Contributions to Mind Map

The first thing I added on to the mind map was a quote from paragraph 1. Most of paragraph 1 has been thoroughly explained and organized on the mind map so I continued on to paragraph 2. I began with defining some terms that may cause other people to not fully understand what they're reading. Next, I added some quotes from paragraph 2 to the mind map. I am color coding this separate section so that it is easier to figure out what is vocabulary, quotes, etc. I wrote down some interesting quotes from the essay and I tried explaining what they meant in a simpler way. My view on what the quotes mean can be different from others, but I wrote what I believed they meant. As I'm working on the mind map, I realize that it's not hard at all to find things to add on to it. Any little detail or term you don't understand should be added on to the mind map just in case other people don't understand it as well. Writing things you don't understand and then explaining them, helps you learn what they mean. I'm going to continue working on the mind map tomorrow and organizing everything nicely so it's easier for others to access the information quickly.

My American Voice

It is important to speak up when you know something is wrong and can stop it. I would consider speaking up a responsibility because everybody should be speaking up to help others. It is wrong to not help someone who is being bullied. If someone was bullying you wouldn't you want others to help you? At school, if you see someone being bullied you must notify a teacher or security. People should not be taking their temper out on someone else. They shouldn't be hitting others who are innocent. If I saw someone being abused in public I'd probably call the police right away. I'd tell the person to stop hitting them or the police would arrest them. However, sometimes it is better to observe quietly and call the police rather than confronting the abuser because you don't know if they will try to hurt you next. It can be dangerous to approach someone who is bad tempered because they may take their temper out on you. Most people don't speak up when someone is doing something wrong because they don't want to get involved. When I speak up I speak with true words. I tell people that what they're doing is wrong and that they need to stop. When I see something terrible happening I don't really think about what I'm going to say I just try to stop it as fast as I can.

Vocabulary: Fall List #6

Definitions

Meme: a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition and replication in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.
Virus: a type of malicious software program that, when executed, replicates by reproducing itself or infecting other computer programs by modifying them.
Viral: pertaining to or involving the spread of information and opinions about a product or service from person to person, especially on the internet or though emails.
Blog: a website containing a writer's or group of writer's own experiences, observations, opinions, etc., and often having links and images to other websites.
Wiki: a website that allows anyone to add, delete, or revise content by using a web browser.
URL(Uniform Resource Locator): a protocol for specifying addresses on the Internet.
Website: a connected group of pages on the World Wide Web regarded as a single entity, usually maintained by one person or organization and devoted to a single topic or several closely related topics.
WWW: World Wide Web
Internet: a vast computer network linking smaller computer networks worldwide.
2.0: used post-positively to denote a revised or improved version of the original.
Open Source: pertaining to or denoting software whose source code is available free of charge to the public to use, copy, modify, sub-license, or distribute.

Sentences

There were many funny memes on the internet about Trump and Clinton after the Presidential Debate.
The virus on my computer caused it to flash on and off constantly and did not let me open any programs.
This news went viral after it offended a vast majority of the public.
He has never created a blog before and doesn't think it is necessary.
When she researches stuff for a project she never uses a wiki website because it is not credible.
Send me the URL after you're done editing so that I can proofread your changes.
I recommend you use this website because it provides a lot of credible information.
You don't always have to type in www when searching for a website.
Whenever she needs to find information she goes to the internet and searches for it.
The web 2.0 is modified and improved to be much better than the original.
An open source will allow all of us to share our ideas with each other and edit our work.

Team Vocab

When it comes to the elections of this year, many people can anticipate these two candidates to surely accuse each other from doings of the past. Each candidate tries to remain stolid, but Hillary definitely out beats Trump. It's aggravating because Trump and Hillary are constantly sticking their proboscis into everyone's business and venomously attacking each other. With each debate, America is left suspended to watch the next one just to see the two yell at each other. Both candidates try to hypnotize the world into thinking they're fit to be president trying to prove that they can transform the world into something greater, but they simply just illuminate each other's faults.

Mentor Letter Draft 1

Dear Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry,

You are a great mentor for my Big Question because you wrote an article about what it would be like if there were no public schools. This is very similar to my Big Question which was, "What would the world be like if there was no school?". I read your article on The Week and you shared many different predictions as to what would happen. These predictions were reasonable and they made sense to me. I like how you organized the effects it would have on people depending on their social status. I agree with some of your predictions and they help answer parts of my Big Question. It seems like your a great writer since you've written over 100 articles for many different magazines and news. Thanks to you, I now have more ideas as to what would happen to the world if there was no school.
       
