This weekend

I am especially excited about this weekend because my Aunt is coming into town. My Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Eric moved to Switzerland in the beginning of the year, and I don't have many opportunities to see them. She is flying in tomorrow, and is staying all weekend with us. I am hoping that she gets to come down here to see my apartment and campus. She can finally meet my roommates, and see how things are going this year. I also get to go home this weekend and see a lot of my friends that I haven't seen in a while. This weekend is also the beginning of October! That means we are slowly getting closer and closer to fall break, and Halloween. That is my mom's favorite holiday so she goes crazy with decorations. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Luke

While being stuck all day in my house due to sickness I was watching extreme makeover home edition. This story I found quite interesting, there was a little boy named Luke who is blind and has autism. The technology that they put into his house for him to be able to communicate with others was simply amazing. The whole basement was a play area for him and all different ways for him to experience different things and have fun. Luke is a child that loves to read and they created a whole library full of braille books for him to read. Its the simple things that can really change someones life. I was amazed by this house and how it wasn't about how it was decorated but how it could help Luke and his family. I thought it was a very touching story.

Orientation Leader

so, im applying to be an orientation leader next year. i think it'll be tons of fun, and you make decent money. im crossing my fingers i get it!! =D

Sick...

Joe I think I caught your cold....

I have felt rotten today. I've got a terrible head cold and a fever. :(

Would someone please fill me in on what I missed today.

Thanks in advance.


Mrs. White,
Is it too late to sign up for the Nov. 2nd class trip to Lexington?

Test #2

Hey you all. I think that we should keep the test date the same and have it extended to the 14th for those who need a little extra time with it. If we wait to take it on the 21st we will only have a little over 2 weeks to go over new material and study for our next test on November 9th. I rather get it over with before Fall Break anyways.

This weather

I love this weather, it chilly but not cold, the leaves are starting to change.. Football season, tailgating, and Deer season, I mean it is one of the best times of the year.

PRESENTS FOR THE BOYFRIEND

Hey guys.......My boyfriend's brithday is this friday. He likes golf a lot and UK athletics. We have been dating for 3 1/2 years. Any ideas on what to get him?

Who is Hiring

Does anyone know of factories that may be hiring around the Richmond, Lex, Berea, or Danville areas?

09/23 class

I missed last Wednsday, 9/23/09, could someone tell me what we went over. Thanks!

SCEC updates!!

October 1: ADA AWARENESS DAY!
Come join in the fun! We will be in the Powell Building, Herndon Lounge with some events set up outside on Powell Corner. The event is from 9:00 a.m-2:00 p.m. and will include disability simulations, wheelchair obstacle course, booths, information tables and representatives from both on and off campus.

October 8: SCEC Meeting (at 4:30 in Jaggers)

October 17: Homecoming and volunteers are needed for the 5k walk/run. If you are interested, contact Mark Howard about it.

CDS 275

I was just wondering if anyone that's in CDS 275 with me ever found out the exacts on the assignment he said he was going to post on blackboard. I'm going to e-mail him but I know there are quite a few us that are in that class as well so I figured I'd check with you all too. If anyone finds anything out please let me know!

Thanks!
Ashley

My "hearing problem"

A few days after starting preschool my teacher approached my mom with concerns about my hearing. This came as a real shock to my mom because she had never noticed me having a problem. The teacher explained that when she would call on me in class or ask me a question it took her a few times before it got my attention. After having this brought to her attention my mom took me straight to me doctor to have my hearing tested...everything came back fine. This left everyone a little stumped until something suddenly clicked with my mom. She asked the teacher what name she had been calling me by, the teacher replied "Ashley." This caused my mom to quickly realize my hearing was not the issue. I didn't know my name was Ashley because everyone I had been around had always called me Sissy. It gives us a good laugh to look back on it now, but I'm sure this happens a lot; it is automatically assumed there is a major problem before someone realizes there is a simple solution.

Stressful Week!

So last week was very stressful for me, I had 3 three tests including the one in our class. Then I had a test today right after our class. Man am I glad for it to be over for a few days! My brain just needs a break. But I wanted to share a cute story with everyone. So like I said at the beginning of the semester I work at a Daycare. My little cousin Haddon who is 1 goes there and one day I was in his class filling in for one of the girls as she took lunch. I was sitting on the floor playing with the kids and I had my phone on the floor beside me. One of the kids came up and went to grab my phone and Haddon my cousin said "NO MAH GEES oohne" and took the phone and handed it to me. I just really thought it was amazing that he knew that was my phone! Kids these days are so technologically advanced it's crazy!! If the story didn't sound funny I'm sorry you must of had to of been there!! LOL!

