As a final product for the immigration project, each student wrote a historical fiction short story, about an immigrant from an assigned country. In groups of three, each person wrote about a different aspect of the immigration project: Why they left, the journey, and their experience in America. The stories also incorporated spanish. Below is my final piece, titled "Why He Left."
interesting working with people who were new to the customs and procedures that go along with MUN conferences. In the end, I think we all left with a better comprehension of what is really going on with Syrian immigrants, and how these issues could possibly be solved.
Mr. Lyme took me on walks every Thursday, which gave me something to look forward to the rest of the week. Today was Thursday, and we were making our way down the alley. I liked the way his shoes clicked and clacked on the cobblestone; like a horse clopping down the Avenue. I hoped to ride a horse down the Avenue one day, or at least see the Avenue. But for now, Mr. Lyme would do. Sometimes, he even let me ride on his back, if I was tired on the way home. Today he seemed tense, as if he was having trouble with something. He blurted it out, finally. "Skip, we need to talk about something important today. Mr. Lyme never called me by my real name. He instead called me skip; an ode to his naval days. This time, however, he said it in a more serious tone, something I wasn't used to. The cold wind, unnoticed before, suddenly made my face turn pale. I could see my breath in front of me. "I know how much you cherish these walks, which makes this so much more difficult to say." The temperature dropped further, but my breath wasn't showing. It was held in, caught behind my clenched teeth.
"It pains me to say that this will be the last of our Thursday walks." Fritz slunk around the clay houses, stalking his prey, being as menacing as possible. Hunting monsters was one of his favorite afternoon games. He loved the sleek, strong look the shadows gave to his unkempt, sort-of mangy fur. Fritz wasn't the most agile of pets, so when he ran around the corner, about to pounce on he beast defiling his cage, he stumbled into a lumpy clay building. Sarah had built that for him in arts and crafts years ago, and their were cracks and chipped paint to show for it. Sarah had grown a lot since then. Fritz and Sarah's trips to the park every weekend were long outdated, and had been replaced by boys from school taking Sarah to get ice cream; another of Fritz's old traditions. But Fritz was okay with this. He had grown up too, and lately, Sarah and his night time talks were enough to tier him out. Sarah would giggle as he dozed off listening to her troubles, give him a pat on the head, close the cage, and turn off the rose tinted light. The room would go dark, and the flower print walls of Fritz and Sarah's room would disappear. Fritz's sigh was a tired one, but happy too. He had everything he need, and he was satisfied.
Memories, locked up;
Put away, stored way down deep; fighting to surface. Sealed with kisses, soaked with tears. No need now for help; time for that has passed. Goodbye, life I loved; I don't need you anymore, I convinced myself. Above is a photo from the debate I participated in against another peer group. We debated this week on the use of recreational drugs in sports. My partner and I did a great job communicating, and working together to make our speeches. We also helped each other write the rebuttal. During the speeches, I talked clearly, and was able to come out victorious. My partner and I won! The judges mentioned that we did a better job of showing our evidence. I look forward to doing more debates in the future.
After spending part of the week researching sports related ethical topics, we wrote persuasive essays with a partner. My partner and I were selected to write about the use of recreational drugs in sports. The essay went through rounds of critique, and we then transformed it into MLA format. I worked well with my partner, making sure we did equal parts of the essay. If there was something one of us needed the other to do, we did a great job of communicating respectively. I would definitely work with my partner again in the future. Click HERE to view my essay.
Click HERE to see a reflection of our socratic seminar this week.
After the socratic seminar this week, we wrote a one to two page reflection on how it went. Mine can be accessed at the above link. This seminar was on the philosophy of Emmanuel Kant. While I don't agree with his teachings, I do think that there are times when his thought process can help us all. I'm proud of how well I did in the seminar, as well as how I did the rest of the week. I completed everything we planned to work on, on time. While there were a few times that I had to work or collaborate with some of my less favorite peers, I still did a good job with them, and we kept each other on task. Next week, I would like to try and distance myself from distractions, so that I can do all my work in class, and not take it home. |
AuthorTenth Grade Archives
June 2016
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