Archives: Create

AP Literature: Gingerbread House

For this project, we were tasked with creating a structure, like a gingerbread house,  displaying an important structure from a book. My partner and I decided to use Macbeth as our inspiration. Together, we built Dunsinane Castle, with scenes from the play included in the house, like a dollhouse. We built the scene with the feast and Banquo’s ghost out of pretzels and sourpatch kids. We included the outside environment by building Birnam Wood out of sourpatch kids and sprigs from a Christmas tree.

No commentsAdd a comment

Evolutionary Story of a Living Things

For this project, we were tasked with creating a timeline for the evolution of a particular animal in a google presentation. I chose a camel. Surprisingly, camels migrated into Canada before making their way to Asia. This means that their humps and hair were adaptations used to survive the cold weather.  It was difficult, however, to find reliable sources with valuable information on this animal. Many of the sources were blogs or didn’t have the needed information. Below is my presentation and written explanation of the evidence for evolution.

Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1zFjwJcUrwFD8f4uxa5YJl6h1wZyovfkN82K-sfqgYgs/edit?usp=sharing

Written Explanation

Poebrotherium and Protylopus are two of the oldest camelid species and are often compared to each other. In my research, I came across a source written by a paleontologist, J. L. Wortman, in which he compares the fossils of several different ancient camelids. When explaining their connection, he often refers to the skull and teeth. Wortman explains, “…it can be safely stated that the muzzle had moderate length, with slightly overhanging nasals, much as in Pobrotherium wilsoni.” He goes on to say that the Protylopus’ premaxilla, a bone in the upper jaw, shares the same characteristics as Poebrotherium. When explaining characteristics of teeth, Wortman explains that the canine teeth of both fossils shared the same hook-shaped appearance and size. They also both share an extra cusp on the heel of the last molar. Both Poebrotherium and Protylopus share characteristics of teeth, such as shape or size, which connects them as members of the same family.

 Paleontologists are also able to use evidence from pelvic and leg bones to make connections between the two species. To explain, the ilium, the bone that forms the upper part of the pelvis, is consistent between both species. Furthermore, the proximal end of the femur, the end that connects to the hip bone, is structured the same between the Poebrotherium and Protylopus as well as other camelids. The tibia of the Poebrotherium, as well, bears great resemblance to that of the Protylopus. Lastly, both species only have two functional metapodials. To conclude, paleontologists can show the similarities between species in the same family by explaining the bone structure in each species and how they connect, such as the teeth, skull and leg bones of camelids.

No commentsAdd a comment

Speaking Out Project Advanced English 9

Frances Kissling writes, “Are we not capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time; of valuing life and respecting women’s rights?” The Roe vs Wade decision was a landmark Supreme Court case surrounding the topic of abortion and allowed abortions across the country. In the decision, the court split the pregnancy into three trimesters where different laws applied to each. In the first trimester, the state cannot regulate abortions, whereas, in the second, it may place some regulations. In the third trimester, it can regulate and outlaw abortions as long as the health of the mother is considered. In the following years, states have created regulations such as bans on partial-birth abortions and heartbeat bills, which have created controversies between pro-life and pro-choice activists. The Roe vs Wade decision protects women’s rights and health and should not be overturned because it is protected under the 14th amendment, is supported by a majority of Americans, and can affect the health
of women.

 In the Roe vs Wade decision, the Supreme Court Justices decided abortion’s place within the fourteenth amendment. When explaining the court’s decision, J. Shoshana Ehrlich said, “it had identified a right of privacy in a variety of contexts, including activities related to marriage, procreation, contraception, child-rearing, and education, the Court held that the “right of privacy … founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action … is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.” Based on cases reaching back as far as 1891, the court identified the parameters of a right to privacy and the place of abortion within the amendment. They decided that the right to privacy encompassed the right to abortion. These laws are similar to those protecting a patient’s right to refuse medical treatment. Although morally questionable, it is ultimately up to the patient. In an attempt to argue for the rights of a fetus, the state of Texas stated that denying a fetus life violated their fifth amendment rights of life, liberty, and property. In their decision, “…the Supreme Court ruled that embryos and fetuses have “potential human life,” but are not protected by the Constitution,” (Lee). Since the question of when life begins has been a long unanswered question, the Supreme Court was unable to grant a fetus constitutional rights. Due to this, all and any amendments that protect life are deemed obsolete for fetuses.

