Greetings!
A few things I want to remind you of...
First, be sure to read the PREVIOUS blog entry about the immigration assignment. No one mentioned it in class today, so I will assume there are no questions. But if there are, please feel free to e-mail me or post the question here on the blog. The assignment is due on Friday.
Second, there have been a few students (more than usual, actually) that have asked about making up in class work. Some have been concerned about meeting the required word count for the class. I have cut and pasted the two items that cover that from the syllabus and put them below for a quick reminder....:-)
4. In all fairness to other students, I do not accept late work. If you are ill, please arrange for another student to turn it in for you. Period.
5. After the due date, a late essay loses 10 points for every day it’s late, including weekends. NOT submitting an out of class essay is NOT an option. The English dept. requires that you write an approximate number of words in this course. The out of class essays provide a large part of the word count requirement.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 29th, 11 am
Greetings...
In preparation for a group exercise next week, I am assigning a homework task due on Friday, April 1st.
For this assignment, I would like you to consider the word "immigration" and do some brainstorming.
Type out ideas that come to mind when you "hear" this word.
The manner in which you do this (listing; short paragraphs; bulleted points, etc.) is entirely up to you. These reactions/responses need not necessarily be what YOU feel or believe...perhaps they are just things you have heard or read.
Please DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME on this assignment. When you submit it, there will be a sign-in sheet so you receive credit for completing the assignment. It counts as 25 points towards the 50 points for the group discussion.
I will discuss this briefly in class tomorrow in case you have questions or concerns.
See you in class tomorrow. Enjoy the sunshine!
In preparation for a group exercise next week, I am assigning a homework task due on Friday, April 1st.
For this assignment, I would like you to consider the word "immigration" and do some brainstorming.
Type out ideas that come to mind when you "hear" this word.
The manner in which you do this (listing; short paragraphs; bulleted points, etc.) is entirely up to you. These reactions/responses need not necessarily be what YOU feel or believe...perhaps they are just things you have heard or read.
Please DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME on this assignment. When you submit it, there will be a sign-in sheet so you receive credit for completing the assignment. It counts as 25 points towards the 50 points for the group discussion.
I will discuss this briefly in class tomorrow in case you have questions or concerns.
See you in class tomorrow. Enjoy the sunshine!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Sunday evening, March 27th around 6 pm
Greetings...
I hope all of you had a most restful and enjoyable spring break...
we are now halfway through the semester...
tomorrow we will watch the final episode/Season 1 of Breaking Bad.
For those of you in Section 1 that had to leave to get to another class and could not stay to watch the final few moments of episode 6, here is the link that gives a synopsis of that episode and will fill you in on what happened in the last few moments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4e9tda2nCc
The following two links will take you to Packet #5, due to be read, and in the case of the first of the two assigned, listened to as well, by Friday, April 1st.
The first required reading is a 4 minute and 50 second interview that was recorded on National Public Radio in June of 2010.
1.) "Tackling America's Drug Addiction"
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127937271
Reminder: After you listen to the interview, please print out the transcript of the interview and bring to class on Friday.
2.) "Confessions of a Mom (and a Former Teen Pothead)
http://www.npr.org/blogs/tellmemore/2010/10/19/130677774/confessions-from-a-mom-and-former-teen-pot-head
Reminder: After reading this blog posting, please print and bring to class on Friday.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Monday, March 21st around 530 pm
Greetings...
I do not expect you will be checking in much during this break from classes...
but when you do, I found the article below quite interesting and thought I would share.
I will post later in the week....
enjoy the week and be safe.
How Dumb Are We?
Andrew Romano – Sun Mar 20, 11:45 pm ET
NEW YORK – Newsweek gave 1,000 Americans the U.S. Citizenship Test—38 percent failed. The country's future is imperiled by our ignorance. In this week’s issue, Andrew Romano looks at the risks involved in America’s ignorance.
They’re the sort of scores that drive high-school history teachers to drink. When Newsweek recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America’s official citizenship test, 29 percent couldn’t name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn’t correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar.
Don’t get us wrong: civic ignorance is nothing new. For as long as they’ve existed, Americans have been misunderstanding checks and balances and misidentifying their senators. And they’ve been lamenting the philistinism of their peers ever since pollsters started publishing these dispiriting surveys back in Harry Truman’s day. (He was a president, by the way.) According to a study by Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, the yearly shifts in civic knowledge since World War II have averaged out to “slightly under 1 percent.”
But the world has changed. And unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more inhospitable to incurious know-nothings—like us.
To appreciate the risks involved, it’s important to understand where American ignorance comes from. In March 2009, the European Journal of Communication asked citizens of Britain, Denmark, Finland, and the U.S. to answer questions on international affairs. The Europeans clobbered us. Sixty-eight percent of Danes, 75 percent of Brits, and 76 percent of Finns could, for example, identify the Taliban, but only 58 percent of Americans managed to do the same—even though we’ve led the charge in Afghanistan. It was only the latest in a series of polls that have shown us lagging behind our First World peers.
Most experts agree that the relative complexity of the U.S. political system makes it hard for Americans to keep up. In many European countries, parliaments have proportional representation, and the majority party rules without having to “share power with a lot of subnational governments,” notes Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker, coauthor of Winner-Take-All Politics. In contrast, we’re saddled with a nonproportional Senate; a tangle of state, local, and federal bureaucracies; and near-constant elections for every imaginable office (judge, sheriff, school-board member, and so on). “Nobody is competent to understand it all, which you realize every time you vote,” says Michael Schudson, author of The Good Citizen. “You know you’re going to come up short, and that discourages you from learning more.”
For more than two centuries, Americans have gotten away with not knowing much about the world around them. But times have changed—and they’ve changed in ways that make civic ignorance a big problem going forward.
It doesn’t help that the United States has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the developed world, with the top 400 households raking in more money than the bottom 60 percent combined. As Dalton Conley, an NYU sociologist, explains, “it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Unlike Denmark, we have a lot of very poor people without access to good education, and a huge immigrant population that doesn’t even speak English.” When surveys focus on well-off, native-born respondents, the U.S. actually holds its own against Europe.
Other factors exacerbate the situation. A big one, Hacker argues, is the decentralized U.S. education system, which is run mostly by individual states: “When you have more centrally managed curricula, you have more common knowledge and a stronger civic culture.” Another hitch is our reliance on market-driven programming rather than public broadcasting, which, according to the EJC study, “devotes more attention to public affairs and international news, and fosters greater knowledge in these areas.”
