Normalcy is overrated

The twenty-ninth president of the United States, Warren G. Harding, campaigned for the presidential election of 1920 with a promise of normalcy. Not one person in the entire country knew what he exactly meant by normalcy, but it sounded pleasant to their ears, for their ears had recently been beaten with the calamity caused by the First World War. In a campaign speech, President Harding questioned the Progressivism of the decades preceding the war: “America's present need is not heroics, but healing; not nostrums, but normalcy; not revolution, but restoration…” To Harding, normalcy meant a perfect situation; however, the question remains, what is normal? Harding believed that normal meant reactionary politics, but his predecessors believed that the ideals of Progressivism were normal. So, who was right: Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, or Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, or perhaps none of them, or perhaps all of them?

Since I was in my second year of elementary school, I have wanted to be a writer. At the time, I did not realize what this would entail; if I had, I wonder if I still would have made this bold lifestyle choice. By becoming a fiction writer, I had taken on an archetype of oddness, nonsense, abnormality, and insanity. For millennia, writers have been perceived as the odd ones and the not normal ones, and frankly, most enjoy this perception; in fact, for many years, I enjoyed it. However, today, I am losing touch with this enjoyment. I am different, which is no surprise, because everybody is different, for everyone has their own quirks and tendencies; yet, I have always felt that I am a member of the club of people who are just a little bit weirder than the rest of the world. Perhaps this notion of me is slightly exaggerated, but even my friends will attest to the fact that I am slightly weirder than most people are. I had once accepted myself as the odd one – heck, I embraced it! Yet, I write to you now with a different tone. I am getting tired of being the odd one, or the eccentric yet introverted kid, the self-hating narcissist, the tortured writer. I am starting to want that normalcy – whatever it is – of which President Harding spoke.

I am tired, tired of the mocking, the sneers, the jeers, the laughs, and the tears that accompany being the odd one (now, not everyone mocks; some praise. I had a woman once tell me that all the girls love a poet, and she is somewhat correct, for I have had girlfriends who love my writing and love my weirdness, but I have also lost girlfriends because of it). Everybody’s different; yet, for some reason, some of us take the word different to new heights, and the world mocks us for it. When I write my poetry and my stories, I am happy, but when I am looked upon for it with a mocking eye, I am not happy. If I do not write and pretend to be this societal archetype of normality, then the mockery end, but I hate myself for giving in to society’s demands. It is quite the contradiction indeed! To write or not to write, that is the question. If I don’t write, I lose who I am, which is most important; therefore, I must take the hits, turn the other check, carry the cross, walk the walk, and talk the talk. I am who I am; I cannot change this. So, what is normal? I haven’t the slightest idea. All I know is that I am not, but some days I wish I could be whatever this normal is. Nevertheless, I soon remember that normal is probably boring, and eccentricity and nonsense and fantasy and extraordinariness is quite enjoyable, and it is who I am.

My First Twitter Chat

Tonight, I was fortunate to be in my first organized chat on Twitter. In addition to it being my first, I was one of the moderators! While the chat was going on, my fingers couldn’t move quick enough to tweet posts, for every minute (sometimes multiple times a minute) someone was using the hash tag for our chat and was presenting a new idea for the chat topic. To say the least, it was interesting. From the outside, it would appear to be unproductive and disorganized, but in fact, it possessed the greatest efficacy that I have ever seen in a discussion. Everyone involved in the chat presented excellent comments, ideas, questions, and topic-prompts, all of which were able to keep the chat alive. Even though disagreements were a common aspect of the chat, people always disagreed politely and with a strong counterargument.

I think that chats on Twitter can be an extremely effective way to conduct academic discussions between students and educators across all of academia. I, however, think that if these Twitter chats were used in education, some modification would need to be made. For example, it seemed that ideas were being thrown around too rapidly, preventing those in the chat from digesting each comment fully. In addition, it seemed that side conversations occurred within the Twitter chat discussing one subtopic while another separate conversation is going on about a different sub topic. I feel that it would be more effective if set sub topics were decided beforehand and set times during the chat. This is so that everyone involved is able to read everyone’s thoughts and comment on each. Nevertheless, since I have only been in one chat, I am not sure if the aforementioned problem is really even problem. Perhaps the rapid fire of ideas is more analogous to real-life arguments/discussions.

I hope that Twitter chats are able spread like wildfire across the whole of academia, because they are an exciting, effective, and energetic way to discuss interesting and controversial topics. Maybe a few modifications will need to be made to increase the efficacy of these chats, but overall, I believe that these chats have high potential in enhancing education through social media.

