Jiwon Choi: Element Print

Inquiry:

  For inquiry, I wondered about what kind of object I should print out for my element. After I chose my object, I had to think of how big I want my object to be. 


Research:

  I researched the objects that my elements make and I searched up the images to draw it. 


Collaboration:

   For collaboration, I asked my classmates which three are the best out of the five that I printed out. Also, I helped out my classmates by answering questions and helping them out in general. 


Presentation:

   I am presenting my printed objects by posting them on the slate blog of SLA. Also, I will be showing my art teacher, Mrs. Hull, my paintings.


Reflection: 

  I reflect on my process by writing out what I did. By using the five core values of SLA, I can write a reflection on my project. 


20130611_131906
20130611_131906
20130611_131930
20130611_131930
20130611_131954
20130611_131954

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 8.38.15 AM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 8.38.15 AM
Everyone is different and therefore there is never one "correct" way to teach them. Learning is not just reading a textbook and taking quizzes but it extends way beyond that. There are many different ways to learn that are more creative and they vary depending on each person. Not everyone can be able to learn well through reading but there are other ways such as through listening or visuals. Throughout my history and english 10th grade course, I have experienced many different methods of learning and realized that they are all unique in their own ways. The way we learned throughout the year was just as important as the material itself.

One of our major projects this year was to interview someone and make a podcast to explore the topic of crossing boundaries. We had a few class discussions but did not go to much in depth about it until we all finished our podcast. While sitting through the interview and listening to the other podcast, I gained something that I would have never gotten if it was in text form or discussions. I felt and heard the emotions expressed through listening. In my reflection of the podcast, I wrote, “Although I have done interviews a few times before, this time it felt like something different because it was something that I could really connect with, especially because I was interviewing my own brother.” If my brother was to write down everything he said and hand it to me, I would have read it but not feel any connection at all. The podcast added a deeper layer to my experience in learning about crossing boundaries. I was able to learn about the boundaries in general and also apply that to my life. If it was not for this podcast then I would not have known so much more about my brother.

The class also spent a huge amount of time writing our own play. Plays normally have a storyline to them that makes people interested but writing plays takes a lot of skill. Writing a play is not like writing an essay but it enables so much more creativity. Students are most likely going to put more effort into something that they enjoy and that is why writing a play is so important. It increases our writing skills but it also shows that we can learn from writing something that is not as formal as an essay. When I gave a brief summary of my play, I wrote, “One of the girls is a famous star who dreams of going back to school but cannot because she is too busy. The other girl is very poor and tries to find money to pay for her tuition and take care of her family at the same time.” Although this play did require a lot of editing, it also helped me learn about the life of people in different countries.

As one of our earliest projects, we had to write a series of monologues from different perspectives. Although there may be articles and news about the different views of the pipeline coming from certain groups of people but there is so much more we can learn. Writing monologues gave us an infinite range to choose from. We can write from the perspective of the pipeline, the trees, the earth, the water and so much more. For one of my monologues, called “One In Thousands,” I wrote from the point of view of a sensor in the pipeline and one of my lines was, “If something goes wrong, they’ll just blame us. “Oh, there’s something wrong with our sensors.” Pathetic. Why is it that I’m the only one that could see that we shouldn’t be here?” In order to express the feeling of a sensor, I had to do plenty of research. The monologues helped me have a better understanding of the effect of the pipeline because I did a lot more work and put more effort into it but at the same time it did not feel like much because it was an enjoyable project.

These are just a few examples of ways of learning that are different in many aspects from each other. Providing a range of projects can really help individuals have a better understanding of things because they each go into depth about a certain parts. Plays can help with the structure, monologues with the feelings, and podcasts with the connection. I am not the person who could understand things by reading a book and answering some questions so using creative methods in learning really boosted my knowledge. I paid attention to the methods and realized that everyone has a unique way of learning that suits them and that is a really important aspect in education.

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 8.38.15 AM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 8.38.15 AM

Everyone is different and therefore there is never one "correct" way to teach them. Learning is not just reading a textbook and taking quizzes but it extends way beyond that. There are many different ways to learn that are more creative and they vary depending on each person. Not everyone can be able to learn well through reading but there are other ways such as through listening or visuals. Throughout my history and english 10th grade course, I have experienced many different methods of learning and realized that they are all unique in their own ways. The way we learned throughout the year the way we learned was just as important as the material itself.

One of our major projects this year was to interview someone and make a podcast to explore the topic of crossing boundaries. We had a few class discussions but did not go to much in depth about it until we all finished our podcast. While sitting through the interview and listening to the other podcast, I gained something that I would have never gotten if it was in text form or discussions. I felt and heard the emotions expressed through listening. In my reflection of the podcast, I wrote, “Although I have done interviews a few times before, this time it felt like something different because it was something that I could really connect with, especially because I was interviewing my own brother.” If my brother was to write down everything he said and hand it to me, I would have read it but not feel any connection at all. The podcast added a deeper layer to my experience in learning about crossing boundaries. I was able to learn about the boundaries in general and also apply that to my life. If it was not for this podcast then I would not have known so much more about my brother.

The class also spent a huge amount of time writing our own play. Plays normally have a storyline to them that makes people interested but writing plays takes a lot of skill. Writing a play is not like writing an essay but it enables so much more creativity. Students are most likely going to put more effort into something that they enjoy and that is why writing a play is so important. It increases our writing skills but it also shows that we can learn from writing something that is not as formal as an essay. When I gave a brief summary of my play, I wrote, “One of the girls is a famous star who dreams of going back to school but cannot because she is too busy. The other girl is very poor and tries to find money to pay for her tuition and take care of her family at the same time.” Although this play did require a lot of editing, it also helped me learn about the life of people in different countries.

As one of our earliest projects, we had to write a series of monologues from different perspectives. Although there may be articles and news about the different views of the pipeline coming from certain groups of people but there is so much more we can learn. Writing monologues gave us an infinite range to choose from. We can write from the perspective of the pipeline, the trees, the earth, the water and so much more. For one of my monologues, called “One In Thousands,” I wrote from the point of view of a sensor in the pipeline and one of my lines was, “If something goes wrong, they’ll just blame us. “Oh, there’s something wrong with our sensors.” Pathetic. Why is it that I’m the only one that could see that we shouldn’t be here?” In order to express the feeling of a sensor, I had to do plenty of research. The monologues helped me have a better understanding of the effect of the pipeline because I did a lot more work and put more effort into it but at the same time it did not feel like much because it was an enjoyable project.

These are just a few examples of ways of learning that are different in many aspects from each other. Providing a range of projects can really help individuals have a better understanding of things because they each go into depth about a certain parts. Plays can help with the structure, monologues with the feelings, and podcasts with the connection. I am not the person who could understand things by reading a book and answering some questions so using creative methods in learning really boosted my knowledge. I paid attention to the methods and realized that everyone has a unique way of learning that suits them and that is a really important aspect in education.

English Journal #40

English Journal #40 (4/25/13) - Describe what it felt like to be crowded together. In what ways do you think this compares to what they went through in the book ?

