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Morgan Taylor Public Feed

MORGAN TAYLOR'S CAPSTONE

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Capstone - Miles - Wed on Friday, May 30, 2014 at 5:11 pm
​NAME: Morgan Taylor

MENTOR: Ms. Dunda, as she has experience with being a mentor for blood drives in earlier years.

ABSTRACT:
For my capstone, I decided to host a blood drive. I wanted to do something that had to do with the medical field, but I was not so sure what exactly I was going to do until Ms. Dunda came up to me and asked me to host the blood drive. I didn't want to just host a blood drive, I wanted to leave something behind that would be helpful in some way. I did a lot of research and found that the Red Cross has a blue tag program. This blue tag program collects blood specifically for people with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). I wanted to learn more than just what it was like to plan an event, this was my chance. I researched the disease and made a brochure on it, this brochure has some information on the blue tag program as well. So, if the next student hosting the blood drive has trouble explaining the blue tag program, they can hand out this brochure.  In the process, I ran into a few issues. These mostly revolved around getting student to want to sign up and for students to actually show up to appointment times that were made. Another snag was a miscommunication of times with the Red Cross. I wanted the last appointment to be at 2:00, but they thought that I meant for everything to be packed up and gone by 2:00. So I lost a couple of appointments that way, it was mostly a problem for the last blood drive. I was, however, able to overcome these difficulties. I am so unbelievable grateful to have had them because they helped me to test my problem-solving skills. I worked diligently throughout this year planning, hosting and researching. Overall I am satisfied with my result.

PROOF OF EXISTENCE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTDZqCuT2UA&feature=youtu.be
Sickle Cell Anemia:Blue Tag Program
​ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY:

  • "Blood Facts and Statistics." American Red Cross. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood/blood-facts-and-statistics>.


When I first reviewed this source I thought it was very reliable, mainly because it was the Red Cross website. I am sure that the Red Cross has a lot of interesting statistics about giving blood and facts on it as well. This tab on the Red Cross website explains the things that I need to put into my brochure. As well as it tells me things that I can tell other people to make them want to donate at my blood drive.

  • Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood.

  • More than 41,000 blood donations are needed every day.

  • A total of 30 million blood components are transfused each year in the U.S.

  • The average red blood cell transfusion is approximately 3 pints.


  • "Blue Tag Program." American Red Cross. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014. <http://www.redcrossblood.org/info/heartofamerica/blue-tag-program>.


When I first reviewed this source I thought it was very reliable, mainly because it was the Red Cross website. The Red Cross started the blue tag program, that is how I heard of the blue tag program. This tab on the Red Cross website explains what the program does, how it originated and how it helps people. This website will be helpful by informing me on how the blue tag program helps people/kids with the sickle cell disease. This website will also help me explain the blue tag program in my brochure.

  • The American Red Cross and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago developed and created a Cooperative Sickle Cell Donor Program dedicated to meeting the transfusion needs of sickle cell patients.

  • Sickle cell disease affects approximately 70,000 African Americans.

  • Some children with sickle cell disease need blood transfusions through the course of a year.

  • The best blood for an African-American child usually comes from an African-American donor.


  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 09 Sept. 2013. Web. 27 Jan. 2014. <http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/index.html>.


When I first reviewed this source I thought it was very reliable. The rule of thumb for me is if it ends in .gov or .edu it is a reliable source. This website will be helpful by informing me on what the sickle cell disease is. I know that I already have a reliable source for explaining what sickle cell is, but I just want to make sure that all of the information I found on the other website checks out. This website is from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, therefore it should give me a lot of reliable information.

  • Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders. In SCD, the red blood cells become hard and sticky and look like a C-shaped farm tool called a "sickle."

  • People with SCD can live full lives and enjoy most of the activities that other people do. If you have SCD, it's important to learn how to stay as healthy as possible.


  • "History of Blood Transfusion." American Red Cross. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood/history-blood-transfusion>.


When I first reviewed this source I thought it was very reliable, mainly because it was the Red Cross website. This tab on the Red Cross website gives a timeline on the history of blood transfusion. It will tell me when the first blood transfusion took place. This website will be helpful by informing me on how giving blood started and why it is important. This website will also help me explain how blood drives started and why they are important in my brochure.

  • British physician William Harvey discovers the circulation of blood. The first known blood transfusion is attempted soon afterward.- 1628

  • U.S. physicians attempt transfusing milk from cows, goats and humans.- 1873-1880

  • The U.S. government establishes a national blood collection program.- 1940


  • "Hosting a Blood Drive." American Red Cross. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014. <http://www.redcrossblood.org/hosting-blood-drive>.


When I first reviewed this source I thought it was very reliable, mainly because it was the Red Cross website. This was a very important piece to help me host the blood drive. This tab on the Red Cross website explains the things that I need to do to have a successful blood drive. It also has a place to sign people up for the blood drive. This site helped me prepare for my first blood drive.


The Blood Drive Host

  • Offers a suitable location

  • Helps recruit donors within the organization and publicizes the drive

  • Schedules donors for their appointments


The Red Cross Does the Rest

  • Works with you every step of the way to plan and organize the blood drive

  • Helps you determine how many donors to expect and how to recruit them

  • Brings equipment and supplies to you, sets everything up and takes it down at the end

  • Confidentially screens donors and collects the donations, safely and professionally


  • "Office of the Dean of Students." DOS: Successful Steps to Event Planning. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014. <http://dos.cornell.edu/activities/sao_handbook/tips.cfm>.


One of the things that I have to do for my capstone is plan two blood drives. To do that I researched how to successfully plan an event. This website will help me take the steps necessary to make my blood drives great. This website is reliable because it is from Cornell University’s Office of the Dean of Students. Therefore this website will help me a lot.

  • Step 1—Assess resources

    • Know what you have to work with before planning. Faculty and staff members, students, and community groups are all resources.

  • Step 2—Assess needs and interests

    • Who will attend? What are their interests? What are your goals? What needs are you trying to meet?

  • Step 3—Brainstorm ideas

    • Think of every type of event that might fulfill the goals. Don’t evaluate ideas at this point, just list all suggestions. Once this is done, review each idea and assess it for feasibility.

  • Step 4—Develop a time line

    • Make a list of everything that needs to be done to plan the event. Sometimes it’s easier to work backward from the date of the event to the present. Make a schedule that shows when each task needs to be completed.

  • Step 5—Reserve space

    • Over 600 organizations plus university departments compete for limited campus space for events. Reserve your space as early as possible.

  • Step 6—Develop a budget

    • Most likely you have a set amount of money available to spend on the event, or ticket sales may need to cover all the costs. List all associated costs and allocate the available funds. You may have to contact various departments for cost estimates associated with their services, including Cornell Police and EHS.

  • Step 7—The paper chase

    • Complete all the necessary paperwork including department services, room reservations, the UUP form, and permits.

  • Step 8—The people chase

    • Contact all the persons necessary for a successful event; performers, speakers, volunteers, and campus departments. Cornell Police and Environmental Health and Safety may require staff members to be present at your event, and must have advance notice to schedule these individuals to work.

  • Step 9—Details

    • Complete and confirm all details pertaining to the event.

  • Step 10—The Event

    • HAVE FUN!!

  • Step 11—Evaluate

    • Write a brief synopsis of the event, including participant and planner comments, attendance, suggestions for future events, and final costs.

  • Step 12—Start planning the next event!


  • "Sickle Cell Anemia." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Robin Miller. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Sept. 2012. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://kidshealth.org/teen/diseases_conditions/blood/sickle_cell_anemia.html>.


When I first reviewed this source I thought it was very unreliable. I say this because it is for kids. I was worried that while the website was trying to explain sickle cell disease more simply, they would forget some of the important difficult things. Then I realized that this might help me better understand sick cell. As well as it will help me explain it better.

  • More than 70,000 Americans have sickle cell anemia. And about 2 million Americans — including 1 in 12 African Americans — have sickle cell trait, which means they carry a single gene for the disease and can pass this gene along to their children, but do not have the disease itself.

  • Sickle cell anemia occurs when a person inherits two abnormal genes (one from each parent) that cause their RBCs to change shape. Instead of being flexible and disc-shaped, these cells are more stiff and curved in the shape of the old farm tool known as a sickle — that's where the disease gets its name. The shape is similar to a crescent moon.

  • Sickle cell anemia is an inherited blood disorder that mostly affects people of African ancestry, but also occurs in other ethnic groups, including people who are of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern descent.


  • "Sickle Cell Donor Program History." American Red Cross. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014. <http://www.redcrossblood.org/info/pennjersey/sickle-cell-donor-program-history>.


When I first reviewed this source I thought it was very reliable, mainly because it was the Red Cross website. The Red Cross started the blue tag program, that is how I heard of the program. This tab on the Red Cross website explains the history of the Sickle Cell Donor Program.. This website will be helpful by informing me on how the blue tag program started. This website will also help me explain the blue tag program in my brochure.

  • The Penn-Jersey Blood Services Region’s Sickle Cell Donor Program was developed in 1997 in collaboration with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) to meet the chronic transfusion needs of patients with Sickle Cell Disease.

  • A “blue tag: is placed on blood donation from self-identified African Americans and Black-identified blood donors.  This “blue tag” identifies the unit as one designated for the Sickle Cell Donor Program which prompts additional testing in order to match a Sickle Cell patient.

  • Hemoglobin is the complex molecule of your red blood cells that helps carry oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body.  It is also what gives blood its characteristic deep red color.  Most people have only the most common type of hemoglobin, called hemoglobin A, in their red blood cells.  Testing positive for hemoglobin S simply means that your red blood cells contain a different type of hemoglobin called sickle cell hemoglobin or hemoglobin S for short.


  • "What Is Sickle Cell Anemia?" - NHLBI, NIH. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Jan. 2014. <http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sca/>.


When I first reviewed this source I thought it was very reliable. The rule of thumb for me is if it ends in .gov or .edu it is a reliable source. This website will be helpful by informing me on what the sickle cell disease is. This website is basically a more formal way of introducing sickle cell disease. Although some of this might be hard to understand, it will help me make my brochure on the blue tag program even more professional.

  • Sickle cell anemia (uh-NEE-me-uh) is the most common form of sickle cell disease (SCD). SCD is a serious disorder in which the body makes sickle-shaped red blood cells. “Sickle-shaped” means that the red blood cells are shaped like a crescent.

  • Sickle cells contain abnormal hemoglobin called sickle hemoglobin or hemoglobin S. Sickle hemoglobin causes the cells to develop a sickle, or crescent, shape.

  • In sickle cell anemia, the abnormal sickle cells usually die after only about 10 to 20 days. The bone marrow can't make new red blood cells fast enough to replace the dying ones.


  • "Why Donate Blood?" American Red Cross. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014. <http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/why-donate-blood>.


When I first reviewed this source I thought it was very reliable, mainly because it was the Red Cross website. This site explains to people why donating blood is important. This tab on the Red Cross website explains the things that I need to put into my brochure. As well as it tells me things that I can tell other people to make them want to donate at my blood drive.

  • You just need your own reason.

    • Some of us give blood because we were asked by a friend.

    • Some know that a family member or a friend might need blood some day.

    • Some believe it is the right thing we do.

  • Whatever your reason, the need is constant and your contribution is important for a healthy and reliable blood supply.  And  you’ll feel good knowing you've helped change a life.


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Morgan Taylor Selfie Assignment

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Storytelling - Rami - B on Tuesday, May 27, 2014 at 9:05 pm
I believe that selfies explain who a person is and who they want to be. They explain accomplishments and moments of happiness, the people you love and care about, the emotions and feelings you carry with you daily. Selfies, in some respects, are more than just pictures with duck faces. If you really pay attention you can see what the person or people are trying to show. In my first selfie I had just gotten a new scarf and hat. I hated the way I looking hats, but I took a selfie anyway. This shows my feelings of winter. There is a warm background showing the happiness love of the season, but at the same time there is no smile on my face. I look cold and sterile with almost no emotion, but depression. In the winter I get so sad because it is so dead outside and cold. At the same time I took this selfie to show how pretty I thought I looked, how sick I was from the cold I contracted, and how unhappy I was that it was freezing outside. My second selfie was of my family and I. Some of the people in the selfie are not actually family by blood, but we have been such good friends for so long that we became sisters. It is still winter, but as you can see I am not by myself. I am surrounded by the people that I love most. This selfie shows the important people in my life and how they impact my mood. The people and environment that you are surrounded by impacts who you are. I feel like the people in this selfie make me a happier person. The last selfie is of me at the beach. I think this selfie embodies my total being and who I am. I love everything about the beach, I love how peaaceful it is, how warm it is and how it is full of life. This explains who I am as a person, I am warm, fun, and full of life. I think you can see how happy and giddy I am at this exact moment, which is what I was trying to portray. So again, I think selfies explain who a person is, who a person wants to be, accomplishments, hopes, dreams, moments of happiness, moments of sadness, moments of relief or anger, the people you care about, all emotions and feelings and many more.
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Art 3 Quarter: Pictures

