I always dreamed of becoming an architect. My Capstone process was supposed to reflect how an architect gets an idea and goes from the idea to the design of the building. First step is to find who needs the design and what needs to be designed. When the need is identified next steps involve choice of tools and personalization according to the clients’ needs. Finally, design choices should be made such that design looks pretty, but it is also functional, safe and realizable.

I thought that interning in architectural company would give me a better idea for all the steps in the project. In parallel with finding the internship I researched the designs, tools, and ideas for my project. I was surprised that neither internship nor research were the inspiration for my final idea, but rather a lunchtime conversation.  I learned that my friends wished for more quiet places at SLA. Therefore, I decided to make redesign of my school's building as my Capstone. Instead of an internship I read a lot of architectural books and websites. I decided to use Floorplanner software, did a lot of editing and redesigning things over and over again. I made a survey for students and teachers to understand what they all wanted in our school.  My Capstone taught me that I have to be open to different possibilities and not always take the path that everyone else follows. If I had the chance to do it again, I would enjoy the process more.

Bibliography:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IK6z0cjX6TqARZIckIcS3g_NAwtkSyi2cv-VnYM88ko/edit#heading=h.7xo9c5vk8icl

There were many times in my life where I felt I didn't belong and they were in close relation to not only my identity, but the identity of the people around me. I felt like I didn't belong growing up in Serbia as a person with learning disabilities. I discovered I had dyslexia and dysgraphia when my teacher thought  that I was stupid because on my tests I finished almost none of the questions and when writing, I mixed Cyrillic and Latin alphabets, as well as printed and cursive letters. The real reason I felt like I didn't fit in is because learning disabilities are very rare in Serbia, and the tests are conducted in a mental hospital, where I later had to visit a therapist. The therapist banned me from writing in cursive to help me use only one style of writing at once. People not only saw me differently, but also treated me like there was something wrong with me, especially the teachers. The only two things that my therapist told them to do to make this process easier was to give me extensions on reading and writing assignments and to test me orally, instead of me struggling through reading and writing it. My teachers kept everything the same, until I told them “Imagine I fell down the stairs and broke both my arms, how would you test me then?” Her answer was: “Well, orally of course.” At the end I got her to test me orally and I got a 100, but I never changed her mind. I think that happened  because she was a person with a fixed mindset and not accepting a change.

I’ve come across a lot of people like my teacher over the years. They think that everyone functions the same and that kind of thinking is the reason that some people struggle with changing their view. Even if all the information is pointed against their argument , they would stubbornly stick to their own opinions. I, on the other hand, have the adapting mindset where I can change my views if I get good evidence. As an article from MindShifts states “ It is the belief that qualities can change and that we can develop our intelligence and abilities. The opposite of having a growth mindset is having a fixed mindset, which is the belief that intelligence and abilities cannot be developed. The reason that this definition of growth mindset is important is that research has shown that this specific belief leads people to take on challenges, work harder and more effectively, and persevere in the face of struggle, all of which makes people more successful learners. ”

These mindsets are not only opposites, but they are both necessary to balance out. This is a part of the way my identity was shaped, as a person with learning disabilities, since I had to change the way I looked at things and the opinions I had on learning, as well as basically anything I knew before about myself.

The lesson I learned from this experience is that our identity can change in a moment, and we would never expect that, but we have to accept the person we have become, and trust ourselves enough. By that I mean trust our brains, our bodies, our flaws, our disabilities, our reasons, and our hope.

In this essay my goals were to put in words the relationship I have with my mom. I think I did well in putting my memories down and reflecting on each of them. I would like to improve the way I express myself.

The flowers that had no scent, and yet they amused me every morning. Their petals were not perfect, all different sizes and most covered with holes from bug bites. They were taller then me, then up to my waist, and that was a way I remember growing taller. To other people they weren't really pretty, but to me they were special. Every day I would look at them when I came to visit my grandparents. Every time I played in the yard, I would glance at the flowers every once in awhile. There was no special reason, it was more like they were magnets to my eyes. One day when I came the flowers were all gone. When I asked my grandma about them she said: “Oh those, I had no time to take care of them so they all died. Plus it’s not like anyone liked them anyway. ” And it was true, not even I could say that I particularly liked them. They were there and I was comfortable with that. They blocked the sunlight from getting in my eyes when I sat on the front steps. They made fun looking shadows in the moonlight.

