Going
into my sophomore year I was exciting to see what would be in stored for me
academically. I was not so positive and confident about my writing skills
freshmen year. So 10th grade was a new chapter to my life and I would make the
best of it. The first few months we used our brains in a different way. We
opened a new deeper level of analysis. Class discussions were a great asset
because our growing inquiry and statements. I believe every student in copper
stream had brilliant ideas and views and that was the reason to why our
discussions were so successful and interesting.
The
tool I will take from this year is to analyze a situation on a deeper level.
Exploring a subject in a broad method is not the same as investigating in a
more depth way. Often in high school students tend to read the same books from
middle school. It is not a mistake. It is simply an opportunity to reread in a
more intense style to make new deeper connections.
I
had very little knowledge about the Cortez trial. I knew the basic information
such as Cortez and his army took over the Aztec people. I never questioned why.
In the trial we put our differences aside and accepted our role. “A story can
be told in a million of different ways. Every story has a unique beginning or
ending. Many stories can be hearsay.” That was a quote from my Cortez Trial
response; I was referring to the testimonies from each of the groups and what
really happen with the Aztec people. “We would have to be there at present
moment to verify the honest truth.” History consistently repeats itself.Also in my response paper talked about how
Cortez men let Cortez brainwash them into helping him take over the Aztec
people. From then on in class we were exposed to different examples that
consist the same criteria. That’s when I came to the assumption that the alpha male can influenced and or alter
the way people think or believe. My proof of that statement is of course the
Cortez Trial, also Colonization, Prisons, Night,
and Persepolis. In my history proposal for the museum exhibit "Till Death do Us Part: Story of the Aboriginal People" I
explored the story line of the Aboriginal People and how Britain took over all
of Australia. Even though our Prison unit was short but it proved my theory.
Most prisoners are in prison because they don’t want to “snitch” on there friends.
They rather face the consequences than stand up for themselves.
I
enjoyed reading the graphic novel Persepolis
it was something different and new. It showed how one person could turn a group
of people against another group by labeling them as degrading. This also tied into the Holocaust with
the book Night. That general understanding really helped me with my Quarter 4
Benchmark. In my thesis paper, Beating to
the Breaking Point was to prove that certain people could be a torturer. “To be intimidating, one has to act tough, making sure to set the record
straight for anyone who once doubted his or her strength and took it for a
weakness. Guilt must be replaced by no remorse.” That quote was from Beating to
the Breaking Point and it was referring to the certain qualities a torturer
needs to have.
Over
the course of the year my writing skills has improved tremendously. No paper is
perfect with out revisions. At first I was not at all thrilled at the fact
someone else would peer edit my work. The reason for my actions was because of
my low confidence and most importantly I did not want anyone to belittle my
writing. I put my differences aside and became more open to feedback. At the
very point my writing became to progress because of the helpful tips of peer
edit sheets. The proofs of success are my Op-ed "Eating Our Way to the End", Lord of the Flies Thesis paper, Language Autobiography, and Beating to the Breaking Point.
Everything
that was taught this year will be forever remembered. This course really
prepares my peers and I for a higher education. From reading more than one back
at a time to making connections on a deeper level it is all needed to help us
succeed. And I am truly thankful to be exposed to such new and different
studies.
This year was insane. The changes I went through - that all of us went through - in all aspects such as character, writing, views and knowledge were immense and I can’t say that any of us are the same people that we once were when we first walked through the doors of Room #307. We grew, over the course of this year in the subjects of English and History, because of all the readings, pieces we had to absorb and spurt back out into unique and creative such the benchmarks and papers.
Looking back, I laugh. At times, there were moments when I couldn’t tell when an assignment was for History or English - because it could fell in either category. Like with the Prisons, the resources that were given to us were filled with facts that talked about the history and events that occurred. One would think this would be for History, but instead it was English. Responding to this on a forum on Moodle made me question why, but then again, it does make sense. The two fields go hand-in-hand, so why not incorporate them together in topics such as this one.
Being fifteen and sixteens year olds in the U.S., one could make a reasonable argument that our minds have an already set path on certain issues plaguing our world. But then, the real information is introduced and everything just goes haywire. Like with Religion Unit, when had to choose a topic like marriage and choose several religions and look for the correlations and differences between them. It was a chance for us to immerse in “contrasting” religions and see, first hand, how similar they really were. "To love someone, no matter their sexuality, no matter what religion they practice is what is the basis of a healthy, long-lasting relationship. If you love someone, go for it. If your soul mate is the same gender as you, don’t sweat it. And, if the two of you have different views on God, life, etc., know that the road ahead will be bumpy, but in the end, it’s worth it." (IronReligion2010) And with the Cortes Trial and the Sweatshop Trial, having to go out and research by oneself opened my eyes to how cruel the circumstances were for the victims, how could such catastrophes occur and where the blame lie. Which goes to show, once exposed, the truths push to go further, to want to make us want to know more.
Creativity just happens to be middle name, so of course I had to enjoy the more inspiring and imaginative parts of the school year. I, myself, am personally fond of Poetry, but being asked to make a page full of our own was a new idea to me. "My process doesn’t come naturally. I just need a song, a phrase, a word that give me just enough spark to make it happen. I type unconsciously. My mind wanders and my fingers just know how to voice my thoughts." (Poetry Page Intro) It required a lot of re-writes, though, in the end, I must say, I’m pretty darn proud of that work. Then, there was (what I like to call) the Descriptive Saga - a collection of scenes based on our lives, which eventually became a paper. To be honest, I was probably sugar high (because it was the beginning of the school), but I still cannot believe that I wrote that well, so long ago. And, the Monologue Project? The one when we had to choose a country, make up a storyline, and write about characters, their problems and simply come up with several scenes. I love writing, don’t get me wrong, but writing over three thousands on one topic can only keep one sane for so long. Still, I can’t say I expected any less from myself.
It was fun, sophomore year. I got a chance to tackle matters, completely fresh ones at that, and thoroughly make the most of every obstacle - project - thrown my way. And, I’m happy with my final results. Each of pieces required tremendous loads of effort, determination and work. And sure, I side-tracked in pretty much all of them - due my short attention span and a serious case of procrastination - but, yeah, I manages to do it somehow, thanks my friends, these classes and of course, Mr. Block. So, without further or do, I close the chapter of this school year.
My project was about who I was, who I am, and who I want to be. I tried to keep it simple yet creative by doing a little booklet. My original plan was to do the complete booklet with cutouts from magazines but I couldn't find all the pictures I needed in the magazines that I had available to me. I do like my sentences and I feel like I'm a lot better with my spanish and I did reach the goal of this project, showing my knowledge of spanish. If I were to do something differently it would definitely be my design of this project I wasn't satisfied with the messiness and the child looking arts and craft that I handed in. I was attempting to go more for "made for children" rather than "made from children". I would have changed my direction once I realized that my original idea was too much for me to handle and gone with a neater looking presentation.
Education is a
funny thing; everyone interprets things differently, so no one set of
guidelines can guarantee a class room of students the same values that they may
or may not take from that class nor can it ensure that their I.Q levels will
all be the same. What it can do though, is provide an opportunity for each
individual to take that lesson and learn at least something from it when they
step out the door of the classroom.
This year, I
learned a lot of new things, not only about religion or monologues or
descriptive writing skills, but I learned a lot about myself and the people
around me. From the moment I stepped in the doors of SLA freshman year, I had a
“leave me alone unless you’re like me” kind of personality going. Granted, I’d
be nice to everyone, but I generally only stuck to the people who I could
relate to, mostly by music. I always tried to be open-minded but at the same
time, I always kept my distance. This year, I had a really diverse stream,
which allowed me to be immersed in a lot of different kinds of people.
At first it was a little scary and
disappointing, because I could no longer cling to the familiarity of my
freshman year crew. But I got something so much better, something so much more
from it. I learned to appreciate people, more so than I ever had. I learned to
appreciate them for how we could humanly relate, having the same problems or
the same sense of humor or the love for making others smile. I became really
good friends with a girl that I probably would’ve stared down last year. And I
accepted her, and I love her, and I appreciate her, for everything that she is,
does and learns.
With the lesson of
diversity strong in mind this year, I think that the most powerful project we
did was the one on religion. I liked being able to compare religions and learn
about the different beliefs of each one. I started the unit really ignorant to
the different kinds of worship and faith that went into every religion, but
when the project was over, I had a new sense of appreciation for each one. When we started the unit I had
originally thought of religion in a one tone way. “Religion.
