Photo Essay: Internship Photo Essay

What is Cherokee Point?
I intern at Cherokee Point Elementary. Cherokee Point Elementary is about 4 years old and located in City Heights. This new school has a total of 700 students, Kinder through fifth, 32 classrooms and stands on 6.7 acres of land. The new school was approved as Proposition MM November 3, 1998 and started being built March 25, 2004. The name Cherokee Point was given to the school due to the fact that the surrounding streets of the neighborhood area create the shape of an arrowhead. It was built to stop the overcrowding in the elementary schools nearby such as Adams Elementary, Birney Elementary, Carver Elementary, Clay Elementary and Central Elementary. The school officially opened September 6, 2005.


Beginning of my day
My main location , at Cherokee Point , is the library/media room. My job in the library/media room is to check books in and out, put books away, help kids find books, and some other tasks. I find putting the books away quite boring but sometimes fun. I find it boring because I have to put them back. This can take awhile but I do find it fun because I usually end up finding some cool books to look at. My favorite job to do is, to check books in and out. I find checking them in and out fun because I get to use the scanner and I get to interact with the kids more. I also enjoy helping the kids find their books because I, again, get to interact with the kids. When I don’t have anything to do, my mentors busy or I’m done with my work; I usually just grab a book from their large selection.

My Project
At Cherokee Point they have computer carts, which go between classes in the certain grade levels. The computer carts carry 20 Apple iBooks. Some teachers weren’t really happy with the movement of them because some weren’t getting the computers that often. The solution to this problem was to give two computers to each teacher from grades kinder to 3rd. For this redistributing of computers two computers carts, a total of 40 computers, and had to be distributed to 18 teachers. This was my project; I handled the computers over the two weeks, one computer cart for each week.


Beginning the project
When it came to redistributing the computers it wasn’t just getting them and pass them out. The first day starting my project I had to do software upgrades, Firefox upgrades, and Adobe Reader upgrades. For twenty computers this took me 2:30 hours. After computer upgrades I had to erase student files such as, word documents, Power Points, pictures, music, movies, etc. Erasing took me from about half an hour. After deleting the documents I had to install the printers so that the printer installed on the computer matched the printer in the classroom that it was going to this took me about 45 minutes. After I finished installing the printers I stopped working on them for the rest of the day and helped with other tasks.

End of the Project
The second day, my project involved entering the computer info onto a computer application called Horizon. With Horizon I assigned each computer a specific barcode number. This took me about 3 hours, due to the fact that I had to make sure that all information was right. After I was finished with barcodes I had to clean the computers so that they looked close to brand new. This took me from 11 to about 1. While I cleaned them I had to label them with their barcode so where the green dot is, is where the new barcode was placed. The third day was when I cleaned and labeled the chargers and passed out the chargers. This was the first computer cart on the first week. The next week I did finished in three days but I also did so much more besides this project.



Music Class
The second week I got to do more than just working in the library and with the computers. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I joined in on a music class and I also helped the music teacher out a bit. The days that I went there were different grade levels. Kindergarten, of course, was just simple dancing and singing, 3rd grade was practicing their recorder and some dancing and 5th grade was doing rehearsals for a program they have coming up. I enjoyed going to help out, observe and participate in music class especially with the kindergartens because they taught me some songs and dances. In the picture above I was sitting in on the third grade class taking pictures of them practicing their recorders, this is one of the pictures that I took. I also observed a first/second grade class in which I am basing my next project on. My next project is a combination of my honors project and my internship project. I will be creating a children’s book for this class.

11.5.2008 Part One Blog - Election Reflection

How do you feel about the elections?
· At first when I heard Obama won I was kind of scared, I don’t know why I was scared but I just was. But since then it has sunk in and I think that Obama is going to make a great president. I was a little mad that they passed prop 8 because gays should have equal rights. I could see why most would want to pass prop 8, which is because off their religion. A good example that I saw on the internet was that what if gay marriage was allowed and a gay couple wants to get married at a church the church couldn’t deny them their right to marry there since it’s a law and allowed. I could see why some wouldn’t want to pass prop 8 which is that it eliminates equal rights.

What are your hopes for America and your community in the next few years?
· I hope that the U.S. will be back to its great self and that it won’t get worse. I hope that as a state when prop 8 comes again, that is if it does, that it won’t be passed because its discriminatory. I just think that it should be equal right. One thing that I wouldn’t really care if it gets passed or not is the train prop, if it gets passed great if not than oh well we still have the Amtrak.