I looked at the dirt that was piled where they used to be, and accepted them as a good childhood memory. It’s funny how we remember small things like that, but will never be able to remember all the important things. Not because we don’t want to, but our minds play tricks with our memory. I remember my first day of school, but not my last day of kindergarten. I remember the first time I went to a dance class, but not my first competition. But not all the things I remember from that time were good.

It was the night before Christmas and my mom was making a special dinner. I was in my room, I was 9 at the time, on the phone with a family friend. Then, out of nowhere I heard a loud bang sound. I tell the friend that I have to go and run out of my room. I walk through the living room and see a giant burn on the open door of the kitchen. When I walked in I say my mum on the floor crying with completely burnt hands. They were completely black and to relieve her of the pain she put them in a pot of cold milk, as told to by my grandma over the phone. They then went to the hospital and left me at the house to eat. I couldn’t sleep later, my mom’s pained expression circling my mind. My mom had to get most of the skin that got burned removed and wore a cast for a few months.

It hurt me seeing my mom's pain through my childhood, but that night, I matured a little more then I realized at the time. I realized that I began to feel her pain. The look she gave me, trying to assure me that she will be fine, I could see through that act. Her eyes, as blue as the sky, my favorite color, the color I always wanted mine to be. I think we had those moments because I was her only child at the time, these looks were passed back and forth before. She got surgery on her left ear when I was 7, hit by  a motorcycle when I was ten and 5 miscarriages through a few years. These made me even more mature for my age. That is probably the reason I took care of her and she took care of me. We always told each other everything, so we understood each other better than anyone else.   

I remember that when I found out I had dyslexia and dysgraphia, she was one of the only people who didn’t judge me, even tough learning disabilities are very rare in Serbia, and most times looked down on. When I was little I had bad asthma, for almost 2 years I was constantly sick. I would go to the doctors and lay in bed most of the time. She worked every weekday, from morning to night and still found time to take care of me. I even remember her buying me little presents, to help me stop my bad habits of biting my nails. Every week I went without biting them, I would get a cute bag with a present inside.

Letters were written for many thousands of years, to talk with other people, without them having to be there, to communicate. Now that the modern day is full of new technology, that writing communication system is expended to not only letters, but emails, chats, and notes. In the book Love, Rosie, Cecelia Ahern uses those modern ways people communicate by to make the story more exciting and mysterious.  This formatting of the story made it a little challenging to  read, but that challenge was worth it, because the reader can feel like he or she is a part of the story.

The main two characters, Rosie and Alex, were always write letters to each other since they were little. They write notes like:

“To Alex

You are invited to my 7th birthday party on Tuesday the 8th of April in

my house. We are having a magician and you can come to my house at 2

o’clock. It is over at 5 o’clock. I hope you will come,

From your best friend Rosie”

Their whole world was almost always ink on a piece of paper or letters on  a screen. They were  memories that could be kept, and to the reader it seems that they are using those written pieces of memories to find out about peoples lives. It is easy to relate because people always had to express their deepest feelings on paper, at some point in their lives. There was happiness and sadness, fear and bravery, love and hate. “I’m writing you this letter because I know that if I say what I have to say to your face I will probably punch you. I don’t know you anymore. I don’t see you anymore. All I get is a quick text or a rushed e-mail from you every few days. I know you are busy and I know you have Bethany, but hello? I’m supposed to be your best friend.” When Rosie wrought this to Alex, she told him something a lot of people feel. That was both sadness and jealousy. She was feeling normal feelings a friend would. These things make the book seem a lot more like real life. Their lives are never perfect.

