Dreamless
For my capstone I made a music album. I played every instrument, and sang every song.
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Humanities Portfolio 2012
When I first came to SLA, I was completely unaccustomed to SLA’s different teaching style. At the end of my freshman year, I had grown used to it and vastly preferred it to the methods that other schools use. However, going into History and English with Mr. Block was a new experience for me entirely. For one thing, History and English classes were more or less mixed into one class we had twice a day. It wasn’t that Mr. Block would switch up what class we were doing that day, but we would work on things that could be applied to both subjects during both classes. For example, during our prison unit, we studied the history of prisons in History, and we discussed and read books on the subject of freedom in English. In another unit, we were reading the book Things Fall Apart in English, which is a historical fiction novel about a man in an African village and how his life is changed by European colonizers and missionaries. We wrote a chapter after the final chapter of the book, to show how we think the book would have ended if there were one more chapter. During History, we studied the history of colonization.
A normal class for us began with us writing a journal entry. Mr. Block would write a prompt or question on the board, and we would answer that question, or use that prompt to write something in our journal. Almost always, these journals would relate to what we were learning in class that day. After that, we would discuss what we wrote. The discussions we had in this class were some of my favorite parts of the class. We would read our journal entry to the class, then people would respond to what we said. Often, people would disagree with one another, and we would have a small debate. Our teacher would rarely talk during these discussions, except to call on another classmate, and we would only ever have to cut the discussion short because we were running out of time, never because we ran out of something to say. After our discussion we would either read something new about the topic we are studying, or work on a project. The projects we did throughout the year were very rarely a simple paper about what we were studying. Every one of us wrote a complete play, and submitted it to Philadelphia Young Playwrights. We made podcasts, and then made a radio show with similar to This American Life. We even created a site-specific dance piece and performed it to an audience during Art in the Open. Even the papers we wrote were more complex than simply analyzing a character in a book, or responding to a question about the book. We would take a larger theme or idea, and use the book to support our opinions about that theme or idea. For example, in my Lord of the Flies thesis, I talked about how power can affect people.
During my year, I learned many things. Along with learning about the history of the French revolution, and the Industrial revolution, and other events; I also learned some things about the world in general. One of the things I learned about the world from studying history and literature is that inequality is the main cause for conflict in this world. The majority of the world’s problems can be linked to inequality. If you look at the many wars and conflicts in our history, you can see why this is true. In the French Revolution, the royalty and clergymen and had almost all the power the in country, and two thirds of the voting power, so they rest of people, about 98% of the population, could not have any control over their country. They were poor and hungry, while the King bought very expensive jewelry for his wife. Because of this, they revolted, in one of the bloodiest revolutions of all time. Another example of this is the Arab spring. The people in Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya, were unhappy with how their dictators could just torture and kill their people for very little reason, and how the government abused their people. They were unhappy with the way that the government and the dictators had all the power, and the people had none. They revolted, and kicked out their dictators, and while there are still problems in some of these countries; they are on their way to the democracy they fought for. It is interesting how the revolutions in the Arab spring took much less time than the French revolution. This leads to the second thing I learned about the world, which is that social change can be made more powerful through peaceful protest. The French revolution lasted about 10 years, and the revolutionaries used weapons and simply fought the King to take control of the country. In the Egyptian revolution, for the most part they simply protested and demonstrated, and there was very little fighting, except for military or government people attacking protestors. The revolution in Egypt lasted 18 days until the Mubarak stepped down. What this shows is that peaceful protest is much more effective than violent conflict. There are multiple reasons why peaceful protests are more effective. One reason is that when the government kills and attacks protestors who do not fight back, it turns the protestors into martyrs and victims. It makes their cause look better in the eyes of the world, and it makes the government of that country look evil. It also will make it so that if the protestors eventually win out, the country they inherit is not a warzone, but is more or less in the same condition as when they started. In the revolution guidebook that I made in History, I talked about what makes a revolution successful. While you can’t see exactly what I said, because the majority of this project was a presentation, you can see my bullet points about the subject. I learned many other things about the world in English and History class, but there would be too many to list here. Overall, my year in English and History was a very unique learning experience for me. The emphasis was not on grammar and spelling, or memorizing historical dates; but on our world and how we can make it better place.
