Naomi's Blog

History is events that happened in the past. Historians are people who study and writes about history. There are different types of historians that study different topics such as political history, diplomatic history, social history, cultural history, economic history and intellectual history. These different topics overlap with each other in some parts like political and economic history (about money). Historians collect primary and secondary information and also research information for investigating and recording different types of information and aspects. Then historians write and analyze the information they have collected.

For the generations project, I acted as a historian, looking at three different generations in my family. At the start of the process, I collected primary and secondary information. I found pictures of when my mother and I was smaller. I also found many secondary information on the internet about the World War II, Japan’s post-war economic miracle, technology, etc. I also interviewed my grandmother, mother and myself to collect more information. Then I decided to do a ‘draw my life’ styled video to make the presentation more entertaining and easy to understand so I had to record myself drawing. Then I had to add my voice recording so people actually hear what I am trying to say as well as visuals. 

There were challenges that I faced through the process of the project as I worked as a historian. A challenge was collecting information. It was hard to find a time to interview with my mother because she is busy. Even more my grandmother because she can’t send e-mails or I can’t meet her so I had to call her which took time to find a time and reach her. Another challenge was deciding how to present. This process was hard because I had to find a way to give people information but in an entertaining and understanding way so people would actually listen and concentrate on what I am saying. Drawing the actual things was also a challenge because I am not a very good artist. Although it was difficult and my drawing weren’t very good, I feel that it was a success because people understood and enjoyed what I drew.

Technology changed the way history is recorded and remembered because millions of different people can post any kind of history and everyone would be able to see it. This makes it easier for us to find information that we need without going to the library and finding a book on it because we can just search it on the internet and it’ll come up. Although it is easy, it makes it less reliable because we don’t know who is posting what and if it is actually true. When it was in books, people had to go through the publication process and there were people who actually checked the information. On the internet, there isn’t a person that goes to all the websites and checks which makes it harder for us to know if the information we are looking at is actually true or not.

1.  Are there certain ideas, or social messages, that influence the kinds of photos that girls typically post? How might these attitudes affect the kinds of photo comments girls post amongst themselves?

There is that idea that a girl has to be pretty and beautiful so girls would post pictures of them selves that they think they look pretty in. They will also say that they look ugly in the photo when they actually don’t think so to ‘fish’ for nice comments. These attitudes lead to comments saying things like ‘you’re so pretty’ and ‘I’m so jealous!’ which makes the girl who posted it feel better about themselves.

2. Are there certain ideas, or social messages, that influence the kinds of photos that guys typically post? How might these attitudes affect the kinds of photo comments guys post amongst themselves?

They aren’t many ideas or messages that influence the kinds of photos that guys typically post. I think that they just post photos that they think is funny but they are certain types of guys that take selfies and shirtless pictures to get attention from girls. Other guys won’t post many comments I think.

3. Are people aware of their online images? Do they try to make themeslves look certain ways? Why or why not?

Yes. I think that they try to make themselves look pretty and perfect to get the other genders attention and to get compliments.

4. Do we have different expectations for how girls and guys should look or act online? If so, where do we learn these attitudes? If not, why not?

Yes I think we do. I think we learn these attitudes from other peers and the media.

5. How aware are you of how you comment on other people’s photos? Do you think this differs for guys and girls?

I think I’m aware when I comment on other people’s photos. For girls I comment more than guys. I mostly compliment them.

And remember: Think before you post, before you comment, before it’s too late..!

Here is my twinkle twinkle little star recording on the Koto.

Koto Recording

We did two speeches in drama class. A impromptu topic speech and a persuasive topic speech. I think that my persuasive speech was better than my impromptu speech.

Impromptu Speech

8A Drama: Impromptu Speech from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

For the reflection for the Impromptu Speech, click this link.

Persuasive Speech

8A Drama: Persuasive Speeches from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

My volume for my persuasive speech was loud enough for people to hear and so was my projection. My pitch didn’t change much and I didn’t have much inflection. My pace was good and I had some emphasis on some of the words. I paused when it was necessary. My posture was stood up. I didn’t have much gestures and facial expressions. I should have if I wanted to persuade people more. I only looked at my palm cards a lot and brought it up a lot and I still touched my hair a lot. The structure of my speech was well organized. I had many information but I could have had more statistics. All my information was relavent to my topic and helped prove my point.

Answer these questions:

1. My best speech was the persuasive one because I think it was better organized. My persuasive speech had a proper structure unlike my impromptu one. I also think that my persuasive speech was better than my other one because my posture was better. I think that I was leaning a bit in the impromptu speech but this one I stood up straight. I also think that I touched my hair less this time.

2. I should improve on my modulation, especially pitch, emphasis and inflection, because it helps me persuade people more. I also think that I need to work on not touching and fiddling with my hair because it looks unprofessional and childish.

3. Another speech which was captivating was Haakon‘s Speech. I think that his speech was captivating because of different reasons. He had a lot of statistics that caught my attention. At the start, he had many numbers of people on social media and even though I didn’t understand a lot of it, it’s mostly because I was surprised by the numbers. I think that his voice was very clear to hear and projected well. I also think that he had emphasis on words which convinced me. I also was able to relate to the topic a lot so it was easy to understand and for him to persuade me. Overall, I think that his speech was the most convincing to me.

