Humanities – My journey to success

Advertising Adventure

June 19, 2024 tylerm Comments 0 Comment

Imagine yourself lying on the warm sandy shore of a beautiful beach in Oregon. Your toes running through the soft sand, the salty air brushing through your hair, the soothing sound of waves crashing gently against the shore.

You want to Oregon now, don’t you? Isn’t it crazy how just and sequence of words strung together can make you dream of going somewhere or doing something? This Is called advertising. I have spent the last 2 months learning about, working on, and creating advertisements.

The Project

This project was full of a lot of learning and assignments that all lead up to creating a advertisement campaign for Oregon to display at the spring exhibition, all while trying to answer the driving question, how does language inspire adventure?

To create the campaign we worked in groups of 5 where we were given the theme connection with nature. We then had to find a font, a colour scheme, we had to create a logo, we had to each create our own individual ads, we had to create a video ad, and we had to put our logo on merchandise.

I created the video advertisement for the group and it is something I am very proud of. It was an original idea, and I believe I was very creative and successful in making people want to go to Oregon and connect with nature.

My Answer to the Driving Question

If you decide to go on an adventure, you would have had to have learned about it, or heard about it somewhere. These are both things acquired with language. The language in an advertisement, when your friend talks about an experience, the language on a social media post these are all examples of using words or photos to convince or inspire someone to go on an adventure. Also, language is often used to down play the negative and up play the positive, it can use words to make something sound way better than it actually is. It can be very persuasive and used in ways to convince somebody to go.

What Helped me Get There

Adventure Week

In order to create a campaign advertising Oregon, PLP 8 went on a field study to Oregon. Because of personal reasons I couldn’t go. Instead, I had an adventure week in school. I was assigned with cresting an adventure book documenting all of the adventures I went on, I want to go on, and that I researched. This assignment really helped me get a good grasp on what an adventure is, as well as helped me improve my advertising skills.

Read my book here:

Quarry Rock Advertisement

Another thing that helped me answer the driving question was creating my quarry rock advertisement. This was the first stab at creating Ads that I took and it was the thing that helped me understand what makes a good advertisement. When I first handed in the Ad I got feedback on what I had to revise, I was told to make it less cluttered and more simple. This feedback helped me throughout the project as it was something I kept in mind as I created my campaign.

Exhibition Reflection

Once we finished our campaign, it was time to share our work to the public at the spring exhibition. We needed our campaign to be more engaging for the people watching. We decided to create a walking garden. We cut out cardboard squares, drew empty vases on them, and then poked holes above the drawing. We gave the cardboard vases to people looking at our campaign. They had to go through each station learn about Oregon, get a flower at each station, and then Boom! They would not only finish with a finished flower bouquet but also having gained knowledge about Oregon.

I believe the exhibition went well, we all had our individual jobs that played off of our strengths.

F.A.I.L (first attempts in learning)

If I were to do anything in this project over again, I would change how our exhibition display looked. I don’t think it was very aesthetic and I believe we could have spent more time decorating the tables.

What I learned

Through this project, I learned how to make a persuasive and effective advertisement in order to convince someone to go on an adventure. I thought about my values of a good and adventurous time, which lead me to discover how special and interesting the ocean is to me. I had an adventure with a new book genre and learned I really enjoy reading adventure books. I learned abut a new food and tasted something I would have never tried otherwise. I listened to other peoples adventure experiences, which taught me more about what adventure is. I learned all the steps of how to make an advertisement campaign. Also, I improved my public speaking skills while doing the exhibition.

Bon Voyage!

March 14, 2024 tylerm Comments 0 Comment

Melty, gooey cheese with sweet tomato sauce on a soft warm crust. Can you even imagine your life without pizza?! If European exploration never happened you would have never felt this amazing burst of flavour touch your tounge.

This past month I have been learning all about European exploration, and the cause and consequence of it.

My Exploration Production

For this project, I was assigned with creating a story about European exploration and the cause and consequence of it, making illustrations to go with it, and then putting them together on an app called AR Makr all following the driving question, How can we use storytelling to investigate what sparked global exploration and understand its impact?

