Ramzi’s Academics in Eighth Grade

I don’t think my opinions are stupid and others do; so it is better to keep them to myself.

Dear Anne Frank,

I know how you feel because some times my opinion aren’t talking into play but, I feel that it is still not right to keep all you ideas, feelings and thoughts all bottled up. So I have to disagree with you 100%. I feel this is so because even though my ideas are not put to use often I still believe that you must keep sharing your thoughts because if you don’t you will never learner and progress through out your life. I feel that adults don’t take us seriously because to them we are and will always still be the baby of the family which is wrong and mistaken. The best thing to do is to act like a sensible and mature adult so they might start taking you as an independent person with your great ideas because if you want to be treated like an adult you have to act like an adult. In addition I think that adults don’t really listen to your statements is because from time to time they think they know the best because they’re the oldest and this maybe true because since they have experienced more years of mistakes they learn lots more from them then you or I will ever learn right now. Another factor that might be a great help to get adults to listen to you is to be confident in your idea and want to share it to the world, you should also back up your ideas with reasons and facts because if you know that there good quality questions and believe it, others then will start to also.  It may not be the brightest idea but you still would have expressed yourself. I know that kids have a trouble time at asking questions sometimes because their afraid of what people might say in return weather it’s good or bad but the best way to learn is to learn form others and their opinions of your questions or statements. People may not agree with your ideas but, because very body has there right to their own opinion so remember, even if your listeners say or act like your question is stupid don’t let what others say put you down because if you believe in their bad comments then you will start believing it soon enough. The quote you have said above can also be related to people our age too. People have different perceptions of life either it being the greatest thing that has ever happened or the worst thing in the world with stress and home work but really it’s right in between it because today could be a great day while tomorrow it becomes a bad day so all I can say really is to make the most of it and the only way to do that other then trying to do dangerous stunts is to share ideas, get your dreams across everyone and by sending your ideas to new places. So as a conclusion I would just like to say to Anne Frank to never give up on your thoughts and ideas because that is what makes you, well you!!!

Your friend,

Ramzi

Check out this awesome article about the Tsunami:Click here

This is the summarized version of the article above:

In December 26, 2004 around 7:58 at the west side of
Sumatra, Indonesia an event happened that changed every ones life forever. The 2004
Indian Ocean earthquake or known as the Asian Tsunami or Boxing Day Tsunami had killed about 186,983 with 317,883 lost and missing. The tsunamis were formed from massive earthquakes which affected much of south and Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Sir Lanka, India, and
Thailand. People say that this was one of the most horrible and deadliest nature disasters in the modern world.

Some interesting facts are that this is the second biggest earthquake that measured about 9.1 on the Richter scale. The size of this earthquake was said to be able to shake the entire earth about half an inch. While the earthquake what the second largest it was the longest duration of the event. It went for about 500 to 600 seconds. The quake of the shake was also told to have triggered earthquakes in
Alaska. The waves were as high as 100 ft or 30 meters. The origin of the earthquake was in the Indian Ocean, in the western coast of northern
Sumatra. The furthest recorded death was 8,000 kilometers away in
South Africa. Another fact is that the worldwide response of this event was so big that 7 billion dollars was raised for the humanitarian aid.       

Here are the locations that were effected:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_-_affected_countries.png

Some pictures of the disaster are:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a8/Sumatra_devastation1.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/2004-tsunami.jpg

In our class we had to write a paragraph about a section in the book Anne Frank (Page 43 November 7, 1942. The chapter discusses how she has to live everyday life compared with her sister and being treated like a child. 

I believe that I along with hundreds of viewers in the outside world can relate to Anne feelings, emotions and reaction to the event very closely. After reading this passage you can see what I mean by the similar relationships between your parents and siblings. I have my own set of opinion of Anne’s ideas. They maybe different but they are surely similar in some ways.

