Poetry Project
This project was an extension of the Happiness project. In this project we started by studying what make a poem good. Them we memorized and presented a poem, I chose the negro speaks of rivers by Langston Hughes. Then we stared writing our own poems. After multiple drafts we end with our final draft, with this draft we stared working on our presenting tectonic. All of this led to one of the best poetry slams I have ever been to.
Growth as a Poet:From my first draft to me final draft mr message has not changed, but what has changed is the detail that I delivered my message. For example this is a quote from my first draft “ Of the business man with, his mind on things left behind. The face of the homeless man, hoping someone see his sign and pauses for a moment.” After getting feedback this is the same line just with more detail “ Of the business man, dark bags under the eyes, from late nights spent at the office and, his mind on things left behind. The face of the homeless man with the unkempt beard,his eyes hoping someone see his sign, and pauses, for a moment.” As you can see the message is the same yet the detail that I described to make the message of my poem stronger. Although me message did not change the way that I described it did, which make it stronger.
One of the changes from my first draft to my final draft is that I made the poem I changed my words to make the poem flow smother. In my poem I changed the some of the words out to help make the flow better for example “To take the headphones off, I notice, I notice the sky, The birds singing, The wind in the trees” this is what it ended up looking like. “Take the headphones off, I notice, I notice the sky with a draping of clouds, The birds singing to thank the earth for this day, The wind in the trees, making them dance, like the earth is their club.” Changes it from a cliche to a metaphor, metaphors in my opinion are the best poetic device. By making this change I think that it give the reader a better question to the place I’m describing, it also helps keep them interested instead on putting them to sleep.
By adding my detail into the poem I make it easier to connect to it on an emotional level. This is best shone in this stanza,”Of the business man with, his mind on things left behind,The face of the homeless man, hoping someone see his sign and pauses for a moment”. This is the same lines but I added more detail, “Of the business man, dark bags under the eyes,from late nights spent at the office and, his mind on things left behind, The face of the homeless man with the unkempt beard, his eyes hoping someone sees his sign, and pauses, for a moment.” By adding details about the faces I think that it shows that we all have troubles. Over all these changes to poem have made it a stronger poem.
One of the changes from my first draft to my final draft is that I made the poem I changed my words to make the poem flow smother. In my poem I changed the some of the words out to help make the flow better for example “To take the headphones off, I notice, I notice the sky, The birds singing, The wind in the trees” this is what it ended up looking like. “Take the headphones off, I notice, I notice the sky with a draping of clouds, The birds singing to thank the earth for this day, The wind in the trees, making them dance, like the earth is their club.” Changes it from a cliche to a metaphor, metaphors in my opinion are the best poetic device. By making this change I think that it give the reader a better question to the place I’m describing, it also helps keep them interested instead on putting them to sleep.
By adding my detail into the poem I make it easier to connect to it on an emotional level. This is best shone in this stanza,”Of the business man with, his mind on things left behind,The face of the homeless man, hoping someone see his sign and pauses for a moment”. This is the same lines but I added more detail, “Of the business man, dark bags under the eyes,from late nights spent at the office and, his mind on things left behind, The face of the homeless man with the unkempt beard, his eyes hoping someone sees his sign, and pauses, for a moment.” By adding details about the faces I think that it shows that we all have troubles. Over all these changes to poem have made it a stronger poem.
Happiness and Meaning
In the happiness and meaning project we started by reading the book Brave New World. This is a fiction book by Aldous Huxley, when we finished the book we had a Socratic seminar on it. After that we started doing more research on what happiness is. Then we were read to start your essays and art pieces. With the art piece we could real do whatever we wanted to do. In our essays we had to answer three questions.
This project has helped me grow as a student be giving me more practice composing an essay from three questions. In this project we had to make an art peace and wright an essay, for our essay we were given three questions that we could answer how ever we would like. This was really hard for me to do because I had my own ideas about what I wanted my essay to be on but I had to set those a side to do the assignment. Having this challenge will help me in the future when I have to set aside my own goals and plans to do what I and assigned to do. Over all this challenge has help me become a stronger student.
My plan for this summer is already made and it is something that is going to make me happy. This summer, next year and next summer I will be traveling across the USA interning under different chefs. This ties in to to things that wrote about in my easy because I will be connecting with my family while we drive and I will be doing the thing that I find meaning in. in the arrival If You Use the Phone a Lot, This Is Why It Could Be Making You Unhappy, it talks about how we use your phones to fill gaps in our life. The only way that this would be a problem is if I get bored in the car.
My biggest takeaway from this project is that we cannot just be happy we need things to make us happy. For example we need to be doing something that give us meaning in our lives. I found this interesting because I know people who say they are happy but they don't have meaning in their lives. I also learned that our happiness can be dependent on others. This is because we need to have connections in your lives it be happy. Over all I learned what happiness is.
My plan for this summer is already made and it is something that is going to make me happy. This summer, next year and next summer I will be traveling across the USA interning under different chefs. This ties in to to things that wrote about in my easy because I will be connecting with my family while we drive and I will be doing the thing that I find meaning in. in the arrival If You Use the Phone a Lot, This Is Why It Could Be Making You Unhappy, it talks about how we use your phones to fill gaps in our life. The only way that this would be a problem is if I get bored in the car.
