Gym Class Just Isn't Fun and Games Anymore

I read the article "Gym Class Just isn't Fun and Games Anymore" by Motoko Rich. The article was about how certains schools are losing the physical aspect to P.E. and rethinking the importance of gym class in a developing child's curriculum. Some schools, the article read, are using their gym class time to study vocabulary words or arithmetic. It seemed as if teachers were trying harder and harder to incorporate testing and academics into every minute of the school day. This article shows what is now a big controversy and the ways we may go about it.

The author of this article made clear that this topic was controversial, and people swung different ways in terms of their opinions. Some stated that academics were the most important aspect of a growing child's life, and that even during gym class, they should be incorporated. Others argued that gym class was a great time during the day to exercise and learn fitness habits, which was equally important. The author includes us both sides to show the initial controversy and how there is not just one right or wrong solution to this growing issue. Although we see the alternative side, I do believe that the author was trying to argue for gym class to gain back its primary purpose, which was in fact to get across this ideal of movement and staying healthy. I think this is especially important now in our country with this issue of childhood obesity increasing to keep up the level of physical activity, even during the school day.

In the end of the article, the author discusses the pros and cons of gym class and whether academics should be incorporated. I, for one, do know that in our school, gym class can be taken very seriously and kids do get very into the sports and games we play. I do think that if the teachers were to turn this period into more of an academic period, kids would be upset. I also recognize the importance of sports in a child's life. By taking away that period of gym, one could do a lot more damage than you would think.

On The Brightside

I chose the song "On the Brightside" to analyze for my blog post. The song is about someone who talks to a man of two feet and then a man of twelve feet. The song seems to contrast the two perspectives in the song, of the giant and the short man, but using repetitive language. I think that the main idea of the song is just what the title portrays, to look on the bright side, but in deeper context. Through the course of the song I believe the speaker does learn that you can't let what the world says impact you so greatly,   and that some people will throw obstacles at you but in the end you will have to move past them and just look on the bright side of the situation.
The first stanza talks about how ambitious the short man is in a "world that is so vicious to us all." The speaker is referring to how someone who may be so harshly judged for being two feet tall, can still strive in that environment and learn to cope with that situation. I interpreted this line as if the speaker is shocked that that man can survive, and through the song the speaker is learning this lesson of being able to disregard the thoughts of other people. The contrast of this line is the giant, saying "he towered like a giant, in a world that was defiant of his height." I think he is using his height as a metaphor. Some people find it hard to "stand tall" when the world can make them feel so much smaller. This is portrayed when the song states that he still towered like a giant, even though he may get judged for being twelve feet tall, just like the two foot tall man. The point of including these two examples in the song was to express that no matter how different you may be from the norm, and no matter what other people's opinions are, you shouldn't let it effect the way you act or think.
The chorus of the song "On the Brightside" says, "You're only as tall as your heart will let you be, and you're only as small as the world may make you seem." The speaker is referring back to the two people in the song. It is saying that you're only as tall as YOUR heart will let you be, meaning it only really matters what you think of yourself, and not what anyone else does because that is irrelevant. "You're only as small as the world may make you seem" is saying that you're only as small as you portray yourself, and whether or whether not you let what the world says get to you. I chose this song because it has a lot of meaning to many people who get bullied, and the message is to not let what bullies say effect you because in the end it only matters how you see yourself.

Just Listen to Yourself

In the book I'm reading, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, the main character, Annabel, is having trouble communicating with everyone she meets. There's her mom, who wants her to continue modeling when it's not in her best interest. There's her sister Whitney, who's eating disorder is adding weight on the whole family, and she just doesn't know that. There's Sophie, her ex-best friend, who doesn't really know the full truth about the night she fought with Annabel. And then there's Owen, a quiet boy at their school. Owen and Annabel barely know each other, but Owen has already taught Annabel to be honest, be courageous, and really listen to other people. The book is called Just Listen meaning just listen to others, but I think the title really has a deeper meaning.

Reading this book has taught me a lot about opening up to other people in your life. There are so many people worth getting to know around you that you wouldn't be exposed to otherwise. At my point in the story, you are starting to really get to know Annabel's character, and I'm seeing the way that she interacts with others. To me, I see that Annabel is a very good listener. She always listens to what her sisters and parents have to say, and of course what Owen tells her. Although she finds it easy to listen to other people, I feel like Annabel has a harder time listening to herself.