I feel I can relate with Anne in many levels. When I read her entry I realized that when she stated that her parents compare her to her sister I can relate because my parents don’t really compare us but, when ever something terrible or exciting comes my parents always listen to my sister more because of her age. Overall I think that Anne’s parents compare her more to her sister because of this quote in the book “now Margot is just the pettiest, sweetest, most beautiful girl in the world”. My parents don’t compare me towards my sister as much as Anne’s parents did which I am thankful for.

Another similarity that I share with Anne Frank is how I relate better to one of my parents then the other. Don’t get me wrong I love both my mom and dad greatly but, some how I get along better with my mom. It’s different from Anne’s point of view because she closer to her father but I’m just the opposite.

A difference I realized I had with Anne is that my dad doesn’t just go on my sisters’ side no matter what the event. Like in the passage it says “it’s obvious that mummy would stick up for Margot; she and Margot always do back each other up”. In that quote I could understand now why her relationship with her mom wasn’t very sturdy and close. I feel it’s because her mom takes side with Margot which I really think is unfair especially for a parent. Not because Anne’s mom didn’t always back her up it’s just that her mom didn’t give them both a chance to express their side. This might because her mom is unfair or that Anne was just exaggerating the event in her diary.

A fascinating difference I discovered is that when Anne said “I’m not a baby or a spoiled darling any more, to be laughed at, whatever she does. I have my own views, plans, and ideas”. From this single quote I had seen a great dissimilarity because my parents now treat me as an adult with my own responsibilities and dreams instead of Anne’s parents. My parents let me have the right to speak and express my opinions and they will reflect on them with consideration.

In the book we read Anne Frank, she had to leave her home, cat and friends to go into hiding from the Nazis. While she could only bring a few items she said this quote “But I’m not sorry, memories mean more to me than dresses”. These paragraphs will talk about items I would personally bring if I were in Anne’s shoes and going to an unknown place. The question “Memories or dresses” is related to the book we reading Anne Frank.  

I agreed with Anne Franks quote above and to me memories are much more valuable than material items such as cloths. Even though they are nice and comfortable they don’t last long for you to remember it. The first items that came to my mind is my laptop and my phone so I can connect the outside world and learn more through the internet but, realizing that the location I am going to may not have any electricity or internet excess so I thought of news items I will bring such as writing pads, stationary items, school albums, puzzles and board games. I choose these items because even thought I know that I am going to leave all my past memories I can create new and happier memories with my family through events.

Writing pads would be my first items because being isolated in a room will create boredom so using paper you can play games with your family such as hangman. Writing pads are also useful by letting you write your feelings if you don’t want to express them out loud. Creative writing or journal entries can also help you get through the hard times and record your happy moments in a dreadful location.

Of course with out stationary items such as pens, pencils, color pencils and makers writing pads would be useless. Pen and pencils help make writing pads useful while color pencils and markers brighten your surroundings and create a more attractive presentation of your work. Erasers and sharpeners are also essential for these items so I would not just bring a pencil or two, I would bring containers full of them and along with a supply of sharpeners erasers and maybe rulers.

School/ personal albums store and remind you of past happiness which will help you move forward and thrive more through out our entire experience so that once you have achieved your goal of hiding you can enjoy your friends and teachers again. People might say that keeping past memories can only cause pain but from the past memories they can remind you of past lessons learnt with the new knowledge you know now you can combine them so you can survive your daily life.

Puzzles and board games can fall into the same category because they both not only keep you entertained but, they allow you to achieve a better relation ship with the people around you. Puzzles such as crosswords or Sudoku help stimulate the mind and remind you of your school learning’s. Board games like Chess, Life or Risk can help you connect between people and can help you learn their personalities and strengths along with their weaknesses. 

So these are the items I would bring with me if I were in Anne Frank’s shoes and going to a mysterious and new environment and way of life.

