Unwind- Exploring The Blurb

Exploring The Blurb
In the not-too-distant future, teens Connor, Risa, and Lev are on the run for their lives. Following the Second Civil War, between pro-choice and pro-life forces, the United States now allows parents to unwind their unwanted and difficult kids between the ages of thirteen and eighteen: Their bodies are surgically taken apart and all the organs and tissue are used in other people. According to the law, the kids aren't considered dead, they're "living in a divided state." But Connor, Risa, and Lev, and thousands of other teens slated for "unwinding" don't see it that way. They choose instead to "kick AWOL," or run away. Unwind follows these three across the country as they travel together, split up, and meet again when their destinies cross in a Harvest Camp where they are slated to be unwound.


What do you already know about pro-life and pro-choice groups? What do these terms mean? Is it an issue you have thought about?

It is an ongoing debate on whether or not it is right to for pregnancy termination. People who are pro-life believe it isn't right to abort a child or meddle with a person's reproduction system regardless of the purpose, condition, or viability of the child. On the other hand, pro-choice believe everyone has the right to make decisions for themselves concerning their reproductive system as long as they don't interfere with choices that don't involve them. I have thought about this issue before, and I personally believe you shouldn't end someone's life because of your mistake but rather take responsibility for it.

What do you know about organ donation?  

Organ donation is a way for people to give permission to transfer their organ on to someone else who requires it.

Teenagers to be unwound are sent to Harvest Camps. Can you make a connection between the language used to describe this place, and other places people have been sent historically?  

The name of the camp relates to harvesting organs from unwound teenagers.

What religious connotation does the word 'harvest' evoke? Reaping what you sow- if you believe and follow what the bible says, once you die you'll have eternal life.
The term "living in a divided state" here is really a euphemism for what? Their soul being separated from their bodies and wandering somewhere else.
Can you think of other, common euphemisms? Why do people use euphemisms?
Instead of saying "someone died" people use "he passed away. Another example is when someone wants a person to leave them alone instead of saying "go away" they use a euphemism for it and say "I want to be alone"

What is the definition of legal?  

A rule that has been approved by law.

What about ethical?

Things that are considered to be morally right.

Do you believe that because something is legal, it is also ethical, or morally right?
No, because things can be decided by people with bad intentions or fools that have a high position whether or not it should be legal, ethical or morally right.

Can things that are ethically sound ever be illegal? Provide examples.
Yes there many examples of ethical things that are illegal, though sometimes it depends on your situation, for example, it is illegal to over speed or runs a traffic light despite being in an emergency.

Can you think of examples in history to support your ideas? Provide examples.
The German Death Camp that they used during the WW2.

Physical Education-Relfection

What I learnt in P.E?

One of the things I learnt for P.E is how to hold a discus properly. 

What is the proper technique you learnt and how do you do it?

I thought the way to hold a discus is to wrap all your fingers around for grip but turns out you only need to place it in your hand and let gravity do its work, your momentum keeps the discus in place by swinging your hands back and forth.

Did I improve?

I'd like to say that I improved by a tiny bit now that I know how to do it properly, it made me feel more comfortable on how to handle a discus however I'm still not 100% confident.

What else do I want to improve on?

Something else I want to work on is my javelin skills, I still don't know how to properly throw it to land on the ground standing up.

What can I do to further improve on that event? 

Keep practising my throws until I do it properly.

https://gfycat.com/gifs/search/javelin

History of the Slave Trade Triangle.

(Click on lines and pins for information)

What is the Slave Trade Triangle?
It is where countries (from the Americas, Africa and Europe) trade raw materials like cotton, tobacco, and sugar in exchange for slaves from Africa. Slaves are often sold by African chiefs for weapons and auction to the highest bidder. They travel compact in a ship across Europe and America stack on top each other just to fit everyone in one trip.

Where did the Slave Trade Triangle occur?
It occurred mainly in the Americas, Africa, and Europe.

When did it happen?
It happened in the 1400s to the 1500s before there were many laws.

Why did it happen?
It's a way for slaves to pay for their debt and buyers to make more money due to the production of work increasing and slaves only getting paid by food, water and shelter.

Unwind-Examining The Cover

Must Do Questions:

How do you think this story will be written?
I think this will be written in a way most teenagers would understand but at the same time contain words that would require to search the meaning up for.

Why do you think this story as is entitled as it is?
Unwinding is to undo, maybe this story is titled this way to show how parents decide to undo what they've conceived and decide to end their child's life by separating each, limbs, organs, bones in their bodies. 

