Free Write: Who Is To Blame?

 **After coming across these two articles: What You Eat Is Your Business by Radley Balko and Being Fat is OK by Paul Campos... I decided to take a stance.

           “I just ate a double cheese burger with large fries and a soda.” Why do people share such information with others? Is it due to one’s guilty conscious of consuming unhealthy food items? According to the federal government, these people are a part of the 61% obese Americans who are considered “overweight.” So, why does it matter to us what other’s choose to take into their body? As selfish as it may sound, each individual should worry about his/her own eating habits.

            Anti-obesity initiatives, as listed in Radley Balko’s essay, include prohibiting junk food in school vending machines, more demanding labels on foodstuffs, and federal funding for new bike trails and sidewalks. Many would agree with Balko that, “what you eat is your business.” Balko and many others claim that this is the wrong way to fight obesity. Getting the government to become more involved in what we choose to eat will not strongly impact someone’s eating habits; it needs to come from within. Instead of manipulating the variety of food options available to American consumers, our government should be working towards enforcing that “you are what you eat” and that is your responsibility. Balko believes, “A society where everyone is responsible for everyone else’s well-being is a society more apt to accept government restrictions.” This would affect what Kroger and other companies choose to put on the shelves of grocery stores. Why should others suffer because of someone else’s decision to take a different path in food dieting? As state legislatures and school boards across the country

begin to ban snacks and soda from school campuses, they are only complicating the situation because many will go out of their way to find the snack or drink they wish to have. Many enjoy the easy accessibility of having snacks and soda in school vending machines.

            Your well-being, shape, and condition should be deemed matters of “personal responsibility.” Many people do not take into consideration that obesity in some human beings is genetically predisposed. By focusing on the lies that occur in the diet industry, Paul Campos, overlooks the deeper problem of “fat” people. Campos listed, “Fat people can choose to be thinner,” as one of the “lies” he believes is made by others.  Yes, there is a huge variety of healthy food options out there for people, but you cannot control your own metabolism. Some may have a faster metabolism than others. We have to face the fact that sometimes being fat is ok. According to Campos, it has been proven that any group of dieters will end up weighing more, on average, than a group that has never began dieting before. Researchers link obesity with 30 other medical conditions. Some of these conditions include: diabetes, heart disease, cancers, and hypertension. This proves that you cannot always blame the person for being fat when indeed it may have been caused over a period of time or due to past medical history. Those who fall under this category need to understand that just because they are overweight it does not mean they can’t do anything about it. By finding ways to decrease the likely hood of people gaining weight it will help to ensure that their medical condition(s) is not stopping them from becoming fit or maintaining a regular BMI.

            As the number of gained pounds increases in a person, so does the number of obese people. Many would agree with Campos’s claim that fat people are much more likely to be poor than thin people. Whether from a poor or wealthy background, it is your business as to what you

choose to eat. Those who are poor usually have no option but to eat in a certain manner. Because fast food is convenient and affordable it is an easier path to take rather than purchasing organic food or other healthier options. Yes, they may not be able to afford other food options, but there are different ways in which “poor” individuals, or any other people who choose the “unhealthier” road, for them to lose weight and stay in shape. By exercising and burning off what you ate, it will help to lessen the amount of overweight Americans.

            The government as well as other institutes of health should not control what people wish to eat. It is the individual’s choice and they can either take action, by exercising, or suffer the consequences by becoming “overweight.” As Balko believes, it is the wrong approach to solving obesity when trying to prohibit junk food in school vending machines and demand labels on foodstuffs. Everyone is responsible for their own actions and is in control of what they put into their body.  

Free Write: Stop the Bullying!

A teacher in New York was teaching her class about bullying and gave them the following exercise to perform. She had the children take a piece of paper and told them to crumple it up, stamp on it and really mess it up but do not rip it. Then she had them unfold the paper, smooth it out and look at how scarred and dirty is was. She then told them to tell it they’re sorry. Now even though they said they were sorry and tried to fix the paper, she pointed out all the scars they left behind. And that those scars will never go away no matter how hard they tried to fix it. That is what happens when a child bully’s another child, they may say they’re sorry but the scars are there forever. The looks on the faces of the children in the classroom told her the message hit home.

