For our next blog post you are in control. For this post I want you to choose a video from the site below and summarize it for us in a paragraph or two.
First give us the title of the one you watched. Then describe in detail what it was about, why you chose to watch it and why you would recommend it for your classmates to watch.
http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2011/11/28/20-incredible-ted-talks-you-should-show-your-high-school-students/
The Ted Talk I watched, “Mark Bezos: A life lesson from a volunteer firefighter” was a real treat. Initially, I chose the video because I thought the speaker was the founder of Amazon, but after a quick Google search following the video I realized I was mistaken. Nonetheless, the video proved to be both informative and inspirational. It details the time when firefighter, Mark Bezos, arrived at the scene of a woman’s house ablaze. He imagines being able to share a story about how he saved the woman’s dog. However, another firefighter arrives a few minutes earlier, and snuffs Bezos of his dream to have an amazing story to tell about his valor and heroism. He must now settle for saving the woman’s shoes, as she stands barefoot in the rain watching her home sweet home burn to a crisp.
ReplyDeleteWhat is so great about this story is that Mr. Bezos did not realize how he impacted the woman. After reading a letter the woman sent to the fire department days letter thanking him for doing what he did for her, he draws the following conclusion: nothing is too little. We can do our little bits of good now, we do not have to wait until we graduate college, until we have a job that we love, until we become successful to help others. I most definitely recommend this video.
Choosing to watch "Sunitha Krishnan fights sex slavery" was honestly one of the most informative decisions I've ever made in my life. When I was scanning through the list of other TED talks it was impossible for her not to capture your attention. As a feminist myself, I couldn't help but want to learn more about the injustices that go on in places other than here in America or other first world countries. Honestly, it's refreshing and all the more blood boiling when you hear of the basic rights that are deprived of women everywhere.
ReplyDeleteAs Krishnan began her tale, my heart was crippling when I learned and saw the images of women being beaten and battered by men that only saw them as sex slaves. It hurt to find out that a little girl of only 3 years old was gang raped by men, another little girl's intestine were found outside of her body and she was severely raped. If something like that were to happen here in America - there would be riots in the street. But because this was a little girl from a third world country no one seems to care.
What I was expecting was Krishnan to ask for financial assistance in her efforts to save these women in children. I thought she might ask for more volunteers to help her save these women, maybe she would call upon the help of others to help her in this cause and maybe even put an end to things like this. However, this woman amazed me even more with what she asked for.
She asked for these victims of horrible things to be accepted and welcomed back into the community despite the horrible things that have happened to them. She, also a victim of this horrible occurrence asked that we don't turn away these people but instead helped them easy into this new life. Seeing this video made me want to share it with others. How could I not wish to? It made me even more eternally grateful that I am where I am. It made me want to help them even though this is not what Krishnan had asked for.
This video has inspired me to help in anyway that I can and I hope that within my future I might be able to help in any sort of way. I recommend this video highly and wish that everyone took a chance to see how Krishnan stood up for those that could not speak.
Thank you for that informative post Khadijah. Sad as though it may be to learn of things like this, we cannot shy away from what might be disturbing to see. Like Johnny Depp once said, "If you don't like seeing pictures of violence towards animals, you need to help stop the violence, not the pictures."
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe video I chose to watch is called, “The Psychology of Time” by Philip Zimbardo. The main focus of this video is how our perspective on time can influence our lives. Zimbardo creates a chart with three categories, past-oriented, present-oriented and future-oriented. Some people fall into only one of these categories, and this is negative. Zimbardo argues that in order to live a happy, productive and meaningful life, we must know how to balance out all three. He gives an example of how a "present-oriented” viewpoint can be worse than a “future-oriented” view. In an experiment, children were told that they would receive one marshmallow, but if they waited a few seconds longer, they’d receive two marshmallows. Zimbardo noted that the students who chose to wait (the ones who were “future-oriented”) went on to do better in school and achieve higher grades. However, “future-oriented” people can miss out on things such as enjoying hobbies, friends and family.
ReplyDeleteZimbardo says that our past gives us roots, our future gives us wings, and our present gives us energy, hree components which are essential to getting the most out of life.
I’d recommend this to my classmates (or anyone, really) because it mentions a topic that is often overlooked. We tend to get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of life that we don’t sit down to think about issues such as this. It’s important to know how we are living our day to day lives, and to actively try to improve ourselves.
That's an amazing quote: "our past gives us roots, our future gives us wings, and our present gives us energy". Well done Madeleine.
DeleteThe Ted talk that I watched was “Kiran Sethi: Kids, take charge.” In this video, she talks about how when she was seventeen, she became infected with the “I can” virus. And this “I can” virus is the motivation that pushes curious minds who are ready and willing to make a change, to take that first step in making little changes in the world around him/her in hopes of also infecting others with the “I can” virus.
ReplyDeleteIn the video, Kiran specifically showed children in India who were infected with the virus by showing instances of how they have gone out to make changes within their community. After simulating child labor with her students, who after two hours of rolling incense already felt fatigued, the children went out to talk to and rally people for a campaign against child labor. Then another example, is when the school children went back to their village and taught their parents, grandparents, and anyone else who lived there how to read and write. With this, the children have substantially changed the lives of the people in this village, who were left with nothing but smiles on their faces.
