In this year I have learned a lot in English, which made me a better student and a better learner. Firstly, I read LOTF and learned how ugly parts of the society are formed, and I was given a chance to think about the situation that the world is in now, because I thought it was deeply related to this book. Secondly, I read Anne Frank and learned how wars can affect one’s life. This book was one of my favorite books, because I could at least imagine what the war was like, even though I do not know anything about it. Thirdly I learned how to express my feelings by writing poems. The poetry unit also taught me how to communicate with people without being shy, too, and I think it made me learn one of the most important survival skills. Then, I had some discussions about “mercy vs revenge” by reading the Tempest. I learned how to discuss with others based on the theory. I had much fun learning these, because they all made me think a lot about the human nature, and by learning these, I think I achieved 3 ESLRs the most; being an academic achiever, self-directed learner, and effective communicator.

Firstly, I was an academic achiever. There are 3 reasons why I think I could be an academic achiever. Firstly, I demonstrated to work both collaboratively, and independently. I made a movie about Anne Frank with my group member, used Wikispace effectively to communicate with unknown people from other schools., wrote a poem alone, and tried to participate in class discussions. Secondly, I used technology, and technological literacy as a tool of communication. I had my own blog to show what I had done to others, used Wikispace effectively in Teenlife Project, and collected some pictures by using the internet whenever I had a project. Thirdly, I continually assessed, evaluated and adjusted my work to maintain high standards. I thought what I did badly whenever I got bad grades to do better next time, tried my best for every time, and had enough time for finishing homework since I am bad at English, the language itself. I am very proud I achieved these qualities to be an academic achiever, because I believe that being an academic achiever is one of the most important goals to follow especially for students.

Secondly, I was a self-directed learner. There are 3 reasons why I think I could be a self-directed learner. Firstly, I accepted responsibilities for my own learning. I finished everything on time, and I read pages over and over until what I understood that whole story completely. Secondly, I demonstrated competency in goal setting, time management, and organizational skills. I did not forget any homework, tried to have enough time for doing homework that is high standard, and set a goal whenever I found something very difficult, such as I tried to like poems in poetry unit to not to give up. Thirdly, I took creative risks in developing untried ideas. I decorated my poetry book very creatively, and I was the only person, who wrote a letter to Piggy’s aunt from Ralph’s point of view in LOTF’s project. I think I am a perfect self-directed learner, since I achieved many requirements to be a self-directed learner. I am very proud of myself, because I strongly believe that being self-directed is directly connected to getting good grades.

Thirdly, I was an effective communicator. There are 3 reasons why I think I could be an effective communicator. As I mentioned in the 2nd paragraph, I used technology as a tool of communication, and I demonstrated the skills of effective communication. I had my own blog, used Wikispace effectively, collaborated with others without having any problems, and listened to others respectfully in class discussions/ in poetry unit. I believe that being an academic achiever is closely related to being an effective communicator. Then, I shared my ideas with everyone by reading a poem in front of everyone in Poetry Night, participating in class discussions, and using my blog/Wikispace. I am very surprised that I actually could be an effective communicator, because I used to hate saying my ideas/feelings especially in front of people, because I was very scared of being complained by others about my opinion in the beginning of this year. Therefore, I am very impressed by this improvement of my personality.

In conclusion, I am very proud of myself for achieving these ESLRs, because I strongly believe that I could be a better student. However I still could not achieve some ESLRs, and I feel very ashamed, because even though Mr. Raisdana gave me a year to be a better ESLRSs user, I could not complete all ESLRs. I would have to achieve the rest of ESLRs by improving my research skills, knowing how to use variety of sources, caring more about the enviroment, seeking to improve the lives of others, such as becoming a leader of a group, and being an active decisions, such as being more independent. Therefore, my goal for next year would be at least try to do what I have just written so that I can achieve all ESLRs. I would try hard to achieve all of them next year.

I chose Cinderella to look at the thing from 3 different perspectives: difference in sex, race, and class. Cinderella is a story, which is about a beautiful girl, whose name is Cinderella. She was treated like a slave by her step mother and step sisters. One day, the party was held in a castle, but she could not go because she did not have her dress, even though her step mother and step sisters were going. However, because of an old witch�s help, she could go to the party, but she could only stay in the castle until 12 because she was under the spell until 12. The prince and Cinderella fall in love, but she quickly went home before her spell was released. The prince looked for her based on one shoe that she dropped while she was running away. He finally found Cinderella, and got married with her. She became a queen, and lived happily ever after.