I believe bullying has truly turned into an epidemic. I find that harassment is more common and serious than most people realize. Each day, about 160,000 American kids skip school because they're afraid of bullies.  Although bullying isn't new, it's becoming increasingly dangerous as proven in the National Education Association's bullying and sexual-harassment prevention/intervention program. What I notice happening is that in some cases the targets of abuse are afraid to tell their parents or teachers, so they put up with it until they start to think about revenge. Studies have shown that 87% of teenage shootings are motivated by a desire to “get back at those who have hurt them.” 86% have said, “other kids picking on them, making fun of them or bullying them” causes teenagers to turn to lethal violence in the schools.

As shown by some of the above statistics, we need to do more in order to prevent students from getting bullied because this will only lead to negative consequence. As a future educator, I will be sure to let my students know that they can always come to me in regards to any issue or concern they may have. By creating a sense of comfort and trust with students and children in general, we can assist in decreasing the number of children and teens who are bullied.

-- Please Help Stop Bullying!

What Picture Book Has Touched Your Life?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, a picture book that is well known until this day, is one that I enjoyed as a child. I recall this book featuring distinctive collage illustrations and was eye catching to the reader. This picture book also consisted of great educational themes such as: counting, the days of the week, foods, and a butterfly’s life stages. I also believe this book is great for young children because it introduces concepts regarding life stages where transformations take place, in this case from a “hungry caterpillar” to a “beautiful butterfly.” Teachers can also use this book and incorporate different concepts into their lessons as well as create several activities to implement what has been taught. Truly, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of my greatest childhood classics of all time.

Original Poetry

Trouble in the Kitchen

I could not set the kitchen table

Because I was mentally unstable

Every single one of the spoons

Was stolen by some thieves or goons

All twenty-four of our knives

Were thrown into beehives

Later there was a girl named Kate

Who cracked every single plate

I tried to cook the food real nice

But it did not work with me and the rice

I could not even buy the peas

Due to very, very high tax fees

And all of that freshly cooked meat

Began to smell like stinky feet

I even made you Chinese fish

All spiced up in a glass dish

On the table I put a cup

And left it standing right side up

But after that I poured the juice

It was drunken by a moose

Trying to make you chicken soup

Got me tangled in a large loop

A fire started, I put it out

Unfortunately it burnt all the trout

I even took out a nice bowl

But I didn’t even notice the hole

I even added a pinch of salt

But the doctor told me to halt

I also tried to cook in a pot

I even… What! You made us dinner

I felt like a bad sinner

Mom, you’re a real winner!

What and Why Do You Read?

I read texts that vary from topic, length and type. As a future educator, I find it very important to read one of the most valued and trusted K-8 educator magazine, “Instructor.” This provides me with great resources, tools, strategies, ideas, student activities and much more. As an NEA member, I also read “NEA Today” which is a magazine that brings the latest take on what’s happening in the world of education news. The articles included in this magazine also provide me with information about National Education Association activism on key issues and what others think about these topics. It is a great way for me to hear what others have to say on a specific issue in regards to education. Also, as an individual who enjoys the sport of soccer, I tend to read through Eurosport magazines. This magazine promotes the game of soccer at all levels and educates players, referees, and their families about soccer and its equipment. I also enjoy reading books about different cultures and traditions. Learning about different beliefs and ways of going out about doing things in everyday life interests me. Books that are page-turners and have suspense are ones that interest me. Nile news along with Al-Ahram news are also a great way for me to stay posted through reading, in regards to Egypt and what is taking place in Africa. I also There are several reasons that support why I read. I like to be kept informed and up to date in regards to what is taking place in the society I live in. Also, reading gives me an opportunity to do research. By reading one is able to hold a conversation and be familiar with what others are talking about. Through reading, I am able to understand others as well as connect with people. Also, through various texts one can be inspired in many different paths. Truly, reading helps to stimulate the imagination and make one a stronger writer.

