Humanities
Intersectionality and Perspectives Project
Unfair Project
For this project we got pictures of our face and wrote on them
things that define us OR things people label us like stereotypes
or opinions. What people see through their lens, and the lens that
I see myself through.
things that define us OR things people label us like stereotypes
or opinions. What people see through their lens, and the lens that
I see myself through.
Critical Race Theories
Psychoanalysis: This theory studies the idea of examining a person's internal mental state, like their subconscious mind, and comparing it to their writing and the characters they create and looking at the person themselves and seeing what unconscious decisions made them write certain pieces.
Post-colonialism: This theory focuses on and analyzes the idea of colonialism and the effect it has had on our economy and society since we exploited the native people and their land.
Queer Theory: This theory suggests that gender rolls and identities are more fluid than stable. Bending all the norms and saying that there are no essential traits to a male or female and everyone has there own "sense of self."
Feminism: This theory talks about feminism and it's importance inn our society as well as in our literature and making sure that women's voices are being heard in the literary canon.
Reader Response: This theory explores the idea of different people reading the same text but getting a different meaning from it. Their focus is that both sides are inevitable rather than one correct or incorrect.
Critical Race Theory: This one focuses on the idea of race in relation to power and how that influences racism. They question the foundations of the laws and literature and want people of colors voices to be heard not silenced.
Psychoanalysis: This theory studies the idea of examining a person's internal mental state, like their subconscious mind, and comparing it to their writing and the characters they create and looking at the person themselves and seeing what unconscious decisions made them write certain pieces.
Post-colonialism: This theory focuses on and analyzes the idea of colonialism and the effect it has had on our economy and society since we exploited the native people and their land.
Queer Theory: This theory suggests that gender rolls and identities are more fluid than stable. Bending all the norms and saying that there are no essential traits to a male or female and everyone has there own "sense of self."
Feminism: This theory talks about feminism and it's importance inn our society as well as in our literature and making sure that women's voices are being heard in the literary canon.
Reader Response: This theory explores the idea of different people reading the same text but getting a different meaning from it. Their focus is that both sides are inevitable rather than one correct or incorrect.
Critical Race Theory: This one focuses on the idea of race in relation to power and how that influences racism. They question the foundations of the laws and literature and want people of colors voices to be heard not silenced.
Readings/ Socratic Seminars
This past semester we've done a lot of reading and analyzing many famous authors. We've also done a few socratic seminars on some of the articles talking about how they made us feel and just reflecting on them. James baldwin was someone we focused on a lot. We read "A Talk to Teachers" by him, which talks about the influence teachers have on young kids who will be shaping society, and the importance of the message they are giving. Black boys often are told that they have liberty and justice but when living in ghettos and such they begin to see the reality of their lives. He begins to wonder why he can't have the same things and begins to exclude himself from a society where he feels unaccepted. I thought this was a really interesting article, and a lot of our readings are kind of along the lines of things like this. I agree with the importance of this being heard by all americans. We annotated this article and used it for references all semester because it was really the guideline of all our semesters work.
This past semester we've done a lot of reading and analyzing many famous authors. We've also done a few socratic seminars on some of the articles talking about how they made us feel and just reflecting on them. James baldwin was someone we focused on a lot. We read "A Talk to Teachers" by him, which talks about the influence teachers have on young kids who will be shaping society, and the importance of the message they are giving. Black boys often are told that they have liberty and justice but when living in ghettos and such they begin to see the reality of their lives. He begins to wonder why he can't have the same things and begins to exclude himself from a society where he feels unaccepted. I thought this was a really interesting article, and a lot of our readings are kind of along the lines of things like this. I agree with the importance of this being heard by all americans. We annotated this article and used it for references all semester because it was really the guideline of all our semesters work.
Serial Podcast
As a class, we began to listen to a podcast together called "Serial." Its about a boy who may have been wrongfully convicted for supposedly killing his ex-girlfriend. Every episode, you learn more and more about the case and your opinion on the so called "murderer" changes a lot. The narrator, Sarah, she's not a detective but really is trying to get to the bottom of all this and in doing so, although she knew nothing or no one when it happened, she becomes very involved in the story and kind of becomes a big part of it, especially if she were to figure out exactly what happened. We're only on episode 9 out of 12 and I still don't really know how I feel. I don't know if this guy actually did it or maybe someone else, but it is one of the more interesting podcasts I've ever heard.
