I found my toy truck and
Confronted her that
It had ran away on its own? Who
Told me Santa Claus
Didn’t bring me gifts
On Christmas because
I was a bad girl and
Not because she had spent
My Christmas money on French nails? Who
Had accidentally
Left me in California
A good 10,000 miles away from home
And pretended to not recognize
Me when someone brought me back? Who
Told me she didn’t have
Her reading glasses on and
That’s why she couldn’t recognize me
After DNA tests proved otherwise? Who
Have tried
Countless times
To sell me on the black market
So she could buy a new car? Who
After kicking me out of her house
On my tenth birthday
Told me I shouldn’t be too dependent on her?
Because I’m your mother
She had said
Standing in front of my apartment
In rags and dust looking
For a place to live.
Because I’m your mother
She had said
Twenty years later.
Villanelle (What We See)
The thing about villanelles is that they are relatively fun to write. The term "villanelle" comes from the Italian villano ("peasant") and is made up of 19 lines, 5 stanzas of three lines and 1 stanza of four lines with two rhymes and two refrains.
So, to give it a shot, I wrote one. Check it out!
What We See
I wish I have not seen you standing there.
Clearly hating me for what I have done,
Though you stand aloof and without a care.
I wish I could escape your mocking stare.
Knowing I am afraid to hide or run,
You leave me feeling vulnerable and bare.
Blaming me for leaving! Oh, how you dare
Tell everyone something you spun,
Out of thin air and without me there.
Your selfless mind, oh it’s gone! A nightmare
You know I know that had only begun,
That stare! That mocking glare! Is forever there.
Understand when I try and wish not to care.
Pitiless monster! Look what you have done
Both to me and to yourself, how you dare!
I strike at you, aloof and without a care.
Watching the mirror crash to shreds, I’m not done!
I see you laughing, you can’t destroy me, I swear!
In pieces, still mocking me with your icy stare.
So, to give it a shot, I wrote one. Check it out!
What We See
I wish I have not seen you standing there.
Clearly hating me for what I have done,
Though you stand aloof and without a care.
I wish I could escape your mocking stare.
Knowing I am afraid to hide or run,
You leave me feeling vulnerable and bare.
Blaming me for leaving! Oh, how you dare
Tell everyone something you spun,
Out of thin air and without me there.
Your selfless mind, oh it’s gone! A nightmare
You know I know that had only begun,
That stare! That mocking glare! Is forever there.
Understand when I try and wish not to care.
Pitiless monster! Look what you have done
Both to me and to yourself, how you dare!
I strike at you, aloof and without a care.
Watching the mirror crash to shreds, I’m not done!
I see you laughing, you can’t destroy me, I swear!
In pieces, still mocking me with your icy stare.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Benefits of Breakfast
Your mother was right: breakfast really can make or break your day. Unfortunately, all-nighters are becoming the norm now for stressed out students balancing AP classes, extracurricular activities, and more; ten extra minutes snuggled up in bed sounds far more enticing than a bowl of cereal. However, studies have proven that a good, healthy breakfast is critical to a growing teen’s health and academic development. In an endeavor to aid struggling students, many states are sponsoring school breakfast programs that supply nutritious morning meals to busy students.
The School Breakfast Program is a federally sponsored program that began in 1966 as a pilot project to assist “nutritionally needy” students that were not getting the sustenance that needed to perform to the best of their abilities in class. Today schools across the country have implemented this program, offering healthy and traditional menus low in sodium and fat and high in vitamins. Because the program helps pay for the breakfasts, these meals are served at a reduced price and are basically the equivalent of having a morning lunch in the cafeteria or classroom before the school day begins.
In Colorado, where only 38% of students who eat lunch also eat breakfast, the state instituted a Breakfast Challenge. This was to encourage schools to increase participation rates as the school with the greatest increases could win cash prizes of up to $5000. In the Pueblo school district, free breakfasts are now available for every student of every age level and test scores and attendance have improved dramatically across the board. This methodology is spreading quickly around the area.
What about New Jersey? The Garden State is ranked 49th in the nation for Breakfast Program participation. The state fails to reach sixty of every hundred students requiring financial aid, so $19 million in federal funding has been lost. Governor Christie has proposed cutting $5.5 million from the state Breakfast Program to save on the budget, a move that may defer interest in schools not yet participating or limit options of currently active schools.