There are many different meanings of the word, many different origins and
beliefs that go into it. But when stripped down to it’s bare meaning, religion
is more like a preference to guide lines of redemptions. But after looking and
studying each one, I learned that there’s a lot more that goes into each belief
than just some crap that they read from a book.
Another thing that was really interesting, diverse and educational
were the trials. I liked how everyone really got into their roles to defend
their group even if they didn’t believe they were guilty in the end. I think
that the trials were one of the most important projects as well because they
teach you lot of different things. For example, you learn a lot of researching
techniques, social lessons and historical facts as well. I think in the end you
also learned how people’s opinions have changed over time and how we can ponder
and reflect and learn from previous mistakes made in the past so we can learn
to avoid them in the future, and that’s what history does, it teaches you, not
only about the past, but how you can learn to better your future.
This year in English and History class I learned a lot not only
about the world around me but also about myself. Mr. Block has shown me a lot
about what has happen and is still happening in the world. The class was always very
good at connecting the past to the present and has given me the chance to make
my own connections through the projects I have completed. I have grown to love
the new ways of expressing myself that I have learned in this class from things like the
art in the open or the young playwrights monologue project.
The
play writing experience had to have been the most mentally touching project I
have done since I have entered High school. In the months spent doing the
project I became extremely emotionally attached to the topic and cared deeply
for the characters that I was molding. Doing this project made me think
differently in both History and English, I started to feel comfortable
experimenting with different voices and characters that I would have never play
with before. My characters ranged from an emotionally traumatized young girl to
a pride army leader and even a dead character. The ability to work out and
change these characters felt great but I also was able to learn a lot about
Colombia. I learn about families losing their homes and children going off to
fight for the rebel army I also learned about drug trade which is why the rebel
army fighting the government.
The
poetry unit was also a big project that meant a lot to me. I have always had an
interest in poetry and found the chance to view different kinds of poems to be
unique. I liked being able to listen again to what I wrote and feel my own
words like I feel other poetry. I took a lot out of this unit including a poem
that I love called “I Was Raised By sounds” which I really love. Another project that I
learned a lot from was the group Podcast. I know that this project made me
closer to my grandma then I have ever been before. I had known of her child
hood abuse for years but I did not know all the deep struggles she felt within
the interview. I learned the most after the recording stopped but that was the
thing that got up talking and made our relationship grow.
The
next thing I come away with is more like multiple things it’s the people in the
class. I learned from all the forum posts that we share with each other in both
classes. I learned the especially from descriptive scenes. I heard so many
stories about peoples past and made me feel more connected to them. This was
important to me because I was new to the school and didn’t really know everyone
well at all. I can think back to the scene that I wrote about my friend Jackie
and how much it meant to me back when it happened compared to what it felt like
writing about it years later. English and History were great this year. As much
as I complained I really have grown to love this class and even Mr. Block. Even
though I say his class is boring I have to say I’m really going to miss
it. I owe a lot of what I know now to him. This year was great and I hope next
year can be this awesome.
Goal: to make people feel the effect of colonization on the
world and cultures. Also, to make people feel against the idea of colonization
(audio speaking available for descriptions)
Intro:
In the museum I want you to get a
look at how colonization effects how a culture is. You will see the changes in
the area, the changes in leadership, and the changes of houses. There will be
interactive sections of the tours to keep you all involved and I hope you enjoy
it. There will be a brief survey at the end asking what you thought of the
museum and areas for us to improve, we would appreciate and look into any ideas
you suggest.
Artifact one:
I will set up a treadmill and offer
people to walk up them and walk a quarter of a mile. Then I will explain to
them that this could be only a small amount of work that some of the children
have to do to get some water.
“In Niger the people need to walk
to get water and most of the time it is the children. Now, back then with the
people not be colonized, there were less people, meaning less use of water.
However, now with Niger being colonized there are a lot more people and thus
more resources are needed. It makes it harder for the country to survive.”
Artifact two:
Have this house
set up next to this house
People will be able to walk
through the two different houses
“As you
can see, over colonization that there are some drastic changes in the housing.
It went from nice small huts that could fit people fine, to rows of homes made
of cement. Now the ones made of cement are the rather, higher class people.
Most of the people live in houses made of plastic, trash, and sheets of metal.
What a life style.”
Artifact three:
Make photos larger and show how
things have changed due to colonization. I will have the people walk into a
dark room and show them the first map and then show peaceful tribes in a
natural wild life setting, and then I will switch to the newer map, showing how
people have made everything more “civilized.”
“Over the years you can see from
the pictures that the areas have drastically changed and become more distinct
regions. These are the effects of colonization. Over the years you can see that
the regions have become more define and less tribal. Africa is no longer
Africa, it is regions and country’s that make up Africa.”
Artifact four:
I will
have two men standing next to each other, one will be a tribe leader from the
past. The other man will be a French general. So that the people can get a look
at how leadership has changed.
“Hamani
was the first president and was elected in 1960, before that Niger ran under
tribes. There is an obvious difference in the way the two may address
themselves. Hamani used suits and was “formal” in a sense, where the tribal
leaders would have been, as most people would consider today “primitive.” In
the artifact I am showing you that difference.”
Artifact five:
I will take 61% or because we will
have groups of 10 then I will just take 6 people out and I will give them 1
dollar. I will then explain to them that this is the only money you get in one
day.
“This represents the 61 percent of
the country that lives in poverty with only 1 dollar a day. The houses are made
up of dirt and wood, and they eat cooked cereal and milk. Before colonization,
there were no systems like this were people were suffering and living in such
bad conditions. Those that live in the slums are forced to build their own
houses out of plastic metal and what ever other material they can find.”
Artifact six:
This artifact expresses the power
that the French had over these people. It shows that the people didn’t get what
they may have wanted due to the.Hamani Diori was he first elected president of Niger and had a lot of
French influence.
“Hamani
Diori was the first elected present of Niger. He had a lot of French influence,
so I wanted to have you watch the two candidates talk. Now it turns out that
the guy that gave the terrible speech won! I want you all to reflect on this
and tell how they feel if this is what was happening, and the power was
switching. “
Artifact seven:
In the artifact I will create a
video, demonstrating the French coming into Niger and affecting the amount of
people there causing there to be less resources.
“In 1946 the French
constitution conferred French citizenship on the inhabitants of the
territories, provided for decentralization of power and limited participation
in political life for local advisory assemblies. On December 4, 1958, after the
fifth French republic was established, Niger became an independent state within
the French Community. In 1960 the full independence was given and at that point
the French were free to come and go, live, participate, and do as they please.
“
Artifact eight:
“The Nok people where people that
lived back in the ancient times of Niger. They were not the wealthiest of
people however they maintained a normal life style and farmed as normal people,
now there are people that are dying from starvation. Connection there? Blame
colonization and greed.”
Conclusion:
In conclusion colonization has
changed a culture, tribes, and a country. It has “revolutionized” and changed
things so that they were not primitive and in result have made a country turn
to poverty and starvation. I hope you have seen how colonization has
unknown, unknown. "The people of nok ." kids page . N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May
2011. <http://www.kidspast.com/world-history/0097-nok.php>.
unknown, unknown. "HISTORY OF NIGERIA."History of nigeria . N.p., n.d.
Web. 18 May 2011.
<http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad41>.
unknown, unknown. "Niger's military coup is
condemned by France and Africa." BBC.
N.p., February 19th 2010. Web. 18 May 2011. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8523573.stm>.
unknown, unknown. "Niger Information." Niger. N.p., October 15th 1998. Web. 18
May 2011. <http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/countries/Niger.html>.
As the prosecutor i have made questions both before and after i heard things from the trial:
I also made a few questions up based off of responses... Thousands upon thousands of you and yet only hundred of Spanish is this true…?
You know what gorilla warfare is why where you not prepared enough for this?
You saw a prophecy of Cortes’ arrival correct?
You had the numbers did you not?
You mentioned that they had the advantage however, they had the lack of knowledge, it says here that Aztecs used hand, heart and arrow symbols to represent fractional distances when calculating areas of land http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23940691/
Could you not have out witted them?
You mentioned that they had the advantage however, they had the lack of knowledge, it says here that
towards king Charles:
You are full of riches and already full of power is this true?
Then why did you feel the need to travel over and try and steal more from people?
You are our leader, we look up to you and what kind of example are you setting for us people, a greedy and self absorbent one? Or a good one?
