The Power of Legacy

It is amazing to me how much power is embellished in a pre-historic time period when one decides to do something positive, but different. In making their decisions, they don't fully understand that they are taking a leading role in a legacy created, but the wisdom and courage they possess to change their situations inspire others that look up to them to the same thing in the future. It almost seems as if that particular abstract thought came to life and became a concrete role model for the admirer. If your not following me here is an example so you readers can understand. Lets say the oldest brother of 6 decides to go to college and play sports, join a prestigious college fraternity, and graduate and become a Dr. in education. Shortly after, the second brother goes off to college, joins the same exact fraternity, and is currently working on his doctoral degree. As for the 3rd brother in line, he goes off and does the same exact thing. The positive influence in this legacy is an example of why it is called a legacy in the first place because if it was a negative thing done over and over, it would be considered insanity. Creating a positve legacy is a great thing, considering how you have influenced someone in such a way. The great thing about legacy is that it is never to late to be created. Some of us maybe the first to go to college, graduate college, become a member of a church religion or organization, or any other thing positive that can greatly influence family members or friends to the same. So right now, now matter what the situation may look like, continue doing positive things because you never know what family member or friend is going to do the same things to create what we called a legacy.

Hope for the "At Risk (Hope)"

Recently, A classmate of mind said something to me that have raised a interesting question and I will probably remember this the rest of my life. As that person proceeded to talk about the "at risk" students, that same person took it upon herself to say "at hope"students because she decided a long time ago that this was the right terminology for those particualr students. It really made me think about the terminology we use. Why do we call those students "at risk"? Understanding the background of those students and what those students are up against, we should only have hope for those students in the first place. When you really think about it, the word risk has such a negative ring to it, considering how powerful language and words are. When you use the word risk for these students, it is not a surprise that most of these students believe they are a risk to society and conform to other systems and values that causes them to rebell more. The reason I know there is hope for them is because I was once one of those particular students. Considering my economic background growing up and some of the groups I associated with, I could have easily failed. I was once that young male who wore their pants below their waste, used slang, and had a bright smile of shiney gold teeth, but having role models and people in my life who believed in me, I made it out. We must set high expectation for these students and make them believe the same. We can first start by changing the terminology we use to identify these student, thus helping them to believe that there is hope for them by using the powerful word.

Multiple Intelligences in Schools

The beauty of research and studying different research driven strategies is the ability to trigger evolution for the best. We have reached a point in education that I like to refer to as "the cross road" because everyone is trying to figure out what works and what don't. No one person might not have the exact answer but I know one thing, the old traditional teaching style of just standing up and lecturing should be a teaching option reconsidered and thrown out of a window. As we know, there is no one person alike. So what makes us think that all of our students are just alike. What makes us think that all of our students learn and take in information the same? That's why I clearly support Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory. We all have different interest, talents, and strong points that should be utilized to make the learning process more effective. The multiple intelligence theory consist of Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"),
Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart"),Spatial intelligence ("picture smart"),Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence ("body smart"),Musical intelligence ("music smart"), Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart"),Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart"), and
Naturalist intelligence ("nature smart"). I encourage all educators to do a formal interview or give your students the appropriate tests to found out how they learn best. This will help you better connect with your student as far as making the learning process interesting to them. Also, this could help you better relate to them. If not multiple intelligences, please use some form of differentiated instruction in your classroom and stray away from the old traditional way of just lecturing.

Continuing the Dream for the Middle Class

Martin Luther King and others over the years have contributed to the civil rights movement in such powerful ways to bring us to the point we're at now. Even though we have come a long way, there is still work to be done. You see, some people look at the glass half empty instead of half full, but I am one of the ones who like to vision the positive images at all times. Yeah there is still racism in the world, but look how far we have come as citizens getting a long with each other and living together in communities all over the world. We live in a world today where it is not about the color of your skin, or the gender of the person, but it's all about the economic background of a person. So I asked the question, what is happening to the poor and the middle class? Most of us all started out poor unless you were fortunate, but we all decided to go to college or get a trade to better our situations. Ten years ago, it seemed like this would be all good, but now what has happened? Education is still key, don't get me wrong, but high interest student loans, high interest mortgage loans, high car notes, and gas prices to name a few are killing us right now. The middle to some extent is struggling like the poor right now. Now we must still stay focus as educators and citizens and still ecourage our students to make good grades and go to college, knowing what we know about the system. Now that's complete foolery right there at the moment, but I have hope and I think it will change in the future once Barak get into office. That's what I mean by positively looking at the glass.

Music, Education, & Politics

When most people think of hip-hop, they generally think of the negative steriotypes that comes with it. The fashion, the materialistic obsession of worldly items, and the inappropriate language that is often used are often the main topics that over-shadow the purpose of what hip-hop was meant to be used for. In the beginning, hip-hop was started by a non-conformist culture to promote awareness of the injustice in the world and educate the youth on what was going on around them. Notice the key word educate, which was the origin of hip-hop in the beginning. Education was the foundation of the hip-hop movement and somehow the ideas and concepts of hip-hop drifted off and started to glorify other objectives that are irrelevent and not so positive. If there was ever a day those same elements and principles needed to be reinforced, the time is now in 2008. Particulary with the election going on and the demographics that the democrats are up against to make change, hip-hop could play a major part in causing that change. Barak Obam is liked and well respected in all communities but when it comes to politics there is still ignorance enbedded in the hip-hop youth or should I say all youth about the importance of making their vote count. So how does education, hip-hop, and politics all intertwine you ask? The youth that represent the hip-hop culture ages 18-30 has the smallest turnout for voter's registration every year. That in itself could really make a difference in the election if all of those voters would register to vote, thus giving them more oppurtunity and hope for better days. Also, promoting hip-hop music like the Barak Obam Song titled "Yes We Can", could possibly make politics cool in a sense and attract more voters. Check out the song on www.myspace.com/planetsouth