 Although overturning Roe vs Wade is a priority for many in positions of power, a majority of Americans voted against overturning the decision. According to Lydia Saad, “Forty years after the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Roe v. Wade, significantly more Americans want the landmark abortion decision kept in place rather than overturned, 53% to 29%.” The monumental case has made several headlines throughout the years due to new restricting state laws or plans to overturn the law. When the public is asked, however, it is clear that significantly more Americans do not want to see the case overturned. Many Americans have also distinguished themselves as pro-life or pro-choice activists. According to Lydia Saad, “…48% call themselves “pro-choice” and 44% “pro-life.” The results from the survey show the American publics’ thoughts on the issue. Although it is controversial and has been long debated for years, the American public does not want to see Roe vs Wade overturned.

 In the case that Roe vs Wade is overturned, the side effects will impact many women and families. Often, when abortion is illegal, women search for alternate methods of termination. This includes untrustworthy doctors, self-induced miscarriages, or suicide. These processes are done in unsanitary conditions and with no post-surgical care. According to Nancy Sprague, “When this happens, the potential complications are numerous and frightening: they include inflammation, infection, hemorrhage, kidney failure, infertility, and an increased tendency toward future miscarriages.” Treating complications have a large financial cost to society and the healthcare system and lead to thousands of deaths worldwide. According to Nancy Sprague, “It is estimated that up to 78,000 deaths occur each year as a result of the approximately 20 million illegal and unsafe abortion procedures that take place worldwide.” Even when 81 countries allow abortions with small restrictions, 78,000 thousand deaths occur worldwide, not including other health complications. If Roe vs Wade was overturned, can you imagine how much greater this number would be?

 Many argue that the 14th amendment was not meant to protect a right to abortion. According to J. Shoshanna Ehrlich, “In dissent, Justices Byron White and William Rehnquist took the Court to task for fashioning what they deemed to be a new substantive right” The dissenting judges critiqued the majority for creating what they thought was a new right. They believed the majority used their judicial authority to place the life of the pregnant woman over the life of the fetus. Although not specifically stated in the fourteenth amendment, the right to abortion is protected under the due process clause which prohibits the denial of liberty. According to J. Shoshanna Ehrlich, the right to abortion is legalized because it is, “…founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action…” The fourteenth amendment has a general “right to privacy” or personal liberty meaning. The ability to get an abortion falls under this definition.

 Overall, the legality of Roe vs Wade is protected under the fourteenth amendment and is supported by a majority of Americans. Overturning it will lead to health consequences for many women. The fourteenth amendment allows abortions due to its clause on liberty. The same liberty that allows anti-vax moms to send their kids to school. When asked to display their opinions on the subject, the American public voted against overturning the decision. Most importantly, health complications as a result of illegal pregnancies are dangerous and numerous. The lives of these dead girls and women are in the hands of anyone who denied them a choice. But is it worth it to save the life of a fetus? Although many disagree with Roe vs Wade’s legal verity, overturning the case will only lead to more complications.

 

How do you feel about your final products, including the persuasive speech script and speech? Are you proud of the work you have done, or were there some areas that you could have improved on? Explain.

After completing both the projects, the script and speech, I feel that I completed the work that I can be proud of. I picked a topic for my speech that I am interested in and I feel that helped me to create a speech that I can be proud of sharing with others. My speech, in my opinion, does a good job of explaining information while also arguing for a claim. The one thing that was slightly disappointing was my score for my speech. I spent a lot of time preparing for my speech by repeating it to myself in the mirror or giving my speech to my family. When it came to give the speech though, my nerves got the best of me. Although I had memorized my speech, I spent a lot of tine looking at my notecards and had a nervous stance. Although my oral presentation was slightly disappointing, I am proud of my script and being able to get in front of the class to give a speech.

What steps in the project were most helpful and least helpful to get you to your final product? Explain.

I would say that all the checkpoints were extremely beneficial for the project. For example, checkpoint one was the research for the entire project and was the basis for writing our speech. It was important to get valid information for our project. Checkpoint 2 was helpful in creating a counterclaim for our speech, although I ended up changing it. Finally, checkpoint 3 helped us to create a whole outline for our speech. This outline was used to write the speech entirely.

Out of the 9 Student Skills profile categories (Innovate, Create, Investigate, Serve, Collaborate, Problem Solve, Lead, Communicate, Reflect), pick 3 Student Skills that you utilized in your project and a couple sentences for each category explaining how you demonstrated that aspect in the project.

