C.C 2.1

In a recent article by Denise Witmer entitled, In a recent article by Denise Witmer entitled, 5 steps to good decision making skills for teens, she tells her readers of the steps you can take to make a good decision.

In the article Denise tells the readers that, "whether or not to 'get a job,' 'start smoking,' 'use drugs,' 'start dating'.. Are decision that teenagers have to make everyday." It's had to make decisions when you have a million different people telling you a million different things; however, with Denise's simple decision making steps it's easy to block out the peer pressure and think of what's right do you. 

In the article Denise tells that the 5 steps are, 1) "prepare yourself, 2) help identify the conflict that needs attention, 3) think through each option, 4) allow your teen to make decisions,  5) reconnect and evaluate the decision." By taking theses simple steps it will help you to think things through and make the best decision for you. You will evaluate the best and worst parts of the decision and prepare yourself for the right decision. 

Denise says that, "good decision-making skills help teens achieve with less stress, as the consequences of poor decision-making skills can cause lots of stress." Having good decision making skills can not only help you with big things like, choosing the right college, but also with with little things such as, "should I stop watching my show now an study for the big test you have tomorrow?" and things like that

This article reminded me of the time my parents sat me down and told me it was time to make a decision about my future.. College, yikes! I was so nervous, how was I going to choose the right college for me? They walked me through theses steps and low and behold I choose the college I'm going to! 

In conclusion, if you have a hard decision you can take the simple steps that Denise tells about in her article to help you make the right choice. 

she tells her readers of the steps you can take to make a good decision. 

In the article Denise tells the readers that, "whether or not to 'get a job,' 'start smoking,' 'use drugs,' 'start dating'.. Are decision that teenagers have to make everyday." It's had to make decisions when you have a million different people telling you a million different things; however, with Denise's simple decision making steps it's easy to block out the peer pressure and think of what's right do you. 

In the article Denise tells that the 5 steps are, 1) "prepare yourself, 2) help identify the conflict that needs attention, 3) think through each option, 4) allow your teen to make decisions,  5) reconnect and evaluate the decision." By taking theses simple steps it will help you to think things through and make the best decision for you. You will evaluate the best and worst parts of the decision and prepare yourself for the right decision. 

Denise says that, "good decision-making skills help teens achieve with less stress, as the consequences of poor decision-making skills can cause lots of stress." Having good decision making skills can not only help you with big things like, choosing the right college, but also with with little things such as, "should I stop watching my show now an study for the big test you have tomorrow?" and things like that

This article reminded me of the time my parents sat me down and told me it was time to make a decision about my future.. College, yikes! I was so nervous, how was I going to choose the right college for me? They walked me through theses steps and low and behold I choose the college I'm going to! 

In conclusion, if you have a hard decision you can take the simple steps that Denise tells about in her article to help you make the right choice. 

 

CC 1.2

In a recent article by Kathy Kristof entitled, "Fake student loan site steals identities"
she informs readers of how fake student loan sites are attempting to steal the identities of students, and warns them to be careful in giving out information.

Kathy Kristof states, "Fake accounts for student lending giant Sallie Mae are popping up all over Instagram in an attempt to steal student identities, according to Scambook, a website dedicated to detecting bogus sites and warning consumers about using them." Students are basically going to believe anything and if you're there to "help them" then they are going to be vulnerable. Students are wiling to give their personal information, the most important thing ever, to anybody who will help because for most that is what their parents do for most of their life and they are not used to not being able to rely on the fact that there is a safety net there to catch them when they mess up.

Kathy, an online article writer, mentions that, "Another option is for people to start monitoring their credit report at annualcreditreport.com. This site provides one free credit report from each of the three credit bureaus each year. That gives you access to three reports each year (one from each bureau)," which in turn may help students to be able to keep visual track of where they are at with their identities. Credit scores are like your GPA and the bills you pay are like test's you take for each class, and the classes you take are like the companies that you pay bills to; however, in the real world though your occupation/job is your school.

Kathy states that "students who attempt to be among the first 150,000 to take the bogus sites up on the offer are asked to provide private information, such as birth dates and Social Security Numbers, allowing the sites to steal their identities," so in other words when in doubt get out and do NOT give personal info out to just anybody. If the website seems suspicious google it and find out as much as you can through reviews about the website and take the advice given!
I made the connection that I am a senior in high school, the most important year in high school, but yet I am one of the most targeted people because of my age and I will be a college student soon and I use social media often, everyday and most of the time very multiple times a day.

