Analytical Essays

General Learning Outcomes

• G.O.2 - Comprehend a variety of texts (visual,verbal,print,multi-media) and respond critically, personally and creatively
• G.O.3 Manage ideas and information 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pcwuQNCu-Ik9tDukNxM6pBEMlG_lAcsD9bVCGV6mg6E/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CKbjkYUE


Above is the link to my Social Inequality Essay for To Kill A Mocking Bird

April 11, 2011

Fear and Foresight

Shelby Sissons

            In life there are continuously decisions that you have to make that will have an affect on the rest of your life. Whether the affect is as simple as what post secondary institute you will attend or as serious as life and death they all have different outcomes. In the play Romeo and Juliet the author William Shakespeare seems to be implying that when you make rash decisions out of fear and do not take the time to think of the potential consequences, then the end result will have a life-altering outcome.

            Fear is an incredibly dominant emotion that can cause people to make extreme decisions without putting rational thought into them. In the play Romeo and Juliet there are multiple examples of how making decisions out of fear have tremendous consequences. For instance Friar Lawrence. He is a character that in the play made multiple quick decisions without thought. Although his greatest mistake was his plan to reunite Romeo and Juliet after the banishment. When making this decision the Friar was influenced by the fear of everyone finding out he had wed Romeo and Juliet. This caused him to make a poor plan that was not well thought out. This then lead to Romeo and Juliet’s untimely deaths. Another example of decisions made from fear is Romeo and his multiple killings. When he first slays Tybalt he is angry and not thinking clearly, this causes him to lose his head and kill him. When Romeo slays Paris he makes a quick decision based on the fear of losing his true love. Those examples further enlighten Shakespeare’s point that decisions made out of fear are poor decisions.

            Foresight is the act of thinking before doing. It is what most people use when making large decisions. In the play Shakespeare conveys that foresight is needed when making large decisions. One example of foresight displayed in Romeo and Juliet is when Juliet’s father, Capulet, arranges for Juliet to marry Paris. Capulet wanted what was best for his daughter therefore he planned for her to marry the finest. In doing this he thought he was securing his daughters future and making sure she was well taken care of. Capulet put foresight into his plan and thought he was doing what was best. Another example of foresight in the play is that of the Prince when dealing with the Capulet, Montague feud. He realizes that if he lets it continue it will end gruesomely. So the Prince uses foresight and enforces the rule of banishment. The examples above provide evidence for Shakespeare’s thoughts on why using foresight when making decisions is best.

            Shakespeare’s message of making decisions out of fear goes to a dramatic extreme in the play. Not all decisions made out of fear will lead to overwhelming death, and not all decisions made in foresight will have a positive affect. In the play Shakespeare was trying to imply by using such extremes that there can be a happy medium. You do not want to go through life never making a decision on a whim. No one puts in depth thought into every action they do. On the other side you do not want to never think and always just do. If you meet in the middle and use both fear and foresight when making a decision, you will have the best outcome of any.

            In conclusion when making life-altering decisions, follow what Shakespeare implies in Romeo and Juliet. Put thought into all large decisions; do not let yourself be overcome by fear. 

Reflection

        I chose these two essays to display in my portfolio because I am tremendously proud of both of them for different reasons. The Social Inequality essay was the first essay of high school, I did not have confidence in my writing as it was never my best feature and that lack in confidence caused me to write then delete, then write then delete every paragraph. In the end I was immensely proud of the essay I submitted and less importantly the mark I received (89%). The Fear and Foresight Essay was more challenging because of the fact we had to read Romeo and Juliet which is much harder to comprehend than To Kill a Mocking Bird. I was proud of the finished product because I felt I showed my understanding of Shakespeare's theme and displayed thoughtful examples. Also I improved greatly on clearly stating my thesis. If you read the comments Mr.K made on my Social Inequality essay he says I need to state my thesis in a clear and concise way and that is something I really worked on in the Fear and Foresight essay.

