GLO Portfolio :D

Wanna know what kind of work that's been keeping me up in the wee hours of the night? Look no further, and click here!

Parent Comment on GLO Portfolio

Korie,

Wow you summarized a lot of late nights, BIG discussions, critical decisions, zany moments, true determination, a few conflicts, and many hours of hard work in one blog! Yes, this does capture the many projects of your Sophomore Year well with your sense of humor. You were fortunate to have many moments to truly celebrate the elbow grease that is needed and often underestimated to finish projects that you personally took pride in producing no matter what the outcome would be! Keep up the good work and I really do love your goals for Junior Year!

Love,

Mom :)

Journal #3: Impact

My passion is in communicating with many different people; this program brings a new definition to communication. Our whole purpose of interaction to anyone is our effort to convey a message. This is something that I understand is important, Project Icarus really reenforced this interest by challenging me to interact with people not of my culture. From this project I have gained skills in being an effective communicator (GLO #5!). The research portion requires me to showing my message through writing, where as the impact activity challenges me to push my message across by video media and interviews. Recently, when we had a Japanese exchange student stay over at our house this year, I had to apply my limited knowledge of Japanese in order to talk to him. The point of school is to train us to use our voice to express an idea. My curriculum this past school year included three classes that taught me how to relay messages: Language Arts, Japanese, and TV Production. I have learned a lot from each of these three classes, and have, in my opinion, become a better, and more fluent speaker because of it.

Project Icarus: Journal #2

Journal #2: Data and Information Gathering

The Japan-American Society of Hawaii (JASH) participates in the annual Asian-Pacific Children’s Convention, one of the many ways Hawaii’s community is given the opportunity to interact and learn a different country’s culture. Through this program I am able to concentrate on something I enjoy doing, as well as practice effective communication skills.

The Asian-Pacific Children’s Convention (APCC) is an annual event held in Fukuoka, Japan. It was formed in 1989 as a part of Fukuoka City’s 100th anniversary convention. The Japanese government created this program to foster global peace, to create content relationships among people from different regions of the world. However, the APCC is focused mainly on children and youth to create long-lasting

“omaiyari” (considerate and peaceful) friendships. Eleven year old Junior Ambassadors (JA) are encouraged to fully participate in these activities to learn to be ‘color-blind,’ to not judge one another by race or cultural aspects. APCC believes bonds such as these will influence the lives of these individuals, influence their friends, and influence the future, for the better. Their vision embraces the modern cultural interaction, of young people, first-hand. Delegates are expected to not only get along, but more importantly, to honor each others’ similarities and differences. The mutual understanding created between them is free of political, economic, religious, and cultural restrictions. About 43 different countries are represented at this event, approximately 220 Junior Ambassadors in all.

The 10th annual APCC marked a milestone for the convention when former JAs were invited back to Fukuoka as Peace Ambassadors. Peace Ambassadors (PA) meet under a mission to create a world wide network, to communicate ideas more effectively and creating real global citizens, the Bridge Club International Organization (BCIO). Peace Ambassador Serena Li, from Hawaii, said, “You really hold more responsibilities, you have an agenda that you go through in the conference and its kind of like a model UN kind of discussion, where we talk about local issues around the world and decide.” PAs then returned home where many started local Bridge Clubs, integrating their community. Currently there are 25 Bridge Clubs, including Bridge Club Hawaii. One of the main topics of the PAs is the Common Activity. This implements every PA to contribute to BCIO within their own community. The Common Activity this past year was called “Visions of Harmony.” A traveling picture gallery was publicly displayed in 26 different countries, promoting the APCC and a global community.

The APCC also sponsors a program for the students in Fukuoka called “The Mission Project.” Every year selected Japanese students travel together, as ambassadors to many destination countries, and stay with host families. For three years Hawaii has been fortunate to be one of the destinations. Hawaii’s APCC director, Liz Stanton-Berrera, comments about the Mission Project saying, “...it extends what the APCC is all about, as far as developing young children with that sense of global awareness and helping to foster their desire their sense for world peace.”

Reflection Questions: Holocaust Video, Chapter 2-3

Describe the areas the Orpah and Elie Wiesel visit in Chapter 2 & 3.

They visit the thick, concrete gas chambers that were responsible for the biggest mass killings. They went through the blocks, including the 'prison in the prison' where mostly political leaders were tortured. The museum was another place they walked to, where there were the actual personal belongings of the murdered people.

Why do Oprah and Elie Wiesel refer to the camp as a "death factory"? how was it "industrialized"?

