Curation 3

     This week I have collected much more information and things for my curation project. I found a website that has many different dairy free recipes that I enjoyed very much. I also found a gluten free blog that a woman who has been gluten free for years has created for other people's use. Both of these have been amazing additions to my curation project. 
     Even though those two additions were great I still think that my best addition this week was a blod that I found where a man turns all different kinds of normal recipes into allergy free recipes. He uses recipes that I never thought could be made allergy free. It amazed me looking through his information. 
     The biggest obstacle that I have to overcome is still including a hyperlink because right now all of my links are just text... I will fix this problem by asking Mr. Allen about it ASAP because I keep forgetting to ask him about it in class. 
     The next three steps I have to do are very similar to the last post's next three steps. I am still going to have to collect more dairy free recipes, gluten free recipes, and egg free recipes. Then I will search for recipes that deal with different combinations of allergies. That is pretty much all I have left to do for this project. After I finish curating information I will then go through and make sure that the things I have are the best of the best in order to make sure my project is an 'A' worthy project. 
     So far this project has been going pretty smoothly. I think the directions were very clear and I have been able to understand the concept since the beginning. The only problem I'm having is creating the hyperlinks, but I should be able to figure that out eventually. 

Curation 2

          This week I was able to get alot of information into my curation website. I actually added many website links to all of my categories. I found a few great pages that really enhance the website. One of those was a blog that had so many dairy free recipes. 
          My most interesting link was one that had over 100 different allergy related recipes on it. I was amazed when I found this link. My biggest obstacle is still geting the links to be able to be clicked on. Right now there is no way to interact with them without copying and pasting the link into the search bar. This is a huge inconvenience for my users so I need to get this straightened out ASAP. 
          The next 3 steps while moving forward are pretty simple. First of all, I need to find many more dairy free recipes. Next, I need to find more gluten free recipes. After that, I need to find egg free recipes. After all three of those are complete I will then begin searching for recipes with multiple allergies. This project is going pretty well so far. My feedback is that we should have more time to work on this in class because I find it harder to complete out of class. 

Curation Update #1

            I began earlier this week curating and creating my very own webpage about living with food allergies! I thought of this idea because I am allergic to dairy, eggs, and gluten so I thought that I could give my knowledge and other people's knowledge of preparing food without those ingredients to people with similar allergies. 
            When I first began I just designed the layout and put everything where I wanted it to be, then came the difficult part, finding the best information to put on my site. This is when I decided that instead of curating specific recipes I would curate places to find those recipes. This made it simpler for me and also simpler for the users of my website. 
            My most interesting piece of information so far is probably a blog that I found that has tons of gluten free options on it! www.glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com is the website that I found it all on. I am having trouble inserting hyperlinks into my website, and also this blog. That has been my most difficult challenge so far with this curation project. 
            Next, for this project, I need to finish up finding places for gluten free recipes then my next step will be to find dairy free recipes! This project is exciting for me since I actually have these allergies. It's helping me realize that there are tons of recipes out there and I'm hoping it will help other people too! 

Carry It Forward: Ted Presentations

            These past few weeks we have heard tons of Ted Presentations that have really made us all think. But one in particular made me think extra hard about what I was doing with my life and how I could actually be changing the world. It was actually Allie Sonneborn's Ted presentation about water. After her presentation that day I realized that I could be doing so much more to help preserve water. It was that moment that I decided to carry it forward (hence the name of my post) and do all I can to help preserve water. 
            This was also the moment that I started obsessing over the amount of water I was using on a daily basis. I made sure to take the quickest showers possible and I always turned the water off when I was brushing my teeth. I also washed my hands quickly and made sure the dishwasher was very full before I ran it in order to run it less. But I still felt like I wasn't doing enough to change the world. So I decided to explain this problem to my family and get them in on it too. 
            This was when I began to take charge of my families water usage. I would remind them often about what other people are going through without water and how we take water for granted every day. After a while my family started being just as conscious about their water usage as I was. I finally felt like I was starting to make a difference. 
            I am going to continue to be conscious of my water usage for the rest of my life because of the presentation that Allie gave to our class. It made me aware of how much I take water for granted everyday and how thankful I really should be for my water. I plan to spread this idea and knowledge to as many people as I can in order to truly make a difference in this world.

