Passion Project 2 Update

With nearly half of the passion project 2 work days up, I believe that I am in a good place with my project. I have researched so many more topics than I originally thought I would cover in my project, ranging from the colors dog's see to the similarities of a dog's brains to a human's brains. I have learned so much and can't wait to learn more!

As for obstacles, I haven't really run into any roadblocks yet. Every topic that I have researched has come up with tons of facts and statistics. There is no lack of data so far and all the data I have found seems to be clear and reliable. As I continue my project research, I hope that this luck continues, but I do think that I will run into a lack of research as I start to lead into the idea of dog's understanding certain human emotions and how that triggers how they act. I don't think as much research has been done on this topic as has been done on the other topics I have researched. I plan to search as much as I can for any data that I am able to collect about dogs understanding human emotions because that is one of the most important questions in my project.

The next steps I need to complete in my project include making sense of all that data and how it fits into the same presentation. The variety of topic questions I researched is large and I am not certain just yet how I will connect to questions to form one main essential idea for my presentation to revolve around. Also, I must continue researching dogs understanding human emotions and begin to put my PowerPoint together.

So far, I believe that I am progressing quite well on this project and hopefully I will continue to do so for the rest of the passion project work days!

Camille <3

Passion Project Update

So far, I have made a lot of progress on my passion project and am very enthusiastic about continuing on in doing the next steps. I have already made a list (for each region) of some traditional dishes. I will soon be finishing finding recipes for each dish and making my final decisions as to what 2 dishes I will be making from each region (one dessert and one main dish). I will be doing 5 regions as well as dishes from Hawaii and Alaska. My steps have been going pretty smoothly. The only challenge I have encountered was not being able to find many traditional dishes from Alaska, but as I changed up my searches and looked on more websites, I was able a few dishes. I am almost certain that I will be able to finish my project by mid-January!

Here is my plan for the next classes:

1) Finish choosing the dishes I will be making and find all recipes (1 class)
2) Make the 2 dishes for each of the 7 regions/areas each week for 7 weeks (Done at home)
----Track this through pictures and videos
3) Research how culture in affected by food in each of the regions (4 classes)
4) Put together my final presentation complete with photos,videos and descriptions (3 classes)

I cannot wait to make more progress to successfully completing my passion project and learning so much more!

Camille <3

The Dreaded Grades

What comes to mind when you hear the numbers 100, 90,80,70,60, and 50? Grades, most likely.  Some will say that grades help teachers assess if a student is reaching a target or average. Some might even say that grades help a student easily understand how well he/she is doing in a class. But what do those grades stand for and what do they measure?

In my eyes, grades are in place to keep a record for parents, teachers, and the school district about how a certain student is doing. They easily help identify if a student is A) above average, B) average, or C) below average in a certain subject. This can be used to place kids in an advanced or extra help class environment. Most teachers believe that grades show if you reach your target, but I think that our grading system today only measures if you are "smart" in a certain subject.

 

Our grading system does not seem sensible or fair to me. Instead of focusing on a student understanding a certain skill, it ranks you based on every topic altogether. By looking at your grade, you are not able to understand what concepts you need improvement in and what areas you are doing well in. Additionally, if you do not understand one skill, and do poorly on one assignment, your whole grade for that class can suffer.  I do remember getting a 90 on an assignment once in English and it brought my grade down 2-3 points, even though I did well on all other assignments in that class. This grading system is also poor because it makes certain assignments count more than others.  This means that if you understand all topics except one and that one counts for more of your grade, you could get a lower score overall than you deserve. What our school really need is a change in our grading system.

 

A new grading system, by the name of Standards-Based Grading System, has began to stir up conversation all over the nation. This grading form gives a student a number from 0-4, not only in every subject, but for every skill/concept, based on how well they display that they understand it. This breaks down a child's grade as much as possible to help students and parent understand what skills they need to improve in and what skills they have mastered. If a student does not understand one topic, their overall grade is not effected, because overall grades are based on what number is the majority among all concepts and subjects. I believe that this system is much fairer and is much easier to understand. However, I do not believe that schools should completely switch to this system.

