Such beautiful moments!

Loved reading these moments you shared Osman, Manreet and Leah - all very magical :)

Magical Moment

My magical moment is when I got my cat. The only other type of pet I had before that was fish. Fish are boring. I remember when we first brought her inside our house. She was so scared and confused, and was meowing loudly. She kept close to the walls for some reason. When she sat on the couch for the first time, she sat like a human, but has never done it since. It was magimatically magic.

One of my magical moments.

       A magical moment of mine would be the day my little cousin Lilia was born on November 8th 2010. I was so excited when my Mom told me that the baby was a girl. A few days later my family and I got on the ferry and headed to Victoria, BC. I remember seeing her and holding her for the first time, it was such a magical moment.

My Magical Moment...

My magical moment was when I went I reached California for the first time after a long and tiring 22 hour drive. It was great watching the sunset while we were pulling into our hotel which was surrounded by palm trees. I was very tired but also extremely excited for the following days that would be spent at Disneyland.

Zaccheus Jackson Slam Poetry Presentation

On Monday, during the Humnities 8 block, a slam poet named Zaccheus Jackson came to our school for a presentation. At the start, Jackson introduced his background, as well as ask a few questions somewhat relevant to his life story, and the reason of him becoming a slam poet. He started presenting slam poetries he created while also explaining the reason of creation. Jackson hooked the audience by his loud voice, as well as the tone to make his words more interesting than a teacher's lecture. He included fine details of his past, and how he created works of art by just living everday life. Jackson's word choices fully expressed the emotions he felt while making the slam poetries. By presenting this way, the audience will feel the curiosity to listen until the end. The presentation felt inspirational, as to how one could turn their life another way by just simply creating or accomplishing something; to attain confidence. Jackson has showed us how one choice in life could greatly become your downfall, or become your saviour.

Poetry as an art!

       Poetry is an art as it is a creative way to explain or express yourself, thinking, emotions etc. Sometimes it can be very hard for people to come up with a poem. Perhaps it has to rhyme or you cannot find the right words to make it flow. Everyone has their own creative way of doing something. Maybe it’s drawing, painting, dance, theatre, poetry or another creative activity. Poetry is not a visual art such as drawing, or painting or a performing art such as dance, acting, or singing although it can be a performing art when reciting it, but not writing it. Poetry is an art of language, words, and letters maybe sometimes even numbers. It is coming up with something and writing something of your own; processing ideas through your head until you find the right one.  Everybody has a creative side, poetry could be yours!

Slam Poetry: My opinion on Zack's presentation

  Today at Fraser Heights Secondary we had Zack Jackson, a slam poet come in and present some of his poetry to us. His poems are very interesting and they all seemed to connect to his life. His poems were inspiring and I think that many kids interested in writing would become motivated and inspired by his poems as well as his stories. He showed that ideas for poems can come from anywhere, from a jail cell to a bus stop. I think he executed his poems really well, not only by talking in a loud and clear voice but also by using hand gestures. I would love to hear some of his poetry again next year.

Things That Are Obsolete In Today's Schools

     In the article "14 things that are obsolete in 21st century schools", the author argues that many things that we consider normal in our schools, such as phones being banned, are no longer reasonable. Since many things have changed since the last time rules such as these have been placed, many of them are not relevant any more and should be changed.
     Half of the people that actually care about anything, think that these rules should not be changed. They believe that keeping the rules "old fashioned" is better, for whatever reason. Banning wifi, and phones, and computer rooms, and all these USEFUL technology devices is the best idea to them. Not trying to offend anyone, but these people are the kind of people from the past. They don't understand that technology is HUGE in today's society and forgetting about it and banning it is a bad idea.
     The other half of the people agree with the author of this post. These are the more "up to date" people that understand that technology is really important and isn't the root of all evil. (Which is pretty much what people that disagree with this think) I do understand that it can easily be used for bad things and can cause distractions in the class. But if you reinforce the rules, like any other classroom rules, that texting in class is bad, then you would be fine.
     In my opinion, I think all of these 14 things are obsolete. All but 1, which is #8, unhealthy food in cafeterias. I really don't see why they don't sell unhealthy food in cafeterias. (Most) people (like me) are responsible and don't eat unhealthy food too much, but whenever you want some you might as well buy some. Not selling any also doesn't really make a difference in our school because we have all these stores beside our school that has candy and other unhealthy things. But technology wise, I think we should add these things in schools. You can do so much more with technology that you can with books, paper and... that's it. That's pretty much all schools had before. Technology is everywhere, why not have it in schools?
    The end

How do songs specifically about kindness change you outlook on the world?

This is my video on how songs specifically about kindness change your outlook on the world. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/29/kindness-playlist_n_4682174.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

http://behavinglikemusic.webs.com/

Do Schools Kill Creativity

Schools are the start of, Creativity fading, Thus should change for good. School district is now, Changing for better future, Students of all schools. Being commanded, Restricting children's future, Society's fall. Innovate and start, Ahead to the new future Will be this world's hope.