Because a healthy breakfast can reduce hunger all day long, a student is often more alert, vigorous, and focused. In a survey by the American Dietetic Association, half of all boys and two-thirds of all girls skip breakfast on a regular basis. While some local elementary schools, like those in Piscataway and Edison, offer breakfast programs, many of our high schools do not. They do, however, roll out the racks of snacks the minute bleary-eyed students walk through the doors. A bite to eat is important, but not if it’s loaded with sugar and empty calories. It’s pretty obvious we all want a way to make ourselves more attentive and better our test grades in class and a simple way to achieve this is to add a healthy mix of dairy, grains, and fruits into our morning schedules. Whether we can commit to this effort through available school programs or through sheer willpower is up to us. On the other hand, no one disagrees that we should at least try. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
The School Breakfast Program is a federally sponsored program that began in 1966 as a pilot project to assist “nutritionally needy” students that were not getting the sustenance that needed to perform to the best of their abilities in class. Today schools across the country have implemented this program, offering healthy and traditional menus low in sodium and fat and high in vitamins. Because the program helps pay for the breakfasts, these meals are served at a reduced price and are basically the equivalent of having a morning lunch in the cafeteria or classroom before the school day begins.
In Colorado, where only 38% of students who eat lunch also eat breakfast, the state instituted a Breakfast Challenge. This was to encourage schools to increase participation rates as the school with the greatest increases could win cash prizes of up to $5000. In the Pueblo school district, free breakfasts are now available for every student of every age level and test scores and attendance have improved dramatically across the board. This methodology is spreading quickly around the area.
What about New Jersey? The Garden State is ranked 49th in the nation for Breakfast Program participation. The state fails to reach sixty of every hundred students requiring financial aid, so $19 million in federal funding has been lost. Governor Christie has proposed cutting $5.5 million from the state Breakfast Program to save on the budget, a move that may defer interest in schools not yet participating or limit options of currently active schools.
Because a healthy breakfast can reduce hunger all day long, a student is often more alert, vigorous, and focused. In a survey by the American Dietetic Association, half of all boys and two-thirds of all girls skip breakfast on a regular basis. While some local elementary schools, like those in Piscataway and Edison, offer breakfast programs, many of our high schools do not. They do, however, roll out the racks of snacks the minute bleary-eyed students walk through the doors. A bite to eat is important, but not if it’s loaded with sugar and empty calories. It’s pretty obvious we all want a way to make ourselves more attentive and better our test grades in class and a simple way to achieve this is to add a healthy mix of dairy, grains, and fruits into our morning schedules. Whether we can commit to this effort through available school programs or through sheer willpower is up to us. On the other hand, no one disagrees that we should at least try. After all, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
Surprising Benefits of Gaming
In the 21st century, technology is the dominating model of information flow and entertainment, as more and more people begin assimilating it into their lives. One of the greatest concerns with technology use is its influence on children, especially through video and computer games. Contrary to the general belief that computer games serve no positive purpose, they help children develop skills that may ultimately outweigh the negatives of gaming.
Although many are concerned with the possibility of increased aggression in the daily life of gamers as a result of violence within the virtual world, studies have shown that such consequences are insignificant, if present at all. Dmitri Williams, professor at University of Illinois, performed behavioral studies, comparing individuals before and after a continuous period of gaming. He found little correlation between violence in real life and gaming. Even the little effects observed during the experiment are more prevalent in older individuals, such as those above 30 years old, rather than in children, whom adults worry about the most as victims of negative influence.
Experts further affirm that the time invested into gaming does not necessary become a waste. Games are an excellent place to develop teamwork skills. With teams come responsibilities, which many children learn to take on as they recognize the immediate consequences of their choices and actions in games. In a broader sense, children are also given the opportunity to learn resource management and strategic problem-solving skills, all of which are valuable in life. Especially because of the size of gaming communities online, children also have the opportunity to interact with different people, widening their perspectives in the world.
Concerns of academic effort being affected by gaming are equally erroneous. The time spent on academic work is only affected at a minuscule scale by gaming, as gaming largely displaces time spent on other activities than academic work. In contrast, the more concerning problem is the time devoted to academic work in general; for example, on average, boys spend only eight minutes reading per day.
Moreover, games have become an activity that enhances real life social relationships rather than deter them. Research has shown that children who play games spend on average more time with friends than do those who don’t play computer games. Video games can also be used as an opportunity for interactions between parents and children. Such activities have been shown to benefit girls especially, decreasing the probability of depression.
Ultimately, the greatest concern for gaming is addiction, defined as extreme physical or mental dependency on a certain activity. It is recognized that one may develop stronger attachments to games as more time is devoted to this activity. However, American health organizations have officially announced that addictions to games are not sicknesses, and that limited playing can reserve such addictions relatively easily.
Like most things in the world, gaming has both a positive and a negative side. So parents, don’t be so quick to dismiss gaming as unhealthy (but don’t let your kids go overboard with them, either)!