Where do you think the story will take place?
I think the story takes place in the United States of America, from watching a lot of dystopian movies most are set in the U.S.A.

What time period do you think this story is set in?
I see this taking place in the future maybe 1000 years from now, due to the technology we might have then and maybe the population getting too big for the earth to handle. 

Dystopia

Dystopia Literature

Name 3 synonyms of Dystopia.

1. Chaos
2. Misery
3. Apocalyptic

What is the antonym of Dystopia?
Utopia

Which dystopian novels have you read?
Lockwood & Co
The Giver

Which dystopian movies have you watched?
5th wave
The Giver
Zombie land
World war Z
Train To Busan
Bird Box
Jurrasic Park
10 Clover Field Lane

How many others can you name?
Hunger Games
Divergent

Human Rights

 What you find interesting? 
I found it interesting how long it took for it to be spread across the world and is still a thing that every country is working on.

What you already know?
I know that the set of human rights rules was decided upon by the United Nations.

What you would like to learn next?
I don't know.

Critical Literacy- Reflection

What do you think Critical Literacy is?
Critical Literacy is thinking outside the box and deeply analyzing the text that involves asking questions like what is the author's purpose is, whose views are you not seing, what social reality does this portray and who benefits from the text.

What did you learn during Critical Literacy?
There so much more than just reading and enjoying a book. There might be hidden messages or information that hasn't been written directly.

What did you find challenging during Critical Literacy?
Finding information about an article to see if it's fake or real and also going deeper and reading sentences word by word to see if there's anything wrong or if it gives any clues

How will use Critical Literacy skills in real life?
There are many ways you can use Critical Literacy in real life. For example, reading news website, not all websites give the correct information so you have to look for the date, references if it has any bias or agenda and if the author knows a lot about it. Same goes with Advertisement and Songs to see if there's any subliminal messages.

What are you looking forward to English this year?
I'm looking forward to improving my writing and having a better vocabulary I can use for everyday life.

Factual or Satirical?

Factual or Satirical?

The Onion

What does the website look like?

It looks like a typical news website except for the headlines of their stories is very hard to believe.

What photo is it using?

Most photos look real but some looked very fake and is obviously photoshopped.

What headlines are they sharing?

Their headlines can be deceiving, people who come across their stories might believe it. It's also good clickbait, their headlines 

Do you think this a Factual website or a Satirical website?

I believe that this is a Satirical website due to some headlines not being believable and being very humorous. 

New York Times

What does the website look like?

It looks professional and the font they used for their logo looks very convincing, it looks like a font that's been applied in the newspaper.

What photo is it using?

The photos they were using looked like they took it themselves and looks real due to people being caught off guard or looked like it was taken right at the moment.

What headlines are they sharing?

The headlines they were using are formal and doesn't seem crazy or over the top.

Do you think this a Factual website or a Satirical website?

I think this a factual website the stories they were using are very recent and they upload every hour meaning that they are updated.

The Civilian

What does the website look like?

Like most news website it has a simple layout and has a nice logo that looks professional.

What photo is it using?

Most photos look credible, but it also looks like it was just taken from google image.

What headlines are they sharing?

Like The Onion the headlines doesn't seem believable, for example:

Nation to begin process of hiding Palmerston North for Harry and Meghan visit

Do you think this a Factual website or a Satirical website?

The headlines were dead giveaways that it isn't a Factual website.

Daily Mail

What does the website look like?

The logo has a similar font as New York Time which I thought looked professional, however, the design of the website looked very colourful not like most news website and in my opinion looks very tacky and doesn't seem like a credible website on top of that there are a lot of ads on the side.

What photo is it using?

Their photos have the same layout as you would see in a magazine. Which show a picture of a celebrity that looked like one of their paparazzi took and zoomed in the particular part that relates to the story.

What headlines are they sharing?

They very clickable headlines that make people interested in their stories, sometimes they write a word down in all CAPS to really capture the reader's attention.

Do you think this a Factual website or a Satirical website?

They update frequently and also doesn't have any bias or agenda since they take both sides and address it without adding their opinion into their article. Therefore I think this is a Factual Website.

The Daily Mash

What does the website look like?

The website has a confusing layout where it's unevenly divided by three sides.

What photo is it using?

The images they use mostly look like stock photos that you would see in google images.

What headlines are they sharing?

Most headlines use inappropriate language that doesn't come across as being formal.

Do you think this a Factual website or a Satirical website?

