Look At
Me Now
In this project we wrote paragraphs for 10 different literary devices pertaining to our lives. Such as our personal themes, our protagonists and most important characters in our lives, what kind of conflict we experience, and many more. And then we were given the creative freedom to present it all together in whatever visual way we wanted. I complied mine into a little journal and decorated the pages with stickers and images that went with each paragraph.
This project was a little challenging because I had a hard time figuring out what I was going to do for the visual, and when I got my little journal it had 100 pages and I had to figure out a way to reduce them down to 14 pages to fit my paragraphs. I initially tried gluing groups of 7 pages together to make just thicker pages but that ended up making them really wrinkly and ugly so I went with just tearing out all but 14 pages and since the stickers were 3-d they gave the book more volume. I think the easiest part was writing about my friends because i love gushing about them and I do all the time, so it came naturally.
I gave critique to Liam’s because I liked how he put his paragraphs on a biking helmet because he’s so passionate about mountain biking. He also taped them down fully with clear tape so it looked laminated and secured and didn’t ruin the texture too much, he also displayed the photos on the visor of the helmet, like it was something you saw as you looked out. I really liked that about his display, but some of his paragraphs were a little hidden from view towards the bottom of the helmet so I suggested to put the paragraphs together in a visible section for easier accessibility.
I immediately got to work and finished pretty early with my paragraphs because on the first day we got it assigned i went straight to brainstorming and once I got my ideas down I just went in to writing and I finished them within the week. I used my work time to do whatever I needed to finish in time and once I did all I could for that day I would read my banned book but I’m satisfied with the timeline and my ability to manage my time in this project, I liked how my final product came out.
I went over my paragraphs a lot and made sure I checked them with multiple people to see if anything read weird or didn’t make sense, then I went through it and rephrased or edited some grammar or whatever spelling there needed to be fixed before I turned them in. I think my writing was good and read like I put lots of effort into it. However, I put my paragraphs in my final product before I went over them for the last time so there’s a few sentences that read weird. I think I deserve an A because despite how childish it looks on the outside, I’m really proud of the organisation and colors on the inside.
I don’t think I would change much about this project, I really like how creatively open it was and since it was about us personally we had a lot of freedom of what we wrote about.
I think I learned a lot from myself because it’s not until you’re prompted that you realize who your antagonist of your story is, or what deep value you live by and you make the theme of your life. I don’t like writing about myself all that much but I think this project helped my uncover some hidden things about myself that I didn’t acknowledge until I saw it written down.
This project was a little challenging because I had a hard time figuring out what I was going to do for the visual, and when I got my little journal it had 100 pages and I had to figure out a way to reduce them down to 14 pages to fit my paragraphs. I initially tried gluing groups of 7 pages together to make just thicker pages but that ended up making them really wrinkly and ugly so I went with just tearing out all but 14 pages and since the stickers were 3-d they gave the book more volume. I think the easiest part was writing about my friends because i love gushing about them and I do all the time, so it came naturally.
I gave critique to Liam’s because I liked how he put his paragraphs on a biking helmet because he’s so passionate about mountain biking. He also taped them down fully with clear tape so it looked laminated and secured and didn’t ruin the texture too much, he also displayed the photos on the visor of the helmet, like it was something you saw as you looked out. I really liked that about his display, but some of his paragraphs were a little hidden from view towards the bottom of the helmet so I suggested to put the paragraphs together in a visible section for easier accessibility.
I immediately got to work and finished pretty early with my paragraphs because on the first day we got it assigned i went straight to brainstorming and once I got my ideas down I just went in to writing and I finished them within the week. I used my work time to do whatever I needed to finish in time and once I did all I could for that day I would read my banned book but I’m satisfied with the timeline and my ability to manage my time in this project, I liked how my final product came out.
I went over my paragraphs a lot and made sure I checked them with multiple people to see if anything read weird or didn’t make sense, then I went through it and rephrased or edited some grammar or whatever spelling there needed to be fixed before I turned them in. I think my writing was good and read like I put lots of effort into it. However, I put my paragraphs in my final product before I went over them for the last time so there’s a few sentences that read weird. I think I deserve an A because despite how childish it looks on the outside, I’m really proud of the organisation and colors on the inside.