                                                                                                             Sincerely,
                                                                                                                 Daniel Espinoza

Essay 1 Revised

After reading my colleagues' work and sharing ideas, I realized I could improve my first essay by making my counterargument an actual paragraph instead of starting it half ways through and fixing some of my sentences to make more sense. I could also talk about patriotism in my introduction paragraph so that it's not all about personal relations right away. I'm proud of the result. Hope you enjoy reading it!

A HUG IS NEARLY  A GUN SPELLED BACKWARDS

     I agree with E.M Foster's view that personal relations are more important than patriotism. Personal relations are close connections between people, formed by emotional bonds and experiences, while patriotism is one's love for their country. The relationship between people is much more sophisticated than patriotism. Especially with people who have maintained the same friends since childhood. People trust others who they have know for a longer period of time. This is understandable due to the fact that they have more experience with them and know them more. People hug, kiss, and make gestures to each other to show their feelings and emotions to the other person. As you get to know someone, you develop a relationship with them and you become more comfortable around them. With patriotism, you just show that you love your country, and in my experience I see more people have personal relations than patriotism.

      It is important to have personal relations with people so that you are not lonely and have someone to go to for help. Without personal relations people would be more antisocial and have a harder time becoming a great person. Personal relations develop when you show people that you are there for them and that you genuinely care about them. Patriotism, on the other hand, is one's love for their country or homeland. When someone shows patriotism they are showing other people that they care about their country and that they are grateful for living there. Patriotism is sort of like a relationship with your country. Some examples are, being involved in elections, and focusing on things that will make your country better. You also look at how you benefit from your country and the things it has accomplished to make it seem better, such as Independence Day. Another example of patriotism is the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance is voluntary and is a way to show your love for your country. In our class, the Pledge of Allegiance isn't played over the intercom because it is turned off. This was done to allow more time in our class, but for some patriotic people it may have offended them.

      Some may argue that patriotism is the most important thing for people to possess, but is it really?  I don't really see many people saying and showing that they love their country nowadays. Yes, most of us celebrate the 4th of July to celebrate independence but to me it seems like a way to empower personal relations even more. On the 4th of July my whole family comes together to eat dinner and light up fireworks. We build stronger personal relations with each other by talking and sharing experiences. In a way, patriotism even brings people closer together. Being patriotic is not at all bad but I believe personal relations are much more important. Imagine if you did not have any friends but there were signs of patriotism all around you. Wouldn't you become sad and annoyed by all these patriotic people? Now imagine having plenty of personal relations with the people around you but there being no patriotism. See, it is much better to have relationships with friends and people than to be around patriotism all the time.

       It is obvious that there are personal relations around you everywhere. The way you show that you genuinely care about people can be physical and/or verbal. Everyday you see people hugging, kissing, or talking with friends. Patriotism is not as popular. You more commonly see signs of Patriotism around the 4th of July, elections and big events. Occasionally you see people who even hang the American flag on their porches. In the end, it is reasonable to assume that people would believe personal relations are much more important than patriotism.

Vocabulary: fall list #5

Definitions

venomous: able to inflict a poisoned bite, sting, or wound
stolid: not easily stirred or moved mentally
hypnotized: to influence, control, or direct completely, as by personal charm, words, or domination
suspended: to hang by attachment to something above
transformed: to change in form, appearance, or structure
accuse: to charge with the fault, offense, or crime
anticipate: to realize beforehand; foretaste or foresee
fringe: an outer edge; margin
melancholy: a gloomy state of mind especially when habitual or prolonged; depression
earnestly: serious in intention, purpose, or effort
dissolve: to melt; liquefy
aggravate: to annoy; irritate
illuminate: to supply or brighten with light
capillary: pertaining to or occurring in or as if in a tube of fine bore
proboscis: any long flexible snout, as of the tapir

Sentences

As we walked through the woods, we encountered a venomous snake, which tried to bite us.
The stolid child did not cry when his pet fish died.
A man was being hypnotized by a woman into dancing in front of many people.
The swing was suspended by a rope from the tree while the kids were swinging on it.
The old house was transformed into a mansion for the new family.
She accused him of stealing her money when he passed by but he ran away before she could call the police.
She had been anticipating her delivery for many months now and it finally arrived .
The fringe of the door was all torn up and had many holes in it which allowed bugs to crawl through in the night.
The melancholy child didn't want to do anything for a whole year after his dog died.
She was earnestly trying to get the best grades in her classes so that she could go to a great university.
He dissolved the sugar in the coffee on a cold icy morning to heat himself up.
The parrot was aggravating all the people walking by when it wouldn't stop screeching.
After entering the cave, the workers illuminated the inside with flashlights and continued searching for the missing child.
Everyone has a capillary tube which is a minute blood vessel between the terminations of the arteries and the beginnings of the veins..
The elephant's proboscis picked up grass from the floor after the zookeeper threw the grass in.