I have been told that you were the one that gave the orders for Cortes to travel to the Aztecs, even with a man that dropped out of school, was part of the military for a brief time, is this true?
So an unemployed man, with little knowledge, and time in the forces and helped to conquer Cuba in 1511, and you still choose to send him, was there any thought behind this?
So you knew there was a possibility do to the lack of his knowledge and military experience that he would kill some innocent people?
So you hid behind your power and told these men what to do and you think you can get away scot-free?
Cortes was a drunk so what makes you think you could change him?
Would you have liked it if someone just marched into your land and took it from you?
Is it true that you felt sorry for this man cortes?
towards the Aztecs: Is it true that you saw prophesies of the arrival of Cortes and the incoming destruction? Then why did you accept him so easily into your home? Why didn’t you get rid of Cort es when you had the chance?
towards king Charles: You are full of riches is this true? Then why did you feel the need to travel over and try and steal more from the people? You are our leader, we look up to you and what kind of example are you setting for us people, a greedy and self absorbent? I have been told that you were the one that gave the orders for Cortes to travel to the Aztecs, even with a man that dropped out of school, was part of the military for a brief time, is this true? So you knew there was a possibility do to the lack of his knowledge and military experience that he would kill some innocent people? So you hid behind your power and told these men what to do and you think you can get away scott free? Cortes was a drunk so what makes you think you could change him?
Some other notes: “Cortes is the conqueror of the Aztecs”- Cortes do you feel proud of what you have accomplished? “We have stronger hearts and minds”- Aztecs does that make you any less guilty then anyone else? “Aztecs could have defended themselves”- system correct they could have but does this prove you innocent? “systems don’t believe in anything” “I tried to give him something to do”-king is this a logical thing to do?
Art work in my house:
descriptive detail analysis
So when I was in wildwood a few years ago I bought
this spray paint painting and this is what is looks like. I will start off by
telling you the major parts in this. There is a circle that is about the diameter
of the board. Inside the circle there is the USA flag that appears to be the
sky. Also in the circle it the twin towers that show the reflection of the
American flag on the two towers. The reflection isn’t precise it is more like a
watery reflection where it is kind of distorted. Below there are several other
building. There appears to be a straight line of buildings TOWARDS the bottom
where underneath there is a body of water. The water fills the bottom portion
of the circle and at the bottom of the circle the water becomes a waterfall and
flows off the bottom of the circle. The water shows a nice white foam effect
when flowing over the circle, which adds some realistic effect to it. Right
under the row of buildings there is a foggy mist. Behind the twin towers you
will notice a few smaller buildings that show distance effect because they and
they are to the left. They also show the reflection of the flag in the
background. Around the circle you will notice that there are white spots
everywhere outside. The artist I believe was trying to make it appear as though
the circle was in fact a planet. There is a dim red outer circle the surrounds
the bigger circle/ planet to show the atmospheric effect.
It was the beginning of a hard day. It would be full of work, work,
and more work. It started off with me waking up. I woke up with a bit of a headache and not wanting
to do anything. My
hair looked as if I had just got done a pillow fight. It was everywhere.I walked into the well-lit room. The sun filling me with warmth
and I thought maybe this wont be such a bad day after all. It was nearing the time I
needed to leave for work. Hair fixed and ready for work I brought my bike outside and rode off.
The breeze was wonderful; filling my lungs with fresh
air was much needed. I arrived to the job that I had both hated and enjoyed at the same time. Angelo my boss greeted me just
as he does everyday. The smell was the same. A smell that was full of pizza goodness. My boss is a very generous man
and allows me to eat a slice before I get to work. So I take a slice and sit down. I taste the
delicious pizza as it enters my mouth. It fills my taste buds with joy. When I got done
drooling over the delicious pizza I grabbed the some pizza menus and walked to
my destination.
My job requires me to deliver menus to doors, so that hopefully the pizza
shop will get more business. It is a very tedious job. Requiring me to go up and downmust go through. With 8$ an hour I get more
money then most people in Philadelphia. Kind of pathetic if you ask me, but ill
take it.
Money in pocket, pizza box in my one hand, it was a
pretty good day at work. I didn’t have any problems. The smell of the pizza was permeating up through my
nose. The hills were
brutal. Making my legs burn with intensity as I pedaled up the large slopes.
Almost home, just 3 more blocks and then I can dig into this awesome pizza. My
hair was being a pain so I flipped it out of my face. BAM! Was all I heard and a car
was all I saw. I stumbled, hand in pain, leg scratched up. I had lost my balance when I
flipped my hair and ran straight into a car. Pain was intense, shooting up my arm. I couldn’t
move anything.
Hurting, throbbing, pain like I never felt before. “Is it broken?” I asked
myself. My
bike was twisted and mangled just as my arm was. I fought through the pain to
pick up my bike and move it out of the street. The pizza box was demolished but
the pizza was still in tact. The pizza was good but my arm wasn’t.
I called
my mom told her I had crashed. Away she went to the spot of my tragic crash. My arm was still in
excruciating pain. The
cuts and scraps that lay all over my leg have no effect on me because the pain
in my arm was so intense. My mom put my bike in the back and we drove those 3 blocks back to my
house. I rested my
arm on my other arm.
No smell, no sound, nothing but pain. I walked into my house.
Suddenly I thought that 16 dollars wasn’t worth this. I never broke a bone so I
couldn’t tell if it was actually broken or not. I have a ton of homework to do and with this pain
I’m not going to get anything done. A two page paper due in 2 days, a 10 page packet due
in 2 days, and even more. I’m in pain and now I’m panicking about all the work that I now have to
do with only one arm at my disposal.
I started with math. I was hungry but there is no
time for food right now. My stomach is growling; mad at me because I am denying it food. The frustration overwhelmed me
and I was not very successful with the math. I didn’t even finish half of the packet. Now, more
pressure lays on me. Demanding that I do more work with so much pain. It wasn’t going to be
a fun next day. I
went to sleep with a brace on my wrist so that my wrist wouldn’t move in my
sleep.
I woke to a mother that demanded my presence, however she wasn’t going to get
it because my arm was in so much pain. It was un bearable. I couldn’t move at all, not a
single part of my body without wanted to scream in pain. Such a pain should not be
forced against someone, not anyone. Still I knew I had a ton of homework that I had to
do.
I got up and wobbled to the kitchen. I got out the cereal and a bowl
to pour it in. I poured the cereal half way just as I usually do. Walked over to the refrigerator
and got milk and continued to pour milk in there until the cereal rose. Just the way I like it. I grabbed a spoon and began
eating the wonderful cinnamon toast crunch as I walked to the table. I wasn’t
very successful with just one arm but I got one spoonful before I reached the
table. I set the bowl
down and enjoyed each and every bite.
The birds were chirping and the sky was blue. It was set out to be a
beautiful day; that I of course could not enjoy. I was forced to suffer indoors and do homework.The hours past and eventually I come to
present. I
sit here in pain TV in background. Still have a lot of math to do. Obviously not done this essay.
Every time I even try to use my thumb for any reason
a sharp pain travels up my arm. Making it impossible to type with that hand. Now I’m in a predicament, one
hand to type, one hand to do everything, and still a lot of homework. Its now 8:26 and I still
haven’t eaten dinner and I am not even half done my math.
What a way to end my weekend. My eyes are heavy, my arm still
hurts and I have school tomorrow. I am supposed to be getting x-rays tomorrow to make
sure that it isn’t broken. Hopefully its not broken but I never broke a bone before. If its not broken I would hate
to know what it feels like if it was broken. I probably wouldn’t be able to move my fingers at
all. The smell of
chicken is starting to fill my house. I sense that dinnertime is coming shortly. I’m starving, my stomach is
growling and I think it is about time to eat some food. A good day at work gone wrong. A new experience in which I
will learn from.
Next time I wont flip my hair.
Throughout this
school year my thoughts have been changed many times. One thing I remember very
vividly is the classes Sweatshop trial. The sweatshop trial was a trial that
the class did to figure out who was the most responsible for sweatshops. Every
student was put into a group. My group was the U.S consumers. The other groups
were sweatshop workers, multi-national co-operations, the system, and the
ruling elite. Now of course people were trying to make their group sound the
least guilty. When the trial was over we had to do a response
to the trial in which we voted on who was the most guilty at the time since I
was being a little bias I gave my group very little points. Now after looking
back on everything I see that I was wrong and that in that situation you can
put blame on any one person. It is like a rotation and everybody fuels
everybody. What I started to understand from this is that it is not good to
start coming to a conclusion while you are still focused on one group.
