283 Matching Annotations
  1. Jan 2018
    1. With its military origins, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama were all once Boy Scouts too.

      So why did Baden invent teenagers here? How did he do it?

    2. 10 Youth Movements That Changed History

      What do you think when you hear the word teenager? What do you think the author means when he states, "Teenagers didn't always exist. They had to be invented."? Why would someone "invent" the category teenager? How?

    3. “Teenagers.”

      Do a google image search for teenager. What comes up? What do you see? What do you think? What do you wonder? Who's missing? What's missing? What dominates? What are the consequences? Who/what is invested in these "images" of teenagers? How does this article parallel and challenge these images?

    4. Alicia Silverstone’s character Cher from Clueless would have fit in perfectly.

      If you were going to learn more about one of these movements, which one would it be? What search terms would you use? List them.

  2. May 2017
    1. Good Hotdogs

      metacognitivereview

      Here is a link to a video that illustrates young people acting out the poem. This multimodality helps students develop schema. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl-yiwqHOLA

    2. Fifty cents apieceTo eat our lunch

      metacognitivereview

      Question/Connection: What can you get for 50 cents? A dollar? 5 dollars? To think of an experience that only cost 50 cents seems like an unlikely possibility. However, this is an idea to get students to make a connection to a time they made an experience memorable with little monetary resources. To reiterate, this allows the reader to read through a writer's eye...how does one build an experience as simple as this into something so elaborate, exciting and energetic?

    3. Everything on the hotdogsExcept pickle lilyDash those hotdogsInto buns and splash onAll that good stuffYellow mustard and onionsAnd french fries piled on top allRolled up in a piece of wax

      metacognitivereview

      Visualization: Descriptive language is so beautifully used in this poem; when teaching this text with my students they were able to visualize the hotdogs and the overall experience, which made their analysis more detailed. This type of writing is extremely beneficial to read when creating a picture in such a brief piece of text. Here you can smell the hotdogs, build the hotdogs with all the fixings and enjoy the experience of eating them.

    4. We'd runStraight from schoolInstead of homeTwo blocksThen the store

      readingtowrite

      Craft Techniques: This poem is set up to reflect the order of events that the speaker and their friend/sibling/companion/etc. experience as they leave school to get their hotdogs. As far as the writing process, Cisneros could have created this poem from the first steps to the last and all that happened during the experience. This chronological order establishes a writing process for those reading to understand her process.

    5. Quarters on the counter

      metacognitivereview

      Connection: I remember saving up every bit of cash that I could just to buy something from the book fair. It usually was a box set of a certain series I enjoyed or pointless yet amazing erasers or other school supplies like that. Just a small purchase like this of my own money made me feel powerful and in charge of my own life. This connection to the text could be similar to that of one of my students.

  3. Dec 2016
    1. Each month, her daughter paid her $50 and watched as Lisa entered the payment in a ledger and updated the amount owed until the money was paid back in full.

      Visualizing: To me, I see this as balancing a checkbook but that is because I might be little old school.

      Below is the link that shows how to balance a checkbook:

      http://www.ehow.com/video_2202016_balancing-checkbook-bank-statement.html

    2. Lending money to loved ones could be a gesture of good will

      Connection: I remember lending to my brother and him lending money to me.

    3. But not all loans work out as well.

      Predicting: A different situation is about arise. In the previous situation, Ann's co-worker paid her back.

    4. They never saw their money again.

      Questioning: I wonder how they felt when they never got their money back...

    5. "If you're going to make a loan to a family member, assume that money is gone from the start

      Connection: This feels like the same idea banks use when lend their money out, risk of never getting the money back.

    6. If you can't consider the loan a gift, be just as businesslike as your bank would be.

      Inferencing: Should act like a bank, if you do not lend money as a gift.

    7. "Set up expectations,"

      Connection: A contract. Whether that be verbally or written.

    8. Consider getting collateral and charging interest,

      Confusion: What is collateral?

      Summarizing: Interest, helps cover for the risk for never being repaid back fully. UPDATE: a charge for being able to lent an amount of money

    9. You can charge a higher interest than you'd get from many savings accounts and still be charging less than the interest on a credit card or bank loan,

      Summarize: Interest would be in the middle because if it was too high, then the person you would lend the money to would just go to the bank to ask for a loan. If you charged more interest than the savings account where the money would be then you would actually be earning more monry than having the money sit in that savings account.

    10. other terms

      Questioning: Were these terms written or verbal?

    11. you may need such a loan yourself one day.

      I think of it as rainy day account.

    12. "We realized we had bailed her out that year to the tune of about $12,000," Beth says. "I'd like to say the gravy train stopped then, but it actually continued until about a month ago

      Summarize: Beth and her husband kept giving their step-daughter money time after time. The gravy train refers to the ride the step daughter was being just to ask her parents for money so easily.

    1. You have worked with one-way tables (even though you may not have called them by that name). A one-way table is simply the data from a bar graph put into table form.

      Connection: I remember starting out with one-way tables in elementary. Simple data like favorite color and then graphing that frequency.

      As a teacher: prompt students to stop and make their own connections to one-way tables

    2. Based upon that information, if we knew the gender of a survey respondent, we could make a good prediction as to whether he/she chose a sports car or an SUV. The statistical information is strong enough to support an "association" between gender and choice of vehicle. Now, this does not mean that there is always an association between gender and choice of vehicle. It just means that such an association is evident in the data from this survey.

      Prediction: I want to take a further look at the data and answer some real questions about the data.

      As a teacher: Have the students analyze the data for themselves and see if they come to the same conclusion that this article comes to

    3. An "association" exists between two categorical variables if the row (or column) conditional relative frequencies are different for the rows (or columns) of the table. The bigger the differences in the conditional relative frequencies, the stronger the association between the variables. If the conditional relative frequencies are nearly equal for all categories, there may be no association between the variables. Such variables are said to be independent.

      As a teacher: I want to make sure that the students need to be aware that association does not imply causation.

      This is also an important definition for using two-way tables

    4. A variety of questions can be answered by examining a two-way frequency table. Let's look at some possibilities: Two-way frequency table How many people responded to the survey? 240 How many males responded to the survey? 60 How many people chose an SUV? 156 How many females chose a sports car? 45 How many males chose an SUV? 21 Two-way relative frequency table (whole table) What percentage of the survey takers was female? 75% What is the relative frequency of males choosing a sports car? Was there a higher percentage of males or females chosing an SUV? higer percentage of females

      Summarizing: These are the kinds of questions that we can use the table to answer. Additionally, there are no conditional probability questions here

      As the teacher: I want to ask the students about conditional probability and have them analyze the data in that way

    5. If you want to look for a relationship between the categorical variables, you will need to prepare a conditional relative frequency table. You will then need to decide if a "row" method or a "column" method will address the situation you wish to examine.

      Summarizing: This is a how to for each kind of question that may be asked and how to answer them

      As the teacher: For this, I would want to ask the students a question wherein they will need to use the tables provided to answer the question and analyze the data.