It felt like being in a cage. Everybody's body heat made the experience very uncomfortable. There was no place to sit down, so I couldn't imagine standing for hours to days on end. It felt dark. This certainly doesn't compare to the real thing in Night : we were just in a classroom. We had places to go to the bathroom and food in our stomachs. They didn't. But it does give some insight. It was probably dark and highly uncomfortable not being able to sit down. They had the fear we didn't: the unknown. We knew we wouldn't be held up in this position for oh so long. We had to sit back down and get on with class. But those prisoners didn't know what was going to 

History Journal # 27

History Journal #27 (2/19/13) - In your opinion, what are the different messages of the cartoon ?

The smaller fish represent the poorest of people, stating there is no justice. He doesn't get anything, but he gets eaten. Behind him there is a bigger fish ready to eat him, saying there is some justice. He represents the middle class. He's still able to eat something, but he knows he is going to get eaten. Then behind him, there is the biggest fish, saying the the world is just. He represents the higher class. He gets to eat everything with no repercussions and nothing to worry about. The idea of this cartoon is that the higher-ups see everything as completely fine because everything is going their way, and they don't get reprimanded for their actions. They can ignore the lower classes without a care because their life is great. The poorest of people have the worst of luck, but they see the world as it really is because they can't help but not ignore the lives of people higher than them.

History Journal #36:

What is unique, special, or different about graphic novels?

In what ways is a story told through a graphic novel different from a story told in another genre (novels, film, audio, photographs)?

Something unique about graphic novels is that there is mainly dialogues to go with pictures. It does not focus too much on the background and extra detail. It is easy to read along but is able to tell a great story. We could actually see what is happening instead of having to imagine. Graphic novels are told differently from other genres because it uses both the visual aspect and the words to tell a story. It gives us a range and it could be similar to movies, photographs and novels.

Element Prints

Inquiry: We had to inquire about what we would do for our element prints. We had relate the prints to things about our elements. 

Research: We had to research our elements. That way we could make prints that related to them. 

Collaboration: People help each other with the prints. They helped each other pick which prints to use. 

Presentation: We presented the prints by matting them. We also presented them by putting them on the blog. 

Reflection: Reflecting on this project, I thought about what other kinds of prints I could make. I could have done other print designs, and other colors besides just red. 
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 1.27.56 PM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 1.27.56 PM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 1.26.27 PM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 1.26.27 PM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 1.25.53 PM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 1.25.53 PM

Element Print Reflection

Element Print Reflection
Zack Hersh

In this project, SLA's five core values are demonstrated.

Inquiry is demonstrated by asking questions like, "what is this element?", "what does it do?" or "what's cool about it?" to get started.

Research is demonstrated by actually researching these questions and your element, so you could know about it, and could create a clever and interesting design for your print.

Collaboration is demonstrated by having your peers and classmates there to help you if you need it. You may not know how to do something in the project, but a classmate does, demonstrating collaboration.

Presentation is demonstrated through the final product, final presentation of your element through your print. This is how you show off, or present your element.

Reflection is demonstrated here, in this blog post, by thinking back and reflecting on what was done and the project. It is thinking about what happened, and what will be taken away from this project.

This is how the five core values are present in this project.

Arsenic
Arsenic

History Journal #21

1. ​What are the differences between plays and movies?

Plays:
-Live
-Each time it's different
-More personal
-No rewinding
-People responses
-Less sceneries

Movies:
-Camera angles/camera
-Redos
-Mobility
-More room fror errors
-Special effects (digital)

2. What different things makes plays a powerful, lasting art form?
-Live
-Changes each performance
-Anything could happen and change
-See it once
-Human interaction
-Tradition
-Suspense

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

What I learned this year is many things but its hard to pick witch work I think is very good but my work I did this year has helped me learned more on history and on my writing skills and i belive that I have learned more than I did last year here is a Histroy jounraI did that shouled that i leared “European art from the renaissance on wards women were depicted as being dware of being seen by [male] spectator” this showed that I can take qutoes that I leared and use them to help me on my learning. there is so mush other work I did this year but I think overall I did ok for this year and hope I improve for years to come.



Hello If you are reading this that means that I am dead. I could not take what has been happing to my people, my family and myself I could not take these light skin people what they are doing to my land, my home and me as a person. I cant take any more of these people killing our tribe, are cature and our religion. I wish there was anthor way but to me there is none. I wanted to restore are people to our former glory but if my cature dies I die with it. but dont worry Ill be with the gods and godesses. I will be ok.


History Journal #17


European art from the renaissance on wards women were depicted as being dware of being seen by [male] spectator


This video I did for the arabs springs

https://vimeo.com/59252510


this blog post talks about I deal with writing

http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Two_ways_of_speaking


this is my monologs for the keystone pipeline

http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Keystone_Pipeline_Monologue_Project:8


this was a eassy I wrote about my life for english

http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Whats_Life_Holds_For_Me

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013


       In the beginning, God created Heaven and Earth. Then, he made a bunch of other stuff that shaped who we are today. And once he made the first human, he incorporated morals and knowledge into the human. Over the eons of generations of humans born into this world, these two important qualities have wilted and died just as old plants do. On the aspect of life, there are certain groups of people that maintain and understand these two core values, and puts them into personal perspective. When this years English class first started, I was … naive to the world and its issues but more of a subliminal ‘idgaf’ type attitude. But as the year progressed, and we began to learn about the more current issues made by our hierarchy; I realized that past events shaped today’s world in terrible ways[1] : when It came to learning about colonization, we realized that past affects affect us firsthand-subliminally. When it came to current events and the movements of new age, we realized that none of this would have happened if it were not for corrupt governments.

One key moment wheres reality set in about our … thought process and how we have been brought down was when we began to learn about human mental interactions, and how the mental clocked everything around it. Over the course of one quarter, I have learned that humans are all the words in my word art; good and bad, despicable and tolerable. Humans are nothing but a stalemate that cannot pick a side. Let us take freedom for example. When you hear Freedom, what do you think of? Do you think of American flags and the Ramparts Red Glare? Do you think of Army soldiers and unchained Negros? This is what I wrote a few months ago to describe freedom:[2]

Freedom is being secluded from all mankind and hierarchy’s because even if you aren’t in shackles, you are still mentally bonded. Does a driver stop at a red light? Yes, because his mental is still on lockdown.”

Let me help you a second to analyze that; what I am saying, on a basic level, is that freedom is being without worries, cares, or dependence. When you have any of these feelings or verbs, you are not “free”. Yes, there are certain cases where you can be somehow freed: If you’re bailed from jail you are… semi-physically free, yes? I then go on to say,

“Freedom is more of a word than a practice. It is like the word “love”; Thrown around carelessly, like a tiger does with a carcass. “

When you realize that my words are not life lessons, but affiliations with life, you will see how disastrous our human kind are/could be. Now, I am not saying that we should be contained in any form or fashion, but we do need to know when to hold ourselves back. The human race does not credit itself with how far they have came; with what was done, so much more could be accomplished that it even scares me. At one point, our class wrote prompted poems and one thing that I stated that stood out to me was,

( http://ironpoetry2013.wikispaces.com/KaBoni_Bailey)

“I was raised by peer pressuring blocks and hammers that stayed hot. Where another man getting shot was like a pebble being kicked by our socks; at times we had no shoes. Rubbed down souls decreased our rubbed down sneakers until all that was left were our toes.”