I think this is a Satirical website the headline gives it away because most news outlet wouldn't use language that they use especially if there are younger readers.

The Herald

What does the website look like?

I found it pleasing to look like and very classy due to the colour choice of black, it also has a unique layout where the categories are on the side which very easy to find.

What photo is it using?

Some images looked liked it was taken professionally some looked like it has been taken by phone.

What headlines are they sharing?

They use formal language with perfect grammar.

Do you think this a Factual website or a Satirical website?

This is a Factual website, they use formal language, give references, and doesn't seem like they don't have any bias or agenda.

The Shovel

What does the website look like?

It has a sport based news website looked to it where they usually use black and red as their colour theme.

What photo is it using?

Most photos are pictures of politicians being caught off guard.

What headlines are they sharing?

Their headlines seemed very formal but with a twist of humour.

Do you think this a Factual website or a Satirical website?

I think this a Satirical website, some articles comes across as making of politicians that is not in a formal manner that Factual websites wouldn't do.

Daily Telegraph

What does the website look like?

It has a simple layout where it's easy to read especially with fonts bigger than usual.

What photo is it using?

The photos seem believable, I haven't seen one that looks like a badly photoshopped photo.

What headlines are they sharing?

The headlines confuse me whether this website is a Factual or Satirical one, some headlines were written in a formal manner some seemed like a joke.

Do you think this a Factual website or a Satirical website?

In order to have full access to all of the articles you have to sign up and pay every month which makes is seem like a Factual website because why would people pay every month for false news.

What am I learning?

How does this show my learning?

What am I wondering?

Critical Literacy in Different texts

#1 Palmolive                                                              

Who is the most likely audience of this text, why?

This advertisement is targeted at women. The first thing that was said was "Hey girls" which directly points at viewers who's gender is a female. Also, it only had females in the advertisement that makes the viewers think that they're only selling their products for women.

Is this text fair?

No, they play by the stereotype that only girls can have long smooth hair and guys can't.

What does the word suggest?

It suggests that if you buy their product, your hair would be smooth enough to just finger comb it.

How are characters constructed in this text?

The characters who were girls were constructed to have perfect shiny smooth hair due to their product.

#2 Mcdonalds

Who benefits this text?

 People who are struggling financially and doesn't have enough money to buy a meal or go grocery shopping.

What do the words suggest?

That you can buy a meal for you and your friend for just $10.

What has been left out of the text?

How the food that they're selling is very unhealthy especially if it's eaten every day. The ad suggested that the dollar menu is for people who haven't been  in the grocery store in weeks if the people who buy from the dollar menu don't go grocery shopping there most likely go to Mc Donalds and eat there every day which can increase the chance of getting diabetes, obesity, heart attack, etc.

How does the text depict age, gender, cultural groups?

That white male in their twenties isn't sensible enough to make money and buy their own food from the grocery store.

#3 Lift Plus

Who is the most likely audience of this text why?

Teens to their early twenties, the actors in this advertisement were young adults who were playing immature games that most older viewers wouldn't play.

What genre does this belong to?

Comedy, a lot of comedies have this kind of skits where someone is getting hurt while playing without them even knowing.

Short Story: The Tortoise and The Hare.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_19994.jpg

What does the Author want us to know?

That slow and steady wins the race, despite the fact it's an unfair race ability wise.

How are characters constructed in this text?

That hares are very quick runners and tortoises are very slow creatures.

What genre does this text belong to?

The genre this text belongs to is the Children's book. Most children's books are non-fiction that substitutes human for animals as characters and most of them have hidden lessons or morals.

Whose views are excluded or privileged in the text?
Both The Hare and The Tortoise views were excluded in this text, the readers wouldn't grasp exactly what they were both feeling during the end of the race so the reader had to infer.

Song: When I was your man

Why are you reading this text?

Back in the Philippines Bruno Mars was very famous considering he is half Filipino especially at this time where he is heard everywhere so I grew up listening to this and it reminds me of my childhood.

Is this text fair?

I believe this text isn't fair since we only hear from one side of the story which the man's since his side was only heard the audience would feel empathic towards him making it seem like he is the victim even though the lyrics were about him regretting what he hasn't done.

What does the word suggest?

Him putting his guard down now that he lost his significant other leading to him feeling lonely, regretting the fact that he took his significant other for granted.

What kind of social realities does this text portray?

You only realize the worth of something/someone when they're gone. Most people going through a break up would relate to this song just to only realize what they took for granted was there biggest regret.  

