Mini Bio About Myself: I am Daniela Rodriguez and I am a current senior at High Tech High Chula Vista. Aside from this I do participate in extracurricular activities at school, these involve the Varsity soccer team, co-editor in chief of yearbook, and being the manager of the robotics. Things I do outside of school are I'm an assistant volunteer at my synagogues religious school, and I started a drum/dance circle with my twin brother at an Alzheimer's patient home and we go there once a month. Some things, besides the ones above, that I enjoy doing are reading, and hanging out with family or friends.
Blog Post #1
10/16/15
Relevance:
-In your opinion, what was the most useful idea discussed in class this week? During this week's class, what idea(s) struck you as things you could or should put into practice? What example or illustration cited in this weeks class could you relate to the most?
I think a relevant topic we discussed in humanities class was whether or not graffiti is an art. We read a very interesting article about graffiti and the way it is viewed in the public's eye. I think that the learning about graffiti opened up all of our eyes. Our discussion might not have changed everyone's view of graffiti, however, all of us now view it in a different light. We all can now see a glimpse of why it can be seen as art. I enjoyed discussing with people in class their thoughts on the article. A question that some of my classmates came up with that really stood out to me was, “Who gets to decide what art is and what it isn't?” It was a topic that had come up in the article; some people do not believe graffiti is art because it is done illegally and on random walls. However, if graffiti is a way of self expression, then why wouldn't it be art and who are these people that think they get to decide what art is? Overall I learned many new things about graffiti and all the ways that it is used. Not only is graffiti used as a form of self expression, but also a way to communicate.
Conceptual Connections:
-What relationship did you see between this week's topic and other topics previously covered in this course? What was discussed in class this week that seemed to connect with what you are learning or have learned in other course(s)?
This week in art class we read a very interesting article about theater and plays and how they can be used in activism and to express many feelings. We learned plays and theater have been used for good and bad throughout history to change people's minds about controversial topics. Some examples of how they have been used are: in WWII (The Holocaust), El Teatro Campesino (an organization that was created to consolidate farm workers politically), and The Environmental Justice Project (created to help low-income African-Americans). Learning about how theater and plays have been used politically throughout history opened my eyes and got me thinking about plays, theater, and movies differently. I never really realized how many emotions they cause people to evoke. I connected this article back to when we were telling stories through not only words but actions in our performances at the beginning of the year. What made the performances so real was the actions that went along with the words and I don't think I ever really realized this until we read this article.
Additional Thoughts:
-What impact might this week's activities/projects have on your lifelong learning process?
I have been learning a lot these past weeks. Some of the things that I have really enjoyed these past weeks have been: the discussions we have in class after reading articles, painting our boxes in art class, and the SAT prep. Another thing that I really appreciate is the energizers we have in humanities class and that different students lead them every time.
10/16/15
Relevance:
-In your opinion, what was the most useful idea discussed in class this week? During this week's class, what idea(s) struck you as things you could or should put into practice? What example or illustration cited in this weeks class could you relate to the most?
I think a relevant topic we discussed in humanities class was whether or not graffiti is an art. We read a very interesting article about graffiti and the way it is viewed in the public's eye. I think that the learning about graffiti opened up all of our eyes. Our discussion might not have changed everyone's view of graffiti, however, all of us now view it in a different light. We all can now see a glimpse of why it can be seen as art. I enjoyed discussing with people in class their thoughts on the article. A question that some of my classmates came up with that really stood out to me was, “Who gets to decide what art is and what it isn't?” It was a topic that had come up in the article; some people do not believe graffiti is art because it is done illegally and on random walls. However, if graffiti is a way of self expression, then why wouldn't it be art and who are these people that think they get to decide what art is? Overall I learned many new things about graffiti and all the ways that it is used. Not only is graffiti used as a form of self expression, but also a way to communicate.
Conceptual Connections:
-What relationship did you see between this week's topic and other topics previously covered in this course? What was discussed in class this week that seemed to connect with what you are learning or have learned in other course(s)?
This week in art class we read a very interesting article about theater and plays and how they can be used in activism and to express many feelings. We learned plays and theater have been used for good and bad throughout history to change people's minds about controversial topics. Some examples of how they have been used are: in WWII (The Holocaust), El Teatro Campesino (an organization that was created to consolidate farm workers politically), and The Environmental Justice Project (created to help low-income African-Americans). Learning about how theater and plays have been used politically throughout history opened my eyes and got me thinking about plays, theater, and movies differently. I never really realized how many emotions they cause people to evoke. I connected this article back to when we were telling stories through not only words but actions in our performances at the beginning of the year. What made the performances so real was the actions that went along with the words and I don't think I ever really realized this until we read this article.