My Answer to the Driving Question

Almost all knowledge that has been passed around has once been from someone’s word of mouth, we learn lessons from stories and people. I fully understand what sparked global exploration and its impact, therefore communicating it through storytelling is an easy and effective method.

What Lead me to my Conclusion

Before writing my story and creating my video, I needed to learn about exploration and the causes and consequences of it, these are some things that really helped me develop an understanding.

Cause and Consequence Padlets

We used a website called Padlet to brainstorm all the different cause and consequences of exploration, we were asked the questions:

Why did Europeans explore? Why were they able to get to the Americas? Why would more Europeans choose to go to the Americas? What were the results of Europeans coming to the Americas? Consider different perspectives. Consequences can be good and bad.

Making the Padlets really helped me gain a better understanding because it forced me to really think about the questions, and then spill everything in my brain out onto an organized board. I could then go back and read my brainstorm for inspiration.

Web of Cause and Consequence

The web of cause and consequence was another thing that helped me answer the driving question. We had to make a web about the Europeans arriving in the americas, and list the underlying factors, human agency, immediate consequences, and long term consequences of it. This was a really helpful activity because after this I really got what I need to get in order to make my story.

Using AR Makr

Figuring out AR Makr was probably the most difficult and frustrating part of the project because it is such a hard app to use. This app allows you to put drawings and images into real life, however, it is super glitchy, buggy and impossible. We first got introduced to this app when we were asked to create a practice story about a pirate or explorer and then make a video using the app. This was a very hard experience because it took me way longer than I thought it should and it got me very frustrating, however, creating this story helped me gain more skills with AR Makr and made it 100 times easier when it was time to make my final draft. Watch my first draft:

What I Learned

Through this project I learned new tech skills, critical thinking, and a lot about European exploration and the causes and consequences of it. I learned new tech skills while using AR Makr. I used critical thinking when I had to solve problems and learn the app. Also, I learned so much about exploration, why it happened, and what it lead to.

Learning How to Like Poetry

January 30, 2024 tylerm Comments 0 Comment

All my life, I have hated poetry with a deep passion. However, this month I learned that it was the basic, cliche, meaningless poems I hated. This month I learned how to like poetry.

The Project

Words From My Heart

Click to read this book, made with Book Creator

read.bookcreator.com

For this project, we were taught many poetry terms and then tasked with creating eleven poems to help us answer the driving question, How might I write poetry that I enjoy and shows who I am? We then created an e-book out of all our poems, along with a complementary text for each poem.

My Conclusion

After learning about and creating poems following the driving question, I came to the conclusion that to write poems that I enjoy and shows who I am is quite easy when it is about a topic I love and relate to. All throughout my life I have been writing poems about meaningless and boring stuff like, ‘what my dog looks like’ and ‘my favourite food’ and that was my whole perception on what poetry was. I now know that to write good poetry you have to write it about something that means something to you, for me that would be activism and writing about human rights.

My Found Poem

My found poem was one of the things that really helped me answer the driving question. A found poem is where you take any text written in prose form, and take certain words and sentences from it to create a poem. I found it very easy to create a found poem that I enjoy and shows who I am, because there are so many books and texts out there I enjoy and relate to, and then all I have to do is make a poem out of them. I chose to write my poem with pages 4 – 5 of the book ‘Eating in The Light of The Moon’ these few pages of this book really speak to me because they are about feminism and how woman were robbed of their power which is a topic I both enjoy and relate to.

My About Me Poem

My About Me was another poem that helped me get to my conclusion. It made me really think about who I am as a person but also adding some aspects of my worldview. I decided to a poem about how people are so quick to judge, I added a few ways people would perceive me without knowing me, and then things that they would notice if they actually talked to me and got to know who I am.

Watch my About Me video here

What Lies Beneath The Tip of The Iceberg

January 10, 2024 tylerm Comments 0 Comment

Recently I presented a three part tableau to the public in the PLP winter exhibition. I noticed that the exhibition was our way to show our final neat product, and leave all of the stressful, hard work in the past.

What is a Winter Exhibition?

These past months, all of Seycove PLP has been working very hard to put together the Winter exhibition. The Winter Exhibition is a way PLP can showcase our work to the public in a creative and interesting way.