    6. The problem is that a column approach does not address the issue of which car men and women prefer. In the column method, we are comparing an SUV to a sports car in relation to gender. An appropriate question would be, "Were SUVs or sports cars chosen more often by females?

      Summarizing: Column conditional frequency shows for one column (sports car) what percentage of men/women chose it

    7. If the two-way relative frequency is for columns, the entries in each column of the table are divided by the total for that column (at the bottom)

      Connection: column frequency divide by column totals and row frequency divides by row totals as before.

    8. Do you see how this changes our previous interpretation of the data? Using a row conditional relative frequency, we can see that 65% of the 60 men responding chose Sports Car, while only 25% of the 180 women responding chose Sports Car. This method takes into account the count of men and women separately, giving us a more realistic view of the relationship between the variables.

      Summarizing: These are like little checkpoints to determine understanding with the examples provided.

    9. "In this survey, do more men, or more women, prefer a sports car?", we need to set up a row conditional relative frequency.

      Questioning: Are these the kinds of questions we will be answering with two-way tables?

      As a teacher: ask the students to answer this question and then compare the result to their inferences from before

    10. The ratio of "1", or 100%, occurs in all right hand "total" cells.

      Interesting, is this always going to be the case?

    11. conditional relative frequency, divide a joint frequency (count inside the table) by a marginal frequency total (outer edge) that represents the condition being investigated. You may also see this term stated as row conditional relative frequency or column conditional relative frequency. Basically, we are going to look at the women and men separately, based upon how many women were surveyed, and how many men were surveyed.

      Questioning: So we are taking the joint frequency and dividing by the row total or column total depending on the variable we want the conditional frequency for? Does this make sense?

    12. "conditional" relative frequency

      Connection/questioning: Is this similar to conditional probability?

      As a teacher: Have students determine the meaning of "conditional" for themselves

    13. 19% of the women and 16% of the men

      Connection: my inference from before seems correct. Wonder: What else can this table reveal about the data?

    14. Each of the main body cells (blue) is telling you the percentage of people surveyed that gave that response (based upon the total number of people responding).

      Wondering: Is there a way to know the percentage of only males (or females) surveyed who chose that response?

    15. Two-Way Relative Frequency Table: (displays "percentages")

      Prediction: Ok, so now we are going to take the counts and make them into percentages, so counts/total for each joint frequency and marginal frequency square.

      As a teacher: have students verify the math presented in the article

    16. This table shows 45 women chose Sports Car, while 39 men chose Sports Car.

      Inferencing: On first sight (and thought) it appears as though more women prefer sports cars than men, but this is just a first prediction

      As a teacher: encourage students to look at the data and make their own inferences and write them down to refer to later

    17. marginal frequencies

      connection: "marginal" from the root word margin, and these frequencies happen to be in the margins of this table!

    18. joint frequencies.

      visualize: the pictures here really help with the description provided

      As a teacher: can students identify the joint frequency boxes on another two-way table?

    19. "If you could have a new vehicle, would you want a sport utility vehicle or a sports car?

      fix-up: this is missing a " after the question mark. prediction: we will be using survey data about cars, but what will the second categorical data be??

      As a teacher: prompt students to make their own predictions about what they think the results will say through this data

    20. The "totals" of each row appear at the right, and the "totals" of each column appear at the bottom. Note: the "sum of the row totals" equals the "sum of the column totals" (the 240 seen in the lower right corner). This value (240) is also the sum of all of the counts from the interior cells.

      Summarizing: the frequency for each variable go in the respective square (column and row) and then add each row, add each column to get bottom row and right most column "totals", the sum of the row totals and the column totals should be equal and also be equal to the sum of the frequency squares (the inner four)/

      As a teacher: ask the students to verify the totals by doing the math themselves

    21. frequency (count)

      Connection: this is what I was wondering from before, so then frequency = counts

    22. contingency tables

      Prediction: Contingency comes from the root word contingent meaning dependent on, i.e., a contingency table with show whether or not a variable depends on the other...

      As a teacher: students should explore the definition of contingent and contingency to better understand the purpose of a two-way/contingency table and how we use them to analyze.

    23. relationships between the two categorical variables

      Visualization: I visualize two variables as follows: hair color vs. gender... essentially, I see two variables being pitted against each, or compared.

      As a teacher: I want the students to determine what they think "relationship between two variables" means to them? Does it mean we contrast them? Compare? Do we analyze them together or separate?

    24. Two-way frequency tables are a visual representation of the possible relationships between two sets of categorical data.

      Summarization: Two-way tables reveal a relationship (if any) between two distinct variables, both of which are categorical. We can use this to better analyze categorical data

    25. displays "counts"

      Wonder: I wonder what the author means by "counts". Are "counts" similar to frequency? Is there a connection?

    26. one categorical variable.

      Connection: categorical variables are variables that are topical in nature and not numerical. ex: hair color, eye color, gender, race, age, etc.

      As a teacher: ask students to provide their own examples of categorical

    1. What Exactly Is The 'President's Daily Brief' And Why Is It Important?

      Prediction: As part of larger NPR series "Trumps First 100 Days", I'm predicting that this article may take a more critical stance on Trump's attitude towards his daily briefings. Also, this picture is a key feature in this headline because it's been part of a firestorm of Trump memes of late that have definitely taken a negative tone.

    2. Prediction: As part of larger NPR series "Trumps First 100 Days", I'm predicting that this article may take a more critical stance on Trump's attitude towards his daily briefings. Also, this picture is a key feature in this headline because it's been part of a firestorm of Trump memes of late that have definitely taken a negative tone.

  4. Sep 2016
    1. the winding road from the classified section of yore to Tinder

      I'm imagining this curvy road with different stops that are dating websites and you can leave whenever you want if you're not happy or satisfied.

    2. It’s easy to see why online dating has taken off. It provides you with a seemingly endless supply of people who are single and looking to date. Let’s say you’re a woman who wants a 28-year-old man who’s 5 ft. 10 in., has brown hair, lives in Brooklyn, is a member of the Baha’i faith and loves the music of Naughty by Nature. Before online dating, this would have been a fruitless quest, but now, at any time of the day, no matter where you are, you are just a few screens away from sending a message to your very specific dream man.

      I agree, online dating is the ideal why to find the "dream" guy or girl. I don't think we need to settle for "good enough", but I do think this generation is obsessed with the idea of "perfection" and living the "dream". What happens when we don't find the "dream" online? What do we do then?

    3. There are downsides with online dating, of course. Throughout all our interviews—and in research on the subject—this is a consistent finding: in online dating, women get a ton more attention than men.

      I believe this to be true and a complicated part of the "downside" with online dating. If women are so popular on online dating platforms, does it make it harder for them to find love since there are seemingly so many choices out there? This is where the immediate face-to-face connection factor comes into play...

    4. “Oh, wait, you like the Red Sox?! No thank you!”

      Oh, wait, you disagree with me? Get outta here. This would never work.

      With the digital age, we're more connected, yet QUICKER to push away someone who doesn't share our every interest. How does this affect our chances of finding a suitable mate? What does this mean for the world outside dating? Does it affect how we interact with friends, family, coworkers, etc?

