Bea’s Blog

Link to the assignment: http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/05/30/united-nations-world-issues-reflection/

1) Think about the presentations and reflect on the projects your classmates presented and the information you listened to. Explain with details and specific information what you learned, what you found interesting, surprising, or shocking about the presentations you heard in class.Think about the presentations and reflect on the projects your classmates presented and the information you listened to. Explain with details and specific information what you learned, what you found interesting, surprising, or shocking about the presentations you heard in class.

In class today, I learned a lot of things about world issues that the UN are trying to fix. I think that I learned mostly about child labor and drug abuse. Before, I thought that child labor wasn’t such a big deal anymore because I thought that the UN already managed to help most of the children working. I was very wrong though. The iMovie about child labor taught me that there are millions of children who are working and earning less than $1 a day. I also thought the movie was well made because the music suited the topic. It was funny when the music would suddenly stop, then start again. I also learned a lot about drug abuse. I knew that people got addicted to drugs and started abusing them because it made them feel good, but I didn’t know about the little details. Like, what some of the abused drugs actually were. I didn’t really want to know how people took the drugs, but in the iMovie, it showed someone sniffing it up, and I thought that was really nasty. The presentations really taught me a lot.

2)  What would you change to improve your project/presentation if you were to do the assignment again?

If I were to do the assignment again, I think I would make an iMovie instead, so that I could add narration. I think having narration is much easier, because you don’t really have to present to the class. That way, everything would already be in the movie. Also, if someone watched it on the wikispace, they wouldn’t really have to read everything in the movie. Instead, they would just listen and read if they didn’t understand what the narrator was saying. If I couldn’t add narration, I think music would also enhance the presentation so that people watching wouldn’t get bored. To make the presentation better, I would’ve prepared note cards so that I wouldn’t have to look up at the screen if I forgot something. I think that everything else that we put in our project was good and didn’t really need to be changed.

Resources:

Citation: Author not shown. �Selenium pills �may combat HIV�� BBC News Health Selenium pills �may combat HIV�. May 5, 2007. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6623631.stm> (May 6, 2007).

Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6623631.stm

Picture:

�A cell infected with HIV

source: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42479000/jpg/_42479751_infected_cell_credited203.jpg
Map of Miami:

�

source: http://archives.cnn.com/2000/LAW/07/14/floridasmokers.verdict/miami.map.lg%5B1%5D.jpeg�

1) What is the issue?

The issue is that many people are suffering from HIV, which leads to AIDS and the University of Miami found a lower HIV level in patients who took selenium for 9 months. This makes them think that selenium might be helpful to those with HIV, so they decided to research more about it. They think that selenium might contain an antioxidant that repairs the immune cells infected with HIV.

2) Who is involved?

• The University of Miami
• The researchers
• The HIV patients taking selenium

3) Who is affected and how?

The researchers at the University of Miami and everyone with HIV are affected. The researchers are involved because they might�ve discovered something that could help the millions of people with HIV and if selenium really does help cure HIV, then they will get a lot of money. The people with HIV are affected because they might be able to get cured if selenium actually does help fight HIV.

4) What would you do if you were directly involved?

If I was directly involved and I was researching, I would try to get more scientists involved in figuring out if selenium did help cure HIV because many people are suffering from the disease and need help. With more people helping, they would probably find answers faster. Even if selenium didn�t help, I would still try to find a cure for HIV because AIDS is killing so many people, and it would really help if we found a cure.

1)      Comment on the statement: “The whole is only as strong as the sum of its parts” and whether this statement is true for the United Nations

 “The whole is only as strong as the sum of its parts”. This quote means that the whole is only strong when all of its parts are added up together. This relates to the U.N. because the U.N. wouldn’t work without all of the countries working together. If there was only one country in the U.N., it wouldn’t be the United Nations. It would just be the Nation. Also, if the U.N. was only one country, it probably wouldn’t help as much as it does now because there would be less people and less opinions and ideas to make the world a better place. The quote is also a bit similar to “United we stand, divided we fall” because both quotes have basically the same idea. That you need many things working together to make one thing function and if all the things working together were separated, the one thing that you wanted to work wouldn’t be able to.