Tableau

For this exhibition, my four group members and I were tasked with creating a tableau that displays an aspect of the medieval worldview, an aspect of the renaissance worldview, and an aspect of the contemporary worldview. After several long months of learning, working, and revising, I have come through and created and presented a tableau I am truly proud of.

Medieval Artwork

Leading up to making our tryptic, was a lot of researching and working. The first step to every aspect was learning about that time period, and then creating my own artwork featuring me with aspects of the medieval worldview. My art piece displays the medieval worldview and what it was like to live back then, learning and knowing this shows me how many things learned and invented in the medieval times are the bases of everything we know and use today. My artwork shows a portrait of me surrounded by many different parts of the medieval worldview. For example, I added a boat to show how people got around to fight in wars. Creating this gave me a way better understanding of the medieval worldview. It also gave me important iPad skills, I learned how to navigate and use an app called SuperImposeX which helped me put everything into one canvas.

Renaissance

The Renaissance was the second time period I researched and created about. For my individual art, I created a piece that stars me, and showcases several parts of the renaissance worldview. I found creating this much easier than making the medieval art piece because I had already practiced how to use SuperImposeX. In creating this, I learned much more about the worldview of people in the renaissance. I am very proud of this piece because I believe I did a very good job at putting my face into the artpeice, I can see my face but at the same time it looks like renaissance artwork. If I were to do this again I would find a better sun, when making the artworks, its very hard to find a good renaissance art that is easy to remove the background, and that is free to use.

Creating The Tryptic

When making the digital tryptic, I worked with my group to make three more art pieces displaying the Medieval, Renaissance, and Contemporary worldview, however, these ones are featuring all five of us. For all three art pieces of the tryptic, we used the same mountain and ocean background, because a tryptic has three parts that relate to each other in some visual way. While making this, I learned a lot more about the medieval, renaissance, and contemporary worldview while collaborating with my peers to make the group piece. If I would to create this tryptic again I would take way more time blending the faces into the art because when we made it, it was rushed and not done very realistic.

Getting it Ready to Present

After creating the digital part of the tryptic we needed to turn it into something we can present. We were tasked with making live art. We had to make each aspect of our tryptic into a tableau. First, we needed to assign each group member a part in each tableau. Then, we had to make props, costumes, and a setting. This was the trickiest part for me because this was the part we were showing to the public and the thing that catches their eye, so I really wanted to do a good job and make good quality props. After that came the hours and hours of practising and dress rehearsals.

After doing this first rehearsal, we learned a lot of things we could improve, we had to make the scripts shorter, me and Cole ended up switching places because he was the only one who could fit in our phone, and we had to find a way to change into our costumes faster, we did this by layering them on top of each other so we only had to take clothes off instead off and on. If I were to change anything, I would make the props better quality because they ended up kind of falling apart in the end which made it difficult to move fast during the exhibition.

My Experience of The Exhibition

This was my first exhibition…so how did it go? The exhibition was a very long, stressful and tiring yet rewarding day. All of the grade 8 groups set up their tableaux in the gym after school, and then two and a half short hours passed, and the people started walking in. The first few times we presented to the public were a little messy, but in the end we were masters. If I were to change anything about how we did the exhibition, I would change how we organized back stage. It was very messy and cluttered and it was very hard to find everything when we were doing the quick set changes. This exhibition taught me how they work, there is going to be a lot of exhibitions throughout my PLP journey, and knowing the scene and how it works will help me be less nervous for future ones.

MEDIEVAL TABLEAU SCRIPT

As you look at the medieval scene you will see many aspects of the medieval worldview and how they matter to us today. geography is displayed by the boat and the map, to show how people navigated their way to fight in the crusades, this boat will go through all of our aspects of the tryptic to show how we have evolved overtime. the economy is shown by the crops, because wealth was based solely on land and food, this idea changed through times as we started using money as currency knowledge is shown by the reader because of how people shared and gained knowledge, we still have access to their books today and we can learn from their experiences and stories.

RENAISSANCE TABLEAU SCRIPT

This is our Renaissance art work,

We displayed economy as well as beliefs by two people trading, people traded to acquire things they needed which controlled the economy back then. Our economy has evolved since then, both in positive and negative ways.

