1st Quarter: AOD Blog #3, #4, #5, #6

AOD Blog #3: ACTiVE LiSTENiNG - encouraging the speaker and searching for meaning

I believe that active listening is when someone truly focuses on what another is saying. When one is actively listening, their brains are engaged into what is being said and they are really paying attention. Though it may not be as easy as one would like, it is an important key to success. For example, in school, one must actively listen to the class lectures in order to understand what is being taught. By actively listening, one is able to catch certain things that are said, and if someone gets confused, that person can ask effective questions that other students probably also might have. Sometimes its hard to actively listen all the time because one can be tired from not getting enough sleep last night or the lecture might just bore them. This may be true, but it vital that one tries to at least pay attention as much as they can. From listening to certain senior's past experiences at orientation, if a student does not pay attention in class, they'll be "screwed" for finals.

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AOD Blog #4: PUBLiC DiALOGUE - public talk on matters that concern us all

Public dialogue is another key factor to success. I believe this because we must be able to share publicly, relevant and intelligent things thought in our minds. During classes in school, we should comment on the topic that is being taught to show the teacher that we have an understanding of the lesson, and to also share and open up what someone thinks about this or that. In order for one to share comfortably what they want to share, I believe it is not only the teacher's job, but also the students', to allow that person feel comfortable by showing that they care about that person's thoughts/inputs. For example, in History 121, sometimes I won't share a certain thought running through my head because I feel like its dumb. Then a couple minutes later, another student raises his/her hand and says that same thing that I wanted to say. Meaning, that I just missed my chance on sharing and participating. Almost all the time, a thought or question that is relevant to the topic will not only be running through just one person's head. I'm sure that there are at least one other person thinking the same thought, but is just too shy to share.

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AOD Blog #5: Public Judgment - public decision making that allows citizens to make choices that they are willing to help implement

I believe that public judgment is also important. Public judgment, to me, is another word for good criticism. For example, when I wrote my first essay for Craig, it was not as good as it could have been. I received a NP+ meaning I barely passed. Craig gave comments to every student to give feedback on how they did on their first essay. My feedback, however, was very uhh.. I guess you can say blunt? It was very straight forward, and obviously not what I wanted to hear, but it helped me because it allowed me to realize why I got the grade I got. I knew from then what NOT to do on my second essay, and basically the essays I would have to write in the near future. Craig did not write these comments to be "mean", but to help us and critique us on our writing. The criticism that he gave helped me improve my writing skills and I'm sure it helped other students also.

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AOD Blog #6: Negotiation - problem solving that meets some key interests of all involved

I was very low on gas, to the point where my gas light came in. I asked my mom if she can give me money to fill it up and she gave me 20 dollars. 20 dollars doesn't fill up my tank ALL the way, so I asked if I could just take her credit card instead cause that's what I usually did, that way I could fill it up completely. She said no though. Then we started arguing because she only gives me money for gas once a week and 20 dollars doesn't even fill 2/3 of my tank, so I was like, "How am I supposed to get around in a week with such little gas?" And it went on an on like that. Eventually, she gave me 30 dollars because I negotiated with her. I told her that I go straight to school, then the library, then home everyday, so how was I suppose to do that with only 20 dollars? So she gave me more money.