Humanities Portfolio 2012
“Language is more than
just words that someone says. It’s as much of a person’s identity as is their
name is.” This is my favorite quote I’ve written over the course of the year
because it taught me so much about myself and it gave me so many opportunities.
It is from my Language
Autobiography. In that we had to write about what language
meant to us. I wrote about my experience in
speech therapy.
I’ve learned that hard
work can make you stay up the entire night perfecting something, but when you
get results you realize that it was all worth it. I worked so hard on the
autobiography and my results weren’t just in a grade, but also I had a result
from myself. I used to be afraid to put so much about myself out for someone to
judge, but maybe it’s a good thing to put all my emotions out in my writing.
From doing that in the paper I got the amazing opportunity to present it at
University of Penn, where the adults had nothing but great things to say about
mine and my peer’s work. I also got my quote put onto the mural
my school did, so now in my work I don’t hold back anything.
We did a podcast
project where we interviewed someone in our life and tried to get a story out of them. That was the most stressful project of the whole year because since I
interviewed my little brother (10 years old), it was very hard to get a story
so I had to edit it to make it into a story. I felt like it was not good enough
but then when I got feedback it was all good so I realized that sometimes I am
too hard on myself. From that I learned that in my work to take a step back and
try to look at my work as if I wasn’t the one that created it.
At Science Leadership
Academy we publish a lot of work so we have to take things more seriously
because then there becomes no room for mistake. With the help of Leah Stein and
her dancers we participated in the Art in the
Open Festival. We
were split into six groups and told to find a location four blocks away from
the school to prepare a dance. If we were not going to be performing for an
audience, I feel like the performances would not of been as strong because then
there would to a place for people to be able to make mistakes and play around a
little more.
From
the year we also wrote journal entries, ending the year with more than 100
combined in our English and History class. From these, they were not as
stressful and we didn’t feel like they had to be perfect, until we were told to
publish 3 of our favorites. It taught us that even if we don’t want to do
something or take it seriously, there is always a reason that we still sound.
My entries that are my favorite can be seen here,
here,
and here.
They talk about art, life, and leadership, one of my quotes from them are,“I learned that groups make decisions by
leadership and strength.” (Journal 11).
Overall, this year has
taught me a lot academically but also about myself. I’ve done some great pieces of work that I never thought I
could accomplish things and be so proud of my work. I learned about how my
writing style is, which is that I like to do fact based papers compared to
creative writing. Finally, like I stated above, I learned that going all out on
my papers is not a bad thing. I feel like before now I didn’t like writing all
that much because I was always holding back things that I wanted to add because
I didn’t know if I wanted to take a risk and make things personal.
Some other pieces of work from my year…
Capstone2012- Tyler Hankinson
This pdf is my keynote presentation for my capstone that involved muscle gaining
10% Project!
Click to see my Project (:
-For my ten percent project i made a twitter instead of a Facebook for a famous scientist. The scientist of my choice was Alexander Graham Bell. He was the inventor of the telephone. On the twitter i was tweeting about his accomplishments, and famous quotes. There is only a few tweets but when i talk about it there is more of an understanding. In the bio it tells you about who Alexander Graham is and his background of his life is. Also i tweeted a few pictures of him and also of his inventions he made other then the telephone. Alexander Graham bell was always taken to just invent the telephone but little do many know that behind all the research of the telephone he came about to create and invent other things such as a hydrofoil, a hydrofoil is a boat that is lifted slightly up fromt he water and acts somewhat like a plane would. While tweeting i didn't just make it like i was the speaker. Alexander Graham bell was actually the one who was posting, i made it so you would think that he was the one posting and all the tweets came from him perspective. I hope you enjoy (:
-For my ten percent project i made a twitter instead of a Facebook for a famous scientist. The scientist of my choice was Alexander Graham Bell. He was the inventor of the telephone. On the twitter i was tweeting about his accomplishments, and famous quotes. There is only a few tweets but when i talk about it there is more of an understanding. In the bio it tells you about who Alexander Graham is and his background of his life is. Also i tweeted a few pictures of him and also of his inventions he made other then the telephone. Alexander Graham bell was always taken to just invent the telephone but little do many know that behind all the research of the telephone he came about to create and invent other things such as a hydrofoil, a hydrofoil is a boat that is lifted slightly up fromt he water and acts somewhat like a plane would. While tweeting i didn't just make it like i was the speaker. Alexander Graham bell was actually the one who was posting, i made it so you would think that he was the one posting and all the tweets came from him perspective. I hope you enjoy (:
FIRE STREAM LEGGO!