 

I think that the best possible grading system would be a combination of our grading system now and the Standards-Based Grading System. The new system should take the idea of breaking down the subjects into certain skills from the standards-based system, but should still keep a larger scale (like our system right now; the 100 point system). For myself, having a 4 point scale is hard because there is such a slim line between doing superior (4) and doing good/average (3). If you do not COMPLETELY understand a topic, you would probably get bumped down to a 3, whereas if there was a larger scale, you would not drop a whole letter grade (maybe just a few points). For someone who is always shooting to be advanced proficient, a larger scale is better because there is a larger range/ chance to get a number that is considered "superior" or "advanced" (A- 90 through 100). I also believe that we should keep the idea of not letting one bad "grade" in one topic (standards-based grading) bring down your whole overall grade.

 

Grades are such an important part of our everyday lives. They add stress, excitement and push us to be our best. Wouldn't a system that really helps you understand you knowledge of a certain skill be more helpful and fair?

 

Camille <3

My 8th Grade Year So Far

It seems like not too long ago, I was a tiny 7th grader, excited to explore what was ahead for me as a middle schooler, but hesitant about such a big change from elementary school. Boy, time seems to fly. With the blink of an eye, I am already in 8th grade; the top class of the middle school. Being an eighth grader has been very exciting so far. I have had a chance to settle in now and I am enjoying it. My teachers all seem to be very encouraging and I have already made friends with many new people that I was not in contact with on my team last year! My classes seem exciting, although the homework load can sometimes result in sleepless nights! From what I understand, I think the topics we will learn about this year will be very interesting. I look forward to what lies ahead in this the  year here at Northern!

Besides school, my outside life has been good as well. I continue to figure skate often, and always enjoy spending time with family and friends on the weekends. I am also beginning to look into high school for next year, which takes up a lot of my time. Preparing for entrance tests are not always fun, nut touring schools is enjoyable. It is interesting to see what different schools have to offer. 

I am always busy, but I always try to find time to reflect on what is happening in my life. When I think back on my year so far, mainly positive thoughts come to mind. Hopefully this will continue to be true as the year plays out!

Camille <3

Jonas: Dead or Alive?

Usually I am not fond of books that leave you hanging at the end, wondering what to make of it. Yet, we recently finished the book The Giver in ROGATE class, and it contained a undefined ending, but I was glad that it did! It gave our class a whole lot to talk about, and grew into a quite intense debate. Now my side of the argument...............Jonas dies. For many reasons, I believe when the book talked about him sledding down the hill in a past memory, he was in heaven, reliving his past memories. As the story lead up to the end, its states that he grew weaker,  more tired, and hungrier. This is indicating that he is near death. Also, it is not realistic that he could come to an Elsewhere and all of his pain would just magically disappear. I believe that all along, the Elsewhere he was heading for was heaven. It said in the book that as he grew closer to death, he felt more and more like he was close to the Elsewhere. Also, in his community, they believed that when they were released, they went to Elsewhere. Well, we learned that being released is being killed, meaning that when you were released you would go to heaven. So, from what we learned about release and Elsewhere, we can infer that Elsewhere is heaven. For all of these, reasons, I firmly believe that at the end of The Giver, Jonas dies.

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Now, you may be wondering what the author intended for the ending to mean. I wondered too! So, I did some research. These are my findings:

In an interview with Scholastic about The Giver, Lois Lowry took questions from children. The question and answer relating to the end was as follows:

Q: My teachers argue over the ending of The Giver! How does it really end?
A:It ends with Jonas and Gabriel going downhill in a sled towards a house with welcoming lights. Ho ho ho. Aren't I being a mean author, not to be more specific? I like it when you argue. It makes you think.
 
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/lois-lowry-interview-transcript

Likewise, after being showered with many questions about the ending of the book, Lowry wrote an author's message. It read like this:

I will say that I find it an optimistic ending. How could it not be an optimistic ending, a happy ending, when that house is there with its lights on and music is playing? So I'm always kind of surprised and disappointed when some people tell me that they think that the boy and the baby just die. I don't think they die. What form their new life takes is something I like people to figure out for themselves. And each person will give it a different ending.

http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/guides/give.html

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As you can now tell, the author had made the ending the way it was so that we could make our own assumptions about what had happened to Jonas. What do you think happened? Although I believe Jonas died, I will always be questioning the true message of the ending..........if there is one.




