A few weeks ago, on Monday April 6, I went to the benefit concert for Paul Cardaul. This concert was entitled "Living for Edan". Edan is Paul's daughter. As some of you may know, Paul was born with a heart condition. Throughout his life he has undergone may heart surgeries and treatments. He has had to take medication every day of his life to regulate these changes. Through it all though he has managed to work and write wonderful inspiring music for us all. He has also happened to get get married and have a wonderful daughter named Eden.
Paul is now in need of another heart transplant. To help raise money for this surgery his friends decided to throw him a benefit concert. All proceeds would be given to Paul and his family to help them in this time of need. This concert was held on April 6. All of the time and effort that was put into this by the musicians, stage crew, lighting, and publicity was all donated for free. For this night 1,500 people came together to support another.
The musicians at this concert where Kurt Bestor, Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band, Colors, David Tolk, and Peter Brian Holt. Through these musicians and the stage crews talent this was an amazing concert. The stage crew was good and the music was great, but that is not what made this night so amazing. What did make it truly amazing is the love that was shown by everyone that participated.
With each musician came a sense of awe and wonder for Paul and his family. They each preformed songs that had made them think of Paul or songs that they had written for him and his family. With each performance came the support and admiration that they had for a man they all cared about. A man that they all wanted to help. A man that they all love. A man that performed at the end of the concert to show that he cared as well.
This concert was such an amazing concert because of everything that it combined and everything that it brought together. It not only combined great talent with amazing music, but it also brought together a wonderful group of friends and family. This concert brought together people, which in this world today is one of the greatest things that you can accomplish. Being able to unite that many people for one cause is one of the greatest things you can do. So many people came together to support another. To show another that they cared and that they were here. To help another in the only way that they knew how. It did not matter that most of us were strangers. It did not matter that you did not know the person you were sitting next to or the people in front of you. What mattered is that they were all there. They were all there to help one person and his family in their time of need. And that one thing is what united them all. It was having that one purpose in mind that made them all friends for the evening.
It is things like this that give me hope. That give me hope that one day the world may be united. united in one purpose. In one mind. In one heart. All it takes is a person who cares. A person who cares enough to find the common ground. A person who cares enough to unite.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Science Fair
This last Tuesday was my classes science fair. It was actually really cool and fun to see it all and to see what everyone had chosen to do for their project. Some of my favorite projects that other did were How music effects plant growth, What keeps sliced apples the freshest?, Does smell affect taste?, Which type of toilet paper holds the most liquid?, Which cereal contains the most fortified iron?, How does static electricity work?, and many others. Everyone did a really good job and presented their information well.
For my project i ended up doing Which Stain Remover Removes the Most? For this I bought 8 white wash clothes. I then spread BBQ sauce, yellow Mustard, and Raspberry drink mix on each one. I then treated each one with a different type of stain remover. The removers that I used were Oxi Magic, Shout, Vinegar, Coke a Cola, Clorox Bleach (regular), Tide-to-Go pen, and regular detergent. For this my hypothesis was that the Clorox Bleach would work the best.
What i found out was kind of interesting. First i found that my hypothesis was correct. The clorox Bleach did remove the most out of all of the products. But these were white clothes, and if you had colored you would want to use something else. Second, I found that the Tide-to-Go pen does not really work. It does get part of the stain out, and it probably works better on smaller sections, but overall it did not remove very much of the stains. What surprised me the most though was the Coke. The Coke-a-Cola removed the most of the stains after the bleach. This was surprising to learn because I thought if anything that it would just stain the clothe itself. But it actually worked really well. All I did was dump some Coke over the stain and then rub it together. Then I rinsed it out under hot water and then let it dry. And surprise surprise...it worked. Who knew? All of the other products did an ok job. Most of them got out the drink mix and at least some of the BBQ sauce. The hardest stain to remove was the mustard one. The yellow just did not want to come out.
Overall I really did like doing this project. It was fun to play and to learn what actually worked. I have learned that i really like to discover things and find things out. I like to figure out how things work and what works the best. It is fun to discover and to see new things in the world. This is something that i have always liked and been intriged by, but had never really applied it to science. Which i s really weird when you think about it because discovering is what science is all about. I guess i just never made that connection until this year. Science had always just been about memorizing facts in a book for me. It was never about learning and finding out answers to questions. It was never about discovering something new.