In writing and giving our speech, we used many of the skills from the Student Skills Profile. For example, when giving our speech, we communicate a topic to the classroom. The script also communicates a claim for a current topic. In addition, we problem solved within our speech. In our conclusion, we were tasked with creating a call-to-action which also offered a solution to the problem we were discussing. Finally, we used the create skill in actually writing and creating a speech.

No commentsAdd a comment

To Kill A Mockingbird

How do you feel about your final products? Are you proud of the work you have done, or were there some areas that you could have improved on? Explain.

For the project on To Kill A Mockingbird, we were tasked with creating four paragraphs analyzing theme statements in the book as well as central ideas from news article we picked out. Although I am proud of the work I produced for this project, I do feel as though it was not my best work. This is due to me procrastinating when completing the paragraphs. However, I did keep up with my reading. In the future, I need to work on managing my time better. I do feel that at times I rush work and then go back to redo it because I feel that its not good enough. I need to work on taking my time with my projects.

What steps (checkpoints/activities) in the project were most helpful and least helpful to get you to your final products? Explain.

In creating the final product, checkpoints 1, 3, and 4 were definitely the most helpful. The first checkpoint was to pick theme topics present in To Kill a Mockingbird and write theme statements. We also found quotes which we used later in the paragraphs. Checkpoint 3 was the same except we found central ideas in newspaper articles. Then, checkpoint 4 was to create outlines for our paragraphs. After that, the project was basically complete.

A few skills we worked on for this project included: Innovate, Communicate, and Solve Problems. How did your project involve you using these skills as they came up while writing your Analytical Portfolio and the Structured Academic Controversy Prep? Were there any times where you helped another student with these skills on their project? Explain.

In this project we definitely used many fairview advantage skills. First, using our paragraphs we communicated theme topics and central ideas. We also communicated with each other when finding quotes and topics. Throughout the project, I also helped other students. For example, when we got into groups into groups and found quotes to support a theme topic. I also helped students by proofreading their writing.

Analytical Portfolio

Link to Analytical Portfolio

No commentsAdd a comment

Analytical Paragraphs

In Advanced English, we were tasked with creating a personal narrative and paragraphs analyzing other narratives, which can be found below. Although I try hard to produce quality work, writing about myself is not something that comes easily to me, so when it came to writing a narrative, I found it challenging. There were definitely areas in my narrative where I felt I could have improved such as using imagery or including more dialogue. Analyzing other narratives, however, was much easier for me to do. I did not find it very challenging in finding themes and evidence throughout the stories that we read.

In creating the narratives, I found it helpful to have an outline of the plot and characters such as the one included in checkpoint five. It certainly helped to complete a cohesive story. As for the analytical paragraphs, analyzing a story with the class helped me to better analyze stories on my own. Completing the template in checkpoint 1 helped me to get the needed evidence and themes for my paragraphs. The template for the paragraphs also helped to create a well structured paragraph.

Throughout the project, we used the skills collaborate, communicate, and investigate in preparing for and writing our paragraphs and narratives. For example, in analyzing stories, we investigated said stories in search for theme and evidence. After completing our paragraphs and narratives, we peer edited with others, displaying the theme of collaboration. Not only did people help me with editing my stories and paragraphs, I also edited the stories of my peers. Obviously, we created a narrative and two analytical paragraphs.

Analytical Paragraphs

 In “Nightwalker”, the author Brent Staples displays a theme about race: the prejudice of others affects the way they perceive you. The story follows a young black man who walks the streets of New York, alone, at night, scaring those who take it upon themselves to cross the street or lock their doors as he passes by. They, however, don’t know that he has no intention of hurting anyone he walks by, he just enjoys the scenery. The author writes, “She cast back a worried glance. To her, the youngish black man-a broad six feet two inches with a beard and billowing hair, both hands shoved into the pockets of a bulky military jacket-seemed menacingly close. She picked up her pace and was soon running in earnest. ”The author describes how his appearance, along with the fact that he was alone at night, affected this women’s impression of him, enough to make her run away from this man, because she was worried of his intentions. Throughout the story, the author explains ways in which he had scared those around him. After noticing the behavior towards him, the narrator changes qualities about his appearance and how he moves, even singing classical music as he walks the streets. After this change, people see him as less threatening. The author writes, “I whistle melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi and the more popular classical composers. Even steely New Yorkers hunching toward nighttime destinations seem to relax, and occasionally they even join in the tune. ”The author explains a way in which he would make himself appear less threatening. After doing so, others around him stopped perceiving him as dangerous or menacing, but instead as calming. The story explains the ways in which people can react towards people they have a prejudice to, especially when dealing with race. The text reminds us of the everlasting problems of racism which are still prevalent in America today.

