Freewrite #2: Concept discussion - Parable of the Sower

What parts of the book did you discuss? What do you find that most fascinating in this story so far? Why?

I discussed about the concepts of “being proactive vs. being reactive” and “violence”. For the first concept I talked about Lauren’s reaction about the issue and her eagerness to spread awareness. A quote that I chose was when Lauren has a discussion with her father about the issue. Her father tells her not to make assumptions and jump to conclusion right away, but instead educated and give knowledge to the community about the issue. However, Lauren is stubborn and sticks to her opinion. For the concept of violence I chose the quote about Keith’s murder – the description of it. In addition, I also chose another quote regarding Lauren’s father survival of the fittest strategy to keep their natural resources safe from thieves, which includes violence.

What I find most fascinating about the story so far is that it mostly everything revolves around surviving– survival of the fittest. This is somewhat astonishing and sad because I believe it can actually happen within the human race.

Freewrite: My Utopia World

My utopia world would look very green – eco friendly –but also very vibrant at night. In terms of community I would want every one to actually build relationships with each other and not let materialistic and competition come in between. Everyone would be unique in his or her own way so there won’t be any jealousy or violence. In my utopia world there would be NO poverty because natural resources would not be privatized and there would be enough supplement to survive forever.

After sharing out ideas with our groups I noticed:

·      No borderlines

·      Health benefits for everyone

·      Equality

·      No money – trading instead

·      Freedom – to explore

Unit 1 Final Essay and Reflection

What is the relationship between the individual and the community? Why does this relationship matter?

The relationship between the individual and the community is when the community reaches out in a positive manner. The community provides the individual with safety, programs, activities, entertainment, resources, etc. It should provide positive things to grow as one. However, in reality communities do not always provide this type of relationship. In most cases the relationship between the individual and the community is either a positive or negative relationship. There are two types of relationships because it depends on the nature of a specific community. It is known that communities are formed by the people that reside in it, the atmosphere and nature of it, because they contribute all of these things. However, each community differs from one another based up the terms mentioned above. There are communities that are established in wealthy areas, which are mainly the fine and productive communities that contribute positivity. Then there are the developing communities, which are the opposite of the wealthy area communities. It is common that communities established in particular areas such as, wealthy, middle-class, and lower-class will contribute their aspects, which is what builds either a positive or negative community. 

With that said, the relationship between the individual and the community is important because it will determine the person we will blossom into, which can be a positive or negative one. Ultimately, it is based  upon the community to create a healthy relationship with the individual to mold him/her into a well rounded person. 

Unit 1: Revision Plan

Did your peers guess your thesis correctly? Yes

Did you peers believe your thesis is an arguable one?  Yes

What, if any, revisions do you think you need to make to your thesis based upon the annotations and comments your peers made?

-I feel I don't need to make any revisions to my thesis because I mention my claims and they are all arguable. 

Choose TWO comments from your peers that you believe are the most helpful to you. Then explain how you will use these comments to help you revise your essay.  Indicate the name of the person who made that comment in parenthesis. 

Comment 1: Natalie Orozco

Your response: Natalie shared a couple ideas that I should use to elaborate further on one of my claims. I will most certainly take it into consideration.  

Comment 2: Zeenat Alli

Your response: Zeenat suggested to elaborate further in my intro for the "they say" part. I will take that into consideration. 

Are there any other important ideas you have about how you can improve your essay?

- Not for now. 

Unit 1: Building Community/Facing Violence- Thesis Revision and Body Paragraphs

In order to address the problem of violence in the community, we need leaders, parents and authority figures to possess of the correct values, to initiate the help that the young people need to create a new life for themselves. Communities need to change the way we approach and judge our young people. We need to establish vital  relationships between adults and young people to be able to get through to them. In addition, we must provide community centers that allow the youth to express themselves, discover their creative abilities, and practice spiritual development so they can attain control over their lives.

Body ParagraphTopic: Spiritual Development

Today's society does not provide the youth with [trusting metaphors] nor spiritual development guidance that can help them develop initiation. Instead, society creates mythic images and representations for youth to look up, which can effect them negatively. Likewise, in most cases youth turn to gangs, violence, etc., because they lack of a mentor or role model to guide them. Having such can help the youth in transforming and discovering themselves. 

Free Write

After reading the book Hearts and Hands by Luis Rodriguez I have noticed that Rodriguez has several claims about the causes of violence and his possible solutions to help cease violence, help the troubled youth progress as individuals. With that said, this has impacted me greatly because I now know how the system work, which I believe it does not do put in all the effort in ending this issue nor fully helping the youth.

