Any Decision That Can Alter the Road You’re On

Every Decision Alter's The Path You're On

      We ask ourselves sometimes if I didn’t make this choice, where would I be right now acting as though each decision we make doesn’t alter our life path.

      Personally, I am a firm believer that where you bought your coffee, what time you did it at, and which way you walked afterward alters your life path. I don’t feel as though I can answer this question because I think the fact that I am here is a sign that each decision you make will impact you down the road. The life altering decision I am referring to is deciding to play basketball one day in the summer before my senior year of high school.


Don’t laugh or scoff, instead keep reading and you’ll understand, don’t worry I’ll get to the point, eventually.
       In the summer of my senior year playing basketball was something I did frequently in town at Jefferson Elementary School, no I didn’t play with toddlers and I didn’t break in, all the juveniles of town and some people 18 and 19 played on the courts they had outside. It’s known as the basketball hot spot. One day my friend texted me asking to play but I told him no because I wasn’t feeling too great. Sitting on the couch after sending that text I decided I should tough it out and go play.
     When I arrived at the school one of my friends, Glen Cook, was there because he was going to play with us. I hadn’t seen him in forever and we started talking and catching up. While doing so he informed me how he was working for New Jersey City University and how that’s also where he attends classes.


      Appalled by this I began asking questions and he began telling me all that New Jersey City University has to offer students. Intrigued I continued the conversation as I had many questions. This alone kept New Jersey City University in the back of my mind and gave me a different perspective of the university. When I received the offer of acceptance to New Jersey City University I viewed it differently than most of my colleagues did because I viewed the college differently as well because of Glen Cook. When I received my honors college acceptance I was intrigued and thrilled to have received that offer and one of the factors in me pursuing that scholarship was the way Glen Cook had talked about New Jersey City University. Had I stayed home that day,  he not spoken I would’ve still signed up for that on-site decision but I wouldn’t have really looked much further at New Jersey City University.
     Isn’t it a bit insane how something like playing basketball could’ve altered where I attended college for the next four years, that’s the reality of our decisions each and every single one.
     Every step we take, every move we make will alter our lives so greatly so next time thinks twice about whether you should get a coffee or not that day, or play basketball at the JMAC. Who knows what could be waiting for you inside that Dunkin Donuts, or inside of the JMAC. Laugh or scoff all you want but by you reading this blog who knows what impact it will have on the road you’re on.

This has been Will's Wisdoms and I am signing off.

Chalk Talk Exercise

The other day while in class I was delighted to engage in yet another Chalk Talk. Personally, I find these rather invigorating for a multitude of reasons. Mainly because they stimulate many different parts of the brain and aid in the development of the minds of our generation in the 21st century. The Chalk Talk aids in the promotion of 21st-century skills or the 4 cs. Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Critical Thinking. These skills are key in order to truly develop the minds of students and society in order to allow them to broaden their spectrum and the way they think.

Communication is ironically one of the major elements in the Chalk Talk although in the Chalk Talk there is NO speaking allowed. While in your group you cannot talk, write messages to each other, nothing of that is allowed so in a way wouldn’t you think communication isn’t part of it but it is. Communication is key in the way that you describe what you’re writing about. If the facilitator circles your point, then you need to make a point to describe what you’re point was about and it can grow difficult to be able to describe what you’re discussing to what the facilitator is trying to get you to say. Also when writing across the board with everyone writing at the same time it’s hard and you need communication with your group but that’s what makes it more challenging and invigorating.

Collaboration is also one of the major elements of this project because you’re working with roughly 4-5 people in this project. That makes the aspect different because the collaboration part is hard since everyone has a different mindset and different perspective on similar topics and ideas. It stimulates the mind because you are able to broaden your horizons and gain not only new knowledge but also a different point of view on a topic and allow you to think differently.


       Creativity is key in this as well because you need to be really creative on how you decide to design the page and the way you want to decorate your facts to make them stand out. You need to have a certain balance of colors and formatting where you’re placing the ideas, where you’re connecting them, how you make this standout, etc. One of the most challenging things looking back on it was the creativity aspect because it separates a good poster and idea from a great one. 

Lastly Critical Thinking is one of the biggest Cs in the Chalk Talk. Critical Thinking and being able to decipher information and relay it with clear cut points and portray it interestingly to your peers is difficult. You must be able to take something that the text states and then decipher also what’s the real meaning behind what the text says, what you think it says, and then deciphering what it really says. You also have to be able to evaluate the article and be able to plot out main points on the paper. This involves really stimulating and thinking while reading this article.

Pop Culture

Pop Culture, is it Good or Bad?

     “You have to stay updated on trends, social things and pop culture, you need to stay with the times and keep evolving." - Corey Feldman 

       Pop culture defined by many is perceived to be a detriment to society. The reason for this is the fact that pop culture has become one of the major influences of society today. With growing social media outlets such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter pop culture is reshaping society like it never has before. Phil Williams, from Ted Talks, during his “Pop Culture” Ted Talk conducted a quick example of how Pop Culture works. He asked everyone to take a picture and go around the room and decide who had the funniest one, this is similar to making a meme because one picture can have multiple captions and be funnier than the other.

 

    In the end one lady had the best picture of all of them and he was predicting what she would do, like go on social media and boast about it. Reality is because of social media, and the way pop culture has used these programs to take over our daily lives most of our actions are now extremely predictable when it comes to things like this.  He then began to speak about how negatively social media is influencing our generation. How suddenly we are doing things, like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, because it is the popular thing to do and not for the reason behind it. To legitimately promote awareness and raise money for a disease that plagues many in our nation. It became just a craze and something to do in the summer but the true meaning of it didn't get across all the people that were dumping buckets filled with cold water and ice on them. That's disappointing, and reality is sickening. Thousands of people were dumping ice water on them without knowing why they were doing it and they only did it because it was popular and at the time was part of pop culture.

