Humanities Final Portfolio


“Creativity seems to emerge from multiple experiences, coupled with a well-supported development of personal resources, including a sense of freedom to venture beyond the known. In all creative processes we are pushing the boundaries of what we know now, to explore new possibilities; we are drawing on the skills we have now, often stretching and evolving them as the work demands.”

At SLA we focus on what it means to push boundaries and think outside of the box. We do not only look at the definitions and the history of what happened but we are given the ability to analyze and look at cause and effect through discussions and projects and journals and other learning tools that aren’t used in the typical classroom. The thing that I took out of this year during our english and history classes is that as things develop through the world we have to make sure that our actions don’t make things worse and that we do not try to better ourselves while worsening the life of others and how this leads to many inequalities. Through the many hardships that we learned about this year the common theme for me was who made this happen and how did this happen.

Through our discussion about language I have found that language is power and that without that the person who is mostly in control when it comes to language is the one with a better understanding of language. Through our classes about language one thing that really stuck with me was that, “baldwin says that without black english there would be no standard english. That the white’s developed their dialect from the blacks, while the blacks are still frowned upon as uneducated and inarticulate. White’s didn’t want to educate blacks unless it was to their benefit in doing so.” When we had to write our language autobiography I wrote a lot about what it meant for me to be able to speak a second language and how through this unit it has made me realize that in life that will be a very powerful thing that I can utilize.

An amazing thing about this year was looking at race, and racism in a whole new light. While we were working on a journal something that stood out to me was that “race is a modern idea, race helped be a divider in the act of freedom.” This summarized a lot of what I learned through grade school. Through this quote I realized that this is why race is such an important things for different cultures because in our society race is power. Race gave me the idea of my oped topic which talked about racial profiling in America.


The idea of inequality in race was something I was very interested in, this lead to


my interest in the topic of sweatshops. We learned a lot about modern day 

sweatshops and what it meant. We looked into why we continue to buy from these

types of manufacturers even though we know about some of these conditions one

quote was, “advertising teaches consumers that happiness can be bought.” We had

an activity where we tried to find the best way to pay employees and give them fair

wages in these sweatshops. We learned about the “race to the bottom” which

became one of the most interesting things I have learned. I wrote a response to

modern day sweatshops. Here is an example of my response to our activity and

sweat shops in general.
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Through my learning this year I have been given a new outlook on what power

means in our society and others. Power is made up through money, race, language,

and many other things as you can see through the things like sweatshops, racism, and

others. It has been a year where I have realized even if we don’t try and play a part in

all of the inequalities we do, whether it be what we buy, how we speak, or a joke

we say with our friends. Each one of us has the power to improve our society.


Here are some other examples of my work this year:

https://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/I_Wish_I_Could

https://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Journal-1:3
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Humanities Final Portfolio 2013


English Journal


History Journal

Language is Key


Response to modern day sweat shops


Picture of my group at an interpritive dance class


Poems



Reflection is something that teaches me that I am not perfect. Something that I’ve really been trying to do is find myself and know who I am. In Mr.Blocks class, I realize that the whole course is just one big reflection, learning yet simultaneously focusing on our individuality. I have not really done anything to discover myself, yet being in Block’s class has shown me things about mysef that I haven’t noticed before. In the beginning of the year I was very quite and shy about my opinions. Just writing down whatever, not thinking much of it but then as we started getting into deeper topics I was forced to look deep inside of myself for answers. The first two examples I have are my journal entries. One is a mini letter reflection that I had o write to myself to reflect on my work. The other journal entry is my view on violence and non-violence. My third link is a piece I did on Language and my views on it. I wrote about my first language. And whether it was truely english or spanish. In my fourth link is my response to modern day sweatshops. It really made me look at myself and really taught me appriciation. Because I’m wearing a 15-20 dollar shirt that took a sweat shopworker 30 cents to make. They can’t even afford the clothes they wear. My fifth link will just be linking to my groups interperative dances. For this one, it really made me get far away from my comfort zone. I was taught something that I never tried out before. Interperative dance was very weird and very foriegn to me because I thought that it was really weird dancing random moves but after doing it I realized that it was much more than just swaying your body around an object. It was about telling a deep story, and bringing attention to something that really needed it. On friday 6/7/13 my group and I did an interperative piece on Van Pelt street. We noticed that the area was very patriotic and we came up with the idea of bringing the past to the future. Being robot soilders. What I got from this experience was to be more relaxed and creative. And to also enjoy and notice the little things in life. With each assignment in Block’s class I try to take home a new lesson. From the beggining of the course to now I have been more open and vocal with the class and in my journals. Especially when we got to the poem section of our course. Here is where we had to write all of our poems and I found a new way to express myself. Especially my “Ode to my cookbooks” poem. I never liked to tell people that my dream was to be a chef. But in Block’s class we learn to be ourselves, so I figured I should write about something that was truely near and dear to me. Over this whole course, it has taken me on a road to self discovery.
Individuality
Individuality

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

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“Honor is regarded with great respect in a person who can carry great responsibilities”. -  LOTF (Quote from Assignment)

The learning process during sophomore year of taking english and history class, were challenging and quit different from comparing to other english and history classes from the previous years. Learning throughout the year of both classes was challenging because several writing assignments was included to use with different writing techniques that I couldn’t understand and struggle to create polish writing to make sense. 


Personally as myself, enjoy writing and honestly do not have a problem with it but trying to complete assignments with different techniques and reaching to the word limit has been difficult but then I guess thats how writing goes and it comes naturally because once you changed and pass into a different grade, you will notice your writing changes a lot and gathers new knowledge to your learning on your own piece but it also becomes harder to write a paper. Its never easy to write a paper, but once you get use to it and get to the habit on writing essays and projects, it becomes a piece of cake. 

As the units go by during the courses of english and history, I notice that my writing had changed as I normal do when I begin to type a essay. Learning in both classes, my writing had to be upgrade and my knowledge into writing which had been difficult to make my writing better than it should be.


Every unit of english and history, the class is given to focus on a different topic that is assigned. Topics that were included in the units were about Boundaries, Religion, Colonialism, and Poetry. 


In unit 3 for history, the students were to focus on religion. The students were assign to pick two religions of there choice and create a brochure on a wiki. Based on the religions, the students were to research an issue about the religion. This brochure is based on religion and the environment focus on Judaism and Christianity as a issue.The questions we focus to improve our brochure and to grab the attention to the readers is that, Why should the reader care about this issue? What types of things can be learned from the brochure? A different style of writing can be a theme.

“Religion is something beautiful to have in your life to guide you in the right direction, when it comes to ups and downs.” 

 Religion was definitely included to the theme for the brochure and the main topic to focus on. I never worked with focusing much on religion and never actually got the chance to learn much out of it, but the way it works to focus on the theme is that you would want to create a discussion. As the assignment requires research to be done to gather background to support the answer, I got to learn what religion actually means and become more interest and curious about religion.


For english in unit 4, the students was to focus on there own language autobiography. The language autobiography was to be an autobiographical paper to investigate some of the themes from the language unit and relate them to each student life. My personal language autobiography explains the first experience of growing up, raised into a hispanic neighborhood, noticing the different spanish accents around different latinos."Spanish here, spanish there, and spanish everywhere". The piece of writing and video that was created to support my evidence is something that I worked hard, I focused more on myself and the habit of people around in the neighborhood that uses different spanish accents. It is truly something I can call an accomplishment that I am proud of. The way I gathered my evidence and ideas to create a video is something that I used different than I normally do in different assignments.


Six Links:​

1.) Relationship Boundaries

In unit 5 for english, each student was require to focus on a crossing boundary of there choice and interview people that has experience of the boundary to create a podcast. This podcast is about crossing boundaries on relationships. Relationships can be very difficult to manage, especially when you have a issue with your family. Every person has different ways of seeing relationships with others, once you begin to build one. Its either giving it a try or letting it go. 

http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Relationship_Boundaries


2.) Latino Community

In unit 4 for english, the students was to focus on there own language autobiography. The assignment was to create a paper that should be between 750-1000 words long. In this Language Autobiography in the link below, explains how language can be different from one and another of being hispanic. 

http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Latino_Community


3.) Religion and The Environment

In unit 3 for history, the students were to focus on religion. The students were assign to pick two religions of there choice and create a brochure on a wiki. Based on the religions, the students were to research an issue about the religion. This brochure is based on religion and the environment focus on Judaism and Christianity as a issue. The questions we focus to improve our brochure and to grab the attention to the readers is that, Why should the reader care about this issue? What types of things can be learned from the brochure?. 

http://copperhistory2012.wikispaces.com/Jennifer+Perez


4.) Colonialism Museum Project

In unit 9 for history, the students were to focus on colonialism. The assignment was to create an colonialism museum project based on the choice the students decide to write about different colonialisms. To address the proposal of the colonialism museum project students were to think and discover the story behind.The exhibit needed a name, goal, introduction, eight artifacts accompanied by text and final thoughts to complete the presentation. This proposal of the colonialism museum project is based on The Spanish Colonization of Mexico.

