Our farwell party

Our farewell party

Our trip to Philadelphia:

gerardo's best writing

Technology and Education

Since the appearance of computers, the impact of technology has been felt on an ever expanding range of areas; the evolution of all kinds of technological artifacts keeps accelerating. Even though the rapid creation of new products makes some people uncomfortable, most look forward to the new products on the market. As part of this evolution and its spreading throughout all sectors of society, it is also normal that technology has reached the educational system with the objective of speeding up educational progress. Consequently, it has revolutionized the ways of learning and, currently, technology can show up in many forms to improve the learning process.

The use of computers is one of the most important learning tools at schools. There are lots of digital programs with the objective of improving knowledge, such as those that children use to learn math and grammar. I remember that when I was in elementary school I used some of those softwares to learn the history of my country, and thanks to that, the history class became suddenly interesting. Using computers, students are also encouraged to write more and, actually, they can even write more words per minute. Another reason is that typing is easier than hand writing. All my classmates agree with me that the best way to write any school paper is through a computer; it is because the computer helps us to correct the grammar and edit writing easily. Computers allow students to access any kind of information through the use of the Internet, a powerful tool to do research. As a part of the educational process, the use of computers enhances learning in students.

Email is strongly used in schools. It has become an important communication tool between students and teachers. For example, if a teacher wants to give his students data about the issues in the next quiz, one of the best ways to do it is by emailing them. My English teacher always says that if there were any day where one person in the class were unable to attend class, then that person must email her in advance. Nowadays, schools send student all kinds of information through Email. When I applied to college a few months ago, the information about my acceptance at BMCC was sent by Email. Since that day, most of the time, the communication between the school and me has been by Email, such as date of appointments to discuss about financial aid, the best academic programs for me, and the like.

The use of media is a powerful tool for the teachers. Today, any class can have media incorporated, such as videos, pictures, and sounds. A class where a teacher includes some media elements is more interesting to the students. Obtaining examples through media elements, students can improve their understanding about any issue.  In my experience, a class in which a teacher used media to make a better flow of ideas, most of the times humanities courses, had become more understandable.  For example, in high school, when I was studying the roots of modern music, watching documentaries and listening to music was the most suitable way used by my teachers to develop the courses and, consequently, I have a strong knowledge about that subject.

Cell phones and e-books are gaining popularity among current students. Cell phones can be, in a certain way, a factor that helps the learning process. Currently, smart phones’ functioning has characteristics that resemble computers. Owing to this feature, students can access the Internet, and all its potential, whenever they want to from their phones. As a student of English as a second language, I use often my phone as a dictionary and translator. Even though one of the most widespread uses of phones is texting and that “texting writing” obscures the beauty of any language, the phones, used adequately and smartly, favor education. E-reading is a current phenomenon which has rapidly invaded the educational system. In recent years, e-books, digital textbooks, have been supplanting traditional books. Many current students, such as my friends and I, do not even want to know anything about a traditional book and feel weird reading one. For example, my sister has grown up in the middle of this “technology revolution”, so she prefers e-reading rather than traditional one. Today, she is studying marine biology at college, and all of her text books are digital. The possibility of having many books inside a little artifact and reading them at any time is making students change their reading habits.  Since e-reading is easier than traditional reading and e-books are less expensive, many schools are migrating to the digital era of literature and, consequently, their libraries are becoming digital too.

Definitely, technology has had a positive impact on the educational system. It can accelerate, enrich and deepen basic skills in students. Activities using technology have the potential to allow all students to succeed. Inside schools, technology can become a bridge between academics and emerging practices in professional fields. In conclusion, whether it is because of the significant velocity of this technological development or its widespread presence in every sector of society, and into education particularly, technology’s impact is getting stronger each year. We are sailing in a world where technology has become an essential factor in our lives and nobody can imagine the current world without its active participation.

Viola's writing

Wrote on May 5^th

Water Flows in You

 

When it rains, water flows in you.

Drops and drops into you.

Into your mirror face, stir up ripples.

Every ripple sings.

Every sound from them likes the piano plays.

The piano made from water drops.

It taps. Tapping those claviers.

Sometimes gently, sometimes wildly.

Sometimes slowly, sometimes fast.

Soft, like a whisper.

Strong, like a march.

Waters drops linked together, and falling like pearls.

Like a broke-string of pearls, droped and rebounded.

Into you, and disappeared.

When it rains, water flows in you.

Crystal's best writing

Crystal Wang

                            My Badly Experience about Sun Stroke

       When I was a teenager, I went to countryside in a bright, intense hot summer. I got a sun stroke for first experience in my life. The illness came unconsciously. It gave me a deep impression because it was a terrible experience. It broke all my good feeling about summer.

