My Magical Moment

My magical moment was when I traveled to Japan with my family to experience living as a Japanese family. We got to live in the traditional Japanese houses, sleep on the wooden floors like them, eat the way they did, and of course, we tried to dress like them! It was a really great trip because I got to do some things I've always wanted to experience with my family. We also visited many old places, but I can't remember because I was only 6. I remember the trips from the pictures taken. I the future I hope I can travel to more extraordinary places with my family.

Lovely moments!

I love that your magical moments are about family trips and holidays, Douglas and Arianna - those are some of my favourite magical moments too!

My Magical Moment

    My magical moment is when I visited Disney World in Orlando, Florida. There's not many fun amusement parks in the area I live in so I really enjoyed visiting there. In Disney World, they had sections of different countries. For example, they had sections for Canada, France, China, Mexico, etc. They made a replica of famous attractions in that country. For China, they made many temple replicas and even sold Chinese food. In the middle of all the rides and scenes, there was a big garden with multiple types of flowers. I usually hate flowers but I was mesmerized by the beautiful flowers. At the end of the day, they had a firework showcase that costed thousands of dollars. Although the trip to Orlando was tiring, Disney World was worth it all.

My Magical Moments....

    My magical moment was when I went to Atlanta, Georgia visiting my aunt and uncle. I chose this moment because during my visit we went on a road trip to Orlando, Florida. When we got there I didn't know where we were going until my dad said "we're going to Disney World", I was really surprised. I went there in 2007, during my summer break. Another magical moment I had was when I went to Philadelphia to visit my other aunt and uncle, in 2009 during my summer break. When my family was there we went on a road trip to two different places, and the two places we went to were Washington, D.C. and New York. So, this concludes my magical moments.

                                   Does happy music make a difference? 






                Does happy music make a difference to people? I'm going to say yes.
       Because it always did. People who listen to happy music makes them feel better.              Unlike rock music. When you listen to happy music, all your stress goes away
       and makes you feel better if you had a bad day. they just tend to forget bad things          and enjoy themselves. So happy music do make a difference to some people. But I          guess not all people feel that way and if they don't, they might have other things or          others to make them feel better.

               So that is why I think that happy music do make a difference and for some              example, here are some happy music! hope you enjoy them.

             

                                         

Zaccheus Jackson

My expectations for the slam poet presentation was much lower than what we had received. I wasn't quite expecting a man who would tell us about his life and how poetry changed it. But he did, Zaccheus Jackson came to our school today and told us about slam poetry. Now your probably asking ; what is slam poetry? Slam poetry is were you as a person gets to show your stuff about poetry and if you go far with it you can also travel the world to different schools or places to present and tell the world about it like Zaccheus Jackson.


Zaccheus was telling us how slam poetry changed his life. He said that he was just strolling along and saw a sign that read SLAM POETRY, GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT. So Zaccheus decided to give it a shot, he walked into the coffee shop and presented his poem. Zaccheus told us that he ran out crying because he was so nervous even before he could see his score. I thought  that Zaccheus had gone through a lot  and  it was very brave of him to do this.  Zaccheus told us many stories on how he would come up with his poems. They were quite funny and very inspirational.


Zaccheus Jackson was a joy to watch and Slam Poet should be spread across North America or maybe even the world. Zaccheus gave us examples of his own work, a variety of ways he thought of all of it and silly stories. He was quite the man and might inspire many children across the world because how he came out of his "funk" was a huge accomplishment.

Thank you, Zaccheus Jackson.
You were a joy to watch and an inspiration to all of us!

Zaccheus Jackson in ACTION

Zaccheus Jackson's Preformance at Fraser Heights

This week Zaccheus Jackson came to our school and talked about how slam poetry has helped his life in many ways and talked about why slam poetry is important to him. I found the presentation very moving and inspirational because he had a really rough life and he finally found something that taught him how to overcome his past.  Instead of having all of these negative addictions he used slam poetry to get the same feeling that he needed but in a different, better way.  I also enjoyed how he told stories and things about his life that people could relate to feeling and it got him to have a really good connection to the audience. His slam poetry pieces that he preformed were really moving and told a  lot of information and feelings in a short amount of time. It really got the message across what he was telling about in his poems.

This performance taught me that even if I am in a really bad situation or a place in my life, there is ways that you can overcome it. You don't have to stay in that bad place forever. 

Read more about him in the link below:

http://youthslam.ca/2012/02/26/profile-on-zaccheus-jackson/ 

Zaccheous Jackson at fraser heights- What did you think about Zach's Performance?

What did you think of Zach's Performance?

This week, a man named Zach Jackson came to Fraser heights secondary school  to explain what slam poetry is. Also he gave us a few examples of his own work. To start of the performance, Zach told us what slam poetry is. Zach said that before slam poetry started, people were just reading of a paper about their life with no expression. Zach said that that was very boring. One day a man (I forgot his name) pronounced his poetry with expression and made everything more exciting. Everyone thought that it was a good idea so instead of boring poetry, slam poetry was invented. After that Zach told us how he was introduced to slam poetry. He said that one day he read a sign on a coffee shop that said "SLAM POETRY, GIVE IT YOUR BEST SHOT". Before this Zach told us that he was in and out of jail for drug abuse. Zach told us that when he was in jail he wrote a poem. Zach decided that he was going to try reciting that poem at the coffee shop. Zach then performed his poem and came running out of the coffee shop without even seeing his score. Zach told the school that after he read the poem he never felt so good in his entire life. Instead of going to jail, Zach now went to coffee shops to perform his poems. Lastly, Zach performed many of his poems and also told us many great stories about his life.

