remembering aug-oct

Due to excessive work on my portfolio I have been unable to publish a blog the past week or so. Upon finishing the final project and handing it in, I would like to point out some of the main things we did these past weeks.
-Free writing
-Opened up to opinioated writing forms
-Read Rich, Freire, Kohn, Gatto, Pratt, and a few others
-Watched the Binta video
-Learned how to make good arguments
-Self taught class tips for writing
-Peer edited/whole class workshops
-Met Mr. McGuire in a few meetings to discuss work
-Learned to make and opertate blogs
Along with many other details to go along with these days, I come to realize we live life around assertions, and for education to mean anything to me, I must put forth my own time and go beyond abstract ways most teachers teach, and ask what or why and how inorder to bring true meaning to lessons. From the project experience I also learn that time is a valuable thing. Working independently, one must come to a point of self control and realize its time to buckle down. Spacing out work, for example, is crucial in accomplishing work-not only finsihed products but high quality ones that have been refined. You can also see this literally by the gap in between blog posts. Waiting to the last minute is not the best answer.

Changing School

So I read Gatto's "7 Lesson School Teaching" and his "Against School" and it left me wondering. In the first article he talks about the 7 things that are really taught in schools and then he briefly explains it a little more in depth. Basically it keeps people from truly growing up human, its a plan to maintain society, and the cost is so much less that the powerful interest cannot afford to let it happen, finally my favorite point, school is a 12 year jail sentence. Okay so i just briefed the few points he makes, but what do we do to change it. Around sophmore year in highschool i began to think a bit differently about my education and the thought of being forced into something pointless. Normally this isnt me, I was all A's in class during grade school and somewhat quiet about standing out. Years of sitting there and taking it really got to me i suppose and then re learning the same thing again later in highschool makes me think, whats the point? I think the other reason i started to think differently was because i went to a highschool i did not want to go to and with people i did not like. I tended to do as little as possible not just because of boredum but a general dislike for having to sit there and look at things ive been shown before. Now the past few weeks with being told kids are containers and now this guys point about how the world has a hold on us and keeps us locked in positions, i totally see where he comes from, moreso then Freires more extreme points. It angers me more but where do we go from here? trying to overthrow and change this were outcast and end up being one of those bums on the side of the street. he leaves us without solution. if i want to learn then i have to go about it myself? so where does that leave me? its highschool again where im against not only school but the rest of the kids around me only this times i drop out of school and i have this secret idea and im against the world with only a few others? learning on my own, what the hell good does that do, i dont recieve a degree and any oppertunity at any decent job so thats where i get being a bum theory. so what, now i know the secret but i still have to go through this sentence like an ass and put up with it and then go through my life like every other idiot in the world. theres no chance to change this world we live in, youre just seen as a crackpot who rants too much and thats because the gov and schooling whoever has already brainwasshed these ideas in your head and nothing can be changed.

Students Teach

So me and my group have been assigned to teach what to do when writing a conclusion. It is suppose to be an easy way to learn in a sense and taught in such a way similar to Freire's so that that it isnt taught as if we were filling containers. We decided to have a cheat sheet for the students and spell out the word conclude and write what each letter stands for. Grant it that this is not the most creative way to teach, but take in consideration that three guys came up with this, to be honest I am suprised my group even accomplished the assignment. We figure its something different rather then reading out of some book, its a visual aid for some students, they would have their own copy (if we copy enough on time) and it relates to what needs to be done when writing a conclusion in an easy way to remmeber it.
Cant change your initial point
Overview of what you said-summerize
Never forget to restate thesis
Creat new meaning for something old
Leave reader with powerful final thought
Utilize moment to fill any holes
Demonstrate solution to problem/question/thought raised
Explain points made