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lease create a blog post where you share how you planned, what happened and what you learned from your 30 day innovation project. If you want to just make a Google Slide show you can embed the Google Slide show in your blog post. I’ll show you how in class on Wednesday.
You will share this in class on the day of our final.
We will have computer lab time on Monday for you to work on this.
One of my most fond memories this year was that of the BRAWL. This year in Honors English we were introduced to something of a verbal debate known as a The BRAWL in which the class was split up equally into groups of four. For The Brawl we created questions from a book we read known as All Quiet On The Western Front. We then used our intellect create questions from the book. These questions created were open ended and were relevant to real life. Each group made three questions and our teacher chose the ten best questions to be presented in The Brawl. The Brawl two groups would face off to the death in an intellectual flurry of opinion as they were given one question to answer. Each group was allowed to use their knowledge in real life such as the sciences, books, articles, movies, etc… in order to answer these questions. We were then judged randomly by our teacher and three other random student judges.
From The Brawl I learned to apply my analysis skills to real life and to use my knowledge to invoke mind quenching questions. Every Brawl we all split the ten questions to answer. Since there was four of us, two of us had an extra question to answer, Steve and I were those guys. Every Brawl I would create a google docs and spam everyones phone until they started answering questions for The Brawl. In my group we had a particular person who i’m not going to name but, we had a person who would wait till the period before to prepare for the BRAWL. Me being the person I am was forced to take on an additional three questions on top of everything in order to ensure we had every question covered. In particular I was able to display my knowledge in Biology throughout The Brawl. Specifically, in one our second Brawl we were given a question in which we were asked…
In chapter 9 on page 210, Paul is paralyzed with fear after hearing a bomb land beside him and describes it as being ‘alone and almost helpless in the dark’. Why is it that fear has such an overpowering existence on everything we do? What can we do, or what are some ways to conquer or move past our fears?
I talked about altruistic behavior and since fear is such an innate behavioral instinct that individuals because of fear have the desire to protect their offspring at all costs to pass down their genetic code increasing their offspring’s fitness often in the selfless of sacrificing themselves. I think my knowledge in Biology was a major factor which allowed us to move on to the Final BRAWL in which only the two top scoring groups were permitted. The other group was left speechless at my display of knowledge in the field of Biology and were forced to change the field of study in which the question was being analyzed.
All went well until the Final Brawl. Someone in my four man team of Brawlers had given me misguided information. He had said The BRAWL was on Thursday when in reality it was on Wednesday. Although I freaked out initially all good because I had two free periods before The Brawl I was able to prepare and that I did. The only other person prepared for the debate was my partner Steve. To my surprise we had the best BRAWL we had ever had in my opinion. We talked about an array of specific examples when answering the question…
Is war good and how can we avoid war at all cost?
I talked about how war we have gained so many new technologies such as canned food and our ability to launch people into space. I also discussed the question in terms of Ecology and Biology and used specific wars such as The Cold War to back up my claims. Overall I feel The Brawl matured my public speaking ability as well as my aptitude to be able to think quickly on my feet a skill definitely irreplaceable. Although the winner was not yet announced for the Final Brawl I feel that we I was a major contender and that no matter win our lose I am satisfied with my group’s performance as well as my own.
I see things in two shades. Black and white. Well, at least I used to see things as simply. This past year everything changed. In a way you could say I was enlightened or even inspired, inspired by an individual to embark on my blogging adventure. My English teacher this year for Sophomores Honors English taught me irreplaceable life lessons which I wouldn’t trade for the world, these lessons he taught me was through blogging. Every blog post he would have me focus on a specific topic (style of writing) which I absolutely loved. I learned how to master a new skill each and every week for the past year in this class. Most importantly this year I learned real writing. I learned to write in a style that could possibly earn a job in the future, to write about what is important, and most importantly…I learned to write what people care about.
“Let’s learn real life writing,
no more essaysguys”
The Audience. The most important lesson I learned this year was understanding my audience. I soon came to understand my posts which got the most recognition were the ones such as One More Sniff or Paths Somewhere Which Lead No Where. The two main reasons for the popularity of these posts were because these were heavily shared on social medias, and because people could relate to these posts. Finding your niche in the blogging community is the key to having your voice in the global community heard. You must learn to write what people can relate to, to write what they want to know, and to write what they want to hear. These are qualities in which a great blogger is created.