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Art - Senior Art - Hull - A on Thursday, May 1, 2014 at 9:30 pm
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This quarter i worked really hard and did al lot. I came across a new hobby of mine, knitting scarves. It takes me a long time to finish a scarf, it take me longer to make it an infinity scarf. I gave most of the m as gifts because I will never really need a lot of scarves. This is something I do to help me stay relaxed and calm. I started knitting scarves after I saw a youtube video on it. You could say I copied a sculpture or something I found cool offline.  Another thing that relaxes me is painting, I painted two tiles and I worked really hard on them. Each tile got a base coat and a few coats of the colors shown. The two tiles are of Adventure Time characters Princess Bubblegum and Ice King. I plan on doing more tiles soon. I wanted to do some more collages on photoshop, but since I did not have the program I made the collages on keynote. This took a lot longer because I could not just outline the pictures. I had to alpha and delete the background colors, which was a lot harder. I also painted trees in the different seasons Spring, summer, fall, and winter. I reflected on how I felt during these seasons and put it down on paper. For spring I used cool colors as the background, blue, green and purple. SInce spring is not cold and not hot at the same time, it made sense to me to make the background those colors. I did the same thing for summer, but I use warm colors like red and orange. It might look like the tree is on fire, but that is how I feel during the summer, happy BUT HOT. For fall I used colors that I usually see in fall like reds, greens, oranges and browns. For the winter I made the tree black, mainly because it made the painting look depressing. That is how I usually feel during the winter, especially this past long winter. I feel this way mainly because everything is dead and sad. I really enjoyed doing these projects and I can not wait to do more tiles and other things like that.
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Copy a Master: Piet Mondrian

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Art - Senior Art - Hull - A on Friday, November 15, 2013 at 2:06 pm
I decided to copy the master Piet Mondrian I found his paintings to be very well done and beautiful. Since I am really interested in math, I thought his paintings were amazing. His art is an amazing representation of how math relates to art. He uses squares and rectangles along with symmetry. Although he painted this painting in 1920, I find it to be very modern and trendy. I like how he used primary colors in his work and I enjoyed copying his work. I made 4 types of the same painting, one in sharpie, one in colored pencil, one in crayon and another in pastel charcoal.
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Art History: Piet Mondrian 1872-1944

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Art - Senior Art - Hull - A on Friday, November 15, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Piet Mondrian was born in 1872 on March 7, 1872. Piet Mondrian, one of the founders of the Dutch modern movement De Stijl, is recognized for the purity of his abstractions and methodical practice by which he arrived at them. He radically simplified the elements of his paintings to reflect what he saw as the spiritual order underlying the visible world, creating a clear, universal aesthetic language within his canvases. In his best known paintings from the 1920s, Mondrian reduced his shapes to lines and rectangles and his palette to fundamental basics pushing past references to the outside world toward pure abstraction. His use of asymmetrical balance and a simplified pictorial vocabulary were crucial in the development of modern art, and his iconic abstract works remain influential in design and familiar in popular culture to this day. Piet Mondrian died on February 1, 1944 at the age of 72.
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Copy a Character: ​Bemo (Adventure Time), Eve (WALL-E), Cockroach (WALL-E), Ice King (Adventure Time)

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Art - Senior Art - Hull - A on Friday, November 15, 2013 at 1:40 pm
I decided to copy characters from my favorite television show on cartoon network and one of my favorite disney movies. I think Bemo is so adorable, he is a game system. Ice King is a crazy man that has ice powers. The cockroach is almost like WALL-E's side kick, I think that he was so cute even though he is a bug. Eve is a robot that has the task to come to earth and find a plant, she then falls in love with WALL-E. I love all of these characters and I found them fun to draw.
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Election Buttons By: Jamekea Lee and Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in American Government - Block - D on Friday, October 18, 2013 at 1:36 pm
These are designs for buttons to provoke people to vote on November 5th.
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English Process Paper: Teen Pregnancy

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Friday, March 22, 2013 at 1:32 pm

My group's campaign topic was teen pregnancy. I think we worked pretty well together in all. Isabela and I did a majority of the work. I was in charge of getting information for the social networks as well as creating the pictures for the pages. I also wrote two of the components for the proposal paper. Initially I was in charge of the info for the social networks, pictures and the facebook page I also came up with the catchphrase for the groups campaign “Worth the Weight?”.  Later on into the project as I was ready to create the Facebook Page, Dalena decided that she would make the Facebook Page. This was a little bit of a problem because I had already fund and made all of the contents for the page. I let her make the Facebook page, but Isabela and I were also the ones who promoted the video and the Facebook Page. I also added extra information onto the facebook page because I thought we needed more. As I was doing all of this Isabela was busy putting together the PSA, this consisted of filming, recording and also finding extra information that nobody would really know.

The catchphrase “Worth the weight?” was used in many of the photos that I made for the social networking sites. This catchphrase makes people think. It is saying “Is having sex worth the weight of a child (physically, mentally and emotionally)” as well as “It is worth the wait to have sex.” Also in the PSA that Isabela made she tried to incorporate little bit of everything. Early on the group decided that it was important to make sure to address adults and make them aware of what they can do, as well as teens and how to protect themselves. Isabela included the surprising facts about teen pregnancy, and then went on to talk about the ways it can be prevented. The group also decided that the PSA should not be too serious, that is should be informational, eye catching and funny at the same time. I think that Isabela did a great job of incorporating all of these aspects.

Dalena and Sterling were in charge of our social media, and promoting them. Personally I think that the two could have done a little more to help provide information and statistics because they had this topic before. These were two simple jobs because Isabela and I had already found tons of things that could have been put on the sites. It was the job of these two to promote the Facebook, Twitter and as a bonus the PSA. Isabela and I ended up doing this instead of Dalena for the Facebook. Sterling, on the other hand, promoted the Twitter as much as he could because I myself do not have a twitter. So I was not able to help him. Besides this problem in the process of our campaign I think that we worked hard and well together. In the end I am actually very proud of our campaign. I think that we did a good job of informing people about teen pregnancy and how it can change not only the teens life, but the life of the people around them.


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Don't run yellow lights.... Morgan, Victoria Odom, Zakee and Jamekea

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Physics - Echols on Tuesday, March 12, 2013 at 8:29 am
Physics Drivers Ed Video
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Morgan Taylor's Annotations

Posted by Morgan Taylor in English 3 - Pahomov on Tuesday, February 19, 2013 at 8:38 pm
Annotation 1:
"Philadelphia Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness." (2010): 1-40. Web. 15 Feb. 2013. <https://www.pccy.org/userfiles/file/ChildWelfare/HomelessChildrenReport2010.pdf>.
This is a PDF that talks about children and youth that are experiencing homelessness in Philadelphia. This article gives many great statistics and quotes from primary sources. There are many citations that were made that could have been helpful in trying to find some more good reliable sources.

Annotation 2:
"Homeless in Philadelphia: A Night on the Streets."Philly.com. n. page. Print. <http://www.philly.com/philly/hot_topics/Homeless_in_Philadelphia.html?c=r>.
This website gives an article and two videos about Homeless people, not only in other places but in Philadelphia. “The number of people living on the streets of Center City is on the rise. On July 19, Inquirer reporters fanned out across the city to report on the state of the problem.” This is a caption from one of the videos basically explaining what the video is going to touch on in terms of the homeless in Philadelphia.

Annotation 3:
Miller, Larry. "The Hidden Homeless: Teenagers." New America Media. (2010): n. page. Web. 15 Feb. 2013. <http://newamericamedia.org/2010/07/the-hidden-homeless-teenagers.php>.
This website talks about homeless teens in Philadelphia. This article explains what teens and children need to survive. They not only explain what the kids need, but they explain the pain and unpleasant living that they go through. This article talks about how hard it is for a person to survive let alone a child. This article gives many quotes from people that are professionals and also from people that are homeless themselves.

Annotation 4:
"Judge blocks Philadelphia mayor's ban on feeding homeless in public parks Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/07/14/judge-blocks-philadelphia-mayor-ban-on-feeding-homeless-in-public-parks/
This website gives a video from the Fox news and it explains how a judge struck down Mayor Nutter’s ban on feeding the homeless in public. The reporters interview a few homeless people who are usually fed by others and they said that it was helpful because they might not have eaten in 1 or 2 days. The reporters also give many good reasoning as to why the judge struck down the ban. Also they explain how the striking down of the ban was just temporary until Mayor Nutter finds a better way to keep the city clean without stripping the homeless of the only food sources that they come in contact with for days.

Annotation 5:
arroberts922, , dir. Homelessness in Philadelphia. 2011. Web. 15 Feb 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0_PcHS5_gs>.
This video interview a former homeless man, the co-founder of Project H.O.M.E and a teacher. In this video the girl describes why home people are homeless and what we can do to help them. mainly the co-founder of Project H.O.M.E has a lot of opinions on why people are homeless and what the nation can do to help them. The former homeless man tells his story about how he became homeless and how he got out of it. He tells some of his experiences as well. In the video there is footage of homeless people and some citizens not acknowledging them.

Annotation 6:
Administrative Assistant at St. Elizabeth's, Front Desk, Pier Johnson . Telephone Interview. 14 Feb 2013.
Pier Johnson, an administrative assistant ad St. Elizabeths was very helpful in telling me exactly what the organization does as a whole and what they do to try to help the homeless. She told me what they do for the homeless and what things are available to them at this organization. They try to help the homeless people get back and stay on the right track to success.
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Morgan Taylor and Brent Scott SLA Back Pack!

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Physics - Echols on Friday, November 16, 2012 at 11:01 pm
​My partner and I chose to do a back pack with the words SLA on it. We used 6 lights in a parallel circuit with a 9 volt battery. The color lights we chose were blue and white because those are our school colors. Since we had to have and off and on switch we decided that if you want to turn on the back pack you just tape the wire to the positive and negative parts of the battery. We also needed to find a way to put SLA on the back pack so we decided to put different colored smily faces because it would help make the lights pop. Although it does not look like all 6 bulbs are lit they are, they are just very dim.
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Art Blog Post Q4 By: Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Advanced Art - Hull on Friday, June 8, 2012 at 2:24 pm
I have worked hard all year. I have made many art projects and 2 tiles that are on the wall. I love advanced art and I wish to do it next year. I work hard on all of my art projects and I can't wait to do more with photoshop. I did most of my work on photoshop this quarter and one tile. I worked really hard on all of these projects and I think they worked out really well.
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Humanities Portfolio 2012

Posted by Morgan Taylor in English 2 - Block on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at 9:22 am

 ​Before I was in Mr. Block's English and History class I never really thought that I was good at writing. Sometimes, as all writers do, I would get stuck. I never really knew what to do when that happened; usually I would just give up and try again another day. In Mr. Block’s class I learned how to get through those ruts and now when I am not in a so-called writing rut creative topics and concepts burst out of me like a geyser. When I think of the beginning of the year it reminds me of the first time I ever really noticed that I had the potential of being a good writer. The class had just finished reading a boatload of short stories and we had been assigned to write a letter to anybody of our choice. This letter had to have many different quotes in it from the short stories. I decided to write to my father and express all of the things that I had wished I could say to him if I was not so scared. I wrote, "I really don’t get to tell you how I really feel most of the time. I am usually scared to tell you because I am scared of you. Before I start I just want to say that I love you and what I say in this letter can and will change our relationship forever. Weather it makes our relationship better or worse I will not regret saying how I feel because I really want you to know. I want you to know how you have slowly started to destroy everything that I thought was my life." When I finally read my Short Story Letter I was astounded at how good it sounded. I felt a little bit better about my writing skills, but I still wasn't too sure of myself. Little did I know that would soon change.

 

 

In class we have had many discussions about many things, some of them would even last all class period. Discussions can change your perspective on things if you keep your mind open and really listen. In class we have had many class trials (almost like an actual court trial), we were all split into groups and had to find evidence to defend our group from the charges that were being pressed. We did two trials in the class one was the Cortez/Aztec Trial and the other was the Sweat Shop Trial. Everybody would go into the trial with his or her own set idea/perspective on what actually happened. But after the trial, after everybody heard what had to be said their views changed because interesting and reliable points were made. After the trial everybody had to write a trial response. When you read all of these responses and saw what different people thought about every single part of the trials.

 

 

            Over the course of the year we have also focused on freedom and deeper understandings of oppression. Hope can function as a support system. Just like in “Night”, in the holocaust all people had were hope and their families. But when their families had gone all they had was hope. To keep moving on they used the hope of being free and surviving carries them on. As well as in the movie “The Farm” these men are in jail and they have nothing to hope for, but to be proved innocent or to be free. It is interesting to see people’s stories and to try to understand how some of them feel. Another project that went with this unit is Art in the Open, we had to Pick a location 4 blocks away from the school and create and perform a creative piece to the school. The Leah Stein Dance Company helped us get in touch with our inner creativity.

 

           

            As I said before, I never thought that I was a good writer. But I realized when you work hard you can surpass your own expectations. It is very interesting how you can go from not wanting or knowing how to write a good essay to taking it on like it is almost nothing. I have written a couple essays for Mr. Block’s class such as The Lord of the Flies Comparison Essay to The Thesis Paper. I now understand how to do these things, it is important to have good grammar and amazing writing skills. Now that I have those things I can utilize them so they would work out in my favor. Writing essays for colleges and jobs is a skill that is needed. As well as you have to sound professional. All thanks to a great teacher and a great year of learning.

 

 

 

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Short Story Letter

Posted by Morgan Taylor in English 2 - Block on Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at 9:01 am

Morgan Taylor                                                                                                      October 11, 2011

Dear Mr. Darryl Taylor,

The first quarter of my school year is almost up. I have learned so much and part of that learning was reading short stories in English class. So far we have read 3 important short stories, but I only wish to share with you the two that really spoke to me and somehow related to our relationship at the moment. “Like a Winding Sheet” and “Wildwood” are the two. Brace yourself dad it’s about to get really deep.

