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Used SEPTA Transpasses: 

Special Thanks to: Anwar, Marley, and Uyen for the transpasses. 

My element is Germanium. My element is used for diamonds, and lead for pencils. My idea was a diamond in the middle of the print. I used diamonds because Germanium are used to make diamonds. I stilled used the Diamond idea. The diamond has many aspects that can really make a print creative. This project is a creative way to show scientific art for SLA. With this project I would use a different design or print.

My element is Uranium.
Some things my element is used for is the production of nuclear power,weaponry, and smoke detectors.
I came up with the idea for my print by researching the America Uranium fission bomb dropped over Japan in 1945.
The steps I took to make the final print were discovering the right picture to use, drawing it, reverse drawing it, carving it, printing is three times, and framing them all.
I thought this project was fun, practical, and will look good overall in the outcome.
What I would do differently was to to do some better carving so you can see the Uranium sign.

For this project we had to use negative and positive space. I had the element Oxygen so I looked up some images on Google. We used negative space because it makes the project and image better. It shows that the artist was trying to be different and make the image pop up more. In the end the project was hard to do it required a lot of work and time but it was worth it, I am proud of this assignment.

A. What is negative space (explain this concept to a fourth grader that has never heard of it)

A negative space drawing is a drawing with a background. And the main point of 

understanding the drawing is to look at the drawing through the positive space point

of view and the negative space point of view.

B. Explain how you found negative space in in your cut out.

The white in the picture below in the negative. The pink os the positive because 

the pink is the main idea of the picture.

 
C. Why does it help an artist to see in negative space? 

It lets a person focus on the main idea of a picture. The man idea in the picture 

below is the archway and the negative space really lets a person focus on the pink.

D. Does seeing in negative space enhance drawings, why or why not? 

It does enhance a picture because you are looking at things in different perspectives at that lets a artist focus on this picture a lot better.

This quarter in art we made colored prints of things representing elements of the periodic table. My element was element 54: Xenon. Xenon was used in the first excimer laser, so I decided to print a laser.
First, we made three sketches of possible ideas for our print. Then, we picked one and transferred the drawing to a linoleum block. After that, we carved in the negative space (or positive space), put paint on the block and then pressed the block against paper, leaving a print.

For this project we were given a element from the periodic table and make a design for it that fit the element best. My element was silicon and it is number 14 on the periodic table. In able to pick the design it took me a lot of thinking but mostly a lot of creativity. After making many designs my best one was a design of bricks and cement with the negative space being Si and the name of the cement being the number 14. For this project after we chose the best drawing we then carved it on an a linoleum and then painted and matted it. Through out this project the hardest parts were making design and carving out the design from the linoleum. After all i was proud of what I did and would enjoy doing it again. 

Below is a picture of my element design.

This year was challenging yet very exciting and interesting. I’ve learned so much and have grown as a person in the process, from adjusting how to work with different people to learning how to be in a trial, I even became a poet. I never even knew what a monologue project was until I came here and had to write one myself. I learned how difficult it is to write an entire monologue it takes lots of time and effort it isn’t something you can just rush through. I learned how to make myself into another person and to see other people’s struggles and also their strengths. I’ve learned that I have other sides to me; I’m more than I appear.

 

My favorite project had to be the poetry unit. I liked this the most because it let me show my poetic side and I also got to expand my thinking way beyond what I normally would. I got to let people in and let them see my thoughts and my feelings and the way I view the world. And the feedback I got made me happy to know that people actually cared we’ve all grown into a little family who cares and respects one another.

 

Another unit I liked was the trial. Things got very intense but that was good because it showed that everyone was really engaged with what they were doing and the parts that everyone had to play. It shows a lot about human behavior and how when anyone is put in an intense situation they act on feelings and not actually think about what they really should do.

 

My final all time favorite unit was the prison unit. I never knew the crazy statistics that they had for prisons. I also never knew they had a book program for them. Because the media never showed the fact they wanted to read they would only show the fights, or the way the guards would beat on the prisoners. Never how they wanted to read or how they would make this beautiful art work! I was amazed to find out all this and now my views on prisons have changed so very much.

 

Finally, this will always be my favorite year because Mr. Block has become my favorite teacher. He's pushed us to our limits and broke us out of our shells and let us know it was ok to be ourselves there are people who have it worst than we do so appreciate everyday and our education. Before being in this class I never voiced my opinion because I didn’t want them getting shot down. But Mr. Block showed us it’s ok to voice them and it’s ok if they get shot down because even if they do you can still say that you tried instead of being quiet and not heard at all. I really love these classes both and will miss them dearly! Coming into this class I hated the thought of having back-to-back classes but they weren’t as bad as I thought they were actually my favorite classes and I can say that I learned the most from each class. 