Defends a Position that will Reflect my Improvement

Link to Non-Fiction Book 2 page Assignment



      General Learner Outcomes

• G.O.2 - Comprehend a variety of texts
• G.O.3- Manage ideas and information 
• Demonstrate appreciation for the impacts of globalization on people, the economy and the environment   

Reflection


I chose first the Keynes vs. Hayek position paragraph on Alberta's Education System, because I am defending that Alberta's education system is more like a Keynes society and it shows how I have improved my writing skills. I admit this was a poorly written assignment and that I needed more examples to defend my position. That is why I chose the 2 page Non-Fiction book assignment for my second assignment. I felt it did a good job of defending my thesis and that I gave examples to back it up.

Growth in Knowledge and Understanding of Multiple Perspectives

Interview Conclusions

For the interview we had to question someone who has lived in this country for over 40 years and someone who has lived in it for under 8. The two people I chose were my grandpa Stan Sissons and Frank Kim a student who is my age. I choose my Grandpa Stan because he has travelled to most parts of the world and lived in Canada his whole life. I chose Frank because he is really the only person i know who has lived here for less than 8 years.
Based on the the results from both my interviews I come to a main conclusion of Canada is a great country overall but we have some downsides to. The reason I chose this sentence is because in both interviews there was pros and cons to our country. Some of the pros being our great job opportunities, education, multiculturalism, healthcare, government security, safety, space, great place to raise a family, along with many others. And some of the cons were being so far away from your family in another country, my grandpa said our government although better than most still not perfect, and a popular answer between Frank and my grandpa, it gets so flipping cold here. Overall the pros highly outweighed the cons and neither of them wished they could live some where else. Those facts about Canada say a lot about our identity as a country, we are looked at as the country that accepts all cultures and tries to keep the peace all over the world.

Reflection

The I chose these two assignments because each of them taught me to understand multiple perspectives and helped my knowledge grow. The interview assignment taught me how different people view our country, and opened my eyes even more to how multicultural Canada really is. The Fiddler on the Roof  venn diagram assignment taught me how take in and understand multiple perspectives while still having my own point of view.

General Learner Outcomes 

• G.O.1- Explore thoughts feelings and experiences
• Recognize that there are many viewpoints on issues in a globalizing world
• Understand the efforts put in place to by governments, to protect and promote languages and cultures
• Appreciate opportunities and challenges presented by globalization to the people of various cultures 

Knowledge and Understanding of the effect of Geography on Global Events

Chapter 6 & 7 Notes

Chapter 6: Cultural Contact

                  -To what extent does cultural contact affect people?

                  In the beginning (15^th Century)...                                                                                                                                                - Cultural contact between European explorers and Americans changed both cultures.                                                      -Indigenous people had different languages and governance, but all lived in harmony with nature.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            - Europeans competed for economic and military control.                                                                                                            - Set out to spread Christian faith and European values.                                                                                                            - European explores claimed un-known lands (monarch.)

                  Fur Trade…                                                                                                                                                                                                                        -Beothuk were not interested in fur trade.                                                                                                                                                -English fur traders competed with Beothuk for fur and food.                                                                                                            -Conflict began and English attacked. Beothuk numbers declined, and eventually became extinct.

Chapter 7: Historical Globalization & Imperialism

                  -To what extent should contemporary society respond to the legacies of historical globalization?

                  Early Globalization…                                                                                                                                                                                                      -People wanted natural resources not found in their land, and developed  international trade.                                    - European government developed a system called “mechanism” (government sponsored international business ventures to make European monarchs rich. Sponsored countries with good natural resources.

                  Early Capitalism…                                                                                                                                                                                                      -Economic system for increasing individuals wealth (free market/ competition)                                                                        -Adam Smith- believed hardest working people would succeed, and society would better benefit as a whole, or more profit = richer (capitalism.)                                                                                                                                                                                                      - Karl Marx- opposes “capitalism.”

                  Industrial Revolution ( 18^th Century)…                                                                                                                                                                  -European Countries were shifting production.                                                                                                                                                - Industrial Revolution – Increasing manufacturing.                                                                                                                              - Cottage Industries- company supplies resources; workers make products in homes, finished products are then taken away to sell.