This story is one of the most famous stories and every girl should have read this before. Firstly, when you read at this story from boys� perspective, I think this story is not adventurous, logical, is too fancy to read, and is boring. Also, this story is basically telling us getting married is one of the easiest ways for women to be happy, and this is not a nice thing to say especially for teenagers, no matter whether they are boys or not, because they have just started to explore the world of adults. Secondly, when you read this story from different race, I think people usually disagree with this story, even though their races were different. I think Asian women (at least for Japanese women) used to agree with this story because they were taught that men were always talented than women, and women usually had to get married with men that they were told to marry by their parents in old days. However, Asian women started to gain independence recently and now I think most of them disagree with this story. To compare with other women from other races, I think they were freed before Asian women, so I think they disagree with this story, too, because I think these people would also think that getting married is not a key to be successful. Thirdly, to read this story from different classes, I think rich people would usually think of this story as a normal story which tells about what it means to be successful, and how evil people would be punished. However when you read it from poor people�s perspective, I think this story would symbolize a hope for them, because this story also says that people can be successful if they are always nice to others, and if they keep working hard. Therefore, I think this is not the story about a girl who becomes rich for them, and I think this story means a lot for them.

This is my third reflective journal, which talks about the ESLRs that i achieved during the poetry unit.

I think I became one of the most improved learners because of this poetry unit. I achieved many ESLR’s, and I strongly believe that my English skills had improved a lot by learning how to write poetic sentences. I could be very honest while I was writing poems, as well. I tried to spend enough time creating poetry, so that I can develop the ability to choose words very carefully. At first, I hated poems, because I was too shy and frustrated to express my feelings in poetic ways, but as I get used to it, I started to find writing poems very comfortable and useful. I am very proud of the dramatic change in my writing skills and problem-solving skills.

�Firstly, I was a self-directed learner in the poetry unit. A self directed learner is a student who accepts responsibilities for one’s own learning, uses many learning strategies, is creative, tries new ideas, and is organized. As I mentioned before, I tried my best to have enough time to write poems, so that I could choose words carefully. I searched for suitable vocabulary on the internet since my own is limited. The time- management was good, and I did not forget anything throughout this poetry unit. I finished my work on time, and I could collect adequate pictures to use in the poetry book. This time-management also helped me to become an academic achiever, because I adjusted my work to maintain high standards, demonstrated the ability to work independently, and used technology as a tool to write poems.

Moreover for being a self directed learner, I accepted responsibilities for my own learning. It was very hard for me to write poems when I started. Therefore, in the beginning of the poetry unit, I set a goal and decided at least try to like poetry, so I would not give up. I had to take some risks to achieve this goal, because I had so few experiences of writing poems. I finally found myself feeling more comfortable and confident writing poems. I believe that I could also become a critical thinker by setting a goal, because I believe goal-setting is one of the biggest problem-solving skills. I do not think I have any problems with being a self-directed learner except I was not an active decision maker, which proves that I could not manage myself, so I would give myself an A for being a self-directed learner. I am very proud that I followed almost exactly what the self-directed student should be, and I have to be more responsible to myself to be a perfect self-directed learner.

�Secondly, I was an effective communicator during this poetry unit. According to the rubric, an effective communicator is a student who uses technology/media as a tool of communication, listens respectfully to others, collaborates well with others, and asks questions. I used technology/media as a tool of communication, especially in the Teenlife Project, I shared my poem and the images of cigarettes by using Wikispace. By trying my best to figure out how to use the technology effectively, I think I could also become a self-directed learner, because I accepted responsibilities for my own learning.

Additionally, the two things that I am not satisfied about being an effective communicator are firstly I did not ask enough questions to do an outstanding job for my poetry book. When Mr. Raisdana graded my book, he told me that it lacked creativity. Therefore, I should have been less confident and willing to ask him to give me some examples of what it meant by being more creative before he graded my book. I was not a creative thinker, because I did not even try to collect information to make my poetry book perfect. Secondly, I think I did not get as many chances to participate in group work as I usually do since it was the poetry unit, and it was very much an individual thing.

Although there was not enough group work, I had many chances of sharing what I had written, such as reading a poem in front of many people at Poetry Night, and reading a new poem in front of the class. Consequently, I think I became a good listener by listening to others’ poems respectfully, and it helped me to become an involved citizen, because I think to listen to others respectfully demonstrates awareness and respect for the rights of others. I think I would have to participate more in group work, and ask more questions to be a perfect effective communicator. Therefore, I would give myself a B for being an effective communicator since I could not fulfill all the requirements.