The book shows characteristics of each person in their actions and the way they write and also based on whom they are writing to. They all have many problems, in each word they express themselves, just like we do and all of us wright. “I haven’t heard or seen you in a while. I’m sending you this e-mail because every time I call by your house, you’re either in the bath or not there! Should I begin to take this personally??! But knowing you, if you had a problem with me you wouldn’t be too shy to let me know all about it! This was something Alex sent Rosie after he moved to America. They could not see each other so he hoped that they would at least hear each other. There is always a time where people eat here send this kind of message or receive it. It is when you are fighting or one is mad at the other.

Each reader gets a different experience out of a book, but not all are completely different, because a book is meant to inspire emotions. Each emotion is strong enough to stay a stamp in the reader's mind. Looking on others for their thoughts, I stumbled upon this quote from Ellis Henrika, a writer for “Finding Bliss in Books” said: “Except for the epilogue, Love, Rosie is a collection of letters, IMs, notes, emails, text conversations, etc. but the formatting was so horrendous that sometimes two completely different conversations were grouped together, which confused my already unorganised brain.” I agreed, and was also confused at times. The book is funny and interesting, but they always have some problems in them. Without the uniqueness of each book, books would be boring. The author has to make it special by writing uniquely, kind of like special effect in a movie to make it more realistic and more fun.

If the book had been written in a different format, it would be a story that was not that realistic and it would have been more boring and ordinary. It would also less connected to the emotions of the reader. Each of the emotions was not just picked, but more like hand crafted by the author to make sure every detail is perfect. For those reasons the emotions are strong and so realistic. Emotions are the key to unlock our hearts.

(running)(stops)(looks around)(sits)

So what? They can look for me all they want. I will just sit on this rock.

(looks around nervously)

It’s not like they really care. Plus, they would never suspect… I …

(yells)

that I always hated the feeling!

(quieter and sadder)

This feeling of loneliness, misunderstanding and fear.   

(Looks at a notebook and pen in her hands)

And these stupid things! They only made me feel worse!

(Throws the thing as far as she can)

I mean, whose idea was to make me put words on a piece of paper? And when my pen ran out of ink, I lost my voice.

(pauses)

What was all that for. If I didn’t waste my time, by writing every word I wanted to say on paper, then I would have found a way to make them hear every word that I say out of my mouth. But because I choose to write instead of speak, I feel too different. People think that I am weird, and they never seen what its like, they will never understand. That is why I ran. Out of the city. Out of their lives. And I choose to be an independent person. Find my own way.

(pauses)(lightly laughs)    

Look at me now. Trying to justify my decisions, to myself. I should just stay here. I mean-

(slowly looks around)

-it’s beautiful.

(pauses)

Yea. I wish, that I could stay here forever. Leaving the whole world behind. But that is what everyone wishes for. To have happiness with no great problems and consequences.  I can’t be granted this wish, because that is impossible, unless everyone gets it, and yet that is not possible either. Now I feel ashamed for wishing it.   

(sighs)

Only thing I know is, I can never go back. There was definitely something wrong with me. I spoke to them, but they never heard. Why I am getting obsessed now?!? I am not crazy.

(stands up and starts walking around, every second she walks faster and faster)

I know the difference between the voice in my head and out my mouth. But they… they … they think I’m crazy, they insult me, they make fun of me. They, my-

(makes quotation marks with her fingers)

-“friends” and  “family”.  Yesterday my “best friend” , Lizzy, had to comment (mocking voice) “Hope, don’t your hands get tired of using of that notebook. I mean once I sang in choir too much and lost my voice, but I could not stand writing all my thoughts down for more than 2 hours.”

(stops and sits again)(sighs)

It’s my fault, when I realized that they stopped hearing me, I could have did something to fix it. But what? I speak every day in front of the mirror. I see my lips moving. I feel my throat vibrating and moving. Then a tear drops, then another followed, and by the time I realize that it’s killing me not to be able to be heard, I’ve already decided not to pity myself.

(puts her face in her palms)  

If I can’t get used to myself. How are others supposed to? I have to accept it. I have to become braver. Wait...

