Thursday, May 23, 2013
May the Spearth Be With You
Take a moment to think back through your Spearth Day. What did you learn? What new perspective did you gain? Where are your blisters? Share a moment, examine the perspectives it and you offer, and extract a knowledge question. Then, for more perspective, spend some time here. Please do this for Tuesday morning.
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My experience from spearth day was when I was cooking breakfast for my big sister. Elizabeth and I had bought so much food to cook that when it was time to actually make everything we didn't really plan out the timing very well. This was difficult because we had to cook for ten people including ourselves and get everyone out by nine for house meeting. I have learned that preparation is definitely needed for an event like this and also if I am going to do this next year for mountain day.
ReplyDeleteAnother moment was when I knew that I was going to the tree farm, I made the decision to wear short. I thought about what to wear the day before but for some reason I decided to wear shorts (probably because I could and I wanted to take advantage of that). However when we got to the tree farm, myself and about four other girls who were wearing short were given Ms. Nuno's pajama pants to wear over our shorts so we could kneel on the ground while weeding.
In the afternoon during all of the booths, my booth had to make smoothies (which turned out great) however we had to end early because of the lack of supplies. There hadn't been much preparation and when it came to wednesday night, I went to the store blind to purchase all of the supplies.
Knowing and experiencing all of these situations I have learned the importance of thinking ahead of time and really preparing for things. This can also help when it comes to school so I am not stressed out the night before something is due.
From these I have developed these knowledge questions:
To what extent do past experiences influence decision making for the future? (If I failed a test because I didn't study…why would I not study for another test that was coming?)
To what extent can me learn from our mistakes?
To what extent can excessive preparation actually be damaging?
To what extent is knowledge overwhelming and confusing rather than helpful?
***Also the website was really cool, we looked at something similar in biology in the beginning of the year***
During the community service part of Spearth day my group went down to the barn. We were to help Eric rake the trail for the Horse show this past weekend. To start my group was about 15 people. Most of us had rakes and at the beginning we were all together. By the time we made it to the third cross country jump the majority of our group started walking ahead of a few of us and stopped raking. The few of us that were left worked extremely hard to clear the trail of anything that would harm the horses. While the others raced through the woods in order to be done faster. In the end all the hard work paid off, when it rained the next day and the trail looked just like they had before we spent that morning raking. In the end I realized that everybody has a different definition of how much effort they put into work. I put in the same amount of work for everything that I do whether it is beneficial for me or not. I assume that the perspectives of others do not match with mine, and they are not as willing to put in the extra step if there is nothing that will benefit them in the end.
ReplyDeleteHow does one differentiate from quality and quantity?
To what extent is volunteering mandatory?
To what extent is work defined by each individual?
*That website reminds me of what we did in biology at the beginning of the year, as Jillian said, they make everything seem unimportant to the larger scheme of everything*
For Spearth Day, I was assigned to work in the kitchen gardens with Ms. B. The three of us, Jin, Ellie, and I, first weeded the fenced off areas and then planted prepared plants. However, for me and Ellie, just weeding and planting wasn’t enough. We were determined to have lots of lots of fun. Therefore, while weeding one of the boxes, we decided to take off our shoes and climb in in order to take a more hands on approach to gardening. While we were flinging around soil and loosening it all up so that the plants would be able to breathe, Ms. B made a remark, “These ants sure are biting today, aren’t they?” Suddenly, I felt it. All along my legs and arms were little red ants that were crawling up and down and stinging me. Ellie and I leapt out and starting running around trying to get rid of the ants. I couldn’t believe that I couldn’t feel it until Ms. B mentioned it. I could feel little pinches everywhere. We hosed ourselves down and wore gloves for the remainder of the time. After that, I became deathly afraid of red ants even though I didn’t know they existed until Ms. B pointed them out. Jin was the smart one in this case, as she had worn gloves from the beginning. From this experience I learned that sometimes people are just scared or dislike things out of stubbornness. This reminds of me one time when I was eating a sandwich my aunt made for me. I thought it tasted a little weird, but I didn’t really mind the taste. A few minutes later, I realized that it had mayonnaise in it. I hate mayonnaise. After that, even though I had been eating the sandwich quite happily, I refused to finish it. I disliked the idea of mayonnaise more than I disliked the actual taste. Again, I disliked the thought of ants stinging me more than I disliked the pain (which was basically non-existent). I had noticed other people do this before and thought them to be quite silly, but now that I’m more aware of it, it seems plausible. Today, the blisters are literally all along my arms and legs.
ReplyDeleteThis experience led me to consider the knowledge question:
Do we feel because we do or we should?
