“What is a historian?” was the topic of this unit in humanities class. A historian is a person who writes and studies about the past. There are many types of history such as “Political History”, “Diplomatic History”, “Social History”, “Cultural History”, “Economic History” and “Intellectual History”.

During this unit our project was to create a video or a live presentation about our family’s generation or family tree. I have chosen my grandma, my mom and myself to include into the video. I had to gather both primary and secondary pictures in order to visualize the video. I also added music in three sections, one for my grandma, one for my mom, and one for myself. The music I have included in the video was meant to be popular songs during the time my grandma and my mom was. Also, I have included information about which person has lived and was born in which country and place. As well as I have included descriptive information about what kind of music and clothes, what kind of things they did during their free time, what kind of subjects they liked when they were in middle school and what school was like to them. I found that finding secondary pictures were very hard. Also, I have had problems with my iMovie when making the video. I could play the video but, the music would not come out. These were some of the problems I have faced when making my video. My message in my project was to show the differences from my grandma’s throughout to mine. I also wanted to tell that a lot of things have changed throughout a very short time period.

Technology may change the way the history would be recorded because by having computers and the most recent technology in the world, we are able to keep things on the internet. On the other hand, a long time ago many of the historians may have recorded information in their books and people might have burnt books. That is why I think that technology can help save history without being destroyed.

During music class, our class was assigned to create our own music. The link down below is the music I have composed. Enjoy! Thank you

Marii’s Rock n Roll Song

Reflection:

During this unit in music class, we were assigned to make our own song. When we were assigned to make our own song, it was an assignment where you had to create and compose a song from the very start. This means that we had to make our own notes for the piano in order to make our song. It was not mandatory to put the lyrics to the songs but, if you wished to make lyrics that would match the song, you could make one.

This unit of composing your own music was pretty easy for me. I learned that composing a song is very simple but you will need to have the right amount of beats and the right amount of tempos.

During this unit, we have been asked to write an essay and to compare two ‘Rock n’ Roll’ songs from different periods of time. I have chosen “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley which was one of the greatest rock songs during the 1950′s and another song “Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix which was one of the greatest rock songs during the 1960′s. Both Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix were Rock n’ Roll singers during the two time periods of 1950′s and the 1960′s.

“Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley (1950′s)

“Purple Haze” by Jimi Hendrix (1960′s)

The song “Jailhouse Rock” was a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and was performed by Elvis Presley. This song became the first hit song from Elvis Presley. The song was released on September 24th 1957. This song was sung by Elvis Presley and is number 67 on Rolling Stone‘s list of ‘The 500 Best Songs of All Time‘ and was named one of ‘The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 songs that Shaped Rock n’ Roll‘. When this song was performed, I believe that many instruments were played. There were 5 instruments playing in the song of “Jailhouse Rock” which is the Guitar, Piano, saxophone, drums, and trombone. I suppose that the tempo of this song is not very fast but not too slow so basically about a medium tempo. I think the meanings of the lyrics are basically about prisoners in the jailhouse having a party.

“Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley begins with a guitar and drums marking off a stop-time rhythm, which is continued by the singing of Elvis Presley. In addition, you can clearly see that there is a rocklike feature in the guitar pattern. The guitar pattern divides the beats into two equal parts. He also creates a rhythmic feel to the song by highlighting and slightly lengthening the first note of each pair which creates a melody of somewhere between a ordinary rock rhythm and a shuffle rhythm. The song “Jailhouse Rock” includes a full rhythm section with noteworthy electric guitar, an expansion of the verse or chorus,a rhythmic variety of stop time in the verse chorus in the verse in contrast of the unchanging timekeeping in the chorus, and different rhythmic impressions of swing, and rock n’ roll.

