Lesson 8

I am the lead student on this lesson and I hope I do a good job of teaching it.

I started by fixing the citations and submitting the rough draft of my persuasive essay, which has to be sourced in MLA style. I had to look it up, as I have never used MLA style before.

I then moved on to the readings. The first essay was called 'The Pleasure of Eating' and one of the first things I read was a comment on eating responsibly. I believe that not only do people need to be aware of what they eat and what food may contribute to issues with their health, people also need to be aware of where their food comes from. The author makes it clear that food simply does not appear magically in a grocery store, ready for eager consumers to buy and eat. There is a very interesting, but complex process involved in getting food from the source to the shelf and the politics involved in that process is how difficult the  transition is made by those who have authority over food. Power and money are at play when it comes to the production and distribution of food and those fighting over those factors often step over innocent consumers while trying to keep hold of such control. Consumers, in turn, try not to get involved in the politics of food because all they want to do is get the food so that they and their loved ones can survive. Unfortunately, consumers become involved in the politics of food when they end up paying a high price to eat simply because those involved in the politics of food care more about the almighty dollar than pleasing consumers. The consumer sometimes also suffers reactions from the chemicals put into food during the transitional process, so there ends up being lawsuits and protests against those involved in food politics. The author has a very lovely poem at the bottom that reminds us that God gave us sources of food on the earth that we might live and live well, but when politics are involved, everyone forgets the beauty of food.

After that, I moved on to the Grammar Lesson, which dealt with Shifts in Time, or, in other words, tenses. I read a handout on Shifts in Time and also watched a video on it. I took the quiz twice and got two wrong the first time and I only got one wrong the second time because I thought a question was wrong that ended up being correct.

I moved on to the Paragraph and Essay Development readings, which were on Introductions and Conclusions; Revision, and Development.

Post Lesson 7 Work

Discussion Board Replies

Seatbelt use is certainly a controversial topic because people are polar opposites on this issue. Some think that seatbelts are more of a constraint and stop people from having fun while others think that seatbelts are a protection that saves lives. I find myself comparing seatbelts to the commandments and how both were given to us as laws for a reason. Seatbelts protect us from physical danger that could come as a result of accidents or automobile difficulties and commandments protect us from spiritual difficulties if we choose to follow them. Both seatbelts and commandments have reasons for existing and there are also consequences for not listening and/or taking them seriously.

I think your topics interconnect with one another, so why not use a little bit of both to support a common thesis? Some people who are abused as children end up thinking they are not good enough as they grow older and they end up abusing their bodies in the fight to become perfect according to the world's standards. Those abused end up abusing themselves and therefore end up abusing others who come under their responsibility as time goes on simply because they do not know any other way to deal with problematic situations. Your mention of the Bystander Effect plays into both these topics because people see child abuse and self-abuse every day and may even unknowingly encourage it because people are too quick to judge rather than look beyond what they see. Self-abuse and child abuse need compassion and intervention, but all people give are apathy and judgment because they don't want to be involved or don't think that it is their concern.

Speaking Partner Experience # 7

I met with Ismenia today and her children have been sick, so she was worried that I would be mad that she missed last week, but I was more worried about her than upset with her not showing up. It turns out her, oldest son had an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite and ended up needing to go to the hospital for treatment. The sun time is over in Brazil, so they are an hour behind now. I told Ismenia that I was more concerned about whether or not she was okay and she was relieved, as she was worried that I was mad at her for not coming.

We were looking at Math terminology and I ended up explaining a couple of the terms and having to look one up to explain it because I wasn't sure what it meant. I told Ismenia that Math is not my strength and I would rather look something up and give her the right answer than the wrong one.

Translating word problems into numerical problems is tough and I ended up looking up the answers through Google to see if it would help Ismenia. I hope I do better at algebra than I do at teaching it.

We then did some pronunciation practice. After that, we discussed provident living and Ismenia said that to her, provident living is living out goals you set and become provident involves having a profession that involves having a sufficient income so that she can provide for her family's needs.

Ismenia says she appreciates my help and that makes me feel good.