Anubis

Greetings mortals, you may bow if you wish. I am lord of embalming. I protect Necropolis. I used to be lord of the dead, but then was demoted to the mere protector. I was originally the fourth son of Ra, but later my people described me as the son of Osiris and Nephthys. The Jackal is my animal. It is I, Anubis. You may also call me one of my Egyptian names: Inpew, Yinepu or Anpu.

My name, Anubis is the Greek word for jackal headed god. I was one of the earliest worshiped gods. Even before my father, Osiris. I was originally lord of the dead, however as time passed, my people started to worship my father more and more. Until I was replaced. My duty is now to protect and guide the dead. I also must attend the ritual of preparation for the bodies going into the afterlife. I am the messenger between heaven and hell. My wife is Anput, and my daughter is named Kebchet. My people worship me in Kynopolis, the dog city.

 Many things make me special. My most famous symbol is in King Tutankhamen’s tomb: a gold statue of me. It was used to make sure king Tut was well protected in his afterlife. I assure you, I took good care of him. As you know, I created embalming. When my father died, I wanted to preserve him. So I wrapped him up in linen. The method was then used by the mortals and is now commonly known as mummification.

            If I hadn’t inspired people to preserve their dead, we wouldn’t have all of these mummies today. Without mummification, the ancient Egyptians wouldn’t have known how they could preserve their dead for the afterlife. If the ancient Egyptians didn’t preserve their dead, you humans would never have found all of the preserved Egyptian bodies in their tombs!

            Now I think all of you mortals already know enough about me. Don’t be fooled by Osiris. Remember that I, Anubis am the true lord of the underworld and I was worshiped long, long before Osiris. Now I must go home to Necropolis, back to my job.

source: http://www.linsdomain.com/gods&goddesses/pictures/relief-anubis.jpg  

1) Think about class today and reflect on the presentations you listened to. Explain with details and specific information what you learned and what you found interesting in class.

When I walked into social studies this morning, I only knew about a few famous Egyptian people and gods, but that was about to change. I learned a lot about Osiris, Hatshepsut and Khufu. From Nadiah’s presentation, I learned that Osiris’s brother was Set, who betrayed him and chopped him into pieces. I really liked how she talked clearly with a lot of expression. My favorite part was when she said “My brother Set chopped me into pieces.” I also liked how she memorized her speech and had a lot of eye contact with the audience. Sekheena’s presentation about Hatshepsut taught me that Hatshepsut reigned the longest out of all the women who were pharaohs. I also learned that when she died, her husband put his name on all of the statues of her and she was taken off the list of pharaohs because she was a woman! I liked how Sekheena dressed up a lot and I also liked her fake beard. I never knew who built the great pyramid until Robbie came and gave his speech about Khufu. I came out of social studies today with twice as much knowledge about Egypt than when I came in, thanks to everyone’s speeches.

2) What would you change to improve your speech/presentation if you were to do it again?

If i were to do my speech again, I would’ve practiced a bit more than i did beforehand so that I wouldn’t have needed to look at the paper as much as I did. It also would’ve been better if i had a bigger mask, so that it would be easier to see the audience. I should’ve found something to hold my mask up without my hands, so that i wouldn’t have had to hold so much. Although, if I had the time I would’ve done a paper mache mask. Another thing that I think I should’ve done was doing the outline earlier, so that I would’ve known exactly what I was going to write in my speech. Although I could’ve improved on some things, I think I did well speaking clearly and I also think that I wrote my speech quite well.  

Citation:

Author not shown. “ECUADOR - Tungurahua volcano”. SVE - Volcano News. April 13th, 2007. <http://www.sveurop.org/gb/news/news.htm> (Monday April 16, 2007)

Map of Ecuador:

source: http://www.embaecuador-malaysia.com/Map%20Ecuador%201.gif

Picture:

source: http://www.geo.mtu.edu/~erengber/tungurahua_1.jpg

1) How are the events connected?

Both of the articles talk about the Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador. My article is mostly about the current scientific happenings at Tungurahua. Mahera’s article is also about what is currently going on in the volcano, but it also talks about how the people are affected by it.

2) What did you find interesting about this topic?

I found it very interesting that Tungurahua has been erupting until now. Before, I thought that a volcano could only erupt once and after the one erruption, it was already inactive. Also, I never knew that the Tungurahua even existed! Another thing I found interesting was that people actually live on the volcano. I also learned a lot about what actually happens when a volcano erupts other than the lava spurting out. I never thought anyone would have the guts to live on an active volcano.