The second song I have chosen is the “Purple Hazes”, a song written and performed by Jimi Hendrix. This song has been released as the second single by the ‘Jimi Hendrix Experience‘ in both the United States and United Kingdom. This single was released in the United Kingdom on March 1967 and it was recorded on the charts at number 39 and peaked at number three, and spent 14 weeks or 3 months and 2 weeks in the chart. Additionally, this song was released in the United States of America in June 1967. In the US, the single had peaked up to number 65, spending 8 weeks (2 months) on the chart.In March 2005, Q Magazine has ranked “Purple Haze” number one in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. In addition, the Rolling Stone placed the song at number 17 in their “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” and was also positioned as number 2 on their list of 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.

In this rock song created by Jimi Hendrix, there were two instruments used, the guitar and the bass to make the melody. The tempo of this single is similar to “Jailhouse Rock” by Elvis Presley because they are both not too fast but not too slow and has a medium tempo. The story or meaning of the lyrics is about a dream that Jimi Hendrix has dreamed about. This single is known for the use of the “Jimi Hendrix chord” or the dominant seventh sharp ninth chord which is played as the first chord after the introduction. This type of chord structure was recurrently used in jazz artists such as Horace Silver in the early 1960′s but was not very frequently used in the regular basis of rock. The introduction of this single was a unique off-key tritone interval. The guitar solo of the song has been played through an Octavia or an effects pedal that increases the notes by one octave. This song features the ‘Simple Verse’ form. The main guitar riff is played in the Bb of the guitar, while the bass plays in the E. The song speeds up towards the end of the song and the guitar solo and the dubbed guitars in the outro are played through an octavia.

In conclusion, these two songs that I have compared are both very similar and contrasting. These two songs are similar by the medium tempo in their melody but they contrast in the lyrics and the use of instruments. I really enjoyed listening to both of these songs but I prefer the “Jailhouse Rock” because the chorus or the lyrics in the song sang by the singer is more clear, in addition I really liked the melody to the song more than the “Purple Haze”.

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

During this unit for drama we learned how to make different types of speeches. One of the speeches we have performed is the Persuasive Speech. In order to create a persuasive speech we had to choose a topic and we had to perform a persuasive speech. I think the goal in performing this speech was to persuade and convince the audience about what you were talking about. In this speech, we were required to use the following techniques which were:

・Pitch

・Volume

・Projection

・Emphasis

・Pace

・Pause

・Inflection

Out of all the different type of speeches I have accomplished, I think I have done the persuasive speech the best. For my persuasive speech, the topic I chose was ‘gum’ and I really think that I have explained thoroughly with good detail about the pro’s and con’s of chewing gum. During the performance of this persuasive speech, I do not think that my speech was very clearly presented. So, I should improve on talking or presenting more clear and loud the next time for my speech. Also the second point I will need to improve on is making more eye contact. I believe that I did not make very much eye contact with the people in the audience and my eyes were constantly on the note cards that I have prepared for my speech. I think at first I spoke quickly but later on in the middle of my speech the pace of my speech was normal. The next time I perform, I should improve on presenting at the same pace from the beginning to the end. I think I had the right amount of pauses in my speech. I think I should improve on some of the things I have mentioned before to be able to present better.

In conclusion, I believe that the “Persuasive Speech” that I have presented was the best out of the other speeches I have performed during this drama unit.

“Does copyright hinder or cultivate creativity?” This is one type of question we are trying to figure out during the unit we are going through in technology right now. In technology, we have been learning about different kinds or types of mash-ups by looking at different mash-ups made  by various people. Mash-ups are a combination of something that is already made and new thoughts of creativity. It is usually the process of editing something that is already made or something that exists and producing it into something new.

The question is “Does copyright hinder or cultivate creativity?” I believe that copyright hinders creativity because new inventions or any product is assembled by copying a product that already exists. By copying and editing products that are already produced, new inventions or products are made better and they are made into something ‘new’.  By having the law of ‘copyright’ I suppose that inventions that could possibly be made could not be made because of the law. This is because in order to create something, we will need to copy inventions that are already made, but if we do not go along with the rules of the ‘copyright’ or do not have the permission to copy, we may have to pay extra money for copying whatever product you have copied from or you may be sent to jail.