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1BQqrDyObbHonVKFz4JXzjC6MKO3MDi-9THRNpHEWvV8/edit?usp=sharing


5.) English Journal Entree

The students are required to keep a journal to write daily entrees that is given at the beginning of the class. The question that is given for this english journal entree was, Why do humans so often treat each other badly? and What different things change this cycle of negative behavior towards others. As a respond to the question to, Why do humans so often treat each other badly, Is basically about people just don't understand what it actually means to be a human and don’t realize that we are made way better than being disrespectful to each other.

http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/English_Journal:2


6.) History Journal Entree

For both classes, English and History, The students are required to keep a journal to write daily entrees that is given at the beginning of the class. In this History journal entree, gives the question “Does the U.S/do WL have responsibilities toward Haiti? How? Why?”, As a respond towards the question was to give my own opinion on how the U.S does have responsibilities towards Haiti. The history journal entree does give evidence to support the answer and gives clear thoughts.

http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/History_Journal_Entree





Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

(Doom, tick, Doom, tick) this year in English I learned many different and interesting things from this years English and history class. In this years english and history in 307 I learned thing out of the ordinary and uncommon to the people in my family, neighborhood, my culture. this year we learned that there's numbers ways to learn the same subject. One word that came up numbers times this year and that will not only stick in my head attached with a new meaning is Language.


  Journal  #15

Some of the Compromise I will fight for is involving money and other objects of that kind non-nessites or thing I don't hold to my own. Dream or beliefs I will never give up are 


  • Freedom
  • Trust
  • privacy
  • Honesty
  • Dreams
  • love


Language within a person can show many different ways and be expressed in many different ways. In my first example you can see it's expressed in a very common way such as the normal format of writing your response and how you feel on the specific question at hand.


In the "Art in the Open" performance project where I got a chance to show language in a different format where you don't have to actually use words to show your own language without the expression of word and it show'd me that I don't have to use words to express my language. During this project we used interpretive dance to display our language.


This project allowed me to see myself from a different angle and allowed to see deeper into myself as well as  my knowledge on the different ways language can be applied.


Language within a person can show many different ways and be expressed in many different ways. Another example of this is the poetry unit that I did. 


http://copperpoetry2013.wikispaces.com/


I was raised by spongebob

He tought me how to tie my shoes

with that loopty loop and pull and your shoes are looking cool

I based my clothes on him

like the best time to wear a stripped sweater

you couldn't tell me it wasn't the best time

and everyday was the best day eveeeeer

I was raised by spongebob

when it was school time i was always ready

I learned your tough if you eat a bowl of nail for breakfast without any milk

I learned not to steal a ballon even if its free

I wanted to be strong

with muscle on my muscles and muscles on those

even muscles on my eye balls

anything was possible

squirrels under water

starfish living under a rock

squids with shirts

krabs with wales for children

I left with a message

life can be fun

I was raised by spongebob


During this Project we was able to put a spin on a classic format and express our self by using poetry.




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Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

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“People are naive and so self righteous, they don’t realize people think differently than them”- Excerpt from my Choice Reading Worksheet.

Throughout the 2012-2013 school year students in Joshua Block’s English and History classes have studied many eras, events, and styles of writing. Normally history is either glorified on one side and made out to look like monsters, or the story may be told with the tunnel vision of facts, not allowing either side much justification.Throughout many projects and activities Mr. Block’s courses have given  face and reason to many historical events, current and ancient. We were taught to see the world through many perspectives.

As a warm up Journal, Mr. Block had us interpret a picture. The picture represents the world’s view on justice based on where they stand, based on their perspective. After our Revolution unit, while reading Night by Elie Wiesel, the class read an article about a boy who was punished for not saying the Pledge of Allegiance. This article stood out because we were studying how countries were overthrowing the tyranny that reigned. This brings up perspective once more because it is easy to tell your neighbor he needs a fence, not noticing that yours is falling apart. It is important to realize, as the article pointed out, that this was an American boy who refused to say the Pledge. He did not hail from another land, America was the only life he’d ever known. It is easy to become unconcious of things we take for granted. We must never exhaust the option of analyzing everything, no matter how familiar it may seem.

In December, while reading Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were Watching God , the class was also studying lenses. Lenses are a type of perspective that a reader may take on, based on what’s important or relevant to them. this project yielded an artistic representation of  a quote from the book. It was studied through the perspective of a Marxist and a feminist. I found it amazing the justice and injustice that can be found in words or ideas based on the person’s focus that reads them.

The first piece was an artistic rendition of the quote in which Nanny states “Honey, de white man is de ruler of everything as fur as Ah been able tuh find out...So de white man throw down de load and tell de nigger man tuh pick it up. He pick it up because he have to, but he don’t tote it. He hand it to his womenfolks. De nigger woman is de mule ud de world so fur as Ah can see.”The mule is Janie and in this piece she has a pyramid disproportionately large on her back as a symbol of the hierarchy one would see when looking through the Fem-Marxist Lens.


The trials during history class were by far one of the most rewarding and effective activities in perspective. Groups were chosen to defend their group with research and wit. My group was the fleet of conquistadors that came over with Hernando Cortez. These men were charged with and undeniably guilty of the the murder of thousands of native peoples in South and Central America. Here is the closing statement that I wrote below in defense of their actions. It is easy to paint people as malicious when given their actions in black and white, especially when there is undeniable guilt. However, the job of defense attorneys is to change the perspective of the jury into one which is beneficial for the defendant.We accept and regret our sins, but are we truly at fault?

Throughout January, we focused on Neila Larsen’s Passing. This was a story that followed the life of two women in the late 1920s. One passed for white in her everyday  life, and one only did it when it suited her. We were presented with two entirely different characters, with different morals and goals, and as readers we found ourselves more akin to one of the characters rather than the other. The book ends has an ambiguous ending. How you saw the end truly depended on the how you saw the characters throughout the book. The link below shows an assignment the class was given upon finishing the book. In groups, students were asked to perform scenes from the book adding their own flair. My team had the ambiguous ending, so we devised 3 scenes, each of which could’ve happened, because the writer made the ending so vague. Many areas in  history and stories in everyday life are vague and we are left to our own devices to understand why or how.

In the very beginning of the year, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, led to a project in which we were charged with making ads for the best leader for the island. The class was allowed to lobby and campaign for who we believed would rule the best. It was very interesting to see the different ways the class approached this project. While there were only 3 candidates, there was an array of tactics students used. Here is my video Campaign ad.



Towards the beginning of the year, we were asked to write a letter to someone that is/has been in our lives. This project was using the hindsight perspective. One had to reflect on an experience that happened in the past, with the new perspective of stories we’d read in class. It showed how reading something or learning something new could change your feelings toward a certain experience and experiences to come. We should accept our faults for what we see them, not for what someone decides to lacquer onto our personalities. This letter helped me realize that while seeing all sides of the story is necessary, it is also necessary to follow yourself.



An excerpt from my graphic novel "Why Don't People See Things More Clearly?"
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Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

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Reflection teaches you that things in life aren't perfect...


"How do you define freedom?" my teacher asked our class. "Provide an explanation for your definition."
I believe "freedom" is the ability to live by your own words and the ability to make your own decisions without being controlled physically and/or mentally by one's decisions. I also believe it is being able to express yourself freely.

This was one of my first discussions we had in our mid world history class. I thought that every word had one meaning and one interpretation, but I was wrong. I always thought that I had the perfect definition and only, the right definition. 

"Yes, anyone else would like to add?" he said.

I was confused. How could one add to this definition? Doesn't every word has its own definition? Twenty minutes went by and there we had it, a chart full of definitions for the word "freedom." From that moment, I began to realize that not everything meant one thing, it's what you make of it.

In my Short Story Letter Assignment that we had to do for English class one time, I quoted, "Your mom is really looking out for you, and you should appreciate it because there are moms who don't even care about their kids." I use to always think that I had the perfect childhood but when we were told to write a letter to someone we truly loved about making the right the decisions. I began to realize that I didn't have a sister who was perfectly fine. She was going through an emotional time and wasn't making the right decisions. Once I created this letter, I learned that perfection doesn't exist, part of living is to understand and deal with the environment you was brought into.

