1st Semester Refletion

1st Semester reflection

     During the first semester of tenth grade I experienced many different emotions, lived memorable moments, went through new experiences and thought of some decisions to make. Looking back , I'm proud of some things, but I know that improvements need to be made .

     Being a scholarship student, sometimes taking care of all responsibilities in school and at home can be a bit tiring and that's exactly what happened from the middle of last semester until the holidays. At first, I was willing and ready to be organized and disciplined with all my activities, dealing well with my schedule and still having time to enjoy myself with my family and friends. One of the most important things I learned is that the balance between our academic duties and our social life and our health is essential for best performance and achievement in all areas of our life. If you do not find a way to organize yourself to be a good student-athlete and enjoy your lives outside of school everything becomes less pleasurable.

                                               

     This second semester I plan to be more organized and disciplined to be able to dedicate myself even more to basketball and maintain or improve my grades in all subjects. Not only that, but knowing that looking for help from my peers and teachers is a great option at the time that I'm a little lost, too tired, and also when I have ideas and opinions to share, so that we get involved with each other and with the school. During this school year, one of the best things I did was to know better my friends, I spent more time with them and realized that I'm not the only one who has problems and we all have something to offer to each other, either academically or not. Having good friends facilitated a period which apparently seemed impossible for me to survive. 
     Now I can say that most of us are concerned about the IB and the responsibilities and experiences to come. Sometimes we see our older friends walking the hallways like zombies, telling they barely slept and that they would give anything to be able to go back and enjoy or study more during their first two years of high school. Having them as example helps us prepare for next year, we know that time management is essential and we may have to give up some things for us to conquer our goals, mainly to establish priorities. During vacations I realized that not everything happens the way we want or plan, but we must be prepared to face different situations and people too. If we are not willing to experience new things and open our minds to different perspectives, everything becomes more complicated. We need to be flexible to understand when to stop or be more demanding, share or listen, learn or teach ..

                                   

     I guess my tip is do not compare yourself to people around you, each of us will go through the moments we have to pass, the best thing to do is give our best in everything we do and not be afraid of failure.

                                 

Promises

"Why was communication essential to understanding among the children of Promises?"

Promises is a documentary that reveals the feelings and beliefs of seven children, all living near Jerusalem and also the documentary exposes the Middle East conflict of the Palestine and Israelis. The seven children are; the twin Jews, Daniel and Yarko; Faraj and Sanabel, Muslims that live in the Deheushe refugee camp; Shlomo, the Orthodox Jew; Mahmoud, a Muslim, whom father owns a coffee shop; and Moishe, a Jewish boy.

Left is Daniel & Right is Faraj  

Producer of the documentary, B.Z Goldberg, wants to get all of the seven kids together and just have something that every kid should have, fun. Goldberg’s idea of getting all the kid in one area was interesting, but not all of them went, only two declined his offer. All of the seven kids have their own little world, like a bubble, making it hard for them to belief anything other than what they think is true. That’s why they refused to go, because what Goldberg was doing was something that they weren’t interested in, neither believed in the concept. But for the kids who went, Daniel, Yarko, Mahmoud, Sanabel, Faraj, they experienced something that can never be taken away from them, communication. After the kids had fun playing with each other and just getting to know one and another, Goldberg brought them into a room to discuss their feelings. In the moment, you can really see that all of the kids had no idea how each and everyone felt about the Middle East conflict. For every child there, their world or bubble extended to understand the difficulties of both sides of the conflict. The friendships of all five children present were established because of communication.

Faraj 

After four years, Goldberg comes back with yet another documentary, but this time it’s a follow up, of the seven in Promises. In the follow up we get to see what the seven children have been through and what they are up to. But once again not every child could participate, only five made it to the interviews.  While watching the interviews, Yarko, one of the twins, mentions that he stayed in touch with the kids, but after a while less calls were made. Even though the children lost touch, doesn’t mean they don’t know what is happening in each one of their lives. Sanabel was shocked towards the news of Yarko and Daniel joining the army, were she was afraid of them breaking into her house and having to kill her.