For more than two centuries, Americans have gotten away with not knowing much about the world around them. But times have changed—and they’ve changed in ways that make civic ignorance a big problem going forward. While isolationism is fine in an isolated society, we can no longer afford to mind our own business. What happens in China and India (or at a Japanese nuclear plant) affects the autoworker in Detroit; what happens in the statehouse and the White House affects the competition in China and India. Before the Internet, brawn was enough; now the information economy demands brains instead. And where we once relied on political institutions (like organized labor) to school the middle classes and give them leverage, we now have nothing. “The issue isn’t that people in the past knew a lot more and know less now,” says Hacker. “It’s that their ignorance was counterbalanced by denser political organizations.” The result is a society in which wired activists at either end of the spectrum dominate the debate—and lead politicians astray at precisely the wrong moment.
The current conflict over government spending illustrates the new dangers of ignorance. Every economist knows how to deal with the debt: cost-saving reforms to big-ticket entitlement programs; cuts to our bloated defense budget; and (if growth remains slow) tax reforms designed to refill our depleted revenue coffers. But poll after poll shows that voters have no clue what the budget actually looks like. A 2010 World Public Opinion survey found that Americans want to tackle deficits by cutting foreign aid from what they believe is the current level (27 percent of the budget) to a more prudent 13 percent. The real number is under 1 percent. A Jan. 25 CNN poll, meanwhile, discovered that even though 71 percent of voters want smaller government, vast majorities oppose cuts to Medicare (81 percent), Social Security (78 percent), and Medicaid (70 percent). Instead, they prefer to slash waste—a category that, in their fantasy world, seems to include 50 percent of spending, according to a 2009 Gallup poll.
Needless to say, it’s impossible to balance the budget by listening to these people. But politicians pander to them anyway, and even encourage their misapprehensions. As a result, we’re now arguing over short-term spending cuts that would cost up to 700,000 government jobs, imperiling the shaky recovery and impairing our ability to compete globally, while doing nothing to tackle the long-term fiscal challenges that threaten … our ability to compete globally.
Given our history, it’s hard to imagine this changing any time soon. But that isn’t to say a change wouldn’t help. For years, Stanford communications professor James Fishkin has been conducting experiments in deliberative democracy. The premise is simple: poll citizens on a major issue, blind; then see how their opinions evolve when they’re forced to confront the facts. What Fishkin has found is that while people start out with deep value disagreements over, say, government spending, they tend to agree on rational policy responses once they learn the ins and outs of the budget. “The problem is ignorance, not stupidity,” Hacker says. “We suffer from a lack of information rather than a lack of ability.” Whether that’s a treatable affliction or a terminal illness remains to be seen. But now’s the time to start searching for a cure.
Andrew Romano is a Senior Writer for Newsweek. He reports on politics, culture, and food for the print and web editions of the magazine and appears frequently on CNN and MSNBC. His 2008 campaign blog, Stumper, won MINOnline's Best Consumer Blog award and was cited as one of the cycle's best news blogs by both Editor & Publisher and the Deadline Club of New York.
I do not expect you will be checking in much during this break from classes...
but when you do, I found the article below quite interesting and thought I would share.
I will post later in the week....
enjoy the week and be safe.
How Dumb Are We?
Andrew Romano – Sun Mar 20, 11:45 pm ET
NEW YORK – Newsweek gave 1,000 Americans the U.S. Citizenship Test—38 percent failed. The country's future is imperiled by our ignorance. In this week’s issue, Andrew Romano looks at the risks involved in America’s ignorance.
They’re the sort of scores that drive high-school history teachers to drink. When Newsweek recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America’s official citizenship test, 29 percent couldn’t name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn’t correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar.
Don’t get us wrong: civic ignorance is nothing new. For as long as they’ve existed, Americans have been misunderstanding checks and balances and misidentifying their senators. And they’ve been lamenting the philistinism of their peers ever since pollsters started publishing these dispiriting surveys back in Harry Truman’s day. (He was a president, by the way.) According to a study by Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, the yearly shifts in civic knowledge since World War II have averaged out to “slightly under 1 percent.”
But the world has changed. And unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more inhospitable to incurious know-nothings—like us.
To appreciate the risks involved, it’s important to understand where American ignorance comes from. In March 2009, the European Journal of Communication asked citizens of Britain, Denmark, Finland, and the U.S. to answer questions on international affairs. The Europeans clobbered us. Sixty-eight percent of Danes, 75 percent of Brits, and 76 percent of Finns could, for example, identify the Taliban, but only 58 percent of Americans managed to do the same—even though we’ve led the charge in Afghanistan. It was only the latest in a series of polls that have shown us lagging behind our First World peers.
Most experts agree that the relative complexity of the U.S. political system makes it hard for Americans to keep up. In many European countries, parliaments have proportional representation, and the majority party rules without having to “share power with a lot of subnational governments,” notes Yale political scientist Jacob Hacker, coauthor of Winner-Take-All Politics. In contrast, we’re saddled with a nonproportional Senate; a tangle of state, local, and federal bureaucracies; and near-constant elections for every imaginable office (judge, sheriff, school-board member, and so on). “Nobody is competent to understand it all, which you realize every time you vote,” says Michael Schudson, author of The Good Citizen. “You know you’re going to come up short, and that discourages you from learning more.”
For more than two centuries, Americans have gotten away with not knowing much about the world around them. But times have changed—and they’ve changed in ways that make civic ignorance a big problem going forward.
It doesn’t help that the United States has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the developed world, with the top 400 households raking in more money than the bottom 60 percent combined. As Dalton Conley, an NYU sociologist, explains, “it’s like comparing apples and oranges. Unlike Denmark, we have a lot of very poor people without access to good education, and a huge immigrant population that doesn’t even speak English.” When surveys focus on well-off, native-born respondents, the U.S. actually holds its own against Europe.
Other factors exacerbate the situation. A big one, Hacker argues, is the decentralized U.S. education system, which is run mostly by individual states: “When you have more centrally managed curricula, you have more common knowledge and a stronger civic culture.” Another hitch is our reliance on market-driven programming rather than public broadcasting, which, according to the EJC study, “devotes more attention to public affairs and international news, and fosters greater knowledge in these areas.”