One time for English class, we were given an assignment called the Detailed Study. For this assignment, we had to pick an author and analyze their writing styles. I chose to focus on Marge Piercy because she’s an observer. She sits back and observes an object or something at its natural state. Here's a stanza she writes:

The bonsai tree

in the attractive pot

could have grown eighty feet tall

on the side of a mountain

till split by lightning.


This stanza teaches us that things don't always turn out as plan and that things aren't perfect even if we had envisioned them to be such. Marge Piercy help me to understand that even objects like the bonsai tree can't be perfect but the idea that it is living is the most important part.

Although things may not be perfect, I realized that I'm not perfect even in the way that I speak after completing my Language Auto-Biography assignment. In this essay, I wrote, I am from the roots of slang where we speak with emphasis and where you can only find the best cheesesteaks. This assignment made me realize that I wasn't perfect in the way that I speak. It made me understand that everyone has their own way of speaking whether its a different cultural language, an accent, or just a form of slang. After I analyzed myself, I knew that I wasn't perfect, but this wasn't something to make me feel less of myself. In fact, I felt better that I understood who I truly am. This assignment taught me that you don't have to be perfect nor does anything has to be perfect in order to unique.

Throughout my World History and English class I've learned many things that helped me realize that things in life aren't perfect. Here are a few more links to different assignments I've completed over the course of the year.


Manal Ali Sharit in comparison, was the ideal “Rosa Parks of Saudi Arabia.” She  is a women's rights activist from Saudi Arabia who helped start a women's right to drive campaign in 2011. (Arab Spring Video Project)

It is unfair to be hypocritical to our allies and promise partnership but then slowly overrun its government. (OpEdAd)

My first sentence of my scene grabs the reader’s attention with no formal introduction.

(Descriptive Writing)

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013


I remember when the class and I were sitting in a circle of chairs, around January. Block had written some roles and names up on the board. They all had to do with the French Revolution. He then explained that we were engaging in a roleplay, and we had to pick roles. People started to perk up and get excited; it was something we’d never done before. We assumed that we’d be acting the strange and foreign roles of French people. Block then explained each role to us before we started to pick. There weren’t that many roles, so some of us and to partner up and become the role together. Me and my friend decided to become Marie Antoinette, the insane queen of France. Everybody had picked their roles and started to type of introductions and reactions to different situations. We would then proceed to act out what we just typed. My friend and I made paper crowns for ourselves, just to make things more fun and interesting. We got to see the Revolution through the Queen’s eyes, making us see the Revolution in a different light.


This has continued throughout the year, with projects and assignments geared towards looking at things from a different ‘lense’ or perspective to gain a better insight on the world as a whole. This really struck out to me when we were at the beginning of our Sweatshop Unit in history. We had to complete a journal entry based off of a cartoon of three fish; each a different size. It made me look at things differently because since each fish had a different view of the world, it made the image of the world come together and reveal it’s true nature.


The way I learned this so efficiently was by hands-on work. During the year, we as a class have done two trials: one about the exploration to America and another one about the creation and management of sweatshops. The one that stood out most to me was the Cortes Trial. There was five different views on the colonization of the Americas, each one completely different. Especially between the System of Empire and Cortes. “Cortes interpreted the definition of the System differently than System wanted him to.” (Cortez Trial Notes). That quote sums it up. Cortes saw the System differently than what the System saw themselves as. It made me look at the conquest of America completely different.


We recently finished the book Night by Elie Wiesel. During one of the readings, Mr. Block wanted us to try and re-enact part of a scene from the book. It’s where Elie and a lot of other people were crammed into a train car. In the journal entry after that describing our experiences, I wrote: “This certainly doesn't compare to the real thing in Night : we were just in a classroom. We had places to go to the bathroom and food in our stomachs. They didn't. But it does give some insight.” Even though the reenactment was rough, it made us see through a different lense, in this case the lense of Elie, who was stuck in this traincar. It really made us think about the feelings and emotions the characters had and how bad the conditions were.


The action of being in other people’s shoes really gave me a better look at the world. Learning these things have opened my eyes up much larger and revealing things I've never would of seen without the help of these classes. Without them, I would be ignorant towards the rest of the world.


Here's other work I'm proud of:
OpEd

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Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

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Every person in the world sees everything, every particle every atom, differently. These differences may be small, smaller in fact than the atom itself but, they are there. The reason this happens is because each and every person lives an entirely different life. They experience different things in different combinations and they hear and see different stories. In 10th grade English and History class this topic was an underlying theme that varied in importance depending on the assignment.

As a class we spoke about Language, and what it means to each individual. There were many different beliefs and ideas flying around the room. However, when we were to told to write a Language Autobiography each child in the classroom successfully came up with their own idea, and used their own stories to back it up. I personally wrote about the language I grew up with. Although it was English, it wasn’t the same English that so others use. I grew up originally because my family taught me with words.

This teaching through language led to so many other things in my life. I grew up loving words and the father I get in my life the more I love them and the more I want to share them with others. When we were assigned to write an Op-Ed, a persuasive news piece, I knew immediately I wanted to write about Creative Writing. I’ve always believe that creative writing is something that all people need, something that schools should be teaching. During my Op-Ed I stated, “The ability to express yourself creatively in an environment like school is the kind of opportunity that not enough people get but everyone should.” This statement was one of my chances throughout the year to expose people to my way of thinking, my lense.

We did get a chance to explore creative writing in my class. In the beginning of the year we learned about a project known as the Keystone Pipeline. This was a proposed pipeline that would be built from Canada all the way to Texas. We explored a lot about the effect this pipeline would have on many different people. To explore this more thoroughly we had to write 3 or 5 monologues, depending on if you had a partner, from different perspectives. My monologues, written with a partner, gave me a chance to go through all of the different experiences that this pipeline was causing. I got to see through the different lenses of many different people, and even objects. The first monologue I wrote was from the position of one of the natives being kicked out of her home, I wrote, “ I’m not worth it, and this is my only chance. I may never be allowed to leave again but, (pause) well I’m taking advantage of a bad situation. It’s not a good thing. At least, that’s what they told me.” This young girl was in a hard position. She wasn’t sure what was right or wrong and she wanted to run away but was faced with the question, ‘Is now the right time?’ Because we had to write more than one monologue I got to explore another lense. I decided to follow a different path. One of an adult male who had gotten a job working on the pipeline, I wrote, “Oh but let daddy tell you about this new job. (stop rocking both kids, hold out) Daddy’s building a pipeline, that’s right. For all the oil way up here in Canada to get all the way down to Texas. Probably the longest pipeline in history.” This man was in a completely different situation than my previous character. Just writing this I felt a different lense snapping on, for a moment.

The fact that each person has a different lense is something that I feel like I have always known. However I have never explored it quite the way I did this year. As a class we each delved deep into our own personal experiences and then shared them with each other. This sharing was what really led to my own understanding of other people’s lenses. Because I began to hear some of the stories that people told, because I began to recognize the way they told them. I began to see through their lense. I understand that because of my lense it is unlikely that I will ever get a perfectly clear picture of how they see the world but I know that it is not the same as me. No one sees the world just the way that I do. I, like everyone else that has ever existed, am an original, I see things the way I see things because I am me.


Other pieces of my work:

Journal about the Pledge of Allegiance

Journal about defining freedom

Literary Lens Explanation

Reflection


Write two sentences for each core value and how the element project is reflected in the words. 

Inquiry- I had many questions as to what my element was. Also, this was new to me, as I have never even heard of this element.

Research - To print this element I had to do research as to how it is used in day to day lives. I read many articles and looked up many websites and saw how it affects us.

Collaboration - I collaborated with my science teacher and found out more information on Tellurium (my element). I also talked to students outside of my classroom and asked them for help.

Presentation - I drew 3 copies of this print before it was finalized. Another thing is the colors that were used in this print of my element.