When I recite this out loud, it makes me think of the way that our government/higher officials make a community. Why is it that suburbs are funded more than those who actually need funding? When I had the epiphany from Mr. Blocks class that we are half messed up on purpose, It broke me down and gave me another reason to strive: One of my goals is to not be labeled as a statistic, just as I stated in another poem on the wiki,

“…Regardless if I seen the world as realistic I made a promise to myself one day to not die in Philly labeled as another statistic because being black in America is not only a blessing It is artistic…”

In another instance through the year, we spoke about language and the problems/connections that language can have on people. Here’s a quote,

(https://www.scienceleadership.org/people/kbailey)

“I learned quickly how to adapt to my surroundings, language-wise…not just the language of verbal, but the language of clothes, hobbies and act.”

Now, I do not wish for a New World Order, but I question why we are so separated and when it comes to these questions, not even The Bible can truly answer. And I am going to connect history to the point I am trying to make. Several months ago we learned and spoke about various religions and problems that religion has placed upon us. Technically, the world is a hypocrite; using religious text to try to make a point/religion valid when the you either A) don’t practice your preach or B) Can’t Fabricate it anymore than it is.

Personally, I am a Christian… or, was a Christian until I read half of The Bible (NIV). Now, I have read enough of the word, and learned enough from those who know more than me, to come to a conclusion about my God and myself. What I am saying is that every government thinks that they are correct about their religion, when they don’t even know the words, and can’t even come to a honest conclusion about what to teach/uphold to the general public.

Going off of that, listen to this video and think about who we really are:

http://vimeo.com/57605615

Word art, Humans Are:
Screen Shot 2013-06-12 at 8.27.48 AM
Screen Shot 2013-06-12 at 8.27.48 AM

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

One year can seem like ten years. One deep discussion in class can seem like an ice breaker for people to speak up. One journal to write a poem can be one journal to write out everything that’s killing you inside. One year of this class changes lives. One year of this class changed my life. There are two things that really stuck with me this year. First is that when challenging yourself you’re bettering yourself. Second is that everyone sees through their own lens.



We all react differently in certain situations. That’s depending on what side we’re standing on and what lens we’re looking through. If you see a man/woman begging for change on the street you quickly slide into a lens. You either give him/her change or shrug him/her off thinking he/she doesn’t need your money. If you are the man/woman begging for change you are wearing a lens. You either say thank you to everyone even if they give you the cold shoulder or you act mean to those who don’t give.



It is easy to judge someone else when you’re viewing a situation from a different lens. I don’t listen. You don’t listen. We don’t understand each other.” (2nd Language Scene: English) When you hear of a woman letting her husband beat her up everyday you start judging. You think she’s stupid or weak or just downright incompetent of standing on her own two feet. But once you slide into her shoes and you yourself become the female getting bruises day in and day out you’ll think different. Once you see the hidden issues and insecurities the woman has you’ll think different. From a girl who grew up saying that would never happen to me I know; once you’re put in those shoes it makes you want to take back all those things you said before. But all we can do is move on and live life the best we can. “Accept your failures and move on.” (Creating Chapter 26 of TFA)



We need to take a step back. Lay out all the lenses in the world and put one on depending on our situations. If there’s a boy on his way to prison step back. Pick up a lens so you see what he sees and figure out what made a fine boy become a broken man. We have to use these lenses to help one another. “Don’t get involved and mind your own business!” - “But momma Humanity is my business.” (Philip Zimbardo: The Torturer’s Mind) Everyone has a problem and we need to help fix them. You can’t always see someones problems at first and we can’t judge everyone by their covers. People sometimes wear covers to hide the problems they have inside which relates a journal that we wrote in class.



To get through life and make ourselves better we need to challenge ourselves. That’s something I learned this year from my classes. I was constantly having to challenge myself so that I could give my best towards projects and discussions. To be able to express all that I could during our poetry unit I had to push my limits and go personal. I had to challenge myself with trying different types of poetry and then giving each one my all.



As the person I am I am always trying to change and better myself. Like back when I wrote a journal about what I wish I could do. Or back when I did a monologue project about the keystone pipelines. It’s hard sometimes to try new things and to put yourself out there for everyone to see you. It’s something that I’m getting better at doing every day that I’m in this class. I have to stop letting people hold me back and better myself.Don’t let any man, woman, child, animal, or thing kill you inside.” (Letter Of Advice: English Post)


Screen Shot 2013-06-10 at 3.56.08 PM
Screen Shot 2013-06-10 at 3.56.08 PM

Bread & Roses

Part 1

La trama trata sobre la lucha de paga mal a los trabajadores de limpieza en Los Angeles y su lucha por mejores condiciones de trabajo y el derecho a afiliarse a sindicatos. Y por supuesto, cada película tiene su carácter único. Cuando nos encontramos con Sam Shapiro, nos damos cuenta de que él es un activista que goza de sacudir a la América corporativa. Aunque muchos de sus compañeros de trabajo de Maya tienen miedos de perder sus puestos de trabajo y ser deportado, ella está motivada para trabajar por un cambio. Basado en una justicia reales para la campaña de limpieza en Los Angeles en 1990, Bread and Roses muestra la justicia horrible entre quienes trabajan en las oficinas de la ciudad y aquellos que limpiarlos.


Part 2

Bread and Roses era una mujer joven (Maya) viene a los Estados Unidos sin documentos legales. Ella viajó de México e hizo su camino a Los Ángeles para vivir con su hermana Rosa. Maya un trabajo como portero que no conoce sus derechos y están dispuestos a hacer cualquier cosa para el trabajo. Esto nos lleva a conocer el nombre de un personaje Sam Shapiro que lucha por la justicia del conserje. ¿Pero este rally puede marcar la diferencia?


Part 3

Derechos Humanos

  1. Derecho a la libertad de expresión

La escena que elegí para este los derechos humanos es el escenario donde los trabajadores de limpieza estaban haciendo una manifestación en las calles. La razón por qué elegí esta escena es porque sentí que fueron violados sus derechos humanos. Este artículo explica cómo usted tiene el derecho a la libertad de expresión, pero en la película no muestra. Ellos fueron violados porque los agentes de policía fueron paliza y personas fueron detenidas. Usted tiene el derecho a hablar y luchar por algo que crees en. No creo que era lo correcto y los policías estaban equivocados en su parte. Y debido a la violencia, las personas son violadas.