Although many are concerned with the possibility of increased aggression in the daily life of gamers as a result of violence within the virtual world, studies have shown that such consequences are insignificant, if present at all. Dmitri Williams, professor at University of Illinois, performed behavioral studies, comparing individuals before and after a continuous period of gaming. He found little correlation between violence in real life and gaming. Even the little effects observed during the experiment are more prevalent in older individuals, such as those above 30 years old, rather than in children, whom adults worry about the most as victims of negative influence.
Experts further affirm that the time invested into gaming does not necessary become a waste. Games are an excellent place to develop teamwork skills. With teams come responsibilities, which many children learn to take on as they recognize the immediate consequences of their choices and actions in games. In a broader sense, children are also given the opportunity to learn resource management and strategic problem-solving skills, all of which are valuable in life. Especially because of the size of gaming communities online, children also have the opportunity to interact with different people, widening their perspectives in the world.
Concerns of academic effort being affected by gaming are equally erroneous. The time spent on academic work is only affected at a minuscule scale by gaming, as gaming largely displaces time spent on other activities than academic work. In contrast, the more concerning problem is the time devoted to academic work in general; for example, on average, boys spend only eight minutes reading per day.
Moreover, games have become an activity that enhances real life social relationships rather than deter them. Research has shown that children who play games spend on average more time with friends than do those who don’t play computer games. Video games can also be used as an opportunity for interactions between parents and children. Such activities have been shown to benefit girls especially, decreasing the probability of depression.
Ultimately, the greatest concern for gaming is addiction, defined as extreme physical or mental dependency on a certain activity. It is recognized that one may develop stronger attachments to games as more time is devoted to this activity. However, American health organizations have officially announced that addictions to games are not sicknesses, and that limited playing can reserve such addictions relatively easily.
Like most things in the world, gaming has both a positive and a negative side. So parents, don’t be so quick to dismiss gaming as unhealthy (but don’t let your kids go overboard with them, either)!
Sunday, May 4, 2014
What Does It Take To Be A Great Teacher?
We all have asked it: What does it take to be a really great teacher?
Well, this is a question that numerous teachers have asked themselves throughout the years as they evaluate their own aptitudes. The truth is that people who choose to become teachers are only truly great if they set their minds to it, and work hard each and every teaching day to improve. Their purpose is not perfection, but progression.
Since the start of this year, as part of a yearlong search to understand what it takes to be a great teacher, I began dropping by high school classrooms across New Jersey to observe great teaching in areas across the socioeconomic array, ranging from a poverty-stricken city in Camden to a privileged high school in Millburn. Despite major disparities in practices, qualities, and values, I was struck by the comprehension that all great teachers share five universal approaches. And ultimately, these approaches are anchored in the same state of being.
What all great teachers have in common is faith, not in religious terms but in terms of unyielding faith for someone or something, even in the absence of material substantiation. They have faith in their students. They have faith in the course of learning. And, they have faith in themselves. It is what elicits the five approaches I distinguished in great teachers:
1. Great teachers are skilled listeners.
Listening is not just sitting around hearing about a student’s troubles (although many teachers still do this). Rather than coming in with a pre-prepared learning schedule, great teachers initially listen attentively to the educational and individual needs of their students. This listening could be an assessment analysis or could entail an insightful understanding of and reverence for the lives and home customs of their students, whether they are susceptible kids in a deprived district or honored kids in an affluent area.
“Ms. Burgett wants to know me,” Sydney, a 17 year old student in Sarah Burgett’s 12th grade class at Lyndhurst High School in Lyndhurst, says. “At my old school, the teachers never talked to their students outside of class.”
2. Great teachers have a genuine outlook for their students.
Some great teachers I met are focused on standard-based teaching while others are not. But regardless of their thoughts and focuses, all great teachers have their own, genuine outlook of what they want for their students. Since they listen to their students, the outlook they have is their feedback to what their students require, not to a requirement of their own. This outlook does not have to be theoretical. For several teachers, mainly in skill-based topics, their outlook is mastery of a particular body of matter, which they consider priceless for their students. However, others vision unique traits: instilling a lifelong inquisitiveness or turning their students into lifelong readers.
3. Great teachers believe in their students’ potential.
When I say “potential,” I do not mean the belief that all students will go to college. In area like Alpine, because of the available widespread resources, college is foreseeable for most students before they’re even born, while in areas like the Special Education classroom of Newark, college is very unlikely for most students. What I mean by “potential” is that in all great teachers, I perceive a belief that the student in front of them is skilled to reach beyond what anyone might imagine possible. Great teachers understand that life could take surprising and impulsive turns. It’s due to that belief that they do not ever give up even on students who never seem to improve.