In my opinion, Zach's performance was very inspirational and fun to watch. When Zach told us about how he overcame the drugs and other things by performing slam poetry was very cool and he probably inspired other people to do the same. It was fun when Zach told us about his stories because they were very funny and always had happy endings. Overall his performance was really great.

More about Zach:

     "Zaccheus Jackson is a three-time Vancouver Slam poet team member, and a  two-time Vancouver Individual Slam poet champion. In 2007 he was pronounced the Grand Slam Champ. Zach loves  Heniz Ketchup, never touches dimes, and his gritty, rapid-fire, real-life stories will leave you counting syllables in your sleep.

If you would like to read more about  check out this following Link:

 

Zach at Writer fest

 

 

Zaccheus Jackson Performance at Fraser Height

What did you think of Zack's performance at Fraser Heights?

    Zach's performance was really great. While I was listening in the seats of the theater, I learned some facts about him and it was really interesting. He made the performance motivational for me because Zack never gave up in what he believes in. Now I'm going to be talking about facts that I learned from the performance. Zack was homeless for about 6 months; until he told himself that he needs to make a change in his life. When he decided to make a change he was an addict and now he not. Zack was in jail and wrote his first poetry slam (I think). When he was in jail, he had to move to a camp and the camp had minimal security. The camp had video games, TV and not a lot of guards. Zack was a cook at the camp, and one day when Zack was making spaghetti, another man said he didn't like Zack's spaghetti because there were too many onions, but to Zack, he thought it wasn't too much. In Zack's mind, he's thinking of fighting that man because the first person you argue with you should fight them and Zach did; he through the first punch. The guy asked Zack why he had punched him and he answered that he grew up watching TV, and said the first person you argue with, you got to fight them. After the fight they had to leave the camp and back to the jail. The jail that Zack was in had a stone slab, a blanket and a window; all you can see through was a brick wall, also a LED light that shines 24 hours. He was going crazy in his jail for six days, but he kept reciting a poem and he never wrote this poem down on a piece of paper because he remembers it by heart. The first time he perform his poem was at a café; before he performed he ask a person what was a poetry slam and he explain it to him. When Zack finish his performance he ran off the stage and out the door. When he was out the door he had never felt this type of high in his life and Zack liked it because it wasn’t harming him. Now Zack has a successful job that he really enjoys.

     "Zaccheus Jackson is a three-time VanSlam team member, two-time Vancouver Individual Slam champ, 2007 GrandSlam Champ and three year Word Play veteran. He has an obsession w/ Heniz Ketchup, never touches dimes, and his gritty, rapid-fire, real-life stories will leave you counting syllables in your sleep."  (copied directly from the Vancouver Poetry House website - under "Wordplay", then  "Our Poets" 

If you like to read more about him, here are some articles:

http://youthslam.ca/2012/02/26/profile-on-zaccheus-jackson/

http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2011festival/author/zaccheus-jackson

http://vicpoetryslam.blogspot.ca/2009/10/cfsw-speaks-out-zaccheus-jackson.html

Zaccheus Jackson at FH

Zaccheus Jackson at FH

       Zaccheus Jackson, a six-time VanSlam team member, visited FH and did a slam poet performance. Before he came, I had no idea what slam poetry was or heard of it. After his performance, I learned a lot. The way I could see his emotions as he performed really got to me. When he was talking about his time in jail and some mistakes he made in life, I could see the experience of pain in his eyes and the way he expressed himself with his voice and body language even though the mistakes he made in life helped him move on. Thanks to slam poetry, he got himself back up. He was walking around one day when he stumbled across a slam poet cafe. The moment he ran out of the door after presenting due to his nervousness, he knew he found where he belonged. The slam poetry community didn't care who he was before; what he was doing before. All they cared about was him and the way he expressed himself through poetry. Zack has taught me that you could still come back up even from a bad situation and still stand tall. 

   Also, congratulations to Zaccheus who made the Vancouver Poetry Slam team for the 6th time on April 5th! Go like his Facebook page. 

Check out a few of his other performances as well

Invicta

Of Wings 

  

What would you change about high school?

Most people don't like everything in high school but for me, I really would like to change the start time. I think that 8:15 is too early to start school because not everyone is even really awake by that time yet. I also think that just a half hour more sleep would make a difference on responding in class and being more active in classes that are in the morning.

I think this because my brain doesn't really start thinking about things until about 9. I can't focus well in the morning because i'm still really tired. We do get a longer lunch then any school which makes up for the earlier starting time i guess.

It has been proven also that our bodies don't function the same in the morning. We don't learn things as fast and are less responsive.

This might be possible if there are many students and teachers from our school that agree with starting just a little bit later. Then we could go to the school board and ask them for a later time. This probably wouldn't be an easy thing to get changed though.

Current event post #3

Music is a cure to any sadness or anger. It helps you relax and calm down; Along with kindness. Being kind isn't a talent it's something that you just do. When you help other people it makes you feel better.  Listening to music blanks out your mind and puts you in a world of your own. Does kindness have the same affect?  Receiving compliments or giving compliments don't only make you feel good but make the other person feel special as well. 

If you are ever feeling down or angry listen to a calm song; a happy song!  Listen to music that promotes  happiness and generosity not anger and despair. As teenagers we tend to go through a phase in our life where we think that everything is terrible.  From high school drama, break ups, excessive amounts of homework and parents that are constantly on you.  If this is what phase you are in; stop for a second go to your playlist and listen to happy songs not slow and sad songs. Up beat is good and slow is boring! 

As a teenage girl I tend to listen to a lot of slow songs but just because I simply enjoy them. I will sometimes have these terrific days and listen to up beat and happy songs. Some music will have racist or explicit language which is  terrible for the mind and the brain. Many teenage students are interested in "rap" which includes the racist and explicit language. Do students/ teenagers only listen to it because that is what everyone else listens to or do they like the fast beat? 

