The Making of a Shirt that Defines Me

As I brainstorm ideas for how I want to design my shirt for the IS 101 project I look to how I live my everyday life for inspiration. I have drawn the three parts of my life that I feel describe me best: my musical talents, my running career, and my faith in Jesus. I believe that I have accurately drawn my shirt to how I live my life. On the front down the left hand side I have drawn many musical symbols. I am involved in band at Wartburg, so music is a big part of my life. Also on the front of my shirt I have a large runner with "W" for shoes. I run cross country for the Knights and so that means that I am running almost everyday. On the back of my shirt I have my name on the top to symbolize a jersey and under that I have a fish with the letters WWJD inside. My faith in Jesus has always been especially important to me and I wanted to give an ample amount of space to depict that. My sister was nice enough to let me use her art supplies and she generously taught me how to draw the fishes on the back of my shirt. I think that it was a great time to bond with my sister, because I don't get to see her much anymore... My family really loved my shirt, and it was after their praise that I felt that I should have added one more picture to my shirt, my family. My family will always be there for me and I will always be there for them. I feel that they go as a picture on my heart, instead of a white shirt.

The Packers or Brett Favre?

My whole life I have grown up in a family who lives and bleeds green and yellow. For 17 years of my life I have worshiped the ground that Brett Favre walks on, the iconic quarterback figure of the Packer franchise. Now that Favre plays for the Minnesota Vikings, a team who I have hated my whole life, I am left watching games and cheering for Favre even though he doesn't play for the Packers anymore. Brett Favre brings the sort of passion to the game that just makes a person respect him, admire him. A couple of weeks ago when the Packers played the Vikings, a game which the Vikings eventually won, I ended up cheering for the Packers while secretly wishing that Favre would have a great game too. I talked to my cousin who is a die hard Packers fan about this and he couldn't believe that cheering for Favre was even an option! I guess that an allegiance is owed to a team and not a player. However, I am still hurt that the Packers got wouldn't let Favre come back and play, so my feelings are still mixed. I think that this is an issue that I will have to deal with come next weekend when the Vikings visit Green Bay. I believe that I must choose a side, even if I must secretly cheer for my favorite player in the National Football League. Externally, I will cheer for Green Bay; internally, I will cheer for Brett Favre.

Putnam and the Downfall of American Society

As I read Robert D. Putnam's story entitled Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital I can't help but wonder, is American social life really declining this drastically? This story seems to be all about how America is going downhill in the past half century. Putnam talks about how social gatherings have decreased immensely and how Americans are not politically aware of what is really going on in our country. Memberships for many fraternal organizations, volunteer work, and many other national affiliations have dropped off the social charts in America. Putnam remarks that 80 million people bowled at least once in 1993, nearly a third more than voted in 1994! He goes on to add that Americans are bowling more than ever, but that bowling leagues are plummeting... That decline in social interaction between people is hurting our national as a whole, and society doesn't seem to be doing anything about it. New technological advances socially deprive people because they tend to spend more and more of their leisure hours watching TV and playing video games instead of interacting with neighbors and just other people in general. It's scary to think that America is becoming more and more socially independent. Where will we be in the next 20 years if technology keeps increasing and Americans find more and more reasons to stay at home instead of going out for social occasions? I hope we will continue to thrive on our social status with each other and with our country.

Freire and The Banking Concept of Education

My blog today is about Paulo Freire's short story in our IS 101 book.

Freire is essentially talking about two different learning techniques: the banking concept of education and the problem-posing method of education. What I get out of that is that the banking method is kind of like storing knowledge in our brains like we would money in a bank. We don't learn hands on, the information is fed to us by our professor/teacher. Freire even goes as far as to say that the banking education method is "oppressing". The problem-posing method "liberates" the student and teacher from learning but not understanding. Problem-posing education, through dialogue, creates students and teachers alike who both learn and teach each other. The student is always cognitive and uses that cognitivity as a reflection to learn off of. Through problem-posing study, students are brought back to reality and can perceive why they exist and see the world as a transformation, not just static.

