Week Eleven

Very often I find myself get really excited and motivated when we are doing discussion. On the contrary, I do not really like the writing part. I really like the discussion part is because I like to share my opinions with others and get their reflection right away. I can not only express my thoughts but also have a chance to think from different angles. I think to have discussions can also inspire us to think, and to respect different point of views. However, when it comes to writing, I feel like my thoughts are being limited. Since my grammar is not good enough, I can not fully express myself by writing.

I like the psychological test, revising “a touching moment” together in the class. About the psychological test, the teacher let us to write down a paragraph from the power point, and analyzed our characteristics by our handwriting. I think it was really interesting, we were all talking about whether our characteristics are like what the psychological test tell us. And about the revising of the paragraph, a touching moment, I like the feeling of team work. Everyone discussed how to let the paragraph better is really interesting, and we can find out what we missed but other noticed.

When I encounter some difficult knowledge, I often turn to others for help. When there is something I could not figure out, I will ask someone who understand it and is willing to teach me. Or I will gather some friends and to discuss the difficult knowledge with them. I believe that to discuss with others is more easy to find out the solution than thinking alone.

Week Ten

Q1: From 1~10 (with 10 as the highest score), how well are you two doing? Please grade yourselves and give a suggestive score.
After discussion
We decided to give us 7.
Q2: How and why did you two decide the score?
We both tried hard to do our own part well, and our content is quite abundant. We do answer all the questions and we try to illustrate our ideas about those tasks as clearly as we can. We take this assignment seriously and hope to do it well. However, we didn't fulfill our task on time every time. Although, we didn’t finish it before dateline sometimes, we still made a lot of effort to do it. That is why we think we can get 7.
Q3: What kind of improvement are you two making in the remaining weeks of the semester?
Q1: From 1~10 (with 10 as the highest score), how well are you two doing? Please grade yourselves and give a suggestive score.
After discussion, we decided to give us 7.
Q2: How and why did you two decide the score?
We both tried hard to do our own part well, and our content is quite abundant. We do answer all the questions and we try to illustrate our ideas about those tasks as clearly as we can. We take this assignment seriously and hope to do it well. However, we didn't fulfill our task on time every time. Although, we didn’t finish it before dateline sometimes, we still made a lot of effort to do it. That is why we think we can get 7.
Q3: What kind of improvement are you two making in the remaining weeks of the semester?
I hope we can have more chances to discuss those issues. I also hope that my key pal can response my opinions in time. Although our progress is a little fell behind, we will try to catch up the progress.

Week Nine

Young people who are considered “e-generation” are also mocked as “the strawberry generation.” Born after 1981, I am also one of the so-called strawberry generation. Though I can not deny that I matched to some of the description about the strawberry generation, I try to make some changes and make myself stronger and better. For example, people say that we are bad at bearing pressure; I admit that I was the kind of person who run away or give up easily when encounter difficulties or setback. Sometimes, I really hated my weakness and I was really upset about my coward behavior. But I try to convince myself that instead of running away without making any efforts, I will make improvement by practicing more or try harder. Second, one of the description about the strawberry generation is we care too much about our outfit and material comforts. I can not deny that I care about my outfit and material comforts but I don not think that I over care about this. I think that it is important to look good anytime because it is also a manner to let people think you are a clean and a well-organized person. Though I am in the strawberry generation, I believe that one day I will be a person who is good from inside to outside.

Week Six

I used to get really depressed and even upset when I made any mistakes. I also gave up things easily and lack of passion and endurance. I always thought of the worse side of things when I encountered difficulties or setbacks. But after listening to Prof. Paush, I started to see things on the bright side. I was really moved by a sentence which is “Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.” This is really true; if we really want a thing then we won’t give up easily. After watching this short film, I thought a lot. I started to think of those failures I met. I always quit when I performed bad or things didn’t go the way as I wanted. But now I know if I didn’t try harder how I can know that I can’t do it. And if I really want to achieve a certain goal, I should put more efforts instead of giving up easily. In doing so, if I really try my best, but things still don’t go the way I wanted, then, “experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.” Whether I succeed or not depends on how hard I try not merely depends on the result. If I learned more through the process then I will still see it as a success, and the experience I gain is more important and more precious than the result.