I don’t think I would change much about this project, I really like how creatively open it was and since it was about us personally we had a lot of freedom of what we wrote about.
I think I learned a lot from myself because it’s not until you’re prompted that you realize who your antagonist of your story is, or what deep value you live by and you make the theme of your life. I don’t like writing about myself all that much but I think this project helped my uncover some hidden things about myself that I didn’t acknowledge until I saw it written down.
In this project we got to pick a banned/challenged book to read in celebration of banned book month. I chose The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. First, we researched where and why the book was banned and then throughout us reading our books we wrote four journal entries to help analyse the stories. Then we designed bookmarks to give out during exhibition, and brought in a food that related to our books for a grade wide potluck.
This project was challenging for me because I am not one for literature and I don’t read on my free time so finishing a 300 page book in a month and actually retaining information from it was really difficult for me. The other aspects like the journals or the bookmark wasn’t too bad, I was just making sure I was really paying attention to the story so I could complete the journals as accurately as possible.
The easiest part was creating the bookmark because I like drawing and I knew how I would execute it beforehand, drawing isn’t much of a challenge for me. I liked incorporating my interests into my work and I had fun creating it.
I made a couple drafts of my bookmark because I had the time so when we did critique sessions I got some great feedback from my classmates. I had already drafted out something before I knew what the requirements were so the suggestions I was given was helpful to help me decide what I should incorporate.
I really liked reading other students’ journal entries and giving them feedback. It’s always really interesting to see how people can connect to their stories or pull something you would have never thought of from just a quote. I think the format was fine and It’s very similar to how my teacher last year did hers so I’m familiar, my only suggestion would to have students make sure they were giving summaries of their book before each entry. It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on in so many books so it would be easier for someone to respond if they were reading a student’s second or third entry without having to go back.
I liked my book, I thought it was really well written. Though it isn’t lighthearted I would recommend it to a friend because it was interesting, no one really dares to write about these things normally. I’d say it’s an acquired taste for those who aren’t easily offended, but worth reading for those who are interested, I really enjoyed it.
I am proud of my bookmark because it was the one thing I knew for certain I could get right. I’m not the best with comprehending written literature or writing but I am very familiar with art and know what I’m doing so I felt very comfortable and almost to an advantage when creating it. I used alcohol based markers that I usually use in my colored drawings because I knew it would give it a flat even color, and a white gel pen because it’s essential to make things pop and look almost printed and not drawn.
I couldn’t make it to exhibition so I had a conversation with Mrs. Heller. She had read the book so I didn’t need to do much explaining of the plot but I did anyways. I talked about how I thought that of course you probably wouldn’t want this book in middle school and definitely nothing under that because of it’s themes but I expressed that they shouldn't keep it away from high schoolers. I think it’s a good way to give younger students an idea of how similar the themes of the book are to themes in society today and to make those connections. In this way I thought the book was perfect for spreading awareness rather than endorse the inappropriate ideas and presumable attack on christians.
I think I deserve an A because I’m proud of how well I was able to retain and comprehend information from the story. I have really bad habit of zoning in and out while reading so I end up missing entire portions at a time, ending up with me having to go back and read it again, ultimately taking me ages to even finish a chapter. So anytime I would read I would make sure I was in a distraction free environment and payed attention to every word. The journals helped me recall information I remember reading and I think I did a good job reiterating the story in my own words and showing my understanding. I’m also very proud of how professional my bookmark looks and how much effort I put into my potluck food.
The only thing I would change about this project is I wish there was a little more time to get our reading done. Especially for those who were reading books more than 200 pages, or that there were guidelines set to read something smaller so it could be achieved in a month and warn those who were reading larger texts of how much time there really was to complete it.
This project was challenging for me because I am not one for literature and I don’t read on my free time so finishing a 300 page book in a month and actually retaining information from it was really difficult for me. The other aspects like the journals or the bookmark wasn’t too bad, I was just making sure I was really paying attention to the story so I could complete the journals as accurately as possible.
The easiest part was creating the bookmark because I like drawing and I knew how I would execute it beforehand, drawing isn’t much of a challenge for me. I liked incorporating my interests into my work and I had fun creating it.