Zig Ziglar once said, “You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life”, the moment that B.Z Goldberg created for these kids was a huge impact on them, as they learned the meaning of communication.  Therefore communication was so essential to the kids of Promises, because they learned that if you don’t communicate, you will never understand one another, you need to be able to talk in other to understand.

The definition ofcommunication is the “ interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech”, in other words interaction with something besides you and your world. Imagine the world without communication it would be destroyed. If we don’t communicate how are we suppose to understand each other and find a solution towards a problem. How are we supposed to survive if communication wouldn’t be available?  In order to fix something broken you need to be able to communicate with the problem. This is why communication is important with in the seven children.

Promises Trailer: 

"What does it take for someone to move from a position of hate and racism to a position of tolerance and respect like the transformation that occurred in Derek?"

     In order to improve your understanding of the question that gives origin to title of this essay, I'll start doing a pretty basic summary of the film we saw during some classes Academic Leadership, American History X. In this film, Derek, older brother, is sentenced to prison for killing two black men trying to steal his truck, in addition, Derek is a leading member of a group of neo Nazi skinheads community where he lives. The younger brother of Derek, Danny, witnessed the crime and was heavily influenced by the behavior of his brother, joining the same group. During the time he was arrested Derek had to live with Lamont, a black man who worked with him taking care of the laundry services.

     There are several reasons why people become racist and, according to the American Psychological Association, ignorance and intolerance of other cultures, and one that is very present in the film, is the fear of sharing power with people of other cultures and ethnicities are some of these reasons. But there are several ways to change a racist person to a person with knowledge and a more open mind. In my point of view, the first step must be a self reflection, look to yourself and do an analysis of your own behaviors and thoughts. Sometimes we need someone to give us a "push" toward this self evaluation, because we can't take the first step alone. Maybe talk to someone who lived or lives the same situation as us and listening to the opinion of someone with more experience and more mature is very important. This occurs in the film, when Dr. Sweeney asks Derek: "Has anything you've done made ​​your life better?".

     Besides the self reflection, living with people of different ethnicities and cultures and be part of a Community have where people respect even differences are the most important factors in building an open mind and a cultured individual. Derek also had this experience while he was in jail, and it was probably the most important factor in his change process. His relationship with Lamont made him  understand that skin color or culture does not define the person's character, because those who Derek saw as the "best" were disappointing him and  Lamont was the only friend he had at that time, even with his racist thoughts and attitudes.

     The power to influence people on each other is very much emphasized in the film, the idea that everything we do causes a negative or positive impact on our lives and on the lives of those with whom we interact. Therefore the presence of parents, family and close is an important aspect in the life of a child / adolescent. The lack of good examples and bad company are reasons why people are "blind" and start acting wrongly. Being part of a group where thoughts are massive and not according to the interpretation and analysis of every single person contributes to the formation of ignorant individuals and without character. The influence that Derek has over Danny is very evident to me and it aims to show how we need to be aware of our own attitudes, we must know how to relate to people and respect them no matter what, we must know that we serve as an example for our brothers, sons, friends or whoever we relate.

     Therefore, these are important factors that affect the thinking and attitudes of people, especially when it comes to racism and discrimination. The formation of people with knowledge of many subjects, cultures and concepts, open minded people, able to reflect on their attitudes and thoughts, and ready to serve as an example to others and respect depends on several aspects that are understood and built over time. This perspective is directly related to our Academic Leadership class, because through our skills and our gifts we can serve as an example for many people, and learn to develop our critical thinking to avoid ignorance, disrespect and discrimination. 

