Readings: Gottschall and Medina

Welcome back from spring recess!

Now, let’s get back to work and complete the semester with a strong finish.

During the first fifteen minutes, write summaries of the two readings that we had for today’s class: Jonathan Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal, The Moral of the Story, and John Medina’s Brain Rules, Sensory Integration. To get us back on track with the readings, spend about seven minutes on each reading. I will let you know when seven minutes have passed. After you have written your summaries in your notebooks, type them up and post them as a single comment to this blog post (one comment will include both summaries).

Meet Outside the Library for Class on Wednesday

On Wednesday, April 1, we will meet outside the entrance to the library on the 4th floor of the Atrium during our class time. One of our expert librarians will introduce the library and its useful research resources to you.

During the orientation to the library, we will have some time set aside to use the research tools that the librarian demonstrates to you. Your task during this part of class will be to use the Academic Search Complete database accessible from http://library.citytech.cuny.edu to look at articles relating to your field of study and your future career. Find at least one article that you would like to return to and read in detail as part of your research. In your notebook, write down information that will help you find the article again: it’s title, an author’s name, the journal’s title, the issue number, the date, and the page numbers. If you have time, you can download the article and attach it to an email to yourself for safe keeping, too. Before our next meeting, write a 250 word summary of the article (or perhaps another that you find through further research in the database) in your own words followed by an MLA-formatted bibliographic entry using the guide available on the Purdue OWL website (https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/07/).

Reading: John Medina’s Brain Rules, Memory

During the first ten minutes of class, write a summary of John Medina’s Brain Rules, Memory chapter. To help guide your summary, consider the difference between short term and long term memory. How long does it take for memories to form?

Remember to type up your summary and post it as a comment to this blog entry.

Reading: Jonathan Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal, Night Story

During the first ten minutes of class, write a summary of Jonathan Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal, Night Story chapter in your notebooks. These are some questions to help you with your summary: What does Gottschall mean by “night story?” What is the significance of Jouvet’s cats? What kinds of dreams do you remember most vividly? Do you remember your dreams from last night?

Remember to type up your summary and post it to OpenLab as a comment to this blog post before our next meeting.

Hardwork and Motivation by Amir Magar

1. Introduction

In this project, I recorded numerous thoughts I have gathered throughout a day, and noted it on my notebook. After reviewing my thoughts, I narrowed my list to few significant thoughts; which will provide a base understanding of the reason of these thought at a specific period of time. With these thoughts, I did extensive analysis on how my thoughts correlate with my personal life, and the effect it has in my social life in general. This will then allow me to provide the necessary steps to use my thoughts as a gateway to do something that will achieve my goal.

2. Thinking in writing

In the last 24 hours that I have spent, I have gathered numerous thoughts that I did not know I would think this many within a day. The list of thoughts are correlated with the time, and what I was doing in that period to make me think about that specific thought. This experiment was held on Saturday, when I was busy doing my assignments throughout the day. I noticed on my thoughts that there were few repetitive thoughts that I think a lot. For example: on 10:32 a.m while I was doing my homework, I was thinking about the homework I was doing, and thought, how it will actually help me in my future. I asked, “What is the purpose of this assignments? Am I doing this to get credits, or am I actually going to use this knowledge as my benefit in the future?”. Even though, most people would answer “both”, I never thought of it that way. It was strange, I looked upon as a multiple choice question, either I chose answer ‘a’ or answer ‘b’.  Furthermore, on 2:35p.m, I was taking a break from my assignments and took a hour watching Netflix. While I was watching, I thought about the time that I have wasted not doing my assignments. I thought to myself, “Why am I taking a break?”. In other words, what is it that makes me want to take a break. I realize that I tend to take a break quite often, even though I would only be working on my assignments for thirty minutes. I spent more time on my break than what I am supposed to. It was a weird that I questioned myself but definitely an interesting one that had be puzzled.

The one thought that I had wished that I think a lot about are my family and friends. I realized that I do tend to worry about things that literally have no effect on me such as those that I have just shared. However, family and friends do have an effect on me and does a great deal on how I grow. I only wished I had thought about the type of friends I would make and have better relationship with my family in the future. Because, these are the things that makes me relevant.