Lesson 7

Discussion Board topic

For my persuasive paper, I chose the topic of anger and how untamed anger can lead people making bad spiritual and temporal decisions. I chose this topic because throughout history, it is apparent that a lot of incidents stemmed from people who chose to let their frustration grow into anger rather than keep themselves in a rational state. Anger often makes people think and behave irrationally and such behavior has led to terrible things happening and many people either being hurt or killed. To me, anger is such an easy emotion to harness, yet people don't seem to want to harness it because anger gives them power over others where they might otherwise have none. While power is a nice thing to have, it is nice only as long as it is used in a responsible manner that provides a positive influence. The moment that anger and negative emotions control the aspect of power, the holder of the power loses all common sense and does whatever will get them more power, even if it means causing harm to others.

In ''The Bystander Effect', it makes it clear that people are afraid to intervene because they don't want to put themselves in harm's away even if it means sacrificing an innocent person in the process. There are too many people in today's world and in yesterday's world and that apathetic response has led to some of the most tragic things in history happening. Just think, how would the world have changed if people would have just spoken up in the days before Hitler came into power and used their voice to actively stop him from gaining power and influence? World War Two and millions of deaths might have never happened had people not been taken in by false promises and lulled into a sense of false security by soothsaying. People are hurt or killed every day simply because people don't want to intervene in the actions caused by the untamed anger of another person. It is often necessary for another to help one with untamed anger be able to calm down, but if nobody steps in to help, the anger will remain untamed.

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Grammar Lesson

This week's Grammar Lesson was on improving style and I read a handout and also watched a video before doing the quiz. I did the quiz twice and got two wrong the first time, but 100% on the second try because I kept my notes open, took my time, and said a prayer before I began the quiz.

I then watched videos on Paragraph and Essay development that discussed thesis development, organizing and outlining, and elements of persuasion. 

I also worked on my outline for my Persuasive Paper assignment.

Post Lesson 6 Work

Discussion Board Replies

In terms of Sydnee's post on the drinking age, I have to say that reading and watching news stories about how teens or even very young adults behaved irresponsibly with alcohol and ended up paying a very steep price has made me think that the drinking age is too low and should be raised. We can't stop people from drinking, but perhaps we can teach them how to drink responsibly. The opposing perspective would more than likely attribute irresponsible alcohol use to the need for curious people to experiment with things that are new to them. Even experiments can get out of hand, however, if those running the experiment don't have an understanding of what they are working with and the impact each thing could have on both the experiment and those involved. People who behave irresponsibly because of alcohol don't truly have an understanding of the consequences for themselves or others around them. That is why there are programs like Students/Mothers Against Drunk Driving and D.A.R.E. out there; such programs are meant to educate people on the effects of anything they may indulge in, as any sort of indulgence can turn into a drug if it is used excessively or improperly. We don't have enough awareness about consequences of excessive or inappropriate use of substances in general out there and that needs to change.

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If only the guns were to blame for violence, life would be so much easier. Unfortunately, guns cannot fire themselves and are usually used as a means to an end or to instigate conflict. People instigate violence every day even though it solves nothing and only creates more pain and problems, but those against violence are choosing to blame the gun itself rather than the shooter. A shooter usually has a reason to use a gun and perhaps if society took the time to help each other with problems that lead to violence, shootings might not happen so often. It is tragic that people would rather respond apathetically to the problems of another instead of trying to help them and perhaps avoid violence that could come as a result of unaddressed issues. How many problematic situations could be avoided and how many lives could be saved if people simply took the time to help one another instead of choosing to be apathetic?

Lesson 6

I altered and submitted the rough draft of my critical thinking essay and then I went on to the readings, reading through four of them before making a discussion board post.

Discussion Board Post: The drinking age should not be lowered from 21 because young people are very irresponsible with alcohol and at such a young age, they are still not fully aware of how their actions affect other people. Alcohol impairs common sense and with just one drink, people lose enough of their common sense that they end up overindulging. Overindulgence of alcohol definitely has physical, social, and emotional consequences that don't just affect the drinker. 