Reflection- I can honestly say that I learned many things about this element in my time of research. I know that I won't forget it quickly.
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Photo on 6-10-13 at 12.29 PM #3

Element Print

The element project reflects each core value:
Inquiry: Right from the start of the project, I was questioning what my element's roots were. Inquiry and research tie together, because after questioning the history of my element, it pushed me to research it as well. 
Research: We were all assigned a random element, which most of us didn't know much about. The print had to be of something creative that reflects the element, so it was required that we research the element before we started our design.
Collaboration: When trying to decide which design to use, it was really helpful to turn to my peers for their opinions. They were a huge help with carving too, especially when i had an injury and they helped me. 
Presentation: One of the most important parts of this project is how it looks, so the presentation should be neat. 
Reflection: Well, this one is pretty self explanatory, for every project we're required to do a reflection of it. This project required us to reflect on our core values.
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Humanities Final Portfolio 2013_Tang

When you open to the doors, what do you see? In that case, it seems like everyone thinks differently because the uniqueness sparks their light bulb in their mind. I personally admire this quote; “Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning” Albert Einstein. The key is to think deeper on your explanations. This year had been a roller coaster when we all started on the first day of school, when I stepped into English class. I saw bright new faces around me and I knew the level I am standing is different. The bigger picture is when we analyzed art and talked about modern day history. At first, I didn't know why we were studying art, but as of now art has a powerful message and I thought World History is about famous people. There are couple meaningful to address; languages is a common barrier to relationships, things that make you different also makes you unique, and different things represent power in different cultures/civilizations. These aspects will show how they are related in both subjects.

One of the journal entries #15 from English is a powerful piece that shows my accomplishments. It shows my ambitious of who I am. The journal entry also relates to a book we’ve read in the beginning of the year. People have their own dreams and hope and they will find a way to achieve it. The journal entry shows how I am my own person and in the book, Janie fight her ways of becoming a stronger woman. I learned that in journal entries, I have to use my critical thinking and my imagination.

History journal #8, talks about religion in past that spreads around the world. “Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the sentiment of a heartless world, and the sould of soul- less conditions. It is the opium of the people”- Karl Max . I believe there are many things to learn about religion because everyone was born with different cultures and religions. Sometimes when people worship different religions, people can’t have a relationship with them because they aren’t the same. Religion affects the history because they segregated the people to not socialize, but to hate each other. The unit religion, I have been studying many countries and learn about religion. I am open minded to all religion because they have a special meaning that does different things. The journals help me learned about other people who talked in the group discussions. Sometimes, I would talk because there aren’t any wrong answers.

In English class, we have to write an essay about how languages influence the people around the whole world and me. I wrote about my family who spoke Cantonese when I was born and how English had impacted my life at school. I had trouble writing and talking in English, but as of today, I expanded my knowledge of writing and speaking. Learning different languages makes everyone a lot easier because I can understand three different languages; Cantonese, English, and Spanish. It shows that I want to have conversations with speaking different dialect. On top of it, I created a video about my family who struggles speaking in English. I get to talk to my parents about their lives and I think about how I impacted to the community. This unit is powerful when everyone should respect how they speak

            One of my benchmark in English class is a podcast about my cousin. The topic was crossing boundaries to learn about the struggles in their lifetime. I learned that my cousin’s childhood was a lot different than mine because she would have to fit in when she moved to Philadelphia. Even though we were born and raised in California and moved to Philadelphia in our childhood, the environment is different. As of today, she loves Philadelphia more than California because she thought about the living expenses and how the city is more historical. I can also relate to my cousin because we are the oldest kids in the family and we would have to do everything when the parents always depend on us. I learned that growing up is hard, but it can be a life lesson in the future.

A project I have been studying is about religion. I created a blog on wiki spaces and researched about the history of religion. Even though people believe in different God, and I learned that there are different symbols that brings people together because they need something to praise for. This project shows the relationship between the societies on how it is important to them. Religion is very powerful to everyone because the cultures and traditions are different; therefore religion is a unique topic to learn about. I am aware of how people think about other people as of today. People should accept who they are and I think religion just bring people together to have sets of beliefs.

Lastly, my first benchmark in history class, I wrote monologues about Pipelines that the United States planned to build it in the south. I wrote about how it will affect everyone in the society when families will have to leave. The tar can also impact the environment a lot worst. This was one of my favorite projects because I learned about the current history that may affect my future. I also watched videos about the Pipelines and read several articles.

Everything I learned from both classes isn’t about just reading, there are opportunities to engage the learning spaces such as writing, activities, watching videos and going on field trips. I want to show how much I have learned. I learned by having group discussions, working together as a team for projects and sometimes working independent. Having Mr. Block as a teacher for two subjects of challenging my own actions. As a new stage, walking to 11th grade, I will always remember the critical thinking and how people should back up with their opinions.

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Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

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Makes The World Go ‘Round.

The United States’ pledge of allegiance  claims that America is “undivisable with liberty and justice for all”. However, as a born American citizen, it takes an effortless argument to oppose against such a statement. After just ten months of participation in Joshua Block’s English and History classes, one could determine the simple fact that the USA has not only been living, but thriving by the system of profit over people, including their own people. It is no doubt that this system has been around ever since the colonization of America. And America’s continuation of such surely  holds guarantee. 

First and foremost, it is easy to say that America’s wealth began from the profits of slavery, considering the slaves were forced to work their lives for extremely little or no money, there was far more profit to be made. However, despite slavery itself, it seems as if matters and measures of profit have gotten worse in today’s America.

for example, over the year I’ve become  aware of the “made in...” labels on my clothing tags. Nearly every shoe, every piece of clothing in my closet was made in what is called, a sweatshop, where poor workers (usually foreign) work long, underpaid hours to create materials (which are sold for exaggerated prices) for the USA. I became aware of my role as a consumer, which made me question whether I was to blame. 

During this History course, students had a Modern Day Sweatshop Trial and took on roles as either usa consumers, poor country ruling elites, workers, system of profit and the USA multinational corporations, which was my group role. 

The point of the trial was to decide the most guilty group by proving yourself most innocent of them all. what helped my team succeed was the hardened questioning we put on the ruling elites and system of profit. The system, however, argued that it was a system created not only for the people, but by the people. The people meaning, the usa multinationals. 

After the trial, there was a required Modern Day Sweatshop Response. In that response I stated that the real question becomes “How can we change the conditions of the sweatshops, or end the sweatshops, and still have financial equality?”. But after the overall consideration that sweatshops are what uphold finance for both workers and multinationals, (seemings though it’s apart of the profit cycle and without it, everyone within it, including the workers would fall) I concluded that there is no simple answer to the question if one exists at all. The fact that the USA would resort to exploitation of poor foreigners just for extra profit just goes to show how little a human’s life is valued compared to money. 


Taking the heat from America for a second, another History course that centered p.o.p was the Understanding the French Revolution course. The first activity we did for this topic was understand the social classes, called estates, within Europe at the time. The first estate was the Clergy, the second estate being the nobility, followed by the third estate which was everyone else: the peasents. 

The whole problem with the French revolution was the Clergy’s persistant price risings upon the third estate which eventually caused the uproar. As if the Clergy hadn’t been fortunate enough, they’d continued to rise taxes upon the poor for their own beneficial profits, making living for the third estate nearly impossible. 

During my research of the French revolution, I read a quote from the topic of rural poverty that stated, “Those who have the most intelligence or are accustomed to the work, hire others and make a profit from their labor”. “Those” meaning both the clergy and nobility. This example alone shows that p.o.p is not just a United States predicament, but a worldwide predicament. 


Returning to America’s modern day profitting, my History class explored the world of advertising. While watching a video called, The Ad and the Ego on how advertisements are a secret means of mind control and manipulation, we journaled the important points that stood out to us. 

It was stated that the average American is exposed to over 1500 ads a day. At first, it seemed a bit far-fetched, that is, until I realized the hidden ads and just how surrounded by ads we are, that is is indeed like air, i hadn’t noticed it at all. One of the most important quotes that stood out to me was, “Advertising is a system of education. With it, comes truth and consequences”. I thought, just what can ads educate me on? Ads, overall “teach” people that they are not good enough and will never be good enough until they buy the product being advertised in front of their face. They “Teach us to be consumers, happiness can be bought they are instant solutions and products can fullfil our daily needs”. 

Just the thought that the United States would allow such mind control to spur upon their people is shocking. What is the point of this? Well, money of course. For us, the people, who don’t notice the manipulation it isn’t about “manipulation or false unconsciousness, it's about getting into their dream life”. Which is why advertising has overtime been modified to fit lifestyle and emotions which makes it easy to convince one to buy the (most likely) unneccesary product. 

Just earlier this weekend I was watching a movie, that I’d seen a million times before, on television. It was an hour and a half movie on from 2pm-4pm. Meaning advertisements would be running in between the movie for a total of 30 minutes. However, me knowing the movie by heart noticed that there were scenes being cut out of the movie, not for the sake of the channel’s viewing contents, but just scenes being cut out. Whenever the movie went to commercial, the commercials were playing for far longer than usual. I’d then concluded that they’d unneccesarily shortened the movie just to elongate commericals.