     ​For this project we printed out an element of the periodic table. My element was Cadmium with the atomic number 48. 
     Making the print was a long process, first we drew the print-mine was a television because cadmium is used in the cables-then, we carved the same drawing into a tablet and covered it with paint. After this we made four different prints, three we gave a border and one we used to make a large periodic table.

Tyreé Wright

Iron Stream

6/11/11

 

Final Portfolio

 

 

 

Art, English, Plays, History, World, Dance, Poetry, Diversity, Religion, News, Change, Revolution, New, Beginning, Corruption, Government, Pain, Torture, Genocide, Survival, Understanding, Slavery, Trial, Judgment, Stereotypes, Hope. These words have created my 10^th grade education.  I have gone through anything but a normal English and History courses. Many of my friends out side my own school have told me stories of the many tests and papers they have had to write over the year. When I ask them what they remember about the projects they needed to do, or the papers they needed to write they cant remember. When I tell them about my projects and number of pages I have done this year they cry for me. I have had a most unorthodox year with Mr. Block.

I have written a play in History class about librarian Pirates. We started with a few monologues and through over ten pages of revisions and work we submitted them to Philadelphia Young Play Rights. Writing a full play for history class seems like an English assignment, this is not true. We had to research a topic on a present day event and create a story about it first as monologues, then as full plays. This is the first time I have ever been in a class that took such a drastic spin on tradition.

Monologue Project 

            We went far beyond the goal of understanding news and journalism to writing our own Op-Eds. We took interesting real world topics and made them into articles that draw the attention of people and make them think. These topics are things out of the obvious and serious under looked problems. We submitted this assignment to real newspapers. Through email we sent our papers and contacted them as students in hopes that they would be added to a section of the paper, going beyond the call of the everyday standards of an English Class.

Op-Ed

    

          Another thing we learned was how to create poetry. We went through all the stages from learning simple rhyme to writing five different poems. Not saying these poems simply had different words for each, which would be easy. The five poems I wrote were five different types of poems all together, they consisted of, Memory, Riff, and I was raised by, a Sonnet and an Ode. Each poem has its own unique them or story about my life. The Riff poem is about my martial arts training, my Ode is expressing my love for my favorite hat, and the Memory poem is about an event that happened in my life. Each poem is detailed and fallows its own individual them.

Poetry 

     Many schools don’t take the time to teach the children about religion. We learned the facts and the struggles many people go through. The assignment was to research a religion and make a creative wiki about a point. Mine was the on the oppression of Muslim women. I went into the hardships they are forced to go through, and how they deal with it. I compared this religion to Christianity and went into how they both oppress their women. Throughout both English and History I have learned many different things about my world in such ways that I will never forget any of them. I hope that my projects can be used to help future generations to have a unique education like I have had.

Iron Religion

 

Throughout this year in Copper Stream 2010-2011 something that really stuck out to me was the poetry unit. There were many points that I was able to take with me after doing this unit. The general understanding that I got from this was that poetry is a way of expression and can be expressed through more than just writing. When we had to do our wiki spaces most of my poems talked about my dad and what I was going through at the time. The poems allowed me to get some of my bottled up emotions out and let someone hear me without hearing my voice. The poems I wrote can be found on my wiki spaces.

 I learned that poetry is more than just roses are red and violets are blue, poetry can be a song, rap, the outside world, and a drawing. There are no limits when it comes poetry and what it can mean.

Another thing that I will be able to take with me is that writing is a group process and not just an individual project. It takes more than one opinion on someone’s paper to make it right. With every paper I had wrote this year it had been edited at least twice before I finally made my final paper. One paper that I was proud of was I believe the first quarter benchmark. We had to write a letter for Lord of the Flies. On that paper I had it reviewed a few times and kept making many different adjustments to it so it will be perfect. This paper can be seen at the bottom of my blog.

The final thing I will take from this is the crossing boundaries unit and when we read the book Their Eyes Were Watching God. The units went hand in hand with one another and it’s a good thing they were placed right behind each other. We had even written some “rules, roles and responsibilities” that we as teens hear all the time and have to deal with. In mine I wrote how your suppose to go to school and maintain A’s and B’s only, your suppose to act your age not your shoe size, your not suppose to go around acting crazy or like a little boy, also you can’t just be round boys all the time. This unit helped and showed me how society looks at people and how women are treated.

While reading the book Their Eyes Were Watching God I noticed how put down a female is in society. The women are supposed to let the man be in charge and cater to his every whim. As a woman they have no control over their life and not until they get the courage to stand up and leave will anything change. I made a video that showed how many women deal with the abuse of a man but takes a long time for them to do anything about it.

Throughout the year in English and History I’ve just learned that there are a lot of things to learn about in the world. We have to understand how women get paid less than a man.  Another thing that I wont forget is how society has a certain standard of speaking. There is a Standard English that people need to live up to but in reality no one can live that standard. This classes taught me that’s its alright to be our self and live life expressing how we feel.