When a person overindulges in alcohol, they can turn either angry enough to cause harm to other things of people, quiet, or funny enough to make a fool of themselves. A person who succumbs to anger fueled by alcohol can become abusive to others or do things that can cause lasting damage to both objects and relationships. I definitely do not agree that underage drinking should be allowed at all because minors don't have a definite awareness of who they are and consuming alcohol will only decrease that awareness. Additionally, not all parents are responsible in parenting under normal circumstances and to introduce alcohol into such situations would be disastrous for minors. If parents are already irresponsible under normal circumstances, unstable factors such as alcohol should not be introduced into the equation as it would make both parent and child act irresponsibly. 

Although there are people who do occasionally indulge for religious or cultural reasons, limits are set on how much alcohol can be consumed so that the drinkers won't lose the ability to behave responsibly. If people are going to drink, they need to set limits beforehand so that their drinking doesn't become out of control and they end up causing harm to other people or things. If people are going to drink, they are better off to do so around others so that people are there to remind them of their limits and stop them from overindulging. If one drinks alone, they are more than likely to overindulge.

When a person drinks, it clouds their common sense and also puts stress on more responsible people to make sure that the drinker is safe by serving as a designated driver, which is stressful because they are holding the drinker's life in their hands. Life is so fragile and short as it is, so why make it even more fragile and potentially shorter for youth by wanting to lower the minimum drinking age? The minimum age in Alberta is 18 and the fact that 18 year olds can drink scares me, as I often see people that young bragging about how irresponsibly they act because they can drink and it's very upsetting. It's as if they don't care or know that too much drinking or mixing it with other activities can have grave effects.

I then turned my attention to the Grammar Lesson for the week, which was awkward sentences. I read a handout and then watched a video before moving on to the quiz. I took the quiz twice and got two wrong the first time, but I got 100% the second time. Thank you, my dear Lord!

After that, I watched the videos on writing that talked about transition and coherence, integrating questions, and paragraphing, summarizing, and quoting. After that, I wrote an essay about my experiences as a speaking tutor.

Mid-Term Writing Assignment

Speaking Partner Mid-Term Assignment

In the second semester of Pathways, I applied for and got assigned to a speaking partner from Brazil named Ismenia Riberio. We were both so eager to get into this assignment that we actually started a week earlier than we were supposed to, so now we are a lesson ahead! Our plan in the beginning was to meet every Tuesday at 4 P.M. her time on Skype, which is 11 A.M. my time and when we haven't met on the designated day for whatever reason, we simply picked an alternate day and kept the time the same for the sake of consistency. It has been a fun experience thus far and I have come to discover that I really enjoy teaching others things they don't know well.
            I  have learned that Ismenia is a very dedicated wife and mother to a seven year old and a five year old boy and also works both at home and on the internet to help support her family. Her husband is also from Brazil, but he is from a different city. Ismenia likes to listen to music, loves going to church, and loves going to the cinema with her family. She is so very eager to learn and is very grateful that I am willing to help her work on the English terminology that she needs to know for Math and also help her with ways in which to do her math problems, as we did some math problems verbally during one of our calls. 

Besides using our speaking partner appointments to go through each lesson, Ismenia and I have also worked on grammar in speaking, as she told me very early on into her lessons that her Pathway teacher said that she sometimes uses improper grammar when speaking and she needed to work on it. During our appointments, Ismenia told me that she sometimes doesn't understand what people said and it is embarrassing because she doesn't know what they are saying because they speak fast, they put words together, and their pronunciation. Ismenia says that at the Pathway gathering, she doesn't have any problem understanding the language because everyone, including the missionaries, speaks slowly and helps everyone to understand. I gently reminded Ismenia that I am here to help her and that if she has questions, she can ask them and to not be afraid of asking me questions. Sometimes, Ismenia feels uncomfortable about asking people to repeat what they have said because it makes her feel limited in trying to express her thoughts. I do my best to make Ismenia feel comfortable and safe enough to ask questions during our sessions by encouraging her to be honest when she doesn't understand something so we can work on it right away rather than wait until later on.

I love working with Ismenia and it makes me to teach English to others in another country someday or even help people learn English in Canada or the United States, as I am a citizen of both countries and can work in both places. Ismenia seems so eager to learn and do her best, but her internet gives her problems at times, so I often copy the lesson text from the page and share it on Skype line by line so that she will not miss the opportunity to learn anything. I love how determined Ismenia is to learn and how positive she is throughout the entire learning process. She makes such an amazing effort to learn and I am very pleased with her efforts to do her absolute best.