For more than two centuries, Americans have gotten away with not knowing much about the world around them. But times have changed—and they’ve changed in ways that make civic ignorance a big problem going forward. While isolationism is fine in an isolated society, we can no longer afford to mind our own business. What happens in China and India (or at a Japanese nuclear plant) affects the autoworker in Detroit; what happens in the statehouse and the White House affects the competition in China and India. Before the Internet, brawn was enough; now the information economy demands brains instead. And where we once relied on political institutions (like organized labor) to school the middle classes and give them leverage, we now have nothing. “The issue isn’t that people in the past knew a lot more and know less now,” says Hacker. “It’s that their ignorance was counterbalanced by denser political organizations.” The result is a society in which wired activists at either end of the spectrum dominate the debate—and lead politicians astray at precisely the wrong moment.
The current conflict over government spending illustrates the new dangers of ignorance. Every economist knows how to deal with the debt: cost-saving reforms to big-ticket entitlement programs; cuts to our bloated defense budget; and (if growth remains slow) tax reforms designed to refill our depleted revenue coffers. But poll after poll shows that voters have no clue what the budget actually looks like. A 2010 World Public Opinion survey found that Americans want to tackle deficits by cutting foreign aid from what they believe is the current level (27 percent of the budget) to a more prudent 13 percent. The real number is under 1 percent. A Jan. 25 CNN poll, meanwhile, discovered that even though 71 percent of voters want smaller government, vast majorities oppose cuts to Medicare (81 percent), Social Security (78 percent), and Medicaid (70 percent). Instead, they prefer to slash waste—a category that, in their fantasy world, seems to include 50 percent of spending, according to a 2009 Gallup poll.
Needless to say, it’s impossible to balance the budget by listening to these people. But politicians pander to them anyway, and even encourage their misapprehensions. As a result, we’re now arguing over short-term spending cuts that would cost up to 700,000 government jobs, imperiling the shaky recovery and impairing our ability to compete globally, while doing nothing to tackle the long-term fiscal challenges that threaten … our ability to compete globally.
Given our history, it’s hard to imagine this changing any time soon. But that isn’t to say a change wouldn’t help. For years, Stanford communications professor James Fishkin has been conducting experiments in deliberative democracy. The premise is simple: poll citizens on a major issue, blind; then see how their opinions evolve when they’re forced to confront the facts. What Fishkin has found is that while people start out with deep value disagreements over, say, government spending, they tend to agree on rational policy responses once they learn the ins and outs of the budget. “The problem is ignorance, not stupidity,” Hacker says. “We suffer from a lack of information rather than a lack of ability.” Whether that’s a treatable affliction or a terminal illness remains to be seen. But now’s the time to start searching for a cure.
Andrew Romano is a Senior Writer for Newsweek. He reports on politics, culture, and food for the print and web editions of the magazine and appears frequently on CNN and MSNBC. His 2008 campaign blog, Stumper, won MINOnline's Best Consumer Blog award and was cited as one of the cycle's best news blogs by both Editor & Publisher and the Deadline Club of New York.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Tuesday late afternoon, March 15, 2011
Greetings...
For the first ten minutes or so of class tomorrow (for the 8 am, 10 am and 11 am classes) and on Friday for the 9 am class, there will be a presentation on the WPJ and all the details regarding this requirement. Please make an extra effort to be on time.
Thank you so much! :-)
For the first ten minutes or so of class tomorrow (for the 8 am, 10 am and 11 am classes) and on Friday for the 9 am class, there will be a presentation on the WPJ and all the details regarding this requirement. Please make an extra effort to be on time.
Thank you so much! :-)
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Saturday evening, 10 pm, March 12th
Hello,
The following TWO readings about U.S. health care are due to be read by Friday and are considered READING PACKET #4. The issue of health care certainly rears its head in the Breaking Bad episodes. It seems fitting that the series features an ordinary high school chemistry teacher whose health care benefits do not cover his treatments for lung cancer. He is desperate to get money for his treatments and to leave money for his family in the event of his death.
(Walter's former business partner, Elliott, was willing to pay for Walter's entire treatment. This "private sector" option was rejected out of jealousy and spite toward his friend's success. White, who quit the company before it went big, believes his friends ripped him off. One of his friends is the current wife of the company's CEO and also White's ex-fiance, whom he left. His resentment toward their success drives him to reject their offer.)
"Middle Class Struggling with Health Care Costs, Report Finds"
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10077/1043764-84.stm
"Why Does Health Care Cost so Much?"
http://www.newamerica.net/node/8920
Just a quick note...
When you are accessing the two required readings for Friday, please make a note that the article titled
"Middle class struggling with health care costs, report finds" is the one I want you to read. It is an article by David Templeton from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It is the link I gave you, but just in case you notice another listing when you google this title, it may be the entire PDF of the report. I do not want you to read the entire report, just the article ABOUT the report.
See you Monday in class. We will be viewing episode six of Breaking Bad.
The following TWO readings about U.S. health care are due to be read by Friday and are considered READING PACKET #4. The issue of health care certainly rears its head in the Breaking Bad episodes. It seems fitting that the series features an ordinary high school chemistry teacher whose health care benefits do not cover his treatments for lung cancer. He is desperate to get money for his treatments and to leave money for his family in the event of his death.
(Walter's former business partner, Elliott, was willing to pay for Walter's entire treatment. This "private sector" option was rejected out of jealousy and spite toward his friend's success. White, who quit the company before it went big, believes his friends ripped him off. One of his friends is the current wife of the company's CEO and also White's ex-fiance, whom he left. His resentment toward their success drives him to reject their offer.)
"Middle Class Struggling with Health Care Costs, Report Finds"
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10077/1043764-84.stm
"Why Does Health Care Cost so Much?"
http://www.newamerica.net/node/8920
Just a quick note...
When you are accessing the two required readings for Friday, please make a note that the article titled
"Middle class struggling with health care costs, report finds" is the one I want you to read. It is an article by David Templeton from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It is the link I gave you, but just in case you notice another listing when you google this title, it may be the entire PDF of the report. I do not want you to read the entire report, just the article ABOUT the report.