  1. Derecho a vivir en un mundo justo y libre

Me gusta mucho la escena que elegí para este artículo en particular porque representa mucho. Elegí la escena donde los trabajadores de limpieza dieron George Lopez un libro documentado que explica cómo pueden salir y tener roturas. Y es más inspirador porque George Lopez no creía que estas personas eran lo suficientemente inteligentes como para hacer algo así. Pero resulta aún mejor ver que ni siquiera sabía acerca de este documento. Al principio, carácter de George Lopez violado su libertad y la justicia, pero cuando Maya le dio este documento, hubo un giro en la película. Carácter de George Lopez no permitirles hacer nada. Fue siempre por su comando. Y tenía mucho poder sobre ellos desde sus vidas futuras dependían de él. Estaban demasiado asustados para rebelarse contra él porque tenían miedos de perder su trabajo. Pero cuando ocurrió esta escena, me mostró que ahora tienen el poder.


  1. Derecho a la educación

Este artículo sobre los derechos humanos explica cómo todo el mundo es capaz de tener la oportunidad de una educación mejor. En la película, había una escena donde Ruben está sentado en la mesa con Maya y Juan. En la mesa, es copiar todo lo del libro y tratando de enseñar a sí mismo. Mientras que él está haciendo eso, Juan hace una declaración que creo que era ofensivo. Básicamente decía que Rubén está perdiendo su tiempo.Tengo entendido que Ruben no tenía la oportunidad de tener una mejor educación, pero él está trabajando duro para llegar lejos en la vida. También eligió a la escena donde dijo Maya que iba a la Universidad y pensé que era realmente importante. La razón de por qué es porque demuestra a la audiencia que cualquier persona puede hacer cualquier cosa se esfuerzan para hacer.

Explanations:4-6 sentences long and clearly state the human rights articles and explain how that right is either defended or violated.


Part 4

Me encanta esta película porque era muy de suspenso. En mi clase de relación a la historia porque yo fui un inmigrante. Yo no era ilegal, pero me fui por el mismo proceso.Mi madre trabajó en una fábrica de chocolate pretzel. Eso era cómo hemos sido capaces de sobrevivir en esta tierra. Pero ella estaba recibiendo pago en efectivo y cheques no porque había un montón de problemas con su documentación. Esta película trajo recuerdos atrás tantas para mí y lo disfruté.



Derecho a la educación: Aqui

Derecho a la libertad de expresión y Derecho a vivir en un mundo justo y libre: Aqui

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

As I sat at the Country Ruling Elite table, defending a cause I would otherwise totally oppose, I created defenses that were valid in my eyes. I heard the arguments of each other group, and I could not believe it. To my amazement, everyone was somewhat innocent, yet hugely responsible. It was the perfect example that we are all products of our environment.


https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/10RaFC1SquQqNKKlDqPg6XjLFbsIxp5WhDTOkGGxjCrY/edit


And this was the point I leaned on - If you are in a position of power and there is no one opposing your wrongdoings, what would be the motivation to change? In History, we had a unit on Revolutions. We focused on the Arab Spring and how people mercilessly fought for their rights. Some were successful, but other countries were not and were defeated. I studied the revolution of Yemen:



“Because of political instability in Yemen since getting rid of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, this country suffers from insecurity of food supplies, impoverishment and the threat of violence from Al-Qaeda and other Islamist militias due to extremism. Many of Yemen’s historical sites have been abandoned and destroyed due to the low maintenance of the country. The country faced a series of attacks from Southern Yemen, which advocates separatism and independence from Northern Yemen.”


https://vimeo.com/59340019


Back to the trial, my team was hit with questions similar to “If you are supposed to lead the country, why are you not providing for your citizens?” Because the world has taught us that money is more important than people. Some leaders are more cold blooded than others. A perfect example is making a comparison of America’s and Haiti’s government, in which we studied.


For 29 years, Haiti was under the dictatorship of  Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude, or "Baby Doc". Ten of thousands were killed during this period. The country thought they would see a brighter day once former priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide was elected, but he was quickly overthrown by militia. This sort of brutality is not directly seen in the United States, where our society is built off of “democracy”, giving more rights to citizens.


Economic disparities has placed strain on countries with these brutal governments. In the “Global Inequality” unit, we analyzed our personal responsibility for the advancement of multinational corporations and manipulation of third world countries. The introduction to this unit was the reading of the poem “Are My Hands Clean?”


“I wear garments touched by hands from all over the world

35% cotton, 65% polyester,the journey begins in Central America

In the cotton fields of El Salvador

In a province soaked in blood,

Pesticide-sprayed workers toil in a broiling sun

Pulling cotton for two dollars a day.”



In the trial, American consumers pleaded that they will buy what is readily available to them and if it produced by laborers with terrible conditions, that is not their fault. Our environment can make us torturers without even trying. We once did an assignment where we watched the video where a man believed that he was shocking a man with direly high voltages, but because he was pressured by a man and told that he was not responsible, he continued on with the experiment. We continue on doing villainous things when we convince ourselves we are not to blame.


(Picture)


Sometimes we are taught, by the environment around us, that who we are is not good enough. In my Language Autobiography, I wrote on how I was bullied in elementary school because of my dialect. My father was a businessman, who spoke with, what is believe to be, perfect English diction. Being that I was in his presence majority of the time, I picked up on the way of speaking. But, go to an Afrocentric school meant that Ebonics were heavily used. I did not speak like majority of the people I encountered. Thus, I was asked slurs like “Why do you talk so white?” and even questioned on my ethnicity frequently.


https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1_rHZLP1Cdro_YTyYmxhASRxgMKBXmiyo31SSszhUs_Q/edit


In english, we had a unit where we analyzed the dialect of different groups in America. While watching a video interviewing people across America, they thought that people from other areas talked weird compared to the way they speak. Our environment forms normalcy in our mind and anything foreign comes across as bizarre. This could be seen in the book our World History class read, Things Fall Apart. When Europeans entered the Ibo tribe’s habitat and learned that they worshiped many Gods, they found this ridiculous because they were taught that there was only one. They proceeded to mock the culture and attempt to convert its people. This actually changed the society because people began following their ideas. If ideas are planted, they are bound to manifest.


Whenever a person is faced with tribulations, they carry it around with them, learning from it and trying to find a solution. One morning in English, I was presented with the question, “What do you wish for?”


"I wish I could do so many things, I don't even know here to start. I wish I could spend time with my dad. And I mean a good time. No complaining, no worry, just having fun or relaxing. I wish drugs weren't misused. I wish they couldn't kill you. I wish I could help everyone who has any time of problem. I wish I could fly and go anywhere for free, just to see what it's like there." (English Journal #10)


The death of my father to this day takes a huge toll on me. I promised myself that I would never use drugs and alcohol to try to solve my problems. I don’t want to continue the cycle of negativity in my family by carrying around bitterness from what I’ve had to endure. My environment has made me who I am by showing me how to not to deal with my problems and it has made me a stronger person.


Through it all, I’ve learned that who you are is a tug-of-war between taking what are you are taught, assessing it, and deciding what is personally right for you. No matter how much everything around you pushes you to be a certain type of person, if it does not sit right with you, you will not choose to continue on that path. The most accurate depiction of the message I am trying to portray can be interpreted through a quote by Buddha:


"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." (History Journal #13)

Your environment makes you the person you are. You either choose to follow the path you are given, or oppose. Either way, it has an impact.



Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 12.36.21 PM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 12.36.21 PM

Elements Project

Inquiry- I used this because I had to look up things that I didn't know about my element. I had to think about what I was going to draw. 

Research- I had to research images and information about Gallium my element in order to do this. I had to research what Gallium was. 

Collaboration- I use this by asking people to help me and helping other people. I got ideas from my friends on what I should've drew. 

Presentation- In the end was the final project which was the final drawling. It had to be a certain size and it had to matted or not matted. 

Reflection- I am writing the reflection right now. Also, the reflection is when I finished my drawling and I have the final product, I can reflect on whether I though I did well. 
IMG_2942
IMG_2942
IMG_2943
IMG_2943
IMG_2940
IMG_2940

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

Throughout this school year, Mr. Block had introduced us with various assignments and projects from both English and History. At the beginning of the English course, we began with descriptive writing. It was one of the first assignment that was started right after summer break. From all the assignments and projects that was given, my personal favorite is the poetry writing unit. We wrote poems on a website called WikiSpace that is shared with the entire class so that we can read each others. Here is a link to my WikiSpace poem. My WikiSpace tells various stories from the many different poems. This is one of my personal favorite project of the year because I enjoy writing poems and expressing my ideas. It expresses my emotions and how I feel towards certain things that can be interpret through poems. One of the poems that I wrote is called an ode poem. “Private speakers,/ Small and high quality/ moving me into a different state of mind./ A nice one/ A calm one.” That was a stanza from my ode poem. My ode poem expresses my emotions towards my headphones because I use it everyday.

In History class, we wrote monologues about the XL Keystone pipeline. This is a first major project of the school year. In this project, I worked with another student and as a result of this project, it came out really well. After the monologues were polished, we asked other students to perform at least 5 of the monologues. This following quote of mine is from an introduction of the monologue project “With this intention, I created several monologues expressing how many people feel about the pipeline, and how I feel personally as well.” When we were first taught about the XL Keystone pipeline, I didn’t understand it very well. or how to react towards it. However, when doing the monologue project, it helped me understand the harsh consequences of the XL Keystone pipeline. Working with another student, helped me even further because we worked and brainstormed together to get the highest quality monologue as possible. To do that, we had to make a lot of researches about the pipeline. For me personally, working with a partner or a small group really helps me understand things a lot better in the classroom. For example, the Sweatshop Trial. The trial consists of students having a role of either the prosecutor or a defender from each group of labor in a trial of a classroom. Working collaboratively with my group members, I came up with a very strong question for the defender during the trial. The question was “How do you plan to use the profit made by your workers? In which their salary is much lower than the cost of the products that they make.” This question was towards the defender of the Multinational Corporations.  I came up with this question from the things that was taught in class and from what my group members said during the trial. Here is a link to the Google Doc that was shared among my group members on the Sweatshop trials. I enjoy working in small groups or with a partner because it takes me further in learning. If I were to work by myself such as the WikiSpace poem, I would try to get the highest quality made and pushing myself beyond personal boundaries.

One of my project that I’m most proud is creating a podcast about the people I know on crossing boundaries. This was an individual project. I interviewed a friend and my two middle school teachers that I had a really good relationship with. The podcast was over 45 minutes long from the 3 people I interviewed. I felt really proud of my interview skills. At first, when I first heard about the assignment, I really thought that I couldn’t do a 45 minute interview because I had never interviewed anyone before and it has to be over 45 minutes. I felt accomplished after the 45 minute interview. I had never done anything like this before and I pushed myself into developing this podcast. As a result of pushing myself, my podcast was successful. For the final draft of the podcast, it had to be cut down to 8-10 minutes. From the 45 minute interview, I removed all the unnecessary points, keeping the important details to become an 8-10 minute interview. The link to my podcast can be found here. The main thing that my interviewees talked about were about violence. The things they said are very similar to what I wrote in my journal entry for history, which can be found here. Based on what I wrote in my journal entry, I was able to go in further details about their experiences with violence in the podcast.

One of my journal entries that stood out the most deals with human inequality. The main question of this journal entry is “Why do humans so often treat each other badly?” This question is really deep because it makes me think about the things that are going on in our world today and even in my neighborhood. My response to this question is stating that because of hatred of race, culture, or it could simply just be the attitude. My full response can be found here.

In conclusion, I have learn and discovered many new things throughout this year. I learned that working in groups can bring out a lot of new things that an individual cannot think of. Working in groups brings out the best in individuals. If I were to work alone, I would push myself to bring out my best effort. Out of all the work that I do, I would try to be original as I can and pushing myself beyond my personal boundaries.

Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 12.08.24 PM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 12.08.24 PM

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

Throughout the year, in both my English and History classes, we did very deep exploring into different topics that may be confusing and taboo in real life. By this I mean that people find them hard to talk about or deal with straightforward. Through this exploring I was able to come up with a few general concepts that I think are very important and have helped me improve my learning throughout the year. These two statements are, “reflection allows you to connect with the thoughts and feelings of others and gives you a better understanding of different perspectives” and “when challenging yourself you are bettering yourself.” My experiences connected with these statements have not only allowed me to grow and challenge myself academically, but they have allowed me to start growing and changing as a human being. These are two lessons that I will carry with me throughout my life and I will fall back on them when I am dealing with a real world situation.

There is a lot of evidence throughout the year of me applying those two statements to my work in both English and History. Those two concepts came into play in almost every lesson and activity that we have done. This year, in English especially, I have challenged myself in multiple ways in order to produce high quality work. I’m not very good at expressing myself in my writing because it’s hard for me to bare my soul on a piece of paper and have it out there for anyone to read. However, this year I have made my best effort to put a piece of me into everything that I have written. By doing this I have not only made my writing something worth reading, but I have bettered myself by learning how to be more open about myself and trustworthy. The first example of me applying this skill to my work would be our first journal entry of the year. It was called “I know something about...” I was very scared of writing this and when I wrote it I was in a very dark place at the time. I had never displayed myself like the way I do in this journal entry before. At the time I wasn’t ready to show anybody or talk about it, so I folded the page down so my teacher couldn’t read it. But now I’m ready for people to see.

I found comfort in my classes and eventually was able to be more upfront about the way I was feeling and the things I was dealing with and soon applied them in my writing. My english class became a form of release for me. When we started our Descriptive Scenes and Essays unit, the class was asked to write an essay incorporating a descriptive scene we had written earlier. I titled it “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and in it I wrote, “It all spiraled out of control from there. It was like I was stuck in a never ending freefall, and every time I thought it was over I would fall again.” I felt like this was the first thing I had ever contributed to the world. It took a lot of thought and a decent amount of time to write it and when I was finished the class was instructed to post it onto our english class's public blog. I was really proud of being able to say that I wrote this essay.