Another piece of
work that helped me realize that with time everybody can get better at their
creativity is my Poetry
unit. During the poetry unit we had to write several different types of
poems that we were going through in class. The reason why I say it helped me
the way it did is because there is a noticeable difference between this and what
I did in the beginning of the year for my English
B piece. My English B piece was set at the beginning of the year and we had
to write a poem based off of Langston Hughes’ English B poem.
One piece of work
that I am most proud of is my English photo essay. The reason why I am most
proud of this piece is because it showed that one could produce very good work
even if they are talking about themselves. This also helped me learn a lot of
things about my Irish side. The assignment was to take a heritage that you were
apart of and research that. After you research you have to come up with several
pictures and analyses for why you chose each picture. I was able to find out a
lot about the Irish heritage through this like the fact that Irish dancers keep
their arms by their sides because when the English invaded Ireland the Irish
were not allowed to have any fun so the Irish kept their hands at their sides
when they danced so the English could not see them. Unfortunately I do not have
the photos but I do have my analyses.
My
last piece of work that I would like to share with you is my colonialism museum
project. The reason why I would like to share this with you is because I am
very proud with my work in this project. In this project we had to make museum
based off of colonization in a country of our choosing. My country was Kenya
and my exhibit presented only artifacts that made complete sense like money.
You can find my explanation for all my artifacts here. This project helped me learn a lot
about Kenya and colonization like the fact that sometimes it can be good and
sometimes it can be bad.
This is a portion
of what I have learned throughout this year. It has been fun for me to share
this with you. It has also been fun to take a trip down memory lane. I hoped
you enjoyed the journey through my thoughts.
Throughout the courses of both History and English this year
had has its ups and downs. History and English, as subjects, have always been
easy for me but this year through my projects, papers, wikis, essential
questions and more… has changed my views on the topics of each subject.
In
English, I noticed throughout my work that I have become a more fluent writer
in writing my papers. My aspects of me to have became a more fluent writer
includes, being able to pull several significant quotes from books I have read
and outside sources from research. Also, analyzing throughout my paper, the
quotes, my feelings and beliefs into thesis papers. Stating the facts with
being stated in opinion form at first was very hard for me, but through
practice of constantly writing and peer editing helped me a lot, it bettered me
because of the helped I received by my teachers and friends. Click here to view
my latest thesis paper about religion and the world
Within this paper I, as I stated
before, express several beliefs and stating that they are true. In my 9th
grade year and beginning of this 10th grade year, I had a harder
time formatting and making my thesis papers clear by using well thought-out
quotes.
Something
that I grasped over this year was that there are many certain aspects that aren't talked
about everyday. Click here to view my work of both my op-ed ;and now my monologue
project;
Throughout my op-ed I express different corruptions
throughout the world such as the religious people and leaders abusing humanity
laws, here is a quotes I stated of my own words “A priest of a catholic church has been
accused of sexually abusing a young little boy. To point that we are talking
about a Catholic church who provide us with a Catholic religion in which the
bible says “homosexuality is against God.”
On
the other hand, my monologue project was a long projects and included several
aspects of thinking rather than the op-ed yet they are both similar and I
learned a lot from both of them. Though, to begin, my monologue project brought
several ideas of both imagination and research. I learned a lot form my
monologue project because over the several months that we were given to work on
it, I developed a well thought-out story about children and sex trafficking
throughout Europe in an interesting, unique way.
A
major benchmark, one of my most recent one is of my Colonial Benchmark which
can be seen here ;
I express many different aspects of colonialism. Through my
research I learned a lot and in making this museum, which was the goal of
making this benchmark, using different artifacts and stating facts and also
giving opinion with supporting evidence that “overall colonialism is better for
a country because it is influenced by more cultures and as the country grows
older there is a more variety.”
Furthermore,
I’d like to save this for the last, my wiki of my poetry, because it was my
most favorite project to do. I believe I can express myself more with writing
poems and giving information rather than papers because it flows more easier to
me and I believe a lot of other people may believe the same way. Click here to
view my poetry wiki.
“I feel uncomfortable. Everyone is staring at me. Do I have
something on my face? Where are my best friends? I can’t do this without them.”
High school is hard, this is a known fact. Teenagers are awkward, confused,
scared, and not comfortable in their own skin. This years sophomore, English
and History class with Mr. Block helped me and I am sure more students in my
class break out of the comfort zone they created, to make amazing projects and
hand in fantastic class work.
In English class we had Journals. Journals were a way to
write about school and such. We also used our Journals for more personal
things. One of my friends, Samantha Zeisloft, went up to read a personal piece
aloud. A few sentences through she began to cry. It was powerful she was so close
to me and yet I had not known something so personal about her and the fact that
she was able to go up and read it to our class showed how comfortable she had
become with us all. Mine was not as deep as hers was but here it is; Journal.
In history class we did a project on comparing religions. While this project
didn’t get us closer as a class it helped us explore different religions and
learn more. I did mine on Scientology and Greek Mythology. As far as I know no
one in my class believes in either of those religions but doing a project on
them still helped me learn more about those religions. So once again the
projects we did this year helped us
We had a poetry
unit in class. While most projects are very strict, and have to be a
certain way according to the rubric this project was not. With poetry
everything is artistic and full of feeling. You have to dig deep to find the
soul of your poetry. The whole class had to write five poems each was given to
us by our teacher but everyone took their poem a different way. One poem about
your childhood could be games you played as a kid or things you believed in.
With the poetry unit not only did we get to show off our skills but we also got
to learn more about the other kids in class. One of my favorite poets was Justin
Pullins his stuff was amazing and I had never even known.
At the end of the year we worked on the Schuykill River with
the Leah Stein Dance Company. We worked in groups with people we did not
normally work with. Working with new people in our class helped us become
closer as a stream. Dancing
on the river in publicwhere anyone could see us helped us break out of
our shell. My group had to work together to create a dance from al our
different personalities and styles. It is hard, and the fact that we all felt
like fools didn’t help at first but as time went on we became more relaxed in
our dance and more confidant with our production. We suffered through the heat
to perform and it was awesome to see performances from other students in our
class.
This year was hard and this year was long but because we were able to become closer as a class it made the year just that much easier to handle.
Never shall I forget the start of all my shit, though it is not fair to blame him Never shall I forget the scorn Never shall I forget the alcohol Never shall I forget the yelling, crying, and name calling Never shall I forget the abandonment Never shall I forget those who were there for me Never shall I forget the liers Never shall I forget the weed Never shall I forget him, her, him, him, her, him, her, or her Never shall I forget the friends I lost Never shall I forget the changes we all went through Never shall I forget the friends I gained Never shall I forget those moments
"Salir de aqui! No quieremos tu ecutilo de musica!" el hombre se dice cuando Francisco fue tirado de el clandestino.
"Es bueno!" se dice Francisco. "Yo puedo obtener un trabajo en cualquier lugar!" Esto no es verdad, Francisco fue un guitarrador muy bueno, puede tocar cada canción en existencia, pero una día, Francisco no quiere tocar las canciones vieja mas, quiere tocar algo nuevo. Entonces, Francisco toca música por siete días, tratando que crear una nuevo tipo de música. En la fin, el encontra una nuevo tipo de música, el tome la guitarra y toca muy rápido y las acordes muy fuerte, que hacer una sonido muy áspero y muy cherva, pero, cherva solo por Francisco, desde que crear esta nueva música, no clandestino, o club, o nada mas quiere el toca la guitarra.
Todos de ellos tienen la queja mismo, "El sonido no es bueno, es muy dolorosa. Puede toca flamenco o, música para acompañar una cuplé." Cuando cada persona se dice esto, Francisco se dice la mismo palabras, "Tu eres una idiota la talla de una elefante, pero, tu no se que un elefante es? Eh? No puede ver algo bien que están cagando a tu cara!" Y, después el dice esto, la propietario hace la mismo también. Se sentabe, y mira a la ventana, después tome una respiración profunda, y dice, "Securidad!" Y los hombres que guardia la club o clandestino venir a la cuarto y tome Francisco afuera, y la propietario venga a la cuneta que los hombres se tiran Francisco, y se dice que la historia comenzó con.