    5. The first woman he clicked on was very beautiful, with a witty profile page, a good job and lots of shared interests, including a love of sports. After looking the page over for a minute or so, Derek said, “Well, she looks O.K. I’m just gonna keep looking for a while.”

      In a world where dating has turned into shopping, it's funny to see this opinion put in print. There are so many options, yet, he continues to look. It's all about casting a WIDE net.

  5. May 2016
    1. “Just as growing up in a particular region or having particular professional experiences is likely to affect an individual’s views, so too is one’s own, unique experience of being a racial minority in a society, like our own, in which race unfortunately still matters.’”

      Wonder: What can we learn here about sending our students to college? Why is it that race and ethnicity still play a role in college admissions?

    2. Following the Supreme Court ruling that declared affirmative action unconstitutional in 1996’s Hopwood v. Texas, the Texas Legislature created the Top 10 Percent Law. This law, which originally admitted the top 10 percent of high school students in each class, now fluctuates between 7 and 8 percent at UT.

      Summarizing: affirmative action never was passed, but Texas took on another role where they now only admitted students based on their merit.

      Connection: I think this could relate back MLK's speech because he is asking us to not judge based on the color of our skin, but by our character.

    3. 16 of the 100 seats for students were reserved for minority students.

      Visualization: I can imagine just walking on campus and not seeing much diversity while on campus.

    4. Fisher, a white applicant, was not admitted to UT in 2008 and is suing the University because she claims she was denied based on her race.

      Wonder: I wonder why this student was denied admission to this school? What could be UT's reasoning?

    1. [Dre] The jury has found you guilty of being a redneck, white bread, chickenshit motherfucker [Cop] But wait, that's a lie! That's a god damn lie! [Dre] Get him out of here! [Cop] I want justice! [Dre] Get him the fuck out my face! [Cop] I want justice! [Dre] Out, RIGHT NOW! [Cop] FUCK YOU, YOU BLACK MOTHER-FUCKERS!

      Summarizing: In the end, the black community feels targeted and fails to have a voice in which people will listen to.

    2. But that shit don't work, I just laugh because it gives em a hint, not to step in my path For police, I'm saying, "Fuck you punk!" Reading my rights and shit, it's all junk

      Wonder: How can there be progressive movements if there is no respect for one another?

    3. Visualization: I can picture them speaking to an officer and neither of them showing one another a sign of respect. Reflection of real life instances?

    4. I don't know if they fags or what Search a nigga down, and grabbing his nuts And on the other hand, without a gun they can't get none

      Wonder: I wonder if this angst to get revenge is real or not, is it just because they are public figures they can say what they want to say?

    5. Thinking every nigga is selling narcotics

      Inference: Police officers make assumptions that the black community always sell drugs. Categorizing and stereotyping this community.

    6. Fuck the police coming straight from the underground A young nigga got it bad cause I'm brown

      Connection: this song can connect with today's #blacklivesmatter movement because they both centralize on police brutality and how their community is targeted based on their skin color.

    7. [MC Ren as Court Officer] Right about now, N.W.A. court is in full effect Judge Dre presiding In the case of N.W.A. vs. the Police Department; prosecuting attorney's are: MC Ren, Ice Cube, and Eazy-motherfucking-E [Dr. Dre as The Judge] Order, order, order Ice Cube, take the motherfucking stand Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help your black ass? [Ice Cube as Witness] You god damn right!

      Visualization: I can imagine MC Ren, Dr. Dre, and Ice Cube reenacting a scene from the court, but put their own twist to how they perceive the judicial system sees their community.

    1. He said the bill was destructive of the system of divided powers and states' rights, and was directed solely at the South.

      Wonder: I wonder why its direction toward the south made him upset.

    2. "no sense of triumph but a profound humility"

      Summarizing: Instead of celebrating the success of the bill we should recognize our privilege and offer it to help others in need.

    3. "I ask you to look into your hearts--not in search of charity, for the Negro neither wants nor needs condescension--but for the one plain, proud and priceless quality that united us all as Americans: A sense of justice.

      Connection: This reminds me of MLK's speech and how he longed for social justice and the unification of blacks and whites.

    4. The Senate bill differs from the House measure chiefly in giving states and local communities more scope and time to deal with complaints of discrimination in hiring and public accommodations.

      Wonder: What does this mean? Is Senate trying to only push this on a state level rather than a federal level? Is this a good decision?

    5. The bill passed by the Senate outlaws discrimination in places of public accommodation, publicly owned facilities, employment and union membership and Federally aided programs. It gives the Attorney General new powers to speed school desegregation and enforce the Negro's right to vote.

      Connection: This reminds me of Brown v. Board of Education because of the whole idea, "separate, but equal" phrase. I think in this article however, this dissolves that idea.

    6. President Johnson hopes to have the bill on his desk by July 3 at the latest so that he can sign it on the Fourth of July.

      Historical context: Johnson was a huge supporter of the civil rights movement because he believed in equality for all and made sure that the bill moved along, unlike Kennedy who pushed it to the side a little too much.

    7. Voting for the bill were 46 Democrats and 27 Republicans. Voting against it were 21 Democrats and six Republicans.

      Wonder: I wonder why there were some democrats that opposed the bill. Was it so they wouldn't upset their constituents back in their home states?

  6. Apr 2016
    1. Rap music and capitalism, from an outsider’s perspective, are as intermixed as ever; there’s even a subgenre that Spotify recognizes as “pop-rap.”

      Inference: Rap is now considered as a money making genre, rather than a platform for the African American community to speak out.

    2. Reaganomics

      Connection: top people get the most money, but the people at the bottom don't get much. Artists like Jay Z and Drake are paid for their talents that is accepted by popular culture, rather than underground rappers.

      Wonder: This shift of accepting certain artists, but not others can result in tension among the African American community. Should there be a sense of unity within this community?

    3. Rappers were met with much resistance from the rest of pop culture: They represented a more marginalized stance that those on the inside couldn’t relate to, or at least didn’t wish to address.

      Wonder: Why is it that rap is approached with resistance from popular culture?

    4. hip-hop itself has changed

      Predicting: I think that this statement will turn back to making hip hop more about the marginalized because of artists like Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, and Beyonce. Artists are realizing that it's their voice that matters to create change.

    5. Rodney King trial

      This is a project where they are working to count the number of people killed by police and other law enforcement agencies in the United States throughout 2015 and 2016, to monitor their demographics and to tell the stories of how they died.

    6. Public Enemy

      This song represents Public Enemy and how they wanted to exercise their right to freedom of speech and bring awareness to the injustices of not being able to use their voice.

    7. are two of the black community’s loudest voices speaking out against matters of racial injustice, capitalism, and economic inequity

      Summarizing: J Cole and D'Angelo are two artists that express the real experiences of African Americans.

    8. falsity of the American ideal that success in a capitalist society leads to happiness

      Inference: J Cole is making a statement on how we are too focused on American capitalism rather than our own happiness.