See you Monday in class. We will be viewing episode six of Breaking Bad.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Wednesday, March 8, Second Posting, 915 pm
Hello again,
Since I had a sample student essay for essay 2 on my desktop, I decided I would post it here for you to peruse instead of having 109 copies printed. Obviously, there are some MLA issues that do not transfer when I cut and paste. It is single spaced instead of double spaced; title is not centered, etc. However, it is a very good essay and perhaps will give you an idea of the quality I expect.
Lindsay Olson
Professor Catherine Fraga
English 20, 17
4 October 2010
Impact of a Deaf Child on Families
A bird calls and the phone rings. Yet the girl makes no move to listen to one or to answer the other. A baby’s cry goes ignored and the tea kettle on the stove continues to whistle. Most, but not all cases of childhood deafness and hearing-impairment are diagnosed between the ages of 18 months and 3-years-old (Mapp 50). Sometimes called the invisible handicap, hearing loss explains why sign language is the third most used language in the United States (Jones 54). While recognition of sight problems or physical impairments may be triggered by spotting eye glasses or a wheelchair, deafness must be discovered through acts of direct communication. The girl walks down the hall and does not acknowledge her friend calling her name. The term disabled has been much debated in recent years. It is both a classification of a functional limitation and a branding stereotype that scars a certain type of person. More than 90 percent of deaf children are born into hearing families. Before the 1970s, the impact this group of unique children had on their families and how the family structure adjusted was little studied (Mapp 7). Though raising a deaf child is challenging at times for parents and influential on how siblings are treated, it can also be a rewarding experience and an adhesive to hold together a family.
When a child is diagnosed with deafness, it is the flag marking the beginning of a series of potentially draining events for his or her parents. Though many parents say that raising a deaf child differs in subtle yet slight ways from the already challenging aspects of raising any child, they also agree that their child’s disability tends to amplify emotions, especially in the early stages of diagnoses. There are feelings of disbelief, confusion, and disappointment that lead to anger while guilt mingles with a sense of mourning. Through all of these overwhelming responses, parents learn to deal with the seclusion, to recognize the drawbacks of their situation, and to effectively develop strategies for their families. Though it is too generalizing to say that all parents react the same way to their child’s hearing loss, many parents do react in similar manners. It is the hearing parents that are affected the most by the arrival of the news of hearing loss in their child. Deaf parents, on the other hand generally embrace the handicap of their child because they realize they have the resources and language knowledge to help the child. In studies done comparing deaf children from hearing parents with those from deaf parents, the children from deaf parents significantly outscored their counterparts in areas such as vocabulary, reading, social skills, and mathematics. An explanation for this may be that the children of hearing parents experience something called “language deprivation” by which they are stripped of the knowledge commonly passed down through the direct exposure to a language natural to their parents (Mapp 190). For this reason, the stresses of raising a deaf child fall heavier on hearing parents. Many hearing parents feel this diagnosis shatters the illusion that their child is and will be perfect. This loss of innocence is a sentiment that many parents mourn.
Many parents of deaf children have had little or no contact with the deaf community and are forced to comprehend a subject entirely foreign to them. Shock is a common response and works well as a defense mechanism that enables parents to begin the stages of mourning the illusionary loss of their normal child (Luterman 6). This shock gradually fades to disbelief as parents grasp at the permanent and incurable meanings of the word “deaf.” Many ask how such a thing could happen in their family and occasionally the hearing problem is kept a secret. Though she was diagnosed in kindergarten, the girl begged her parents to keep her secret for years, senselessly believing that if no one knew about it then the problem did not exist despite the molds she wore in her ears. On top of denial, many families feel overwhelmed and that they have been given too much information in too short of a time period and may feel either ill-equipped to face the challenges of the diagnosis. With this fear often times comes anger and most parents of hearing impaired children feel a fundamental anger without an outlet through which to vent. There is anger at themselves, at the world, and even at the deaf child themselves. Sometimes this anger turns itself inwards and manifests itself as depression; other times it is capable of either strengthening or creating rifts within family systems and relationships.
Perhaps one of the most prominent emotions felt by parents of deaf children is guilt. The future they had envisioned for their child has been violated in ways they never expected. Many parents would agree that having a hurting child and being helpless to assist them is one of the most distressing feelings they will ever experience (Luterman 9). Although having a deaf child can be rewarding in many ways it is very hard to see this in the beginning and the diagnosis affects parents in some very unique ways. Since the 1970s, studies have been done directly assessing the impact a deaf child has on families, especially on parents. It became clear from these studies that mothers and fathers deal with the stresses of their ill child in very different ways. Since mothers are typically invested in the daily stresses of raising a deaf child, studies have shown that they are more likely to be very involved in health and safety issues. Fathers on the other hand are typically found to engage in more distant roles of parenting due to occupational time consumption and are more successful at developing relationships with their child that does not revolve around the child’s disability (Luterman et al. 34-35). Studies have also shown that the time following a child’s diagnosis can be particularly trying on husbands as they are trying to reassure their wives that everything will be fine while privately attempting to deal with their own deep and emotional grief (Luterman et al. 7). The separate roles each parent takes on complement each other by providing unique skills for their child.
One of the most emotional taxing yet gratifying parts of raising a deaf child is that the mother is typically the one member of the family most capable of communicating with the deaf child. She becomes not only a mother, but an educator, social guidance counselor, communication specialist, interpreter, and audiologist consultant (Mapp 15). The girl’s mother went to the school district when the girl entered high school hoping sign language classes were available as a precaution in case her half deaf child continued to lose her hearing. They refused to even consider letting sign language qualify for her foreign language requirement. Another recurring theme in the challenges faced by parents is the abundance of ignorance in the faculty of school systems themselves. One frustrated parent wrote said about mainstreaming her deaf child into a hearing school, “…the teacher sometimes forgets…her limits and limitations…and does something incredibly dumb, such as the time in fifth grade when the teacher gave my daughter an oral spelling test of single words” (Luterman 175). Though most studies have focused extensively on the impact of a deaf child on parents, it is equally important to understand how it affects siblings. Family dynamics as well as parental reactions shape whether the hearing problem will strengthen the family structure or create tenuous situations.