 

 

 

Lord of the Flies

            From the time Piggy stepped onto the island until his fatal death he was judged about everything. From his appearance to his asthma to the little things he tried to say to the group. He could never say what was on his mind or even try to act as a normal kid because of his awkwardness. Just like the way Piggy was judged so is everyone else in society.

            People judge one another like its nothing. It has become a part of human nature to just turn to someone else and start talking about someone. The judgment can be for the good or the bad. When it was time to vote for a new President people didn’t judge based on what could get done they judged based on color, gender, and age. 

            In 2008 when the presidential election was going on ever I went people were extremely happy to know that we would either have a women president or a black president. The thing I noticed though was it wasn’t about what people wanted to be able to get from these two candidates it was about color and gender. To just for everyone to be able to say they would have a black president or a women president would have been enough for the USA.

            “Assassinate Obama”, school children chanted when Obama was elected president. This was found on the site.  Another incident that happened was a nine year old boy told a little girl on the bus “I hope Obama gets assassinated.”  The same night someone trashed the little girl’s aunt lawn and left two pizza boxes full of feces because they had Obama posters on their lawn. This just shows that because of the color of Obama’s skin and the people that followed him they were judged and had to deal with the actions of other people that didn’t like the idea of having a black man run the country. People still live in the past were whites run everything and other people have to deal with the actions of those people.

            Another thing that I found was something from Karen Armstrong’s speech is when  she said that stereotypes divide us, which is very true. Ralph, Piggy, and the twins were all divided from Jack and the rest of the boys because of the differenced Jack and Ralph had. They had caused everyone else to pick a side and try to live their life as if that was the only way they could live on the island. Karen Armstrong’s statement was proved based on what theses little boys had to go through in this novel.

Reading Lord of the Flies all the boys judged each other on what they can or can’t do and how they looked. The one that experienced the most judgment was Piggy. He was noticed a little when Jack’s boys realized the specs were what gave them fire, but even then it wasn’t the type of attention he wanted or deserved. The only time he got respect was when he died, and the only one that showed him that respect was Ralph. Throughout the whole book Piggy never got a say on anything that happened. Even though Ralph listened to Piggy in some way he really didn’t listen to anything he had to say. Everyone treated Piggy as if he was just someone taking up space.

            As the time came closer to Piggy’s death he had gotten some type of respect. When he went back to get his specs he took the conch shell with him. Every time he would start talking and someone would interrupt him he got control again just by waving the conch shell around. As the bolder hit Piggy and knocking him off the cliff he never died with the respect that he should have died with. As he fell off the cliff and the shell broke everyone was a lot more worried about the shell then him. 

Never Shall I

            Never shall I forget the phone call that we had received

Never shall I forget seeing my family rushing to the hospital

Never shall I forget seeing my uncle all bruised up with broken bones

Never shall I forget sitting on my grandma’s lap while she cried her eyes out

Never shall I forget the details of my uncle’s body flying across the concrete

Never shall I forget the day my uncle was almost killed

Never shall I forget any of these details

 

A look inside the mind of a young black male growing up in Philadelphia where statistically he is supposed to fail. Everything around him tells him to do that of that isn't healthy or progressive to his lifestyle but unlike people's image of what he should be, he is different. These are his thoughts and experiences as he travels to school. This is "Before The Day Starts"

​            Going into my sophomore year I was exciting to see what would be in stored for me academically. I was not so positive and confident about my writing skills freshmen year. So 10th grade was a new chapter to my life and I would make the best of it. The first few months we used our brains in a different way. We opened a new deeper level of analysis. Class discussions were a great asset because our growing inquiry and statements. I believe every student in copper stream had brilliant ideas and views and that was the reason to why our discussions were so successful and interesting.

           The tool I will take from this year is to analyze a situation on a deeper level. Exploring a subject in a broad method is not the same as investigating in a more depth way. Often in high school students tend to read the same books from middle school. It is not a mistake. It is simply an opportunity to reread in a more intense style to make new deeper connections.

  I had very little knowledge about the Cortez trial. I knew the basic information such as Cortez and his army took over the Aztec people. I never questioned why. In the trial we put our differences aside and accepted our role. “A story can be told in a million of different ways. Every story has a unique beginning or ending. Many stories can be hearsay.” That was a quote from my Cortez Trial response; I was referring to the testimonies from each of the groups and what really happen with the Aztec people. “We would have to be there at present moment to verify the honest truth.” History consistently repeats itself.  Also in my response paper talked about how Cortez men let Cortez brainwash them into helping him take over the Aztec people. From then on in class we were exposed to different examples that consist the same criteria. That’s when I came to the assumption that the alpha male can influenced and or alter the way people think or believe. My proof of that statement is of course the Cortez Trial, also Colonization, Prisons, Night, and Persepolis. In my history proposal for the museum exhibit "Till Death do Us Part: Story of the Aboriginal People" I explored the story line of the Aboriginal People and how Britain took over all of Australia. Even though our Prison unit was short but it proved my theory. Most prisoners are in prison because they don’t want to “snitch” on there friends. They rather face the consequences than stand up for themselves.