I really don’t get to tell you how I really feel most of the time. I am usually scared to tell you because I am scared of you. Before I start I just want to say that I love you and what I say in this letter can and will change our relationship forever. Weather it makes our relationship better or worse I will not regret saying how I feel because I really want you to know. I want you to know how you have slowly started to destroy everything that I thought was my life.

Remember that morning; you know exactly the one I am talking about. The one when you were screaming at my mom at the top of your lungs. What time was it again? O, yes I remember now it was 3 AM on a Tuesday morning. Your yelling and screaming woke my sister and me up. We knew what was coming we just didn’t want to believe it. You then yelled at us to go into the movie room downstairs so we can have a “Family Meeting”. I would say it was more of a slow, painful murder of my life, or what I thought was my life. You did not explain, but expressed with anger and hate that you and my mother were not happy and that she wants you out of the house. You then explain with no regret what so ever in your voice that you had cheated. My mother cut in for a second or two and explained that she found out three years ago and decided to forgive you because she loves you. No not loved you LOVES YOU! Remember your two daughters that you are supposed to love and protect from harm were crying and sobbing for hours. It lasted until 8:15, I don’t even know why. Maybe it was because we were trying to comprehend how everything in our lives were and still are a lie. Do you feel bad daddy? Do you feel bad for ruining our lives? I asked you and what did you say? “I am a very cold man Morgan, so therefore no I don’t feel bad at all.”That did it for me and I just wanted to get away from you for however long I could.

       I remember from the short story “Wildwood” there was a quote that was probably one of the feelings I was feeling that day. The quote read "And at that moment, for reasons you will never quite understand, you are overcome by a feeling, the premonition, that something in your life is about to change" (page 76). Let me explain this to you. Now that you have practically ruined this family I will never be able to look at you the same way, my mom now has to pay all the bills and can’t really afford all of it, you don’t even understand. You know how your father left you and your family to provide for yourselves while he had a great life with his new wife and family. How hard it was for you having to get a job at 13 just to stay in an apartment. Why would you want that for your children? Our situation might be a little better but it is the same scenario.

Right now from me there is a lot of hate towards you. I just feel like I can’t do anything to express it. This reminds me of the quote from the short story "Like a Winding Sheet" "But he couldn't bring himself to talk to her roughly or even threaten to strike her like a lot of men might have done. He wasn't made that way." (page 200). I can’t say what I feel or think to you because you are my father and I love you too much, but at the same time I feel as if you were never my real father to begin with, I feel I know nothing about you or what my life really is. I want to not care if I talk to you with a stern voice or a little attitude because my life would be a whole lot easier.

       Then one day out of nowhere I just got really angry. I ran upstairs as fast as I could and told you off. I yelled and screamed, it just felt so good. I felt like I had power over you sad I could say whatever I wanted. I felt kind of bad, but I felt as if you didn’t care so why should I? In the “Wildwood” there was a line or two that said, "I almost felt sorry for her. This is how you treat your mother? she cried. And if I could I would have broken the entire length of my life across her face, but instead I screamed back, And this is how you treat your daughter” (page 78). I felt the same way when I was yelling at you to get the hell out of my family’s damn house. I want to break my entire span of my life across your face. Everything we have and had is a lie. You were lying to my face my entire life.  It was almost as if I didn’t see you as family any more. "Like a Winding Sheet" says, "The knowledge that he had struck her seeped through him slowly he was appalled but he couldn't drag his fist away from her face" (page 210). I felt almost like that. I couldn’t stop myself.
    Before you resent me for however long you live. I want you to know that I still love you. It will just take me some time to really love you like I did before all this mess happened. Like you said, you did failed. You failed to protect me, to protect me from the monster we call Darryl Thomas Taylor.

From the daughter that loved you most,
Morgan Ann Taylor

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Q3 Art Journal By: Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Advanced Art - Hull on Friday, April 13, 2012 at 12:35 pm
This quarter I dd only two of the projects that Ms. Hull assigned to the class, unfortunately the were both thrown out because I left them in the room on accident. The other 4 projects that were assigned I did not do because I regretfully used the class as a sort of study hall. I did benchmarks and homework when I should of been doing the artwork that was assigned. I talked to Ms. hull about what I did instead of trying to rush at the last minute to finish all of the work that I did not do. When I talked to Ms. Hull about my work ethic this quarter she explained to me how she sets us up for failure and that maybe too much freedom does not work with how I do things. One goal I have for myself this up coming quarter is to do all of my work and to have the same mind set as I did in the first quarter. I would like to get back to doing art well and having fun while doing it. I do not want to have another quarter like this, I have failed and learned. Next time I want to do a lot better.
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Interview of Kathrine Martin By: Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in English 2 - Block on Monday, March 26, 2012 at 1:13 pm
In class we had to interview somebody that we knew that was not in our school. It was hard to find somebody that had an interesting story but also talked a lot. We first had to make a 45 minute interview and then edit it into a 5-10 minute podcast. We also had to work in a group and put it all together to make it a really big radio show. It was hard to do this because some people did not get their pieces done in time. Also the questions you had to ask to get the story you wanted was hard too. You would have a specific thing in mind, but the feed back you get from the person you are interviewing does not match your idea.
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My Daily Routine By: Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 2 - Gierke on Monday, January 30, 2012 at 8:17 am
For this project we had to describe our daily routine by showing a video and explaining in spanish
I learned how to use imovie better and I also had a lot of fun making this project.
This project helped me with my fluent speaking and pronunciation of words as well as the conjugation of verbs.
Inquiry- We are asked to describe our daily routine. I had to ask myself exactly what I d almost every day and how I was going to present that in a short 3 minutes.
Research- I had to find different words like agarrar mi cosas which means grab my things and how to find different verbs and conjugate them to mean different things.
Collaboration- I worked with my peers so that I can make my project better they peer edited my work and I perr edited theirs.
Presentation- I made an interesting imovie with clips of what I do in my daily life, although I did not add my extra curriculars I think it captures what I mainly do. I also added sub titles to explain exactly what I was doing just in case you couldn't tell.
Reflection- I would try to add more about what I do at school and with my friends. Every day I have a different schedule and I go a lot of places and maybe next time I will add that to my project.
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Online Sculpture By:Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Advanced Art - Hull on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 9:38 pm
The class had to go online and find a interesting craft that they wanted to create. I chose a number of crafts and two of which did not turn out the way they should have and those two were the snow globe and duck tape stool. The one I decided to show to the public was my mirror. I used mod podge and fun colored paper on the wooden part of the mirror. This was really fun because I love doing arts and crafts.
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Clear Object #2 By: Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Advanced Art - Hull on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 9:20 pm
For this art project the class had to make another clear object, but this time it had to be bigger. This was fun because when I finish my drawing and it looks like the real thing I get happy. I like making different shades of one color out of one stick.
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Starry Night Remake By: Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Advanced Art - Hull on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 9:07 pm
For this project the class had to do a remake of a master, meaning we had to pick a piece of artwork that a famous artist did and redo it. I never was a really good painter but once I started this class I knew how to make the lines. Ever since I started helping my mom redecorate and paint rooms in our house, I have had an eye for good color blends and I have a steady hand.
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Photoshop By: Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Advanced Art - Hull on Friday, January 27, 2012 at 8:31 pm
For this project the class had to take 200 pictures and pic the best 5 out of those picture and edit them on photoshop. It was really easy once you learned what all the tools were and how to use them. I had a bunch of fun doing this part because it was just so cool to see how you can totally transform a picture and make it look different than it did before.
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Language Autobiography By: Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in English 2 - Block on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 7:19 am

Introduction and Reflection:

 

     The purpose of this project was to write a language autobiography. In class we have been reading and learning about different languages and how they were used or how they are made fun of. Throughout this unit I found it very interesting the way that certain people act or speak in a certain environment. It was hard for me to write a language autobiography because I don’t see myself as having a unique accent or way of dialect. When I speak I think I am speaking normally, almost everybody thinks they speak normally. Finding the topic was one of the hardest things I had to do while writing this paper. After I found my topic, the rest was easy from there. I hope you enjoy what I worked so hard on.

 

 

Essay:


     All my life my dad has always said to me, “You need to be like a Chameleon, look at your environment and make yourself match and fit into it.” Why is it that people are taught to act, speak or be something they are not? In this world people try to “fit in” they talk or act a certain way in order to fee accepted and wanted. No matter where you go Russia, France, Canada, The U.S., Africa or even 15 blocks from where you live people are going to talk and act differently. Everywhere there is a norm and for certain places that norm may be different. In General People are different. In life I have ran into many people and they all act and talk differently. People hang out in groups of people that they feel comfortable with, that talk or act similar to themselves. I wonder why the world can’t just accept that all people a different and unique? Why can’t we all socialize, get along and not judge each other?

     I was about 8 years old, and I had just put my stuff in my cubby at after care. Immediately I decided I wanted to play ball with my friends. We were having a great time laughing and bouncing the ball to each other, that is when my best friend Danielle said “MORGAN HEADS UP!” I turned around, saw the ball coming at my face and ducked. All of a sudden I heard “OW! Who did that!” We accidentally hit a boy name Zane in the back of the head. Zane was white and probably a little bit racist. He turned around and saw that I was standing there relieved that it didn’t hit me. I think he thought that I through the ball, then he screamed a cruel sentence at me “Watch whatcha doing, you stupid nigger!” I had never had anybody call me such a harsh word before. I ran to my teacher and said to her “DESI DESI! ZANE CALLED ME THE BIG N-WORD!” He ran up to he and tried to play it off by saying he said nigga instead of nigger, he said that he was using slang or using black people talk. Since the after care was made up of predominately black people, he thought he was able to get away with it. Obviously he said it intentionally and to make me feel bad. Nobody bought his plead and he got suspended for a week.

People are always trying to fit in to a certain group, if you don’t talk a certain way in a certain area you are “made fun of” or judged. when my 10th grade class was watching a video called American Tongues the director decided to take video of what certain people thought of other peoples accents or way of speaking. All the people in the video had strong accents (in my opinion), it was funny how they were making fun of how other people sound when they sound just as funny. These people were judging folk that they didn’t even know, they were judging them based on how they sound. American Tongues said “Barriers are the difference between Park Your Car and Pak Ya Ca.” People learn how speak to according to how they were taught or how they enunciate their words. As said in the video American Tongues “Everyone thinks everyone has an accent.” This is saying that no matter where you go everyone has a different unique way of speaking.
    When you are in an working environment people talk in their “professional voices”. When you do not talk in that specific voice your ideas are put down and you are looked at as if you were nothing but an accent. As said in American Tongues, ”They don’t listen to ideas they listen to dialect and accents.” I was talking to my mother and I asked her what do you think when a person comes into an interview for a job at your Agency and they have face piercings and tattoos all over them. She immediately said

“It shows me that they won’t be able to reach certain levels of my expectations or the agencies. They will not be able to go as far in management position if they have those piercings and tattoos.”

“So mom it does not matter if they are super intelligent or if they have amazing million dollar ideas?”

“I would not hire them because they do not look the part they are supposed to look, it looks bad for my agency.”
    One day in middle school I got in trouble for getting in a confrontation with a girl that I did not like at all. Of course I did not hit her, I do not fight in school, that doesn’t mean I was not thinking of it. I was sent down to the office, to go to  the principles room and she said to me

“Morgan why would you do this, you were always such a good student.”

“ I know, I know Ms. Fitzpatrick, but I didn’t do anything. The teacher saw the entire thing, if the teacher was in the room right next to me you know I would not behave in such a manner.”

“I believe you Morgan, you are a fantastic student, one of our best.” “Thank you Ms. Fitzpatrick, I am sure you know I would never disrupt the class during such and important standardized test.”

“Of course not, especially when you are taking it yourself, you may go Morgan.”

“Thank you Ms. Fitzpatrick for sorting this whole thing out.” When I went back upstairs to class I realized that the person I got “ in trouble” with took video of my entire conversation with the principle and sent it to the entire 8th grade. I got made fun of for “being friends” with the principle. At my middle school all of my teachers used to say to my mom “Morgan has a higher level of maturity than the rest of the students, she know how to talk to adults and that is going to get her places.” When I got into almost every high school of my choice they all said “No wonder you got in, you probably rocked that interview you went to. You have a way with showing your intelligence. You have a great fun and serious side.”
    According to my dad if you know how to act like a chameleon you will make it far in life. Knowing how to mask yourself in a certain environment is very good because you will be taken seriously. Being taken seriously in this world is extremely important. To me, I somewhat agree. Fitting in is important because it will help you survive, survive in our society with work, friends and school. On the other hand being yourself is just as important.

Bibliography:
"American Toungues." PBS: 07/05/1988. Television. <http://video.pbs.org/video/1553932059/>.

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Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Advanced Art - Hull on Monday, November 7, 2011 at 8:00 am

      I did these two drawings because it was an assignment for my advanced art class. Ms. Hull told the class that we had to draw a life size drawing of one of our classmates. When I started this class I knew nothing about drawing a person at all. I was nervous the drawing would not look like the model. I tried my hardest throughout the entire process and it turned out ok. It might not like look exactly like her because in my drawing she is a little thicker than in real life. The second drawing we had to do for this class is a clear object drawing. This was especially hard for me because I didn't get how I could make a drawing of a clear object actually look clear and 3D. When I finished this drawing I could see how it looked like a clear object. When i first started this class I never thought i was capable of such fine work. I am really proud of myself.

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Morgan Taylor and Ayoola Hooks-Gibbs Monologues and Videos

Posted by Morgan Taylor in World History - Block on Friday, October 28, 2011 at 3:09 pm
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Intro Paragraph: My goals in writing these monologues. Is to show how many views there are. Whether you are for or against the pipeline. I wanted to show all the different emotions of this situation, sadness, anxiety, rage, regret, confidence and many more. I want to show the government how much they are hurting their citizens.