       The illness started with a hot feeling. I didn’t notice that it was an early symptom of the illness. I thought that it just because it was a summer time. I didn’t care about this ‘’ normal’’ feeling. That’s why I went straight to bed without see a doctor after watching TV.

       One of typical symptoms of sun stroke was fever. My feeling about hot was going extremely obvious during the mid-night. I started sweating, and my pajamas got wet. My body temperature was high. I could not sleep. In fact, I turned around and around on bed like swing clock whole night. It felt like I was in spoiled water. My breath came shortly, and I felt that there was no enough oxygen in my bedroom. The fever also made me to hallucinate that I was walking in a huge desert under the intense heat.

       Another typical symptom of this illness was headache and dizziness. The headache made me feel that my head was constantly beat by someone. In addition, I got dizziness. Everything in my view was moving. I looked at a calendar on wall, everything tiny number seemed dancing. It made my eyes tired that it couldn’t open widely. I also couldn’t walk straightly because my body lost balance.

       All of those badly symptoms made me have a weakness. Firstly, lack of sleep cause me feel very exhausted. Even though I was eager to have a sleep, I couldn’t get sleep well because fever. Secondly, I lost my appetite. I didn’t feel hungry although I didn’t eat certain amount of food. In fact, I couldn’t identify different favor of food by my gustation. Because I didn’t eat well, I didn’t have enough energy to move. The weakness even made me not willing to talk. I also become dehydrated. For example, I still felt thirsty even thought I just drank a big bottle of water.

       After a doctor checked me, he said that I had a sun stroke which is very popular illness in such hot summer. He gave me medicine and told me that I have to rest, stay in cool, windy place and drink more water. He reminded that I have to avoid explore in extremely hot sunshine.

       I felt much better after I took the medicine and follow the doctor’s direction second day. My body temperature went down. Finally, I had a good sleep at the first night which I took medicine. When I woke up, I felt my headache was relieved much more. Additionally, there was no dizzy again. My mom prepared green bean soup which is good for summer. She also cooked conge that is easy to swallow and digest. I regained little energy after I slept well and eat some conge. It took me several days to recover completely. This experience changed my life’s habit in summer. I use sun umbrella and wear sun glasses to prevent explore in summer.

My Best Piece of Writing ''A Terrible Flu Infection''

A Terrible Flu Infection

In December, three years ago, I got the worst flu I ever had in my life. It started with a cold, but unfortunately, it got worse and worse. It reminded me why the flu can be fatal for some people if it is not treated on time. I will never forget this terrible experience. 

The worst part of this illness was the pain I felt in my chest when I coughed. I felt like my chest would blow up or like if someone was pressing and hitting my lungs so hard. Suddenly, my temperature increased. Once it started elevating, I started shivering and sweating so much that it almost made me hallucinate. It was the strangest feeling I ever had because I had a high fever and at the same time I felt my body so cold. It was like if in a second I was burning in a desert and then the next minute in a freezer.

My throat was congested, so I had a sore throat and phlegm. I couldn’t speak or even swallow any kind of food or drink. That was awful. Food was tasteless. When I tried to taste the food, it tasted like plastic. All of these symptoms made me lose my appetite and made me feel fatigued, tired, and exhausted.

Although I had no energy and wanted stay in bed, I couldn’t sleep very well because I had an unbearable headache. My head was so painful that it caused me to feel nauseous. I threw up what I had eaten and the skin of my body became yellow like if I had made up myself in to Frankenstein. I looked so pale and I couldn’t do anything about it. I was helpless.

After I went to the hospital, my doctor found what type of flu was it and gave me antibiotics.  The function of these antibiotics was to kill all the bacteria I had and made all of the bacteria not to grow or spread in my body. He said that I became dehydrated, so he recommended me to drink fluids as much as I could. These antibiotics started working so quickly that at the next day I was able to speak and drink some tea. Rest, stay warm, and drink hot drinks were essential for my recovering. My cousin, who was a great cook, had been making me some chicken soup, so I slowly recovered my appetite and food became to taste again.  I felt much better when coughing and headache went away from me because those symptoms were killing me. 

            Finally, I overcame this infection and  since that happened, I have been getting the flu shot every year even though each year could come out different flu virus. At least, I’ve prevented it again.  My full recovery took a process because I lost weight and my level of energy was too low. Now when I feel any kind of those symptoms I immediately drink some pills and visit my doctor right away. This disease can be dangerous if it’s not treated on time. Hopefully, I won’t catch it again.