I have been at an Elementary school doing my mentoring project for EDF 203. I have only been one day but I feel like so much has h

The Language project

I clicked on the language project tab on blackboard under Chapter 13 and there is an error. Has anyone else had trouble with it?

Today

Today I got up and was thinking about what to wear outside and I decided I would wear the sweater that mary gave me. It belonged to Ken the child I am a respite provider for. He gets to be in the Special Olympics this coming weekend (October 4th) for horseback riding, I am so proud of him.

Nell

Have any of you seen the movie Nell with Jodie Foster, Liam Neeson, and Natasha Richardson? It is an older movie, but it is so good. I remember watching it a few times on TV with my dad when I was younger. For some reason the movie had popped into my head a few days ago and I had a craving to watch it. My roommate had never seen it so we rented it and watched it together. If you have not seen this movie I recommend that you do! It is so good and it really pertains to this class because it is all about language. Nell is about a woman (maybe in her twenties?) who has grown up completely isolated from the world. She was raised in the woods with her mother and twin sister. Her mother was paralyzed on one side of her face which made her speech almost unrecognizable. I don't want to say anymore about the movie because I do not want to ruin it for those of who have never seen it. The only other thing I am going to say about it is that Nell has her own language since she was never taught proper English. It is fascinating to watch how a doctor and a psychologist team together to observe and try to understand Nell. Go rent this movie right now!

I do want to warn you that there is a bunch of nudity so if you have kids you should probably not have them watch this movie with you. I was completely shocked! I have seen this movie on TV lots of times, but they had edited out the nudity parts so I had no idea it was in there. It is not in a sexual way. Nell just doesn't know that it is socially inappropriate to be naked. I just wanted to warn you though. : )

Does anyone know of any other movies like this? I would love to watch them.

Youtube videos

Thought I would share some of these videos with everyone:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB9gMc3yXZM&feature=fvst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY-SoB9nYmY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-1mla0LeU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBM854BTGL0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y4G0_sotB4&NR=1

Bad language in the classroom

This Friday, I completed an observation hour for one of my education classes. One of the classrooms I observed was a special education (FMD) room. There were children with autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and etc. One of the children throws huge tantrums when he gets upset over something and starts using foul language. Obviously, the other students have picked up on his choice of words, and started saying those things too. The next thing I am about to explain kind of makes me mad. While I was there, one of the other teachers came into the room for some reason to talk to the special education teacher. The special education teacher starts talking to one of the students in the room and says, "What is Mrs. ______?" (Talking about the teacher who had walked into the room to speak to her. Then the student says, "Dumb a**." The special education teacher, the aids in the room, and the teacher who had came in to talk started laughing like it was cute and acceptable. So after the child saw that it got a positive reaction out of the adults and they were laughing, the student said it again. Again, the adults laughed a little bit and talked about how she had picked up the language. Then the student said it again. This time, the teacher told the student to stop saying that and got kind of upset. She even told her she would get in trouble for saying it and if she went home saying that word she would be in trouble. She said if she said it again that she would put her in timeout. Although the teacher was excellent when I observed her, this situation made me mad. I don't think it was right to send that student mixed signals like that. The teacher basically told the little girl to say that. Then she laughed about it like it was ok. And when the student saw she liked it she just did it again and got jumped on over it! I hope I never send my future students mixed signals like this. If you do not want a student to say something or do something, you should not act like that.

But please don't get me wrong...this teacher obviously cared a LOT for her students and they really love her. She is a great teacher and caregiver. (That is basically the only thing I disagreed with in that room.)

Our vs Are

I have recently realized that when I speak I cannot say "our." It almost always comes out "are." I did not grow up in Kentucky and I like to believe I still have my neutral accent, though I a feel as if my grammar is on a downhill slide. Regional language difference.

Week 1 of Tests

I am so glad it is FRIDAY!! I have had 3 tests this week so I am glad to be done. I am a little upset about one of my exams. My SED 351 exam was not good! I am not going to tell you my grade so you are just going to have to believe me when I say that it was not good. The thing that bothers me so much is the fact that I studied really hard for the test. We were given a study guide and I had that thing memorized! I thought I was so ready for the test. I was not nervous or stressed until the test was handed out. One look at the test and my heart dropped. That test was NOTHING like the study guide! Why do teachers waste time making a study guide if it is not going to help us out on our test? The least they could do is say, "Here is the study guide to highlight the key points, but you all need to look over everything we have done in class." I wanted to laugh in class today when the teacher mentioned that exact same thing. She said that she remembered one of her college professors who made a test that covered nothing from the study guide and I just wanted to shout out, "You did the same thing!" Anyways, I feel better to get that all out. I have my last exam for the week today at 10:10...MAT201. Wish me luck because math is my worst subject. Then I have another exam Monday, but I do not want to think about that one yet!

