Descussion comparison

on my first descussion rubric, the thing I needed to work on most was equal participation. In the second descussion, I brought a list of points to make so that I would always be engaged in the descussion. It worked out pretty well and I think we had a fairly solid descussion.
Our group is working fairly well, for the most part. We have a tendancy to get off topic, and Alex has a tendancy to do anything for attention. But overall, the mix of free, goof off thinkers, and responcible, task oriented thinkers results in some very interesting, and in depth view points without boring everyone to death.

In Ralph (from lord of the flies) planned speech, he lays out all the issues at the same time, he spends more time pointing fingers at what everyone else is doing wrong and less on how to fix it. The bossiness and lack of leadership ability shows as no one listens to him and constantly interrupts him. Even though he had a poor speech, some of the kids would have started helping if Jack had not shouted at them like he was some sort of big deal. 

Jack’s speech in the television series Lost wasn't planned, it was an on the spot type thing. He had more of a “let’s do this together” vibe to his speech; more people listened as a result. Ralph was voted leader before anyone knew how he would do as a leader. No one knew if he had any leadership abilities at all. His lack of ability causes many of the kids to just kind of brush him off. Jack, from Lost, however, was not voted on, he emerged naturally by showing his leadership talents. There are always a few people with overinflated egos who won't listen, but for the most part, people will listen and follow Jack. This being said, I believe Jack from Lost is the better leader.

Sent book review

Sent

Reviewed by Ryan Ballentine

What would you do if you were the only one who could save history? This is the reality of Jonah and his little sister Kathryn in Haddix's Sent. The 2008 sci fi novels main protagonist is Jonah: a thirteen year old boy who was a baby stolen from the past along with 35 other kids, his sister Kathryn, she belongs in the 21st century.Chip: also one of the stolen children, in the past he was King Edward V, and kinda has a thing for Kathryn as he lets slip once he finds out his true identity “...maybe once you're feeling better, you’ll decide you like the fifteenth century and want to stay for good. Maybe you’ll want to be queen of England!”(Haddix 15) , 

Alex: Chip`s biological brother, in the past he was Richard, Duke of York.

All four are sent back in time to the 15th century to repair the damage done when the 36 children were taken from their home times. While in the middle ages they experience, uncles trying to kill their nephews (Chip and Alex) for the crown of england, medieval knight battles, and some really bad food. Along the way they try not to be noticed in their modern day clothes with modern day technology, and attempt, but fail at, not changing the course of history by interacting with major ‘players’ involved in the situation, while still trying to save the lives of Chip and Alex, who half the time are stuck in their tracers. Tracers are ghost representatives of what originally happened if no one interfered with time.

Overall, the novel is a pretty good read, being the second in a series, you have to read the first one to make any sense of it whatsoever, but if you do, it flows fairly easily and usually makes sense. being a time travel sci fi, I expected it to ramble on about machines, or just have people going back in time just because, well, they can. But that wasn't the case with this novel, the whole series more centers around the idea that no one has a destiny that is carved in stone, you mold your own future, and the things you experience change you forever. This becomes fairly present with the appearance of a tracer “They're tracers. They show you exactly what would have happened if no one had interfered in their time” (Haddix 26).

The story is written simply, it doesn't have many oversized words that you have to misspell six times in google to figure out what they mea. But the simple writing is also it’s biggest downfall, with the complex nature of the story the small and medium words occasionally end up a big cluster that you have to reread a few times to fully understand.

It is really interesting to see how a book thats whole story is based on an over complexity of one of the most overused topics in literature, can be so different from others, and still get a message across.

Malcolm Gladwell Response

What stood out to me the most in the Malcolm Gladwell chapter was that Warren Harding got through life so easily, he even got to be president, just based off of his looks! The basic take away message that I see is: don't judge some one by their looks. When it comes to leadership, unconscious bias's are very important. 

Take Warren Harding for example, he looked like a leader, so people followed him, he is also considered one of the worst presidents in american history.

 As we look at people like Piggy, from Lord of the Flies, we see that he is the polar opposite, he knows what needs to get done, he knows how to get it done, but no one follows him because he doesn't look like a leader.

 You can not really change your unconscious bias, but you can over look it by keeping conscious of who you're really dealing with.

 As far as leadership goes, it's hard to pinpoint just a few qualities that a leader must have, because there are so many types. But most can agree that a good leader must be: strong minded and not easily persuaded, but still open minded, calm, intelligent, resourceful, kind but still firm, determined, and as close to selfless as you can get them isn't too bad either.

I took the IAT Race test. My results were that I had a "moderate automatic preference for African American children compared to European American children". I was surprised by these results because I didn't think I had a bias at all.

Bell schedules, new vs. old

The late start Monday schedule is better for SRVHS. The late start Monday schedule allows students to ease into the week with more sleep, teachers get to leave at a regular time, and it is a more consistent schedule. With late start Monday, students get an extra hour to sleep on the first day of the week, this allows for the transition from weekend fun to school grind to be much smoother and reduces that "just ran into a brick wall" feeling that Monday morning gives most people.

The extra sleep also allows students to be more awake and attentive in class because they spend less time wishing they were still asleep. 

Mondays

	Start Time	End Time	Length
Staff Collaboration	7:30 AM	8:30 AM	60 min
Period A or Office Hours	8:40 AM	9:25 AM	45 min
Period 1	9:30 AM	10:15 AM	45 min
Period 2	10:20 AM	11:05 AM	45 min
Brunch	11:05 AM	11:15 AM	10 min
Period 3	11:20 AM	12:05 PM	45 min
Period 4	12:10 PM	12:55 PM	45 min
Lunch	12:55 PM	1:30 PM	35 min
Period 5	1:35 PM	2:20 PM	45 min
Period 6	2:25 PM	3:10 PM	45 min

With the new schedule teachers and staff can leave at their normal times. With the old schedule, a teacher who only taught A period through 4th period would have to stay through 5th and 6th so they can teach A period. This causes teachers to be tired and annoyed by the time A period comes in and 1st period the next day.

The new schedule is also more consistent, A period is always before 1st period. With the old schedule A period would be after 6th period on Tuesdays, causing some students to accidentally show up at their regular time, defeating the purpose of late start all together. Some students also forgot that A period was after 6th period and forgot to go o A period at all.

One might argue that the old schedule was better because it allowed student-athletes without A periods to get some food before practice, or that it was better because A period people and non A period people showed up at the same time and there for got the same amount of sleep. While it is true that many non A period athletes used the 50 minutes between class and when practice started to get something to eat, but, what about the athletes who had A periods? They not only did not have the chance to get a meal but they also had to start practice an hour further away from lunch causing them to be hungry all through practice. Many students quit playing their sport because of the stress of going through practices on an empty stomach.

As for the claim that the old schedule was better because every one got the same amount of sleep. Yes, everyone showed up at the same time, but, while A period people enjoyed their extra sleep, non A  period people showed up at the same time as they always do, not giving them a late start at all. However, they would get out Ann hour earlier which allowed for some social time, the only problem with that was, many of the non A period students friends had an A period, so the accrual prevented them  from hanging out after school. Overall, I believe that we can all agree that the new schedule is an improvement over the old one.

Introduction

 So, I'm Ryan and some of my hobbies are football,baseball,hunting, playing madden, and hanging out with friends. I don't really have a favorite book on account of I don't do a lot of reading in my spare time. My writing goal for this year is to be a better speller.
 "No one is delt a full deck, the trick is to use what you were delt to make up for what you weren't."- Frank Ballentine
My basic life philosophy is never get too comfortable because that's when you screw up.