    9. He reconnected with his mother and redeveloped his previous worldviews

      Connection: When people are lost or feel uneasy about something, they return to their roots to better understand that issue. I have felt that way all throughout college.

    10. musicians and other people of color with a platform have not fulfilled an inherent duty they have as public figures in the line of those earlier acts who spoke out and spoke up for their people

      Wonder: Why does society expect public figures to be representative of their "people?" Is it only for publicity of the movement?

    11. the voice of a people who didn’t have the same sense of optimism and complacency regarding their place in society

      Connection: I remember talking to my family about how we as Mexican Americans are very similar to African Americans because we are all just trying to reach the "American Dream"

    12. the message has continued to resonate

      Inference: The Black Lives Matter Movement has strong ties to the Rodney King trial. Except now people are speaking out about it and not taking no for an answer.

    13. N.W.A’s “Fuck tha Police” simmered in the air,

      Visualization: I can picture the author walking around and listening to this song. I can imagine how this song reflects the people and how they feel about police brutality currently.

    14. Black artists were more inclined to speak out against systemic injustices when they were considered outcasts, not cultural heroes.

      Summarizing: Rappers no longer speak out about their hardships anymore, but now focus on their success.

    1. information about sex should only be taught at home, where parents can impart their own values to their children.

      Connection: I can find some sympathy with parents who feel this way because of my own experience at home. However, it is not necessarily about all you currently know, it is about what you still need to know more about. My parents never truly took the time to explore or understand the perspectives or point of views of others because that was their way, and it was the only way. A lot of students have parents who uphold this mindset, so it is our job to be of value by communicating with parents, and being sympathetic to them, while also doing our job.

    2. “It’s programs that don’t provide any information that we’re against. ... It’s as if you’re trying to prevent kids from riding motorcycles by forbidding them to wear safety helmets.”

      Visualization: There needs to be a message behind everything presented in education. If there is no purpose to what is being asked of, how can students, especially younger ones, find meaning in valuable information when it is just presented as useless. This imagery seen here puts this into perspective.

    3. Advocates of comprehensive sex education say the abstinence-only message ignores information critical for teens to protect their health. But they are not against the abstinence message itself.

      Interpretation: Balance is the key. In order to truly create a plan, curriculum, format, etc. on how sex education should be presented, it is key to take benefits and positive notes from both sides and put them together. Rather than trying to choose one or another, the debate players should work together.

    4. The study also concluded that abstinence-only programs are less effective than comprehensive classes

      Seems as though my prediction from earlier was right.

    5. Currently 18 states and the District of Columbia require schools to provide sex education and 32 do not. In some states, such as Louisiana, kids might learn about HIV/AIDS, but not about any other STDs or how to prevent pregnancy. In other states, like Washington, teens receive information on everything from birth control pills to homosexuality.

      Interpretation: So what I am noting is that sex education curriculum whether implemented or not, varies across states. So while one state may be learning about some sexual diseases, other states may be learning about other diseases completely different. Content is widely varied, which poses a bit of concern for educators in terms of consistency and in making sure students are learning similar material.

    6. The opposing side pushes for an abstinence-only message

      Wonder/Question: I wonder if this side will try to achieve this through a formal/structured curriculum format, or through simply eradicating sex education from the table all at once? Curious to know what this side is aiming to achieve.

    7. One side in the debate favors comprehensive sex education, including detailed information about sexually transmitted diseases, contraception and abstinence.

      Prediction: I predict that this will be the most favorable or popular way to go about the debate on sexual education. Before proceeding to the rest of the reading, I predict this because I feel society has become more willing and acceptive to this type of content. While everybody contains there own beliefs and opinions on the topic, it is better to be informed, then to be in denial of reality.

    8. others are taught how to put condoms on bananas in preparation for the real thing

      Visualization: I participated in an activity similar to this when I was a health student in high school. While it may seem like a cliche type of way to go about protection methods in sex, I feel as though something as little as this, can go a long way for a student. As a future educator, especially in health, it is our job to be real with our kids and make sure that they have the skills needed to be prepared for anything. This activity is real because it is a way of simulating the "real thing."

    9. The average kid today is immersed in sexual imagery.

      Interpretation: Very true. Although we can go back and forth saying that we should or should not include sex education in the curriculum, we cannot neglect the fact that we live in a society were sexual content is very much alive, and is going to be forever. As educators, we need to come to an agreement on the best balance for kids in terms of sexual education.

    1. By the end of 2013, Willie Nelson, Heart, and Bare Naked Ladies were withdrawing from music events organized by SeaWorld and Joan Jett and others were asking SeaWorld to stop blasting their music during its “Shamu” whale shows.

      Popular, well-known artists make the students feel interested in the cause.

    2. in schools

      Students can connect with the fact that this documentary is also being shown in schools.

    3. Gabriela Cowperthwaite was a mom who took her twin sons to SeaWorld before the death of a killer whale trainer prompted her to make her 2013 documentary “Blackfish.” She never expected it to help persuade the U.S. theme park operator to stop breeding killer whales and end its signature “Shamu” whale entertainment shows.

      I like how the article starts with a hook to really draw readers in.

    4. “Huge respect to @blackfishmovie for putting orca captivity at @SeaWorld on the agenda,” Greenpeace UK Oceans said on Twitter.

      This tweet should really make this article more accessible to students, as they are familiar with social media.

    1. The film is not all straightforward condemnation – it highlights the irony at the heart of the anti-captivity movement.

      The author is trying to be even-handed in this review by showing that the film, while it may have a strong bias, is still at least trying to show more than just one side. #READ4343

    2. Giles, a research biologist who has studied orcas for about 20 years.

      Establishing credibility of a source #READ4343

    3. Giles hadn't seen Blackfish when I spoke to her this week, and told me that she was just responding to my questions "with her gut."

      Author tries to get unbiased interview about blackfish topics in order for a more honest review.

    4. SeaWorld Assertion 2: "The assertion that killer whales in the wild live more than twice as long as those living at SeaWorld. While research suggests that some wild killer whales can live as long as 60 or 70 years, their average lifespan is nowhere near that. Nor is it true that killer whales in captivity live only 25 to 35 years. Because we’ve been studying killer whales at places like SeaWorld for only 40 years or so, we don’t know what their lifespans might be—though we do know that SeaWorld currently has one killer whale in her late 40s and a number of others in their late 30s." Advertisement Film Response: "In the wild, average lifespan is 30 for males, 50 for females. Their estimated maximum life span is 60-70 years for males and 80-90 years for females. In captivity, most orcas die in their teens and 20s and only a handful have made it past 35.The annual mortality or death rate for orcas is 2.5 times higher in captivity than it is in the wild. These are not controversial data. In the film, we depict what seems to be a deliberate attempt by SeaWorld to misrepresent these well documented data to their visitors." Giles adds: "Based on photographs we have a whale out here that is supposedly 102 years old. Even if she's not 102 years old, easily she's into her 80s, probably more like 90s. There is no reason to doubt the photo. We had a male die a couple of years ago, who was in his 60s."

