Debate is an interesting and sophisticated  form of communication. We learned about debate for about 2-weeks as we did a mock debate on vegetarianism. I was assigned a new debate topic, be it resolved that field trips do not represent an educational value equal to their cost. I was assigned the affirmative side AKA field trips suck side. I was also put into a group with Michael, Youni and Ben. We assigned roles and I ended up with the third speaker as the final rebuttal and summarizer for my team, Michael was the very first speaker, Youni was the second speaker on our team and Ben was our research guy.

  

Our team started researching right away and we came up with 6 points are best ones being that not all kids can afford field trips and a lot of field trips aren’t educational they are just fun. After my group finished are research I wrote a summarization.After the summarization I began to think of what they might say so we could rebuttal their arguments. Are best rebuttal was the Be it resolved statement because we knew the other team was going to talk about the great experience but that’s not what we are arguing we are arguing the educational value to its cost. Now since we were prepared it was time for the debate. 

Michael started with strong opening points and hammering home that the be it resolved statement was about education not experience. Youni was are second speaker and made are best point on how some kids can’t afford field trips and cheaper options are available. Finally it was me and I made some mistakes when I was making my rebuttals and forgot to tell my sources for the info. Other then that minor hiccup I was successful and engaging the audience and getting my ideas across. We ended winning the debate. 

Overall this debate project was engaging and I learned a great deal about my subject and debate.

Nash Jacoe and I created a keynote on Elizabethan housing. 

Here is a video of are presentation.

These are the picture of are slides.

   

         

  

My periodic table of basketball players helps organize and compare players stats to each other.  

I organized my graph with 5 key statistical per game stats points, rebounds assist, field goal percentage and free throw percentage. I choose these 5 stats as I thought they were the most important and represented the players the best. I used a certain colour string to represent each player and placed the string on tac that represents that stat they get per game. Let’s use Lebron James as an example he gets 27 points 7 rebounds 6 assists and shoots 57% from the field and 75% from the free throw line.

 My graph also helps show the versatility of a player and overall skill. The players with the largest surface area are the most well rounded such as Kevin Durant and Lebron James were Kay Thompson is one of the worst. The most skilled players have the longest perimeter length such as Stephan Curry but he is not the most versatile player because his surface area isn’t that large. Overall my periodic table helps tell you who are the best basketball players statistically and the worst, out of the players I choose.

The Vegetarian Debate was my first crack at a semi organized debate and it went pretty rough. The keys that I learned for having a successful debate is having six strong points and make them real.



 “A debate is won or lost based on the research done by the debater. The arguments you make will be more persuasive if your make them REAL:

• Reason

• Evidence

• Analysis

• Link” Bryan Hughes. 

This was the skeleton for my debate arguments and I was only able to build a skinny skeleton. I was on the side that was pro vegetarian and are best idea was how much resources is needed to produce meat. I was able to make the argument REAL with the reason being that many people are starving in the world and we could use animal feed to feed the starving. The evidence being that it takes 7 ponds of wheat to produce 1 pond of beef. The analysis being that we could feed the 1 billion people who are starving if we were vegetarian. We failed to link the argument. Are side managed to win the debate and I gained valuable experience in being able to improve on my debate skills in the future. Overall the biggest take away was be PREPARED!

    

    

My explain everything was successful in the audio and content but not as much in the visuals. I started by doing the visual first and then recording the animation and audio second making everything a little rushed by trying to do the audio and animation at the same time. I think my best option would be to do the animation first and then audio. Doing it in this order would create a better product because I could get better timing and a less rushed product. Doing the project on a different platform (I movie) would give more option and maybe the combination of explain everything and IMovie would make it more successful. Overall I thought my audio and content was well done but I could of improved on the visual aspect. http://youtu.be/3fgwrr311kQ

In the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare elects not to show the wedding. I am going investigate why he choose to do this.

Here are some ideas that he would do this.

1.The play was written for an audience to watch in one viewing(time).