4. Great teachers are calm but determined pushers.
Remember in “Mean Girls” when math teacher Ms. Sharon Norbury says she’s “a pusher?” Great teachers never stop pushing their students regardless of how low or high their level and their protests or lack of concern. And great teachers stay remarkably calm. Even when irritated, they breathe and brush the moment off. They don’t seem to take anything personally because they trust their vision and their students’ potential.
5. Great teachers approach non-attachment to interim results.
When I say “non-attachment,” I do not mean a lack of interest. Great teachers are certainly interested in interim results, studying student work carefully and tracking their students’ improvement. However—and this is where they diverge drastically from average teachers—they do not invest emotionally in those outcomes or take them as support of accomplishment or failure. Great teachers take a much larger vision of learning. They perceive their lessons, and what their students discover from their lessons, as something they hope their students will bring with them for the rest of their lives.
“You sometimes feel that you’re fighting yourself,” Paul Lamberti, a teacher at Eastside High School in Paterson, says of the challenges of educating students in Special Education. “But I do see my kids turn it around because at the end of the day, although they might not recall what I taught them, they’ll remember that I cared about them on a primary level.”
This leads me to faith. Because at heart, all of these approaches are anchored in a faith in the effort itself, in the everyday practice of showing up and engaging in the challenge of learning with the students.
So, what does it take to be a really great teacher? Well, it takes diligence, respect, and enthusiasm. It takes passion and a love of learning for education and for the course material. It takes the desire to never give up and to make a difference in the lives of young people. But mostly, it takes the development of this faith, not just in students, but also in the process of learning and in ourselves.
Well, this is a question that numerous teachers have asked themselves throughout the years as they evaluate their own aptitudes. The truth is that people who choose to become teachers are only truly great if they set their minds to it, and work hard each and every teaching day to improve. Their purpose is not perfection, but progression.
Since the start of this year, as part of a yearlong search to understand what it takes to be a great teacher, I began dropping by high school classrooms across New Jersey to observe great teaching in areas across the socioeconomic array, ranging from a poverty-stricken city in Camden to a privileged high school in Millburn. Despite major disparities in practices, qualities, and values, I was struck by the comprehension that all great teachers share five universal approaches. And ultimately, these approaches are anchored in the same state of being.
What all great teachers have in common is faith, not in religious terms but in terms of unyielding faith for someone or something, even in the absence of material substantiation. They have faith in their students. They have faith in the course of learning. And, they have faith in themselves. It is what elicits the five approaches I distinguished in great teachers:
1. Great teachers are skilled listeners.
Listening is not just sitting around hearing about a student’s troubles (although many teachers still do this). Rather than coming in with a pre-prepared learning schedule, great teachers initially listen attentively to the educational and individual needs of their students. This listening could be an assessment analysis or could entail an insightful understanding of and reverence for the lives and home customs of their students, whether they are susceptible kids in a deprived district or honored kids in an affluent area.
“Ms. Burgett wants to know me,” Sydney, a 17 year old student in Sarah Burgett’s 12th grade class at Lyndhurst High School in Lyndhurst, says. “At my old school, the teachers never talked to their students outside of class.”
2. Great teachers have a genuine outlook for their students.
Some great teachers I met are focused on standard-based teaching while others are not. But regardless of their thoughts and focuses, all great teachers have their own, genuine outlook of what they want for their students. Since they listen to their students, the outlook they have is their feedback to what their students require, not to a requirement of their own. This outlook does not have to be theoretical. For several teachers, mainly in skill-based topics, their outlook is mastery of a particular body of matter, which they consider priceless for their students. However, others vision unique traits: instilling a lifelong inquisitiveness or turning their students into lifelong readers.
3. Great teachers believe in their students’ potential.
When I say “potential,” I do not mean the belief that all students will go to college. In area like Alpine, because of the available widespread resources, college is foreseeable for most students before they’re even born, while in areas like the Special Education classroom of Newark, college is very unlikely for most students. What I mean by “potential” is that in all great teachers, I perceive a belief that the student in front of them is skilled to reach beyond what anyone might imagine possible. Great teachers understand that life could take surprising and impulsive turns. It’s due to that belief that they do not ever give up even on students who never seem to improve.
4. Great teachers are calm but determined pushers.
Remember in “Mean Girls” when math teacher Ms. Sharon Norbury says she’s “a pusher?” Great teachers never stop pushing their students regardless of how low or high their level and their protests or lack of concern. And great teachers stay remarkably calm. Even when irritated, they breathe and brush the moment off. They don’t seem to take anything personally because they trust their vision and their students’ potential.
