Personal Narrative: Why I Love Whales

“The twists and turns of your life can be so unexpected, and that's a good thing to learn.” Whale talk is a story of a kid named T.J and some of his friends that go through a life of a teenager. In the story Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher, people who have been through traumatic events cope with challenges in their lives by overcoming, forgetting, or learning.

Killer whales, also known as orcas, are the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. In their natural habitat, killer whales have been described as docile and majestic creatures. Killer whales are known to travel in pods that are composed of matrilines. Matrilines are groups of whales connected by maternal descent. Relationships between killer whale calves and their mother are extremely close knit (“Behavior”). Beginning in 1965, SeaWorld – a marine zoo, began capturing whales from the wild to perform in shows for park visitors’ entertainment (“10 Things You Didn’t Know”). In the documentary Blackfish, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite urges and reassures audience members that keeping these large creatures in captivity is a horrible thing that is dangerous for both the whales as well as the humans that interact with them. To accomplish this persuasion, Cowperthwaite employs the use of rhetorical devices ethos, pathos, and logos to solidify her claims.

The documentary “Blackfish” uses the rhetorical device of logos to condemn animal entertainment facilities such as Sea World for their treatment of animals in captivity. For instance, killer whales stay in the same pod all their lives until they are captured. The speakers in “Blackfish” pointed this out because it tells us that whales have a strong family bond. Also, whales do not do well when they are separated from their families. In addition, if one whale gets stranded, the rest of the whales willingly get stranded with it.

With success come some of the greatest stories of how people got to that spot. If you do try for something almost never will you be rewarded for that particular thing. This plays a role in both of the following books. In Whale Talk TJ must give this team and swimming his all to get what he wants in getting his team a varsity letter. When new requirements set back the team from getting their varsity letter TJ take it upon himself to lead and set an example for the rest of his team. Notably, in the book Summer Ball after Danny finds out about what people actually think about him. He takes accepts it and goes harder in camp. He takes nothing for granted anymore.

While in High School, I was involved in the Peer Tutoring program. Although I had already been involved with the several other programs, I knew from an early age that a Special Education teacher was what I wanted to do. Helping students achieve their goals and help them to succeed in life was my true calling. But the desire to help the most challenged student drove me beyond regular education. The memories of my Peer tutoring experience kept me striving to be a

In the documentary “Blackfish”, the creators use rhetorical strategy to show the audience the cruel treatment of animals in facilities such as Sea World in order to promote release and fair care of animals in captivity. Commonly used in this documentary, pathos, is a strategy in which the author uses words and examples to invoke an emotion in the audience. Scenes of whales being taken from their family pod, or footage of a whale that had been raked by the teeth of another whale are prime examples of this emotional appeal in action. The main animal in this film is a twelve-thousand-pound whale named Tilikum. “Tilly” was taken from the wild about thirty years ago. Since then, he performs many shows, and experiences cruel treatment in almost every

When describing working with killer whales, one of the former SeaWorld trainers uses personification to illustrate the bond human and whale shared and how it started to seem as if the whale had become like one of his children. By giving the animal the likeness of a human, the trainer was hoping that the viewer could relate the bond he shared with his animal to the bond a viewer might have between a parent and their child. The former SeaWorld trainer also successfully uses pathos in this scene. He appeals to the viewers emotions, especially to parents, by bringing in the special bond of a parent and child. The bond between a parent and their child is one of the strongest bonds one will experience in a lifetime and it is also one of the bonds that we have all experienced. Not everyone may have felt the bonds of friendship and love, but everyone is either a parent or a child. As a result, the viewer is able understand the feeling of the trainers, who have been around and worked with the killer whales for so long, that if feels as if the whales have become their children.

She employs an effective range of visual techniques to create compassion for the miserable creatures. Contrasting real footage of captive whale with bent fin; with wild whale’s perpendicular fin. It allows the audience to question the differences and makes us realise that SeaWorld is doing something severely wrong that causes physical damage. This makes the audiences feel outraged by its treatment as it is unfair, inhuman and cruel; furthermore, audiences are invited to feel compassion for the unfortunate creature because they could not defend themselves.

People are thought as child to dream big and reach for their goals. Throughout grade school to high school there are often asked what inspires them. Some people dream to become police officers, dancers, lawyers, and doctors. There are some people who chooses to become an educator. As they journey through college, to pursue the knowledge needed for their career, their passion leads them to special education. These teachers fine this career to be job satisfying, have empathy for the children, and the vacancy of the position viability. Not all teacher feel the same however, over time their dissatisfied with their job and leave because their brunt out.

It may sound cliché, but I was born to teach students with disabilities. Growing up, I had the best example to follow. My mother actively taught special education for 31 years and seeing her interaction with students created a passion in me to do the same thing. Even at a young age, it was evident that I wanted to be a teacher: from forcing my younger brother to sit still and play “school” with me, to spending my free time volunteering in special needs classrooms during middle and high school.

Upon first entering college, I struggled deciding at such a young age what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Through babysitting and volunteering with pre-school aged children at my church and through a school program called STARS, it became evident to me I had a love for helping children. It fascinated me to see how they viewed the world around them and how quickly they learned new truths everyday. Nevertheless, I knew I would not get the full enjoyment interacting with children as a schoolteacher because the teacher to student ratio is so large. Classroom demands would make it much more difficult to devot individualized attention to each student, and I did not like that concept. So

“AAAHHHHH!” This is so awesome Georgia screamed. And I know she must have like them because she was feeling just as sick as me. I was already thinking ahead and wondering if we would see any more? It was right then I had to tell myself to live in the moment, and just enjoy the dolphins when you can. I might not ever go on the Island Packer boat again. I see everybody smiling in amazement, and it was right then I knew this was going to be an awesome field

I came out of school thinking that I wasn’t very smart. However, I always remember my Kindergarten teacher and loving the experiences she gave me and how she made me feel. My 5th grade teacher made me feel the same way my Kindergarten teacher did, special and able to conquer the world. I wanted to give that same feeling to other children. I wanted to be able to see their eyes light up in understanding and give them the confidence that they could do anything and be anyone they wanted to be.

Growing up I have been fortunate enough to have been taught by some truly inspirational teachers and I am well aware of the effect they have had on my life and the choices I have made subsequently. My own passion for working with young children extends from wanting to emulate those role models and have the same impact on other children.

To say that "I am extremely passionate about working with children" would be an enormous understatement in regards to my personal experiences, ideologies and self-proclaimed purposes in respects to working in public schools. Being passionate about ones every day line of work is a huge deciding factor for most of us when it comes to “what we want to be when we grow up.” Conversely, it was quite simple for me, you see the rewards of teaching truly lie in the outcomes of one’s teaching. Knowing that from the first day of school, what I do and how I do it will have a domino effect on hundreds of lives throughout my career as an educator. In hopes to not only work in a field that I both admire and aspire to be a part of, I am also driven to one day be that teacher in which my students can look back and say “Miss. Chadwick really motivated me to be a better learner, artist, writer” and hopefully “a better person.”