How do YOu grade A cOnverSatioN

The opinion article by Trent Batson tells of how a teacher graded on how students participated in the class discussions. At first the students recieved very few points for not having the proper skills needed or they didn't know the subject well enough to talk in depth about the topic. As they kept going on with the class the students were better able to talk about the topics and recieve more points.

Reaction:
I think that this would be a good way to grade students. The one thing that I find wrong with this is that some students may not feel the need to participate which will hurt his or her grade.
Questions:
1. How did the teacher come up with this type of grading system?
2. Does it help students to learn?
3. How much would a student have to say to recieve all the points?

New Orleans Now

New Orleans is still recovering from Katrina a few years ago. Just this past Friday in New Orleans East the Bayou Savauge Refuge, a bird sanctuary, reopened after Katrina had blown away trees away and thousands of migratory birds(nola.com). The conditions there are still in ruins in some areas with homeowners having trouble getting building permits from the city(nola.com).

Why is it still that after 3 years that New Orleans hasn't come all the way back to life?
Is there anything we can do?
When will the government see that these people need help?

7-27 blog

The first article on Media and Risky behaviors is about how when kids reach adolesence that they become less physically active and begin to do unhealthy choices. By that I mean smoking, drinking, and doing drugs. Also the media showing violence all the time could make teen more agressive.
The research has shown that obesity rates have been growing and growing. The reason being that over 1 billion dollars is being spent on advertisement on fast food places around the country.
ReacTion:
I found this to be disgusting. While writing this I heard over 5 commercials for McDonalds alone. The amount of money spent on media air time is outrageous and they advertise the apples fries and fresh salads which have an enormous amount of sugar and preservatives in them which makes them just as bad as everything else at the place.
Questions.
-I want to know how much money people spend on fast food every year?
-How high does the obesity rate have to go before the government steps in to make programs mandatory for weightloss?
-How much is the annual spendings for all the fast food places on media time?

Reflectioni blog 7-25

What does it mean to be a refugee? Why was this such a problematic term?
The term refugee is something that means without a country to go home to. When Katrina hit the news media were saying that the people of New Orleans were refugees. With this, when the hurricane hit the storm blew away the citizenship along with their homes. This is a problem because these people had enough problems without the media seeing them as less than people.