Current Events: Things that Should be Changed About High School

    Every once in a while a high school student wishes that there were some things different about high school. Not just the typical "I wish we never had homework," but also some creative ideas that can help improve them and their classmates learning. Today you will be reading about the different opinions students have about what they want to change about highschool. Hopefully you will learn something new about the things that can make high school a happier and stress free place.
    While I was looking at some teens opinions there was one that I found quite interesting which said"@HuffPostTeen I wish they taught us how to pay our taxes or handle the debt of a college education." This is definitely some thing that the teacher and school staff should take into consideration. Many senior students may be afraid of what their life after high school would be like. A course that can offer to teach you how to handle your life after you've moved out of your parents house will be reassuring. This course can definitely prepare you for what your future holds and can be a great start to your independent life. Courses like this could teach you about taxes, the government and maybe even how to write a good job resume.
    Another post that seemed like a good idea said "@HuffPostTeen Eliminate grades, focus on learning not memorizing." I'd have to say that I definitely agree on this opinion. Focusing on learning rather than memorizing would definitely make learning new things better. Many kids are often stressing about many tests coming up and only focus on memorizing for the day of the test. After they're finished that test they immediately forget everything they memorized because they see no more use for it. But if you're given actual projects and assignments that have to do with what your learning then you will actually remember and understand what your doing. Such as innovation week, we got a whole week to learn about new things and it was a great opportunity for everyone.
    My opinion of changing one thing about high school is mostly the same topic as the paragraph above. We should definitely have more projects and assignments that represent out learning rather than tests. Many people get nervous from tests and don't get to do their best, but if teachers can come up with more and more ways to show our progress that would definitely make a difference in our learning.

Woman's hockey

In 2014 Sochi winter Olympics people said that women`s hockey should not be in the Olympics because the balance between Canadian teams and USA were unfair to the rest of the teams that played women`s hockey. The International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel on Tuesday said that they were guaranteed women's hockey would not be taken out of the Olympics for 2018.The NHL commissioner Gary Bettmanwas talking to President Rene Fasel about taking hockey out and it would be "distressed" if it did happen. Gary refuses to talk about NHL players playing in the 2018 winter Olympics in South Korea. The NHL hired former WNBA president Val Ackerman as a consultant to look into the women's professional league. One other reason why they are thinking of taking Women’s hockey out of Winter Olympics in 2018 is because when Canada played Slovakia they won 17-0. I say that if there was going to be women’s hockey in 2018 other teams then Canada and USA has to be stronger so they will not be a blowout 17-0 again. If this does happen in the 2018 winter Olympics they should take women’s hockey out and wait till other teams are more developed. In Canada we have 80,000 girls playing, and in Finland they have maybe 4,000 or 4,500 playing hockey, and maybe 2,000 in Sweden and in Switzerland.

Judged sports/Olympics

    Should judged sports really be in the Olympics? This is a questions raising concern in the International Olympic Committee. Although sports like figure skating, gymnastics and skiing are a pleasure to have in the Olympics, many people still question if judging is fair. It is a judges duty to always go with what their head says(which is who did the best performance), than what their heart says (which is to honour their countries athletes) and that may or may not lead to them being a bit more generous towards certain athletes. The IOC was first founded in 1894. Around that time there were only a few events such as boxing, wrestling, running, equestrian events and pentathlon. None of there events really needed judging so I assume that judged sports were brought up in the 1900's.

    Many people believe that the idea of the Olympics is to have a peaceful international competition. But including the judging in the games may not be the best choice for the athletes. If the Olympics had no judged events there would probably be less controversy between the countries that have judges from their nationality and countries without any judges participating in the games. Even if we do continue judging events, there will always be a suspicion towards the judges from the losing team. Its not fair when an athlete has spent his/her whole life preparing for that event and after that they are told that they have lost by only a few points. How is an athletes career supposed to depend on a couple of judges?

    If the Olympic committee were to take judged sports out of the Olympics there would be lots of protests. There are many judges sports out there, some of which are the only events that matter to some watching the Olympics. Judged events are a big part of the Olympics and stopping them would be extremely disappointing to the viewers and even more to the athletes. Maybe if the judges weren't told which team was competing at that moment, they would sort of go on neutral and focus on the performance only.

    My opinion is that there should still be judged events. Because if there wasn't the hard work of some if not most of the athletes would go to waste. I think there should just be more loyal and strict judges. The only way to make sure nothing was going on between the judges and athletes would be to not let the athletes or coaches communicate with any of the judges.