  I enjoyed reading the graphic novel Persepolis it was something different and new. It showed how one person could turn a group of people against another group by labeling them as degrading.  This also tied into the Holocaust with the book Night. That general understanding really helped me with my Quarter 4 Benchmark. In my thesis paper, Beating to the Breaking Point was to prove that certain people could be a torturer. “To be intimidating, one has to act tough, making sure to set the record straight for anyone who once doubted his or her strength and took it for a weakness. Guilt must be replaced by no remorse.” That quote was from Beating to the Breaking Point and it was referring to the certain qualities a torturer needs to have.

  Over the course of the year my writing skills has improved tremendously. No paper is perfect with out revisions. At first I was not at all thrilled at the fact someone else would peer edit my work. The reason for my actions was because of my low confidence and most importantly I did not want anyone to belittle my writing. I put my differences aside and became more open to feedback. At the very point my writing became to progress because of the helpful tips of peer edit sheets. The proofs of success are my Op-ed "Eating Our Way to the End", Lord of the Flies Thesis paper, Language Autobiography, and Beating to the Breaking Point.

 Everything that was taught this year will be forever remembered. This course really prepares my peers and I for a higher education. From reading more than one back at a time to making connections on a deeper level it is all needed to help us succeed. And I am truly thankful to be exposed to such new and different studies.

 

Sammy. Zeisloft

Education is a funny thing; everyone interprets things differently, so no one set of guidelines can guarantee a class room of students the same values that they may or may not take from that class nor can it ensure that their I.Q levels will all be the same. What it can do though, is provide an opportunity for each individual to take that lesson and learn at least something from it when they step out the door of the classroom.

This year, I learned a lot of new things, not only about religion or monologues or descriptive writing skills, but I learned a lot about myself and the people around me. From the moment I stepped in the doors of SLA freshman year, I had a “leave me alone unless you’re like me” kind of personality going. Granted, I’d be nice to everyone, but I generally only stuck to the people who I could relate to, mostly by music. I always tried to be open-minded but at the same time, I always kept my distance. This year, I had a really diverse stream, which allowed me to be immersed in a lot of different kinds of people.

 At first it was a little scary and disappointing, because I could no longer cling to the familiarity of my freshman year crew. But I got something so much better, something so much more from it. I learned to appreciate people, more so than I ever had. I learned to appreciate them for how we could humanly relate, having the same problems or the same sense of humor or the love for making others smile. I became really good friends with a girl that I probably would’ve stared down last year. And I accepted her, and I love her, and I appreciate her, for everything that she is, does and learns.

With the lesson of diversity strong in mind this year, I think that the most powerful project we did was the one on religion. I liked being able to compare religions and learn about the different beliefs of each one. I started the unit really ignorant to the different kinds of worship and faith that went into every religion, but when the project was over, I had a new sense of appreciation for each one.  When we started the unit I had originally thought of religion in a one tone way. “Religion. There are many different meanings of the word, many different origins and beliefs that go into it. But when stripped down to it’s bare meaning, religion is more like a preference to guide lines of redemptions. But after looking and studying each one, I learned that there’s a lot more that goes into each belief than just some crap that they read from a book.

Another thing that was really interesting, diverse and educational were the trials. I liked how everyone really got into their roles to defend their group even if they didn’t believe they were guilty in the end. I think that the trials were one of the most important projects as well because they teach you lot of different things. For example, you learn a lot of researching techniques, social lessons and historical facts as well. I think in the end you also learned how people’s opinions have changed over time and how we can ponder and reflect and learn from previous mistakes made in the past so we can learn to avoid them in the future, and that’s what history does, it teaches you, not only about the past, but how you can learn to better your future.

 

Past work over the year

Religion wiki site

 

The collaborative Google doc used in the sweatshop trials

 

Monologues Doc

This year in English and History class I learned a lot not only about the world around me but also about myself. Mr. Block has shown me a lot about what has happen and is still happening in the world. The class was always very good at connecting the past to the present and has given me the chance to make my own connections through the projects I have completed. I have grown to love the new ways of expressing myself that I have learned in this class from things like the art in the open or the young playwrights monologue project.

