In Closing

To close out this year, blogging was a fun experience. There are some days where I absolutely hated blogging but then I made fun of it by adding pictures and designing my blog. Overall, by blogging and designing my blog, it took away the reality of actually doing work for class beucase I enjoyed it. In the future, I plan to continue to blog and use his a refrence for jobs and colleges.

What I Enjoy

Listen to: I think that people more like teen should listen to gospel music. That's the kind of music I listen. Maybe because my mother is a Preacher.

Eat this: Banana pudding is the best thing to eat. I think people should make banana pudding on every holiday.

Play this: Playing this violin is the best instrument in the world to play.

Watch This: A movie you should watch would be the Passion Of Christ. I suggest this to people because it opens your eyes to the real world.

Do This: Do the golden rule by treating people the way you want to be treated.

Click Here:

Go Here: I think that everyone in the world should go to Wisconsin Dells. That's a wonderful place to go with family, friends, or a couple to swim and have fun.

Advice: You should always remember that tomorrow is never promised so you should live every day like it was your last.

Final Presentation

The pictures I used throughout this powerpoint helps express the way I feel. Also, it express how I have matured over the years as a writer.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4HHfdFii6zwbnRnN05UYmEwMXM/edit?usp=sharing

Senior Year

Senior year is like closing a book while opening a new one. Senior year is the year that everyone finally discover what they want to do in life and how to achieve those goals. However, unlike most my senior year went a little different...i

This year didn't turn out the way I had pictured it to be.

Lord Jesus help me make it another day.

The countdown is real.

Cons of Presenting

I will be giving a presentation in three week in English 102 class. My goal is to present my presentation the best way possible. The University of Tartu gives tips and suggestion along with a list of several ways to properly present a presentation. However, there is a video I found on YouTube of a young lady who gave a presentation in front of a crowd, Her presentation was based on trying to reduce the dropout rate in Rural Cambodia. Overall, her presentation wasn't good becuse she did not follow the suggestions that was given on this webiste above.

• Think audience.

When speaking, the presenter should put themselves in the audience shoes. While watching this video, it was obvious that she did not put herself in the shoes of her audience because if she did, she would have made her audience more engaged in her presentation by passing things out such as giving gifts or treats and/or asking questions,  As being a student and sitting through numerous presentation, that the main key. You as a presenter have to think what can you do to engage your audience and keep your audience entertained.

• Find your voice.

In this video, the presenter started off monotone and showed no emotions throughout her presentation. Also, she showed no enthusiasm in her voice while presenting. No one want to list to a presentation that is dry and boring. When a presentation is boring, that's when presenter looses their audience attention and their motivation to listen and participate.

• Practice, practice, practice.

After watching this video, I believe that this presenter did not practice her presentation before presenting. I say this because, while watching the video, the presenter barely made any eye contact because she was reading the paper that was placed on the podium. If she would have practiced, then there would have been no need to read what was on your paper verbatim.

Research Blog

The topic I choose to write my research paper about is the African American dropout rates. This paper over all was easy at first because I enjoy talking about this topic to other people. The reason why I enjoy talking about this topic to other people is because I plan on being a teacher and when I become a teacher, I plan to help decrease the dropout rates of African Americans.  I honestly, think the dropout rate is extremely high and until someone step up and try to solve the problem, it will be too late.  

After all, I feel like I did a good job researching this topic because of how important this topic mean to me. Also, I think this topic is interesting. Besides, this is an important topic in today’s society. As you look on the news, people mention how they feel about the African American dropout rate. Some state they believe something needs to be done and some state that it all depend on the student and what they plan to achieve throughout life. This paper was easy when finding sources but then it began to become stressful regarding I never wrote and eight to ten page paper by myself. Whenever I would write a paper, I would always have the help of others to assist me through my paper. Although some people gave me input on my paper like my teacher and my parents, I still feel as if my paper isn’t good enough because I had to write a total of eight to ten pages of research that I found on this topic by myself.

