Lost Generation?

After watching the you-tube video called Lost Generation (can be found by clicking here) I'm almost at a loss for words. I think the generation that they are speaking of is our generation. I think they are stating that this is how it could end up if we don't change now. And the reason they made it was to open our eyes so we can change and thus it won't happen.

I think it is really interesting how the director got all the words to work both forwards and backwards. To get the words to fit both ways is an amazing thought to me. The first way the author tells us how the world will be like in 10 years. He says "I realize this may be a shock but 'Happiness comes from within' is a lie, and 'Money will make me happy' So in 30 years I will tell my children they are not the most important thing in my life." I think that the way that the world in focused right now, we could be headed in this direction. Into a world that is even more money driven and focused on yourself and not the rest of the world. To think that this could be a place in which I end up is scary. I cannot think of myself telling my children that they are not the most important thing in my life, and I don't want it to happen. But, in order for it to not happen we (my generation) must make a change, thus changing the world. When the total video is reversed you realize that this makes more sense reversed, and it's the way we want our world to be. In our world our children will be the most important and money makes us happy will be the lie. This is what we want our world to turn into. And, we all need to make the change.

Because, as the video states: "There is hope. It is foolish to presume that my generation i apathetic and lethargic. It will be evident that my peers and I care about this earth." I think that the world in NOT headed in this direction. And it's OUR generations job to take the world out of this downward spiral and to make the earth more important to us, and to make money not be our number one priority anymore.

High Stakes Community School

In the demonstration of the High Stakes Community School I was a part of the college students group. The reason why I was in the whole group was because as a graduate of the school I was not prepared for college. I can easily relate to this group of people because coming from a really small town in Minnesota I feel as though I wasn't nearly as prepared for college as come of my friends were. I was not given the opportunity to take very many college level courses in High School. If I was given that opportunity in High school I may have had an easier time adjusting to college level courses.

Another part of the school system that needs to change is the the drop-out rate. Although more and more students are staying in school now then ever before, it still isn't good enough. We still have many students dropping out of High School. Without these students getting a High School diploma they are closing many doors to what they can do in the future. So, I think we need to set up some sort of safety net in which students fall into if they are getting close to dropping out. We can't just let students continue to drop out we need to catch them before they actually drop out.

Overall I think we do need to make our schools harder, but we need to focus on all the elements of education. Including PE, Health, and Art. We need to help our students to become very well rounded individuals and be able to excel in multiple different subjects and opportunities.

Singapore American School

At the beginning of the school year I went to a presentation on the Singapore American Schools. This presentation really caught my attention because I would love to be able to travel and teach at the same time. This school gives a great opportunity for American teachers to teach in an abroad situation. All of the students in the school speak English and are in highly competitive classes.

I think this would be a great opportunity for me to do. I would love to travel the world as much as I can when I'm done with college. After getting the opportunity to travel to Norway and Costa Rica last J-term and the fact that I am traveling to South Africa next year I would love to be able to travel somewhere else while doing something I love.

The presenter was very good at keeping everyone intrigued the whole time. The part of the presentation that really made me want to pursue this opportunity was when he described the students as always wanting to learn and go to school. Having students who want to be in school and want to learn, would be great to have since most students do not really want to go to school and learn a lot.

The presenter made it sound really easy to be able to teach abroad and excel at it. He made me really excited to pursue this chance and maybe be able to teach in abroad for some of my career.

Last Child in the Woods

After reading the book The Last Child in the Woods I notice more often how many times our children are not outside doing things that children should be doing. Often you find kids in front of computers and playing video games when they should be outside exploring and using their imaginations. This trend in growing since our generation in which parents become concerned with the safety of their children and will not let them play outside by themselves.

Children need to be in nature more often than they are right now. Children are more concerned with what is going on their facebook than what is happening in the world. Children need to be taken out of their cyber-lives and be put in the natural world. We can learn many things from nature such as; animals and evolution, plants, and water. By encouraging children to go outside and play they will learn about all these different things through the actions and games that they play.

One way to improve safety is to set up a neighbor watch. Have the children in the neighborhood play outside together and have a parent be responsible to watch the kids from a distance. Allowing the children to play by themselves but have the supervision of an adult and also the safety that comes with having an adult present. Also to incorperate nature into your everyday life as a family adopt and tree. Plant the tree and water it and the family will be able to see over time that tree will grow. You can then save flowers or leaves from the tree and take pictures of it. Having that emotional bond to nature will help children to appreciate it more and to learn form nature.

This book really helped me to know how to improve the lives of children. I knew that children were not spending enough time outdoors but I didn't know how to actually have them do it. This book provided me with support and ideas on how to make nature a part of my community, school, family, and myself.

Click Here for a video that my group made about the importance of nature in children's lives and how to incorperate nature into their lives. It provides evidence as well as ideas on how to get children outside and not sitting in front of the computer or TV.