Describe your reader. Really, go grab a piece of paper and a pen and start scribbling. Think about your reader’s needs, wants, dreams. Find out what your readers seek. Make them smile. Ultimately, be conscious of who is reading your blog!
If there was anything I could change about this years blogging experience it would be topic restraints. I completely agree with the weekly topic in terms of writing style but, next time I think we as writers should be free to explore whatever we want to discuss, that way our writing is more genuine and interesting.
Amazing. Simply loved it. I was engulfed completely with the reading and all the links to ideas for future technologies it had. I was also so impressed with how far our modern technology has come and all the innovations we have now that we never conceived possible. As well as future innovations, this post has frightening accuracy in its analytical stance on how past predictions(about our modern day) in novels such as 1984 by the well known George Orwell which in many ways has become such a reality. Overall great post and you guys should definitely take a look.
Now, I’m a big fan of browsing reddit in my free time, and one of my favorite subreddits has to be /r/Futurology, which is solely focused on hypothesizing about what the future is likely to be like. For example, the subreddit often involves discussions about promising, new technologies, including electric cars, “brain” computers, and just pure wishful thinking. Usually, as I browse the subreddit, most of the stuff that I read is pretty high-level, but makes sense. That is, they seem pretty reasonable, and not really that amazing. However, as I just sit back and think about all the advancements that humans have created, it just blows my mind.
Just watching all the new technologies that literally being created every…single…day.
My favorite part of all this is just that our world is starting to resemble the worlds of science fiction movies, fantasy, and (unfortunately) dystopian fiction.
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“I have one rule, a very simple rule, a rule that you must obey at all costs and that rule is…”
… And as if was rehearsed my new team members all shouted in unison Coach Mike’s infamous rule “DON’T SUCK!”
I still remember it. The oldest yet most precious memory of mine. In fact my very first memory. I remember the first time. The first time I locked my mom out of the car, in fact the first time I remembered anything. Yet I was only three years old at the time I still can recall upon the vivid screaming of my mother, as she yelled “Mikey you better open this door!”. Somehow I had managed to lock the doors on our families old little two seater MR2. Looking back at this the story cracks me up everytime, but at the time my mother was hysterical and was nearly in tears as she was locked outside the car pumping gas. I don’t quite remember clearly how my mom got back into the car and my mom always says “pure luck”, but what I do remember is that moment of emotional distress.
That moment is about the only thing I remember from my years before the age of four. Just about everything before I was four years old is a blur. Do you ever wonder why so much of our early childhood is as if someone took our memory and just cleared it? Below is just a short snip of a study I was reading about the topic of childhood amnesia.
“At age 3, the children were all recorded speaking with a parent about recent events, like visiting an amusement park or a visit from a relative. Then as the kids got older, the researchers checked to see how much they remembered.
And they found that children as old as 7 could still recall more than 60 percent of those early events, while children who were 8 or 9 recalled less than 40 percent. “What we observed was actually the onset of childhood amnesia,” Bauer says.”
–The Forgotten Childhood: Why Early Memories Fade
As I was reading this article the words “repeated actions, make stronger connections” kept recurring in my mind. I remember my AP Bio teacher Mrs.Barro telling us this for about a solid week up until our respiration/photosynthesis “quizzam”. Now there is obviously nothing we can do about what is ancient history, but what we can do now is make sure we make strong connections in the future. It is crucial that we establish strong connections now in order to prevent unnecessary “adult amnesia”.
Clear Skies with Dark Depths
It was the clearest day we could’ve asked for. The sky was the lightest blue and the near absence of swells allowed us to get on plane without a hitch almost instantly. Daniel, Moses, and I had decided that day seemed like a good day for some good old shark fishing. Well, at least we thought that much was true until we nearly became the chum.
…We have all tried this
We all want to be in shape and have that summer body, but for many of us we just end up jealous of other peoples awesome bodies. We want to be physically attractive but are we willing to put in the work? How many times have you watched a motivational movie like Karate Kid(original of course) or Batman Begins or any video that has got you pumped to get in shape for about a solid week? Well If you’re like me let me help you out. Let me show you a quick step by step guide to get that summer body.