What are your concerns for America and your community for the next few years?
· My concerns for this country over the next few years is that wall street wont go up and that we will stay in the economic crisis that we are.

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What have we done well as a class to build your understanding of current events?
We just have gone over current events a lot and have discussed it a lot and looked at the different view points of many topics, I feel that I understand this more.

What can we improve as a class (or you as an individual) to better build your understanding of current events?
I think that maybe we could review every week or something like that so everything would be fresh in the brain every week.

How do you feel in the numerous conversations about current events that take place outside of class?
I felt that I was supposed to have a side. I felt that I was to either have supported McCain or Obama but I really didn’t know whose side I wanted to be on. I understood what each candidate I stood for I just didn’t know which one would be better for the U.S. I guess that’s why I was scared when Obama won, because I didn’t have a side. I think that if McCain would’ve won I would’ve been scared.

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Research Questions

The HTB (Heal the Bay) Report they provide a letter grade for county beaches during dry and wet weathers. I would be cool for our class to do that. Well maybe a couple of people probably could go out and we could assign letter grades to the SD County beaches. In the report SD beaches have a lot of A's and B's but during wet weather it has all of the grades A's, B's, C's, D's and F's. During dry weather one beach has an f but thats about it. These grades that they get from Heal the Bay are based on a 100 point grading scale and based on the severity of bacteria the number of points could decrease.

In the SDC Report years 2000-2006 there were 277 closures of beaches due to sewage spills from the run off of the Tijuana River. There was a total of 60,385,408 gallons of sewage spilled into recreational waters. I would like to test whats in the water or interview the people who clean it up, if its even being cleaned up by anyone.

Honors Blog: Invisible Man

The way how the people react to the invisible man develops the theme throughout the story. The theme, being fear of the unknown, develops when the people of the village that the invisible man, Griffin, is staying at, become so curious of who he is. As they come to learn more about Griffin they become more fearful of him and when he finally reveals, or tries to reveal who he is and what’s wrong with him, everyone becomes fearful of him. I think that they become so fearful of him because they don’t know where he is and what he will do. These are the literary terms that I believe are in the Invisible Man: H.G. Wells.

One of the literary terms that I found in the Invisible Man would have to be flashbacks from chapters 20-24. Flashbacks allowed the writer present past events during current events, in this case when Griffin is explaining to Kemp how he got to be invisible. I think that this literary term is important because it’s the way that we learn how he became the way that he is. Reading how he go to where he is we learn how he go the way he is and how being invisible gives him so much power.

The second literary term that I found was antagonist. Antagonist is someone who prevents the main character from living “happily ever after”. Griffin is preventing the entire village from living “happily ever after”. In chapter 24 paragraph 27, Griffin mentions to Kemp, “… That invisible man, Kemp, must now establish a reign of terror. Yes-no doubt it’s startling. But I mean it. A reign of terror. He must take some town like your Burdock and terrify and dominate it.” Even though only Kemp heard this I think that this is what the village felt he would do. Griffin was preventing the village from going back to normal.

The third literary term that I noticed was parable, a story that has a moral. I think that the moral of the story was that an power tend to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely, meaning that Griffins morality lessens as he gets more power. I think that this is more like a story with a moral because when Griffin tries to create a reign of terror he just gets killed in the end.

In the end Griffin is killed after he goes on a rampage killing people of the village. One thing that I debated with my dad, who has read the book too, is it the drugs that causes the invisible man to go mad, or is it just him having so much power that makes him go mad. Which do you think it is? Leave comments.

Debate Reflection

Describe the 2008 Presidential and Vice Presidential Debates in their historical context.

 

The main topics of the 2008 debates were mostly based on the economic crisis, Wall Street and the $700 billion bailout. The McCain v. Obama debates were not that different from each other, the candidates were just kind of saying the same thing. McCain would say what bad choices Obama has made in the past like, “We had an energy bill before the United States Senate. It was festooned with Christmas tree ornaments. It had all kinds of breaks for the oil companies, I mean, billions of dollars worth. I voted against it; Senator Obama voted for it.” Obama would do the same, “Over 26 years, Senator McCain voted 23 times against alternative energy, like solar, and wind, and biodiesel.”   The Lincoln and Douglas debates were based on slavery and whether or not whites would remain the dominate race.  The format that they used is now different then how it was during the Lincoln-Douglas debates. The Lincoln Douglas debates was 60 Minutes for person A to make their point, 30 minutes for person B to respond to what person A said, 60 minutes for Person B to make their point and than 30 minutes for Person A to respond to what person B has said. The McCain v. Obama debate is now divided into about 9 minute segments and about 2 hours long. 

