VARK Activity

After reading this chapter i realized that I am more of a Kinesthetic learner which means that I learn by doing things. I've always thought of myself as a visual learner because it easier for me when I see an example of what I'm supposed to do, I think I the way i learn is based on the mood i am that day for example there are days when I'm too tired and hearing someone talk doesn't work for me, but if you illustrate what the person is talking about i will understand it or when I have a lot of energy being in a chair for 2 hours is the last thing in my mind and i need to move around or work with someone in order to understand the subject. I also learned that there are many different ways for me to approach a subject because not everyone learns the same way.

Blog Response #3

After being sent to jail, Juan Salvador saw how desperate his mother and sisters were because there was no money coming into the family, so he agreed to the rich Mexican proposition in order to help out his family. The proposition consisted of Juan Salvador confessing to the crime of the man’s son, which was the murder of a Texas’ ranger, this meant that Juan would have to give up his six year sentence to be in for life or even be executed, in return the man would give Doña Margarita five hundred dollars in gold. (Pg.215) Another example from the book which is not in the chapters we had to read is when Juan had to sacrifice his burro so his family and the starving people around them could eat. I believe that people are more willing to sacrifice in times of hardship, my example proves that even though at first Juan thought of spitting to the man’s face after hearing what he had proposed he realized that his family was in need so he sacrificed his freedom in order for his family to be “ok”. Thanks to the current economic problems many of us have had to sacrifice many things we used to do on a regular basis. A couple of my friends stopped going out to clubs, restaurants and to the movies so they could save money, they are sacrificing their social lives. Material objects, life, freedom, fun are a couple of things that people would be willing to sacrifice in times of hardship.

To my "Familia": sorry you guys my internet was down since yesterday.

Powerpoint Presentation

LEAVE YOUR CELLPHONE AT THE CLASSROOM DOOR

LEAVE YOUR CELLPHONE AT THE CLASSROOM DOOR

 What causes the digital divide (those who have technology and those who do not)?

The digital divide is caused by many different factors, the only two i can come up with right now the availability of technology and age.  Not everyone has the money to buy a computer or pay for internet access, that creates a huge gap between those who are lucky enough to have these services available to them.  Also age is an important factor because the older you the more complicated in going to be able to understand how something works, for example, a couple of months ago i had to explain an 80 year old what the difference between an ipod and a iphone was, for most people my age that would be a dumb question to ask, lets just keep in mind that 70,60 or even ten years ago an mp3 was unknown to the majority of the world.

Literature Circle Blog 1

As a sign of appreciation to god, Doña Margarita decided to feed as many people as possible with their old burro. She believed that it was because of him that the name of his son Jose had caused General Felipe Kelly to show them mercy and respect. This might not be important to many of us but it shows that she had faith and that god was with them even though they had suffered a lot. Even though Juan didn’t like the idea of killing and eating his friend he realized that it had to be done, so he somewhat started to grow into a man.
Pgs.112-115

After having a dream in which Juan and Domingo were back home racing through the canyon with their bull, Juan was woken up by the ants that had crawled on to his face and the sunlight that came down through the cracks of the fence. He told Emilia his dream and started arguing with her about how they needed to know what they had become. He felt repulsed by his sister and his niece because they had given up and felt somewhat less repulsed by his mother. He told Emilia that he wasn’t going to stay there while his mother was begging in order to feed them, he felt the urge to help his family so he decided to go find more wood to sell. Emilia cried and begged him not to go but he had already made up his mind and no one was going to stop him. I believe this scene is important because it shows Juan becoming a “man” and how all of his life was set on course. He wasn’t scared or had any more questions.
Pgs.147-149

What are some of the consequences of assimilating and not assimilating into the American culture?

While assimilating into the American culture might give you better opportunities I also affects you and the next generations in your family by losing your roots, for example if the first generation gives in to the culture the generations after that will know less about their main culture until it’s forgotten. Also by assimilating into the culture it’s not going to chance your appearance, this might not apply to everyone but it does to members of minorities and or kids of interracial relationships, not just because you learn the language, change the way you dress or change the way your name is pronounced or spelled is going to make you look less like the rest of your ethnic group. By not assimilating into the culture your opportunities might be less than those who did. It also might isolate you from those who did. For example, when I first attended school in the United States I would only talk to the students in the Puente program, who were learning English, I was told not to talk to the pochos, whites, blacks and chinos, because they would discriminate me for not speaking the language. This kept me from being part of many activies because they were just for the English speakers. The same thing happened when I moved to another middle school in East Palo Alto, but this time it was the pochos who told me not to talk to the rest of the ethnic groups. In my opinion assimilating and not assimilating into the American culture has good and bad consequences; I prefer to stay in the middle of them. I will learn the language and try my best to “fit in” in order to have a better future, but will never leave my culture behind because it defines who I am.

Puente: Bridge to English Program, a program for newcomers to our country. After these students gain English language skills they have the opportunity to apply to attend the MIT program.
http://www.rcsd.k12.ca.us/mit

*pochos- term used by native-born Mexicans to describe Chicanos who are perceived to have forgotten or rejected their Mexican heritage to some degree.
*chinos- Spanish word translating as Chinese, in this case all it was used to refer to all who are asian or pacific islanders.

Note: I apologize because this is not what you were looking for in this assignment, but I had trouble figuring out what to write so I combined two of the questions and gave my opinion on the subject.

My Digital Life

Everyday right after I get up but before I’m completely awake I have to check my email, it’s the easiest way to keep in touch with my family and friends. I want to say I’m right in the middle of loving and hating technology, I love it because it makes things easier, why would I want to go my friend’s house and knock on his door to ask him about what’s up, when I can send him a text, email, IM or just give him a call. Why would I want to go rent a movie when I can just order it on the spot without having to get up from the couch? Why would I want to buy a CD with 20 songs if I only like two of them, I can just go online and buy them? Even though technology has made our life easier, it has also made us lazier, now we think that going to the library and research about a subject is a waste of time, we can easily just Google, copy and paste, which is also known as plagiarism. Also it has made some people shyer, take me as an example, I can talk for hours on IM but when it comes to interacting with someone face to face um yeah let’s just say I’m not the life of the party. Now that I think of it, I realized that since the first time my hands touched a keyboard, I’ve been wanting to be part of computer technology, but it wasn’t until I programmed my first game that I actually thought about it. I can’t really picture life without technology, or at least not without computers, I don’t usually listen to the radio or watch TV, I pretty much do all of that online. My life revolves around technology without it I wouldn’t be able to keep in touch with my friends or be able to listen the newest beats, or where's the dopest crew in the world.