      Pop Culture truly is a detriment to society. For the kids of this generation they are being spoon fed what to think and believe is right. One of the worst things of pop culture is that it teaches kids to change with it. Pop culture teaches kids that change is good, as it is, but it doesn’t teach kids how to be themselves and who they are instead they change as much as pop culture does. Take for instance Collin Kapernick once a “heroic” quarterback and one of the most well liked players in the league, in a matter of months has become the most hated player in the NFL. 

     ESPN, one of the largest sports multimedia corporations in existence,  recently conducted a poll to see which player was the most hated in the league and Colin Kapernick was the sole victor in that category. Although I am not endorsing Kapernick or think what he does is morally correct he is being attacked for exercising one of his rights and going about this situation the way he feels he should, he’s being himself.

    Phil Williams spoke upon what children ages 10 and under said their goals were. In the study
conducted the results demonstrated that the number one goal that kids wanted to achieve was become a celebrity. This is because of how much pop culture is affecting not only society but our adolescents and the future of society as we know it. Children of today’s day and age are receiving pop culture from wherever they turn. From their televisions, to their laptops, to in their pockets like their cell phones. Pop Culture is consuming us. Tying all this back to the original quote at the top, pop culture is starting to demand all of our attention, all of our time even when we don’t have any. As the quote says “we have to” that phrase right there is reason enough to realize how bad pop culture is. It’s not just about a like, comment, retweet, etc. It’s about trying to fill a void in your life that you didn’t know was there with minuscule things that are temporary and truly have no meaning, instead of investing your time in something meaningful and making a greater change. Pop culture, is a detriment to society.

Literacy History

            Fredrick Douglass once said “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” 

At a very young age my mother educated me in the importance of literacy in life. I was brought into a new world, a world where the words on a page could paint a picture so intriguing in your mind it’s impossible to set the book down. A world full of color that can be depicted with some black ink on a white piece of paper. It intrigued me how the words were the keys to an alternate universe that as a child I longed to not only discover but explore. My mother wanted to instill a proper foundation in me so that I would never be behind my peers but instead ahead. To aid me in this she would play videos that taught me how to annunciate properly and decipher words. These videos, with the help of my mother, instilled in me the proper knowledge to become literate. I first felt I was literate at around four years old, when my mother handed me books and I was able to read them perfectly. My diction was clear, I knew not only what I was reading but I was able to fully understand it. One of the best feelings as a kid is having your parents backing you in things that are of much interest to you. My mother would always support me and encourage my little boy hunger for books and for reading. I didn’t just want to break into this alternate universe, I wanted to see what it had to offer. I truly began to feel literate when I entered Pre-K and Kindergarten because when the teacher handed out the worksheets I was able to read and understand the directions thoroughly while others in my group could not. This doesn’t mean that they were beneath me because of this or that I was sky rocketed ahead, it just meant that at the time I was literate while they were not. This isn’t a skill you’re supposed to have it’s an acquired skill that constantly is developed, strengthened, and expanded in your mind.

Throughout elementary I continued my growth in literacy as I began to speak publicly as I competed in speech contests since the first grade and I won multiple of these contests. In middle school I continued my growth with speech contests but I also began to mentor kids in elementary school, helping them with English homework or even things such as baseball skills. These things like baseball skills were related to literacy because I would have to speak to these kids and I had to make sure I could speak properly to these kids so they could understand me ect. When I entered high school I really had to test my literacy skills. Not only did I have to mentor kids as a baseball coach and speak to them constantly but I also had to publicly speak in front of my peers as I took many leadership roles in many clubs. My biggest role model during this was one of my business class teachers. Since my sophomore year, or my first year at NAHS, she became my role model figure and was able to help me take my assets and use them to maximum capacity. She was the one that greatly inspired me on a day to day basis from the way she ran most things in the school, to her time management , to just how smart she was. It was just always never ending inspiration from her and with her help and encouragement it led me to do great things at my old school. Sometimes I long for the days we would be collaboratively working to ensure that the events we ran were running efficiently or that they were still on schedule.

Today my view on literacy is completely different from what it was when I was five years old reading a book about how a train couldn’t make it up a hill, but then could. When I was younger I felt that those who weren’t as educated in literacy as myself weren’t going to amount to much, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Sure those who aren’t literate may have a tougher time in the working field for some jobs than those who are, but being literate isn’t something that you can acquire without effort. Just because you read at your grade level means you’re as literate as your colleagues and if you’re able to read above grade level it doesn’t mean you’re more literate either. Being literate is about being able to express yourself through the words typed on a page, to be able to express yourself through the words that come out of your mouth, to be able to allow your mind to express itself through the songs that you are listening. See being literate is a skill that is fine-tuned but is unique. The way that you view being literate may be completely different than mine, or it might be slightly different but isn’t that the beauty of being literate? It’s unique to you. Why wouldn’t you read an extra book or two to expand your horizon and the way you think? To this day I will re-read books that I haven’t touched since I was in 8^th grade and I’ll realize the different point of view or way of looking at it today than I did five years ago, that’s beautiful. Never cease to expand, because a world of wonders awaits. Literacy is a skill that no one can take, no one can steal from you, no one can be like you, it’s a fine-tuned skill made for you, uniquely.