Esto club en particular fue el dicimonoveno club que Francisco fue a tratar para obtener un trabajo, o obtener una grupa de otros músicos para tocar una serie de canciones. Es innecesario que dice, pero Francisco fue abajo en suerte. Entonces, Francisco fue a la calle, para toma una caminar cuando toma todas tiempos cuando abajo en suerte. Pero, desde el guerra, la calle no tiene la música que tiene en la pasado, posible de Franco, posible de el efecto de guerra sobre gente. Esta día la calle fue muy animado, gente fue caminando a no lugar en particular, y durante esta día, Francisco esconda la elemento que completo la tipo de música que el hace en las siete días cuando el hace nada pero tocar. El esconda la voz.
Ella se llama Catarina, y desde ser una chicita, tiene una forma de cantar que no otro chicota tiene. Cuando los otros chicitas fue cantanda la canciones muy preciosa, y cantanda muy suave y con las notas, pero Caterina fue cantanda notas bruto y fuerte, el sonido de música como Francisco, pero, solo en voz. Pero, nadie te gusta la voz de Caterina, todo de la vida de ella gente se dice a tu que, "Parate cantar chica! No puede cantar para cada canción, no tiene una voz suave como nosotros, tiene una voz muy bruto, y nadie te gusta!" Pero, Catarina no tome esto palabras a tu corazón, y todos días ella fue a la mercado cantanda para todos personas escucha. Esto es la día que Francisco y Catarina tienen caminos que cruz.
Francisco mira circo de el, "Que es esta sonido muy bonito?"
Una persona en la calle pregunto a el, "Que sonido, solo que me escuche es la sonida de Catarina gritando."
Francisco negó con la cabeza, "No es una grita, es una sonido perfect, con la tono perfecto para mi guitarra."
La persona tome una reír muy alta, "La voz de Catarina, bonita? HAHAHA! Tu eres una comediante increible."
Francisco ignore que la persona dice, y camina a Catarina. "Hola señorita."
"Quien es tu? Un violador o otro criminal?" Se dice caterina.
"No no no, yo no puedo hacer nada pero disfruta a tu voz magnifico."
"Mi voz magnifico? Señor, tiene una problema con tu oídos? Todo de mi vida personas se dice que mi voz es horrible, mas bruto y fuerte por gente es que se dice."
"No no no, tome ulna momento, y escucha a mi guitarro." Y Francisco toca la musica con el tono muy bruto y fuerte.
En una instantanea la ojos de Catarina comenzo a brillar. "Es la musico que yo estan cantando! La musica de yo!"
"No no no, es la música de nos. Y con tu, puede hacer esta música y hacer muy famoso." Y Catarina fue acuerdo, entonces Francisco usa todo de la dinero que obtiene en todo de la tiempo cuando tener un trabajo, para alquiler un club, y hacer publicidad.
En la día de el rendimiento, el club fue agotado, y todo la personas fue interesando en la nuevo tipo de música que Francisco prometio. Cuando Catarina y Francisco fue a la etapa, todo el club será silencio. Cuando ellos comenzaron tocando, todo el club te gusta el sonido. El noche tiene la rendimiento mas increíble que todo otro rendimiento que pasar en la historia de rendimientos.
Después la rendimiento, Catarina y Francisco fue a la bastidores, y hablar de que pasar, cuando esto están occurando, una hombre vestido en todo negro entre, y detenidos ambos y poner en cárcel, porque Franco no aprobar esto tipo de músico con los sonidos bruto y fuerte. Entonces la música de Francisco y Catarina fue perdido, hasta que la invención de punk en 1974 en la UK. Pero, esto es una historia por un otro tiempo.
To some, English and History are acknowledged as being their "least
favorite subjects”. But in my opinion, they are the finest. This is because
they both teach you how to become a better person. Personally, I have found every
year of English and History to be my favorite as I lived through it, and this
year was no exception. I remember walking through the door the first day. My
first impression was that the classes were going to be fun and challenging at
the same time. As time moved on, this reality continued. I soon found myself
looking forward to both of those classes daily.
One
memorable experience for me was writing the descriptive essay. To read it,
please click here. At first, I thought that it would be quite difficult to do.
The reason is because I felt as though the descriptions for my mentioned
experiences would not meet expectations. But, as the project rolled along, I
learned of my mistakes. I discovered that the key is to simply continue writing
everything that you remember about the experience, no matter how big or small.
Another thing to remember is to use all five senses in the descriptions, if
appropriate. This gives the reader an accurate image of the flashback within
their mind.
Another
memorable experience for me was doing the Podcast Benchmark. To listen to it,
please click here. I remember wondering what was the point of this English
project, as it has little to do with reading. I didn’t realize until the end of
it’s true meaning. Doing a podcast is just like witnessing the events of a
book. As my aunt told me of her experiences, I was able to see the facial
expressions as she spoke, and could connect to her in a far more effective way.
I had a feeling of understanding that the words on the pages of a book would
have never given to me.
One
more memorable experience for me was writing the Op Ed. To read it, please
click here. At first, I wondered why writing a news article would be required
for History class, as it has nothing to do with the world events of the past.
However, I eventually learned that although it is about issues of the present,
the present is a result of the past. As I was working on it, I found myself
writing about the historic events that led to my more modern topic. After
finishing it, I learned that the current conditions of the world are effects of
the events of the past. I also realized how important our actions of the
present must be, as it will affect the future.
My
final thoughts about the English and History courses this year are that they
were required to help make me a better student and citizen of America. I have
learned that the world is far from perfect, and will unfortunately never be.
However, compromise will make the conditions of it better for everyone. For
example, I remember doing the Language Autobiography. To read it, please click
here. Although two populations of humans sound different, a common understanding
of English can be had. Anyway, another final thought that I have is that even
though an individual’s contribution to the world may seem small, when gathered
together, a larger population has the power to change the way we all
see the world currently, and beyond.
Throughout the year, I felt that I learned and changed a lot from this class. From the day I set foot into the room I wanted to know what there was to learn in History, and not so much of English. In all honesty, I felt as though the first half the semesters in the class was rather slow and I wasn't very captivated. But however things took a turn towards the end of the year right now. And now I admire both of these subjects to the same extent.
A first project that I liked was the Religions benchmark. Despite of the outcome, the grade and how much time I put on it to get that, I'm still proud of it. Because in the beginning I thought that I knew a lot about it but I learned that I didn't know too much and instead learned more than I thought. More astonishing was that it ties in with another project that I would later do towards the end of the year.
Another thing that I did in the year and stood out among others was the Cortés Trial. It was the class's first ever trial, to determine who was at fault during the rulings of Conquistadors in present day Mexico. We were separated into groups and would later verbally battle it out to make a decision on who's the culprit. The trial was something that I've never done in the middle of a classroom, in easier terms I'd say it was a heated discussion that challenged our public speaking skills and the questioning + answering skills. I was nervous at times but when the time for my prosecuting parter (Vinny) and I to go up against the opponents, while all eyes were on us, there was nothing to do but to question what needs to be questioned and find the answer to what needs to be answered in order to prove a point and determine the one at fault.
This next memorable work that I liked is also a trial. Instead this one was on Sweatshops, and it may sound weird, but this was a controversial topic that I never expected would've turned out the way it did. I was prosecutor yet again, this time to determine who is at fault for putting sweatshop workers in danger. This trial had the class realize how much others around the world have to go through in order to create the daily things we use. From the past trial about Cortés, being a prosecutor wasn't so hard for me anymore, I just went up and do what needed to be done "get a satisfying answer". This trial was more intense than the Cortés one, rather that it was a heated discussion, it was more like a discussion packing heat. At some point it got quite a bit personal between two groups that later turned into a flame war. At the end of the day, people might "ehh, who cares it's just a fake trial", but to us (at least I do) it matters because at some point of the trial we all got caught up in a moment.
Mr. Block had write an Op-Ed one day, and this took place during the 3rd-4th quarter. Everyone in the class was pretty puzzled that day because almost none of us had a clue what Op-Ed was. Except that it sounded like two abbreviated words turned into 5 characters. Block later explained that we were to write a report like paper based on a controversial topic along with our own opinions using facts. I'd call it a Factual & Opinionated piece. I don't know about others, but to me, it couldn't get any better. It wasn't my first time writing these so I felt at ease.There was one problem, during that moment in time many things were happening around the world, from natural disasters to made made destructions. Over the course of two days I decided to pick the Libya Vs. NATO topic. So for a period of time I caught up even more with the current event through both the internet and television news. I however felt that it was too controversial so I had doubts at first, however I didn't really care and kept on writing it. When the deadline arrived, I finished it a day head, and Block said that we were to send emails to newspapers and see if some of ours to qualified to be published on them. I wanted mines to be published to a local Philadelphia Newspaper, I got one reply back that they received it but never got one back on whether or not it was published, but I don't really care because after all I'm satisfied with it.
