Fix The Shading On The Children's Faces

This poem depicts the sadness of Racism that goes on today. People do not realize that the Race that you were born with is not something that you can just randomly change, or even need to change. The acceptance of others Race and ethnics have been problemized for centuries and centuries. We have gotten to a certain point today where people can live somewhat freely, however, it is really never ending. This is something that will most probably always go on. We just have to hope it will lessen and lessen over time.

We Cannot But Chuse To Hear

G-d created nature. Because nature was created by G-d, it is basically not ours to control. People nowadays, however, believe that they can do what they want with the world today. They believe that they have control over everything. We can see this control through many things that go on in this world- especially with the oil spill. These creatures as you can see on the picture above, are suffering because of this. Hopefully, as time goes on, we can realize what we are doing with these creatures and change what we are actually doing ourselves.

Required Assignment Number 2

Survey 1: Core Beliefs About Mind, Body, Spirit, and Reality Survey

The Title of this Survey contains many principles that are important to be aware of. These principles include the Mind, Body, and Reality of every human. These principles though, are definitely not black or white. Each one is different and contains their own understanding in their own peculiar way.

The Mind is something that I believe is an intangible object. It is something that can only be understood within the actual person. It does not have that physical quality like the brain.

The Body however, does have that physical quality, but the physical quality is specific to that person. Even when there are identical twins that are born, the bodies of both humans are not exactly identical.

Spirit though is the Spiritual quality of the person that goes hand in hand with the mind. It is that innate spark that is in every human that helps them go about their day to day life. It is not something that cannot really be explained though. It is more of that feeling that every person has within them through different experiences and actions that is being done.

The Survey then continues to ask many questions of Reality. Reality, I believe though, cannot really be explained either. For Reality to one person, is different to the Reality of another person. Every person has their own sense of what Reality is due to their experiences, cultures, ideas, and just being them as a person. To me, my Survey will most definitely be completely different than your Survey. This is really valid, because everyone is completely different in their understandings of this concept.

All in all though, I believe that a person needs all these concepts to understand their essence and who they are as a person.

Survey 2: Core Beliefs-What I Learned From My Parents

A child can only be born through their parents. Whether it is a dog, cat, elephant, bird… each creature is created through two beings that come together. These two beings can be separate or together. No matter what they are though, these two beings are THE PARENTS of that particular creature. If it were not for these two beings, then the child would never be born.

There are times though that The Parents do not take care of their child. They can either give the child up for adoption, or not take the time to take care of that particular child to teach it and grow with it. In this case, the survey will most probably vary from one to five.

However, I got really lucky, and in my case my survey does not vary much. I had the privilege to have those peculiar parents that have been together for more than thirty years. Thirty years of growth, knowledge, and love that I will take with me wherever I go.

To me, there are many things that I learned over time from friends and different experiences. However, since I am a very open person, it all came back to my parents to really complete the picture of gaining the knowledge.

I feel even more privileged to have taken this survey, because it just continues to remind me how lucky I am.

Survey 3: Core Beliefs-How I Was Raised

In this Survey, there were many different questions pertaining to my Culture. My particular Culture is of Jewish Orthodoxy. Even though I was born with many different ideas and concepts of Judaism, I do not believe it is something that is just innate, as people say, that I cannot see myself doing without because I grew up with it. To me, I feel like my parents gave me the knowledge of this particular Culture, and over time after experiencing many different aspects of it, I came to actually choosing it for myself and my future family.

So the question then comes to why I actually choose this religion over all others. Well, after doing research I just see this is the Culture that I see myself most in. As I said, not because I grew up with it all my life, but because I love the different concepts and things that take place in this particular Culture than any other. I feel like when I am actually doing something, like keeping the Sabbath every week, I’m doing it because I want to.

There are many times though that I have been asked, how can I dress like that because it is so hot outside! Or, oh it must be so hard growing up with those restrictions. However, I do not view anything that I do as a restriction. For if I did view it as a restriction, then I would most probably not be doing it and having the desire to do it.

All in all, the Culture that a person has is something that helps in making that particular person. It is something that helps the person have that certain sense of belief that may be needed to keep the person going with what they have to be doing in this world.