Thirdly, I was an academic achiever during the poetry unit. An academic achiever is a student, who demonstrates progress in curricular areas, maintains/adjusts one’s work to maintain high standards is good at working independently and collaboratively, uses many sources, and uses technology as a tool of learning. I maintained my high standards in time-management, and it clearly shows that I was a self-directed learner, as well. I also used technology to blog, to work on Teenlife Project, and to take/collect pictures for my poetry book. Also, by preparing many pictures for the book, it helped me to use many sources. Therefore, I was an effective communicator, as well. I also demonstrated the ability to work both independently and collaboratively, by writing poems alone and listening the poetry of others politely. Therefore, I do not think I do not have any problems in being an academic achiever except that I did not do enough research for my poetry book, which proves that I was not a good critical thinker, so I would give myself an A for being an academic achiever. I would have to improve my research-skills to be a perfect academic-achiever.

Then, I was an involved citizen in this poetry unit. An involved citizen is a student who seeks to improve the lives of others, demonstrates care and concern for the environment, is responsible for making decisions, interacts peacefully with many people no matter where they are from, and demonstrates awareness and respect for the rights of others. When I wrote Haikus about the nature, I looked around carefully to write them. It demonstrates that I thought about the environment. I interacted peacefully with people from other schools in Teenlife Project and did not have any problems with interacting with unknown people. I listened to others with the consideration while they were presenting their poems, and this effective communicator.

The two things I could not achieve to be an involved citizen are that I could not be a good decision-maker and I could only hope to improve the lives of others through the words of my poems. I was not a good decision-maker, because I only did what people told me to do. I was dependant. I usually make my decisions in group-work, but the chances to participate in group-work were limited this time. This shows that I was not a competent self-directed learner, because I did not accept my own responsibilities for my own learning. My goal is to be a more active decision-maker next time by being more responsible to myself and more supportive to others. Therefore, I would give myself a B for being an involved citizen.�

�Finally, I could be somewhat a critical thinker in the poetry unit. A critical thinker is a student, who solves problems by using many methods, gathers a lot of information from variety of sources. By thinking about my own learning style, I definitely improved as a critical thinker, because I used the goal-setting method to solve my difficulty with poetry. My self-directed learning was apparent, because I accepted my own responsibilities for not running away from poetry. However, I still do not think I gathered enough information from variety of sources to make my poetry book better, because I did not ask Mr. Raisdana for enough advice. Since I did not research enough, I do not think I tried my best to keep my work to a high standard, so I could not be a high academic-achiever. Therefore, I would give myself a C for being a critical thinker, and to improve, it will be necessary for me to try to analyze well, find out what is expected, spend

In conclusion, by writing the reflective essay, I realized that I am a self-directed learner, an academic achiever, very close to be an effective communicator and involved citizen, and I need to make a great effort to be a critical thinker. Overall, I think I did well in this unit, and my writing skills have improved a lot. I learned how to express my feelings poetically, and I think I have developed great confident in myself. I also found my weaknesses by writing this essay, and I am sure that I will achieve more ESLR’s next time. To achieve more ESLR’s I would have to analyze more carefully, determine the detail needed, and ask questions to make things clear. (1517 words)

Lines I didn’t get

line 246 to 253

Not a soul

But felt a fever of the mad, snd plsyed Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners

Pludged in the foaming brine and quite the vessel,

then all afire with me. The King’s son, Ferdinand,

With hair up-staring-then like reeds, not hair-

wasthe first man that leaped; cried “Hell is empty,

And all the devils are here.”

line 322-323

this blue-eyed hag was hither with child

and here was left by th’ sailors.

Lines I got

line 383-384

Though poisonous slave, got by the devil himself

Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!

line 437-439

You taught me language, and my profit on’t

Is i know how to curse. the red plague rid you

For learning me your language!

Questions

Would you treat Caliban badly if you were Prospero?

Why do you think Prospero did not tell Milanda abouthow they came to the island for a long time?

Donald Revell

Donald Revell was born in the Bronx in 1954. He graduated SUNY-Binghamton and SUNY-Buffalo. Then he became a teacher at the Universities of Tennessee, Missouri, Iowa, Alabama, and Denver. He has been a Professor of English at the University of Utah since 1994, and he now serves as Director of Creative Writing. Revell is the author of eight collections of poetry: My Mojave (Alice James, 2003); Arcady (Wesleyan, 2002); There Are Three (Wesleyan, 1998); Beautiful Shirt (Wesleyan, 1994); Erasures (Wesleyan, 1992); New Dark Ages (Wesleyan, 1990); The Gaza of Winter (University of Georgia Press, 1988); and From the Abandoned Cities (Harper & Row, 1983). He has also translated two volumes of the poetry of Guillaume Apollinaire: Alcools (1995) and The Self-Dismembered Man: Selected Later Poems (2004), both from Wesleyan. He has a Pushcart Prize, the Shestack Prize, the Gertrude Stein Award, the PEN Center USA Award for poetry, fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the Ingram Merrill and John Simon Guggenheim Memorial foundations. He lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his wife, poet Claudia Keelan, and their son, Benjamin.

