Declining by Degrees

I find the movie “Declining by degrees” very interesting. I saw the part of the movie were students at larger universities did not feel challenged, and they did not find the lecture classes very interesting. I believe that is the problem with larger universities. If you have a classroom full of one hundred and fifty students then of course the professor is not going to ask questions, nothing will ever be taught if everybody’s questions are trying to be answered. But, in a sense I still believe it is the student’s responsibility. Professors have office hours where you could ask questions, and even ask them “what could I do challenge myself”. The reasons why some students won’t try to seek for challenges really have to do with high school. The students in high school were forced to do work because the teachers made them do it. The teachers reviewed and constantly went over work (pacifying problems) because the law made them, and the laws were made because students are getting left behind and slacking. Students may be slacking because of home situations that may be beyond their control and their parents too. So really whose fault is it? The teachers? The Students? The Law? The parents? Can we really help it?

That is an unfortunate risk of going to larger universities.  I attend Lenoir-Rhyne University where the average student to teacher ratio is 18:1. I feel really challenged. Since it is a smaller setting you have to work harder because professors notice if you’re slacking or just trying to get by. But, I love the relationships you can build with your professor as well.  When I looked at this movie and saw how they were complaining about not being challenged, I reexamined my situation. I was thinking “Man! I wish I did not have to work that hard to get a degree”. I see now that in the long run it will benefit me.

I agree with the students when they were talking about the lecture classes. It does not matter what size class room you are in. Lecture classes are always boring. We as dedicated, hardworking, striving students are just going to have to buckle up and press through. We have to train ourselves to remain attentive during lecture classes. We will not succeed all the time and we may even find ourselves drooling on our notebooks every now and then, but we can do it!

Advertisement

Dancing (Free Writing)

A teacher watch as her dancers walks on stage in front of hundreds of people. The dancers look at the audience and then at their teacher, as if they were wondering if they should crawl under a rock, or actually perform what they practiced. The teacher nodes her head, and looks at them with confidence and assurance. As the music start they begin their routine. Every spin, kick and turn was on sync with each other. The teacher, backstage eyes are filled with tears of delight. All those long practices, repetitive movements, and critiquing is out the door, it is forgotten. As the music end they finish the dance with a bow, and walk off stage. Excited they go to their teacher and asks her what she thought about their performance. With a big smile she says “Beautiful”.

That teacher is me. I’m one of the dance choreographers and instructors at my church (Life changing Ministries). We have five different dance/mime teams at my church. I’m in charge of the little children dance team One may ask, why are you talking about dancing. At this time it is close to fall break. Two months into my freshmen year of college and I was getting homesick. So I decided to write something that made me feel closer to home. With this it enables others to see what my passion is. Also, it will show how being an example is really important.

Dancing is a way I can express myself through movements. Ironically enough, I didn’t always like dancing. I was a very shy child growing up, and the thought of being in front of hundreds of people frightened me. One day my mother asked me did I want to try it? I went to a practice and fell in love with it since then. To say I love dancing is an understatement. I have an extreme passion for it. When my feet hit the floor it is just me and God. I dance just for him. People have different ways they praise God, this is mine. I especially, love to share my talent with others. I’ve been teaching for two years. When I practice I mean business. We stretch, jog, and repeat the moves over and over until it is drilled in their heads. With praise dancing you can incorporate all types of dancing styles. The type of dancing styles we incorporate are jazz, hip-hop, and ballet. Although, this may seem intense it is really quite fun!

The dancing ministry at my church is not all about getting the moves down. We have practices were all we do is have discussions. We discuss what dancing is, why as dancers for Christ it is important to be an example, and we talk about issues that have happened during the week, that may have seemed over whelming. We pray for each other, and have become a family. Each of the dancers has their own personalities which makes what I do even more enjoyable. I love strategizing different ways to keep the class interested. I don’t want them to grow up hating dancing. I want dancing to be a memorable experience that fills them with joy.

So, the long practices and frustrating arguments are worth it. It is nothing more rewarding then to see the smiles on their faces during practices, and when they administer. It is nothing more important to me, then seeing my dancers developing into great men and women of God, on and off the floor. I get that inward peace and joy seeing other prosper. They remind me of who I am in Christ, and teach me to keep going. So yea, I’m a little home sick, but I know my little dancers at home are counting on me to finish the race strong. So I dare not give up now!

Why is Writing used as punishment (class discussion) ;)

Why is writing used as punishment?

Writing is used as punishment because it is a hard task. When you’re just starting school your nervous because you are adjusting to a new environment and meeting new people. But, now your new teacher– who you know nothing about– wants you to read in front of the whole class. People are self-conscious. They care about what other people think of them. Therefore, one may read too slowly, too fast, or miss pronounce words. But, it is not the tempo of the reading or the miss pronunciation of words that one may worry about. It is the thought “Someone might think I’m slow” “What if someone pick on me” “All the class is going to do is laugh at me.” It is that perception that is built in children minds that make them grow up to be college students that do not see writing as “ flexible, exciting, and creative” (Holt, 26), or “.. An art” (Aronowitz, 40). Teachers force children to look up every word and to write a summary on everything. Where I’m I getting at? Writing is like a muscle if you keep working at it you get stronger and more confident. You stop improving you lose the ability to perform excellent work. Writing is something we need and as little children we were required to perform it correctly. So much to the point where you can start to even hate the idea of a sentence, a paragraph, a story, a book……Writing is used for punishment because majority of students do not want to read or hear about a book; much less write about it, because it has been practiced since pre-K. With writing there are always rules and structures to go by. You can create a painting and put a line dead in the middle. It will still be called an art piece. Whether that “art piece” is pretty or not is up to you. You write a sentence and have grammatical error it is called an improper sentence and there are no if, ands, or buts about it. It’s WRONG. Therefore, if punishments are penalties and supposed to be disliked then why not use something the majority of students prefer not to do?

http://www.roypeterclark.com/