The definition of a family is a system of which all parts are inextricably interconnected (Luterman et al. 41). The sibling of a deaf child is typically forced to grow up faster than other children their age and assume greater responsibilities. One of the greatest favors a parent can do for the sibling of a deaf child is to realize that an entire family unit cannot be healthy when revolving around the limitations of one of its members. In 70% of the cases of deaf children, there is one or more sibling involved in the family’s makeup (Mapp 65). These children can suffer from having a disabled sibling because their parents may feel both physically and emotionally exhausted after caring for the child that seems to need more attention. The sibling may feel neglected and guilty that they somehow evaded deafness themselves while their brother or sister is suffering. There may be feelings of shame and embarrassment when an adolescent child draws attention by signing with their sibling in public. Older children may feel a deep rooted anxiety that their own children will suffer from hearing loss. As with the relationships between parents, it is important that siblings be given a venue of open communication to vent their anxieties and frustrations. Clear communication is the key to a successful family structure. It has been found that some siblings may react with attention-seeking strategies like poor academic performance, illnesses, and recurrent tantrums. Other children may internalize their issues and end up with innate resentment issues when they are older (Luterman 143). While having a deaf sibling undoubtedly has drawbacks many siblings reported positive attributes as well. The recurring theme was that compassionate individuals with greater sensitivities to prejudices came from families with disabled children. These siblings also attributed the bond their family shared to their ability to form a cohesive unit during times of crisis (Luterman et al. 50).
In order to thrive, it is vital that the family copes properly with the stressors associated with a deaf child.
One of the most damaging, yet well intentioned acts a parent of a deaf child can commit is overprotection. Parents of handicapped children regularly underestimate their child’s abilities, thus not allowing the child to make mistakes and learn. Overprotection leads to feelings of incapability and will hinder the child later in life. It must be acknowledged and accepted that even with interpreters, communication in a mainstream school will only be at about 75 percent for a deaf child (Jones 53). Instead of shielding a child from this barrier of communication, a parent must learn to embrace it as a time of growth and a test of patience. Many parents see having a deaf child as a gift, as an opportunity to tap into strengths they never before realized they had. Though mothers of deaf children are likely to name healthcare providers as sources of support whereas hearing mothers named friends, it seems as though the levels of happiness of both women are consistent (Mapp 118). A parent’s attitude toward having a deaf child molds not only interfamily relationships, but the success of the child themselves. The original confusion of their child’s diagnosis can morph into knowledge; the anger becomes a steady energy and focused drive, while the guilt turns into a lifelong commitment. The most important part of having a deaf child is that it forces ever member of a family to reevaluate life and realize just how precious of a gift it is.
A disability only becomes a handicap when an individual allows it to skew their perception and hinder their accomplishments in life (Duckworth et al. 2). The girl smiled at her parents as she boarded the plane for college. It was through the hard work of her parents that she had made it so far. Never had they allowed her to see herself as tainted. They dealt with their issues quietly and ensured that the girl’s sister was never left behind. Through a sense of humor, teacher meetings, hard work, and patience they had shown her that her limitations led to endless accomplishments. The diagnosis was a hearing impairment and the girl is me.
Works Cited
Duckworth, Derek and Mark Philp. Children with Disabilites and their Families. Humanities
Press Company, Ltd.: New Jersey, 1982. Print.
Jones, Reginald L., ed. Reflections on Growing up Disabled. The Council for Exceptional
Children: Virginia, 1983. Print.
Luterman, David M. and Mark Ross. When your Child is Deaf: A Guide for Parents. York
Press, Inc.: Michigan, 1991. Print.
Luterman, David. Counseling Parents of Hearing-Impaired Children. Little, Brown, and
Company, Inc.: Boston, 1979. Print.
Mapp, Idalia, ed. Essential Readings on Stress and Coping among Parents of Deaf and Hearing-
Impaired Children. University of Nebraska Press: Nebraska, 2004. Print.
Since I had a sample student essay for essay 2 on my desktop, I decided I would post it here for you to peruse instead of having 109 copies printed. Obviously, there are some MLA issues that do not transfer when I cut and paste. It is single spaced instead of double spaced; title is not centered, etc. However, it is a very good essay and perhaps will give you an idea of the quality I expect.
Lindsay Olson
Professor Catherine Fraga
English 20, 17
4 October 2010
Impact of a Deaf Child on Families
A bird calls and the phone rings. Yet the girl makes no move to listen to one or to answer the other. A baby’s cry goes ignored and the tea kettle on the stove continues to whistle. Most, but not all cases of childhood deafness and hearing-impairment are diagnosed between the ages of 18 months and 3-years-old (Mapp 50). Sometimes called the invisible handicap, hearing loss explains why sign language is the third most used language in the United States (Jones 54). While recognition of sight problems or physical impairments may be triggered by spotting eye glasses or a wheelchair, deafness must be discovered through acts of direct communication. The girl walks down the hall and does not acknowledge her friend calling her name. The term disabled has been much debated in recent years. It is both a classification of a functional limitation and a branding stereotype that scars a certain type of person. More than 90 percent of deaf children are born into hearing families. Before the 1970s, the impact this group of unique children had on their families and how the family structure adjusted was little studied (Mapp 7). Though raising a deaf child is challenging at times for parents and influential on how siblings are treated, it can also be a rewarding experience and an adhesive to hold together a family.
When a child is diagnosed with deafness, it is the flag marking the beginning of a series of potentially draining events for his or her parents. Though many parents say that raising a deaf child differs in subtle yet slight ways from the already challenging aspects of raising any child, they also agree that their child’s disability tends to amplify emotions, especially in the early stages of diagnoses. There are feelings of disbelief, confusion, and disappointment that lead to anger while guilt mingles with a sense of mourning. Through all of these overwhelming responses, parents learn to deal with the seclusion, to recognize the drawbacks of their situation, and to effectively develop strategies for their families. Though it is too generalizing to say that all parents react the same way to their child’s hearing loss, many parents do react in similar manners. It is the hearing parents that are affected the most by the arrival of the news of hearing loss in their child. Deaf parents, on the other hand generally embrace the handicap of their child because they realize they have the resources and language knowledge to help the child. In studies done comparing deaf children from hearing parents with those from deaf parents, the children from deaf parents significantly outscored their counterparts in areas such as vocabulary, reading, social skills, and mathematics. An explanation for this may be that the children of hearing parents experience something called “language deprivation” by which they are stripped of the knowledge commonly passed down through the direct exposure to a language natural to their parents (Mapp 190). For this reason, the stresses of raising a deaf child fall heavier on hearing parents. Many hearing parents feel this diagnosis shatters the illusion that their child is and will be perfect. This loss of innocence is a sentiment that many parents mourn.