 

Monologue #1: Are You Serious

Setting: outside of her house, showing the factories. In her hand is  a newspaper.

 

      I’ll tell you how hard it’s been to live here. My community has had illnesses like throat cancer, if they build the pipelines, what’s going to happen? When did they start building factories? They’ve been making different factories across the street from my house ever since I was in kindergarten. This isn’t worth losing more people. I would come home and smell this horrible smell that was deadly. Money is going to be wasted. They need to make wiser choices.  We have all these different factories that’s causing odors. I think about the pipeline situation from time to time and people will have jobs if we have pipelines. But while the pipelines are being made it’s damaging, and causing problems.

      What’s your final answer about this situation, should this happen or not? Do you see this newspaper in my hand? Almost every time I read the news it doesn’t say specifically if Obama is going to let this happen, and once he makes up his mind. Once 6 months pass, with change or no change, then I’ll make up my mind, but for right now I’m not too sure. This situation is bittersweet, it’s going to help people out financially because people will be provided jobs but then again they’re going to be wasting billions of dollars.

 

Monologue #2: Will This Be The Right Choice?

       

Setting: At school taking a test.

 

     Here I am twirling my lucky pencil in my hand, and holding a test in front of my face not rushing to do my test to be the first person to be finished but I’m…wondering… Re-playing the whole phone call I had with my dad yesterday

He said though I’m an a little young to really rap my head around the situation

He has to decide weather he should deny the permit for the oil Pipelines or not.

Pipelines – Transports goods through a pipe.

He also told me that people would be given jobs, if the pipeline happens.

Will my dad make the right choice?

     I know I’m only ten years old, and have no say in weather we should resume with pipelines or not… But I think that my father should pass it. People will be provided jobs, right? That would be great, because people have been getting laid for the past 3 years.  

     I did some research after talking to my dad…and it said that a pipeline is a network that delivers the nations crude oil such as gasoline, jet fuel and home heating oil, is that good or bad?

Will that be hurting the environment or improving the environment.

 

Will he make the right choice?

 

 

 

Monologue #3: It’s all about the workers and to heck with the Environment, I need a job!

 

 Setting: At the site of one of the pipelines. Getting interviewed

       Honestly I think that they need to pass this, I need a job, this will be providing for hundreds of unemployed people at the moment.  Even If it’s going to be polluting the earth. Right about now we need, no I NEED a job. For the past years thousands of people have been unemployed – I’ve been unemployed. And right here these pipelines are jobs that will be able to give to the thousands of people who are unemployed.  Are you trying say that the only thing that you care about right now is yourself? No, not exactly, I’m just saying that we’ve started with the pipeline and the construction and all of a sudden we had to stop, no money is flowing through! Obama wants a solution for these unemployed citizens and its right in front of our faces! So close that I can - we can all taste it. We will be one step closer to have a better economy, not environmentally. I’m all for the environment, but I’m ready to sacrifice this environment so I can have a job.

 If you already had a job, and was asked about the Pipeline situation, what would you say?

     To be honest I would be on the side to try to save the environment, because

if this happens, its hurting Mother Nature. These Pipelines aren’t healthy for this environment. But I need to provide for family-my children…

 

Monologue #4: You're So Greedy

*The goddess of the earth says this with a lot of passion and a little bit of rage.

I give and give and give! All I get in return is this crappy piece of nothingness. (these 2 sentences are said with a bunch of rage) Yes, I am a goddess but there is only so much that I can do. In the beginning it was ok. People respected my earth because they really acknowledged that it was all they had to survive.(Happiness/calm in these 2) All of a sudden my guests got extremely greedy and started destroying my work. Cutting down my beautiful forests, polluting my oceans, taking more than what is needed and killing my master pieces of animals.(anger and rage) I did a pretty good job making this little sphere of joy, but maybe I didn’t do such a good job of protecting it. That is going to change soon.

Then the government thinks there all tall and mighty and decides to ruin the last of my work with a pipeline that goes from Canada to Texas. In this pipeline there will be nasty black, gooey and just unclean oil. It is all about the money to you people. What are you going to do if you have nothing else left? Oh, that’s right you are going to die. The “Bad Guys” say “It will be good for the economy and we will be able to live better lives.” DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE SAYING! I made this earth to the best of my ability and you the greedy ones are destroying it.

Now you’re scared because I am finally taking a stand and getting angry. All of these natural disasters, all of the people dying are your doing. I am just showing you what you have been doing this entire time. I have tried to be understanding and loving, but there only so much that I can take. I demand respect! My earth needs to be respected!

Not only have you betrayed me by making this decision, you have betrayed all of the earth. For billions of years the Earth that has hosted you on this planet. You do have a chance to make it better. The first step is to not make this pipeline that will destroy what you have left of your world. I now leave it in your hands to make this huge decision. Hope you make the right one.

 

Monologue # 5

*A man in a jail sell regrets his decision for standing up for what is right. He is anxious and debating weather or not he made the right choice protesting.

         Why did this happen to me? Why did I make such a bad decision. I have 2 kids and a wife at home I need to take care of. Right now they think i am on a business trip in Los Angeles. What is my wife going to say when she find out where I actually am. I am the man of the house I need to bring home the bacon for my family. I want to say I was being selfish but I am really just trying to protect my home. I grew up in South Dakota 2blocks from where they are going to rip up the earth and place that monstrous pipeline. All of my childhood memories will be destroyed. Where will my parents go? They are to old to handle this type of change.

This jail cell is so cold and damp. I am going to ruin my good work clothes. I didn’t know I was going to be arrested. I just wanted to do the right thing and defend our mother earth. Bad decisions, after bad decisions. Money in my family is really tight because of the economy. Now my family has to pay bail for me to get out. I don’t even want to tell them, I am scared that they will not trust me any more. I wasn’t thinking straight, I didn’t think about the consequences of protesting. Will i loose my job? How will this affect my reputation? I really hope that I am setting a good example for my kids. I don’t want them to end up like this. In a 6 by 6, cold, dirty and damp space regretting a decision that was made.

When I think about it i think I am being selfish, but also standing up in what I believe in and protecting my family. When my grand kids are born I want them to have a world to live in that isn’t a piece of crap. My generation and generations before have ruined our future generations home. I feel bad that they have to clean up our mess. Maybe I did do the right thing and my family will understand that I was fighting for them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Movie on 2011-10-04 at 08.02
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Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 2 - Gierke on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 11:42 am
What grade would you assign yourself for each category?


Exceeds Expectations

20-19


Meets Expectations

18-16


Approaches Expectations

15-13


Does Not Meet Expectations

12-1

Design

20



Knowledge

19



Application

19


Presentation

19



Process

20




TOTAL: 97

Strengths of your process or product

Weaknesses of your process or product

Designing my album was easy for me and writing descriptions was pretty easy.




The reflection for my project kept on getting deleted and my song for itunes will not save as a file on my blog. I also had trouble trying to mix up what I was saying in my photos because many of them were in the same summer and the same day.



How did you apply the SLA core values to your project?

I was asked the question and answered “Qué hice el verano pasado”
I researched what to say for pictures in the past.
I had people review my work and I practiced pronunciation with them.
I made my project a photo album so it was fun and creative and I made an itunes song as my recording.
I wonder how (if I get a chance to do it again) I would change my project and pictures.

What did you learn about Spanish through completing this project?

I learned how to speak in the preterit tense, I always wanted to know how to do that.

What did you change about your final project based on peer feedback?  What did you change based on Srta. G’s feedback?

I changes the way i wrote my descriptions.

If you had the opportunity to start your project all over again, how would you do it differently?

I would use different pictures and maybe do an imovie or comic life.

Did you enjoy this project? Why or why not?

Yes, because it was fun and creative, I love letting my creative side out.

Do you have any suggestions for me if I do this same project next year?

No, I think this project was great the way it was. It is fun and enjoyable to do.
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Descriptive Essay: Who I want to be or... should be!

Posted by Morgan Taylor in English 2 - Block on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 2:53 pm
​ “HEY GUYS WAIT FOR ME!” All my life I have had one problem that I never thought I had. Some people might say I am a “want to be” or a “follower”. I might say that I agree with those accusations. It seems I have had the same problem, even before I went to middle school. Isn’t that shocking!

I was running around the shed at my after school playing tag with my friends. My favorite teacher Ms. Desi decides to capture the moment with her huge, extremely expensive and professional camera. I really didn’t like how I looked in the picture because I was wearing hand-me-down clothes from an older friend and I stood out. I then ran around the fairly small shed, and bump into Aminada, meanest girl at the after school. I accidentally knock her over. After she got up she pushed me on the ground with all of her might. I got a cut on my elbow from the push and I saw red liquid oozing from the cut. I then realized it was blood and immediately started crying. Ms. Desi said she was in big trouble and had to go see the director of the after school program (my mom). After Aminada got back from the office she stomped towards me and said “I hate you and your family so much. Your mom got me in trouble at home, now I don’t have t.v. for a week! I am going to get your mom fired!” I replied with something I later regreted saying “You can’t get her fired she is going to quit and got to a better job!” At first I laughed in her face, but then I realized I was not supposed to say anything about my mom switching jobs. Her boss didn’t know about it yet. The Aminada went and told a teacher, who then told my mom’s boss.



After truth came out I realized what I did was wrong and it made me really nervous about the outcome. I should have been nervous. In my mind I thought, why would someone retaliate to such a stupid comment. As if Aminada could really get my mom fired for telling her parents she did something she wasn’t supposed to. I could have put my mom’s job in jeopardy. I always told myself “I did it in the heat of the moment.” However I knew that wasn’t true. I did it because I wanted to prove to that girl that I was bigger and better than her. But now that I think about it, I just gave her what she wanted... a chance to get me in really big trouble. Worst of all I stooped down to her lower level. I  was being just as mean as she was to me, and every one else there.



Quiet time, the time before our parents come and pick the kids up. I could feel in my gut that my moms boss had talked to her already. I was laying down, thinking about what severe punishment that I was going to receive when I got home. My hands sweaty and my stomach queasy I decided to tell my mom the truth when I saw her. I thought that maybe if I told her the truth my punishment wouldn’t be so harsh. But when I told my mom I heard the answer that screeched in my ears like nails down a black board. “I know all about what you did and I am going to let your father decide what your punishment will be.” these are the words that I didn’t want to hear. We got home and I saw my dad sitting on the couch watching football. I then walk over to him and stand next to him until he gives me my punishment. I stand there frozen with fear  unable to move a muscle. Then he speaks, “You know you were not supposed to say anything about your mother’s new job, so you have to stand in that corner for an hour and think about why you are in trouble. After that hour is done I want you to go up stairs, do your homework and go to bed.” By the time he was finished I was already crying, streams of tears coming down my face like the Nile river. I went and assume my position in the corner, did my homework and went to bed without dinner. I didn’t stop crying the entire night because I knew what I did was wrong.



When I look back on it, I realize I shouldn't retaliate to what people say if they don’t really matter. All my life I have cared what people think about me, what they say to me, or about me. Now that I realize this I thought my life would be a little more relaxing and smooth. If I don’t worry about gossip, bullies, or saying something I shouldn’t then I will be able to reach my full potential. Throughout my life I have noticed, I always get in trouble for something I shouldn’t, due to a bully.



One day when I was on my way home from the bus stop with my sister and “friends”.  We were all having a good time, making fun of all he teachers we despised. All of a sudden out of nowhere my “friends” started making fun of my sister. “ Kaia you have a is a$$ head.” one friend said “Yea you are sooo ugly.” another commented “You look like one of those troll dolls with he crazy hair.” I joined in, I only did I  because I wanted to be in the in crowd, a part of “the cool people”. When my sister and I  finally got home I noticed she started to break down into tears. “ Morgan I am your sister, why would treat someone you love like that. I am your little sister. Its not like you were just standing there, you I then realized how much I hurt her and decided something needed to change.



All my life I have always wanted to be in the “in crowd”. When I finally saw that what I was doing was hurting the people I love I realized that being cool isn’t all its cracked up to be. those people were not really my friends and never will be. Maybe I should just try to be myself and not try to be someone I am not. that choice is always better.

