Imagine Witness Poem

Imagine if people weren't so self-centered
And people started to ask questions of others
Imagine if people weren't always fighting
Trying to talk over someone else
When someone tried to state an opinion
The other wouldn't shoot them down
They wouldn't just get louder
Trying to shut them out
Imagine life without politics
A view wasn't a wrong or right
People weren't always trying to push their agenda
Screaming at you that their side's right
Imagine simply less judgement
In a more peaceful world

Discussion #2 Reflection

Since I missed today because I was sick, I read over the Cyber Team's chat and so my reflection is based on their discussion.
I agree with Syver that fitting in is a really important theme in Animal Dreams. I'm not quite sure yet how this actually fits into a thematic statement but I feel that the author is trying to say something about it. Maybe, Kingsolver is saying that to find yourself, you have to find how you fit in with your community. Actually, this could work. For example, Codi has all of these dysfunctional relationships with her father, Grace community members, and others. But when she is able to find her place with others, like how she helps the Bitch and Stitch Club and she allows herself to love Loyd, she ends up becoming more at peace with herself and come to terms with who she is. Another example of her finding out how she fits in with her community is how she discovers her relation to the Gracella sisters and that her mother and father were actually from Grace. I think that you could also use Hallie as an example of someone who has found how she fits in and so she has found herself and is happy. For example, she fits into society as an activist and so she knows who she is and how to make herself happy. Her happiness is shown in many of the letters she sends Codi. If I use this, I'll need to cite Syver.

Animal Dreams Group Discussion #1 Reflection

During the discussion today with the Dream Team, I found that many other people were finding the same things and connections that I was finding in Animal Dreams. They also had some of the same confusions about the book. It was good to get clarification from both Mr. Cheng and the other members of the discussion group. It’s useful to do this because the book and Barbara Kingsolver’s writing are filled with symbolism, motifs, and because Doc Homer’s chapters are written so that he jumps back and forth between different scenes or moments. One of the things I got cleared up today is that I was confused on Doc Homer’s chapter in which he is developing a photograph of the river and the cactuses I think and he said something about how “the truth can’t be corrected in the photograph.” I was confused because I wasn’t sure what the picture was of at what time he was developing the photograph, more specifically if it was a flashback or the present. At this point in my reading, I don’t really enjoy the book that much. This is mostly for the reason that I dislike the main character, Codi. To me, she seems really sarcastic, especially toward the people that are just trying to help her or be nice. I find this a really annoying quality in people and so this translates over to the book and how I dislike Codi. Another reason why I dislike Codi is that she is very rude to her father, even though her father is losing his mind with his mental illness. Maybe she is rude because that is just how their dysfunctional, uncommunicative relationship has always been. However, I feel like she should be kinder to her father and be understanding of his illness. Having said that, I do think that Barbara Kingsolver is a good author and is skilled at implanting motifs and symbolism throughout the book. We have discussed some of these things in the discussion group.

Education Presentations Wrap-Up/Animal Dreams Intro Reflection

After finishing the Education Innovation presentations, I realize now that my group should’ve been better at organizing our thoughts at the beginning of the project. This is because I felt like we got somewhat lost and weren’t exactly sure of how we wanted to present our information. Also, since we were confused, we kind of just threw visual aids in there. I thought that the project and the Google document that explained it was a little confusing which might have led to the underdeveloped outline or proposal. Overall though, I thought our group ended up with a quality end product. For the most part, I enjoyed seeing the presentations that everyone did. I especially enjoyed the “Mozart Effect” group that presented first. They played instrumental music throughout their presentation which made the presentation more interesting. I don’t know if this is because it kind of filled in the empty spots of their project or if it actually helped me focus in or something else. It might just be a little of both. Either way, it left me with a positive memory of their presentation. I hope that we can implement this education innovation into our class. I have many initial thoughts about the content and the structure and methodology of the next unit we are going to do in which we read Animal Dreams. One of the things I worry about is that I am not going to like the book because I have heard from other students in other classes who have finished the book that it is all about feminism. This might make it harder to connect and identify with the content of the book. Another one of my initial thoughts is about the structure and methodology of the unit. I get that Mr. Cheng is using an incentive for the essay in that if everyone gets an A or A-, then we just have creative projects for the rest of the quarter. Personally, as a concrete sequential, I don’t really want creative projects either. I don’t mind writing essays because I like how essays have a format and a traditional layout. So, I’m not really responding to the incentive in this case. Also, I think that it’s very hard for everyone in the class to get an A. By the way, I’m not going to try and get a B so I don’t have to do creative projects. I’ll do my best to get an A. Also what’s confusing is which essay this deal is for. Is it the timed essay or the second one? I hope that it’s the second one because I think it will be especially hard for everyone to get an A on the timed test. Then we all wouldn’t have to do the second essay. This is another way that I was confused. There are so many overlapping, dependent grading structures in this unit. I left class today confused because the power point was like an hour long which made it hard to stay focused and the unit seems huge and has a lot of tiny projects/parts to it. Hopefully I will enjoy it though.