Substitutions

Ours is the age of substitutes: Instead of language we have jargon; instead of principles,
slogans; and instead of genuine ideas, bright suggestions.
Eric Bentley

Morphemes in Science and Social Studies

Thought you might be interested in some of these morphemes you could have used on the test.  More importantly think about how these will help you teach children how to learn vocabulary in the future!

Vocabulary in Science

Vocabulary in Social Studies

I found these by using Google!  Did you find other websites to help you?

Class Lecture

I'm not sure how the rest of you feel but I have really enjoyed class this week; I have loved the material we are covering and the in-class worksheets have been extremely helpful!

Discussing the different stages of the language development reminded me of my daughter and how she sounded when she started putting words together.

As a little girl Shelby LOVED books, and LOVED to be read to. As she got a little older and started putting words together she would try to read to me and her Dad. Most of the time Shelby's words were gibberish with the exception of two words......"Hers Purdy" (spelling ?)
she would repeat this over and over again for each and every page. I tried several times to correct Shelby and tell her to say "She's pretty" but she wouldn't have it, she would just look at me and nod her head up and down and say "Hers Purdy." (spelling?)

My husband and I have that precious memory on video. :)

Children Learning Language

During our last couple of class discussions while we've been talking about how children learn language I started thinking about my cousins. I have 7 cousins and have been around 5 of them since they were born. With the first three, who are now, 17, 11, and 5, I can remember them making up words and making the mistakes we've been talking about in class. However, as I think about my youngest two cousins, who are twins, I can't help but see the differences of how they learned to language. It seems that they too made up words but they didn't do it as often or for as long as my other cousins. I think that maybe had something to do with the fact they were always around older children and tried to copy exactly what they were saying. At the age of three it is so much easier to understand them than it was to understand their sister at the same age.

Quote

"It is better to remain silent and be thought stupid than to speak and erase all doubt."

I thought of this quote yesterday when Mrs. White was talking about how people can be rich and be dumb or smart and be poor etc and how it only takes a few minutes of hearing someone speak to realize it.

Communication

I have just started my observation at an elementary school. I started working with the after school program. I sat in one of the lessons that was done by a graduate student. The class was a group of 4th graders. Their lesson was on communication. She had the students define communication and talk about different ways to communicate. She also talked about how we communicate without talking and what emotions we express. It was just funny to see 4th graders talking about something that I also have been talking about. However, during the lesson the graduate student used the wrong tense of a word in a sentence. She did not even stop to correct herself. I looked around the room to see if anyone other of the teachers noticed. But no one said anything. It made me think of what Mrs. White said about teaching. If the teacher does not even use the right tense how are the students supposed to learn what is right?

SED 260 is important

I am glad that there is SED 260 course for teachers because it is true that children get frustrated when they cannot be understood or they cannot understand instruction. I know that from experience and feel pity for the children. Trully my first months in the U.S. were frustranting, I had to request people to repeat what they said and verse versa they requested me to repeat because of the accent. I nearly dropped one of my courses because I could understand only 40% of what the teacher said. But as an adult I had many options including request the teacher to do one -on-one teaching whenever it was possible. So, if it frustrates somebody at my age and maturity what more with children. This is a valuable course!

Grammar lesson 101

Tonight during one of my classes the professor asked for a student’s response to the topic we were going over, and the student’s response began like this:

“We was going….”

I was – and still am – irritated that this came out of this student’s mouth. First of all, she is a junior in college and should know how to speak in front of an audience and two, because her major is ELEMENTARY EDUCATION!!!

resources

The weekly resources and this blog were very helpful for me on the test, taking that extra 10-15 minutes on questions to look into the resources that we are given truly helped. I had looked into the weekly resources folder before but had not truly explored it. Thanks for providing the class with so many additional resources.

test

just to let everyone know the test is back up on bb

Test Available

If you have not submitted your test you will need to email your answers. I have been on the phone with BB. I know if I am this frustrated you are perhaps 10 times more frustrated than I am.

Mrs. White

Test 1!!!!

The test is no longer on Black board does anyone know what to do ??? Should I just email my answers and not worry about black board? Oh I'm confused!

Over & Out

Good night and good luck. I will be "out of pocket" until 2:30ish tomorrow/today/Wednesday when I leave and start for Richmond. I'm working at the office tomorrow in Frankfort. Why am I telling you this you ask???