      This is a really interesting way to present the information shown. It gives what SeaWorld asserts, what the film said about it, and what a biologist said in response. I feel like this is also to try to present facts to the reader in a straightforward way.

    1. She calls her medium "Art Blended Research," and it draws on the idea that there's more to see than meets the eye.

      Shows the importance of meaning and planning out of artwork at any scale. Sometimes the most abstract things might seem like "easy" or meaningless when they are the opposite.

    2. "explore ideas about identity, social roles and power relations.

      These are ideas a high school student can explore and identify with.

    1. In our efforts to feed the dragon, the quest to eliminate sleep has veered toward the surreal. Once confined to coffee and tea, caffeine is now showing up in topical sprays that promise the rush without the crash, soap that says it’ll give you a buzz in the bath, stockings from Australia that keep you perky and (supposedly) eliminate cellulite and toothbrushes that wake you up while cleaning your teeth. Not to mention the plethora of food products that now contain caffeine: Beer, marshmallows, “perky jerky,” lollipops and bottled water are just a few examples.

      Wonder: Are the things we use and consume stopping us from getting a good nights rest becasue of what is in those products?

    2. Hence the cycle of sitting up in bed, listlessly refreshing our email (a recent Pew study found that 83 percent of millennials sleep with their phones nearby) even when it’s way past our bedtime and we really should put our computers and phones down.

      Connection: My mom tells me not to sleep with my cell phone close to my face because she says it might explode. Confusion: How did they conduct this study? Did people have their cell phones on or were they on silent? Should have a percentage of people who have their phones on while they are sleeping versus being on vibrate or silent.

    3. Research shows that every time we check our email, Twitter feed or Facebook timeline and find a new piece of information, we get a shot of dopamine—a chemical our brains release to simulate pleasure.

      Wonder: I wonder how different the world would be if we did not have twitter, facebook, or email.

    4. So reading in bed with an iPad, he says, or any other backlit device, makes it harder to fall asleep at night and makes you more tired the next day.

      Connection: The last thing I do before I go to bed is stare at my computer screen. I bet if I stopped looking at my computer half an hour before I go to bed I would sleep better.

    5. Modern technology, which seems particularly adept at messing with our sleep schedules, is certainly a large part of the problem.

      Prediction: The light from our computer and television screens makes it harder for us to fall asleep.

    6. Indeed, our classic eight-hour-night only dates back to the invention of the light bulb in the late 1800s. Historians believe that before the dawn of electric lighting most people got plenty of sleep, and practiced what they call “segmented sleep,” snoozing for several hours in the first part of the night, when darkness fell, then waking in the middle of the night for a few hours of eating, drinking, praying, chatting with friends or maybe even canoodling, before ducking back under the covers again until morning. The arrival of electricity, argues sleep historian A. Roger Ekirch, led to later bedtimes and fewer hours of sleep overall.

      Connection: People started staying up later because of the creation of the light bulb. This allowed for them to stay up and do whatever they wanted to do because they could still see. Today, we stay up on our cell phones because it is small enough to hold in our hands and we can communicate with people until we get tired.

    7. Our Sleep Problem and What to Do About It

      Question: Why is it difficult to get a good nights rest? What do we do before we go to bed? When do we go to bed? When do we get out of bed in the morning?

    1. , one that’s at a crossroads, would project itself onto the building.

      Maybe these people don't want change because not always is change good. This makes me think of all the gentrification videos surfacing the web. The new developments are good for the city $$$ but do not bring much benefit for the people that live there, instead they are pushed out.

    2. Can artwork serve as a catalyst for city development?

      What kind of development???

    1. 30 languages spoken in the neighborhood

      That's a lot of languages! I wonder what languages they are.

    2. Austin neighborhood

      Local to students.

    3. English, Croatian, Spanish and Vietnamese, with plans for more in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and even Dzongkha — the official language of Bhutan (“to greet Bhutanese immigrants who live in an apartment across the street,” Thurston said.)

      Here is a partial answer to my question from before!

    4. Painted fences unite community in Austin neighborhood

      Before video: Who participates?

      After video: The whole community participates as well as local artists. 0:40 mark, they mention how they left the space white and blank knowing that it would get tagged with graffiti. They were right and worked with the tagging because those taggers belong to the community. Getting to know neighbors after years. Started with one mural. "International District"

    1. closer to what my own parents experienced than you might guess.

      Here it comes, the plug for algorithmic love or at least the comparison to arranged marriage. Are the services akin to parent arrangements?

    2. My parents had an arranged marriage. This always fascinated me. I am perpetually indecisive about even the most mundane things, and I couldn’t imagine navigating such a huge life decision so quickly.

      Gets me thinking he's going to debunk traditional love narratives. I'm going to think of some I know and anticipate that he'll knock them off one by one. He starts with the arranged marriage. I'm guessing high school sweet hearts will be next and at some point, one marriage or monogamy might be up for revision too.

    3. I learned of the phenomenon of “good enough” marriage, a term social anthropologists use to describe marriages that were less about finding the perfect match than a suitable candidate whom the family approved of for the couple to embark on adulthood together.

      Seeing the disciplinary possibilities of parallel readings to this (to go deeper) and recalling the book "starter marriage" that I ironically read right after I got engaged. While the term wasn't the same, the book echoed this article as it traced a contemporary marital phenomenon that marked a generation legally, psych-emotionally, financially, etc.. Searching for starter marriage I came across this huff post starter marriage blog LIST! Seems the phenomenon isn't over.

    4. 38% of Americans who describe themselves as “single and looking” have used an online-­dating site.

      This number seems staggeringly low compared to my experience with friends. Really? I may look this stat up or find out where it comes from.

    5. along with the sociologist Eric Klinenberg

      Aziz is doing research?! I'm visualizing him doing a focus group interviewImage Description

    6. Happily so—and probably more so than most people I know who had nonarranged marriages.

      This surprises me. Sounds like Aziz is skeptical of "natural" love. Will he be making an argument for algorithmic match-making?

  7. Feb 2016
    1. That’s probably why information about sex, whether from parents or schools, is so often delivered in serious, white-coat fashion, its clinical messages heavy with the fear of consequences

      Interpretation: Very true. Rather than discussing sex as an educational component of health care, teachers, schools, parent's, etc. simply try to instill fear in the term, thus making teens resistant to knowing more about it, and overall giving the term a negative connotation.

    2. sexual identity

      Wondering/Questioning: I wonder how many students actually know about this term? And when should we as teachers introduce this? I can see where this would be a bit controversial in discussing in a classroom, but then again this course is centered around openness, so I hope to see this term again.

    3. “I guess I didn’t want to grow up. I was happy with the way things were. I am realizing now that the class was superhelpful. Julie sends you away with this greater message that we are all in this together, that you’re fine,”

      Summary: The greater message of the course clearly stands on the notion that girls are not alone in their resistance to sex ed. I had to pause here and think for a minute because the overall message and learning experience is what truly matters. This inference is important to make bc what students can take from a lesson and apply it to their lives, is what teachers hope to achieve.

