Turbo Tanski!

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
– George Patton

Freedom is a rose bush. All along the stem are thorns. Spikes represent all of the soldiers who gave their life to protect our freedom. They willingly put their own lives at stake so that we may live free. Each thorn a penalty paid for what we take for granted every day. At the top of the rose bush is the beautiful rose. The rose is symbolic of our country, its freedom, and the right to say what we want without the fear of being punished for it. The rose is hope that shines through at the darkest time.

On June 6, 1944, 160,000 allied troops landed with along a 50 mile strip of coastline to fight heavily entrenched Nazi Germans on the beaches of Normandy, France. In April and May 1944, the Allied forces lost 12,000 men and over 2,000 aircraft. This has become known as D Day. In Challenger Middle School 8^th grade alone there are about 235 people. Imagine all of the students in 8^th grade and multiply that number by 52. That’s about all of the total casualties suffered on D Day.

Today, America is fighting two wars. One in Iraq and one in Afghanistan; we continue to lose soldiers every day for our freedom and now the freedom of two other countries. It’s true that 50 years ago people died for our freedom. It’s true that 100 years ago, there were people dying for our freedom and it is true today, there are people, men and women alike, dying for our freedom.

Freedom is not just the pedals of the rose, but the thorns as well. It isn’t just the happy-smiley part of it; it’s the men and women who died protecting our country. So next time you think of freedom, think of thorns and flowers and remember the men and women who gave their own lives for you.

I was shown the YouTube video Student/Learner today and I didn’t quite understand it at first. Check it out before you read anymore.

As I said earlier, I didn’t quite understand it at first, so I discussed it with some of my peers. I had the question- if the teacher can play the learner and the learner can play the teacher, can the student interchange with both of those or none at all?

I was answered with no and yes. No being that my peers thought the student couldn’t be a teacher because the student couldn’t teach–he was just the student. Also, they said a student “stays a student” until he wants to learn–then he becomes a “learner.” On the other hand, they said a student could be a teacher because he could tell others about what he knows. He can be a learner the moment he decides to learn.   I made this mental cycle in my mind.

Notice that the arrows start from teacher, go to student, and then learner, and it repeats. I examined this video for a while longer, and came to the conclusion that a student becomes a learner and learns things. When he is full of knowledge, he becomes a teacher (This doesn’t have to be a job, maybe one person talking to another person) and then the teacher becomes a student again and the cycle repeats. After I thought about this for a while, I realized you go from any one role to another, not exactly in the order I had. Its more like this:

Notice now the arrows go in both directions. So I conclude that you can go any direction in the cycle and you can always change. Remember to be like the girl on the right in the video and always be ready to learn and change!

I’m over from Turbo Tanski and I was asked by Mister McIntosh to share my thoughts on the interview project. I think overall the interview was pretty fun! From my perspective, I loved it! I always liked blogging, but never really got into it until Mister McIntosh gave us this assignment. Mitch Edds says, “I think its a good way to put ourselves ‘out there,’ to maybe talk to someone we don’t know very well and learn about how they do things. All together, I thought it was pretty cool to learn about the person I interviewed. I think it should have been a little more open-choiced though for the person we interviewed. For example, someone our own age.”

Karl Van Ness had this to say about the project, “I didn’t really like the project because I feel like I’m not very good at blogging and since I’m not good at blogging, i got a B+, which ruined my all A streak. I think the project could have been better if he (Mister McIntosh) graded a little bit less strictly because it may have been some people’s first time using a blog and he may have graded a little bit more harshly because he has frequently used a blog before. I think he could grade easier on the amount of blogging required and the quality- it may be someone’s first time and they didn’t do very well because of it.”

I personally liked the whole aspect of blogging but maybe I say this because I have used one before. I think I have to agree with Karl in the matter of Mister McIntosh’s grading. Mister McIntosh has a large amount of posts and a fair amount of experience. I think this qualifies him as a senior blogger which may mean he has higher expectations of himself which possibly, without knowing it, means he may grade a little harsher because he has higher expectations of others. I do think you gave enough time on the interview and enough pre-warning for people to complete theirs so there is no reason for people not to finish on time. I think that this is a very smart idea for Mister McIntosh to give students a chance to experiment with blogs and blogging. Good job to Mister McIntosh!

By: Turbo Tanski

Imagine if just throughout the day, something really bad happens, like a gunman comes into the building and hurts people and you are thinking everything is going wrong and then suddenly, you hear a voice, asking if you want to reset that moment so that the gunman never came and no one was hurt. Except, that you would have no recollection of the first time ever happening. This could happen a million times a day, but we would never know. Now of course, this doesn’t really happen, but just imagine if it did, but hey, something bad might be happening right now, but in ten minutes, you wont remember a thing.

Example: I am at a bank at 1:45 pm. A gunman comes in and shoots three people. By the time is is all over is is 2:13 pm. Then I am given the option to ‘redo’ that and (hopefully) I say yes. The time, once again, is 1:45 pm and I never remember the other reality that happened. Just a thought…

Water is a natural resource that is seemingly plentiful, but what if we (humans) started to use it all up? Until the point where there was so little left different countries started fighting over it? It is possible we would have to travel many miles to the nearest well, lake, or even river. The effects of dehydration include thirst, dry mouth, loss of appetite, and  severe fatigue.

What do you think would happen if water suddenly ran short? How would we get our water?  Just a thought…

Picture URL:

www.impawards.com/2009/blue_gold.html

For more information, go to Wikipedia for a summary of the movie, Blue Gold.

November 15, 2009