Introduction Into a New Semester

  I started my new semester today, later than most i must say, kind of disappointing but i have no one else to blame but myself. We've been through this already but just in case you don't remember me or your new to my blog, my name is Stephanie. Eighteen year old New York City bound young lady, soon to be college student in January (Hopefully).  This course is not new to me seeing that I failed it last semester *sigh* but here's to my current and hopefully my last time in this class. Its ironic that I failed this class and English is my favorite subject. Well this new semester I vowed to myself that I would pass all my classes and get my High School Diploma by January.  We will be focusing on Neuroscience and the Teenage brain so yeah, I'm excited to see what this course will offer me this semester. What do you think is the most interesting part of the brain?

True Grit

Failure is not something i handle well but i don't let that knock me down. Failure should drive you!
Grit is passion.
Grit is living life as it is a Marathon, NOT a sprint.
The Growth Mindset is the ability to learn that you can change with your effort.

1. Your intelligence is something very basic about you that you can't change very much.
-Disagree

2. You can learn new things, but you can't really change how intelligent you are.
-Disagree

3. No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.
-Agree

4. You can always substantially change how intelligent you are.
-Agree

After viewing a video that talked about Grit I realized that I didn't have a lot of it, it is something I must work on because Grit is the key to a successful life. Talent does not determine the amount of Grit that you have, you must be willing to fail and knowing failure is not a permanent situation. Grit can be developed. How do YOU respond to failure? 

Argument Essay

                                                                     Quick Write      
Based on my research and yesterdays debate my opinion on selective schools have not changed much, I still hold a neutral standpoint but I am edging towards a disagreement that "smart" kids should have their own schools.

                                                                           Task 
I've decided after "sitting on the fence" for a while on the selective schools issue that I would be taking a disagreement stance.  Even though I do also believe that there should be selective schooling because I am a realist and that is something about me that at times I wish I could put aside. When it comes to issues that can be well debated such as this topic I always stay neutral because Its hard for me to take a side. I can always see the good and bad aspects of things.

Life is hard, we all know that but lets just think about what it is that makes this life worth living.  What is it that makes our life worth living for? Who are you living for is it your kids? your mother and father? The love of your life? When I think of life I just remind myself that the reason I am still living I because I have a mission on earth that I have to complete.  What makes life worth living for me is the fact that if I work really hard and go to college, go to Medical school, succeed, and become a Surgeon I can finally be able to live the life I've envision for myself and my family. There are endless wonders awaiting in my future. After watching the Video on Locked-In Syndrome I asked myself two questions: 1) How can people live like that? and 2) How having a fixed and growth mindset affect the views of people with Locked-In Syndrome? the thought of living without my body made me depressed. So lets just think about life and what is it we are truly living for.

Selective Schools or Not?

                                                                     Quick Write
I was asked if I thought smart kids should get their own classes like the kids in Stuyvesant or Bronx Science and personally I say "No" because it can just make other students feel less intelligent but then again I feel that classes should be separate but both should give challenging work. Put yourself in the shoes of a "Smart kid" how would you feel if you had classes with a "not so smart kid"? would you feel not so smart or would you feel superior in intellect? Now put yourself in the shoes of a "Not so smart kid", how would you feel being in a class with a "Smart kid"? would you feel inferior or would it motivate you to work hard and become one of those "Smart kids"? some may even say that tracking in education really has nothing to do with intelligence but rather race.

"On the surface, whether to group by ability is a debate about best practices in education. But in practice, the discussion inevitably revolves around race and equality. This is because, predominantly, the students in low-track classes are minorities and low-income." This came from the National Journal

                                                                         Summary

   We basically discussed if there should be selective schools, what kind of impact would they have on "smart" kids and "not so smart" kids with growth and fixed mindsets.                                                                            

Identifying Claims

                                                                    Quick Write
What in your mind is the best Invention ever created? I don't know if you can say that music was invented but if you could say so then i believe that music was the best invention known to mankind.  I say this because music is one of the best ways for one to help identify his or hers own feelings, melodic tones and lyrics can be used to better express ourselves.

                                                         Summary of Today's Lesson
Reading "The Truth About Ability And Accomplishment", Chapter Three of The Mindsets, Doctor Carol S. Dweck  talks about achievements, why some people achieve more and others less, and how the growth mindset ties into it.  One of the interesting claims that was made was that kids with fixed mindsets, when entering Junior High showed a decline in school opposed to kids with growth mindsets who achieved more. She compared kids with growth mindsets to Thomas Jefferson, Darwin, Mozart, and George Dantzig, a graduate student from Berkeley.  All who's curiosity drove them to work hard and achieve even more.

Why don't people trust their own judgement?

Someone asked "Why don't people trust their own judgments?" Well my answer to that is, why should we? nothing is guaranteed. Nobody can be right 100% of the time. I believe that our own experiences shape our judgements. What we face or go through and how we handle those things are a part of how we perceive things. A person who faces harder times feels the world is always against him/ her, their mindset will most likely change from growth to fixed. I mean if you feel nothing good ever happens in or comes out of your life than why would you trust what you think when you cant even believe in a better situation for yourself, Right?...
After reading the article, my opinion did not change much but only got stronger. I still believe we can change how we are even though there are certain aspects that we cannot change but if we try and motivate ourselves to do better than we can still succeed. Maybe we will not reach our specific goals but we might even accomplish something more and gain recognition from people we never even expected.

Just A Begining

My name is Stephanie I am A seventeen year Old High School student, living in New York City.  I'm og Nigeria Origins,   I've been living here since I was very young.  I was recently challenged to make a Blog in my English class in where I report on my lessons.  Hopefully i can learn many new things, advancing in challenging one's critical thinking, and becoming a better writer.