Jeds blog

8th Grade Reflective Journal

Throughout my school year in MKIS, I have learned many things that have improved many aspects of my life. This essay will be covering some important factors that I have improved on, such as my personal growth, and two ESLR’s that I have best done on.
First and foremost, I will be talking about my personal growth in school throughout the year. For example, I have developed in my writing skills because in English class, we learn to write express our writing through many different forms for many different audiences. For example I have learned to write poetry in many different styles and has brought out the poetic side in me. This essay itself is an example of how my writing skills have improved throughout the quarter. This has helped me in other subjects too. I now can write scripts in drama class. I also can write newspaper articles with ease. My next example would be on how I improved in my taking of photographs. During the second or third quarter, when we were asked to take photos during a project, like for the poetry unit and Teenlife project I did not how. Now, looking back at those times, I have realized how much I have improved in my photography skills. I now like to spend my time taking photos and editing them, which is a lesson I learned from newspaper class, using adobe photoshop. This has brought me to another improvement in my personal growth. This is about my improvement in the use of technology in the school. For example, I can now work on computer programs such as garage band and photoshop without much trouble. In English class, we have a weblog where we post our homework assignments and put videos and pictures. Speaking of video’s we also learned how to compress videos to make them small enough to put on our blogs. I can also make my own e-portfolio, make use of the flash program and make a wiki all thanks to the computer exploratory. In fact, almost all my subjects in school have something to do with computers, technology and this has made learning more enjoyable and simple.
Next up is my growth in the ESLR’s. One of the ESLR’s I grew in would be an academic achiever. I demonstrated progress in all curricular areas by doing well in subjects like social studies, English and newspaper. I did this by revising weekly and listening attentively in class. Well, most of the time I try to. And fine, maybe I don’t revise that much but I still try to remember what to learn and I try my best in everything I do. I also demonstrated the ability to work both independently and collaboratively. For example, during the Anne Frank project, we were put in groups of three. However, one of our group members was not committed to staying back after school and working hard so we had to work independently. After working on our assigned parts, we the put all our work together to make the final product, which came out very nicely. This showed that we were able to work unaided and then collaboratively because though some people were not reliable and that might affect our grade, we still managed to get an outstanding score. Another point that brought out the academic achiever in me was that I continually assessed, evaluate and adjust work to maintain high standards. I did this by revising weekly and improving on the mistakes on a quiz we took.
Another ESLR that I improved in was being a Self directed learner. First of all, I accepted responsibility for my own learning. I was not dependant on my parents for help when I was in need. I tried to think critically to work out my problem. And if I did not do well on a quiz or test, it was probably my fault for not studying hard enough. I may blame the teachers, but in the end, it’s always up to you to study hard. I also identified my needs and applied appropriate learning strategies. For example, I had some weaknesses in math but I soon got over it by practicing and telling myself not to repeat that mistake next time. Lastly, I monitored, documented and adjusted work in progress. First, I kept my test papers so I could review on them. I also took notes, which helped me in revision.
In summary, I think that this year for me was a fruitful and knowledgeable and I had many wonderful experiences along the way. The 8th graders will be moving on to grade nine soon, and I hope that I will remember all the things I have learned. I also hope to learn more in the coming years and use this knowledge in everyday life.

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Television Commercials

In my opinion, I think that today’s generation of young adults are highly influenced by television commercials. The reason why people buy expensive phones, clothing and other fancy products is because commercials persuade people like us to think that without this product, you won’t be popular or classy. Our English assignment was to look at things through different lenses. The three types of lenses that I chose were gender, class and religion.

Gender
The type of commercial that I chose was for perfume and the lens that I had to look through was one of a female. Now, picture a slim, beautiful woman dancing around in a pink dress which barely covers her body. She’s probably a celebrity too. And then the narrator starts saying ‘Chanel, the perfect perfume for all people,’ while the perfume slowly fades in. Now, I have no idea what a perfume commercial is supposed to be like, so this is just made up. But if I was a girl, and I saw a commercial like that, I would definitely want to buy it. Maybe I thought if I did buy it, then I would be pretty like the woman in the commercial. I would think I would be popular, like a famous celebrity. Or maybe, I just like the smell of the perfume by just looking at the commercial itself.