8A Drama: Persuasive Speeches from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

In grade 8 tech class, we are learning about the copyright law and about mashups and remixes. I think that copyright both hinders and cultivates creativity.

I think that copyright cultivates creativity when it protect people’s work from other people stealing it and claiming it as their own. If we don’t have it, people will keep on stealing each others work and it will never stop. I also think that it would force people people to think more and create something original. If people can’t use people’s work, they have to think of something new, original and creative.

I also think that copyright hinders creativity. It hinders creativity because people get ideas based on other people’s work. People learn and create things from other people’s work and people would not be able to do that because of copyright. In the video ‘ Everything is a Remix’, they told us that everything is a remix. Copyright doesn’t allow us to do that.

In drama, we did a 1 min. speech about a topic we pulled out of the hat. We had 30 sec. to prepare and my topic was sleep. Overall I think that I did not do very well on this speech. Here is my speech.

8A Drama: Impromptu Speech from YIS Arts on Vimeo.

I think that my volume and projection were good. I feel like everyone was able to hear my speech. I think that my pace was overall good except the part in the end where I started talking like a robot. I think that I paused at the right places to breathe but didn’t have any for dramatic effects. I think that my pitch was very monotone and I didn’t have much emphasis on words. I think that I also didn’t have much inflection in anything I said. I think that I need to improve on that. I also was smiling a lot looking at someone which I need to stop and concentrate more on. I also think that I should really tie my hair because I was playing with it the whole time.

1. Appearances and deception are a common theme in literature, how does Hinton demonstrate this?

She demonstrates this with using the gangs. Their appearances represents which gang they are. Also the scene where Randy talks to Ponyboy. How when you are born you are determined how you are, what you where, how you live, etc.

2. Do narrators always tell the truth? Is Ponyboy a reliable narrator?

No they do not because it is only from one perspective. Ponyboy is reliable but they are some points that are not because it is only from his point of view. Ponyboy is subjective.

3. Is The Outsiders relevant to you? Can you relate to it? Why or why not?

Not all parts are relevant to me but there are some parts that I can relate with. For example, how we have ‘groups’. They are not gangs but in our school there are different groups of people but we respect each other and still spend time with each other sometimes.

4. Should The Outsiders be taught in school? If so, at what grade level?

Yes because it teaches people about respecting each other although we are all different. I think it should be taught in 8th grade because I think that there are lots of drama in 8th grade.

5. Who is your favourite character and why? Who is your least favourite? Explain your choice.

My favorite character was Cherry because she was different compared to the other socs. She didn’t like the killing and she didn’t like the fights but she still helped the greasers. She doesn’t judge people and see them from who they are. Also Randy. My least favorite was Two-Bit because I don’t think he was the nicest of them all and I think that he was the most judgmental one. 

6. Which character impacts you the most? What emotions do you feel for that character? Does he/she remind you of someone else you know? Of yourself?

Warm up drill suited for handball

In this drill they are two teams divided into the passing team and the defending team. Each team has an even number of players and the passing team wears bibs and the defending team doesn’t. They is 1 ball or 2 balls (depending on how big the teams are) and the passing team has to pass the ball around each other. They cannot move around with the ball and they can only hold the ball for three seconds. The defending team has to try and intercept the ball from the passing team. If the defending team intercepts the ball, the person to threw/passed the ball, takes their bib off and becomes part of the defending team. The drill goes on till there is only one person left on the passing team.

Handball skill development drill

This drill is done in pairs or in groups of three. It is better to have more than 3 or 4 teams. Their is 1 ball or 2 (depending on the number of teams) and between the pairs/groups, the players have to pass it between each other and try to hit or tag (depending on the hardness of the ball when to throw it) another player from another group. If a player is hit/tagged, they have to stay in the spot they were hit/tagged and have their arms out. The way the player can get back in the game is for their partner/group member to put their arms down. It is similar to toilet tag. The players passing the ball to each other may take 3 steps and can only hold the ball for 3 seconds. If they do take more then 3 steps or hold the ball for more then 3 seconds, they have to drop the ball.

Handball (also known as team handball, olympic handball, European team handball, European handball, or Borden ball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven (six outfield players and a goal keeper on each team) pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team. A standerd match consists of two periods of 30 minutes, and the team with more goals scored wins. Modern handball us usually played indoors, but outdoor variants exist in the forms of field handball. The game is quite fast and includes body contact, as the defenders try stopping the attackers from approaching the goal. Players can dribble the ball like in basketball and can take three steps. They can also pass using passes like chest pass and bounce pass. Players are only allowed to be in possession of the ball for three seconds before either passing or shooting at the goal. The game has different phases. Firstly a team needs to gain possession of the ball and this usually occurs with the goalkeeper. The objective is to turn defence into attack. The next phase is moving the ball forward to the opponents goal. The next phase is to get into a scoring position. No players are allowed inside the D zone. Fouls occur when players use excessive force (e.g. pushing intentionally) and play is re-started with a free pass by the team that was fouled from the place of the infraction or a shot from the nine meter line (also known as free-throw line).  Players are allowed an unlimited number of fouls.

Here is my infographic I made for humanities to answer the question, “What is Progress?” The country I did was Japan and I tried to recreate the flag in my infographic.