The camp pushed out deaths regularly everyday. They murdered over hundreds of people daily, whether it be through the crematory, gas chambers, or torture. Death was the result from all of this, in a way making it their factory's "product". By the gas chambers and the canned poison, it created an easier, faster, and larger scaled way of termination, thereby "industrializing" the production of deaths.

What is the significance of the hundreds of labelled suitcases? of the baby clothes? of the shoes?

The labelled suitcases stand for all the innocent lives lost. In the video, they showed that the owners of the suitcases would write their name on it, thinking that their possessions would be returned. The baby clothes are especially sad because innocent babies were instantly killed, as they were not fit for labor and were of no use. Elie Wiesel had said that the shoes could show if the person was a dancer, a poor, or a rich person. Every pair of shoes there had an owner that had lost their life in the holocaust. Elie Wiesel had mentioned that the world was less of these people, some who could have been very influential in terms of positively impacting society.

How is this video different in video technique and style from most videos or movies that you are used to seeing? (think about your answers to question 2 on the previous reflection)? Do you think the difference in style was effective? Why or why not?

This type of documentary is different than most that I've seen because the interview was conducted on the site of location, instead of a sit-down interview with b-roll of the buildings. It is very effective to this type of story, as we can see both Elie Wiesel's and Oprah's emotions and reactions to the significance of the buildings.

After watching the video and reading the book, what is your impression or response to this thing called the Holocaust? How did the experience of watching the video differ from that of reading the book for you?

Although the book was a very detailed account of Elie Wiesel's experience with the holocaust, watching the video made this experience seem more real to me. The video put a face on the story, as well as displayed the real buildings, the real shoes, the real cans of poison that were actually used at that time. It became so real for me through the movie, versus the book, because these kinds of events aren't supposed to happen in real life. They are so...extreme that it sounds like it was taken out of a horror movie or something, but it has actually happened, and that the really scary part.

Holocaust Video, Chapter 1 Reflection

1)What details about the Holocaust experience became clearer or more vivid for you because of the video?
The immense size of Auschwitz, how it was bigger than 500 football fields, and at least half of Manhattan.  I also saw how Elie Wiesel was affected by going back to the concentration camp; he would talk in a hushed tone, and refused to go in to the third crematorium- where his mother and sister most likely died.

2)Describe the video techniques used to tell this story:

The excerpts from the book were well placed, helping to reenforce some of the horrors Elie has seen, as well as recall some of our prior knowledge from what we read in the book.  It is presented in a form that is easy to follow along, superimposed on a picture or a short video clip that is relevant to the quote.  The graphics were very effective in giving a face to what the words are saying.  I noticed the camera rarely stayed still, even for the still pictures- where they had a "Ken Burns" effect.  Motion captures attention, and made it seem more dramatic than a regular monotone interview/documentary would.

3)What is the "madness" the Oprah and Elie Wiesel speak of at the end of this section?

The "madness" is of believing in humanity after what Elie has witnessed.  Oprah stated that she thinks that trusting and trying to fix humanity after something such as the holocaust is "madness", as being inhuman was so human at that time.

Project Icarus: Journal #1

Learning and Research Process

Topic:

Japanese Home Stay Program

Passion & Stretch:

*I went on an exchange program to Japan when I was 11

*Since my trip, my family has hosted 3 different times (4 people total)

*The club extending off of JASH, Bridge Club Hawaii, has a mission statement to form a human network of global citizens, both locally and internationally, to promote peace and coexistence

*I want to learn the culture and language of students from Japan

*I want to be able to use what I learn to communicate effectively

Resources & Research:

*Staff at Japan-American Society of Hawaii (JASH)

*Former host families

*Former exchange students from Hawaii

Process & Product:

*Participate in collaborating events with JASH

*Continue to study the Japanese language in school

*Practice Japanese by keeping in contact with prior home stay students

This I Believe: Katsu, Garlic, Shoyu, and BBQ

One of the upsides to living in Hawaii is the ability to raise any farm animal you please, due to the pretty much constant tropical climate. I raise chickens. More specifically, hens. They live in a big, homemade covered coop in my our backyard through rain, wind, and sun. Here’s some of the things I’ve learned from raising chickens:

*Commit to your chickens. Although chickens aren’t conventional pets, they still need basic care. And unless you want the lingering smell of chicken poop 24/7, keeping them outside the house is the best option. Commitment means getting up at 5 AM and walking out back of the house with a flashlight to replenish the food and water supply. But heck, even at that early morning hour the chickens are still sleeping.

