I feel like I definitely improved on my annotations since the beginning of the year. I never liked annotating in high school, so I felt forced while doing annotations and did it just to get it done. Now, I actually engage with the text and I like the articles we read, it shows different meanings/perspective of things. I’ve discovered new strategies I can use to make annotations, like making a list to know what to look for.
The first page was a background story of Yo-Yo Ma and is the author of “Necessary Edges: Arts, Empathy, and Education.” He a cellist and songwriter, who won many awards and produced many albums. This essay was published in 2014 in Switzerland. While reading this essay, I was intrigued by how he connected art with education. I believe the purpose of the reading was possible to show how this well-educated man can take on the school/education system in today’s society. The so what?” factor of this essay is that the education system in schools is flawed. Ma claims that students learn the bare minimum of the basic subjects we learn in school-STEM. He says that art needs to be added to the system because it would benefit students in different ways. An example would be how they would actually come to school because it would be something they enjoy. Terms I was unfamiliar with:
- Sarabande: slow Spanish dance
- Genome: set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism
- Lemmings: a person who unthinkingly joins a big movement, especially a rush to destruction
- Descartes: French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist
- Meridian: a circle of constant longitude passing through a given place on the earth’s surface and the terrestrial poles