Unit 1: Building Community/Facing Violence- Chapters 6, 8

Chapter 6 


"The key is to know what to turn over and what not to help at different junctures of a child's growth." (79)

This quote says that parents should have control over their child's actions, but to a certain extent. My understanding of growing up has its parts, which are experiencing things half of the time on our own. I believe this takes huge part when building one's character. However, having parental guidance is a must as well. I believe it is most definitely needed to provide control of certain aspects that young people are not ready to control. With that said, this quote is important to me because I most definitely agree with it. I believe that as young people grow up to be adults one has a higher possibility of turning out to be a well put together individual. Because morals and values are created upon oneself experience and decision making and also by our parents wisdom.

Being a teenager myself I have had the opportunity to live by my own decisions as well as by my parents (mother), which is something that I am very happy about. Although there have been times were I've felt suffocated by my mothers protective actions she eventually loosened up and decided that it was time to make decisions for myself. I am content and relieved that my mother understood her limit and did not suffocate me any further. This has demonstrated that my mother trusts me and respects me, which brings a sense of ease to my mind and soul.

Chapter 8


"But just because most people agree to something doesn't make it right. Likewise, this society should empower the powerless to enable them to solve their problems. It's better to stand with a few and be right than to stand with millions and be wrong. Under most circumstances, this is a true hero's stance." (103)

This quote explains right from wrong about how politicians/government choose to handle the troubled youth. This quote explains the comparison between slaves years ago and the troubled youth today. It explains that these youth are not given the opportunity to help solve their problems in other words, they are not given hope. Because the government goes by their personal opinions and the majority vote, which leaves the troubled youth without a say about how they should be helped. The author ends the quote by giving his personal opinion saying that it is best to stand with a few right people rather than standing to a million wrong people. Meaning that instead of drowning the troubled youth he would much rather help solve their issues because doing so could change lives for the better and that to him is the definition of a true hero.

This quote is really important to me because I believe that troubled youth and people in general have the possibility to improve and be changed into better people. To me this leads to having a growth-mind set, which means that there is hope. I strongly believe that people can change for the better with the right help.

Unit 1: Building Community/Facing Violence-Initial Reactions

1. "He was a boy who had been physically abused, shuttled from one foster home to another, one juvenile facility after another. At every stage of Robert's young life, he was blocked from becoming all he could be. Yet there was nothing to stop him from getting a gun, using it and being killed by one in return."(26)

- What I believe this quote is saying is that this young boy turned to gangs because of the physical abuse that he faced, but most importantly because he perhaps sought a place in which he could fit in. I decided to choose this quote because to me it proves that children, teenagers, and adults, people in general, not only become gang related because of influence or by force, but mainly because they lack of  motherly affection, love, family, stability, etc. On top of that physical abuse is something I believe can permanently damage someone. Coming across this topic and specifically this quote, it made me realize that abuse and neglect from family can be a major issue as to why people turn to gangs especially at such a young age. This particular quote helps me understand that these type of issues can be such an obstacle when forming ones character, but most importantly ones life.

2. "They organized to protect themselves within a society that had no place for them." (31)

- What I believe this quote says is that, as people emigrated from other countries to the United states they most likely faced problems about their position in society. Considering that they were immigrants I would assume they felt the need to build theses so called "street gangs" as way to keep people of their race together for protection; to create some type of allegiance. However, with time the definition of gangs changed. With that said, this quote is important because I learned that the main reason why gangs initiated was because of immigration and the thought of having protection for one's kind.  Another reason why this is important to me is because being part of a family that emigrated to the U.S. I feel I understand how the Irish immigrants and immigrants in general,  probably felt about not having a place for them or their ethnicity. And as to why the perhaps felt the need to create their own gangs.

3. "When society at large fails to develop true eldership and mentoring at the most basic community level and when the elders are not there to provide compassion, wisdom, experience, and meaningful and lasting knowledge, the young usually "sacrifice" themselves to drugs, violence gangs, and prisons, many times paying with their lives." (50)

- What this quote says is that when there isn't an outreach to the young people, most times the young gets lost and offer themselves to drugs, violence, gangs. Because they have no one to set a positive example. This quote also ties in with the family and the morals that are not provided for the youth, which in most cases it causes the youth to wind up in violence, prisons or worst. I think this quote is important because it addresses all of the things that are need to build good character and theses things are usually not always provided to the young. I believe it is important that parents, families and communities provide this to every child because it will give one hope and the chance to walk down a good path. Most importantly it can prevent violence, gangs, drugs and death.

Unit 3: Social Media, Community and Democracy

Why is social media an effective tool for spreading awareness?

The social media can be affective when spreading awareness, because it is a form of communication and a tool to gather our friends or people in general to spread a message, important events, issues, etc. The social media can be helpful to the people that are affected someway or somehow. It can most definitely help affected people by finding possible solutions or show support in numbers, which can inspire change.

If social media was controlled and censored, would it be the same as mainstream media?

If social media was controlled and censored it would absolutely not be the same as the mainstream media, because the mainstream media is limited to what they can expose, and the social media is not. Social media such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, etc., are able to expose explicit things with out getting in trouble for it. Which is something mainstream cannot do, because they could possibly get sued or persecuted.

