Our classes get bigger, but our brains get smaller

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/schoolbook/2012/03/26/elementary-students-in-large-classes-tripled-report-shows/?ref=nyregion

The article Elementary Students in Large classes Tripled by Anna M. Phillips is about how in the past three years due to the recession there have been budget cuts in schools leading to lays offs. Which means there are less teachers but the same amount of students, so there are bigger classes with 30 or more kids in them. In the past 3 years about 5,300 teachers have been laid off. In some school districts up to 20% of the classes have more than 30 students! And a just a couple of years ago in 2009 the average fourth grade class was about 23 students!

Anna M. Phillips is trying to say that the recession has not only hurt the economy but children’s education. With so many children in one class, the teacher doesn’t have time to focus on all of them and give each one of them the attention they need. In the sixth paragraph a man named Mr. Lander said “ Both the data and common sense tell you that having a kid in a class of 30-plus means the teachers can’t possibly focus on them.”  And its not the teacher or the student, it’s the budget cuts. But everything affects everything. The economy lays off teachers, children have a worse education (due to bigger classes) and then we are left we unemployed people. Its not like they get another teaching job easily, no one is hiring.

I think that the children of the present are accomplishers of the future, and education is the beginning root to a good future. We have to know things to succeed. Learn how to interact with people and have more knowledge. The doctors, teachers, politicians, police men/woman, mothers and fathers of the future, need to have gotten their share of attention just as they were beginning to grow. Its like our life is a cake recipe. One of the most important parts of a cake is the flour, the ingredient that we start off with. Without it, after the cake has been taken out of the oven its just a pan of hot goop. And how can we get anything of that? Or a plant, it needs roots to take in water. And they may not be visible, but they are there. And without the roots the plant dies. It has nothing to keep it supplied. And nothing to even just keep it propped up!

The five stepping stones to understanding

Bohemian Rhapsody- Queen

Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?

Caught in a landslide,

No escape from reality

Open your eyes,

Look up to the skies and see,

I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy,

Because I'm easy come, easy go,

Little high, little low,

Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to

me, to me

Mama,

I just killed a man,

Put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger

now he's dead

Mama... life had just begun,

But now I've gone and thrown it all away

Mamaaaaa oooh,

Didn't mean to make you cry,

If I'm not back again this time tomorrow,

Carry on, carry on as if nothing really matters

Too late, my time has come,

Sends shivers down my spine, body's aching all

the time

Goodbye, ev'rybody, I've got to go,

Got to leave you all behind and face the truth

Mamaaaaa oooh,

I don't want to die,

I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all

(Guitar solo)

I see a little silhouetto of a man,

Scaramouche! Scaramouche! will you do the

Fandango?!

Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening

me!

Galileo, Galileo

Galileo, Galileo

Galileo, Figaro - magnifico

I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me

He's just a poor boy from a poor family,

Spare him his life from this monstrosity!

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go

Bismilah! No, we will not let you go

(Let him go!) Bismilah! We will not let you go

(Let him go!) Bismilah! We will not let you go

(Let me go) Will not let you go

(Let me go)(Never) Never let you go

(Let me go) Never let you go (Let me go) Ah

No, no, no, no, no, no, no

Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia, let me go

Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me, for me,

for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

So you think you can stop me and spit in my

eye?!?!

So you think you can love me and leave me to

die?!?!

Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby,

Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta

here!

(Guitar solo)

Nothing really matters, Anyone can see,

Nothing really matters,

Nothing really matters to me...

Any way the wind blows...

Life and death is the scariest thing to think about. One moment you are there, then your gone. You don’t have a say in it, it just happens, which is one of the worst things about it. When its over, its over, vanished, no longer.The song Bohemian Rhapsody -Queen, was written by Freddie Mercury who wrote it as his goodbye song when he was dying of aids. Through out the song Freddie goes through the five stages of grief, Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance all in different order. Which is confusing but life can be confusing.

