Blog #8: Mark Bezos, A life lesson from a volunteer firefighter

            I took away from this talk that no matter how insignificant an act of generosity may appear to be, what somebody did for you was still important and valuable. Even though you may feel your act has been overlooked, your act of generosity was equally as important as the act that may have been broadcasted on the news. Also I got out of this that if someone gets assigned the duty of doing something you have always wanted to do, do not do your job halfway just because you did not get assigned what you want.  For example, in music, many singers sing small parts in popular songs that do not get acknowledged. Although I am not a huge fan of Ke$ha, she sang a small part in a song that made the billboard. The acknowledgement was a little late, but it was certainly still there. Her small act of singing a small part in a song even got her so famous that now she is producing new albums by the month of songs that do make the Billboards.

            His presentation style consisted of purely talk. The talk was so short, that there would have been absolutely no time for photos. Also, his story was him saving a burning house. Nobody was going to sit around and take pictures of the burning house while others tried to get all of the necessities out of the house, so he had absolutely no pictures. His presentation did not even need pictures. It was one of those stories where you did not need photos in order to understand the situation. He just sat there and talked. Since the video was only six minutes long, it was not a big deal that he just sat there and talked. I would argue that he did not have much time to show pictures and explain them.

            This connects to me personally, because sometimes when I am doing group projects, I feel as though what I did was practically useless to what the rest of my group did. Sometimes I even feel like what I did was far superior then what any of my group members were doing. However, this video has helped me realize that without the help of my other group members; I might not have gotten the grade that I wanted. Also in lacrosse, I felt as though I was not good enough because I was not starting. Although I came in five minutes after the beginning of the game, I was still equally as important as the girls who started.

            This connects to education, because sometimes when teachers assign students to do certain things, many of the students feel as though they are being punished, because they did not get to the best part. I hope that many students realize that just what they are doing is equally as important as the job that may be coveted by all students. Even teachers may sometimes feel like they got put with the less desirable classes. Even though these teachers are not  teaching the desirable class, I hope that they realize that the teaching the less desired classes is equally as important as the more desirable classes.

            This connects to the world, because everyday people feel as though the kind things they do in this world are unimportant. Many people think that if their boss asks their co-worker to do something else that may appear more important that their boss does not appreciate them. This causes a feeling of unappreciation. This feeling of unappreciation exists within almost every office in almost every state in the United States. If people just realized that the kind things that they do are not overlooked, then they would be better off as a society, because many people feel that it is better to do nothing at all then to do something and feel as though it was overlooked.

David Eggers: Once Upon a School

I took away from this video that through volunteering, many other things in our world can get accomplished. Also I got out of this video that when you volunteer your time, you can really make a change for the positive in whatever you are doing. Through volunteering, you can even positively influence others. For example, whenever a celebrity volunteers, many people view them as a better person and somebody to look up to. Like Dave Eggers, some celebrities have even made it their goal to change the world for the better. Whenever their change is made, it is well noticed.


Cameron Diaz volunteering. Cameron Diaz is an actor with a good reputation for volunteering with certain projects



However, celebrities are not the only ones who can make change happen. Even non-celebrites can make change in this world. Eggers is not the only one who did this.  Many other people have done similar volunteer ideas that have shaped society differently as a whole.

Make A Wish is a foundation that was started by somebody who was not neccessarily famous by any means. Today, it is one of the most sponsored foundations around. Their goal is to give a kid in need a wish.

         Eggers uses a presentation style which has many pictures. I think that this is helpful to the presentation, because many people have never heard of a concept like this in their life. Sure, you may see tutoring centers like Sylvan, but this one consists of volunteers who sacrifice their time in order to improve the student’s quality of education.  The pictures give the audience a more clear understanding of what occurs during these sessions and why this is so important to Eggers.