It’s because of advertisements and their sneaky skills of persuasion that American citizens easily become consumers and contribute to the existance of sweatshops. This does not justify the United State’s desperate and drastic measures for profit, but it does add cause and reason to it.

Earlier this year, we learned about the at the time current Keystone Pipeline desicion. The Keystone Pipeline was suppose to be a 1700 mile long pipe going from Canada to the United States to carry “abundant, reliable and cheape”r oil. This manner was another U.S. scheme for profits, despite the effects on the American and Canadian people. The pipeline risked toxics, destruction of nature and farms, and those 180k promised construction jobs would end within the first few years. Despite those risks and more, for the sake of saving money and profitting of oil companies, the USA was determined to get the keystone approved.

Also, Many times in English we journaled about our learnings and understandings about prisons. Just last month we journaled about things about prisons that had stood out to us. In our journal on May 13th, I noted that the USA government were not only funding more prisons than schools, but that the current budget cut situation is so that money taken from public schools can be invested in new prisons. This shows that the government finds it easier to invest in our failure than success. However, taking away a child’s chance or opprotunities of success only leaves extra room for failure, so it seems as if this investment was purposely made.

In 1994, Ponaldo Maledo wrote that “History shows us convincingly and factually that the United States has systematically violated the Pledge of Allegiance”. I have only seen more and more evidence this year. The United States continuously contradicts the Pledge of Allegiance. Our government would rather grow the green in their pockets than the green they walk on, talk about the hurtful truth. Thanks to Mr. Block’s English and History classes, I now have an open mind and open eyes to the fact that Profit over People is a system that indefinitely makes the world go ‘round.



Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

This year in History and English has been a very fun and challenging learning experience for me. In the beginning of this school year, I was very solid in writing. I walked in to Mr. Block’s class with the mindset of I will not succeed in this class, in fact I will slack and not even really try. Even though I didn't really mean what I was saying, but I was just finding a way to stay comfortable in my own skin. “Originality is pushing yourself beyond personal boundaries.”

 English is where I grew the most as a writer. I improved by verifying the words that I use for description. I also learned that being descriptive precise does a lot to how writing sounds. In the beginning of this year my descriptive writing level was okay, but now I’m able to write in a different perspective. From Multiple projects in this class has helped me learn how to use dialogue and write in my own voice, and express my own opinions through proof or by supporting my statements. This is a paragraph from that Project “Wait let me try myself, Heart beating faster the sound of family laughter and conversations. I can barely pedal, trying my hardest not to make a fool out of myself, but in my mind that was the only thing I knew was going to happen. Teenagers disparaging me. Sounds of whispers, bubble gum, and the feeling of humiliation. I always knew that I could do whatever I put my mind to so I kept trying. Every Time I fell off I pretend I was doing it all of on purpose.” Check out the actual Project by clinking here for this assignment we had to write a descriptive essay about a moment in our childhood.

“Language is a common barrier to relationships”. Over the course of English we ran across a project and we had to write a language biography, It was very challenging. You got to write about our experiences with language. That’s also what makes learning fun and challenging in Mr. block’s class, because we took the challenge to write about something that was important to us and had fun doing it. “ Language can make your identity glow or make it look trashy” This is a quote from my Language biography. here is my language bio.https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/images/cleardot.gif

The poetry unit was my favorite unit. I took the descriptive writing and all the other awesome writing style I learned this year to come up with incredible poems. We wrote our own creative pieces. This is my poetry Wikispaces. The best part was studying a famous poet. I studied Amiri Baraka. I got to learn so much about his writing style and his life in general. He was almost a politic, and he stood up for his voice. Click here to learn more about this famous poet.

In history we learned a lot about Humans/ environmental, Religion, Age of Exploration, Renaissance, Playwright, Revolution, and Industrial Revolution/ Modern day capitalism. I had an amazing time doing every single one of these assignments. One of my favorite projects was when we had to write three monologues about the Keystone Pipeline and the effects it was going to have on people. I wrote as the soil in Camden, A girl and a wooden pipeline. This is a quote from one of my monologues “ I knew that I would be developing, because The Governors think that everything has to be developed.” here is the assignment here is also a video to this assignment. It was so fun doing this project, some might say “well what are you learning by just writing monologues?” and I’ll say they weren't only monologues; we actually had to research facts about the keystone Pipeline. We read articles, and a lot more other interesting stories. We made sure we had our facts right.

“Religion does not equal culture.” In our religion unit, we were able to explore different types of religion and their sacred books. It was very different to understand other people’s religion, because learning just your own isn’t being knowledgeable but being flexible enough to learn others is being wise. In some religions for example Christianity, is often mixed up with culture. That was always my curiosity; I just always wanted to know why this often happened. As we got farther in the unit, we received an assignment where we had to pick a religion that we weren’t familiar to make a brochure, and since I was so concern about the whole “Religion does not equal culture.” I decided to approach some of that issue in my brochure. Here is that Assignment.

This assignment was a journal entry from over the year. I would just like to share this with you, Here and also one of my favorite quotes from the journals we wrote over the years. is “Trying to relocate you from every angle that you was never there to form.”

This is not all of the work we did, this is just some. I don’t think anyone would have the time and patient to write and list all of the assignment we have learned and did this year, I never knew it would be possible for me to learn so much in a small amount of time. I am convinced that anything is possible. All thanks to Joshua Block for making me such open minded and a wise writer. I feel like my brain has expanded ten times larger. I am grateful to have you as my 10th grade English and History teacher.



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Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

There’s different sides to ourselves that we don’t really see at a first glance. Those parts of us can be brought out when we create poetry and view things about the world in different lenses. We not only learn about ourselves but we learn sides to people surrounding us and people who are thousands of miles away. Throughout the year, I’ve been able to see parts of myself that I haven’t seen before. Some parts surprised me and some parts led me to believe that there is something inside of me worth searching for and worth continuing beyond Mr.Block’s classroom.


In the duration of our English and History classes, I’ve found a particular interest in poetry. Poetry is a form of self expression and illustrates how identity can be found in anything. I enjoyed reading and analyzing poems but I especially loved creating my own poems. I was able to put myself into my work. I always put myself into my work whether it’s my opinion or beliefs in response to assignment questions, but in the poetry unit I was able to better talk about myself and let my audience know more about me. In my poem uniquely titled “Symone,” I let people see a side of me that they probably didn’t know. When you think of poetry, you think of fun rhymes such as “the green cat swung the blue bat” or something similar, but I learned that poetry is powerful with or without catchy phrases. One line to my poem was “I secretly have an unusual fascination with popsicles in the summertime, fireworks on the fourth of july and sand castles/ I assume it’s because I often find myself dedicating time to things that will only last a few moments.” Cool right? I was able to express myself in a creative way comparing moments that don’t last forever in contrast to what I dedicate my time on whether it’s relationships, friendships, etc. All in all, the poetry unit was the part I loved most about the year. I’ve been writing poetry on and off again but I found a particular spark this year. Poetry is, to me, the best form of self expression. You’re feeling sad? Write a poem. Spilled your milk on the table? Write a poem!

Seeing things in a different lens help create a better understanding of the world. Our lessons about colonization, has led me to learn that we often find ourselves trying to make other places like us because we, as a country, believe that we’re above third world countries. For example, when we learning about Haiti, I learned that we made them kill all of their pigs so none would get infected by the few that were sick. I also learned that we made them change their exchange routines in order for us to cheat them out of their money and live off of their profits, which isn’t fair at all.

I learned that although countries are different from the U.S., their way of doing things aren’t necessarily wrong. They have adapted their ways of doing things and it isn’t our place to try to come in and change it no matter the reason. Sometimes we come into other countries genuinely trying to help, but they don’t need help all the time.

Throughout the school year, by doing the work I’ve noticed that I have changed. I found parts of me within my work, within the problems we inquiry, and within our classroom discussions that ultimately shaped me into a different person. I’m not inferring that I changed as a whole, but I now have a new insight on the world and developed new ways of thinking about them. I’m very grateful for the chance to learn more about the world and identify myself within it. I’ve enjoyed the lessons throughout the year as a whole.





http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/Journal_Entry-12-20-12--The_Ad-the_Ego
http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/History_Journal-1-31-13
https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1tBdtc5AgaeDJnCnISfEXHkVz8sx4dZM3MfDOD4kRqCw/edit
https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1MjwUuseE5EysVLJcJXT4cbSQTTNvAYqQuqJrWnURc1s/edit

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Humanities Final Portfolio 2013


“No matter what hath done guilt is hidden in all. For all things truly wicked started from an innocent.” Imagine a court case with the jury, lawyers, defendants, prosecutors, the security, the audience, and most importantly the judge. Each and every people, in that room whether they have or have no important relation to the case has a role and is designated to play it right and accept it.