            The play writing experience had to have been the most mentally touching project I have done since I have entered High school. In the months spent doing the project I became extremely emotionally attached to the topic and cared deeply for the characters that I was molding. Doing this project made me think differently in both History and English, I started to feel comfortable experimenting with different voices and characters that I would have never play with before. My characters ranged from an emotionally traumatized young girl to a pride army leader and even a dead character. The ability to work out and change these characters felt great but I also was able to learn a lot about Colombia. I learn about families losing their homes and children going off to fight for the rebel army I also learned about drug trade which is why the rebel army fighting the government.

            The poetry unit was also a big project that meant a lot to me. I have always had an interest in poetry and found the chance to view different kinds of poems to be unique. I liked being able to listen again to what I wrote and feel my own words like I feel other poetry. I took a lot out of this unit including a poem that I love called “I Was Raised By sounds” which I really love. Another project that I learned a lot from was the group Podcast. I know that this project made me closer to my grandma then I have ever been before. I had known of her child hood abuse for years but I did not know all the deep struggles she felt within the interview. I learned the most after the recording stopped but that was the thing that got up talking and made our relationship grow.

            The next thing I come away with is more like multiple things it’s the people in the class. I learned from all the forum posts that we share with each other in both classes. I learned the especially from descriptive scenes. I heard so many stories about peoples past and made me feel more connected to them. This was important to me because I was new to the school and didn’t really know everyone well at all. I can think back to the scene that I wrote about my friend Jackie and how much it meant to me back when it happened compared to what it felt like writing about it years later. English and History were great this year. As much as I complained I really have grown to love this class and even Mr. Block. Even though I say his class is boring I have to say I’m really going to miss it. I owe a lot of what I know now to him. This year was great and I hope next year can be this awesome.

Exhibit proposal:

 

Goal: to make people feel the effect of colonization on the world and cultures. Also, to make people feel against the idea of colonization (audio speaking available for descriptions)

 

Intro:

In the museum I want you to get a look at how colonization effects how a culture is. You will see the changes in the area, the changes in leadership, and the changes of houses. There will be interactive sections of the tours to keep you all involved and I hope you enjoy it. There will be a brief survey at the end asking what you thought of the museum and areas for us to improve, we would appreciate and look into any ideas you suggest.

 

Artifact one:

 

I will set up a treadmill and offer people to walk up them and walk a quarter of a mile. Then I will explain to them that this could be only a small amount of work that some of the children have to do to get some water.

 

“In Niger the people need to walk to get water and most of the time it is the children. Now, back then with the people not be colonized, there were less people, meaning less use of water. However, now with Niger being colonized there are a lot more people and thus more resources are needed. It makes it harder for the country to survive.”

 

 

 

Artifact two:

 Have this house set up next to this house 

 

Artifact three:

Make photos larger and show how things have changed due to colonization. I will have the people walk into a dark room and show them the first map and then show peaceful tribes in a natural wild life setting, and then I will switch to the newer map, showing how people have made everything more “civilized.”

 

“Over the years you can see from the pictures that the areas have drastically changed and become more distinct regions. These are the effects of colonization. Over the years you can see that the regions have become more define and less tribal. Africa is no longer Africa, it is regions and country’s that make up Africa.”

 

Artifact four:

 

Artifact five:

 

I will take 61% or because we will have groups of 10 then I will just take 6 people out and I will give them 1 dollar. I will then explain to them that this is the only money you get in one day.

“This represents the 61 percent of the country that lives in poverty with only 1 dollar a day. The houses are made up of dirt and wood, and they eat cooked cereal and milk. Before colonization, there were no systems like this were people were suffering and living in such bad conditions. Those that live in the slums are forced to build their own houses out of plastic metal and what ever other material they can find.”

 

 

 

Artifact six:

 

This artifact expresses the power that the French had over these people. It shows that the people didn’t get what they may have wanted due to the.  Hamani Diori was he first elected president of Niger and had a lot of French influence.

Artifact seven:

 

In the artifact I will create a video, demonstrating the French coming into Niger and affecting the amount of people there causing there to be less resources.

“In 1946 the French constitution conferred French citizenship on the inhabitants of the territories, provided for decentralization of power and limited participation in political life for local advisory assemblies. On December 4, 1958, after the fifth French republic was established, Niger became an independent state within the French Community. In 1960 the full independence was given and at that point the French were free to come and go, live, participate, and do as they please. “

 

 

Artifact eight:

“The Nok people where people that lived back in the ancient times of Niger. They were not the wealthiest of people however they maintained a normal life style and farmed as normal people, now there are people that are dying from starvation. Connection there? Blame colonization and greed.”

 

 

 

Conclusion:

In conclusion colonization has changed a culture, tribes, and a country. It has “revolutionized” and changed things so that they were not primitive and in result have made a country turn to poverty and starvation. I hope you have seen how colonization has

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

unknown, unknown. "The people of nok ." kids page . N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2011. <http://www.kidspast.com/world-history/0097-nok.php>.