My Mojave by Donald Revell

(From http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16467)

Sha-

Dow,

As of

A meteor

At mid-

Day: it goes

From there.

A perfect circle falls

Onto white imperfections.

(Consider the black road,

How it seems white the entire

Length of a sunshine day.)

Or I could say

Shadows and mirage

Compensate the world, 

Completing its changes

With no change.

In the morning after a storm,

We used brooms. Out front,

There was broken glass to collect.

In the backyard, the sand

Was covered with transparent wings. 

The insects could not use them in the wind

And so abandoned them. Why

Hadn’t the wings scattered? Why

Did they lie so stilly where they’d dropped?

It can only be the wind passed through them.

Jealous lover,

Your desire

Passes the same way.

And jealous earth,

There is a shadow you cannot keep

To yourself alone.

At midday,

My soul wants only to go

The black road which is the white road.

I’m not needed 

Like wings in a storm, 

And God is the storm. 

I like this poem, because it sounds very logical, even though it is very poetic, and this poem makes sense at last. Also, before the author uses figurative languages, he tells many descriptions and details. Its language is very poetic, and it uses similes, and many personifications, such as “Like wings in a storm” and “And jealous earth.” I do not think I got every parts of this poem, but I think I understood what this poem says.

From

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6313265.stm

and

http://www.saga-s.co.jp/view.php?pageId=1618&classId=

1&blockId=320602&newsMode=article

Birth-Giving Machines???

Hakuo Yagizawa, who is the Health Minister of Japan, called women as “birth-giving machines” on 29^th of January. Japan has the world’s highest ratio of elderly to young people, and its birth-rate is now 1.29. In order to increase the country’s population, at least 2.1 of birth-rate is needed. Also, from this year, people who were born after the Pacific War will start retirement, and a quarter of Japanese population will be senior citizens, and it will damage the economic growth in Japan a lot. One of the biggest reasons why birth-rate in Japan is so low is because there are still some people who think that women have to quit their job after they get married or gave birth, and it is very hard for women to take maternity leave even now. Japan has to increase the population immediately, so they are now trying to make an environment that makes women want to give birth.

The Democratic Party and two smaller parties want Mr. Yagizawa to quit his job because of Mr. Yagizawa’s discriminative comment, and if he did not quit they will have boycott. Mr. Yagizawa had already made an apology, and admitted that his comment was not appropriate for the public speech. He also said that he will never quit on 30^th of January. Also, the approval rating of the Shinzo Abe Administration is decreasing in a high rate because of this comment, but Shinzo says that Mr. Yagizawa is not a sexual discriminator and he does not want Mr. Yagizawa to quit his job. Everyone thinks that the congress which is in Tokyo is going to be a bedlam for some more days, because Mr. Yagizawa will have some discussions about that with other parties.

My name is Miki and I am 14 years old. I am an only child, and I have 8 cousins who are all not so nice. I am from a rural town where everyone sleeps without locking doors, and everyone knows my face even though I only visit there once a year, because the population is very small. I have been living in a country that I am not from for two and a half years and this is my second year of the school that I go now. I love this country especially because of the people, weather, and the school. I have been learning English for 2 years and I could not even understand the difference between “do” and “does,” when I first started learning it. I am still taking class for students who speak English as a second language and it is my favorite subject for now. I want to be an interpreter, a newspaper reporter, or a flight attendant when I grow up, because I want to have a job that I can work for people and use English.

My hobbies are reading, swimming, watching baseball, saving money, and shopping. I love historical fictions, because they are all so romantic and I like history. I also love shopping, but I do not care about brands. I sometimes play the instrument from my country, but I am still not good. I can only play songs for small children even though I have been learning it for 2 years. I am a big fun of the baseball team, and I often become so aggressive when I see games. I started learning swimming when I was 3, and it is my favorite sport. I love saving money, because I like counting how much money I earned. Also, I started learning Mandarin recently, and I think it is going to be my hobby, because my dad can also speak Mandarin and we often talk about it together.