Reflecting on Essay #1 Feedback

1. Honestly, from the start I knew that the effort that I put into the essay was not enough to get a satisfying grade so, I'm not surprised at any of the comments.
2. The comments that I find most helpful are the questions that Susie asks. It helps me ponder a little more on the topic and that helps me add on to the essay.
3. I found all the comments helpful because they will help me prepare for what needs to be included on the next essay.
4. Based off the comments the one part of the essay rubric that I think needs more focus is my introduction. I've noticed that I lack of a strong thesis, and that's the most important part of an essay.
5. If I were to grade my essay based off the effort that I put in I would give myself a C. I believe my final draft improved a whole lot from the rough draft. In my rough draft I lacked of a thesis, but one was included it in my final draft and it was a "good thesis" according to Susie, which is good. However, what I did to make sure that my final draft was better was simply devote much more time and effort.
6. What I will do to ensure that I do a lot better on my next essay will be to prioritize my time and devote as much time needed to make my essay meet all of the requirements.

Brainstorming and generating ideas: Essay 2

What is the meaning of divergent thinking?

Looking back on Robinson's video about education I think that divergent thinking is finding one's creative side, and using it to their advantage; whether it be the arts or their education. I believe being able to touch into one's creative side can definitely enhance our students' minds, education and help contribute new ideas to the world.

Thinking About Education: Free-write response to Anyon

3) In what ways do your educational experiences contradict Anyon's observation?

I couldn't think far back to middle school so I chose to write about my educational experience in high school. Based off Anyon's story and her observations I would have to disagree with how the different type of schools are categorized. I attended Woodside High, a public high school, for four full years. So, from my experiences and observations I would have to say that Woodside is a mixture of the all "type of schools" curriculum: Working class, Middle-class, Affluent and Executive elite. Woodside had it's pros and cons regarding its teachers and how they decided to teach their classes, and that is how the mixture of all four is created. For example, the classes that I remember having the all "type of schools" curriculum were my English, Social Studies and Math classes.

6) What surprised you the most about Anyon's study?

I must say that back in middle school, transitioning into high school,  I never really became fully aware as to why I wasn't able to attend the school of my choice, because of where I lived. I was originally supposed to go to East Palo Alto High school, which was a school that I did not want to attend, because it was claimed to be a bad school. I was then told that Woodside high school only accepted students from that city, which meant I wouldn't be able to attend. However, someway, somehow I ended up going to Woodside and it was in my freshman that I noticed the "type of school" it was. Comparing it to E. Palo Alto High the education atmosphere at Woodside was so much more productive. Going back to Anyon's study, after reading her story I then realized that my theory of the "type of schools" that I had contemplated was confirmed, which was a surprising.

Strongest and Weakest Paragraphs

I'd say that my strongest paragraphs were my body paragraphs because they flowed a lot better than my introduction. I also feel like I knew what I wanted to talk about, and I did well on elaborating on the topics of each. However, I feel like they still need to be reviewed by a couple other people considering that I missed the group activity. Overall, I feel somewhat satisfied on my body paragraphs.

For the weakest paragraph I'd have to go with my introduction because it was just so unorganized. Considering that I only had 45-50 minutes in class to type of an essay I felt like I was under pressure, so I was not able to point out what I wanted to talk about exactly. So that kind of was a downfall for the opening of my essay. With that said, I will have at least two people revise my essay to get feedback so I can edit it.

Thesis Draft

Lessing's theory of solving her problem about group minds is extremely useful, because it can help shed light on how to contemplate certain tendencies such as: avoiding the issue, hoping it will go away and/or simply being ashamed, that get in the way of having our own individual opinions; with out letting our emotions be a burden.

Free-write on "Group Think" and "Group Minds"

The benefits of following the opinions and social "norms" of a majority group gives us a sense of temporary happiness, because we may feel like we fit in. However, what that only does is affect us in a negative way, in which we lose half or all of our consciousness. I believe once that happens we tend to keep giving in and finally reach a point where we become totally brainwashed.

Following my heart and having my own opinions brings my soul and mind ease. Although it might be hard sometimes because we go against certain authority such as: family, friends, culture, etc., staying true to yourself is always a good thing. I try avoid feeling that guilty feeling all over me by making choices that I want, not the choices that others want. I also feel empowered, smart and safe because I know I made a choice that is not going to come back and bite me in the butt.

The consequences of staying true to myself can be hatred, discrimination, isolation, and judgement. I mention all of the above because I have gone against these groups and I have noticed that they do these things. I actually think it is pretty sad because family and friends are suppose to be supportive, respect my decisions, and love me for who I am, but that obviously does not always happen. So with that said going against these groups can definitely make me or break me, but it will most likely make me.