Photo Essay - Okinawa

This is a Japanese temple. When I lived there, this was where my friends from school would go to church.
Posted by-Akira ASAKURA

This is a little extreme, but most of the buildings on Okinawa were made of concrete and looked something like this.
Posted by-Akira ASAKURA

This is a part of Okinawa outside of the cities.
Posted by-Teruhide Tamori 

This is the aquarium, which was one of my favorite places to go there.  They had hundreds of different fish.
Posted by-Stephanie Cornell



Posted by-ippei & janine naoi



This is the mall in Okinawa.  The view from the top of the ferris wheel is amazing.  
Posted by-Akira ASAKURA



This is an Okinawan mythical creature that is a combination of a lion and a dog.  Okinawans always had one outside of their house to protect them from evil spirits.
Posted by-nana.leder



This is an Okinawan sunset.  The sunsets there were amazing because it is so close to the equator.
Posted by-Akira ASUKARA

Recently in ROGATE we watched the documentary Wasteland.  It was about the biggest landfill in the world located in Rio, Brazil.  It is called Jardim Gramacho.  The documentary focused on the people who work there to collect recycled material from all the garbage.  These people are called pickers.  The story told is about Vik Muniz, an artist who goes to the landfill and takes pictures of the pickers.  He takes the pictures back to the studio and puts recycled materials in the lines and shadows instead of paint.  The final result is an image of the people made out of what they work with.
     The most memorable part of the movie for me was the part where one picker's picture is sold at an auction for 50,000 dollars.  His reaction was complete amazement and gratefulness.  He had never been so cared for or blessed in his life, and all of a sudden a stranger had come in and made 50,000 dollars for him.  He cried tears of happiness and thanks.
     From the movie Wasteland, I learned that you cannot judge people by what they do and where they come from.  Just because you are not rich and don't work as a lawyer of a doctor, doesn't mean you are less than everyone else.
     For the people who had their daily lives turned into something big and famous, it was exciting and terrifying at the same time.  They was finally recognized and cared for, but at the same time they had their lives advertised for everyone to see.  They were probably scared of what might come out of it in the end.
     If I were the subject, I would be happy, excited, thankful, and scared at the same time.  Part of me would be thinking how amazing and lucky I am, and part of me would be scared of the outcome and having my life shown to the world.
     Finally, I cannot really picture a part of my life turned into art, and I don't think that any part of my life is big enough for that.  To the pickers, the garbage was a part of them.  They worked there.  If the garbage was not there for them to make money from, they wouldn't be able to live.

Boston.com Photo Essays

I found this picture in a photo essay on Hurricane Sandy recovery.  I chose it because I think it shows hope in a time of trouble.  These volunteer workers are hanging up a symbol of hope among wreckage.   3 volunteer workers are pictured here.  Something that might be missed at first glance is the expression of happiness on the workers' faces.  They are working in the wreckage of people's homes, but they look happy to be helping out.  The story this photo tells is that even after a horrible disaster, hope can be found.  This picture tells a story of three people who decided to make a difference.  This picture means that there is always hope because there are people out there willing to help.  

Source:boston.com/bigpicture  Photo taken by Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

20% Project

     In ROGATE, we are working on a 20% project.  This means that we will spend 20% of our class time a week working on a project we are passionate about.  I am working with Jessie and we are doing a music video for Drops of Jupiter by Train.  One roadblock we will face is getting a piano to practice with.  She is singing and I am playing the piano, so we really need one.  Another roadblock we will face is being able to film in the classroom.  Space is limited and we don't have a piano.  It is also not very quiet in there Friday 9th period.  We really hope this project will work and that it will turn out great.

