Milgram and Asch

I have decided to do my next speech on the Milgram Experiments. For those who might not know, the Milgram was a psychological experiment to test conformity and peoples willingness to do terrible things to other people if told to by an authority figure. It was done after WW2. During the Nazi war trials, many nazi soldiers said they did things because they were told to.

What Milgram did was he took people and told them that they were participating in a memory test. If their "learner" got the question wrong they were to give them an electric shock. This shock would start off painful and go up to deadly. The "learner" was actually an actor and the "teacher" was actually the subject. Around 80% were willing to give the fatal shock. Most people would try to stop and they didn't like it, but they would be pushed into doing it by the experimenter.

This was recently redone for a French documentary "The Game of Death" in which the subjects were told they were participating in a new game show. They wanted to test how much tv impacts our morality. The results were slightly higher than the orignal experiment.

I'm thinking about starting the speech by doing an Asch conformity test. In which I'll use peer pressure to get a student to give me the wrong answer because everyone else is giving me the wrong one.

Saint Patty's Day, Boondock Saints, and depressing speeches.

This post is a day late. I'm going to try to post two today.

Yesterday was Saint Patrick's Day. It's one of my favorite days. We always celebrate it in my family. We usually eat my favorite meal, corned beef and cabbage with red potatoes. We put the meat in the crock pot early and add in about a bottle of Guinness to the meat along with water. After many hours we add the cabbage and potatoes. I thought about making colcannon, but I was tired, also, I like the taste of cabbage and potatoes with the meaty taste of the beef. This year Dad bought a good cut of beef it was good.

I rented Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day. I'm a new fan to those movies. I saw the first one on IFC a couple of weeks ago and promptly bought it. I have to say I liked the first one best, but I enjoyed the second one as well.

Yesterday, I had Speech Class and Algebra. Speech was easy in some ways because I just had to listen to the other students give theirs. However, it seemed like almost everyone picked a sad topic. The first speech was on Preeclampsyia which is a condition that can kill pregnant mothers and their children. The next one was about the Make A Wish Foundation. Make A Wish is a great foundation but the it is sad to hear about the children who die. The next student spoke about compartment syndrome which affects people who have been in accidents, and athletes. The saddest one of all was about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The student actually broke down in tears when speaking about the death of a friend's child.

Although, I really love Saint Patrick's Day it was a long and tiring one for me.

Mtn. Grove: Anna's Country Book Store

I went to Anna's Country Book Store in Mtn. Grove MO today. It's a very nice small store. I remember waaay back when that location was used for a comic book store. That was an embarrassing number of years ago. It seems like that location just screams out for business involving the written word and the enjoyment of it. I had a small amount of money to spare and since I'm a bookaholic the first thing I thought about buying was books.

I originally went in to buy a book by Shanna Swendson, which I thought I saw in there. However, it wasn't in there but they did have a very good selection of other books. I wound up buying a few and spent about twenty dollars with tax. While shopping I enjoyed some friendly conversation with the owner. It turns out that she has daughters in college. Not the college I'm in but I still thought it was interesting.

While I did buy several books there were more I thought about buying and I plan on going back for more.

TESOL Speech

p>This is an speech I wrote for my Student Suceess Class. I don't know what grade I got, but I did get an A in the class.

Teaching English to Students of Other Languages

My career is Teacher of English to students of other languages (TESOL). It is a common misconception that I need to speak another language for this career, while useful, it’s not necessary. One of the main advantages of this career for me is the fact that I can travel all over the world and get paid to do it.
My responsibilities for this job will include, teaching children and adults basic English skills including reading, writing, listening, and conversation. I will need to prepare course outlines and goals, prepare and grade exams, assign lessons and grade homework, and make a kit of pictures, flashcards, and objects to show students the meanings of words and numbers.
Other advantages of TESOL are helping people, working in different environments, benefit packages, good wages, the ability to teach in the US or overseas, and the opportunity to teach all ages and all sorts of people. The potential disadvantages are homesickness if working overseas, long hours, lots of paperwork, and uncertain working conditions.
The earning potential for this job can average about $33.89per hour .The employment outlook is strong in areas such as California, Florida, and overseas. In other areas, the need is not as great, so I will need to be willing to relocate.
The education requirements are any bachelor’s diploma and English Second Language certification. It does help to have a BS in Education and some training in TESOL, both are offered at MSU in Springfield. In addition, some full time positions in the US will go to those who have a Masters Degree.
Other useful skills are strong speaking, listening, and writing skills, reading comprehension, and the ability to listen and understand information and ideas. I also need college math skills and possibly economics if I specialize in Business English. A weakness I will need to overcome is poor handwriting.
In conclusion, this is a good career because it provides the opportunity to travel and help people.