3. Thinking visually

a.) One word “Unbelievable”, it’s not everyday you get to see “Chili twin”. It made me think about how evolution can easily alter anything in life.

http://amirmagar1.tumblr.com/post/113933665393/one-word-unbelievable-its-not-everyday-you-get

b.) Pen and calculator. Two basic stationaries I need to have it with me in school. I picked this photo because, I don’t know how I’d be able to pass my classes without it.

http://amirmagar1.tumblr.com/post/113934159593/calculator-and-pen-pen-and-calculator-two-basic

c.) This is a photo of my driving wheel. It brought back memories of me driving to California with my friend last summer. I can’t wait for it again this summer.

http://amirmagar1.tumblr.com/post/113934546168/this-is-a-photo-of-my-driving-wheel-it-brought

4. Thinking reflectively

I cannot comprehend how quickly these five years has gone by, and how my life vastly differs as I look back to the time I was in New York City College of Technology. I am now in my first year of graduate school at City College, perusing further studies in Computer Engineering program. Life in City Tech was tough, but I kept myself together and made it all the way. The skills I got were priceless, and even led me to two internships from two different small tech companies. I am privileged that I get to be where I am today. However, there are few things I just wished I knew better – Self-motivation and hardwork. If only I had a skim of both of these, I could only imagine how my college years would be so much smoother. But, there are no regrets, or no one to be blamed for but myself. It was a long four years that I learned it the hard way, but an enriching learning experience that pioneered me to where I am today.

Hardwork and self-motivation is the key to success, or at least to where I am now. Without it, I would never imagine where I would be today. Hardwork is the catalyst to any college students in order to succeed . In the past, I had habits of doing as minimum effort I could, just so I would get that passing grade. That will have to change. I have to break this norm of laziness and work hard in all I do. There is no such thing as short-cut. If it means that I would have to go tutoring, I will go. If it means that I would have to do extra assignment for extra credit, then I will use my utmost energy to do a good job to earn that credit. It does not only apply to school life, I figured that most of my school performance affects while I was not in school. Being hardworking outside the class is as equally important while being in the classroom. It is important to be prepared before class – that means reading assignments and getting all my materials ready before the class starts.

It is easy to think about the future; the kind of lives, jobs, family and etc. But these would not be made possible without any hardwork. The problem I had in my past is that, I dreamed a lot about what I could get in the future,  but not about what I must do now! in order to get there. Remember not to think about the future, it will only delude us to the reality side of actually getting there. Do all you can now so that you will benefit in the future. Participate in clubs, service corps, or any organization that will gain you experience before you enter the real world. As a future engineer, try to engage in projects or participate in competition even though you may have limited skills. Building resume is extremely crucial at this point of stage so be active, not just in school life but also in the community.

Self-motivation is an important key factor that I wished I had back in my days. Majority of the late assignments that was handed in, or resulting in poor grade was the key result of not being motivated. To succeed, I need to have motivation. One way to motivate myself is to create a positive reinforcement that allows me to be motivated. In order to do that, I have to list down things that I like to do, for example, watching Netflix, taking nap, or going to the gym. These examples will then serve as a reward for myself until I get things that needs to be done. It is important to always be motivated in whatever you do. Because being motivated allows me to be committed to put my maximum effort. I need to be motivated when things do not go so well in school. In instance, there will be times when I will not be able to solve problems as quick as some people do, or get good grades among my peers but, I still need to be motivated when things do not go so well in school, because when bad things take over, the last thing I would want is to lose my focus .Never give up when problems arise, just remember, the problems will not kill you, so do not stress.  Never run away from problems, always deal with it one at a time. Do not prioritize , I should deal each and every problem accordingly.

Mentally, it is hard to maintain a positive control over mind but, it is a truthful fact that most successful people is somewhat mentally able to motivate themselves even in bad times. As a student, I will fail somewhere along my college career and things will only go worse from then on if I allow it. However, one way to motivate myself during the worse is by thinking about my family. I have to think about the sacrifices that they have done to get me where I am now. I have to admit, I never did a good job appreciating the things my parent have done for me, but this time I have to change. The efforts that they put on me cannot justify in words, or paragraphs. However, watching them do something for me only made me realize that, as much as I depend on my parent, they too depend on me at the same time. This is the sort of motivation that gives me the hunger to do well in college. No matter how big the problem is, always think about my parent, and the sacrifices that they have made for who I am. At the end of the day, no problem is greater than when it comes to family.

Becoming successful does not require me to be highly intelligent or have sophisticated resource to do well in college. It begins with me and only myself. If I see no value in collage, there is no point in me being highly intelligent or have huge amount of resources. Therefore, the only way to be successful is to adapt good mentality practice. Being hardworking and having motivation is a good recipe to be successful in whatever you do. Easy said than done, it is not the easiest to adapt something that you are not used to, it will take time because our mind does not crave for changes. Times like these are just the beginning, and it is inevitable that it will be a slow start. In the long run, I am where I am now because of these skills that I have acquired. If I were just able to change the way I approach in life back then, it could have been much smoother and not only that, I would also be able to realize that anything is possible if I had self-motivation and hardwork.

My Furturistic Thoughts By Travina Beaton

Introduction

In this essay, I first recorded my day of thoughts. After, I realized that my thoughts are futuristic but unorganized. I had to focus more on what would be beneficial for me. Therefore, I ignored the non-important thoughts and paid more attention to the important ones. I realized that the important thoughts are all on one topic which is my career in the future. I wrote down my career goals and how I plan on accomplishing each goal. This essay helped me a lot on organizing my thoughts and creating a path for my future.