2.It was a live play so setting up for a wedding would require lots of preparation.

3. Everyone knows what a wedding is, so it wouldn’t be hard for people to quickly imagine the scene.

I began to investigate my first idea and the first website I went to was my classmate Michael Fourie’s blog on Elizabethan Theatre. I acquired a couple of facts to support my idea. Plays had to be done in the day time when sun light was abounded because candelas weren’t a sufficient source of light. The requirement of sunlight puts another time constriction on the play. The setup for the wedding would require makeup and extravagant dresses which would completely change the scene add more time to the already lengthy play. Weddings were a well known event at this time period so people wouldn’t loose much context on what is going on in the play.

I think that Shakespeare was wise to not show the wedding as it would only add time to the already lengthy play.

Sources:
http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-theatre.htm

Here is my metaphorical paragraph about my mother.

My mother is a bumble bee who lives in a man’s world. She is are family’s heart that beats with compassion. She is the general of the S.S Ross.Teresa lives the life of an explore every day and reminds us of her mistakes. The sleeping beauty lies in her humble home. She is the dolphin and the tiger of animal kingdom. My mother is my beacon of light.

Explanations of my metaphors.

I started my metaphorical paragraph explaining her hard work ethic “Bumble Bee”. The “mans world” part shows how she lives in a house of guys. The next two sentences explain how she keeps the family together and productive. I used the words general and heart to signify centre. The “heart that beats with compassion” is how she is always loving and compassionate. My mother always tries new things “life of an explore” and reminds us of her mistakes. She is beautiful as I say she is a “sleeping beauty”. The “humble home” signifies how we live in a nice medium size house, the word humble is supposed to have a double meaning as she never brags. I used dolphin and tiger to signify that she is smart(dolphin) and strong(tiger). The last sentence is a metaphor is that I can follow the light she shines at the end of the tunnel.

How I created the paragraph.

My metaphorical paragraph was easy to create as I had a strong knowledge of my topic. I started by thinking of traits my mother has. The first thing that came to my mind was she works hard and what works hard a bumble bee. I continued to use this strategy through out the rest of my work.

What I learned.

The aspect of describing my writing I have never done before and really helps me transmit what I am thinking to the readers. What I learned from doing this assignment is that describing my writing and my poems in the will help me get my ideas in my writing or poem across to the consumer.

Constructing a Sonnet
 
The place I rumble is my very own park
It is there were I walk my rounded pet
20 years from now they will see my mark
Below the plywood lies my tattered net
I shoot till I no longer feel my limb
I play my game to simply hear the swish
Not the dreadfulness of a clanking rim
To never miss a shot is my only wish
Somedays I fell every jump that makes me sore
I might be tall but I am not that tall
To maneuver the trees is the only way to score
To succeed the puppet has to be the ball 
I have always loved to play this fun game
Maybe one day it will bring me some fame

Creating a sonnet require a lot of brainstorming and a little bit of patience. I used some techniques and organization skills to help create my sonnet. I faced some difficulties through out the process.

One of the techniques I used was counting on my fingers the amount of syllables to produce a 10 syllable line. I organized words that rhymed with each other that related to my topic as you can see.

The challenges I faced creating this project was understanding the rhyming scheme and the imbecile pentameter. I had to do research for both this problems. The rhyming scheme was easily researched and it goes like this. A-B-A-B-C-D-C-D-E-F-E-F-G-G

After I finished the rhyming scheme I worked on the iambic pentameter which was difficult. I total failed with my ability to correctly follow the guidelines. The guidelines are you have to have 5 unstressed syllables and 5 stressed syllables alternating in each line. In my poem on the lines there was no pattern to the stressed and unstressed syllables (The place I rumble is my very own park). The poem should of sounded more like this (Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?)

Overall the makings of my sonnet was a bit of a steeping stone to create a more successful sonnet next time. To improve I will have to plan my sonnet out even more and writing it with the full understanding of the imbecile pentameter.