In my history class we have researched and role played numerous trials as if we were really the character given to us and through those experience I’ve come to a closing understanding that no one is really innocent. Everyone is guilty of something and for that being we must all share the blame. One ordinary person can change everything with one act. Therefore, one turning their back on the situation as if it didn’t matter and it is not their problem automatically lays a splash of guilt across their face.

For example, in my trial notes for sweatshops going on nowadays the us consumers were second innocent in my opinion (I don’t have notes on the poor workers because that was the role my group played) mostly because they are just the consumers. They buy what they like and the money goes where it goes but during the cross examinations in my notes they stated “They are under a veil in which the multinational corps keep them under a small box of not knowing how and where their clothes are actually made.” and “need to focus on their own problems first than to help others on the spot” Even with that being said in analyzing these statements there is still guilt held securely under all the sympathy in it.

Though they may be accusing the multinational corporations for trying to keep their sweatshops in secret but they could have open their minds more to where does their clothes comes from and though they have problems of their own that is what makes you a better and greater person, to pause for a second, get yourself stable, and hold out a hand for someone in need of a lift. But they didn’t do it. They just went about their lives as if the situation didn’t exist. That is partial to what makes them guilty in the trial. But even before this happened we researched a bit to introduce us to what we’d be getting ourselves into and in my journal entry #31 I jot down some notes on. 

Also in my response to modern day sweatshops I explained about the possibility of making a good change out of it . But just maybe there can be a different option other than passing down the blame and pointing fingers though we all have some part in the crime. Another example would be the Cortez Hernandez trial of which I also took some trial notes(H.C.) on . It is somewhat every similar to the sweatshop trial in structure but of course is a different case in which everyone is GUILTY OF SOMETHING!


“I think religion helps us to deal with what we don't understand, with what overwhelms us, with what makes life hard. It helps us gain an anchor” A quote that I was able to grab and collect in my journal entry #13 along with other very insightful quotes and my reactions to them. In the religion unit that was taught in history class I realized that religion can either unite us or separate us. Journal entry #13 sort of shows the positive side of religion but in journal entry #9  it shows a bit of the opposite. It talks about orientalism and how much ignorance it brings. Religion seems to be the backbone or foundation that some people tend to fall back on when they have nothing else. In that there can and will come unity and acceptance with oneself and others. But then there are some other people who tend to go bit extreme to the point where other people’s lives can be in danger. Journal entry #9 is an example for orientalism is still out there today. But that doesn't mean we can't change it. I have come to analyze at many different angles that religion can be both good and bad but it is mostly up to the people and how they choose to take it to decide.



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Humanities Final Portfolio 2013_ SPELLS

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As history and English class come to an end I start to reflect on the common themes that we have focused on this school year. Colonization, power,nonviolence/violence and the use and misuse of sweat shop are just to name a few that we have focused on.

We all know that the united states is the number one richest country in the world, but as a whole we are struggling ourselves and we always go for “what’s the cheapest”. In Mr block’s English class we were first introduced to a text called “Are your hands clean?” I thought it was a trick question but then I began to think about the not so obvious answers.When Thinking about this question I first thought of sweatshops and how my clothes and shoes are all made in foreign countries. Workers get treated very poorly and they don’t get paid a lot for making the clothes.They are in the factories for 23 hours a day just to earn a little bit of money to feed there family.In the video Zoned for a slavery ,the man informed us that the workers earn 12 cents for every shirt they produce, but in the stores in the US we may pay 20 dollars for a shirt but the workers only get paid 12 cents for the shirt so where is the other $19.88 going?  We will never know. When coming to conclusion I knew that my hands were not clean.

In history class we were assigned to do a trail about Modern Day Sweatshops In the trial our roles were either a US consumer, poor country ruling elites, the workers, system of profit and US multinational corporations. My role was to be a US consumer.It wasn’t easy to defend the consumers because we consumers do take part in sweatshops. We buy clothing that are made in sweatshops because it’s cheaper. Stores like American Apparel clothing are made in the US and we could easily buy clothes from them but we chose not to because they are "Too expensive". “Why pay more when you can pay less” says my friend Warda. We girls love forever 21 but they use sweatshops weather we know or not they do.In the video “Made in L.A” We learned a lot about the whole Forever 21 operation and how everything works/ Workers were sick and tired of how they were being treated so they decided to hurt the owners Non-violently by going on a strike and protesting for what they believe in, and it worked. The owners finally gave into what the workers wanted and they didn't use violence to handle there problem instead they hurt them by just protesting.

Speaking of non-violence. Non-violence and violence played a huge role in the themes we learned this school year.In History class,Mr. Block had us write a journal which was about power as well as violence. I thought that “Being non-violent was more powerful than being violent, it takes more work to be non-violent, being violent doesn't make you powerful it makes you look crazy”. After doing the journal we watched a movie about a man who stood his ground and got his way by doing things non-violently. His name was Gandhi. In the movie Gandhi and his followers were treated very badly but through it all they didn’t use violence to show that they had power. Just them being silent and taking all the abuse showed how powerful they really were.

We didn’t just focus on non-violence we also talked about violence as well. In the beginning of the school year we read a novel called “Lord Of The Flies” .In the book teens were stranded on an island and they were faced with many problems being on that island unsupervised. In the novel the kids kill each other to survive on the island. Being in power caused them to act that way causing them to handle situation more violently... They didn't care if you were they're best friend if you got in there way they would kill you.This was the first violent act that we learned about. Later,we started to talk about colonization and how it affected people as well as the country as a whole. We had to pick a country that we wanted to focus on and then create a museum about the country and how they benefited or didn’t benefit from colonization. I focused on Sierra Leone. My project was called Diamonds Of Sierra Leone. In Sierra Leone They use a lot of violence to get there point across.For example soldiers known as the RUF recruit children from different villages in Africa and force them to become a soldier.If they reject they will be shot right on the spot. If they accept they go from village to village shooting other innocent people and forcing them to do as they say.

Overall the common themes that we learned in Mr. Block’s class helped me have a open mind on things and they really helped me out. We learned lots of more themes but these are my general understandings that I wanted to focus on.

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

I’m a 16 year old high school student, currently going through a large budget cut along with 1,000’s of other students in the Philadelphia School District. In the midst of this havoc I’ve have learned things that make me forget the lack of hope our state has for our education. Mr. Block, my 39 year old English/ History teacher plays a pivotal role in this experience. In his classes he has allowed words not to only stain our pages, but our perspective on life. Starting off the year with descriptive pieces, language essays, to creating dance pieces, no matter what the style Mr. Block has allowed our creativity to be catharsis.


Poetry

“Little hips swish as her fate crashed into a hoop”

(Above is a link to my poems)

We began a new unit with a name I know far too well, poetry. Something I believe a classroom could not teach, instead it must be naturally instilled in a person. But I proceeded learning many different styles, one in particular was my favorite, abstract. When using the abstract style you use words to leave your audience questioning the thought or story you were trying to portray, depending on the audiences perspective. Mr. Block had us write a number of poems all of which we used different style. Throughout this unit I had the chance to display my musings and share them with my fellow classmates. This had to be one of my favorite units. The only way these poem could be written was after I used my creativity to speak of things I never would speak of, which is a reason why I love abstract so much. It allows you to say what you mean without having to say it.


Playwrights

Refuge

(Above is a link to my play)

Then there came this lady Kate McGrath was her name, energetic, whimsical, and determined to haul a play out of us. I was very excited to write an extensive piece of work and be able to call it mine, but then the actual work kicked in. Long hours of thought to come up with creative dialogue that only covered about half  of page. The long editing process along with the lengthy emails kate had sent us with some ideas on how to better our pieces. I was tired and I wanted to give up. Then came the Playwrights retreat, there I met some amazing playwrights and other students who were trying to better their plays. We read each others plays and I received some amazing feedback, had an awesome lunch, and exchanged some numbers. This made me push myself to conclude my play. Then May rolled around, it was time to submit my play and I had no idea on how to bring it to an end so I thought. I used everything I had learned from Kate, Mr. Block, and the playwrights retreat, but I had to allow my creative juices flow and there it was. My ending.  