Additional Thoughts:
-What impact might this week's activities/projects have on your lifelong learning process?
I have been learning a lot these past weeks. Some of the things that I have really enjoyed these past weeks have been: the discussions we have in class after reading articles, painting our boxes in art class, and the SAT prep. Another thing that I really appreciate is the energizers we have in humanities class and that different students lead them every time.
Blog Post #2
10/30/15
Interest:
-What was most memorable or stands out in your mind about class this week? What was the most surprising and/or unexpected idea expressed in this week's classes? For you, what interesting questions remain unanswered about this week's topic(s)?
The thing that stood out to me in humanities class this week was when we talked about what the truth actually was. A question that remained with me was on that our teacher Dr. C asked us, it was if the truth is more like a rock that is getting chipped away at or a balloon which is being inflated. A peer at my table, Chloe, said that she thought it was a little of both; we both gain and lose truth's, and this is something I thought as well. As time goes by the truth changes. So we aren't just losing the truth, we are also gaining new truth's. The concept that the truth will change is something that I had never thought of before, and it was something I really enjoyed discussing during class.
Analysis:
-What did you perceive to be the major purpose or objective of this week's class? What do you think was the most important point or central communicated during this week's presentation?
In art class I feel that the major purpose this week was to practice our imagination. This will be needed for when we conduct our interviews in Paradise Hills, for our murals. During our interviews we will have to take down notes and then come up with mural ideas after with these notes. We want to get a good sense of the community when we interview people, so that the mural we create will represent them. One of the activities we did in class included having a partner describe to us their thoughts on HTHCV, and then later on we had to create a drawing that represented what they had said. In the other activity we had to pick a one positive word, of the ones that Chikle listed us, and draw ten things that symbolized that word. Through this we weren't allowed to use the internet for any ideas, we had to rely solely on our creativity. This helped me grow as an artist and is something that will benefit us later when we paint our mural.
Additional Thoughts:
-What impact might this week's activities/projects have on your lifelong learning process?
One thing that really stood out to me was when we watched the founder of the story corps app giver a TED Talk. This app is a way for people to save their stories through conversations with someone in their life. When we watched little snippets of peoples interviews you could hear the happiness in peoples voices. It really inspired me to want to interview my loved ones, I know I could get great stories that will be cherished forever.
10/30/15
Interest:
-What was most memorable or stands out in your mind about class this week? What was the most surprising and/or unexpected idea expressed in this week's classes? For you, what interesting questions remain unanswered about this week's topic(s)?
The thing that stood out to me in humanities class this week was when we talked about what the truth actually was. A question that remained with me was on that our teacher Dr. C asked us, it was if the truth is more like a rock that is getting chipped away at or a balloon which is being inflated. A peer at my table, Chloe, said that she thought it was a little of both; we both gain and lose truth's, and this is something I thought as well. As time goes by the truth changes. So we aren't just losing the truth, we are also gaining new truth's. The concept that the truth will change is something that I had never thought of before, and it was something I really enjoyed discussing during class.
Analysis:
-What did you perceive to be the major purpose or objective of this week's class? What do you think was the most important point or central communicated during this week's presentation?
In art class I feel that the major purpose this week was to practice our imagination. This will be needed for when we conduct our interviews in Paradise Hills, for our murals. During our interviews we will have to take down notes and then come up with mural ideas after with these notes. We want to get a good sense of the community when we interview people, so that the mural we create will represent them. One of the activities we did in class included having a partner describe to us their thoughts on HTHCV, and then later on we had to create a drawing that represented what they had said. In the other activity we had to pick a one positive word, of the ones that Chikle listed us, and draw ten things that symbolized that word. Through this we weren't allowed to use the internet for any ideas, we had to rely solely on our creativity. This helped me grow as an artist and is something that will benefit us later when we paint our mural.
Additional Thoughts:
-What impact might this week's activities/projects have on your lifelong learning process?
One thing that really stood out to me was when we watched the founder of the story corps app giver a TED Talk. This app is a way for people to save their stories through conversations with someone in their life. When we watched little snippets of peoples interviews you could hear the happiness in peoples voices. It really inspired me to want to interview my loved ones, I know I could get great stories that will be cherished forever.
Blog Post #3
11/12/15
Conceptual Connections:
-What relationship did you see between this week's topic and other topics previously covered in this course? What was discussed in class this week that seemed to connect with what you are learning or have learned in other course(s)?