5. Great teachers approach non-attachment to interim results.
When I say “non-attachment,” I do not mean a lack of interest. Great teachers are certainly interested in interim results, studying student work carefully and tracking their students’ improvement. However—and this is where they diverge drastically from average teachers—they do not invest emotionally in those outcomes or take them as support of accomplishment or failure. Great teachers take a much larger vision of learning. They perceive their lessons, and what their students discover from their lessons, as something they hope their students will bring with them for the rest of their lives.
“You sometimes feel that you’re fighting yourself,” Paul Lamberti, a teacher at Eastside High School in Paterson, says of the challenges of educating students in Special Education. “But I do see my kids turn it around because at the end of the day, although they might not recall what I taught them, they’ll remember that I cared about them on a primary level.”
This leads me to faith. Because at heart, all of these approaches are anchored in a faith in the effort itself, in the everyday practice of showing up and engaging in the challenge of learning with the students.
So, what does it take to be a really great teacher? Well, it takes diligence, respect, and enthusiasm. It takes passion and a love of learning for education and for the course material. It takes the desire to never give up and to make a difference in the lives of young people. But mostly, it takes the development of this faith, not just in students, but also in the process of learning and in ourselves.
10 Residents File Lawsuits After House Fire
HARRISON, NJ – On January 6, 2014, ten residents who are living with relatives or in hotels due to a house fire last year on November sued the landlords and the city housing authority in Harrison, claiming that failure to fix a defective stove led to the six-alarm blaze on Warren Street.
The fire, which started around 7:00 p.m. on November 15, 2013, is stated to have originated in the kitchen area on the second floor of 209 Warren Street. According to Fire Director Richard Staler, Harrison Fire Department and firefighters from five other metropolises were able to control the fire, but not before it had stretched to and heavily damaged the adjacent homes.
Departments from Kearny, Secaucus, East Newark, Jersey City, and Bayonne all helped to combat the blaze. Staler claimed Harrison department’s efforts were hindered by a telephone service outage in the region that thwarted dispatchers from calling units in other municipalities for support in battling the fire.
“Fortunately, we got several good, fast-thinking dispatchers who took out their own cell phones and contacted the other town departments,” Staler says.
According to Staler, the Harrison departments worked to make sure that its 911 service was still functioning with Jersey City managing 911 calls for the town until the telephones were repaired and back online.
Staler asserted a sum of four families, ten people altogether, was dislodged by the blaze. Two residents of 207 Warren Street and two residents of 211 Warren Street said that they will stay with relatives, but the remaining two resident of 207 Warren Street and the remaining four residents of 211 Warren Street had nowhere to stay after being forced to leave their home.
Around 8:00 p.m. on November 15, the fire drastically expanded and traveled quickly from 209 Warren Street to its neighboring houses. Staler said that backdraft would have been greatly dangerous as it was attributable to a buildup of unescaped gasses within a room.
“I have been a firefighter for a lot of years and I have been stuck in a backdraft a few times. I am just really thankful that the damages weren’t very serious,” Staler says.
Jersey City Fire Director Orlan Rohan claimed that the backdraft would have been averted if the roof was vented, a course of placing holes in the roof which would let the trapped gasses flow out.
Six firefighters were injured in a petrifying explosion and six-alarm fire. They were quickly and carefully placed in ambulances.
“When that glass window split opened, the pieces got caught all over his face and body. He lost a lot of blood,” Rohan says of one firefighter.
The four families and the 209 Warren Street landowners safely escaped with little belongings, but nearly everything else in the houses were destroyed.
Three vehicles parked outside were also damaged.
Michael Vauban of Harbor View Restoration said his team was on the scene to panel the windows of the homes and even out the ruined structure.
“The houses had to be secured because they had a lot of roof damage,” Vauban says.
Less than two months after the six-alarm blaze on Warren Street, the ten residents of 207 and 211 Warren Street filed a lawsuit on January 6 in New Jersey Municipal Court against the landlords Badar Delhi and his wife, Amla Delhi, and the city housing authority for the blast. The court hearing was held on January 17, 2013.
The plaintiffs were collectively requesting for more than $5 million for undisclosed damages of lost valuables, humiliation, mental anguish, and property damage.
According to the litigation, starting in March 2012, Badar Delhi was told countless times of the “frequently faulty” stove, which would someday erupt if not fixed. A housing authority examiner inspected the house in March 2012 and offered an “indecisive” evaluation to the quality of the house’s equipment, instead of a pass or fail ranking.
A spokesman for the city housing authority, Morris Potter, refused to comment on the pending lawsuit. Potter said of the litigation, “None of this is accurate.” He then refused to comment further.
