In mandarin, we are creating final video projects. The project is an accumulation of everything we have done in mandarin throughout middle school. We are using all of our vocab from the past four years and are creating a 15 minute video. I’m so excited to continue working on it!
This spring break, I went to China with Jen, Phil, and Xin. Overall, the China trip was a life changing experience for me. Not only was I able to practice my Mandarin, but I got a deeper understanding for Chinese culture. There were two main highlights of the trip for me. One of them was climbing The Great Wall. Climbing The Great Wall wasn’t only interesting from a tourist perspective because of how well known it was, but it was amazing to hear all of the stories that were told about how the wall was used centuries ago. It was as though walking on it was walking on a piece of history. It was also inspiring writing my name on the board, because it was cool knowing that my name would be there if I ever decided to come back. Another highlight of mine was dancing with the locals. It was interesting to see what they do at night in comparison to what we do, even though it’s pretty similar. Actually being able to interact with locals was one of the times in which I felt most culturally enriched. During the trip, I also tried bargaining for the first time. I learned that bargaining is very hard, and that if I go back again, I will be more prepared. The trip as a whole taught me an endless amount of new vocabulary, and it also taught me that I have a lot more work to do on my Mandarin. Overall, the trip was life changing, and if I ever go again, it surely won’t be the same.
selma march 1 – Medium (1)-2atwdh6
Emma, Io, and I made this video speaking about the Selma to Montgomery marches and how they connect to All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. We structured the video so that at first, it was in 1965 reporting on the scene live, and then, we go to 53 years later, and we report on it as it connects to our book and our current government. I’m very proud of this project, and cannot wait to share it in class!
I am very happy with how I did this trimester. I believe one of my strengths throughout the trimester were participation. I believe I did a good job participating in class discussions. I also think I have been doing well at taking initiative when I believe I could be doing something better. I believe something I could work on is including some of my classmates in discussions.
I really enjoyed writing my essay on American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. I believe I made my analysis deep, and was creative for the structure of my essay. The assignment was 2-3 paragraphs supporting your claim on a theme that occurs in the book. I decided to connect it to events that happened in history and are still happening to this day. I decided to connect the theme of exclusion, connecting the book to The Chinese Exclusion Act and Donald Trump’s current day travel ban. I believe something I could have done better is checked my grammar and spelling, and will look over my work to make it better.
Over winter break, I went with Emma to drop off books for our book drive. It took us three weeks to gather all of the books, and in the end, we got more than 400 books! We went to drop the books off at P.S. 192 on 138th street. We got to take pictures with the kids who we were helping, and it was a very gratifying experience. It was interesting to see our work pay off, and we hope the students enjoy reading the books we collected!
Overall, I had a great time at the Winter Concert. All of the performances were amazing. I think one thing we did well as a group was the harmonizing. Most people knew all of their parts, and the harmony sounded great. There were some points where we didn’t come together, but we picked ourselves up and continued the song. I think our group work was amazing, and the harmonies we worked so hard on made each of the songs really amazing. I was most proud of the fact that I was able to sing the alto part and remember all of the notes. The alto part is hard because it’s in the middle, and I was proud that I was able to memorize the alto part. One challenge I faced during the concert was the lyrics to Kalanta New Year. In order to memorize the lyrics, I had to take home to music and study it, and it payed off in the end. Overall, I believe our performance was amazing, and the Spring Concert will hopefully be even better!
This is an image of Tilda and I riding through the jungle. In order to present the notion that we were in the rainforest, I did some research and incorporated some animals that you might find in the jungle. I believe my photo represents change in the sense that I had photoshopped us out of our real background and replaced that background with something else, but yet we were all still still riding through the jungle, in hopes of making a difference. This is relevant today, when a lot of change is taking place, and teaches the lesson that you cannot just sit back and watch change disrupt our world – you must tackle it by using your voice. I have used many different elements in this project. I have used emphasis in the placement of our bike, drawing attention to it. I used balance when figuring out the scale of my project, and how everything is mostly to scale, creating a sense of balance. I used contrast when choosing the lighting of each element and layer, contrasting each element to create emphasis on different aspects of the project. For example, the shadowing I put into the picture created contrast. I used harmony in the placement of each animal and plant, trying to put each of them equidistant from the bicycle in order to show harmony between the animals, but mostly draw attention to the bike. Rhythm occurred in my picture when drawing attention to the edges of my picture first with the animals. Overall, I have really enjoyed this project and am looking forward to doing more digital art in the future!