Metacognition: Mashup Process

          My thought process during the mashup process is difficult to describe. I felt like during the process my mind was EVERYWHERE! I was unable to focus on one specific thing until about half way through the time I spent working on it.
          It all started with the word love. I am exposed to this word every single day in many different ways, and yet when I was asked to create a mashup about that word I was stumped at first. I spent about an hour searching the internet for different love quotes and things about love, but I then decided that I couldn't take that route and decided to start somewhere else.
          This time I started by looking through the book, Letters to a Young Poet. I thought that this would be a better place to start because then I would have a foundation for what to base my other quotes or pictures around. This is when my thinking began to steer in the right direction. I think I just needed to focus in on a specific thing in order to really get my thought process working correctly. And the topic of love was so broad that my brain didn't really begin to work until I specified my search area to one book.
          After picking about 10 different passages from the book I decided to try using google to find other quotes and pictures. This time it worked! I was able to be more specific in my searches because I knew what the book quotes were specifically about. Now that my thinking was on track it made the process go much quicker and smoother. I found the other key aspects of the mashup easily after finding the book quotes.
          I realized from this project that my mind needs something specific to focus on before it can really get good work done. If given something very broad to explain, like love, I have trouble wrapping my thoughts around it. I really do like how I think though, I find that if given the right opportunities my mind can accomplish pretty much anything.

Connection: Decision Making to DMwD

            This week we have been working on our buildings. It has been extremely stressful, yet it has taught me a few things about myself and other people in my group. I've realized that I am quite a good decision maker and so are the people in my group. All it takes is for Mr. Allen to tell us that we need to make quick decisions for all of us to immediately begin working like that. We all gave our input and somehow we mixed every idea together to create one amazing final project. Working together and making tough decisions quickly reminded me of my decision making with data class that I am currently taking.
            In this class we do many things related to decision making (hence the name). One major unit that we studied was the voting process and how those decisions are made all over the world. It was incredible to me learning that the process can be so simple in one country and so complicated in the next. I did enjoy learning about it though. We also learned different methods of making a decision. Ranking, for example, is a step in many of the methods where the different objects that are being chosen from are ranked by importance to the chooser. Many of the methods get complicated and require many many steps until the decision is complete, but that just goes to show how complicated making a simple decision can be.
            Back to class this week... We were able to create something with all of our input because of this decision making process. Without decision making we would not have been able to name our place, decide who would do what, and much less build it. But we were able to do all of those things and more because of the process that we decided to take. It's crazy how much someone telling you to make quick decisions can affect the actual speed of your decision making. So, thanks Mr. Allen!

Blogging Around

Shayne Turpin:
This connection is amazing. I am so jealous that you figured this out! I agree 100% with all of the comments above, and with your original post Shayne. The connections between Alberto Knox and Mr. Allen are right in front of our eyes. They both have ways of putting thoughts into our minds and having them stay there. They both word things in ways that make it easier to remember. Thank you so much for posting about this Shayne!

Rachel Blackman:
I totally agree with what you are saying! I think that modern houses and buildings are just plain and boring. I love the creativity put into creating postmodern houses and buildings. I think that, for me, postmodern houses are just more aesthetically appealing. If I were to ever design a home I know that I would take the postmodern route. Thank you so much for the insight into what you think about modern and postmodern architexture!

Best of Today: Modernism vs. Postmodernism

             The other day we spoke about the difference between modernism and postmodernism some more in class. I found quite a bit of the information to be interesting, but I had one specific favorite part that stood out to me the most. I loved the differences in the architecture of the modern and postmodern buildings.A modern building looked like this:

            While a postmodern building could look like this:

            I find both types of buildings appealing to the eye, but for different reasons. The modern building is simple and easy for look at with its straight lines and simple rectangle pattern. On the other hand, the postmodern building makes the viewer think about what is going on. It looks like a lot is going on and incorporates many different aspects of architecture.

