C4T #4

For my fourth and final C4T I was assigned to Dean Shareski.

First Post

In the first post I commented on, Dean was discussing a issue where a school in Vancouver banned students from touching each other. At first Dean, and many others, thought this was a school overreacting. Interested to learn more, Dean looked into the matter and found a video where the school officials explained their stance. The school didn't really ban touching, they were concerned with recess getting out of control with rough play so they were simply dialing recess down and teaching the students the proper way to play. However, some parents were outraged and running with the story. Dean points out that it's interesting that the parents went to the media with their outrage instead of going to the school. If they would have simply gone to the school first they would have discovered the schools reasoning for doing this. Ultimately, we see the importance of hearing both sides of a story before jumping to conclusions.

In my comment I introduced myself and included a link to the class blog. I also included a link to my personal blog. I explained to Dean that I too am guilty of jumping to conclusions before hearing both sides of the story. Making a conscious effort to listen to both sides of the story is important and it prevents unnecessary issues from arising. I finished my comment by letting Dean know that I agreed with him, if the angry parents would have went to the school and discussed the issue there first this would have never became a issue.

Second Post

In the second post, Dean was simply discussing the importance of showing gratitude. He believes school's today aren't keen on showing gratitude. After all, it's hard to always show gratitude. It's human nature to take things for granted at times, but can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone was genuinely thankful. Dean explains that if we make a conscious effort to show gratitude we will see the culture around us change.

I agreed with everything Dean said. I took time before responding and thought about how I feel when someone shows gratitude for me. It's a great feeling that I can't really explain, but I know it feels amazing when someone is genuinely thankful for something I did. I let Dean know that I was thankful for his blog post. I told him that I would join him in making a conscious effort in showing gratitude. I felt motivated by his blog post and I am sincerely thankful for reading it. I plan on keeping up with his blog after this class.