How has the Internet affected the way that Americans approach democracy? How does the Internet and it's effects fit into the historical context of technology and democracy in America?

Democracy is a form of government in which citizens chose president. I think that internet has affected the way that Americans approach democracy because the internet has so much sources. Take the presidential candidates Obama and McCain for example, they both are topics of many sites some sites criticizing them and some praising them. People also go to sites to research which one would be the best choice for them or not. I think that the internet now is the main source for presidential candidates to do campaiging since most people are on the internet back when there was no internet they used posters, commercials and stuff like that.

Photography

Rule of thirds
Imagine a grid 3 by 3. Where the lines intersect on the grid is where the main focus should be.



Depth of Field
Its a photo where one specific thing is in focus and the rest isn't.


Eyes, Color, Fill the frame and macro photography
The photograph should filll frame it should be filled with color. the photographer gets more of an emotional response from the viewer when eyes are the main focus. Macro Photography is close up photography.



Interesting use of light



Shooting at eye level



Thanks for letting me use the photos Nick

Demographic Blog

I don’t really have any questions regarding demographics, except on how do they get their information?

The amount of those with in the city I live in, National City, is 11,652 or 24%. I believe that these people will be impacted if Obama becomes president. I think that they will become impacted because Obama wants to make health care available to everyone. As in this article of “Barack Obama and John McCain on Foreign Policy the Economy and the US Healthcare system” it states that “ Obama wants to provide universal healthcare coverage for Americans”

My personal repsonse to this article is that I dont think that everyone should have free healthcare because I don't think everyone deserves healthcare. Anyways how are they going to pay for the healthcare for everyone?

Democrats:Then and Now

I have chosen to compare and contrast the difference of the democrat party during the great depression and now because the Great Depression was mostly due to stock markets collapsing. Right now stock markets are dropping too. One thing that I noticed with these two comparisons is that they both still seem to be aware of the same thing which is helping the people.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: President during Great Depression

October 29, 1929 the NY Stock Exchange took catastrophic collapses of the stock market prices. The next few years the stock market didn’t bounce back quickly. Next three years stock prices continued to fall. Late 1932 stocks dropped to about 20% of the value they were worth in 1929. The stock drops strained banks and other financial institutions causing 11,000 of the 25,000 banks to fail. The result of production, due to reduced levels of spending, led to a downward spiral. The Great Depression caused Unemployment to rise 12-15 million workers, which was about 25-30 % of the work force then.[i]

When Roosevelt was elected as president, in 1932, 13,000,000 were unemployed and almost every bank closed. What Roosevelt proposed was a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those that were close to losing their farms and homes. Roosevelt’s new program of reform was: social security, heavier taxes on the wealthy, new control over banks and a work relief program for those who were unemployed. [ii]

First 100 days of Roosevelt in office, The Emergency Banking Bill, passed during Roosevelts administration, was to strengthen, reorganize and reopen banks; this was passed overwhelmingly by congress. March 12 Roosevelt made an announcement that “soundest banks would reopen.” The next day banks exceeded withdrawals according to Raymond Moley “Capitalism was saved in eight days.”[iii]

Obama: Democratic Candidate

Right now stock markets are fluctuating like the Great Depression. $700 billion was said to be needed as the bailout but it was voted against and didn’t get approved. Soon after DOW Jones plunged around 600 points. It has gone up 485 points now and as of today its gone down again 348 points[iv]

During the Presidential Candidate Debate, of Obama v. McCain, one of the lead questions was, “As president, as a result of whatever financial rescue plan comes about and the billion, $700 billion, whatever it is it’s going to cost, what are you going to have to give up, in terms of the priorities that you would bring as president of the United States, as a result of having to pay for the financial rescue plan?”. Obama responded what he wouldn’t stop, “We have to fix our health care system … make sure that we’re competing in education… make sure that college is affordable for every young person in America… new electricity grid to get the alternative energy to population centers that are using them.”

McCain(left) and Obama (right)

here September 26, 2008 debating

at the presidential candidate debate.

The topic during the presidential was

focused around the $700 billion bailout.

Republican View

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[i]About the Great Depression." University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign :: Department of English. 30 Sep. 2008
[ii]Biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt." Welcome to the White House. 30 Sep. 2008 r32.html>.
[iii]"THE FIRST 100 DAYS." Tom Huppi. 1 Oct. 2008 .