            I thought it was very interesting learning about the different types of architecture because I had never had the opportunity to learn about the difference between modern and postmodern in architecture. I enjoyed learning about it and that is why I chose to use it as my Best of Today blog :]

Connection: MLK to John Lennon

            This week in class we read Martin Luther King's letter from Burmingham Jail. While we were reading this I couldn't help but connect him to my favorite musician of all time, John Lennon. Both men stood up for what they believed in in a time where people weren't necessarily doing so. MLK stood up for the rights of African American people and John Lennon stood up for peace. 
            These men are two men that will not back down from something until they are listened to. John fasted and stayed in bed for weeks in order to make sure that people knew he was fighting for peace. MLK made speeches and used non-violence to make sure that people knew he was fighting for equality between races. Both men were fighting for peace just in different ways. John Lennon was fighting for peace because of the Vietnam war and MLK was fighting for peace between races. 
             The similarities between these two men jump out at me from all angles. Including the way that they both were killed. Both were shot and killed. All the way to their deaths, both of these men never stopped fighting for peace, which is why both of them are people that I look up to. 

Blogging Around

            The first blog I read was by Maeve Hanrahan and it was called "Imedia:Women". Maeve's words really hit home for me in this blog post. Being a girl that is affected by media I really was able to connect to her post. She spoke about the places like Abercrombie making a shirt that says, "Why do we need brains if we have these?" okay for young girls to wear. I for one do not think that is alright at all. We need to be encouraging the young girls to take a stand on what they believe in and strive for whatever they want in life.

I posted this on Maeve's Blog:
"Maeve, this blog post is clearly SO relatable for all girls growing up in today's society. We are expected to be something that is clearly not possible to obtain. I think a great example of this is the dimensions of the famous "Barbie" doll brought to life size. Her proportions are off, certain body parts are too big, while others are much too small. She would be incredibly underweight and her legs would not be large enough to support her body. This example just goes to show that the media is making it seem "normal" to be something that is not even possible. Little girls start playing with Barbies at a young age, and it is then that this idea of a "perfect" woman is placed into their heads. I loved this blog Maeve, it was really interesting to read."

            The second blog I read was by Raina and it was called "Get Organized: A Tribute to Aristotle". I loved this post and I really could connect to what she was saying on so many levels. Her blog made me realize things about myself that I didn't even know beforehand! 

I posted this on Raina's Blog:

Raina, I think my brain works similarly to yours. It's just something that I haven't fully realized until reading your blog. I never thought about cleaning as a way to relieve stress, but now I think that is something that I might like to do. I too feel a sense of peace after something is cleaned. After I read this I went and cleaned my backpack too, and it made me feel less stressed out than I was beforehand. I think I'm going to try cleaning as a way to relieve stress now! 

Get Organized: A Tribute to Aristotle

          This blog happened to be assigned at a perfect time in my life. Earlier last week my Mom told me that if my room wasn't cleaned in one week I would be grounded. This blog was the last bit of motivation I needed to actually go through with cleaning my disaster of a room. 
          I'll start with how my room became the insanely messy area it was before I began cleaning. I am a perfectionist in most things I do. Actually almost everything I do. The only exception is my room. Since it is my living area and other people, for the most part, do not see it, I am alright with it being messy. If people were going to be coming into my room often, then I would keep it clean. I tend to care about other people's opinions too much, so if nobody sees it then why clean it? 
           A layer of clothes, supplies, stuffed animals, garbage, writing utensils, papers, books, and much more lined every surface of my room. Let's just say that it was time for a deep clean. My mother was right. Before cleaning I looked at my junk filled room and felt overwhelmed. I wasn't sure that I would be able to accomplish this, but for my mom and this assignment I chose to go for it. 
           I decided to begin with the desk in my room because I haven't been able to use it in about a year due to how much stuff is piled on top and in it. While cleaning I found things that I hadn't seen in years. Birthday cards from 7th grade, papers from 6th, and corsages from freshman year dances were just a few of the random things I found. These are all things that I no longer need, yet I kept them for some reason. 
           Before I continue, you need to know that I am also someone that has difficulty throwing things away in fear that they might mean something to me in the future. This made cleaning my room even more difficult. I would stare at a birthday card from forever ago and wonder if I would miss it if i threw it out. The process went on and on like this until my Mom came in and told me I was being crazy. She began helping me go through things, and it helped quite a bit. This is when the cleaning process really kicked into gear. 
          After finishing my desk I moved on to my closet where I found shirts that I couldn't even fit over my head, pants that had no button, and socks with more than 10 holes on the bottom. All of these are things that I obviously had no use for anymore, so I threw them away. When I finished cleaning my closet I moved onto the floor, which was just covered with random things. I ended up throwing a lot of it away and by the end of the process I could see the floor. I made my bed, turned on the lava lamp and took a gander and my newly cleaned room. I was proud of myself immediately. I felt a sense of relief being able to use my desk and see my floor. I had never realized that my messy room actually made me a little bit anxious. Having a clean room made me calmer. 
           The process was tough, but I learned that a clean environment actually makes me feel better. I also learned that I am a person that really needs quite a bit of motivation to go through with anything. Overall, I am so happy I finally cleaned my room because it really taught me a lot about my thought processes and how my mind works. Oh, and now I know what color my carpet on the floor is. 
         

