The Very Last Blog

For our very last blog ever, we were asked to give a reflection of the class as a whole and what we gained from it. Personally, I loved this class and the things it opened my eyes to. I can't speak for our class as a whole, but I think we all looked forward to it everyday. Because our class was so small, we got pretty close, so I felt comfortable sharing my opinion and actually engaging in the discussions we had in class. In my week 4 blog, I wrote, "It just so happened to work out that I was dealing with an issue of academic integrity in one of my classes at the time," about my personal experience in dealing with cheating. Talking about the issue in class really helped me to get my thoughts in order so I could deal with the issue at hand. We discussed a lot more in addition to that. Pretty much everything from learning how to do everything within the honors community and our classes to learning about diversity and inclusion. We definitely focused most of our attention on diversity and inclusion.



Even though we spent quite a bit less time talking about the other two learning outcomes, I still gained so much from them. One of our learning objectives involved learning all the different ways our campus and degree programs are designed to help us succeed, as well as all of the various tools available to us. Honestly, if we hadn't discussed this in class, I would be clueless. We were shown how to register for classes and see which classes we needed for our degrees. We learned what the catalog was, and as Toni stated in her week 10 blog, "They told informed us about the course catalog, which none of us had heard of. The course catalog is a list of major specific requirements that were set for the year you declared that major." So that was super helpful. I think we all would've been going into it blind had we not discussed it. Because we had been talking about engaging with our degrees, we were asked to pick the values that we thought were most important. I remember being pretty proud of mine, and the more we discussed each of ours, I was pretty proud of my classmates too. In the blog I wrote that week, I said, "Nearly all of us had "determination" or "hard-working" as one of our top five, so I think that's something to be said about honors kids."



Our main course of action throughout this semester was diversity and inclusion. By far my favorite thing we explored this semester. The topics we discussed opened my eyes to so many different racial issues that I had been blind to before. Some of the things that were brought to my attention were things that I wish I had looked into sooner. With all of the information at my fingertips, all I had to do was look. Our first look into diversity and inclusion began with the movie "Which Way Home." The movie focused primarily on immigration, and my takeaway from the film was stated pretty clearly in this line from my week 5 blog where I said, "We were all aware of the way immigration is currently viewed and handled in our country, but films like this give us a chance to see the other side of the story." While most of us had never seen the movie or had much knowledge in the area of immigration, I noticed Bry's blog from this same week was a bit different. In her blog, she says that she had already seen the film a few times before, and it seemed her experience with the film had not changed from the number of times seeing it as she states, "... it was heartbreaking to see it again and be reminded of the harsh reality some of these kids face." Although I had not seen this movie before it was shown to us in class, I had read a book called Enrique's Journey that followed a very similar journey as the one shown in the film. The topics like these discussed in class were heart breaking, but at the same time I knew it was something we needed to see if we were to fully understand the weight of issues like these.



In conclusion, I'm really really going to miss this class. In nearly any blog that was on any topic but diversity and inclusion, you could find the majority of class kind of bummed that we couldn't keep discussing these topics that meant so much to us. We were all always so eager to learn more about the world around us and how we fit into it. Even when we strayed from our favorite topics, Dra. McGrath and Taylor always had ways for us to enjoy what we were learning and get the most out of everything as possible. From lines like, "Sadly, we had to return to talking about our regularly scheduled topics this week," from any blog following a week of diversity and inclusion, you can tell I would've rather continued talking about immigration and race and learning all there was to know.

Evaluating Information & Academic Research

Introduction

This week in class, we got to practice and learn more about a skill that will be important in not only our college careers, but in the rest of our lives. We learned how to evaluate sources to see if they're reliable. We also tested our skills at finding reliable sources.

Monday

On Monday, we discussed how to tell real news from fake news. We discussed where we typically go to find reliable sources for research papers and such. We all mostly agreed that we usually go to Galileo or we use Google Scholar. Taylor also showed us a few tricks on how to narrow our searches in Galileo to more easily find what we're looking for. Then we got to have a little fun as Dra. McGrath gave us a little quiz on fake news. We were shown the first page of 21 different news articles, and we had to determine whether they were real or fake. Some of them were pretty surprising. By about the tenth news article, we were learning what to look for without having to try and read the entire first page. The best things you can look for when quickly evaluating the information given to you are the source that wrote it as well as the source of any pictures used. Most pictures used in fast news articles aren't everything they seem to be. For example, some news sites that try to generate a quick reaction about a recent hurricane might be inclined to use an outdated picture of a worse one in the past. At the end of class, we were asked to prepare a powerful question and find a blog and academic article related to it. 