            This connects to me personally, especially when Dave Eggers mentioned that these students work harder than they ever have before in their life, because they are making a product that is going to the outside world. I know that whenever we have a fishbowl, I am constantly trying to seem as though I am somebody with a plethora of knowledge when we have people from all over the world coming in to watch and discuss the Fishbowl. I work harder than I ever worked for any other book in order to sound like an impressive student with plenty of potential. I believe that the other students also work as hard as they can, because they want to prove the knowledge that they know to the world.
            This connects to education, because through more individual time with the teachers, the students can improve everything at a more efficient pace. The harsh reality is that many teachers do not have time to conference with each of their students in order to help them improve. In order to improve education, I think that schools would be better off if they spent more time working with students somehow. In order to get one-on-one time in, teachers have had students arrange certain times to conference with them that can either be in or out of class. Budget cuts are causing classes to be bigger and less time or chances for the students to learn individually. However,  Arapahoe has something similar to his tutoring program. It is better known as study center. In study center, they have a teacher for every single subject. These teachers can help you in order to become better at what you are doing or to improve your learning. Through this individual time, several students succeed more. However, I think that many students feel that it is unncesscary to go, because they are not always comfortable with who the teacher is.

            This connects to the world, because many teachers are beginning to get the message that in order to improve the quality of the students’ academic lives, they need to begin working with the students individually in order to help them. Many volunteers who have no involvement in teaching students are even beginning to get involved and help out in the education field. Teachers are tired of seeing students struggle due to lower budgets or trouble in general. Also, many people have felt inspiration to prove what students can do. Even in my class, we are doing projects that push students farther than they have ever been pushed before. Many teachers and education volunteers want to push education, including David Eggers, whose volunteers had a book published with students’ work inside of it. 

David Brooks: Social Animal

I took away from this video is that sometimes being a "social animal can get to your head. When you are more social, you live by different standards rather than someone who is not socially popular. A family who is socially in might be a family who has successful parents and attractive children who they insist must get into Harvard. However, for a family that is not as socially in, they may not try as hard to marry somebody who is beautiful, rich, and a alumni of Harvard. They might not even want their kids going to Harvard due to the extreme financial costs.

    The speaker's effective is that he gives techniques of what these look like. For example, he gives an example of what politicans do scandalously due to their social abilities. After hearing about many politican scandals that have happened in America, many people understood his point. The point that really struck everybody was his point about the families of beautiful kids who are all expected to go to Harvard. Since we see this more often then not in society, this really sparked a point through the people.

    His presentation is mostly talk. Pictures are not needed, as his presentation is meant to be something that you visualize in your head. He makes it very easy to understand, so pictures are not necessary. Also, everytime he makes a point, he follows it with a story. This is useful, because it helps people grow and understand better.

What matters in this video is that our society can be shallow through our social norms. We do not always want to realize our emotions. We constantly try to build ourselves up. For example, in many sports, even if the kids lose every single game, they still get an award. A few years back, my little brother's soccer team lost every single game, and yet they still had an award ceremony filled with trophies and celebration. Even when I have dance competitions, everybody still gets an award along with a special award for something that they noticed about the group. In one of my tap dances last year, we got an award for "Best Hands". Really? Do they actually feel the need to give us an award just because they wanted every single dance to feel as though they had accomplished something? Also, with this feeling of greatness that we all like to believe we have, we tend to build ourselves up and make our lives sound better than they actually are.

    This video connects to me personally, becasue sometimes I like to build myself up as well. If I did bad on a paper, sometimes I blame it on the teacher for being a terrible grader. However, I do not often stop and think as to if it is my fault if I did this or not. I even see other people do it too. If they do not pass the math test they took, they just say that the teacher is at fault. I also feel that when I am socially accepted, sometimes I can act out a little more than if I was not socially accepted.
 
      This video connects to education, because many teachers and students think that they are awesome when maybe all of them are not. According to Brooks, 95% of teachers think that they are above average teachers. Did you think that 95% of your teachers were above average? I do not think that I do. Basically, many teachers who probably do not teach well, are believing that they are excellent. Certainly there are some excellent teachers out there, but not all of them are. Also 96% of college students say that they are above average in social skills. How many students actually are super social? I am pretty sure that 96% of college students are not extroverts.

   This video connects to the world, because in our world we are constantly influenced by this false buildup. For example, in the television show Gossip Girl, it is basically about a  bunch of high schoolers and college students who were raised to be beautiful and expected to get into the best colleges, because of their academic or athletic skills and their parents' money.

Gossip Girl is a television show about a bunch of high schoolers who live by the social norms of the rich and famous. They act out, because they know that they will be forgiven faster than the average person. Also, they are all expected to get in to great schools. These are an example of the people David Brooks mentioned in his talk.

