NNF Reflection

I felt that the Narrative Non Fiction unit was a unit that helped me grow a lot as a writer. A few things that I wanted to learn or needed to learn as we went into the Narrative NonFiction unit of study was how to do proper research and how to take my research and turn it into a narrative nonfiction piece.

Throughout the unit, I learned different skills and techniques, including how to research and write narrative nonfiction. Something interesting that I learned from Mr Riley about researching using a book was the technique of reading a page and then summarizing the page in your head without looking at it and turn those ideas into three to five bullet points. I showed this learning by using this strategy during my research. Also, I learned the process of researching about one individual and creating a story from that.

During this unit, I’ve hit many “roadblocks”. One specific “roadblock” I hit was when I couldn’t find any information online about my topic. I found 0 sources online. I overcame this “roadblock” by interviewing Mr Riley and using newspapers and books for my research. Another “roadblock” that I hit during the process of making my chapter was when I received feedback from Mr Arleth about how my chapter did not have much rising tension. From this, I added more rising tension to make my book flow more smoothly, making it sound like one story instead of a bunch of summaries of Hurkos’ visions.

After I learned what I wanted to learn, I applied this new knowledge to my chapter and research. A couple examples of this was when I used Mr Riley’s technique in my research and used Mr Arleth’s feedback to improve my writing. Overall, I felt that this was a very unique and interesting unit.

My Book: https://drive.google.com/a/sas.edu.sg/file/d/0B7oIUmWCW5wiZjdLcy1NVkxZckk/view?usp=sharing

NNF Chapter

https://drive.google.com/a/sas.edu.sg/file/d/0B7oIUmWCW5wiZjdLcy1NVkxZckk/view?usp=sharing

Modern-Day Slavery Reflection

Blog reflection: We are living in the midst of a tragic paradox: no longer is there an underground network to guide slaves to freedom, but rather, there is an underground criminal network to entrap people and sell them into slavery.

Slavery today, modern-day slavery, is more complicated, more immense, and more large-scale than ever before. The number of slaves now are greater than any other time in history. It has become so bad, in terms of the number of people involved, that there are more slaves now than in the 1800s, a time period that is known for slavery! Slavery is something that many thought was over, but not many realize it's not. The one difference between the 1800s slavery and modern-day slavery is how urgent people are to fix this issue. Back then, slavery was a very public thing and there were countless abolitionist trying to end it; now, not so much.

To me, the real problem is not awareness, it's doing something about it. People hear about these things and think "Oh no this is terrible" and that's where it ends. They move on with their lives doing nothing to help the situation. Today, people don't think of this forced labor as slavery, which is why people don't reach that sense of urgency. Many think it's not that bad and that this issue can be fixed simply. Nothing will change if no one does anything about it.

So what is the solution? The solution is in the people. People care about money so much these days that they don't care about how their workers feel. Just like the solution to the underground criminal network, people need to be aware and report suspicious situations. People need to start becoming aware of their surroundings and realize that you could be walking next to someone who has been trafficked. If people do that, then modern-day slavery can be fixed. I believe that it is the people who can make the most change.

But for now, us as individuals can make a change. We can stop purchasing products from companies that use slave labor. We can check the ingredients in food products and make sure the clothes you buy are coming from a place where workers are treated right. Individuals can do their part by spreading awareness to others, and that is how change happens.

Persuasive Speech

Here is a video of me giving a speech about making music mandatory at SAS. I wrote this speech after creating a podcast about music at SAS.

Nutrition Video

Getting On The Right Note - Music In Middle School

I am most proud of my soundbites in my podcast. I felt that I chose good soundbites from my interviews that represented all perspectives on my topic. I also felt that I did a good job with my bridges and transitions. One example that I am most proud of is when I added a bridge in the middle of my soundbite to connect the two ideas my interviewee talked about. 

My biggest challenge with this podcast would have to be putting research (quotes and statistics) into the podcast script. I felt that this was difficult as I had to find the right evidence that flowed with the ideas my interviewees talked about instead of evidence that was off track and would just make listeners confused. 

Something I wish I had more time to fine tune would be my research. There is always room for improvement and I feel that I could’ve worked on phrasing my research in a more efficient way that leaves less room for confusion. I feel that my evidence is already quite good, but I feel that if I had to fine tune something, it would be the way I phrased my evidence.

One piece of unintended learning I discovered during this unit was that you should always check your recordings before you leave the recording studio. This was because a couple of my recordings were started too late and I had to re-record using my computer microphone, which is very different in terms of sound quality compared to the microphone at the Note Pad.