Society and values are shown by the king colonizing the globe with force, to show who ran the society and how. Now some are still healing from the forceful colonization they did back then.

To show geography we added a Renaissance boat to show how people travelled around to colonize countries and to explore the world, we have taken and evolved this boat to make it what we have today.

CONTEMPORARY TABLEAU SCRIPT

Finally, this is our art that is based on our world view now

We added a big phone with social media on it to represent society, social media is a big part in most of our lives, it holds a lot of power over us and is a big source for a lot of information we learn now a days.

We also have our cruise ship representing geography and how people use boats to get around and away.

The Christmas tree is representing beliefs and how even though a lot of us aren’t Christian, a lot of our lives are still effected by the religion because we have a western worldview, for example, a lot of us celebrate Christian holidays, like Christmas.

Enjoy and treat yourself to a candy cane on the way out

What Lies Beneath The Tip of The Iceberg

Before the exhibition, the teachers were talking about how they are like an ice berg. The tip of the ice berg is the thing that people see when they come and look at our work, and the bottom of the ice berg (the part in the ocean) is all of the working, learning, late nights, stress, messiness, etc of the exhibition. This statement is exactly accurate, preparing for the exhibition is not a very fun time, it is a lot of hard and stressful work, but finishing it and showing the interesting fun part to the public makes me feel very proud of myself and my group.

Renaissance Inventions Window Notes

One of the things that really helped me understand the driving question (Why does the past matter to us today?) was the window notes I made in class about some of the really important inventions made in the Renaissance. We read passages about the printing press, the first medical tools and hospitals, and the first drafts of time. While exploring these we had to take notes in the format of ‘window notes’ which is just 4 boxes, one for Facts, one for Feelings and reactions, on for questions and one for connections. These helped me answer the driving question because it showed me how the people in the past made the beginning of everything we use now a days.

Chinggis Khan Musical

Another thing that really help me understand how the past matters to us today is researching about Chinggis Khan and making a musical about him. Chinggis was a very harsh leader in the medieval times, he would go around the globe and conquer countries for his Mongolian empire. While doing this he taught peace to the countries which we have taken and learned from today.

Why Does The Past Matter to us Today?

After finishing this very long project, I have learned a lot about the past and how it matters to us today and finally came to a conclusion. The past was the time of learning, experimenting, and growing. They are the ones who paved the original path that we walk and grow on today. They thought up some version of everything they we use now a days. Their inventions are what made it possible for us to continue growing, experimenting and learning.

Power Play And How it Started

November 27, 2023 tylerm Comments 0 Comment

Try to name a medieval art piece. Hard right? Well, not for me, ‘The worldview of medieval Tyler’. That’s right, not only does the medieval artwork have my name on it, but it has me featured in it.

What can we learn from the past and why does it matter to us today? That is the question I aimed to answer while going forward in this project. It’s hard to believe our lives and worldview today is still effected by the peoples knowledge and life style from 1200 BC! My art piece displays the medieval worldview and what it was like to live back then, learning and knowing this shows me how many things learned and invented in the medieval times are the bases of everything we know and use today.

So, how did I get here? This project was a long process full of many assignments that lead up to the final project of turing myself into medieval art that displayed the medieval worldview.

The Book of the Lion

We started off this project, with yet again another book. The Book of The Lion is a book set in the medieval times and is about a boy named Edmund’s experience in the crusades. This book was definitely not my favourite because I had a very hard time understanding how the medieval people talk, but it did give me a good understanding of the medieval worldview.

The Feudal System

Image credit

Part of understanding the medieval worldview, is learning about the feudal system. The feudal system is how the medieval people organized the roles in their society. It came with the idea that the king is at the top and the peasants are at the bottom, which also implies that women are somewhere near the bottom as well. For this part of the project we had to read feudal system and then make notes in the format of a ‘window’. While making this I learned how hard it was to be successful in the medieval times, if you weren’t born somewhat high on the pyramid, you have basically no chance of moving up. Also, I learnt how bad women were treated, they were considered property, had no chance whatsoever of success, and they were thought to be in the same area of the feudal system as the farm animals.