Overall use common sense and do not trust just anyone because not everyone has your best interest in mind like your parents. Parents create a safety net by helping their kids out when they need help, a common thing, but if overdone will cause their children to become over trusting in people, often resulting in identity theft.

CC 1.1

News One article, Report: 1 in 4 Americans completing High School late, students lag behind other countries informs the reader of how the American students are falling behind because schools are not teachig the proper curriculum and how it could possibly effect the economy.

In the article it states, "America's economy will suffer if schools don't step up their game." Schools need to start teaching the curriculum students need to actually learn something and they need to start pushing the students to do better so that the student will get motivated and graduate on time, or at least not drop out.

President Obama says, "despite resources that are unmatched in anywhere in the world, we have let our grades slip, our schools crumble, our teachers quality fall short, and other nations out place us." We have resources that no other place does; however, those place with lesser resources are doing better than the American school systems? Nice job America. Why is the education of this country's future leaders not important? If the student do not get educated properly in school then the students will not do well in life after. Examples being: some won't gradate, some wont graduate on time, some wont go to college. All this runs the risk of people not being educated enough to preform a job. Less job means less money and less money mean trouble for the economy.

In the article The Commisoner wrote, "If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today we might well have viewed it as an act of war. As it stands, we have allowed this to happen to ourselves. How did we get into the position where the future of the economy, and the people was predicted to be a horrible outcome? What happened to the times when we fought hard for the education we deserved and wouldn't let anybody mess with it? America needs to step up, and do what needs to be done, before we reach the worst possible outcome.

Picture my 3rd grade self as the year 1955, and then picture my 12th grade self as the present day. My 3rd grade self(1955) strived to do so well in school and then we get to my 12th grade self(present day) who should be aiming to do the absolute best I can to futher my education, but just doing enough to keep from failing. I made the connection that my life over the years is like the changing educational values throught the years.

So, will the school systems ever step up and provide the curriculum needed to learn and further the education of the students so that the economy is not at a high risk? If the schools don't step up then the future of our country's economic state is at a high risk.

Book Review: The Other Side of the Island

In the book The Other Side of the Island by Allegera Goodman, everything is predectable, everybody follows the rules, every family fits right into place, except for Honor's family; everythinga bout them is wrong, they break the rules, they are wild.. and on an island were everything is predictable.. Honor's family is unperdictable..

On island 365 everything, even the weather is predectable. The skys are projected and almost always blue, the temperature is regualted by an island a few 100 miles away so the temperture is almost always hot and it hardly ever rains. How maight this be possible? well the answer is simple.. Encloser. Encloser is a system put into place to close off the island from the surrounding unpredictable world. But even in having Encloser Earth Mother cannot keep all the unpredictable weather out.. every few years or so there comes a big storm.. a hyrricane.. big enough that even Encloser cannot keep it out.

Honor always stood out. Even though she tried to be perfect like all the other girls in her class, she just couldn't do it. From the moment she was born she stood no chance of fitting in with the rest of her year.. Every year since Encloser was put into place, every child taht has been born in that year have names that start with the same letter. Since Honor was born in the 8th year and the 8th letter of the Alphabet is H, all the kids were to be named with an H. Honor's parents followed the rules.. in a way, but at the same time did not because the H in Honor is silent. Honor hated her parents for being unpredictable and tried in everyway to be nothing like them and to make everybody else believe that her parents were normal, just like thiers and that worked for awhile, until her parents had a second child. Having two kids was not allowed.. families were supposed to consit of three people, if by mistake you you have a seconds child you're supposed to give it up for adoption to somebody who was less fortunate than you and could not have a child of their own.. Honor's family did not..

After getting a brother Honor did everything she could to be as much like the other girls as she could be.. And for awhile it worked, that is until her parent wee taken. Having hr parents taken meant that Honor and her brother, QuintIlin were now orphans. Being an orphan meant that nobody would talk to you unless absolutely necessary. Even though most orphans thought their parents were dead Honor refused to believe and she would stop at nothing to find them.


I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend
it to anyone who likes a book that will keep
them on there toes.

Current Connection!! #2

In the article Marijuana smoking may increase stroke risk
for young adults" Ryan Jaslow of CBS news informs us of the harmful effects Marijuana may have on the body.