Freddie Mercury is a person that shows that taking grief step by step just helps you get through it. In the first verse he goes through the stage Denial he says: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a Landslide, No escape from Reality.” He feels that either way he looks at it, he is trapped by this disease. He wishes he could just close his eyes and be free. In the second verse he goes through depression and regret he says: “Mama... life had just begun, But now I've gone and thrown it all away.” He was just beginning to learn about life, he wasn’t done with it, and he wanted to complete the journey.  He feels that if could just undo his mistake then he would have everything back, and finish.  In the third verse he goes through the stage of acceptance he says: “Goodbye, ev'rybody, I've got to go, Got to leave you all behind and face the truth.” That is the hardest thing to do accept the fact that you wont live forever. It means you lost hope, but if anything it makes you stronger, you don’t hide from the truth. You breath it in. In the fourth verse goes through the stage bargaining he says: “Scaramouche! Scaramouche! will you do the Fandango?!” He is saying I am an idiot, who isn’t careful. Who bets anything and expects to be safe and protected. In the seventh verse Freddie Mercury goes through anger he says: “So you think you can stop me and spit in my

eye?!?! So you think you can love me and leave me to die?!?!” He is saying you led me on kept me going and now, life, you are just letting go of me when I need you most.

Nobody likes the thought of not being here, and no one should. But we don’t remember anything from before we were born so how can we remember anything if we don’t exist anymore. Your life is a memory the first time you rode a bike, or took your first steps. Not the first time you sat alone in a room for the rest of your life, doing nothing, thinking nothing, completely brain dead. Your heart may be beating but you have no life in you And that is what everyone loves, having life flow through their veins, having the experience and the memories. The five stages of grief just help you understand that it doesn’t matter how many memories you may have, (because its not like you can remember them all) but just how important they are and with how much life do they fill you with?

Sacrafice- Harry Potter 7

        In Aztec Culture people would sacrifice themselves to their god. They believed that human blood would help sustain the earth. They need the earth to survive without it they would be floating around in space. It keeps them sheltered, happy, protected, and alive. It is irreplaceable. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows without sacrifice, love does not exist. Love is the root of sacrifice, and love is believing and caring in someone. Throughout the whole Harry Potter series everyone makes huge sacrifices, and that proves just how strong they really are.

        First, Harry’s mother, Lily Potter sacrificed herself because she loved Harry. She wanted Harry to live not only because she loved him but because she knew he would go on to do great things! She knew he had a strong power in him, and he was young, and had his whole life to live.

         Second, in chapter 36 the Malfoys sacrificed their relationship with Voldemort and the Death Eaters so they could leave and be a family with no one over powering them. They not only left a dangerous psychopath but created a possible enemy. They turned on someone they once worshiped. But they did this for love. Voldemort had completely split up their family. He tried to turn Draco into a murderer, and take over what they had of a family!  Belatrix, may understand love but in a different way than good, its not sacrifice but selfishness. She “kisses up” to Voldemort because she wants to be his favorite. The one that will always be safe, and Voldemort would never kill. She loves herself too much to understand or even pay attention to other people. It’s not even Voldemort she loves. She does all these evil deeds for her own benefit.

          Third, in the big battle (chapter 36) Belatrix Lestrange is about to kill Ginny and Mrs.Weasly jumps in front of her and kills Belatrix. She truly showed sacrifice. Like Lily Potter no hesitations, it took her a second to decide. I love my daughter and I can’t loose her. Her decision didn’t only save one life but so so many others. If Belatrix hadn’t died then, she would have killed many others not only in the battle but after it. We make choices for the ones we love, we can’t go back and regret because love beats regret.

           Fourth, everyone thinks of Neville as a forgetful coward, but in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows he proves them all wrong. While Harry, Luna and Ginny were all gone he took over! In chapter thirty four pg.695 Neville says “Harry, you’re not handing yourself over are you?”  He knows that so many people will die in this battle and possibly including himself. But he wants to fight and sacrifice himself for what he believes in. For what can truly change the world.

             Fifth, as Harry was walking to the forbidden forest he thought about life and death. How so many people had died for him, and dieing for him right at that moment. He thought about how so many times he had come so close to death. But he had sacrificed himself to stop a horrible person. He didn’t need time to think it over he just knew what was the right thing to do. But on his walk to death he thought a lot about it. For the first time in his life he was really scared. He couldn’t face Voldemort with a hope that he would defeat him, he was going to die no matter what. But he did it any way and that proves that even without hope sacrfice beats all.

We do crazy things for the ones that we love and look up to. But really are they crazy, or just brave? 

An extra Push-Tween Bot Kacie Kinzer

 In this photo, what seems to be a little cardboard robot with a wheel is being pushed by a persons hand. This reminded me of a tween, they have their arms forward and are ready to go with a smile on their face. Happy and excited to discover the world.  But it can be scary trying new things.

 The world is a big place, and you never really notice how big it is until you open your eyes. Have you ever seen a picture of a room or a place and then actually gone to that place and realized WOW this is a lot bigger than I thought it would be! Well that is what it can feel like!