Through this class i have learned that science can be fun. And it should be fun. Science should be driven by curiosity not by facts in a book. As a teacher i want to be able to create an enviroment for my students that is exciting and engaging, I want them to be able to discover on their own and to learn in a way that is meaningful to them. I want them to enjoy learning and to do i have to be able to teach it in an engaging way.
For my project i ended up doing Which Stain Remover Removes the Most? For this I bought 8 white wash clothes. I then spread BBQ sauce, yellow Mustard, and Raspberry drink mix on each one. I then treated each one with a different type of stain remover. The removers that I used were Oxi Magic, Shout, Vinegar, Coke a Cola, Clorox Bleach (regular), Tide-to-Go pen, and regular detergent. For this my hypothesis was that the Clorox Bleach would work the best.
What i found out was kind of interesting. First i found that my hypothesis was correct. The clorox Bleach did remove the most out of all of the products. But these were white clothes, and if you had colored you would want to use something else. Second, I found that the Tide-to-Go pen does not really work. It does get part of the stain out, and it probably works better on smaller sections, but overall it did not remove very much of the stains. What surprised me the most though was the Coke. The Coke-a-Cola removed the most of the stains after the bleach. This was surprising to learn because I thought if anything that it would just stain the clothe itself. But it actually worked really well. All I did was dump some Coke over the stain and then rub it together. Then I rinsed it out under hot water and then let it dry. And surprise surprise...it worked. Who knew? All of the other products did an ok job. Most of them got out the drink mix and at least some of the BBQ sauce. The hardest stain to remove was the mustard one. The yellow just did not want to come out.
Overall I really did like doing this project. It was fun to play and to learn what actually worked. I have learned that i really like to discover things and find things out. I like to figure out how things work and what works the best. It is fun to discover and to see new things in the world. This is something that i have always liked and been intriged by, but had never really applied it to science. Which i s really weird when you think about it because discovering is what science is all about. I guess i just never made that connection until this year. Science had always just been about memorizing facts in a book for me. It was never about learning and finding out answers to questions. It was never about discovering something new.
Through this class i have learned that science can be fun. And it should be fun. Science should be driven by curiosity not by facts in a book. As a teacher i want to be able to create an enviroment for my students that is exciting and engaging, I want them to be able to discover on their own and to learn in a way that is meaningful to them. I want them to enjoy learning and to do i have to be able to teach it in an engaging way.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Science Fair Projects
Remember those elementary school days when you had to do science fair projects? If not let me remind you how it works. Your teacher tells you that you have to do a science project for the science fair. They try to make it sound all exciting and wonderful and loads of fun. Then they hand you a packet of things you have to include and tell you that it is due in four weeks. So what do you do next?....you run home and hand the packet over to your parents. It then becomes their problem where you just have to do what they say to. So they think about it and some of them even pull out these wonderful books full of science project ideas. Then they pick one that they don't think is to hard and that can be done really quickly.. because the odds are that you did not give them the packet right away and then that they did not pick a project right away either...so that means that you now have about a week to do everything that you need to..if you are lucky you have two.
From here you do some project and take some pictures. then you make a pretty board and write some bogus paper about how you thought this project was great and you learned so many things. Then guess what you get to do....You get to present about a thousand times int he science fair at your school. You get to tell your classmates about it, your teacher about it, and then you get to tell judges about it. If you are lucky it ends here. if you are not so lucky, they all think you did a really great job and send you onto the district science fair. Where you then get to present your project another thousand times to a bunch of people you do not know. what fun!! and hopefully your journey ends here. if not, you need to pick projects that aren't so cool.
As you can tell doing science projects was never my favorite thing. I did have some cool projects and I did even go to district one year. the next year we choose a project that was not as cool so i did not have to go again.
When i left elementary school i thought I was done with these. Because in Jr High and High School, science projects were optional. And was I going to choose to do them.... no I was not.
Now imagine my feelings then when i walked into my Science Methods class on the first day and find out that we are going to have a science fair. and guess who gets to do the science fair projects..... each of us; the students of the class, which just happens to include me. So what do I do next? I run and tell my daddy that I have to do a science project! and what do you think he said.... nothing. he just laughed at me and said "good luck with that". I think he is sick of these as well. so what do i do next....i go home and forget about it.