Things I hate are worms, green peppers, horror movies, my phone, computers, and, science. I hate green peppers and I do not even think that they are food. I hate worms especially reptiles and ants, because of their eyes and shapes. My phone is the cheapest and the oldest phone that I have ever seen and I wanted to have a new one for my birthday. However, my parents thought that my phone was enough for a 14 years old girl who is not good at machines. I also hate computers, because I am technologically challenged, and I can not even type so fast. I am not good at science, because the words that are used in science textbooks are very difficult and I have to use my dictionary a lot to figure out what it is talking about.

I am worried about global warming, because everyone in the country where I am from has the low of paying taxes to throw our garbage away, separating their garbage into plastics, burnable trash, steel cans, aluminum cans, batteries, newspapers, etc. so that they can recycle afterwards, and the amount of smoke that companies can produce are restricted. The school teaches how to recycle when students are in specific grades, and I was taught that in order to solve this problem, there are three Rs: reusing, reducing, and recycling, when I was in the elementary school.　However, in the country where I am living now has no-low of separating garbage or paying taxes for throwing things away, and I think the only thing that is restricted is the amount of smoke that companies can produce. I think there are still many other countries that are not being so strict about how people throw things away, and the Earth will never stop increasing its temperature if everyone does not take this problem seriously.

I would like to thank Mr. R for giving us a chance to communicate with people from other countries, and to ask what they think about my ideas. I want to use this chance effectively to improve my writing skills, and to get used to sharing ideas, as well. I wish you could have some ideas of who I am.

In our class we had to either create a movie of Anne’s voice or a monument in her honor. The paragraphs below are about images, symbols, sounds and how they are used in the presentation along with how they influence and appeal to viewers. The paragraphs also talk about ESLR’s used, our overall grade and what each member of our group had done.

The symbols we had used were a train, chimney, radio, diary, bare wire, bar code, Star of David, Gates to camps and
Iwo Jima.

The train represents how all the Jews were taken away from there families by force and sent to a miserable camp where they were to die. Most of the Jews that were transported died before even reaching the camps which turned this symbol from just transportation to death to actual death.

The chimney was a sad symbol because it represents how the Nazi’s burned all the Jews. It was a way of eliminating Jews. Of course it was no the only means of extermination but to us it was the most brutal.

The radio was like our modern television or computer, it was in fact they only way of knowing about the outside world for Anne. Since she was stuck in the secret annex with no way to escape to the outside world she had to relay on this old but effective way of communication to learn about the war and the outside world.

Anne’s diary is a major symbol which represents the hope people have for their life, family and the world. It also shows that every one needs someone who they could express their feelings too. Even though she had all the essential things like food and water she didn’t have anyone who she could talk and who would listen to a teenager since everyone living there was a bit moody.

The bare wire was a sign of containment and a sign of no escape. Since the borders of concentration camps were either lined with walls, bare wire or fences. I thought that the barb wire was the most effective item to display to show restraint.

The bar codes were written on each prisoner for labeling, it represents how their identity and individually were taken away as soon as they arrived in the camps. The Star of David is a symbol that represents the Jews, but we had used this star with our own custom animation to help make the symbol represent the prisoners of Jews. Every one who was a Jew had to wear they particular star to distinguish their race.

Gates to the camps were the imaginary border line from life and death. Even on the outside world you will be dragged into the inside of the gates. Most likely the people who were dragged into the gates would probably never get out. The camps had given little food so the only way for them to not starve to death is to communicate or get through the grates.

The last symbol is the
Iwo Jima this symbol is a statue that represents the victory in World War Two. There are many statues of this which represents the amount of countries that were affected and the number of countries who tried to stop this horrible event.

The symbols will be influential on people because when ever they see the sign they will remember the power point which is much easier to memorize then a bunch of words. Symbols are also more appealing to viewers like images so it would grab their entire intention.

The images that we had used were basically about Anne Frank and the Holocaust. Anne Frank pictures were about her form a baby too about 17 years old because she didn’t live any longer. Some of the pictures were also of the secret Annex. The picture of the holocaust had included the before and after pictures of the war. I choose these pictures to make people viewing it more emotional. I thought that the starving children were a good picture for this. Images are influential because you get to see with your own eyes what the results of some actions are. It is also more appealing to people to see visuals because they are visual learners.

We had only used one sound because if we had added more the effects might have taken more of the excitement away from the visuals which to us is the most important. We had chosen this particular song because it had a smooth and easy flow of rhythm which makes it very effective for this type of power point. The smooth violent sound made it a lot sadder and more influential on all the viewers. Sound effects give written and visual presentations more appealing to people and influences them to take action.

Text didn’t play a major role in this power point presentation but if we hadn’t used it, it might not have been as effective, the reason being that text helps the viewers know what you are trying to say, what you are trying to build up, and also to let the viewers get ready for the next images.