I made a couple drafts of my bookmark because I had the time so when we did critique sessions I got some great feedback from my classmates. I had already drafted out something before I knew what the requirements were so the suggestions I was given was helpful to help me decide what I should incorporate.
I really liked reading other students’ journal entries and giving them feedback. It’s always really interesting to see how people can connect to their stories or pull something you would have never thought of from just a quote. I think the format was fine and It’s very similar to how my teacher last year did hers so I’m familiar, my only suggestion would to have students make sure they were giving summaries of their book before each entry. It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on in so many books so it would be easier for someone to respond if they were reading a student’s second or third entry without having to go back.
I liked my book, I thought it was really well written. Though it isn’t lighthearted I would recommend it to a friend because it was interesting, no one really dares to write about these things normally. I’d say it’s an acquired taste for those who aren’t easily offended, but worth reading for those who are interested, I really enjoyed it.
I am proud of my bookmark because it was the one thing I knew for certain I could get right. I’m not the best with comprehending written literature or writing but I am very familiar with art and know what I’m doing so I felt very comfortable and almost to an advantage when creating it. I used alcohol based markers that I usually use in my colored drawings because I knew it would give it a flat even color, and a white gel pen because it’s essential to make things pop and look almost printed and not drawn.
I couldn’t make it to exhibition so I had a conversation with Mrs. Heller. She had read the book so I didn’t need to do much explaining of the plot but I did anyways. I talked about how I thought that of course you probably wouldn’t want this book in middle school and definitely nothing under that because of it’s themes but I expressed that they shouldn't keep it away from high schoolers. I think it’s a good way to give younger students an idea of how similar the themes of the book are to themes in society today and to make those connections. In this way I thought the book was perfect for spreading awareness rather than endorse the inappropriate ideas and presumable attack on christians.
I think I deserve an A because I’m proud of how well I was able to retain and comprehend information from the story. I have really bad habit of zoning in and out while reading so I end up missing entire portions at a time, ending up with me having to go back and read it again, ultimately taking me ages to even finish a chapter. So anytime I would read I would make sure I was in a distraction free environment and payed attention to every word. The journals helped me recall information I remember reading and I think I did a good job reiterating the story in my own words and showing my understanding. I’m also very proud of how professional my bookmark looks and how much effort I put into my potluck food.
The only thing I would change about this project is I wish there was a little more time to get our reading done. Especially for those who were reading books more than 200 pages, or that there were guidelines set to read something smaller so it could be achieved in a month and warn those who were reading larger texts of how much time there really was to complete it.
World
Fair
I learned a lot about my country during this project. Not only did France create the obvious Eiffel tower but they also created the first ever photograph, and the hot air balloon, the process of pasteurization, the rabies vaccine, etc. I also learned that their world fair or ¨exposition universelle¨ was 3 times bigger than the ones in the past and made great success and profit. The food made back then is generally still the same, because macarons were not made into little sandwiches until the late 1890s, and of course, the Eiffel tower that was built for the world fair, still stands today.
My favorite artifact my group produced was our Eiffel tower and our macarons because it came together really well and made a beautiful display for our cookies. Though our treats weren’t the prettiest they sure were delicious and went very well with the visitors. I think it made our booth special and beautiful.
I think I learned the most about the culture and economy of France in the 1880s-90s. The amount of inventions discovered and brought to the world was extremely interesting. Before the World's Fair France was struggling financially, then when it was such a hit they skyrocketed in funds.
If I could change anything about this project I would encourage more research to be done because there are so many interesting things about each country and I think every group member per country should research something monumental so everyone can share knowledge on their subject and everyone’s not just looking at one thing and perhaps not learning anything.
Personally, I am not one for history, in fact I’d say I highly dislike it. I’ve always been pretty close minded to learning it because I don’t find it interesting enough, and dates, wars, politics, and people are very hard to remember and keep track of for me. But when I have the freedom to look into what I could be interested in it helps me learn because I’m motivated to actually get invested in it because it interests me. In this project I had fun learning about something I chose and it’s bettered my attitude towards history.