Courage is a word that means many things. Courage is basically the same as bravery. I personally think that courage is not some thing that someone can give you because to have courage you have to make sacrifices no matter what the event is. Courage can’t be bought or sold it has to be earned. Living life without courage is still possible but it will be boring because you limit yourself for what you can do. Some people say that courage is dreadful because of the risks you have to take and how unsafe it can be but if you believe this you can’t obtain complete courage because part of being courageous is to face your fears even if you have to give up the thing you want most. Courage is the ability to achieve a greater standard above your fear even if you do really fear it. Courage isn’t that you can get rid of your fears it is that you can confront them. Courage may seem very difficult especially when it’s talking about your fears but once you overcome it you will have courage. To be courageous you don’t have to be strong or fast but you must have will power.    

            This journal is an overview of the progress I have made during and after finishing the book Lord of the Flies. It will also state the different ESLR’s (Expected School- Wide Learning results) used in my project and how they contributed through out this book. The journal will be in a format of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The Bloom Taxonomy is a list of a few terms that describe the ideas needed for a journal to meet its expectations along with the ability to include all information. The journal will reflect the final project prepared, the discussions in-class, and the novel we read along with the different ESLR’s used. Each paragraph will start with the different ESLR and their main ideas followed by the ways I used them in the three stages. I will also try to give examples of the areas of the ESLR where I can improve to achieve a greater grade or assessment. The paragraphs will explain how I can develop on being a self-directed learner, an academic achiever, a critical thinker, involved citizen and an effective communicator.

To be self- directed learner you must be able to identify your needs and apply appropriate learning skills. This ESLR to me means doing your work without someone telling you. I was able to identify my the needs and I had applied appropriate skills in the novel by knowing my slow reading which made me read at a steady pace and not read at the last minute. One day I had a mountain of homework and knowing my slow reading I had increased the amount and time period I spent reading.  

I had communicated in different ways by asking questions, pointing out facts and adding comments, this made me a self- directed learner. Another example of self- direct learner is taking creative risks in developing untried ideas. I used this in reading the novel by making the atmosphere of the location I read to fit the plot of the book. For example in the chapter about Jack killing a pig, I turned off my lights to create a dim, creepy and frightening mood. In order to be a self- directed learner by taking risks, I had asked questions even though they sounded stupid. Another risk I took is that instead of just making a model of an island I prepared a pamphlet to explain my thoughts to give more of an idea of the book. The pamphlet contains extra info such as “what if” questions and main characters and their roles.  

I demonstrated my time management skill by read chapters thoroughly and clearly to get a better understanding of the book. For example I read the beginning chapter bit by bit because it was puzzling. I established my competency in goal setting in my project by fulfilling the details about the island and the book along with it. For home- work the entire class had to read two chapters and I felt that a big load of stress was coming on, so I made a goal to read ½ a chapter when I got home, ½ at night and the same next day. Whenever I wanted to show my organizational skills, I placed post- its around the book pages with the main ideas so it would benefit me in the future. We had monitored and documented all of the events in the book with notes along with group discussions to give every one a better understanding. Whenever I thought I needed information for later, I recorded main ideas, good descriptions and comments. I felt that I could have improved on accepting responsibility for my own learning because sometimes in chapters I didn’t understand, I didn’t look on the internet for a better view. Instead I waited for the class discussions. I would change this by looking on the internet or asking friends if something is not clear to me. If I wanted a better understanding of the events and situations of the first chapter, I should have asked my friends to help me. I have been a self- directed learner in the past when I caught with my up homework by asking my friends what the assignments were. 

            An academic achiever demonstrates progress in all curricular areas, access information from a variety of sources and demonstrates the ability to work independently and collaboratively. In other words an academic achiever means to learn from your mistakes and improve in all areas. I progressed in all areas such as my reading skills from the novel by reading the amount needed everyday even if it did put me to sleep sometimes, my oral skills in class discussions along with the skill of speaking my mind whenever I had questions, comments or concerns and I improved on my creativity skills in the project during the designing of the setting of the book. I accessed many sources of information such as the web for brief description of chapters from the novel and asked friends to help me understand the areas that are blurry through the phone or at school. Using my memory of the movie of Lord of the Flies the first time I watched it, I could get some details of the books event from the movie. I also used the internet to get the general idea of how an island looks in my project. In the discussions, I asked my classmates and Mr. R some questions and gave some feed- back by asking question and then comments and then back and forth again like a debate. I had shown that I could have worked by myself and with teammates. While we had group discussions on every chapter, at home I read the chapters alone and placed notes. On the post-its I included every thing I thought even if it was just “wow” or “amazing”.

