reflecting back on the first semester! :)

When starting global education I wasn’t so sure of what I signed myself up for and how well it would go over but I’ve learned many things and some of these happen to include, are how to take Q.C.V.I.’s (questions, connections/comments, vocab, and interesting/important parts of the story). Never before had I done this or even heard of it, after reading a story or an article you take note of these, vocab you don’t understand, connections and or comments to similar situations, questions you may have about the piece of writing, and interesting or important parts to help you understand.

Blogging was also a new experience for me. Weekly we are given a certain topic to write about, and after finishing your writing, you post it onto your blog with a picture, and it allows your fellow peers to comment and give you feedback on your posts.

Group discussions, never before have I participated in one until this year. I’ve always thought of a group discussion as people getting together discussing one topic but then when one starts to disagree with another that yelling and arguing would break out. In the ones we have done someone starts out by commenting on what we were previously learning about, then the students who want to join will raise their hand and wait to be called on to say their comment.

Debating I’ve always been interested about but never had the chance to participate in one, I never chose to because I’m one of those people who hates getting up in front of the class and giving a speech or presenting something, so I knew this wouldn’t be the best idea for me. Once we had all gathered around in a circle with our nametags on our desks it was time to start the “Rwandan” debate, placing blame on groups and countries for the tragic Rwandan genocide. Before this took place we had been assigned a group and been researching their job or title and how they affected the genocide. Debating isn’t arguing back and forth, yelling over the top of someone else’s voice so that you could state your opinion. Once a group had the floor they would say what they had to say and call on a different group to either comment back or bring up a new topic.

Paragraph responses, in one or two paragraphs we are expected to descriptively explain about what we felt or took from the task assigned. Using ethos and pathos which helps the reader build character and feel for your situation. From this first semester of freshmen year I will take many things with me that I didn’t know how to do before.

When researching, I learned the skill on how to find a credible source. If you type something in on google you can get a million different websites all claiming they have the answer to your question, but really there's only a few who have the right information. Credible sources are those well known like the New York Times, the BBC, the Washington post and websites along those lines.

Current events, I’ve never been as informed as to what’s going on in the world until I became a globie back in the fall. Every night we watch the news and the next day in class we talk about the national and international headlines. At the end of the week we are quizzed on what we have discussed. Current events has made me look at the way I watch the news much differently.

Cultural Events were also very new to me when I first started, every other month or so we are expected to go somewhere like to a museum, festival, plays and performances that represent another ethnicity or culture. After visiting you have the option of presenting a speech, writing a paper, or making a creative display. All have to be used once by each student for the whole semester, twice total for the whole year. My first choice was a written report which I did well on, I wrote about the invisible children film I had stayed after to watch in the auditorium. My next was the creative display for which I had visited the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, I had chosen to use a cork board and hung pictures of the pieces of artworks and paintings, with a description on the back telling how I felt about my visit there. And last I presented a speech. When presenting a speech you are expected to dress professionally and have an outline of what you will be presenting. I had gone to the Stevenson Pantomime Show earlier that month and spoke on that.

An Australian Native. (:

If I had the choice, I would choose to be a native to Australia during the early colonial period. When the British first settled in Australia they came because of the convict colony not intending to do any harm to the Aborigines. This seems like the better option to me because the natives in the other countries were treated worse.

The Native Americans were treated very badly they were used as slaves on plantations for cheap labor. After the early colonization of South Africa, gold and diamonds were found; bringing overcrowding populations the natives were left with no land, and could not buy out of a certain region. The Rwandans weren’t treated nearly as badly but their country was very segregated. Even after the tragedy of disease spreading, I still would choose being an Australian native.

Christmas Cheer :)

It’s the end of November and the slight chill in the air reminds me that winter is on its way! Now to be honest I don’t exactly like winter but I love playing in the snow and going sledding and snowmobiling. It is also the season of my favorite holiday, Christmas! Christmas time to me is so exciting, I see both sides of my family exchange gifts and eat lots of food.

It was the night after thanksgiving and my family and I had been in the holiday mood, we started to put up our big tree, my brothers had the genius idea to actually help this year which I don’t know if you would say is a good thing or a bad thing.. Some of the branches were put in the wrong spots making the tree look uneven but for the most part it made it look more like a real tree.

Standing at 9 feet tall it was hung with lights, and all different types of ornaments. Our theme is candy cane, we have a bow on top that’s red and white striped, with giant fake candy canes hanging out the side and little plastic ones hanging from all around. The tree also includes homemade ornaments back from when my brothers and I were in kindergarten.

After all was finished we made homemade cookies, they turned out to taste amazing! They were chocolate chip, also my favorite! They were the Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies, the recipe had called for: 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. salt, 1 cup of softened butter, ¾ cup sugar, ¾ cup brown sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 2 large eggs, and the main ingredient 2 cups of chocolate chips! They would go in the oven at 375 degrees farenheight and bake for about 9 – 11 minutes.

While the cookies were in the oven baking my family and I had turned on our favorite Christmas movie, Elf. No matter how many times I watch this movie I never get sick of it. What I can get sick of is watching the movie with them and they recite ALL the lines to it, it bothers me when people do that but I shouldn’t be talking because I do the same.

Our house had filled with the aroma of chocolate chips, the timer had gone off and it was time to enjoy our cookies, overall it was a great night.

The First Globie Debate

Yesterday we had a group discussion, debating back and forth on the topic of the Rwandan genocide. I am a member of the National Revolutionary Movement for Development, debating back and forth with my fellow members we are stating the facts and proving that we were defending our country and doing nothing else. While sitting in the circle we had the bad idea of starting off, from then on in we were pointed the finger at for most of the violence that had happened. Debates are very new to me, im not the type of person that likes fighting, so I wasnt too excited and since I had a group that was for the violence happening in Rwanda I didnt know what questions would be fired at me and what I would respond with.