Survey 4: Beliefs about Men

There are many different types of Men in this world. There are kind men, angry men, happy men, annoying men… the list just goes on and on. Each one has their own specific characteristics and beliefs that make each one who they are specifically. Just like anyone else in this world, these characteristics that create each one consist of those that are good and bad.

There are many women though, that resent the idea of men in general because they view them as ‘pigs’. I am always sticking up for them though. I grew up in the crowd with guys rather than the girls. To me, the guys are the ones that make things fun and exciting. Women get very temperamental and frustrated more than men do. With men, things aren’t read into like the way women read into things. What’s before you is just what it is.

This is my favorite aspect of men. Why you may ask? Because to me this is what makes things real and true. With women, things get all tangled up and the many different concepts are become hard to understand because things are just not what they appear to be. However, with men things just make sense because things are black and white.

If you want, you can find bad in everyone and everything if you wanted to. However, to enjoy life I feel like you have to view the good and disregard most of the bad. This is what I attempt to do when it comes to the concept of men, because too many people don’t take the time to try to understand the good in them as well.

Survey 5: Beliefs about Women

Reading my reflection on the survey about men, you may think that I do not appreciate women because I grew up closer to the guys rather than the girls. This is not so, because even though women are complicating and hard to understand most of the time, this is what really makes the picture complete and more enjoyable. Because when women attempt to delve into concepts more, the meaning is what creates that feeling that keeps things more interesting to then want to continue with many other concepts that go on in this world today.

There are many women though, that get intimidated of the concept of the idea of a man because they get intimidated when there is a lot more control that the men have. This is where the idea of women’s rights and the idea of women working because being a homemaker is just not something that is so to say as ‘fulfilling’ as going out and working as the men.

To me though, I feel like many women lower the concept of homemaking because they feel like it is not as great as going out and working like the men. The idea of homemaking though, if you think about it, is an unbelievable and amazing privilege to have and be able to do. It is the place where the children are molded in to the human beings that will continue on in the world.

This is a place where men are not really privileged in. Because the women delve into things more and try to understand things on a deeper level, the concept of the home becomes so much more beautiful when they are in control in creating it.

Survey 6: Beliefs about Race

This survey upset me a bit more than others. Because even though I have never experienced trouble and tribulations because of the certain Race that I am, I still feel for those that have experienced things because of the Race that they are born with.

This idea is very upsetting because the person can have so many amazing qualities and accomplishments in life, however, they are being judged by something that is uncontrollable. It is not like that a person can just look into a coloring book and choose the color they want to be. They were put in that particular body, with that particular color. It is just the way it is.

So when people judge and hate because of what they were automatically put in without choice, it gets so frustrating. Because being a different color should not be a negative thing. If everyone were the same, then the world would not be as amazing as it is now. What makes the world so beautiful, is the different people, cultures, and race that partake in it. Each one contributes something different to make the world even more than what it is.

So with understanding the concept of Race, what’s there to understand? It just is what it is. It is something that makes the world more interesting and will continue to make interesting.

Survey 7: Beliefs about Sex and Gender

In order for the world to live on and continue on once people pass away, can only be done through this amazing experience of Sex. Without it, creation would then cease to exist. One can only continue on with what they accomplished in this world, through creating someone to continue the legacy.

This Survey, I believe, brings together the previous surveys of Parents, Men, and Women. The man and woman come together to have this experience to then create a child. To have this child continue on in this world with growth and love, we hope that the man and woman will come together to be stable parents for that particular child.

This idea is nice if things really worked this way. However, there are many parents who seperate and leave the child fending for themself. This is where the child must figure out things on their own. Most children are sent to orphanages so that a family can fill in the place the void of his or her parents.

Even though I do not believe in the idea of homosecuality, there is still going to be this concept in this world today. By the child being put into the orphanage, I believe that the homosexuals can now atleast get some type of experience on having their legacy live on by adopting.

So even though the child may not have those stable parents to guide them and be there for them, there is still other options which will in turn make the homosexuals happy as well.

Survey 8:Your Educational Philosophy

Completing this Survey just made me even more excited to become a teacher in a classroom. For the questions being asked were specific and detailed questions that will G-d willing be incorporated into my future classroom. My answers though, varied a bit.