My interviews went pretty well as I was able to get the sound bites I needed to represent the different perspectives the community had on my issue. I built rapport by asking them about background information on their musical history. For example, with Brian, I asked him if he plays a musical instrument (3:36 in the interview clip). This helps build rapport as this was a question that helped me get to know Brian better and it was also related to my topic, so it didn’t bring the interview off track.

I think I did a good job with my interviews, but something that I could improve on would be my follow up questions. Overall, I felt that I did a good job with my follow-up questions, but there is always room for growth. During Brian’s interview, I asked him, “If I am not mistaken, you play a musical instrument right? And what is that instrument? Why will you keep on playing and learning that instrument?” He told me he played the clarinet and the french horn and he likes the challenges that come with learning the instrument. Learning that Brian has been learning musical instruments for a long time and being a musician myself, I wanted to know his views on his ability to play the french horn impacting him. So I then asked three more follow-up questions: When did you start playing the french horn? And has the ability to play the french horn, does affect your feelings or emotions? How about stress levels. Do you think that a musical instrument helps with the amount of stress someone feels?

SMART Goal

Who: Myself

What: Getting my max push-ups in a minute to 40

When: By the end of the third quarter

Which: Using my routine I've created of slowly increasing the number of push-ups I do every day.

Why: To improve my upper body strength for sports.

Goal: I want to get my max push-ups in a minute to 40 by the end of the third quarter by using my routine I've made of slowly increasing the number of push-ups I do per day to improve my upper body strenght.

Fitness Plan

                DECIDE: My FITNESS Plan

D Define the Problem	Select the FITNESS COMPONENT or SKILL COMPONENT you’d most like to improve this year. (Fitness: Cardio, Muscular Strength, Muscular endurance, Flexibility, Body Composition.core strength) (Skill: Balance, Agility, Coordination, Power, Speed,  Reaction Time) Explain why you chose this component. Muscular Strength. I need to work on my muscular strength so that I can shoot and pass better in basketball and in other sports. Muscular strength also helps your ability to play sports for extended periods of time. Create and link a short video (10-15 seconds) that illustrates your chosen component. (using your laptop, iPad, iPhone, or other device). Upload to youtube and paste youtube link here: https://youtu.be/DlHESM-5OSs
E Explore the Alternatives	List 3 other Fitness/Skill Components that you could also improve and explain how they will benefit your overall fitness: 1. Endurance - Having a better endurance means that I can play sports and move around for longer periods of time. This also can help me run a quicker mile. 2. Reaction Time - Having a better reaction time can allow me to make decisions quickly and helps me with my reflexes. 3. Speed - This can help me play sports, especially sports where you have to evade defenders, that require sudden bursts of speed or are played in small areas.
C Consider the Consequences	Identify 2 positive and 2 negative possible outcomes as a result of your choice: (Ask yourself … how risky is each alternative? What are the chances of success? How would it affect my short term fitness? How would it affect my fitness long term?) Positive 1. Being stronger can help me play sports for extended periods of time because I won’t burn out as easily. For example, if you are a quarterback in football, if you are stronger, you can keep on passing the ball during the fourth quarter because you still have the energy and strength to do so. If you aren’t as strong, then you wouldn’t be able to throw the ball during the fourth quarter because you wouldn’t have enough strength due to fatigue and lack of strength.      2. Being stronger can also make you less prone to injuries because you wouldn’t be that fragile. You wouldn’t strain your muscles because they would be able to last longer due to their strength. If you weren’t as strong, you could get injured or strain your muscles if an activity requires you to exert a lot of energy. With that, you can play more sports for longer periods of time. Negative      1. Too much exercise can result in injuries, especially if you push yourself too much. I’m not saying that pushing yourself is bad, it’s what makes us better, what I’m saying is that you have to listen to your body and know when to call it a day when you exercise.     2. Also, muscular endurance can cause soreness. Sometimes when I go run during training, I feel sore when I finish. That is another thing that you can prevent from listening to your body.
I Identify Values	This decision is important to me because I want to become stronger so that I can play sports for extended periods of time and I can be less injury-prone. Also, exercise is important because it gives you so many benefits. In a way, it is your body’s natural medicine.
D Decide and Act	Create an action plan for improvement.  Outline a plan for a week of fitness activity that will improve your chosen component.  Create short video links  (10-15 seconds) of your chosen activities to help illustrate your plan. My plan to improve my muscular strength is to do simple, but effective exercises. Examples of such exercises are push-ups, sit-ups, and lunges. I will do these exercises daily.
E Evaluate the results	My goal was to improve a specific fitness component.  I will know that my decision and action plan has been effective when......... My goal is to improve my push-ups and sit-ups. I will start out by doing 15 push-ups and sit-ups and then increase the number by 2 each day. I will be able to track my progress by the number of push-ups and sit-ups I can do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkvuuJJwn5o