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we were asked to bring in our sources and information from the homework assigned to us on Monday. Taylor was also left to deal with us by herself so props to her for surviving that. Since Dra. McGrath had a meeting, Taylor got to teach us about the CRAAP method of checking your sources. CRAAP stands for Currency, Relevancy, Authority, Accuracy, and Purpose. These five things are the most important things to look for each time you go to evaluate a possible source. Currency: how recent is the information? Is it still relevant in today's time? For example, you wouldn't use a source from the 1920's in a psychology paper because it's a fast growing field, and that information would be outdated. Relevancy: Does the information relate to your topic? You wouldn't use an article about TV shows as a source in an essay about farm animals. They have no relation to each other. Authority: Is the author of the source credible? Would you rather trust an article written by someone with a PhD or anyone with a laptop and access to the internet? Accuracy: How do you know the information is accurate? Some of this is common sense, but sometimes you may have to dig a bit deeper. If a source starts off by stating things you know are wrong, you wouldn't trust it, but if you aren't familiar with the field, you may have to give it a bit more effort. Purpose: What is the authors reason for writing the information? Whether it be to persuade, inform, sell, or entertain, make sure it falls in line with what you're using it for, and be aware that depending on their reason for writing, it may effect the way they present the information.

Registration Prep & Meaningful Inquiry

Introduction

This week in class we discussed two very important topics related to our college careers. Monday was a whole overview on registration, and Wednesday led us to talk about asking powerful questions.

Monday - Registration

On Monday, Mrs. Martin came in to talk to us about everything we needed to know about registering for classes. This is a whole new world for us. We've never had to register for our own classes before. Up until now, we had had schedules of classes just handed to us. I don't know about everyone else, but I would've been lost entirely without the help. She showed us pretty much everything we needed to know. We went over how to search for our classes and were shown how to check the prerequisites if needed. The more we talked about it, the more all of us were getting excited to register.

Wednesday - Powerful Questions

On Wednesday, we discussed the article "The Art of Powerful Question." It was all about what makes a question powerful and how they effect people. A question is powerful when it makes people think and contemplate things deeply. Powerful questions are ones that typically leave room for discussion. They often include more of a "why" or "how" rather than a simple "yes or no." A big part of making a question powerful also involves its scope, that is, the audience it's meant to reach. You don't want to make a question too broad. You likely won't get any helpful answers if you do. Another important aspect is the assumptions placed in the question. Assumptions within a question can lead to people getting defensive rather than taking the question in its entirety and thinking about it. Part of our class exercise for the day was discussing some recent event in our lives and constructing our own powerful question in relation. These were left to be anonymous and then we were split into pairs and given two of our classmates responses. We read and discussed the two responses we were given and talked about the powerfulness of the questions posed by our classmates. Most of the ones we heard were pretty good, but I think we all had a few unconscious assumptions behind our questions that we could work on. 

Week 10: Degree Engagement

Introduction

Sadly, we had to return to talking about our regularly scheduled topics this week. But, I have to admit they were pretty helpful. We pretty much just went over the basics of what we need to do in college to prepare for our degrees. 

Mondayyyyy

On Monday, we were introduced to the fascinating feature offered by our campus called the catalog. Being the clueless freshmen we are, we had never heard of it. Basically, the catalog let's you see all of your major requirements. But, even more than that, it lets you see the requirements from the year you declared that as your major. This is because the requirements and guidelines are changed all the time, so students have the option of sticking to the major requirements they started with or changing them. We also took a look at program maps. I had seen these before thanks to my mom always being 5 steps ahead of me. The program maps for each major are extremely helpful when registering for classes. These are spreadsheets designed specifically for your major, and they provide a basic outline for what each semester should look like for you. At the end of class on Monday, we were all handed a sheet of paper filled with various values. We were asked to start by picking 15 values that were important to us and narrow them down to 5. This was a lot easier said than done, but after completing it, I was pretty happy with what it said about me. After we were all done, we got to discuss our personal values with the people around us. Nearly all of us had "determination" or "hard-working" as one of our top five, so I think that's something to be said about honors kids.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we got our paper of values out again, and we broke up into small groups to discuss them with each other. Then, we watched a video about retrograde analysis. It's a pretty useful problem-solving tactic that I wish I knew how to use a bit better. The video was hosted by a game-master, and he explained that you could very easily plan things out and see many steps ahead of something by starting at the end and working your way back. I guess it's a lot easier to back track than to hack your way through the entire time. Being a game-master, he explained most of it from the perspective of a chess game because it's the tactic used by people who excel at the game. Cue me asking for a chess set for Christmas. After seeing how helpful retrograde analysis can be in everyday life, I'm pretty excited to try and practice it more in my day to day life. 