Class
I were a rich person, I would be thinking that this product is nothing compared to my $2,000, limited edition Polo perfume. And you would be thinking why you needed a dumb bottle of perfume when you have all the latest hand phones, shirts, pants and video games. But if I really wanted to buy it, I could just ask my parents for money, and then take the private plane all the way to France just to buy original perfume. And then I would wear it to school and maybe people would think I’m really classy and rich and sophisticated.

Religion
I didn’t know what religion to choose so I just based my lens on a religion that is very strict. So if I was very religious and I watched this commercial, I would not want to buy it because I think that true beauty comes from being you and following Gods ways. And furthermore if I bought that perfume maybe I would think that I am not following my religion properly and are disobeying the rules.

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Reflective Journal

We are reaching the end of the school year and our English class is coming to an end. Sooner or later we will be in high school, and I have a feeling that life in 9^th grade was going to be a lot harder than we think it is. At least that’s what the people from that grade said. And sometimes I ask myself, ‘Why am I even writing this journal anyway?’ So I thought long and hard and I finally got the answer. We wrote this journal to cherish the moments that we held in this grade, the 8^th grade. Well, it was only for English class though. Anyway, the following paragraphs contain information on our poetry unit and our Teenlife project. Our book making, the Second Annual Interactive Poetic Experience and our Teenlife project all have something to do with the ESLR’s and Blooms Taxonomy, and has taught me many things so far, so here I go.

First of all, Self-directed learning has a lot to do with our poetry unit and Teenlife project. I thought that the one part that taught me to being a self-directed learner was monitoring, adjusting and documenting my work in progress. For example, I had learned to be responsible for keeping my poems in a certain area so that I would be able to have all my poems ready to make my poetry book in the future. Another characteristic that showed the self-directed learner in me was that I learned how to do photography. I was new to the digital camera because my family did not have one. So, instead I used cameras from the school to do my photography for the poetry unit. When I was familiar with the basics on how to use a camera, I soon got one of my own and was able to take pictures easily.

Furthermore, I think that comparing self-directed learning to another one of the four ESLR’s or the Blooms Taxonomy can also teach us many things. An example would be comparing Self-Directed Learning to being an Academic Achiever. If I could excel in monitoring, adjusting and documenting my work, this would lead to the demonstrating progress in all curricular activities. Analysis would also compare to being a self-directed learner because they both involve checking and making changes to our work and these habits are very important when reviewing our notes and doing our homework.

After all of the above, I conclude that I did quite well in the keeping of my poems and in the learning of photography, although I do sometimes question my self and say, ‘what would have happened if I already knew how to work a camera properly, would I have gotten better photos?’, and for that I will give my self an B+.

Secondly, another ESLR that I thought had something to do with our Poetry Unit was being an Academic Achiever. A part of being an Academic Achiever would be accessing information from a variety of sources. I think this because it helped me in Teenlife project. The source that was most useful to me was the Internet. The Internet is a very useful tool for finding information today. And instead of using it to play online games everyday, people can also use it for finding sites on global warming and its prevention. Being an Academic Achiever also helped me in the making of my poems because as I looked into a variety of poets’ works I learned of their writing styles, and took it to myself to try and use that style in a good way for my poems.

Academic Achieving can also relate to many other ESLR’s, like Effective Communicating for instance. How is this, you may ask? Well, when you can demonstrate technological literacy and the usage of technology as a tool for the efficient and creative completion of a project and demonstrate the ability to work both in and out of a group, I think that we will be able to effectively communicate with people and demonstrate our creative talent to convey ideas.

All in all, I think that I could have done better when I was researching for information on my topic and I could have improved on writing my poems. So I give myself a B+ for not improving on all of the above.

Moving on, I think that Critical Thinking has a lot to do our Poetry Unit too. A part of being a Critical Thinker is that we can build meaning and understanding using prior knowledge and new information. I relate to this because while doing research for the Teenlife Project, I realized how much damage the world is taking from us. This has given me an understanding of what it must feel like to be slowly destroyed, piece by piece. I now also have a better understanding of poetry. Poetry just doesn’t have to rhyme. Poetry can be anything. That’s what so good about it.

Once again, we compare this ESLR with any other ESLR we have. But this does teach us a lot of things though, so you should be ready to read these next couple of lines. Critical thinking can relate to being an involved citizen because when I look at all the things that are happening to nature and I really think about it, it gives you a sense of responsibility. It makes you want to do something, to be involved.

As a result, I conclude that without critical thinking, we could not be able to get involved which results in the continuation of global warming. And without critical thinking, poetry wouldn’t sound the same either. And I also think I did well on doing my part to save the environment, so I give myself an A-.