A Student-Created High School English Lesson Plan Using Web 2.0 Skills

English Web 2.0 Lesson Plan on Prezi

One Thought: A High School Student's Perspective on Education and Technology

The current technological revolution is altering the way society functions as a whole. Developments in technology have shifted fundamental characteristics of society like transportation, architecture, communication, and education. People no longer travel by foot and by animal, but instead they travel by automobiles and by airplanes. People no longer use caves and mud houses as shelter, but instead they use skyscrapers and quaint suburban homes. People no longer communicate through smoke signals and handwritten letters, but instead they communicate with telephones and the internet. Yet, education has not accompanied these other fundamentals of society as they have progressed into the age of technology. Students are still educated in classrooms with rows of desks while a teacher relays information to them on the subject matter for the student to absorb, so they can spit it back on a test. With the societal shift to an age of technology, the structure of the education system should progress along with the other aspects of society.

In a recent survey, corporations produced a list of four features that they want their employees to possess: the ability to think critically, the ability to communicate effectively, the ability to collaborate with others, and the ability to be creative. The expectation that people are able to retain information for a test is not practical in the modern workforce. This is not to say that the information being taught is worthless, but the current manner of teaching and learning this valuable information is archaic and ineffective for students in the modern world.

The current structure of the education system worked tremendously during an age when populations were educated for a short period and then placed into the mines, factories, and various other blue-collar work environments. The workforce has evolved into a modern workforce that requires a new set of service oriented and technology-based skills. The growth of the internet and the development of technological devices such as laptops, tablets, and smart phones have created these new set of skills that students will need to possess as they enter the modern workforce. Educators need to accept that this change is happening, so that they can adequately prepare their students for the twenty-first century work environment.

Apple Corporation published a recent statistic that sixty percent of their revenue comes from products that did not exist three years ago. Progression in society used to take decades or sometimes centuries to come to fruition; however, today’s society is changing more quickly. The fact that the majority of Apple Corporation’s products were not in existence three years ago demonstrates how quickly people need to adapt to these new technologies. Educators need to educate themselves in the appropriate use of these technologies that will best aide their student’s in their education and their future endeavors.

The typical classroom consists of four walls encompassing students, desks that were designed a century ago, environmentally unfriendly textbooks, a pulpit for the teacher to speak from, a board with notes scribbled on for students to copy verbatim, and an expert in some subject spitting information at their students as they quickly write what the teacher says in their notebook. Does this mundane and conventional system work? Yes, classrooms structured in that fashion have worked for centuries. Then why would society want to change something that works? Just because a system works well does not mean it cannot be improved. Access to the plethora of information, resources, tools, people, and ideas that exist in the online community enhances the classroom experience. The answer is not to decimate the physical classroom and go completely online. The online community will never replace entirely the conventional classroom. The online community, however, needs to be incorporated into the classroom properly, so that students can render the highest potential of their academic learning experience.

Human ingenuity has significantly facilitated the progression of society; however, this progression does not come to society without any repercussions. In the film, Inherit the Wind, the lawyer who is defending the teaching of evolution in schools says, “Progress has never been a bargain; you have to pay for it.” Teachers have always been seen as the expert of the subject matter that they are teaching, and their job has been to teach their students the set curriculum. If society moves away from the conventional classroom to a classroom integrated with technology, the role of the teacher will expand. Not only will teachers be able to teach their students the lesson plan, they also will have to mentor their students as they enter into the vast online community. Students will now have access to an infinite amount of resources online, but not all of them are appropriate for academic purposes. There is an unlimited number of websites available to students for positive academic, social, and networking purposes, but there are also websites that could be potentially harmful to the wellbeing of students.

However, these consequences can be curtailed. Once society integrates the conventional classroom with technology, educators will have the responsibility to teach their students the application and importance of appropriate and acceptable technology use. Students must learn how to become digital citizens, members of the online community who act responsibly while using the internet. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are popular among students today, but inappropriate language, images, and comments plague these sites frequently. The reason that the aforementioned behavior exists is not that these sites invite such incongruous behaviors. The reason is that adults condemn these sites, forcing their children to learn how to use these sites unguided, or adults treat these sites as “no big deal” or “just a fad,” which also forces children to learn how to use the sites unguided. Teachers need to educate students on the proper use of the tools and websites on the internet, so that students can use the internet correctly and safely.