Annabel always tries to please others and tell them exactly what they want to her. I feel as if Annabel isn't listening to herself or her needs. Owen is always telling her to just listen, and Annabel always listens to Owen. I think that if Annabel really listened to herself, she would tell her Mom that she didn't want to model. She would tell her sister Whitney that she needed to take care of herself, and explain what a weight she was putting on the family. She would tell Sophie that it was never really like that and she didn't know the true story. And she would tell Owen what she really thought about him, and how she was planning to go about it.

I think that everyone can definitely relate with Annabel. I'm pretty sure there has most likely been a point in everyone's life when they didn't listen to what they wanted, and instead went the easy way out and put someone else's priorities before their own. Obviously, it's okay to put someone else before yourself. What most people don’t realize is it’s not selfish to address your own needs. There comes a point in everyone's life when it's important to show what you want and listen to yourself. 

Disabled Athletes Rights

The article I read, As Disabled Athletes Compete, Questions of Logistics by Mary Pilon, discussed the abilities of disabled kids and adults, and whether they should or should not compete in sports. This article talked a lot about physically disabled students participating in afterschool activities, and whether or not it should be allowed. It gave examples of children who were denied the right to compete in swim meets, track competitions, or tennis matches. This article really stuck out to me because soccer is extremely important to me, and I don't really know how I would go about being without it. I know tons of people whose sports mean so much to them, and it seems unfair that someone would take away such a big part of someone's life because of a disability they could not prevent.

I have strong feelings about this article. I've been playing soccer since I was six years old, and it has become routine for me. Every weekend I play a game, and I feel as if every weekend I get better. I love having something that I personally, and not my friends, am good at. A sport can be a lifestyle. To me, it seems unjust to take away something like that. The author discussed how they did not allow a deaf girl in high school to compete on the tennis time, even though she was equally skilled, if not better, then the rest of the team. Although they might encounter some problems if she played on the team, I believe that they honestly could try to make that work. Although I do agree that disabled people should be allowed to compete on teams, I do see the alternative side. It could be dangerous in some situations for them to participate, and the coaches and advisors are probably not as much discriminating as looking out for the safety of these students.

There are so many kids who play sports, and to some of those kids, a sport can mean everything to them. It is not fair to take away something that means so much. I believe that every kid, disabled or not, should receive that same chance to play on a sports team. Everybody should get the opportunity to participate in a sport, whether you're deaf, missing a limb, or in a wheelchair.

"Perks of Being a Wallflower"- Being Accepted

In the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, a boy named Charlie is a freshman in high school and his best friend Michael has just committed suicide. Although this may seem like a huge, huge deal to some, Charlie accepts it as an obstacle of his life, and this book (in my opinion) represents his journey to climb over it and somehow move on and grow as a person. Although he faces many more obstacles throughout the course of his ninth grade year, I feel like a really big issue for Charlie was the conflict of acceptance, and fitting into the school after losing the one person who really understood him.

For anyone, this would make for a pretty intense conflict. The issue of acceptance and how hard one strives to fit in is an issue at any school of any age level. I feel like in this story, though, the issue of acceptance wasn't really a main idea of the story, but one that was weaved throughout the book. Charlie shows that he wants to make friends and be accepted when he meets some seniors in his school. These seniors were the misfits and the kids who didn't really "fit" into their grade, and I think Charlie had feelings like those too. When Charlie joined forces with those seniors, I feel like he lost himself in bad decisions, and started to do drugs, sneak out, and disobey his parents, although all Charlie wanted to do was make friends. I think Charlie learned here, firsthand, that fitting in may mean taking actions that you're not really comfortable with in the longrun. Charlie never wanted to get addicted to cigarettes at such a young age, but because he wanted to be accepted into that group, he had to take measures such as those.

I feel as if fitting in and being accepted is a really big issue nowadays in our society, a bigger issue than it should really be. My opinion is to not push your own limits, and just do what you're comfortable with and be with the people you know make you happy. Almost everyone has been face-to-face with a decision like the ones Charlie has, and had to ponder how much it means to them to fit in. I feel like this may be a way of dealing with the grief that Charlie was.

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

The book Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult is a realistic fiction, coming-of-age novel, but is also a huge suspense and somewhat of a mystery. All those genres combined made for a great plot-line, involving the protagonist, Josie Cormier, and a school shooting that killed her boyfriend Matt Royston and nine other students at Sterling High School. The shooter, Peter Houston, happened to be Josie Cormier's ex-best friend; he was an unpopular boy in High School who was bullied horribly and felt he had nobody to confide in. This resulted in Peter going crazy, killing ten students, harshly wounding about twenty more, and permanently scarring everyone around him.