I overall think that the three major aspect (symbols, images, sounds and text) when put all together can be very influential and appealing to viewers especially if it is a major problem happening right now.

The most important aspect of this essay is the main messages that it unleashes to the world which aren’t in word form. Symbols are the most important things to help people remember and stop awful event like this to ever happen again. To see which symbol is overall the best you have to know every ones role in the power point, the war and the book or Anne Frank. To our group the most powerful symbol is bar code because it talks about how the Jews weren’t treated like a human but more like a product, while I feel that the most powerful and meaningful image is the picture of the children that were starving and how you could se their misery and their ribs.

The biggest ESLR to me and my group is effective communicator because we are warning the outside world of the past disasters and though they can’t change history they can change their actions and the present.

We made a PowerPoint presentation but we made it look like an iMovie because that was the original assignment so we demonstrated our creative talents to convey ideas and we incorporated technology as a tool for communication because were trying to bring over a message about Anne Frank. We listened respectfully and asked questions to achieve insight, not just to the teacher but also to each other. When ever we had questions or comments we would always express them. We demonstrated the skill of effective collaboration by dividing up the work and by helping each other complete our parts of the project when ever they needed help. We had to collaborate with each other to achieve group goals because that was one of the major points of this project, to make us collaborate and work with each other. We had to understand the written, oral and visual information in our project to make the project sensible. We also demonstrated awareness for the role of the audience in the sense that we didn’t used to explicit images and texts from WWII so that if by any chance WWII victims would see this PowerPoint they won’t get hurt or offended also we had chosen some cruel and nasty pictures to show our class how to change the future actions we take.

Some other bullet points we did that weren’t an effective communicator is we build meaning and understanding by using prior knowledge and new information because we did it about Anne Frank and the WWII so we had to do some research and we had to learn about WWII and Anne Frank to successfully complete this project. We demonstrated the skills and ability to work both independently and collaboratively by doing most of the work together at school and everything what we couldn’t finish we did at home. We also used a variety of sources like the internet and books to get our information from and we used technology to creatively and efficiently complete our project. We demonstrated responsibility in active decision making and awareness for the right of others and interacted respectfully with people of diverse cultures by looking at our content and audience during active decision making and interacting respectfully with ourselves (members in our team).We accepted responsibility for our own learning by taking on the tasks we (members of our team) had given us, took creative risks in developing untried ideas by doing a PowerPoint rather than an iMovie or a memorial and we demonstrated competency in goal setting, time management and organizational skills by setting our personal goals within the group, managing our time in and out of school and organizational skills by organizing this project.

In this project, we divided our job into three so that everyone has to do something. Firstly, Ramzi found images, made first draft of the power point, described the symbol of each pictures and reflected the ESLR’s in this project. He was the hardest worker in this group, and I think he worked as a leader to finish this project. Secondly,
Milos found the music, and made the power point look like a movie. He was technologically advanced and helped us so much. He was very supportive, as well. Then, I found images and wrote, “Who did what” part of this essay. I think I worked well, and was corporative. Overall, we did such a great job, and we always worked together very hard.

At the end of all our work we had not just created a power point that will just play one day and that’s the end but it will stay with the entire class for years to come. We had created a piece of the war that we will never forget or let ever happen again. My group and I had thought overall that the finish product was a great success. The entire group had felt that our final grade would be excellent, the reason being that we had thought hard and long for the perfect songs to be able to place in our power point. We would give our grade for the entire final project a B or a B+.

I thought in the beginning we would not be able to accomplish this task but in the end it was worked out nicely. The entire process of setting this entire project was quite simple because if you had planned and organized every ones tasks you can easily accomplish the project with commitment. In the beginning we had decide dot make a power point. Then we had found all the sounds and images we were going to use. After that we had made a story board and we had planned all the images, text and sounds we were going to use for each slide show. At last we created the power point. Once we had finished the power point we had split the responsibility of the written part of the essay. Through out the entire procedure we were organized which allowed us to do every thing fast and efficiently.

I had drama class for ten weeks with Mr.R and performed my dialogue with N infront of everyone in my grade ,and showed 4 appearances that Mr.R picked, such as appearances of sadness, happiness, sorrow, and fear to everyone in my grade, as well. I was very nervous when I first had a drama class, because I am not good at acting and talking to the audience. Therefore, it was very hard for me to project what the character is feeling during the play. However, when I started having fun while I was practicing, I found it very interesting to own the stage. I think I learned some methods of interfering anxiety from this class, (I didn’t know that breathing works to not to feel embarrassed),as well. I would like to thank N because he had been such a great partner and always leaded me , and Mr.R for giving me a chance to experience the feeling of owning the stage. That was so cool!