(looks up)

And you know what? I am unique. If they have a problem with it, it’s their problem, not mine.  

(her bracelet falls off, she kneels down and picks it up)

What happened? Why did my bracelet fall of. This bracelet is bad news anyway. I mean the girl that gave it to me disappeared. And sometime after that people stopped hearing me. Oh well, It can’t be helped.

(throws the bracelet, looks to the side and sees a person)

“Hi. Uh, why am I even speaking to you. I mean you can’t hear me anyway.”

(pauses and listens)

“Wait”

(pauses and listens)

“Waht!?!? But how?!?”

(pauses and listens)

“You can actually hear me?!?”    

(stands up and starts running towards the way she entered)

As I made a few steps in this unfamiliar space, they were all so small and slow. I made a big yawn to make my step dad think I was just tired, not nervous. I came yesterday.

“Hurry up, we will be late!”

I started to walk faster. The park we walked by was big and pretty. I never saw anything like it. There was so many things that caught my eye and-

“Come on, you know that they told us to come 30 minutes early.”

His words sounded weirder than usual, since he was speaking English the whole morning, and now it took him a few seconds to process Serbian words he gave me.

“This is it. Ready?”

Nodding my head, I stept in the building; it felt uncomfortable. I walked into a crowd of people speaking another language. English. Soon I will have to learn it too, and just like them I will understand.

The halls were decorated with all kinds of papers, posters and pictures. As I passed by everything got stranger. We walked in the office, and we saw a tall brunette waiting there.

“Oh, you must be Katarina. Hi, I am Miss S.”

When she spoke I was surprised. I never heard a person speak Serbian with such a big English accent, but then again she was born in the US and English was her first language, while Serbian was the only language I spoke.

“Hello  Miss S. Um, I have a question. What grade will I be attending?”  

She smiled and put the papers she was holding down into a small section of the cabinet. The she looked at me again.

“Right. When were you born? ”

“July 1st, 1999.”

“Okay, that means you will be joining the sixth graders today. We only have one class per grade in this school, so that is where you will go.”

“Thank you. What room is it in?”

“311 but today they first have gym, it is in the basement. If you really need help understanding, just come to me.”

“Thank you, and {I pointed at my stepdad} you can go. As you can see I will be just fine.”

“Okay, okay, I will leave as soon as I fill out some papers. Have a good first day.”

I left the office and looked around for the steps. The school was like a maze. Steps to go up but none to go down. I went back and forth, until I saw a railing in hallway behind the steps. I walked up to it and slowly went downstairs. The room was bigger than a classroom, but smaller than a regular size of a gym.

That was my beginning journey to learning English in the US. I started to go to ESL (English as a Second Language) classes and started to slowly understand. The people in my class were so nice that they were trying to be my friends even if I was not understanding what they said. They even half mimed while talking, to help me.

Few months passed and I learned enough English to communicate. Still it was rough.

“Yes, and then I… ummm… how do you say that again? ”

“Say what, Katarina?”

“Umm, for example when you put water into a cup.”

“Oh, you mean pour?!?”

“Yea! Poor!”

“No, you are saying people with no money! Not poor, pour! I pour water into a cup.”

“Ohh!!! Sorry!”

“You don’t have to apologize! You are still learning! It’s okay.”

And then we both started to laugh. I guess that I needed my best friend to remind me of those things. Now when I think about it, I have no clue how I really did it. The classes? My talks with friends? Now in school I am learning Spanish, and it feels like the hardest thing ever.  

  A year passed and we had a new student and she did not speak English. We became very good friends and we helped each other learn.

By the end of middle school I was a person who officially learned English. I no longer processed it in the “translation” in my head.

I started to think in English, and I tried to fix the accent I had over the years.

This summer I went back to Serbia, to visit family and friends, and there was something that disturbed me. I would go into a store and buy something.

“Dobar dan”

“Vas rachun je 1,832 dinara.”

“Izvolite.”

“Prijatan dan.”

