Poetry Project
Project Description: For this project we looked at many different types of poetry and what is made up in an poem. We analyzed poems to find there meaning and looked at poetic devices that helped bring out the meaning. Once we had deeper understanding of poetry we started writing our own poetry. We tried writing poetry with meter and stressed words, then we went into writing similes and metaphors. We finally started writing our final poems, people wrote them about a topic we learned in class. We could have wrote it about gender expectations, happiness, flow, meaning, religion, and individuality. I decided to write mine about gender expectations and individuality.
Like a Girl
Caeley McClain I look in the mirror The reflection full of beauty and adventure My feet covered in mud from the trail going to the peak of the mountain My legs full of power and muscle from running up and down the field My hair wet from jumping into the moving water My arms moving to the beat of the music Years go by and the toys slowly disappear Social media becomes the inventor of a new disease Insecurity and self consciousness The disease spreading here and there Everyone focusing on having tight waists And having a perfect body image Faces covered by masks, our identity hidden in a dark cave The outdoors and family become my solidarity, my truth They remind me the person in the magazine isn’t the person in the mirror I hear comments, Before they would shatter me into millions of pieces, Now I realize their insecurities can’t deal with the girl in the mirror They say we aren’t gifted like boys That we can’t accomplish the same things as them They say the phrase like a girl like it's an insult Ready to cut into our skin and spread the disease to our head So yeah, I run like a girl Kick the black and white ball coming towards me like a girl Hike steep mountains like a girl Jump into the murky water like a girl Row a raft like a girl I am a girl and nothing will ever change the reflection in the mirror. |
Reflection:
To see our poetry book click the button below.
Happiness and Meaning Project
Project Description: This project was about authentic happiness and meaning. We read the book Brave New World as a way to analyze different societies and how they found their own happiness. While looking at happiness we found the concepts of flow, power and money, and the idea of what society thinks happiness is and the ways society thinks they can find happiness. We compared countries to see who was the happiest and what was making them the happiest. Once we were done researching we took what we had found and put it into an essay and an art piece.
Reflection :
The happiness project made me grow as a student by making me persevere through all the work we did. During the project I was feeling very overwhelmed with how much we had to do and how much the project grade was. I was able to communicate with my peers, teachers, and family which made me feel more comfortable with what I was doing and what I had accomplished. I also feel I grew in being more organized, I was able to plan out what I wanted to complete or accomplish each day. I didn’t just wait till the last moment to do my art piece and finish my work, I made sure I had enough time to do each aspect of the project. By being more organized it also allowed me to persevere through this project because Once I was done with a task I felt comfortable with where I was at and I was able to relax.
This summer to incorporate my understanding of happiness and meaning I will do things that gives me happiness and meaning. Looking at the article If You Use the Phone a Lot, This is Why It Could Be Making You Unhappy it, it made me realize I should spend less time on my phone and more on others things, such as being in the outdoors. I will go for hikes with my family and dogs, backpack, camp, play soccer, and spend time with friends. It also made me realize how much time I actually spend on my phone, another world that we use to connect with others through social media and compare ourselves to what the ideal person is. Throughout my summer I will do the thing I have a passion for and try to share my knowledge about happiness with others. From this project I will always remember that to receive happiness you must go through a challenge first. By going through the challenge first you earn meaning in life and become more accepting of who are. You learn that you have responsibility in our world and you mean something to many people. But we can’t take happiness for granted, it always fades like any other feeling. It may last for a long period of time, but you will always go through hard time which create those happy moments that we remember for ever. |
Model united Nations
Project Description
This project was based of the United Nations, what issues they face, and what type of conferences they hold. Each student was given a country and over the past 9 weeks had to discuss two issues; North Korea owning and developing Nuclear Weapons and the Israel-Palestine conflict. For each Issue, every student had to research their countries perspective on the issue and write a Policy Paper, Resolution, and Speech. Four resolutions were picked to be on the docket at the conference for countries to vote for, the top resolution voted by the countries would then be passed. For each issue a conference was held and you were required to represent your country and your countries perspective.
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Should North Korea have the right to own and develop Nuclear Weapons?
Should Palestinians have the right of return to Israel?
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Reflection
What are you most proud of about this conference?