Some changes I would have made would have been to research additional sources that could have helped me prove my argument in my paper. I could have also asked more questions concerning the research paper and my topic as a whole. I thought I knew what to do but as I began to write my paper, I began to notice that I don’t know everything that I should know about making this paper meet the requirements needed. Since I haven’t really asked questions, I fell as that my paper isn’t good enough and it’s not what my teacher is looking for. Lastly, I think I could have changed the way I set up my paper meaning I could have changed the flow of my paper. I really didn’t know where to go but I had somewhat of an idea so in my conference with my teacher, I asked questions to make sure I was going into the right direction.

However, there are a few things I still have to do regarding my research paper. I have to do things such as making sure I cited my sources correctly throughout my paper. I think that I didn’t cite my sources correctly. I don’t think I cited my paper correctly because I was never taught how to cite my paper so I never feel comfortable citing in my paper. Also, throughout my paper I used lower class wording that’s I need to go back and change.  I used words such as nice instead of decent, pleasant, or good quality.

While searching this topic, I learned more than I thought. I found some interesting facts that I didn’t know about. I found fascinating news about certain people who has dropped out of school. For example, I found out that my father and two of my uncle’s decided to drop out of high school. After interviewing them, I learned lot interesting facts about the three of them. Also, while researching found different stories of students who have dropped out or who decided to drop out but never had the chance. After hearing different stories, I thought everyone had a unique story of their own and I found it amusing. Lastly, I didn’t realize the percentage of students who have different races were high as well. They weren’t as high as African Americans but their percentage was high also. For example, the dropout rates for Hispanics are high as well and I thought that was interesting.

However, overall, this who process was beyond stressful. I think that from researching for sources to doing work cited then writing a paper was too much work. I think that if we weren’t rushed than our paper, I know mines would be, much better than it is.

The Proposal

There are people today who watch the new on the regular basis. A huge topic on the news today is the African American dropout rates that are ragging daily. I know for a fact that this topic is important to several people in society because of the post I’ve been reading, the interviews I’ve read, as well as the video clips I’ve saw. I believe that something is going to have to happen based on the number of students who dropped out of school or the ones who want to drop out of school. It’s not a good look on our country as a whole. I hope and pray something will change and that this paper would change the life of someone.

This topic is extremely important in today’s society.  After hearing about the drastic number of students, mainly African Americans who have dropped out, this topic has really touched me in several ways. For instance, I’m going off to college in less than three months majoring in education. As many people may have noticed, the dropout rates are very important to the education world. I can remember the first time telling a teacher what I was going to college majoring in. She told me that teaching isn’t an easy task because the board is becoming very strict because of the dropout rates that are raging by the day. After hearing that, I grew interest in this problem and I believed this was the perfect job for me. I state this because for one, I love children of all ages and for two, I believe my job is to change the world by dealing with children. I also believe that there are multiple factors that lead students to want to dropout and so there for I believe it’s my job to help those because I feel where they’re coming from. I’m feel their pain because I was born in Chicago and my neighborhood was full of students who has dropped out of school at an early age for several reason. Also, I have family members who has dropped out of school as well. After hearing that from the teacher, seeing thing on the web, and hearing things on the news, I feel that this is the task that I was put on this earth to do.

In this paper I would argue that there’s a change that will have to take place. I say this because I believe this because there’s a huge problem that the percentage of African-American dropout rates is over 50%. This means half of the African-American population has dropped out of school. This leads to not being able to find jobs, provide for their family, and surviving in this world known as survival of the fittest. This paper will not focus on the factors of science. There’s no need to talk about science because it does not relate to the topic of education.

There’s a number of people that could benefit from the information provided on this specific topic. For instance, some people this topic can relate to would be teachers. I believe this topic would touch teachers because hopefully they will realize that children depend on them. For example, students depend on teachers for help on their work, school related problems, and things as such. Also, I believe that black families could also benefit from this topic because they could see the different things that could cause dropouts such as where they family live, the income of their family, and how close their family is to one another. Lastly, this topic could reach out to several school boards. I say this because when school realize the different reasons why student tend to dropout, they could strategize how to stop or lower the dropout rates of students.