I make an effort to continually compliment Ismenia on her improvement in English and I have to say that she has improved so much from when we started. I love helping anyone rise to the potential they have as children of God and it brings me joy when others gain joy through learning. I am so grateful that God gave me the opportunity to do this, as I am learning that I am capable of being a good teacher.

Post Lesson 5 Work

Discussion Board Replies
It's not fair to judge something like Facebook solely on the bad posts you see on there, as Facebook is also used for good things like keeping in touch with family and friends and also sharing the gospel. To judge something or someone based solely on one imperfection is not what the Lord wants us to do, as we are all imperfect and if we are to judge others, we should first look at ourselves. While I agree that it is better to avoid the toxic people and posts on Facebook, I also believe that there is good to be found in Facebook and that we can use it in the way that it was meant to be used; to connect with each other. We do, however, need to be cautious about who we choose to connect with, as it is so easy for people to endanger themselves or others close to them because they choose to connect with the wrong person and be too open with them. It is okay to enjoy Facebook, but at the same time, be careful about who you share private information with because it could come back to haunt and harm you.

We are exposed to knowledge from different sources every day of our lives and that is how we come to broaden the intelligence God gives us. However, not all sources or credible or safe for us to glean knowledge from simply because they provide limited knowledge that could possibly cause us to make bad decisions. We certainly should not be afraid to express our opinion or share our perspective on things that interest us, but we need to make sure that our knowledge is accurate enough that we don't end up making ourselves look foolish and/or uninformed. When expressing thoughts on the knowledge we have, we also need to make sure that we respect the viewpoints of others and not treat them badly over their opinion. Although we have the right to choose what we say and do, we don't have the right to make others feel inferior simply because their opinions may differ from ours.

Speaking Partner Experience # 6

I met with Ismenia a little late today, but she seems so eager to learn and do her best, so it's fine and we went ahead with the next lesson. Her internet is giving her problems today, but we'll work with what we can and do our best to get through today's lesson successfully.

Today, we are discussing visual language comparisons and we are doing it verbally and with me posting the notes in the chat because Ismenia's internet is acting up. I explained the concept of tug of war and Ismenia found it funny. When we discussed the comparisons, Ismenia went back to the practice examples and wanted to read them carefully before trying to explain. I love how determined Ismenia is to learn and how positive she is throughout the entire learning process. She makes such an amazing effort to learn and I am very pleased with her efforts to do her absolute best.

I complimented Ismenia on her improvement in English and she says the hardest part is using conjunctions and prepositions properly, but she has improved so much from when we started and I was not afraid to tell her that. We then discussed the finer points and necessity of budgeting.

Evaluating the budget to Ismenia is recording how much is earned and spent, as it gives a perspective on whether or not to increase the proper budget. When Ismenia sets a budget, she says, she needs to work with the proper value, no more and no less. The biggest expense on Ismenia's budget, she says, is her mortgage. When it comes to financial changes, Ismenia says that after she starts recording on her spreadsheet, she receives more peace of mind in her life because she has more control over her debts and what she can spend on other things that she needs. She also has the opportunity to start saving with a budget and that brings her peace of mind.

Ismenia learned from Church teachings the importance of starting a food storage and being prepared for unexpected things. It helps her with her job and she can teach her kids the importance of spending money on things that really matter. We then engaged in pronunciation practice of words.

Ismenia is very happy to learn and asks if it is freezing when I go outside and if my pet and I go out in the snow. She thanked me for my kindness and said she hoped I had a wonderful week.