Worked by myself to create the project, but I still got ideas and help from my parents and siblings. As an academic achiever I discovered that I didn’t continually assess, evaluate and adjust work to maintain high standards because in the novel I had not read as thoroughly as I could have while on the project I had used 100%. Whether it was school classes or extra curricular activities, I used this ESLR whenever I grew. I had used this ESLR whenever I had improved in any areas. It could be anything from school classes to extra curricular actives and sports.       

An additional aspect of the ESLR is critical thinker. A few points that describe this ESLR is building meaning and understanding using prior knowledge and new information. The bullet points are basically saying to think outside of the box. I built meaning in understanding by taking notes on every chapter along with notes in class reviews to help me raise and boost up my perceptive of the book. I used past and present reference to increase the understanding of the book and its ideas because I remember how I felt when I was small and I was lost in a mall. I guess that was the same reaction and emotion the boys on the island felt. For my project I was a critical thinker by using all the information I knew about islands with new information gathered from the internet, the book and nature to figure a great design for my view of the island because you can’t have an island that is as big as a continent or and island with no vegetation.  Whenever I had a feeling or guess about the future I used problem solving skills. This is known as foreshadowing which means to use current events and ideas to predict about the future. Throughout my project I made some assumptions about my island and when the model didn’t match the books location, shape or area I changed it to try and fit the descriptions.

In critical thinker I gathered different information from different sources through the students’ opinions in discussions and my family along with the websites for my project. These are all ways I used my sources effectively. To me I hadn’t really shown that I identified, evaluated and use resources effectively for the purpose of problem solving because I usually only used the sources to find information I need but not for the purpose of solving it. This could be changed by, getting more attached to the book so I would find solutions for the fun of it.

The next ESLR is involved citizen which in short means to help others even though there is no reward. Involved citizen is when you improve the lives of others in their community, show care for the environment and demonstrate awareness and respect for other people’s rights. I did this for the novel because I tried to persuade my family members to attempt to read the book so they can see the messages and themes of the book. I also did the same for my project, but I explained it further by making short summaries and showed the locations of the symbolic items. This all shows how I improved other people’s lives.

I also respected other people’s rights all the way through the assignment in all three groups by letting every have a say about there belief and feelings

The last but certainly not least ESLR is Effective Communicator. This ESLR means to demonstrate creative talents to convey ideas, listen respectfully and ask questions to facilitate understanding and achieve insight, collaborate with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goals and last of all in understand and convey written, oral and visual information using appropriate media. This ESLR in brief is someone who communicates either through oral, written of visual media. I used this ESLR everywhere. I demonstrated creative talents to convey ideas by producing a visual project instead of a written project. I used different ways of thinking and points of view for class discussions to let everyone have a say from their own view and for the novel I asked for my brothers’ view of what he thought of the book since he read Lord of the Flies. I especially listened respectfully and asked questions to facilitate understanding and achieve insight by listening, asking questions and giving feed back. I understood and conveyed written, oral and visual information when the whole class had different types of projects from oral posters to written essays to visual t- shirts for different types of learners to recognize. I collaborated with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goals whenever I had group or class discussions all through out the quarter. One day our class had worked collectively to discuss the book without the teacher telling us, everyone could express themselves to our friends instead of the teacher. Listen respectfully and ask question to facilitate understanding and achieve insight is an ESLR I thought everyone used in discussions.

My goal was complete but if I were to have a second chance to relive the past few weeks I would try to improve on ESLR’s in the statements above and work on my reading by making sure I have an excellent understanding of every the chapter, plot, setting and character by rereading areas I don’t get. For the class discussions I would want to raise my hand more and express my thoughts more to the class. In my project, I could have brought it further out by showing more events like the trail Ralph went through when running from Jack or I could have placed more “Want If” questions around the island to give a greater consideration of the novel and how the story could have changed.  