I assume that everything we create or invent is related to or connected to ‘copyright’. This is because advanced or new creations are innovated by copying ancient creations that have already existed. To make new creations, we will always copy off of something that is already produced. By editing the old creations, we are capable of remaking the ancient product into something ‘new’ and something ‘better’.  Everything around you has been made by following the rules of ‘copyright’.

In conclusion, I think that ‘copyright’ does really hinder creativity. Without the laws of ‘copyright’ inventions would be created faster and more easily because every creation has an origin and is developed from its origin. By having to follow the guidelines of ‘copyright’ new inventions are prevented and made harder to invent.

Our first unit in technology was “Presenting Naked”. We had to be prepared to present our presentation naked. Presenting naked means that we do not have any cue cards or any paper to help us talk in our presentation and we should have our presentation memorized. While making our complete product we must follow the steps to the design cycle. In the design cycle, first we must Investigate. Then we must Plan our our scheme for the presentation and then we finally get to the Design stage before making our final product. In the end finally Create our final product. We spent a few weeks going through each of  the process of investigating,planning,creating and evaluating.

First we went through the stage of Investigation which was to discuss in groups how design and communication skills would affect the quality of a presentation and whether we agree or disagree and we also had to explain why we do agree or why we do not agree. We also had to discuss and figure out what the meaning of “Presenting Naked” and we had to decide what made a good presentation. In addition, we had to check out some videos of different people performing different types of presentations  such as Pecha Kucha,TED,RSA and Ignite. We took notes of what we thought was good about the actions the speaker in the various presentations did. We were told to research the 7 steps to build a presentation.  We had taken down all the notes and information we needed for the investigating stage which is recorded on a google docs document which we share with our teacher. We were also told to choose three topics that we could possibly talk about in our presentation. I had 3 topics which was about ‘Animals’ or ‘World’ or ‘Candy’. I had chosen the topic ‘Candy’ out of the three topics.

After our first step of Investigation, the next step is the stage of Plan. We planned out which three softwares we would use for our presentation. My three options of softwares were Keynote,Power Point and Google Presentation. We were asked to explain which softwares we were most likely to be using. The software that I was most likely to use was Keynote because there are many templates that we could choose from. We also had to think about why the topic we have chosen was relevant to us, why the topic that I have chose was relevant to my peers or the school, and how I will make this interesting to the viewers or the audience of my presentation. Also, we had to plan out what kind of delivery style I wanted to use for my presentation such as PechaKucha,RSA,Ted,and Ignite.

Finally, we get to the Design stage. In this stage I had to make a “practice” slides for my presentation so, I could get some images and ideas of what kind of slides I should make for my presentation. After we had made the “practice” slides,we made a storyboard to plan out and create what we might want our slide to look like.

In the end, we go to the Create stage. In this stage we have created our presentation and the slides for our presentation. Also, we have made a script for our presentation. I think I have done my best in the create stage. I think I have done well on balancing out the time on making the presentation and the script. I have also been capable in sticking with my plan. I had planned out my presentation to have simple slides with just one picture and I had managed to keep all of my slides very simple. Also, I have researched good information about my topic for my script. The presentation I had created about the topic ‘Gum’ had 6 slides.  I had talked about the ‘Facts’ and the ‘History’ of gum, how it affects our health, how gum is good for our brain which is an interesting fact, and how it has an effect on the world today.

Overall looking at the work I have done in this unit, I think I have done well most in the Create stage. I think my slideshows were laid out pretty well. The slideshow was very simple which is how I wanted my presentation to be. I think that if you keep a presentation very simple with one good image it will be more effective than slides with many images that are not very effective. I really think that the images that I have used in my presentation were effective and eye-catching. Looking over at my presentation and my script, I think that I have managed to connect the information I had said in my presentation with the images or pictures used in my presentation well.

My strengths was creating my presentation and planning my final product. I think that I was able to create my presentation well because the planning went well. If I did not plan well, I do not think I could have done my Create stage well. When I was presenting my presentation I think I had a good projection of my voice. I think I have spoke clearly enough for the audience to hear me.

