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Introduction:

            One of our most creative projects was our very first which is the Me Magazine. The students had to make a magazine about themselves with an editor’s letter, 2 articles and advertisements about the articles.

What are people’s expectations of you? What are your own? Some of the expectations put on me by others are to be mature, responsible, peaceful, hardworking, to know how to do almost any and everything, and to always be blithe. These are not expectations I put on myself though. I live by the expectations I have for myself and not the expectations other people have of me. The expectations I have for myself are to not let little things ruin my day, to set an example for everyone, act my age not my shoe size, and to stay positive.

Why write?

The main reasons why I think we write is, because it is a way of communicating, showing your knowledge, and it is an eloquent way of expressing yourself to yourself or others. Writing is a very useful skill in my eyes.

         You can communicate through writing, by writing letters, notes, and it could even help you speak to people who can’t hear. Communicating through writting is a great method of learning and teaching so it could also help expand your knowledge.

         Writing is a way of showing your knowledge. I believe this because you have to write what you learn in school and many other places. Writing also shows that you know how to read and that you know how to speak the language you are writing in. Writing is also a way you could record your knowledge. You cannot always remember everything you say or learn. Therefore, when it comes down to your knowledge writing is a big aspect.

 Writing is an eloquent way you can express yourself to yourself. I believe this because when you write in a journal or diary, you are writing what you think about something or how you are feeling. This is a great way to relieve stress. Writing to yourself could also keep you out of drama by writing down things that you may not like about somebody or something.

Being a freshman at SLA for me is very exciting, fun, and I had to learn how to adjust to it. In the beginning of the school year, I knew I was going to make many friends, but I thought they were only going to be freshman. I met many 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th, graders. Well not many 11^th and 12^th graders but its all right I will meet more as the days go by. I really loved how SLA have colored streams for all of the freshmen obviously I was out in red stream (which is the BEST stream ever with the BEST teachers ever) my connection with red stream is closer than ever. I look at everyone as one of my sisters or brothers. I also met 9^th graders outside of red stream through my friend that came from my old school Hamilton. I have no classes at all with them so I really did not like the beginning of the school year too much. However, if they were in the same stream as me then I would not be able to meet more people out of red stream. Now that I have gotten used to this school, the people in it, and the environment in and around the school I am extremely happy that I chose this school and I made really close friends in red stream and around our school that have my back and who will never let me down. I also know that I worked hard this marking period and my report card will show and it will be AWESOME!

Journal response to one Freedom Writer OR writes your own FWD Entry. What would yours say?

My favorite diary in the freshman year fall 1994 is on page 11-12 diary #4. This is my favorite because I could relate to it in a way. I would also want to see a fight just for the fun of it. Once I was hit during a fight of insolent children, and I did not do anything but stumble and almost fall. It was unexpected, but it was by accident the person was jumping up and down and was not really paying attention to the people around him. For the rest of the day, I was a little shocked because I never was  hit like that; also, because I can be a little over dramatic in situations like that. So, I could relate to this journal in a way.

The most challenging aspect of this project was simply trying to find where globalization is evident in the city of Philadelphia. Not that there was a shortage of ideas, on the contrary, it was just that my ideas were often confused with ways Philadelphia impacts the world, not vice versa. Also some topics were more challenging that others. For example, security and terrorism, but I think I was just over thinking the assignment.

Most of the images required me to travel around the city - whether it was a special trip to China town or 30th street station. However, many of the pictures were actually of items or place that I pass in my daily routine. For example, the t-shirt marked with "made in Jordan" evidenced how trade influences Philadelphia. My favorite picture was probably the China town wall, just because I had seen it a few times, but I had never necessarily noticed its elegance. 

There is an abundance of places where globalization is evident within the city that most people generally wouldn't consider prior to this project. Everything from the clothes that we wear to the cars that we drive are pieces of globalization. I would assume that Philadelphia has the same amount of globalization, if not more, than most other large cities. Many of the feats are the same; however, there are certain characteristics about Philadelphia that I would assume are devoid in other cities, for example, China town. 

• What did you find most challenging about this project?
• I found it most challenging to decide on pictures to take and getting to the locations. Some things that I wanted to take photos of I didn't have access to getting there. I also found it difficult to directly relate my photo to that theme, some times I would end up focusing on a different theme with that photo also.
  
• How did you go about collecting the images or selecting the images?
• To collect images, I made a list of broad ideas then just wandered downtown until I found something that was interesting. Then I thought of places or things to take pictures of to finish. So I could find the object then easily capture it. It was also hard to get some pictures because some places like The Parkway was under construction. I couldnt get all the way to the airport so I drove until I found a sign on the expressway that informed drivers that the airport exit was coming up.
  
• Which image is your favorite? Why? Elaborate.
• My favorite image was my photo for culture. I didn't know the meaning behind the hotel or mural on the hotel. I knew that for culture I wanted a mural painting that looked in some way cultural. When I did my research I found out that the hotel is made to be a home away from home for people from Europe and there are many branches of this hotel in over 50 countries in the world.
  
• How prevalent is the evidence of globalization in Philadelphia? Do you think it is more or less so (evident) than in other large cities in the US? Why Why not?
• I think globalization is prevalent in Philadelphia. I think that it is probably equally evident in other large cities. All of my examples for globalization, other cities have those things also, like restaurants, airports, money, banks, hospitals/health insurance,apple stores, gas stations and a place where government officials meet.
  

• What did you find most challenging about this project?
• I found it most challenging to decide on pictures to take and getting to the locations. Some things that I wanted to take photos of I didn't have access to getting there. I also found it difficult to directly relate my photo to that theme, some times I would end up focusing on a different theme with that photo also.
  
• How did you go about collecting the images or selecting the images?
• To collect images, I made a list of broad ideas then just wandered downtown until I found something that was interesting. Then I thought of places or things to take pictures of to finish. So I could find the object then easily capture it. It was also hard to get some pictures because some places like The Parkway was under construction. I couldnt get all the way to the airport so I drove until I found a sign on the expressway that informed drivers that the airport exit was coming up.
  
• Which image is your favorite? Why? Elaborate.
• My favorite image was my photo for culture. I didn't know the meaning behind the hotel or mural on the hotel. I knew that for culture I wanted a mural painting that looked in some way cultural. When I did my research I found out that the hotel is made to be a home away from home for people from Europe and there are many branches of this hotel in over 50 countries in the world.
  
• How prevalent is the evidence of globalization in Philadelphia? Do you think it is more or less so (evident) than in other large cities in the US? Why Why not?
• I think globalization is prevalent in Philadelphia. I think that it is probably equally evident in other large cities. All of my examples for globalization, other cities have those things also, like restaurants, airports, money, banks, hospitals/health insurance, apple stores, gas stations and a place where government officials meet.