There are several sources that I would use that would be relevant to my paper. For example, I plan to interview at least three people. While in the interview I plan to record them by voice on my phone. Also, I would do a survey of people who has not dropped out of as well as those who has dropped out of school. I believe that both the interviews and the surveys will show results that seem to be accurate. Also, I would use both the interviews and the surveys in the paper to support my topic and argument. Lastly, the sources that I found will also be added into my paper as back up and support as well.

Living Up To Your Name

In today's society, people think that naming their children a name they can live up to is extremely important. There are several people that think on different websites and read different books to help them decide what to name their child.

Unfortunately, my mother was diagnosed with a disease that wouldn't allow her to have children. My mother is very religious and decided to pray about it and ask God to bless her and my father with at least one child.

As time went on, about a year later, my mother was told that she was pregnant with a baby girl. My mother knew what she wanted to name her daughter. She was in love with an actor name Jasmine who played on one of her favorite TV shows who was very skinny, well educated, and was very active in sports. Shortly after being told that she was pregnant, she decided to name her Jasmine. Until this very day, my sister lives up to this name as my mother would say. My sister is a smart girl who graduated a year early from high school. She also is very slim and loves to play sports.

About four years later, my mother was told again that she was pregnant and that it was also a girl. I was told as a child that my parents knew what name they wanted to name me. My mother decided to name me Anna . Most people dont know that there's history behind my name. Well, to make a long story short, my mother's sister's name was Anna who she was very close to. My aunt Anna died with Cancer 3 years before I was born and so my mother thought that naming me Anna would bring her back closer to her sister.

I was always told that my aunt was very intelligent, outgoing, and open minded. All of my family tells me that I live up to her name not just by these traits but also by the way I walk, talk, and act.

I think that children live up to their name even when they think they don't but we as people tend to think differently.

Rest In Paradise Aunt Anna

Resturant Evaluation

When I think of my favorite food from a restaurant, Red Lobster biscuits come in mind. My teacher assigned a project to the class that would involve evaluating a restaurant, a type of food, or an album. Of course my partners chose to go to a restaurant. After discussing for about fifteen minutes on what restaurant we were going to evaluate we decided to go to Red Lobsters. I was excited to go to Red Lobsters not only to do the project but to eat the bread as well.

• My partners and my self decided no to evaluate just the food that the restaurant serve but the restaurant as a whole such as :
• -Service
• -Food
• -Cleanliness

To began with, let’s talk about the service of the restaurant. Well, when I walked into the restaurant, I was seated by a young lady who screamed, "How many are there," from behind the bar that was in the back of the restaurant. After telling her there would be a table of five, I was seated. Shortly after being seated, I was not assisted by a waitress for about fifteen minutes. Normally at any restaurant, there is a waitress that would ask you if they could start you off with a drink. Well, nope. Not this day. I had to raise my hand and ask if I could get a glass of water and do she mind bring out some bread. We all know that when you go to Red Lobsters, you waitress brings out several baskets of bread before your meal is served. Well, not this day. The waitress didn't bring bread unless you asked. I think overall, this was one of the worst experiences I have ever had at Red Lobsters. I think it’s because of the crowd I was with because when I would go with my family, the service normally are good to where we would leave a nice tip for the waitress. I can say that after this experience, I would give the service of the restaurant a thumbs down because of them not making me feel welcomed.

On the other hand, the food was better than I expected. I say this because what I ordered the day of the project was something I don't normally order from Red Lobsters. I ordered an appetizer which came with mozzarella cheese sticks and chicken tenders. The price for the appetizer was $9.79 which seemed to be a little expensive but I mean everything at Red Lobsters is expensive. That's my opinion. I can honestly say I enjoyed my meal. My chicken tenders were cooked well done and crispy. My meat wasn't discolored or soggy. The mozzarella sticks weren't burnt. Everything was cooked well done. Also the cheeses were stringy and hot. Over all, I would give my meal a thumbs up because when my meal was served to me, it was fresh out the oven, cooked just the way I liked it and wasn't salty or over cooked.