“Thank you.”

I would walk out the store and realize that I thanked them in English only a few moments later, when I already walked away.

Learning a new language made me see the world in a totally different light, and I want to explore the world more. Learning it made me think I can learn things easier. It boosted my self confidence.

Just as James Baldwin said in “If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?”  “What joins all languages, and all men, is the necessity to confront life, in order, not inconceivably, to outwit death: The price for this is the acceptance, and achievement, of one's temporal identity.” He is saying that we do not need language only for the sake of understanding, but also to show us the identity we have now, but it will change over time. Language has many meanings to different people, and each person gives language a different value. For example, someone that knows 3 or more languages, probably thinks that languages are easy to learn and understand. But someone who knows only one, can not comprehend being able to think on another language.  

Most people had at least one point in their life, where they hate the way they speak or the accent they have. It makes me feel better, that I know someone went through the similar thing as me. And that is what makes us, human beings, same, but different.  

My language learning experiences change my life every day. I hope to learn new languages in the future. I feel that if I could learn one different language, why not try more. I know that’s my goals are a bit challenging. But I want to feel that amazing feeling of happiness that I caught along the way. My challenge begins right NOW!   

a. What is one thing that your learned specifically that you did not know before?

One thing I learned from this project is what drawing something really takes. It takes time. It takes countless eraser strokes and even more pencil lines. The lesson is not about the end result, but like in life, learning from your mistakes. The one point perspective makes it look like you are standing in the classroom taking a picture.   

b. How did leaning this thing make your drawings better?

Learning this made my drawing better because I was not afraid of making a mistake. Since I was little, I was scared of messing up my drawing. I knew that  I could easily erase, but  I wanted to be like professionals, never knowing that they messed up too.

c. If you did this assignment again, what would you do differently?

If I did this assignment again, I would  start with a 12 inch horizontal line 5-7 inches from the top of the paper. When I messed up  it was usually when I started the drawing. I take a long time to draw something so I would also organize better.

d. What is your advice to someone who has never drawn a one point perspective drawing before?

My advice to someone who has never drawn a one point perspective drawing before is: before you draw an object figure out which line is which (horizontal, vertical, or perspective lines).

e. What resource helped you the most and why?

The resource that helped me the most  is this site:

http://www.bramhaa.com/draw-it-all-%E2%80%93-one-point-perspective-for-beginners-in-animation/691

Hi! My name is Katarina Backo and I am a ninth grader at Science Leadership Academy. I am doing a project for my English class about an issue that concerns
me, and I have to write three blogs about it. Here is the link to my first blog, second  blog link and this is my third blog in this series. My issue involves play time, and how technology impacts children’s activity and therefore their lives. I am an artistic, athletic person connected with my family and happy about it. I wish that everybody could have the happiness I have, but I think that wrong use of technology prevents that. Hope you’ll enjoy reading my ideas.

In my Blog #1 my focus was on balance (“I love technology as well, but I think that everything should be balanced.”-Blog #1). My concern was that nowaday teens will choose to play with technology rather than going outside to play.

In my previous blog my focus was on how “ I went to all my activities and still didn’t notice new teens making use of abundant free teen programs that exist in Philadelphia. Besides working on this project I  had the opportunity and luck to do a research on how technology affects people for my technology class. For my Science Fair Project I have decided to dig deeper into how teens tell time and that helped me understand how I could resolve my issue.”(-Blog #2)

For the past few weeks, I was aware of how friends around as well as myself, were totally out of order and organization for our school work. It’s not that we can’t do other things, its just that when we are playing a game, listening to music, on facebook, on twitter, we lose the sense of time and end up not being able to finish things. If people heard about and tried the programs Philadelphia offers, then there would be enough human interaction. They would be able to experience what people used to do for fun, before electronics were there. If we do that it will help us not depend on technology so much.

As an agent of change I would like to show what is happening in Philadelphia and I hope that my peers will join me in my endeavours. As I was talking about in the last 2 blogs, I have a lot of activities and I want to share my experiences in order to increase the visibility of programs for teens.   