My favorite artifact my group produced was our Eiffel tower and our macarons because it came together really well and made a beautiful display for our cookies. Though our treats weren’t the prettiest they sure were delicious and went very well with the visitors. I think it made our booth special and beautiful.
I think I learned the most about the culture and economy of France in the 1880s-90s. The amount of inventions discovered and brought to the world was extremely interesting. Before the World's Fair France was struggling financially, then when it was such a hit they skyrocketed in funds.
If I could change anything about this project I would encourage more research to be done because there are so many interesting things about each country and I think every group member per country should research something monumental so everyone can share knowledge on their subject and everyone’s not just looking at one thing and perhaps not learning anything.
Personally, I am not one for history, in fact I’d say I highly dislike it. I’ve always been pretty close minded to learning it because I don’t find it interesting enough, and dates, wars, politics, and people are very hard to remember and keep track of for me. But when I have the freedom to look into what I could be interested in it helps me learn because I’m motivated to actually get invested in it because it interests me. In this project I had fun learning about something I chose and it’s bettered my attitude towards history.
Murder Mystery
In this project me and my group learned a lot about 1920s and prohibition. I learned a lot about the effects of prohibition and what sprouted from it like bootleggers and increasing deaths from poisoning. I didn't realize that people could make such a living off of making illegal alcohol and the amount of demand it was in.
Our mystery takes place in Louisiana at a dinner party/baby shower for William Humphrey and his wife, Virginia Ford-Humphrey. The other characters are Virginia's best friend, Mariam Labree, Virginia's past lover, Clyde Houston, and his childhood friend, and detective, Thomas Miller. The group enjoys their night, William and Clyde passively fight and by the end of the night Virginia falls ill and is pronounced dead in the morning. Both Clyde and William gave Virginia alcohol which she enjested but we had to identify who's drink contained wood alcohol. The test revealed that William’s drink contained the poison and it was all Mariam’s idea. Dani came up with the idea of the dinner party, Alina made the script, we all made our own characters, and I came up with a way to mimic a real experiment.
The rehearsal process was helpful and our first run was pretty rough because we only had a rough story line to follow with no scripted parts. But with more practice we easily become more cohesive and were able to fill in any gaps. I think our storyboard helped a lot with the absence of a script.
After performing twice, I feel pretty good about our final game. I wasn’t nervous at all performing and I think our group did really good at bouncing off of each other and keeping each other accountable.
I’m really proud of our execution in the end, our costumes were fitting, everyone was involved and did a great job following the story, and everyone pitched in equally for props and set ups. Our queues were on time and no one missed anything so i’m really proud of our dynamic.
I learned a lot about mysteries and how hard they are to make confusing enough but easy to understand. It’s hard to work backwards and it takes a couple times through to figure out what’s missing or what’s too obvious. As far as performing it just got easier with every run through because you understand your character and the story and their purpose being there so as long as you’re presently understanding it’s easy to embody your character. Even unexpected things you have to bounce off of but in character and you get better at it with more practice.
Our mystery takes place in Louisiana at a dinner party/baby shower for William Humphrey and his wife, Virginia Ford-Humphrey. The other characters are Virginia's best friend, Mariam Labree, Virginia's past lover, Clyde Houston, and his childhood friend, and detective, Thomas Miller. The group enjoys their night, William and Clyde passively fight and by the end of the night Virginia falls ill and is pronounced dead in the morning. Both Clyde and William gave Virginia alcohol which she enjested but we had to identify who's drink contained wood alcohol. The test revealed that William’s drink contained the poison and it was all Mariam’s idea. Dani came up with the idea of the dinner party, Alina made the script, we all made our own characters, and I came up with a way to mimic a real experiment.
The rehearsal process was helpful and our first run was pretty rough because we only had a rough story line to follow with no scripted parts. But with more practice we easily become more cohesive and were able to fill in any gaps. I think our storyboard helped a lot with the absence of a script.
After performing twice, I feel pretty good about our final game. I wasn’t nervous at all performing and I think our group did really good at bouncing off of each other and keeping each other accountable.
I’m really proud of our execution in the end, our costumes were fitting, everyone was involved and did a great job following the story, and everyone pitched in equally for props and set ups. Our queues were on time and no one missed anything so i’m really proud of our dynamic.
