As you know if you have been looking at my previous blog posts we have been creating Rube Goldberg machine incorporating the American Revolution, steampunk, Crane Brintons Theory and metaphors. As we are pulling up to a close, the machine is starting to be pulled together, the video is done and now all my group ( in my group is Spencer, Ryan, and Kyle) has to do is present it to our class.
This project was very interesting and actually taught me a lot about the American Revolution because we had to know everything about it as we were forming that into metaphors and the actual machine. And as always there is always a final push we just barely were able to finish the protect. Because though we had a good idea in the beginning and worked pretty hard to get everything done. We had a final push at the end because we were no where close to getting it done and working.
A picture of me at my dads work when I was younger
On Wednesday it was take your kid to work day for all grade 9’s. And I was really looking forward to it as my dad owns a mechanical company called Bendtin. He was going to take me to a couple of his worksites such as a tower he is doing downtown as well as go to a supplier named Ecco. I was looking forward to all of this and we were almost at the job site when suddenly something happened. I had gotten a terrible migraine and started to get sick all over my dads truck. I also couldn’t see and had a horrible headache so we decided to head home and I headed to my dark room and slept for a whopping 4 and a half hours. So overall I am sad to say that I did not really get to participate in it though maybe I could go with my dad to work another day, just to get the experience!
From the beginning of the year we have been looking at steampunk and the revolution as well as crane Brenton’s theory. So we have been making a project based around all of that. And now you may be thinking how would you even do that? That is exactly what I am going to be talking about as we are getting to about halfway through the project.
We first started making a timeline and learning about the revolution we were going to be working with and my group was or is the American revolution. Within my group is Spencer, Ryan and Kyle. So once we were done that we were told that we were gpoing to have to make a machine showing the revolution, steampunk and have metaphors within it. So we started to design that and have a pretty good idea of what that is going to be.
Here is a picture of our base that we have been working on.
There have been a couple of challenges from the start of the project. Whether that was actually figuring out the dates in the revolution timeline or finding a design that we think will work for the machine. Also putting all of this into a metaphorical way that isn’t to far fetched that no own will understand but also isn’t to obvious is hard to do.
So here are some videos of us creating the machine.
Overall I think that in the end we will be able to pull this together and it will actually be very good, because we have all put a lot of work into it!
If you could create a house with everything you ever wanted what would you put in there? Well that’s what we got do since we have been looking at blue prints and how to design houses, kitchens and find the square footage for each of these. It started off with us learning how to find the space and prices that go with the house. Then we had to design a kitchen and use all of the rules of where to put things and what to use in with it. And finally we got to make the house, I did this project with 3 other people and it turned out great I think. Overall I found this was a really fun and interesting way to learn all about blue prints and houses. Plus we were able to add our own personality in it and really make it our own.
So here are the pictures of our house which we made use it an app called Room Planner:
I think that this project taught me a lot and I really enjoyed working with other people to see how not only I would design a house but how everyone else would.
In class we have been looking at the Industrial Revolution along with the railway. So we looked into it and then we were to created an Explain Everything and that is what I am going to be showing you.
Going through and finding out the industrial revolution railway showed me how people acted in that time and how the railways were such a new technology that was amazing. But for the Explain Everything as always we had more work to do rather then the first draft, because you can always improve. So for my first draft it really wasn’t that good and I am actually really happy that i got to improve it. And without further to do here it is.
After that I improved it quite a bit I think. and with help from my fellow friend and classmate who gave me advise on how to improve it I did and I think it is much better!
Overall I found out so much about the Industrial Revolution Railway people would see things back then. Thanks for both reading and watching this blog post and Thats all For Now!
Along with looking at crane brintons theory we have been looking at the steampunk genre. And oddly enough we are going to be making a project containing both of these subjects and building a machine, but that will come later. Anyway we have to answer a question that we made up, but this time instead of Brintons Theory it is steampunk. You may not even know what that is, I know I didn’t before we researched it. But basically it started in the 1900’s when writers like Jules Verne and K.W Jetter were writing stories where women wore coarsests while men wore top hats and suits, and there were machines that were powered by steam, thus getting the name Steampunk. Though it didn’t launch and become popular until later, and now there are huge festivals just based around steampunk. And that is what my question goes into.