It seems to me that problem-posing is the way to go. Our discussion in class today was very enlightening. I learned that many people in the class had a banking background in education, and yet there were still many that had the problem-posing education. I had a mix of both. My science and math classes were very banking taught, while my humanities and history classes were very problem-posing classes. I hear that is not always the case. I think that it really depends on the teacher and what style they use to transfer the knowledge unto the students. Here at Wartburg I think that right now, being in the intro classes and lower level classes, I see more of a banking system approach. I believe that will change over into the problem-posing education in the years ahead.

Freire and Teaching

So far at Wartburg I still do not have a major declared, but I think I am on my way. For a while I have hoped that I could go professional with my running career, but I think I am going to need something to fall back on also. Setting aside all jokes I have been debating between two fields: anthropology and political science. I really haven't looked into anthropology all that much, but it sounds really fun and interesting, and as for political science, well, I have always been interested in government and I could see myself teaching history someday as well. Now as I am reading this piece by Paulo Freire about students being powerless in an educational system I cannot help but look back on my educational career and ponder whether information was "deposited" upon in me in classes. I look back at high school and honestly, I passed with flying colors in memorizing the night before a test and forgetting all of that information two weeks later. Freire talks about how we need to be conscious about what we learn so we can become liberated. If I had challenged myself to approach school with a better attitude and a desire to become more knowledgeable in certain areas, my life might have been way more interesting! Already at Wartburg I have challenged myself into obtaining a mastery at my respective classes and I feel the benefits that knowledge has to provide! If I am going to be a teacher someday I want to be able to teach my students to challenge themselves and become hungry for the chance to become more knowledgeable. I don't want any of my students to dread coming to school, I want them to crave it. I want to make school fun because learning is fun. I don't want to just "deposit" information into my student's heads, I want them to think for themselves and become conscious about who they want to be. I do not know where I will end up in four years from now, but I do know that whatever field I may be in, or wherever that may take me, I know that I will approach it with a positive attitude and a desire to think for myself.

Time at Home

Last weekend I got the chance to travel back to my hometown, Garner, for the first time in over a month. Due to cross country meets almost every Saturday, I haven't had the chance to visit my family on the weekends. It was exhilarating driving downtown and past the high school for the first time since becoming a Wartburg Knight. As I drove through Garner I felt really lonely all of a sudden. A wave of homesickness enveloped me and for the first time since leaving home I felt like I wanted to to nothing else but stay in Garner for the rest of my life. As I drove up my lane/driveway I felt very lucky and blessed to have grown up in a community such as Garner. I got out of my car and walked inside, my dog, a mix of a welsh corgi and a pug, greeted me at the door and immediately began sniffing me. Porgi is my dog's name and she looks nothing like a pug, she has a snout and a tail and is stocky. Nothing has changed much at my house, but it seemed like I had been gone forever and everything Had changed! My room was laid bare, my brother having turned it into his new "hangout" area. I had a lot of homework to do while home, but none of it got done as I spent all of my time playing with my dog and brother. Let's just say it was a very busy Sunday night when I got back to my dorm. Homecooking has never tasted soooo good; I never thought I would get sick of Mensa food, but Wartburg is just full of surprises it seems. I was sad to leave my home, but I know this is where I belong, In Waverly Iowa, at least for the time being :)

Balancing Sports and Music

Here at Wartburg I am involved in both cross country and band. Music and sports have always been an important aspect in my life and will continue to be for the rest of my life. Growing up I was a four sport athlete and played trumpet and piano since I was in third grade. Here at Wartburg, sports and music are top notch and being a Division III school gives me the the opportunity to participate, and hopefully succeed, in both. It all seems fine and dandy on paper, but there's a catch. Cross country and band both meet at the same time, sometimes a concert will conflict with a race, and there's the whole time commitment issue. However, here at Wartburg everyone works really well together. To be a part of the band program I have to be at rehearsals 50% of the time and since my band meets only four times a week that means I only have to go to band two times a week. That means I have to miss cross country practice two times a week, but that's okay. Coach Johnson works really well with me and I get to miss easy days and just run by myself. I love being a part of programs who are willing to share me and even make sacrifices in order to keep me happy. Already I feel that I am a better runner and musician just by placing myself into both programs and putting in some solid effort to challenge myself. Wartburg is nationally known for their sport teams and their music program and I am honored to be able to participate in both, even if it doesn't give me a lot of free time. Sacrifices are always going to have to be made, but I feel that God has given me this chance to become a more liberal student and imersing myself into deeper waters of knowledge.