What if: Dinner with Aristotle.

            Reading Sophie's world has got me thinking about many different philosophers, but one in particular stood out to me for many reasons. Aristotle is known for his ways of teaching, and since I want to be a teacher it was very interesting for me to learn about his ways. After thinking long and hard about what topic to do for my blog this week I decided to go with 'What if' because I wanted to ponder the possibility of having dinner with Aristotle. 
            First of all I would make sure to get reservations at a wonderful restaurant that is not too loud and has great lighting. I'd do this just to make sure he is comfortable in a place that he is probably very uncomfortable being in in the first place. Then I would begin talking to him. I feel like our conversation would be very enjoyable and quite easy since both of us have a passion for teaching. He would probably have a lot to say about categories, since this was a min factor in his teachings. I think that he would ask me many questions about our world today since it said in Sophie's World that he was a big questioner. He would most  likely ask me about how people these days are living up to the theories he had back in his time. I would explain to him that his theories about categorizing were for the most part dead on. 
            For example, he says that he could make a prediction for a group of adults as to where they would place different things if they were asked to put them into categories, and they would all put them in the same place that he had predicted. This seems to be common sense for us now, but back when he thought of it it seemed remarkable. There is one portion of his lesson that I think he should have included in more detail, and that is children.
            If I were to have dinner with Aristotle I would explain to him that his theories were correct, but he left out a huge group of people; the children! Since I do want to become a kindergarten teacher in my future, of course this is the first thing I think of when I learn about Aristotle. I would tell him that if he did the same experiment with kids the results would be completely different than what he predicted! And this is simply for the reason that kids have not gotten a chance to learn everything that adults have about how things go together. For example, an adult knows that a tractor and a farm would go together because they both have to do with farming, but a child might not realize that. I can't wait to continue reading this book and learning more about philosophers, but I think, at least so far, that Aristotle would be my first pick for a dinner!

Best of Today: Humans Merge with Technology

            Today in class we discussed the topic of humans merging with technology in the near future and whether or not we would become a new species if that indeed does happen. This discussion blew my mind. I have never really taken the time to think about things like humans merging with technology. Obviously, when I'm watching the movie Terminator I am watching it happen right in front of me, but that movie is fiction, so I've never thought for something like that to really happen. 
            The discussion in class today really got me thinking about this concept. I took a while to ponder exactly what my view was about it and I finally decided that I am against merging humans and technology. I understand that it would make people live longer and probably have more fulfilling lives, but I think that merging with technology would take away our humanity. Removing a broken part of us and replacing it with something else is taking away a part of us. If we do end up merging with technology I think people will end up changing greatly, and not necessarily for the better. I am guessing that people will make themselves fantastic at many things, and we will end up with a population of rich people that can do everything and poor people that seem under par because they cant afford to combine with machine. 
            Not only does this concept seem very unfair and biased towards people that have a lot of money, but it also will destroy our concept of hard work and dedication leading to reward. It could get to the point where information is simply downloaded into our brains, making it incredibly simple to learn new things. School would be useless because a kid could learn how to write with a click of a button. I feel like we are better off only using technology in humans in dire situations. If someone is dying and needs something mechanical placed inside them and they can afford it and are willing to risk the changes that could come along with it, then sure. But for the most part I think that is we do end up merging with technology the human race as we know it will never be the same again. 