Many parents of deaf children have had little or no contact with the deaf community and are forced to comprehend a subject entirely foreign to them. Shock is a common response and works well as a defense mechanism that enables parents to begin the stages of mourning the illusionary loss of their normal child (Luterman 6). This shock gradually fades to disbelief as parents grasp at the permanent and incurable meanings of the word “deaf.” Many ask how such a thing could happen in their family and occasionally the hearing problem is kept a secret. Though she was diagnosed in kindergarten, the girl begged her parents to keep her secret for years, senselessly believing that if no one knew about it then the problem did not exist despite the molds she wore in her ears. On top of denial, many families feel overwhelmed and that they have been given too much information in too short of a time period and may feel either ill-equipped to face the challenges of the diagnosis. With this fear often times comes anger and most parents of hearing impaired children feel a fundamental anger without an outlet through which to vent. There is anger at themselves, at the world, and even at the deaf child themselves. Sometimes this anger turns itself inwards and manifests itself as depression; other times it is capable of either strengthening or creating rifts within family systems and relationships.
Perhaps one of the most prominent emotions felt by parents of deaf children is guilt. The future they had envisioned for their child has been violated in ways they never expected. Many parents would agree that having a hurting child and being helpless to assist them is one of the most distressing feelings they will ever experience (Luterman 9). Although having a deaf child can be rewarding in many ways it is very hard to see this in the beginning and the diagnosis affects parents in some very unique ways. Since the 1970s, studies have been done directly assessing the impact a deaf child has on families, especially on parents. It became clear from these studies that mothers and fathers deal with the stresses of their ill child in very different ways. Since mothers are typically invested in the daily stresses of raising a deaf child, studies have shown that they are more likely to be very involved in health and safety issues. Fathers on the other hand are typically found to engage in more distant roles of parenting due to occupational time consumption and are more successful at developing relationships with their child that does not revolve around the child’s disability (Luterman et al. 34-35). Studies have also shown that the time following a child’s diagnosis can be particularly trying on husbands as they are trying to reassure their wives that everything will be fine while privately attempting to deal with their own deep and emotional grief (Luterman et al. 7). The separate roles each parent takes on complement each other by providing unique skills for their child.
One of the most emotional taxing yet gratifying parts of raising a deaf child is that the mother is typically the one member of the family most capable of communicating with the deaf child. She becomes not only a mother, but an educator, social guidance counselor, communication specialist, interpreter, and audiologist consultant (Mapp 15). The girl’s mother went to the school district when the girl entered high school hoping sign language classes were available as a precaution in case her half deaf child continued to lose her hearing. They refused to even consider letting sign language qualify for her foreign language requirement. Another recurring theme in the challenges faced by parents is the abundance of ignorance in the faculty of school systems themselves. One frustrated parent wrote said about mainstreaming her deaf child into a hearing school, “…the teacher sometimes forgets…her limits and limitations…and does something incredibly dumb, such as the time in fifth grade when the teacher gave my daughter an oral spelling test of single words” (Luterman 175). Though most studies have focused extensively on the impact of a deaf child on parents, it is equally important to understand how it affects siblings. Family dynamics as well as parental reactions shape whether the hearing problem will strengthen the family structure or create tenuous situations.
The definition of a family is a system of which all parts are inextricably interconnected (Luterman et al. 41). The sibling of a deaf child is typically forced to grow up faster than other children their age and assume greater responsibilities. One of the greatest favors a parent can do for the sibling of a deaf child is to realize that an entire family unit cannot be healthy when revolving around the limitations of one of its members. In 70% of the cases of deaf children, there is one or more sibling involved in the family’s makeup (Mapp 65). These children can suffer from having a disabled sibling because their parents may feel both physically and emotionally exhausted after caring for the child that seems to need more attention. The sibling may feel neglected and guilty that they somehow evaded deafness themselves while their brother or sister is suffering. There may be feelings of shame and embarrassment when an adolescent child draws attention by signing with their sibling in public. Older children may feel a deep rooted anxiety that their own children will suffer from hearing loss. As with the relationships between parents, it is important that siblings be given a venue of open communication to vent their anxieties and frustrations. Clear communication is the key to a successful family structure. It has been found that some siblings may react with attention-seeking strategies like poor academic performance, illnesses, and recurrent tantrums. Other children may internalize their issues and end up with innate resentment issues when they are older (Luterman 143). While having a deaf sibling undoubtedly has drawbacks many siblings reported positive attributes as well. The recurring theme was that compassionate individuals with greater sensitivities to prejudices came from families with disabled children. These siblings also attributed the bond their family shared to their ability to form a cohesive unit during times of crisis (Luterman et al. 50).
In order to thrive, it is vital that the family copes properly with the stressors associated with a deaf child.
One of the most damaging, yet well intentioned acts a parent of a deaf child can commit is overprotection. Parents of handicapped children regularly underestimate their child’s abilities, thus not allowing the child to make mistakes and learn. Overprotection leads to feelings of incapability and will hinder the child later in life. It must be acknowledged and accepted that even with interpreters, communication in a mainstream school will only be at about 75 percent for a deaf child (Jones 53). Instead of shielding a child from this barrier of communication, a parent must learn to embrace it as a time of growth and a test of patience. Many parents see having a deaf child as a gift, as an opportunity to tap into strengths they never before realized they had. Though mothers of deaf children are likely to name healthcare providers as sources of support whereas hearing mothers named friends, it seems as though the levels of happiness of both women are consistent (Mapp 118). A parent’s attitude toward having a deaf child molds not only interfamily relationships, but the success of the child themselves. The original confusion of their child’s diagnosis can morph into knowledge; the anger becomes a steady energy and focused drive, while the guilt turns into a lifelong commitment. The most important part of having a deaf child is that it forces ever member of a family to reevaluate life and realize just how precious of a gift it is.
A disability only becomes a handicap when an individual allows it to skew their perception and hinder their accomplishments in life (Duckworth et al. 2). The girl smiled at her parents as she boarded the plane for college. It was through the hard work of her parents that she had made it so far. Never had they allowed her to see herself as tainted. They dealt with their issues quietly and ensured that the girl’s sister was never left behind. Through a sense of humor, teacher meetings, hard work, and patience they had shown her that her limitations led to endless accomplishments. The diagnosis was a hearing impairment and the girl is me.