This feeling can be scary alone in the big world. But there is always someone behind you. They might be giving you that extra push, but you can still fall back onto them. Like when you first learn how to ride a bike. I remember when I was learning how to ride a bike, my dad kept on holding the back of my bike seat pushing me a little bit harder little by little. I would keep on looking back at him seeing if he was still holding on. Every time he would let go, I would stop the bike. But finally I forgot to look back, and I realized, I was riding a bike! It was scary at first but with trying again and again, made it fun and interesting!

Now I know I wasn't a tween in the 2nd grade but getting out there and exploring a new thing is just like taking your first step out of the world, but you always have someone to help you in the end!

Allstar mentor Gabi A Club House for Books

I think that the all star mentor is Gabi! I love all of her posts, i find them meaningful and interesting, always a new thought uncovered. She takes an idea and makes logic of it, but in such a way that it is something to really think about. I love how in all of her blogs she goes the extra mile. Especially in this past one Owing People. I think its great because she has such an interesting way of writing it. She goes into the story and explains it, but then comes back out and writes about what she thinks. Then she will say a sentence about the story. To go back to her main point. I feel this is SO IMPORTANT! With out this you lose the root of the idea. And i think its a GREAT way to keep an idea alive, with out repeating yourself! I think I can learn from her to write my posts in more of an interesting way!!!

The other side- Pseudonymous Bosch SPOILER ALERT

In the book I'm reading 'You Have to Stop This' one of the main characters (Cass) has a mission. To discover a secret that her enemies (the Mid Night Sun, a group of scientists who have discovered the secret of eternal living) are also after. When she does, she is in a certain dream portal like state. She encounters an ancient mummy and asks him "Why did the ibis cross the Nile?" she feels as in his answer the secret will be revealed, he answers "To get to the other side of course Hahahahahaahaha!" Cass feels helpless she went all this way to find the secret and nothing, just a lame joke, but that is what she is stuck with.

I feel that she can dig deeper into this secret. The whole point of this secret is life. This secret when plainly looked at is saying "Life is a joke" but really if you dig deeper it says you are this ibis life is the Nile. And the Nile over all is much stronger than the ibis. But the ibis has no choice but to cross it. So as it treads through the water it will encounter some hungry alligators, or some harsh current. But it has to stay strong and not let itself be drowned by the Nile.

Life is a long journey that takes a long time to complete. And it isn't easy, sometimes it feels almost impossible. You just think to yourself wow time goes by so quickly but the years move by so slowly. So saying that the ibis crossed the Nile to get to the other side makes sense. You begin your  life to complete it. And that is what they are saying to the midnight sun you begin your life to complete it not to make it last forever.

Siblings Going Deeper- Pseudonymous Bosch You Have to Stop This

I am reading you have to stop this by Pseudonymous Bosch. In it there are two men who are twin brothers fighting against each other, for one is preforming horrible deeds. He pretends to have stopped preforming these deeds and tries to gain his brothers respect, he does. But not for long. They soon find out that the man was lying to his twin. The twin who been lied to has a look of sorrow in his eyes as he yells at his brother telling him to leave.

I thought this is how strong family stays together. Even if they hate each other more than anyone in the world.  They have such strong hate because they love them. I know this may sound confusing. But if a sibling does a horrible thing and the other one realizes it they absolutely despise their brother or sister its because now they can't bear to look at them. They had such strong love that when it was broken by this problem they hate them for it.

I know that if I ever lost my sister over an argument, I would feel horrible. And any chance I got to reunite with her I would take it. But if i found out she was lying to me about reconnecting, the tape I used to put my heart back together would just be washed away.

Once a couple years back I went into my sisters room looking for pennies for the penny harvest at my school. I saw a box on her shelf that was old and weary. I thought to myself
"Maybe this is where she keeps all her money and loose change! I won't take too much but just a few pennies and nickels." I took the box off the shelf and opened it hopeful. But then I found a pack of cigarettes. I was heart broken. She had always told me how smoking was such a horrible thing, and to never ever do it." I had trusted her word on it, but when I found out she had lied to me, I couldn't stand it. I closed the box and placed perfectly where it had been before, just another secret to keep. I didn't want to mention it because I was scared she would get mad at me for looking through her things. I loved her and didn't want to mess up our relationship.

I know that smoking is a big problem people can have (luckily it isn't for my sister.) And it can be addictive but everyday people stop smoking. Like a problem with a sibling your love for each other is so strong no matter how many times your trust has been broken. The problem can be broken.