Month: November 2013

I never had any teaching experience before. Contrary to belief, I was really confident before class. I kept asking my partner Erin “why am I not nervous? I should be”. It wasn’t until that moment when I stepped into the classroom when I felt butterflies shoot up in my stomach.

I remember hating teachers at that age. During middle school, all I wanted to do was to skip class and go home. I had no passion for learning whatsoever and had no respect for any teachers. Seeing the kids in MUMS settled down for 30 minutes straight and actually listening to what Erin and me had to say was very impressive.

After couple minutes of messing about (we expected that) they settled down immediately. Thank god they were energetic and involved or else it would have been such an awkward class! I knew immediately that they were the energetic type because before I even started a kid already greeted me. That simple greeting gave me a new sense of confidence and I proceeded to make the class more energetic and fun.

They were very excited at the fact that they could actually collaborate with Google Docs, instead of just doing peer editing. As expected, some of the more rebellious kids started messing about with the prompt i.e changing the font size and type. Afterwards they did their task. I hate to admit it but I think they messed around less than us in the beginning. There were certain members in the DML class who just wouldn’t stop goofing around. At the end they did a solid job by producing a paragraph describing what good does Google Docs do to them.

Human values are usually taught by mentors. Tuesdays with Morrie depicts the last few lessons Mitch Albom had with his mentor, Professor Morrie Schwartz. These had nothing to do with academics; they were all about teaching human values, and it was taught right inside Schwartz’s dining room. Based on Tuesdays with Morrie, I think that humans value living a happy life.

 

Schwartz teaches Albom to appreciate life and to be aware of what life has to offer him in order to live a happy life. These lessons were taught on Tuesdays and thus the title Tuesdays with Morrie. During the course, they talk about family, love and emotion, all leading to the message that Albom should appreciate life. Schwartz says he has learned to acknowledge life more when he sees death in front of his eyes. He recalls a terrifying accident when he and his brother were almost run over by a car when they were ice sledding. Now, even though Schwartz’s death could happen at any second, he doesn’t waste time and appreciates what he can still do, including reading the newspaper and talking to Albom. I believe that humans become happy if they learn how to appreciate life. Despite Schwartz’s illness, he still lives a happier life than most others because he appreciates what life has to offer.

 

Apart from teaching Albom to appreciate life, Schwartz also reunited Albom and his own brother. He didn’t tell Albom to make up with his brother; he taught Albom values of love that led him to start talking to his brother again. Schwartz said that love is the only rational thing, and one should learn how to give love and let it in. Albom and his brother had a rough history together but at the end Albom decided to reconcile. He always had a grudge against his brother and could not speak to him about his illness. At the end, Albom showed love to his brother and they were speaking like they used to, with a tinge of childish humor. Their connection was reestablished. I believe that if humans learn how to deliver love and maintain good relationships, they could learn to live a happier life. It was obvious that Albom was a much happier person after he made up with his brother.

 

According to Schwartz, living happily also includes finding a mentor who can teach one the ways of life. He says that people nowadays are so involved keeping themselves occupied, they don’t have any time to introspect and ask themselves if this is what they want. Schwartz sees so many young people wasting their time, and he doesn’t wish to see Albom doing that. Finding a mentor was the third human value that led to happiness in life; Albom didn’t realize why he was happy until he looked at the person sitting across him, his mentor Professor Morrie Schwartz.

 

Based on Tuesdays with Morrie, I think that humans value living a happy life.

If I were an alien civilization, I would see the importance of morality, and of the three lessons Schwartz teaches Albom. They are deeply rooted inside humans, and something that they have to take the time to search for and appreciate.

I have been ill recently and I think the stress that the school is giving me hasn’t been helping at all. Especially coming to an end of this term, when all the deadlines are closing in…

Learned to play Madden recently. Obviously after coming to America I got to learn what American Football is all about, and after learning the rules Madden is actually pretty fun. By the way I have no idea why Americans call soccer soccer, that should be the real football!

Looking forward to Thanksgiving as well, with my new PS4 waiting for me at home. People ask me why I am so good at FIFA. Well I started to play on a regular basis since an age of 13 with British people who actually invented the sport, that helps my game a lot. And I spent all my weekends watching premier league games so I really understand the mechanics behind the game.

I’ve been posting but I don’t know why they didn’t go through!

Anyways pounced on this hilarious article.

http://www.chicagonow.com/dad-all-day/2013/11/man-sues-wife-over-ugly-kids-and-wins/

Basically a man married a woman and they had 3 kids. However, after the kids were born the man accused the wife of having external affairs due to the ugliness of their children. Turned out that the wife had plastic surgery without the husband knowing. Things got out of hand and the husband actually sued the wife in court and won!

What do you guys think about this ridiculous incident?