Butterflies by Patrcia Grace

What kind of language is used in this text?
She purposely made the grandparents speak broken English using short sentences and sometimes uses wrong grammars, so the audience infers that they aren't good at English and maybe point out that they didn't have any education. Whilst the teacher spoke long sentences and uses perfect grammar that made the teacher sound intelligent.

What is this text about, how do you know?
It's about what it's like living at that time for white and Maori people in New Zealand. In the text, it shows that her grandparents growing their own vegetable garden whilst her teacher buys her fresh produce in the supermarket.

What does the Author want us to know?
The author wants us to know that people have different perspectives in life, depending on where you came from, your gender, etc. She did it wrote an example through butterflies eating cabbages.

How are character constructed in this text?
That her grandparents were very proud of their granddaughter for being able to read and write and boasts about her to the neighbours.

What kind of social realities does the text portray?
Patricia growing up as a Maori kid and having to work hard to be able to live by having to grow their own food.

ART-Tones and Shading

Have you improved your understanding of tone/shading?
I have learnt and improve on my shading and toning skill by just a little bit however I'm still not great but I'm getting better.

Do you understand that drawing using structure can help you draw better?
Yes, it helps me imagine what the final drawing is going to look like and help me know where to shade and how dark the tone is going to be.

What are you going to work on going forward in pencil drawings in and out of class?
I'm going to continue working on my shading and blending and knowing where the shadow goes.

Real or Fake?

Real or Fake?

Practice:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/german-fuel-protest-image/

In the website itself said it was "Miscaptioned" which makes this already questionable. Turns out this was photo was taken from China and not from Russia that captured the traffic in China. Underneath the article also shows resources of other credible news websites that wrote an article about the same photo claiming it was from China.

Why do you think people share this online?
It is because it's an interesting story about people working together to protest about gas prices going up.

Resources:
https://abcnews.go.com/International/chinas-traffic-jam-lasts-11-days-reaches-74/story?id=11550037
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/german-fuel-protest-image/
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/23/china.traffic.jam/index.html

What am I learning?
I am learning to distinguish real or fake stories.

How does this work show my learning?
This shows my learning by providing information and resources about the news.

What am I wondering?
Are there still stories that many people believed even though it's fake?

















Why do people think people shared this online?
I think people showed this online due to it

Bias and Agenda

Answers:

Agenda: List of Items, or a given perspective.

Authority: Someone who has power or right to give orders. Knows a lot about it.

Bias: Someone who favours one person or thing unfairly.

Credible: Someone or something that is believable.

Manipulate: To influence or control people or events.

Perspective: A particular way of looking at something.

Reliable: A person or thing that can be trusted to do what you want.

Source: The person, place or thing that something came from.

Maths- 11.2.19

What were the main mathematical concepts or ideas that you learned or that we discussed in class?
I learnt how to identify if the number is divisible by a certain number by adding all the number and see if it's in a multiple of that number.

What question do you still have about___?
Does it work with every number?

What activities have you enjoyed?
I particularly enjoyed doing the "string shape activity " and challenging my brain but also having fun along with my classmates and experimenting with different shapes to create shapes and apply different techniques.

https://gosciencegirls.com/3d-structure-stem-challenge/

Crash Course in Critical Literacy

2/5/19

What makes this video convincing?
There was a doctor involve explaining why she's brain dead using words doctors commonly use.

Who published the video?
A youtube channel called The Onion.

How are the teenagers portrayed?
Teenagers were portrayed to be lifeless and ignorant.

Why has the director cast them this way?

In whose interest is this text?
Teenagers because they relate to the video.

Who is real in this text?
The doctors look like a legit doctor because he dressed up in a uniform and used medical language that real doctor uses.

What social realities does this video portray?
Teenagers are always glued to their phone and don't open up to their parents a lot.

Crash Course in Critical Literacy

7/2/19

What aspects of stories was she ( Andrea) interested in?
How she can interpret the stories herself.

What did the ad imply with the big diamond ring?
The only way to show love for your wife is to buy a big diamond ring for her.

What is subtext?
Where people read over the line and imply what the texts say even if the text doesn't imply it.

With CL, can each student have their own answer?
Yes, they might analyze it differently and interpret it different ways due to people's different background, ethnicity, etc.

What does Andrea compare CL to?
The lasso of truth from Wonder Woman.

How can CL be applied to your life outside of school?
You can tell the difference between what real and what's not. Also being able to identify hidden messages. Like from watching movies, ads or playing games.