The answers varied between the curriculum and the actual child that will be in the classroom. I saw myself leaning more to the side of focusing more of my time on the child's environment, growth, and development as a person. I do believe there must be a set curriculum in the classroom to base the teachings on, However, I do not believe the classroom is just there for the text in the book. The classroom is there for the growth of that peculiar child to take place.

If you think about it though, the curriculum and the child's growth comes hand in hand. Because growth is not able to take place without the curriculum. The curriculum must be there as a basis so that the child can learn and understand different things and ideas in order to have that change and growth to actually occur.

In the end, there must be that certain balance in the classroom. The balance is having that basis of curriculum so that the child can have that ability of growth before heading out into the real world.

Survey 9:Your Political Typology

There were a few questions about the Government in this Survey. To me, the Government is not good or bad, it is neautral. Because just like everything else in life, there is nothing completely good or completely bad. There is good and bad. Both. People do not think about this often when speaking about the government.

I believe this is a major problem in society today. It makes people feel better when they can blame something on someone else when something is going wrong. This becomes a huge problem. For people aren't doing what they have to do, but they are just passing the blame so there is nothing required of them.

This turns into an even larger problem because then society will never change for good. How is this so? Because if a person is constantly passing the blame on someone else then no change will ever take place. In order for change to take place, one needs to assess the situation and figure out what they need to do to fix the problem.

So when it speaks about the government, I get upset when people say that the Government is so bad. The Government is there to do somthing about what is going on, like it or not, If the person disagrees with what the Government is doing, then try to do something about it. But just blaming the Government and not attempting to take action, does not help the situation at all.

Community Service Hours 3

Community Service Hours 2

Community Service Hours 1

Most Interesting Of Our American Birds

I think there is a huge problem of people just not being knowledgeable in subjects like this. I mean, I didn't know about the topic of the birds until now.If we were to spread the word and explain what is happening to these poor creatures then I think more would get done. For once you explain the importance in something, then people begin to take it more seriously. I know now that this will be something in my head that I will G-d willing explain to others to see if there is something that can be done for these innocent creatures.

Stormy Weather

I feel like this poem just shows the different Paradigms that come about as time goes on. When the boy was twelve- this woman was the most beautiful human ever created. However, as he grew up his Paradigm shifted from the importance of her beauty to the importance of what she does. And this to me is what it is all about. When we view something at first, we have a judgement of what that person or thing is without even understanding the background to it. But once time goes on, and we understand more of the backgrounds of things then everything becomes more clear and the picture can become better understood.

Awaiting An Appropriate Provocation

"tell me, arizonans, is a god"
Viewing these words, you can understand exactly what is going on in this poem and in Arizona as well. The Arizonians basically are acting as a so called god. What does this mean exactly?They are controlling and making laws that are not supposed to be in their power. Who are these Arizonians to try to control a group of people just because they are different?
Hopefully, protests will be made and this group of people will be able to live peacefully without being disturbed by those who view themselves as god.

Quiz Number 10

Reflection Paper Number 16

Every human is either born Male or Female. However, as time goes on, there have been many different psychologists and doctors that attempt to understand the differentiation between the actual physicality differences between these two different Sexes. As studies and tests were being done, the idea of Intersexuality and Transextuality came into play.
Intersexuality is understood as the concept of understanding the differentiation of the Male and Female. The differentiation is explained by saying that there is not a main difference between the two. Meaning that a Male and Female is very similar so it becomes difficult to understand the difference between them.
Transexuality is understood as the Male or Female being born as the Male or Female, yet they believe that they are of the opposite sex. They usually show this belief by acting and dressing as the opposing sex that they were born with.
Reading the articles to understand these two concepts was very useful for me. Because by understanding these two concepts, it just pushed me towards my beliefs even more. To explain my belief I’m going to go back to the basics of the Chromosomes of a Male & Female.
When a Man & Woman come together they each have their own peculiar Chromosome. The X Chromosome is the Female, and the Y Chromosome is the Male. Each one contributes his or her own Chromosome to then create a human being. The human being is then determined by which Chromosome that becomes more dominate.
To me, this negates the idea of Intersexuality right off the bat. Because the differentiation of the Chromosomes is basic material for all scientists and psychologists. They base their material on this basic differentiation of the Chromosomes. So the idea of Intersexuality and not understanding exactly whether the human is Male or Female is basically not applying because the Chromosomes already negate this factor.
The idea of Transexuality is also negated. For the Male or Female may not like the sexuality that they were born with, but they will always be that sex no matter what. The male is the male, and the female is the female. This is just the way it is.
So the concepts are useful because they attempt to show me where people are coming from when they dress or act in a certain way. However, the concepts to me are not valid to my understanding of the differentiation of the Male and Female.