“I don’t see why I am sued,” Badar Delhi says. “They’re just homes. The important thing is that no one is hurt.”
The fire, which started around 7:00 p.m. on November 15, 2013, is stated to have originated in the kitchen area on the second floor of 209 Warren Street. According to Fire Director Richard Staler, Harrison Fire Department and firefighters from five other metropolises were able to control the fire, but not before it had stretched to and heavily damaged the adjacent homes.
Departments from Kearny, Secaucus, East Newark, Jersey City, and Bayonne all helped to combat the blaze. Staler claimed Harrison department’s efforts were hindered by a telephone service outage in the region that thwarted dispatchers from calling units in other municipalities for support in battling the fire.
“Fortunately, we got several good, fast-thinking dispatchers who took out their own cell phones and contacted the other town departments,” Staler says.
According to Staler, the Harrison departments worked to make sure that its 911 service was still functioning with Jersey City managing 911 calls for the town until the telephones were repaired and back online.
Staler asserted a sum of four families, ten people altogether, was dislodged by the blaze. Two residents of 207 Warren Street and two residents of 211 Warren Street said that they will stay with relatives, but the remaining two resident of 207 Warren Street and the remaining four residents of 211 Warren Street had nowhere to stay after being forced to leave their home.
Around 8:00 p.m. on November 15, the fire drastically expanded and traveled quickly from 209 Warren Street to its neighboring houses. Staler said that backdraft would have been greatly dangerous as it was attributable to a buildup of unescaped gasses within a room.
“I have been a firefighter for a lot of years and I have been stuck in a backdraft a few times. I am just really thankful that the damages weren’t very serious,” Staler says.
Jersey City Fire Director Orlan Rohan claimed that the backdraft would have been averted if the roof was vented, a course of placing holes in the roof which would let the trapped gasses flow out.
Six firefighters were injured in a petrifying explosion and six-alarm fire. They were quickly and carefully placed in ambulances.
“When that glass window split opened, the pieces got caught all over his face and body. He lost a lot of blood,” Rohan says of one firefighter.
The four families and the 209 Warren Street landowners safely escaped with little belongings, but nearly everything else in the houses were destroyed.
Three vehicles parked outside were also damaged.
Michael Vauban of Harbor View Restoration said his team was on the scene to panel the windows of the homes and even out the ruined structure.
“The houses had to be secured because they had a lot of roof damage,” Vauban says.
Less than two months after the six-alarm blaze on Warren Street, the ten residents of 207 and 211 Warren Street filed a lawsuit on January 6 in New Jersey Municipal Court against the landlords Badar Delhi and his wife, Amla Delhi, and the city housing authority for the blast. The court hearing was held on January 17, 2013.
The plaintiffs were collectively requesting for more than $5 million for undisclosed damages of lost valuables, humiliation, mental anguish, and property damage.
According to the litigation, starting in March 2012, Badar Delhi was told countless times of the “frequently faulty” stove, which would someday erupt if not fixed. A housing authority examiner inspected the house in March 2012 and offered an “indecisive” evaluation to the quality of the house’s equipment, instead of a pass or fail ranking.
A spokesman for the city housing authority, Morris Potter, refused to comment on the pending lawsuit. Potter said of the litigation, “None of this is accurate.” He then refused to comment further.
“I don’t see why I am sued,” Badar Delhi says. “They’re just homes. The important thing is that no one is hurt.”
Class Welcomes New Teaching Style
NORTH BERGEN, NJ – This school year, Dr. Syed Abbasi, a High Tech professor, is choosing a new method when it comes to educating his students in his Business Applications Class. He is working to introduce a new teaching style referred to as “flipping the classroom,” which he hopes other teachers will eventually follow as well.
The notion of a flipped classroom is a two-part procedure. First, the students look over a case study of a topic, which are simulations of business situations, such as ethical behaviors, corporate environment, and integration of modern computer technology and computer applications. Then, they participate in class discussions and collaborate on activities that would apply to what they have learned. Finally, each student makes a presentation to the class, which is followed by a question-answer session. This gives the instructor a better opportunity to connect with the students and to conduct a brainstorming session, instead of instructing and teaching the students through homework and textbooks.
This new technique is not only allowing students to be textbook-free but also allowing them to get more involved during class time, leading both the instructor and the students onto the same track. Nearly all instructors would concur that connecting with their students is at the crown of their priority list, but is also something that is not simple to attain through lectures.
“I don’t believe in textbooks alone. I like to have students discuss with me and each other to gain a better perspective on the topic,” Dr. Abbasi says.
