One Hundred!

As of today, if you have completed every one of the journal assignments, you will have completed 100 journal entries. This serves as a record of your thoughts and feelings about the topics that were covered in this course over the entire academic year (even if you delete your blog, I have saved it all). Whether you realized it at the time or not, this journal writing was one of the most important elements of this class. It was intended to encourage you to think on your own terms about the topics we covered in class, and to express those thoughts in writing. Looking back at the experience of keeping this journal, write about how you feel about the practice of writing daily about your life, whether related to school or not. Do you think it is a valuable habit? Why or why not? Explain.

I think writing daily about our lives is in fact a valuable habit. The act of actually writing down our thoughts and emotions regarding specific topics, events, or even day-by-day occurrences, allows us to process our thoughts, filter them, think them thoroughly, and print them legibly on paper. This is great practice for future writing, where ideas must be quickly processed in order to write quick essays, and is also good for our mental selves, keeping us mentally alert, thoughtful, and keeps the rust off our minds.

For me, journal writing can also be a form of spirituality; I sometimes think about religious thoughts and my spiritual self, and it's a wild jumble of emotions, fears and confidences. As a result one method I've learned to process these thoughts is to write them down, and through this even worship God.

I think the journal writes this year were valuable in that they helped my writing skills, and generally this year journals are one of the few opportunities in this class to practice.

Final Exam

How do you feel about your final exam? Are you ready? What parts do you feel unsure about? What parts are you confident about. If the teacher were to say as he was passing out the exams, "Don't worry, this exam is very easy," how much would you want to kill him?

I feel pretty confident about this final exam. I'd say I'm pretty ready for it, since I think I know the elements pretty well and can analyze the short stories we have read with relative ease. I read over the Nigerian folk tale we are supposed to analyze for the final, and understand it pretty well.

I haven't put much focus on the story 102 Minutes, however, so I'm hoping that there won't be many questions on that. Even comprehension questions may come a little hard for me. But after taking the finals I realized there weren't many multiple choice questions and zero short answer questions relating to the story.

For this test I wouldn't be as angry, as I spent a short amount of review time but not even close to an excessive amount. I think that my study time reflects the toughness of the test as it was described to me before and after the test. However, if the teacher of, say, AP Biology said that I would most definitely kill him.

Group Work

Yesterday you were asked to write about situations in which strangers had to work together for a common goal. Many times as students you are put into groups to perform various tasks. How do you feel about group work? Do you like it more than working by your self, or less? Why? What makes it better or worse? Do you think you are a net contributor to the groups you are in, or do you tend to just let others in the group do most of the work? Why do you think teachers make students do group work so often? For example, do you think they are really trying to teach students to learn how to work together, or are they just making their own jobs easier by reducing the number of projects to grade? How do you think group work in school will prepare you for life after high school? Given the fact that in college you might have to work in groups even more than you have had to in high school, and after college you will certainly have to work in groups, how do you feel about the value of group work?

I think group work in school is good practice for college, and later for our careers. In this world, and especially during this time and age, people need to work together in order for progress to occur. Whether it is on a global level as we experience global integration of cultures and skills, on the career-based level within a company or research team, or on the individual level, cooperation must occur.

It's obvious how group work can be important, as skills may need to be shared and labor equally divided. However I'm not exactly fond of group work. In the past I've always been the hard-working self-starter who did most projects and assignments on my own, and even now I sometimes have this attitude. I think it spouted from my sense of security - trusting in my own ability was easier than trusting someone else.

Nevertheless, in recent years I've gotten rid of this attitude and learned to (though tentatively) trust others much more than I would have. However I still hate the fact that most of the time, the group is given credit as a whole; even if I'm the one who's free-riding, I would hate it because it feels that it was not deserved.

I think that teachers claim it helps in life, but in reality their first thought is that it is easier to grade.

Strangers Together

Throughout “102 Minutes” the authors emphasize that people are strangers and that they are alone. However, they also point out that the rescue depended on the efforts of many people. What main idea is suggested by these two points? Can you think of an example from your own life or experience of how people can simultaneously be both strangers and collaborators
 
It is pretty universally known that in certain situations people must work together in order to overcome obstacles and achieve success. In times of dire circumstances or during crises, this idea is emphasized even more. However during times of crisis, the people who work together may dislike each other or may be complete strangers.