Diversity & Inclusion: Part IV

Introduction

This week in class, we kept the discussion about diversity and inclusion going. This time, in relation to everything that went down last week with the book author and her speech. There was really a lot to be said on the subject and not nearly enough class time to discuss it all. Monday was focused on how we personally felt about the speech while Wednesday became a continuation of our discussion on white privilege. 

The Speech Itself

With everything that happened, from the book burnings and making the national news, I was really looking forward to our class discussions. Our class always has a lot to say about any topic presented to us, and this one was bound to have some varying opinions. I'm always pretty impressed with how well our class seems to handle topics like this. Most of us feel comfortable enough to express our opinions, but we also try our best not to overstep any boundaries. 

I mentioned most of this in my blog last week, but not to the extent that I would've liked. First, I would like to say I was actually pretty intrigued by Crucet's speech as a whole. She got up in front of a majority white audience and proceeded to speak out on a topic that isn't addressed nearly enough. White privilege. I wouldn't say that I absolutely loved it at the time, but there was a lot to be taken away from it. Even as a white person, I agreed with nearly everything she had to say about white people. To say that we don't have privilege would be a lie. The only issue I had with her speech was that she was more talking at us than with us. With a topic as sensitive as race, I feel it's more successfully received when people don't feel as though they're being attacked. That being said, I can see why she did everything the way she did, especially after discussing it as a class. The way she set up her speech allowed every white person in the room, including myself, to feel exactly the way a person of color feels everyday of their lives. I had only been semi aware of that feeling before her speech, but that situation did a lot to open my eyes. 

White Privilege

Okay, so yeah this was touched on in my previous paragraph, but it's a pretty important topic, so there's a lot to be said. I've done my best to educate myself on white privilege and what it means, but I'm still learning, and class discussions like ours put a lot of things into perspective. In my own mind, I knew what white privilege was, but I could never put it into words well enough to explain it. The best explanation of the term I've heard so far, is "white privilege doesn't mean you've never faced hardships, it just means those hardships have never come from the color of your skin." I'd never really been aware of white privilege until I saw a video on it when I was probably around 12 years old. In the video, there's a group of teenagers lined up on a field. They're all of varying races. It's then explained by the person leading the activity, that they will be participating in a race to get something like $50. But, before they begin the race, he tells the teenagers to step forward when any of his following statements apply to them. He began to list off things like never having to worry about your next meal or what you're wearing or how you speak and on and on. By the time he was done, there was a significant difference in where everyone was standing. That video opened my eyes to a lot of things. I had never realized that not everyone had to worry about their actions more than I did. Dra. McGrath pointed out that women have to worry about some the same things as people of color, but clearly for different reasons. We were asked how likely we were to put our headphones in while walking alone at night, and all the guys unanimously agreed that they would do it without a second thought. Not a single girl would even consider it. Most of us wouldn't even want to walk alone at night without the headphones. That small comparison was really what brought it all together for us.

One Last Thing

The last thing we discussed as a class was an article on how white people avoid taking responsibility for their racism. After I read it, I wanted everyone I knew to read it and then read it again. In the article it listed off the various ways most white people deal with racism when it comes their way. They avoid it entirely by denying they were ever racist in the first place. Here's the thing, even if you didn't mean to say something racist, the effects of your words still exist. So instead of making the person who pointed it out to you feel even worse, we all need to start doing a better job of taking responsibility for our actions and words. If you don't understand how or why something you said may be taken offensively, then ask. I can almost guarantee the person pointing it out to you would be more than willing to help you understand because it shows them that you genuinely care. After all that, just try to take more time to consider your words or any jokes you want to make. Nobody is going to be perfect all the time, but as long as we try and actually listen to each other, we might actually start to get somewhere. 