A few music ideas include: 
Keep your head up - Andy Grammar
Anything- Hedley (CLEAN) version 
Put your records on- Corrine Bailey Rae
Happy- Pharrel Williams 
Every 1s a winner- Hot Chocolate 
Feel so alive - Down with Webster

HAPPY by Pharrel Williams  : this is a great song because not only is it popular it is up beat and most importantly HAPPY!

Things you would change about High school

  Do you like high school? I'm sure we all have at least one thing that we'd want to change about high school. If you think back, there must be a huge difference between elementary and High school. The first thing I'd like to change about High school is the breaks between blocks. We get only about 8 minutes which I find a bit too less. I don't know about guys but when girls line up to use the washroom it takes up a long time lining up. So I think we should extend our breaks to 12 minutes or so, unless we get new bathrooms than it's fine.

  Another thing is homework. I think teachers shouldn't be that hard on us on homework. I mean I know it's important to take responsibility to do your homework but sometimes we have a really tight schedule after school such as sports teams, classes, and all other such things. I think homework should be given the way my math teacher does. She gives you a list of homework that should be done, but there's only one specific date it's due for example, Unit 1~ 10 must be finished by Spring break. That way, we get more time and we can focus more  on doing our work, instead of just trying to finish so we won't get in trouble.

   However after all this school talk, there are still some good things I like about our high school. Unlike other high schools, we get an extra long lunch time for flex in case you didn't complete some miss-due work. That's my favorite part of high school, the lunch time, because during that lunch time I get to complete work for block 3 and 4 in case I didn't finish, so at home all I need to worry about more is homework for block 1 and 2. I think Fraser Heights is a modernized school, because teachers let us have free Wi-fi instead of locking it, and letting us use our electronic devices at the right time.

Current events blog post #3

Have you ever wondered why your kids are not doing so well in school? Maybe your kids or someone that you know aren't doing as well as they used too.  One main reasons for this is that many schools are still using the older systems in their schools. For example teachers are using chalk boards instead of smart boards or teachers are using textbooks instead of the internet. By some schools upgrading their systems many kids marks will improve. The following paragraphs will explain some things about schools these days that make schools obsolete, some ways to make schools less obsolete and a few opinions of what parents think about schools today.

One of the main things that many schools do to make them obsolete is that teachers are taking away kids cell phones when they could be using them for educational purposes. usually when a teacher sees a student on their phone they emidiatly take away their phone as they assume that they are texting when really a student  might be looking up a word or an answer that they don't know. Now that students have celphones, we can access the internet in a matter of seconds instead of waiting a day to get into the schools computer lab. Another main thing that is making schools obsolete is that schools are starting at 8:30 in the morning or earlier. The problem about this is that in the morning kids are getting too tired to work and also they don't want to work. if they started school just 30 minutes later than usual, students would do much better work and they also won't be as tired.

there are many ways to make schools less obsolete. One way is to start using the internet in schools more. By using the internet more students will be able to find the answer to almost any question that they have in under 10 seconds. Schools could be spending their money on iPods for the school or even laptops that students without mobile devices could use. I asked my parents about what they thought about the schools being obsolete. They said "I think that the schools should forget about the past and start trying new things to use to teach kids. There is so much technology today that all kids should be on the honour role."

My opinion on schools being obsolete is that the schools should start being less obsolete and start using more technology. Teachers should start buying smart boards for every classroom because you can do a bunch of things at once on them. Also schools should start buying ipads so that they can let students without mobile phones access the internet.  Schools have to stop being afraid of letting students use mobile devices and just let students try using them. Technology will help students learn and get more knowledge.
If you would like to read more:
14 things that are obsolete about high schools
can't post photo

Current Events Post #3

Feedback

    Today, I will be talking about feedback. In these multi-paragraph, I will be explaining what feedback means to me and what it looks like in my Humanities class. Also how the feedback helps my growth as a learner and if it isn't helping me, for example, what is getting in my way or hindering in my process as a learner.

    What feedback means to me is that, it helps every student know where they are at, at a certain point and if the students need room for improvements. Also it helps student know what they need to add in their work, for example, adding more detail information so that their work isn't vague. Another example is extending their work so that they can show their progress and if they don't show their progress on how or their thinking, how is the teacher suppose to give them feedback? Now I will be telling you what feedback looks like in my Humanities class. In my Humanities class, how we use feedback is in our work because we share our answers with the class and our peers can help us what we should do and not do to make our work better. Another way we use feedback is commenting on our peers in our group blog, we give them feedback about their post because they should know what their mistake was and what they did well on. Also our teacher give us feedback, our teacher gives us feedback because they can help us with what ever we are struggling with and so that we will have a better understanding of it, also to get it right the next time.

    The feedback helps my growth as a learner because at first I have been struggling a little in my Humanities class and now I have gotten better without any struggles. How I got better was feedback from my teacher and my peers, it helped me a lot because before I wasn't writing specific and now I'm writing more specific than before. I have been proud of myself for showing my improvements from the last couple of months, and I thank my teacher and my peers for helping me out. If the feedback isn't helping me, the thing that might be getting in my way is not understanding or not asking for feedback to know whats wrong and might be scared to show my work.

If you want to read or watch more here's the links (These are my references too) :

http://networksofinquiry.blogspot.ca/2014/03/feedback-on-learning.html?spref=tw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqh1MRWZjms 
http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/ideas/iot407.htm 

One Thing You Would Change About High School?

 What is one thing you wish you could change about High school?  and why? How might this be done? 

   Before you read, please answer the poll to the right of this post. You can select multiple choices or one if you would like. Thank you!