                  Imperialism & Globalization…                                                                                                                                                                                    -Imperialism- an association between people that intentionally benefit one person over another.                                    - Eurocentric- strong belief Europe is the best

KEY                                                                                              Shelby Sissons

 Economic Globalization:

Market Economy, Freer Trade and Trade Blocs

Section 1: Multiple Choice                                 /5

1)         Who is the world leader for providing outsourcing services for Western companies?

a.         India

b.         China

c.         United States

d.         Japan

2)         Which of the following is NOT a term of the GATT?

a.         No country may be denied the right of free trade when said country applies.

b.         Trade must be conducted in a non- discriminatory manner

c.         Imported goods must be treated in the same manner as similar domestic goods

3)         At the end of what war did Poland, East Germany and Russia embrace the Free Market Economy?

a.         World War 2

b.         Cold War

c.         Korean War

4) In what year did Canada take a giant step towards Freer trade? And with whom?

a.         1995, with the Mexico

b.         1980, with China

c.         1989, With the United States

5)         South American countries believe that by joining South American trading blocs they will …?

a.         Grow and expand in population

b.         Be bigger players on the global stage

c.         Improve economic stability and increase investments

Section 2: Fill in the Blank                                 /5

6)          New technology decentralized international money markets and made the world seem smaller.

7)         End of World War Two, 50 countries around the world created United Nations.

8)         In South American trading blocs the richest 20% of the population owns over 60% of the wealth.

9)         The main objective of MERCOSUR is to improve economies by opening                      , promoting            development and                    the environment.

10)         GATT stands for                                .

Section 3: True or False                                             /6

Put “T” for true and “F” for false. If the statement is incorrect please provide the correct answer.

11)         CAN is short for Canadian aspect of Nations.

12)         Canada’s largest citizens organization is the COC.

13)         During the Cold War there were three major Trading Blocs North America, Western Europe, and Japan.

14)          In 2000 GATT had 100% of the world trade.

15)         The combined population of the CAN trade bloc is 90 million.

16)         The end of the Cold war was a driving force behind economic globalization.

Section 4: Matching                                           /4

Match either 17, 18, 19 or 20 with the their correct definitions

17)          Mutual Fund

18)          Tariff

19)          Common Market

20)          International Money Markets

A.           Markets in which funds that are loaned for a short time to businesses or governments are bought and sold.

B.           Combines clients money and invests it in a collection of stocks, bonds, and other securities.

C.           A tax imposed on imports to increase their price.

D.          An agreement between or among countries that includes the free trade of goods and services.

Reflection 

For this expectation I chose my chapter six and seven notes, which was a team assignment in the second mission, and my personal note taking assignment where you had to make a test from the third mission. i chose these to assignment because the textbook was the most effective way that I learned the effect of geography on globalization. I feel both these assignments display my knowledge and understanding because we had to go through and take the notes ourselves not just copy them from the board. Also the test making assignment further displays my understanding because after we took the notes we had to read over them and make questions for the test.

General Learner Outcomes

• Understand the effect of policies and practices of post-colonial governments in Canada and the world
• Exhibit a global awareness with respect to the human condition

Creative Writing Projects

General Learner Outcomes

• G.O.2- Comprehend a variety of texts and respond creatively 
• G.O.3 - Manage ideas and information
• G.O.5 - REspect and Collaborate with others

Reflection 

This was really the only project that I was involved in this year that involved some sort of script.  It was a scene out of Fiddler on the Roof  so we did not write a scrip but we had to adjust it to our needs. We had to cut certain parts so it was not so long and also gather costumes and film the video. This is a project that the end result was very satisfying. 

Research based Project

https://prezi.com/secure/757c2d50efed9c1bef2ff2f0b8bfabafbce13b97/
(The prezi was just a visual aid, it was mainly an oral presentation)

The researched based project I chose was my team assignment on the Imperialism of Afghanistan from the second mission. This assignment was highly research based because nobody knew about the imperialism of Afghanistan. It was also set up in to four sections of research, pre imperialism, imperialism, post imperialism and interesting facts about Afghanistan. I researched Afghanistan during imperialism and it was the most difficult research I have ever done. When search anything Afghanistan on the internet it jumps right to what is happening in the present, I really had to dig deep to find my research and ended up learning more because of it. I was also very proud of my research because I was the only team member to earn 5/5 on my researched section.