The reason I chose to watch this is because I felt that it was an idea that needed to be talked about. Now a days there is little motivation involved in going out and doing something for the bettering of the people of the outside world. Unless one is directly involved in a charity or some other kind of volunteer work, the motivation ends at the 2:36 bell. Many of us don’t go out and take what we have learned in school, apply it, and think how we can use our knowledge to affect those around us. And because of this, I would definitely recommend it to my classmates in hopes that we would all get infected with the “I can” virus and get more people infected so we feel motivated and energized to help those in ways we wouldn’t really have thought of before.
Excellent Tiara. More of the "I can" movement is much needed.
DeleteWade Davis on Endangered Cultures
ReplyDeleteStudents hailing from countries built on suppressed, exploited, and murdered indigenous peoples should gain some perspective on how colonialism and imperialism “” both still serious issues today “” aren’t so hot. Photos and a sweet National Geographic job allow Wade Davis a detailed glimpse into the terrible realities behind ethnic and national marginalization, which he shares here.
I watched this video and everything is very true. When our cultures are mocked or even labeled as "stupid" or "dumb", we either stand up against the attackers or we just accept and think "They might be right...my culture really is kinda stupid." and this is when children and teenagers start to question if they should continue follow their culture or even accept the ethnic background they come from. I found this very interesting because I find that many different people affiliate themselves with different backgrounds even if they are per say 5% caucasian but mostly be Persian. It's all about what has a stronger pull on you. My mother and I come straight from Puerto Rico and growing up she influenced me strongly with all the Puerto Rican culture including food, holidays, events, parades, beliefs, what part of Puerto Rico we come from and our history and who we were. I am a proud to be who I am. My sister, on the other hand, grew up the same way but she affiliates more with her Italian and "American" side. I am full Puerto Rican while she is Italian, Puerto Rican and Sicilian. Even though we were both exposed to Italian and Puerto Rican culture, I embrace the Puerto Rican culture while my sister embraces Sicilian and Italian. Either way, we uphold these cultures and don't cower away because someone tries to undermine our beliefs and ways.
The Ted Talk I watched, “Mark Bezos: A life lesson from a volunteer firefighter” was an amazing Ted Talk. The video was very inspirational and interesting. The video is about Mark Bezos who showed up to a fire at a women's house. He wanted to tell the story of how he saved the women's dog but that didn't happen. However, another firefighter saved her dog and he only saved her shoes which is much less heroic. The women later sent a letter to the fire department thanking them and he realized that even thought he only saved her shoes he still helped.
ReplyDeleteThe Ted video that I watched is Philip Zimbardo prescribes a healthy take on time. In this video Philip Zimbardo explains how important time management is to high school students. In his lecture, he explained that what you do in the past, present, and future, pertaining to time management, could affect your health and productivity of time.
ReplyDeleteIn the video he uses the example of the biblical story Adam and Eve and an experiment that Walter Mischel did at an elementary school. He sat down a bunch kids at a table with a plate of only two marshmallows in front of them. He asked those kids to eat one marshmallow and in the next 5 minutes they could eat another one. 2/3 of the kid gave into temptation and ate the last marshmallow. The test of them resisted temptation and waited for the treat. He explains that life is full of temptation. Walter Mischel went back to the same elementary school 14 years later and he realized that the kid who didn't give into temptation and waited for the marshmallow scored higher point on their SAT then the kid you gave into temptation. In this experiment, Philip Zimbardo believed, for example, when you're conflicted in managing your time, you should make a decision and take action. You should use the explains when you were having in the past and think about the future on how you should handle time management. In his lecture, Philip proclaims what you sacrifice now could make you success in life in the future. In the past you may sacrifice time for your family, friends, hobbies, and sleep but in the future you could gain successful career, achievement and control.
Sounds like a good video for us all to watch.
DeleteI watched video number 6 Charlie Todd: The shared experience of absurdity. I chose this video because of the title. The video is about people getting together on their free time and pranking other New Yorkers. I would definitely share this video with my classmates because the improvs they do are very funny. These people bring smiles to people's faces with simple pranks. I really liked the look up more project. More projects like these can help get people to socialize with the people around them. It creates bonding experiences with friends, family, or even strangers.
ReplyDeleteThe video which I chose was 6. Charlie Todd: the shared experience of absurdity. This video was about how people tried to help others laugh by doing outrageous things like dressing up as best buy workers or walking into a train car without pants. Charlie Todd also made a point about peoples time. He said that those playing the pranks were just like other New Yorkers, but just chose to spend their free time differently.
ReplyDeleteI chose to watch it because, I'd like to laugh as often as possible. Sometimes I walk around with this sort of gloomy feeling in me because I feel like I don't let myself have enough fun in my life. Watching this made me laugh because it shows how there are ways to put a little fun in life and not always follow a daily routine of wake up, work, sleep. I'd definitely recommend this video to my other classmates because even though it may seem a little corny, it does manage to get a giggle out of you. not only that but, as seniors we need to come up with a prank that'll be insanely better than the previous classes and this video might give people ideas.
As well as Khadijah, I watched the sex slavery video. I am also a feminist. I started to tear up when I also heard of the brutalities of these young girls. My sister is 6 and I thought of how I would feel if some of these things happened to her. Sex slavery is a very serious issue. When I was a freshman sister Barbara constantly told us how Superbowl night is the busiest night for sex trafficking in the world. To this day I think of that whenever the Super Bowl comes up, and it was one of the first things I thought of when watching this. We need to protect our women, and our women are all women. Not just the ones in America. Every person in the world came from a woman. Women are just as capable as men as doing things so why are they treated so badly? The people who commit these acts should think of their mothers and sisters when they do these things.
ReplyDelete