I was happy to volunteer at my old Mural Arts Program location (Southwark), where anime photoshoot took place. For the past couple of weeks teen artists have been working on creating costumes of anime characters they created to present some of the world problems. For example one of the issues mentioned was littering, and I helped the issue come alive by being involved in finalizing this costume:

Litter anime character

The students first decided which issue they wanted to take. Next, they designed their costumes, which later they made themselves, with the help of teachers from Mural Arts, and volunteers like me. Mural Arts Program also provided all the materials teen artists needed.

The day of the shoot there was one photographer, professional makeup artists and volunteers. Even though there were professionals at the scene, teen artists took pictures, and everyone was involved in creating the wonderful environment. It was a really fun experience and I hope you will enjoy the pictures!!!!

The photo shoot

Makeup for all the models (even the guys)

Preparations

Later those photos were displayed in a gallery with other art projects of the other locations of Mural Arts. From the experience teen artists had, I think they learned a lot about design, making and modeling. Events and projects are happening at Mural Arts all the time, throughout the city of Philadelphia. Murals, sculptures, drawings, photos, are not the only things students in the Mural Arts Program make, there is also memories, friendships and important life lessons.

I volunteered at the Christian Street  YMCA. My YMCA has a lot of holiday parties with lots of activities and food for different holidays.The YMCA provides lots of sports, activities and workouts, but my favorite part is the pool. I am the part of the swimming team and our team has a lot of swim meets, which are competitions against other teams from other YMCAs. When I did not swim on those I helped on the deck. Also I helped with swim lessons for little kids.

25 yard pool at the Christian street YMCA

At the Whitman branch of the Free Library of  Philadelphia, where I always volunteer, there are a lot of different sections, and teen section one of them. There is a lot of clubs in the library, scrabble club, chess club, games club, and they have a relaxing yoga class. I volunteered at the Science in the summer program and it is a 2 day course with different labs. They also needed volunteers for Summer Reading Program, to help them inform and deal out prizes. This time I volunteered at the activity for little kids called “Story time”, where kids listened to stories, made bracelets, mixed colors, and made collages.  

The teen section at the Whitman branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia

I asked the librarian to give me a few words about things they offer for teens in the library:

Throughout this project my opinion changed, evolved, and grew. It helped me see things around me clearer and with more understanding. Maybe, I could have made posters, flyers, and other advertisements, to represent the programs, to show people that they can do something interesting in their spare time. However, I think that this way everyone can get first hand personal experience from me.

The way I was an agent of change was not just volunteering. I also took my friends to those places and after they experience the atmosphere, activities and fun they stayed and started to go there more often. There is only one thing left to say and that is: Instead of staying inside, go out and enjoy the world around you!!!!

Mi casa es muy grande. Tiene seis dormitorios,  dos cocinas, cuatro baños, dos salas. También, tiene dos garajes y una grande jardín. Hay nevera en mi dormitorio. haytelevisiónn en todos los habitacions.

Hi! My name is Katarina Backo and I am a ninth grader at Science Leadership Academy. I am doing a project for my English class about an issue that concerns
me, and I have to write three blogs about it. Here is the link to my first blog and this is my second blog in this series. My issue involves play time, and how technology impacts
children’s activity and therefore their lives. I am an artistic, athletic person connected with my family and happy about it. I wish that everybody could have the happiness I have, but I think that wrong use of technology prevents that. Hope you’ll enjoy reading my ideas.

In my previous blog my focus was on balance (“I love technology as well, but I think that everything should be balanced.”-Blog #1). My concern was that nowaday teens will choose to play with technology rather than going outside to play. In the meantime I continued with all my activities and still didn’t notice new teens making use of abundant free teen programs that exist in Philadelphia. Besides working on this project I have had the opportunity and luck to do a research on how technology affects people for my technology class. For my Science Fair Project I have decided to dig deeper into how teens tell time and that helped me understand how I could resolve my issue. Finally my original research opened new questions.

