Last week our class attempted to decided on a social change project, key word there being attempted, for nothing really got done. At the beginning of class, we decided on a simple process which would be fair for everyone. Everyone was fine with this process, until their idea wasn't picked. Once people were upset, tension arose, and the majority of the class broke out into a huge debate. This debate was one that was not needed. Prior to class, we did a few readings in which people could have picked up some methods from. These readings helped portray examples of people who have different opinions, and how they were able to come to fair conclusions. They emphasized the fact that people have their own opinion which needs to be known by everyone in order for their to be a general understanding among the group. Although some people would rather conform than start a huge debate, others feel the need to further voice their opinions. With cases like this, there needs to be someone who can mediate the situation in a calm and orderly fashion so that things don't get blown out of proportion. By voice opinions and other ideas, the entire group can better understand where someone is coming from. By being open to others' ideas, one may find themselves changing their original thought after seeing things from a different perspective. This is why it is important for everyone to share their ideas before making a final decision. The readings teach us that is possible for people to come together and settle on final decisions in a civil manor. 

In class last Wednesday we, the class attempted to work as a group to decide on what social change project we were going to pursue as a class. We were unsucessful in coming to a conclusion on one project. It is hard to please everyone and that was half the battle. We thought we came up with a process that would please everyone but when we narrowed it down you could tell there was a lot of tension amongst the class. Interestingly enough, the readings we had prepared for, for that class can contribute some advice to our class. With the reading "My Secret Life as Black Man", is related to our class discussion because it shows that everyone has their own opinion and we need to respect that. It talks about how this guy took on 2 forms; conforming to society and then being true to his kind. However, many people sometimes don't express their opnion because of the influence that other people have on them. The second reading "Go North, Young Man" teaches us to be open minded to peoples opinions. In our class discussion there was a lot of people saying their ideas and being completely shot down right away. Who knows after listening to their explanation, their idea may be a better fit for the situation than your own idea so it is always good us to listen to the people entirely who do have something to say. All in all I feel like the overall theme of these different readings is to be true to your kind and if you have something on your mind let yourself be heard and for everyone else we need to listen and be open minded. Coming in with totally new ideas might be the way to go, but I feel as if there will still be like group against group.

Our process of choosing a final class project was a step in the right direction, but still not an effective way to choose a project. The reading My Secret Life as a Black Man talks about a man who refers to himself as living two different lives. One life where he conforms to the way society perceives African Americans and the other life, which he does as he pleases even though it may not be accepted by society. In class, everyone had the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas yet some people chose not to voice their opinions. People in class may want to conform and therefore don't speak in opposition to avoid confrontation. Some people disregard other people's views and fought for the project they wanted. In order to effectively choose a project, I think people need to express their opinions, but also be open to others ideas. As a whole, our readings all had to do with coforming to society, and I think that it relates to our class discussion, because it seems that many people's ideas/ concerns were disregarded because we were either closed minded or focused on just conforming so we could pick a project and get the debate over with.

The process that went on during class with choosing an idea to use for our final project was not very productive. At the end of class we did not get anything accomplished of what project we were going to do because everyone had their own opinion. We can use ideas from the readings to help us make group decisions. In the reading “My secret life as a Black Man” can teach as that everyone is different and everyone has their opinion so it is important to listen to what others have to say. Everyone has to be true to themselves and know what they believe in but we also have to take in to account what others believe in and try to listen and understand where they are coming from when they give ideas. Listening and understanding others will help the process of communicating with the whole class in making decisions. In the reading “Go North, Young Man”, it also teaches us to look at the other side of people’s ideas and what they have to say might make more sense then what you may think. To make this democratic process more practical it would help if people listened to what everyone has to say and not debating what they have to say right away. I think that there should be a mediator to make sure that these discussions do not go out of control.

I think that readings 18, 20, 49, and 50, all have something in common. i think that each of the readings in its own way deals with the issue of stereotyping, and how we perceive ourselves and each other. the readings address how unique groups face the stereotypes facing them head on and try to change peoples perceptions of them.

As far as the class project goes, although it may seem difficult, i think the best idea would be for the class to decide upon an issue that we all agree upon, and that we are all excited about. i think if we choose something we would all enjoy and something that we care about, the project would be really successful

The class activity that we did in class last week was very interesting. Prior to the activity I assumed that all people living on welfare were simply lazy or addicted to drugs or alcohol and that somehow it was the person who was living in poverty's fault for their misfortune. However, the activity allowed me to see that there can be many reasons as to why someone is living in poverty, and that it is incredibly difficult to escape the cycle. Although the activity only allowed us a glimpse into the life of a person living in poverty, i found it to be enlightening. i can now understand the physical, emotional, and mental toll that living in poverty has had on people.

yesss library couchesss see ya tomorrow

Hey Girls. We're meeting wednesday at 12:30, right?

so the experiment that we did in class was very interesting. I think it really opened up alot of peoples eyes in what it is like to be poor. It was very frustrating to figure out what to do, if we should sell certain things back, etc. The worst part was welfare. Even though you may think you qualify for it you may not get it. And the amount of paperwork you have to do in order to even be considered is very time consuming. It is like a big chain of events that you need money for food or you can't eat...if you don't get welfare then it is very important to find a job but it costs you money to find a job such as a car, and the agency. There is a lot involved in this process that I never really realized before.