Next up, we have the Involved Citizen ESLR! Now, being an involved citizen is very important because without people to be involved, no one would want to help anything or anybody for that matter. The world would be dark and gloomy and there would be chaos everywhere. Okay, maybe I was exaggerating just a bit, but the world would be a better place if everyone just did something to help the environment once in a while. It won’t hurt anyone to do so. A part of being an involved citizen would be to demonstrate care and concern for the environment. This, once again, relates to the Teenlife Project on global warming. In fact, global warming plays a huge role to the reason why the earth is coming apart. How I have demonstrated this is by trying to throw any unwanted rubbish in the right place and to recycle. And why I have suddenly taken to heart to doing this is because since the research I have done, it has given me the slight passion to do what I can to save the environment.

Now it’s time to compare the ESLR’s. Involved Citizenship can be compared to being an Effective Communicator because to be able to involve to your full potential, you must be able to effectively communicate with other people to achieve best results.

After all that, I ask my self the question, ‘what if I had taken into the consideration of helping the environment earlier; would that have made any difference at all?’ I could have helped many people and do many things, I think. So I think I did well and was responsible enough to throw my own trash in the bin, so I give my self an A.

Last but not least, we have the Effective communicator ESLR. Effective communication is very important to the collaboration of students, which is important for many other things and other ESLR’s too. What I did to become an Effective Communicator was to demonstrate the skills of effective collaboration and to incorporate/utilize technology as a tool for communication. I showed this because I learned to make Powerpoint presentations, movies, slideshows. And I also learned how to use photoshop. All this helped me to the improvement of my showing of my ideas. How I demonstrated effective collaboration was because I have improved in my in-class discussions since the beginning of the year, and I also have learned to communicate to people not only with poetry with words, but also with people.

This ESLR could compare to being an Academic Achiever. Because when we have the talent to convey ideas not only through paper and ink, but when we can show our thought through media manipulation or in any way at all, we can be sure to demonstrate progress ion all curricular areas.

Now, this was a short paragraph, but I still think that it contains the information in the other ESLR’s too. So, while evaluating myself, I begin to ponder, ‘what if I had demonstrated my ideas in a different way? I would have gotten better grades in some curricular areas.’ It would have been worth the shot. So next time I should to step out of the box, my comfort zone and be ready to share ideas creatively. I should give my self an A, according to the things I should have done.

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Biography
Dylan Thomas was born in Wales, 1914. He was a neurotic, sickly child who always preferred to read on his own. He excelled in English, so this made him neglect other subjects, then he dropped out of school when he was sixteen years old. He published his first book when he was twenty and it was a great success. It was called Eighteen poems. Thomas was not concerned with social and intellectual issues, and his writing had intense lyricism and charged emotion, which was more like Romantic tradition. He visited America in the year 1950. He was flamboyantly theatrical and read his poems with deep feeling. He was also an alcoholic, and engaged in roaring disputes in public. He became a legendary figure, both for his work and his excitement in life. Sadly, he died from alcoholism when he turned 35, due to a long drinking bout in New York City in 1953.

My Hero Bares His Nerves
By Dylan Thomas

My hero bares his nerves along my wrist

He pulls the chain, the cistern moves.

Analyze
This poem if full of emotion and has a lot of imagery in it. Metaphors, similes and personification are also used in this poem. There were also some signs of repetition, which enhanced the poems magnitude, such as ‘My hero bares’. There was also a rhyming pattern. For example ‘Praising the mortal error, of birth and death, the two sad knaves of thieves, and the hungers emperor.’ The underlined phrase also shows personification, which is a form of figurative language. Metaphors are also used. For example, ‘ unpacks the head that, like a sleepy ghost’, the head is compared to a sleepy ghost. On the all, I think the style of this poem is great, because it has a sort of sad feeling to it, and I usually write sad poems, or do I?