1. I won't be closely monitoring the blog/email to answer questions relative to the test. If you've waited until the last day to finish up your test you'll have to rely on one another.

2. I'll be rolling in right at 3:30. I'll try my very best to not be late.

3. If you have a problem with Blackboard accepting your test don't freak out simply email me the Word document onto which you copied the questions and have been typing your answers. I assume you've done that and were only pasting them into Blackboard once you were completely finished to ensure you wouldn't lose all of your work.

4. If you do absolutely need me feel free to call. If I don't answer (probably won't) leave a message and I'll call you back when I get out of the meetings I have.

See you at 3:30!
Mrs. White

Finished Test

I finally finished the test. Mrs. White I hope you are able to open it to grade it. My computer is doing something crazy, it wouldn't let me use Microsoft word so I had to go back and re-type all my answers in the actual test site. I couldn't even safe all my answers in a document so hopefully it will open so it can be graded. I am so glad I finished, this test about made me loose my mind. See everyone in class on Wednesday, oh wait that's today isn't it :-)

Question 10

I don't know exactly what question 10 is trying to ask when it says give a reasonable explanation for this discrepancy. Can you please explain a little bit more or maybe put it in a different form of question. Thanks

Margee

Test Due by Class Time, 3:30 on Wednesday, the 23rd

The test is due by class time, 3:30, tomorrow. If you are having problems with Blackboard I suggest you send me your answers in Word via email. Email also obviously has a time stamp and this will be used to determine that it is submitted on time.

See you in class tomorrow!

Test Grades

I know each of you want to know how well you did on your test. I also know that by now you're very aware that there are glitches with Blackboard. I have been on the phone with the Help Desk and corresponding with them via email. If they are not able to resolve the major issue, I am able to grade and score all of the tests manually.

I always ask for at least one week from the time the test was due to have them evaluated. You will have specific, descriptive feedback to give you information on how well you did. Barring any major events I do hope to have all of the tests finished by next Wednesday, September 30th.

Mrs. White

question 7

I cant read all of question number 7, my the visual editor is blocking the last part of the question. Does anyone know what it says?

Baby Crying:Neh Means Hungry?

I remember watching an episode of Oprah called The Secret Language of Babies. I thought this was related to the expressive language we talked about on Monday.

Check out these videos:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6CFSGAueyo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGdPWNH0Yr0


I don't know if I agree with everything in the Dunstant Baby Language system. I do know that the woman that created the program has made lots of money.

Question 8

Does the quote at the beginning of question 8 have anything to do with the question at all or is it just there to be there...this test will be the death of me

Why I hate home improvement

Okay so normally I am all for helping out around the house. You want me to paint something- I'll paint it. Fix a leaky pipe - no problem. However, I hate pull down attic ladders. Why? Because when 120 pounds of ladder land on you your back hurts, when you hand gets caught in the spring that closes the door it hurts. When your fathers head gets caught like its a mouse trap- well after its over its funny, but at the time it wasn't. When your sister gets hit with a ten pound flashlight to the face its scary and when you have to drive your mom to the ER because she got hit with a bolt to the head - it's down right horrific. But whats down right nerve racking and makes me wake up in a cold sweat is that we have to all get together again and try to put that thing up next weekend. I voted that we just burned the thing- the idea was vetoed. Oh well I am getting a helmet and a ton of ibuprofen.

9/21 Class emergency of expressive language

As this class progresses I learn more and more about language and think of stuff I never even thought about before. Also I feel that I do have a better personal understanding because I have a daughter and I can look back and remember her going through these stages. In class someone made a comment about a student using me and my instead of I and whether or not you should correct them and how to do it. Denise has learned the I and my but now we are working on her and she because she will say "Her is going with me." instead of "She is going with me." And I correct her and give her an example. Denise has an excellent memory so it doesn't take her long to catch on to things. But I do think it's important to be a good role model in the way we talk to children because they are learning and observing us. A quick example, when I drop something or get frustated with something I say damn damn damn, well Denise turned around and did it when she couldn't button her shirt one day and I was like... Denise where did you hear that but I had to stop and think, oh she got it from me. So that being said I have to watch what I say but I do talk to her like an adult and use regular words and explain it to her if she doesn't understand and after that she knows it and can use it right. Language is amazing!

Trouble submitting test

Mrs. White,
I was making sure that all of my test was successfully submitted? When I tried to submit it, it said that some of the questions were incomplete. Thank you.

Test Question 13

I do not remember discussing #13 in class and cannot find it in my notes or other resources. Does anyone else know how to help me? Or tell me where to find it?

Thanks!

Where's the Test?

