An Argument Louder than Bombs

Hello everyone! Welcome to my first digital final presentations! For this FP we were asked to create our own guiding question based on one of our core classes. My guiding question for this presentation is...

What is an argument that is important to me? 

One of my answers to this question lies in my poem: Snakes. 

I wrote this poem to perform in the Louder Than a Bomb Poetry festival. LTAB is one of my favorite extracurriculars that I participate in. LTAB has one of the most supportive communities that I know of and it is a very exhilarating experience. 

My Poem 

A syllogism is what an argument is made up of, premises and a conclusion. I went through my poem, stanza by stanza, in order to pull specific ideas that supported my conclusion.

Premise 1 people make fun of what they do not know
Premise 2 attributes that were once made fun of are now trends
Premise 3 making people's cultures into trends hurts them in the long run
Premise 4 the more popular a cultural trend is the more likely people are to "want in" on it

Conclusion There is a very fine line between cultural appropriation and appreciation. Appropriation comes from people stepping on the culture and appreciation happens from a distance.


I was a part of a team of amazingly talented poets. I created a montage of our poems to give an example of all of our arguments.




Thank you for viewing my digital final presentation!

Flower Power!

Hello and welcome to my final action project for my STEAM class, Light, Sound, and Time. In this unit, Time, we looked at the different ways to tell time as well as thinking about time in a more existential way. We looked at sundials, sextants, as well as longitude and latitude. For this action project, we were asked to look at different time-telling devices, then we created our own based on these ancestors.

My flower calendar is for people who love nature and keeping track of the months. Since plants need sunlight to grow, the flower calendar needs light in order to tell time.
Here are my preliminary sketches 

TN "calendar sketches" 2020

Here are my calculations 

All in all, I really enjoyed this action project. I like any project where I edit videos!

Excuse Me!

 Hello and welcome to my final action project in the winter term of my humanities class, Argument.
In this unit, Antithesis, we discussed the contradictions in the US constitution and its amendments. We had the opportunity to go to immigration court and see many cases introduced. This brought the question "what makes a person illegal? What line do they have to cross to go to a detention center?" We also watched the documentary 13th which brought up even more questions for us. Our final FE and my favorite was our meeting with state's lawyer Latoya Hughes and Connie Jordan. We discussed many pressing issues and had our questions from 13th answered. For this action project, we were asked to make an amendment to our school's student and family handbook. I decided to amend a rule that many students find unjust and that brings on a very heated discussion at our school's morning meetings. I hope you enjoy.
                                                       

TN "Sick at School" 2020

                                       

  Excuse Me!

 GCE's Student and Family Handbook states, "The first of our four commitments is that we will Be Present. It is critical that students attend their obligations whenever reasonably possible. We recognize that some circumstances require that students prioritize their obligations and compel difficult decisions. There are times that we recommend student absence, including cases of student illness, family emergency, and remarkable opportunities. Nevertheless, every absence precludes a student’s full participation in the program at GCE and has consequences for the student’s peers.
We worry that the language of “excused” absence trivializes students’ attendance. Certainly, there are absences consequent to illness or family emergency that recommend our forbearance. Additionally, there are planned absences, as for a college visit, athletic contest, or medical appointment. Other absences may be unplanned or unexplained. In every case, parents are notified. GCE keeps notes regarding the occasion of student absences, which notes may inform relevant disciplinary or academic proceedings."

This rule is unjust because there is a difference between skipping school and missing. After all, you are physically or mentally ill. On the contrary, not excusing an absence trivializes mental illness and mental health days that are extremely necessary for the well being of a student.

EVIDENCE 
A student that I interviewed expressed her anxieties about getting sick with the recent pandemic being announced. Her main anxiety was that she would have to miss school since she has been sick many times already. This feeling spans the student body as shown by the many students showing up to school sick in fear of being against the student handbook.

COMPARISON 
My amendment is very close to the 14th amendment that states "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
This relates to my amendment because my amendment applies to students having the right to miss school when they are sick.

SYLLOGISM 

GCE's argument

Premise 1 the language of excused absences trivializes a students attendance

Premise 2 each absence is equal in the way that it affects the student's attendance

Conclusion GCE should not designate the difference between unexcused and excused absences on a student's transcript.

My Argument 

Premise 1 Students who have responsibilities or problems at home are being misrepresented

Premise 2 there is no indication between truancy and a "real" reason that they are not in school. 

Premise 3 Students who are ill feel pressured into coming to school this either creates more sickness or a student who is not mentally present anyway.

Premise 4  students who are sick take on the identity of a mentally or physically ill person

Conclusion If a student can communicate a sensible reason that they are not in school the absence should be marked excused

Peer Approval
Apposing quote from BA: "Colleges don't really look at the difference between unexcused and excused absence"

My response: "Students need the distinction between unexcused and excused absence because they deserve to be validated for much needed days off."

SR Signature 

NB Signature

SS Signature 

The Misadventures of Diddley Bow

Hello and welcome to my second Action Project for my STEAM course, Light, Sound, and Time. In this unit, Sound, we took a deep dive into human hearing, sound waves, and the Doppler effect. The Doppler effect is the phenomenon of a sound coming towards you sounding higher and then lower when that sound is moving away from you. Human ears hear by collecting sound vibrations into the eardrum, from there it moves through small bones called the ossicles, then the vibrations get converted into nerve impulses by the cochlea. 
 We also took part in some amazing field experiences. One example was an amazing panel with four deaf (and one interpreter) members of The Chicago Hearing Society. There, we discussed the future of American Sign Language and assistive technology. For this action project, we created our own playable guitars called diddley bows. I hope you enjoy this project.