Helping Children To Read Their Own Work

Coherence is important in a piece of writing, but the term is abstract unless teachers actually show children what they maen. I find it very important to show children how to read their own work. It is very interesting to hear that children spend 95% of their time alone with their papers before we even see them. As a future educator, I believe we need to do more in order to assist children in improving as their own first readers. I would begin by first conducting a short mini-lesson as a review of reading the world. Then, I would move on to additinal mini-lessons on how to review a text in relation to my first reading. I can also create another mini-lesson in which I can show children how to decide the one thing an individual's piece of writing is about. This can also be done to show students how to find the subject of a piece in text. Also, it would be beneficial for students to look for a line that tells what the piece is about. A skill that may be more difficult for others consists of rereading a sentence that tells what the piece is about and then finding the one or two sentences that have the least do with the main purpose. I personally even struggle with deleting what is not needed. Many people tend to believe that the longer the piece of writing, the better it is which is not always the case. Unfortunately, children are often told to focus on "writing better," when really they should be shown how to read their work using actual texts. I believe students need to know where their best section, strongest line, or best use of language is in their piece of writing. We must show them how to reread their work, especially if we are allowing them to choose their topics, write about what they know, and share their passions with us. Our goal as future educators should be to assist children in becoming better readers and more independent writers.

Writing

Writing is an essential component in an individual’s life. Whether at school, work or home- we manage to use writing as a form of expressing one’s thoughts, feelings and ideas. As a future educator, I plan to emphasize the importance of writing skills in order to enhance my student’s capabilities in reading and writing. I believe both reading and writing go hand in hand. Although many tend to believe that writing only consists of narrative, expository, and persuasive writing- there is much more to this subject area. Before going into what writing is made up of, I would ensure that the environment in which writing is taught in is one that encourages students to become engaged in the work they do. The classroom setting should create a work atmosphere similar to that of a studio, which promotes independence and in which students can easily interact. I would love to have a publishing center in my classroom for making books. This would give students the opportunity to act as “authors” and let them know this is a place for writers, whether it is your strong or weak area. In order to establish a social environment for productive writing in my classroom, I will have students model the writing process, share writing, read to students, expand the writing community outside of the classroom and encourage students to develop areas of expertise. Overall, students will be given the opportunity to exchange comments and questions when it comes to writing and will lead to young authors learning from the writing of others.  

Does Collaborative Learning Support Literacy?

I believe collaborative learning supports literacy in many ways. While working in small groups, students can use strategies to engage in discussion and enhance one another’s understanding of text. Teacher and student collaboration is essential in the classroom and when constructed properly, literacy is supported. Reciprocal teaching for the primary grades involves three different phases and for example one of which requires students to engage in RTPG while the teacher participates through the role of facilitator/leader of the group. As they proceed onto the third phase, students participate in RTPG groups but report their responses to the teacher. Collaborative learning truly allows the teacher to continue to monitor and scaffold the students as they move to independent practice. Collaborative learning also has a positive impact when RTPG is used with the reading basal, content are textbooks, and trade books. For example, with the reading basal students can interact with their peers and collaborate in a manner where the teacher is not always the one they depend on. By instilling a sense of independence in children, the students can read the text with their assigned buddy and without any teacher assistance. I also find collaborative learning positively influencing literacy especially when it comes to choral reading, or when the class reads the text aloud together. This allows for students to develop fluency, but also the second reading in which the students encounter helps those who struggle with reading the text with their buddy or who were not able to finish reading the text on their own. Collaborative learning allows for students to participate and take on leadership skills as they lead in their reading groups. By giving students this opportunity, they can interact with others who may have a bit more experience with the RTPG routine, for example. Also, by collaborating in a manner where groups take turns to report their predictions and purposes for reading to the class (while the teacher records them), allows for the teacher to continue to monitor the students’ use of strategies and scaffold their progress when needed. Overall, I believe collaborative learning supports literacy and allows for whole-class discussion to occur while having students engaged in buddy reading and choral reading of text. Truly, students are capable of devoting more attention to discussing and comprehending the text they read through RTPG as well as learn to coordinate, and apply comprehension strategies while working in collaborative groups.