Thinking In Writing

I was in the school library on Thursday just reminiscing about my goals from high school. I remember every day I thought about the WNBA, I wrote journals on how to improve my skills and gain more confidence so that by the time I graduate I’ll be in a Division 1 school on a basketball team and people that know me will see me on tv and say “she did it”. I was on a couple of sports teams. Softball, and bowling. But I just realized something, I think the best kind of person to be is an independent person. I’m at my best and I actually get somewhere by myself. For example, basketball. I use to have a horrible jump-shot freshman year. I couldn’t tell if it was going in or if I was going to miss. I did have a normal jump shot form though. So, in order to fix my jump shot, to make it more accurate, I decided that at my gym period in school, I’d sit on the bleachers and watch the boys play their pick up games and I would point out myself who I enjoy watching because of his skill and the way his shooting form is. I did point out one player. I didn’t know his name and still don’t know his name up to this day, but I watched him play often, and when I went home, I would go out in my back yard and try to imitate his jump shot form the best way I can. And to my surprise, the shots were more accurate and I felt comfortable with it. But I thought to myself, I need to know how and when to release the ball while I am up in the air. I put that to the side until my sophomore year. I heard about this player name Jabari Peters and he is phenomenal. He was a shooting guard too, so I was intrigued. I saw one of his games on YouTube, and I fell in love with the way he shoots, I definitely told myself “I’m going to shoot like him, I’m going to learn his shooting mechanics and by next month, I will be one the purest female shooters in Grady High School”. and sure enough, by the next month, I accomplished my goal. I learned from his jump shots that it’s best when you release the ball at the peak of your shot or a bit before, jumping high is beneficial for your shot, and having a high arc is best too, it also makes your jump shot look SEXY. I practiced in my back yard every day, keeping those key things in my mind, “high arc, release at peak”, I use to quickly exhale a little when I know I was at the peak of my shot. After a month, I finally got accustomed to my new jump shot form and I fell in love with it. I accomplished my goal by myself, with the help of a few videos of Jabari Peters, the guy that I enjoyed watching, but never communicated with. I think that independent people who has their goals are able to accomplish them better by being focused, logically thinking, committing, and executing their plans on their own. Getting help from others is nice, but to me, I’d rather watch and learn. On Friday I was sitting on my bed one night supposedly doing home work and didn’t realize I was sitting there for almost an hour just thinking. What was I thinking about? Honestly a million of thoughts ran through my head at once that I couldn’t keep up. It always happen to me, I always zone out, and then when some one ask what am I thinking about. I think to myself “What exactly WAS I thinking about?” when someone takes me out of my zone, my mind suddenly goes empty. No thoughts at all, then I forget what I was thinking about because my mind is always filled with millions of random things.

Thinking Visually 

https://instagram.com/p/zPHmtly4ay/?taken-by=missbea00

I thought “I can’t wait to get my Humvee license so I can drive those” I imagined myself riding around the city in this, standing out, looking cool. This photo made me more motivated on getting my military driver’s license. Shortly after, I took a road test, or what the Army calls it “Driver’s training”, and I passed!

https://instagram.com/p/zPH4CQS4bD/?taken-by=missbea00

This vehicle is called a LTAS. It stands for Long-Term rumor Strategy. I took a photo of this for the same reason I took a photo of the Humvee, to motivate me to drive this and get a license for this truck so that I can ride around in it.

https://instagram.com/p/zPHxYvS4a_/?taken-by=missbea00

“Life is actually not like a box of chocolates, because you know what you are going to get, you’re just not prepared for it” I thought, as I stood at Forrest Gump’s bench at my job. Yes, this is actually the bench he sat on. This photo represents my thoughts on being mentally and/or physically prepared of what comes my way in life. Whether it is obstacles or just being alert in the military. “always be on your toes”.

Thinking Reflectively

In this essay, I first recorded my day of thoughts. After, I realized that my thoughts are futuristic but unorganized. I had to focus more on what would be beneficial for me. Therefore, I ignored the non-important thoughts and paid more attention to the important ones. I realized that the important thoughts are all on one topic which is my career in the future. I wrote down my career goals and how I plan on accomplishing each goal. This essay helped me a lot on organizing my thoughts and creating a path for my future.

Five years from now, I imagine myself as an ambitious, successful Air Force officer. I have re-enlisted into the Air force reserves as a computer engineer since my contract with the Army was done. Before I re-enlisted, I finally gotten my driver’s license for two military vehicles. I can drive the Humvee and LTAS. It is always exciting to drive those vehicles around whenever I deploy to other states. Last year, in 2019, I graduated NYC College of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer engineering and landed a job at Viacom as an Information Technology specialist. Ever since I started working in the building as a security guard in 2014, I have always dreamed of working for them in that field. In 2020, I have made that dream a reality. My family is wealthy and financially stable. I have learned that in life, we attract whatever we think and feel, whether it is good or bad. In this essay, I argue with my past self how organizing your small term goals can help build a path to accomplishing your long term goals.