Lesson 5

Discussion Board posts

Notes on the Ophelia Syndrome
Do we really know everything we want in life or are we simply blinded by the lust over what appears exciting and right away? Quite often, our lust for immediate blessings overshadows and draws our attention away from the blessings we are so anxiously waiting for. When we desire a blessing immediately instead of waiting on Heavenly Father's time and place in our lives, we tend to be rather impulsive about pursuing what is in front of us. Our impulsiveness can stop us from feeling the Spirit because extreme impulsiveness can bring out our inner aggressiveness because when we want something badly enough, we do not care what we have to do to get it. We need to know what we want and understand that although what we want may not come immediately, it will come in time and it will be worth the wait. We all have our own thoughts and our own desires, but people may try to convince us that we are merely lusting after unreachable goals because our wants may interfere or prove inconvenient to their wants. Unfortunately, we try to do the same thing to others when their wants or desires interfere with ours simply because our hunger for those wants are insatiable.

We need to trust ourselves when we decide what we want and we need to trust our decisions enough that people cannot change our minds. The Spirit of God gives us revelation and when we receive it and come to accept it as revelation, it needs to remain important to us. Others may not understand when we receive revelation or determine the revelation to be non-existent because it may not happen immediately. Revelation comes to pass in God's time and not in ours, so we may need to endure patiently even when others urge us to let it go and move on. God will not punish people for listening and acting on revelation even if others murmur about it, but He will withhold blessings from those who ignore revelation. Is it really worth losing a blessing because you ignored a revelation from God for the sake of personal comfort or convenience? It is not worth denying yourself anything from God for the sake of either, as God will give us a way to handle anything He asks us to do. We cannot trust others to decide what is best for us; we need to trust that God will give us opportunity and the freedom to decide if it is best for us. If it IS best for us to do something, God WILL let us know.

Others can choose to ignore revelation wonder what blessings they would have received had they listened to the Lord, but we can choose to listen and learn when we have the chance.


Actual discussion board post

A solution to the Ophelia Syndrome is to simply to make people aware of the information available concerning choices they have the right to make and the consequences of said choices. People often act impulsively simply because they aren't aware of what information they may be missing and increased awareness can change that. We have the right to think and learn for ourselves and we also have the right to make choices based on what we learn. Society wants everyone to have common ideas and conform to social norms that have been dictated by an authority figure who does not rely on God's standard of thinking, but their own misguided ways of thinking that come as a result of limited observation or inaccurate information from dictatorial minority groups.

However, we don't have the right to choose the consequences of the choices that we make and people don't often use their brains when it comes to making choices; they make choices based on hearsay or inaccurate information instead of making a choice based on their own knowledge. It is very unfortunate that people would rather rely on the hearsay of others to make choices rather than make the effort to improve their own decision-making process, but that is the way of the world. It is becoming much too easy for people to live life as followers rather than leaders; it is easier to go with the choices of the majority than it is to stand alone, as those who stand alone are seen as social outcasts and treated as such. People want things immediately and quickly and they try to force everyone to give into the quality of impatience.

Do we really know everything we want in life or are we simply blinded by the lust over what appears exciting and right away? Quite often, our lust for immediate blessings overshadows and draws our attention away from the blessings we are so anxiously waiting for. When we desire a blessing immediately instead of waiting on Heavenly Father's time and place in our lives, we tend to be rather impulsive about pursuing what is in front of us. Our impulsiveness can stop us from feeling the Spirit because extreme impulsiveness can bring out our inner aggressiveness because when we want something badly enough, we do not care what we have to do to get it. We need to trust ourselves when we decide what we want and we need to trust our decisions enough that people cannot change our minds. We give in to the demands of others and often compromise or give up what we want simply because we do not trust our ability to fight for it.

I then turned my attention to this week's Grammar Lesson, which was on wordy sentences. I read a very interesting handout on wordy sentences and also watched a video on them.

I did the quiz twice and I got four wrong the first time, so I tried again and got three wrong the second time, making my average 70%. Wordy sentences are very hard because I would simplify most of those sentences in a different way than BYU-Idaho would simplify them.

Post Lesson 4 Work

I went to the Writing Center for tutoring on my 'This I Believe' paper and I have been told by Tutor Lauren that I have a great strong style and voice and the strength of it shows from my journalism.

