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And now, Reflection Time with Paul-Ann Whyte. So we are just about finished with with this year and with this Agent of Change.  I think this is an appropriate time to go back and look at everything we have done and how it could have been different. Or maybe things that we actually did right. Let’s start all the way back from blog post numero uno.

Blog Post #1, the research. The research by far was my favorite part. My Agent of Change was trying to raise awareness for Mental Illnesses. I chose this topic because I have friends who have this mental illness yet it shames me when I have to ask them “What is that”, when they tell me what the name of the illness is. Also I have a mental illness and I am also in the learning phase of what exactly is wrong with me so this was a learning experience for the both of us. The research taught me things I had completely overlooked as well as new information. I wished that I had researched more about the common mental illnesses as well. That would have been interesting that instead of focusing on a select few mental illnesses I could have branched off.

Then we move on to Blog Post #2, the original research. Easily coming in second for the things that I enjoyed with this project. The original research I believe could have went so much better. It could have been better but it was not my least liked part of this entire project. I completely ignore Ms. Gikinis’s suggestion of surveying a larger selection of people so it was much harder for me to interpret and use the results as I would have liked to. I wish that i could go back and ask a different set of questions and then send it out to a larger group of people. Not just a select few. Other than that, this section ran pretty smoothly.

Now it is time for the dreaded Agent of Change. My least favorite part of this entire thing. I believed if things had went differently that I could have easily enjoyed this part of the project but this project as life would have it, the odds were not in my favor. My Agent of Change was a walk/run to raise Awareness for Mental Illnesses which was on Saturday, May 16, 2015. The Wednesday of that week I took sick and on Thursday I went into the hospital. As life would have it, I didn’t come out until Sunday and even then I was encouraged not to do any physical activities. So no big problem right? Just think of something new. Well then that week that I came out of the hospital, I went right back in. My schedule was thrown off track with that and in the end I was not able to do anything for my Agent of Change. I was disappointed in myself because I was looking forward to actually making a change and doing something that would influence my life and the life of others. So definitely not my favorite part at all.

Over the course of this past month or so I have done a lot of research, and a lot of hard work trying to make the best You and the World project that I could. I have gone through the process of researching my topic on the internet, just trying to scrape the surface, I went through several interviews, in attempt to get a better understanding of my topic, and finally, got involved with the community, just trying to make some sort of difference in this vast issue. Overall I think that I did a pretty good job make some headway my topic, but in the end, I don’t think anything I could have done would have made much of a difference because the issue with immigration is much larger than it may appear, and it takes more than a ninth grader doing an English project to make a significant difference. However, this could send me in a new direction that can put me into opportunities that will allow me to make the change that needs to be made.

The research process was tougher than I had anticipated it to be. I kept being led in different directions, and kept digging deeper and deeper into this somewhat endless topic, and I think that there was still so much more to uncover. First off, I could have researched more into the immigration process itself, and added more about how these illegal immigrants live while knowing they are hiding behind the law. I would like to have learned more about what happens when someone is being threatened with deportation, and how they might handle the situation.

When going through the original research process I would have liked to get more perspectives from other people, and find out more first hand information from people who immigrated to the United States. Even though the interviews that I conducted went well, I would have liked to know more, and know what other people think about the issue because this is so broad and there are so many opinions that go along with it.

Finally in my agent of change portion of the project I felt like I could have done so much more, even though I know I couldn’t. The hardest part was trying to find an organization that would let me get involved, and to also find an organization that let me do something impact worthy. I feel that impact that I made was somewhat insignificant, though it might have had an impact on someone else, I didn’t feel like I did something great. I looked for an opportunity that would allow me to learn more about my issue, and help change the circumstances in some way, and I just feel that I didn’t quite complete it.

Glows and Grows

For my research portion of the you and the world project I researched the statistics of how many injuries per year does technology affect people. Some glows that I found were I found more research than I thought I would. Except that most of it was from two or more years ago. I wanted to learn more about if people are trying to find away to decrease the amount of technology being used.

For the original research portion of my you and the world pI did a field observation on a few of my friends. Over the period of an hour I took a few pictures of them and in each picture atleast one person was using technology. I thought it worked out well. I just wished I could've expanded my research and observated a larger group of people. The good thing about doing the field observation was my prediction was correct, during the whole hour everyone was using a form of technology.

Finally for the Agent of Change piece of the you and the world project I made a contest that whoever can go two days during school without using their phone would win. I don't think I made the impact I wanted to. After that I never really changed much. The real change occurred during the contest itself because Most people went out of their way to participate in my project which went well. Some of the glows were I finally had a winner and two of the contestants wouldn't use their phones at all while others lost almost within 5 minutes. That helped me a lot when it came to writing my blog post because I was able to explain the differences in what happened during my project/ contest. I am glad to have done this project in the end, it turned out to be successful!

Looking back at this project I would like to say I am overall pleased with what I accomplished. This was an amazing project to do because I focused on what I was very passionate about. This has helped me think outside of the schools and explore issues that are happening in the world and our society.

For the Research Part, I wish I would have found more statistics, primarily in 2015 instead of 2014. I know it was just a year ago, but so much has happened within 2015 and I wish that I would have been able to capture that data. Some things I want to discover through my project on  gun violence in Philadelphia was to find out more about was how many of the families are dealing with the lost of a loved one because of this brutal action. I think that would have taken my project over the top and made the research very interesting.