Week Five

The picture is showing us how collaborative learning work. There are several steps of collaborative learning: focusing on learning outcomes, developing communication, posing the problem, generating multiple perspectives, making informed decisions. And my favorite part is developing communication. I like to discuss with others in a group. I can not only share my opinion but also understand what others are thinking about. Generating multiple perspectives bothers me a lot when working with others. The reason why I don’t really like generating multiple perspectives is because I am bad at thinking critically. From my own experience, I got a lot of chances to have a group discussion in my English conversation class in high school. I feel at ease discussing certain topic with others, I like to share my view points with other and I also like to know what others’ thoughts. However, I just can’t point out the problem or try to analyze things from different angles, and I can’t make my ideas well-organized. I think this is the part I should pay more attention to.

Week Four

I don’t learn completely the way American student learn. Networked student depends heavily on the Internet; they almost learn everything by computer. However, there are some similarity between the way I learn and the way American student learn. For example, I often use computer to complete my homework, I also search for information on the Internet.

In my point of view, it is hard to say that whether “Networked Student” is a good or a bad change, because there are advantages and disadvantages about this. First, it is very convenient to use computer to learn. We can get information from a variety of sources and we can also use a lot of programs to change our ideas with others. Nevertheless, when we depend too much on the internet, we are likely to get Internet addiction. Once we get Internet addicted, we may ignore our real life relationship, and maybe end up lose our closest friend.

I think what is more important than determine networked student a bad change or a good change is that we should strike a balance between using the computer and not using the computer.

Week Three

I think Britney’s behavior was affected by the sorrow caused by her divorce. The tremendous change from a sweet girl, a shining star to a controversial person, was due to the pain she felt about her divorce. Though the divorce might shock her or confuse her, I don’t think that that was a good excuse for her odd behavior. I think Britney, as a celebrity, should equip the ability for knowing what to do and what shouldn’t. She also has to equip herself with the courage and the endurance to face the difficulties and the ability to stay away form temptations. She could find some other ways to relieve the pain she felt. She could do some exercise or go to some clubs or even transform the pain into songs instead of doing some wired things. She could take the failure in marriage as a lesson and make her life more colorful by singing more beautiful songs. If I were Britney’s friend or family, I would have persuaded her to try to overcome the pain, to stand up for her own future. I would ask her to forget about the pain and face her new life; she couldn’t sink in the sea of sorrow for her entire life. She should use her talent and save more people from the circumstances she had encountered.

Week Two

Many times, I get mad at people for the things they have done. However, I also hear people say: “I am doing this for you!” or “I mean well”. When I heard responses like this, I used to get even angrier. For example, when I was still an elementary student, I always got so furious when my mom cleaned my desk without telling me. I felt so offended when others touch my stuff without asking me. And my mom often responded me that:” I am doing this for you!” In hearing this, I got so irritated that I didn’t even want to talk to my mom. And I didn’t want to eat dinner, either. But all the things I had done didn’t make things better. It only made me fell hungry, and made my mom felt so sad. As I grow older, I start to calm myself down when I get mad and convince myself to rethink the whole thing. Now, when I know my mom is trying to help me get things organized instead of invading my privacy, I’ll be so thankful for the things she did for me. Though, stay calm when I am so angry is very difficult, I still try my best to do so. Because if I don’t rethink the whole thing before I get mad at others, it often causes a bad quarrel. And things can get really worse. On the contrary, if I am able to think twice before I get furious, things often turn out to be a good. For these reasons, I often rethink the whole things when I hear people say: “I am doing this for you!”

Week One

1.
I do tell people: “I have my own values and principles. They should be respected under all kinds of circumstances.” In doing so, if someone laughs at me for never skipping the classes, I would tell him firmly that it is nothing wrong not to skip the classes. I never skip classes because I respect the teachers, respect the choices I have made and respect myself. On the contrary, for those who skip the classes, they are simply telling others that they can’t be responsible for themselves, and can’t stick to their own principles. When you are choosing your classes you should evaluate your own abilities whether you can attend all the classes, if you are not able to make it, then don’t choose them. Once you make up your mind in choosing the classes, you should stick to it no matter how toilsome it would be.
2.
Whether I believe others or not depends on whether things are believable. For instance, when my friend tells me that working as a part-time waiter in a fancy restaurant will get me a lot of money, I will try to find more information about this news before I make decision.