Modern Day Slavery

Sweatshop Trial

(Above is a link to my sweat trail)

I shop a lot in places where the source laborers are hidden, for example one of my old favorites Forever 21. Well, this use to be a franchise build on sweatshop labor, using undocumented immigrant to make our clothing. Paying them less than minimum wage and turning a blind eye to their undocumented selves, yet ratting them out if an inspector would make a visit. While also making them work in unsafe conditions sometimes abuse would be form of consequence. Later on we watched a documetrary of a few women who worked in Forver 21’s sweatshop and watched them struggle to gain their justice. At the end of the movie they accomplished their goal they forced Forever 21’s CEO to pay them more and better their working conditions. Later we had a trial to get to the source of this injustice. Using five real life criminals, the consumers, the system, ruling elite, workers, and the corporations. The consumers are us, the ones who purchase these articles of clothing. The system is this idea of money over people, which is a pretty skewed theory. The ruling elite are the countries presidents and dictators who allow these companies to abuse their citizens. The workers, well they’re the people who make our clothes. And the corporations are the Forever 21, Gap, etc, who use the citizens to their advantage. After this trial we concluded that the corporations were the guiltiest. This trial made me want to look further into immigration and it led me to this. A documentary that combined art with stories of immigration, they use a butterfly to symbolize immigration and instead of calling it immigration they call it migration. Butterflies migrate. They used their creativity to better the lives of other undocumented migrants, which is pretty cool. Before this trial I have never paid attention to the inferiority placed upon migrants.


Gandhi  

#36

(Above is a link to my Journal entry talking about my views of violence and nonviolence)

Mohandas K. Gandhi was introduced or should I reintroduced to Mr. Blocks History class this quarter. While studying this great man we explored the impacts violence and nonviolence can have on a society. Violence, in my eyes is the easy and vengeful way out of a horrid situation because you lose your humanity to save humanity. Whereas nonviolence allows one to display their humility all the while saving humanity. My class watched the story of Gandhi’s life and how his peaceful movement against British colonizers has helped save the independence of Indians and many others who have followed his ideology. Gandhi used his creative mind to save his country, also relieving himself and his followers of all of the hatred they once had inside of them. This unit helped us move into our colonization unit. In this unit we explored many different countries who were colonized by European Empires and are still being negatively affected today.During our many discussions Mr. Block brought up some truth, he said “ Well aren’t these colonized countries fairly rich?” The class said yes, but a fellow classmate of mine said “ Yeah, they are, but the indigenous people aren’t. They are suffering.” In this journal entry I got the chance to explore this idea #40.



Jarvis Jay Masters

Masters Section 1

Masters Section 2

Masters Section 3

Masters Section 4

(Above are links to Masters; autobiography)

Our Last unit was used to explore this American paradox of prisoners to wealth. “The United States has less than 5% of the worlds population ,but has almost a quarter of the worlds prisoners. What’s even more skewed than these statistics are the people who make them. A black man is more likely to be apprehended for a longer period of time or apprehended at all longer than a white man. Racism? I thought this issue had already been swept under the rug of injustice.


Then we explored one man’s journey on death row named Jarvis Jay Masters. He was a troubled kid in and out of prison system since he was a child. On June 8, 1985 Jarvis was sentenced to death, he was accused of sharpening a knife that was used to kill a prison guard. Masters did not kill the guard, he was accused of sharpening the knife that had killed the guard. Weird, huh? So Mr. Block had us read some part of Master’s autobiography, and answer a few thought questions here. Masters used his creativity to write this book which was cathartic for him. He allowed his situation to be a creative piece instead of being another accounted for statistic.


This unit  has also answered my question of where our 250 million dollars cut in our school budget  is going, a large portion or all of that money is going to prisons.


Creativity is cathartic. When one creatively relieves themselves of the things they bottle up inside they create something that they can not only display for themselves, but share to the world and can possibly help someone else. The reason why I say creativity is cathartic is because everyone does not believe that everything thing is art. But creativity is everything, the way we walk talk, walk, and write are creative because we are all original.


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Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 8.09.10 AM

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

“Everything you can imagine is real.” ― Pablo Picasso. This sophomore year English and History has been a total rush. Like something out of a scene of Fast and Furious, it was a constant motion forward of learning and growth in myself. English was my chance to break my shyness and really give me the opportunity to express myself. History was my chance to learn more about current events in the world, along with old events that I could connect one to the other.


In English class, we did many things that gave me the opportunity to express myself. The best example for this would have to be when the class did the Iron Stream Poetry Wikis. It was exciting because I love music, and music is a form of poetry. Being able to express my feelings without being judged was such an amazing feeling. A great opportunity that rose from this was being able to hear other people’s poems and having other’s hear my own and criticize and help me make them better. That was a good way for me to enhance my poetry.


I’ve always been interested in the Army. I’m not sure why, but I find it as a touching subject, and somehow the stories always find their way to my heart. When I hear about troops dying in combat or being seriously injured, I always put forth my respect to them, because they are the truth behind my safety. When we had the opportunity in English to do a podcast about “Crossing Boundaries” I figured I should do mine on the U.S. The U.S. always finds itself in the middle of a conflict simply because we are nosey and try to hard to fix things. This is how our wars outbreak, by not minding to ourselves. I interviewed my brother on this subject in my podcast. It was intriguing what he had to say, and very interesting as well.


My favorite unit in History, which was a pretty recent one, was where we learned about Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi is more than just a man of peace to me. He was an inspiration to me, an idle. He is the reason I began to see the world in a different perspective. I use to be agressive and I constantly had a temper. My temper is caused by my anger issue that unfortunately is passed to me from my father. What this means for me, is little things will enhance my frustration and temper that usually don’t bother someone else. I began to learn and read about Gandhi and how his methods of nonviolence worked. This was where I began to change and take control of my anger and suppress it when I have too. Our History Journal, #39, asked “Which is a better method? Non Violence or violence?” My response was aimed towards the method of Nonviolence because I strongly agree with it, depending on the situation. “I personally push nonviolence to be more powerful, because no matter how provoked you get, the ability to control your anger and the physical want to hurt someone is strongest.”


Another unit in History when we learned about the Arab Springs and made videos about them. We got into a group and picked a country and did research on it. My group was given the country Bahrain. In the video we discussed the violence in Bahrain and how the people are trying to protest against the President of Bahrain for change.


One of my favorite English Journals was #41 when we were asked “When was the last time someone forgave you or you forgave someone? Is it possible to always forgive someone?” This was during the unit about the Holocaust. My response was personal and had meaning to myself. A part I said for the second question, if it’s possible to always forgive someone, I wrote: “Yes, it is always possible to forgive others...Just like those people who had a choice, you as well have a choice. It’s your own personal decision on if you should or shouldn’t forgive that person. Forgiveness is the step in moving forward, it helps put conflicts in the past to stay.” I believe forgiving someone is the step to peace.


Lastly, relating to my world peace can be made through us topic, I would like to discuss about the beginning of the year in English class when we read Lord of the Flies. The book was based on a group of british schoolboys who get trapped on an island after a plane crash. There is tension in the group, while they begin to create a colony. Even at one point, there is judgement, violence, and war for leadership. The boys learned to coop with one another, and peace was created at the end. Although there was peace, the path to peace was rocky and rough. I wrote my paper on this, the concept of leadership, for English.


In Mr.Block’s English and History class, I grew mentally in many ways. I learned a lot about the world and how there are lies thrown at the people of countries in the greed for power, or how sweatshops in China have nets at the top of the factories to reduce suicide, or even how poems can be as simple as 2 lines. I was able to expand my mind in these two classes. The expansion of my mind enhanced my sight and vision on the world. Personally I am more disappointed in the U.S. government even more now. I hope I can use what I learned in Mr. Block’s History and English class even further in my high school experience. It was an honor being able to learn all of the things I did.


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Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 6.57.31 PM
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Screen Shot 2013-06-11 at 6.57.08 PM

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

I remembered when I was younger, I was bound to be confused in history class. And although writing and reading was my strongest subjects during elementary and middle school, I was very uninterested during english class. Everything I learnt was similar to each other or typically not surprising. I felt like I was missing out on a lot of things that I’d find more interest in, something that gets me excited or something that’d lit my eyes hearing about. It was same thing every year in history and english. Nothing out of the ordinary in english and history class. School was becoming just like what see you on TV. My first year of high school wasn’t as bad as I thought it was during english and history. In full honesty, during my sophomore year of attending to english 2 and world history class, it doesn’t even feel like I’m in here to advance in reading or learn about our fathers of America. I have never learnt so much in my life until this year, thanks to Mr. Block’s classes.

