During this unit we used the website Wikispaces to create a research project about human rights. Each person in the class picked one of the 30 human rights, and I picked right number 30: No one can take away your human rights. While researching this subject I learned so many new things about people’s rights and people in so many countries whose rights are stolen from them. An example are the citizens of North Korea who have no access to the outside world or women in the Middle East who cannot have an education. People’s rights are most often taken away by their country’s government abusing their power to harm the people’s lives. I also learned more about the rights of prisoners and I used the things I learned to help me make my opinion and state it clearer. Prisoners rights is a difficult subject to touch because they are human and deserve their rights. However, I believe that they have lost their right to having rights when they broke the law because they did not abide by society’s rules. I struggled finding sources to back up my statements though because I was not entirely sure what key words or subjects to search, but it became less of a problem towards the end of the project. My vocabulary was appropriate for the audience and I did well stating my opinion. The pictures on my page made sense with the topic and the format made the page look interesting and colorful.
I think this unit way very useful because it helped us voice our own opinions and we got to practice finding useful sources for research. It’s much different to have to research about and support a personal opinion rather than a certain topic and it is a tricky skill to build up, so this project helped us all a lot. That is a skill we will definitely keep for research in the future. We also learned a lot about our rights as humans and the rights of everyone around us.

 

http://lemanchengdu.wikispaces.com/Ainslee+-+No-one+can+take+away+your+rights

For that past few weeks, in Mrs. Taynton’s language arts class, we have been learning about culture and working on a book report project. I chose the book “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee for my project.

I chose to do a compare and contrast paper for my project. The topic I picked was “Law in the 1950s vs Law Now” and I wrote about how the law has changed since the 50s. Since the book is about racism in a court, I wrote about how now racism is unacceptable in court, but still exists in some ways. For example, some cases claim to have nothing to do with racism but actually they are a little bit racist. There are many cases in which a white officer arrested or somehow harmed a black man and were overly violent for no reason and these cases were found to be because of racism.

I also explained what the book is about and what it has to do with racism. I said how Atticus is still defending Tom Robinson even though he is black and everyone on the town thinks it is a bad idea to be his attorney.

I think I did rather well in my project but there are certain ways I could have improved. I put a lot of thought and did a lot of research on my topic and it made me see that although our society has changed greatly, it is still similar to how it was all those years ago when the United States was so racist. I could have improved by writing more and adding more details to the topic. I also probably could have worded many things much better so I need to work on that. Overall, I am pleased with my work and progress with this project.

For that past few weeks, in Mrs. Taynton’s language arts class, we have been learning about culture and working on a book report project. I chose the book “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee for my project.

I chose to do a compare and contrast paper for my project. The topic I picked was “Law in the 1950s vs Law Now” and I wrote about how the law has changed since the 50s. Since the book is about racism in a court, I wrote about how now racism is unacceptable in court, but still exists in some ways. For example, some cases claim to have nothing to do with racism but actually they are a little bit racist. There are many cases in which a white officer arrested or somehow harmed a black man and were overly violent for no reason and these cases were found to be because of racism.

I also explained what the book is about and what it has to do with racism. I said how Atticus is still defending Tom Robinson even though he is black and everyone on the town thinks it is a bad idea to be his attorney.

I think I did rather well in my project but there are certain ways I could have improved. I put a lot of thought and did a lot of research on my topic and it made me see that although our society has changed greatly, it is still similar to how it was all those years ago when the United States was so racist. I could have improved by writing more and adding more details to the topic. I also probably could have worded many things much better so I need to work on that. Overall, I am pleased with my work and progress with this project.

This week grade 9 and 10 students from our school took a field trip to Hei Shui, a mountain in Tibet, China. We departed last Sunday, September 13th, at 8:30 A.M. The trip was very educational and fun, and I learned many new things about Chinese culture. I dozed off for the first two hours or so of the bus ride, and after 30 more minutes, we arrived at our first stop: a small village called Wenchuan.

We walked up to see the earthquake museum, which was very interesting but also a bit depressing. Man    y shops bordered the paths we walked, mostly selling jewelry and traditional clothing. I was nearly famished, and my heart sank when I discovered what we were eating for lunch.

It’s not that there was anything wrong with the food, but due to my tendency of being a picky eater, the food didn’t particularly hit the spot. Most of it was very spicy, and did not seem very appetizing to me. I still remained open-minded and tasted everything.

We drove for another 45 minutes to Qiang village and hiked up countless stairs to the lookout over the village. Mr. Brian and Ms. Sering taught us about the geography. We learned that earthquakes occur when two continental plates slide against each other and how scientists know mountains used to be underwater because they can find water fossils on the land. After that we ate dinner and talked to each other on the rooftop until the sun went down. We stayed the night in a large traditional style home-stay.

The next day, we ate breakfast–more Chinese food–and another 4 hours driving to Hei Shui. I mostly talked to friends and slept until we arrived. The hotel was very nice, and after getting settled, we piled into 5 vans that brought us up to a fascinating Tibetan monastery. We learned about Buddhists and their religion, including all of their Buddhas.

On the last day of our trip, we went farther up the mountain. We drove 30 minutes or so to a gondola that brought us up to a neat glacier. The gondola ride was breathtakingly beautiful. After learning about glacier formations, we went back down to shop a little before going to the village park to watch traditional Chinese dancing. Many of the students joined in too and had a lot of fun!

I learned a lot on this trip and I am very happy I had such a wonderful opportunity. I wouldn’t hesitate to go back on this wonderful adventure!

In Language Arts, I have been reading the book “To Kill a Mocking-bird” by Harper Lee. I chose this book because I felt that, from what I had heard about it, it was interesting and a good book for someone my age. We are learning about culture and how some writers use their own culture to inspire ideas for their writing. Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama. She claims her book is not about her, but she did admit that she used her adolescent life and environment to inspire her while writing this book.

I think this book relates a lot to the author’s culture. Many things in it relate to Harper Lee’s life in the past. In the book, a white girl accused a black man of raping her, which is the same situation that happened to a girl Harper knew when she was only ten years old. She grew up in a very racist environment. The main character of this book is a young girl named Scout who is around the same age Harper was when this happened.

Scout also is similar to the author when she was her age. For example, they both are strong individuals who were tomboys. They also both grew up in small towns where most people knew each other and were very close. They are both young and growing up in the same type of environment and situation as each other.

At first this book seemed admittedly rather boring, but as I continue to read more it seems to slowly get more interesting. I am enthusiastic to read more and learn more about the author’s culture and also culture in general. I hope I can try my best to understand what it’s like to experience what Scout and Harper experienced growing up in the situations they did.

 

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