Speak Project: Vikki Lam

Aside from having to have the project relate to a typical teenage life, there were no specific guidelines for our unit assignment. Everyone's project was very unique in its own way, but I thought Vikki Lam's project with the badge stood out in a good way. She obviously put a lot of thought and critical thinking into the symbolism of the badge; I never would have imagined a badge representing one's accomplishments. I'm sure there are other things badges could represent, but to think of it like that is very interesting. Excluding the "perceptive" aspect of the project, her sash with the little awards was very cute. You sure won a lot of stuff Vikki!
With that being said, Vikki did very well.

A Pawn-tastic Project!

The projects were all amazingly presented but I enjoyed how Charlie related his given object of a pawn to himself as well as his deep interpretation. Life can be a game such as chess played by the cleverest competitors controlling and destroying anyone who may step in their way. A pawn is seen as the lowest ranked player in this endless board game, which cannot jump more than two rows, such as an intern who cannot make a great advance on the job very quickly. Charlie used critical thinking to position himself as this little plastic game piece, persuaded by his parents on which moves to make concerning his present lifestyle as well as future aspirations. They rule his every thought and simply give him orders to be who they expect him to be. All individuals face this dilemma to decide between what standards, established by parents, peers, as well as elders, must be met and what moves must be independently made. Charlie used this reality to create a mental image of what it looks like to go through during the years leading up to adulthood. I was captured by his judgment of what a pawn is believed to be and his relation and response to it. Checkers is one game which I always personally thought seemed similar to chess, however the main difference is in checkers titles do not matter. As in the game, a follower can become a leader in his or her own life. I extremely enjoyed his project and I honestly believe he expressed great critical thinking skills.

Gavin's Brick Foundations

Gavin's perception of his object, the brick, well relates to his life and the world around him. A brick is closed in and tough, and sometimes people choose to be this way to hide their emotions. Gavin effectively mentions that everyone has difficult moments in life, and wish to conceal their feelings behind their own 'brick wall'. Also, he says that people can represent bricks, meaning they are emotionally strong in certain situations. Gavin cleverly made a wall of bricks by piecing them all together. He shows that a group of friends together make a stronghold, and that friends are there to support each other. Also, the multi coloured arrangement shows that everyone is unique in their own way, but can be united as one. Furthermore, just as a crack in the brick wall makes it unstable, a weakness in a group of friends will devastate the bond. Gavin's response on his object is very detailed and well thought out. It's clear that he has put much time and thought into what he says; this demonstrates his skill as a critical thinker. Gavin's project really stands out to me -- while it isn't too elaborate, it makes a clear statement and presents many insightful ideas.

Katrina's Shipping Container

Out of all the projects I've seen, Katrina's assignment captured my attention the most. Katrina drew a shipping container for our critical thinking assignment. She decorated a box and connected arrows to it. The arrows had words relating to her life. I loved her creativity to make a shipping container her life. It was unique on how she presented it because almost everyone did a poem. One thing that stood out for me the most were the arrows connected to the box. Katrina related her life to a shipping container and wrote it on the arrows. One connection that she made was that whenever a shipping container goes to somewhere else, it has to pass through a lot of security checks. That related to Katrina's life becasue she too has to overcome obstacles in her life. This can prove that she is thinking critically. I totally agree on the connection that she made. I also have to overcome obstacles in my life because life is full of unpredictable things. We cannot foresee what will happen in our lives. I think that Katrina did a wonderful job on how to connect a shipping container to her and a teenage's life.

Tim's Poem on Candles and his Life

The object Tim recieved to do his project on was a candle. Tim did a fantabulous, fantastical job on the writing of his poem. One thing he did very well was to relate the lifespan of a candle to the lifespan of himself. In the adolescent stage where the fire rages, and when you die you get snuffed out, just like a candle. Both the life of a candle and a human being can be ended easily and abruptly. There are also many other things that he did well in his poem such as using good imagery. For instance, the line, "The passion and wavering desires of my teenage flame burns brightly and out of control; it becomes an all-consuming vortex of fire that destroys and eradicates.", has many strong, descriptive words in it to help create images in your head. Something that stood out (and I think deserves mention) is the use of a real candle in his presentation. Once lit, it not only created a pleasant fragrance, but more importantly it helped to reinforce his idea that life could be ended abruptly when he blew out the candle. As you clearly saw on presentation day, Tim did a fantastic job on this project and I hope that I haven't missed any of all the wonderful things he did well on it.

AMBER and her TIGER

I felt that Amber did an excellent job connecting her object to her life. It definently displayed good critical thinking. Her object was a tiger. Yes, a tiger. Not many people would have the imagination or critical thinking to connect a tiger to their lives like how Amber did. She expressed her connection with her object through poetry. Amber has an amazing way with words, and her poetry really stood out to me. In her poem, she compared how a tiger's life is similar to a life of a teenager. Tigers are avoiding exctinction, just like how teenagers try to avoid getting into peer pressure. Tigers hide from their predators, like how teenagers hide from bullies. One of the main things that really stood out to me with her poem was when she wrote that both tigers and teenagers are just trying to survive the jungle (or highschool). I honestly feel that Amber demonstrated amazing critical thinking and the way she expressed her object in a form of poetry was just really complex and well thought out. I doubt anyone who picked the object, tiger, would be able to present it in better way than Amber.