One of the last projects of the year was a History benchmark, that we were all to do on colonization. All of us were to pick a country, and make a proposal for a museum and have eight artifacts to be displayed. I picked Israel yet again, and somehow it turned in to Israel & Palestine (*note that the images are indeed not displayed on the document, but if you google the names they will show up as expected*). I had much difficulties with this benchmark in the beginning because it was so confusing how it tied in to Palestine the neighboring country and eventually mind-boggling when I found out how much it tied in with many of the works I did in class before it. Such as the Op-Ed because it was controversial, the Religions benchmark I mentioned earlier, and the Cortés trial because I was determined to find out who was at fault to put Israel & Palestine to the position they are in present day. Now it may seem irrelevant to colonization but it started out as colonization, then to religious crisis and to an ongoing conflict that hasn't been to put to a halt. After the eight artifacts proposal was done I thought that it was officially over, but I was wrong. After this we were all appointed to make a presentation out of either powerpoint of keynote to display the topic and country itself. Unlike others who went specifically to the point of how their museum was to be laid out, I took a stab at a different angle. I did my presentation to the conflict from the beginning of colonization to a bigger conflict and eventually today. Within it were insights on some of the artifacts to be displayed, without the audience even knowing.
An extra memorable work that I liked a lot was the second to last project I done recently. The Art in the Open Festival. I really don't know how to call it, but The Art in the Open was where separate performances the whole class contributed in. Mr.Block appointed us to create an art dance that took place in the street and with the assistance from a professional group of Street Artist/Dancers, the class performed it along the river banks on the day of the festival. To put it in easier terms again, this type of art and dance involved the interaction with the environment around us. It's definitely my favorite because we went from knowing nothing of what street art is to performing it to live audiences. Block allowed us two weeks to practice the performance at a certain site along the river banks, and in honest words I was very satisfied with the product that the group made on performance day despite the fact of 100+ degree heat. Only thing that was kind of disappointing was my fail on a jump during the first performance, but there was a second performance so it meant that there's always space to improve. The failed jump, resulted in some scrapes but those scrapes are actually the reflection on the effort put in to create that act.
The last piece of work that I like a whole lot, is the one that I'm currently working on. The one,that whoever you are, is reading. It displays all the work that I'm proud of and that the public gets to see them. And it's the Final Portfolio.
I have gone through a lot in my
time with Mr. Block and his English and history classes. Now typically when
people use those words they refer to a bad experience. However, this was not a
bad experience. This was an experience that will carry me through the rest of my
life, between the experiences.
We started with descriptive essays
for English, which were rather difficult for me. Due to my lack of the ability
to use words to really describe my environment, my grade didn’t really shine as
well as I wanted it to. I think it was really because of my lack to want to try
something that I didn’t really want to do. It was outside of my comfort zone
and I didn’t really want to attempt it because of that. I guess in a way you
can say I was more, close-minded then. I wasn’t open to new things.
Later on in the year for history we
had to do a trial. This trial was very exciting for me considering I find the
whole law system to be a very interesting and amazing thing to be a part of. We
studied Cortés and his expedition. The trial was to see who was the guiltiest.
This assignment made us find research and then apply what we learned to make
the other groups guilty. I, as the prosecutor really enjoyed my job. I got to
target the other groups and make them sound guilty. I was able to apply my
knowledge from watching law and order in to my classroom assignment!
Later in the year for English, we
had to create poetry. This was another English assignment that I wasn’t exactly
too comfortable with. I just find it hard to express my feelings or things that
have happened in my life through words. I got through it and I was a little bit
more enthusiastic about the whole thing where as before I when I had to do
something outside my comfort zone I would have not been enthusiastic at all.
For history at the end of the year,
we had to create an exhibit. The exhibit project required us to create an
exhibit that demonstrated the effects of colonization. It was a really fun
project because we were able to be creative with it. It allowed us to make our
own creation. It required us to be more time conservative of ourselves since we
had to find the research and then create the whole project.
In the beginning of the year, I
specifically remember saying, “oh I don’t want to do that stupid dance!” Now
this dance was the art in the open dance that we were required to do at the end
of the year. I can tell that my opinion changed because I loved doing it. I
went from, “ew, I don’t want to do this,” to, “that was fun!” It was a great experience and I will always remember it.
In the end of the year I think I
can take away the ability to say, “I can be more enthusiastic about things I
don’t like.” Also, I think I have gained the ability to manage my time. It
really has made me more independent. This is why when I say I have gone through
a lot with Mr. Block, I really have. His classes have made me into a better and
more of my own individual.
I don’t know where to start. First
off, I would like to thank my English and History teacher, Mr. Block, for
opening my eyes and, introducing me to, an entirely new perspective of
learning. Before this year, I hated History with all of my heart. I wished it
had happened, at all- not to mention, he taught two of the most boring subjects
known to “teen-kind”… English and History. But, when Mr. Block began teaching
me that History wasn’t just about memorizing presidents and historical dates, I
began to truly see just how valuable and interesting our history is. In the
next couple paragraphs, I hope to express the magnitude of knowledge I was
exposed to in both English and History this year, and how my learning never
stopped growing.
The first major assignment I did
that I consider to have altered my perspective on his class was the political ad
assignment. Of course, in English class you will read a variety of novels
and pieces of literature, Lord of the Flies not being an exception. Never in a
million years would I have thought to turn a fiction book about stranded
lunatics into a political expression, one in which you could design a campaign
to support your favorite character. To me, this wasn’t just an opportunity to
show your creative side, but it showed me that books don’t have to be pages
with a lot of words, but you can expand it to be something more. That project
taught me to appreciate application of knowledge compared to being tested on
chapter, after chapter, after chapter. If not for this project, reading books
would have been preceded a quiz, but now, I can apply my perspective of the
literature to real life situations.
By far, the most enlightening
activity we did in History was the Spiritual Role Play. When I first heard that
we were going to be taking on the role of a whole bunch of spiritual old
people, I thought, “Hey, this is new… and has the potential to be the most
boring thing I would ever have to do,” and indeed, it was very new. In my case,
I played the peace activist Mohandas Gandhi, who had already been dead for over
60 years, while other students had taken on the role of people who had lived in
the 18th century, or who was still currently living. The best part
about this project was the fact that, never, would this specific group of very
special people meet again. The variety of cultural immersion I had experienced,
from Amma the hugging saint, to the genocidal Pope Urban. To me, it wasn’t
about the fact that these people were intelligent, wise, different or any of
those particularly keen characteristics, but it was about experiencing the
diversification of the people’s responses to one another. To me, only with a
combination of historical accuracy, character perspective and SLA students will
you experience what it would be like to look at one another in a different
person’s perspective other than your own. It wouldn’t have been as great of an
experience if one or two people had altered their reference in efforts to get
to know another individual, but the significance holds potential in the
consistency of the student’s standpoints for each of the other spiritual, and
historical figures. As I look back on this experience, no matter how many pages
worth of notes or response I will ever write, I don’t think I will ever be able
to express how much I learned from that project. In my personal
response I did after the assignment to reflect on the experience, I can
remember spending about an hour or two trying to put my adventure with this
project into words, but never successfully meeting my expectations.
The last two critical experiences I
have had in both English and History with Mr. Block were the trials. In class,
we had realistic, fact-based trials to determine the guiltiest and most
innocent parties in a particular situation. The first trial, which I
unfortunately lost, was the most intense, probably because that was my first
trial I ever had- in or out of school. The following trial that we did took
place later on in the year, but this time, I wasn’t going to lose- I refused.
In fact, by us having two trials throughout the course of a school year, you
can use the results of both trials to reflect on your performance, whether it
changed for the better or the worse, in my case it was for the better. In the
trials that took place later in the year, we discussed who was responsible for
the child labor and sweatshops that are a crucial part of the multinational
corporations that we buy from everyday. Being that I didn’t come in last place
as I did with the Cortes trial, I was certain that I was improving as a student
and learning more than I ever had in the past. As I explained in my trial response,
I honestly believed that this was as close to a trial as you will ever get,
without actually being in the presence of a true judge, instead of a teacher
ruling with an iron thermos (Mr. Block forgot his wooden “block” LOL, so he
used his water thermos bottle thing.) Honestly, I think being in a class-driven
trial, we experienced as much of a real trial as we could. See, since I wanted
to be a lawyer since I was about 4, I never really understood what it truly
meant to prosecute a defense. Not only did this trial expose me to a real world
occupation, but opened me up to an entirely more realistic interpretation of
what a trial would be like- no more using the 12 year-old representation of
a=being a lawyer to refer to what I hoped to spend a career on. And, if you
don’t know what my 12 year-old representation of a lawyer was, I thought I was
going to win every case, but thanks to the real world immersion in the class, I
can finally experience what it would be like in a real court room, with a real
judge and a real verdict.