Step 1
Find a buddy
In order to keep yourself honest, you need a workout buddy. You need a relationship in which you and your buddy can keep each other accountable. Now not everyone needs a workout buddy to motivate them, it’s all preference, but for me personally that’s what has proven most successful. When choosing a workout buddy try to choose someone who is there to get in shape, not someone who is going to bring you back to square one every week. Try to choose someone who will compete with you and push you to your limit.
Step 2
Equipment
A huge aspect of getting building yourself is the equipment. Yes, we have all seen videos of people getting big on the monkey bars of the nearest playground, but honestly for how many of us realistically is that our story? It is important to attain access to a workout facility, preferably a gym membership is ideal. Now a gym membership may not be economically comfortable for many, but you should see it as an investment into your own body. There are always membership discount sales on holidays for gyms, but if that is not an option I highly suggest buying your own equipment…a one time investment. Make sure you choose a gym that is ideal and not out of your area so that you will be more inclined to go.
Step 3
Eat Right
According to Body Building protein is essential for building muscle and is very important to maintain a high protein diet when trying to gain muscle.
“Protein is essential for growth and the building of new tissue as well as the repair of broken down tissue – like what happens when you work out. When you hear the term “positive nitrogen balance,” it refers to being in a state of having enough protein available for the needs of the body and the needs of building muscle.”
Also definitely make sure to limit your intake of sweets and carbohydrates to a minimal and try to replace them with lots of water and protein. You and your workout buddy can keep each other in line on this.
Step 4
Motivational films
Lastly, watch a motivational film once a week to stay motivated. Keep this method up and make sure to let me know how your journey goes…and lastly if you don’t know what to watch here is a good list of motivational films.
Here it is. I haven’t given you guys a fishy read in a while so here goes…
Daniel : “It’s firing dude, it’s firing”
Me: “What?!”
Daniel: “You have to leave school…NOW”
The setting is about three years ago a sweaty September afternoon during lunch break at Talbert Middle School on a Tuesday. It all started off with a phone call from my friend Daniel who was about eighteen years old at the time, a senior in at Laguna Hills High School. His first words were “It’s firing dude, it’s firing”. This totally freaked me out at the time because we were always having assemblies and talks about school shootings and the whole subject made me paranoid at the time. So I answered with a deranged “What!?” and to heighten my paranoia Daniel replied with “You have to leave school…NOW”.
The smell gets me every time.
Twice every year my church Harvest, OC goes on a retreat to the mountains at a place known as Green Valley. Once in the summer and once during winter. I could on for days describing my love for this place, but words just wouldn’t do it justice. Out of all the things this place holds, my two favorites are the smell and the view. The smell is like inhaling God’s breath for the first time and the view is like a blind man receiving his site.
For me the first time I went to Green Valley was in the seventh grade. It all started off a hot sunny summer day, the temperature had to be in the high nineties and being in a school bus with 100 more sweaty middle schoolers did not help the cause. Just to my luck we got the bus with a malfunctioning air conditioner, on top of it all I left my cellphone at home (which I had just got and wanted to show it off). The bus left the campus from the church at around four o’clock…on a friday, just in time for rush hour. As we drove up to the mountain the only thing I could think about was what a long four days it was going to be. Miraculously I slept through the first hour and half of the bus ride, but when I woke up that was when all hells dogs let loose. Imagine feeling like an overinflated balloon with no holes, well now you feel half my pain. I had to endure that feeling for another two ish hours, that mixed in with the heat, loud noise of middle schoolers, and smell of strange middle school gasses floating freely through the air made me want to jump out of the bus right then. That was until the last twenty five minutes up the mountain. Everything started to turn around. The air got cooler, the sun faded away, and I was entranced by the smell of life. As soon as I stepped out of the bus I knew no matter happened that weekend would not make me love that place any less.
I don’t remember much of what we did that weekend other than a terrible bus ride, the smell of love, and the amazing view. But that memory of me stepping onto camp for the first time I will cherish forever and will enjoy that same feeling every year for the rest of my life.
fishdude23 