  One thing I would change about high school is the time we start at. At our school, we start at 8:15 A.M. Now you might think that that is early enough since some schools start at 7 A.M. However, I think all schools, high school especially, should start between 9-10 A.M because early in the morning, all the students are extremely tired and won't be able to focus. It's been proven that students with more sleep can focus better than students with barely any sleep. It's also healthier for your body. You'll feel better even with an extra 30 minutes of sleep.

  To get this done we can sign a petition and if we get enough signatures, we can go to the school board and request a time change. Even just starting school around five to minutes earlier is good. Although this might not be completed, we can get the message through.

  However, all of this makes it sound like high school is frightening. Our school, FH, is a very good high school because we are able to use high tech electronics that not every school is fortunate enough to use. Our students have Wi-Fi and even school iPads that we are able to use. Although we start earlier compared to the rest of the high schools in our school district, our long lunch makes up for it. 

Current Events Post #2

Should Women's Hockey Be In The Olympics?

    The topic that I'm going to talk about in these multi-paragraph is about if the women's hockey should be in the Olympics. Now I'm going to tell you what I'm going to be talking about in these multi-paragraph and give you a little information of what I'm talking about. In the first paragraph I will be talking about the women's hockey being in the Olympics and here's the summary that's going to be in that paragraph, "there is barely any competition because the people knows who's going to be in the finals". The second paragraph is going to be about the peoples opinion about the women's hockey and the summary is that "the people still want the women's hockey to be in the Olympics". In the last paragraph I will be talking about my opinion about the women's hockey being the Olympics and the summary that is going to be in that paragraph is that I will be telling what I think, also if I agree or disagree about the women's hockey being in the Olympics.

    Over the past years women's hockey hasn't been that competitive lately. The reason why women's hockey isn't competitive lately is because that people knows who is going to be in the finals. Women's hockey has been exciting to watch in the Olympics because more than 5.6 million Canadians came and watched U.S. versus Canada preliminary game. Also women's gold medal game outdo men's hockey game between Canada and Latvia when it came to average online audience numbers. The audience that the men's had that watch them played were 280,000 and the women's had 325,000. If women's hockey wasn't in the Olympics there wouldn't be a lot of audience there watching because women's hockey had been taken out of the Olympics for good. If women's hockey wasn't taken out of the Olympics, they could improve the competitiveness of women's hockey and it's a working progress, even the IOC agrees with the improvement of the competitiveness of women's hockey.

    The people reaction were shocked when they heard that women's hockey might not be in the Olympics. They were shocked when they heard that because the people say that the women's hockey game was as good as its going to get. The people disagree about the women's hockey might be out of the Olympics because Steve Paikin said "don't tell me people doesn't care about women's hockey as much as men's". The NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that Tuesday he would be "distressed" if the event was eliminated from the Olympics. A person from Russia, Amid is concern about the competitive imbalance between Canada, the United States and the rest of the countries involved, but the International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel replied, women's hockey will "never" be remove from the Olympic schedule. Also the International Olympic Committee backed him up in a statement on Friday, "There is absolutely no plan to question the presence of women's ice hockey within the programme of the Winter Games". Another person named Damien Cox said "Yeah, pretty sure Olympic women's hockey is here to stay".

    In my opinion, women's  hockey should stay in the Olympic. Women's hockey should stay in the Olympics because a lot of people that are a fan of women's hockey would be disappointed and mad if this event was taken out of the Olympics. If the people gets mad and disappointed there wouldn't be a lot of audiences watching other event because their favourite event had been taken out. Also the people from the Olympic Committee can't afford having mad and disappointed fans because they wouldn't make any profit. I agree because I like to watch my country play against other countries and cheer them on when  they score or win the game.

If you would like to read more, down here are some articles (These articles are also my references):

http://globalnews.ca/news/1162894/is-womens-hockey-an-endangered-olympic-event/
http://www.ctvnews.ca/sochi/iihf-president-women-s-hockey-will-never-be-out-of-olympics-1.1691364
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1963484_1963490_1968364,00.html 

Current Events Blog Post

Is women’s hockey an endangered Olympic Event? ; A question many people are asking themselves. The NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said he would be absolutely horrified if women’s hockey was to leave the Olympics. The international ice hockey federation president also replied with a strong “never” will it be removed from the Olympics. But why women’s Hockey? This same situation happened to softball. Team USA won the gold medal three years running. What if all of the sports were like that, If the same person won a gold medal every single year. Would all of those sports be taken out to?


People are worried about Canada and The United States of America always in the finals for women’s hockey. They believe Canada has a stronger team along with a good development program and coaching. Is Canada to strong? The women’s ice hockey team for Canada is a very talented team. They are a gold medal team and USA is a silver medal team. Some people do not approve of women’s hockey being in the Olympics just because team Canada and USA are always in the finals. Although Canada and USA continue to approve other countries are trying their best to catch up to them, for the next winter Olympics.


This is the fifth winter Olympics with women’s ice hockey. Canada has won four gold medals and USA has won one. They are asking for my time, it started with Canada and USA, Finland and Sweden. Now they have Russia coming in, Switzerland coming in, and Japan is growing. Over time, at least from 2010 to 2014 the competitive balanced has improved a bit but so has Canada and USA. The improvement has changed a little bit because of the tournament format. The top two countries in the world in women’s ice hockey did not face the seventh and eighth seeds in Sochi, Russia.


Hockey is a very important sport to Canada and the USA because they have devoted so much time to it. It would be an absolute tragic if they were to take that sport out of the winter Olympics. It seems to be important in men’s so why can’t it be just as important in women’s. If you were in Canada’s shoes you would definitely not want women’s ice hockey to leave such an important event. If that was your country getting gold every Olympics you would want that sport to stay and wait for the other countries to catch up.

http://guardianlv.com/2014/02/hockey-is-womens-hockey-destined-to-be-cut-from-the-olympics/

Communal Dining in Surrey?