 In “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”, by Zora Hurston, the author displays a theme about race: our perspective of ourselves can be changed by who or what we are surrounded with. Zora, a colored girl, lived in a primarily colored area of Florida. Her exposure to white people consisted mostly of tourists that passed by. The text reads, “I remember the very day that I became colored. Up to my thirteenth year I lived in the little Negro town of Eatonville, Florida.”The author explains that she only became colored when she was surrounded by those who weren’t, showing that our perspective of ourselves is ever-changing depending on what we surround ourselves with. Later, the author explains where she felt as if she had no race. The author explains an instance with a white friend in which she got up and danced to music, whereas he sat motionless, showing, to her, her race. She goes on to explain when she feels as though she has no race. The author writes, “AT CERTAIN TIMES I have no race, I am me. When I set my hat at a certain angle and saunter down Seventh Avenue, Harlem City, feeling as snooty as the lions in front of the Forty.” The author explains how walking down certain areas, known for their dominant African- American heritage, she does not feel her race. This reveals that your environment can make you feel differently about yourself. The story explains how a change in your environment can change the way you perceive yourself. This text reminds us of the power that our environment can have over ourselves.

No commentsAdd a comment

Gregor Mendel: A Travel Through Time

For our science project on genetics, we were tasked with creating “something awesome”. We were given a list of possible projects such as movies/movie trailers, pedigree charts, informational videos, drawings, etc. My group and I decided to do a movie trailer on Gregor Mendel as well as including the needed information on alleles, chromosomes, punnet squares/ punnet square probability, and inherited traits. Each project had to include six topics, such as the ones previously listed. After writing our scripts, we started our filming and then, later, editing. Finally, our movie trailer was complete. It follows the tale of Gregor Mendel and his experiments as well as Reginald Punnet coming in a time machine. A link is included below.

https://youtu.be/wniGYzAeHHc

No commentsAdd a comment

Benito Mussolini Presentation

Benito Mussolini Presentation

  1. Reading about other peoples research was unnerving, especially talking about deaths. However, it was inspiring to hear about the people who saved many lives.
  2. I am most proud of being able to talk to an audience without being glued to my notecards.
  3. I would improve the amount of information I included in the presentation. I left a lot of details out because I didn’t want to go on and on with my presentation.
  4. I would like to do additional research on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
No commentsAdd a comment

Lemonade Economics

To start our project, we made a business model to provide a template of how things were supposed be and happen with our stands and lemonade. In the business model it asked questions on how we were going to set up our company( name) and our lemonade( flavor, color, sparkling or energy drink). The business model asked what kind of products we would be selling. For example, the lemonade and also extra snacks on the side such as pretzels or cookies.  The business model also had us come up with an age demographic our lemonade would be targeted too and plan how we are going to advertise our product(posters, signs). We also chose what our packaging would look like. In the business plan we also added what ingredients we needed for our lemonade and what they cost. Once we figured out the total cost of the ingredients, you have to figure out how many cups of lemonade you are making, and then divide the total cost by the number of cups to get how much one cup costs to make. Then, once you figure out the cost to make a cup, you have to choose how much your lemonade is going to cost.

 

During the process of the project, I made many choices, decisions, and changes to my lemonade and design. At first I wanted to make a blue lemonade to mimic pink lemonade, but that idea was boring so I decided to make strawberry lemonade that was blue colored.  I also made the decision that I wanted to sell cookies at my lemonade stand. I then created my company name. Since I had no idea what to name my company, one of my friends suggested blue lemon, so I chose that name. Next I figured out my pricing.  When I was figuring out the pricing I had to base it off the cost it takes make a cup. After changing it many times, I finally decided on having my price be $1.25 for my lemonade and 75¢ for a cookie. Once I decided on my pricing I made my logo and packaging. For my logo, I used a logo creator website and found a picture with a lemon being squeezed into a pitcher. I edited the lemon to be blue and then added my company name at the bottom. For my cup, I was just going to use a solo cup but then I decided to find blue solo cups and add my logo onto them. In conclusion, I made many choices, decisions, and changes during the process of creating my lemonade.

No commentsAdd a comment