    4. And then Metzger won them over. At one point, she handed out a diagram of a woman’s reproductive organs and challenged the girls to go home, stand naked in front of a mirror and superimpose the image over their abdomens to get a sense of where things were in their bodies.

      Wondering: I wonder how many girls actually did this? I mean it's a good tool in sparking curiosity about their bodies, but I don't think this would work for all girls. As a matter of fact, it might scare some of them away. A method or tool that all girls would be interested in, is something I would aim for as a health teacher.

    5. There was an undercurrent of nervous tension as we waited for the class to start.

      Connection: This is how I anticipate my classroom culture/environment to be at first due to my own experience in school waiting to start on another sex ed lesson. Again, going back to some of the feelings student's experience when talking about a touchy subject like sex ed, I won't be surprised as a teacher when I start sensing the nervousness in the room.

    6. The class was so crowded, she says, that “we had to run it twice.”

      Wonder: I wonder how this course got so crowded if the notion lies on the fact that most teens are "resistant" to going? I had to stop and think about this because the article states numerous times, that the kids are often resistant about going, as well as just not interested in going. Are the parents forcefully dragging their children to go, or is there another incentive in attending the course?

    7. Metzger believes that having kids pose questions fosters intimacy and allows parents to hear for themselves what their children’s concerns are.

      Interpretation: I agree, children are more prone to respond when they are the ones leading the discussion. and not just being lectured to. When will kids ever learn to formulate their own thoughts and ideas if all we do as parents is direct their thoughts and ideas. Children want to have a voice and want to state their opinions, so letting them pose questions is a start to independent exploration.

    8. As the girls scribbled on their index cards, some used their elbows to block an inquisitive mother’s gaze.

      Visualization: I remember being a middle-schooler having a cell phone for the first time, and shielding my incoming texts from my mom at the dinner table. It is clear to me that privacy is important for these young girls, and they have come to a point in their lives where they don't wish to share everything with their parents anymore. I can picture the transition in these girls from being open, to being more secretive and private about their lives.

    9. Boys and girls experience puberty differently. For girls, puberty typically begins at 10 or 11 and lasts five to six years, punctuated by distinct events — breast development and the onset of menstruation. Puberty for boys starts later, around 11 or 12, and lasts longer. Many girls are done with puberty — over, by definition, when growth stops — in their sophomore year of high school. Boys, on the other hand, may still be growing in college, and some secondary sex characteristics, like beard growth, may not show up until they are in their 20s.

      Summary: Puberty in girls and boys occur at different time periods and are noted by distinct physical qualities. It is interesting to point out that puberty seems to be occurring at younger stages than previously seen. Puberty is a major topic in health care, so I found it necessary to give this paragraph a quick run down.

    10. More than 100 years later, there is still no standardized curriculum. Detailed guidelines, released in 2012 as a resource for school districts, recommend minimum standards for comprehensive K-12 sex ed, but compliance is voluntary.

      Confusion: This made me stop to re-read this sentence. Is there really no compliance for standardized curriculum in health education? So every district adopts there own curriculum for how they wish to implement sexual health care in the classroom? This is a bit upsetting to me as a student majoring in the field, because I feel as though this subject is not being taken serious.

    11. class were fun and funny and interactive?”

      https://www.ted.com/talks/al_vernacchio_sex_needs_a_new_metaphor_here_s_one# This video also provides a refreshing and modern approach to sexuality in discussing it as a fun metaphor. It promotes enjoyment rather than a boring informative session.

    12. No Bad Q's Slideshow: This is interesting and very applicable in a health classroom, especially when you are trying to build openness and participation. However, a teacher might want to censor some of the words used when discussing as a group. This made me pause to make my own note of this activity, because it is a simple and anonymous activity that everybody can engage in, as well as be heard.

    13. What if that class were fun and funny and interactive?”

      Connection: I remember being a student unmotivated to participate in class because of how static and lecture-based it was, so it is refreshing to see how this course is hoping to take on a more engaging approach. When I was in school, I did not even think you could use the word "fun" in a classroom. For some reason I resonated fun with "not learning."

    14. 14,000 attendees

      Interpretation: It seems as though this course is doing a good job at drawing in the attention of many teens and their parents with just word of mouth and pediatricians. This took me by surprise because in reality, they are not really using a variety of modes to help spread the word about this course. Its impressive to see how many people actually attended with minimal promotion.

    15. But Leah had plenty of company, peers who shared her resistance, their arms crossed, their eyes downcast

      Connection: As a once middle school student getting ready to learn about sexual health care and personal health, I also often felt resistant, even uncomfortable to speak on such a touchy subject. I viewed it as a topic that simply required "common sense", and thus required no teaching. I had to pause and comment on this, because as a new teacher getting ready to teach health, I am going to expect students to feel this type of way. Especially those new to the concept.

    16. Let’s Talk (Frankly) About Sex

      Prediction: I predict this article will dive into a modern outlook into the integration of sex education in a modern classroom. The (frankly) makes me think that this article will take on the concept in a direct and honest manner. This will hopefully promote comfort and openness amongst the teens engaging in the discussion as well. What is your prediction on the article's title?

    1. Her work is exquisite, delicate, crafted

      Connection: I feel like this is how traditonal women's work would be described

    2. these women are reappropriating traditional feminine crafts, re-imagining traditional ideas of femininity, and creating some elegantly radical feminist fiber art.

      Wondering: I wonder how other feminine artist doing the same but with different materials that don't include fiber art.

    3. And I'm saying that the feminine, even the traditional, has always been just as complicated, interesting, and aesthetically beautiful."

      Connection: I like this quote because in historic art, men were more commonly the famous painters and sculptors because women had specific roles. Even then though, some women artists broke through because their fathers were artists who taught them or they learned on their own and their work was just as beautiful if not, arguably in some cases, more.

      (EX: mary cassatt): Story starts at 00:35 https://youtu.be/u4iX0PZPg0o

    4. Climbing

      Questioning: Why was this piece named "climbing"? What message might it be sending?

    5. Her work is less obviously feminist than the others, however, it is decidedly feminine

      Questioning: Do you think that it is a bad thing that her work is "less obviously feminine?" Do feminine works need to be screaming femininity in order for it to be really appreciated?

    6. From stitched images of women putting on makeup to embroidered photographs of women sewing themselves closed,

      Visualization: I visualize the faces women make when putting on makeup. It doesn't look comfortable or pleasant. "beauty is pain"..... right?...

    7. "MAQUILLAJE"

      Observation: Makeup- "cosmetics such as lipstick or powder applied to the face, used to enhance or alter the appearance." Connection:The two different views of the work, where one is clean and clear can only be made by the messy unruly stitching that is on the back. Questioning: What is the meaning of "MAQUILLAJE"?

    8. women sewing themselves up and ripping themselves open

      Connection: again, using a traditional woman craft in an untraditional way.

    9. These tensions are all central to  her work, and this understanding of a shared experience is critical.

      Inferencing: The tension is very physical in the work but i feel that the meaning behind it has even more tension, especially her comparison of female and male.