Hey Fire Stream,
Field day is just around the corner and we need to kick some butt!
Here is the place to post your ideas!
Maybe we can have T-shirts with a design on them?
Maybe we will do face painting?
We need to talk about it because this is our last year and we wanna kick butt and look good doing it!
GO FIRE STREAM!
Field day is just around the corner and we need to kick some butt!
Here is the place to post your ideas!
Maybe we can have T-shirts with a design on them?
Maybe we will do face painting?
We need to talk about it because this is our last year and we wanna kick butt and look good doing it!
GO FIRE STREAM!
Humanities Portfolio 2012
This
year has seen me grow considerably. My ideas have matured a lot from September
to June. Over the course of the year, I feel as though I’ve come across three
general understandings that I feel are significant. They show that I’ve grown
significantly this year.
My first general understanding is something I’ve learned a lot about in
history. I’ve come across many examples of how conflict is required for social
change. Though I’ve realized that this conflict is most successful when
violence is not involved. "The French revolution was a revolution in the way that it
was carried out, and because of the results of the uprising. It was not
however, much of a change for the better. The government in France changed but
the difficulties did not end." (French Revolution Reflection) I wrote this
after completing the French revolution unit in history. It seemed that the
French ultimately didn’t gain anything meaningful after the uprising. My next
example comes from my project How to
Start a Revolution. I found many examples of successful social change in
history that was mostly nonviolent. "There are many different methods of
nonviolent protest. An effective one would to have women and children at the
front of a demonstration, this would discourage any military force brought up
by the dictator from attacking. Another is to humanize the military force by
talking and interacting with them. This shows both sides that they are all part
of the same country." (How to Start a Revolution) My last example comes
from a journal entry I made pretending to be Galileo during his in-house arrest
brought on by the church. I feel that he ultimately succeeded by complying and
not getting himself killed. "I've resigned to comply with the
Church. I’m tired of fighting this fight; it is better for me to reject my
work then to die. At the very least I’ve contributed to the scientific
community. Even if I’ve not enlightened the public, at least I can say that
some benefit from my work."(Galileo Journal Entry)
My next general understanding comes from a mixture of my classes of
English and History. After out many discussions about the issues we covered I
feel that the discussion helps me see the full issue. Discussion helps me see
all sides of the argument. My first example comes from my Servant Point of View piece. My role was to see the issues that
came along with the French revolution through the eyes of one of the lowest
members of society. But as we discussed the issues at hand, I learned about all
of the higher rungs on the ladder. "I'm just a servant, no one important cares about the
likes of me. I just go about my day making sure the palace stays completely
perfect. Everything around me costs more then I will ever make in my entire
life. The royal family is a group of pigs! They make all the decisions so that
they'll always come out on top." (Servant POV) My next example comes from
my reflection on the Sweatshop trial we had in History. I realized after the
trial was over that I’d begun with a very biased opinion on the matter. It was
only until after it was over did I realize that I’d been ignoring half of the
points that were made because they were made against my group. "I
think that each group that participated in the trial did a good job of
representing their organizations. It is especially difficult to do a trial like
this when there are no clear victims or groups at fault. All groups defended
their positions with relative success, even when they were more clearly at
fault in the situation." (Reflection on Sweatshop Trial) My last example
comes from my roles as Pope Urban the second during the religious role-play. I
feel like the lesson from the French revolution role-play where driven home
during this unit. "Hello, I'm Pope Urban the second. I became pope in March
of the year 1088" (Religion Role-play)
My
last general understanding comes from the beginning of the year in English 10.
