Category Archives: student blogs

student blogs

Updates !

This week as it comes to a close this Saturday evening I was able to get through 3 blog post. Again just reiterating my intent in March is to edit all 15 blogs I do and maybe add more to them or even add a few more blogs to go along.

I have become in tune with the parenting side when to comes to dealing with Early childhood tech practices, and how important it is in todays ever growing society. It is very near a dear to me not only because that is what am I exposed to daily with my own children, but the subject does pose great projections with tech advancement, because children are literally our future. The earlier they are exposed to these tools the more advanced society becomes , and this is something history has shown repeatedly.

These there blogs this week shared the them of early introduction to tech and how parents are great influences to this in their young scholars. As a parent I feel I relate to not only a vast majority of other parents, but also I am very close enough in age to still understand and use these new tech practices as they emerge.

This next week I will work on the remaining 8 blogs. That is about 2 blogs between Monday and Friday. I can then do a rough edits of them between Sunday and Monday and next week I will speak about how the edits went when I do my blog.

Other than that there isn’t really much else to tell. I feel as though I am going at a good pace and effort with my work and I have small achievable goals that will soon all start coming together,.

student blogs

Beloved Sunflower

Sunflower field under blue sky during daytime.

In the fields of gold where summer’s warmth resides 

A sunflower stands proud gazing towards the sun 

Its petals spread wide like golden tides, 

A testament to nature’s art so finely spun.

Oh, sunflower fair in brilliance you gleam, 

A light of joy in the fields of green 

With every gentle sway you dance and dream 

A sight so splendid that you can’t unsee.

Amidst the whispers of the gentle breeze, 

Your beauty flourishes as a sight to admire 

In your radiant presence the soul finds ease 

As you stand tall in nature’s choir.

Oh, how you captivate with every bloom, 

My most favorite flower in sunlight’s room.

student blogs

Loving the Feedback

I feel super comfortable in the direction I am going with my thesis. I feel I am truly turning it into something that I not only care a lot about but also something very personal to me. I am able to explore and truly understand things I am genuinely interested in.

Tonight in class it was very helpful receiving positive feedback as I was a little nervous about how it might sound out loud instead of just me reading it myself, and I might say it really gave me a boost on how I was feeling about completing this thesis.

I am genuinely excited to see the completion of my project as it comes to life. I am excited more on how I will be able to present this in different forms to bring it all together.

I do question the next two weeks as I want to complete all of my blogs so I am able to edit them and it is very possible. That is a blog a day until we meet again, then I can take March to really begin to edit and design this project on their different platforms. I do have the vision, but I am excited to see it all come together.

student blogs

Staying Afloat

Last Monday’s class was great. I am looking forward to reading another vignette where I can receive feedback again that is very insightful in regards to helping me shape my vignettes into something even more powerful. I’m not going to lie in the beginning the rough drafts were rough. Mainly because I wanted to just push out all the ideas I had while they were fresh in my brain. It’s not that I was half-asking it but I wanted to get at least the foundation done in order to go back and then revise and edit the vignettes into the kind of stories that they should be.

I do plan on writing at least 3-5 more vignettes but at the moment it’s also nice to share what I have and get feedback that is helping me be more aware of what I need to do.

student blogs

New Week, New Findings.

This week I decided to create a part 1 and part 2 blog to start expressing the obervations I did over the break, and kind of put things into perspective for those whole will start to follow me along on this journey. I want the blogs to represent how my ind is working as I collect new information and why my ideas are the way they are, so I felt by starting with my observations this will give a great insight into why not only this topic is important to me, but also how surrounded by the topic I am at this present time in my life.