Tags: Descriptive Essay, Block
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Portfolio Reflection

Posted by Morgan Taylor in English 1 - Dunn on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 1:09 pm
     My portfolio shows that I am a hard working student. For every project or assignment I never go anything lower than a B. That might not say how good of a student I am, but it does show that I work hard and try my best most of the time. As viewers I would expect you to see how different my work is. The work I do is unique, different than most peoples work, but it works for me. Getting into class reading assignments is one of my strengths in English. For example when we did Macbeth in this class I did an amazing job on the projects we were supposed to do. I procrastinate and I don’t like reading a lot, this can be considered as o huge weakness in English class. I always wait until the last minute to do my projects or to read a book for a book report. This can really hurt me in the future and I need to work on it. It was fun looking through all of my past projects and seeing how I grew in vocabulary and over all work since the beginning of September. I didn’t come across many issues in my work, but there were a couple of things I could have done better on. Some of those things are my first Independent reading project and my Vignette. I resolved these issues by reflecting on what I needed to change and what could have made it better. I am most proud of two pieces that I did in this class and they are my Me Magazine and my Macbeth Creative Piece. I am most proud of my Me Magazine because it was the first project that I did in this class and I really talked about my life, I never wrote so much in my life before I started going to this school. At previous schools before SLA we never had acting class or got a chance to do something really creative, my Macbeth Creative piece is an imovie of me acting as Lady Macbeth so obviously it is pretty special to me. I am proud of all of the work I did this year and I want you to see my best creations showcased.
Photo on 2011-05-08 at 12.49 #2
Photo on 2011-05-08 at 12.49 #2
Tags: Dunn, English 9, Portfolio
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Portfolio Reflection

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 12:26 pm

My portfolio shows that I am a hard working student. For every project or assignment I never go anything lower than a B. That might not say how good of a student I am, but it does show that I work hard and try my best most of the time. As viewers I would expect you to see how different my work is. The work I do is unique, different than most peoples work, but it works for me. Getting into class reading assignments is one of my strengths in English. For example when we did Macbeth in this class I did an amazing job on the projects we were supposed to do. I procrastinate and I don’t like reading a lot, this can be considered as o huge weakness in English class. I always wait until the last minute to do my projects or to read a book for a book report. This can really hurt me in the future and I need to work on it. It was fun looking through all of my past projects and seeing how I grew in vocabulary and over all work since the beginning of September. I didn’t come across many issues in my work, but there were a couple of things I could have done better on. Some of those things are my first Independent reading project and my Vignette. I resolved these issues by reflecting on what I needed to change and what could have made it better. I am most proud of two pieces that I did in this class and they are my Me Magazine and my Macbeth Creative Piece. I am most proud of my Me Magazine because it was the first project that I did in this class and I really talked about my life, I never wrote so much in my life before I started going to this school. At previous schools before SLA we never had acting class or got a chance to do something really creative, my Macbeth Creative piece is an imovie of me acting as Lady Macbeth so obviously it is pretty special to me. I am proud of all of the work I did this year and I want you to see my best creations showcased.

Photo on 2011-05-08 at 12.49 #2
Photo on 2011-05-08 at 12.49 #2
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My 6 Best Journal Entries

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 12:13 pm

Introduction:

            Almost every English class the students would walk in and see a journal on the board. The students would sit down and do the journal. Here are 6 of the many journals that were given and my responses to them.


Journal #1: Have you ever faced what seemed like an impossible task? How do you get through it (if you did…)? Were you alone?

 

GROUP PROJECTS! I really don’t like them, especially when your “team mates” don’t do what they are supposed to. This event happened in about 7th or 8th grade. It was a project that was worth 20% of your final grade. I had to get this done. I collaborated with my team mates and we decided what each of us were supposed to do for our project. But one of the people in my group was a horrible partner that didn’t do any work they were supposed to. The day before the project was due she skipped school. So the other two people and myself had to do that part of the project in 20 minutes and put it on the poster board. But we didn’t have a computer to type it up on. So we had to write it by hand. Ends up we got an A so everything turned out ok.

 

 

Journal #2: Why write?

 

I write to express myself. When I have no one else to talk to but myself, my pen and my paper. I feel like people don’t understand me sometimes so I go and sort of talk to myself and think about what to do about a certain situation. Or maybe I just want to write about life, something inspirational so when I need advice I can always go back and read it over. This is why I write.

 

 

Journal #3: If you really knew me…

 

If you really knew me you would know that in public I seem like a happy soul a person who has a care free life (which sometime I do). But on the inside I am an angry person. I do have anger issues. If someone pushes me over or close to the edge I will flip, go over board and not be able to control my actions. I do have to go to therapy to try to take control of my problem. If you really knew me you would know that I have anger issues.

 

 

Journal #4: How important is it to fit in?

 

People who know me know that it is every important for to be liked. I need to fit in to feel good about myself. I need to have friends, I need to feel like if I’m going to fall someone will be there to catch me. I love being liked by people it makes me feel good.

 

 

Journal #5: What are people’s expectations of you? What are your own?

 

Peoples expectations of me are to do well in school, to be responsible and wary and to be me. It is hard doing all these things and when people have these things on their shoulders and more they crumble under the pressure. My expectations are the same but a little bit more strict. When I do things I want myself to go above and beyond and when I don’t I feel bad about myself. It is hard living up to other peoples standards or expectations, but it is even harder living up to your own.

 

 

Journal #6: What is your response to seeing/reading and saying the ”N” word?

 

Seeing this word all over this book is hard and upsetting but at the same time ok. It is ok to see because it reminds you how things in the past really were and how things have changed for the better. It is refreshing to see how well African Americans are treated today knowing that things have changed forever and for the better.

 

 

Tags: Dunn, English 9, Portfolio
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Myth Project

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 8:00 pm

Introduction:

            Part of the year the class focused a little bit on Greek mythology. A project we had to do was pick a God, Goddess of Nymph and write about a myth that they were in. We had to create a poster as well, I chose the character Persephone. Here is the written part of the project. 


                               The Fabulous Myth of the Goddess Persephone

            The name of the Goddess/character I am writing about is Persephone. When Persephone was younger they would call her kore, which means the maiden. She is the Goddess of the Underworld. Her husband who is the king of the Underworld is keeping her prisoner. His name is Hades one of the three brothers, Zeus and Poseidon. In this myth Persephone makes a mistake and ends up in the Underworld with Hades. Before she is allowed to leave she is tricked and eats 7 pomegranate seeds. The epithet for Persephone is an innocent child, because she was clueless on what to do and was tricked into eating the pomegranate seeds.

            Some people used to say she looked like an innocent child. This shows how much she didn’t know about the flower she picked and how clueless Hades thought she was. This is a symbol of a beautiful young girl. When I think of this symbol I think of a child. Some symbol having to do with the myth is pomegranates.  Because she ate the pomegranate seeds and therefore had to stay in the Underworld. Another symbol might be flowers and nature because she is the Goddess of spring.

            Persephone is related to Hades, Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter and many other Gods, Goddesses and Demigods because of her relation to Hades, Zeus and Poseidon. Her mother is Demeter Goddess of grain and fertility basically harvest. Hades is the God of the Underworld and all of the souls. Her father is Zeus, brother of Hades. So Persephone is married to her uncle.

            Once upon a time a beautiful goddess named Persephone went into the meadow and started to pick flowers. Her eye spotted the most amazingly wonderful looking flower she had ever seen. When she picked it Hades came and took her down to the Underworld. Her mother Demeter was devastated, and didn’t think her daughter could ever come back. Demeter persuaded Zeus to make Hades let Persephone go. All the time this was happening Persephone did not eat anything. But Persephone ate 7 pomegranate seeds. As a result of this she had to stay in the underworld 7 months out of a year. Meanwhile Demeter is so sad the earth becomes cold and barren. When Persephone is in the Underworld the season is winter. When she has her allowed time away from the Underworld it is spring.

            Persephone absolutely hates her husband Hades because he is sort of keeping her hostage. She wants to be on earth and she also wants to be happy with her mother and friends. Persephone is from Greece originally. Persephone as portrayed in Rome is Proserpina.

            This myth is very important because it explains why we have the seasons winter and spring. When Persephone is away it is barren and cold because her mother is very sad. If you look closely at the myth you can see that it is a chain reaction as to why some things in the end up the way they are today. Each myth is basically a reason why the earth and the way we do things are today. This myth can be put into modern day text or play form. Some creep abducted Persephone a beautiful teenager. She was scared and she didn’t want to be there. She refused to eat anything she just wanted to go home. Then she eats something and is forced to stay with the creep for 7 months out of the year. The mother is so upset her feelings affect the people and the things around her. Therefore this myth and some how all myths can relate to modern day times or explain why things are the way they are today.

 

 

Bibliographies:

Persephone, greek goddess of innocence and receptivity and queen of the underworld. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.goddessgift.com/goddess-myths/greek_goddess_persephone.htm

 

Aaron J. Atsma, AJA. (2000). Retrieved from http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Persephone.html

 

 

June 24, 2008 . (2008, June 24). Retrieved from http://www.paleothea.com/SortaSingles/Persephone.html

 

Screen shot 2011-06-01 at 7.59.49 PM
Screen shot 2011-06-01 at 7.59.49 PM
Tags: Dunn, English 9, Portfolio
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Independent Reading #2

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 7:41 pm

Introduction:

            Throughout the year we as students had to read two books and write a book review on it. My second book review was on the book “Shug”. But for this book review the students were allowed the choice of something creative, I chose to do a podcast.

 

 

Independent Reading:

 

 

independentreadingcommercial
Tags: Dunn, English 9, Portfolio
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Independent Reading #1

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 7:41 pm

Introduction:

            Throughout the year we as students had to read two books and write a book review on it. My first book review was on the book “The Skin I’m in”.



Independent Reading:

                                                               The Skin I’m in


The title of this book is called The Skin I’m in by Sharon G. Flake. This book won plenty of awards and recognitions for its stellar material and meaning. Some of these awards and recognitions are…

  • Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent
  • Publishers Weekly Author to Watch
  • New York Public Library Top Ten Book for the Teen Age
  • YALSA Best Books for Young Adult Readers
  • YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers
  • Texas Lonestar Reading List
  • Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year
  • YWCA Racial Justice Award
  • Detroit Free Library Author of the Year Award
  • Starred Review in Publishers Weekly

From what I researched it seems that The Skin I’m in was made into a movie.

            The Skin I’m in is about a seventh grader named Maleeka. Who is tormented because of the clothes her mother makes her because she can’t afford new ones, her perfect grades and if that weren’t enough they would make fun of how dark her skin is. On top of all that she would hang out with the wrong crowd. Maleeka hangs out with the meanest girl in school, Charlese. The gang she hangs out with makes fun of her and they smoke in the girls bathroom most of the school day. Charlese mouths off to the teachers and messes around with other girls boyfriends. If she is almost caught by the girlfriend of the boy she tells them that it wasn’t her it was Maleeka. Maleeka takes this because every day Charlese brings in nice new pretty clothes and accessories for her to wear for the day. One day a new teacher shows up named Ms. Saunders with white starchy blotches on her face. Maleeka thinks that her life can’t get any worse until this lady comes and makes everything worse than it already was. Ms. Saunders decides that she wants to teach Maleeka to have more self-confidence and to not care what other people say or think and to just be herself no matter what. Maleeka wishes that Ms. Saunders would just leave her alone and go away. Charlese comes up with the idea to destroy Ms. Saunders’ room. Ms. Saunders got new velvet pillows for the children to sit on during class, nice new curtains and new stuff all over the room. They put glue all over the velvet curtains and pillows, the girls rip and make a mess of the curtains and pillows. Not wanting to into peer pressure Maleeva resists and Charlese decides to hurt her. Maleeka ta˚es a lighter from Charlese and burns the money she gave to her. She accidentally burns the curtains and gets caught by the janitor who was on duty; Maleeka was the only person who was blamed. In the end the truth comes out and Charlese’s sister sends her to Alabama and Maleeka is now confident and happy with how she looks. She also gets the guy she lives named Caleb. Everything works out in the end.

            My favorite character is Maleeka because she is teased for how she looks and overcomes what other people say, think and do to her. She eventually gets what she always needed self-confidence. What people should take away from the book is to love your self no matter what and be happy with you. Don’t do things you know is wrong because you want to be liked, just be you all the time and then you will be happy. There are many morels people could take away from this book but I think this is the best.

            I can relate to Maleeka because when I was in middle school I was teased for my weight and the way I looked. I used to pretend to be someone I wasn’t so I would be liked. I never trashed a teachers’ classroom but I did do things I wish I hadn’t done like mess with people who were my real friends, mouth off to my favorite teachers and mess with my sister. In the end I fond people I could relate to and went to a school were I can start over and be myself. I finally feel that I don’t have to be someone I’m not.

            I thought that this was an amazing book about a colorful girl who has yet to find herself in a school who bullies her every day. Not only did I think this book was awesome I could relate to it in my own way. The strengths of the book were the action parts. The weaknesses were the parts when Maleeka was talking about how she got in trouble and had to work in the office and can’t watch TV or use the phone. I would change the ending, the ending is the type of ending that leaves you hanging like there would be another book or something but there’s not. I really didn’t enjoy the type of ending used.

             I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in teenagers with problems or have trouble being teased. If you an relate to a kid who is being teased for their looks or how weird people think they are or how smart they are then this would be the book for you. Many people can relate to the main character in this story Maleeka in some way or another. As I said before this book is absolutely amazing. It doesn’t matter if you are in middle school, high school, college or working I believe everyone can relate to this boo in some way. Don’t think just do, you should just read, read, read this book.

a resists and Charlese desides to hurt her. Maleeka takes a lighter from Charlese and burns the money she gave to her. She accidentally burns the curtains and gets caught by the janitor who was on duty; Maleeka was the only person who was blamed. In the end the truth comes out and Charlese’s sister sends her to Alabama and Maleeka is now confident and happy with how she looks. She also gets the guy she lives named Caleb. Everything works out in the end.

            My favorite character is Maleeka because she is teased for how she looks and overcomes what other people say, think and do to her. She eventually gets what she always needed self-confidence. What people should take away from the book is to love yourself no matter what and be happy with you. Don’t do things you know are wrong because you want to be liked, just be you all the time and then you will be happy. There are many morels people could take away from this book but I think this is the best.

            I can relate to Maleeka because when I was in middle school I was teased for my weight and the way I looked. I used to pretend to be someone I wasn’t so I would be liked. I never trashed a teachers’ classroom but I did do things I wish I hadn’t done like mess with people who were my real friends, mouth off to my favorite teachers and mess with my sister. In the end I found people I could relate to and went to a school were I can start over and be myself. I finally feel that I don’t have to be someone I’m not.