I realized that writing out the stories of my life and describing my
experiences gives me a fresh view. My first quote comes form my very first
assignment. It gave me a vague idea of what I would be doing for the first part
of the year. All I had to do was describe myself in a journal entry. "I'm 15 years old, born in
Philadelphia/ Spanish is my second language, after 10 years, I'm
fluent/ I play soccer, defense, and I work hard. In sports, and everything
else/ I have a brother and a sister, I'm the oldest one." (Theme for
English 2) Our next assignment that year was to write a
descriptive piece about a painting in our house. I was given a new look at the
painting after having to describe it in detail. Every time I walk past it in
the hall I think of the assignment. "In the foreground, waves rock the two boats as they
approach their prey. The men are experts, standing in the their positions,
ready for action" (Description of a painting) To finish up the unit, I had
to write a whole descriptive essay. In this essay I had to describe several
different memories in detail. I think that describing them has helped me
remember them more clearly. "As I sat inside, I heard my
brother talking animatedly to my sister, to him this is a fun family-bonding
treat. He smiles as he runs back and forth, helping the rest of us in the small
ways he can" (Descriptive Essay)
My
growth this year has been gradual. But I can see it clearly just by looking at
my work in the beginning of the year. My initial reaction is to laugh at myself
from a year ago, or to feel embarrassed. But in the end I’m proud, because it
shows how far I've come.
History Journal 13#
1. how and why did religion change?
Religion changed from bieng something that people believed in, to what people identified with, to a world wide thing that everyone was told to follow. Nowadays, culture and religion are all together as one, and people have more freedom to believe in what they want.
Religion changed from bieng something that people believed in, to what people identified with, to a world wide thing that everyone was told to follow. Nowadays, culture and religion are all together as one, and people have more freedom to believe in what they want.
History Of The "NFL"
International Cookbook
For my senior capstone I decided to create an International Cookbook because I was very interested in going outside my comfort zone. I love languages and I figured that if I could create something in which it helps me travel the world then why not? My partner, Amaris Romero, and I created and modified different recipes from various countries and I made tutorial videos on how to cook them. These videos can be found on my cooking channel on youtube. ENJOY! The recipes were AWESOME and tasty!
Blog Post #2
What did you learn from them? That insults and them playing with you is very similar to the english version
What did you learn about yourself? That it will be easy to insult people in spanish
What did you learn about yourself? That it will be easy to insult people in spanish
What were you surprised about? that its so similar to our version of insults
What are you proud of? I won't be horrible at it.
What will you improve on for next time? Learn to insult better.
What are you proud of? I won't be horrible at it.
What will you improve on for next time? Learn to insult better.
Blog Posts #1
What did you learn from them? That its best to start with a joke about politics.
What did you learn about yourself? That I would be horrible at telling jokes in spanish.
What were you surprised about? That you would jokes about politics first and not the person's friends.
What are you proud of? That I would be horrible at telling jokes in spanish.
What will you improve on for next time? I will study about jokes more before asking the question so I'm not surprised about what their answer is.
What did you learn about yourself? That I would be horrible at telling jokes in spanish.
What were you surprised about? That you would jokes about politics first and not the person's friends.
What are you proud of? That I would be horrible at telling jokes in spanish.
What will you improve on for next time? I will study about jokes more before asking the question so I'm not surprised about what their answer is.
Shadows
Parker
English B
Sara Nesbitt
English
Poem
9-6-11
Who am I?
Since I’m in a new class, a new environment, I’d like you to get to know me.
I’m Sara Nesbitt
My favorite things are my friends and softball.
I work hard in school always trying my best.
I have amazing friends to spend my time with, and a great family to come home to.
I love winter; it’s my favorite season.
I used to be a competitive gymnast.
I’m an only child.
I care way to much about everything.
I don’t like pictures.
I’m only 14.
And, my biggest fear is spiders.
But don’t worry my life is much deeper than that.
I love my life, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Friends? Couldn’t ask for better ones
School? Best in the world
Life? It changes everyday.
I have many memories I will keep with me forever.
One memory I have is when my parents took me to gymnastics competition and I ended up winning first place. It was such an accomplishment; an amazing experience and it only pushed my determination more to work harder.