During our Poetry unit in english, we learned about different types of poems and how to analyze them. Every student in the class was then asked to create a poetry wiki page of their own. On this page we had to create our own poems using the style of poems we had learned about in class. We also had to research a poet and do a report about how we can connect the type of person the poet was to the way they wrote. “To me a poem doesn’t have to be obvious to be meaningful. Your poem must leave something up for the reader to interpret and come to their own conclusions about.” Poetry has never been one of my strong areas of writing, but this project really helped me learn how to express myself in ways that I have never experienced before. Poetry can be anything, mean anything, and be seen in different ways by different people. That’s what’s so great about it. Anyone who reads a poem will be able to connect to it in some way because we all interpret things differently.

Most of the time when I challenged myself it was on an English assignment and I was challenging myself to express how I felt and to show the real me. But most of the thinking I did in both classes was reflecting about different events in history and different experiences of people from a vast amount backgrounds. In english we did some reflecting after reading and analyzing a book or text. Upon finishing the book Night by Elie Wiesel, we were asked to write a reflection on our thoughts about the book and it’s meaning. In my reflection I wrote, “Remembrance keeps people alive in spirit and forgetting them makes them disappear forever. Forgetting about horrible and tragic events helps heal you and puts the past behind you.” When a person is asked to reflect on something, it gives them the opportunity to think long and hard about the thing they have just experienced and whether or not they can relate to it or not. In this case, by reflecting on two quotes by Elie Wiesel, I was able to understand the points he was making and connect with the way he felt about what he was talking about.

As I mentioned before, our class held a lot of thought provoking conversations about taboo topics that one wouldn’t have in a normal conversation or even think very much about. In our sixth english journal we had to respond to the question “Why do humans treat each other badly?” At first I thought it was kind of an odd question. This question only looks on the negative side of things and implies that most humans treat each other badly. But the more I thought about it the more I was able to understand that in fact most humans do treat each other badly. I could see why someone might ask this question because a lot of things that go on in the world today are violent and cruel. One of the problems is a lack of understanding about different cultures. In this journal entry I wrote, ““Things like race, religion, language and all the other barriers...” I referred to these things as barriers because they are one of the main reasons why there is still so much cruelty in the world today. This journal got me really thinking about a topic that is happening globally each and every day and by thinking about it, it opened my mind to solutions and the feelings of those who are treated badly.

During our Revolutions unit in history class this year we learned about different types of revolutions throughout history and discussed how revolution still exists today around the world. Throughout the unit we completed several interactive activities such as a role play of different people/roles from the French Revolution and a video made with a partner about the Arab Spring. Upon the closing of the unit, the class was instructed to write a response about what we had learned about revolutions. In my Revolution Final Thoughts I talked about how different aspects of a revolution were evident in the French Revolution and the Arab Spring. I feel as though by writing this response I was able to fully understand what a revolution was and make connections between events in time based off of the expectations of a revolution.

Although I have created a lot of great work this year in both English and History, I feel like the pieces of work I have explained above are the best and fully relate to the concepts of “reflection allows you to connect with the thoughts and feelings of others and gives you a better understanding of different perspectives”, and “when challenging yourself you are bettering yourself.” Theses two concepts have pulled me through both of my classes and have been the main structure for almost every piece of writing I have written this year.


Screen Shot 2013-06-10 at 11.57.55 PM
Screen Shot 2013-06-10 at 11.57.55 PM

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013


During the 2012-2013 sophomore school year, the students in Block’s History and English classes focused on a variety of topics during the many units of both classes ranging from many eras, across different nations and on a variety of topics. What was consistent was the expectation to be able to connect everything we learned in a unique fashion. My general understanding of this school year is that “no one is innocent if you choose not to rise/step up to the occasion and that if you do choose to make a stand, being one (wo)man alone, you can make a big difference.”

“He tried to convince himself that he had nothing to do with the experiment, when he found out he wasn’t hurting the man, he then tried to separate himself from his unjustful doings.” - Excerpt from Torture and Obedience worksheet

In class, we watched a video of a man who believed he was inflicting pain to a participant just because he was told to. The patient was not actually being inflicted pain, as the man thought he was. Instead of challenging the authoritative figure who was simply telling the man to continue because “Its apart of the experiment”, he chose to ignore and not rise to the occasion. Another example of someone not rising to the occasion is Okonkwo, the main character in Things Fall Apart when he killed who he believed to be a son of his in Ikemufuna.

“One day the Oracle told the people of the village that they had to kill Ikemufuna as a sacrifice. Okonkwo, along with the other men of the village traveled into the forest. After Ikemufuna was struck with a fatal blow, he cried to his Okonkwo (as his father) then he ran toward Okonkwo in pity. To not show weakness, Okonkwo delivered the last blow that finished Ikemufuna off” - Excerpt from Quiz on Part 1 of Things Fall Apart

This is a great example of how people choose to put the not as important things and pride in front of what they know they should do and what they know is the right thing to do. This is what I call confused priorities. Okonkwo loved Ikemufuna more than his blood-son. But pride stood in the way of him showing his true emotions for him. Even though there may not have been much that Okonkwo  could do to save Ikemufuna, the least that he could have done was express his love toward him before he died. If the man chose to stand up to the man, he could have saved the patient from being inflicted pain (even though there wasn’t real pain being inflicted). Both did not stand up for what they believed in, so in my opinion both are guilty for their actions and have no explanation for their wrong doings.Which leads to the question “Why do humans treat each other badly”


“Humans treat each other badly because they some people do not have the courage to stand up for what is right, so they take the easy way out. Some because people they were treated badly of the when they were young and others simply because it is there make-up” - English Journal #6


Even though many choose to take the easy way out, there are some who do stand up for what they believe in and end up making a huge difference. These are the heros of the world, the people who make positive changes to their community.


“Jean Dominque had a huge impact on the people of Haiti because he used his access of radio communication to deliver positive messages of hope around the island” - Excerpt from The Agronomist


Jean Dominique is a terrific example of how one man can make a huge difference in his community. He understood the dangers of going against his government and faced death everyday. He had his station torn to pieces, shot at and ultimately was assassinated for his works. Jean Dominique was more than just a talk show host. He represented the heart and soul of Haiti the same way Gandhi did for India.


“Gandhi showed courage by turning the other cheek to the street thugs. He was willing to take physical blows to prove that he wouldn’t be turned away” - Gandhi Film Questions


Gandhi was not tall, strong or in any way physically threatening, but he was determined to prove a point. He fought for equality among the british and Indians. He was willing to risk his body in non violent retaliation and was able to defeat the British colonial power. Jean Dominique and Gandhi are examples of heros.


“Anyone has the chance to be a hero, heros are not just the famous but they are everyday people who choose to do the right thing, despite what they get out of the situation.” - English Journal #44


Standing up for what is right takes a strong, dedicated person. It takes courage to do the right thing and doing it at the fullest extent. The people who do the right thing and do not fold when the pressure and the spotlight is on them are the people who deserve to be recognized for their excellence.




Element Prints Project

Inquiry: I had to use inquiry because I had to find things out about my element that I didn't know. I also had to use it when I was making my prints and matting them because I had never done it before. 