The Original Research actually went well. I think I had enough people to take my survey to make a point.  Although I wish I found more information, I think I could have done an interview instead of a survey. It would have been great  to know what  a police officer or a family member who had a loved one shot or die because of gun violence felt, and how they cope with it knowing that this violent act is still taking place in our world.  But overall, I am pleased with my survey and happy that it went the way I wanted it to.

I had the impact that I was hoping for in my Agent of Change piece. A lot of people have been noticing the posters around the school, and I actually seen people taking the time out to read them and that is something I was hoping for. I think that having them around the school is something that can also impact other youth of what is going on in Philadelphia and that we need to support the movement for it to stop.

With closing, I would like to say thank you to Ms. Giknis for having everything planned accordingly and the project flowed with all of the due dates. Also for letting everyone do what they wanted to do and even giving extensions when needed so we can do what we really wanted to, and be passionate about it. I think that this will make me do more outside of this project maybe doing things in my local community to have more people aware of this situation. I may start by reaching out to the families who have suffered from the tragedy that gun violence brings, maybe by giving out care packages so they know I care.  This project was by far the best and I hope throughout my life I will have more opportunities to do things like the You and The World Project.

Glows and Grows

For my You and the World project, I dived into a topic that I wouldn’t have otherwise, which was Women’s Rights in the workforce. It was a topic that I really hadn’t put much thought into before since I didn’t think that it affected me. I knew that my family was made up of strong and independent working women so me joining the workforce was just expected but now I realize what actually takes place behind the scenes and how serious the whole situation really is.

The original research part of the project was probably the most successful, since not only did I collect actual facts and statistics, but also personal opinions and experiences. I learned about how much of a difference gender actually does make when in the workplace which hadn’t occurred to me before. Equal pay, gender stereotypes, low percentages of women, and inadequate benefits are just a few of the issues I touched on and also spread awareness of through numbers and facts, but I mainly got personal accounts from issues such as lack of confidence, lack of self-belief, and also lack of self-application. I think that was another successful part of this project, reaching out to people. I was able to conduct a survey with the help of a senior and her feminist blog, which got twenty-two results, and I also led two interviews with Buzzfeed workers which was a huge accomplishment. Aside from that, I heard numerous personal accounts from people which added greatly to my final product. One thing I would have changed are the types of questions I asked because they seemed a bit redundant and at times a bit irrelevant.

For my agent of change, I created a presentation where I summarized the information I collected and taught my classmates about the injustices that afflict the female working world and also how things are getting better in this day and age. Most of my peers partook of social media trends and school-wide protests but I decided to take a different route, one that I knew couldn’t end women’s issues as a whole but would at least educate my classmates on a topic I’m very passionate about. The result was great and I was successful in bringing this issue through to light, not only through my blog posts but through my Agent of Change. I almost wish I had started a petition or a strike or something a bit bigger that would have a larger impact, but I feel that education is the strongest form of change and taking that information, I went forth and made my presentation. One thing I would change though, is the amount of time I put into the initial rehearsal, since I was pretty much winging the whole thing, which most times I’m good at but this time a bit of practice wouldn’t hurt.

This quarter in art class I got to use and put into practice things that I have learned throughout the year. I got to put techniques like shading and mediums India ink into practice with my own style. This was very  helpful for me because it let me see how what I have learn will be enmeshed in my art as I go forward. I didn’t have any other theme beside practice and using things learned. I think this quarter was very helpful for me and I got a lot from it.

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/abuse_neglect/

I am choosing animal abuse because there are a lot of people around the world abusing animals. There are too many people using animals to take advantage of them just because they may make one small mistake. Some people would make up an excuse saying that they would hit their pet just because they were not listening to their owner. Also thousands of animals would be abused each day just because they were with the wrong owner. The most abused animal is the pitbull. This one pitbull, she was a girl and she was homeless until one night a stranger had came up to her in an alleyway and tied a wire very tight around her mouth. Her nose had to be surgically removed. It is really sad that humans would be so cruel to hurt or attack a sensitive animal like this.

Now wouldn't you like to see a dog happy, not sad? Why would anyone want hurt a poor little puppy or kitten?  Some people say that it's hard to train an animal or they don't like how their pets react to certain things. That's why ASPCA would help. Nobody could ever make up an excuse to hurt a dog physically or mentally. The main reason why I chose animal abuse is because too many people think that animals shouldn't be treated as well as humans. Sometimes I really just wonder why humans would take their anger out on poor little animals, and why would they do that?  Why hurt little animals at least you could confront the people that hurt you instead?

You can actually help the fight against animal abuse. You can spot animal abuse by just walking down the street. If an animal has untreated wounds it can get infected.  An owner could be seen giving it's pet dirty water. If you look closely at a dog's neck, there might be a scar on it's neck from the collar being too tight. I think animal abuse should be stopped by arresting the owners that abuse their pets. It is not fair to the animals that have to deal with this in any time in their lives.

Blog Post #2: Original Research

• interview recording

                     Animal Cruelty

What do you think about animals being abused

Have you ever seen animals being abused

Will you ever stop an animal being abused

Tiana's response

1. I think that is very wrong for animals to be abused people should be locked up for that.

2. No

3. Yes I will because it is wrong.

Blog Post #3: Agent of Change

• presentation slides

• recording of presentation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1HIP0RA8D0j3So5g1r-j3LElueBfC0Rv72-DSqACLj_4/edit#slide=id.p