What something could look like if it were steampunked Based on the book Leviathen
What was the influence for the steampunk genre when jules vern and other writers were writing about it?
Well through my research of looking at books and people i found out that it was a way of thinking what the future could be like. And since they lived in the 1900’s you would think it would be similar but different. So to show this I made up a diagram comparing it to how other writers think of the future today
So as you can see it really was just there frame of mind when they were writing about steampunk or as they would say “the future”. And really as you look throughout time it has always been that if you are in one place and thinking about what it could be like in the future you are imagining that place the same just modern but with some aspects different. Overall i found that this was actually really interesting to learn about. Down below are the places i got my info from.
In class we have been looking at Crane Brintons Theory on revolutions and how he showed that each Revolution basically followed 4 stages. But you will hear about that in the video below, because for an assignment we had to think of a question, research it and then showing my answer in a creative way. So for my questions I asked, Did Brinton’s theory ever affect a revolution in the making? That is why below I will be telling you what I found out about, enjoy!
This summer along with being in a Jazz camp, my family and I drove up to 70 mile. This was a great experience as long with I beautiful place. Now if your wondering where that is, it is a little bit farther then Kamloops. And in 70 mile it’s not just in the middle of nowhere (even though it kind of is) the is a lake called green lake that we were on. Along with that was a horse ranch where I was able to go for a ride one day. Now that was one of my favourite parts of the trip because I absolutely love that. Also I was able to do some pottery because there was a wheel at the cabin we were staying at. So on a day to day experience we would get up go down to the lake read a book, go for a swim maybe do some pottery or paddle boarding then come in at like five because of the mosquitos. And that was it for a week, a pretty hard life 😀.
Overall this summer was pretty great and I got to experience lots of knew things!
In the midst of summer who new I would be in school! But the3 school I went was a little bit different then what you would think. I was in a camp for a week about Afro-American Jazz. This was a great experience for me, because I play the trumpet and this camp taught me so much wether it was actually playing, improvisation, theory and playing within a group. Now as you may have already figured out through the title but this was at the VSO school of Music. My amazing teachers here were a wide variety because it wasn’t only for trumpet players but it was for players from Stand up Bass to saxophones even singing and from all ages, from my age to 60 year olds(though I was one of the youngest players there). And the teachers how taught us so much were Jodi Proznick, Miles Black, Bill Coon, Kelly Proznick, Steve Maddock, Jesse Cahill, Rod Murray and Steve Kaldestad. They were all so amazing and taught me so much. And I got to know most of them because in a day you weren’t just assigned to one teacher, in the morning you would do a group game or something to get to know each other. Then you would have a theory class and there were three levels you could choose Beginer, Intermediate and Advanced (they all had different teachers) I chose begins because I really didn’t know much and this was taught by Jodi Proznick. After that we had master classes, this was where we would get together with the other people who played the same instrument as us so for me trumpet, and this was taught by Rod Murray. Then it was lunch and since the school was on Robson st there was a wide selection for that 😀. And after lunch we had combo rehearsals , where we put with a couple of other people and one of the coaches above and would practise songs because we had a concert on the last night to play for our family and friends, and in my group our coach was Steve Kaldestad. And then finally to end the day we had big band where not everyone but horns and a rhythm section played big band songs for the concert on the last night. And all of this from 9am-5pm was exhausting but you couldn’t wait for the next day.
This all taught me so much and was an amazing experience. It taught me how to solo WAY better ( I had four solos in the one concert) it taught me how to play, how to play with people and it just built my confidence! I’m hoping to go in this next summer as well so that I can learn even more.
In scimatics recently we did a project on how the Raven stole the sun. Now you may be wondering what does that story have to do with science? Well there is light and symmetry and that is all what we were learning.
So for the project we were just supposed to make something to do with the story of the Raven stealing the light, symmetry and light. I decided to make a box type thing, with a Raven I made out of clay, a convex lens and then have a flashlight shining through the back of the box.
Overall I did learn from this it was an interesting way of learning!