Works Cited
Duckworth, Derek and Mark Philp. Children with Disabilites and their Families. Humanities
Press Company, Ltd.: New Jersey, 1982. Print.
Jones, Reginald L., ed. Reflections on Growing up Disabled. The Council for Exceptional
Children: Virginia, 1983. Print.
Luterman, David M. and Mark Ross. When your Child is Deaf: A Guide for Parents. York
Press, Inc.: Michigan, 1991. Print.
Luterman, David. Counseling Parents of Hearing-Impaired Children. Little, Brown, and
Company, Inc.: Boston, 1979. Print.
Mapp, Idalia, ed. Essential Readings on Stress and Coping among Parents of Deaf and Hearing-
Impaired Children. University of Nebraska Press: Nebraska, 2004. Print.
Wednesday evening, March 8, 9 pm
Greetings!
Below you will find a copy of the Proofreading Handout I distributed and chatted about today in class.
A note to section 7 students...unfortunately you ended up having five minutes LESS than the other three classes to complete the In Class Writing Response this morning. I will definitely take that into consideration when I score your responses.
As you know, we will be watching episode 5 in class on Friday. Just so there is no misunderstanding, those who miss the viewing are still responsible for making it up before the next class session. :-)
See you Friday!
English 20
DOES PROOFREADING MATTER???
(yes!!!)
See below:
Therefore, this was a huge contribution towards the world of science, and it helped increase are knowledge of our world even further, because it might be just the key factor to knowing how our universe came to evolve and how living each day was not meaningless, but was for a certain purpose for human beings to solve.
Michael also was the first to start the real importance in making good music videos, and not just any music video a movie based music video.
Although this logical movement is well known to take place during the 1800’s, its roots go back to the time of when Galileo became to rise to become a nonconformist.
Under Queen Elizabeth’s thrown, and under the church, non tolerance took place and anyone disobeying or thinking of anything besides the Church’s teachings.
As through his findings and experiments he found many facts and details that have shaped what science, philosophy, history and art is today, but even so, he will always be remembered as going against authority and becoming and nonconformist as he believed differently then what the Church of England told its society to do.
Lastly, in today’s society it is as much accepted, as is rejected, to be a homosexual.
The way she presents herself and the things she supports in make her that way.
Martin Luther grew up in a nice home in Germany.
Before coming to California he first found himself in Baltimore where he was accepted into a high school for his art and thats where he was really able to interact with and understand everyone as they are humans.
Below you will find a copy of the Proofreading Handout I distributed and chatted about today in class.
A note to section 7 students...unfortunately you ended up having five minutes LESS than the other three classes to complete the In Class Writing Response this morning. I will definitely take that into consideration when I score your responses.
As you know, we will be watching episode 5 in class on Friday. Just so there is no misunderstanding, those who miss the viewing are still responsible for making it up before the next class session. :-)
See you Friday!
English 20
DOES PROOFREADING MATTER???
(yes!!!)
See below:
Therefore, this was a huge contribution towards the world of science, and it helped increase are knowledge of our world even further, because it might be just the key factor to knowing how our universe came to evolve and how living each day was not meaningless, but was for a certain purpose for human beings to solve.
Michael also was the first to start the real importance in making good music videos, and not just any music video a movie based music video.
Although this logical movement is well known to take place during the 1800’s, its roots go back to the time of when Galileo became to rise to become a nonconformist.
Under Queen Elizabeth’s thrown, and under the church, non tolerance took place and anyone disobeying or thinking of anything besides the Church’s teachings.
As through his findings and experiments he found many facts and details that have shaped what science, philosophy, history and art is today, but even so, he will always be remembered as going against authority and becoming and nonconformist as he believed differently then what the Church of England told its society to do.
Lastly, in today’s society it is as much accepted, as is rejected, to be a homosexual.
The way she presents herself and the things she supports in make her that way.
Martin Luther grew up in a nice home in Germany.
Before coming to California he first found himself in Baltimore where he was accepted into a high school for his art and thats where he was really able to interact with and understand everyone as they are humans.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Monday evening, March 7, 2011
Greetings!
Below is a copy of the out of class 2 assignment, distributed and discussed in class today.
See you Wednesday!
English 20, Spring 2011---Sections 1, 4, 7, 11---C. Fraga
Date assigned: Monday, March 7
Rough draft (optional): due no later than Wed. March 30
Final draft due: Monday, April 4
(you have four weeks to research and write this essay)
Details:
1. MLA format
2. At least 3 outside sources on your Works Cited page
3. Please, no Wikipedia
OUT OF CLASS ESSAY ASSIGNMENT #2
Among many things, the series Breaking Bad focuses on the family entity and what happens when something quite extraordinary occurs—how do members of the family cope, adjust, and/or “deal” with the event/situation? (In the case of this series, obviously it is Walter’s cancer that is the main ‘event’).
I am not referring to the everyday bumps in the road that occur for all families. Instead, I am asking you to consider the family unit when faced with an especially challenging situation. These situations could include but are not limited to:
• death
• birth
• infidelity
• serious injury
• dementia
• serious illness
• divorce
• unemployment
• new employment
• moving to a new home/state/area/country
• the return of a war veteran
• moving BACK home after initially moving OUT
• alcoholism
• drug abuse
Select ONE situation that you are most interested in exploring. You will conduct research (and possibly personal interviews, if possible) in order to write an essay that offers the reader background on the topic and makes an assertion about what elements of the situation impact a family in the most challenging of ways and supports it logically and interestingly.
Your thesis might read something like this:
When a family member develops dementia, the challenges are often devastating, yet the disease definitely impacts family members more than the dementia patient.
Or…
When a couple divorces, it most certainly impacts the children still living at home; however, it is the older children who have already moved away that are most affected by the split.
Below is a copy of the out of class 2 assignment, distributed and discussed in class today.
See you Wednesday!
English 20, Spring 2011---Sections 1, 4, 7, 11---C. Fraga
Date assigned: Monday, March 7
Rough draft (optional): due no later than Wed. March 30
Final draft due: Monday, April 4
(you have four weeks to research and write this essay)
Details:
1. MLA format
2. At least 3 outside sources on your Works Cited page
3. Please, no Wikipedia
OUT OF CLASS ESSAY ASSIGNMENT #2
Among many things, the series Breaking Bad focuses on the family entity and what happens when something quite extraordinary occurs—how do members of the family cope, adjust, and/or “deal” with the event/situation? (In the case of this series, obviously it is Walter’s cancer that is the main ‘event’).