Camille <3

ROGATE 20% PROJECT PLAN

I plan to do my project on the broad idea of emotions. How they work and how they are able to effect how you feel and what you do will all be included in my project. I am allowing some leeway in my idea so that my research can take me anywhere it chooses. Like my idea, my goal is also general is being that it is to just to increase my level of comprehension on all things related to emotions. I would really enjoy to do this project because I believe that not many people have really thought into the whole process of emotions, but I think it is interesting and should be taken into consideration more often. I would also like to educate my classmates on this as it is a deep and meaningful topic (or at least I believe so). I think that feelings that are being processed inside your body are effecting the emotions you show on the outside and I really want to comprehend more on how this works.

For my project I will simply just need a computer and access to a library to check to check out books on this topic. My project will mainly be researching and making the data I collect into a cool presentation. I do realize that I may hit a "roadblock" when I am researching. I am not sure how much data and reseach has been done on emotions so I might not be able to find enough info right away. I will continue to search for the everything that I can to overcome this diffuculty.

My grandma will be my main consultant throughout this study as she has a major in physcology and emotions do fall under the physcology category. I will also look to my dad, mom and uncle in this project who all have degrees in science. With their help and research on this topic I am sure to get some definite answers about the factors of emotions!

Camille <3

TEENS AND THE MEDIA: ALWAYS ALTERING EACH OTHER

When someone brings up a question about teens' influences on media and media's influence on teens, my mind exploads with thoughts. On this posts, I will let my brain burst and share my position about this with you. I hope you enjoy and I hope you are able to form your own opinions on this topic!

 

 

 

There is a constant cycle. The media (such as tv shows) influence the acts of teens and those acts effect what is popular on the market and in advertising. Then the cycle begins again and everything shifts. This is a non-stop thing. It is happening all around us even when we do not realize it.

Now lets go back to the beginning of the cycle..............It all starts out with the media. The media shows something on television or on a website and all it takes is one teen. One teen looks at that picture,show, or quote of (or by) a certain person and instantly likes the idea because they see their role models (actors,singer,athletes,ect.) trying it. Whether it may be trying a new sport like soccer or partaking in a bad activity like smoking, they suddenly really want to do it."Pop cultural figures as P. Diddy, Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez create intangible brands that help establish these 'norms'" says Tiesha Hood from Discourse magazine. Then, that teens goes off and starts telling all their friends that this star was doing this or that. Then they tell their friends. And suddenly the whole school or even town knows that someone important or "cool" was doing a certain activity.

Well, I beliveve that when the whole town knows, they are all going to want to begin trying this new activity to be like their role model. Soon the whole town will be learning to play hockey, or skateboard, or even take drugs. Now, other towns will see the same show or picture and soon they will try too! Before you know it, this activity will be popular world-wide!

From here, the teens begin to effect the market/advertisments. Once companies see that most of the population is doing this event, they will try to make products to go along with the "in thing". For example, if knitting suddenly became popular, authors would begin to tie knittting into their books  or make how-to knitting books. Toy companies would begin to make cool needles and threads. Jewlary and accessorie stores would make more knitting scarfs, bracelets, hairbands, ect. Clothing stores would sell knitted sweaters or hats. These knitting supplies and clothes would become the majority of advertisments throughout the media.Other things would no longer be popular or shown on tv. Every second commercial would be about this or that knitting supply. The world would then revolve around knitting because of the few teens that saw the show with a star knitting.


And then suddenly, a new show/picture comes out with a new activity in it and the whole world would no longer care about the last activity. The ads,teens,stores,ect. would all have to change their products and lifesytles to do with the new popular activity! And somehow the last popular thing is no longer even remembered.


Now this is the cycle that I believe always seems to be happening. I challenge all of you to break away from the flow and only do something if you enjoy it, not because you see a celebrity doing it. I also suggest taking a minute to think about how the media has effected you in the past and how much you truly want the media to control what you do or how you act or what you wear or how you see yourself.


Camille <3