I recently got back from Peru. Peru was a really fun experience for me. First, we arrived in Miraflores, Lima. We spent a day touring museums and cathedrals. The next morning we left and went to Cuzco where we toured some Incan sights. The next night we left for Machu Pichu. We stayed in Aguas Calientes. We toured Machu Pichu and spent time in the town. The next night we returned to Cuzco very late at night. The next morning we woke up very early to go back to Lima. We then spent time at the mall. The next day we did community service. We also did some community service the day after and left that night.
I was really proud of how my workshop went. The kids in our workshop seemed to understand the topic and really liked our obstacle course. The course turned out really fun and we ended up having time to play Kahoot and everyone really liked it. In addition, we ended right on time which I was really worried we weren’t going to do.
On Friday, I went to Haiti to do community service for Every Mother Counts. We went to a midwife center, a graduation, girl’s orphanage, a shop where they made paper mache pictures. It was a life-changing experience for me.
This weekend I went and visited my camp friend in Pittsford, New York. Pittsford is located in the suburbs outside of Rochester. It was really interesting to visit a town so different to the one I live in. The culture is completely different, and it was really cool to see it because I had never spent a lot of time in a place like that. We went to the mall (which I had never done before), and I really hope to visit again soon!
This Winter Break I read a book for my social justice project, titled Fair Play by Cyd Zeigler. It was a really interesting book for me to read because it really covered every topic connecting to mine. The author definitely knew a lot about the issue, and his opinions were backed up by a plethora of evidence. It took me a while to read it, but I was happy that I finished in time for school.
1. I think my strengths are learning the vocab for stories and participating in class. I think vocab used to be a struggle for me but now I make sure I study on quizlet until I know it.
2. I think I struggle with Cuentos homework a lot because sometimes it’s hard to figure out what the question is asking. I think instead of looking up whole questions when I don’t know them I should just look up individual words.
3. I think I have definitely improved in Spanish this year, and I have definitely learned much more vocabulary.
4. My three goals are to study more than one night in advance, to check over my homework before I turn it in and to study the story too before tests.
Recently in class, we read and finished American Born Chinese. The book has three different stories in it, one about a monkey that wants to be a god, one about a little boy with Chinese heritage growing up in a mostly white school, and another about a white-American boy who’s cousin from China visits. All three stories connect and have many parallels.
Recently, my social justice group has completed many fieldworks.Here are some of my experiences:
Name: Tilda Sutter
Social Justice Group: Sports and Equality
Date of Fieldwork: November 27, 2017
Name of Organization:
Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Chris Mosier – Olympian
Type of Fieldwork: Interview
What I did:
We held a skype interview with transgender athlete Chris Mosier. He is a well-known runner and has advocated for equal rights for people who identify as transgender.
What I learned:
Chris Mosier taught me a lot about being a transgender athlete and told me about his personal experiences. When he first came out as transgender he was the only one in his school to ever come out. He said that one thing that made him feel accepted was if someone every referred to him as she, his friends would correct them. He also talked about how role models play a large part in having the confidence to come out as transgender. In addition, he said that more people claim they have a seen a ghost than know anyone transgender, and that is why sometimes it is so hard to feel accepted. He also talked about his personal experiences with his treatment as a transgender athlete in sports.
What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:
I learned that sometimes the only thing you need to do to make someone feel accepted is to use the correct language. But in many cases, one of the best things you can do is actually advocate for equality. Change clearly doesn’t happen overnight, but even talking to your school to make a difference. Because many people don’t believe they know anyone transgender, it’s sometimes difficult to help them care about the problem.
To me, learning is “meaningful” when it provides opportunities to…
- Learn about myself, my identity, and my place in the world
- See new perspectives and develop empathy
- Explore, experiment and ask questions
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Photoshopping this image of Stella was a very interesting process for me and I think I learned a lot about design. The original image was Stella, wearing sunglasses at night standing with her leg over a railing. I masked out the railing and changed it to red, I highlighted her sunglasses so the sunglass rims were much bigger than usual, and made them almost look animated by changing the color to green. I also moved Stella to space, where I added in a planet for the railing to sit on and a drop shadow so it helped Stella look more realistic. I also have a man in a pool floaty flying behind her. One important element of design I included was contrast. I use contrast in many different ways in my piece, but an example is the contrast of the railing and Stella on it. I didn’t change Stella, so the depth and shadows on her body are still there, but all of that I took out in the railing, making it all one color. That way you can see the contrast between the more realistic Stella and the animated railing. I also think I used emphasis in this piece because I think I highlighted the sunglasses from the rest of Stella’s face by not only making the color much brighter but by enlarging them. I also believe I demonstrated pattern by having the flying man behind Stella repeated, making a pattern. I also think that I used proportion by making the planet much smaller than it would be in reality, so Stella stood out and was the focus of attention. Finally, I think I demonstrated harmony because all the pieces come together as a fun picture of Stella in space.