Hey Girls!

I think the presentation is going to go really well today!

hey girls i can't meet tonight i have a test in every one of my classes tomorrow. is it at all posssible to meet at 1030 am tomorrow until about 11? I'm sure if we come prepared we can whip up something quick. please let me know asap...i am home so i can study and i need to know when i should be back by..thankssss

sure tonight at 8 is fine for me

Hey girls. Do you want to meet tonight in the library at 8?

hey,
im free all tonight and tomorrow till class at 340 so anytime is good for me

hi girls,
I'm home for the weekend but i'll be back around 1 tomorrow so anytime after that on Sunday is fine, and Monday I have work from 12-2 and then class from 2:30-3:30, so Sundays probably a better day for me, what's everyone else's schedule like?

Hey girls, I was just wondering when everyone is free so that we can meet to plan out our proposal for monday's class. I will be gone friday night and all day saturday on a trip, but i should be back by 7 saturday. Im sure no one is really going to want to meet saturday night anyways, but mabe we can set up a time for sunday or before class monday to work on it. Let me know your schedules.

I like the idea of the book drive and then maybe with the money that you get from that giving it to people who need it around here instead of other countires.

http://www.betterworldbooks.com/

Our Project Proposal

I really can't think of anything else we could do as our final project. Although i think our current idea could be a lot of work, with a group our size hopefully we can split up the work load and keep our current idea? This was the only thing I could really think of..let me know

hey girls..has anyone thought of a new idea at all?

Why is this an oh my god process?!

Why is this an oh my god process? What is this so hard to do?
Think critically…
This is so hard to accomplish because individual students have different beliefs and opinions as to what aspect of classroom learning should be most heavily weighted in their final grade (collective set of road blocks). Our experiences in higher education are also making this process difficult..ever since we were in school we were told how our grades were going to be calculated by our teachers/professors..and now we finally have an opportunity to choose for ourselves. Students in this classroom are in different grades/classes and have a different level of academic achievement. For many..participation is their strongest..and for others exams are their strongest..this is also what makes this process very challenging.
The democratic process is not easy!!

Evaluation Process

This evaluation process is obviously very complex. I think this process has taken time from several classes because everyone has their own opinions regarding how we should be evaluated. All of the students in this class have been evaluated in numerous ways, and we are each used to being graded in a certain way. In addition, all students have their own strengths and weakenesses. For example, some students may do well on tests, but they do not write papers well and vice versa. I also think that each group went into the class discussion on evaluation with the idea that their breakdown of evaluation was the best and it can be difficult to compromise with such a large group of people.

This is such a hard process because everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. I think a lot of people are trying to evaluate based on their strengths and not necessarily what is most important in the class. This class is based a lot of talking and participating. That makes our class better, so the more it is worth would help to make people put more effort there. Some people seem to be really stuck with the ideas of their past professors. They know that tests are commonly the bulk of the grade and don't want to change that. But participation evaluates a student just as much as an exam does.

I haven't participated much in the past few discussions about evaluating. Some of the students seem to be really stubborn and would rather not even give the other groups a chance to explain their ideas. How is that fair? I think a lot of people were afraid of their thoughts getting shot down right away. One girl said an idea and right away someone answered "No."

The whole process is confusing because everyone has a different opinion on what each category means. Each person has different strengths and weaknesses, so everyone wants their strength to be a high percent. No one has ever had to make up how they are going to be graded. When asked to make up how you are going to be graded it is hard for everyone to agree on something. It is also hard to make up a percent to be graded on when we are not sure how each exam or the final project is going to be. We are unsure of the lay out of how each category is going to be set up . I have no participated because I have been listening, if too many people talk it gets to confusing. When everyone has came to a decision I have agreed with everyone had to say. I had no disagreements with what has been said so far.

omgggg stressful.....with everyone who just keeps talking theres a million ideas being thrown out and we dont have time to think about one...having someone step up and kind of guide the discussion was not successful....we need someone to take control of the situation and say one person speaks at a time...we have all spoken in our groups and have come to a conclusion on what we think as a group should be the evaluation methods therefore, I think that someone should stand up lead the discussion have one person from each group be the contact and we go around to each table on the different evaluation sections and you say if you agree disagree or what you think. I have not actively participated in this discussion because I am too busy trying to listen to everyone else and trying to come up with a compromise. We as a class are not participating as a team as we need to be doing even when the rule book has been thrown out. Also, people tend to not participate as have I sometimes because they are scared of having people making remarks or facial expressions about what they had to say.

Evaluation Process

This evaluation process is difficult because each group and each individual person has a different point of view on the way things should be unfolded. Each person knows where they are going to put in the most effort are trying to getting the most points in that area. Not everyone is exactly the same, and because of that, everyone is disagreeing on the evaluations. In order for the evaulations to be done in a fair mannor, everyone's personal ideas need to be heard. For those who are sitting back listening, they need to speak up and voice themselves in a controlled, orderly fashsion. People shouldn't shout out their final views until they have heard everyone's input. By hearing each individual's ideas, people are able to hear what they agree or disagree with and then form a final opinion. From there, people can vote on what seems the best way to evaluate the class.