Ryan Jaslow states, "Marijuana may trigger strokes in young adults, according to preliminary research presented today at an international medical conference." The research done has proven that Marijuana use may not be as safe as people think. Dr. P. Alan Barber, a professor of clinical neurology at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, states,
"Cannabis has been thought by the public to be a relatively safe, although illegal substance, This study shows this might not be the case; it may lead to stroke." The way the research was gathered was by testing the stroke patients blood for weed traces. It showed that a lot of the patients had Marijuana in their system. If there is not a medical history of strokes in your faimly, Then it is more likely that smoking weed could be the problem.

Dr. Barber also states, "The researchers found 16 percent of the subjects who went to the hospital following a stroke episode had marijuana in their system." You may not think it but 16 percent is a lot. Having a storke shortly after having smoked weed raises the red flag for many who are trying to figure out if weed would be okay to make legal for recerational purposes. Also having strokes at such a young age also raises a flag and figuring that they have weed in thier system is just the futher proof they need.

A connection to this would be when they tried to say that smoking weed could cause schizophrenia. Dr. Jones states, Marijuana abuse is common among sufferers of schizophrenia and recent studies have shown that the psychoactive ingredient of marijuana can induce some symptoms of schizophrenia in healthy volunteers." Meaning that Marijuana abusers are more likely to become sick with a menatal illness.

In conclusion, One could say that yes abusing weed could leasd to an increased risk of stroke, but abusing weed could also lead to increase risk of schizophrenia. Also abuse of ciggaretes could lead to lung cancer, so one could say that it is not just smoking Marijuana, it is when you abuse Marijuana that the peoblems begin.

Current Connection!!

In an aticle California School Shooting: Suspected gunman claims he targeted bullies, sheriff says CBS informs that, a 16 year old boy shot at teenagers he claimed was bullying him.

Students who were later interviwed about the shootings that had occured said that the inncident occured just a minutes after the new lock down saftey proceduers were annonced. About 10 minutes after the new saftey procedures was annonced, the school annonced that it was in lock down.. and it was not a drill. The 16 year old had planned what he was going to do and apperntly thought that the time was the best choice. Wether it be because he thought the procedures were not yet secure or the fact that he was impatient and just picked a random time is not yet determined.

The two teenagers he targeted were students who he claimed we bullying him for more that a year. The boy arrived around 9:00 am, walked into the classroom and started to fire, he later made a remark to the teacher that he did ot want to shoot him. It was not a random act he told police that he went home and thought about how to get revenge. He planned just who to shoot. He fired two rounds at the student before handing the gun over to teachers.

Students say that he was a very intelligent person. He knew excatly what he was doing and had to know that it was not the only way to get them to stop. It just goes to show what bullying can do it a person, it can just make them snap. Also the fact that he made the remark i dont want to shot you shows that he wasn't randomly doing this and that there was a resason. Wether or not he will be charged as an adult is still undetermined.

A connection to this would be the time back in 2007 when a 14 year boy was caught making plans to shoot people in his school. The 14 year old boy said he was doing it to 'get back' at the bullies and the students/teachers whom he felt were unfair towards them.

In conclusion, It is still undetermined wether or not the boy will be charged as an adult or a juvinile. The boy fired two rounds at students who were bullying him, and did not want to hurt anyone else. The boy was very intelligent and knew that what he was doing was wrong, if he felt like he was getting bullied he should have gotten help. Not taken matter into his own hands.

The American Dream Essay

The American Dream
The American Dream, something everyone’s thought about, something everyone wants to achieve. Whether they dream to achieve something personally, socially, or professionally, they cannot deny that they do not want to achieve it. My personal American Dream is that we as a country never lose the freedom that has been provided to us by our founding fathers and the soldiers who have fought for it.
Long ago our founding fathers wrote a Constitution. In the Constitution they stated that we as citizens have the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness means that we can live the way we want, worship the way we want, talk the way we want, and do what makes us happy. It means freedom. We as a country were long ago given freedom, and as Americans we should hope to never lose it.
Although we have freedom, it is not an easy thing to keep. There have been many soldiers who have given their lives so that their loved ones would be able to be free. There are also many soldiers who have been wounded or are still fighting for our freedom. Also before we left England a person could not worship the way they wanted, live the way they wanted, and had no say in a leader, that made a lot of people angry. When our founding fathers decided to write the constitution they knew that there would be a war, and that England would try all they could to stop them from starting their own country, but people were willing to do it for hopes that they would be able to live better, they went through a lot trying to make sure that future generations would be free and not have to live like them, for hopes of not disappointing them I hope our freedom remains.
Freedom comes at a price. That price is never an easy one to pay, but many Americans are willing to make that sacrifice, to keep the freedom, the American Dream