Like in previous classes this week we revised our personal statements with partners. As a class we ready two example essays. We read two classmates personal statements and wrote down bright spots from the essay and parts that we enjoyed but felt the writer could expand on. After this we got paired into groups of three to do the same for our partners writing. I enjoyed the feedback that I got from my classmates, but felt that we were missing something during this revising session. As a class we reflected on the activity, a classmate pointed out that they felt we needed to have a portion of our revising dedicated to fixing grammatical issues and parts of the essay that we feel didn't fit well. This is what I had been feeling too throughout the activity. Overall I got classmate ideas on places I had been struggling with in my personal statement and this was very helpful. At the end of class we picked one line from our whole essay that we felt was the most powerful and got to write it on a piece of paper to put up on the wall.
Analysis:
-What did you perceive to be the major purpose or objective of this week's class? What do you think was the most important point or central communicated during this week's presentation?
This week in Humanities and Art class we held mock interviews. This is something that we will not only use in our present project, but is also a tool that is important for courses we may take in college or a future career. The first mock interview we did was in Art class, we were split into three sections; the interviewees, the interviewers, and the observers. The interviewees were given a role, a personality they would have to portray, and the interviewers were going to ask questions that they had organized previously. It was very interesting to see the different personalities, and the way that the interviewers responded and interacted with these different characters. This was a great way for us to get a feel of how our real life interviews would go with the community members from Paradise Hills. The other interview in Humanities was set up differently, in this one we got into groups of 5 and had to pick one or two people to be the interviewees, one person to facilitate, two people to take notes, and one person to record the interview. We recorded the interview so that we could watch it and see what went well and what we could fix. Both activities served a major purpose in helping us be ready for the interviews that would take place two days later.
Relevance:
-In your opinion, what was the most useful idea discussed in class this week? During this week's class, what idea(s) struck you as things you could or should put into practice? What example or illustration cited in this weeks class could you relate to the most?
This week in art class we made thank you notes fro the members of the Paradise Hills community that we would be interviewing. I think that this is a very important lesson, to always thank people, because even the simplest of gifts will make a persons day. I have always been taught to write thank you letters, so this is something that I was glad to be reminded of in Art class this week. It is something that I will continue to practice because of the importance.
11/12/15
Conceptual Connections:
-What relationship did you see between this week's topic and other topics previously covered in this course? What was discussed in class this week that seemed to connect with what you are learning or have learned in other course(s)?
Like in previous classes this week we revised our personal statements with partners. As a class we ready two example essays. We read two classmates personal statements and wrote down bright spots from the essay and parts that we enjoyed but felt the writer could expand on. After this we got paired into groups of three to do the same for our partners writing. I enjoyed the feedback that I got from my classmates, but felt that we were missing something during this revising session. As a class we reflected on the activity, a classmate pointed out that they felt we needed to have a portion of our revising dedicated to fixing grammatical issues and parts of the essay that we feel didn't fit well. This is what I had been feeling too throughout the activity. Overall I got classmate ideas on places I had been struggling with in my personal statement and this was very helpful. At the end of class we picked one line from our whole essay that we felt was the most powerful and got to write it on a piece of paper to put up on the wall.
Analysis:
-What did you perceive to be the major purpose or objective of this week's class? What do you think was the most important point or central communicated during this week's presentation?
This week in Humanities and Art class we held mock interviews. This is something that we will not only use in our present project, but is also a tool that is important for courses we may take in college or a future career. The first mock interview we did was in Art class, we were split into three sections; the interviewees, the interviewers, and the observers. The interviewees were given a role, a personality they would have to portray, and the interviewers were going to ask questions that they had organized previously. It was very interesting to see the different personalities, and the way that the interviewers responded and interacted with these different characters. This was a great way for us to get a feel of how our real life interviews would go with the community members from Paradise Hills. The other interview in Humanities was set up differently, in this one we got into groups of 5 and had to pick one or two people to be the interviewees, one person to facilitate, two people to take notes, and one person to record the interview. We recorded the interview so that we could watch it and see what went well and what we could fix. Both activities served a major purpose in helping us be ready for the interviews that would take place two days later.
Relevance:
-In your opinion, what was the most useful idea discussed in class this week? During this week's class, what idea(s) struck you as things you could or should put into practice? What example or illustration cited in this weeks class could you relate to the most?
This week in art class we made thank you notes fro the members of the Paradise Hills community that we would be interviewing. I think that this is a very important lesson, to always thank people, because even the simplest of gifts will make a persons day. I have always been taught to write thank you letters, so this is something that I was glad to be reminded of in Art class this week. It is something that I will continue to practice because of the importance.