Haudenosaunee

To understand how sexist and unfair the feudal system is, we also learned about the Haudenosaunee. The Haudenosaunee is an indigenous group that believes strongly in peace and unity. Also, the women were the decision makers for the Haudenosaunee and were the most respected community members. The influence of the women in the Haudenosaunee nation has continued throughout the generations and is still at the heart of indigenous communities today. To read more about the Haudenosaunee, read the blog post I did about them here. Learning about them and their way of learning taught me how the Haudenosaunee and the lifestyle they created so long ago is still the bases of so many indigenous communities today.

Chinggis Khan Musical

Another assignment we did within this project is making a tribute to a medieval leader. My group and I made a musical in tribute to Chinggis Khan.

In making this video, we included the medieval worldview by talking about about how violent those times were, we displayed the significance of Chinggis by showing how he made a Mongolian empire and how he brought peace to many countries. Also, we showed how what he did matters to us today by including a person from the future who comes in and learns from the peace Chinggis brought. After finishing this, I learned how violent the medieval times really were.

Artwork Choice Chart

Getting closer to the final project, we had to create an artwork choice chart which helped us build up ideas of what to put on our final artwork. We had to connect eight different categories, geography, time, society, values, beliefs, economy, and knowledge, to the medieval worldview and then our world view, as well as finding medieval art pieces for all of them. Creating this helped me have a better understanding of how the medieval worldview translates into my worldview, also helping me complete the artwork faster.

The Artwork

After a long month of working in this project, I have finally completed my artwork. My art piece displays the medieval worldview and what it was like to live back then, learning and knowing this shows me how many things learned and invented in the medieval times are the bases of everything we know and use today. In the medieval times, people learned and collected knowledge from word of mouth and story telling, this is why I put a medieval man telling a story on my art. We still learn from these stories today, along with many more that we have collected over time, this helps us learn and build our worldview and knowledge. Almost everything I know and use today has been shaped by other peoples past experiences. Another one of the aspects in my artwork is an astrolabe, which is the medieval times first draft of a clock, but rather than showing a digital time, it displayed the timekeeping of day and night. We have taken this clock and transformed into the clock we have today. The clock is now a massage part of mine and almost everyone else’s life, the clock controls my entire of what I do, what time I have to be at school, sports, the time I wake up, the time I go to bed, etc. I put a cross necklace around my neck because the main religion in the medieval time was Christianity. Believing in god shaped the peoples worldview and how they lived life. Christianity in the medieval times was the beginning of the massive religion today. I am not Christian, but having a western worldview, it effects my life without me even realizing it. For example, a lot of my friends and people I know are Christian, therefore i know a lot about it. Also, I celebrate Christmas and Easter which are both holidays that were started and are a part of the Christian religion. Lastly, I added two men bossing around a women slave to show the unfair roles that the medieval times had in their society. People believed that men are higher than women and that men should have all of the power. This belief is still standing in a lot of peoples beliefs and lifestyle. This makes me mad because it shows how women have been on the bottom from day one and that it still isn’t fully better.

F.A.I.L (first attempts in learning)

If I were to do this project again I would manage my time better. Often I would keep pushing aside the task of reading and then I would get to the night before it was done and have to read it all then. This lead to some late nights of working, which lead to tiredness, which lead to trouble focusing. Moving forwards, I can manage my time by keeping a calendar of when things have to be done so I can stay on top of my work.

Why Does The Past Matter to us Today?

The medieval days was the time of learning and experimenting, they were the ones who made our lives this much easier today, by forming base to everything we know and use now. They are the ones who paved a path that we walk on now, and are the ones who made it possible for us to keep learning and experimenting.

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD!

November 16, 2023 tylerm Comments 1 comment

What if I told you that I did something more scary than being a grade 8 going into high school? That’s right, not only did I make the switch from elementary to high school, I wrote, sung, recorded, and posted a song about it.

The Project

After 4 hard weeks of reading, working, revising and reflecting, I have learned, worked, and grown, and came out of the ‘It’s The End of The World Project’ with a song and music video I am truly proud of.

For this PLP assignment we were assigned with rewriting the song ‘Its The End of The World as we Know it’ by R.E.M in a way that portrays our world view as we are going through the transition from elementary school to high school. Throughout this project we were tasked with several different assignments that led us up to answering the driving question, ‘How can a text help me understand myself as my world view is changing?’