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Today’s issue of global warming is becoming more serious everyday because many people are not concerned about the world and the danger it’s in. And because of our carelessness, the next generation of children will not be able to see the beauty of the earth.
To understand how global warming is caused, we must first understand what it means. Global warming is the increase in the earth’s atmosphere, resulting in changes of climate. When this happens, solar radiation is trapped by the atmosphere, which allows the sunlight to pass through but is radiated back from the surface of the earth.
Here are some of the effects of global warming. Nowadays, scientists state that the earth’s climate is mostly being affected by human activity, and by many people around the world too. These changes are not good though, and records say that the last 11 of the 12 years were the warmest years ever. Carbon dioxide levels are 30 percent higher than what it was in the industrial revolution. The polar ice cap is melting at a rate of 9 percent per decade. The current pace of the sea-level rise is three times the historical rate and is becoming faster in the years to come. The numbers of category 4 to 5 hurricanes were doubled in the last 30 years. There are droughts in Sahel were caused by warming sea temperatures, and the Amazon suffered a drought due to the rising of the ocean temperatures. And to top it all off, because the climate changes all the time, poverty and food instability has also arrived.

Now that we know all these things are happening to the earth, what can we do to help? We can reduce carbon output in many ways.  Well, there are not many ways we can help but staying informed of this topic is the biggest thing you can do. There are websites like the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and BBC News. Blogs like RealClimate could keep you informed as well. There are many Websites that give information in this topic.
Now that we know all this information, we can do our part to help keep the world the better place for the next generation to enjoy.

Filed under: Teen Life | 1 Comment »

Iran was expanding its Uranium Enrichment Programme, so the UN members are discussing on this topic. And Iran also denies that they are making nuclear weapons but they are doing this for peace, energy-making purposes. It seems that they could not come to an agreement because they Iran could not accept a rule, the UN wants to suspend the Uranium Enrichment. But instead of stopping, they expanded even bigger.

I think this was an important topic because Uranium was a highly radioactive element and could do a lot of damage if in the wrong hands. Iran does not have a very good background, so the UN does not trust them. If they were even planning to make nuclear weapons, the whole world would be in great turmoil. This is my reason for the importance of this current event.

Click here for the real story.

Here is a map of Iran as well.

Filed under: Block D Social Studies | 3 Comments »

Hi, my name is Jed and I’m from Mr. R’s English class. I was born in Sabah, Malaysia, 1993. I’m thirteen years old and the oldest sibling in my family. I have to younger brothers, whose names are Tommy and Jonathan. They can get on your nerves in less than a microsecond; I can guarantee that’s for sure. Living in Malaysia is okay. I’ve lived here all my life. It can get really hot here and sometimes i wish it would snow, but then it would get so wet, I would say where’s the sun when I need it? Life is good, school is great, what else can you wish for? So moving on; my hobbies are what boys usually like to do in their free time. For example, I like playing video games, playing sports and watching television. I wouldn’t call watching television a hobby, so I like to read books to. Some of my favorite books are Robinson Crusoe, White Fang, and The Red Badge of Courage. I can also sing and have performed in front of people before. I like all types of music, especially jazz music. I think jazz is great because it sounds good, and it calms your mind. People like music for their sound, so that’s what I think too. There are many different types of jazz, but I particularly like the jazz blues.
Moving on, one things for sure. I love watching movies. That’s why I watch television a lot. Some of my favorite movies are ‘The School of Rock’, Nacho Libre, The Incredibles, Back to the Future, and many more other movies, which I can’t seem to remember. My mum is a music teacher, which is why I like music so much. I’ve lived in Malaysia all my life and the only places I’ve been to are the Philippines and Singapore. And the only reason I go there because I have to visit my relatives.
As a kid, I’ve always wanted to do so many things and until now, I still hold onto them. Some of the things I want to do are travel around the world to see new places, go to a university in Canada to finish my education and earn enough money to get a Lamborghini Gallardo. Since young, I’ve always been interested in art. Now I’m thinking of becoming an artist/musician. I’ve always changed my dream job from time to time. Once, when I was a young kid, I wanted to be an architect, but that took a lot of math. (A subject I don’t really fancy much).
Now, as a teen, I’m more interested in world issues all of a sudden. Nowadays, there have been a lot of problems such as wars, environmental issues such as global warming, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, tsunami’s and many more. One interesting issue was the fact that the earth is running out of water. What would we do if there were no water left? Water is essential to our survival. We can’t live without water. I can’t stress enough on the seriousness of this issue. Now, there is only less than 1 percent of drinking water left in the world. Water is used for so many things, and is being used wastefully in the process. Next time, we should be thinking about saving water than wasting it in the future.

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General Questions

How are symbols, images, and sounds and other conventions used in visual media?

Symbols, images, sounds, and other conventions are used in visual media to increase the emotional feelings in the audience. These include making them cry, feel jubilant, or utterly irritated. Conventions are usually used together in synchronization. They will work together to express an overall mood. By using these conventions as a collection, they can create overwhelming feelings which will cause the visual part of the experience to be fully successful.