At the time i am thinking that it is not due for a couple of months and that i have plenty of time to do what ever I choose to do. So i leave it alone and don't think about it anymore. that is i don't think about anymore until i get to class two weeks ago and my teacher tells us that our projects are due in three weeks time. He then wants us to come with our science project ideas ready and planned out for, and maybe even started, for the next week. This is when i realize that i need to do something. so i start asking around for ideas and start thinking about them myself. and what responses do you think i get back..... These are them: a Volcano that you back in on a flat bed truck, a Cup of Dirt, a Solar System where the yellow one is the sun.
Needless to say, these didn't help me much. They all made me laugh and made me think that the people I am friends with and myself all watch Brian Regan way to much. Therefore i went to class the next week with no idea of what i was going to do. I listened to everyone else's thoughts and realized that some people get way into this and had some really great projects. and i...well i still had nothing. because what i wanted to do i could not figure out how to do. so that was thrown out.
Now my project is due on Tuesday. Yep, the Tuesday that is coming up...the 7th of April. We have to have a board with pictures and all of that other stuff and be ready to present it to the class. We will also be getting judged by the graduate science students at the University of Utah. Now some of you may know this and others may not, but i work for the Molecular Biology and Biological Chemistry Program for science students at the U. This means that my students are going to be judging my project. Won't that be fun. not really.
So...I have now finally come up with my project. Now i just need to do it before Tuesday. Wish me luck!
From here you do some project and take some pictures. then you make a pretty board and write some bogus paper about how you thought this project was great and you learned so many things. Then guess what you get to do....You get to present about a thousand times int he science fair at your school. You get to tell your classmates about it, your teacher about it, and then you get to tell judges about it. If you are lucky it ends here. if you are not so lucky, they all think you did a really great job and send you onto the district science fair. Where you then get to present your project another thousand times to a bunch of people you do not know. what fun!! and hopefully your journey ends here. if not, you need to pick projects that aren't so cool.
As you can tell doing science projects was never my favorite thing. I did have some cool projects and I did even go to district one year. the next year we choose a project that was not as cool so i did not have to go again.
When i left elementary school i thought I was done with these. Because in Jr High and High School, science projects were optional. And was I going to choose to do them.... no I was not.
Now imagine my feelings then when i walked into my Science Methods class on the first day and find out that we are going to have a science fair. and guess who gets to do the science fair projects..... each of us; the students of the class, which just happens to include me. So what do I do next? I run and tell my daddy that I have to do a science project! and what do you think he said.... nothing. he just laughed at me and said "good luck with that". I think he is sick of these as well. so what do i do next....i go home and forget about it.
At the time i am thinking that it is not due for a couple of months and that i have plenty of time to do what ever I choose to do. So i leave it alone and don't think about it anymore. that is i don't think about anymore until i get to class two weeks ago and my teacher tells us that our projects are due in three weeks time. He then wants us to come with our science project ideas ready and planned out for, and maybe even started, for the next week. This is when i realize that i need to do something. so i start asking around for ideas and start thinking about them myself. and what responses do you think i get back..... These are them: a Volcano that you back in on a flat bed truck, a Cup of Dirt, a Solar System where the yellow one is the sun.
Needless to say, these didn't help me much. They all made me laugh and made me think that the people I am friends with and myself all watch Brian Regan way to much. Therefore i went to class the next week with no idea of what i was going to do. I listened to everyone else's thoughts and realized that some people get way into this and had some really great projects. and i...well i still had nothing. because what i wanted to do i could not figure out how to do. so that was thrown out.
Now my project is due on Tuesday. Yep, the Tuesday that is coming up...the 7th of April. We have to have a board with pictures and all of that other stuff and be ready to present it to the class. We will also be getting judged by the graduate science students at the University of Utah. Now some of you may know this and others may not, but i work for the Molecular Biology and Biological Chemistry Program for science students at the U. This means that my students are going to be judging my project. Won't that be fun. not really.
So...I have now finally come up with my project. Now i just need to do it before Tuesday. Wish me luck!
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