When people see shows like Gossip Girl, they constantly feel as though they are capable of achieving this social succes. However, many people are and still act out and do what they are not suppose to do. All of the sudden, they are surprised as to why they are having issues in their life.

Kathryn Schulz: Being Wrong

In Kathryn Schulz’s TED talk on being wrong, my take aways from this video consisted of the realization that being wrong is not something to fear but rather something to embrace as sometimes better ideas can be created through not being the picture perfect person who does everything the way that society says you should. This video has enlightened me on the fact that what is considered wrong is not always exactly the wrong idea.
     Kathryn Schulz presents her information through giving real world examples. For example, how many of you have seen the paper with a gargantuan amount of red ink and thought, “Man, I really screwed up.” Almost everyone has experienced at one point feeling like a failure due large amounts of red ink that consisted of corrections and when she mentioned this, the tone of the audiences’ laughter made it clear that the situation she presented was are descriptive enough  Her presentation style does not consist of many pictures, as the way she explains her view does not require pictures in order to increase understanding like Daniel Pink did.
            This connects to me personally, because many times when I do something that society does incorrectly, I always feel defeated and afraid of trying my idea again due to the possibility of being wrong or shunned by those around me. When Kathryn Schulz mentions the paper that was covered in red due to the incorrectness, I automatically remembered when I felt defeated after seeing a paper engrossed in red pen. I have also realized that just recently, I do not want to talk in class as much, because I feel as though the feeling of being wrong is not one that I want to experience in front of a large class.
            This connects to education, because to many students, being wrong is one of the worst things that you can do in class. Throughout the day, I find that many students are students who have Straight A’s and constantly believe that they are right all of the time. Kathryn mentions the story about the surgeon who for some reason believed he was right, but really was not. Many of these students constantly believe that what they think is right and constantly degrade on those whose opinions differ. However, this is not only Straight A students who do this. I even experience some people who do not care about their grades who constantly believe they are right and constantly inform you that you are wrong if your opinions differ. When I have one of these students in my class, I do not often want to say what my opinion is in order to prevent being scrutinized by my classmates. I believe that if many students were to watch and believe this video, it would change education by showing that it is okay if you are wrong about something. Also, it shows that just because somebody else believes that you are wrong does not mean that you should change your values.
            This connects to the world, because many popular inventions have been created through trying to create other objects. We have found a purpose for these objects that have made them successful.

Play-Doh is an example of an invention created by accident. While trying to create wallpaper cleaner, they accidentally created Play-Doh. Play-Doh is now one of the most popular toys and one of the most enjoyed trick-or-treating goodies. 

Post-It Notes are yet another example of an accidental creation.  We now find these useful for doing things like annotating.

This mainly proves that being wrong can sometimes lead to success. Our world does not acknowledge that it is okay to be wrong sometimes and being "outside of the box" is nothing to be ashamed of. However, sometimes people shy away from being wrong in order to win popularity amongst their peers. However for popular singer Lady Gaga this is indeed not the case. She is constantly being scrutinized by the public for the crazy costumes that she wears, and yet she still has the courage to wear them. Even if society calls them wrong, she still flaunts her unique fashions by wearing outfits that nobody would wear. How many times have you heard people talk about how tacky Lady Gaga's outfits are? Have you ever heard people question why Lady Gaga does not just become more normal and wear regular dresses like all of the other female celebrities among her do? Although her style may be considered wrong to many who watch her on television or even read about her in the magazines, she does not fear being wrong, which is a significant fear in our nation currently.

Although many people question Lady Gaga's style, the fear of striking out does not keep her from playing the game. She does it successfully too. 

Clay Shirkley: Cognitive Surplus

In  Clay Shirkley's TED talk Cognitive Surplus, I took away from this video that our society is a society that has just recently began enforcing cognitive surplus due to individuals having more free time. Clay Shirkey believes that cognitive surplus has something to do with the free time individuals have. I can see what he means, because in America, our unemployment rate has increased in this last decade due to a struggling economy. Through the struggling economy, many have decided to use cognitive surplus in hopes to make a difference in this world other ways through websites like Ushahidi as mentioned, Twitter, and even Facebook in order to share information freely. 

Just from Jan 2003, you can see that the unemployment rate has gone up significantly in the past seven years. With more unemployed people with more free time on their hands, we find that they use it to contribute to the internet.