As a class, we began to listen to a podcast together called "Serial." Its about a boy who may have been wrongfully convicted for supposedly killing his ex-girlfriend. Every episode, you learn more and more about the case and your opinion on the so called "murderer" changes a lot. The narrator, Sarah, she's not a detective but really is trying to get to the bottom of all this and in doing so, although she knew nothing or no one when it happened, she becomes very involved in the story and kind of becomes a big part of it, especially if she were to figure out exactly what happened. We're only on episode 9 out of 12 and I still don't really know how I feel. I don't know if this guy actually did it or maybe someone else, but it is one of the more interesting podcasts I've ever heard.
Book Club
Our book club books we began reading at the beginning of the semester and just finished them a few weeks ago. The book I read is called "The Underground Railroad" and it's about a slave who has lived on a plantation her whole life and runs away to be free with 2 other slaves. We follow her journey throughout the whole story and see all her experiences trying to survive. We are now starting to write critical lens essays where we look at the book through a critical theory and analyze. The theories are super interesting to me and I'm looking at mine through a reader response theory while including small parts of queer theory and critical race theory too.
Our book club books we began reading at the beginning of the semester and just finished them a few weeks ago. The book I read is called "The Underground Railroad" and it's about a slave who has lived on a plantation her whole life and runs away to be free with 2 other slaves. We follow her journey throughout the whole story and see all her experiences trying to survive. We are now starting to write critical lens essays where we look at the book through a critical theory and analyze. The theories are super interesting to me and I'm looking at mine through a reader response theory while including small parts of queer theory and critical race theory too.
Writing Process
Critical Lens Essay
Deciding on a Critical Lens
I had a lot of ideas to write my essay about through each lens and narrowing it down was hard. I decided to go with looking at it through a reader response lens so that I could Incorporate a few other lenses in like the critical race theory and the queer theory.
I had a lot of ideas to write my essay about through each lens and narrowing it down was hard. I decided to go with looking at it through a reader response lens so that I could Incorporate a few other lenses in like the critical race theory and the queer theory.
1st Draft
Final Draft
Imaginative NonFiction
Empathy Interviews
Our first step to this project was to find two people we could interview and learn about their life. I interviewed my mom and my middle school drama teacher. I learned a lot about them both and enjoyed the interviews. These were the questions I came up with to ask them.
Our first step to this project was to find two people we could interview and learn about their life. I interviewed my mom and my middle school drama teacher. I learned a lot about them both and enjoyed the interviews. These were the questions I came up with to ask them.
Drafting Process
This specific piece of writing was pretty challenging for me because I don't typically like to write short stories. Through the drafting process we did a lot of peer critique as well as some critique from our teacher.
This specific piece of writing was pretty challenging for me because I don't typically like to write short stories. Through the drafting process we did a lot of peer critique as well as some critique from our teacher.
Final Product
This is what I ended up with after all the critique!
This is what I ended up with after all the critique!
Connection Between Interview and Story
Honors
This semester I decided to challenge myself a little more and take English honors. For this class our tasks consist of getting a new article every week, reading and annotating it, then writing a response that's at least 250 words to it basically just saying our opinion on it and what struck us. Then we also have comment on 2 other students responses. We did about 10 in total this whole semester and I actually enjoyed all of them. They were all interesting, even if I didn't agree with what it was talking about. I feel that I have definitely expanded my reading skills and vocabulary through these articles and I plan on taking honors next year as well to continue to challenge myself.
TPOL Photo Essay
Self Reflection/ Future as a Writer
Overall I think I did pretty good this semester, one of my goals was to really keep on track with all my work, and for the most part I think I accomplished that. This is a skill that is going to really help me next year. Especially since I was in honors finding a way to stay on top of all that and remember to do it was something I had to learn. I'm also really happy I decided to challenge myself by taking honors. I think I really learned a lot and it was actually pretty fun for me because we read a lot of interesting articles that I got to write post about and I like doing things like that. Going into next year, I'm really excited to start applying for college and figuring out where I want to go and what I want to study. I feel like I'm interesting in so many things that I'm kind of all over the place and I'm really eager to narrow it down a little bit! As a writer, I hope to grow in all ways possible such as my style and vocabulary. I think I'm a fairly good writer but I want to start working on my wording of sentences. I plan to do this by getting lots of critique on everything I create and trying new things to see how they turn out.