Reader's Workshop

I envision Reader's Workshop as a great way of managing reading instruction instead of workbooks and worksheets. As stated in the article, "Organizing for Effective Instruction: The Reading Workshop,"Osborn, Wilson, and Anderson remind us that workbook and worksheet pages provide only prefuntory levels of reading practice. I envision Reader's Workshop as a time for to students to have ownership of their time. Through reading workshops, students should be given the opportunities to make choices about how they will spend their reading time. This workshop is a time for reading to be a primary activity incorportaed with other language modes such as writing, speaking and listening. Also, it is a time where teachers can model to students the importance of reading. Regular demonstrations of reading strategies are essential for an effective reading workshop to take place. I envision reader's workshop consisting of five main components: sharing time, the mini lesson, state-of-the-class, self-selected reading and response, and sharing time once more. In reader's workshop, sharing time includes teacher's sharing new discoveries they have made in literature. This will help to encourage students to look into various literary genres for free reading time. I see the role of mini-lessons as short and whole group instructional sessions for demonstrating reading strategies and preparing students to read new books both successfully and independently. While avoiding the use of worksheets made as a the primary means of practice, mini-lessons allow for teacher's to fulfill local curriculum mandates in regards to student performance (goals/objectives). Another role for mini-lessons is in prereading activities. This aims to have students recall past experiences before reading inorder to enhance reading comprehension. The activities in mini lessons prior to reading help teacher's create a stronger and more positive atmosphere for their students.  Overall, topics for mini-lessons are usually taken from what students need more of (as seen in their individual reading conferences), teacher-selected skills, and prereading activities to help students with new books they choose to read in their literature response groups. State-of-the-class, another component of reading workshop structure, is one I envision that informs the teacher and individual students of their responsibilties and progress during the workshop period. From this component, children develop a sense of responsibility through simple record keeping. This also provides the teacher with information regarding daily student activity. Self-selected reading and response involves three student activities in reading workshop: self-selected reading, literature response, and individual reading conferences. Lastly, I envision reader's workshop to close with an activity in which sharing with the teacher and other peers is essential for a few minutes, whether it is an activity, project or book. I believe student involvement is a major aspect of reading workshop which also allows for students to have a sense of taking control of their own reading instruction. Overall, the flexibility of reading workshops aids in organizing for effectvie reading instruction.

Weekend Journal

I recall throughout my elementary years always having a "Weekend Journal." In this journal, we were given the opportunity to free write about how we spent our weekends. I always looked forward to this assignment, which was almost always completed on the Monday we returned from the weekend. My teacher's did not just want to see us write, but to also use our creativity by drawing a picture that corresponds with what we had written. For a Monday morning, I think this is a great way to get children back into the swing of things by giving them some flexibility in their assignment while still practicing their writing skills. As a college student, I look back at these journals and find it very beneficial for one to complete at a young age. Last semester, throughout my field work experience with 1st graders-- I also realized that "Weekend Journals" are still a part of the classroom along with an "Author's Book"which consisted of writing from each student whenever they had free time throughout the class day. I noticed that when children were given the option to free write in their journal/"book"they tended to choose another activity that they found more interesting, such as one of the centers in the classroom. I found that it was the children who exceled more in reading and writing that showed the interest and actully took the time to write during their free time.

Memories of Language Arts

My memory of language arts varied throughout my elementary school years. Worksheets consisting of nouns, verbs and adjectives were frequently distributed during the grades of 2^nd and 3^rd grade. After some time, one was able to quickly distinguish amongst the different categories of words. Monthly book reports were also common in the 3^rd grade.  I recall having the option to choose which book to complete my book report on, while at times the teacher would choose a genre or gear the book report towards a specific topic. Spelling tests were also a major part of the language arts curriculum. A sheet was always given in the beginning of the week which included words to know as well as words that were considered “challenging.” We were given the week to practice spelling these words through different contexts and then were to take the given spelling test on Friday’s. Also, reading comprehension was frequently tested throughout my elementary years. There came a point where the difference between reading to learn and learning to read was crucial. As the years passed, teachers would constantly ask questions after reading a story or have to write up a summary based on what was comprehended from the story or reading. When reading a variety of books, I recall being asked to relate what took place in the story to a real-world experience that one has encountered. This allowed for students to engage in the material they were provided with. Compare and contrast was also a major aspect of language arts during my elementary and middle school years. Comparisons were made between books as well as characters. Having to complete current events was also common for me in my 3^rd grade classroom. This included researching a current article (newspaper or magazine) and summarizing it while concentrating on the key points of the given information. We would also take turns presenting and sharing the information we discovered with our peers. Also, I recall having to do writing prompts based on a given topic during 4^th and 5^th grade. These prompts were timed and then scored on a numerical basis. Laslty, throughout middle school and high school, writing was based on opinion, research or trying to persuade our readers into a given stance. Overall, my experience with language arts through my elementary, middle and high school years was beneficial and has left a positive impact on me.