(Our dialogue is about a son and a father who keep fighting because of the loss of mother. I acted as Tom and Nick acted as Stephen)

Tom: Open this door Stephan, Now! 

Stephen: Mind your own damn business! Why do you have breath down my neck all the time? 

Tom: Hey, watch your language. I have the right to know what’s going on because I’m your dad! 

Stephen: Yeah? Well maybe I don’t wanna be your son. It’s not like I had the choice anyway… 

(Pause)Tom: Stephen… 

Stephen: Forget it, just don’t say anything.  

Tom: Stephen, open up Stephan! Now! 

Stephen: Go away; I don’t need your stupid therapy. You treat me like the rest of your patients! 

Tom: That’s not true Stephen. All I want to know is what’s going on. You’ve been like this for weeks. You’re snappy all the time, you barely eat, I can’t get you to engage in a conversation with more than 3 words, and your grades are dropping. What’s wrong? 

Stephen: My grades are fine and nothings wrong, not that you’d care. Just leave. 

Tom: Look, ever since mom died- 

Stephen: You’ve done absolutely nothing! It’s like you’ve forgotten her, as if she was bad memory you could just leave on the sidewalk of your life. 

Tom: Stephen, I loved your mother a great deal more than you can imagine, but life goes on. It’s just the way things go.  

Stephen: Mom has nothing to do with this, ok? So put it out of your stupid equation. It’s just a bit of pressure from school, that’s all. 

Tom: A bit of pressure is making you act like a zombie? I doubt it. There has to be something- 

Stephen: There isn’t, ok? 

Tom: Watch it. You better start treating me with a bit more respect, ok? Now come on, I’ve got some cold pizzas, and while you are at it, clean up your room.   

Stephen: Fine, whatever.(Stephen starts throwing stuff onto his bed then unlocks his bedroom door and they both sit on the floor and begin eating pizza.) 

Tom: So, how’d your midterm exam go? 

Stephen: Fine, just great. 

Tom: That’s good. So how’s school been lately? I remember back when I was in high school. Worst and best years of my life. I was quite popular, you know? But that last year… oh well, forget it. How’s school? 

Stephen: Define good. My algebra teacher has kept a grudge ever since I accidentally mixed y with b, my science teacher, Ms.Pattil, is the most boring person on the face of this planet and could get you to fall asleep in seconds, my social studies teacher seems to always waiting for me to screw up and all the rest of my teachers really seem to hate me.  

Tom: You know, may be if you tried a bit harder, then your teachers wouldn’t hate you so much 

Stephen: God! Can’t you just stop it? You’re always like this. Can’t you give it a rest?Tom: No! Because I want you to be an honest person and an honest worker, not some petty low-life living off trash. 

Stephen: You know what petty and low? You lying to me I know you weren’t at mom’s funeral, and I trusted you enough to believe that you were! 

                                          (Pause) 

Tom: I had mountains of work to do, times were hard back then- 

Stephen: And you couldn’t even spend a misrble minute of your life to see your wife before she died? 

Tom: Don’t you get it? This isn’t about her. If you keep going on like this, you will be expelled. At your age, I shouldn’t be telling you what to do anymore, and now you’re gonna flunk school before you get to college. Get it in your head Stephan, you’re gonna screw your life if you don’t start acting now. Stephen, answer me. 

                            (No reply, Stephen just stairs angrily at Tom) 

Tom: Everyday, from the moment you come home, you will do your homework, go to room, come back down for dinner and - 

Stephen: No! That’s it! I am so tired of you! I swear that if you make one more demand, I’m going to walk out of this house and never come back. 

Tom: Then do just that! I wanna see you walk out of my front door! 

Stephen: You’ve taken everything from me! Mom, a decent childfood , my possessions and now my life. You’ve made me into something hollow, something that doesn’t feel. I never wanted that, but you made sure that I became as unfeeling as you. Were you like that with mom? Were you? She must have been very happy when she died, getting rid of a useless piece of crap like you.              (Tom slaps herd across the face) Tom: THAT IS ENOUGH! Don’t you dare talk to me like that! This whole business about school has nothing to do with stress or any other damn lies you’ve made up. This is has everything to do with mom! You’re blaming me! You think I wanted her to die! 

(While Tom is talking Stephan is reaching into the back of his pants and then pulls out a gun) 

Stephen: Maybe I want the same for you. 

Tom: Easy Stephen. You don’t wanna do this. I won’t even ask where in the hell you got that but please put the gun down. You think killing me is going to bring mom back? You’ll just make things a lot worse if you do this. 