Last week I love how Dr. Zamora mentioned that my focus was mainly on the ways young children use technology outside of school, so I have decided that this will be my center focus, and to speak about how this may affect the way students interact with technology in school. I think that as parents we expose our kids to the fundamentals in life and once they start school you are kind of presenting a little person with the views and values you gave them, in a way. As they get more use to school and the training they are receiving they begin to encorporate this things to make them more of who they are. As parents we also learn from our children, so the techniques they learn in school pertaining to technology we try to keep up with them at home. For instance, when Victoria, my 4 year, started school she was using iPad more for play purposes and apps that I found appropriate. Once school was incorporated her teacher gave a lot of great sites to use. her favorite to use at school is ABC Mouse, so now during her screen time at home I make sure to keep this apart of it. It actually makes her more confident in school while using the website because she is now becoming use to the gameplay on the site. Something the teacher noticed as well.

My final blog this week to make 3 will talk about the use of technology to teach letters and numbers on a basic level. I am looking at the ways in which the educational apps I have observed the kids use are teaching them the alphabet and counting 1- 10, or through to 20 depending on age, and how the children do with retaining information in these ways They typically do it with music, song, dance, and it helps with the receptiveness. Children end up singing the alphabet song without truly understanding what each letter represents. As they get older and start school as a parent you begin to see the ways in which they use those songs to remember things they are taught. This basic tool, the alphabet, can now be taught to children through tech in a way they can understand, relate to, and truly enjoy. I feel this is nice to see that children are not only learning, but they are also enjoying that they are learning and want to do it more and more.

These 3 blogs this week are just the beginning of the overall path I am taking to putting together all the information I have found, and I how I plan to continue my research as we move forward through the semester.

student blogs

Work, work, work, work, work, work

Here is my latest and recent update, lately I’ve been trying to push a bit more vignettes (but quality ones that I would be proud of). But I have found myself in a little block with writing again, so to not be totally useless with my time I have been going back to my drafts where I am making a few adjustments and minor changes. Which I feel is resourceful of my time because at some point I will have to go back to those vignettes and tidy them up.

So far I feel pretty confident with my work and what I am producing. It was wonderful and insightful feedback I received last week from Dr. Zamora and it really helped me see my work from a different lens but one that I am satisfied with because that is the overall direction I want to go with. I am a bit scared that I do not have enough vignettes I guess I am so focused on guidelines and expectations of how long work should be that not having one is making me nervous that I am okay? But regardless, I am going to try to at least produce 5-10 more vignettes if willing so I can feel a bit more satisfied. Can’t wait to have a small reading next week and get even more insightful feedback!

student blogs

Dominican Flavors

View of a balcony with a Dominican flag hanging from the balcony.

In the heart of the Caribbean where the sun meets the sea, 

Dominican kitchens hum with culinary glee. 

A symphony of flavors, a dance of delight, 

In every dish, stories of tradition take flight.

Plantains, the golden muse, ripe and sweet, 

Transform in the kitchen, a delightful feat. 

Mangu’s warm embrace, a morning’s delight, 

Plantains milk and butter, in a mash so right.

Sofrito sizzles, a fragrant overture, 

Abuelita’s culinary signature. 

Aromas intertwine in the air, 

A dance of spices, a legacy to declare.

Moro de guandules, brown rice and peas unite, 

A savory dance, a family’s delight. 

Meats join the chorus, a symphony so grand, 

On the plate, a taste of the island’s land.

In the heart of each dish, a surprise awaits, 

A hint of adventure, beyond the culinary gates. 

For in Dominican kitchens, where tradition thrives, 

Innovations spark, like stars in the night skies.

Sancocho simmers, a stew mixed of vegetable, roots and love, 

Yucca, plantains, and meats from above. 

A fusion of flavors, in a communal pot, 

Sancocho warms, memories never to be forgot.

And as the pots bubble and the pans clatter, 

Laughter echoes, like music in the chatter. 

For in the rhythm of cooking, joy is heard,

A symphony of sound, in every spoken word.

From the gentle sizzle of sofrito in the pan, 

To the rhythmic chop of vegetables by hand. 

Each sound tells a tale, a story to tell, 

Of love, family, and the meals we dwell.

student blogs

The final count down. . . almost!

Coming to the end of things seems kind of bitter sweet. It has been a long road, but it has truly helped to shape the way this thesis will go. With all I have learned within this masters program I am trying to apply it to my thesis and this will be a great way to show all I have learned and retained.