Also, one of my favorite memories is meeting one of my closest friends. It was first day of freshman year, I was a tiny little freshman that people mistaken for a shadow, I didn’t know anyone. But when I go into the bathroom I meet this tall blonde girl that hated Justin Bieber. Now, I can’t go a single day without talking to her and she’s the best friend you could ever have. We understand each other, relate to each other and I couldn’t ask for anyone better.
All of those things make up me,
the loves, hates, memories, and fears.
I’m Sara Nesbitt, and that’s who I’ll always be.
English B
Sara Nesbitt
English
Poem
9-6-11
Who am I?
Since I’m in a new class, a new environment, I’d like you to get to know me.
I’m Sara Nesbitt
My favorite things are my friends and softball.
I work hard in school always trying my best.
I have amazing friends to spend my time with, and a great family to come home to.
I love winter; it’s my favorite season.
I used to be a competitive gymnast.
I’m an only child.
I care way to much about everything.
I don’t like pictures.
I’m only 14.
And, my biggest fear is spiders.
But don’t worry my life is much deeper than that.
I love my life, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Friends? Couldn’t ask for better ones
School? Best in the world
Life? It changes everyday.
I have many memories I will keep with me forever.
One memory I have is when my parents took me to gymnastics competition and I ended up winning first place. It was such an accomplishment; an amazing experience and it only pushed my determination more to work harder.
Also, one of my favorite memories is meeting one of my closest friends. It was first day of freshman year, I was a tiny little freshman that people mistaken for a shadow, I didn’t know anyone. But when I go into the bathroom I meet this tall blonde girl that hated Justin Bieber. Now, I can’t go a single day without talking to her and she’s the best friend you could ever have. We understand each other, relate to each other and I couldn’t ask for anyone better.
All of those things make up me,
the loves, hates, memories, and fears.
I’m Sara Nesbitt, and that’s who I’ll always be.
Emma Hersh Q4 BM - Government and Collapse
For my fourth quarter benchmark, I decided to research the government in some of the places Jared Diamond analyzes in Collapse. He looks at them through the lens of his five point framework which includes environmental damage, climate change, hostile neighbors, friendly trade partners, and societies response to environmental problems. Nowhere does he mention the involvement of government in these places. This bothered me, so I researched the history of the government, as well as the current government in China, Rwanda, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Some challenges that I faced while doing the research for this project were finding credible sources and understanding the interworking of each government. Because the way government works is very controversial, finding sources that had no bias was more difficult than I initially thought. I learned about how different each country is, but that still they are tied together by similar governments. The countries that I researched were all different and in different parts of the world, but were still united by poor government decision making and that also added to the collapse of their societies.
Here is the link to my fourth quarter benchmark website.
Some challenges that I faced while doing the research for this project were finding credible sources and understanding the interworking of each government. Because the way government works is very controversial, finding sources that had no bias was more difficult than I initially thought. I learned about how different each country is, but that still they are tied together by similar governments. The countries that I researched were all different and in different parts of the world, but were still united by poor government decision making and that also added to the collapse of their societies.
Here is the link to my fourth quarter benchmark website.
Samantha Beattie's Capstone 2012!
For my project, I researched a lot of different aspects of Dr. Seuss, such as his books, his background, and his style. I collaborated with both my mentor and a daycare teacher. I, then, created a book of SLA and how I grew through SLA in the style of a Dr. Seuss book.
(to see the rest, email me: sbeattie@scienceleadership.org)
Sarah-Charlotte's Journal Entries.
English Journal #49:
Respond to the quote:
“If memory helps us to survive, forgetting helps us to go on living.” - Elie Wiesel
This quote really makes you think. I think that forgetting bad things can help us move on and not dwell on the past. However, remembering may help us survive because you will not want those things to happen to you. If you forget, you will be happy but may not survive long. If you remember you may survive but not live.
History Journal #10:
~What is religion?
Religion is where someone believes something that has to do with something spiritual.
~Has religion helped the world more than it has hurt it, or hurt the world more than it has helped it?
I think that religion has helped the world just as much as it has hurt it. Yes, religion can make people not like each other and even start wars, but it has also helped many people personally. For example, the wars in Iraq have been caused by religion as well as other things.