Suing for freedom

Describe a an important Supreme Court case that took place before 1865 in it's historical context--what precedents were set, what impact did they have and what is the case's relevance today?

An important Supreme court case that took place in 1957 was the case of Dred Scott v. Sanford. Dred Scott was a slave that sued for his freedom in 1847. Throughout ten year there were appeals and court reversals, the case was finally bought to the U.S Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court Justice concluded that those of African ancestry, whether they were slaves or not, could not become citizens of the U.S. and therefore Dred Scott couldn't sue for his freedom.

The precedents that I found were set is that this was an example that slaves arent citizens and it was meant that they would never be citizens. I think that this had a great impact because I think that this paved the way for slaves to fight for their rights. I also think this case has an influence on the Civil war. I think that it impacts today because its a case that we look back on and see how we have changed as a country today.

Energetically Wrong

The most interesting thing that I found on factcheck.org is how Sarah Palin said Alaska produced 20% of the U.S. domestic supply of energy. This stood out to me because it seems like she got her information mixed up. I think she was addressing how Alaska produced 14% of the oil from U.S. but instead she said that they produced 20 when in reality Alaska only produced 2.4% of the US energy. I don’t think that this will affect peoples view of Palin by much but some might look down on her.

Energetically Wrong
9.12.2008
Fact Check ,Justin Bank

Merrill Lynch & Company Inc.

Merrill Lynch & Company Inc.
MER: NYSE; Financials/Investment Services
September 15, 2008, New York Times
Thesis:
On Sept. 14, 2008, Merrill announced that it had agreed to be purchased by the Bank of America, rather than run the risk of being pulled under by turmoil surrounding the industry, as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers had been.
Class Connection:
The class connection I found is that when classmates gave their advice they all were federalist, anti-federalism or neutral. Those who were anti-federalist thought that it would be best for the government to not step in and let the companies work it out. Those who were federalists thought that the government should step in and probably print more money. Those who were neutral thought that they should wait a bit then the government should do something.
Personal Response:
My advice for the Federal Government for solving the current financial issues with Lehman & Merrill Lynch & the stock market is to not do anything. The way I look at it is that it has to get worse before it gets better. I don’t think that the government should change the rules for them at least not now they should wait a bit and if it continues then they could probably change the rules a bit. I don’t think that the government should print more money because I that would just lead to inflation.

9 year old boy gets big surprise

9-Year-Old gets Huge Surprise by: Faith Sidlow, August 16, 2008, CNN News

Thesis- 9 year old wants to be a garbage man when he grows up.
Class Connection: For the American Icon project we had to choose a person who inspired us. I know someone chose fire fighters as a person who inspires them but just like how a fire fighter inspired someone , a garbage man inspired this 9 year old, from Fresno, to be a garbage man when he becomes older because he wants to help the community. My point is that just like how in our class there was a wide range of icons because we were able to choose whoever we wanted, this 9 year old boy wasn’t limited as to who inspired him and who inspired him was a garbage man.
Personal Response: Some were saying how this boy’s parents should encourage him to become a garbage man but I think they are just encouraging him to follow his dreams which I think is ok. Everyone has different dreams and I think that we shouldn’t limit them.

Land-use rules designed to fight global warming: revised blog

Thesis: California is on the verge of initiating a historic rewrite of local planning laws, fusing for the first time the issues of urban growth and global warming.
The class connection that I found was that this article connected to common sense article because there changing laws without needing the president. One of the issues that came up in common sense is that the king made laws that he thought was right.
My personal response is best put as how State Sen. Darrell Steinberg puts it,“This bill will change the way California grows.” I think that it will change the way Cali. grows because its making a change of the way that California will work and probably set an example to other states.
August 31, 2008

Blog Entry #1

, Teacher’s Tried in Love Triangle Slaying, September 3, 2008
Thesis: The thesis of this article is “A high school teacher's husband has admitted killing his wife's teenage lover, her former student, but it will be up to a jury to decide if it was premeditation, the heat of passion or an accident.”
Class Connection: I think that this has to do with the Locke and Hobbs thing. I think that this is Hobbes because Hobbes thinks government is necessary which makes sense since we need to punish this guy for killing someone.
Personal Response: I think that this guy doesn’t really deserve up to 25 years in prison. I think that Eric McLean was acting out in rage and that’s what caused him to kill the student his wife was having an affair with.
update: As we were discussing this article in class one of my classmates brought the point up that this also adresses how everyone should have a right to a fair trial just like John Adams thought.