Twitter account 

About.me 

Seattle Boycott Article

 

    Teachers, students and parents from Garfield High School boycotted the MAP tests to show how they are against standardizing test and to prove that the tests don't improve student's knowledge. The community demonstrated that parents, students and teachers can be involved, and together, decide what is better and more efficient for their sons and students. The article and Jesse Hagopian, the spokesperson of the boycott, made it very clear that they aren't against assessing students to see what they are learning in the classrooms, but their don't believe that standardized test are the best and only way of doing it. Hagopian said that their goal is to discover another way of assessment that makes the students be active and successful in different communities. The group of teachers of Garfield High School is also against the idea that the pressure coming from the market will improve education, as teachers, students, parents and a government that are committed to improving education is not a good solution.

     After Hagopian shared that with on of his classes, even the students formed their opinion about it and also tried to demonstrate other option beyond standardizing test, "Our kids will need both traditional academic abilities and innovative critical-thinking skills to solve these real problems. If we inundate our students with standardized testing year-round, these larger lessons are lost." Therefore, as well as teachers, students are not totally against the fact that they are assessed and are required during their educational process, but they believe that there must be a balance between traditional forms of assessments and other different ways to gain knowledge,  specially with the help of technology.

     Often times we students only commit ourselves to the contents learned in the classroom because we will be assessed later on, and this should not be our main concern, we must seek to understand the contents because we know that in the future it will help us and make us better students, people and professionals. The way we students are evaluated imposes too much pressure on us, many students think that if they do not pass the test, they will not be able to be good professionals and successful in life. Maybe for some reason, that day the person was not feeling well and the pressure was big that it was difficult to concentrate and the person ended up failing the test, it means that the person is not able to go to college, be successful, or think that during all the past years that person has learned nothing? That is not how it works, and we shouldn't feel that way. We need to strike a balance between traditional, and modern and bold, because if we don't, students will continue to be prepared for the standardized tests only, and not for life itself.

What does the re-election of President Barack Obama mean for me and the world?

In recent weeks we were following the U.S. elections, the dispute was between Mitt Romney (Republican) and Barack Obama (Democrat). Barack Obama was re-elected and for me it was the best decision that American citizens made, because the further development of some projects and new ideas that Obama presented are the best direction that the United States can take, compared to Romney.

We all know the power of influence that the U.S. has about the world, they interfere socially, culturally, politically and especially economically. Taking this and some facts that occurred lately in consideration, as the stock market crash and how it affected many countries besides the United States, and economic options that Obama offers support to the people and businesses can significantly improve the American economy, and also the world economy.

When Obama took office, the United States were in a tricky situation, especially economically, and as much as the process has been slow, Barack Obama has done a good job and took the united states out of a very complicated situation. Some years ago, when the country was in crisis and other countries began to develop economically, as China, Obama had to make some decisions that did not please everyone, but still contributed to them to leave the situation they were. Another complicated decision that the president made was with regard to the difficulties in the Middle East and how to remove America from a dangerous conflict. Withdraw troops from Afghanistan and try to minimize terrorists attitudes and armed conflict was a very important goal during the first four years of Obama in power.

Besides these aspects, Barack Obama is also an achievement for black people, such that after so many years of suffering and struggling for recognition and have the same opportunities as everyone else has, now they/we have the opportunity to see Obama in prestige and power.

As a person and citizen, I support Obama primarily because he is a Democrat, because with him in power, blacks, immigrants, women and homosexuals will be able to have more opportunities than if Mitt Romney won the election. Bringing issues like abortion, marriage and adoption for  homosexuals couples, job opportunities for immigrants and equality between men and women in all aspects must be taken into consideration and carefully. According to the discussions, it is clear that Obama will take care of these situations with much more care and effort than Romney. Every day the world have been looking for freedom of expression and less prejudice, we realize that when we see the problems that Syria and other countries are facing against a government virtually dictator. Since the United States has influence on the world, showing that they have a president that is open to new ideas and concepts contributes to the process of extinction of prejudice and repression. The president always talked of unity and resolution of the problems with the help of American citizens.