Research: I had to use research a lot in the beginning of the project. I had to do a lot of research to figure out which things copper was related to to use in my three drawing ideas.

Collaboration: I collaborated with classmates a lot in this project. At times I had trouble or someone else had trouble with something so to figure it out we collaborated a little.

Presentation: I'm pretty sure these prints will be posted around the school somewhere. I had to make them look nice and look presentable so I would be proud to see mine on the wall somewhere.

Reflection: By answering these questions I am reflecting. Also I made a few mistakes in the process of printing and matting and I reflected what I did wrong.

image copy 3
image copy 3
image copy 4
image copy 4
image copy 5
image copy 5

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013_Rabbi Awsan

I went through a lot of struggles and some of the work were challenging for me throughout the year. Although that has happened, I still managed to work very hard in class and I tried my best I could possibly do to complete my work on time. I can confidently say I have learned a lot and experienced through many obstacles this year, but 10th grade was a great year for me.

I have learned and experienced a lot in both English and History classes. We have learned a lot inside and outside of school, but the two major things I think I really enjoyed most from each of these two classes are the researched on prisoners from history class and the Hidden City Project from english class. The prisoners researched has taught me that the government spend more money on prisons than they put money for  education expenses. One of the things I learned and see as an inspiration is from the Art in the Open dance because it has taught me more about acting,  what goes through an actor mind, and how it is in their way of seeing and using the space in different perspective than a normal person.  When someone examine something closely new information and perspectives emerge.  

The things I notice while I was researching about  prisoners is that the government spent more than $33000 for one prisoners and only $11000 for one student. That is a huge differences and that is one of the main reasons why there are more prisoners than students in this country. The government spent the same amount of money in a prisoner's in 4 years and 12 years for students. The U.S. taxpayers spend 32 billion every year on Prisons. The cost for each prisoner is $22,000. The United States spent 45 percent more on prisons than universities and there is no way to proceed into the future. It also says that the government focused more on prison uniforms than than they do on caps and gowns for graduation ceremonies. We need more education and less war because if you are educated there is less chance for you to commit a crime. I think that’s how we can decrease the crime rate of this nation. 


 For the Hidden City Project, the first day my english class went is to the Armory place, which is a few blocks away from our school. It is a huge empty place where the army used to have their camp. The first thing Leah Stein dance group told us to do once we get there was to play and test out objects and to discover ourselves in a place where we are comfortable. They also told us to play in our space and put us in a group of 4-5 and told us to make a play within 30 minutes and most of the group did really well on the first day. From that week we had the same group to work with and we transition to a short five-minutes play in one and a half week. My group and I went through a lot of difficulties because we had a lot of ideas and we were confused on which  story we should use for our final product. Then we came up with an idea and decided to put all of our story together and the people from the Leah Stein group  helped us a lot with our five-minutes play. I don't think our act would have been this much better without their help. From now every time I am going pass by the playground where I performed,  I am going to visualized that place more than just a playground itself.



These are some of the work I have done in my 10th grade year.

Poetry Wiki-

Cortes Trial-


Colonialism project-

sweetshop project-

Cortes trial-

Bread and Roses

Bread y Roses es para los trabajadores de limpieza que tienen los derechos humanos en su trabajos. Sam, Maya y sus amigos luchado para tener los mismos derechos. Para este proyecto, vamos a analizar la película y explicar los segmentos de la película. Cada segmento contiene distintos derechos que creemos que fue violadas.

El personaje principal es Maya. Maya vino a Estados Unidos para trabajar en esta compagina llamada Angels. Sin embargo, el jefe de allí no les daba igualdad de derechos, por ejemplo, es el sindicato. Ella conoció a un tipo llamado Sam. Ayudó a Maya y sus compañeros de trabajo para conseguir la igualdad de derechos. Pero no todo fue así de fácil. Ellos lucharon para conseguir lo que se merecian. 

En la primera escena, cuando Pérez se preguntaba uno de los trabajadores a ser gerente, pero a cambio tiene que contarle lo de las reuniones ocultas para la Unión.. Esa escena violaron tres derechos humanos. Esa escena violaron tres derechos humanos ya. La primera violación fue el artículo tres, toda persona tiene derecho a la vida, a la libertad ya la seguridad personales. La mujer no puede protegerse a sí misma ya Pérez se mantenía inmersos en una situación muy apretada. Si ella no habla, ella pierde su trabajo. Pero si habla que va a tener en sus compañeros de trabajo en problemas. El segundo artículo fue violado el artículo cuarto. Estaba prácticamente esclavizado a hacer su trabajo sin vacaciones porque de la ética del trabajo de Pérez. Y la tercera violación es el artículo nueve. Prácticamente estaba exiliado de su trabajo debido a no hablar de las reuniones secretas que los trabajadores están teniendo.

He visto un montón de películas como Bread y Roses. Sin embargo, nunca me miré en las lentes de los Derechos Humanos. Mi familia y yo nos mudamos aquí a los Estados Unidos por la misma razón, para tener grandes oportunidades. Pero yo no fui a través de las dificultades, como Maya y Rosa lo hizo. Agradezco a la Unión más porque ayudan a amas de casa en su trabajo. Mi madre también es un ama de llaves y la Unión le da un montón de cosas como la atención de salud y vacaciones.

BNR
BNR

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

“Let’s come together” “everyone come into the circle”. It’s something that Mr. Block has been telling us all year. He must have a thing for circles. But really in the class you can see that we all became closer with each other since the beginning of the year. I think the general understanding of this year is that coming together as a community can help/make a change over time. In a number of assignments from both courses the theme of coming together to make a change has come up. In the very beginning one of the early english journals (journal 6 to be exact) Mr. Block asked us why do we think humans treat other humans so badly? That journal intrigued me because I’ve wondered the same thing. I said that “I think humans treat each other so badly because of opinions. Some people tend to treat others badly when they don’t agree with their opinion.” I also wanted to hear what everyone else thought. Even the people who treat other people badly I wanted to know what they thought. In class Mr. Block usually tells us to read our journals aloud and we discuss the topic for a little bit. Next was history journal #7 “Reel bad Arabs”. In that journal we talked about the different stereotypes of Arabian people that were portrayed in movies. I wish we could rid the world of stereotypes. They don’t do any good for anyone and only hurt people who are affected by racial stereotypes. Every race is affected and each race has a negative stereotype. The last journal I’ll talk about is history journal #20. In journal 20 we talked about segregation and oppression, what causes change and ways to make change successful. Uniting together was one of the options. Afterwards we talked roles, rules, and responsibilities. I have chores and other responsibilities to do. They’re important because if my mom and I don’t work together then the house will be completely out of order. Next in the middle of the year we read Lord of The Flies. In my LOTF doc I said thatIn my opinion Jack is a sociopath and becomes jealous of the power that Ralph possesses. It shows that he is so desperate for power that he starts his own tribe in order to become leader of the boys and turn the boys against Ralph.” Jack starting his own tribe was a bad idea. if they would’ve just gotten over their differences then they could’ve have made a little society and been alright between the kids. Coming together would’ve been a good change. Also in the beginning of the year we talked about the Keystone Pipeline being built. A big part of the story was the people coming together and protesting against the pipeline being built. I think the people protesting against the pipeline are going to influence the result. In my work I quoted some articles that explained who and how the people against the pipeline were protesting.  “In September thousands of people converged on the White House in the largest act of civil disobedience in the history of the U.S. climate movement. The protesters sat-in peacefully and over 1,200 were arrested in protest of the Keystone XL project.” and “More than 2,000 people showed up at the Nebraska State Department hearing to say they don't want crude oil running through the delicate Sandhills or the Ogallala aquifer—which supplies water to most of the Midwest.” Then in history we talked about modern day sweatshops. In my response to modern day sweatshops I said thatThe most effective way to change what’s going on in the sweatshops is to revolt and protest against the Poor country elites and the Multinational Corporations.” and “With the protests maybe the world could get involved and once everyone becomes aware of sweatshops the Elites and Corporations will be forced to change their horrible ways.” All we have to do is come together and boycott the multinational corporations. Finally one of the longest projects of the year we created a play. My play was about the life of a chinese factory worker and the struggles they face everyday. The only way the made their factory better to work in is by sneaking a letter into one of the products explaining how badly they were treated everyday with poor working conditions. The woman who found the letter brought it to officials This year has taught me a lot. But the most important thing that I will take away from this year is coming together as a community can help/make a change over time.


Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 11.06.10 AM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 11.06.10 AM

Element Project

Inquiry - 
I did not no anything about my element, so I had to ask a lot of information about my element. I needed to know things such as what it looks like, and different properties. I liked it a lot because I didn't know anything about my element at all.
Research - 
I went on to the internet and had to research things about my element. I looked for what it looked like and I also had to find out what they used my element. I used that information to create a picture that had to do with my element.
Collaboration - 
My friends that were sitting with me helped me a lot. I was really stuck on what to do for my print because I found my element very difficult. My friend sat down with me and she helped me a lot. We came put with a couple ideas together, and I figured out what I wanted to do.
Presentation - 
To present our prints we are going to put them around the school, we are also going to make a periodic table with all of the elements pictures that everybody made.
Reflection -
I really enjoyed this because I actually didn't even know about this element. I had a lot of fun doing this. It was really cool, and I found out a lot about my element. I also learned a lot about printing when I didn't know anything about it before.
IMG_2268
IMG_2268
IMG_2269
IMG_2269

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

Throughout this school year I have learn a multitude of things in my English and History class. Many lessons reflected on each other. Two main understandings I have though is that Language brings us together as much as it divides us and There are many different stereotypes that come with langauge.  In a Prezzi I talked about a situation with my dad. How he wasn’t able how to learn right or wrong, but through the language I had with him I could learn through his mistakes.

In my descriptive essay I talked about my situation with cancer and how I felt after my first operation. A quote i used was “That’s when it finally hits me. i survived, and now I could live my life however I see fit.” This quote goes with my general understanding because my situation with cancer had me learn a lot about how important life was and to accept all that goes with it. The quote shows that I have learned through this experience and that this experience did not only effect myself physically it also effected my language. The quote was a big turning point in my learning where I realized how much I really changed on that day and how it began my path on to my own life.

                  in my Language Autobiography I talk about how I used to let others talk for me because I thought their voice had more power. Two quotes from that assignment would be “To have someone talk through you ruins your words because you are not saying them with the power of their own language.” and “There are many different stereotypes that come with language.” The first quote helps show my language as I was younger and how I have learned as I got older. It also shows that language evolved for me and I learned because of it. The second quote shows, that due to stereotypes that show up in language, your language has to evolve in order to get around them. So you can show that language evolves through experiences such as dealing with many different stereotypes. Not only do people evolve mentally through experiences their language evolves as well.

In the end my general understandings of “Language brings us together as much as it divides us and There are many different stereotypes that come with language” is now completely clear. My assignments have let me learn all about language and how i evolved throughout my life. My situations have had me learn more than i could imagine, but I could not of realized how much I had learned until this class. The lessons we were taught has shown us a large amount of self reflection in this class allowing me to finally see the general understandings that are shown in this class.  My general understanding has reached a very high point in this class and I hope that my portfolio is able to show how much i have learned in this class throughout the year.



History Journal #27:
Click Here
English Journal #7:
Click Here
Descriptive Essay:
Click Here
Language Auto:
Click here
Prezzi: 
Click here
LoTF Benchmark:
Click here


Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 11.01.48 AM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 11.01.48 AM

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

Before I entered English 2 of my sophomore year, i would have never thought that you could represent language in different ways. Language is not just a form of speaking but it is everything around you . Language can be displayed in poetry, different body movements different types of silent protesting and many more. In the past units that I have learned in English 2 different types of languages were brought to my attention multiple times. 

While completing an autobiography that had to describe a time when language affected me the most, I was forced to notice that when I spoke to my bi-racial cousin, the way I was communicating to her made her feel uncomfortable. It wasn’t just the way I talked around here it was the way I moved when she tried to hug me or any type of affection she decided that she wanted to give. I didn't realize that when I didn’t speak to her I was still using body language that made her feel uncomfortable. So I changed the way I moved around her so she knew that I didn't feel any different about her than I did my other family (language autobiography). This displayed that the movement of your body is a language and you can speak with people that way. 

After completing the language unit in English 2, we had to create a video that displayed what we thought language was, and how language affected you. Since language is more than just a form of speaking, in my video I labeled language as a variety of things in this video. The video simply goes over the fact that language is everywhere around you and you decided how you use language . 

During our poetry unit, we were asked to describe what was poetry. I gave the definition: Poetry is  when someone puts together a group of words that has a deeper meaning than meets the eye (English Journal 28) drawling the conclusion that poetry is just words. After discussing with the class and creating the poetry wiki (here) I also created a drawling to accompany one of my poems which said a lot but was not accompanied by words I noticed that poetry is more that just speaking, its art, dance, and anything you want it to be. Poetry is a form of language , and just like poetry, they both are more than just speaking. 


Not only in English 2 did we learn that language is not just a form of  speaking we also learned it in history. There was a time in india where the British were trying to stay in power and the Indians didn't want them to. Instead of using words such as threats , racial slurs or other things, the protested silently. They were communicating with the british that they had enough and didn't want to be colonized anymore in a silent language that the british understood. Showing that once again you don't have to to speak to show that you are using a language you don't even have to speak to communicate. 

In (Journal 39) we had to discuss weather or not we believe violence is more power than non violence. I always associate nonviolence with language  and silence.  Before the unit I stated that violence is power, but after  the unit I realized that non violence is power it shows you realization and it gives you a voice. Showing that language can be a fighting tool. 

I have learned a lot in English class over these past 10 months, however I believe the power of language and how language can be more than words stood out to me the most.  Like stated above language is everywhere. I don't believe that there is a definite definition for language because language is everything.



Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 11.18.56 AM
Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 11.18.56 AM