I believe that this book has many hidden morals and messages. As time goes on, even after a year, Josie is still engulfed in sadness, even after graduating. This is understandable, as an experience like this would definitely be traumatic and heartbreaking. But I think that the author is trying to teach us a lesson by putting us in Josie's shoes, and that lesson is that sometimes you just have to move on with your life (keeping what was lost in your heart) and not get swept away by the past. Although the author or any of the characters never really delve into the full meaning of this message, I can see when they show the characters a year after the shooting happened. Again, I know Josie has reason to be sad, but I think the author has kept her sad and gloomy throughout the whole book to show us as the readers that there is always an alternative, which is moving on and continuing to live your life without that dread always surrounding you.

Although this isn't exactly in the book, in the Acknowledgements section, Jodi Picoult writes: "To the thousands of kids out there who are a little bit different, a little bit scared, a little bit unpopular: this one's for you." I interpreted this as Jodi Picoult is dedicating it not to the kids that are like Josie, who were victims of this horrible shooting, but children you were like Peter-- kids that had to jump to actions such as these to make themselves acknowledged or even just heard. I think it is so brave of this author to really put herself in the perspective of a killer and why this killer might have done what he did, instead of doing what so many other authors might do, which is put themselves in the shoes of the victim. I also think she dedicated the story to the kids who are "different," "scared,"and "a little bit unpopular," because they are the kids that may be obligated to feel alone like Peter did, and maybe (it is highly unlikely) take actions such as he did. Jodi Picoult probably didn't want anyone to feel alone, and dedicated the book to those children so they could relate to it.

I understand this book because I feel like almost everyone has been in a place where they feel alone. Even at family get-togethers, there are times when you feel alone and wish there was someone who felt as you did. Sometimes you're with a bunch of friends and they're saying something and you don't get the joke, and that can make you feel alone too. These are really common situations that show that it doesn't take much to feel alone or sad. I think that the author Jodi Picoult really showed this through dynamic characters and a shocking, suspenseful, and beautifully thought through plot line.

Text-to-World Connection--Fox by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks

In the picture book Fox by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks, one antagonist, Fox, shows a text-to-world connection. The book is about a half-blind Dog and his friend, a bird named Magpie. In the exposition, one of Magpie's wings is severely injured and she can't fly anymore. Dog, being a good friend, allows Magpie to sit on his bag while he runs and enjoys the same sort of rush as flying gives her. In the climax, though, Magpie goes to Fox, a faster runner, instead of staying with her loyal friend. To me, this seemed like a poor and selfish move on Magpie's part, especially since Dog was doing the best he could with what he had. The conflict of the book is the way Dog and Magpie's friendship could now lose strength, and the problems for both protagonists.

The text-to-world connections I noticed were in cases of bullying. After Fox takes Magpie, he drops her in a desert and abandons her, and tells her she now knows what it feels like to "be alone." I related this to bullying because, as seen, she is receiving abuse, and it is delivered in a way that a lot of people in the real world also bully others. A lot of people who bully bully because they are insecure about their own problems, and take it out on others. Fox was alone when Magpie and Dog were friends, and then wanted Magpie (although she did nothing wrong) to feel what it was like to be alone. I've heard about people bullying homosexuals because they themselves are homosexual and feel bad about themselves for it. That's one of the ways people react to their own problems, is to make others feel bad about the same problem they may have. After thinking about this, I realized that this may be because nobody wants to be in their own boat, and doesn't want to be alone, especially when they could be judged or harshly bullied. This makes sense to me, because Fox didn't want to be the only one who was alone: he wanted Magpie and Dog to feel how he was feeling, which was sad, lonely, and jealous of them. This was a huge connection from the actual text to the world, and shows that even picture books aimed for kids can show huge resemblances to middle and high school life, and just the world and way of living in general.

This story really showed me and probably showed elementary school kids that being a bully like Fox was really isn't a great way to win someone's heart or make friends. This reminded me of "Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville, the short story we read at the beginning of the year, because the boy bullying Vincent about his sexuality was homosexual too. This seems like a pattern, and I realized that if you don't want to be alone about a specific problem, insecurity, or issue you're undergoing, then instead of making someone else feel bad about it, you could try and make them feel better about it. That may even make you feel better about it, too.