In history, I learnt that everyone needs to share the blame in any type of situation. For example, we learnt about the fall of the Aztecs empire. We set up a court system and divided everyone equally into groups. Such as the Aztecs, Cortes, Cortes’ men, etc. We all had to defend ourselves and proven not guilty. It was very hard and I realized in the end that it is everyone’s fault. I didn’t make this conclusion until I wrote the final thoughts about the Cortes’ trial. In this piece of writing, I stated “And this isn't coming from my point of my view because I defended Cortes. I see that the system is also pretty guilty as well as King Charles V, in fact everyone is evenly guilty.” The same went for who’s responsible for sweatshops in third world countries. We set up a court, and divided the entire class into equal groups. The groups were national cooperations, U.S. consumers, sweatshop workers, etc. In the end of the trial, we had to write our final thoughts on sweatshops. In my response to modern day sweatshops, I stated “This is profit, it is literally all about making money. People are blinded by money. People are now brainwashed by profiting, marketing, and doing business. This is how the system works. And we, the people, make up the system of profit.” Every single group that was apart of this trial, whether it was the sweatshops workers, the leaders of the country, the consumers, they all had to take part of dividing the guilt because everyone was involved due to money. That is how I made my conclusions from this project that everyone is bound to be guilty.

Throughout attending to Block’s english and history class, I think about stuff that I usually don’t really have a thought about. For example, simply the definition of freedom. I have never sat down and actually put thought into defining what freedom is to me. In my english journal entry #36, I stated “Freedom is doing whatever the hell you want as long as you’re not harming yourself or harming anyone else.” This is my first sentence of the journal entry and pretty much what I generalize every type of freedom.

As time went by, we started to get in depth about identity. As I grew up, I was struggled a lot with my identity. What exactly was my ethnicity, how I carry myself around and just being me at all times. When we talked about identity, I realized identity has a lot of characteristics that I never thought about. Such as physical appearance, who you really are, what you’re hiding, etc. In a project that I worked on, I chose to make up a question that would get you thinking. It was “In what ways do people confuse physical appearance with identity?”. I made a Prezi presentation and the process of making it was awesome. I just enjoyed the creativity. But of course, I learnt so much about how everyone’s identity is important because it’s crucial that we are being ourselves and not trying to impress society in any type of way. For example, in this project, I used characters from famous Disney movies such as Beauty and the Beast, Shrek, The Princess and the Frog, etc. I then compared it to reality about Victoria Secret Models and how crazy it is that they’re underweight for their height. In the end, I stated “We, confused our identity with our physical appearance” along with a picture of my classmates. I said this because the society we make up, is brought upon us. I believe that nowadays, a lot of people do confused their physical appearance with their identity.

Still talking about the depths of identity, in history class, everyone was required to write a play and submit it to an interesting young playwrites program in Philly. During this personal time, I discovered the world of transexual people. It sounds a bit odd but it became my passion to grow up and help these transgendered people get through harsh times. I found myself reading and watching about transgendered people. I then went through a phase that I wanted to be a pediatric gender identity therapist and help children with transexual issues. The name of my play is "Authentic Woman." I decided to make my main character of the play a male to female transexual. Everyone thought it was a bit weird but I loved my idea of having a transgendered character. In one of the lines I wrote, my main character stated, “You don’t understand either... You don’t know how it feels to pretend you were a straight boy when you were a young teenager, you don’t know how it felt when I tried so hard to fit in by wearing all the boy clothes I’ve had, got my hair always cut short, having to work harder because I’m the “man” of this house. I’m not a man, Apsara, I’m a woman. You’ll understand in the future.” This was very important to hear from the main character. It reveals an entire different perspective of this character. It shows that what he looks on the outside does not define who he is in on the inside. And just thinking about people struggling with their identity and revealing it to the world, is so hard and heart wrenching sometimes.

Towards the end of our unit, we started to learn about the peace maker Gandhi. We started to get in depth about violence and something switch in my head when Mr. Block asked us “what is more powerful? violence, or nonviolence?” I completely onto the violent side but slowly mellowed in between of both after a class discussion. In my history journal entry #39, I stated “I think violence is more powerful. Because I go by the line ‘no one listens until someone dies.’” I do kind of agree with this statement but after learning about Gandhi’s peaceful march and how much he stood up for rights, I realized nonviolence can really win.

It’s been a crazy learning experience.


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Screen Shot 2013-06-10 at 10.17.10 AM

Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

I remember when I first heard that I was going to be in both of Mr.Block’s English and History classes. “I don’t want my advisor as a teacher for two of my classes this year” I thought to myself. But that was 9 months ago and since then, I’ve learned more in 9 months then I ever thought I would in two years. I’ve learned more about African American History in World History than I did taking the class in my 9th grade year. I learned about current events that I would have never even took the time to learn about because I don’t turn to the news. But why turn to the news when your classroom has all the information that you need inside?  

        Throughout the year, I’ve learned many things. One thing that stuck with me and will continue to throughout  my life is that “Language is not just a form of speaking.” Before English class, I never thought of language as broadly as I do now. Language isn’t just something you only speak. You can express language in many ways. You can express it through art, movement, or even writing. One way I’ve expressed language in a different form is through a online website called Prezi that showcased my project from a novel I read called “Persepolis”. This book taught me a lot about identity and I reflected that through my project. 

         I learned that language can make you see the world differently like looking through a different lens to help one create a better understanding of the world. Viewing this not just from your eyes, but from the eyes of others in the city, country, and the world can help you understand much more about others cultures and their lives. Looking through a different lens made me realize that not everyone had the opportunities and privileges that others may have. Teenagers have to work and can’t even attend school in some country’s because they have to support their families. Looking through my lens showed me that I shouldn’t take things for granted. For every person that has, there is someone who has not. 

         Almost everyday through out the school year, my class wrote journals for English and History. The journals were based off of we were covering in class for that unit and the different projects we did based off these topics. Writing about what we were doing in class gave me a better mind set of what we were learning. Doing journals everyday was something I always looked forward to coming to class. To me, that was the best part of class. Being able to express your opinions in words. A day in English class, we had to write an optimistic version of what is going to happen to the world in the next 50 years. This journal entry made me realize a lot about the world and what it is going to come to. It made me want to make a change so future generations could live better. 


Below is a link to a presentation of qoutes that I've read and heard through out the year in both English and History class. 


(Please copy and paste link)

file:///Users/asharrieff/Desktop/Englsih%20portfolio%20/assets/

player/KeynoteDHTMLPlayer.html#0


Below is an History Journal that stood out to me the most this year.


http://www.scienceleadership.org/blog/History_journal:2


Below is a link to my poetry portfolio.


http://ironpoetry2013.wikispaces.com/Aateeyah+Sharrieff

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Screen Shot 2013-06-05 at 12.38.58 PM

Print Reflection

Inquiry:  I inquired about strontium.  I knew almost nothing about it, and had to research it.  I asked, "What is it used for?"  "How was it discovered?'

Research:I learned things like its atomic number is 38, and that it is used in fireworks and cathode ray tubes, which were used in analog TV's.

Collaboration:  Though this was an individual project, I still collaborated.  I constantly asked my friends and Ms. Hull what they thought of my work, and if they knew a way I could improve it.

Presentation:  The presentation of this piece was the actual printing and matting.  I had fun printing, but the prints did not come out as well as I wanted.

Reflection:  After I was done, I was able to see others' work also.  It was very fascinating, and I found some ideas that could have made my work better.

Element Print

Inquiry:
The beginning of this project was the inquiry of this project. It would be, "What is your element?" Which leads into the next core value of researching.
Research:
When I got the element, Gadolinium, I had to research it. I learned that it is in CD'd, and imaging for x-rays, MRI's and color TV's. This was very helpful in designing my plate.
Collaboration:
I collaborated with my peers to help me decide which design to use. Ms. Hull was also helpful in this process by bringing me back to reality with what was and was not realistic to do. 
Presentation:
When I handed in my final product for grading, I was very proud with all of the work I had done. All of the pieces I did concerning this project, were great in my opinion and I think they were almost perfect.
Reflection:
This is my reflection. It has helped me really think about the work I have done with this project.

Q4 ART-Julian Makarechi

My name is Julian Makarechi, a sophomore at Science Leadership Academy. This year I have decided to try to become a better artist by taking Ms. Hull's Advanced Art class. Lately her class has been focused a lot textures, furs, hair, cartoons and faces. The sketches posted below are the ones that I have been working on through out the duration of the 4th quarter. I used drawspace.com to help me figure out the steps to each of my sketches. For my outside project, I decided to paint a simple smiley face on a ceiling tile (a picture of this is also in the slideshow below). With the help of my classmates I was able to make this outside very professional and neat. Overall, I am very proud of my work this quarter and I feel like this class has made me a better artist. 


Link to sketches and Ceiling tile

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92669946@N03/sets/72157634046324188/