For the Israel-Palestine conference I’m proud of many things that I accomplished, but there were many things that I did that stood out to me. One example of one thing that I did that really stood out to me was my speech. Going into the conference I was really nervous about getting up and saying my speech in front of the community. My country (Syria) had a really weird perspective on what they believed should be the solution and it was a struggle to find information of Syria’s relations with Israel and Palestine. So I wasn’t sure how my speech would sound and if it would flow. I got more used to what my country's perspective was and made it seem I was only for that side, my whole speech is mainly talking about helping the Palestinian side then the Israeli side. Once I got up to the podium to tell my speech I wasn’t nervous at all, I had gotten comfortable with how my country felt about the Palestine-Israel conflict and stood behind what my country believed in. Once I sat back down I was very proud of myself, with what I had accomplished.
What did you connect with most in this project, and how did that affect your conference performance?
During this project I feel I connected with the research the most. I got into how it really had affected both sides. So many people have died and aren’t being treated right, there human rights are being violated. The one thing that really pulled me in and really connected me to this project was what was happening with Palestinian refugees. For example, when I saw the video refugees for a second time I was automatically wanting to help the refugees because of what horrible living conditions they are in. They have very little room to live in the refugee camps, they have to walk to get water, they wash their clothes in saltwater, and the kids barely get an education. To make things worse over 7,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli and there has been over 2,000 Israeli that have been killed by the Palestinians. Since I am personally more sympathetic to the Palestinian side, during the conference it helped me portray my country's perspective and get amendments passed that would help the Palestinians.
What was the most important thing you learned in the project? Why?
The most important thing I learned during this project was that I enjoy writing about current issues in our world. Seeing how people are struggling in the world wants me to make other people aware of what's happening. In this project when we learned about how many people are suffering, it made me want to research more of it and write about to show others how they have suffered in many ways. I got a chance to do communicate to others in this project through the policy paper and resolutions and hope throughout other projects I can take what I’ve learned about other countries and keep sharing it.
For the Israel-Palestine conference I’m proud of many things that I accomplished, but there were many things that I did that stood out to me. One example of one thing that I did that really stood out to me was my speech. Going into the conference I was really nervous about getting up and saying my speech in front of the community. My country (Syria) had a really weird perspective on what they believed should be the solution and it was a struggle to find information of Syria’s relations with Israel and Palestine. So I wasn’t sure how my speech would sound and if it would flow. I got more used to what my country's perspective was and made it seem I was only for that side, my whole speech is mainly talking about helping the Palestinian side then the Israeli side. Once I got up to the podium to tell my speech I wasn’t nervous at all, I had gotten comfortable with how my country felt about the Palestine-Israel conflict and stood behind what my country believed in. Once I sat back down I was very proud of myself, with what I had accomplished.
What did you connect with most in this project, and how did that affect your conference performance?
During this project I feel I connected with the research the most. I got into how it really had affected both sides. So many people have died and aren’t being treated right, there human rights are being violated. The one thing that really pulled me in and really connected me to this project was what was happening with Palestinian refugees. For example, when I saw the video refugees for a second time I was automatically wanting to help the refugees because of what horrible living conditions they are in. They have very little room to live in the refugee camps, they have to walk to get water, they wash their clothes in saltwater, and the kids barely get an education. To make things worse over 7,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli and there has been over 2,000 Israeli that have been killed by the Palestinians. Since I am personally more sympathetic to the Palestinian side, during the conference it helped me portray my country's perspective and get amendments passed that would help the Palestinians.
What was the most important thing you learned in the project? Why?
The most important thing I learned during this project was that I enjoy writing about current issues in our world. Seeing how people are struggling in the world wants me to make other people aware of what's happening. In this project when we learned about how many people are suffering, it made me want to research more of it and write about to show others how they have suffered in many ways. I got a chance to do communicate to others in this project through the policy paper and resolutions and hope throughout other projects I can take what I’ve learned about other countries and keep sharing it.
Model United Nations Mid-Project Reflection
1. What has been most challenging about this project?Why?
So far in the project the most challenging part for me was writing my resolution for North Korea and its Nuclear arsenal. I think this is because Syria has a really weird perspective on the subject and I wasn't really sure what to say. When I was writing it, my resolution sounded a lot like the example resolution. I wasn't really sure how to make it different. Another reason why this was so challenging was because in the first place I didn't really understand how to write a resolution. The wording and the format of it is really hard to understand and is confusing.
2.What challenges have you over come?Why?
One thing that challenges me is talking in front of a whole group of people and knowing what to say. The speech that I had to do during the North Korea conference helped me get over that challenge. I talked my speech out with a friend, what I was going to say. I went over it and over again, I timed my self to make myself more comfortable with doing the speech. The next day when I got up and did my speech in front of the class, I felt relieved and more confident in myself. Once we get to the next conference I will feel more comfortable going up there and giving my speech.
3.What are you most proud of at this point?Why?