            I thought that this was an amazing book about a colorful girl who has yet to find herself in a school who bullies her every day. Not only did I think this book was awesome I could relate to it in my own way. The strengths of the book were the action parts. The weaknesses were the parts when Maleeka was talking about how she got in trouble and had to work in the office and can’t watch TV or use the phone. I would change the ending, the ending is the type of ending that leaves you hanging like there would be another book or something but there’s not. I really didn’t enjoy the type of ending used.

             I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in teenagers with problems or have trouble being teased. If you an relate to a kid who is being teased for their looks or how weird people think they are or how smart they are then this would be the book for you. Many people can relate to the main character in this story Maleeka in some way or another. As I said before this book is absolutely amazing. It doesn’t matter if you are in middle school, high school, college or working I believe everyone can relate to this book in some way. Don’t think just do, you should just read, read, read this book.

Tags: Dunn, English 9, Portfolio
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Me Magazine

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 4:57 pm

Introduction:

            One of our most creative projects was our very first which is the Me Magazine. The students had to make a magazine about themselves with an editor’s letter, 2 articles and advertisements about the articles.


Me Magazine
Tags: Dunn, English 9, Portfolio
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Odyssey Compare/Contrast Essay

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 10:12 am
​​​​

Introduction:

            Our third big project was an Odyssey Compare/Contrast Essay. Students had to pick a character from the book the Odyssey and another piece of work. In my project I compared Odysseus from “The Odyssey” and Everet for ‘O Brother Where Art Thou” In this project the students had to create a thesis and link it through the paper and support it.


Odyssey Compare/Contrast Essay:


                                     Odysseus vs. Everett who is a better leader???

Sometimes leaders can get distracted, even the great ones, but it is their job to realize that they made a mistake and must suffer the consequences. Some leaders only lead for the glory. Odysseus from The Odyssey and Everett from O Brother Where Art Thou were both amazing leaders and their men looked up to them. Despite their similarities there are some things that set them apart. Although Everett and Odysseus are alike, Everett has better leadership skills, which in the end helps him and his crew get to where they need to go.

 

Odysseus and Everett are both on a journey to get home. In The Odyssey, Odysseus has been away for twenty years. He was at the Trojan War for ten years and it took him ten more to get home. In O Brother Where Art Thou, Everett escaped from the chain gang so he can go home and win his wife back. Both men are vain. In O Brother Where Art Thou, when Everett and his men are trying to fix their get away car, Everett is supposed to be getting car parts, but he is worried about his hair treatment. This shows that Everett can get off track easily when it comes to his self-image and he doesn’t even think about what he should be doing. In The Odyssey Circe is telling Odysseus how to get home, when she tells him about a deadly creature that he should stay away from he wants to fight it any way. ”Deadly Charybdis-can’t I possibly cut and run from her and still fight Scylla off when Scylla strikes my men?” (Book 12, Lines 124-125, page 275). He says this because he thinks he is unstoppable and that he can take any monster that comes at him. He also wants the rights to brag about defeating a monster that no one else could defeat. It seems that Odysseus is more focused on the glory and the fame than the actual consequences of doing what he wants to. If he did not talk this over with Circe, Scylla would kill more of his men and maybe even himself.

 

Despite their similarities both men have many differences. For example, Everett is more focused on the task at hand while Odysseus is distracted. Odysseus and his men are on Circe’s island, after Odysseus saves his men from the clutches of Circe. Odysseus and his men hang out at the island for a year because Odysseus is sleeping with her. Odysseus’ men have to tell him that they have to go because they have been with Circe for a year and that its time to start heading home. The men say to Odysseus “Captain this is madness! High time you though of your own home at last, if it really is your fate to make it back alive and reach your well-built house and native land.” (Book 10, Lines 520-523, page 263). His men said this to him because Odysseus promised them that he would get them home. Instead he was fooling around with a Goddess for a year. After Everett and his men fall into the trap of the Sirens they wake up and fine that one of them is missing, Pete. Wanting all his men to get home safely Everett tells Delmar that they cannot stay because they have to finish their journey without Pete. In this case Everett shows that he is a better leader because he is more focused on getting to his destination

 

Odysseus steers his men in the wrong path, because of this many of his men die. Odysseus feels bad, but keeps it to himself and doesn’t tell his men. When Odysseus and his crew go towards Scylla and Charybdis he doesn’t tell them what is coming. As a result of this his men are horrified and six of his men die a horrible gruesome death.  When explaining his journey to people he explains how bad he felt and how he wanted to apologize but didn’t. This is how he explained the death of his six best men, ”I could see hand and feet already hoisted, flailing, high, higher, over my head, look- wailing down on me, comrades riven in agony, shrieking out my name for the last time!” (Book 12, Lines 267-270, page 279). Everett also steers his men in the wrong direction and lies to them. When Everett and his men escape from the chain gang he tells them that he has a treasure that they can split if they come with him. After Everett and Delmar rescue Pete, Everett tells them the truth about the treasure. He tells them that there really wasn’t a treasure; he just wanted to get his wife back. Everett feels bad and apologizes to his men for misguiding them and lying to them. Everett’s men are extremely mad at him because they only had a little more time on the chain gang and now they have another 80 years added on. Over all Everett has the audacity to tell his men the truth. This tells us that he is a better leader /man than Odysseus.

 

Everett and his men are all able to get where they need to go safely because Everett has better leadership skills than Odysseus, even though they are both alike. Both of the men Odysseus and Everett are very vain, they are both consumed with their self-image. Odysseus gets distracted by a lovely goddess and doesn’t leave for a while; his men have to tell him to leave. Everett however falls into the same situation, but can easily spring back into action. After Odysseus and Everett make a mistake Everett apologizes to his men and asks for forgiveness. However Odysseus keeps his feelings to himself. In all the leaders today and along time ago lead for different reasons, how would we lead in different circumstances.

 

Tags: Dunn, English 9, Portfolio
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Memoir Vignette

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 10:02 am

Introduction:

            Our second big project was a Memoir Vignette. In the second Quarter the class read Freedom Writers and Funny and Farsi. These two books are memoir vignettes and we had to do one too. The students had to pick an event in their lives and write about it by using the elements we learned in class. Students had to incorporate a reflection without showing it was really a reflection.



Memoir Vignette:


                                                  Family is Always Better

            I was so excited for the next school dance[SA1] . The first one was so much fun. I felt free and like I was able to do anything. I also had a basketball game the same day. I was so excited to walk into that dance and tell the school about our amazing victory. But all that excitement went away when my mom finally mentioned that we were going to see our family on the 17th of December. I thought to myself, “NOOOO!! That’s the day of the dance. I’m going to miss it.”[SA2]  But I just had to suck it up and deal.

            On the day we left I decided to go into the car with my parents instead of my grandmother. At first I thought it was a good idea. I’ll never make that mistake again. I was smashed up against the car door like a dead bug up against the windshield.[SA3]  During the drive my dad was being even more weird than usual. He kept saying the same thing in a loud obnoxious voice. “DANG YOU DANG WOODCHUCKS QUIT CHUCKIN’ MY WOOD!!!!” He saw it on a commercial and couldn’t stop saying it all weekend. We had to make a few stops to eat and use the bathroom. At those stops my parents started to embarrass me out of my mind. They started blurting out all of my personal information to the public. We were in the food court sitting down on the cold hard red chairs; we sat and started to eat our food that we just got.[SA4]  My dad started to say that annoying thing that he heard on the TV. I decided to ignore him and keep eating my cheese pizza and Coca-Cola. Then I had to ask my mom a very important question. It is way to personal to talk about. Any way they started to talk about it really loudly, I tried to quiet them down but it didn’t work. Eventually I decided to go and eat my pizza in the car where it was quiet. So far this was the worst trip ever, I though to myself “I’d rather be at the girls Basketball game or the dance.”[SA5]  Then it was back on the road.

            We thought that we were only two minutes away; well it turns out after five hours no one noticed that my mom put in the wrong address. So we drove around for another hour and a half trying to find where the hotel was.  Well it felt that way; it was only about five minutes.[SA6]  We made it to the hotel and pulled into a parking spot. I ran out the car to greet the family that I only see once a year. I run out and hug the first person I see, who was my Uncle Chris. I turn to hug the next person but there is no one else there. I end up waiting for my family to come. It didn’t take that long for them to show up.

            At the time only half of my cousins ended up coming. My cousin’s names are Kristen, Lauren and Stephanie. Stephanie the oldest brought her boyfriend along named Russel as a joke we called him Roger. My Uncle Chris’ wife is my Aunt Denis (we call her Aunt GG). I ran and hugged each of them, except for Russel, and helped them bring in their bags.

            After the family got all settled in we decided to watch the most amazing and funny Christmas movie ever, ELF!!! We all wanted to open our presents but we didn’t because our family was not there yet. It came to be about twelve o’clock and I was tired so I went to bed before my other cousins came. When I woke up I found out that my other cousins came a half a hour later, my mom took them to a dinner for breakfast/desert. I was jealous and kind of sad that they didn’t wake me up to take me with them.

            I woke up the next morning and greeted all the family I haven’t seen yet. My two younger cousins Emily and Jon Jon. I greeted my Aunt Leslie. Lastly I greeted my Uncle Rob. After I greeted everyone[SA7]  I went to the waffle maker and made a chocolate waffle with a mountain of whipped cream on top and a drizzle of chocolate syrup on top. It was the most amazing chocolate waffle ever.

            At this point I was still upset that I missed a basketball game and the dance. Some how I decided to get over it. I learned that we were going to see a whale hunting boat named The Charles W. Morgan. I was amazed that it had my name in it. I felt like a celebrity[SA8] , but no one really cared I could tell. We learned many things about how it was built, being rebuilt and lived in/used it. We also learned who worked in it, how it got its name and the captains that lived there. [SA9]  You could say it was like a class trip.[SA10] 

            After we finished the tour of the magnificent ship we went to the famous Mystic pizza. The pizza is said to be the best in Connecticut. And the romance movie Mystic Pizza was shot right there in that shop. Julia Roberts was in that movie and it was the jump-start of her career. I couldn’t believe that I was standing where Julia Roberts stood almost 30 years ago. I can honestly say that was some of the best pizza I have ever had. The flavors all-swirling in your mouth like a merry-go-round of delicious toppings cheese and sauce.[SA11]   Some went back to the hotel to take naps and swim, but I went back to see the ship. It was somewhat fun. I kind of wished I had my swim suit with me so I could swim with my little cousin but that was alright I had an amazing time.

            Soon enough it was present time. We started to each open our presents from each of the 3 families plus one from Grandma. In total we got 3 presents, except for my sister and myself. Since our grandmother lives with us we have to open ours at home. I got a 25 dollar itunes card from my aunt GG and a cute long-sleeved shirt-hoodie from American Eagle from my Aunt Leslie. I love the presents I got.

It is a tradition to play Monopoly after unwrapping all our presents. My dad always used to make up bogus rules. During the game we were all watching one of my favorite romance movies called The Titanic. This game was intense; I was winning then losing then winning then losing[SA12] . If you can’t tell this game went on forever. After a couple hours of playing I lost. My uncle Rob was the one who ended up controlling the whole entire board and winning. I was surprised I made it that far. The game ended at four A.M. Monopoly is always a good time.

            The next day came and it was the day to leave. Before we left my grandfather came over with his wife Mary. I didn’t stay, Jon Jon , Emily my sister and I ditched everyone and went to different buildings to play ding dong ditch on the residents. It was a rush, thrill anything awesome you can call it.[SA13]  Eventually it was time to go. I was sad to leave my family we had so much fun together. When everyone was all packed up and ready to leave we all said our good byes. We got into our designated cars and drove our separate ways. As I sat there in the car with my mom, dad and sister I was upset. I looked back on all the fun I had and was content. Family is way more important than any old basketball game or stupid school dance. I am happy now that I saw my family when I did , I can’t wait to see them again soon and I hope they feel the same way.[SA14] 

             


 [SA1]opener

 [SA2]Dialogue

 [SA3]Simile/imagery

 [SA4]Imagery

 [SA5]Dialogue

 [SA6]Huperbole

 [SA7]Repetition for affect

 [SA8]Simile

 [SA9]Magic three

 [SA10]Simile

 [SA11]Magic Three/simile

 [SA12]Repetition for affect

 [SA13]Magic Three

 [SA14]Realization

Tags: Dunn, English 9, Portfolio
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Macbeth Character Analysis

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 9:53 am

Introduction:

            Our first big project was a character analysis on the book Macbeth. Each student had to pick a main character and map out how they changed over the course of the book. In this project the student had to create a thesis and link it throughout the project to support it.




Macbeth Character Analysis:

Lady Macbeth:

Thesis: Lady Macbeth is a controlling housewife and would go to any length to get what she wanted, but by the end of the play, she suffered from remorse and guilt.

Act 1:

 In Act 1 Scene 5 of Macbeth, Macbeth just came home from war and seeing witches. He gives Lady Macbeth the news of the promotion he just received to the Thane of Cawdor. He also tells Lady Macbeth about what the witches said, and she begins to hatch a plan to kill King Duncan. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth “Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under it” (1.5.64-65). Lady Macbeth wants Macbeth to look innocent but be evil and have a secret darkness underneath his innocence. She is thinking that if Macbeth is sweet and innocent, he will gain the King’s trust and maybe he can get the title of king easier. Then she can be queen faster. This reveals that Lady Macbeth is a sneaky woman and can convince somebody to do something that really benefits her, and not the person she is convincing.

