This is a response to Miss Pollock's post about our lunch with Eric Walters.
For the first part of our assignment we had to choose three books by Eric Walters and write what we think is the main idea or message for each book. Here are the three books I chose, along with their messages:
Bifocal: Do not judge or assume things about someone before knowing them or their side of a story.
Run: Do not ever give up because you can accomplish anything with hope and perseverance.
Black and White: Don't judge someone just because of where they are from.
For the second part of our assignment we had to make our own short story about an issue that we think is important. Here's my short story:
I'm the new kid at my school. I've only been here for about two months and luckily I made some awesome friends. Today was just another ordinary day. My friends and I were laughing our heads off, as usual. I had a peanut butter, jelly sandwich, as always. I saw Veruka sitting by herself, as usual. Everyone ignores her for some reason, so I ignore her too, but I do smile or wave at her sometimes. When I do wave or smile at her people give me weird looks. While Emily was talking about her new video game I saw Veruka running towards us. Maybe she wanted to be our friend. No, it couldn't be, her face was as red as a cherry and streams of tears were rushing down her face. I looked around and saw that she was running towards the ladies' room. I couldn't just pretend I never saw her, I would feel too guilty. Finally, I decided to go see what was wrong. While I was opening the door I heard someone sobbing. It was Veruka and she had something sharp in her hand. "Oh no! I hope she's doing what I think she's doing!", I thought. I quickly ran to her and took the sharp thing from her hand. Luckily, I came before she had done any harm to herself. I asked her what she was doing and why. She said that every time she got picked on she held it inside of her, until she couldn't hold it in anymore. That's why she was going to hurt herself. I told her that it doesn't make anything go away or make her feel better. From that day on we became best friends. People gave me weird looks at first, but I didn't mind because why should they care who I become friends with. I learned my lesson. Just because people ignore someone it doesn't mean that you have to ignore them too. Nowadays, I judge people after I meet them not before. Everyone deserves to have the chance of making friends and you never know if that person becomes your best friend.
Well, that's my story! Hope you enjoyed it! (:
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Teenagers and Sleep
I'm writing this blog in response to Miss Pollock's post about Assignment #4
For this assignment we had to work in groups. My group members are:
Jeffrey, Noah, and Walid
If you still want to read more about this interesting topic, here are some websites that are really helpful:
- Chart on the right amount of sleep click here.
- For an article that's really interesting click here.
- Of course Google.ca helped a lot and you can always search there for further information.
This issue is all about teenagers and sleep. People our age are supposed to have eight and a half hours to nine and a half hours of sleep. Unfortunately, many teenagers don't get as much sleep as they should! Some people say that we should change the time school starts because that is one of the reasons for why we don't sleep enough. Another reason for why we teenagers don't sleep enough is because of electronics. Many articles say that ever since laptops, cellphones and other electronic gadgets were invented, we have been getting less sleep. One specific article, that I have listed above, says that before the light bulb was invented people slept more than they do now. This was probably because after the sun set and it was too dark to stay outside with friends, teenagers just went home to sleep.
This topic is important for the "Digital Classroom" because in order to work on a computer and look at the screen, you cannot be tired. You need to be well rested. Some people actually get glasses if they're on the computer all night and are tired as well. Also, when you're doing assignments on blogs you have to do it at an appropriate time, not at 12:00 am. It's crucial to get enough sleep so you can pay attention in school and not fall asleep by accident. We all should get our homework done at least before 10:00 pm. That way you can go to bed and have around 9 hours of sleep, which is how many you should be getting.
NOT GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP:
ENOUGH SLEEP:
So, think before the next time you decide to stay up late watching TV or doing anything else!
For this assignment we had to work in groups. My group members are:
Jeffrey, Noah, and Walid
If you still want to read more about this interesting topic, here are some websites that are really helpful:
- Chart on the right amount of sleep click here.
- For an article that's really interesting click here.
- Of course Google.ca helped a lot and you can always search there for further information.