The movie "Digital Nation" I watched in technology class, in my eyes was about the balance I spoke about which is pushed to technology side, meaning that we are forgetting the real world we live in. It also brought a good argument about multitasking and why is it actually bad. People are so crazy about the virtual world that they are losing the sense to tell the difference between virtual and real. Even if you think that you are good at multitasking it is wrong because multitasking makes you lose your focus.

I have also studied the term "digital native" (CNN article defines this term more closely) - a person born when digital technology was around, so they can learn about technology at the age they learn how to speak. That is exactly what today's teens are, and that is where my issue starts, growing up as technology grows. This is not necessarily bad, technology is meant to enhance our lives, but yet again I see the need for balance.

Working on my Science Fair Project I have unexpectedly run into one possible, maybe obvious solution for my issue. For Science Fair Project I wanted to check the saying “time flies when you are having fun”. My experiment was to engage my classmates into activities and see how well they can tell time spent on their activities. I gave a Rubic’s Cube to my friend who is using technology all the time. He was focused on the cube for about 7 minutes and then I stopped him. He wanted to continue, because he was not even close to solving it. When I asked him if he liked solving it, he said he loved it, but he thought that he spent a whole hour trying. His focus was amazing, even though technology is said to ruin the ability to focus and strengthen the wish to multitask. I expected to hear that the time flew for him, but I got the total opposite. As usual, when you get too many results that you didn’t expect, new ideas are born. It might have been obvious from my current point of view, but I didn’t think before that in order to resolve my issue I just have to find the way to get my fellow teens interested in activities that do not include technology.

Having everything sorted out, I wanted to check what activities other teens are involved in. For my original research, I recently made a survey which you can access here. It asked people about technology they use and how much they use it. I also asked about extracurricular activities and sports.

20 people took my survey and 19 of them were teenagers. Everyone is using technology in some way:

Do you have an electronic device?

Every person that filled up my survey said that both, they and their families, have electronic devices. The two most common ones were cell phones and laptops. That is what I expected. However, I found out something that I did not expect and that made me revisit my original hypotheses. I expected to have more people say that they do not play sports and don’t engage in extracurricular activities. That was not the case. 95% of people said that they engage in activities not related to school and technology. Out of those 95%, 50% said that they play sports, while others said that they both play sports and engage in other activities.

Do you play any sports?

Then if people do all these activities, maybe our ways were not ruined with technology, just overwhelmed. Is my sample representative? If yes, is Philadelphia that big that I did not notice that most people play sports and do extracurricular activities? Or did I accidentally get all the people that play sports to take my survey, or maybe the activities I am involved in are not well advertised? I still have to search deeper to find the answer I am looking for.

I can conclude that technology is not something stopping us from being as active as other generations before us. It is only the way we use it to help our way of living. In terms of technology, right now we are stuck between the past and the future.

To read my Annotated Bibliography, please click here.   

¡Hola! Mi nombre es Katarina. Tengo catorce años. Soy una estudiante en SLA. SLA es Science Leadership Academy, una escuela en Filadelfia, PA. SLA tienen 500 estudiantes y 20 profesores. Está en 22 y Arch calle Filadelfia, PA. Es escuela especial, nosotros tienen nuestros computadoras en la escuela. Tenemos muchas actividades y  clases interesantes. Profesores en SLA son muchos inteligentes y divertidos. Estudiantes en SLA son muchos locos, divertidos y listos.

Tengo bioquímica, tecnología, español, historia, matemáticas, inglés, almuerzo, y teatro. En la clase de bioquímica, nosotros hacemos experimentos. En la clase de tecnología, nosotros utilizamos las computadoras. En la clase de español, nosotros bailamos y cantamos.  En la clase de historia, nosotros leemos libros. En la clase de matemáticas, nosotros hacemos muchas . En la clase de inglés, nosotros escribimos y leemos. En la clase de almuerzo, nosotros comemos y relajamos. En la clase de teatro, nosotros actuamos.