Hey is anybody else having trouble even finding the test? I come back after our class to finish working on it and i can't find it :/ is anybody else having the same problem right now?

Test Problems Anyone?

I tried to access the test from the library the other day in the library to print it off, and I couldn't get on. Someone else from the class even tried logging on under his name to get it and it still wouldn't work. Does anyone else have this problem? I tried on both firefox and internet explorer. Please tell me other people are having problems as well.

Test 1

I was reading through the test and stumbled upon the word "word family" in one of the questions, could someone please explain to me what that means?

Meredith

Where did the test go

I just got back into black board to work on my test again and it is not there. Does anybody have any idea what happened.

TEST!!

For the video question on the test, i seen where mrs. white posted the link for the videos, is it out of all 5 of the videos on that website?

I hate being sick

It gets you behind on things, makes u miss assignment, and i just become forgetful, then once u get better you remember everything you forgot and panic to get it done! ughhh.

Syntax on tshirt

I was driving back to Richmond today from my hometown and I got to thinking about random things. Over the Summer, my Mom and two aunts took a "sister trip" to Savannah, Georgia. One of my aunts brought me back a shirt that said, "I is a college student." She got it for me just to tease me because I talk about how much I hate college and how much I hate being away from home. Now whenever I think of that shirt, I think of syntax! I know the shirt is a joke or whatever, but now whenever I see it all I think about is how some people really do talk like that and it is probably because no one ever corrected them when they made the error after so many times.

Another question about 5B

The question asks how would it impact the learning in the area. I do understand what it is asking, but I do want to know if by impact, can I use good AND bad ways it can impact a students learning?

9/21 class??

Do we still have class on tomorrow?

Questio 5

Mrs White
I am a bit confused with question 5B. It reads thus"Explain how why this morpheme impacts vocabulary learning in this area of study". Are we supposed to adress the how or why part or both?
Thanks
Agnes

Test Question #1

I know we discussed this question in class, but I am not sure I have the answer written down correctly. Could someone remind me of the reason it is important for teacher's to understand how languague develops to become a better teacher? Also, I was having a little trouble with blackboard when I printed the questions and want to make sure I have all the questions. Are 13 questions?

Video website

Hi Mr. White,
Will you give me the website address for the videos from class?

Thanks,
Ashley J.

Can anyone refresh my memory about the study that Hart and Risley did for question 13 on the test? Is it in the book or did we get a hand-out about it? I cannot find any information about it nor do I remember discussing it in class. Thanks!

Test Questions

Mrs. White

As I was looking at the test questions I realized that I could not read one of them. Because of the box that says Visual Editor it makes it hard to read them. I can't make out some of the words. Question 13 its says ' how parents interact ...." What comes after interact?
Thanks Anna

Test

Okay so last night I went to the library and tried to print the test off and Blackboard made my computer go crazy I had to restart it and everything. Has anyone else had any problems getting the test or is it just something with my account because when I tried to access the test today it did the same thing.

Conversational Children

I was searching Google about children developing language and came across an article that made me think back to what we have been covering in class. If you are interested in reading it yourself, here is the link: http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/speech/conversations.html.

It basically says how you should talk to children as much as you possibly can, even if it seems just like a pointless conversation to you. As long as the child is engaging in an actual conversation, it is a good thing. The article says to talk about things that the child is interested in and introduce new words to them if possible. This reminds me of the Pragmatic-Interactionist Model because one of the aspects of the model is that people talk in order to communicate. By communication with a child, you will know more about their interests and will be more able to have more conversations with them.

This article also says that if your child participates in conversations as much as possible, that the child will be better at paying attention, learn more, have more opportunities to use what they know to learn even more, and will be able to build stronger relationships with others.

Another thing this article talks about that made me think back to class is the last section of it. It is titled "Follow rules of social conversations." In this section it says some social rules in having conversations are to communicate for a response, wait in silence for the person to say something back, and respond to what that person has to say. It goes on to say what you should not do conversations such as interrupting, ignoring the person, rambling, and don't change the topic in the middle of another conversation. It also says to be sure and have the other person clarify what they mean if you do not understand what they said.

That whole last paragraph of the article sounds just like the things we learned in class about pragmatics.

-Amelia (Millie) Combs

missed 9/16 class

Help! I missed class because my car blew up on me and I know the test is posted but is there anything I need to know from Wed class that will be on there? I hated that I had to miss :( it's hard not having a car and living in Lexington

this past week

i missed class all week, i have a sinus & ear infection, i wasn't getting any better so i went back to the doctor and they found that i had bronchitis and a small case of pneumonia. so, i have been in bed and resting all weekend and week. i need some catching up on what we did in class..=)

Test question 7&13

I cannot read all of the question on question 7 & 13. Can I and if so how can I move the answer box so I can read all of the question?