In Humanities, we were asked to write a creative writing piece for an enslaved African who lived during the Colonial Era. We chose from a document that Suzanne gave to us, and each student was given the short biography of an enslaved African. Then, we were asked to write a creative piece on that person. I got a woman named Serena Baldwin, who was born enslaved and then was freed and became a teacher in Haiti. One thing that I’m very proud of in this piece is the description I put into it. I think it had the perfect balance of information and creativity. Another aspect of my piece I’m very proud of was my ability to be creative. I usually struggle with the assignments in which I must make up my own story, and I believe that I surpassed the challenge.
One thing that I’m very proud of in this piece is the description I put into it. I think it had the perfect balance of information and creativity. Another aspect of my piece I’m very proud of was my ability to be creative. I usually struggle with the assignments in which I must make up my own story, and I believe that I surpassed the challenge.
I learned a lot throughout the process of writing this piece. First, I learned how helpful peer editing can be. By peer editing, it gets a new set of eyes on your piece and can be really helpful for grammatical errors. I also learned how to write in a new style that I’ve never written in before. I wrote using flashbacks, which was completely new to me. After using this new style of writing, it opened my mind up to all of the other possibilities of writing. Overall, I learned so much throughout the process of writing this piece.
One thing I think I could work on for next time is checking my grammar an extra time. Grammar has always been something that I’ve struggled with, and one of the only ways to fix it is by reading over your piece more. Overall, writing this piece has been an amazing experience for me, and I hope to do more creative writing assignments soon!
In humanities, we were asked to write a thematic essay, connecting The Crucible by Arthur Miller, the Red Scare and current day. We were asked to each choose a theme, and connect the three events using your theme. We were also asked to quote sources, and do research. The Red Scare was a time in which Joseph McCarthy targeted and accused communists, causing fear and hysteria. The Crucible takes place in a time where women are put down to prevent rebellion, during the puritanical times. The Giver is a book by Lois Lowry about a boy named Jonas who is isolated when he is selected to be The Receiver of Memory. This essay taught me to write in a more concise manor. I have also learned how to apply isolation to every day life, and learn how to recognize it when it’s happening.
Once we got back our thematic essays, I realized what I needed to work on. One thing I really worked on during this essay was being concise, and when I got my piece back, I think I successfully completed the task. There was a lot of repetition in my essay before being edited, and by cutting a lot of it down, it made the piece a lot more powerful. I know that length has always been something I strive for. I used to look at a piece and judge it by it’s length, but after writing this essay, I realized that I can write a powerful piece without making it extremely long. Though I will still continue to add length to my pieces, I will make sure that it is concise, and brings up extra ideas, instead of repeating itself.
I think one thing I still need to work on after getting feedback is writing conventions. I made a few careless grammatical mistakes, and I will work on this in upcoming assignments by looking over my piece a few more times before turning them in. I also think peer editing helps a lot with grammatical errors. When a new set of eyes looks at your piece, the person reading it will sometimes catch errors that you skimmed over during the 20 times you read over it. I also enjoy peer editing, because sometimes someone else’s piece can give me extra ideas for mine. Maybe they’ll use a word that I’ve never used before, or use a certain type of punctuation that has never crossed my mind. Peer editing overall helps open your piece up to new ideas, and helps you check over your work with a new set of eyes.
Throughout this essay, I have learned how to be more concise, and how helpful peer editing can be. I also learned that resubmitting is always a good way to fix your work, and put your best work out there. It has also allowed me to make thematic connections, and really connect what is happening in humanities to what’s happening in current day. Now, I connect isolation to everyday life, and apply what I wrote about in my essay to everything I learn about. This essay has been an amazing experience for me, because I both love writing essays, and have learned so much while writing it. Suzanne has really helped me with my writing essays, and has helped me create deeper thematic connections.