My weakness is the Design stage because I do not think I did very well on planning out the “practice” slides. Also, I did not do very well on my storyboard. I think I could have done my storyboard a lot better by having it more descriptive and in full detail. During my presentation, I think I could have used more eye contact. When I had projected my presentation I was pretty confident but I think I could have been more confident and at times I paced a bit and talked really quickly. Also my very weak point was memorization. I have memorized some bits of my script but, I had cue cards in my hand that I have peeked at when I had trouble with what I was going to say.To make a perfect or better presentation I should be very confident about the topic I will be presenting and keep the same pace when you speak.Also, I think I should have prepared a bit more and memorized my whole script. By having the cue cards, it was harder to make eye-contact with the audience. Even though the information I was presenting was something the audience did not know about, I think I could have made it more interesting by changing the tone in my voice to keep the audience awake but, when I had been presenting I did not change my tone and I kept on speaking with the same tone from beginning to end.

In conclusion, I think that I have done a good job in this unit of “Presenting Naked” but I do not think it was perfect or excellent. I think I could have done better and if get another assignment similar to this I would like to improve my weakness so I can present a better presentation than the one I have presented.

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My presentation about ‘Gum’.

I woke up in my futon as usual, expect the fact that it was like I had been flipped the other way around because my head was where my feet would be and my feet was on my pillow. I was surprised by the fact that the days during ‘Field Studies’ felt as if it went by REALLY quickly like the wind blowing past you. I was both sad and happy. The sad bit is that I will miss Hokkaido a lot and I really HOPE I can come back. The happy bit is that I will get to go home and get back together with my family. This year during ‘Field Studies’ I had made many memorable and great memories among my friends as well as I made many new experiences. I hope that next year’s ‘Field Studies’ (9th Grade) will be as good as this year’s ‘Field Studies’ (8th Grade). Even though ‘Field Studies’ is already over, I already feel like going to another one as soon as possible. Overall, I had A LOT of fun.

I woke up around 6:35. But, my eyes were still droopy so I just stayed in bed until my eye would open fully. I was awake by 6:50 and I headed towards the sink having the need to brush my teeth,wash my face and brush my hair. After I changed into my clothes and headed to breakfast with some of my roommates. While walking towards the breakfast area, I was thinking about what day it was today and remembered that today was the last day to actually get a whole day in Hokkaido since tomorrow we would be leaving and heading back to Tokyo. After eating breakfast, we had to hop on the bus to get to the NAC. At the NAC we had to wear dry suits and shoes that we had worn yesterday. My feet were freezing from the coldness inside the shoes from the water from yesterday. We each had to get a helmet,life jacket and a pedal. The river that we were going to go water rafting was 20 minutes or 25 minutes away from the NAC. I was really happy that we were going to go rafting and mountain biking When we got to the river, we would get a raft and instructions of how to pedal the boat and how you would ride the raft. The rafting was amazing and it was so much fun! The raft was approximately an hour long and there were many different areas in the rivers had rapids and a lot of rocks where it was fast,smooth,slow and bumpy. After we got back to the starting point with our rafts, we got out of the raft and thanked the instructor for being a great instructor and took off our dry suits and waterproof shoes. We rode the bus to eat lunch. The eating point was about 45 minutes long. On the bus ride, I was a bit tired and sleepy from the rafting so I fell asleep. For lunch, we had a bowl that contained soup, soba and a lot of mountain vegetables. I was very full but everybody was trying out the croquettes that were sold at the stopping point so I tried and got one croquette. It was very delicious and crisp. Then after the delicious meal, we rode on the bus and got back to where we went rafting. We got our mountain bikes there and the instructors would adjust the seat and choose the bicycle that would best fit you. I had not ridden a bike for 2 years so I was a bit nervous about riding the bike at first but, after the mountain biking session I was sort of relaxed and happy that we were mountain biking and I no longer felt nervous. During the mountain biking session, there were different levels. First → Easy⏐Then→ A bit challenging/ but not hard⏐ Overall → Not that hard overall but a lot more hard than the beginning. Then I got back to NAC and played ‘BS’ with many people. Then, I was a bit hungry so Anju and I got a chocolate cake from this café inside the NAC. The chocolate cake was SO good. The chocolate was melting inside my mouth. The cake was pretty big so after I had dinner at the NAC, I finished the chocolate cake as my dessert after the dinner. Then I went back to the hotel and took a bath. After everybody was back from their bath, we would all go to the room where we had movie night for the skit. People sang,dance,acted and many more… The performances were all entertaining and VERY good. Then, I went back to my room and packed my stuff for tomorrow. As soon as I got into my futon I was already asleep as if I was some kind of creature that has not been sleeping for a LONG time.