Looking Back on 2012

In 2012, I learned a lot about life, the world, and myself.  I learned that I can survive the end of the world.  I also made some resolutions. 
     To be honest, I didn't think 2012 was going to be anything special.  I was so wrong.  In 2012, my great aunt passed away, I started at a new school, started a new soccer team, and worked at the Jersery shore helping Hurricane Sandy victims.  The last one was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.  I learned so much from working there for a day, I would never take back the boring, cold wait or the long drive.  I learned to never take anything for granted.  Honestly, when someone shows up wanting food and you hand them a bottle of water and a granola bar, and they act like it's a meal at a 5 star restaurant, you realize how much you really have.  I will never forget it.
     In 2013, I have 2 resolutions.  The first is to train more for soccer and lacrosse on my own.  The second is to not procrastinate.  I wait until the last minute to do everything.  For my honors geometry project, I waited until the day before it was due to start it.  If I have homework over the weekends, I will literally wait until 11:00 to do it.  I already feel accomplished, because it it 5:30 and I am done my homework.  Other than that, I didn't really think about resolutions.
     Thanks for reading!

Thinking Deeper About the First Amendment

     We have been discussing the 1st amendment in ROGATE, and I am still wondering about the right to free speech.  Exactly how far does it go? Obviously we have the right to express ourself, but to what extent?  Also, how would the other rights be affected?
     According to http://www.freedomforum.org/packages/first/curricula/educationforfreedom/supportpages/L04-LimitsFreedomSpeech.htm, we have the right to say anything that does not create a dangerous situation, incites violence, is not truthful, or is obscene.  This makes sense, and these restrictions are better than getting rid of free speech all together.
     What would happen if we did not have the right to free speech?  Would we still have the rights of petition, assembly, religion, and press?  Probably not, because these rights depend on each other.  If we did not have the right to express ourselves freely through speech, we would probably not be able to freely publish our thoughts.  If we could not protest through speech, we proably wouldn't be able to protest through petition or assembly.  
      In conclusion, even thought the right of free speech has very few restrictions, we are not allowed to go around saying whatever we want.  We are not allowed to take advantage of our right and use it to harm others or cause violence.  Finally, the other 1st amendment rights would be affected or not exist at all if the right of free speech did not exist.  
    

Grades!

Yesterday in ROGATE we had a very in-depth discussion about grades.  We were asked what is the purpose of grades?  What is our opinion on the grading system?  Do we think that the current system accurately represents our skills and knowledge?  Do we think that we should stick with the current grading system, switch to standards based grading, or use a combination of the two?
     First of all, what are standards based grades?  This is a grading system based on previously set standards.  We take the test, and it is graded based on where the educators think we are when compared with where we should be.  Standards based grading tells us where we are compared to the highest standard.  I think everyone knows what the current system of numbers and letters is.
     So what is the purpose of grades?  I think that the purpose of grades is to tell you where you are on a set scale.  A means you are already there and you fully grasp the subject.  B means you are there but there is room for improvement.  C means you are just barely there and you can do the bare minumum.  D means you seriously need to work on the subject, and F means you epically failed and have no idea what you are doing.  So there it is.  Grades tell you where you are and where you can improve.  Finally, they give you something to strive for.  The other side to that is that if you don't see the actual test, you have no idea what to improve on.  For example, you can see your grades in Powerschool, but you don't know exactly what you got right or exactly what you got wrong.   
     My opinion of our current grading system is that it is just fine.  It tells us exactly what we did wrong, and exactly what we did right.  the problem with standards based grading is that you either meet or don't meet the standard.  You never know exactly what you did wrong or right, so you can never improve on exactly what needs improving.
     I think that the current system accurately represents your level of skills and knowledge because it tells you exactly where you are on a one hundred point scale.  Standards based grading does not do this.  For example, when you get your NJ ASK scores back, it gives you a little dash on a scale.  This does not tell you exactly where your skills and knowledge are, it tells you of you are advanced, proficient, or partly proficient.  You never get an exact percentage of what you did right.
     I think we should stay with the current grading system because it is the most accurate and grades you on what you individually did wrong and right.  This is the only way you will improve.
     In conclusion, standards based grading is a grading system that grades you on previously set standards.  The purpose of grades is to tell you where you are on a set scale.  Grades tell you whether or not you grasp the subject, what you know, and what you need to improve on.  Our current grading system works because it accurately represents our skills and knowledge.  Finally, we should stick with our current grading system.