Finally, probably my most prized
project I ever created in my entire life, applied the classroom curriculum to
the real world with more succession that any of the other activities I
mentioned previously. This project was a museum exhibit
proposal that we designed in efforts to be built in a new museum by the
board of museum management. This exhibit significance was supposed to teach the
causes, effects, and everything in between, of colonialism. The first key to me
realizing that I have substantially been improving in these classes was my
overall grade on the project, I received a 99/100… 1 POINT FROM PERFECTION. The
second key was that my fellow colleagues voted for me to be a finalist in the
election of the best museum. I am particularly proud with my production of this
project because this was my highest grade Benchmark I ever received, and I know
received many compliments and acknowledgements from my peers for my work, but
never was I elected to be a finalist among my entire class. This project
reflects my growth in English and History the most because it is most
realistic. Sure, campaigning happens, but only annually, trials happen, but
those happen everyday and don’t really hold much significance. But, a museum is
not even close to the realm of impossibility. If I were to design a museum in
the future, I would dedicate it to English, History and my teacher for both of
those classes, for showing me how much you can truly learn in only a few
months, and how much you will grow.
Hopefully, you enjoyed my
representation of the key highlights of my year educational growth, and at your
own leisure, please take a look at my “Top 12 Most Memorable
Quotes,” and my Poetry Wiki.
During the year in Mr. Block’s classes, both English and
History he has really took a different way of teaching the same material other
students my age are learning. Being a student of SLA we already don’t often use
textbooks and we use Internet and hands on stuff but to expand on that we did a
lot of role taking and becoming the past. This often happened more in history
during the different trials we did. In the trials you had to become the roll of
the side you were placed on. You didn’t pick this side and you had to learn the
side of these people and make then look innocent whether or not you agreed.
This was a challenge but told great self-control and really pushed the mind to
think different. This was often a group project and everyone did a part, here
is a link to the Google doc with all the information leading up to the trials.
When
it came to history we learned a lot of different view points and where different
people stand through out the world. It was interesting to see what other people
think and why they think that because of how they were brought up in life.This
was one thing we really focused on during the religion unit. "Is religion real?" This was a question we looked at during this unit as well. We studied what
other believed in and what made them believe it. We did a benchmark, and I have
to say it was one of my favorite benchmarks. We had to compare three or more
religions in some way. So for my project, I compared the idea of God and what
it is and why God is so important. Other people looked at issues of gay rights
or heaven. This project forced you to learn about religions that you don’t
practice and compare them and really study them in-depth. It helped open my
views and it was a great learning experience.
To
start off the year on the first day and the first page of our brand new crispy
journals we wrote about a song we listened to. The song was sung by a woman and
was about the travel process of clothing. The song kept bringing up the
question of weather or not a person’s hands were clean and asked each listener
if they thought their hands were clean. This was the start of the year and Mr.
Block already had us thinking deeper into such common everyday things, our
hands and the new back to school clothes everyone had on. It broadened my
perspective and got me ready to understand how basic things were not really all
that basic.
Towards
the mid-end of the year we started a poetry unit and was able to write and
create a wiki-space that was filled with our own poetry and writing pieces
about how we understand poetry by different famous writers. From one of my pieces I said "I start for you,the flash of your hair, pushesme back, makes my heart whirl, fall to ground, your power is sooverwhelming." It was really cool
to see everyone write and perform their written pieces and to read over
everyone’s personal wiki-spaces.
One of the biggest projects I have ever done in my whole
life I can say I did this year. During this year we had to write monologues
that turned into a story. These stories were about something about change and
hope in other parts of the world and it involved them overcoming something. We
started the project lost and confused but through the exercises and activities
we did with Kate, a lady from the young play writers company, everyone was able
to complete this project. There is no way I would have been able to do this
without the help of my peers. They helped give great feedback and ideas to add
to make the plot more interesting. It really gave peer editing a whole new
meaning. This project included two Google documents, one with all the facts and
information about our topic and country and the other was just strictly the
monologues and the feedback to help us improve.
In
English we read a book called Passing. This book was all about how to make you
look or act one way to fit in with certain people, this was called passing.
This book was based in the past and focused a lot on blacks trying to pass as
whites because of shame or for their safety. With groups we were assigned parts
of the book to reread and analyze closer. My group wrote a found poem, meaning
we took quotes from the book and put it together to help explain and tell the
story and themes of the book in a different way and then we presented it to the
class. To do this project we all both it on a Google document and edited and
wrote in together.
This
school year in History and English has been very unique. From transferring from
a charter school to a public magnet wasn’t hard for me, but it was very much
new. I wasn’t use to hands on experiments and engaging topics that didn’t lose
my interest. I was able to express how I felt about certain lessons that the class
was learning at the time. I liked how in class we didn’t have to agree on each
other’s thoughts. While Mr. Block wanted us to be polite to each other we where
still able to debate on what we thought was right. This was different from any
class I have ever taken. Usually a teacher wouldn’t tell your opinion, let
alone care!
During our poetry unit I could say that I
expressed a lot of things that I don’t like to talk about with my friends and
family. It wasn’t very known because I never told the meaning behind them of
why I wrote them. I have token poetry units before in pervious English classes.
It was either you passed or failed, and good or bad. Here your poetry was
posted on a site that they class could see, and anyone that had the link to
search our class poems. I remember our poetry stand–up we had in class. If you
ask I think it took a lot of courage for me and my classmates to go up and read
one of their poems. I also gained more confidence on reading my own artwork. I
have no problem public speaking even though I have a sweet low voice.
One of my favorite projects was the monologue.
I have been writing short stories since the 8th grade so that really
help me a lot on this project. I have never written a play before. The play
that I have created was based on things that I noticed that would happen in
average teenage life. I also got ideas from books I have read before. During
this time, we was able to get outside resources from people besides our
teacher. Some other classmates and I was able to get the chance to go on a
retreat that was strictly on just helping students with their plays. When I was
at this retreat I was shocked to find out that our school project was a lot
more unique then the rest. I was able to take all of the good advice and create
a piece of art that was able to get submitted to the Philadelphia Young Play
Writes.
Lastly, the audio project was so surprising to
me. This was a benchmark that had to be done in a group. The project was based
on subjects that affect our national and people around us. My part of the
project was to ask people how society stereotype and judge people. My
interviews went better then I thought it would. I learned a lot about the world
and how different people see it. It gave me the chance to learn through their eyes
of their opinion.
English
and History & Mr. Block… Where do I start? They both were pretty much the
same for me since both of them related to each other. It was hard to tell which
class was which because we had the same teacher as well. This year was
interesting for me because we learned new things everyday and the whole year
went by so fast. For English, we read couple of books, wrote poems, essays and
bunch of other things. I really got to learn more about myself when writing
essays and or writing poetry. For our history class, we went from this side of
the world to that, we landed everywhere. We got to learn about the places,
their cultures, religions, and how different they are from our nation.
First
of all, I want to start off with my favorite unit from history class, which was
the religion project. Well, not my
favorite but the project that I worked the hardest on. It required a lot, A LOT
of research. In the end, I felt pretty good about my final piece because I went
with the topic, which was “Interfaith Marriages and Religions” with a focus
point on Hinduism and Islam. I learned heaps of things that I never thought I’d
learn. I got bits of a taste of how it’d feel being a victim in an interfaith
marriage with a Hindu other or an Islamic other. When I was researching about
Islam, I passed by this quote “Girls far below the age of puberty are forcibly
married to older persons (sometimes in their 50s and later)...” This was how a
Muslim girl lived, working for their husband. For this project, I had to create
a pamphlet and I told why interfaith marriages should be allowed in these kinds
of religions.
In
addition, I wrote poems that related to me this year! In my poetry project, I wrote about my
memories, the memories that I long to repeat itself, and about myself with different
styles of poetry. Take an example of the poem “I was raised by…” I wrote about
how I was raised, where I was raised, what I was raised for etc. In the ending
of my poem, I wrote, “I was raised by the world filled with love.” Because I
know there are unfortunate kids out there, and I am fortunate enough to have
everything that I have now. Poetry made me realize how fortunate I am.