     Recently, the Vancouver politicians have decided to have communal dining tables in some restaurants. Basically, there is a long table that you sit down in if you ever wanted to make new friends. This all started when there was a poll taken in Vancouver. One third of Metro Vancouver residents found that it was hard to make friends in this city. All of this was to make new friends. So, is it worth it?

    Citizens who didn't like this idea argue that there isn't any point in doing this. Most people go into restaurants with people they are already close and familiar with, so why bother? The city council didn't need to waste their time with this in the first place. There are many other things to be focusing on instead of people's social skills. A lot of people already make new friends at restaurants without the need of extra help from the city.

    Others who approve of this new idea argue back that this is a great way to build social skills. Maybe, for the people with aren't too fond of going outside too much and socializing, can use this new idea to practice. Every few meals they can practice getting used to eating with people and making new friends. Also, a few people like to go to these sort of places and meet new people.

   Overall, there are many mixed feelings about this issue. Before it comes to Surrey, there should be a poll taken in Vancouver to see whether the people like the communal dining tables. If they like it then we should try it slowly, restaurant by restaurant, and see the results. The idea itself is a good idea, but many restaurants already have the idea of making new friends with complete strangers at tables and the city shouldn't get too involved.

Source 1
Source 2
Source 3

Should Womens Hockey be in the Olympics? Current events post 2.

There has been some debating on weather womens hockey should be kept in the winter Olympics, here is why.

Many people think that womens hockey should be removed from the winter Olympics because many countries have not developed the skills/practiced the sport enough for more teams to be in it. People have been getting tired of watching the womens hockey because everybody now knows which teams are going to be in the final game. They know this basically because there are only a few teams actually participating in this event. They are concerned it is too much of an imbalance between Canada, the USA and other countries involved. After debating on weather to take womens Hockey out of the Olympics everyone has decided that it will not go the same way as softball and be kept in the Olympics.

There are many reasons disagreeing with this topic, but there are also many agreeing with this. This would cause lots of arguing and more fighting if it was taken out of the Olympics. But there are way more reasons to keep womens hockey in the Olympics then to take it out. It would just upset the viewers and spectators that enjoy watching womens hockey. It would also be unfair to all of the womens hockey teams because this is basically saying, since womens hockey is not big in other countries you cannot play it now due to the lack of teams, and that would be very unfair to them.

Losing so many spots would be a public relations disaster. Mendoza (president of womens sport foundation) thinks that if they have worked so hard, why should they not be aloud to show it? And be aloud to be proud of their sport that they work so hard on!

I think that womens hockey should definitely be kept in the Olympics because there are almost no reasons other than other countries are not developed enough yet to have this sport, well that just has to make them work harder to catch up! It would not be fair to the women who play hockey and all they want to do is show their skills and have a fun game. Also all of the viewers who like watching it wouldn't be able to support and watch something that they like anymore. So yes womens hockey should and will be kept in the Olympics.

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1963484_1963490_1968364-2,00.html
http://globalnews.ca/news/1162894/is-womens-hockey-an-endangered-olympic-event/
http://www.ctvnews.ca/sochi/iihf-president-women-s-hockey-will-never-be-out-of-olympics-1.1691364

Dinner with strangers?

Have you ever ate dinner with people you completely don't know? Some people like having dinner with strangers while some don't because they're shy. Communal dinning started in a restaurant in 2012, downtown Vancouver. Vancouver wants to encourage restaurants to offer more "long table" dinner. That why, people from difference places would want to come visit.

For some people, dining with random strangers seems interested and fun to them, while some people find it really disturbing. Why? These people might be super shy and doesn't like eating in front of others. What if the person you had to sit with talks with their mouth full? What if they don't respect the fact "keeping your hands to yourself"? Would you like to be touched? I highly doubt anyone would like that. But on the other hand for some people, they like making new friends. They have a really opened personally and love meeting new people. Some people such as me would find it super awkward sitting next to people you don't know and eat. Unless you're eating in a group and you're the person sitting in the middle surrounded by your friends or family you actually know then I'm fine with that.

Some benefits about eating at a communal dining table is that you get to make some friends, practice your social skills, and not eat lonely if you're the person that usually go out alone. So far in Vancouver, there are 16 restaurants with long dining tables. The idea is just to give strangers the chance to get to know each other. 2 years ago, a pilot project, in which long tables were placed on Abbott Street during lunchtime, for instance, resulted in a woman meeting her neighbor for the first time. The report describes an engaged city as one that "brings people together for conversation to address issues of common importance, to solve shared problems and bring about social positive change"

Overall, I disagree with the "long table" idea and eating with strangers because I find it sort of weird eating in front of people I don't know, and I'm usually a shy person when it comes to strangers. But I still think there should be some communal dining because either way there are still people who enjoy socializing with others so I think it'll be better if there will be both private dining and communal.

links to     website: http://www.vancouversun.com/Dining+with+strangers+among+recommendations+make+Vancouver+more+engaged/9451336/story.html

Current Events Blog Post #2-Should Womens Hockey Be in the Olympics?

In 2014, people thought that the winter Olympic comity was deciding whether they should put Women's winter Olympic hockey in the 2014 Sochi winter Olympic games. People thought that they were discussing about this because in the past winter Olympics, there was no competition in women's hockey. In all of the past 5 to 10 winter Olympics,  in the final gold medal game it was usually Canada vs. the usa. Since there is no commpetison, people are not that interested in watching the women's hockey because they know who is going to be in the finals. People thought that the winter Olympic comity thinks that they should let other countries get better and play women's hockey in the 2024 Olympics instead of the 2016 Olympics or the 2020 winter Olympics. Could this be the end of women's hockey at the winter Olympics?

