City of Ember- Deep Question of Choice

Why do you think more people in Ember did not act like Lina and Doon did?

I think that people did not act like Lina and Doon because they were still asleep, unable to see the true mayor, unable to wake up and see the real scarcity in Ember.  For example on Assignment Day, nobody thought twice about the mayors reaction towards Doon's outburst.  Suddenly Doon spoke up.  "But Ember is not prospering!" he cried.  "Everything is getting worse and worse!"  "Silence!"  cried the mayor. (13)  Nobody really suspected there could be something more to it.  Little trails the mayor leaves behind are not picked up by the citizens of Ember.  They are just left there, but Lina and Doon look more closely at them and go deeper.  Secondly,  on page 85, the citizens of Ember are invited to a town meeting.  He then, on page 87 says; "Slooshns!" he bellowed "Arbingfoun!"  "Solutions,'' the people in the front called to the people in the back.  "Solutions are being found?"  Later, he does not answer what king of solutions.  He just wants to cover up his tracks.  These are things that Lina and Doon would pick up, but other citizens are unable to see.  Finally, on page 156, Doon's curioustiy puts him in a position where the truth comes out.  He is in the pipeworks when he notices a key in the door he and Lina were looking at.  He then opens it.  "On the table were dishes smeared with the remains of food, and in an armchair facing Doon was a great blob of a person whose head was flopped backbard, so that all Doon could see of it was an upthrust chin.  The blob stirred and muttered, and Doon, in the second before he stepped back and pulled the door closed, caught a glimpse of a fleshy ear, a slab of gray cheek, and a loose, purplish mouth."  This, we later find out is the mayor.  Only somebody with curiousity like Doon or Lina would really get to the bottom of this.  Also, you realize that nobody really second guessed the fact that the Mayor was bigger than the rest of the citezens.        

Theatre 6 Quarter Reflecion

Throughout this past quarter, I have learned so many different things in Theatre.  During the Greek drama, I learned how to encorperate research into an interesting play.  At first, it was hard to include all of this important information, but I overcame this obstacle through dialouge.  When we did tableaux, I learned how important body language is.  My group at first struggled with conveying facial expressions to show part of a story, but we were able to resolve this by using critique in a positve way.  When we did pantomimes, we could not talk, and we really stuggled with making our characters have certain characteristics, without talking, but we then chose personalities that could be shown through body language.   During "Theif!," I learned how to work with a large group of people and how important other peoples' say is.  That was something we struggled with, because it was hard to organize how to say things when everyone was talking at once.  When we organized, however, the outcome was really good.  Our group stuggled with the pair scenes.  We were in a rush to get it done,  so we went with whatever idea came up.  Once we finally came up with something we could add a story to, we got feedback from Ms. Moraes to make it richer and it turned out nicely.
My goals for the rest of this quarter are to be able to speak up during perfomances and try to be more focused.  For this final assesment, I will try to be more prepared and memorize my lines, not rely on improv.

Digging Deep With Doon

       Doon Harrow is caring and selfless.  Right after everyone chose their jobs on Assignment day, Doon felt did not want to be messenger, and he explains the reasoning behind it and he taps Lina on the shoulder and says; 
"Will you trade with me? he asked.  
"Trade?"
"Trade jobs.  I don't want to waste my time being a messenger.  I want to help save the city, not run around carrying gossip."  (Page 15)  This shows that Doon is selfless because he wants to help save the city.  He knows about what could be coming, and wants to help protect people from it.  Further into the book Doon makes a selfless act that shows he is a good person.  It says;  Now he could see only two courses of action: he could give up and do nothing, or he could start to work on a different movable light. Doon didn't want to give up, so on his day off one Thursday, he went to the Ember Library to look up fire.  (Page 117)  This idnicates that Doon wants to help the city so that nothing bad happens.  It also proves that he is selfless because on his day off, he did not spend it relaxing at home.  He spent it looking for a solution for the city.  Lastly, on page 82, we learn how other people really think of him. it says:  "Lucky for you Doon Harrow was around," said Nammy Proggs, who'd been watching them with her sideways glare.  "He's a good-hearted boy.  Anything breaks at my house, he fixes it."  This lets me realize that Doon is always there and happy to help.  Nammy Proggs is elderly and she probably can't do as much now, but Doon helps her fix things.
Source

Command Econamy

In humanities, we have been studying economy and multiple different types of it.  In the past few days, we have been learning about command economy.  Today, we really went deep into this topic and discussed how it works,  what countries used it and how it came to be.