Here is a good video for creating sonnets.

Mountains, Why do we Climb them?
The dangers and challenges of mountain climbing only escalate the sense of accomplishment and fulfilment when the task is complete. With these challenges also presents great opportunity to explore and discover the high altitudes. People climb mountains for self fulfilment, exploration, research and because they can.
Self fulfilment is the main reason people climb mountains. Her is a quote from Jon on his reason why he climbed Mount Everest “In truth, the call from Outside had unexpectedly aroused a powerful, long-buried desire”(Chapter 2). Many others experience the same desire as Krakauer to climb to full fill their dreams, resolution and believe in their inspiration. This article by Alan Arnette shows personal examples of why people climb Everest. Her is a quote from Edmond Hillary in Alan’s article that explains her reasoning to climb “I never had a vision to climb Mt. Everest. As with everything else, it just more or less grew … It was a growing process and a learning process. Never, in my early days, did I ever think of attempting to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. “. As you can see Hillary’s reason was just a goal an achievement that she set for herself and she was determined to complete her goal. Self fulfilment inspires people to do great things such as heroic actions in war, in life and in climbing.
Exploration is a fundamental human desire. To discover what is new and exploit the resources that are found. Well climbing Mount Everest might not give you and exploitable resource, it gives you valuable information on high altitude conditions and effects on the human body. Here is another quote from Krakauer that highlights the exploration aspect of mountain climbing. (Chapter 2)“that a British team of mountaineers … had reached the supreme remaining earthly objective of exploration and adventure, the top of the world.…”. The top of Everest is the one of the top prestigious exploration. This brings personal gain for humans as it is makes others look up to you, which you can exploit for your on advantage. To climb mountains to do research is not a rare occurrence. Such as climbing Kilimanjaro for altitude research. “Scientists camped out to test altitude sickness in more than 200 climbers”(Kilimanjaro climbers ‘take health risks’). Exploration and research answer questions which is a basic human desire to discover and uncover the unknown.
The mountains have been conquered and people can climb them with limited risks. “it would require the lives of twenty-four men, the efforts of fifteen expeditions, and the passage of 101 years before the summit of Everest would finally be attained.”(Chapter 2) As you can see the tallest mountain wasn’t easily obtained 59 years ago. However “We’ve got the big E figured out, we’ve got it totally wired. These days, I’m telling you, we’ve built a yellow brick road to the summit.” (Chapter 5) Times have changed an we climb mountains because we can. Higher and higher percentage of climbers are reaching the goal of the top of summit and safely, with supplement oxygen and highly trained guides. “The evolution of equipment into lightweight, super-strong, technically rated tools has revolutionized the sport…”.(Bill Fink) Better Equipment is the main reason why people can climb mountains safely know. Lighter equipment reduces the load needed to carry up the mountain. Tools that are more specialized to navigate the difficult terrain such as Belay Gloves that is the ultimate glove that protects against rope burn and keep your hand very warm. Overall since we can climb mountains we climb mountains.

Into Thin Air written by Jon Krakauer shows all these examples of people’s motivation. Jon Krakauer climbs the mountain for self fulfilment and research. The first British Mountaineers who climbed Everest did it for exploration and adventure. The amount of specialized tools that Krakauer used on his adventure. The ability to climb mountains with good success has increased the incentive to do so as well.In conclusion while researching and discovering the high altitudes with success you also gain self fulfilment and achievement on your journey.

All the quotes with a chapter in brackets after the quote is from Jon Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air.

Everest 2014: Why Climb Everest?

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-11564734

https://www.yahoo.com/travel/deadliest-sport-ever-why-people-risk-their-lives-87909897077.html

I have prepared to present a student led conference to my teachers and parents about the first half of the year. I will present my progress through my blog.

I have selected multiple subjects from my flight course to help demonstrate my learning. The different components of my SLC project have their own blog.
Links Down Below

Overall Portfolio Reflection
Humanities
Science
Goals