-Eleanore


P.S. :: AWWW THANKS BOYUUUU for that lovely comment about my newspaper =] I APPRECIATE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

Perri's Project : You've Got Mail

I've decided to write a response on Perri's project which was You've Got Mail. Perri's object was e-mail and the concept of Perri's project was how communication between teenagers is changing. She pointed out how people can interact socially without even getting changed and stepping out of their house. E-mail has changed the way we interact with people and we haven't even realized it. By depending on e-mail for communication we are removing face-to-face contact with people. Eventually our everyday phrases and words will be replaced with acronyms. Her project looked like a computer screen with an envelope saying 'you've got mail' and inside the envelope was a clever poem. I thought her project was brilliant because it not only delivered her message, but also it was conveyed in a creative way. I thought Perri's poem was great because it was good-humoured and clever. The thing that stood out the most for me was her overall display of her project. I thought it was ingenious how she made it look like a computer screen and the poem could be pulled out of an envelope. Perri's project showed she was a critical thinker because she gathered information and was able to analyze and apply it to her project. Perri's project is commendable; I think she exceeded the expectations of the project.

TIM

My post has been edited. All claim(s) to Olivia's project are now ineffective at the time of this particular post. Please refer to my original post to see the edited version.

Olivia's Project...

Nice try, TIM.

Olivia's project is still up for grabs. If you want to write on it, beat Tim to his edit!!!

Also, this is a PERFECT blog for you guys to comment on. If you want to give your peers feedback, don't feel restricted to the one you have chosen! WRITE WRITE WRITE!

Newspaper

There were many impressive projects that were presented today, and the one that stood out to me the most was Eleanore Chang’s project "Eleanore's Daily News". A newspaper: an object that contains variety of topics that covers daily world-wide news, political events, business, art/entertainment, advertisements and sports allowing the readers to acknowledge the current events. I thought Eleanore’s idea of creating a newspaper that features her daily basis news was very clever and unique. Definitely, her creation and connections could relate to any typical teenagers, and even adults. Her ideal of demonstrating the main point across the class made it clear; a newspaper is an important updater to inform individual recent news around the world. Eleanore stayed true throughout the assignment, and she certainly did let the readers know that many mandatory difficulties must be faced whether one likes it or not. Her newspaper’s discussion “Asian Parent Cracks Up” and “Boys are Jerks” is hilarious. Also, I thought “Eleanore’s Daily News” was a smart way to express her emotions, feelings, etc. Honestly, if an individual sincerely care for you, he/she will buy any newspaper regarding the price. Like Eleanore’s newspaper, if she published it, many of her friends will buy it. Eleanore absolutely proved that a newspaper is an important item in our everyday’s life.

Stop Sign- Boyu's Critical thinking assignment.

Through out the presentations, i thought one of the projects that really stood out for me was Boyu's critical thinking assignment on a stop sign. When people think of teenagers, we are usually described as impulsive people. I think a stop sign is what we need sometimes, there is so much drama and events going on around us that sometimes you just want things to pause for a second. In the presentations, Boyu clearly explained what she did for her critical thinking assignment. She made a thinking bubble filled with all the important events in her life. She related herself to the stop sign by explaining how there were many memorable events in her life, and even if it may be all the fun highlights in her life, sometimes you just have to slow down and stop. There has been so much that happened in your life that when you bring your mind around it, all the memories rain down on you. When stop signs were brought up, all i could think of is school, all the tests, homework and friends seems so complicated, for teenagers.. this is what our world revolves around. She gave me a new perspective of how this object can relate to all of us. Not only teenagers, but everyone can relate to this object.

Fish Bowl- Spencer Such

We had seen so many presentations today for our critical thinking assignment, but it was Spencer’s project that attracted me the most. I really like the way Spencer had used his object and how he had related to his life. Although his project was not fancy, I really liked his picture. The picture itself had spoken to me. The little soldier surrounding the fish bowl in the picture had certainly help made Spencer’s point. Spencer had stated that the fish bowl was like a personal bubble, a place for you and away from all the chaos. He had also used the example of how sometimes you need to learn how to speak up and walk away. I believe this example has somehow also related to my object and I totally agree with his statement. I had never thought of how a fish bowl can relate to a teenager’s life but Spencer’s idea had shown a unique way of looking at a fish bowl with a new perspective. In conclusion, I do find Spencer achieving his goal of the project to become a critical thinker.

TIM's Response to Olivia's English Critical Thinking Project

I thought that Olivia's project was a perfect example of teenage life and displayed excellent critical thinking skills. A seemingly simple object (a door) was transformed by Olivia into a remarkable work representing her ambitions, which consist of being either a lawyer or an actress. The door was a masterful work of art; there were four other doors within the door, each representing her past, her present, and two possible futures. I think that the present door showed her perception of typical teenage life because it displayed what was really in her soul. Furthermore, this represents critical thinking because she was able to connect an object with many aspects of her life and present to us the significance of these connections. One of the many things that Olivia well was that she created a very artistic and moving painting of the door and used colour to a great effect. One particular aspect of Olivia's project really moved me; it was her desire to become a lawyer. The reason that notion struck me was because I'm also aspiring to become a lawyer. Also, Olivia used sound and logical judgment/reasoning when it came to interpreting the meaning behind the object; she also connected it to her own life. That clearly represents critical thinking. In conclusion, I liked Olivia's artistic painting, the lawyer idea really stuck out for me, and her critical thinking skills are excellent.

SPEAK Feedback

Reflect on one of your peer’s Speak projects.

Write a paragraph that includes positive feedback on their project. Please include answers to the following questions, as well as any other positive feedback you would like to give them.

What did they do well?
What stood out for you?
How does their project show that they are critical thinkers?

You may NOT write on a project that has already been commented on. That goes for BOTH blogs – so check out the other one before you write your own post.