Reflection Paper Number 15

There are many theories on the concept of Homosexuality. However, there are two main ones that have been discussed by many psychologists over time that should be addressed.
The first theory states that a person is Born Gay. Meaning, it was something that was already in their genes at birth. In this theory, the person is unable to do anything about their Homosexuality because it was instilled in them at birth.
In the second theory, the idea of Homosexuality comes over time. So the person is able to control the feelings that are being taken place. In this case, the person was surrounded by different factors in their lives that caused him to become a Homosexual. It was not something that was born in him by default.
Being an Orthodox Jew, I am going to explain my point of view through a passage in the Bible. The Bible states, that G-d created Adam, and eventually created Eve to be his partner. Viewing this idea, one can see that Homosexuality does not seem to fit into this scenario. G-d created Adam and Eve; He did not create Adam and Joshua or Adam and Isaiah. There must be a reason why the whole entire Bible begins with the concept of Adam and Eve.
I believe that only by the unification of Adam and Eve, or Man and Woman, can there then be this beautiful concept of consummating a child. Two men are not able to experience this amazing experience that is experienced between a Man and Woman.
I am not trying to say that there should not be any Homosexuals in this world. Nowadays, people feel what they feel and go with their gut. I personally do not agree with this idea of Homosexuality, only because I do not believe G-d wanted humans to be that way. However, even though I may disagree, I will not go and force my opinions on others. If this is something that I believe, then it is something that I will do for myself and my family. I will not attempt to change the way people do things.
In conclusion, do I believe that there is Homosexuality in this world today? Yes. However, I do believe that it is not something that is just innate in the human. It is something that can definitely be controlled if one desired to control it.

Reflection Paper Number 14

In the article, The Tale of Two Islands, Miami is described as an area that is good for immigration. It explains how there were many immigrants from Cuba and Haiti that migrated down to this area of Miami to live in a free way.
This concept is really something remarkable to understand. The Cubans and Haitians were suffering in their own land. Once they experienced their own distinct Revolution, the Americans then came into the picture. The concept then becomes self-explanatory. The Americans would have to make room for these immigrants that were coming into their land.
This idea becomes problematic for the Cubans and Haitians. For not only are they leaving their homeland that they are accustomed to, but they are coming into a land where the Americans are not only different but financially stable as well. Coming into this new environment definitely was not easy for them to cope with. They had to change their personal lifestyles in order to fit into this distinct land.
By understanding this idea, I believe that Institutional Racism is able to take place.
Institutional Racism, unlike Individualized Racism, happens when Racism occurs to a group of people. In this case, the groups are the Haitians and Cubans. Meaning, even though the Americans were so to say letting the Haitians and Cubans in, there is still that sense of them not being the typical American. With this in mind, there will always be that concept of these groups never actually fitting in. This is done because every human will always have prejudgments for anything that is different than what they are used to. These prejudgments are sitting in their unconscious mind without the American even realizing it. This is understandable, because no one is perfect. They can try to accept others whole-heartedly, but there will always be something inside that will cause this Institutional Racism to eventually take place.
All in all, I think the migration of the Haitians and Cubans was a definite step up towards lessening the Racism that occurs in society today. However, I believe that no matter how hard we try, there will still always be that iffy feeling of the group of people being different than what the Americans are used to.