Thanks, Ashley J.

Test Question

The test question that asks you to use the videos we used in class contains a link to the blog where I have put the videos. It is called Stuff To View. If you need the URL it is http://stuff2view.blogspot.com

Tid Bits

On Sundays I work in a church nursery and one of the little girls, who is now two and half asked me "Why is Andrew's name Andrew?" To this I had no answer. I was surprised, though coming from her I should have expected such a question. She is probably the most curious little girl I have ever met and she loves talking and telling stories. One day while babysiting she was telling me about the classes her big sister was in. She said that she, herself, did not like science or math, and I asked her what she did like and she replied with "books, books are my friend, I love them!" and she smiled. It was so precious.
Last Thursday, one of my friends who is studying ASL invited me out bowling with some of her friends who are also learning. I was hesitant because I do not know the language but I went because she didnt want to go alone. I never realized how much one can learn when they are literally forced to. On a funny note: I asked my friend to hold my bowling shoes so I could get my money and she said "now i cannot talk." To her friends she was silenced for a moment, and I never really realized how difficult that could be. Unable to work and speak at the same time.

Video: Little Girl on the phone

Seeing the little girl on the phone asking her grandpa watch her feed her dog made me think of my niece. My husband and I do not get to see our niece as much as we would like so when she was two her parents and my husband and I got computer camera's so we could see her and talk to her. After the first time we used them she would go into the computer room and walk up to the computer and ask for her aunt and uncle. She thought we would appear on the computer screen if she started talking.

9/14/09 Class

The videos that we veiwed in class were very interesting. I especially liked the one with the two babies laying on the ground communicating. They could not talk yet, but it was like they had their own language of understanding each other. That was so neat to me. Especially the fact that they would touch each other, talk, and laugh together.

Class on Tues

Hey,
I am so sorry that I had to miss class on Tuesday. I was wondering if anyone could point to some text in Ch 4 that we might have gone over in class? Thanks so very much.

Hey everyone

I was just wondering if anyone could briefly tell me what we went over in class today? I was sick today so I missed class :-(. Thanks a bunch! See everyone Wed.
Stephanie Watkins

Funny Phone Conversation

Since we watched the video of the little boy talking on the phone today I couldn't help but think of this funny story. Last week my three-year-old cousin, Emily, who attends preschool, called my mom to ask where I was at. My mom told her that I was at school. Well, Emily looks outside and sees that it's dark outside and tells my mom. So, my mom tried to explain that I stay here in Richmond during the week and then come home on the weekends. However, what she said was, "Emily, Trista lives at her school." Now, since this child goes to preschool she gets this vision of her classroom and me sleeping at the desks at her school. Emily then yelled at my mom for at least three minutes and my mom still had no idea what the child said. I didn't get to go home this past weekend but I am going home Friday. I'm not really sure that I want to go see my cousin because it's hard to explain something like this to a three-year-old. The good news is that I won't have to explain it because she, her twin brother, and their parents are coming down to stay with me next week so she'll get to see where I sleep and won't be worried about me anymore.

Class on 9-9

I was sick last wednesday and missed class. I have no idea what was wrong but I went to bed with a headache and woke up with a worse one. Let's just say every time I tried to take something for my head, my stomach disagreed with me. Last week was definitely a long week. If there is anyone who can let me know what we did in class on Wednesday that would be awesome! Thanks!

Mowgli Syndrome

There are three bases necessary for language to develop (physiological, cognitive, and social). The base that interest me the most is the social. I thought of feral children. Feral children are children who've grown up with minimal human contact, or even none at all. The impaired ability to learn language after being isolated for so many years shows that there is a critical period for language learning. I think it is devastating that a child would have to experience this, but there are several cases of this happening. Parents, teachers, other members of society should be there to train and guide children as they grow and nurture them into civilized and socialized adults.

9/9 class

I enjoyed the phonetic exercise we did in class. This gives me a better understanding of how children may see words and sound them out. There is sooooooo much to learn in the English language. I remember when I worked as an assistant in a K-1 classroom there was a song that helped the students to remember what sounds certain letters make like it said KN says N KNOCK KNOCK, OO says oo like hoot etc. I can't remember the exact words but I can assure you it was a lot catchier. I'm going to go ask them for it and see if I can bring the words to class.

SCEC MEETING!!

Tomorrow is our first meeting of SCEC for the Fall 2009 semester! We are going to be in Wallace 233 and the meeting starts at 4:30pm. Come out and enjoy snacks(I made cookies tonight:D!!), meet the officers, learn about SCEC, and hear ideas that we are planning to do for the semester! Hope to see you there! To join or renew your membership bring $5!!