Plato and Enlightenment!

Today in IS 101 we discussed what Plato meant by enlightenment in his Allegory of the Cave. Many opinions were expressed: I will repeat that again, many opinions were expressed. I enjoy listening to each person's opinions, and I feel that listening to what other people have to say makes me more enlightened, more knowledgeable. Plato felt that our rulers should be more enlightened than the rest of the population, an opinion that he wrote about in The Republic. Plato wanted to have philosophical rulers because they were not corrupted by power, all they wanted was to gain knowledge and ask questions. I agree with Plato that our rulers should be the most enlightened, but that does not always portray what kind of leader they will turn out to be. Just because someone is enlightened does not mean they are very ethical or have the guts to stand up for what they feel is right or wrong. Enlightenment is a crucial step in obtaining power, but it's just one of the many factors that make a great ruler. Some of those factors that make a great leader may include: wisdom, knowledge, courage, honesty, confidence, understanding, and mercy. There are many more attributes that I could list off that would define a great ruler, but there are so many different ideas that people have about the ideal ruler that there are too many to list. Enlightenment is a characteristic to strive for and can benefit not only yourself, but everyone around you. The goal should be to pass enlightenment to as many people as you can as to make this world a better place to live.

Socrates and the Liberal Arts

I am finding it very ironic that what I am learning in my western civilization class crosses over into our discussions and readings for IS 101. In western civ. we are learning about ancient Greece and its philosophical characters such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Socrates wrote that "the unexamined life is not worth living." That saying was mentioned in our IS 101 class on Friday, and I think that it ties in nicely with the liberal arts discussions we've been having. Giamatti's speech about the liberal arts really connected with Socrates and his teachings. The liberal arts is about examining yourself as an individual and how you can benefit the community around you. Always yearning for more knowledge is what philosophy is all about, and liberal arts puts a major emphasis on the importance of a well rounded knowledge. I think that if Socrates was alive in this day and age he would be a strong advocate of the liberal arts and their benefits for our democracy and society. Socrates was famous for challenging other Greeks to become "just individuals" and put the polis (Greek city-state) above themselves. I thought that the passage about Socrates and E.T. was just how a philosopher would interact with an ordinary citizen, always asking questions. As a liberal arts student, I feel that it is my job to always ask questions, becoming conscientious of my goals in life and what I want to attain before graduating from Wartburg College. Socrates would have challenged all of us here at Wartburg to keep asking ourselves what we want out of this liberal arts program, and what questions we have, not what answers we hold about life.

Learner Inventory/ Giamatti Questions

I have just completed the Vark Questionaire and have tested as a "multimodal (AR) learning preference. My scores were: Visual - 2, Aural - 5, Read/Write - 6, and Kinesthetic - 3. I am not entirely sure what these scores mean, but my guess would be that I learn in multiple ways. I think I am the kind of person that that learns differently in different situations. In science class for example, I learn by demonstration, same goes for math. In my opinion this is a pretty accurate assumption of my learning capabilities, but I know that I am also the type of learner that has to study material over and over to commit it to my long term memory. I suppose a strategy to help me with my studies this year would be to go over my notes from class and make more notecards than I am used to.

Giamatti defines liberal learning as such: Liberal education is defined by the attitude of the mind toward the knowledge the mind explores and creates. It rests on the supposition that our humanity is enriched by the pursuit of learning for its own sake, increasing the value of life. Liberal learning goes past ones career, into a deeper, more meaningful idea. It surpasses our lives in this world and lives on with us forever and ever. A liberal education desires to foster a freedom of the mind that will also contribute to the freedom of others.

Wartburg's Mission is "dedicated to challenging and nurturing students for lives of leadership and service as a spirited expression of their faith and learning."

Giamatti's idea of a liberal education seems to fit very well with Wartburg College's mission statement. Here are Wartburg, every one of us students and faculty members is challenged individually and as a group. The whole concept of liberal learning is to challenge oneself individually as well as benefiting the rest of the community. In order to be in a liberal education, one must be a leader, for one cannot liberally learn without leading themselves and others. Giamatti said that liberal learning is pleasing to the mind, and helps to strengthen our intellectual freedom. At Wartburg, I feel that that rings true because of our system of education and our idea that we can characterize ourselves as distinctive, well rounded individuals.