I am not referring to the everyday bumps in the road that occur for all families. Instead, I am asking you to consider the family unit when faced with an especially challenging situation. These situations could include but are not limited to:
• death
• birth
• infidelity
• serious injury
• dementia
• serious illness
• divorce
• unemployment
• new employment
• moving to a new home/state/area/country
• the return of a war veteran
• moving BACK home after initially moving OUT
• alcoholism
• drug abuse
Select ONE situation that you are most interested in exploring. You will conduct research (and possibly personal interviews, if possible) in order to write an essay that offers the reader background on the topic and makes an assertion about what elements of the situation impact a family in the most challenging of ways and supports it logically and interestingly.
Your thesis might read something like this:
When a family member develops dementia, the challenges are often devastating, yet the disease definitely impacts family members more than the dementia patient.
Or…
When a couple divorces, it most certainly impacts the children still living at home; however, it is the older children who have already moved away that are most affected by the split.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Sunday, 2nd posting, March 6th
...one more thing...:-)
while I am thinking about it...a quick reminder...if you could remember to indicate what section of English 20 you are in on your work, it would be so helpful!
Thank you!
while I am thinking about it...a quick reminder...if you could remember to indicate what section of English 20 you are in on your work, it would be so helpful!
Thank you!
Sunday afternoon, Feb. 6th
Hello,
there was not an opportunity last week to let you know what the turn over time is for essays once you submit them.
I make a real effort to return work to students in a very timely manner.
(I remember well how frustrating it is to wait weeks for work to be returned.)
To that end, I try to return out of class essays within a week of submission.
So, hopefully, you will have your out of class essay 1 by Wednesday of this week.
See you tomorrow!
there was not an opportunity last week to let you know what the turn over time is for essays once you submit them.
I make a real effort to return work to students in a very timely manner.
(I remember well how frustrating it is to wait weeks for work to be returned.)
To that end, I try to return out of class essays within a week of submission.
So, hopefully, you will have your out of class essay 1 by Wednesday of this week.
See you tomorrow!
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Saturday afternoon, March 5th
Just a head's up...
when you access the reading packet assignment online,
be sure you select the full text once you are at the site.
Any questions or problems, let me know!
when you access the reading packet assignment online,
be sure you select the full text once you are at the site.
Any questions or problems, let me know!
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Thursday morning, March 3, 2011
GREETINGS,
below you will find the information you need to complete Reading Packet #3 for next week.
I also wanted to address an issue that I have felt very uncomfortable about since yesterday's class. Likewise, a few students have also discussed their uncomfortableness with me. The issue surrounds the topic of fairness and responsibility. I clearly stated in my course outline, and again in class during the first week, that in class work could not be made up. However, for reasons I am not completely sure of, I relented yesterday and allowed those who had come unprepared to complete Journal 1 and submit it late.
After much anxiety, I have decided to adhere to my original policies regarding student responsibility and preparedness for class. Those students who were unable to complete the journal will not be able to turn the journal in late. I am sure that those who found themselves in this situation will agree that it is the right thing to do. And I apologize to the majority of students who came prepared for my momentary weakness--because it really IS, bottom line, a fairness issue.
READING ASSIGNMENT FOR WEDNESDAY
The following link will lead you to...Reading Packet #3, due to be read by Wednesday.
"Assessing and Managing Depression in the Terminally Ill Patient"
http://focus.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/3/2/310
It is an article published in the spring of 2005 in The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry.
It APPEARS at first glance to be very "academic"--however--do not fret. It is actually very readable and quite interesting. It offers case studies to consider which always aids in a rather academic topic such as this one.
Walter is obviously affected by his knowledge that he is terminally ill and so it is rather interesting to follow this idea further from television "land" to reality.
below you will find the information you need to complete Reading Packet #3 for next week.
I also wanted to address an issue that I have felt very uncomfortable about since yesterday's class. Likewise, a few students have also discussed their uncomfortableness with me. The issue surrounds the topic of fairness and responsibility. I clearly stated in my course outline, and again in class during the first week, that in class work could not be made up. However, for reasons I am not completely sure of, I relented yesterday and allowed those who had come unprepared to complete Journal 1 and submit it late.
After much anxiety, I have decided to adhere to my original policies regarding student responsibility and preparedness for class. Those students who were unable to complete the journal will not be able to turn the journal in late. I am sure that those who found themselves in this situation will agree that it is the right thing to do. And I apologize to the majority of students who came prepared for my momentary weakness--because it really IS, bottom line, a fairness issue.
READING ASSIGNMENT FOR WEDNESDAY
The following link will lead you to...Reading Packet #3, due to be read by Wednesday.
"Assessing and Managing Depression in the Terminally Ill Patient"
http://focus.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/3/2/310
It is an article published in the spring of 2005 in The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry.
It APPEARS at first glance to be very "academic"--however--do not fret. It is actually very readable and quite interesting. It offers case studies to consider which always aids in a rather academic topic such as this one.
Walter is obviously affected by his knowledge that he is terminally ill and so it is rather interesting to follow this idea further from television "land" to reality.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Tuesday morning, March 1st, 2011
Good morning!
(see how optimistic I am that you start every morning by
checking the blog? :-)....)
As you may have noticed, there is nothing noted for Friday this week.
This was a day I was going to give you "off" from class...as I mentioned at the beginning of the semester...that I would give you a day off at some point.
Of course, I had not anticipated being ill last week and canceling two classes!!!
However...
the day off is still yours.
Do something wonderful for yourself...and one small favor for someone else that day!
See you tomorrow...and NOT Friday.
(see how optimistic I am that you start every morning by
checking the blog? :-)....)
As you may have noticed, there is nothing noted for Friday this week.
This was a day I was going to give you "off" from class...as I mentioned at the beginning of the semester...that I would give you a day off at some point.
Of course, I had not anticipated being ill last week and canceling two classes!!!
However...
the day off is still yours.
Do something wonderful for yourself...and one small favor for someone else that day!
See you tomorrow...and NOT Friday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)