Metacognition: Mindbook

            When I first heard about the Mindbook from some older students that had used it in past years I heard mixed reviews. Some people hated it because it was a bit time consuming and tedious, while others loved it because they got to show creativity that was always being pushed aside in other courses. I would have to agree with the latter. Now don't get me wrong, I've never really been the "artsy farty" type of person, but I have always been interested in finding ways to be creative and express myself. The Mindbook gave me the perfect place to do just that. 
            When we first began working on our Mindbooks I was looking over the prompts and began to worry when I saw that many of them had to do with writing, and there were only a few prompts that involved artistic creativity, like collages or mashups. I started to worry because I have never really been a very strong writer. I was always the kid in english classes that got consistent 85 percents on every paper because I could never figure out a way to improve my work. Seeing that a lot of the prompts involved writing I began to have flashbacks to my prior years in english and started panicking about being able to succeed in this class. 
            Luckily though, I soon found out that the Mindbook entries are meant to help spark creativity, even if it is through writing. These Mindbook entries have opened my eyes to all of the different ways it is possible to be creative. I used to think that creativity could only come when I was working on a collage or something like that, but I have now realized that I can have fun and be creative when writing an essay or something more along those lines. 
            The process of the Mindbook involves a lot of brainstorming and then executing thought out ideas, which I have always been pretty good at. So I found that part to be simple to do because that is how I do most of my projects. But I was very surprised when I found out the amount of creativity present in all different types of writing. I now realize that I can have fun writing any type of paper as long as I put my own creative twist on it. The Mindbook is my favorite project yet in high school, and I know it will continue to be as great as it has been this quarter. 

Blogging Around

            The first blog I read was by Chris and it was called, "What if; Kids taught other kids". This blog was about the concept of kids teaching other kids instead of teachers doing it. Since I want to be a teacher this post made me think about this technique and if it would work. It think that doing this every once in a while would possibly work in a classroom! I wrote: 
"I think this is one of my favorite posts that I have read! I really think that this way of teaching would allow kids to enjoy school more and possibly get more out of it! If I were in a class like this I feel like I would be much more willing to learn! Since I want to be a teacher eventually this post really got me thinking about how this would work in a classroom! Maybe I'll try it some day."

            The second blog I read was by Andrew and it was called "What if; Plagiarism". His blog covered the topic of plagiarism and also talked about the concept of turnitin.com. I agreed with his statement about how in the next few years teachers will not be able to monitor plagairism with something like turnitin.com becasue students will be able to find a way around it. I wrote: 
"I think your post was really interesting. I've never thought about plagiarism in depth, but your post got me thinking. I completely agree with your statement about a way around turnitin.com being inevitable. With the technology we have today and the growth there will be in the future, i feel it will be almost impossible to catch every kid that is plagiarizing a paper. I loved reading your post!"

Best of Week: Born in a Brothel.

            I missed most of this week of humanities due to being sick, but the day that I was there we watched the movie Born into a Brothel. This movie was the highlight of my week because of the way it opened my eyes to the way that people are living in our world. It made me think about the bubble that we live in called Glenview. That we are exposed to some hardships in our lives, but not nearly as many as people living in other parts of the world. I have never taken the time to think about how people live in India because it is so far away from me so it doesn't really affect my life. But after watching this film I have found myself pondering what it is like in other places too. I think this is how many people in the north shore think since we are never really exposed to such horrible living conditions or such horrible laws and restrictions. 
            This film also made me think about how lucky I am to have what I do. I was born into a family with a house, an income to put food on the table, loving parents, and a safe neighborhood. These kids are lucky if they have more than a dirt floor to sleep on every night. I thought it was incredibly unfair that these kids have to live like that, it just makes the cycle continue when they are forced to do as their parents did. It isn't fair that it matters so much where you are born as to what you will do with your life. I mean there are the exceptions that have a wonderful story to tell when they work their way out of the horrible life they were born into, but most are not that lucky. That's why I think what this woman was doing for these kids by trying to get them into schools that would help them get to universities was amazing. She was giving these kids a chance for a bright future that they would not have had without her help. 
            Another thing this film made me realize is that I would love to travel the world and learn as much as I can about other cultures. I want to be an elementary teacher after college and I think it would be brilliant to travel the world teaching elementary kids. I would get to experience the culture and traditions of every place as I was also getting to teach their youth. This is now one of my goals in life. I plan to study abroad in college, but after watching this film I do not want studying abroad to be the last of my traveling. We will see what happens! 