My Learning Style - Concrete Sequential (CS)

After doing the learning style evaluation, I found that I was a really dominate Concrete Sequential (CS) learner. This fits me exactly after I read the explanation. One of the things it said was that they are very practical and organized. This is one of the things I do best. Also, one of the things it said was that CS's hate working in groups. It sounds like a negative quality but I do really prefer knowing what I'm doing and where the project is headed, which is more easily accomplished individually. I can use this to enhance my learning by being more organized and possibly making concrete deadlines and time limits (which it says CS's do well) to manage my work. Also, I will try to work on the areas that it says CS learners aren't as strong in. For example, dealing with abstract ideas and working in groups. I feel like I now have an accurate representation of the kind of learner that I am which I think will really help in being successful in learning, both in and out of school.

How school sucks...rocks...

After going through the first semester of English 10, I have found some things that suck, and some things that rock. One of the things that rocks is Mr. Cheng and how brings a lot of energy to class every day. He makes the class very enjoyable. One thing that was bad from first semester was the jigsaw reading assignment. I feel like in theory, the idea of people in a group each reading a different article and coming together to share what they learned works. However, when it was applied to the class, people weren't sure of what information was the most important to tell the other person in the short amount of time they had to share. I think that it would be helpful for the person that is reading the article see the questions on the test that have to do with their article. This would not be so that the person could give the other group members the answers, but so that they would know what important ideas the teacher was getting at. This also might work more on paper than it does in the real world. Another thing that isn't necessarily bad, but kind of weird is that the work load in this class is inconsistent. At times, we won't be doing much and then all of a sudden we're reading a really long book in a short amount of time. This could be good, though, because it might be boring staying on one project/unit for a longer time. One last part of first semester that I didn't like is how a lot of classes are going paperless. This is a good initiative that the school is trying to do, but for some classes it just doesn't work. For example, in my Civil Engineering and Architecture class, they are having us just do the assignments in Microsoft Word. With a class like Engineering, there are a lot of calculations that you have to do which is hard to do in a Word Document. I think that in English 10, it is okay to go paperless because we don't have calculations or anything like that.

Rabbit Proof Fence Response

After reading the articles and considering the movie, I think that Phillip Noyce went too far in manipulating his audience in trying to make a strong, emotional movie. Making a movie about something about something like the "Lost Generations" is very dangerous because as a filmmaker, he has to make something interesting that people will react and respond too. This might cause him to detract from the true story and create plot points that reflect steps of the Hero's Journey. This is also dangerous because in a story with a hero, there has to be some sort of a villain, which might cause in this case Noyce to accentuate Mr. Neville's bad intentions. For example, Peter Howson and Des Moore write, "[Neville's] mother received about 500 letters from Aborigines praising his efforts on their behalf. A true story would have shown his humane actions to protect them from exploitation by whites or their own kin." Although some might disagree with the what he did and how he did it, Neville had good intentions which is shown by how many letters he received from Aborigines. This shows that his actions turned out to be successful in many cases. However, in the movie, they make him out to be "a devil" which is what they have the girls call him at Moore River.
I don't think I can totally side with Peter Howson and Des Moore on the view that Neville's actions were completely out of good intentions and that the movie is way off from the truth. However, I feel that the evidence of the 500 letters received by Neville's mother and other evidence make a case that the "Rabbit-Proof Fence" movie is somewhat exaggerated.