English Journal #6:
Write a paragraph starting with this phrase:
“I am always seeing…”
I am always seeing the wind blowing things all around me. My hair, the leaves, the branches, and the birds soaring in the wind. I am always seeing the clouds moving. I am always seeing the people walking. I am always seeing the world around me… but what do other people see? Do they see the world the same way I do? I am always seeing.
Take up a woman's burden by Maria Latorre
"The White Man's Burden" response:
Take up a woman's burden by Maria Latorre
Take up the White Man’s burden.
With there self seen world
That no a woman can take away
Show no woman love
and spit on there face
because they an't smart
so better then a white man's burden
Take up a woman's burden.
Take up a woman's burden
who are strong but weak
how slaves over a stove to cook for her family
who works and go to school
while taking care of a kid
not like a white man who only can start a war
Take up a woman's burden
no of a white man
cuz weman don't care about skin
but about heart
cuz weman know how to love
and show kindness
even if they don't want to.
Take up a woman's burden
one that cleans all do
one that baleaves in freedom
one that know that all types of man
are dangerouse.
Who will never try to burden other
Or be Judgment of their peers.
History of Money
Time line of money
http://prezi.com/_nz1_cfnid4p/history-of-money/
http://prezi.com/_nz1_cfnid4p/history-of-money/
Humanities Portfolio 2012
Throughout the year mr. Block has constantly introduced me into themes I would never have looked into. He has made me realize that the world’s problems aren’t so easy to solve and that everybody is a little responsible. For example I would always ask why do things like sweatshops still exist. Mr. Block brought it to our attention that there is a system built around these horrible acts and that the honest answer is because you cant give it up. So I looked towards the workers and came to my own conclusion that ”The only way was to stop the process is if the whole country committed to not working at these places. But the reality is that these horrible, long hours, and low paying jobs are all they have.”- Sweatshop trial.
I have also learned to look at people more equally and understand that freedom is a state of mind. In Finding Freedom by Jarvis Jay Masters it is easily arguable that he was more free incarcerated then ever before in his life. He found himself a new man and a buddhist while in prison. Upon meeting a lama of his religion he said to himself “Here’s a guy who can take me out of prison even as I remain here.” He also began to separate himself from his environment by meditation, as he attempted in “Seeking Silence” a chapter in the book. A negative example of this is the story “Wildwood”. Before she ran away, the girl lived with a mother who she couldn’t stand. In reality, she was free to do whatever she wanted but living with her mother she felt imprisoned and not free todo anything.
I also learned about leaders and responsibility needed to maintain such a role. I found out that a title means nothing if respect isn’t held in that title. When studying the “Lord of the Flies” unit I theorized that “Authority doesn’t always depend on who is labeled as a leader, but more who is respected the most.” based on the leadership problems in the text. That theory is constantly proved with protests around the world. Those protestors(the people) are being lead by those who they respect and agree with as opposed to who is labeled as their leaders(their government). I was able to reflect on how responsibilities in my childhood can change my character in the future. “Certain responsibilities as a young teen can further Impact your life once you understand the values incorporated.”.
This course has also taught me the importance on being able to view a situation through multiple vantage points, or “lenses”. We did a project on the book “Their Eyes Were Watching God.” where we took a scene out of the book and portrayed it through either another character’s point of view or a general lens(feminist, marxist, etc.). This skill that I acquired has not only helped me with other assignments in school, but also helps me to understand other people’s feelings and ideas. I found multiple units interesting, and a few of them topics that I would research myself. I feel as though I learned a lot this year and acquired a few skills that will continue to help me throughout life.
Evolution of Parkour- Dcordivari
History of Hip-hop/rap
http://historyofhiphoprap.weebly.com/
History Journal #7 – Describe the dominant paradigm of how humans relate to the natural world
I feel like people are selfish towards society. The reason people are so selfish is because through their whole life, their minds were played with through the means of propaganda and advertisements. Through their lives, advertisement and propaganda said, "If you don't buy/have a certain thing, you are not as good as others." But when the new becomes old, they get the new again. But as you throw out the old, you don't know what that has been through to be made, making you selfish.
- Ignore Natural Needs
- No Caring About Pollution
- Unlimited Resources
- Respect Everything
- Manipulate Environment
- Not Talking About/Shoving Down Throats