Right now at this point I'm most proud of my speech and policy paper. I'm proud of my speech because I over came a challenge and got more comfortable with giving speeches, like what I said for question 2. I'm proud of my policy paper because I feel I put my best effort towards it and made it beautiful.
4.Analyze and explain what the following quote means to you:"Complacency is where genius goes to die"-Matt Hughes
I know that complacency means that you are satisfied with what things are and don't want to try making them better. In my eyes I think that this quote is trying to say that when you don't try to make things better and you think that everything is okay, your genius goes and dies because sometimes you can go back and make it better.
So far in the project the most challenging part for me was writing my resolution for North Korea and its Nuclear arsenal. I think this is because Syria has a really weird perspective on the subject and I wasn't really sure what to say. When I was writing it, my resolution sounded a lot like the example resolution. I wasn't really sure how to make it different. Another reason why this was so challenging was because in the first place I didn't really understand how to write a resolution. The wording and the format of it is really hard to understand and is confusing.
2.What challenges have you over come?Why?
One thing that challenges me is talking in front of a whole group of people and knowing what to say. The speech that I had to do during the North Korea conference helped me get over that challenge. I talked my speech out with a friend, what I was going to say. I went over it and over again, I timed my self to make myself more comfortable with doing the speech. The next day when I got up and did my speech in front of the class, I felt relieved and more confident in myself. Once we get to the next conference I will feel more comfortable going up there and giving my speech.
3.What are you most proud of at this point?Why?
Right now at this point I'm most proud of my speech and policy paper. I'm proud of my speech because I over came a challenge and got more comfortable with giving speeches, like what I said for question 2. I'm proud of my policy paper because I feel I put my best effort towards it and made it beautiful.
4.Analyze and explain what the following quote means to you:"Complacency is where genius goes to die"-Matt Hughes
I know that complacency means that you are satisfied with what things are and don't want to try making them better. In my eyes I think that this quote is trying to say that when you don't try to make things better and you think that everything is okay, your genius goes and dies because sometimes you can go back and make it better.
Socialization and Identity Project
This project taught us how socialization creates who we are and creates the stereotypes we get. We watched videos and read articles about our society on how we are effected or how others are effected. For this project we read this book, called Mexican White Boy, it gave us another perspective on how we've been socialized. Once all the research was over, we took what we had learned and put it into an essay and mask that was related to how we've been socialized over the years of our life.
Reflection:
My Mask:
For my mask I'm most proud of my idea behind it and the time I put into it. The idea behind my mask was that media makes females look perfect. That females like makeup and have no flaws. The other side represents me and how I'm not perfect and wasn't socialized by the media. Not only did I make a mask I made a manikin, for a body. The manikin took a lot of time and effort because we had to tape my body with duck tape to get the form of the manikin. Not only that I spent many days creating the design of the mask. Re- thinking the skin color, lip colors, eyes, and eye brows. The time put into it and the idea behind it is obviously my favorite part of my mask.
Quote:
"Each day I ponder over the question of who am I and it hasn't been till now that I realized that I don’t even have a choice of who I am. It’s already been set for me since I was born because of the Cycle of Socialization, it molds your values, norms, how you act, what you wear and your culture. It not only tells you those roles, but it also makes you follow them or you no longer belong. If you don’t get socialized then you become a Feral Child (Wild Child), that doesn’t know how to walk, talk, eat, read or write, and how to be around others."
This quote from my introduction paragraph of my essay is my favorite part of my socialization essay. I feel I worded it really well and really explains how the Cycle of socialization is incorporated into our life's. I never that i didn't have a choice of who I am, from the day I was born that was decided for me by the Socialization. If I wasn't Socialized I would have no abilities I would be a Feral child. Not only that I wouldn't have any norms or values. This section of my essay really represents of what I learned throughout this project.
Biggest Take-away:
One thing that really stuck with me is that I didn't even have a choice of who I am, that how I was socialized created who I am and will keep on doing that until I'm dead. Another thing that I will take away is that I have no choice if I'm a target because I'm female and that females have all these expectations because we have to be perfect or else we don't fit in. Females are the ones that take care of the house, the kids, and don't have the same jobs as males. Now that we've done this project I've really noticed those factors of being a female. I can't be who I wanna be because then I don't fit in.
Growth:
One piece of information that will always stick with me and want to share with the community is how much socialization affects us. If we aren't socialized we don't learn how to eat, write, read, talk, and interact with others. In order to tell the community about how socialization affects us, I will share the story about Genie. How she was locked in her room and when the doctors say her, she didn't know how to walk, talk, or eat,things we need in everyday life.