Later in the same scene, Lady Macbeth is still telling Macbeth her plan in progress, but she is not telling him all the details yet. Lady Macbeth doesn’t want Macbeth to worry about anything. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth “Leave the rest to me” (1.5.72). She is saying that Macbeth doesn’t have to worry, and that she will plan and take care of everything. She wants to be in control of everything, and she wants to plan and be the mastermind. This shows that she is a controlling housewife that always has to be in charge of everything all the time.

In act 1 scene 7, King Duncan and the other thanes are at Macbeth’s house having dinner. Macbeth just finished his first soliloquy and doesn’t want to go through with killing Duncan, but Lady Macbeth Is trying to convince him to go through with the plan. She is convincing him by insulting him and using harsh insults. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth,  ”I would, as it were smiling in my face, have plucked my nipple from his boneless gums and dashed the brains out.” (1.7.56-58). She is saying to Macbeth that she would do the most horrible thing to the one she loved and gave birth to if she promised him she would. She is trying awfully hard to make him want to kill the king. She tries everything till he finally cracks. This shows that she is definitely controlling housewife that will go to any length to convince someone to do something, or to get what she wanted.

Act 2:

            Macbeth has just killed Duncan. Lady Macbeth realizes that Macbeth still has the daggers when he was supposed to plant them on the passed out guards. So she takes the daggers and does it herself. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth, “Give me the daggers.” (2.2.56). She is frustrated with Macbeth for not following the plan. She panics and takes the daggers and finishes the job herself. This shows That Lady Macbeth is a do it herself kind of woman and is a controlling housewife. This also shows that everything must go according to her plan, which shows that she is a controlling housewife/woman.

Lady Macbeth Just took the daggers from Macbeth and planted them on the guards and smeared blood all over their faces. So she has blood all over her hands just like Macbeth. Lady Macbeth says to Macbeth, “My hands are of your color, but I shame to wear a heart so white.”(2.2.67-68). She is saying that she has finished the rest of the plan and now she has blood all over her hands just like his, but she hates that she has a pure soul and ruined it. This shows That Lady Macbeth is a do it herself kind of woman and is a controlling housewife. This also shows that everything must go according to her plan, which shows that she is a controlling housewife/woman also.

Macduff just found King Duncan’s dead body and called everyone to wake up. Lady Macbeth is acting like she has no idea what is going on, when she finds out that Duncan is dead she acts like she is sad and can’t believe it and pretends to faint because of the “shock”. Lady Macbeth says to the men who are on stage, “Help me hence, ho.” 2.316. She is saying to the men “O my gosh, what a shock. Someone please help me”. She is faking it so no one will be suspicious of her and Macbeth This reveals that she is will do anything to get what she wanted such as pretending she knows nothing of what happened to protect herself and Macbeth.

Act 3:

Macbeth is king and Lady Macbeth is queen. Macbeth just hired 3 murderers to kill Banquo and Fleance. Macbeth is hosting a banquet for the Thanes and Lady Macbeth is getting ready for it. Lady Macbeth says to servant, “Where our desire is got without content.” (3.2.6). This shows that she is slowly feeling guilty about how she got to be queen. She says she is not happy even though this is what she wanted, but it’s not enough.

 

Macbeth is seeing Banquo’s ghost at the banquet and he is going crazy, Lady Macbeth is trying to protect Macbeth by telling all the thanes to leave so she can find out what is going on so she can help him. Lady Macbeth says to the Thanes, “At once, goodnight. Stand not upon the order of your going, but go at once.”(3.4.119-121). She is saying for them to leave the banquet at once and to not worry about the manners of the way they leave. She wants them to leave at once because her husband is going crazy and she wants to protect him and see what is going on with him. Macbeth might be going crazy about him having so much guilt of him killing Duncan. This shows that she is willing to end a big banquet to protect their big secret.

Act 5:

Lady Macbeth is sleep walking and the Doctor is telling Macbeth what is going on with her before a big battle between Macbeth, Malcolm, Macduff and Seward’s army. She is talking about what happened to Duncan in her sleep. Doctor says to Macbeth, “Not so sick, my lord, as she is troubled with thick-coming fancies that keep her from her rest.” (5.3.39-41). The doctor is saying that Lady Macbeth is not sick just extremely guilty so she sleep walks at night and talks of what she shouldn’t. Macbeth is dreadfully worried about his wife, but he has bigger things to worry about like the battle he is about to go into. This shows that Lady Macbeth is going crazy from the remorse and the guilt of killing King Duncan. She is most definitely suffering from remorse and guilt.

Macduff has just killed Macbeth and Malcolm is making his acceptance speech for becoming king and Lady Macbeth is dead as well. Malcolm says in his acceptance speech, “Of his dead butcher and his fiendlike queen, who, as ‘tis thought, by self and violent hands took off her life.” (5.8.69-71). He is saying that Lady Macbeth killed herself because of her guilt; she couldn’t live with herself so she committed suicide. Lady Macbeth felt so terrible about killing King Duncan that she killed herself. This shows that she suffered from remorse and guilt, and she knew she couldn’t make it right. She couldn’t live with herself so she killed herself.

In conclusion Lady Macbeth was a controlling housewife that will do anything to get what she wanted, but by the end of the play, she suffered from remorse and guilt. She convinced her husband to kill the King just so she could be queen. But when she became queen she was unhappy and was slowly going insane with the guilt of having to do with the death of Duncan, so she killed herself. In the end Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are both dead and Malcolm resumes his rightful place as king.

Tags: Dunn, English 9, Portfolio
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What are the Signs? How to Prevent Teen Suicide!

Posted by Morgan Taylor in English 1 - Dunn on Friday, May 27, 2011 at 3:03 pm

     This will be my last blog for the topic of teen suicide. If you didn't read my last two blogs the point I hit were how bullying and other things can lead to teen suicide and statistics on teen suicide. In this last of three blogs I will be talking about signs of teen suicide and ways to try to prevent teen suicides.
     Teen suicide can happen right underneath a persons nose, there can be signs and nobody would even now if the teen is thinking about committing suicide. Some adults or peers see that a teen is acting differently than usual and don't even ask if they are alright. There can be many different signs that could lead to teen suicides and we as parents, family, teachers, mentors, classmates and friends need to find ways to prevent teen suicide from happening. In the next paragraph or two there will be information on signs of teen suicide and how to prevent teen suicide.
     Studies show that 4 out of 5 teen suicide attempts have been committed with clear warning signs, make sure you know them. Keep reading to learn what teen suicide warning signs to look for, including warning signs or indications of a suicide plan. Part of preventing a teen suicide is being involved in the teen’s life and watching for teen suicide warning signs. It is also important to be aware that many teen suicide warning signs are also indications of depression. So the teen might not be thinking of killing themselves, but remember depression can lead to suicide in some cases. Some teen suicide signs might be a call for help so it is extremely important to take teen suicide warnings seriously because if you don't someone can take their life, Here is a list if some signs of teen suicide…
    •    Disinterest in favorite extracurricular activities
    •    Problems at work and losing interest in a job
    •    Substance abuse, including alcohol and drug (illegal and legal drugs) use
    •    Behavioral problems
    •    Withdrawing from family and friends
    •    Sleep changes
    •    Changes in eating habits
    •    Begins to neglect hygiene and other matters of personal appearance
    •    Emotional distress brings on physical complaints (aches, fatigues, migraines)
    •    Hard time concentrating and paying attention
    •    Declining grades in school
    •    Loss of interest in schoolwork
    •    Risk taking behaviors
    •    Complains more frequently of boredom
    •    Does not respond as before to praiseExpresses thoughts of death, dying and a desire to leave this life
    •    Dramatic mood swings (becomes very happy after feeling very depressed)
    •    Lost interest in schoolwork and extracurricular activities (including declining grades
    •    Changes in normal habits, such as eating and sleeping, and spending time with friends and family
    •    Dramatic weight fluctuations, in any direction

    One step to teen suicide prevention is to know and recognize suicidal behaviors.As I said
before it will help to be in the teenager's life so you know the signs. One of the most important
aspects of preventing teen suicide is support. Support is a big part because when someone has
support it can make them feel welcome that they have someone who loves them or wants them
to be alive, they have something to live for. Having the teen know that you are there for them
no matter watt happens gives them hope in life. Remember if you see any type of sign of teen
suicide seek professional help.  Some of the most effective teen suicide prevention programs consist of identifying and treating the following problems:
    •    Mental and learning disorders
    •    Substance abuse problems
    •    Problems dealing with stress
    •    Behavior problems (such as controlling aggressive and impulsive behavior)

    Thank you for reading my blogs and I hope that they were helpful or informational. If this is the first blog that you have read in my trilogy I would advise you to read the other two they are amazing.

Bibliography:

http://www.teensuicide.us/articles3.html

http://www.teensuicide.us/articles2.html
Tags: Dunn. English 9. You and the World.
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Teen Suicide Numbers can be Shocking

Posted by Morgan Taylor in English 1 - Dunn on Friday, May 13, 2011 at 3:01 pm

In my resent research I have found some interesting facts. These facts really made me think. I had a few things on my mind while I was looking at this data. The entire time I was thinking to myself  “These adolescent teens are killing themselves while they are still young what would make them want to do that. They think that there is no way out of their horrible lives, instead of getting help the go ahead and end the lives they have not yet lived.

            If you read my last blog you would know that I was talking about what causes a child or teen to kill them selves. A question asked last time was “ What would make a person old or young want to end their lives when they still have more of life to live.” If you haven’t read my last blog please refer back to it if you want to know more or are interested in finding out why teens and people do this to themselves,

In this blog I will be talking about the math of this matter. Yes the statistics of teen suicide. This information is both very socking but absolutely true. These statistics are from 2001, if you think that these numbers are high think of how they changed over 10 years. 400,000 people that year went to the emergency room for hurting themselves. 30,622 deaths occurred that year for teen suicide. Deaths per 100,00 population is 10.8, this means that almost 11 of 100,000 people die for every 100,000 people in a population. Deaths due to firearm are 5.9 people and 6,869 people. Suffocation suicides are 2.2 people and 6,198 deaths. Poisoning are 1.8 people and 5,191 deaths. Although these numbers are not as high as expected this data is from 2001 and the number have and still are going up.

Next time I will be talking about the signs of teen suicide and how to prevent it, until next time readers. If you want to see more graphs go to this link below.


LINK
Tags: English 9, Dunn, You and the World
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Asado Negro

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Tiene: Pollo y bistec
Viene con: Arroz
Es bueno para: A los que les encanta la carte.
Predicción: Me gustaría asado negro porque tiene bistec y pollo. Me encanta bistec y pollo.
Screen shot 2011-05-10 at 2.39.50 PM
Screen shot 2011-05-10 at 2.39.50 PM
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Bullying Can Lead to Horrible Things

Posted by Morgan Taylor in English 1 - Dunn on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 9:27 am
     ​Over the years the world has been hearing about the deaths of innocent children and mostly teen. The people didn't doe because of an accident... they killed themselves. "What could make a person want to end their lives when they have so much to live for?' is one question that people immediately think of when they read the stories in the paper or see it on the news. Bullying can lead to many horrible things, it can make people do the unthinkable. I am interested in teen suicide and bullying because when I was in middle school I used to get bullied every day. I would come home and cry for hours because I felt so bad about myself, in my room I used to have to tell myself the good things in life I had to live for. Such as my family, my friends at church, sports teams and girl scouts. This would've lead up to suicide if I didn't have those things to live for.

     Suicide is the third leading cause of death for 15-24 years of age. Mostly because in the ages of 15-24 there might be a lot or even too much pressure/stress on that one person, with college and high school its hard to keep up. Bullying can also be a part of teen suicide, when somebody pushes someone to the edge to make themselves feel better it can result in suicidal attempts of actual suicide. There was a case where a teenage girl was interested in this boy, one day he sent her a message. She was so excited, after a week or so they were talking more frequently to each other than to their friends and family. He asked her out on a date and never showed up. The girl found out that it wasn't really the boy she liked it was a mother and daughter who lived down the street from her. That is when she decided to kill herself, and she did. Bullying and cyber bullying are a big part of teen suicide.
    
     I wonder if before the teen killed themselves, if the parents or friends saw anything off about the teen's behavior. I wonder if most of teen suicide is caused because of mostly teen suicide or stress. On the next blog I will be talking about the statistics of teen suicide and in what sates it happens most or if a certain gender commits suicide more.

Cites I went to:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/emotions/behavior/suicide.html

http://medicalcenter.osu.edu/patientcare/healthcare_services/mental_health/mental_health_about/children/suicide/Pages/index.aspx

http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch?query=teen+suicide&srchst=cse
Tags: English 9, Dunn, You and the World, Michael Roth
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Lindsy Lohan- Morgan And Jonathan

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 3:08 pm
Screen shot 2011-04-26 at 3.03.34 PM
Screen shot 2011-04-26 at 3.03.34 PM
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Negative Space - Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Art - 9 - Hull on Monday, April 25, 2011 at 10:13 am
What is negative space?
     Negative space is the space that you see in between the actual object. Such  as a chair, the parts that you can see through is negative space as well as then space around the object.
Explain how you found negative space in 1. your cut out?, 2. in your stool drawing?
     I found the negative space in the cut out by first cutting out the white parts of the cut out and save those parts so I could trace the scraps on the construction paper. I cut out certain parts and flipped the left overs on to the other side of the paper. In the stool drawing it helped to draw the item first then fill in the spaces and erasing the extra lines.
Why does it help an artist to see in negative space?
     It helps an artist to see in negative space because it enables them to see the item in different perspectives, so t is easier for them to draw it. negative space is drawing a bunch of shapes.
Does seeing in negative space enhance drawings, why or why not?
     Seeing in negative space can enhance drawings because you see in both perspectives. If you can see in both perspectives and understand both negative and positive space then you can use both to create an amazing awesome drawing.
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Ethnomusicology By: Morgan Taylor <3

Posted by Morgan Taylor in African American History - Sherif on Monday, April 4, 2011 at 2:31 pm
The purpose of this project was to interview people 10-20-30 years older than us and ask them what their favorite song was from the decade they were born in. Then we had to find an event that happened in that decade and relate it to African American History.