Over the break I was able to sit down with not only my kids, 3 under 5, but also my younger cousins who range between the ages of 4-8, to see how they organically interact with technology, and what they deem mot important from technology. I did not want to interfere while I observed these times over break because I simply sat and collected information on the ways in which I noticed they most used technology.

They all have tablets which are Amazon kid tablets, so they are focused around learning, games, and fundamental skills, but each was able to access what they liked the most and I noticed that through these devices learning seemed to be more fun to them, which enticed them to do it more. Over time I noticed how my 1 year olds, who are turning 2 in April, where able to grasp the ways the open their tablet when they wanted to access it, and not knowing what they were clicking, but always found a way to get through different apps. saw that when they were playing certain games their attention span was much more focused on their game then when they played some with less focus. All this is detailed in my observation log, which I plan to incorporate in my blogs.

For my outline this semester I have mapped out a plan to keep my focus strong through my thesis, and to meet all the goals I plan to achieve and show through my visuals. Each week I plan to post between 3-4 blogs. This will include different theories I may have, it will detail observations I have done, ideas I would like to see excited in classrooms, and much more insight on the tech side of early childhood education. I want the blog to be the center focus of my work and I plan to incorporate some of my literary findings in these post as well. I want the blog post to be casual, so anyone who reads may understand my focus and be able to make their own judgements. Mostly y blogs will be for parents of young children or even teachers who may be interested in a more tech based learning within early childhood education.

Outside of the blog post, in March I will start to prep a webspace for video content and place where I can upload different tech videos that I have found over my time in researching. I feel this will add another layer to my thesis and help explain the ways in which tech can be incorporated early on in eduction. I have found teachers on YouTube and other platforms such as Patreon and twitter who also share an interest in early tech based learning, and helping children develop digital literacy.

I also want to present an app. I want to end the project in April by presenting the idea of an app that I have that deals with tech and early childhood education skills that I deem important. I will use the data that I collected throughout this thesis process and come up with a detailed plan of an app to incorporate. It won’t be so much about creating the app as that takes time and I would need more time then we have, but I have been planning and getting an understanding of the different things I would incorporate in the app for early childhood education.

When May roles around I feel with those three elements I will have a complete thesis, with some improvements here and there of course, but I feel confident that these are all goals I a m able to achieve, as I have been working on them throughout the break.

student blogs

Response to “A Retrospective” and “A Few Don’ts” By Ezra Pound

The essay, “A Retrospect” and “A Few Don’ts” by Ezra Pound showcases a deliberate use of difficult language, enhanced by the inclusion of Latin, Spanish, and Italian. This linguistic complexity might leave readers grappling with the meaning behind Pound’s words. The strategic infusion of these languages raises questions about his intent and the level of exclusivity he seeks to establish in his words. 

Pound appears conscious of his pretentiousness, recognizing that he writes for a particular audience. The intricate language he employs suggests an expectation of intellectual sophistication from his readers. This self-awareness contributes to an aura of exclusivity, as Pound assumes his audience possesses the wisdom necessary to unravel the layers of meaning within his text.

His bold assertion that “no one writes much poetry that matters” positions Pound as a discerning arbiter of poetic significance. This claim reinforces his image as a figure who boldly asserts knowledge of what truly constitutes meaningful poetry. Pound thus establishes himself as a literary authority, imparting a sense of confidence in his ability to distinguish between the trivial and the profound in the realm of poetry.

Pound’s perspective on poetry as a product of its time and culture underscores his belief in its specificity. He argues that poetry is not a universal art form but is intricately tied to its historical and cultural context. This stance suggests that Pound sees poetry as a nuanced creation meant for a specific audience one that can appreciate the intricacies of its cultural and temporal roots.

In conclusion, Pound’s use of difficult language, awareness of his pretentious tone, and strong opinions on the significance of poetry collectively paint a picture of a writer who writes with a certain elitism. The inclusion of various languages, the claim about the rarity of meaningful poetry, and the emphasis on poetry as a product of its time all contribute to Pound’s persona as a confident and exclusive voice within the literary landscape.