 

unknown, unknown. "HISTORY OF NIGERIA."History of nigeria . N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2011. <http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ad41>.

 

unknown, unknown. "Niger's military coup is condemned by France and Africa." BBC. N.p., February 19th 2010. Web. 18 May 2011. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8523573.stm>.

 

 

unknown, unknown. "Niger Information." Niger. N.p., October 15th 1998. Web. 18 May 2011. <http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/countries/Niger.html>.

 

unknown, unknown. "Nigeria ." actionaid . N.p., unknown . Web. 18 May 2011. <http://www.actionaid.org.uk/683/nigeria.html>.

 

 

Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D., unknown. "French in West Africa." UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER. N.p., unknown . Web. 18 May 2011.

<http://www.africa.upenn.edu/K-12/French_16178.html>.

 

 

unknown, unknown. "NIGER." Discover France . N.p., unknown . Web. 18 May 2011. <http://www.discoverfrance.net/Colonies/Niger.shtml>.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​Art work in my house: descriptive detail analysis

So when I was in wildwood a few years ago I bought this spray paint painting and this is what is looks like. I will start off by telling you the major parts in this. There is a circle that is about the diameter of the board. Inside the circle there is the USA flag that appears to be the sky. Also in the circle it the twin towers that show the reflection of the American flag on the two towers. The reflection isn’t precise it is more like a watery reflection where it is kind of distorted. Below there are several other building. There appears to be a straight line of buildings TOWARDS the bottom where underneath there is a body of water. The water fills the bottom portion of the circle and at the bottom of the circle the water becomes a waterfall and flows off the bottom of the circle. The water shows a nice white foam effect when flowing over the circle, which adds some realistic effect to it. Right under the row of buildings there is a foggy mist. Behind the twin towers you will notice a few smaller buildings that show distance effect because they and they are to the left. They also show the reflection of the flag in the background. Around the circle you will notice that there are white spots everywhere outside. The artist I believe was trying to make it appear as though the circle was in fact a planet. There is a dim red outer circle the surrounds the bigger circle/ planet to show the atmospheric effect.

 

 

 

It was the beginning of a hard day. It would be full of work, work, and more work. It started off with me waking up. I woke up with a bit of a headache and not wanting to do anything. My hair looked as if I had just got done a pillow fight. It was everywhere.  I walked into the well-lit room. The sun filling me with warmth and I thought maybe this wont be such a bad day after all. It was nearing the time I needed to leave for work. Hair fixed and ready for work I brought my bike outside and rode off.

The breeze was wonderful; filling my lungs with fresh air was much needed. I arrived to the job that I had both hated and enjoyed at the same time. Angelo my boss greeted me just as he does everyday. The smell was the same. A smell that was full of pizza goodness. My boss is a very generous man and allows me to eat a slice before I get to work. So I take a slice and sit down. I taste the delicious pizza as it enters my mouth. It fills my taste buds with joy. When I got done drooling over the delicious pizza I grabbed the some pizza menus and walked to my destination.

My job requires me to deliver menus to doors, so that hopefully the pizza shop will get more business. It is a very tedious job. Requiring me to go up and down  must go through. With 8$ an hour I get more money then most people in Philadelphia. Kind of pathetic if you ask me, but ill take it.

Money in pocket, pizza box in my one hand, it was a pretty good day at work. I didn’t have any problems. The smell of the pizza was permeating up through my nose. The hills were brutal. Making my legs burn with intensity as I pedaled up the large slopes. Almost home, just 3 more blocks and then I can dig into this awesome pizza. My hair was being a pain so I flipped it out of my face. BAM! Was all I heard and a car was all I saw. I stumbled, hand in pain, leg scratched up. I had lost my balance when I flipped my hair and ran straight into a car. Pain was intense, shooting up my arm. I couldn’t move anything. Hurting, throbbing, pain like I never felt before. “Is it broken?” I asked myself. My bike was twisted and mangled just as my arm was. I fought through the pain to pick up my bike and move it out of the street. The pizza box was demolished but the pizza was still in tact. The pizza was good but my arm wasn’t.

 I called my mom told her I had crashed. Away she went to the spot of my tragic crash. My arm was still in excruciating pain. The cuts and scraps that lay all over my leg have no effect on me because the pain in my arm was so intense. My mom put my bike in the back and we drove those 3 blocks back to my house. I rested my arm on my other arm.

No smell, no sound, nothing but pain. I walked into my house. Suddenly I thought that 16 dollars wasn’t worth this. I never broke a bone so I couldn’t tell if it was actually broken or not. I have a ton of homework to do and with this pain I’m not going to get anything done. A two page paper due in 2 days, a 10 page packet due in 2 days, and even more. I’m in pain and now I’m panicking about all the work that I now have to do with only one arm at my disposal.