General Learner Outcomes

• G.O.3 - Manage ideas and information 
• G.O.5 - Respect Support and Collaborate with others
• Explore varying viewpoints of the impacts o globalization and imperialism 
• Consider the consequences of imperialistic policies 
• Recognize attempts made by populations and governments to address the consequences of imperialistic policies

Personal Response to Text

Being a teenager can be difficult

Everyone knows growing up is a difficult thing. People are faced with multiple challenges, and how an individual deals with those challenges makes them who they are. And through all the tests of life most people would agree that your teens are the hardest.

Now compared to the lives that Shakespeare’s famous teen stars Romeo and Juliet lead, my life seems pretty mellow. I have fantastic friends, and a tremendous family who love me unconditionally. My parents got me involved in sports at a young age which kept me busy and out of trouble. I am dedicated to everything I do whether it be sports or school and always try my best to give one hundred percent. Although my life is great and I am very blessed, there is some classic teenage problems that I deal with.

First off being a teenage girl I feel is a lot worse than being a teenage boy.

Boys can just punch each other a bit and call it quits, but girls on the other hand are nasty. I have gone from being best friends with a girl to her hating me for no reason. Another hard thing about being a teenage girl is, girls always talk behind each others backs. With girls it will never be just between two people, everyone always finds a way to be involved.

Another aspect of being a teenager that is difficult is the huge decisions you have to make that will affect the rest of your life. Since registering for high school last year I have had to make decisions that will setup the platform for the rest of my high school career an eventually my life. The first major decision was if I should take the Humanities course or English and Social courses. Well it is apparent which one I have chosen, the reasons I chose it was because I believe the Humanities course prepares you for university and also the life of business after university. And I can truthfully say so far in my humanities journey my initial reasons for choosing the course stand true. The other decision I had to make was taking a 20 level science in the second semester of grade 10. Now this was something I really wanted to do because I want to take all my sciences and it would be great if I take one earlier I worked really hard to achieve success so I would be able to take Biology 20 but in the end my marks were good but not good enough.

So overall there are not that many things that make my life that difficult other and those to things. Sure there are days when I think my life sucks, my parents aren't fair and the days when I think why me? So when I have those days I just remember how in the grand scheme of things my life is pretty darn good.

I believe that Juliet has changed since the beginning of the play…

            In the play Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is a dynamic character because she develops abundantly as a person throughout the play. At the start of the play Juliet is talking with her mother, Lady Capulet, about the potential of getting married to the county man Paris. Juliet states, “It is an honour I dream not of,” (Shakespeare, pp. Act 1, Scene 3, Line 67) when asked if she wanted to wed. This is an example of how she is young and naive at the start of the play. However as the play goes on Juliet becomes determined and courageous. She provides evidence for both of these starting in Act 4, Scene 1 after Romeo has been banished for Tybalts death and Juliet is told she will marry Paris. Juliet shows her determination for Romeo by going to Friar Laurence’s to come up with a plan to runaway with Romeo. When the Friar gives Juliet a sleeping potion she takes it even though she does not know what is exactly going to happen. This shows her determination to be with her beloved Romeo. An example showing Juliet’s courage is when she wakes up from her sleep in the tomb and sees Romeo dead. Juliet felt she needed to be with her lover for the rest of her life and had the courage to follow through with it. That is why Juliet has changed since the beginning of the play. She went from the naive girl, to the confident and determined women.


Reflection
I included two journal entries one form Romeo and Juliet where I displayed why Juliet changed throughout the play and one where we had to respond to the statement of being a teenager can be difficult. I included the first Romeo and Juliet     response because I feel it s my best work with personal response to texts. I gave multiple examples to back why I believed Juliet had grown. I chose the personal response of being a teenager can be difficult because it was something that was meant to be personal but could easily be general. I feel I did a good job of making it personal and getting away form my usually general writing. 