Reflection Paper Number 13

There are people who enjoy looking at a picture that is completely white. They want nothing else but white on that picture. They analyze it and view it like it is this amazing piece of work. But it is really just white. One day, a color comes into the picture. It can either be black, purple, blue… whatever it is, it is something different than that white. Once these people view this occurrence, they believe that the picture is now tainted; that there is something wrong to have color there. They view it, and it bothers them, so they want to remove it. They then attempt to remove it without thinking of the actual color in the picture. Why are they able to do this? Because the picture is mostly white.
This to me is exactly what Racism is.
Usually, what happens is, there are many different groups of people that are of many different colors. The problem occurs; when there are situations where there is more of one color than the other. Because of this, the majority then decides to take control. Now if you try to analyze how this group does this, it becomes very simple. When you have more people that look like you, it becomes very simple to exclude those that do not look like you.
This to me is very problematic. The group that is taking control only have one thing in mind, themselves and their color. So anyone who comes in to taint that needs to be removed or degraded out of the picture.
If you look into history, whites were very dominant. Not because they were greater or smarter, but because there was just more of them. They believed that they were greater than any other color. But what’s funny is, they were only able to do that because there were more of them. The control was basically handed to them because they won by majority as default.
It becomes saddening to then think of the many different colors that they affected. They ruined human beings lives because they wanted their picture to be a certain way. It becomes mind boggling to see what these people did.
I must say that the story of Emmett Till nails this idea. He was such a young happy little black boy. All he did was whistle at a white woman, and it was all downhill from there. The poor boy was killed in such a treacherous way.
It is so nice to see how now whites are not able to get as much as they did with the story of Emmett. Now because of boys and girls like Emmett, things have changed, and the picture is not only white anymore. It became multicolored so people can live in peace.

Quiz Number 9

si m mouri, ou pral mouri!

This poem is very important to understand because it describes what is being done to Haiti. There are so many people that are making themselves the main priority that they don't think of others. Not only do they not think of others, but they don't even come to the realization of how the land is being treated.
The land is trying to say it is dying, yet ofcourse the people just do not want to listen. Because of this, the people don't realize that they are digging up their own graves. They are not understanding that what they are doing to the land will eventually affect them as a whole. And this is the sad part about it. That people think they are taking care of themselves, however, they're really not, they are destroying themselves as much as they are destroying the land.

hb2281

"tell me & i will forget, teach me & i might remember; involve me & i will learn."

If you attempt to try to understand what this phrase means, you will see that it is a very important concept. If someone randomly tells you something, you are not focusing as much as you would if someone were to teach you something. When it is being taught to you, you have a certain mindset of trying to absorb that information for future use. However, if someone were to tell you something, your mindset would probably be understanding the concept just for that moment, to then forgetting what went on. The most important one to remember though is when one gets involved then the concept will actually be learnt.
The people in Arizona, had their own culture and ethics that was learnt from when they were born until now. However, now a group is deciding to take all this knowledge and customs away for what was learnt and for what they were used to.
If you think about it, people spend lifetimes not learning or not becoming someone or something. So to actually have someone that learned something and became something; it becomes depressing to think of them becoming extinct just because someone decided they wanted to have them removed.

Quiz Number 8

Required Assignment Number 1

Maria Gonzales is one of those teachers that a student goes to school for. Her all around type of personality fit so well in the first grade classroom in North Beach Elementary. Here are the many things that I learned from this particular teacher.
Maria had around twenty five students in her classroom. Each one of them had a different background. One was Spanish, the other Asian, the other African American etc. Although, they were all different, she treated each one in their own particular way. She had this sense of fairness to each and every student even though each one was different in their own way.
Maria herself is Spanish, so she already knew what it was like being here without fitting in to this society right away. This experience just helped her even more with her students. She recognized whenever a student had trouble communicating and addressed it with having other students pay attention to see the diverse aspects of the classroom.
Most of her learning styles were hands on material. This to me made sense, because first graders are still young, and having that hands on learning helped them grasp more of the concepts so that it stuck.
The classroom was set up with groups of desks bunched together. This made it easier for her, because the students would have that particular group that she was able to monitor and see what was going on. By having the grouping like this, she was able to have those students that tend to act out more than others separate into a group with those more studious. This just helped her as well have that control in the classroom that was needed.
The atmosphere in the classroom was definitely a warm place where anyone would feel comfortable attending.
The material in the classroom alternated from English, Math, Science, Literature and then a topic that was taught about different things that was going on in the world today.
There was one student in the classroom that had Type A Diabetes. She was only able to snack on healthy food. One day, she forgot her snacks at home, and being such a young girl she was hungry. Maria had stated the case in the classroom and all of a sudden different students started offering some of their healthy snacks. This just shows how when one student needed something the provisions were made to help that particular student.
She encouraged all her students to understand the diversity between each one of them. If a situation came up where a student was being inappropriate towards another student’s background or language, Maria would address it. She would then make it clear how what was done was not appropriate and how everyone in the classroom is equal.