Flipping the classroom will allow the students to have more debates and share ideas not only with the instructor but among themselves as well. It will underline how significant communication is—in school and in the business world.
Another central concept of Dr. Abbasi’s teaching style is to incorporate real-world models of the topic at hand. In his opinion, reading, understanding, writing, critical thinking, brainstorming, and decision-making skills play a paramount role in any business environment. The Internet and the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will also be utilized in a flipped classroom, extensively.
“This method of teaching would be an excellent way for teachers to truly employ classroom time,” Lia Paiva Acosta, a junior year business student, says.
“I really hope we stay with this teaching method,” Tiffhanie Ramos, a junior year business student, adds.
The notion of a flipped classroom is a two-part procedure. First, the students look over a case study of a topic, which are simulations of business situations, such as ethical behaviors, corporate environment, and integration of modern computer technology and computer applications. Then, they participate in class discussions and collaborate on activities that would apply to what they have learned. Finally, each student makes a presentation to the class, which is followed by a question-answer session. This gives the instructor a better opportunity to connect with the students and to conduct a brainstorming session, instead of instructing and teaching the students through homework and textbooks.
This new technique is not only allowing students to be textbook-free but also allowing them to get more involved during class time, leading both the instructor and the students onto the same track. Nearly all instructors would concur that connecting with their students is at the crown of their priority list, but is also something that is not simple to attain through lectures.
“I don’t believe in textbooks alone. I like to have students discuss with me and each other to gain a better perspective on the topic,” Dr. Abbasi says.
Flipping the classroom will allow the students to have more debates and share ideas not only with the instructor but among themselves as well. It will underline how significant communication is—in school and in the business world.
Another central concept of Dr. Abbasi’s teaching style is to incorporate real-world models of the topic at hand. In his opinion, reading, understanding, writing, critical thinking, brainstorming, and decision-making skills play a paramount role in any business environment. The Internet and the use of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint will also be utilized in a flipped classroom, extensively.
“This method of teaching would be an excellent way for teachers to truly employ classroom time,” Lia Paiva Acosta, a junior year business student, says.
“I really hope we stay with this teaching method,” Tiffhanie Ramos, a junior year business student, adds.
S2S: Building Tomorrow’s Technical Leaders Today (An Insight Story of Dr. Cincotta and His Students)
NORTH BERGEN, NJ—This school year, Dr. Cincotta, a High Tech science teacher, and his students are planning to travel twice to East Hanover, NJ to work side by side with professional scientists using instruments like chromatographs and spectrophotometers for real-world experiments in a full-scale, commercial-grade laboratory, which Students 2 Science (S2S) runs.
S2S is a nonprofit organization that encourages, inspires, and teaches students to pursue career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). By working with experienced scientists for four to five hours, students gain a hands-on learning experience, which enhances their confidence and interest for science and technology as well as their grades. S2S scientists share their enthusiasm for the subject matter, making the time in the lab stimulating, educational, and enjoyable.
This is Dr. Cincotta’s fourth year participating in the S2S program.
“I love it,” Dr. Cincotta says.“It really works in actively teaching the students.”
For one experiment, students tested drugs produced by different manufacturing plants to make sure they fit FDA standards. Afterwards, studentsreported what they learned from the experiment to enforce understanding of the subject matter.
“This four-to-five-hour period of lab activities equals doing over one semester of college chemistry lab work,” Dr. Cincotta says.
Since only five percent of U.S. undergraduates today earn college degrees in science and engineering, compared to 42 percent in China, S2S brings STEM careers to life by connecting students with successful technologists and entrepreneurs and by exposing them to the potential financial and social benefits of a career in a STEM-related field.
“I think this is a phenomenal opportunity,” Dr. Cincotta says. “In fact, the hardest part of the day is to get the studentsback on the bus.”
Melina Dallastella, Dr. Cincotta’s intern and assistant, went four times last year.
“I really like it,” Dallastella says. “We get to use tools we don’t have in school.We get to meet really interestingscientists who all went to school to study chemistry.”
On April 2nd, Dr. Cincotta and his students will once again travel to East Hanover, this time, experimenting with organic chemistry.
These experiments open students’ minds and enforce critical thinking.
“Although I’m not really into it [organic chemistry], it’s still really fun just being there.Since I’m more into nuclear chemistry, these experiments make me question if I really want to go into it [nuclear chemistry],” Dallastella says.
Antoinette Robustelli, one of Dr. Cincotta’s AP Chemistry students, experiencedan even greaterimpact by discovering what she truly wanted to specialize in. Since science is very broad, S2S allows students to experiment with different aspects of the subject and to experience college-level scienceto determine which field is the right choice for them.