General Learner Outcomes  

• G.O.1 - Explore thoughts feelings and experiences 
• G.O.2 - Comprehend a variety of texts and respond critically, personally and creatively 

Response to Context

What is happening in the cartoon? Hosni Mubarak is disintegrating in an hourglass.

The Importance of the Character in the cartoon? He is the president of Egypt.

What is the use of Figurative Language in the Cartoon?  Symbolism, it shows that his time as the leader is slowly coming to an end.

Message overall- He has made is country angry because of his actions and now they are all rebelling against his leadership.

Reflection


I choose this assignment because it displayed what was happening in Egypt at the time in a easy to understand way. It also demonstrates that I new what was happening in the cartoon and responded effectively to it.


General Learner Outcomes 

• G.O.2 comprehend a variety of texts and respond critically, personally and creatively 
• Appreciate opportunities and challenges presented by globalization to the people of various cultures

Examples of Visual Text

Reflection
The two visual response to text I have displayed are one form Romeo and Juliet, the other from To Kill A Mocking Bird. The first is a character web on Juliet with three of her major qualities and then examples of them branching off. I was very proud of this assignment and feel it gives a great visual representation of Juliet's character. Next I chose one of my To Kill a Mocking Bird  wordles. I chose the one that represent everything that the book was to me. I picked this assignment because I was very proud of my work and how it is unique.


General Learner Outcomes

• G.O.2 - comprehend a variety of text and respond critically, personally or creatively 
• G.O.4 - Create a variety of text and enhance clarity and artistry of communication

Independent Reading Project

Bibliography

Schlosser, E. (2003). Reefer Madness Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labour in the American Black Market. New York, NY, United States: Mariner Books.

           The novel Reefer Madness is divided into three major chapters Reefer Madness, In the Strawberry Fields and An Empire of Obscene. The first chapter gives you facts on marijuana like the laws against it and outlines people’s experiences with growing it. The second chapter is on illegal workers in strawberry fields and how employers pay them in cash and much less than minimum wage. It also displays workers experiences and the farmer’s experiences with growing strawberry crops. In the third section is mainly about Reuben Sturman, a man who was a large businessman in the industry of obscene things. It outlined how he ran his empire and hid his money from the government over seas.  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f-OUSlumKvYCU3RmGihqDA5Dw4T4KP1nKW3UAankKqI/edit?hl=en_US&authkey=CPqOzJEL

Reflection
For the personal book assignment we were to read a book that related to globalization. i found that my book was not greatly tied to globalization. But reading a non-fiction book helped me to grow as a reader and as and analyser. I after sitting down and thinking about it I learned a lot from my book and it was not as bad as I originally thought.

General Learner Outcomes

• G.O.2 - Comprehend a variety of texts and respond critically, personally and creatively.
• G.O.3 - Manage ideas and information 
• Accept my role as a Global Citizen 
• See the need for individuals and society to address the opportunities and challenges of globalization

Evidence of Oral Participation & Growth

My evidence of oral participation is when Mr. Uhrbach video taped our team presentations in the third diplomatic mission. Unfortunately we could not find the actual video as it was lost somewhere in the SSDZ but I am going to review it. In that video I saw that I had a tendency to fidget, specifically I rocked on my feet, played with the bottom of my shirt and ran my fingers through my hair. I also read mainly to the smart board not looking out into the audience. One of my biggest flaws was I sped through what I had to say which made my presentation hard to understand. The fact that Mr.U video taped our presentations really helped me because I could see what I was doing wrong and I feel made me a better presenter when it came to the final presentation. The final presentation is where I got to show off what I had learned about presenting over the year and how I had used that knowledge to grow. I felt the my presenting skills had greatly improved I focussed on, making eye contact and not staring at the board and stopping my fidgeting. And I believe that I greatly improved on both of these and my presentation was better because of it. One thing I feel I still need to work on is talking slower. I could feel myself when I was up there going a million miles an hour at some points. All around I feel I had good participation and I grew tremendously in presenting this year.