Clay Shirky's speaking techniques consist of many pictures and examples that we would know of. For example, LOLcats, one of the popular humorous websites about cats, is an example that many of us can understand. Although this is not one that can help our economy in any way, it is still one of the quickest spreading forms of cognitive surplus that many have used in their lifetime. However, outside of the LOLcats reference, I feel as though his speaking techniques like using unique vocabulary and his introduction to the speech are more for those who already have some background on cognitive surplus, as I found myself very confused at what he was trying to get across to his audience since I did not have much background on his theory of cognitive surplus prior to this TED talk. Although Clay Shirky is mainly talk, his visuals do show us what he means by a cognitive surplus. The visuals that go along with his stories about these cognitive surpluses make it obvious to his audience why his example is a cognitive surplus. I found that Clay Shirky was somebody who had a comfortable medium when it came to using pictures and talk to strengthen his point. I think what matters from this video is that cognitive surplus is a proven idea that has just recently started to form in our society. Due to recent psychology tests like the daycare study and more free time of individuals throughout the nation due to economical struggles, we have found that cognitive surplus is setting in and causing more people to get more information. I think the main reason why this matters is because of websites like Ushahidi, which give information about what is happening in the world to the world. With this, many naive people who do not really know what is going on in the world will know what is occuring. A main problem that occurs throughout many wealthy countries with self centered people and other countries that do not have access to world news is that we find ourselves finding out what happens in the world either somewhere in the middle when there is not much we can do or after the fact. I believe that through witnesses telling us their experiences on websites available to the public, we will be aware of what is happening and we might even be able to make a difference in that country like we did in Haiti. This video connects to our education, because we may even learn new information from cognitive surpluses. It may even inspire others to apply their education to make cognitive surpluses, like many who post information as to what occurs in the world. Even if you read websites like Answers  and Yahoo Answers. Although some of the questions on here are unnecessary, some of these questions actually need someone who knows what is up in a particular subject in order to answer the questions.  Through education, we can contribute to what is happening in the world of cognitive surplus. This matters to the world, because through anybody being able to post information that they know, we may dig up information that we would have never known had we only let professionals give their input.  

Daniel Pink

I took away from this video that you in order to be successful; it is sometimes best to do it without carrots or sticks, which are Daniel Pink’s way of symbolizing rewards and punishments. Autonomy, which is also known as working individually on your own idea, has proven to be successful through companies like Google, who dedicate twenty percent of their employees’ time to where employees can create. According to Daniel Pink, this has been the time where about half of Google’s programs are created.

Gmail was created through autonomy by Paul Bucheit

This is Google Sky, where you can look at pictures of the planets and the universe, which was created on autonomy

Probably the most popular Google application used by high school students enrolled in a foreign language comes Google Translate, yet another autonomy case. 

Although not the most popular application, Google Talk is where you can chat with your friends through IM or video. This also works in part with iChat, the Skype made by Apple. 

The effective speaking techniques consist of giving evidence of what he was saying. Sure, someone could just certainly go talk about something without really knowing anything about the subject whatsoever, but he enticed his audience by giving psychological evidence of what he was saying. For example, when he brought up proven tests that have been given by professionals in the field, it was the cause of many people agreeing with what he had to say.

His presentation style was mostly speaking with very few pictures. Unlike the video I watched yesterday, Daniel Pink did not use many pictures to represent what he was talking about. However when he did use pictures, it made sense to the audience as to why these pictures would be necessary over just talking about “The Candle Solution”. When pictures were shown, people were excited and understanding of the visual demonstration.