This issue is all about teenagers and sleep. People our age are supposed to have eight and a half hours to nine and a half hours of sleep. Unfortunately, many teenagers don't get as much sleep as they should! Some people say that we should change the time school starts because that is one of the reasons for why we don't sleep enough. Another reason for why we teenagers don't sleep enough is because of electronics. Many articles say that ever since laptops, cellphones and other electronic gadgets were invented, we have been getting less sleep. One specific article, that I have listed above, says that before the light bulb was invented people slept more than they do now. This was probably because after the sun set and it was too dark to stay outside with friends, teenagers just went home to sleep.
This topic is important for the "Digital Classroom" because in order to work on a computer and look at the screen, you cannot be tired. You need to be well rested. Some people actually get glasses if they're on the computer all night and are tired as well. Also, when you're doing assignments on blogs you have to do it at an appropriate time, not at 12:00 am. It's crucial to get enough sleep so you can pay attention in school and not fall asleep by accident. We all should get our homework done at least before 10:00 pm. That way you can go to bed and have around 9 hours of sleep, which is how many you should be getting.
NOT GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP:
So, think before the next time you decide to stay up late watching TV or doing anything else!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Assignment #17: The Slam!
This is a response to Ms. Pollock's post.
3)a) What did you learn from Greg and Beth Ann? (at least 2 things)
- I learned a lot about how to perform and how to make my poems flow better.
- Both of them gave me new ways to write my poetry.
3)b) When writing your own poem, what did you use as inspiration? (at least 3 things)
- I made a list of world wide problems and then I chose one that I thought was the most important to me.
- I also chose a topic that I knew I would be able to work with easily.
- A topic that the audience can relate to and understand is also important, so I chose a topic that everyone has heard of before.
3)c) What are you most proud of from your poem or your presentation of it? (at least one thing)
- Well I was proud of how I thought of nice metaphors, I usually suck at them, but since I chose a topic that I think is really important, I was able to write a lot about it.
3)d) How did you feel before you performed?
- I felt super nervous. I kept on reading my poem and making sure everything was okay.
3)e) How did you feel AFTER you performed?
- Right after my performance I felt embarrassed because I kind of messed up. After a while I felt relieved that I got it over with.
3)f) What would you change about your own poem or performance for next time? (at least 1 thing)
- I would try not to be so nervous and I would also make more eye contact with the audience.
- I would rehearse a little more next time because I didn't really feel ready.
3)g) What did you learn/like about someone else's poem?
I liked how some people didn't just read words from their paper, they added actions and performed well. I think everyone in our class had really deep poems and I thank everyone for sharing their words with us, I really enjoyed the slam!
Here's the poem I read at the slam:
Mother Earth
Crystal clear oceans. Fields of green grass with colourful plants, like precious gems. Wonderful white snow all the way up north and way down south. Rainforests rich with exotic life. She tries her best to sustain it all. Everyday we wake up to the sweet melodies of birds chirping. Breathing in fresh air and drinking fresh, ice cold water. We take her beauty and protection for granted and what do we do for her in return? We build factory after factory, filling up her lungs with smoke. We tear too many trees for our own needs. Using the fertile ground as a garbage can. Staining the clear, blue oceans with our own filth! Slowly, we're turning her into a furnace, melting away all the magnificent glaciers. We behave selfishly, using up all of her resources. Her beauty is slowly fading away, she's turning green to grey. If we keep this up then we'll be living in a colourless world, slowly burning her up. But, it's not too late, we can still make a difference. There is still time to save all her glorious wonders. Start by doing little things because they all add up. We can all work together to patch her up, and remember, by hurting her we are only hurting us.
Well, that's my poem. Feel free to comment! Hope you enjoyed it!
3)a) What did you learn from Greg and Beth Ann? (at least 2 things)
- I learned a lot about how to perform and how to make my poems flow better.
- Both of them gave me new ways to write my poetry.
3)b) When writing your own poem, what did you use as inspiration? (at least 3 things)
- I made a list of world wide problems and then I chose one that I thought was the most important to me.
- I also chose a topic that I knew I would be able to work with easily.
