[Alma Ochoa]

I like your idea of having students analyze the infrastructure of ancient China and think about and compare it to our current infrastructure that we rely on! Geary idea! 

[Alma Ochoa]

 

I enjoyed leaning about the different Chinese Philosophies.  I really like the student handouts towards the end of the readings.  I can read about the different Chinese Philosophies with my students and then have them use the 'Wrestling with Big Questions' handouts to take a pole of students way of thinking in my two geometry classes.  With this data they can then make a box and whisker plot as well as a Two-Way Dot plot of the gathered data.  I think it would be interesting to see if students differ in their philosophy when it comes to wrestling with answering the four big questions : )  

[Alma Ochoa]

Ester, I’m very analytical and linear in my way of thinking, hence being a math teacher.  I always loved math, it seems to be the only subject that made sense and it was very black and white; you either get the answer right or wrong.  I always had difficulties with Language Arts and History.  I always felt everything was up for interpretation and depending on your back ground and experiences that really dictated the meaning one got from whatever was being read.  Growing up my dad would tell us stories and my mom would often say, “why don’t you tell them about such and such a time” and he would say, “no, that was not a victory for me let the other person tell that story.”  So it is almost certain that more often than not things are omitted and often embellished because there is always two sides to every story and history is always written from a person’s perspective.  So I am definitely with you!  I wish more leaders and even more journalist would simply be truthful and report the facts.     

[Alma Ochoa]

Mario, I think you bring up some good points to think about.  I  know I’m always guilty of hunting down the best bargain and I’m almost certain as you mentioned, “for us to get the lowest price, manufacturers and businesses can cut corners and ignore safety regulations to give us that characteristic in their product.”  I recently saw a couple of episodes of the Hulu show, ‘The Accident’ where there’s an accident at a construction site and teenagers die due to the collapse of the building.  People start questioning whether the building should have fell.  They start looking into the gauge of the steel rebar that was used in its construction.  The executive in charge says she used the required material when in reality that was not the case.  Safety protocols were lax to meet budget cuts and complete the project.  

Profit seems to always be the driving force which in a capitalistic society makes sense but when do we, can we or will we make people and humanity more important than money?  After all at the end of it all we don’t take anything to the grave with us.   

[Alma Ochoa]

Hilda, I totally agree with you; not only did I find it striking but also somewhat disturbing that Akihito Kondo, 35, chose to marry a hologram.  This really makes me question how technology is shaping and changing generations and their social interactions.  Socialization is one of the basic human needs.  Having a need to socialize is the reason why Tsukimi Ayano started making the life size dolls.  The dolls were not able to interact on a living human level but it gave the village there the appearance of a bigger population and on some level some comfort of not being alone.  This reading reminds me of Tom Hank’s movie Cast Away of 2000.  He created the character, Wilson, out of a volleyball who basically kept him from going crazy and dying of loneliness.  So again, I question; is our human need to socialize changing?  Is online virtual interaction enough?          

[Alma Ochoa]

Hi Everyone : )

I'm Alma Ochoa.  I'm a math teacher.  I've een teaching for 14 years with LAUSD and I'm currently at Sylmar CHS and have been there for the past 6 years. 
Outside of work I really enjoy running and exercising.  I've ran several marathons including Boston and have completed several Spartan races. 
I'm really looking forward to taking this course and learning about Asia.

[Author]

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