Many citizens of Canada, usa and other countries that excel in women's hockey are worried that women's hockey will be taken out of the Olympics because of the level of competition. Rene Fasel (the president of women's hockey) said "Fortunately, this is just a rumour and as of right now, women's Olympic hockey will remain in the winter Olympics, and will never be taken out."The winter Olympic comity then said that "There is absolutely no plan to question the presence of women’s ice hockey within the programme of the winter Games.”Even after these people said that women's Olympic hockey will remain in the winter Olympics, people are still worried that women's hockey will be taken out. The winter Olympic comity doesn't want Canada to think that there favourite winter sport will be taken out of the winter Olympic games.

Some people are still worried about women's hockey being taken out of the winter Olympics because of the same thing that happened in the 2008 summer Olympics in being. In the Olympics before the 2008 summer Olympics usa won gold in women's softball every single summer Olympics. People started to wonder if  women's softball would be taken out of the summer Olympics because there was no competition. The summer Olympic comity replied "Women's softball will stay in the Olympics and will not leave the olympics.''The comity lied and they ended up taking softball out of the next Olympics ad was not put back in. People are now afraid that the same thing is going to happen with women's hockey but in the winter Olympics. Toronto star writer Damien Cox says that they shouldn't take out women's hockey of the winter Olympics because lots of other countries excel in other sports. Some include Germany in luge, usa in snowboarding, and the Netherlands in speed skating. People agreed with Damien and they said that if women's hockey is going to be taken out o the Olympics than those other sports should be too.

There is many reasons about why women's hockey should stay in the Olympics and nearly no reasons about why women's hockey shouldn't be in the Olympics. The Canadian winter Olympic comity states "Canada excels in hockey because of the money we spend in training our players. If other countries are disappointed in there women's hockey teams in how they are doing in the Olympics, then they should spend more money in training there athletes like they do in other sports."Also more people watched the women's hockey preliminary game with Canada and the usa in 2014 winter Olympics than people watched the grey cup football final in November 2014. Also more people watched the women's gold medal final in hockey than they did in the means hockey Canada vs. Latvia in the quarter final game. Canada also excels in women's hockey because of the number of girls and women playing hockey in Canada. Near 80,000 women play hockey in Canada rather than in Europe when close to only 2000 women play hockey. These are just some of the many reasons why Canada excels in omens hockey.

In my opinion, women's hockey should and will stay in the Olympics. People will be disappointed and angry if women's hockey is taken out of the winter Olympics. The winter Olympic comity can't afford any angry people. I agree with Damien Cox when he said that just because a country excels in a certain sport doesn't mean that it should be taken out of the Olympics. I also agree that if other countries start spending more money and encouraging more women to play hockey that the countries will start getting better at hockey. Other countries are already getting better at women's hockey and by taking out the exciting sport now, things will just get worse. If you would like to read more about this topic, check out the following links:

Womens Hockey globe mail

global-womens hockey?

Content time-is womens hockey out of the olympics?

Ctv news-iihf presedent womens hockey at the Olympics

the star.com-Womens hockey endangered?

Revised current events post

The Surrey School District has been changing lately with letter grades. The school board is trying to get more schools to switch over to the constructive critisism way. They are trying to make this change because they think that by taking out the traditional letter grades that it will encourage students to learn better because they have feedback they and their parents can use. Also parents will get a better understanding about what you need to focus on more in your school work.

The Surrey School District thinks that it will in a way be a "win, win" for both parents and kids. Five elementary schools have switched over in the fall and 34 more did this month. The idea is by offering more info on how their  kids are doing on projects and tasks.

They are evaluating the program this summer. Then they will decide if they will make it permanent in 101 elementary schools and 19 high schools. But it seems like most people like the idea already.

I think that they should keep the letter grades the same because I think that it makes me work harder if i know im getting a bad grade, therefore im getting better.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-school-district-extends-its-no-letter-grades-program-1.2485832

Revised Current Events Post

Right now the surrey school district is deciding that they might take letter grades out of 39 elementary schools. Lots of kids are very excited to get their first letter grade in elementary school, and now they are going to take out letter grades and instead give more constructive feedback on how the kids are doing. If they take out the letter grades, some kids may not get a chance to receive a report card with letter grades on it because eventually they will take letter grades out of high school too. All kids should be able to receive a report card with a letter grade on it. It isn't fair that some kids get letter grades and the others don't.

 

Some people really enjoy the letter grade system because it gave you a direct response to how you are doing in school. For example if you opened your report card and it said A, then you know you did well. When someone was to give some constructive feedback, you would have to read the whole paragraph to see if you were doing good or bad. Some teachers said that they liked the letter grade system better because if they were to give every student a paragraph on how they are doing in every single subject, it would take too long. They said the letter grade system was more efficient.

 

Other people wanted to change the letter grade system to constructive feedback because the teacher would be able to tell each student what they could do to improve their grades. Parents felt that they would be able to help their children more if they knew exactly what they were doing wrong. They said that there was nothing wrong with the letter grade system but they thought that the constructive feedback method was better. Some teachers said that kids would get smarter and get better grades by using this system. The teachers also said parents would know more about what their kids were doing in school and how they could improve.

 

 A few people were asked on their thoughts and opinions on changing the system. One of them said "I think that the letter grade system is better and that the school board shouldn't change the system because if I saw that I was doing bad by seeing an F on my report card, it would motivate me to do better and try harder in school." The other person said "In my opinion the letter grade system was better because if you were at a B and were almost at an A then you would know but if you were using the constructive feedback system you wouldn't know because there is no letter grades. As you can see their is many different opinions about this. Some people like the new system, some people liked the old system more. But it doesn't really matter what the people of our society think because it isn't their choice.