Questions raised were:
Did the environment the person interviewed lived in affect their song choice?
Does the race matter?
Were the cultures way different?
How did the cultures change over the course of 30 years?

The best part was making the imovies for each person I interviewed, it was fun.
The hardest part was finding an event that related to AAH.

10-20-30
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e1 u5 mi carta a venezuela

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Monday, April 4, 2011 at 1:57 pm
Venezuela
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Morgan Taylor's Perspective Blog <3

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Art - 9 - Hull on Monday, April 4, 2011 at 10:22 am
The purpose of this project is to draw our art classroom in perspective. To make it look like you are in the room itself.

The steps:
  1. First Draw a line across the top of the paper where you want your ceiling line to be.
  2. Next put a dot in the middle of that line.
  3. Put 6 lines 1 in. apart on each side of the middle dot.
  4. From the last line you made on each side put a longer line down to make the wall your going to be looking at.
  5. Connect the lines to male a perfect square in the middle of the paper.
  6. draw an X through the square to find your vanishing point.
  7. Once you have the vanishing point you can start on the actual drawing.
      Note: If the line looks horizontal in real life it will be an orthogonal (Line going to the vanishing point) on the drawing.

It was easy to learn and understand how to ma
ke the drawing look 3D, it was hard actually doing it on the sheet of paper and making it look good.

Victoria Odom
This is a lin
k to one of the best perspective drawings in the class. I Think it looks very realistic and the lines are perfectly straight and it just looks awesome. The lines that look horizontal in real life go to the orthogonal in her drawing.

Screen shot 2011-04-04 at 2.47.55 PM
Screen shot 2011-04-04 at 2.47.55 PM
Tags: red, perspective, Hull, Taylor
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I By Morgan Taylor <3

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 2:56 pm
I talk in english.
Yo leo en español.
I love in english.
Yo escribo en español.
I live in english.
Yo como in español.
I dream in english.
Yo duermo en español.
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Morgan Taylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 2:06 pm
Me llamo Morgan, tengo 14 años. Soy muy inteligente, después de las clases, estudio y completo la tarea. Todos los días leo mucho. Veo la tele y juego videojuegos. Cuando tengo tiempo libre, participo en las clases. Soy más o menos deportista, cuando tengo tiempo libre, practico deportes. casi cerro y hablo por teléfono. Todos los días trabajo duro. Después de las clases, duermo y como. me encanta la música, cuando tengo tiempo libre, escucho música. Es por eso que después de las clases bailo y canto.
Photo on 2011-02-17 at 19.12
Photo on 2011-02-17 at 19.12
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Mi Famila Foto

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 1:31 pm
1) Post a picture here (of a family - if you don't have one of your own family, find one on line or use a photo of friends)

2) Describe the variety of things that people do using frequency phrases.

Frequency phrases: todos los días/siempre, los (día), a veces/a menudo/cuando tengo tiempo libre/los fines de semana, (casi) nunca

Esta es una foto de mi familia. Mi hermana menor se llama Lola. Es muy trabajadora. Es por eso que todos los días ayuda en casa, cocina y cuida a nuestros sobrinos. Mis padres se llaman Antonio y Adela. Leen mucho y a veces ven la televisión. Mi hermano se llama  Patricio y su esposa se llama Denise. Denise es muy activa. Por lo tanto, siempre hace ejercicio. Corre todos los lunes, martes y jueves. Patricio es perezoso. Nunca trabaja.

¿Y yo? Jueg
o deportes, leo mucho y estudio español.


Aqui tengo una foto de yo y mi padre, su nombre es Darryl. Tiene una familia es bastante  pequeña. Le gusta comer, el hombre es muy divertido, comíco, bobo, loco e inteligente.
020
020
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TaylorLearningIllustrator

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Technology - Hull on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 10:01 am
Screen shot 2011-01-21 at 10.59.07 AM
Screen shot 2011-01-21 at 10.59.07 AM
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Q2BMAudioTaylor

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Monday, January 10, 2011 at 12:25 pm
espaolQ2BMProject
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Morgan's Spanish project

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at 11:34 am

This is a link to my audio and keynote.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12932776/Espa%C3%B1olQ2project.key

For the audio the link did not work so I will email you the audio.

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Adjective Agreement

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 9:02 am
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.18.14 AM
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.18.14 AM
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Ajective Agreement

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 9:01 am
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.17.40 AM
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.17.40 AM
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Adjective Agreement

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 8:57 am
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.18.31 AM
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.18.31 AM
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Adjective Agreement

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 8:56 am
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.15.52 AM
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.15.52 AM
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Adjective Agreement

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 8:55 am
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.18.03 AM
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.18.03 AM
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Adjective Agreement

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 8:55 am
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.17.52 AM
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.17.52 AM
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Adjective Agreement

Posted by Morgan Taylor in Spanish 1 - Manuel on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 8:54 am
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.18.14 AM
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.18.14 AM
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Adjective Agreement

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 8:53 am
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.15.52 AM
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.15.52 AM
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Ajective Agreement

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 8:26 am
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.18.14 AM
Screen shot 2010-12-02 at 9.18.14 AM
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Mi Espacio!

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Monday, November 22, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Screen shot 2010-11-22 at 7.00.24 PM
Screen shot 2010-11-22 at 7.00.24 PM
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Hola!:How to greet someone

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 1:37 pm

Lesson 1:In order to know how to greet someone you need to know:

  • how to say hello
  • how to say good bye
  • how to say how are you
  • how to say nice to meet you


There are many ways to greet someone in Spanish

We are going to start off with a basic coversation
  

                 Greeting someone
P1: ¡Hola! ¿Cómo está?- Hello how are you ?
P2: ¡Hola! Muy bien. – Hello in  ok  and you ?
P1: Bien. Gracias.- I'm good thank you


      How to ask for some one name
P1: ¡Hola! ¿Cómo se llama?-Hello what is your name?
P2: Me llamo Mark . ¿Y usted- My name is Mark and you?
P1: Me llamo Tiani. Mucho Gusto- My name is Tiani. Nice to meet you
P2: Ilgulmente-Same to  you.


                        And another way to greet someone
P1: ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?-Hello how are you?
P2:Muy bien gracias ¿Y usted?- Very well thanks and you?
P1:Muy bien gracias!-i'm very good, thank you.


Here is a video of a two people asking for each others names.

Movie on 2010-10-28 at 09.01
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Hola!:How to greet someone.

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 1:36 pm

Lesson 1:in order to know how to greet someone you need to know:

  • how to say hello
  • how to say good bye
  • how to say how are you
  • how to say nice to meet you


There are many ways to greet someone in Spanish

We are going to start off with a basic coversation
  

                 Greeting someone
P1: ¡Hola! ¿Cómo está?- hello how are you ?
P2: ¡Hola! Muy bien. – hello in  ok  and you ?
P1: Bien. Gracias. im good thank you


      how to ask for some one name
P1: ¡Hola! ¿Cómo se llama?-Hello what is your name?
P2: Me llamo Mark . ¿Y usted- My name is Mark and you?
P1: Me llamo Tiani. Mucho Gusto- My name is Tiani. Nice to meet you
P2: Ilgulmente-Same to  you.


                        And another way to greet someone
P1: ¡Hola! ¿Qué tal?-Hello how are you?
P2:Muy bien gracias ¿Y usted?- Very well thanks and you?
P1:Muy bien gracias!-'m very good, thank you.


Here is a video of a two people asking for each others names.

Movie on 2010-10-28 at 09.01
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Hola Guapo!:How to ask for someones phone number

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 1:32 pm

Lesson:In order to know how to ask for someone's phone number you must know:

  • How to ask "What is your number?"
  • How to count in spanish
  • How to break up phone numbers in spanish




Diez 10

Veinte-20

Trenta-30

Cuarenta-40

Cincuenta-50

Sesenta60

Setenta-70

Ochenta-80

Noventa

-90

1

Uno

Once-11

Veintiuno

y 1

y 1

y 1

y 1

y 1

y 1

y 1

2

Dos

Doce-12

Veintidos

y 2

y 2

y 2

y 2

y 2

y 2

y 2

3

Tres

Trece-13

Veintitres

y 3

y 3

y 3

y 3

y 3

y 3

y 3

4

Cuatro

Catorce-14

Veinticuatro

y  4

y 4

y 4

y 4

y 4

y 4

y 4

5

Cinco

Quince-15

Veinticinco

y  5

y 5

y 5

y 5

y 5

y 5

y 5

6

Seis

Dieci 6

Veintiseis

y  6

y 6

y 6

y 6

y 6

y 6

y 6

7

Siete

Dieci 7

Veintisiete

y 7

y 7

y 7

y 7

y 7

y 7

y 7

8

Ocho

Dieci 8

Veintiocho

y 8

y 8

y 8

y 8

y 8

y 8

y 8

9

nueve

Dieci 9

veintinueve

y  9

y 9

y 9

y 9

y 9

y 9

y 9















Spanish=English

¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono?= What's your phone number?

Es el  _____-______-___________= It is _____-_____-___________


Now that you know how to count in spanish you must now learn how to cut up your phone number so you can say it in spanish.


 Lets just say that your number is 215-676-6579.

Some people might say Es el dos uno cinco- seis etc.

But this is not how you say your number in spanish the way it looks is different. It looks like this...

2/15-6/76-65/79 and you would say it like this:

dos/quince-seis/setenta y seis-sesenta y cinco/setenta y nueve


Here is a video of a boy asking for a girls phone number.


Movie on 2010-10-28 at 09.10
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Hola!Cmo est Ud.?:How to ask questions to an adult or friend.

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 1:28 pm

Lesson 2:In order to know how to talk to an adult or friend the proper way in spanish you need to know:

  • How to use tú v.s Usted
  • The abbreviation Ud.
  • The basic conversation question

using tú and usted

When you are asking someone a question in sainsh you use either the term tú or Usted, commonly shortened to Ud.  If your talking to a friend about the same age as you  say  y tú?. But if it is someone older then
You say usted to show respect.      


A example of a conversation. A kid is having with his old  teacher form middle school.



Informal
 adult:¿Como estás? (How are you?)
kid:Muy bien.(Very Good) ¿Y  usted ?(And you)
 adult: bien,(good) adiós(goodbye
 kid: adiós(goodbye


To friends

Formal
kid 1: ¿Como está? (How are you?)
kid 2: Muy bien.(Very Good) ¿Y tù.?(And you)
kid1: bien adiós
kid2: adiós


A video a about using tú and usted 


Movie on 2010-10-28 at 09.06 #2
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Que da es hoy?:How to ask what day it is

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 1:19 pm

Lesson 3:In order to know how to say the days of the week you need to know

  • how to say the days of the week
  • how to ask what day it is
  • how to spell the days of the week
  • how to say what day it is


 This chart will show you the days of the week
Also here are some picture to help you remember them.
                                  
                                         

                                            Los Días de la Semana (Days of the Week)

[Picture_1.png]


When you spell the days of the week in in Español it is different  then english.The days in Spanish are always lowercase. for example Monday is capitalized in english , but in spanish (lunes,Monday) is lowercase.

Spanish=English
¿Que día es hoy?= What day is it?
Hoy es __________.=Today is _________.


Here is a video about how to say the days of the week



movie
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Que hora es/son? How to tell and ask the time.

Posted by Morgan Taylor on Monday, November 1, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Lesson: In order to tell time you need to know:

- How to count in spanish

-How to ask what time it is

-How to say what time it is.



1   o’clock

Es la una

2   o’clock

Son las dos

3   o’clock

Son las tres

4   o’clock

Son las cuatro

5   o’clock

Son las cinco

6   o’clock

Son las seis

7   o’clock

Son las siete

8   o’clock

Son las ocho

9   o’clock

Son las nueve

10 o’clock

Son las diez

11 o’clock

Son las once

12 o’clock

Son las doce

:15

cuarto

:30

media

:45

menos cuarto

y

and

menos

minus


Spanish=English

¿Que hora es?= What time is it?

Son las doce y media= It is 12:30

Son las tres y cuarto= It is 3:15

Es la una y diez= It is 1:10

Son las dos menos cuarto= It is 1:45


There are other numbers you have to know to become experts at telling time.

If it is 1:55 you can say Son las dos menos cinco. or you can say Es la una y cincuenta y cinco.

These both mean the same thing, they are two different ways of saying 1:55.

The following numbers  are numbers you need to know:


:20

veinte

:30

trenta

:40

cuarenta

:50

cincuenta


So if you wanted to say it was 6:40 you could say:

Son las seis y cuarenta.

Son las siete menos veinte.

They both mean the same thing.



If it is AM you should say de la mañana after the time.

If it is the afternoon you should say de la tarde after the time.

If it is PM you should say de la noche after the time.

Ex:

1:05pm= Es la una y cinco de la tarde.

11:27pm= Son las once y vientisiete de la noche.

8:30am= Son las ocho y media de la mañana.


Here is a video about a boy who is late for class and asks his Puerto Rican friend what time it is.



Movie on 2010-10-26 at 14.18
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