July 4th Weekend

This weekend is the 4th of July. I am so excited because I have lots of plans for the weekend. My sister-in-law is coming in town from New York. I am planning on picking her up in San Antonio from the airport. I plan to also hang out with my family and eat great food at my grandma's. I hope to take my son to see the fireworks downtown, but we will see depending on the weather. I know the weather is going to be bad this week, so I hope my plans do get not ruined. I hope this storm does not become a hurricane!

Beach Front Property

This photo represents a scenic view of someones vacation. In this picture a woman is relaxing on the sand , while a man is eating on the patio. The woman looks like she is in workout clothes , so she may of just got done with a run on the beach. The waves are crashing against the jetties and the water is dark blue. The atmosphere seems to be calming and soothing. The sky is clear with no clouds, so imagine it is late afternoon.

As I look down I see miles and miles of dark blue. I see a clear sky with not a single bird in it. As I look straight down, I see a man who is laying on the sand. He looks tired , which may be from his run. I also see the waves crashing on the rocks. Underneath me I hear sounds of a man enjoying a cool drink. He seems to be with company who he is trying to entertain. I hear the loud music from downstairs mixed in with the roaring waves.

My New Nephew "ARI"

Yesterday my new nephew "ARI" was born. He was born at weighing 6 lbs. 7 oz. and he is 20 inches long. I was so excited to meet him yesterday and I was able to hold him for about an hour. He is a beautiful healthy baby boy that looks a lot like my sister-in-law. My son Aiden was thrilled to meet his new cousin, but I had to cut his trip short because he was a little too excited. He wanted to walk around with him and take him outside, so I had to explain to him about why he couldn't. I go to visit with a lot of my family while being at the hospital , so I was at the hospital the whole afternoon. I can't wait til Ari is able to go home!

The Brick

• Build a house
• Use it as a weight
• Throw it through a window
• Decorate a bed of flowers
• Use is to teach non standard units of measurement
• Use it to teach weight
• Use it to teach students how to use a scale
• Use it to raise furniture

Me as a Writer

My identity as a writer is somewhat hard to explain. I love to write, but I don't write all the time. I seem to only have time for writing that I have to do for school. I have to write a lot of refelctions about lesson plans and classroom experiences that have given me the freedom to write what I want to say instead of having limits. I love to write about personal experiences because it gives me the opportunity to reflect on things that need to reflected upon. Some times if you read something you wrote it makes life issues and ideas more clear. I have always said that writing is important for children to do in the classroom, but I have seen first hand this semester how writing becomes difficult for some. If you don't give meaning to the students they don't know what to write. Thats what I hope to teach my students. I will use my personal experience as a writer and teach them how to reflect and be a great writer!

Working in a Group

For our first group assignment we read a chapter and created a handout to encourage the writing process. We exchanged numbers and e-mails with eachother as a way to communicate with eachother. We dicussed how to split up the work amongst the group. We split up the work and each member was supposed to read two pages and takes notes on it to present. One of the group members created a a handout that looked aweseom. We had another group member print the handout. We met a few minutes before class to talk about what we read over the weekend. We discussed how we are going to present and explain the handout. We communicated very well with eachother and everybody did their part. It is always nice to work with a group that works well eachother.

The Neglected "R" and Adult Literacy

The neglected "R" article focuses on how our education system puts writing on the back burner. Writing is vital for students to succeed in their lifetime. The article proposes that we need to have a different approach to teach writing in school. A groupof people including poltical leaders need to model how important writing can be and push for more writing in the classrooms. Writing is essential for people to succeed in life no matter what age you are. Writing needs to play a bigger role in classrooms especially the elementary age becuase that is the foundation for students. They need to start off strong to succeed in higher education.

The Adult Literacy article talks about an adult mans life. The writer goes through his daily routine and talks about what he does in great detail. This man seems to be very educated and able to to navigate technology well. He reads a lot and seems to have a very organized lifestyle. He has his own landscaping business , which he seems to take pride in. Even though this man is not a lawyer, writer, or doctor he is very literate. He reads and writes daily , which helps him run his business. The article does not say if he went to college, but any job requires writing. Writing may play smaller roles in some jobs , but it seems to always have some type of role.