    10. This re-evaluation of "women's work" is happening internationally, which indicates a seismic shift in the way young women understand their identity.

      Wondering: I wonder how "women's work" is defined internationally. I also wonder how some women's shift in their understanding differs from others.

    11. sewing, stitching, quilting and knitting

      Visualization: I picture my grandmother's craft work. she knew really intricate stitching patterns and would do most things by hand.

  8. Jan 2016
    1. Connection: Have you visited any of these before? -Natural cultural district -Artist spaces -Neighborhood districts -Downtown districts

    2. "Additionally, there is no one right way for stakeholders to engage with the arts. Occasionally conflict arises between arts a nd community interests, not because they both do not believe in building better worlds, but because they have different ideas of how to achieve that goal."

      Think back at Chang's piece Before I die... could you see any possible conflicts that arose from the piece?

    3. Visualize: How do you visualize arts, culture and creativity? Is there a difference when you visualize these terms?

    4. Interpret: What do you think about these words? Do they have different meanings to you or do they have similar meanings? Do you think it is important to distinguish these differences if any?

    5. Summarize: What makes a community a community?

    6. Predict: After you watch the video skim through the article. Look for clues that will allow you to predict what the article is about. Look at pictures, graphics, headings etc.

    7. Predict: What do you predict this "ecosystem" consists of?

    8. Before: Watch the following TED talk by artist Candy Chang.

      Have you seen pieces like Chang's before? What made them appealing to you? What caught your attention? What inspired Chang to create her piece? Do you think she predicted the impact her piece would have in her community and more? What lasting impacts do you see happening in her community?

      https://youtu.be/uebxlIrosiM

    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u0Ql2Hnl8I

      Before: Watch the link. What are some reactions to the video? Why would a man alone on an island put a face on a volleyball? What is he thinking? How would you feel being all alone? Why do you think relationships are important?

    2. (Researchers Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler have found that men’s life expectancy benefits from marriage more than women’s do.)

      Wondering: I wonder if that is because women typically take better care of themselves compared to men.

    3. The support offered by a caring friend can provide a buffer against the effects of stress.

      Connection: When I am stressed, I let out my feelings to a close friend. I usually feel much better after talking about what is stressing me out.

    4. In a study of over 100 people, researchers found that people who completed a stressful task experienced a faster recovery when they were reminded of people with whom they had strong relationships. (Those who were reminded of stressful relationships, on the other hand, experienced even more stress and higher blood pressure.)

      Confusion: I am confused by this study. I wish there was a more illustrated example. How did they remind the people? How did they know what relationships were good versus bad to tell the participants? What were the stressful tasks?

    5. Depression. Loneliness has long been commonly associated with depression, and now research is backing this correlation up: a 2012 study of breast cancer patients found that those with fewer satisfying social connections experienced higher levels of depression, pain, and fatigue.Decreased immune function. The authors of the same study also found a correlation between loneliness and immune system dysregulation, meaning that a lack of social connections can increase your chances of becoming sick.Higher blood pressure. University of Chicago researchers who studied a group of 229 adults over five years found that loneliness could predict higher blood pressure even years later, indicating that the effects of isolation have long-lasting consequences.

      Summary: The negative health effects of having few relationships/ low social support.

    6. A survey by the National Bureau of Economic Research of 5,000 people found that doubling your group of friends has the same effect on your wellbeing as a 50% increase in income!

      Confusion: How was this survey completed? How would doubling a group of friends be equivalent to a 50% increase in income?

    7. And hanging out with healthy people increases your own likelihood of health—in their book Connected, Christakis and Fowler show that non-obese people are more likely to have non-obese friends because healthy habits spread through our social networks.

      Connection: I was once told about a study of how a group of researchers would put 100 random people in a room and out of those 100, only 2 were totally healthy. At the end of the night, the two healthy people would find each other almost every time they did this study. I think that supports how we create relationships with people similar to ourselves.

    8. The research is clear and devastating: isolation is fatal

      Visualization: I visualize a dying person all alone. :(

    9. Similarly, Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones research calculates that committing to a life partner can add 3 years to life expectancy

      Connection: Someone once told me that every time we laugh, we add 5 minutes to our lives. I think when an individual finds a person that makes him/her happy and is supportive, we are more likely to live longer because we have something to live for.

    10. Conversely, the health risks from being alone or isolated in one's life are comparable to the risks associated with cigarette smoking, blood pressure, and obesity.

      Question: How can having few or no relationships have such a powerful impact on the body that are comparable to cigarette smoking, blood pressure, and obesity?

    11. There is compelling evidence that strong relationships contribute to a long, healthy, and happy life.

      Prediction: The article is going to list some evidence supporting how our relationships help us live better lives.

    1. Moreover, the assertion isn't even true all of the time for one-year-old calves; SeaWorld has a long track record of separating mothers and calves at birth, and even more often when they become older than a year.

      Questioning/Confusion: The link in this part of the article does leads to an obviously anti-SeaWorld biased website using information provided by a nonprofit dedicated to helping spread awareness about orcas and giving them a "healthy habitat." It is unclear from what I could find that this information is accurate about SeaWorld.

    2. But in order to make this claim, SeaWorld has to rig its statistics by including only SeaWorld orcas in its database, and then only deaths that have occurred in the past 15 years. Considering that it, and many other marine parks, have held many more orcas over the nearly fifty years they have been in business, that's a pretty skewed database.

      Connections to science: It is important to note that SeaWorld is not the only company that can manipulate statistics. That is why as scientists we don't just look at the data presented, but also how it is presented.

    3. At some point, it will have to figure all this out. But by then, it may well be too late for it to pull out of its self-inflicted death spiral.

      After reading this article, go back and further investigate any claims you believed may be suspect by clicking on the links, like I did. Think to yourself if the source they come from may have a potential bias.

      Questioning: Think, overall, if this article convinced you to boycott SeaWorld. Why or why not?

    4. It's telling enough that when Blackfish's filmmakers challenged SeaWorld to a public debate, they simply refused.

      Summary/Confusion: This is some damning evidence against SeaWorld. Why, if it believed it had iron-clad facts, statistics, testimonies, etc. to back itself up, would it turn down the chance to prove themselves right once and for all?

    5. too busy teaching orcas to breach in triplicate and rolling in the revenue stream that creates.

      Summary: This statement shows the author's obvious bias against SeaWorld. This just provides proof that we were right to to look at some of the author's claims to root out bias.

    6. In fact, SeaWorld spends well under than 1 percent of its annual revenues on conservation efforts.

      Ah, but the point that the article is trying to make is that the company is doing absolutely nothing to help conservation efforts. Additionally, even a small percent of the company's profits are still marginally large, assuming it is a multimillion dollar profit margin.

      Questioning: Do you believe that dedicating a small amount of their profits is despicable, or that SeaWorld should be praised for donating at all?

    7. There has been some recent research at SeaWorld that actually helps advance our knowledge of killer whales. For instance, researchers there have established recently that dialects in killer whales are in fact learned behaviors. There has also been some recent impressive work on the energy orcas expend in the process of swimming. One could argue that this research is long overdue, but at least SeaWorld is now undertaking research that could actually help conserve orcas in the wild -- something that was not true for many years.