The point that Daniel Pink is trying to get across that matters is that people do better without the feeling of a reward, because they are doing what they do through self-satisfaction and the enjoyment of what they are doing, which gives human beings more motivation than a reward like money. This connects to me personally, because like many people that Pink mentioned, I am not driven by the thought of earning money. In order to motivate some of my other siblings, my mom pays us money for grades. You would think that my siblings have stellar grades, but they really are not. Even without this rule in place, I truly believe that my grades would remain the exact same.  It is not that I have straight A’s to the point where they could not go up at all, but when my grades come into my mind, the money that I could make from grades does not. A Harvard study also shows that kids who were motivated with money still did not do any better. The main concept that comes into my head is how this will affect my future for stuff like college. This matters to education, because sometimes when a teacher wants students to get something done that the students may be unwilling to accomplish, they will tell the teacher that they want something out of it. Once in one of my math classes it was teacher evaluation day for my teacher. He asked us to be on our best behavior and to pay attention to the lesson. Rather than being flexible, the students insisted that they would be good if he brought cupcakes or donuts. He did just that. Once the students in my class realized that he actually followed through and brought the cupcakes, they were shocked. I heard comments like “Wow I didn’t think he would actually do it!” Although many students did not actually believe that he would do it, they still paid attention to what the lesson was. However, not all students are driven to pay attention and work hard without rewards. For quite a few days, some of the students were nagging him to bring in these cupcakes and donuts and constantly questioning where they were. They began expressing remorse for being quiet and saying that they should have ignored what he wanted. Everyday, we see those students who cannot be motivated with anything, even grades. 
Please note that I put some sources from Wikipedia, because Wikipedia is an autonomy as well.

David Meslin: Redefining Apathy

What I took away from Redefining Apathy by David Meslin is that people will be more willing to support a cause or join into something if the information is not a struggle to find Many political ads do not leave any contact information in order for people to get involved. They just mention what is happening. However, in many ads for plays and upcoming events, they have information and who to contact. The main idea of the TED talks was that is not that people don’t care about what happens in their city, it’s just that whenever the city ask for help, people often get confused. When David Meslin said “Whoever has the most money has the loudest voice>”, I came to a realization that in some cases this can be true. Look at those who have money. We constantly see them in the paper yelling out their opinion and getting noticed even if their opinion is useless. For example, Charlie Sheen,who is now on tour is sparking the interests of many. Why? This is because Charlie Sheen is one who has money, hence power to influence people. People are paying money to go see Charlie Sheen speak his mind on his issues. If Charlie Sheen was a normal person who nobody knew about, nobody would ever even consider taking him on tour and nobody would even bother to pay to watch him. However, due to his recent drug problems and luxurious lifestyle, many people are enthralled with his first-class act.  

A Nike Advertisement with Lebron James

David Meslin draws you in to his talk when he makes examples that everyone can relate to. For example, everyone knows what Nike is and what Nike ads look like and when he shared an example, everybody suddenly realized what was wrong with the ads that City Hall was throwing out to the citizens of Toronto. Also, he uses many popular movies like “Harry Potter” and “Alice and Wonderland” in order to demonstrate the unfortunate truth that people believe that the ones who are going to save their city are “the chosen ones”. Through real life examples, people can understand what his points are better than him trying to create scenarios of what might happen.

His presentation style is showing plenty of photos of what he means for each point. His photos give the audience a better idea of what point he is trying to get across and sometimes even entertain the audience through some of the pictures. For example, when he showed the Nike advertisement in the same form that the City Hall advertisements are, many people found it humorous due to the confusing ad that did not provide the details you wanted until you reached the very end.

The main point that matters from this video is that it is not that people are apathetic to what happens in their country, but rather they just simply do not always get fed the information, respected for their opinions or feel as though there are already people chosen to do good in their city, so they just do not volunteer. This video connects to me personally, because many times I do not want to volunteer, because I do not really understand what is going on or I think that there are already people who are the chosen ones in my classes to lead. Also, sometimes I do get the feeling that my opinions are not respected, which is exactly what David Meslin is saying that many of the citizens feel like in Toronto. Sometimes, like the citizens in Toronto, I feel as though my volunteering would be useless, so I just choose not to do it at all. This connects to education, because it is not that many people feel apathetic towards what happens in their classrooms, it is just that they feel like some of their fellow peers’ leadership simply drowns out any voice they have. Also, like me, some students feel as though the leaders are a selected group of people who know it is their duty and constantly want to uphold it. Even some teachers who want to protest what they believe in feel as though the leaders who choose what education looks like in Colorado and throughout the world would not give them the time of day or even care what they have to say.  This matters to the world, because many people don’t feel like their opinions will be acknowledged, so they just do not say anything. However, their voice might be the voice that saves the day or comes up with the best idea. Sometimes we do feel as though our leaders drown out our voices. For example, with the healthcare bill, the majority of America really didn’t want it. Rasmussen Reports shows that the approval rate is going down for our government’s choices. Although David Meslin is not directly implying this, he hints that perhaps the reason for disapproval of the government is because many people who actually know what the public wants do not get to speak their mind.