 

In my opinion, the letter grade system is better because you know right away if you are doing bad or good and also because it would be too hard for a teacher to give each student a paragraph on how they are doing for every subject would take too long. I think that the school board should still give out letter grades and maybe give one or two sentences on what the student should work on. This way you can have both and everyone would be happy. If they are going to change the system they should wait until next year. If you would  like to read more about this here is a few links- http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-school-district-extends-its-no-letter-grades-program-1.2485832

http://www1.sd42.ca/surrey-and-maple-ridge-schools-set-rub-out-letter-grades

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Surrey+Maple+Ridge+schools+letter+grades/9365634/story.html

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/dozens-more-surrey-schools-consider-scrapping-letter-grades-1.1630197

Current Events Revised Post

Surrey Schools District Extends its 'No Letter Grades' Program

    So far in Surrey Schools, they have changed program where there are no letter grade and only feedback. They changed the program because most of the children parents want better feedback and want it in a timely manner. There are 39 elementary schools in Surrey that are undergoing a pilot program in which letter grades are replaced with in-depth feedback on a student's strengths and weakness, so that their parents can help them with the subject they are struggling with.

    A lot of schools have changed to the pilot program, 5 elementary schools had made the switch in the fall and 34 elementary school are joining their ranks this month. The idea of doing this program is to give more information on how the students are doing well on their projects and their tasks. The schools can focus less on the superficial "A, B or C" evaluation, so that both students and parents will have a better understanding of where they're at.

    Antonio Vendramin, the principal of George Vanier Elementary in Surrey said that "he appreciates that letter grades make it easy for the parents to track their children's progress", but they think that students and parents interact over education. They can also track their kids strengths and weakness so that they can give them more help and can get a more understanding of what their doing. Mr. Vendramin thinks that it kind of stop the conversation about learning and focusing more on what grades your children got.

    In my opinion, I think that both system are good because it tells us what we are getting and feedback that we need to improve. So when I see a bad grade on my report card, I think to my self and say how do I improve so I can get better. If I see feedback instead of grades, I can do what ever I have to do to get better and prove that I can do it.

This is the article that I'm doing for my Current Events (This is where I got all my reference):
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-school-district-extends-its-no-letter-grades-program-1.2485832     

Report Cards Revised Post

No Letter Grades?

      Recently in Surrey schools, the school system has gotten rid of the letter grade system meaning that instead of giving A's or B 's, they offer more detailed information on how the student did in projects and other tasks. With this new method, students can discuss with parents where they can show improvement. There have been many mixed reactions; some parents like the new format while others strongly dislike it.

   First, people didn't like the new idea because they thought the grade system was something that actually "inspired" kids to get better grades. Some felt that when they saw a low letter grade on their report card, it pushed them to improve their mark. Others argue that there was nothing wrong with the letter grade system in the first place. With a F or D in a certain subject, parents can easily see their child isn't doing too well in that subject already without the need of extra explanations.

   The people who like the new system argue back that in elementary school, we got "Needs work" or "Outstanding" instead of an A or C+ so why can't we continue that into high school. They felt that although the letter system had nothing wrong with it, adding extra comments stating where the child needs improvement also isn't a bad thing. It shows students constructive criticism to let them improve for the best.

    In my opinion, there should just be both grading systems and feedback system. Without getting graded on our performance in school, it's just like getting a medal for participating instead of winning first or second place. Seeing a bad grade on my report card does make people want to get better marks, yet the feedback system can help peers improve on weak points to get better grades. The feedback system  is good because instead of focusing on just grades, students can get criticism to improve my work. Overall, both of the systems are good and we should have both on our report cards.

Click here to see the original article on this issue. All my references were the comments inside that article.

Current Events Post

The Surrey School District has been changing lately with letter grades. They are trying to get more schools to switch to the constructive criticism way. They are trying to make this change because they think that by taking out the traditional letter grades that it will encourage students to learn better because they have feedback they can use. Also their parents will be able to understand what they need to work on more clearly.

The Surrey School District think that it will in a way be a "win, win" for both parents and kids. Five elementary schools made the switch in the fall and 34 more did this month. The idea is by offering more info on how their kids are doing on projects and tasks, and focusing less on A,B,C. Because they think both parents and kids will better understand this way.

They are evaluating the program this summer. Then they will decide if they will make it permanent in 101 elementary school and 19 high schools. But it seems like most people like this idea.

I think that they should keep the letter grade system because I know lots of people who are excited to see what grades they got. It also would make me work harder than just getting a few comments about my work.

Current Events

Surrey Schools District Extends its 'No Letter Grades' Program

    So far in Surrey Schools, they have changed program where there's no letter grade and only feedback. They changed the program because most of the children parents want better feedback and want it in a timely manner. There are 39 elementary schools in Surrey that are undergoing a pilot program in which letter grades are replaced with in-depth feedback on a student's strengths and weakness, so that their parents can help them with the subject they are struggling with.

    A lot of schools have changed to the pilot program, 5 elementary schools had made the switch in the fall and 34 elementary school are joining their ranks this month. The idea of doing this program is to give more information on how the students are doing well on their projects and their tasks. The schools can focus less on the superficial "A, B or C" evaluation, so that both students and parents will have a better understanding of where their at.

    Antonio Vendramin, the principal of George Vanier Elementary in Surrey said that he appreciates that letter grades make it easy for the parents to track their children's progress, but they think that students and parents interact over education. They can also track their kids strengths and weakness so that they can give them more help and so that they can get a more understanding of what their doing. Mr. Vendramin thinks that it kind of stop the conversation about learning and focusing more on what grades your children got.