Make Your Home Among Strangers

Introduction

This week in class, we discussed the FYE assigned reading, Make Your Home Among Strangers. We also had our common read event on Wednesday, and that got fairly interesting to put it lightly. The book itself was alright in my opinion. It gave insight to the life of a Latina girl leaving her hometown for the first time while being the first in her family to go to college. 

The Book Itself

In the book, Crucet shows us that college was a major culture shock for Lizet. She found herself in an area that had a larger white population than her hometown of Miami. She was used to seeing more people like herself. She was used to seeing more of a Cuban population, but once you step out of Miami, that isn't much of the case anywhere else. In my own experience, college hasn't been much of a culture shock at all. I think most of it was pretty much what I was expecting. The only thing that threw me off the first week of class was a certain professor. He was German, and his accent as well as his train of thought were super difficult to follow. For a little while, I thought that my experience was just some rare case, and that most professors, no matter their background, were at least comprehensible when they spoke. Boy, was I wrong. As soon as I started telling my friends about this professor, they all had a least a story or two about a professor they'd had that they couldn't follow either. I have great respect for all of those professors. I mean, they're all experts in their respective fields, and they're teaching their subject in a language that for most of them isn't their first. 

Common Read Event

On Wednesday, October 9th, the author of Make Your Home Among Strangers, Jennine Capo Crucet, came ti our campus to give a speech and talk to us about the topics addressed in her book. She didn't really talk about her book much past the point of mentioning that she wrote it, and we had read it. But, to be fair, she didn't have to talk about it. She was the invited guest speaker, she could talk about whatever she pleased. She did however talk about a topic that related to her book. White privilege. We all know it exists, and to say it doesn't would just be unfair. Sadly, in this world, there's a way people are still discriminated for or against based in their skin color. It's been so deeply ingrained in our society, that there are biases around us that we don't even notice. But, the way the author chose to phrase her speech on white privilege felt more like an over-generalization of white people than an open discussion. I'm not saying what she said was wrong, but over-generalizations of an entire race/skin color are what cause problems. Because, not to be that person, but they don't apply to everyone. I'd like to think that our campus is very welcoming to diversity, and I personally haven't seen any issues with it until now. Diversity and inclusion have been the center of everything we've discussed in our FYE class up until this point, and no one has ever gotten upset about any of it. I think though, that it's because we've all been very understanding of each others points of view, and we've never dared to make any accusations at one another. 

Instructions Not Included

Introduction

This week in class we finished off talking about diversity and inclusion by watching the movie Instructions Not Included. Let me start by saying that it was an amazing movie, and the majority of our class reported some tears at the ending. 

Instructions Not Included

Overall, the film definitely exceeded my expectations. Even from the beginning you get the impression that it's not going to be that good of a movie. Ironically, it turned out to be one of the best movies I've seen in a while. I planned on watching the movie alone, but I ended up watching it twice. Once with my boyfriend, Austin, and another time with my friend Wes. Because I didn't finish the full movie before class on Monday, I had my roommate spoil the ending for me. But, I didn't tell either of them how it ended. Austin almost cried watching the ending, and Wes cried at the court case and at the ending. I definitely would've bawled my eyes out if I hadn't known the ending. The movie had a very sweet message. It showed the audience that just because something is unexpected and you don't want it at the time, it can end up being one of your biggest blessings and change your life for the better. The only part of the movie that left me with some questions was the whole court case. How did Valentin not get deported? He was said to be an illegal immigrant, but dealing with a huge legal case had no effect on that? I had a watched a couple movies in Spanish before this thanks to the Spanish classes I took in high school and the documentaries we've already watched in class. I'm so used to reading subtitles for movies and shows that I don't even realize I'm reading as I watch. I don't know how much was lost in translation of the movie. It still seemed pretty great to me, but nothing can ever really be exact when it comes to translating an entire language. 

Reflection

This week brought up some pretty personal topics for most of the class this week. The movie mainly directed us towards a discussion of custody and parenting. Luckily our conversations never get out of hand, but I think a lot of eyes were opened to how things work in terms of custody. For example the fact that the mother of a child is way more likely to get custody than the father, even if the father could provide a much better life and living conditions for the child. Most of the discussion was appalling, even for me, and my parents have been divorced most of my life. It was very interesting to hear different perspectives on custody from my classmates, especially Emma, who always brings some big stories from her Law Majoring background.