- A topic that the audience can relate to and understand is also important, so I chose a topic that everyone has heard of before.
3)c) What are you most proud of from your poem or your presentation of it? (at least one thing)
- Well I was proud of how I thought of nice metaphors, I usually suck at them, but since I chose a topic that I think is really important, I was able to write a lot about it.
3)d) How did you feel before you performed?
- I felt super nervous. I kept on reading my poem and making sure everything was okay.
3)e) How did you feel AFTER you performed?
- Right after my performance I felt embarrassed because I kind of messed up. After a while I felt relieved that I got it over with.
3)f) What would you change about your own poem or performance for next time? (at least 1 thing)
- I would try not to be so nervous and I would also make more eye contact with the audience.
- I would rehearse a little more next time because I didn't really feel ready.
3)g) What did you learn/like about someone else's poem?
I liked how some people didn't just read words from their paper, they added actions and performed well. I think everyone in our class had really deep poems and I thank everyone for sharing their words with us, I really enjoyed the slam!
Here's the poem I read at the slam:
Mother Earth
Crystal clear oceans. Fields of green grass with colourful plants, like precious gems. Wonderful white snow all the way up north and way down south. Rainforests rich with exotic life. She tries her best to sustain it all. Everyday we wake up to the sweet melodies of birds chirping. Breathing in fresh air and drinking fresh, ice cold water. We take her beauty and protection for granted and what do we do for her in return? We build factory after factory, filling up her lungs with smoke. We tear too many trees for our own needs. Using the fertile ground as a garbage can. Staining the clear, blue oceans with our own filth! Slowly, we're turning her into a furnace, melting away all the magnificent glaciers. We behave selfishly, using up all of her resources. Her beauty is slowly fading away, she's turning green to grey. If we keep this up then we'll be living in a colourless world, slowly burning her up. But, it's not too late, we can still make a difference. There is still time to save all her glorious wonders. Start by doing little things because they all add up. We can all work together to patch her up, and remember, by hurting her we are only hurting us.
Well, that's my poem. Feel free to comment! Hope you enjoyed it!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Assignment #15: Slam Poets Response
This is a response to Miss Pollock's post.
Miss Pollock organized a couple of sessions with professional slam poets. It's really cool working with them. So far we have had 2 sessions with them. Here's a response to the first session we had with them:
3 things that you are looking forward to learning, developing or using in your poetry over the course of our Slam workshops.
- Well, by the end of these sessions I want to be able to make my ideas more organized. I want to be able to make my poems more organized and get better at poetry.
- I want to learn a new way of presenting my poems. I want to be able to project my voice when I'm talking in front of an audience. Hopefully they'll give us some tips about performing and how to make your performance more interesting.
- I like how Beth Anne had a good way of saying her poem and how it all flowed. Greg also did it too with his poem that he sung. I'm hoping to make my poetry have a good flow in it.
2 things that Greg or Beth Anne reinforced that we have already been doing in class, or you are already using in your own writing.
- Well, I like how Greg said that anything you write is a poem because poetry is your thoughts and creativity written on paper. Also, he reinforced that there are only two types of poems in this world, poems that rhyme and poems that don't rhyme.
- They also talked about brainstorming and how you just write a bunch of things that you think are related to the topic. It doesn't matter how weird it sounds, it's just a place to start thinking about your poem.
1 poem that you wrote yesterday.
For the first session we had to write a noun or adjective on a piece of paper and then switch your paper with someone else. The word that I got when I switched papers with someone was the word "blank". That word made my mind go blank and it was really hard to work with, but eventually it came to me. Here's my poem:
Blank
Imagine if the world lost its colour
All the beauty drained out
No more waking up to a chorus of chirping birds
How boring would it be?
Take time to observe the beauty around you
Listen to all the sounds around you and breathe in the rich oxygen
Don't take it for granted
Who knows, it might disappear one day
Miss Pollock organized a couple of sessions with professional slam poets. It's really cool working with them. So far we have had 2 sessions with them. Here's a response to the first session we had with them:
3 things that you are looking forward to learning, developing or using in your poetry over the course of our Slam workshops.