“When I first got there, I didn’t think I’d change my entire career path based on one field trip,” Antoinette Robustelli says.
By the end of the day, Antoinette’sopinion changed after an experiment involving various testing donewith Advil.
“We used a device to check the melting point [of the Advil]. If it did notmelt at a certain temperature, it should have been labeled as Tylenol,” Robustelli says. “This really affected my view on how easily mistakes can be made even in a lab environment. Just labeling a certain medication wrong can be detrimental.”
Robustelli made her ultimate career decision after Dr. Cincotta asked his students to write about their favorite experience at S2S. Robustelli always wanted to go into science but wasn’t sure which field she should major in in college.
“Now I know,” Robustelli says. “After this experiment, and after writing about it, I realized I wanted to get into research and be a pharmacist.”Robustelli will be attending the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University in the fall.
Robustelli agrees that exposure to science careers should begin early.
“Personally, I think sophomore year is the best time to practice, and the best time to experiment with science. You’re more mature then, and you truly appreciate the work done,” Robustelli says.
The cost, $50 per student per visit, is supported by the Hudson County Schools of Technology Foundation.
“The Foundation has been exceptionally generous in supporting these trips to S2S so that no student would be denied the opportunity for a real-life science laboratory experience,” Dr. Cincotta says.
S2S is a nonprofit organization that encourages, inspires, and teaches students to pursue career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). By working with experienced scientists for four to five hours, students gain a hands-on learning experience, which enhances their confidence and interest for science and technology as well as their grades. S2S scientists share their enthusiasm for the subject matter, making the time in the lab stimulating, educational, and enjoyable.
This is Dr. Cincotta’s fourth year participating in the S2S program.
“I love it,” Dr. Cincotta says.“It really works in actively teaching the students.”
For one experiment, students tested drugs produced by different manufacturing plants to make sure they fit FDA standards. Afterwards, studentsreported what they learned from the experiment to enforce understanding of the subject matter.
“This four-to-five-hour period of lab activities equals doing over one semester of college chemistry lab work,” Dr. Cincotta says.
Since only five percent of U.S. undergraduates today earn college degrees in science and engineering, compared to 42 percent in China, S2S brings STEM careers to life by connecting students with successful technologists and entrepreneurs and by exposing them to the potential financial and social benefits of a career in a STEM-related field.
“I think this is a phenomenal opportunity,” Dr. Cincotta says. “In fact, the hardest part of the day is to get the studentsback on the bus.”
Melina Dallastella, Dr. Cincotta’s intern and assistant, went four times last year.
“I really like it,” Dallastella says. “We get to use tools we don’t have in school.We get to meet really interestingscientists who all went to school to study chemistry.”
On April 2nd, Dr. Cincotta and his students will once again travel to East Hanover, this time, experimenting with organic chemistry.
These experiments open students’ minds and enforce critical thinking.
“Although I’m not really into it [organic chemistry], it’s still really fun just being there.Since I’m more into nuclear chemistry, these experiments make me question if I really want to go into it [nuclear chemistry],” Dallastella says.
Antoinette Robustelli, one of Dr. Cincotta’s AP Chemistry students, experiencedan even greaterimpact by discovering what she truly wanted to specialize in. Since science is very broad, S2S allows students to experiment with different aspects of the subject and to experience college-level scienceto determine which field is the right choice for them.
“When I first got there, I didn’t think I’d change my entire career path based on one field trip,” Antoinette Robustelli says.
By the end of the day, Antoinette’sopinion changed after an experiment involving various testing donewith Advil.
“We used a device to check the melting point [of the Advil]. If it did notmelt at a certain temperature, it should have been labeled as Tylenol,” Robustelli says. “This really affected my view on how easily mistakes can be made even in a lab environment. Just labeling a certain medication wrong can be detrimental.”
Robustelli made her ultimate career decision after Dr. Cincotta asked his students to write about their favorite experience at S2S. Robustelli always wanted to go into science but wasn’t sure which field she should major in in college.
“Now I know,” Robustelli says. “After this experiment, and after writing about it, I realized I wanted to get into research and be a pharmacist.”Robustelli will be attending the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University in the fall.
Robustelli agrees that exposure to science careers should begin early.
“Personally, I think sophomore year is the best time to practice, and the best time to experiment with science. You’re more mature then, and you truly appreciate the work done,” Robustelli says.
The cost, $50 per student per visit, is supported by the Hudson County Schools of Technology Foundation.
“The Foundation has been exceptionally generous in supporting these trips to S2S so that no student would be denied the opportunity for a real-life science laboratory experience,” Dr. Cincotta says.
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