SPECIAL THANKS TO AARIF THE PRO

        In my Rogate class we have 20% Passion Projects. This is where we take 20% of the week (every Friday) and use that time to work on a project that we are passionate about or interested in. We did this last year and I chose to do my project on squirrels. Squirrels seem like very uninteresting animals, but that is exactly why I researched them. to figure out how interesting they could actually be. This year I did another animal, but this time I chose an animal that was considered extraordinary and very mysterious to most people. My Passion Project this year is on platypi (platypus). Special thanks to my friend Marissa Mojena for helping me choose both of my topics. Also, Aarif Razak for moral support.
        We have had eight class days to work on this project, and sadly I have not been using my time wisely. I am looking up a lot of facts, but I feel that I am unorganized and could get a lot more done if I was more concentrated. We have eight days left to complete the project. In the eight days I will work very hard and organize my information. It is difficult though, to look up information about a platypus, because most of the time when you type in anything with the word platypus it goes to the furniture store or gives you all these facts about the venom glands on the male platypus. Yes, this seems to be the most interesting thing about the platypus. I will not go in to detail about this gland due to the fact I don't want to spoil anything in my project. But I have been able to figure out a lot about a baby and mother platypus. Also, I have found a lot of general facts about the platypus and how the Aborigine people explain the history of this strange animal.
       Obstacles I know I'm going to face is how to find the information. Also, how I'm going to lay out the information. I want to due a PowerPoint, but what category goes on each slide and in what order. The real obstacle I'm facing is staying focus. What I normally due is got caught up in cool facts about other people's project or I stop and tell the people near me what I just figured out. I feel that if I concentrate with what I'm doing I will be able to complete this project with outstanding results.
                                                                                                     

        Grades are a funny thing to me. To society they are basically what predicts are future. If we have bad grades then the term people normally use is "you're going to get no where in life." How is it that a number can run are lives? It's because those numbers are grades. This word can make any kid shiver. Every child has been trained to think that grades are the most important thing in life during the years that you are in school. Honestly some students probably get bad grades because they are worrying about getting good grades. Does that make sense to anyone? Grades are the very thing that make us get bad grades. Teachers, parents, and even friends make grades such a big deal. It's outrageous that simple numbers are controlling the world. Where you go to college, what job your going to have, if your going to be successful in life can all be answered by your grades.
        Now in school, grades are what they use to see how smart a person is. This is crazy because different people work better in different environments. Let's say you take a student who has a lot of siblings and they have learned to deal with noise or any annoying interruptions. And then we take a kid who grew up by themselves and is sensitive. You put them both in a loud room to take a test . Which one do you think would appear to be smarter? But, if you place the quiet and sensitive child in a nice calm room they would most likely do a lot better. These are the situations that the school doesn't consider. On report cards teachers might put easily distracted or can't pay attention. They write these comments and then expect the kid to completely change. I guess one way to put it is some teachers just don't really care how you get the grades, but what your grades are when the task is completed.
       Grades mean a lot to me only because people think good grades equals good life. Honestly I would be completely fine without grades. They only mean so much to me because they mean so much to the world. And I much as I hate to admit it I can't make the world stop using grades. I have to keep worrying about them because the world makes me worry about them.
        I don't agree with the current grading system we use today. The system is based off a hundred point scale. Schools summarize the hundred point scale by giving the numbers a letter. For example the lowest letter grade you can get is a F. This means your score is a sixty or lower. The next letter is a D meaning your score is anywhere from a sixty one to sixty nine. Then there's the letter C, seventy to seventy nine. A B is eighty to eighty nine and lastly the highest letter grade you can get is an A. An A is a ninety to a hundred. Most schools on report cards just show either your grade in letter form or your grade out of a hundred. They don't go into detail. They simply state what your overall grade is and what grade you got on individual papers. The current grading system should be able to state your specifics strengths and weaknesses.
        The current grading system doesn't clearly represent my learning ability or knowledge. I usually get A's or B's. When I get A's it shows me I am doing well in the class and understand the material. When I get a B though I don't know what I need to work on to improve my  grade. One time I had a B in a class because I had gotten a sixty on a five question quiz. On my report card all it stated was quiz 1, sixty. My parents didn't know what the quiz was on and what I had to work on. Therefore they could not help me. All in all the current grading system does not clearly show what I need help in and what I am strongest at.
        Instead of using the current grading system we should switch to Standard-based grading. Traditional grading is based on assessments, one grade is given per an assessment. While with Standard-based grading one grade is given per a learning goal. The Traditional grading system uses an uncertain mix of test, achievement, effort, and behavior to make the final grade. Standard-based grading either measures achievement only or separates it from the behavior and effort. Lastly, every paper goes in the grade book regardless of the purpose for the Traditional system of grading. On the other hand Standard-based grading carefully selects tests, quizzes and projects for specific purposes. In my opinion it would be better to use the Standard-based grading system.