Things to ponder

I have had a lot of trouble trying to decide what to do as far as a career goes. I finally decided that I want to be a Special Ed. LBD teacher (as I have mentioned in a previous blog). I went to do some observation hours last Friday for my EDF 103 class. One of the classrooms I got to observe was actually third grade and had LBD students in there. I really liked the size of the classroom (only two students). They were very sweet children!
But after being in SED 260, I have been thinking about going into Communication Disorders instead. I never really was aware that so many children cannot speak correctly or clearly because of so many things (such as the phisiology we learned about today).
I find it very interesting that so many things can contribute to speech problems.
I even got to thinking that some children may not be able to speak clearly not because they have difficulty in learning language/words (that is what I thought before this class) but because of several reasons.
Learning about voicing and not voicing certain sounds in speech makes me think about my friend's little sister who I have mentioned in other blogs. But if you haven't read those, her name is Cindy and she has Down Syndrome.
But anyways, I have always wondered why she says things certain ways. And I guess this also goes back to her not knowing the certain morphemes that change the meaning of some words.
For example, when she says "hungry," it sounds like she is saying, "hungrin." I haven always wondered why she says some things different. Is it because she does not understand the different parts/rules of speech? Or is it because she has a different disability?

Pragmatics

I know we talked about pragmatics a few classes ago but I have been thinking about it and it occurred to me how much we overlook things like this and how if we are not taught this then we won't know. Prime example is that my daughter Denise and I were in Speedway getting gas. There was a man in front of us with a couple packs of beer and a long line behind us. The man in front of us turned around and was talking to Denise saying she was a pretty little girl. Denise responds with "Ooooh you stink!" and covers her nose and mouth. He turned red in embarassment/anger and people were laughing and I was like Wow! I told Denise she couldn't say stuff like that out loud (even if it is true). But she is 3 so she still says things or stares at people and asks what's wrong. I never thought about having to teach her about things like when and where are the right times to say things or how you say things but now I think twice!

Update on My Husband

I want to thank each of you for your well wishes and prayers for my husband. He had an appointment with the oncologist today. It has been determined that the current medicine has ceased being effective in controlling his cancer. However, no one is giving up and we all continue to fight. The doctor is prescribing a new drug called, sorafenib or Nexavar. Virgil is still at the VA in the pallatiave care program. Hopefully, he will regain his strength day by day and be returning home SOON.

We will focus on LIVING not dying and enjoy each day as a GIFT from God.

We remain with our feet firmly planted in reality and our hope in an Almighty God.

Mrs. White

To Mrs. White

I am really sorry about your husband, that breaks my heart. You and your family are in my prayers. My great-grandmother died around 8:00 pm last night, so my family is actually dealing with that right now. The visitation starts tomorrow at 4:00 so I will not be in class. But again, your family is in my prayers.

To Mrs. White

When I heard that your husband was dying it truely broke my heart. The loss of a mother is hard but the loss of a spouse is probably even harder. You and your family are in my thoughts and in my prayers. You are one of the strongest people i have ever met.

Meredith

My 21st birthday

I turned 21 on Saturday, which was very exciting for me. For the first time in a long time both my mom and dads side were together to celebrate me. My family hasn't been together like that since I can remember. I got to see my sister who lives in a foster home and some old friends. it was truely a joyous event. However, I missed my mother extremely. It would have been nice for her to have seen me turn 21.

Meredith

I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend. Mine was filled with my family the newest addition a 12 month old boy. However, while this was a good trip- I was in a car accident this weekend- I am okay. But it made me think about my life and what I want to do in it. Before I had a purpose now I have a need. But, back to my family, the star of the whole weekend was my 6 year old cousin who decided that singing Britney Spears "Toxic" was a good idea in a room filled with adults. While this was amusing right in the middle of the song she messed up and use a foul word. Everyone turned to look at her father. I guess it goes to show you how much communication skills your child can pick up.

Labor Day weekend!

So this weekend was much needed, b/c I don't know about you all but within the first two weeks I was already stressed out! So my weekend consisted of going to Ohio and visiting my brother. It was my mother boyfriend and brother. We had the best time ever. We went to Cedar Point, if anyone has ever been there then you know that they have the 2nd tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world. It was absolutely crazy. It goes 120 mph and 425 ft in the air. IF any of you ever get the chance to go you have to ride that ride b/c it is a thrill! Then on Sunday we went to Put in Bay Island, which was beautiful and very relaxing. So also if you ever get a chance to go there you should! So that was my weekend and now it's back to the real world!