Essay about Blogging

In my Eng 110 class, our professor assigned us a process essay about popular culture. My last couple of essays have been kind of dark so I wanted to do something with more humor. Originally, I was thinking about doing If You Can Build a Paper Airplane, You can Blog. The idea behind that was sparked by a project I did either in middle school or high school. One of my English teachers put us in groups of two, we had to describe how to build a paper airplane without actually building one. She then showed how she wasn't able to build a single one from any of the directions.

However, I have decided I didn't like the limitations that would impose. So I'm going with If you can, you can blog. That got me thinking about my own neglected blog so I decided to do a post about it. I'm going to try to do a post every day next week about something different. I don't know how that will work out, but I'm going to give it a try.

State of the Union.

I don't normally watch the State of the Union because I tend to have very little interest in politics, however for extra credit in Speech class I need to write a short paper about President Obama's speaking style. These are the notes I took as he spoke. They are very rough. I might post the polished paper after I turn it in.

State of the Union

Shaking hands smiling touching arms looking in eyes kissing on checks before even starting his speech he strived for a friendly tone. Half hugs thanks for applause
Fellow Americans our declaration declares that pres. Shall give a state of the union has been through good times and bad times, speaks about dubious events of the past and spoke of test to courage. We move forward as one nation one people. One year later the worst is past but devastation remains.

Looks around back and forth up and down uses his hands to make points. Strong gestures. Moves slightly when points are softer. Uses both hands when talking about groups like the poor. Quotes a letter from a anon. person sent. Bidon wanted to clap at several points before he had finished sentence. “We all hated the bank bail out. I hated it you hated it popular as a root canal.” Frowned when speaking of the banks lips tight. Spoke of fining banks because if they could afford bonuses they could pay us back. Points fingers when talking about tax cuts. Little joke big smile when talking about the tax cuts.

One guy yawned when pres spoke about job growth. Others looked around to gage others response. Some clapped while others spoke to neighbors. Spoke about anon people with hope in America. Spoke about the jobless voice dipped slightly. Voice changes to reflect points. Hands reaching chin level when speaking about bills he wanted to past. Waves hand when speaking about doubters about people who said to wait or that the economy couldn’t be changed. “I do not accept second place for America.” People stood applauded noise level rose.

Looks around constantly. Spoke about innovations in clean energy some stood others sat We will double our exports in the next two years to increase jobs spoke about competition a lot. Sports metaphors but game nonspecific. Biden frowned looked sad but agreeing when talking about funding only success not status quo. Pass a bill to fund community colleges. Talked about increasing pell grants and cutting back on subsized loans forgivness after 20 years of loan debt shorter for social workers, cutting back on admission prices in colleges. Spoke about doing things not because of politics but because of stories he has heard from Americans.

Often spoke about hearing from average Americans. thanked wife but she looked kind of pissy gestured for people to sit down. Pres said she gets embarrassed. Problems are not going away esp. in healthcare but “I will not walk away from these Americans, and neither should the people in this chamber.” Challenging opponents to “let me know” if they had a better idea for health care reform. Laced fingers when not gesturing. Spoke about walking into debt before walking into the door. Applause and laughter. Spoke about America as a family and about disciplining if necessary i.e. the budget. Laughter after “That’s how budgeting works”.

Rebukes past administration for helping us into this crisis. “Let’s try common sense, a novel concept.” Slight very slight laughter. Blog visitors online. Judges looked stern during applause about dubious items online on one page before vote. Never thought miracles were going to happen there will always be disagreements but that is the essence of democracy. It shouldn’t Points to the crowd be you lose points to self I win. Applause. Will not give up trying to change the face of politics. Spoke about tough fights but hope when speaking about terrorism.

Micelle(?) looked less pissed when he mentioned her efforts with veteran support. Summed up all points esp. about foreign politics. Spoke on several points about women and student rights. Unity in our incredible diversity. We are all created equal. Civil rights. Repeal law against gays in military.

Didn’t speak too fast or slow taking pauses at points. Spoke about people turning away from news and politics. Spoke about our efforts to help the people of Haiti. Spoke of hope and strength and finished with “God bless the united states of America.” My feelings afterward were hopeful but pessimistic.

been a long time.

It's been a long time since my last post. Things are going ok. I finshed my first semester of college. I got As in Student Success and Political Science. I got a B in Beginning Algebra (hooray, I worked really hard), and a C in Computers in Learning. I spent so much time on my Algebra that I missed the deadline on two assignment in CIS which is why I got a C.

College starts back up on Monday the 11th, I'll be taking Speech, English 110, Intermediate Algebra, and Psychology.

I still haven't found a job, but I haven't been trying to. I'm still working for the school. This week was supposed to be the first week back from Winter break, but we have been covered in Snow and have only had one day this week.