Stephen: Shut up. At least I’ll know that the person who made my life miserable won’t be there to do it again. 

Tom: What have I done to make your life so miserable? 

Stephen: Have you made any attempt to comfort me since mom died? No! You just went back to work. I would only see you on the weekends, and even then you wouldn’t speak to me because you had work to do. You never made any effort to take interest in my life. You missed everything that was important to me and I hated you for that. I’ve hated you all my life. 

Tom: I… that is… I don’t know what to say. Maybe I failed you as a father, but please faile me as a son. I just want you to have a future, a life worth living, a life better than mine. 

Stephen: It’s just…. I wasn’t there… I wasn’t there.              (Stephen drops into Tom’s arms, dropping the gun at the same time)  

Tom: Shhh, Stephen. It’s ok.

Step 1:
Where did the Aztecs originally live?
They came from Atzlan, where it was located in North West Mexico

What prompted them to relocate?
Tenoch, a person who had a vision,was told to  lead his people to go to the island in Texcoco by Huitzilopochtli and that is why they relocated.

Where did they end up and why?
They ended up in Tenochtitlan because of the European invasions.

Chose an artifact, which you feel best, represents this event. Support your choice
This picture shows the city of Tecochtitlan, and this picture represents this event well, because we can see how people settled their town by seeing the buildings.

Step 2:
The Aztecs ended up in the middle of a lake and built their new capital Tenochtitlan. What were the pros and cons of settling in the middle of a lake?
The pros of settling the capital in the middle of the lake was that they had protection from their enemies, and they were able to grow crops. The cons of it was that they could not expand their city even though the population had kept increasing.

Describe the lay of the land and chose an image for your exhibit.
The lay of the land was an island in the middle of the lake. The land was flat in the island, as you can see on the picture. There were some mountains around the lake, and their heights were quite high.

Step 3:
Which gods were worshiped?
Tezcatlipoca Quetzalcoatl Tlaloc Chalchiuhtlicue HUITZILOPOCHTLI(main god) Xipe-Totec were the gods that were worshiped.

The pyramids were built for what purpose?
The pyramids were built for the purpose of making sacrifices to the gods. They sacrificed over 20000 people a year.

Step 4:
Who are the different members of Aztec society?
Slaves, commoners, and nobilities (high priests, warriors, noble lords, etc.) were the different members of Aztec society.

What are their roles? Choose an artifact that represents the social order of Aztec society.
Slaves were the people who were poor, so they were bought by others to live. They were able to buy their freedoms again when they became rich. Commoners were given lifetime ownership of an area of land and they were farmers. Nobilities were the people who were nobles by birth, priests, and those who earned their rank. They basically took control of the society.

Step 5:
The Aztecs have a spoken language. What was it called?
The spoken language was called Nahuatl.

Did they use any other forms of communication? Include an example of either written or visual language of the Aztecs.
Yes, they formed another form of communication and they used pictographs.

Step 6:
How did the Aztecs grow food and what was their main crop?
The Aztecs made terraces, which were steps descending down a hall to control the flow of water. This kept their crops from flooding. The Aztecs also used a slash and burn to farm. Chinampas, islands made by weaving giant reed mats and covering them with mudded plants, were used to extend crops into the swamp. Although they seemed to float, the Chinampas were anchored to the ground by plant roots. The Aztecs grew corns, chili peppers, squash, tomatoes, beans, and other kinds of food

Did they trade and with whom? Did they have a currency (money)? Find an image for your exhibit about making a living Aztec style.
Yes, they traded, but they did not have money, so the trades were between cities.

Step 7:
Discuss the Impact of Spanish Contact 1519 from both the Aztec point of view and the Spanish point of view. Find an image depicting this event.
According to the information, it says that the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II was troubled by the reports concerning about the invaders. Also, a very religious man, Moctezuma beileved that Cortez was actually the Aztec god Quetzacoatl. Therefore, I think the impact from Aztec point of view varied. Form Spanish point of view, I think they must have been very surprised that people who were about to be conquered by them showed a lot of respect to them.

Step 8:
Discuss La Malinche or Dona Marina. Debate her positive/negative impact on Mexico past and present.
La Malinche was from a noble family and was sold when she met Hernan Cortes and became an interpreter. Her name has become a word which means someone who betrays one’s own culture. Dona Maria’s negative impact is that some people consider her as a betrayer of the Aztecs. However, many women in Chicana agreed with her because of her talents. Her positive impact she built good relationships between emperor and his people.

What does the term Mestizo refer to?

The word, “Mestizo” means a person who is mixed, especially of mixed European and Native American ancestry.