Short Live Debate on Jordan Brown Case

Partners: My Truong and Audrey Pham


Topic: Adolescents, crime and brain development


Case: Jordan Brown was 11 years old in February 2009 when he shot his father’s pregnant fiancee while she was sleeping. Still today as Jordan is 14 years old, it has not been decided whether or not Jordan will be going to lifetime prison for two homicide(women and her fetus) first degree murders or remain in juvenile prison until he is 18 or 21 years old. Currently as of today, multiple news station claims that Brown might get a new trial for this.


Presentation: Short live debate


Sources:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/10/pennsylvania.young.murder.defendant/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/18/jordan-brown-11-year-old-kenzie-houk-pennsylvania_n_1528791.html

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jordan-brown-pennsylvania-boy-convicted-of-murder-at-age-11-may-get-new-trial/


Two sides:

  1. Should convicted as completely guilty and must be sent to adult jail

  2. Not completely guilty, stay in juvenile and receive special treatment and attention


Script:


Must be sent to adult jail side:

  1. Brown still executed his Father’s pregnant fiance. She was pregnant of 8 months so that is TWO deaths that Brown caused. Regardless of anything, he did what he did.

  2. This could only be the beginning of his manifestation. He could end up being a lifetime criminal if we let him back into our society.

  3. He killed his Father’s pregnant fiance in execution style so it was not accident. He intended to do that. If he intended to that, he needs to earn up to his own punishment.

  4. If Brown is going to act like an adult and commit a crime that only adults would commit, then he needs to be served as an adult.

  5. Although brain scans have shown that Brown’s brain is not fully developed yet because he was 11 years old at the time, he does not have any history or proof of psychological issues, therefore, mental illness is not being presented. He did have a mental disorder that would cause him to kill his Father’s pregnant fiance.


Stay in Juvenile prison and receive special treatment side:

  1. The gun that Brown used to shoot his father’s fiance is a hunting gun that HIS FATHER bought for him during Christmas. It is the father’s responsibility because Brown at the age of 11, his mind is not fully functioned enough to own a gun (even if its a hunting gun).

  2. After the shooting Brown showed no fear to the situation. He walked out the house and go school like an normal day. This evidence show that his brain is not functioning properly. Even adults after shooting a person they would show some fear but for Brown, it is just a normal day.

  3. Yes, this might be the beginning of his manifestation, however is not fair to put him in adult prison. That was the reason we have juvenile in the first place.

  4. Many brain develops were tested while he’s in juvenile prison. They also came to an conclusion that Brown brain is not fully functioning. At the age of 11, he should know what right vs. wrong and should know it is not okay to kill someone. However, his brain is not fully developed to understand the outcome of his action.

  5. Not to mention that he might be jealous of the unborn child (his step brother). Being jealous should not be an excuse for him to kill. But he is too young to control his action towards his feelings. Just as how an adult is able to control their anger while is easier for kids to get angry.

  6. In my opinion, Brown should be responsible for his action. However, it is not fair to put him in adult prison and his father should be responsible for Brown’s action. Because without the gun, the crime couldn't be committed.

Debate Rolls to Victory !

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IMG_2980b

Congrats to the SLA Debate Team!  A number of our debaters were recognized at the ASAP League Finals on Wednesday, December 17th:

  • Anna Sugrue and Nashay Day won first place in the Varsity Division by defeating Masterman's top team in the championship match.
  • Kiamesso DaSilva and Eva Karlen earned first place in the Novice Division, going undefeated for the entire season.
  • Ari Haven and Gabrielle Kreidie were recognized as top-speakers in the Novice Division, placing first and second respectively.

Overall, the SLA Debate Team captured first place in the Team Sweepstakes!!


Great season debaters; you should all be proud of your hard work.

Second Slide - Media Fluency Frankie Murphy

What my project consists of is my second-draft slide of our Me Slides. My slide says '80's for Life' because I love the 80's and lots of my favorite music, movies, and clothes come from that decade. What I learned from our presentations is that you can make a statement by staggering things, playing with font sizes, and by adding simple photos of representation. The feedback I got from students was that originally, my slide was a little crowded and had a blurry photo in the background which wasn't good. 
Information from resources that make sense with the changes I made is that from Ted.com saying that the bigger the font, the better and that you shouldn't crowd your slide with too many words. I used this tip to my advantage by spreading out the words to leave a mark on the audience, while only having three words. I also kept a color theme, so that all the aspects of the slide tie together nicely.

Destiny Patton Originality Slide

This slide is a representation of how it can be hard to be original and to be yourself but, you can do it. This relates to me because sometimes you feel pressured by your peers to like the things that they like and do the things that they do. I decided to make it stand out visually by using red. I was inspired by quotes like ¨Be a fruit loop and a bowl full of cheerios.¨ but, this is my take on it. I changed my slide by making it less busy and focusing on the bigger message. Basically, everyone is all different shapes, sizes, and backgrounds but, some groups of people all act the same to please each other. And even though you’re the same shape as them or come from the same background, you stand out. And that’s what I’m trying to portray visually and for you to think about mentally.
mind mapping software

Media Fluency 2

Tech (1)
Tech (1)
Write about why you changed what you changed to make the new slide based on the feedback you heard about your first slide.