Now lets get to the cleanliness of the restaurant. In my opinion I think Red Lobster's are always clean. Every time I go to Red Lobster either with family, my table are always cleaned before I was seated. This time around, my tables were also clean. When I went to use the bathroom, they were also clean. I hate using public bathrooms but I will use Red Lobster's because I know how clean the restaurant is. When I my food was served, I checked my plates, cups, and silver ware for any food or spot and there were none. Everything seemed to be clean which was a good thing. I would have to give this restaurant a thumbs up for always being clean and being very sanitary.

I think over all, my experience was not good. I think the service was not as good as if I would have been with an adult or my family. I think that since I was with my friends, our waitress tend to treat use differently. This experience seemed to be out the norm from any other time I've went. I would have to give this restaurant a thumbs down overall for not providing good service.

 

Link Card

Believe it or not, there are more than "several people" in the world who believes in Lassiez Faire. People who believe in Lassiez Faire believes that the government should have hands off meaning they shouldn't be able to make decisions for people and to help people when needed.

After taking American Government and United Sated History, I realized that I dont agree with those who believe in Lassiez Faire. I strongly believe that the government should be able to have hands on and be able to help others in time of need. For instance, if someone need shelter, food, or clothing, I think that the government should be able to help them by providing the material to match their needs.

I searched the web "the criteria for the link card". While reading and analyzing different websites, I realized that the government tries to help everyone they can and as many people possible. For instance, on the website it states that the government helps people with or without a job but they also states that they rather people have a job then to not have a job. On the website it also mentions that in order to receive help from the government you would have to meet certain criterias. One criteria that was listed was to meet a monthly gross income. Another criteria for applying for a link card is a test that is provided for the person applying. In addition, another criteria that was listed was that the person applying would have to match a certain number based on the amount of people in their house-hold or children they're taking care. The number of people in you house and the number of people that the person is taking care of determines how much money they will be able to receive. If the person applying meet these criterias, their name are written on a list that will determine how much money they will be able to receive.

After researching and asking different people about the process of getting a link card, I agree with the criteria that is given. I think that the government does an excellent job at providing for family who needs it. For example, my mother has never had a link card but I have other family members who have such my aunt who have three children and who's unemployed. By her raising three children and being unemployed that puts her name on a list which is then looked at to see how much money she will receive on the link card. My aunt gets $300 a month to supply food for her and her children. Also, I have a family friend who is a single mother of five toddlers who receives a link card. Her name is also on the list and she receives $500 in link to feed her family.

I Abosolutly Hate Dogs

As a child, I didn't grow up around any animals and for some odd reason I'm afraid of dog and I learned that I absolutely hate them with a passion.

I can remember as a child my parents picking me up from school telling me that they have a surprise at home for me. After hearing the new, I got very excited and anxious to see what the surprise was.

As I walked into the house I heard barking which led my heart to begin to beat very fast. After taking off my shoes, I felt something scratching my leg. When I looked behind me, it was a toy poodle. I instantly began to scream. I wasn't born around animals so all animals seemed to scare me. As time went on I began to gain a relationship with my dog.

About a year after the surprise with the dog, my family found out that my dog was diagnosed with a disease that would lead to life or death. In 2009, shortly after I was told about the disease my dog was found dead in his cage. My heart was broken because I began to have a bond with my dog as if it was my best friend.

 I found myself loving dog until I 2013 when my cousin who is 10 years old was attacked by three pit bulls in Chicago. He was rushed immediately to have surgery. After hearing the new, my heart sank and I lost all respect for dogs all over again. I realized that toy poodles and pit bulls are two totally different dogs but I still think all dogs think and act the same so therefore until this day, I will always dislike dogs.