Next
thing would definitely be the monologue
project; I’d say it was the longest period of time we’ve ever worked on on
a unit. It was worth it though because I got to work with something, I’ve never
worked on before. First of all, I’d never heard the term ‘monologue’. I was
confused with the whole idea. Then working with Mr. Block, I started writing
them and then started talking with my colleagues; they really helped me
understand the whole process. In addition, we had to choose a historic event
and I chose Chinese invasion in Tibet. I got to learn new things and got more
involved with my own culture.
In
the beginning of the year, we read the book called “Lord of the Flies” and we
had to write a thesis paper. I chose my theme as Judgment. I’m specifically
proud of my thesis of the paper because it proves a very important matter where
it states; “By looking at Lord of the Flies and modern political leader, we can
see that public usually judge the leader by their voice and looks, which most
people do not see; this is important because you are letting someone lead you
not knowing how well he/she can handle the crowd in situations.” I used sources
from both the book and I researched. Researching is the tip when it comes to
writing paper.
Last
thing I want to reflect on is my colonialism
project, where I researched about post-colonial and pre-colonial effects on
India.Our project was to pick a
country and create an exhibit based on colonial times. I focused my
presentation on colonial beneficiaries in India. I brought different artifacts
and went in detail about how it related to the topic and how it will look like
in the exhibit.I am very proud of
this work because I worked a whole week researching about colonialism in India.
I got to learn the history of India before colonialism.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This is just one of the many quotes I’ve discovered for myself throughout the year in both english and history. During the year, we dove into topics and discussions in which, related to things in the past, or how things use to be. But even though something happened hundreds of years ago, there are still traces in today’s society of the impact it left. History is going on all around us, yet we’re all too blinded to notice. It takes a keen observer, to notice the situations around us, and then relate it through the very words we create. I always thought to myself growing up... the significance of learning about people from hundreds of years ago. It was only until this year I finally realized that without proper understanding of how things use to be, one cannot stride to change things for the better. After all, during the french revolution, the french stood up to their queen and eventually caused a mass world historic event. Yet, only a very few months ago, there was a gathering in Egypt to take down their leader. This is one of the few times where unless properly learned, history shall repeat itself.
But don’t get me wrong, there was also another key element in which revolved around my year in english and history, the idea of justice. Throughout the year, we as a class formed together and did many exhilarating projects. A few of them being trials, which would be held to find a verdict for the unjust ways of treating. The first, being the Cortez trial. The conquering of the Aztecs were held in many different perspectives. Some say it was the king of Spain who told Cortez to do it. While others were blaming Cortez for following through with it. But without proper background knowledge on the situation, the groups would have never expected to come out victorious and not guilty of their harsh acts towards society. These trials were very active, yet fun at the same time. Groups would band together and fight for what they believe in. Sometimes I’d feel like we actually took a travel back in time, and were actually living in it. But those trials weren’t the only way our class portrayed the idea of justice.
During the end of the year, we as a class took a trip down to the Eastern State Penitentiary, one of the first prison systems in the city of Philadelphia. The key topic for this was the combination of justice, and rehabilitation. The people believed if you did an unjust act towards society, you’d be forced to suffer the consequences. But we learned that their methods of “rehabilitation” were rather... barbaric. They would take each person and lock them in a room for 23 hours of the day. The belief of solitary confinement was the only true way of change. Living in today’s society, it’s completely clear that was a very cruel and inhumane way of treating a human being. But don’t get me wrong... even today’s society has its flaws, especially in regards to races and other ways to separate a one, true species.
But in the end, I feel that with this year in english and history, I learned a lot about the course of the past, and relating it to how things are now. Somethings developed only for the better, but nonetheless, also for the worse. I’ve learned that we as humans will always have some sort of flaw, and seek guidance from anyone or anything to try to change that. And even though we are the most developed species of animal on this planet, we still have a lot to learn in regards to how we affect society in not only the present, but also the future. Every footstep as individuals we make, will go down in history. Whether that footstep is the first on the moon, or the personification of justice. We will always be paving the way for the next generation to follow our footsteps.
And here's a few examples of my work relating to the topics previously mentioned throughout the course of the year:
Throughout English and World History, it has been gradual process of learning and working. Throughout these courses, we have all been asked to form opinions and beliefs about the various world issues of yesterday and today.
In my opinion, I hope that every single student does not hold the same beliefs, opinions, and learning techniques and skills that they had in September. Hopefully, we all have grown in our educational journey and process.
In English, I feel that we have been encouraged to use our opinions more to decipher the text we read and to find "deeper meanings" within. One of the key examples of this is the very first Q1 Benchmark about The Lord of the Flies.In this paper, I expressed an idea through my opinion, and then I took the readers through my journey to reach my conclusion. This is a prime example of allowing one to understand multiple perspectives of the same topic in order to receive a well-rounded education.
Throughout the English course, I was also encouraged to immerse myself into the world of various people, from prisoners to world leaders. This was the goal of the Jarvis Jay Masters' readings. In my response to the readings, the observations of the powerful effects of desperation is evident.
In World History, the focus has changed slightly. Instead of exclusive opinion-forming, we are also required to learn non-biased facts about the past and present them to people. A prime example of the was the Museum Exhibition Benchmark we created to education patrons about colonialism. In the presentation, we had to state the facts to our classmates and allow them to form their own opinions.
Also, History encouraged us to explore different fields, such as traditional art during the Renaissance. In the Exploration of a Renaissance Artist assignment, I had to highlight the work of a great artist of the day and try to find the meaning of their work.
However, one of my favorite assignments in History is by far the trials. In the Aztec trial, we had to learn facts about the topic, just had he had in the Museum Presentations, but then, we had to use those facts to alter the opinion of everyone else. This taught us a new skill of using facts to sway the opinions of a majority.
English and World History has merged and separated in order to teach us things about the the world, ourselves, and each other. The lessons we have learned here are invaluable.
Through out this school year, I have learned many things to do and not to do. Toward the beginning of the year, I had no idea what I was in for and I did not have the writing skills that I do now. When I look at what I wrote and how I wrote at the beginning of the year, I cringe a little, because I know what I would write now. Another thing at the beginning of the year is that I had the stupid idea of not paying attention or completing homework just because I didn’t feel like it. As the year progressed, I realized that I was flushing my college opportunities down the drain. I had to change, and I started to give my full attention and not goof around nearly as much. When I compare my writing from the beginning of the year to now, I see how much better it has gotten due to simply paying attention and taking the extra time to revise what I wrote.
My first example is from the beginning of the year, the Language Auto-Biography. This is an example of when I did not go back and look at my what I had written. In this Language Auto-Biography, I did not revise. Another thing about this Auto-Biography is that I did not have the writing skills that I do now. When I look over it I read things that are grammatically correct, but could be worded much more maturely and more descriptive. This particular Auto Biography could have had fewer but much longer, more in depth paragraphs.
The next example of my work growing through out the school year is my Poems wiki Assignment. This assignment was in the middle of the year and my writing skills were not at where they are now, but they were much better than the beginning of the year. I had never been that great at making poetry, and I was extremely nervous about writing these poems. I feel the best poem of the ones I created is the Memory Poem. It encompasses deep though, heavy emotion, imagery, and descriptive language. “About to collapse under my impatience, about to explode from building up with anxiety.” This line, I believe, is the best line from the memory poem. I never thought that I could make a poem like this. But with paying attention and asking many questions, I have gotten much better at writing poetry. Another thing I learned about poetry is, it is like writing anything else, you have to go back and revise. When I look at a poem from where I first wrote it based off the top of my head, to what it has become after many revisions, it is so gratifying to see how much better it reads.
One of the later writing assignments, writing chapter 26 of Things Fall Apart, shows how my writing skills have grown. This new chapter is based off the previous chapters and ties into what was going through his head. The chapter is one of the better pieces of writing that I wrote throughout the year. It is very descriptive and well thought out to deal with the plot line already started.
Through out this long year, I have realized that I really need to keep up with my school work and always pay attention and ask questions, even though those may be obvious things, sometimes the obvious is over looked. To develop any skills in writing, like anything else, you must first learn what the teacher has to say by listening to him/her and asking many questions. Toward the beginning I had many things to learn and many habits to pick up. I have successfully learned and picked up most of them. I just need to improve the skills that I have learned and put them into use.