My biggest takeaway from this project is that we cannot just be happy we need things to make us happy. For example we need to be doing something that give us meaning in our lives. I found this interesting because I know people who say they are happy but they don't have meaning in their lives. I also learned that our happiness can be dependent on others. This is because we need to have connections in your lives it be happy. Over all I learned what happiness is.
Model United Nation
In this project we were assigned a country to be a United Nations delegate for, I was China. After we did some background research on our country, we did research on our country’s prospective. The two issues we debated were, should the North Koreans have the right to have nuclear weapons, the other one we did was the should the Palestinians have the right of return. After doing research on the problem, we wrote a policy paper and a resolution. For each issue there was a docket, in the docket there were four resolutions at the conference we voted of the one that our country would want.
What are you most proud of about this conference?
I am most proud of the fact that we reached consensus on both issues. The two issues we disgust were Should North Korea have the right to have nukes, and the other one was should the Palestinians have the right of return. My class reached conscience in both of these conflicts; we had to compromise to get people to vote for the one that we wanted them to vote for. For example I wrote 4 amendments at the exhibition, to make it possible to have people vote for it. Overall this project helped me learn how to build consensus.
What did you connect with most in this project, and how did that affect your conference performance?
I really connected with trying to help people come to one solution. I feel that I am good at this, for example I was willing to change things that I wanted to get people to vote for the one that I was voting for. This not only is something that I’m good at but also it is something that I fell will come in useful later at Animas and in the future. This skill made the conference more fun because it gave me an opportunity to talk with other delegates. Over all I hope to keep on having opportunities to keep practicing with this skill.
What was the most important thing you learned in this project? Why?
The most important thing I learned in this project was that there was such a long and big problem in Israel. After all it has been going on for over 70 years. An eye opener for me was that the USA has veto 43 resolution on this issue. There is a chase that this problem could have been solved if the USA did not veto the resolutions. I am glad that I am aware of the magnitude of this problem.
I am most proud of the fact that we reached consensus on both issues. The two issues we disgust were Should North Korea have the right to have nukes, and the other one was should the Palestinians have the right of return. My class reached conscience in both of these conflicts; we had to compromise to get people to vote for the one that we wanted them to vote for. For example I wrote 4 amendments at the exhibition, to make it possible to have people vote for it. Overall this project helped me learn how to build consensus.
What did you connect with most in this project, and how did that affect your conference performance?
I really connected with trying to help people come to one solution. I feel that I am good at this, for example I was willing to change things that I wanted to get people to vote for the one that I was voting for. This not only is something that I’m good at but also it is something that I fell will come in useful later at Animas and in the future. This skill made the conference more fun because it gave me an opportunity to talk with other delegates. Over all I hope to keep on having opportunities to keep practicing with this skill.
What was the most important thing you learned in this project? Why?
The most important thing I learned in this project was that there was such a long and big problem in Israel. After all it has been going on for over 70 years. An eye opener for me was that the USA has veto 43 resolution on this issue. There is a chase that this problem could have been solved if the USA did not veto the resolutions. I am glad that I am aware of the magnitude of this problem.
Model U.N. Mid Project Reflection
Mask Project: Socialization and Identity Project
In this project we learned how we have been socialized. We then made masks that showed different ways that we have been socialized, we used plaster of Paris. The main part of this project was our essays, these were about how we have been socialized and the factors that contributed to the socialization.
I am most proud of the magnetic section of my mask because it gave other people a chance to think about and show how they have been socialized. I made this part of my mask by taking magnetic strips and gluing them on to my mask. I then printed words out on stickers and put the stickers on another magnetic sheet.
This topic of socialization is important because we all have it in common, we are all socialized, and many of the messages that we are given are negative towards ourselves and others. We need to change this, and soon. The boys and girls in this culture are being raised with false images of how they should act and look. "If we accepted people for who they are we would change our culture, it would be a much more pleasant and happier place to live." This is a quote that I am most proud of because I feel that it explains why we did this project and it is a call to action. It is saying that if we change the messages we tell ourselves and our kids then the world will be a much nicer place to live.
The biggest take away that I got from this project is that I subconsciously put up walls to protect myself. I am now working on breaking down these walls to show people who I really am.
I would like to share the message that men do not need to hide behind our tough guy masks. I would like to share this by helping teach a workshop for men to break their masks.
This topic of socialization is important because we all have it in common, we are all socialized, and many of the messages that we are given are negative towards ourselves and others. We need to change this, and soon. The boys and girls in this culture are being raised with false images of how they should act and look. "If we accepted people for who they are we would change our culture, it would be a much more pleasant and happier place to live." This is a quote that I am most proud of because I feel that it explains why we did this project and it is a call to action. It is saying that if we change the messages we tell ourselves and our kids then the world will be a much nicer place to live.
The biggest take away that I got from this project is that I subconsciously put up walls to protect myself. I am now working on breaking down these walls to show people who I really am.
I would like to share the message that men do not need to hide behind our tough guy masks. I would like to share this by helping teach a workshop for men to break their masks.