- Well, by the end of these sessions I want to be able to make my ideas more organized. I want to be able to make my poems more organized and get better at poetry.
- I want to learn a new way of presenting my poems. I want to be able to project my voice when I'm talking in front of an audience. Hopefully they'll give us some tips about performing and how to make your performance more interesting.
- I like how Beth Anne had a good way of saying her poem and how it all flowed. Greg also did it too with his poem that he sung. I'm hoping to make my poetry have a good flow in it.
2 things that Greg or Beth Anne reinforced that we have already been doing in class, or you are already using in your own writing.
- Well, I like how Greg said that anything you write is a poem because poetry is your thoughts and creativity written on paper. Also, he reinforced that there are only two types of poems in this world, poems that rhyme and poems that don't rhyme.
- They also talked about brainstorming and how you just write a bunch of things that you think are related to the topic. It doesn't matter how weird it sounds, it's just a place to start thinking about your poem.
1 poem that you wrote yesterday.
For the first session we had to write a noun or adjective on a piece of paper and then switch your paper with someone else. The word that I got when I switched papers with someone was the word "blank". That word made my mind go blank and it was really hard to work with, but eventually it came to me. Here's my poem:
Blank
Imagine if the world lost its colour
All the beauty drained out
No more waking up to a chorus of chirping birds
How boring would it be?
Take time to observe the beauty around you
Listen to all the sounds around you and breathe in the rich oxygen
Don't take it for granted
Who knows, it might disappear one day
Assignment #14:Poetry of Hope with Reading Buddies
In class we read a poem about the Holocaust. Here's one poem that we read in class about someone that lived in the ghetto:
The Butterfly
Pavel Friedmann was born in Prague on January 7, 1921. He was deported to Terezin on April 26, 1942 and later to Auschwitz, where he died on September 29, 1944
For this assignment we had to do research about the ghetto and write a poem about living in the ghetto with our reading buddies. Me and my reading buddy, Emily, wrote the poem below together:
Here in the Ghetto:
Here in the ghetto,
Life's so hard,
I can never sleep at night,
It's too crowded and the space is tight
Whatever happened to our houses?
Now we're trapped in here like mice,
Trapped in a hole
Disease spreading everywhere
Oh how I wish I can go back home
Yet,
We still have hope because we still have dreams
That will not be demolished
Until they are accomplished
One day this nightmare will stop
Someone, something, will stand up to these bullies
...
One day
- By Sara and Emily
Hope you enjoyed it! (:
The Butterfly
- The last, the very last,
- So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow.
- Perhaps if the sun’s tears would sing
- against a white stone. . . .
- Such, such a yellow
- Is carried lightly ‘way up high.
- It went away I’m sure because it wished to
- kiss the world good-bye.
- For seven weeks I’ve lived in here,
- Penned up inside this ghetto.
- But I have found what I love here.
- The dandelions call to me
- And the white chestnut branches in the court.
- Only I never saw another butterfly.
- That butterfly was the last one.
- Butterflies don’t live in here,
- in the ghetto.
Pavel Friedmann was born in Prague on January 7, 1921. He was deported to Terezin on April 26, 1942 and later to Auschwitz, where he died on September 29, 1944
For this assignment we had to do research about the ghetto and write a poem about living in the ghetto with our reading buddies. Me and my reading buddy, Emily, wrote the poem below together:
Here in the Ghetto:
Here in the ghetto,
Life's so hard,
I can never sleep at night,
It's too crowded and the space is tight
Whatever happened to our houses?
Now we're trapped in here like mice,
Trapped in a hole
Disease spreading everywhere
Oh how I wish I can go back home
Yet,
We still have hope because we still have dreams
That will not be demolished
Until they are accomplished
One day this nightmare will stop
Someone, something, will stand up to these bullies
...