            Overall I feel that I achieved the right amount of the ESLR’s during and after the book although I feel that my weakness is class discussions because I usually didn’t raise my hand in the classroom. If I were to get a grade on my reading, discussions in class and the project (all three groups) I feel I would receive something between B- and B+. I feel that I had shown great improvement in the ESLR’s such as academic achiever, self- directed learner, critical thinker and involved citizen. I know that I need to improve on being an effective communicator whenever speaking in public in this entire quarter. I can adjust this by expressing my thoughts and opinions in class and not think too much in the answers I will receive. I think the ESLR’s I used best for reading the novel is self-directed learner. I thought in discussions I was a good effective communicator while for my project I was a critical thinker. To me the ESLR’s I notice that were similar are self directed learner, academic achiever and critical thinker. I feel that these ESLR’s are all related through their bullet points. They all relate to each other because each of the ESLR’s can be fulfilled in school work and grades. I wish we were able to move further into the book to learn and comprehend more hidden messages.     

Six Traits- I used 

Idea: Understanding the ESLRs in relation to Lord of the flies explained by using blooms taxonomy.

Organization: I organized my journal by having an introduction, middle and conclusion. In each of the middle paragraphs in had one ESLR, the different points used and how I used them and last a point of the ESLR I can improve on. In the conclusion I had said what I can overall improve on and the ESLRs I think are related.  

Voice: These are some sentences I thought that brightened and gave it life was.

-I remember one day I had a mountain load of homework and knowing my slow reading I had increased the amount and time period I spent reading.

-For home work the entire class had to read 2 chapters for home work and I felt that a big load of stress was coming on so I made a goal to read ½ a chapter when I got home, ½ at night and the same next day.

- I had progressed in all areas such as my reading skills from the novel by reading the amount needed everyday even if it did put me to sleep sometimes

- In the discussions I asked my classmates and Mr. Raizdana some questions and gave some feed back by giving question and then comments and then back and forth again like a debate.

- I had used past and present reference to increase the understanding of the book and its ideas because I remember how I felt when I was small and I was lost in a mall and I guess that was the same reaction and emotion the boys on the island felt.

Word Choice: Here are some words I thought were common and not descriptive and the news words that change that.

            Made- Prepared

            Good- Excellent

            Try- Attempt

            Improve- Develop

            Confusing- puzzling

            Since- Given that

            Improved- grew

            Get- Receive

            Greater- Larger

            Thought- Opinion

Sentence Fluency:  Some sentences I thought were the same form and patterns and how I changed them.

            -a   This also made me find new and different ways of communicating to my class mate in group discussions by asking questions, pointing out facts and adding comments.

            -b   Since I had asked questions, pointed out facts and added comments, this made me a self- directed learner of the different ways I communicated. At school one day I found the desk arranged in a square form for discussions so I thought of larger ways of expanding my communication skills.

            -a     I had also shown my organizational skill by placing post- its around the book to keep the main events out.  

            -b     Whenever I wanted to show my organizational skills, I placed post- its around the book pages with the main ideas so it would benefit me in the future.

            -a      I had used this ESLR whenever I had improved in any areas. It could be anything from school classes to extra curricular actives and sports.

            -b     Whether it was school classes or extra curricular activities, I used this ESLR whenever I grew. I had used this ESLR whenever I had improved in any areas. It could be anything from school classes to extra curricular actives and sports.

            -a      I had personally made my island to be based on Ralphs view by making his community the front of the island.

            -b      Given that I had used Ralphs’ point of view of the island, I had personally made my island from a different view.

            -a       In class discussions I tried to ask questions that even though may seem or sound stupid so I can get all my questions answered.

            -b       In order to be a self- directed learner by taking risks, I had asked questions even though they sounded stupid.

This blog will tell you every thing about me and my classmates and all our great achievements we have all made through out your year.

This cite will talk about all the basic classes such as english,science, math and social studies. My cite will also allow you to go through other peoples blogs.