Semester Reflection Part 2

What is the greatest challenge facing your generation?

Our generation is brought up in a recession. We are brought up in war times and patriotism. We are brought up in a time where you need to sell an arm and a leg to get an education but pay just a few bucks to mess up your life. Our biggest challenge is our temptations. Drugs, parties, alcohol, sex, stupid stunts. We are brought up in a world where you have to prove yourself and your goal is to be cool by doing stupid things. Because of that, many teenagers don't care about education or making a good life for themselves.

There isn't a whole lot any single person can do to fix this problem because its just drilled in the minds of the youth. Id like to say that making education cheaper would help but it really wouldn't because no matter how low it gets, teenagers and young adults don't always choose whats best for them in the long run and just choose whats fun at that moment in time.

Describe your vision for yourself in pursuing higher education.

I would like to get into film and performing arts. Whether it be movies, or stage acting, or performing music. All i want to do is be in front of people and be an entertainer. My dream college is Juliard. I figured if your going to go for your dreams you might as well shoot for the stars. If i don't make it in that business, I want to be a computer engineer because computers really interest me and creating and learning on the computer would just be great for me.

Beyond grades, what motivates you to work hard at school?

I work hard at school because ever since i was little i was afraid of failure. I was scared that i wouldn't make it in the real world and I was scared that people would look down on me. So school isn't necessarily about grades (they are a big part of it but not all of it) its about the feeling of accomplishment that i get from doing well.

What is a quality in a classmate that your would like to develop in yourself?

Madison's determination is admirable to me. She never procrastinates and wont accept anything less than the best. I try to do well but no matter what, i always procrastinate and end up losing quality of my final piece. With her quality of needing to achieve, many of my projects and assignments where i didn't receive a good grade would have been a lot better.

Semester Reflection Part 1

What have you learned about the way you learn, work, and/or collaborate?

This year I learned that my best work isn't always done with a partner. Throughout my years at this school i always had a mindset that sure i can do something but if i have a partner it will always be better and if its not i could pass it off on them (partner is normally brent). But i've learned that working alone i feel more pressured to do a better job because i dont have a partner to pick up the slack and it normally makes for a better product. Take Ampersand for instance, I thought i did a great job on the writing piece and i did it without a partner. As opposed to Media Saves the Beach, i had 4 other partners. Throughout the project we were always unaware about who was doing what and we all just thought someone else would do it. At the very end we were pressed for time and our product ended up not being as good as it could.

What challenges do you face as a student in a project-based learning environment?

My time management skills are definitely lacking. At this school we are given free time to work on whatever we choose. I often just put off whatever needs doing until roughly a week before it's due. On Media Saves the Beach me and my entire group barely got started until 2 weeks before it was due. Granted it turned out alright but it could have been a lot better with more dedication and time management skills.

What project was most valuable to you, and what have you gained from it?

Ampersand is without a doubt the most enriching project of my junior year. The project itself isn't very complex and not necessarily hard to do, but to create writing up to the standard of which we as students were held was quite a challenge. But it wasn't the challenge that was so enriching, it was that i was pushed to the limit to create the best writing piece i had ever made. Throughout high school I'm always writing papers for class and this paper showed me to knock off sledgehammer words, -ing words, making my point quick and crisp, and the value of a lot of drafts. This project, I'll remember for years to come.

Writing Reflection

This year, my writing has greatly improved. In the beginning of the year with the American Icons project, i wasn't very good at collecting my ideas on paper and displaying them in a way that makes sense and is pleasing to the reader. I would use lots of -ing words and sledghammer words. I would often drag out sentences and go on and on about things that really dont matter.

My writing started to improve throughout the year and hit its peak with Ampersand. i spent hours on writing that paper, with close to 13 drafts and 3 changed subjects. I spent hours editing to get every last flaw out of the paper and my work showed with my final paper.

In the future i want to be better at making connections with the reader because right now I've gotten better at saying my thoughts in a way that makes sense but i haven't gotten to the point where i can draw human emotion with my writing. Thats the level i would like to be at.

Historical Reflections

Barrack Obama would be someone i met on the campus of my college, most likely the head of the debate team or something. Not only because he's our current president but i would like to ask him what goes through his head on many of the choices he makes. For example, one of the biggest things that gets to me about him is that when he got elected, if you asked a large percentage of the people that voted for him or would have voted for him only voted because either he was black or they didn't like McCaine's party, not because they support what he does.