To reflect on the classroom in general, I must say that it was the perfect class for me to do my Service Learning in for this semester; because there was really a diverse group of students. Having this, I was able to see how multicultural awareness really takes place. I understand now that actually being multiculturally aware is something that is learnt over an amount of time. I am never going to know everything about every different culture before I begin to teach in a classroom. I feel like now I know it is a more learn as you go experience. That if I do get faced in a classroom with something that I am unaware of, I will then have to go home and try to look up what it is I do not know. Once I understand the new knowledge I will then be prepared in the future if it ever comes up again.
I also became aware of the many different paradigms that take place in one particular classroom. There is the teacher, the student, and in this particular case me as the observer. The teacher views the classroom as her domain where it is her job to control the students and give off the knowledge that she has gained to them. The student’s paradigm is completely different. They are not in control, so they view the classroom in a totally different way. They are viewing more on how to make more friends, or how they can fit in. With me though, I’m viewing both paradigms to try to understand as much as I can for my particular profession. There is so much that I took notes on that I hope will stick with me for when I will be able to have that control in a particular classroom.
All in all, I feel like this class is something that really must be taken seriously. There are so many concepts that are so important to know before even thinking of stepping into a classroom to teach. Going in, I was definitely viewing this class as another class that I have to get over with. However, as the concepts and different ideas were coming up, I definitely saw that this was not just another class that I was attending.
I hope that after this field experience and the knowledge I gained from EDF 2085 I can be one step closer to my true goal in becoming a teacher.

Reflection Paper Number 12

G-d put a person in this world. This person has his or her own characteristics, color, cultures etc. The person is unable to change their physical characteristics for someone else even though others want them to. Because of this, this person must experience hardships and suffering for just being themselves. This suffering and hardships occur to individuals, and many ethnic groups as well. This is exactly what the people in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Dafur had to go through. They were basically ethnically cleansed and Genocided for whom they were. When a group gets ethnically cleansed or Genocided, it means that the group is getting eliminated for who they are as a group in general. What happens is, the people they are surrounded by do not agree with who they are as a group, so they want to obliterate them completely. This was done to these few groups of people in a similar way but a different one as well. In Darfur, the government decided to do these mass killings in Western Sudan. This mutilation was against the Non Arabs. Because these Non Arabs did not fit in; they were then destroyed. In Rwanda, the killings took place in 1994. The Tutsi population was destroyed because who they were as a group. In Bosnia, the Serb military did not agree with who the Muslims were. Each group is different in their own sense because they do have their own culture and ethnic background, which was why they were destroyed. However, they have that similarity again, because they were all destroyed for their ethnicity and who they were. One really must give these many different groups props for what they did. Because they decided not to change who they were as an ethnicity, and by doing this they basically wrote a payable check to these murderers to take their lives. Every person in every single one of these groups signed off this check, for they were all killed together as a group for staying strong in who they were as a people. I feel like there is so much to learn from these people. Everyone really must understand who they are and accept it like these groups did even though they were destroyed because of it.

Quiz Number 7

Emmett Till

Until today, I never knew of Emmett Till. After reading this information and seeing the documentary in class, I am baffled and upset how I really was not knowledgeable about this young boy. The idea of racism was bigger than I can ever imagine. It amazes me how people make themselves superior over others just because they feel like they are. It is definitely depressing to see what happened to this young boy. He had no time to live his life. While the people who destroyed him went about their day like nothing ever happened. The picture of Emmett Till will most probably stay in my head for awhile. It's something that will remind me constantly when I see people coming into power. I hope one day, people can see his story and realize that this stupidity of power is not worth losing a boy's life.