Connection: Creativity and The Beatles

            These past few weeks we have spent most days getting to the bottom of what creativity truly is. We've taken apart poems, essays, and many other works of art in order to do so. I think that i've finally begun to grasp the true concept of creativity during this class. Now onto the connection. I have always been and will always be a huge Beatles fan. I could listen to their music for days and never get sick of it. It's something about how different their music is compared to other people that draws me in. All of their songs have an element of mystery and the ability to always make me wonder what they are really about. With my passion for the Beatles in the back of my head at all times I began to make connections as we learned about creativity.
            Throughout learning about creativity I have been thinking about the amount of creativity John, Paul, George, and Ringo had to have possessed in order to create such amazing works of art. In a time when experimenting with different ways to make music was just beginning they were able to take it to a new level. Something that we talked about in class a lot was that creative people were able to think outside the box and make something new and different. They used trumpets, sitars, and created sounds that nobody had heard before through creativity. Sometimes they would just stumble upon a new sound by accident and still they would find a way to incorporate it into their work. The two band members that specifically embody creativity to me are John and Paul. These two brilliant men never stopped learning. They were always hungry for more. 
            Just one of many examples of their extreme creativity is the song A Day in the Life. John wrote half and Paul wrote half. The two parts of the song are immensely different yet they found a way to connect it with a musical interlude. They were able to make two things that normally would not mesh, mesh perfectly. All four of the men in the Beatles possess many different traits of a highly creative person. So as we have been learning about these trait I have found myself always going back to this wonderful band. 
            This relationship matters to me because I was able to understand how these men made some of my favorite music on a greater level. Before this unit I understood the details of their lives and I knew all the words to the music, but I never knew the traits that they all needed to posses in order to do the amazing things they have done with music. I guess this connection really taught me how important something like creativity is in the life of a musician like John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, or Ringo Starr.

What if?: Technology and the future.

            Something that was brought up for a brief moment in today's class got me wondering... what if, in billions of years, when the sun is still going strong, whoever inhabits the planets consider us, humans, to be minor organisms from the past? I've spent quite some time thinking about this topic since we spoke about it in class today because I really think it is interesting. We consider the small organisms that first inhabited earth to be minor in the grand scheme of evolution. Compared to human beings, those organisms were nothing. In billions of years people could be calling us those organisms. It baffles me to think of what the world could be like billions of years from now. With all of the technological advances that are being made every day, it seems to me that we are exponentially growing in our technological use and our ability to understand what is around us. 

            The possibility of humans being more machine than human in the future also came up in class today. The thought of that ever happening to the human race scares me. Not just because of the movie Terminator, but for many other reasons. If humans become less human and more machine will we still be able to feel? Will we still be able to experience the emotions of love, hate, fear, happiness? A life without emotions, both good and bad, is a sad one at best. If we keep going at the rate we are going now with technological advancements then, sadly, i can say that I would not be surprised if this actually did happen sometime in the future. If this were to actually happen we would probably gain years on our average life span and a few more physical abilities that we could not have possibly had being fully human. But at the same time we would have the possibility of losing all of the things that make humans such amazing creatures. 

            I don't know about you, but I know that I would not be willing to risk the amazing things about being a human being just in order to live longer or be able to lift heavier objects or jump really high. I wish that things on Earth could just stay the way they are now, but this is a very naive thought. Our world is changing right before our eyes and there is nothing we can do about it. We are just along for the ride. I could probably go on about this topic for hours, but I will end this blog entry now. Maybe I'll continue this post on another entry in the future. I guess we will see!