What are the ways in which image-makers carefully construct meaning?

Image-makers carefully construct meaning by using symbols, images, sounds, and other conventions in harmony. Image makers will only combine conventions of the same emotion together. For example, they won’t mix a happy picture with a sad song. Image-makers will also use text to enforce the meaning of the visual.

How are techniques used in visual media to influence or appeal to a particular audience?

Many different techniques can be used in visual media to influence or appeal to a particular audience. For instance, if you’re trying to create an eye catching movie, you’d use happy and loud music with bright pictures. Also, common symbols might be used such as the dove to show that the movie is about peace.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Knowledge – Describe the symbols, images, and sounds you used to complete your projecta
In our short presentation, we used many symbols. We used the Star of David, the Swastika, and the earth surrounded by barb wire. We also used clouds with a sun coming out and a swing with a person pushing two other people. Finally, we also used a butterfly, a meadow, and the tattoo from the concentration camp. The images that we used were of Anne’s family’s life before the war began. We also used pictures of their hiding place and the cattle cars. Finally, we used pictures of their concentration camps, the gravestone of Anne and Morgot, and a meadow. The sound effects we used were birds, screams, trains, guns, and creaks. We also used songs There She Goes by Six Pence None the Richer, Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall, and Where is the Love by Black Eyed Peas. The other convention that we used was text. We mostly used quotes from Anne’s diary that are the most meaningful and significant.

Comprehension – Discuss how these symbols, images, and sounds carefully construct meaning
We used the Star of David to show how the Jews were labeled by the Nazis. The Star of David also represents the number seven, the six points and the middle. To the Jews, the number seven had religion connections. For instance, the six days of creation plus the seven days of rest. The Jews also had seven spirits of god, and the Jewish Menorah has seven oil lamps. We used the Swastika because it shows that the Nazis were involved and civilized since they had their own symbol. The picture of the earth surrounded by barbwire shows that more or less the entire planet being involved in the war and the constriction of the Jews. We used the sun symbol to show the hope that the Jews had of returning to their normal lives. This shows hope because it shows the sun emerging from behind the clouds as if there is newfound hope. It also shows that no matter what, there will always be that one person like Anne who is always hopeful. We used the swing symbol to show the freedom that was finally returned to the Jews after the war and the peace that was restored. Furthermore, this shows the teamwork of others around the world to help the Jews in the war since the middle person is pushing the other two. The butterfly symbolizes the beauty of the world and nature. The meadow symbolizes freedom and independence. The tattoo from the concentration camps showed the Jews that they’ll never leave the camp. It also showed the Jews that they had been marked with which slaves are branded. The pictures before the war show how cheerful people were before the destruction such as the picture of Anne with all of her friends. The pictures of the train and concentration camps show what hardships had to be taken on by the Jews. An example of such a picture is the photograph of all of the Jews that have already died. The creaking of the door was used is meant to symbolize the opening of the war and the capture of the people at the secret annex. The trains and screaming sounds show the transportation used and the chaos that occurred. The bird sound shows the freedom and joy of nature. The first song is a happy song since it shows the wonderful life before the war. The second song’s lyrics tell about Anne. “And everything around her is a silver pool of light. The people who surround her feel the benefit of it.” These show Anne’s jubilant personality and how it is passed to others. The last song describes the war. “People killing people dying. Children hurtin you hear them crying. Can you practice what you preach? Would you turn the other cheek? Father Father Father help us. Send some guidance from above. Nations dropping bombs. Chemical gases filling lungs of little ones. With ongoing suffering. As the youth die young.” These lines truly show the war and what was done during those few atrocious years. Finally, the quotes that we used from the book were meant to teach people of Anne’s high spirited and positive personality.

Application – Explain how these symbols, images, and sounds will influence or appeal to your audience.
These symbols, images, and sounds should cause the audience to become sad, angry, and happy. They should be sad because of all the killing that has occurred only 67 years ago. Additionally, the pictures of the concentration camps and tattoo should remind people of all the inhumane events that have occurred. The music will also add to this effect. However, some people might be angry instead of sad. This depends on the audience since some will be sorry for the Jews whereas others might be furious with the Nazis. The audience should be happy at the beginning and towards the end. The reason for this is because at the start, it shows the terrific times that the Jews had before the war. Towards the end, it shows the freedom that was returned to the Jews after the liberation of the camps and the way everyone helped the Jews. Moreover, the sounds of birds chirping should give everyone a blissful feeling.