On my slide, I change to placement of the picture and I also change the exclamation mark at the end. I place the picture so that the black line is not seen on the top and I changed the exclamation mark to a period. I made those changes based on the feedback I heard on my first slide. They said that the line is too distracting and it will be better if I place the picture higher so the black line is not seen. They also said that I had too many fonts such as exclamation mark and I should change it to something more simple so I thought that a period is simple. I believed that the changes I made from the first slide made my slide better.

Media Fluency- My Slide Re-done

HWellner - My Slide Redux
Originally, my slide was very similar to this, but with a few differences. The text was slightly smaller, and dropped down farther, which I changed so that it would stand out more, and catch more attention, as the suggestions I received told me. It was also in a different font, Arial, which I changed to Lora because I felt it fit in with the image and background of the slide better. The word Legend was also that same font color, as well as not italicized. I changed this to make the word Legend stick out more, and show more importance and impact. The text is now bold to stick out more, and the text is slightly darker, to not blend with the sky or mountains, like the suggestions I received told me to. For the most part, this and the original are very similar, but there are minor changes that both my peers and I feel make the slide much better.

Revised Slide

Untitled presentation (2)
I mostly got feedback concerning an imbalance of content on both sides of the slide.  Therefore, I added a tree so that both sides of the slide will be filled with an equal amount of content. The judges also gave me positive feedback, saying that the contrast between background and text color was nice.

LaBrum, Harrison

Me
I decided to create a slide that was completely antithetical to what's considered good design. Text is overlapping, images are stretched out of proportion; overall it's schizophrenic and disorderly. In reality this was born from my laziness and refusal to complete the assignment but I decided that I might as well turn it into a guide of What Not to do While Creating a Presentation. However I think this slide represents me in a much more personal and realistic way that any clean and simple one might. It's unorganized, has no linear thought process; it's just a collage of ideas, images and unfunny in-jokes. I like to think that last sentence properly describes me as well. One of the concepts that came to me while finishing this up was that a slide shouldn't just talk about or show who you are, it should be your parallel. It should be designed so that when it's being described, adjectives and ideas should be shared with it and you.

I also created a second slide. This was when I realized that this stuff is graded and i can't just turn in some sub par project and call it "muh artistic achievement". The second one was a parody of sort on the whole "inspirational image and SUPER DEEP QUOTE" style, but also holds a personal truth of mine.

Lyle's Slide...

The only thing I was told to change was where my name was, because it was kind of hard to see, so I made it more visible. ​I put a box around my name, centered it, and then added a green highlight over it because it is a matching color to the sweater that one of the Backstreet Boys are wearing. 

Sandra's slide

I changed the color and the spacing in my slide. I made a bright blue to contrast from the black and white setting because some one told me making a color pop would draw the eye even more. I also moved the picture farther to the right so it looks more like you see farther into the actual picture. 

Jamie presentation #2

The reason I changed the things that I did was because I was told by my peers that there was clash between the pictures and the back round and so I changed the back round.  I included more pictures because I felt I did not have enough to talk about.  I made it symmetrical to show that they are all things that I enjoy and like.  Im in the middle of the slide to show that all the things relate to me.  For the music note I took out the picture of the Beatles because they play music and I felt that they fell into that caticory.   

Tech jamie presentation #2

Revised Media Fluency #2

Untitled presentation (1)

​I changed my picture with a clearer one that still focused on the theme of my message. I made the picture take up the whole page and placed the quote on the bottom left corner of the page. I wanted the audience to focus more on the picture and then have their eyes drift toward the quote. I used the bolding technique from Zen. They said bolding can make the words pop off the page. I also want the viewers to be able to read the words easily. What I learned from this is that there are many different right and wrong ways to create a poser that is appealing to people and gets their message across at the same time. I also learned the many techniques that can make your poster or page more memorable and make the people remember the message that you were trying to get across.


http://www.presentationzen.com/presentationzen/2008/08/learning-from-the-design-around-you-ikea.html


SLA Interview Weekend

​We look forward to meeting everyone for SLA's interview weekend. As a reminder perspective students must have signed up in advanced for an interview. All interviews are conducted at SLA Center City  at 55 N 22nd St, Philadelphia, PA 19103. Remember your child must bring a project from 7th or 8th grade that they feel is a representation of their best work. Please be aware, if your child does not attend at their allotted time, we cannot reschedule interviews due to high demand. SLA does not have a parking lot, we recommend using public transportation whenever and wherever possible. 
There are pay lots and meters available near SLA but spaces are limited.