I learned a lot about mysteries and how hard they are to make confusing enough but easy to understand. It’s hard to work backwards and it takes a couple times through to figure out what’s missing or what’s too obvious. As far as performing it just got easier with every run through because you understand your character and the story and their purpose being there so as long as you’re presently understanding it’s easy to embody your character. Even unexpected things you have to bounce off of but in character and you get better at it with more practice.
I chose the psychedelic arts movement because of my extensive appreciation for it. I really enjoy the concepts and it incorporate it and surreal influences into my own art and I wanted to learn more about its origin. I learned a lot about drug influence and where LSD came from. I dove into other forms of psychedelia and why the craze grew so popular. I learned about the process of synthesizing a chemical from rye kernels from a scientist, and how he was the first person to have a bad LSD trip and documented it. I then learned how it got into the hands of students and how a professor popularized the drug after it’s discovery, only to be kicked out afterwards. The drug usage lead to a plethora of trips and thus creating the psychedelic themes in creation. This spread to all art forms and visual art and music prevaled with the most applied influences.
I decided to do a painting pretty easily because my favorite thing to draw is distorted and weird surreal things and psychedelia has always been a great influence in my art. Plus, I wanted to challenge myself to finish an entire (generally large) painting in the span of a week, which is usually not very accomplishable for me.
I learned a lot from other presentations, including things I didn’t even know about my decade from people who did different movements within the same time period of mine. Andrew covered a lot on the movement of the hippies and their origin and ideals, where Maya covered an inhuman experiment called MK-Ultra that had to do with trying to create superhuman assassins by electrocuting and running experiments on patients taking LSD. Both of these caught my attention as something I’d be interested in researching because they already connect to a time period i’m intrigued by.
Research writing is important to be able to relay information correctly about a certain event or subject. Being able to understand and teach someone else is valuable and furthers the understanding a lot. I did a lot of extensive research from different sources and relayed it multiple times to make sure it made sense and was historically accurate.
Visiting a museum of any type of history makes great connections because you have real examples in front of you of what art or physical history was made in certain time periods. Being able to connect your timeline to something you see and understand because of your research is really important. I went to the museum of art and was able to get a good look at all the art ranging from sculptures, to abstract, to contemporary and modern art. I enjoyed the larger pieces and I was particularly entranced by a beautiful sculpture of a woman walking through water.
I’m proud of my painting, and how well it came together in the end. I’m also very proud of my newfound knowledge of the psychedelic movement and the drugs involved. I feel confident that I could hold a conversation about said topics and gladly argue that it was the most influential arts movement.
I decided to do a painting pretty easily because my favorite thing to draw is distorted and weird surreal things and psychedelia has always been a great influence in my art. Plus, I wanted to challenge myself to finish an entire (generally large) painting in the span of a week, which is usually not very accomplishable for me.
I learned a lot from other presentations, including things I didn’t even know about my decade from people who did different movements within the same time period of mine. Andrew covered a lot on the movement of the hippies and their origin and ideals, where Maya covered an inhuman experiment called MK-Ultra that had to do with trying to create superhuman assassins by electrocuting and running experiments on patients taking LSD. Both of these caught my attention as something I’d be interested in researching because they already connect to a time period i’m intrigued by.
Research writing is important to be able to relay information correctly about a certain event or subject. Being able to understand and teach someone else is valuable and furthers the understanding a lot. I did a lot of extensive research from different sources and relayed it multiple times to make sure it made sense and was historically accurate.
Visiting a museum of any type of history makes great connections because you have real examples in front of you of what art or physical history was made in certain time periods. Being able to connect your timeline to something you see and understand because of your research is really important. I went to the museum of art and was able to get a good look at all the art ranging from sculptures, to abstract, to contemporary and modern art. I enjoyed the larger pieces and I was particularly entranced by a beautiful sculpture of a woman walking through water.
I’m proud of my painting, and how well it came together in the end. I’m also very proud of my newfound knowledge of the psychedelic movement and the drugs involved. I feel confident that I could hold a conversation about said topics and gladly argue that it was the most influential arts movement.