Analysis – Compare the symbols, images, and sounds you chose. Which are the most powerful? Why?
The Star of David shows the main victims of the war, and the Swastika shows their persecutors, which are the exact opposite. Another difference in symbols is that the usual symbol for peace is a dove, but we used a swing with people because it shows the happiness that all children have in them. Additionally, The first song is happy and shows the peaceful times before the war; however, the last song shows the war and hate between the Jews and Nazis. Finally, the pictures before and after the war have definite differences. Before everyone is playful and joyous; however, during the war, everyone is gloomy and beginning to lose hope. In terms of similarity, the swing symbol and meadow both show the freedom that the Jews are longing to receive. Furthermore, barbwire is often used to show restriction the same way that we used it. We thought that the sun symbol, tattoo, and the song Where is the Love were the most powerful. We thought that the sun symbol was a strong sign of hope since it’s a bright colored picture, and the sun coming out from under the cloud looks like newborn hope. The tattoo was an authoritative symbol because it was a label on Jews that could never be removed and showed that they were the slaves and would never leave the camp. We liked the song because those specific lines really summed up the war and what was happening in Europe at the time.

Evaluation – Summarize and grade the final product and the process to accomplish this task.
For this project, we feel that we should about a B+. This is because overall, we did a pretty good job of going through Bloom’s Taxonomy and creating our project, but we feel it could have been better. The process that was taken to accomplish this task is as follows. First, we talked about the two choices of projects and decided which one we would do as a group. Then we were all meant to find some pictures, but the amount that each person found in the end varied. We then discussed some possible symbols we could use and decided on which ones we would actually use for our project. Then we were meant to meet up over the weekend, but only Adrian and Jed did. They picked the music and arranged the slides. Adrian then completed the PowerPoint, and he and Jed met up again to work on the write-up together.

ESLRs
In our group, we were Effective Communicators because we listened respectfully and asked questions to facilitate understanding and achieve insight. For example, when we began, people were talking over others and interrupting them. Group members were also “shhh-ing” others when they talked. However, we don’t do this as much anymore and can listen and work together much better.

While doing this project we also solved problems using a variety of strategies which makes us a Critical Thinker. When we first got together, we wanted to do the short film, but none of us had iMovie or any other Mac-friendly program. So, instead of doing the memorial, we decided to use PowerPoint to create our film instead.

During this project, we demonstrated the ability to work both independently and collaboratively, making us Academic Achievers. This is because at school, we would work together to decide who would do what for homework. When we went home, everyone did some work and brought it back to school so that we could work on it together. This way, we worked by ourselves and together to get things done.

Jed and Adrian demonstrated the use of being a Self-Directed Learner since we showed competency in goal setting, time management, and organizational skills. This is because we set up times to meet up and we didn’t leave the project to last the minute. We also didn’t waste time when we were working on the project out of school.

Finally, we were all Involved Citizens because we interacted respectfully with people of diverse cultures. No one made fun of some one else in our group because they were from a different culture. Even though we were dealing with a topic that could create arguments between people of different nations, there were no quarrels everyone respected each other.

Cooperation
In our group, Adrian and Jed did most of the work. Adrian found most of the pictures, and he created the actual show by putting the pictures and music together. Additionally, Adrian did the sound effects. Jed found some of the pictures, and he came up with two symbols, and he drew all three. He and Adrian decided on the music and order of slides together. Furthermore, Jed and Adrian did the write-up together. Adrian and Jed met up twice out of school to do the project. Ah Ihn found six pictures, but only one was used since she gave it to us very late in the project, and she came up with one symbol. We invited her over to our house so that we could work together out of school, but she didn’t want to come, and since we couldn’t force her, she didn’t come. Ah Ihn didn’t really do that much in this project.

Filed under: Reflective journal, Anne Frank | No Comments »

Step 1:
Where did the Aztecs originally live? What prompted them to relocate? Where did they end up and why? Chose an artifact, which you feel best, represents this event. Support your choice.

The Aztecs originally derived from Aztlan, somewhere in North West Mexico. The neighboring tribes thought they were just too wild, uncivilized, and barbaric. Thus, they had to move from place to place. After traveling a long distance, they arrived in the Valley of Mexico, which the Aztecs called Anahuac. During their travels, their chieftain, Tenoch, was leading them. Because of this leader’s vision, they were led to the Valley of Mexico. After reaching there, they were given land by the neighboring tribes. Unfortunately, they were given swampy, marshy land, which was not good for building. But they used this to their advantage and made them into chinampas, which will be discussed on in the next step.

