If I had enough energy, I would turn on the webcam and take an awkward picture of myself with my quick-write prompts sheet and save it to the computer and upload it...
But that's if I had enough energy.
So, for second semester of senior year (minus reading The Stranger by Camus which I have to write my review of on best sellers...) the English classes are required to complete a Capstone project for graduation. Whee! So <insert English teacher's name here for sake of privacy> said we had to do at least 10 out of the 18 questions and spend 3-4 minutes on each. And in case you couldn't tell from the blog title, I'm not doing all 10 of them today. Only 5. I can "math" :D. So here I go...
Well this took a few minutes longer than expected. But I don't think I went overboard.
Yay for finishing half my quick-write homework! :D
your fellow student or <insert appropriate noun>,
joann
But that's if I had enough energy.
So, for second semester of senior year (minus reading The Stranger by Camus which I have to write my review of on best sellers...) the English classes are required to complete a Capstone project for graduation. Whee! So <insert English teacher's name here for sake of privacy> said we had to do at least 10 out of the 18 questions and spend 3-4 minutes on each. And in case you couldn't tell from the blog title, I'm not doing all 10 of them today. Only 5. I can "math" :D. So here I go...
- What's the most interesting class you've ever taken and why? I'm kind of indecisive between two of my hardest classes from sophomore year (ironically since this is not the SSM page...): algebra II or AP European History. Now, I've always been a history fan and everything, and my "love" (if you can even call it that) for math has been deteriorating ever since I entered high school, but algebra II completely mind-boggled me. Like, legal sideways parabolas? WHAT???? Or, brute force to evaluate logarithms? What the heck IS a log?! Is there a difference between LOG and LN? (Yeah, there is...I could get into this, but I won't.) Wait hold up. There's an equation for an ellipse? What the heck is a hyperbola? Did you just say oblique asymptote? Oh da--. Yeah. Well I liked European history, kind of regretting (kind of not) that I dropped it after third quarter, but it was the best thing to do at the time. I learned a lot there obviously, like how to pronounce French words (Montesquieu, bourgeoise...? did I even spell that right...) and the psychological impact of the Russian revolution and key differences between socialism/communism/Nazism/fascism... man, those dictators. Make sure you don't read the textbook wrong by the way. I accidentally read "many scholars agree that Benito Mussolini was very successful in the Great War." Literally my face when I saw that : o_0 say wut
- What's one problem in the world you wish you could solve? Gosh darn it if only I could somehow promote this better. World hunger. Or I guess going along with that, I wish all the violence would just... tone down. "Words I Never Said" by Lupe Fiasco (ft. Skylar Grey) is a good example of how I feel about that. I kind of shared today in English about how we live in a planet of self-obsessed teenagers with third-world countries, and even though we're so privileged and spoiled we're SO OBLIVIOUS AND DISSATISFIED. ugh...
- What would you change about high school? Based on the reactions I've heard from underclassmen/my teacher who also teaches at the JH and has to deal with alternative schedules, definitely standardized testing. It's a very good way of assessing the students and all, but... why so much of it? I feel like what was originally given was enough. For me, it was state-mandated testing that usually occurred once a year. It only occurred twice a year if it was measuring progress within one year, but otherwise the progress was measured just once per school year (i.e. a math standardized test once per school year, just to see if you're actually learning). And speaking of the altered schedules, it does get really complicated when some kids are in the building and some aren't. Now I'm not saying that the people who don't have to take the test should go in the building, BUT, that the schedule shouldn't be completely flipped to the point that some bells are missing. Like, having the bells in this order: 2, 6, 5, 7... what? no! Just...I'd rather have all my bells, in short time intervals, than just keep track of what class I have to go to on what day. Yeah.
- What was the most exciting place you've ever traveled to? Or where do you want to travel to? I actually just answered this question for the on-demand writing of a scholarship heh. Well, the most exciting place I have traveled to would have to be... either Taiwan or Seattle (Washington). Taiwan is kind of broad but it's actually a tiny country with lots of little nooks and crannies of cute shops and my family (pretty much 80% of my family is there) and delicious (yet cheap) food and endless wonder and happiness. I feel like every time I go back, there's something about it I've never discovered before :). Speaking of which, I'M GOING BACK AGAIN THIS SUMMER YES!!!!!! Two years in a row. This has not happened since I was in the 6th grade. That was 6 years ago. Anyway, I would want to travel to a lot of places, so I'll just list them all (being purposefully vague) and hopefully expand on them on some other post (probably in my regular blog since it won't contribute to capstone very much): Europe--specifically UK, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands/Sweden/Denmark (I'd like to do that little area all in like, a week); Japan; Korea (mainly to see my friends); Canada (mostly the parts I've never been to); California...? Oh I thought of another exciting place I've traveled to, but I was there for too short of a time :P - Bahamas :).
- Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future? Why? I hope this post has somewhat hinted that I'm optimistic for the future :) This year will indeed be a lot of firsts for me, but I'm ready to embrace that. I feel like I will be constantly opening my eyes to new ideas, ways of presenting things, and (well literally opening my eyes I guess) to books and art and happy music (YouTube...).
Well this took a few minutes longer than expected. But I don't think I went overboard.
Yay for finishing half my quick-write homework! :D
your fellow student or <insert appropriate noun>,
joann