One day
- By Sara and Emily
Hope you enjoyed it! (:
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Professor Scott's Visit
This is a reflection about Professor Scott's second visit. He's a retired history professor and he sits with us and talks to us about history, mostly about technology in the past. If you want more information about my post click here. Here's my reflection for his second visit:
1. What did you learn? (3 marks)
I learned that all of the new technology that was created in the 1800s led to new jobs because to create those technologies you needed to make it, so more people were needed and there weren't only farmers anymore. Therefore, more people had money and became wealthier. Another thing I learned was the first steamboat was built by John Molson. He also started a beer company called Molson's Brewery in 1809. I learned the reason for why there were so many Irish people migrating to Canada that caused a huge population growth. It was because of the potato famine in Ireland. Potatoes were one of the staple foods in Ireland and when the potato crops weren't growing many people went hungry.
2. Which technology interested you? (1 mark)
The technology that interested me most was the telegraph which included Morse code. There were these codes with only dots and dashes and to me it seems really confusing and complicated. I cannot imagine using it. It would probably take me so long that I wouldn't want to even send the message anymore!
3. How did it impact society? (3 marks)
The telegraph was one of the greatest inventions at that time, in my opinion. Even though people were very fond of it they probably wanted an easier and faster way to communicate. That's what got some people thinking and having ideas. Then, eventually the telephone was created, but I'm not sure who invented it. The whole point is, without the telegraph there would not be any telephones or cell phones.One technology leads to another new technology and it keeps on going. Like how the telegraph led to a telephone, which led to a wireless telephone, which led to a cell phone, which led to a touch screen cell phone and so forth. The telegraph also made sending messages faster and easier. Someone didn't have to go on a long journey just to send a message anymore. They were able to easily send them in their own home.
4. What questions do you have? (2 marks)
Well, I was wondering who invented the first telephone? I also wanted to know when the first printing press was invented and if it was first used in Canada, if not, who invented it and where was it invented?
5. Tie into a big history idea. (1 mark)
This ties into the big history idea about knowing the past to understand the present and prepare for the future. All the new technologies( in the 1800s) were like the older technologies, but an improved and more modern version. Even now people look at technology in the past to help them create new technology, which will help people in the future. An example is the telegraph and how people used that to help create the telephone, which was easier for people.
1. What did you learn? (3 marks)
I learned that all of the new technology that was created in the 1800s led to new jobs because to create those technologies you needed to make it, so more people were needed and there weren't only farmers anymore. Therefore, more people had money and became wealthier. Another thing I learned was the first steamboat was built by John Molson. He also started a beer company called Molson's Brewery in 1809. I learned the reason for why there were so many Irish people migrating to Canada that caused a huge population growth. It was because of the potato famine in Ireland. Potatoes were one of the staple foods in Ireland and when the potato crops weren't growing many people went hungry.
2. Which technology interested you? (1 mark)
The technology that interested me most was the telegraph which included Morse code. There were these codes with only dots and dashes and to me it seems really confusing and complicated. I cannot imagine using it. It would probably take me so long that I wouldn't want to even send the message anymore!
3. How did it impact society? (3 marks)
The telegraph was one of the greatest inventions at that time, in my opinion. Even though people were very fond of it they probably wanted an easier and faster way to communicate. That's what got some people thinking and having ideas. Then, eventually the telephone was created, but I'm not sure who invented it. The whole point is, without the telegraph there would not be any telephones or cell phones.One technology leads to another new technology and it keeps on going. Like how the telegraph led to a telephone, which led to a wireless telephone, which led to a cell phone, which led to a touch screen cell phone and so forth. The telegraph also made sending messages faster and easier. Someone didn't have to go on a long journey just to send a message anymore. They were able to easily send them in their own home.
4. What questions do you have? (2 marks)
Well, I was wondering who invented the first telephone? I also wanted to know when the first printing press was invented and if it was first used in Canada, if not, who invented it and where was it invented?
5. Tie into a big history idea. (1 mark)
This ties into the big history idea about knowing the past to understand the present and prepare for the future. All the new technologies( in the 1800s) were like the older technologies, but an improved and more modern version. Even now people look at technology in the past to help them create new technology, which will help people in the future. An example is the telegraph and how people used that to help create the telephone, which was easier for people.
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