General Learner Outcomes

• G.O.5 - Respect support and collaborate with others 

I found this did have may GLO's because it was showing how we have grown as a presenter and not the specific presentations.

Evidence of Teamwork Development

General Learner Outcomes Of ELA and Social Studies 

• G.O.5 - Respect Support and Collaborate with others
• G.O.3 - Manage ideas and information 

In order to fully show growth in my teamwork over the year I feel that I should show one team assignment form every mission. So I went back and gathered the following,


Mission 1 
Environmental Issues 
http://prezi.com/zfy6qj3hqpdz/environmental-issues/

<---This was the criteria that had to be met by the assignment. 
           My team did not fully meet the criteria, and I believe it was because we did not entirely understand the assignment. We focused more on a theory rather than a fact and it resulted in a poor assignment. I also know this assignment was done mainly by two people the night before the  presentation.


 Mission 2


Should Canada end the combat Mission in Afghanistan?


http://prezi.com/4xv3zpm7t3ev/afganistan/


In the second mission our team was given the popular question of, "Should Canada end our mission in Afghanistan?" This was a large research project that had may parts which required us all to work together as a team. Getting everyone to do a part was tough work and I found myself going over and adding tidbits to everyones. As a result the finished project had improved from the first mission as well as the team work. Also our team did not display both sides of the argument that well.
























Mission 3
Political Instability and its effect of Canada
http://prezi.com/2iftzl2p5raq/team-assignment-number-1/

1.              Prepare an oral presentation on the following current events issue.  Your presentation should provide an answer to the question posed by exploring both sides to the issue and then coming to a conclusion based on evidence.  Your presentation will be videotaped so that your team can watch it.  Your team will be evaluating its performance based on the rubric proved in class. 

                 

“Political instability in other parts of the world affects Canadians adversely because of the reality of Globalization.”

  Use the current situation in the Middle East, North Africa and other parts of the world  to support your team’s argument.  Find an effective way to present your findings.  (15 marks) (Due: _________)

This is a team research assignment that I feel was very well done. It displayed our understanding of the topic and gave lots of supportive information. However we again did not support the other side of the argument. 


Mission 4
Team Poetry
http://prezi.com/0tdv2ec7w79l/team-poetry-assignment/

1.         Poetry Assignment:  Read two of the  following poems from Literature and Media 10 and then complete the following assignments (one of your poems should be a narrative poem, the other a lyrical poem: (total 32 marks)

a.     Explain the difference between a narrative poem and a lyrical poem. (2 marks)

b.     Identify the poetic devices and writing techniques used by the poet in the two poems that you have selected.  Explain how the device or technique contributes to the meaning of the poem. (15 marks)

c.     Explain what the poet seems to be communicating in both of the two poems that you have studied.  Use evidence from each of the poems to provide evidence to support your interpretation. (15 marks)

This was the final mission of the year so you would expect the work to be the best and for me to reflect that the team work was amazing and everyone contributed. That did not happen. The team work on this assignment was fair but not 100% I would say three and a half out of five contributed but hey at least thats over half. The quality of the work was mediocre in my opinion and I am partially to blame for it. We met all of the requirements but we did not exceed them.


Concluding Reflection on Teamwork Development 

Teamwork is like a potluck, it isn't very good if
no one brings anything to the table
-Shelby Sissons

Humanities is a course that thrives on teamwork and is based on it, and I feel the four team assignments that I put together show growth in teamwork. I included four team assignments that were made on prezi because I believe it is the best 21st century learning device for teamwork. Prezi has the feature that allows multiple people to be working on the same project from different computers at the same time. 


The aspect that I think has most improved from the start of the year to now participation. I think many people in my class would not agree with me on this one but I observed from the start of the year to now the majority of the team provides some sort of input. For example in the first mission it was me and one other person who delegated and did all the work, but in the fourth mission 4 of 5 team members contributed on almost every team assignment. 


There is still tonnes to improve upon in the teamwork department and I believe it will get better, slowly but surely.