My first long-term goal was to become an Air Force officer. In order for me to qualify for the Air Force, I had to accomplish my small-term goals. Therefore, I took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) test and met the score requirement for the branch. The ASVAB consists of ten tests, although four tests are scored and combined to compute the final score. When I was in the Army, I heard from many veterans that out of all the military branches, the Air Force is very hard to qualify for, mainly because they require a high ASVAB score. When I heard that, I remembered the photo I took of Forrest Gump’s quote on his bench and my thoughts on it. I thought “life is actually not like a box of chocolates, because you know what you are going to get, you are just not prepared for it”. The photo made me think that I always have to be mentally and physically prepared of any obstacles I face in life. Therefore, my obstacle in that situation was passing the test. I had to be mentally prepared for the test by studying very often and taking a lot of practice tests, so I did. I faced my challenge and won.

My second long-term goal was to have my military driver’s license before I re-enlist. Ever since I joined the Army, I had always wanted to drive the military vehicles. The vehicles are mostly used for combat and transporting items. The bulletproof vehicles, or up armored vehicles, are used for combat and soft-topped vehicles are for transportation. The Humvees and the Long Term Armor Strategy (LTAS) vehicles are multipurpose. Some are up armored and others has soft tops. I use to always imagine myself riding in those vehicles and one day, while I was on duty, right before my eyes, I was in the driving seat of a Humvee, riding around a military base. I did not have a license then, but I lied my way into getting inside and taking the vehicle for a spin on the road. Afterwards, I had gotten in trouble for telling my Sergeant that I have a New York State driver’s license. I realized then, that getting a New York State driver’s license, taking driving classes for the Humvee and the LTAS, and passing my road test for the vehicles would be my short-term goals. I took a photo of the Humvee and the LTAS that same day and thought “I can’t wait to get my licenses so I can drive these without supervision” The photos made me motivated on getting my state driver’s license. Afterwards, I took my road test for my state driver’s license, passed, and finally received my license. I told my Sergeant the next time I went on duty that I received my state license. I took the driving classes for both the Humvee and the LTAS, qualified for the road test. I then aced my road test with flying colors and received my driver’s license for both the LTAS and Humvee. That was the most exciting moment of my Army career.

My final long term goal was having a job as a computer engineer. When I was in high school, I took a class called A+ Computer. A Plus Computer is general knowledge of PCs, including installation and configuration, hardware and software upgrading, safety procedures, diagnostics, maintenance and repair. In order to be certified, one must be trained in operating PCs and pass the A plus test which consists of two exams. One of those exams covers the fundamentals of computer technology, installation and configuration of PCs, laptops, hardware, and networking. The other exam covers skills required to install and configure PC and mobile operating systems. I recall taking the A plus test and horribly failed because I had never took the class serious. I had always thought the class was boring because most of the time, my teacher gave lectures instead of having us learn hands on. When we would perform our tasks hands-on, of what we learned, I was always focused and motivated on completing my tasks. One day, after I graduated from high school, I was throwing out my notebooks I used for my high school classes. As I picked up my notebook from A Plus and read some pages of the notes I wrote down, I thought “this information would be useful for me, I should keep the notebook so it can help me pursue my future career”. Although I did not take the information I learned into consideration in high school for my career, I realized that I learn better by hands-on and I figured that if I study computer engineering in college, my engineering classes would consist of hands on performance of building PCs. I pursued my career, received my Bachelor’s Degree, and landed a job at Viacom as a Information Technology Specialist.

In order for me to accomplish all of my long term goals, I would have focus on accomplishing my short-term goals for every long term goal I have.Having short term goals helps me from becoming lost and not having a path to accomplishing my long term goals. I feel that my short term goals are like having step by step procedures that I would have to go through to be prepared for that final step, which is the long term goal. It would take a lot of effort and time but if I stay on track with my goals and stay strong-willed, I will be successful in life.

Mid-term Writing Exercise

Using your own notebook paper, please write about your experiences in our ENG 1101 class so far this semester and your past experiences in other English classes. Your response should be at least one page long, but you are free to write more.

Specifically, what kinds of work are you doing in our class?

What are you getting out of our class so far?

As you’ve seen the kinds of work that we’ve done so far, what are your goals in our class?

In your past English classes, have you written a research paper before?

Have you checked out a library book before?

How did you choose your current major or the degree that you want to pursue? Did you learn about it by word of mouth? Do you know someone in that career? Did you read anything about it—on a website, magazine, newspaper, book—if so, which ones?