Think about your participation in the bake sale. 
(Our bake sale did not work out)

Think about what happened to your money after it was earned.
How did you feel when the money was distributed equally to the class?
I thought it was unfair because our group did not bring in food, but still got money.
Why did you feel that way?
Like I said, our group did not do anything, and still got money.  I feel like it was unfair to the groups who did bring in food.
What might be the benefits to this system?
I think that the benefits might be that there is no fighting over fairness, because everyone gets an equal amount of money.
What might be the disadvantages?
Since everybody gets the same amount of money, it is unfair to those who do not work a lot to those who work every hour.

Think about the reading.  Why have many countries moved away from communism?
I think many societies moved away from communism because they have realized that it is unfair to those who work hard and are still paid the same as those who work only a little bit.

Economy

In humanities, we have been studying econemy and were given an assignment to create a product, a good.  We had to pay for our own recourses (using Hum Bucks) and make something helpful to students.  Our group made a bag with pockets and a makeshift speaker.  This was to model Free Market Econemy.  Free market econemy is good because supporters believe that the governmanet should not tell people how much to make.  It is bad because it is based on supply and demand, therefore there is scarcity with certain recourses.  We modeled scarcity, and a real life situation is, when there is a popular invention and many companies want to purchase it, it becomes rarer and more people want it.  If I could do one thing to change this system, it would be to try and reduece the importance of supply and demand because it causes scarcity and prevents lesser companies from growing.  I am really enjoying this unit because we get to see and understand things that are happening in the real world.

Remembering

1)  What does Obama think Mandela’s death should prompt people to do?

 Although Mandela did pass away, his lessons did not.  Obama said that we should use what Mandela left for us to reflect on ourselves.  

2)  What does Obama mean when he says, 
     “We cannot allow our progress to cloud the fact that our work is not yet done?”

Obama is essentially saying that we can not always put ourselves first.  You have to help others, donate money and think of people other that you. 

3) When Obama says, 
     “Young people around the world – you, too, can make his life’s work your own,” 
     What does he mean?  How did Obama do this?  How might you do this?

He means that we should be inspired to make changes just like Mandela did.  It does not matter your age, as long as you are aware and are open to help.

4)  What are some of the problems the world faces today?  How can people stop them?

Some problems are poverty, hunger and multiple types of inequality.  We can try to stop it by donationg to different organizations that help.  If there are little things happeneding, you can be the one to try and stop them.  A lot of people think that if there are some organizations out there, they will stop poverty, but that is not true.  It depends on everyone working together. 

  
      

SUTTS Reflection

I thought that Step Up To The Stage was a very good experience.  I have learned so much, and would love to learn even more.  Now, I feel so much more confiedent and understand how I can improve myself.

1)  What are the qualities of creating a strong presentation?  (Content and Preparation)

Qualities of a strong presentation would be always being prepared, having evidence and visuals.  Also, making sure that you have minimal content and using key words.

2)  What are the qualities of delivering a strong presentation?  (Delivery)

Qualities of delivering a strong presentation would be having confidence, a good pace and volume, clarity and preparation.   

3)  What did you feel was one strength of your informative speech?

I think that my presentation was very organized and  I had helpful visuals too.  

4)  What was one area you feel you still could improve upon?

I think I could improve on talking a little slower and taking my time.

5)  What would you do differently the next time you have to present before an audience?

I would work on the clarity and volume of my speech.  I would also like to work on keeping my presentation about one thing, not going off topic.  
My Inforamtive Speech Presentation