El señor Reddy es mi favorite profesor. Él enseñar matemáticas, pero él es sólo mi tutor. Él es mucho divertido, serio, y amable. Otro profesor yo gustar es la señorita Manuel. Ella es profesora de español. Ella es sociable, trabajadora, y inteligente. La señorita Hull es una importante person en SLA. Ella es profesora de arte y tecnología. Ella es divertida, lista, y súper artística.

Para tener éxito en SLA es necesario trabajar duro, prestar atención, y hacer toda la tarea. No tenemos muchas pruebas y nosotros siempre proyectos muchos. ¡Esto es nosotros para tú!

Hi! My name is Katarina Backo and I am a ninth grader at Science Leadership Academy. I am doing a project for my English class about an issue that concerns me, and I have to write three blogs about it. This is my first blog in this series. My issue involves play time, and how technology impacts children’s activity and therefore their lives. I am an artistic, athletic person connected with my family and happy about it. I wish that everybody could have the happiness I have, but I think that wrong use of technology prevents that. Hope you’ll enjoy reading my ideas.

When given the choice, more kids and teens now will pick to use a smartphone over a ball. Everyday, I witness that not too many teens use abundant free teen programs that exist in Philadelphia. In my branch of YMCA I am one of handful of teens practicing sports on regular basis. Assuming that people are different I understand that they don’t like sports. I also attend many other activities such as The Mural Arts Program, PAFA Sunday art program for families, and Free Library of Philadelphia workshops for kids and teens, story time, karaoke parties, Science in the Summer and Summer Reading Program. Everywhere I named there are just a handful of teens as well. Where are they? Are they not informed? The most recent study by Pew Research published by LA Times says that 95% of Americans think libraries are important. Why did I not see any teens there?

To my advantage, I recently saw a picture of how children played few decades ago and how they play now.

As shown on the picture there is much less action!

Few decades ago, they were outside playing games all together. I guess that, as shown on the picture, now they are on their iPods and smartphones playing games alone. According to the latest Pew Research on teens and technology:

• 78% of teens now have a cell phone, and almost half (47%) of those own smartphones. That translates into 37% of all teens who have smartphones, up from just 23% in 2011.

• One in four teens (23%) have a tablet computer, a level comparable to the general adult population.

• Nine in ten (93%) teens have a computer or have access to one at home. Seven in ten (71%) teens with home computer access say the laptop or desktop they use most often is one they share with other family members.

In my opinion, not only that overuse of technology prevents socializing and learning from others in a real world setting, it also prevents much needed physical activity. In other words teens always use technology for everything and therefore they are not interested in arts, sports, books, family, nor spending time outside.

Playing outside nowadays!!!

According to New York Times, Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse and one of the world’s leading brain scientists said, “The technology is rewiring our brains.” Do we want to have our brains rewired? “Research is scant on the behavioral and developmental effects of technology on youth.” as said by Washington Post. However, existing research confirmed that technology ruins the ability to focus on a particular task, which I am able to notice all around. On the other side, “A 2012 University of Washington study noted that teens in general considered their rather high level of connectivity as necessary for effective cultural development and to prevent social isolation.” Pew Research survey of teachers who instruct American middle and secondary school students finds that digital technologies have become central to their teaching and professionalization.

No matter where the truth is, the big companies always get their big bucks. “Apple and Google tout their mobile devices as revolutionary tools for learning and fun - and helpful distractions for the modern parent.” Parents use that distraction to be able to finish some of their daily activities. I can see that in my little sister as well. She, like all little children is a little copycat, and she does everything we do. This graph shows what children can copy. 

I love technology as well, but I think that everything should be balanced.

To view the site I got my pictures from, please click here.

To read my Annotated Bibliography, please click here.   

Slide about just and simply me.

My presentation is extremely simple. Totally opposite from me.  That is because no picture can fit what and who I really am.My favorite color is blue and I used it to color my whole name. The design it not too complicated and the pattern is actually pretty noticeable. The background is even more simple than my name, and it is simply shaded on the edges and light in the center.