I started with math. I was hungry but there is no time for food right now. My stomach is growling; mad at me because I am denying it food. The frustration overwhelmed me and I was not very successful with the math. I didn’t even finish half of the packet. Now, more pressure lays on me. Demanding that I do more work with so much pain. It wasn’t going to be a fun next day. I went to sleep with a brace on my wrist so that my wrist wouldn’t move in my sleep.

I woke to a mother that demanded my presence, however she wasn’t going to get it because my arm was in so much pain. It was un bearable. I couldn’t move at all, not a single part of my body without wanted to scream in pain. Such a pain should not be forced against someone, not anyone. Still I knew I had a ton of homework that I had to do.

I got up and wobbled to the kitchen. I got out the cereal and a bowl to pour it in. I poured the cereal half way just as I usually do. Walked over to the refrigerator and got milk and continued to pour milk in there until the cereal rose. Just the way I like it. I grabbed a spoon and began eating the wonderful cinnamon toast crunch as I walked to the table. I wasn’t very successful with just one arm but I got one spoonful before I reached the table. I set the bowl down and enjoyed each and every bite.

The birds were chirping and the sky was blue. It was set out to be a beautiful day; that I of course could not enjoy. I was forced to suffer indoors and do homework.  The hours past and eventually I come to present. I sit here in pain TV in background. Still have a lot of math to do. Obviously not done this essay.

Every time I even try to use my thumb for any reason a sharp pain travels up my arm. Making it impossible to type with that hand. Now I’m in a predicament, one hand to type, one hand to do everything, and still a lot of homework. Its now 8:26 and I still haven’t eaten dinner and I am not even half done my math.

What a way to end my weekend. My eyes are heavy, my arm still hurts and I have school tomorrow. I am supposed to be getting x-rays tomorrow to make sure that it isn’t broken. Hopefully its not broken but I never broke a bone before. If its not broken I would hate to know what it feels like if it was broken. I probably wouldn’t be able to move my fingers at all. The smell of chicken is starting to fill my house. I sense that dinnertime is coming shortly. I’m starving, my stomach is growling and I think it is about time to eat some food. A good day at work gone wrong. A new experience in which I will learn from. Next time I wont flip my hair. 

By: Mathew Walker

Throughout this school year my thoughts have been changed many times. One thing I remember very vividly is the classes Sweatshop trial. The sweatshop trial was a trial that the class did to figure out who was the most responsible for sweatshops. Every student was put into a group. My group was the U.S consumers. The other groups were sweatshop workers, multi-national co-operations, the system, and the ruling elite. Now of course people were trying to make their group sound the least guilty. When the trial was over we had to do a response to the trial in which we voted on who was the most guilty at the time since I was being a little bias I gave my group very little points. Now after looking back on everything I see that I was wrong and that in that situation you can put blame on any one person. It is like a rotation and everybody fuels everybody. What I started to understand from this is that it is not good to start coming to a conclusion while you are still focused on one group.

Another piece of work that helped me realize that with time everybody can get better at their creativity is my Poetry unit. During the poetry unit we had to write several different types of poems that we were going through in class. The reason why I say it helped me the way it did is because there is a noticeable difference between this and what I did in the beginning of the year for my English B piece. My English B piece was set at the beginning of the year and we had to write a poem based off of Langston Hughes’ English B poem. 

One piece of work that I am most proud of is my English photo essay. The reason why I am most proud of this piece is because it showed that one could produce very good work even if they are talking about themselves. This also helped me learn a lot of things about my Irish side. The assignment was to take a heritage that you were apart of and research that. After you research you have to come up with several pictures and analyses for why you chose each picture. I was able to find out a lot about the Irish heritage through this like the fact that Irish dancers keep their arms by their sides because when the English invaded Ireland the Irish were not allowed to have any fun so the Irish kept their hands at their sides when they danced so the English could not see them. Unfortunately I do not have the photos but I do have my analyses.

            My last piece of work that I would like to share with you is my colonialism museum project. The reason why I would like to share this with you is because I am very proud with my work in this project. In this project we had to make museum based off of colonization in a country of our choosing. My country was Kenya and my exhibit presented only artifacts that made complete sense like money. You can find my explanation for all my artifacts here. This project helped me learn a lot about Kenya and colonization like the fact that sometimes it can be good and sometimes it can be bad.

This is a portion of what I have learned throughout this year. It has been fun for me to share this with you. It has also been fun to take a trip down memory lane. I hoped you enjoyed the journey through my thoughts.

Throughout the courses of both History and English this year had has its ups and downs. History and English, as subjects, have always been easy for me but this year through my projects, papers, wikis, essential questions and more… has changed my views on the topics of each subject.