     

        Eighth grade has been okay so far. There were moments when I wished I was in seventh grade again, but there is still so much of the school year to go. Eighth grade is more challenging for me which I like, because I use to get bored in seventh grade. This year I am on two teams. For those of you who don't go to Northern, teams are when you have all your classes in a certain hallway and have classes with everyone else on your team. Plus, everyone has the same teachers on your team. So, like I said before I am on two teams, Achieve and Discover. My locker is in one of  the downstairs hallway and I have one class in that hallway, but all of my other classes are upstairs. Which means a lot of walking up and down. Yep, I'm lazy!
        Not everything about eighth grade is bad. Last year I was on the team Dreamcatchers, which is upstairs so I didn't really get to meet any people except for those who were on my team. Being on two teams allows me to meet more people. Also, being in eighth grade allows me to have more freedom. I already know the school from last year and I know a lot of teachers. There are many teachers that I could just run into their room and ask to print something out or ask them to help me with something. What I'm saying is I have a stronger bond with the teachers. Of course you have to love eighth grade because now it's only one more year until high school. That would be another reason why I would be upset because it is only one more year until high school and sometimes I miss just being a little kid. Haha but you have to love who you are and you can always be that little kid inside!
       To put something positive on the internet (since there's so many negative things) life has been really good this year. I would like to change some stuff about my life, but there will always be situations that somebody will want to change. My grades are good, I love my family, and I'm loving my life. One thing that is the best is my family. My sister just came back from college and now all seven of us are back together. It is fun having her around, especially since she is my only sister and the rest of my siblings are guys and I feel that I'm a closer to her. My family is really supportive in what I do and they help to encourage me to live my life in the best ways possible! I have the best family ever!

The Ending of The Giver      

 Lois Lowry has never revealed to anyone what the ending of The Giver actually is. She herself didn't really think of one. Someone asked her how the ending of the book really happened and all Lois Lowry said was this, "It ends with Jonas and Gabriel going downhill in a sled toward a house with welcoming lights. Ho ho ho. Aren't I a mean author, not to be more specific? I like it when you argue. It makes you think." Some people think Jonas dies and is going to heaven. Some people thinks he made it to an actually house and him and Gabe survived. When another person mentioned the ending she just said that either are correct. Lois Lowry wants people to be able to debate about her book. She has succeeded in doing so.
      I personally think that Jonas and Gabe both slide down to a neighborhood where there are people celebrating Christmas who take them in and save them. So in my opinion Jonas lives. Jonas never received the memory of music, so how did he hear it. He didn't remember it so obviously people must have actually been playing music meaning that was there were people waiting for Jonas and Gabe. Some people think that the "elsewhere" was heaven and Jonas and Gabe died and were on their way to heaven, but I disagree with that theory. I or anyone else will never know if Jonas lives or die because Lois Lowry never really thought of an ending. So I will just have to live without knowing the truth.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/lois-lowry-interview-transcript
http://www.bookbrowse.com/reading_guides/detail/index.cfm/book_number/1789/the-giver

20% Project

For my 20% project I am going to research squirrels. I would like to research squirrels because it seems like they are just boring animals but I'm sure if I got  to learn more about them there will be very interesting topics that I didn't know about them. I would specifically like to learn how squirrels seem to live forever. There's never a day where I don't see a squirrel except for in the winter when they are habinating.

One person that I will consult is my brother, Kalen. He is an expert on animals and can probably give me very good facts about squirrels
 Some road marks I might reach is finding true information. There is a lot of false information out there. Other than that I think I should have no problems with my 20% project!

So many magazines are advertised towards teens. “According to the Center for a New American Dream, children and teens are exposed to over 25,000 ads in a year, and companies spend over $17 billion a year on marketing toward children and teens,” written by S. Zeige. Thin models mostly have an impact on young girls. Commercials are also jammed packed with models. This causes some teens to feel self- conscious of their appearance. They try to be more appealing. Whether it is from dieting or wearing beauty products most teen girls feel uncomfortable with their body, and try to cover up behind these factors.

In my personal opinion no girl or boy should feel uncomfortable about themselves. I have read or heard about many stories of teens endangering their life. In my opinion I think that there should be magazines that use regular people that could influence teens in a positive way.  

It’s not bad for girls to wear makeup or diet, but sometimes the young teens get carried away. When girls usually wear makeup they feel ugly when they don’t have it on. That’s not so bad, but dieting can lead to starving. Some teens just get too obsessed with being fat. They can weigh as much as an eight year old, but still feel like they’re overweight. This is called being anorexic.

Being self-conscious about what you look like isn’t just affecting girls but boys, too. Some boys think they should have huge bishops or six packs abs. This could cause boys to over exercise. Over exercising could be really deadly. All in all advertising has a big impact on teens and they should be careful who their role models are!

2012 Learning Experiences

      2012 seems to have been a learning year for everyone. Almost everybody had to adapt to a new change in their life. I'm sure everybody learned a lesson this year. One lesson that I learned in the year 2012 was that if you do a job willingly you'll have more fun when you work. It was over the summer and my mom asked me to do the dishwasher..... I hate doing the dishwasher! I did the dishwasher not willingly and it seemed like it took hours just to finish one load of dishes. When I finished my dad came in to ask me if I wanted to cut the lawn. This would require driving the tractor which I love doing. I willingly did the job and in no time it seemed to be over. After, I parked the tractor I realized that if you do a job willingly you will have a lot more fun with the job. The next day my mom asked me to do the dishwasher again. This time I gladly did it and in no time I was done!