*Have a laugh. Chickens will never be the equivalent to cute puppy dogs, my family can find humorous little things here and there, which makes raising chickens just that much more worth it. After raising our pets from chicks to adults for about 8 months, we noticed each chicken would lay one egg per day, at around 10 AM. When they first started laying eggs, we didn’t receive four everyday. After they matured, we regularly received four eggs a day, and the chickens did well in living up to our standards. During winter, we had a week-long cold front, resulting in sporadic egg laying patterns. My dad became irritated with the chickens, and jokingly threatened to post a picture of Colonel Sanders inside the coop to keep the chickens in line. The humor continues in even their names, born out of amusement one afternoon.

*Enjoy the ‘eggs’ of your labor. While I don’t teach chickens to roll over, speak, or fetch- although excellent beggars on their own- they do come with their own set of rewards. Chickens are low maintenance animals, they don’t need clothes, haircuts, or baths. You don’t have to potty train them or take them out on walks. Oh yeah, and they lay eggs too, yum!

What I’ve learned from them carries on to my everyday life. Something as easy as raising chickens has left me to value commitment and simple humor in many situations. In doing so, I can enjoy the outcomes of hard work and appreciate the positive.

Q3 OR Card

Journal # (something)

The Things They Carried, By Tim O'Brien

1. Rat (Bob) Kiley (the medic)

"carried a canvas satchel filled with morphine and plasma and malaria tablets and surgical tape and comic books and all the things a medic must carry, including M&Ms for especially bad wounds for a total of 20 pounds." (page 5)

2. Chapter: How to Tell a True War Story

a) When his friend, Curt Lemon, died, Rat personally wrote a letter to Lemon's sister for his condolences. it shows he was very close and cared very much for his friend. By the way Tim O'Brien describes this, Rat thoroughly wrote about his adventures with Curt Lemon, both happy and serious. (pages 67-68)

b) When the sister didn't reply back to Rat, he called her a "cooze." This word is far more obscene than *ahem*...female dog. The book stated,"He's [Rat Kiley] 19 years old- it's too much for him- so he looks at you with those big sad killer eyes and says cooze, because his friend is dead, and because it's so incredibly sad and true: she never wrote back." (pages 68-69) The impression I get from this, is how he uses words to cope with the loss and the grief of the war. It shows that he is still "only human."

c)How Curt Lemon died also showed Rat's personality. "...Giggling and calling each other yellow mother and playing a silly game they invented..." (pages 69-70) The book states Rat is 19 years old; still a kid according to the other soldiers. At the time, Rat and Curt were goofing around playing a game with a smoke grenade, while the unit was camping out in a deep jungle. The land was booby-trapped with things like Toe Popper and Bouncing Betties, yet the time seemed like "not even war" to the two boys.

3. Insight

Character: Rat Kiley was an ordinary person, thrown into an extraordinary (in a bad way) position. He tried to make the best of things, and had a good heart.

War: The place changes people; there are somethings that cannot be unseen or un-experienced. War is ugly, and has no morality. In the chapter, "How to Tell a True War Story," it says that any war story that has a moral, or makes you feel uplifted at the end, is a lie.

Life: People can be essentially good. They are just thrown into situations where there are no obvious answers, such as war. Events like war bring out the worst in people, causing them to kill other men. However, this doesn't mean every person is emotionless. They can still be careless, goofy, angry, humorous, loving.

Allusion Graphic and Poem FINAL.

It is simply illogical.

This world I’m in,

It’s strange

It’s new

It’s changing

Curiosity and determination

compel me to venture forward

Steps get awkward

I feel clumsy

How is it possible to feel so out of place?

Let me out of this

‘dream-world’

I want to escape.

With a stroke of luck

I’ve found a way to fit in

(although it must have been something I ate)

It works too well,

now the world is big around me

as if I were shrinking

People intimidate

Problems complicate

Yet,

When I’m small

I see simplicity.

doors close,

but another just appears

getting back on my feet,

colors change

saturated to vivid

On second thought,

I wouldn’t mind going down that rabbit hole again

Allusion Graphic

Allusion Poem- "Looking Around"

It is simply illogical.

This world I’m in,

It’s strange

It’s new

It’s changing

Curiosity and determination

compel me to venture forward

Steps get awkward

I feel clumsy

How is it possible to feel so out of place?

Let me out of this

‘dream-world’

I want to escape.

With a stroke of luck

I’ve found a way to fit in

(although it must have been something I ate)

It works too well,

now the world is big around me

as if I were shrinking

People intimidate

Problems complicate

Yet,

When I’m small

I see simplicity.

doors close,

but another just appears

getting back on my feet,

colors change

saturated to vivid

On second thought,

I wouldn’t mind going down that rabbit hole again