            In English, I noticed throughout my work that I have become a more fluent writer in writing my papers. My aspects of me to have became a more fluent writer includes, being able to pull several significant quotes from books I have read and outside sources from research. Also, analyzing throughout my paper, the quotes, my feelings and beliefs into thesis papers. Stating the facts with being stated in opinion form at first was very hard for me, but through practice of constantly writing and peer editing helped me a lot, it bettered me because of the helped I received by my teachers and friends. Click here to view my latest thesis paper about religion and the world

Within this paper I, as I stated before, express several beliefs and stating that they are true. In my 9^th grade year and beginning of this 10^th grade year, I had a harder time formatting and making my thesis papers clear by using well thought-out quotes.

            Something that I grasped over this year was that there are many certain aspects that aren't talked about everyday. Click here to view my work of both my op-ed ;and now my monologue project ;

 

Throughout my op-ed I express different corruptions throughout the world such as the religious people and leaders abusing humanity laws, here is a quotes I stated of my own words “A priest of a catholic church has been accused of sexually abusing a young little boy. To point that we are talking about a Catholic church who provide us with a Catholic religion in which the bible says “homosexuality is against God.”

            On the other hand, my monologue project was a long projects and included several aspects of thinking rather than the op-ed yet they are both similar and I learned a lot from both of them. Though, to begin, my monologue project brought several ideas of both imagination and research. I learned a lot form my monologue project because over the several months that we were given to work on it, I developed a well thought-out story about children and sex trafficking throughout Europe in an interesting, unique way.

            A major benchmark, one of my most recent one is of my Colonial Benchmark which can be seen here ;

  

I express many different aspects of colonialism. Through my research I learned a lot and in making this museum, which was the goal of making this benchmark, using different artifacts and stating facts and also giving opinion with supporting evidence that “overall colonialism is better for a country because it is influenced by more cultures and as the country grows older there is a more variety.”

            Furthermore, I’d like to save this for the last, my wiki of my poetry, because it was my most favorite project to do. I believe I can express myself more with writing poems and giving information rather than papers because it flows more easier to me and I believe a lot of other people may believe the same way. Click here to view my poetry wiki.

            

“I feel uncomfortable. Everyone is staring at me. Do I have something on my face? Where are my best friends? I can’t do this without them.” High school is hard, this is a known fact. Teenagers are awkward, confused, scared, and not comfortable in their own skin. This years sophomore, English and History class with Mr. Block helped me and I am sure more students in my class break out of the comfort zone they created, to make amazing projects and hand in fantastic class work.

 

In English class we had Journals. Journals were a way to write about school and such. We also used our Journals for more personal things. One of my friends, Samantha Zeisloft, went up to read a personal piece aloud. A few sentences through she began to cry. It was powerful she was so close to me and yet I had not known something so personal about her and the fact that she was able to go up and read it to our class showed how comfortable she had become with us all. Mine was not as deep as hers was but here it is; Journal.

 

In history class we did a project on comparing religions. While this project didn’t get us closer as a class it helped us explore different religions and learn more. I did mine on Scientology and Greek Mythology. As far as I know no one in my class believes in either of those religions but doing a project on them still helped me learn more about those religions. So once again the projects we did this year helped us

 

We had a poetry unit in class. While most projects are very strict, and have to be a certain way according to the rubric this project was not. With poetry everything is artistic and full of feeling. You have to dig deep to find the soul of your poetry. The whole class had to write five poems each was given to us by our teacher but everyone took their poem a different way. One poem about your childhood could be games you played as a kid or things you believed in. With the poetry unit not only did we get to show off our skills but we also got to learn more about the other kids in class. One of my favorite poets was Justin Pullins his stuff was amazing and I had never even known.

 

 

At the end of the year we worked on the Schuykill River with the Leah Stein Dance Company. We worked in groups with people we did not normally work with. Working with new people in our class helped us become closer as a stream. Dancing on the river in public where anyone could see us helped us break out of our shell. My group had to work together to create a dance from al our different personalities and styles. It is hard, and the fact that we all felt like fools didn’t help at first but as time went on we became more relaxed in our dance and more confidant with our production. We suffered through the heat to perform and it was awesome to see performances from other students in our class.

This year was hard and this year was long but because we were able to become closer as a class it made the year just that much easier to handle. 

 

Never shall I forget the start of all my shit, though it is not fair to blame him
Never shall I forget the scorn 
Never shall I forget the alcohol 
Never shall I forget the yelling, crying, and name calling
Never shall I forget the abandonment 
Never shall I forget those who were there for me 
Never shall I forget the liers
Never shall I forget the weed
Never shall I forget him, her, him, him, her, him, her, or her
Never shall I forget the friends I lost 
Never shall I forget the changes we all went through
Never shall I forget the friends I gained 
Never shall I forget those moments