Environment:

-What are our environments?

Our environments for Day 4 was the natural habitats,the hotel,the river where we rafted, and the NAC.

-What resources do we have or need?

Among with Day 2 and Day 3, I had everything I needed to living life.

-What are my responsibilities?

My responsibilities were to keep the natural areas of Hokkaido clean and respect the people in our surroundings.

I was awaken by the foot steps of my roommates. Some of my roommates were already awake. It was around 6:15 a.m. and the sun was not up in the sky yet. In my futon (Japanese sleeping bag) it was very comfortable and warm so I did not feel like getting out of it but, I decided to get out of my futon because we had to get ready for the day. So, I went to brush my teeth and wash my face at the sink. Then, I went back to my room and changed into my comfy and warm clothing. I also packed my bag for the day so that I do not have to rush when we come back from breakfast. The breakfast was a buffet style and it was very tasty. After I had finished eating, I returned to my room with my friends. Then I gathered the things I had to bring for the day and headed outside to get on the bus that was heading to the NAC. At NAC, we were separated into 2 groups and my group was the group which would go canoeing. So, I had to wear a dry suit over the clothing I had worn to NAC and wore shoes that were sort of waterproof. The clothing and the shoes were very cold. When we were ready, the people in my group had to take a bus to go to the place where we would go canoeing. To get to the place, we had to take a ride on the bus for 2 hours. After the 2 hours of bus ride, we would choose a partner and a canoe and then the instructor would tell us the instructions we had to follow. My partner was Mia. After paddling for an hour or so… it started raining. Then a few minutes later the rain got harder and harder. Anyways, Mia and I rushed and paddled as hard as we can to get to the beach. Then we ate lunch at an isolated island. We ate lunch at this forest, under the trees and it was raining so hard the rain had made my lunch all soggy… Anyways, I had no time to be sad about my lunch because it was REALLY,REALLY COLD since we were standing in the middle of nowhere (the forest) in the rain. I had no more energy left to get back to where we started off. Mia and I had to change partners and my partner was Sena. In the beginning, I was in the front but on the way back, I was on the back and I was told to use the machine thingy to move the canoe left and right. I had never used it before so I was not very good at controlling the boat. After about 2 hours of our hard work.. we had FINALLY arrived on the other side (where we started off). Then, we took our boat up to this really high cliff and took our dry suit and waterproof shoes off. It felt so much better to be back into my normal clothing. Inside the bus it was very warm. Then we took 2 hours again to get back to NAC. At the NAC we ate dinner. Right after dinner, we would go on the bus to our hotel. Then as soon as I got to my room I unpacked my things and packed to go take a bath at the Onsen. Because the outside was so cold, the nsen inside felt so hot and it felt as if my skin was going to get cooked. So, I decided to go to the Onsen that was outside. After the Onsen, I felt warm,refreshed and energized. After the Onsen, my roommates and I played ‘BS’. After some free time, we had to go to this room to write our journals,practice our skit and  watch a movie called ‘Eragon’. It was about a dragon and its trainer. I did not really find the movie amusing. After the movie, I was really tired,sleepy and all droopy. I went back to my room and as soon as I got into my futon, I was already asleep.

Environment:

-What are our environments?

Our environments for Day 3 were the hotel that we were staying at,the lake we were staying at and the NAC and the isolated island where we canoed up to.

-What resources do we have or need?

We had all the resources we needed in living because the hotel contained everything.

-What are my responsibilities?

My responsibilities were to keep the local areas of Hokkaido clean and respect the people around me.