    In my opinion, I think that both system are good because it tells us what we are getting and feedback that we need to improve. So when I see a bad grade on my report card, I think to my self and say how do I improve so I can get better. If I see feedback instead of grades, I can do what ever I have to do to get better and prove that I can do it.

This is the article that I'm doing for my Current Events:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-school-district-extends-its-no-letter-grades-program-1.2485832     

      

Current Events revised post

Has The Surrey School District decided different about letter grades and report cards? Surrey has recently decided to bring a new program to the schools of Surrey. Over 34 schools have joined the program but they are expecting more, the program is called constructive feedback. This new program involves getting rid of letter grades and introducing a new system that is one that tells the children and their parents on how their doing and a better understanding of where there at.

The Principal of George Vanier Elementary in Surrey thinks that this new program is a hit. He believes that the new system helps the children and the parents better understand their strengths, weaknesses, and what they need help on. Instead of having A, B or C, Mr. Antonia Vendramin thinks that more information would be much more sufficient. Although most parents are on board with the A, B and C method other parents may be interested in the new program. Antonio believes that if we can deliver then this new program will be a win-win for the parents and the children.


Overall most people will be on board with this agreement. Although some might say different, most say let’s do it. Knowing this isn’t quite accurate; but from the looks of it the program it seems well developed and the parents will enjoy the fact that they will know more information on how well their child is doing in school.



In my opinion as a student I prefer letter grades but being able to recognize my weaknesses and strengths would be good for my learning. The constructive feedback system is good because it will help the parents see what they are good at and what they need help on. Most parents are ok with the letter grades so I think it would be an absurd idea to change it. Maybe throwing in a few pointers on what they are good at and need help on would be a good idea.





http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-school-district-extends-its-no-letter-grades-program-1.2485832

Report cards changing in surrey

Right now the surrey school district is deciding that they might take letter grades out of 39 elementary schools. Lots of kids are very excited to get their first letter grade in elementary school, and now they are going to take out letter grades and instead give more constructive feedback on how the kids are doing. If they take out the letter grades, some kids may not get a chance to receive a report card with letter grades on it because eventually they will take letter grades out of high school too. All kids should be able to receive a report card with a letter grade on it. It isn't fair that some kids get letter grades and the others don't.

 

Some people really enjoy the letter grade system because it gave you a direct response to how you are doing in school. For example if you opened your report card and it said A, then you know you did well. When someone was to give some constructive feedback, you would have to read the whole paragraph to see if you were doing good or bad. Some teachers said that they liked the letter grade system better because if they were to give every student a paragraph on how they are doing in every single subject, it would take too long. They said the letter grade system was more efficient.

 

Other people wanted to change the letter grade system to constructive feedback because the teacher would be able to tell each student what they could do to improve their grades. Parents felt that they would be able to help their children more if they knew exactly what they were doing wrong. They said that there was nothing wrong with the letter grade system but they thought that the constructive feedback method was better. Some teachers said that kids would get smarter and get better grades by using this system. The teachers also said parents would know more about what their kids were doing in school and how they could improve.

 

 A few people were asked on their thoughts and opinions on changing the system. One of them said "I think that the letter grade system is better and that the school board shouldn't change the system because if I saw that I was doing bad by seeing an F on my report card, it would motivate me to do better and try harder in school." The other person said "In my opinion the letter grade system was better because if you were at a B and were almost at an A then you would know but if you were using the constructive feedback system you wouldn't know because there is no letter grades. As you can see their is many different opinions about this. Some people like the new system, some people liked the old system more. But it doesn't really matter what the people of our society think because it isn't their choice.

 

In my opinion, the letter grade system is better because you know right away if you are doing bad or good and also because it would be too hard for a teacher to give each student a paragraph on how they are doing for every subject would take too long. I think that the school board should still give out letter grades and maybe give one or two sentences on what the student should work on. This way you can have both and everyone would be happy. If they are going to change the system they should wait until next year. If you would  like to read more about this here is a link for the article- http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/surrey-school-district-extends-its-no-letter-grades-program-1.2485832

Current Events Blogging

No Letter Grades?

      Recently in Surrey schools, the school system has gotten rid of the letter grade system meaning that instead of giving A's or B 's, they offer more detailed information on how the student did in projects and other tasks. With this new method, students can discuss with parents where they can show improvement. There have been many mixed reactions; some parents like the new format while others strongly dislike it.

   First, people didn't like the new idea because they thought the grade system was something that actually "inspired" kids to get better grades. Some felt that when they saw a low letter grade on their report card, it pushed them to improve their mark. Others argue that there was nothing wrong with the letter grade system in the first place. With a F or D in a certain subject, parents can easily see their child isn't doing too well in that subject already without the need of extra explanations.

   The people who like the new system argue back that in elementary school, we got "Needs work" or "Outstanding" instead of an A or C+ so why can't we continue that into high school. They felt that although the letter system had nothing wrong with it, adding extra comments stating where the child needs improvement also isn't a bad thing. It shows students constructive criticism to let them improve for the best.

    In my opinion, I am stuck in the middle. I think that we just have both grading systems and the feedback system. Without getting graded on our performance in school, it's just like getting a medal for participating instead of winning first or second place. I agree that seeing a bad grade on my report card makes me want to get better marks, yet the feedback system can help me improve my weak points to get better grades. I like the feedback system because instead of focusing on just grades, I can get criticism to improve my work. Overall, I like both of the systems and I think we should have both on our report cards.

HELP ME

What is for homework, how do we put our Proposal on google docs and for #3 do we have to make a rubric?