What is World View

All of our projects in humanities in PLP will come back to the Concept of World view. World view is how one sees the world, it is influenced by experiences, values, stories, home life, etc, which influences our every thought and action. For a more detailed description, click here.

The Outsiders

To start off this project we were assigned with reading the old yet famous book ‘The Outsiders’. When I say this book is old I mean it, My Dad read it in school! But, despite its age, it was a very relatable entertaining book that showed several examples of worldview. While reading this book I learned how alike most teenagers and our world views are. Lots of the things the characters are going through I can relate to. For example, the main character, Ponyboy, cares a lot about what he looks like and how he presents to the world, which is a problem I am faced with almost every day.

High school Expectations vs. Reality

One of the assignments we were faced with during this project is brainstorming and then making a meme that reflects on what we expected high school to be like versus what it actually turned out to be. I made my meme about how I expected all of the older kids in the hallway were going to mess around with me and ‘bully’ me, but now I’m here, I realize how invisible grade 8’s are, nobody pays attention to you let alone bullies you. After making this I learned how much less terrifying high school turned out to be. All of my expectations for it were bad and negative things but after living through my first month of it, I learned that high school really not that scary.

Reflecting on my Own Worldview

My world view is constantly changing as I mature and learn more about the world and all of the challenges people are faced with. This project forced me to think a lot on what changed my worldview over time. After doing this I created the first draft of my song about all of the things that evolved how I see the world. My original draft of my song perfectly expresses my life and what has changed.

My Original Song

It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) R.E.M. 5 days late, i come out the starting gate Mom and dad and play dates Always safe and never afraid My world feels more insane, with my little brother born World not all about me, Mom and dad don’t hear my needs Turn it up a notch, papa dead, mom no strength Our world starts to shatter Feeling scared of death, my family’s death Starting as a kindergartener, always cry when Momma leaves Sephar dies in fire, now anxiety’s my fight Fires, earthquakes, lock downs were my worries worry dragons breathing down my neck School to school, i travelled , scared, hurried, rushed I walk into Cove Cliff, its fine, i think Uh oh, here we go, problems in the friend group But it'll help me become myself, work on myself Christmas yet again is here, wonder what I’ll get what this year Expecting its a pair of boots but hoping I’m not right, right It’s a super lazy, not dramatic, ball of love, a cute dog Feeling pretty psyched Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it, its not yours its mine May 2020, Covid hits, please make sure your mask fits Lock the door, stay inside, you wont see your friends no more No more school, online learning, eyes burning Always looking at the date, for school to soon initiate Things like covid, Have a fallout, feeling down, feeling down Feeling the anxiety crush, crush, uh oh suddenly controlled by fear, oh dear, throw up has me steering clear A phobia, a phobia, a phobia of mine Counciled on solutions, offer me common sense and I decline Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it, its not yours its mine It’s not yours its mine Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it, its not yours its mine The other day i started life as a seycove freshmen PLP IPad time, i hope ill do fine Different classes, new kids, I’m feeling lost, loads of homework, missed classes, stuck lockers, boom Feeling idiotic, Neurotic, ill be alright, right, right? Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it, its not yours its mine Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it, its not yours its mine Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it Im just working on my life as i live it, its not yours its mine Im just working on my life as i live it Im just figuring out my life as i live it Im just figuring out my life as i live it, its not yours its mine

Creating The Song

After working very hard on and finishing my first individual draft of my song (read up to view) the project was soon switched to a group project. This forced us to leave our original songs in the dust and collaborate with our group members. We then took small sections from our songs, and merged them into one big song focusing on the topic of our transition into high school. Creating this portion of the project taught me how to be adaptive and be able to change direction quickly.

Creating The Video

Final step in this project, we had to create a music video built up of several different photos of all of our group members. These photos had to show how we have changed over the years, and had to match up somehow with the lyrics of the song. In making the video, I learned my way around the iMovie app.

First Attempts in Learning

If I were to change any thing about this project, I would change how my group functioned as a team. When I’m working with a group, I always try my best to divide the work up and give my group members a job, but i feel like the moment anyone complains about what they have to do, say its “too hard”, or does something that didn’t exactly line up with my vision I tend to come in and do it for them. From this project I have acknowledged my group work habits, and for my next group project, if someone is struggling I will help them with their portion of the work rather than taking it over.