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? Describe the lay of the land and chose an image for your exhibit.

I think one of the cons of building their city, Tenochtitlan, was because they only had a small piece of land surrounded by swampy marshes. This would’ve made building hard because of the wet and humid conditions. According to the sources, the Aztecs had used this swampy environment to their utmost advantage. This was a brilliant idea. They took the mud from the swamps and made it their foundation for building their temples. Since they were only a newborn civilization, but what they didn’t know was that they were soon to be one of the most powerful civilizations in all of ancient Mexico.

Step 3:
Which gods were worshiped? The pyramids were built for what purpose?

The Aztecs worshipped many gods. Each god had a different role in controlling everything the Aztec people did. Different gods have different roles or powers. There were war gods like Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl. The Aztecs had had a main god too. He was called Huitzilopochtli. He was also a god of war. There also were many other gods. Concerning the pyramids, they were built mainly for sacrifice. The Aztecs believed that their gods demanded human sacrifice and so priests sacrificed people like prisoners of war.

Step 4:
Who are the different members of Aztec society? What are their roles? Choose an artifact that represents the social order of Aztec society.

The ancient Aztec society is divided into three classes. They were slaves, commoners and the nobility. As you know, slaves were the lowest of all classes. Children of poor parents could be sold for a certain time period, although they could buy back their freedom. Also, if they were to escape and get to the royal palace without being caught, they given instant freedom. The second class was the commoners. This class was mainly involved in agriculture and trading. There were lower commoners too. These people could not own land and could never be owners. The highest class in the Aztec society was the nobles. These people became nobles by birth, or they were priests or they earned their rank.

Step 5:
The Aztecs have a spoken language. What was it called? Did they use any other forms of communication? Include an example of either written or visual language of the Aztecs.

The language that the Aztecs spoke was called Nahuatl. This language was also spoken in other parts of Mexico. At some times, they also used pictures and glyphs to tell stories and sometimes, a picture can tell a whole story. This form of drawing was called pictographs. Some pictographs represented ideas and some represented the sounds of the syllables.

Step 6:
How did the Aztecs grow food and what was their main crop? Did they trade and with whom? Did they have a currency (money)? Find an image for your exhibit about making a living Aztec style.
The Aztecs main food resource was corn. They made this corn by digging the soil using a so called ‘digging stick, then planted the corn kernels into the ground. Once the corn was ripe, the Aztecs then put the corn in bins to be sold in the markets. Another way the Aztecs got their food was by hunting. The main animals they hunted were deer, rabbits, duck and geese. The animals that they raised for food were dogs and turkey. To get their food, they had to buy it. So they had a currency. Their currency then was cocao beans. The Aztecs treated this food source as if it were gold.

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. What I’m about to write would be what the Spanish thought. When the Spanish arrived, tribes attacked them and the Spanish easily defeated them. They then became Spanish allies and they’re going to be a great help to them further on. They then arrived at Tenochtitlan, where they were received with great hospitality because Cortez was thought to be the god, Quetzalcoatl. He was then given permission t o stay there and was given many gifts and offerings. But, the Spanish saw all the sacrifices the Aztecs had done and were disgusted at their cruelty towards their prisoners, this caused friction and then the Spanish had waged war on the Aztecs. The Aztecs, on the other hand, were terrified on how greedy the Spanish were for gold and other valuables, so they also waged war on the Spanish. Another reason for this was because when the Aztecs was performing a religious ceremony, Cortez’s men shot the performers and this caused an up rise within the Aztecs.

Step 8:
Discuss La Malinche or Dona Marina. Debate her positive/negative impact on Mexico past and present. What does the term Mestizo refers to? What influences remain today from Aztec culture of the past?
Dona Marina, also known as La Malinche, her Aztec name, was born in a noble Aztec family. Her father died, so her mom married another man and had a son. They decided to let him rule instead of Marina, so they sold her to traders and said she died. She ended up a slave until her master gave her to Cortez. She could speak the Aztec language, so she translated for Cortez. The Aztecs says she was a traitor for bringing the Spanish in, but what they didn’t know was that she persuaded the Spanish not to conquer them. The Spanish said that she was a hero.

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