The proposals that Mitt Romney presented in debates seemed to be utopian and naive. Send troops to Afghanistan, to support the sale and supply of arms to countries in conflict, and take some actions that greatly harmed U.S. and world economy are some examples of misconceptions that Romney offered the American people. During interviews and debates Mitt Romney contradicted himself, changed several times of opinion on the same subject, leaving voters confused and not knowing specifically what are the changes that the country would suffer.

I hope Obama continues to improve and making the right decisions, that he exceeds the expectations of Americans and the world's, that he can help the United States to be a positive influence in all respects, and that the American people collaborates for the development of projects that will benefit everyone.

Goal Setting

Goal Setting

After Mrs. Terrell’s class about time management, I decide to review my study methods and if I was being well organized. I realized that one of my two big problems was to consider my biological prime time, since I’m an athlete; it’s hard not to feel tired when arriving at home and thinking about all homework and things from school that I have to do. So, to make sure that I would be able to have energy to focus on each task, as soon as I get home I eat a snack and take a nap for about 30 minutes. In the beginning I slept too much and woke up late, or after waking up I felt more tired than before. But now, the thirty minutes are helping me a lot, I feel much less tired and more willing to perform my tasks.

Other difficulty that I had was to avoid daily activities that wouldn’t give me any long-term consequences, like watching a movie or another thing for fun. It was really hard for me to start doing my work, also because I was tired and didn’t want to do anything. Before I start studying at ISC, I knew that it would be tough to combine my studies with my practices, and adapting to the new routine, new schedules, types of tests, projects and homework wouldn’t be easy too.

I believe that I can improve my time management and avoid some other things that are still making me waste my time; spending less time on social networks is one of them. A situation that sometimes makes me a little frustrated is not being able to spend as much time playing basketball like before, when I think about it I just let basketball pass in front of the studies, but I’m working on this.

Prioritizing my schools tasks, after taking the nap, is helping to notwaste my time on useless activities and I started to organize my schedule in away that is good for me and that will not interfere with my studies. I feelmore confident about what I’m doing, before I set goals, I always forgot to dohomework or felt lazy and barely studied for some quiz. Now the results areevident to me, even doing everything I need, I can sleep with a clearconscience and a sense of accomplishment, I eat well and have fun with myfamily or maybe watch movie. School tasks are not as scary as before, and Ilearned that we will not always be feeling well and willing to do everything,everyone has bad days, we need to respect our body and organize our lives in away that does not leave us stressed or make us feel incapable.

-Time Management Tips for Student-Athletes
-Time Management Tips for Busy Student-Athletes

I've been thinking about college since 2010. Before that year, I was thinking to graduate here, in Brazil, but my parents told me that it would be good for me to go to the USA, because of basketball and the opportunities that I'll have there may be better than if I stay. So I started searching about the best universities and with the best sports programs. This is my first year studying in ISC and I'm really happy because my chances to go to a good university increased. I expect to get a scholarship and play basketball too. 

My issue is about the course I'm going to choose. I will definitely do something related to sports. To be honest, I always dream about my first day at college, my first basketball game in the NCAA and, God willing, my first game as a professional basketball player. One of my fears is to not get there, not make my parents and myself proud. I know it is not going to be easy, but I am ready to do whatever it takes to get there, I told myself that I will do my best and work hard every single day. A concern that I have is how I will combine studies and basketball practice? I need to know what type of player the coach is looking for and what are the admission requirements for an athlete. I will need to learn how to organize my schedule and my life at the campus. I'm a little worried about how the other girls on the team, especially those in the same position that I play, will behave with my arrival? 
If I be an aware Academic Leader, in the future, I'll be better prepared to make decisions, I will be more responsible, more confident and certainly a better student, athlete and person. That's why ISC has a significant portion in my way until college and I have to take these three years very seriously.
Coach Carter is a movie that always motivates me and teaches me that I can play basketball and be a good student at the same time!