How Can a Text Help me Understand Myself as my World View is Changing?

Back to the driving question, The Outsiders helped me understand my changing worldview by showing me the worldview of other teenagers and how in many ways we are all the same. In the last year or two, there has been a drastic change in how I see the world. Rather than the world being all sunshine and rainbows and family and friends, I am starting to see the external forces in our society and The Outsiders confirmed that it even teenagers in 1967 noticed them as well. This project helped me feel less alone because I now know that I’m not alone in these new times.

A More Detailed Reflection

The Outsiders helped me understand my changing worldview by showing me the worldview of other teenagers and how in many ways we are all the same. In the last year or two, there has been a drastic change in how I see the world. Rather than the world being all sunshine and rainbows and family and friends, I am starting to see the external forces in our society and The Outsiders confirmed that it even teenagers in 1967 noticed them as well. Firstly, since becoming a teenager, I have suddenly gotten a lot of pressure from society to look a certain way. My hair always has to be on point, my skin has to be clear, and my nose has to be the ‘right’ shape. While reading the book, I noticed how fixated Pony boy was on how he looked. On chapter 7 of The Outsiders Pony boy says, “I’d die if I got my picture in the paper with my hair looking so lousy” (Excerpt From The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton, chapter 7). This quote showed me how I’m not alone and that being insecure is part of growing up. Also, I have recently noticed how violent the world is. In my younger years I believed that there were no more wars and that the world was safe, but now nothing feels safe. As a woman I have suddenly grown scared of walking on the streets alone. I have also taken into account that wars are not ‘all gone’. The world is a violent place and Pony boy noticed this as well. He was scared being alone outside because of the more privileged group, the Soc’s. His life was full of violence because he was a greaser who was forced to fight to gain power. Lastly, as I age, I have been noticing how unequal our world is. Our society has many layers of privilege and we all stand somewhere on those layers. There is a big class divide in the outsiders. The Socs have more money and more opportunity’s which makes them the more upper class and higher privileged part of that divide, while the greasers have less money and less respect which makes them more lower class and less privileged. I really related to The Outsiders because it showed me that I’m not alone in this confusing time in my life and that a lot of people in my life can connect to what I’m going through.

The Voice of the Haudenosaunee Today and Yesterday

November 4, 2023 tylerm Comments 0 Comment

Like the Beatles song, ‘Give Peace a Chance’, the Haudenosaunee believed in peace and wrote it down as the Great Law of Peace which continues to be a central belief shared by the five original nations.

What is The Great Law of Peace?

The Great Law of Peace, invented by the Haudenosaunee, was a brilliant idea that created one of the worlds first democracies. This plan, brought together five different indigenous nations (The Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca nations) and enabled them to live in peace and protect each other from outside forces. Way back in 1570, European settlers were trying to eliminate and destroy the indigenous culture. By banding together the different nations created a powerful community.8

Women in Power

The origin of this power came from the clan system where the women were the decision makers and most respected community members. The influence of the women in the Haudenosaunee nation has continued throughout the generations and is still at the heart of indigenous communities today.

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Settlers Vs. Haudenosaunee

The special connection that women have within the indigenous nations is something that settlers from other parts of the world disagreed with and tried to eliminate. In more recent history, the ‘Indian act’ which was forced on the nation by the Canadian government, didn’t recognize the women, and denied them status and would only negotiate with the male chiefs.

The spirit of the Great Law of Peace is a part of the contemporary life of the Haudenosaunee nation. Many of the Haudenosaunee people identify with their clan and look to the clan mothers for guidance. The governments policy was to assimilate the aboriginal peoples, this policy destroyed language and culture and has made it very challenging for the Haudenosaunee to retain their strong beliefs in Mother Nature, community, and family.

The Haudenosaunee Today

I think it is a testament to the power of the Great Law of Peace that the Haudenosaunee created so long ago is still the bases of so many indigenous communities today. Despite the efforts of the Canadian government who tried to destroy the way of life of the Haudenosaunee, their beliefs in each other and their own communities has enabled them to become a strong political force today.