As far as debates go, I kind of enjoyed it but at the same time I think I wouldve had a better experience with a group that was against the killing of the Tutsis instead. I think its definitely a good way to explore what each group thinks and has to say about the issue we are trying to resolve.

My grouo the MRND was formed by Major - General Juvenal Habyarimana. The interahamwe was known as our “youth group” and were trained, armed, and indoctrinated into a racial hatred against the Tutsi civilians. The interahamwe had choices as to join this group or not. We believe that the Tutsi’s had shot down our leaders plane because they had intentions to invade our country, after being forced to leave theirs to take over once again and treat us Hutus as second class citizens in our own homeland. Many groups blame us for having the radio station that was simply the only way to communicate to other Hutus throughout Rwanda. It also was a chance to inform Hutus about the upcoming invasion headed our way and informed them to defend themselves and their country.

We didn’t cause this tragedy all groups are all to blame here. When warned the U.S. and the U.N. didnt step in and take nearly as many actions that they shouldve. The U.N.'s job is to keep peace among the countries and that definitely didnt happen in this situation. The U.S. wouldnt stop bringing up the tragedy in Somalia and said it was at a different time, well yeah obviously they happened at different times, what does this have to do with anything? We dont care with what happened in Somalia we care about you (U.S.) not helping with the Rwandan genocide. Like I said one group isnt to blame for this issue, all groups contributed wrong doing and little things to make a bigger problem leading to the result in the genocide.

The American Scholar Essay

Emerson’s argument in “The American Scholar” about American society stills holds true today.

One reason Emerson’s argument still holds true today is because the jobs given to the American worker only provide one skill. This allows the workers not to think about the other options out there. For example, a doctor has the skill of caring for another patient and they don’t think about caring for the persons feelings like a psychiatrist would. In the article “The American Scholar” Emerson states “The priest becomes a form, the attorney a statue book, the mechanic a machine, the sailor a rope of the ship.” When saying this he means that workers are becoming very much like robots and only continue to do what they know and are trained to do.

Another reason why this argument still holds true is because the man thinking actually thinks about other options, explores further and asks questions. American workers today dont do much of that, we have become a very lazy generation and expect things to be handed to us without doing any of the work. When only exploring one skill you leave out all the other possibilities. People may never know if they have a special skill at something if they dont use the opportunity to try it.

NO MORE BRACES! (:

I have had my braces on for a year and a half now and each visit to the ortho is the same as the last, a tightening that includes yanking of my teeth, a headache, and only being able to eat soft things for the next three days. I was told I would have my braces off in the summer of 2009, that rolled around and never happened, then I was told "for sure" I would have them off before ninth grade and the beginning of the year started and they still werent off, then came the oh you will definitely have them off for your school pictures guess what DIDNT HAPPEN - yet again. Oh and of course cant forget the promise of having them off in time for homecoming and I think you can guess... So waking up on my day off for my scheduled appointment didnt leave me with much of a different feeling, I learned not to get my hopes up too high when it came to things like this - my father said "Of course they are going to lie to you and tell you what you want too hear, thats how they make their money!"

Before 3:30pm had rolled around I did the usual routine of brushing and flossing my teeth over many times in order to impress the orthodontics that had worked in the ofice. We had arrived in the office and sat down in the waiting room since I had been a patient there for awhile my mom struck up a conversation with the workers while we waited until I was called back. While Laying in the chair I looked around through out the room and counted the ceiling tiles located above my head, stupid I know but it made the time pass by a little faster. Once my orthodontist came in and took a seat next to me in his blue spinny chair he had layed these plyers on my chest and said "Are you ready for the big moment?" I was shocked when he had announced that I would be getting my braces off at that moment! Due to the excitement my mom and I had both gotten very excited and let out a shreik! My wish had come true, no more braces for me! (:

power outage! (:

As I awoke too my iHome blaring “Shake it” by Metro Station, I grabbed the remote to turn the volume way down I dreaded getting up to get ready, I thought about laying in bed for another half hour and just wearing sweats to school but considering the fact I’ve been wearing sweatshirts ever since we started school, I decided against it but honestly I mean would it kill someone to turn the heat up in the building? Anyways, I got up a few minutes later walked into the bathroom and plugged my straightner in next was too decide my outfit since the weather predicted for cloudy skies and high winds, I decided on my skinny jeans and a tan t-shirt under a tan and yellow polka dotted sweater.

Once I was dressed I started on my hair, since I had straightened my hair the night before I just had to go over it a few times before I was ready to leave. I decided on pinning half of my hair back and letting the rest fall straight. Once finished perfecting my hair it was time for makeup. The usual foundation, bronzer, blush, eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara, and an occasional lip gloss was good for me, I went to reach for my perfume when I heard my phone go off; I ran to grab it and saw Katelyn was calling, I answered not knowing what to expect she had told me that Stevenson had no power and that we didn’t have school which was awesome because I could now look forward to two days off! One for the power outage and the next for conferences!

With a permanent smile on my face I skipped down the stairs to tell my mom the good news! Her attitude automatically changed to pure jealousy she went back to her exercise video will I continued back up the stairs I decided to change out of my clothes back into my pajamas. I layed back down in bed, grabbed the laptop and along with at least 30 other students immediately changed my facebook status to “no school!” After checking my farm I logged out, shut the laptop off and went downstairs. After a goodbye hug from my mom, she was on her way to work. I had looked in the cupboard and stumbled upon a brown cinnamon sugar pop tart which sounded good to me. I grabbed the pop tart and headed back upstairs to go back to bed and hopefully not wake up until lunchtime.