So in grade 9 humanities we have been working on a project for around 1-2 months, we have been learning about Crane brintons theory, steampunk, metaphors, and a revolution of our choice. So obviously after learning about all these different things we where going to have to do a project that would include all these different topics. The project was to build a machine that represents the revolution of our choice but it also has to include metaphors, and it also had to have a steampunk aesthetic,for example in my groups project our revolution was the Haitian revolution. The haitian revolution was basically when people of colour revolted against the white colonists of Haiti due to unfair treatment of the people of colour, so in our machine we included a piece of paper being ripped in half this represents the people of colour disagreeing with the white colonists over freedom rights, but it would be ripped in half by one side of the paper being attached to a gear because gears are commonly seen in steampunk, so it added a steampunk aesthetic. The machine also has to include a circuit, we have been learning about circuits in science class and we have been learning how to draw diagrams in math class. My group consisted of Claire, Sofia, Simon, and I. We started off with researching our revolution and finding all the main events we could use as metaphors in the machine, we found as much information as we could about the revolution so that we where familiar with it and that we all understood each step of the revolution. Next we decided to plan out our machine and come up with metaphors, we chose the big events in the revolution that had a lot of impact to use for our metaphors. We then moved onto bringing in supplies and planning how we would build the machine, We decided to do this- A piece of paper held up against a board will rip in half due to a gear/cog being tied to one side, this will knock down a ball that will go through a set of knives (kind of like plinko) (representing the war of knives which is the first physical contact between people of colour and the white colonists) which will then travel down a tube hitting a switch (circuit) which will then make the Haitian flag rise (representing Haiti becoming a monarchy). We then got all the supplies and started to build, me and Simon did a lot of the spray painting, gluing, and sawing/hammering as Claire and Sofia did a lot of planning, bringing in supplies, painting, and doing the storyboard for the video that we will have to make that will show the process of building the machine and incorporating everything into it. From what my group has done so far I have really enjoyed this project and I like how all the classes that we do like humanities, math, and science have skills that we need for this project. I really like that we got to choose what revolution we wanted to do because it gave more freedom and made the project mor enunciated because we got to make a project on something we where interested on instead of being given a revolution we didn’t want to do and wouldn’t have as much fun researching and overall doing the project on. Overall I’ve really liked this project and it’s been a lot of fun building the machine.

So in math 9 we have been working on finding the area and square footage of houses and finding the price of them. After doing this for about a week we where assigned with a project. We had to build are dream house and find the square footage of each room and the total square footage, we also had to find the total price of the house in different areas. My group consisted of Michael, Quinn, and me. We decided to do our project in minecraft because it was an easy way of seeing a 3-D representation of our house. I feel that we could’ve used our time a lot better as in class some times we would get a little off topic, but overall I feel that we did very well on presenting and making our Dream house. Down below i have included a picture of our dream house, as you can tell from that photo our hose is very big, that picture shows around half of the front of our house.This project was very fun because we had to learn how to do the math but we also had to show are understanding in anyway possible using our iPads.

In Plp 9 we have been reading the book Leviathan by: Scott Westerfeld, so naturally we would have to show our understanding of character development and how the characters evolved through out the book. In the book Leviathan how does Alek’s character evolve and change through out the book? In the book Leviathan there a two protagonists Deryn, and Alek, Throughout the book Alek changes a lot. He starts off as a young boy who grieves his parents death. At the beginning of the book Alek isn’t used to talking to piers, because Alek comes from a royal family he is not used to talking to people his age. When Alek first meets Deryn she is disguised as a guy named Dylan so she can be in the air force, Alek doesn’t find out that deryn is a girl in this book but, they form a great friendship “We save each other. That’s how it works, says Deryn.” Also during the book deryn builds a crush on Alek, she really starts to like him. Aleks character seems like a real guy, he seems like the sort of guy that you would want to be friends with. A lot of that is due to him being very kind, he hates war and hates death/killling “Killing is ugly, whatever shape it takes. That’s why we have to stop this war.” At the end of the book Alek has completely changed, he has friends, more social skills, and he’s a board the leviathan “You’re rather friendly with young Alek, aren’t you?” “Aye, sir. He’s a good lad.” “So he seems. A young boy like that needs friends, especially having run away from home and country.” The captain lifted an eyebrow. “Sad, isn’t it?”Deryn nodded, saying carefully, “I suppose so, sir.” I believe that in the sequels of the leviathan that Alek and Deryn’s relationship will only grow, and I also cant wait to see what happens next. Overall Aleks character is very different at the end of the book than at the beginning of the book, I believe that he is a dynamic character because at the beginning of the book he was a sad kid with no social skills and not many friends but at the end of the book he is a more developed character, he has friends and has more social skills. And I can’t wait to see how they change and how their relationship changes in the next books.

So for a couple weeks in class we have been learning about the industrial revolution and cause and consequences of the implement of roads, canals, railways, and the inventions like the steam engine, power loom, and different machines that make work easier. So obviously we would have to do a project that would show our understanding of the industrial revolution, we each had to make a explain everything about, what were the causes and consequences of the development of the railway during the Industrial Revolution in Britain?. Explain every thing is an app where you can use images and animations to help improve a voice over. In this blog post I’ll explain how I made my explain everything add how it improved over my three drafts. So to start off I had no idea how to use the explain everything app, I first started off with researching for three different causes (the reason why/how railway had that change)
After that I planned out my script and what images I would use in my explain everything. When I started to make my explain everything I had no idea how to use the app. I spent a lot of time experimenting and messing around with the app to try find out how to use it. Looking back at my first draft, its not very good. My voice over is pretty good but due to not knowing how to use the app I had no animations whatsoever and because of that it wasn’t very interesting to watch. I could’ve easily improved this by asking some of my friends how to use the app. The feedback that I got from my good friend Simon was that my voice over was great and included lots of information, I had lots of content in it that was interesting, but that my animations where not very good due to just talking over my pictures.

My second draft is a bit better due to me asking my friends how to use the app. In my second draft I added some animations to the slides but it was very poorly implemented. The animations where at the end of each slide and where not added throughout when I was talking so it would be silent when the animations where happening. In my second draft I didn’t change anything else apart from adding animation so it felt a lot like the first draft. The feedback that I got was that my voice over was great and very clear, my content was great, but my animations where still not great due to them being at the end of each slide and that when my animations would start my voice over would end so it was not very interesting to watch.

For my last draft I had learned a lot, I knew a lot more about the app and how to use it. In my third draft I redid my voice over so that my voice sounded a little more clear, and I added a little more expression in my voice to make it more interesting to watch, and I redid and added more animations so that they would fit into the video better. Out of all my drafts this is definitely my best. I put more effort and time into this draft and I think it shows. Overall I really liked this project, it made us show what we know about the industrial revolution in Britain, and made us use technology to show our understanding.