On Thursday morning, my little sister group took our big sister to Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast. While we were walking, there was not much talking among us, and sometimes it was a bit awkward. I realized that even though she was my big sister, who should be in some way close to me, we did not really know each other. I could not even remember the last time we talked.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, on the way back to school, there were more little sister groups walking along with us. I found out that many people started to walk with the people who they knew better in other little sister groups (me, too...), and we were all scattered. From that, I formed a knowledge question in my head: To what extent do we actually know the people who we are supposed to be familiar with?
On the other hand, I saw a Justin Bieber cardboard cutout in the Capen Room on Spearth Day. It suddenly reminds me of the special one-way relationship between the pop stars and their fans. Although the stars do not know every single of their fans, most of their fans know a lot about them due to the nature of their job. I extracted a knowledge issue from combining these two moments: To what extent is relationship actually what it is supposed to be?
P.S. The website made me think that the word “large” is in some way only used for comparison, but not for an absoluteness. Even though the universe is the largest thing we can describe now, it does not mean that it is the largest thing in the whole world. We think it is large only because it is the largest thing we can discover so far.
May 23rd was not only spearth day. May 23rd was also the day that some of us were set to receive our SAT scores. The night before I had stayed up worrying and setting alarms and writing reminder notes to myself so that I would check the scores early in the morning and get it over with. Unfortunately, due to a late night, I forgot all about the scores when I woke groggily in the morning. Later that morning I went to breakfast with my big sister & co. As I was enjoying my omelet, there came a cry of "OHMYGOD SAT SCORES ARE OUT TODAY!" from another anxiety-ridden junior a few tables away. I immediately remembered and let out a shrill and thoroughly blood-curdling yell, the likes of which I had never before heard escape my throat. My fellow little sisters begged me to tell them what was wrong, and I told them that I had forgotten to check my scores that morning. I quickly was given internet access and urged to check my scores online. As I did so, I could feel five little sets of eyes on me, and the pressure seemed to be greater than it would have been had I checked them by myself that morning. Indeed, I was visibly shaking - something which I know wouldn't have been the case without all the people around me. Also, trying to log into my CollegeBoard account on a small touchscreen was less than hassle-free, an it only added to my nerves. When I finally did get my result, the relief was that much greater, the reaction that much more intense. This made me wonder, and led me to my knowledge question: How do our surroundings alter our perception of possessing knowledge?
ReplyDeleteIn other words, how does our atmosphere and the format in which we receive knowledge change how we accept, view, react to, and interact with new-found knowledge?
DeleteI didn't learn anything on Spearth Day. I suppose that might be because I was too engulfed in the task before me. However, I was reminded of things. Children are messy. People complain a lot. There is charm and beauty to charity. Despair is a form of vanity.
ReplyDeleteI thought of the different people in the building that day. I looked through the lens of the man we were introduced to, Mr. Fowler, and considered he must be happy to be able to cross of some things on his to-do list. I looked through the lens of the complainer and thought about how dreadfully dusty the place was. Mine, who wanted to clean as thoroughly and efficiently as possible. Each of the perspectives is my interpretation. They could be completely invalid.
As I considered these vastly dissimilar people, I contemplated the reasons why we're so contrastive. Then I reflected further and wondered what is it that makes individuals different? You could say experience, but people with immensely different lives have been known to end up quite alike. This may be my question out of simple ignorance of neuroscience, but, my kq for the post is: How free are humans to choose who they are? (consider experience)
This year was a little ruined for me because I was unfortunately disappointed after seeing my SAT scores, so this led me to think about the saying “ignorance is bliss”. Ironically I used this as one of my examples in my essay for the SATs. By looking at my scores my mind was quite preoccupied throughout the day, but if I had waited till I got home to look at them, would my day have been more enjoyable? To understand this question I must think about the possible ways I knew I was having a bad day. It was an overall feeling of disappointment throughout the day, and I knew that through my emotions and also through my reasoning. I felt this way because in my perspective at the moment I would not be able to go to a good college and I would never be happy. Now that I have found a solution to my problem I feel less pessimistic about my future. With a different perspective I see that my reaction was a bit of an overreaction. Then I thought about how my day would have gone if I hadn’t looked at my scores, would have I been anxious to get home and check them? I have no way to know, but now with a different perspective I can see that I should not be so obsessive over things like the SAT that my day/mood depends on it. Taking into consideration one of the ideas of Spearth day, to give back and be thankful for what we have, I now see that at the moment I should have been thankful for the opportunities I am blessed with.
ReplyDeleteKQ- To what extent do negative emotions change the nature of our knowledge?