Ricardo's English Blog

      A time when someone assumed something about me because of a stereotype was in middle school when a student thought I was smoking in the bathroom and told the teacher. The way that this situation happened was that I went to the bathroom near the gym in the middle of class, during this time I was sick so I would begin to cough at times. I had finished using the bathroom but a couple seconds later a kid walked in but at that moment I started coughing, he asked if I was smoking and with the most confused face I said no, he then walked out and told a teacher that was passing by. The teacher was a male and walked into the bathroom asking if it was true that I was smoking, I explained to him that I was just using the bathroom and that I do not smoke. At the end the teacher walked away, the kid apologized to me and explained how he assumed I was smoking since most Hispanic kids do that.     Today in class we watched a video about a girl and the stereotypes she fac...

    One gender expectation in my culture that has been challenging to navigate with is that a man does not show his emotions. An example of this would be that as a kid I would always get yelled at by soccer or boxing coaches and sometimes I would feel like just crying but people in my culture would always say "A man does not cry". This has been a challenge for me because I have always been a sensitive person. Another example of this would be that sometimes as a kid I would also feel nervous or scared about things like going to dark places alone, having to fight in rings, and playing against older kids. This was also a challenge because I would show that I was scared and in my culture is seemed like it made me less of a man.      Today in class we read a story called "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid, after we read the story we answered 7 questions assigned to us.     One thing I learned today was that gender expectations are different for each gender. One way ...

      The inspiration or reason why I decided to talk about being active is because throughout my life I have always worked hard to achieve things, to show that I care, and to be helpful to others, but there has also been people like friends or family members who never see that and just see me as someone who rather be at home sleeping instead of going out or and do activities.       Today in class we read a passage called "I want a wife" by Judy Brady and answered some questions as a class, to finish the period we did 15 examples of what we want in a husband.      I have always been an active person but to many people I'm just lazy. Reading my poem to the whole class made me feel like if I was finally able to express how I truly felt when people called me lazy.

     A time when I did something out of the norm was when I jumped out of a boat during a family trip. There were many reactions that happened at the moment when I did that. My mother was scared, she thought I fell on accident and that I was drowning, after I got back on the boat she yelled at me and said that I was crazy. My Father was just calm about it he started to just stand up from his seat to make sure I was okay, on the boat he just asked why I did that and to be careful next time. My sister started celebrating as if she just won a competition, from the water I could see how she was just laughing. My uncle was really worried and jumped into the water 5 seconds after I jumped to make sure I was okay. The only reason I had jumped in was because I was bored of just sitting down and looking at dolphins.       Today in class we finished the group assignment that we had started on Monday.       One thing I learned today was that o...

     A time when I felt completely lost was in the first year of middle school. I had just switched from elementary to middle school and most of my close friends had moved to another middle school so I was alone. The school building was new to me so I didn't know my way around to my classes. I was also not used to having to switch classes since in elementary we just had one teacher the whole year. Another thing that made me feel completely lost was the use of lockers since it was my first time using one during school time.      Today in class we worked on an assignment as a class and discussed our opinions on the topic being shown.      Something that I learned today in class was that everyone has their own opinions about what gender roles look like. One way that I may use this knowledge is by asking others for their opinions when it comes to gender roles. 

     The way I have adapted to the demands of this course was to pay as much attention in class as possible to be able to explain what I learned and how it impacted me in my blog post. Another way that I adapted was by taking advantage of my time, for example in my fourth period we haven't been doing much this allows me to have enough time to complete my blog by the end of the day. One strength that I anticipated as we progressed is that I am now able to keep track of my own stuff without daily reminders. One challenge that I anticipated was that if I don't try to make time for all the assignments they gather up. This would be a problem because small pieces of work gather which later on form enough work that can take up my whole day.      Today in class we read a poem called "I,too" by Langston Hughes.      One thing that I learned today was that things that people say or the way people treat you should not bother you. This impacted me by let...