      Interesting. While the author spent the previous couple of paragraphs trying to prove that SeaWorld has no investment in orcas, it now admits that the company is doing research that directly benefits orcas. So SeaWorld is actually not entirely disinterested in orca research/well-being as painted to be.

      Questioning: Do you believe that this discredits the author? Why or why not?

    8. Where has Sea World been in all this? Nowhere. They have not funded orca-population studies or censuses, let alone communications and ship-noise studies that are needed. We did see them briefly during the Springer episode, when SeaWorld lent local scientists the use of a diagnostic lab and an overseeing veterinarian to test a sample of Springer's blood before she was transported north and successfully reunited with her familial pod. For that, they now claim credit for the entire project.

      Interesting point that SeaWorld claims to be conserving orcas, but they are not in fact donating their money or doing anything other than showing them to the public.

      However, one might also argue that by showing the public these animals, it allows a public emotional attachment to be formed to them, which could lead to greater public traction behind conservation movements.

      Questioning: Where do you stand in between these two points of view? Why?

    9. Rather than address the real issues underlying the matter, it chooses to attack the people involved and touting their business credentials; their chief argument seems to be that they are better people -- even while they lie through their teeth to us at every turn, whether it's telling people that captive orcas live as long as wild whiles, or claiming to be really all about conserving orcas in the wild.

      Summary: This is a somewhat valid point. As we have seen so far, the evidence provided in this article so far does indicate that SeaWorld is fighting back with defamation and not actual facts.

    10. Yet anyone who has seen the film knows that this is simply and baldly false. Not only does the documentary provide two clear examples of SeaWorld employees and spokesmen blaming Brancheau for her own death, the speculation by trainers about the events leading up to her death were a far cry from these blatant examples of victim-blaming.

      Summary: This is a very clear contradiction that SeaWorld has made, because they have in fact blamed the victim multiple times in and after the Documentary.

    11. This is well-established scientific fact, and the fact that SeaWorld says Blackfish "offers no scientific basis for this statement" and that "SeaWorld is aware of none" demonstrates its only abysmal understanding of the animals in its care.

      Questioning: While the movie did offer some people considered experts talking about how orcas stay with their mothers their whole lives, I would like to see a link to actual studies that show this instead of the author just stating "it's a well-known fact." As scientists, you cannot prove a claim just by assuming the audience will believe you: back it up!

    12. the more people who see Blackfish the more likely it is to accelerate.

      Questioning: Apparently, Blackfish has been very influential on public opinion. Why do you think that is? Make Connections: For me, the documentary made me cry an awful lot, so the emotional appeal could have a lot to do with it.

    13. And when it finally did go public with its response to the film, it did so in a completely non-transparent way -- undertaking a closed-shop public-relations campaign predicated around websites, videos, and ads. And the primary subject of that campaign has not been an effort to rebut the factual issues raised by the film, but an attack on the people involved in the film and an attempt to impugn their motives. A smear campaign.

      Prediction: Let's keep this in mind as we read the rest of the article. The author is referencing the "Truth About Blackfish" page on SeaWorld's website. What we will be looking for in the quotes below are for evidence of ad hominem, or personal attacks, rather than factual refutation of claims.

    14. It's never easy, coming in from the outside of an emotional debate over a popular public entertainment -- the kind that performing killer whales provide -- to adequately judge that's debate's real merits, such as the one over orca captivity that has been inspired

      Before we read: It is very difficult to be able to come to this topic with an outside point of view. For me personally, it is especially difficult. I grew up going to SeaWorld and loving it, but I also had a very strong emotional response to the documentary Blackfish. Throughout this article as we are examining the author's argument, it will be important to be aware of our own biases as well as those of the authors, of SeaWorld, and of activists. It will also be useful to keep the rhetorical techniques of logos, pathos, and ethos in mind as we pick apart this argument and try to inform ourselves as a scientific-minded cohort.

    15. The documentary's producers and backers, while handling a deeply emotional subject with grace and reserve, have hewn to the facts -- as did their film.

      Questioning: Think about the author's biases here. The documentary makers include some facts, but there are misleading parts of the documentary as well. Further research shows that there are discrepancies; some of the trainers interviewed as "experts" about Tilikum the "killer" whale did not in fact interact with the orca at all. I am detecting that the author may be partial towards Blackfish's point of view.

    16. There are no scientists who study wild orcas who believe that captive lifespans are even close to equivalent, and indeed the real data demonstrates conclusively that this is the case.

      Questioning: We need to be careful about the argument here. The website that the author cites is not a peer-reviewed journal, nor does it present any actual data from any studies. Thus, there is no "real data" linked here to back up any claims.

    17. SeaWorld condemns itself simply by going this route, rather than addressing the content what these trainers had to say to the cameras.

      Summary: This is a case of ad hominem attack by SeaWorld, rather than them presenting facts, they just smear those opposed to them. Make connections: Does this sound familiar? Can we think of people who do this in the public eye? (Cough Donald Trump Cough)

    18. These are not the words of science, and indeed, there is not a shred of scientific support for them.

      Summary: Again, SeaWorld appears to damn itself, as the woman quoted is an expert in her field, and actually gave scientific evidence in the film.

    19. So, which is it: Are they scientists, or only activists? In fact, every single one of the people that the site lists as "animal rights activists posing as scientists" is, yes, a scientist.

      Summary: This is a good point. The argument that SeaWorld set itself up to make is that the people interviewed are not scientists, in which SeaWorld would need to present evidence that they are people posing as scientists. In fact, they are scientists, and very credible at that. Minus ten points for Gryffindor.

    20. After reading this article, click the link below to read a more Pro-SeaWorld argument. Are their arguments backed up by fact, or do they simply appeal to emotion. What are their biases?

      https://skeptoid.com/blog/2014/04/23/blackfish-documentary-or-propaganda/

    21. Its stock has been in decline.

      Make more connections: I have actually heard of a lot SeaWorlds shutting down. My friend Natalia also told me that there were protesters outside of SeaWorld the last time that she went.

    22. Which is why, at a deep level, SeaWorld is losing.

      Make connections to the real world. I know that for me personally, I do see a lot of posts on my Facebook that are opposed to SeaWorld, and I see very few that are defending them. So maybe SeaWorld is losing in the public's eyes.

  9. Nov 2015
    1. ou are an artist, its ok to write emotionally! O

      all the emotions

    2. Who is your audience? –Write for them.

      good idea to add

    3. Your name and title of your piece. A detailed description of your art work: What materials did you use? Dimensions of artwork What were you thinking as you created this? How it will fit into the gallery or setting. Why you are submitting your work.

      steps

    4. one page single-spaced with 12 point font,

      general size and font

    1. our proposal should consist of a written explanation of the concept behind your exhibition, plus at least 12 images to accompany the written report.

      Key points for proposal

    2. down-to-earth language.

      This is for the public make it simple