3) What did you like about the initial blog posting?

I liked how you made the pictures small so that they wouldn’t take up a lot of space. It was also nice that you put them all in the same place so you can see them all at once. You also put a lot of detail in the answers to the questions. It would be a bit easier to read if you put who was involved in bullet points though. You also did a great job on your presentation because you didnt hesitate when you were speaking even though the overhead projector wasn’t working and you couldn’t look at the blog if you forgot something! Great job! 

  The best selling novel Eragon, by Christopher Paolini was released as a movie on December 15, 2006. The movie came out as a mixture of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings…

To return to the article, click here.

Citation:

Kates, William. “Snow squalls end in upstate New York”. Snow squalls end in upstate New York - Yahoo!. Monday, February 12, 2007 11:09 PM ET. <http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070213/ap_on_re_us/cold_weather;_ylt=As.C4IQTlci44dDFxPjJ1ZZvzwcF> (Tuesday, February 13, 2007)

Map of New York:

source: http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/travel/dg/maps/14/750×750_newyork_m.gif 

Picture:

source: http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/picts/truck.jpg

1) How are the events connected?

The events are connected because Leah Mae’s article is about the snow coming in very heavily, and mine is about how the snow is clearing up.

2) What did you find interesting about this topic?

I found this topic very interesting because the snow got up to 115 feet high, and it got to the point when people had to exit their houses through the windows. I thought people going through their windows to get out of their houses was funny, and I didn’t think it was even possible for it to snow heavily enough to make a 115 inch blanket of snow.

3) What did you like about the initial blog posting?

I liked how you organized everything, particularly the questions and answers. I think you should put the picture at the top though, so we can see it right away. Overall, you did a great job! Keep it up!

link to assignment: http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/02/09/homework-block-b-and-g-feb-912/

1) What would you change about the final product (the wiki you created) if you were to do the assignment again?

If I were to do the assignment again, I would put more detail into it, spend more time researching, and try to use my time in class and at home wisely. I would put more detail into it by spending more time researching. I would spend more time researching by using my time wisely, so that I would have the maximum amount of time to work on the project. To use my time wisely, I would try not to get distracted by other things and concentrate.

 2) Look at some of the other wikis from any class and find a few that you think are done exceptionally well. Tell me the name of the empire and the block, and then explain what you like about their wiki.

I really liked the Swahili Costal Trading States wiki from block D. I liked how they organized things by titles and subtitles. I also liked how they had paragraphs explaining each topic. The lists they had were also good, but were a bit hard to read. The lists would’ve been better if they were in bullet points. I liked the fancy titles from cooltext, but some of them were a bit too fancy. Overall, I thought it was a great wiki.

I also liked the Kongo Kingdom wiki from block H. I liked how they gave descriptions for every link to a different page. I also liked how they put a lot of pictures and content. The links to definitions were good too. The only thing i didn’t like were all the cooltext logos. I thought some pages had too many, such as place and regions. Also, some of the text on the home page was a bit hard to read because they were barely spaced out. I thought they did a great job.

 Link to assignment: http://ssmeetsit.edublogs.org/2007/02/08/homework-block-b-and-g-feb-78/

 1. What did you learn from this task?

In this task of making a wikispace, I learned a lot about ancient
Zimbabwe such as their food, clothing, and Great Zimbabwe. I learned that they ate birds, sheep, and other wild animals. Their main grain was millet. The rich people of ancient Zimbabwe wore clothes made of silk, cotton, and damask. I also learned how to enhance my seaches on the internet using the Boolean operators.

What I found difficult about this task was finding information on the internet because there was barely any good information about ancient
Zimbabwe. Most websites were just travel guides. The easier part of this task was putting the information that I found on the wiki in my own words. I found this easy because when I know the information and completely understand it, it is easy to explain the information in my own words.

3.What would you change about the process you went through to complete the wiki if you were to do the assignment again?

If I were to do the assignment again, I would try to find more information and research more so that my page could have more detail. I would only be able to do this though, if we had a bit more time because there was barely any good information about ancient Zimbabwe on the internet and none of the books in the library had good information either. I would’ve also not wasted so much of my time trying to find good information on the internet, and looked at the packet instead.