Extremely happy!

I just wanted to share with everybody that I am recently a proud new baby owl! For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, haha, I'm a new member of Chi Omega! I just had my first baby owl meeting, so I'm still super excited =)! I couldn't sleep, so why not get on blogger and post something..haha! Hope all of you had a great Labor Day weekend! =)

Labor day

I am curious, why is USA commemorating labor day on September 7 when the international labor day is May 1? Again what else happens during this day apart from it being a holiday? In my country during this day workers come together to share their experinces and problems they encounter at work. If there is any kind of a forum I would want to join in next year and get some experince.

How did language even begin?

I was reminising earlier today about things me and one of my friends would always talk about. We always had really deep and interesting conversations, and the one I remembered having with her made me think back to SED 260 when we discussed arbitrary symbols. We would always talk about how people even started language. And once someone started speaking and naming things certains names, how did they even start describing what they meant? Like, for instance--how would someone create a word such as "deliberately?" How did they describe this word to another person? Of course someone could say, "to comit an act on purpose." But then if you go way back in time, how would someone descrive that sentence? How would you tell someone what each of those words meant that you used to define "deliberately?" Like, what would you say "purpose" meant? Does anyone understand what I am trying to get at here? It is sort of like the example the text book used about the word "tree." Nothing about the word "tree" is "green and leafy" (I think that is how the book puts it even! It is so weird how people have come so far with language. Another amazing thing to think of is how the first person ever to learn a second language even learned it. They had no teacher to tell them translations or rules of grammar. They would probably just have to go to the foreign country and just live there for a long while and just start picking up on it. Language and communication really are interesting things to talk about!

-Millie

Agree or Disagree

I read this article online that stated that the human mind only needs to read the first and last letter to understand a word. How many of you agree or disagree? This article was discussing how texting had changed the use of language.

Language=Creativity

One characteristic of language is creativity. I think about my experience with "Marine Corps. language". After my husband graduated bootcamp, he came home with a new attitude and a "new language". I was so excited to learn all of the new words. Here are a few that I learned.

Go-Fasters= Running Shoes

Skivvies= Underwear

Moon Beam= Flashlight

Head= Bathroom

Blouse= Uniform Jacket

Boot= Recruit

Chow= Food

Cover= Hat

Dope= adjustments of rifle sights

Grunt= Marine infrantyman

Rack= Bed

I could go on and on.

Prayers, October

Mrs. White, this is for you. I have informed a few of your former students about your current situation and we are all praying for you. As Stephanie said, you do indeed seem like a very strong person, that is much admirable. I am service VP for my fraternity and this was already on my agenda but I figured you may like to know. The month of October we will be collecting pop tabs and bottle tops to go to hospitals for cancer patients. Stay strong and remember we all love you. Your family is in my prayers.

Wed. Class

I was not in class on Wednesday due to a family situation; could someone please let me know what I missed?

class

today's class was interesting to say the least, mrs. white you're human, emotions can emerge when they are least expected. im am truly sorry about your husband, you seem like a very strong person and i admire that a lot. on a happier note, i did feel that today's class did set up a good framework for continuing on the topic. i hope everyone has a great long weekend!

Wed. Class

I just wanted to say that I'm so sorry Mrs. White for the pain you are experiencing. You, your husband and family will be in my thoughts and prays. Take care.

Apology

I want to apologize to the class today for the way that I over reacted to the side bar conversation and laughter in the small group in the front.  I demonstrated the EXACT OPPOSITE way a teacher should handle such a situation.  There may be many reasons why I over reacted today and made the comments I did.  Regardless there is no excuse  for the heightened emotion or the detailed reaction.  I am a professional and should be in control of my emotions.  I have sent personal emails but wanted to also apologize to the class.  I truly want to be a good instructor and help each of you learn to your fullest potential.  I am not perfect and even under the best of circumstances and situations we all make mistakes.  I sincerely pray none such as this will happen again.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend.
Mrs. White

Sad Day

So I just got done taking my first MAT 201 quiz. I WOULD HAVE gotten a 100%, but at the last minute I changed my last answer to the wrong answer! This is a bad habit of mine. I second guess myself a lot. How frustrating! Then I was bored and looking through my e-mails and realized that our first 4 posts were already due Aug. 31st. Did I do them? NO! Man, I am not starting this semester out right at all! Also, my room is a mess and I get stressed out when it is messy. I should probably go clean it. Sad day : (

The W course

As its a graduation requirement I am taking an intensive writing course, it drives me crazy. It is truly intensive, but am happy that it addresses the issues that are interesting and happen in our daily lifes "social influence"