He told us in his campaign that he was going to bring change to America. I'm still waiting... its been over a year since his election. Its still hard as hell to get a job, and we are still in the biggest recession since the Great Depression of the 1940's and yet people still think of him as being our super hero. I dont find his actions as heroics. As i do recall, this is similar to the way Adolf Hitler came to power. The country was in dire need of a leader to promise to fix their problems and give them a sense of hope. He himself said that "The great masses of the people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one." One of Obamas most well known posters have a picture of him in red white and blue with the exact word "hope" on it. How did he get elected? he promised to make things better for the American people and promised to fix this recession and the problems that this country is in. "the world has changed and we must change with it" wheres the change you promised. Whats the difference other than motives?

http://cabalamuse.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/obama-hope.jpg

http://www.allgreatquotes.com/mein_kampf_quotes.shtml

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/inaugural-address/

Literary Reflections

If I could bring one person to college (from the books that we’ve read) I would have to bring Jay Gatsby from the book The Great Gatsby. He would be my roommate. I would choose him because he was a smart man with a lot of class…and lots of money. He knew how to be a man of mystery and held parties for a large amount of people. These parties were legendary, people from all over the country flew to his house to go to these parties. If he was my roommate, not only would he be a valuable partner for a social life but he also had connections in many aspects of his life. The book described him and his house to be huge and him to be someone who no one really knew much about. It described that he liked to keep things on a “need to know” basis meaning that the only people that knew anything about him were his close friends and business partners. He would be so valuable as a roommate because of all the perks and connections that he has from all his businesses.

All these great qualities were happening before he was obsessing over a local woman (Daisy). His obsession with her really turned him into someone that wouldn't be a very good person to be hanging around with. The Gatsby that i would want as my roommate would be the Gatsby that never even met Daisy.

Post Trial Reflection

The prosecution's argument was mainly morally, and constitutional based and less fact and statistic driven. Their arguments consisted of things like "how would you feel if ... happened" or "do you think that the people would do..." "are they people just like us". Theres nothing wrong with that approach and it won over many of the jurors, but some of it was rather redundant because of its lack of statistics. They interviewed Raul Grijalva, John Adams, James Madison.

The defense took a more factual approach. They presented stories and statistics of jobs, death toles, and weather. Their testimony didn't have very much of a sob story or a moral standpoint (which appeals more to the jury) but they had many more facts than the prosecution. They interviewed Robert Watchorn, Russell Pierce, Jan Brewer.

The most significant evidence was the prosecution's utilization of the U.S. constitution. It stated in plain english that people in the united states, legal or illegal, are still members of society and still are under the protection of all American Laws. That part of the trial was the part that sold me the most.

The argument of making the witnesses read through the bills and constitution aloud was the most significant argument because it was an unscripted part of the trial that showed an unbiased reason as to why the defendant was guilty for violating the spirit of immigration. If the prosecution would have just told the witnesses to say something or read a paper that they themselves had written then the entire argument wouldn't have been valid and all credablity would have been lost. But the laws were set down by our Fore Fathers and states clearly that laws were being broken.

I do agree with the jury because everyone (after the trial in the conference room) was sharing all of their ideas and the ideas presented matched what i was thinking during the trial. Everyone agreed that Arizona was guilty and the conference just solidified that i wasnt the only one thinking the way that i was.

I think i deserve a 45 out of 50 because during the case I was analyzing both sides of the court and going through in my mind and in my notebook everything that was going on to decide which side of the argument i most agreed with. I could have done better at speaking my mind more and said more in the conference room and asking questions.

WW2 Letter

June 5th, 1944

Private Alexander
2nd rangers regiment
US army
1st Platoon

Dear Mom

My commander and squad have been discussing amongst themselves about the order that was issued that we are going to storm the beaches of Normandy. The troops and my friends all think that its going to be a bloodbath with those nazis falling to their knees. They are all pumped up. They are saying that the nazis should have learned from the war a few years ago that they can't just do whatever they want, its our job to put em in their place. Their confidence is to be admired but that wont save them. My commander's eyes have barely left the calm waves of the ocean since the order was recieved. I don't think i've ever seen a man that afraid of anything before in my life. He looks like the walking dead. I tried talking to him to find out more about what we were getting ourselves into and he told me it was a suicide mission. He told me that we were going to take the flat boats up onto a shore that is heavily protected by enemy machine gun turrets and many troops. He told me that our chances of survival were next to nothing.



At a time like this, getting scared isn't going to do anything except physic me out. I have my trusty rifle and my brothers beside me. I will emerge victorious no matter what and no man will stand in my way. Semper Fi.