Z's Blog

Final Blog

Although I wasnt able to directly learn information from anyone single student I found this experiment as good idea. I hope all you are doing well in school and have plans to further your education by going on into college when the time comes. I wish you all the best and hope you all live fun-filled lifes in which you succeed at with what you choose to do with your life

Final Blog

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving I went over to my Uncle’s house in Apple Valley. I spent time with many family members that I hadn't seen in a couple of months since I moved out into my apartment and began college. It was fun, and I ate until I basically dropped. Afterwards, I went to my mom's house with my cousins and spent the night watching movies. We watched Hotel Rwanda, which I highly reccommend, and The Longest Yard, which was pretty funny. All in all, I really enjoyed thanksgiving break because not only did it give me a break from school work, but gave me time to spend quality time with family over a great meal.

Favorite Class

One of classes that I am taking this semester is General Psychology. I find this class pretty interesting. In this class, although there is a lot of work, and difficult tests, its fun becuase you are learning about we do certain things that we do without even thinking about it. It gives you a better understanding of the humna mind. I dont think that I want to be a psych major or anything, but I'm glad that I decided to take this class. I recommend taking psychology in high school either in your junior or senior year.

Good Student Tips

One thing I try not to do is procrastinate. If you put off your assignments until the night before they are due, it makes it harder and more stressful to complete it.
It is important to attend class as much as possible. It is hard to know what the teacher expects from you on certain assignments if you are not present when they teacher gives out directions.
When it comes to studying for a big test, I try doing a little bit of studying, spread out over a couple of days instead of cramming and studying for 3-4 hours the night before the test. I find it easier to study for about 30-45 mins. a couple times throughout the week.

I'm 18
I went to Minnehaha Academy, in South Minneapolis
I'm a guy.

Hi, My name is Z Mekonen and I am currently a freshman at the University of Minnesota. I am a single child but have a half sister (dad's side), was born and raised in South Minneapolis, and went to school at Seward Elementary. Then I went to Minnehaha Academy for high school. In my spare time I enjoy having fun with friends and playing sports. I played basketball and soccer for high school.
I have a couple of questions. What are your interests in school and outside of school? How do you feel about your school? How do you feel about your teachers?

North Article

I've always known that North Mpls was a hard place to live in due to the fact that I went to school and knew kids who lived there. But I didnt know that the murder had doubled in the past year. And the scary part of that, is that nothing has really changed over there. Its just that many teens, starting at the age of 13 are starting to join gangs and sell drugs which leads to violence. I remember when I was in 8th grade, a couple of my good friends had joined a gang and wanted me to as well. Its not a very easy thing to say no to. Especially for kids who dont really have much a family, a gang provides that support that many kids cant get elsewhere. I on the other hand was able to say no, even though it meant I was losing my close friends at the time, I realized that there were more important things out there. Its unfortunate though that no everyone makes that decision.

Class Video

The video we watched the other day was very shocking to me. I was surprised to see how bad of a shape some schools are in the U.S. I mean, I know how Mpls public school system is, and how the standards are lower over North, but the facilities aren't in as bad of a condition as some of the schools in Ohio. It surprising to learn that some schools dont even have the budget for colored pencils or crayons, and the teachers have to spend their own pocket money to get such supplies for the student. I would have never thought that such things as stadiums and museums are valued more by the government than education is for children.

Class Discussion

I found the class discussion we had on Tuesdays class a good one. I was able to relate really well with the story we had to read about LaRonda, and the factors we talked about. I am able to relate with her because in the past I used to not care about school either. It was "cool" to skip school and not do assignments. I did all that to avoid being called "white" by all of my friends. Because if you do the same things as all other good students who turn in assignments and attend every class, then you're looked at as "one of them". That caused me not to care about school during junior high due to the influence of my friends. But when I went to high school, and left all my friends behind, I was forced to make new friends, and the only way to do that was to take school seriously.

Lincoln Elementary

The fact that stands out the most to me is that 93% of the school is on free and reduced priced lunch. Thats a staggering number. That means out of that 600 students who attend roughly 560 of them are on reduced lunches. Another number that jumps out at me is that almost half of the students who attend Lincoln dont feel safe while at school. I would think that feeling safe would be one of the most important things when it comes to when you look at schools next to its education. And lastly, only a little over half (60%) of students are literally comprehensive.

Interview

The one on one with the teacher I thought was very helpful. It helped me understand how and what I needed to do to imrove my paper. It's one thing when you're in class and the teacher intructs everyone on what he aspects, but its another thing when you can sit down and talk one on one. It's a lot more benefical I think. I realized that as a writer I dont include enough detail about the important things. Such as for this paper, I didnt give enough background information about my mom, who has been the inspiration for my education.

"The Things We Carried" by Danielle Williams

The style is very simple. Small sentences without very many run-ons. It starts off with her describing how she thought that how easy she thought English class was going to be for her, but she quickly found out that it was hard due the poor grades she was getting. She then goes out to describe certain events where she was challenged and had struggled. The thing that sticks out is that her teacher was a tough one who was "the type who wanted to follow every rule exactly and precisely". Because I too have had teachers who have been quite strict and wouldnt let up one bit. But through that, you can overcome their challenges and gain mutual respect for one another. As she did with hers. All in all I thought that this ok paper.

Peer Editing

I liked how we were given ample time to read eachothers papers and give critiques. What I had been used to in high school was, we would all print out our papers and pass them around in class for like 10-15 mins. This didnt help much because all the things people really looked for were grammatical errors and didnt give much feeback. But since we were given a few days to look at eachothers papers, we had time to ACTUALLY give good comments on how we can improve our papers.

Reaction to "Aria"

I was really surpised by this reading. It shocked me when he went as far as changing his name just to fit in and not associate himself with his hispanic culture. I think that it is important to learn other cultures outside of your own, but you shouldn't try and abandon you own culture becuase thats basically not being true to yourself and and not being "real".
It's interesting how we learn alot more about old english culture and how they talk without a label other than just "english", but if we were studying african american culture it has a different label, "black english." Just something i found interesting...