Discussion Board Replies
It is not only difficult to recognize our talents, but it is also difficult to use them when others around us may believe that we have no talents. When we allow the negative opinions of others to influence us into believing that we are of little or no worth, we find it hard to act in faith and use the talents that God gave us to make the world a little better than it is. It not only takes faith to recognize that we have talents, it also takes faith to actually use the talents in the way that we were intended to use them. Making the choice to use what God gave us is not only acting in faith, but also using our agency in such a way that we will have the Spirit of God to be with us as we act. When we have the Spirit of God with us, it tells us how we can use our talents to positively impact others around us.

In a world where failures are so judged so harshly, it is terribly easy to give up and never make an effort to do anything productive for the rest of our lives. However, it is Heavenly Father's will and desire that we make the most of our mortality and do so even when our efforts may prove inconvenient to others or to society as a whole. Satan wants us to believe that we are only wasting our time when we attempt to do something that we know we will not succeed at and wants us to do nothing. There is a beauty, though, in simply giving our best effort and it is through giving our best effort that we become an example to those around us who are struggling just to get by in life. Through our best efforts, we show others that just trying your absolute best is good enough and truly loved in God's eyes.

I also handed in my final draft of my 'This I Believe' paper.

Speaking Partner Experience # 5

I met with Isemenia today and we talked about transitions and variables in terms of math terminology. We then discussed the use of transitional words in lectures and guiding people through speech. We also used the transition words to discuss budgeting and keeping track of expenses. I then used the transitional words to explain an experience I have had with budgeting so that Ismenia could understand the proper use of the transitional words. Ismenia then had to pronounce different shapes and draw pictures of each shape from pictures in her textbook to show her understanding of them.

I admit that I myself had to look up what a couple of the shapes were because I didn't understand the BYU-Idaho terminology and I wasn't afraid to admit that to Ismenia. We then turned to -ed verbs and pronouncing them.  We also practiced pronouncing more words.

Lesson 4

Discussion Board Post
I read an essay about discrimination called 'Free Minds and Hearts at Work' that was written by Jackie Robinson. I like the fact that it is a mere belief that his fight had a chance of being won that motivated Jackie to keep going even when the odds off success were stacked very strongly against him. I find myself likening the struggle for equality to myself as, even though I am a white person and living in a socially freer area, I too have encountered prejudices simply because of who I am and the fact that it differs from the definition of 'normal.' I myself have an invisible disability known as Non-Verbal Learning Disorder, which is similar to Asperger's, but there is not a lot of information about it that is available. The battle between the races has gone on visibly for a very long time, but the battle between what is intellectually normal and different has been somewhat invisible to society until about 20 or 30 years ago. It is sad to admit that the human race still has a long way to go.

While the battle between races was fought in the public eye from early on, people with disabilities were often simply shut away from society because nobody wanted to take the time or patience to love them as they were. After a failed lobotomy, Rosemary Kennedy became one of those people who were shut away simply because they were different. This essay is titled 'Free Minds and Hearts' and yet, people were not always able to show that they had free minds or hearts because it would easily be perceived as abnormal and swiftly dealt with. Jackie Robinson talks about having a belief in a warm heart and yet, how many hearts turned cold because their owners choose to be indifferent? The epidemic of indifference seems to be spreading throughout the world and it seems that nobody wants to do anything to really stop it, as they don't want to bring attention to themselves. If people don't care about expressing their minds or hearts freely, that freedom to do so could someday disappear.

Society as a whole claims to be trying to improve, but people still put barriers in the way of their own success and the success of others. Even though we live in what Jackie Robinson refers to as a free society, it is easier for us to imperfection in each other than it is to find it in ourselves and strive to improve upon it. In order to truly set ourselves free from our own barriers that we put on ourselves and society puts on us, we need to learn to love ourselves as God loves and truly cherishes us. I think humans have difficulty caring for themselves or each other as they should because they have forgotten who they really are and who they can become. People are becoming apathetic about themselves and each other because they have forgotten that they are beloved children of God.

After I completed the initial post, I turned my attention to the grammar lesson, which was again on comma rules! The rules were about placing commas around nonessential words and/or phrases, addressing someone directly, and around dates and places. I also watched a video about commas.

I then took the comma quiz and got two wrong the first time because I forgot the FANBOYS rule and put a comma where it didn't need to be. The second time, however, I got 100% and that registered on my grades, as the tests take the higher of the two marks.