Would you think differently about the chocolate you were eating if you knew where it was coming from and how it being produced? Many chocolate bar companies that are familiar to most Americans use child slaves in the process of making their cocoa products. In the article: “Ignorance is Bliss” by John Zetterstrom, we see the negative effect that America’s demand for chocolate can have on children in different countries and how a large majority of people are completely unaware of this issue. The article also explores the life of a former “chocolate slave” and the way he was maliciously treated while working. It is disturbing for me to hear about this problem and it is critical for the well-being of the children involved that we put an end to this terrible matter.…
It didn’t matter which we used so long as it worked” (McCloud). The author is again reiterating his appreciation for the usage of images and text in literature. Not only that, but he hints toward people’s root of communication through a generalization. McCloud knows that not until after a person has mastered the fundamentals of communication, learned when young through picture books incorporating minimal text, does that person begin to effectively hone and utilize one medium. It takes usage and familiarity of illustrations and words for a person to feel content with just one form of expression.…
In the article “Struggle For Smarts? How Eastern and Western Cultures Tackle Learning” , The author Alix Spiegel, opens the readers mind, showing how different each culture really is. Although we are all human and live on the same planet, it is surprising to learn how different we all really are. There are plenty of differences in the way everyone was raised and taught, and the way each individual puts forth effort.…
Have you ever wondered how technology can help increase the clarity of your writing? In the chapter, Public Thinking in the book Smarter Than You Think by Clive Thompson was published in 2013. Thompson is a well- known Canadian journalist, blogger, and technology writer. Being born 1968, it is ironic how he supports the use of technology rather than trying to convince his audience the downside of it. Through being a journalist, blogger, and technology writer, we can determine that Thompson is promoting the use of technology and how it influences better writing through public thinking.…
In the article ‘Smarter Than You Think,’ by Clive Thompson, the author explains the comparison of the human mind vs machine intelligence. He talks about the speed of these machines in a game of chess and the millions of calculations it can make in just seconds. Compared with humans, these machines outmatch ourselves in everything expect in one way. Thompson explains even though machines are better they have trouble with “intelligence amplification,” but when paired together the possibilities are endless. Later in the article he dives into the factors of the internet, digital devices, social media, and more.…
Since the creation of photography it has been used for many different aspects. In a more intellectual manner photography has been used to document, record, and to help educate. While on the more innovative side of photography it has been used to express, to enlighten, and to defy logic and reason. Photography can be both intellectual and innovative concurrently. Throughout history the use of photography can be seen for both purposes.…
Prior to opening Content Area Reading: Literacy and Learning Across the Curriculum (Vacca et al., 2014), I had never thought of literacy as something that was vital to a high school math class. I was under the assumption that math was comprised of working through problems with students to find the solution, but I now recognize that there is greater knowledge to teach and learn. Chapter one of Content Area Reading opened my eyes to the importance of teaching content literacy. A study conducted by Harold Herder (1964) demonstrates this point, for he found that “students who used ‘study guides’ to read a physics text significantly outperformed those students who did not use guides to read the content under study”(Vacca, 2014, p. 18). Students who were assisted in understanding how to read the material comprehended a greater amount of what they were reading.…
Stay in sync Out of the 12 items listed in “The Thinking Person’s Checklist” by Alan Jacobs, I chose number 1 - When faced with provocation to respond to what someone has said, give it five minutes. Take a walk, or weed the garden, or chop some vegetables. Get your body involved: your body knows the rhythms to live by, and if your mind falls into your body’s rhythm, you’ll have a better chance of thinking. I feel this is something that everyone can do when faced with a conversation/situation that would require you to respond immediately.…
Intellectual Bilingual-Communication In “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, he thinks streets smarts should be considered an intellectual attribute. Also, colleges and universities tend to pay close attention to all the information written in books and do not allow their students to develop those skills that can help them succeed in the future. Graff’s point is that college and school should consider students attributes and talents and not only to see all students’ interests through “academic eyes” such as books and old history. In addition, expressing his appreciation for street smarts, Graff argues that “schools and colleges are missing an opportunity when they do not encourage students to take their nonacademic interests as objects…
In his essay “Thought,” Louis H. Sullivan greatly stresses the importance of thinking critically and creatively, and presents the argument that one must think not in words but rather in images, rhythm, and other wordless forms of communication. Sullivan resorts heavily on comparisons and analogies and metaphors to convey the impractical usage of words. “But in passing I may say that real thinking is better done without words than with them, and creative thinking must be done without words,” Sullivan argues, and he goes on to explain the intellectual heft and rigor of thinking creatively and highlights its rewards. Sullivan also asserts that one must think in the present and the present alone, for his reasoning is that “you cannot in the past,…
The paradoxical role of photography in contemporary life is explored by Teju Cole in his essay “Memories of Things Unseen.” When a photograph is the last trace we have of a destroyed work of art, it becomes something more, or so it seems. Photography in its purest form is simply a method of storytelling without the need for words. Many factors go into taking a photo. You don't simply take a photo using just your eyes, but rather with your emotions, experience, and heart.…
In John Berger’s book Understanding a Photograph, he argues that there is a distinct discontinuity between an individual viewing a photo, and the actual photo. A picture solely preserves a single moment in time, and while they often act to tell a story, the medium cannot be fully interpreted without knowing the story that surrounds it. Although there is a definite connection between a photograph and the narrative that corresponds with it, the photo is only a visual aid for the story; it does not tell us everything like the written piece does. I agree with Berger’s argument that photographs can shape the written story that is told about a single character through invoking various responses, emotions, feelings, and interpretations between the…
In Simon Blackburn’s “Think”, Blackburn argues whether an all good, all knowing, and all powerful entity does exist. I focused on the argument Blackburn posed on Chapter 5, “God”. Blackburn is wrong to claim that the existence of evil suggests an entity who is all-good, all-knowing, and all-powerful does not exist. Simon Blackburn discusses that there is no actual truth to religion since there is no concrete proof that there is even a God. Blackburn brings up the fact that it is not possible for an all good, all knowing, and all powerful to exist.…
“What the modern means of reproduction have done is to destroy the authority of art and to remove it.” (Berger, 126) This quote from, ‘Ways of Seeing’ indicates a portion of John Berger’s bitterness towards the reproduction of art. Throughout his essay he states that reproduction has belittled the original, and has made images of art valueless. On the contrary, I believe that the reproduction of art has generated countless benefits for the art community, such as knowledge, popularity, and value.…
Throughout the past few weeks of Studies in English Education, the main aspect that has been addressed is the term ‘multiliteracies.’ From completing this portfolio and attending each of the workshops, I have learned that to become a text producer I need to be involved with the variety of functions in language and literacy. Hill (2012) states that ‘to be multiliterate means to be literate in print-based and new communication technologies’ (p. 361). Such technologies include ‘electronic literacies, technoliteracies, digital literacies, visual literacies and print-based literacies’ (Hill 2012, p. 361).…