Yet these men collaborate for the idea of greater good and a goal that is beyond the relationship that exists between them. It is an idealistic belief, but I believe that people must realize that when lives are at stake, everything (especially politics) must be put aside in order to address the situation.

Back in my days at Bethany, we used to go on missionary trips to the east coast, teaching aboriginal children English, playing games with them, and helping the villagers. When we were down there, we would sometimes work with church workers. We did not know each other, yet we were similar in that we shared a common purpose.

On one particularly memorable occasion, we worked together to set up a stage, sound equipment, and lights for a worship event. The worship was a huge success, and I think we were all emotionally touching.

Project Reflection

What did you learn by doing the project on the book of your choice? How would you characterize the level of effort it took to read the book? How much effort did you put into the effort? How long did it take you to complete? In the final analysis, do you feel like the exercise was worthwhile? If so, why? If not, why not? Could it have been a deeper learning experience in some way? Did your own participation and effort have an effect on the value of the project as a learning experience?

The biggest thing I learned was to not procrastinate and put projects off - I left my report off and part of my poster to do last, which ultimately led to me staying up late to finish the project to the best of my ability. I think I put a reasonably solid effort into the creation of this project; I think I was able to effectively and thoroughly analyze the literary elements and feel as if I was able to procure most of the themes from the book.

I put in probably close to five total hours worth of time into the project - probably a couple hours for the report and another couple to create the visual. Overall I'm satisfied with the effort I put in - I just wish some of it didn't feel rushed and last-minute. But that's my own fault.

I think that reading Night provoked some deep questions for me, and as a result I think I was able to analyze the themes and symbols of the story with competence. The themes part of my final analysis is what I'm most content with. Yes, I think this was a worthwhile assignment as it is a broad review of what the class as taught over the course of the year and was able to show how well we knew the material.

I would have liked more emphasis placed on symbols and meaningful themes, but everything that should have been included was included, and ultimately what each person wrote in each section of the literary analysis was based on the person's participation and own desire to explain what he or she learned.

911

There is no doubt that the terrorist attacks of September 11 were terrible. What about the aftermath? Considering the state of world affairs today, what effect do you think 911 has had? Did the United States respond appropriately? Is the world now a safer place? Now that Bin Laden has been killed, do you think that the survivors and those who lost loved ones in the attacks feel better

American society was changed radically following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I don't believe any American was expecting an attack upon their own land, especially in this time and age. It was even more shocking to see a display of aggression against thousands of innocent civilians, affecting thousands of lives through the deaths of loved ones. Following the attacks, President George W. Bush approved the Patriot Act, a controversial act that is seen by some as an infringement upon our freedoms, that allows the government all access to private communication means for the sake of security. Airport security was beefed up and security was maximized, and to protect civilians in the air, Air Marshall frequency increased It is without doubt that following the attacks, America was shocked and insecure, and the government retaliated with a major crackdown on security.
However, the US also united through their patriotism and loyalty to one another. I don't think Americans are more united in their nationalism and comradeship unless it is in the face of disaster and unity against a common enemy - in this case, bin Laden and the Al-Qaida.

I think the US responded relatively appropriately. They unified in the face of disaster against a common enemy, and responded by increasing security. However, the US invasion of Iraq was completely unjustified and utterly uncalled for.

Buried Alive

Today we will begin reading a true story about two men who were trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building. What do you think it would be like to be buried alive or trapped in some life-threatening way? What thoughts do you think might go through your mind? Who would you like to have the chance to send a message to? Would you want to have done something differently in your life? If you were trapped with others, do you think that you would all work together to try to survive, or would it be “every man for himself”?

I can't say what it would feel like to be buried alive. I'm not a fan of tight spaces and am slightly claustrophobic, so I think the ordeal would be less-than-pleasant for me. The thought of being trapped an infinite amount of feet underground is rather frightening, and I imagine that those trapped underneath rubble and dirt who survived needed to harness a great amount of mental discipline to suppress their fears. If I were trapped in such a situation, I would probably start crying prayers while wondering whether or not it is my time to leave this world.

If I could send a message the people who would want to hear from me the most would be my parents - therefore for their sake (not mine), I would contact them. I think I would regret all the times of procrastination and inaction, for being lazy and distracted from doing the work i should be doing.

If I were trapped with others, I would rather we work together to survive. Since we're all in a hellhole together, a little comradeship to keep each other accountable wouldn't hurt.