This is an image of my diddley bow with the harmonics marked. The harmonics show where to place the slider in order to shorten or lengthen the soundwave, therefore, changing the pitch of the sound.

TN "DIDDLEY BOW HARMONICS" 2020

In the end, this project was fun, yet challenging. It was a difficult task to build the diddley bow but now that it is all said and done I am very proud of what I built. 

Black History For More Than a Month

Hello and welcome to my first Action Project for my humanities course, A Nations Argument. In this unit, we took a look at America's declaration of independence and the syllogisms within it. We also explored other countries' declarations. As for Field Experiences, we went to Alderman Walter Burnett Jr's office and talked with him about his life as an Alderman and his special connection with the community. In this Action Project, we are diving into declaring independence from our typical course structure and looking at independent studies. I hope you enjoy my argument on why we need more black history and literature in our curriculum.

Recently I have noticed that in my school career I have read only four pieces of literature by black or brown writers. Three of those pieces were with my first and (so far) only black teacher. I am declaring independence from only learning about black history in the form of enslavement and Dr. King (only on his birthday).  I declare independence from being the scapegoat in situations where my white teachers feel uncomfortable. I declare independence from only knowing one side of my history.

The purpose of school and learning is to forward students in life. I strongly believe that a school is a place that is meant to allow you to explore and learn. The purpose of learning black history is so that we as black people are able to know that we are more than just the descendants of slaves. That we are able to come together as a community and fight for equality. My unalienable rights are to feel acknowledged in my learning environment and to be able to learn my full history. This is an expression of my rights because this class will be all about black history before and passed slavery.


Syllogism
-P1 Black students are forced to attend institutions created by people who do not understand their experiences
-P2 We as black students have the right to be able to read literature by black folks that seek to educate and also entertain. 

-P3 The American education system has forgotten about people of color’s history aside from the part where white oppressors and saviors are the headlines
-P4 White students are allowed to learn about their history by default without having to seek extracurricular studies. 

Therefore, it is only fair that students of color are allowed the privilege of learning their history inside of their school's curriculum.

Keith Tyler "Power Fist" 2015

                                                     

Course Title: Diving Deeper into Black History, Literature, and Culture 

Guiding Question: What black history has been erased by the whitewashed education system?

Historical Evidence: In 1964, Black Americans founded freedom schools meant to organize and educate Black people to achieve equality. This was a temporary solution to a permanent problem that still looms over the Black community. I strongly believe that the ideals and teachings from the freedom schools should be blended into our education system today.

Resources:
  Books: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Kindred by Octavia Butler
 
Plays: Simply Heavenly by Langston Hughes
For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf -Ntozake Shange

Partnerships: ETA Creative Arts Theater


Course Details

Unit 1: Before and After

• Digs deeper into where enslaved people come from and Africa before colonization
• Dives into life after emancipation and some attempts of liberation

Unit 2: Black Literature

• Students will read and critically discuss books by black writers 
• This unit has a main focus on fiction written by black writers

Unit 3: Black entertainment and Culture

• This unit has a main focus on pop culture, fashion trends, plays and television 
• Students will critique plays and television 

Desired outcomes  

• Students will gain a greater understanding of black history and culture 
• This class will allow students to be inspired by writers who are like them

All in all, I am very excited about this independent study. I hope that I will be able to actually study this, even if it ruffles some feathers. I decided to focus on black writers from the 20th and 21st centuries because I feel that this course will focus more on current black culture. I feel that writers from those centuries touch on the current culture more effectively than the 18th or 19th centuries. 

Put a Pin in it| A PINteresting Experiment With Pinhole Cameras

Hello and welcome to the first Action Project of my winter term STEAM course, Light, Sound and Time. In this unit, Light, we discussed whether light was a wave or particle, similar triangles, sine, cosine, tangent, and how light equals energy. We tried out a really "sweet" experiment with chocolate to show the concept of light equals energy. Finally, we began work on this action project, which is making a pinhole camera. I was very excited to do this project because one of my interests outside of school is photography, and this is a new type of photography that I have never tried before. In order to develop our photos, we took a Field Experience to Harry S. Truman College where we met with Ignacio Alvarez who took us to the darkroom and taught us how to develop photos. Sadly, my photos did not turn out as expected but, I still learned a lot about film photography and its relation to light.



Altogether I really enjoyed this Action Project because of the art element. I love it when I am able to add in my extracurricular interests into my school action projects. The most interesting part of this unit was diving into the human eye. It was cool to me to see the evolution of the human eye and to think about where it will be in another 1000 years.

This Bike Protectz You!

Hello and welcome to my last Action Project in Design and Engineering.
This ap asked us to design a bike that fits the needs of a specific persona.
For this unit of Design and Engineering, we went to WorkingBikes, Earth Rider and a representative from Divvy came to speak to us. Working Bikes was a hands-on experience breaking down pedals, Earth Rider was a hands-on riding experience and Divvy was a business experience. I think that this research qualifies me to design this bike for my persona. I hope you enjoy this project.


 



Overall this project was very fun, yet stressful. I was able to use my own ideas to make a bike that I think works perfectly for my persona. If I could change anything about my assignment I would give myself more time to make a more effective 3D model.