Society has shifted from one based on blue-collar labor to a fast paced, technology-based society that demands certain skills like collaboration, effective communication, critical thinking, and creativity. In addition, the future workplace will require its employees to be educated in the applicable use of continually changing technology. The current education system is only somewhat effective in helping students achieve this height; however, for students to reach their highest potential, the current structure of the education system needs to adapt properly to changes in society and technology. This age of technology will alter the current learning environment by allowing students to communicate with their peers and additional educators across the globe, by allowing students to achieve their highest potential through the exploration of all aspects of academia, and by allowing students to experience the vast academic, social, and networking opportunities offered by the online community.

My Nation on Nationstates!

Over the summer, I discovered a website where you have the ability to create a country. Everyday you are given an issue and the way in which you handle this issue determines the way your nation develops. It is very interesting and very fun. Here is the link to my nation: http://www.nationstates.net/illuminati_res

Dipity Timeline of the Beginning of my Writing Career

on Dipity.

My love of writing

A movie of titanic space ships, of futuristic alien technology, of an attempt to exterminate the human, plagued my mind in the third grade. The movie Independence Day possessed all of these qualities plus more. This film’s unique plot and science fiction aspects enthralled my brain. I had always wanted to be writer, but after viewing the film, the plot had inspired to begin this career by starting my first novel. I have no records of the story except for parts of the hackneyed plot that remain in the back of my mind. The story was crude, was clichéd, and was…illegal, but regardless, it was my first. The spark gave life to my life as a writer.

This enchanting tale was filled with various plots all intertwined for the reader’s pleasure.

The pages of the novel filled themselves with the themes of religious symbolism, of medieval battles, of the reign of a family dynasty, and of an unquenchable romance. A fictitious game my friend and I created when we were in the fourth grade inspired this story. Bursting with quarrelsome, military campaigns, the game consisted of my friend and me pretending to be rulers from ninth century England fighting off anyone who threatened the nation. To stimulate these battles into our games, we used various toy weapons like plastic swords, rubber flails, old karate staffs, and whatever our imagination interrupted a stick to be. For fourth graders, we created quite the intricate story. I, being a writer, took our game’s basic plot and converted it into my first novel. I occasionally return to this novel, writing a few chapters, but my focus now is on other tales that I write. My goal is to one day finish my novel, for my own personal reasons. Even though my friend and I have not played this game since we were children, I relive the game each time my hand vigorously writes the story or my imagination goes wild creating new plot twists for the novel.

In fifth grade, my teacher had us read "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." The writing in the novel grabbed my attention. Each word jumped off the pages and into my mind. Lewis' style inspired me to attempt writing a novel. Lewis and I have similar beliefs and writing tactics. Lewis incorporates his faith into his writings, which is a style I sometimes use. Reading his work reignited my drive for writing.

“Secrets, secrets are no fun; secrets, secrets hurt someone,” is the opening line of my next work entitled “Secrets.” Action stories about a secret, government agent and his adventures fill this novel. The agency and other key character force the protagonist to keep various secrets from his friends, his family, and his lover. This affluent English professor joins the agency not knowing the consequences that will follow his choice. My love of action and drama movies inspired me to create my own action story. I enjoy concocting the events that take place in this story. I completed this novel the year after I started it; however, I have revised it multiple times and do not yet consider it finished. I pray that one day I will be given the time to finish the series.

At the Delaware Valley Science in eighth grade, the amount of students present and the limited amount of judges allotted for plenty of free time in between judging. During this time, I did my homework, which did not consume much time. I soon grew bored and was desperate for an activity to occupy my time. I, as must writers do, used my pen and paper to inhabit my free time. I believe it was my dream from the night prior that inspired the sort story I wrote, but I am not entirely certain. I am certain, on the other hand, that this story was my first short story. The story is about a man who possesses a watch that he used to bring order to his life. Soon the man becomes dependent upon the watch ultimately leading to the man destroying the watch to gain his freedom. I still have a copy of the story and it remains my first short story. Since then, I have written several short stories containing various plots, but “The Watch” remains my first and most beloved short story.

Mr. McCormick, my freshmen honors English teacher, introduced the Sonnet to me. Our class had to read a few of Shakespeare's sonnets, and then for a journal, we had to create a sonnet ourselves. A few years prior, I had written a blank verse poem about a crush I had. I transformed this mediocre poem into a beautiful work of art. When I completed the transformation, the once childish poem had turned into a wonderful sonnet. My sonnet entitled "Crush" caught the teacher's eye, and he said that I had a natural ability to write poetry. This was something no one had ever told me! From that point, I began to attempt more sonnets. Since then, I have written two other sonnets and two other poems.