Communal Dining

     Communal Dining is when a restaurant has a big table that everyone sits at, instead of a bunch of smaller tables, that smaller groups sit in. Some people think this is a good idea for people to socialize, make friends, and make the city more friendly. Apparently for immigrants, it isn't that easy to make friends in Vancouver, because people usually keep to their selves. Even though Canada is known for the people to be really nice and say "sorry" all the time. (and aboot).
     One half of the people that are living in Vancouver think this is a great idea. A lot of people that move here are lonely, and want to make some friends, so why no throw some random strangers all together in one table? Surely that will help. It helps people bond, and engage in conversations. It helps improve peoples social skills (I could use that), and also improves your manors. Also eating makes people happy, so when you're talking to a stranger you will be happy and you'll want to be friends.
     The other half of the people have a completely different perspective. They don't like it because they don't like the idea of the Government telling people how to eat. They want to chose to either sit with friends/family or to sit with random strangers. They like to have the freedom to chose. They think its a waste of time/money for the Government to do this when they can be doing more productive things, like stopping pollution or building stuff to improve the city.
     Coming from a shy person, I don't really like the idea. I like to eat food with people that I am comfortable being around and talking to, not strangers. I also think that it is a big waste of time and money, but some people (like me) have no friends and maybe could use this positively. The End

   

Should women's hockey stay part of the Olympics?

            Should women’s hockey stay a part of the Olympics? There are different reasons of why it should be and why it shouldn't. Perhaps it shouldn't be removed.  There is always controversy after every winter Olympics if women’s hockey should still be included. There are only eight nations that have women’s hockey teams that play in the Olympics. There are twelve nations with men’s hockey teams that play in the Olympics. Many people say that women’s hockey will stay in the Olympics but it may not.

            Many people say that women’s hockey in the Olympics isn't going anywhere. There were 325,000 people who watched the women’s final game from their desktop or mobile phone. There were 280,000 who watched the men’s Canadian game against Latvia from their desktop or mobile phone. More people seemed to tune into the women’s game. This shows that women’s hockey is a popular sport but not in all countries. Are men better than women at playing hockey? Both genders can have very exciting and competitive games. There is nothing that shows that males play better than females. It also wouldn't be fair if the men got to play and the women didn't.

Will women’s hockey leave the Olympic Games? The reason women’s hockey in the Olympics is always questioned is because since 1998 only five countries have received medals in the women’s hockey event. It is also a concern because just two countries have won gold medals, Canada and the United States. They want other countries to participate. So the whole idea of taking women’s hockey out of the Olympics was caused by there not being enough countries playing.

            Women’s hockey should not be taken out of the Olympics. Both men’s and women’s games can be competitive and exciting. It is understandable that they want more than eight countries to play women’s hockey but that is no reason to eliminate it from the games. Women’s hockey does not deserve to be eliminated from the Olympics. If it was eliminated, it would not be fair as men are not better players than women. Both genders are equal.

Sources:

http://afanobsessed.sportsblog.com/post/591963/should_women_s_ice_hockey.html

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sochi/iihf-president-women-s-hockey-will-never-be-out-of-olympics-1.1691364

http://globalnews.ca/news/1162894/is-womens-hockey-an-endangered-olympic-event/

http://www.canada.com/olympics/columns/dropping-olympic-womens-hockey-will-never-happen

http://www.voanews.com/content/france-sweeps-medals-for-first-time-at-winter-olympics/1855476.html (Picture) 

Blue Monday Revised Current Events Post

            Many people consider the first Monday of the New Year as blue Monday. For some it can be a bad day, for others it can be good; there are many different reasons why it could be good or bad. Everyone has their own perspective towards it.

            Studies show that you’re perhaps not the only person who is feeling depressed and in a bad mood on the first Monday of the year. Everybody has to go back to work and school; they don’t get to sleep in anymore. Blue Monday is also the day that has received the most negative tweets and the day where divorces are mostly discussed. There are many different reasons why blue Monday can be an unhappy day for some people. The weather may also make it a not so great day; and everybody receives their credit card bills with the huge amount of money that they spent on the holidays.

            Others consider blue Monday a good day. Those lucky people, that don’t have to return to work or school, they enjoy having fun with their wonderful families and people they enjoy spending time with, the important people in their life. Parents enjoy taking their children to the park and pushing them on the swings. There are many different reasons why blue Monday can also be a fun, good day for others.

            My personal opinion is that I think there are different ways of looking at blue Monday. I think it can be a good day for some people but not so good for others. Some enjoy it, if they enjoy seeing their coworkers and friends. Other people may not enjoy returning to school or work. Some may get to stay home and be with their younger children if they don’t have to work. I think it all depends on what they have planned for the day.

References:

These references helped me because they gave me facts and details to include in my current events post.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2014/jan/06/most-depressing-day-of-year-blue-monday

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/blue-monday-the-most-depressing-day-of-the-year-comes-early-1.16193727

http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/blue-monday-january-6-the-most-depressing-day-of-the-year/

Report card

In this article refferring about letter grades, the surrey school district has decided to remove letter grades from the education system. Right now, there are currently 39 schools within the surrey disrrict that has decided to adopt the new form of education without using letter grades. The choice surrey district chose was not a wise choice. Many parents who have read this article may think the surrey district is rather lazy in caring about student's grades. Although the surrey district has claimed that letter grades are unnessacary in constructive feedback, thus surrey district chose to abandon the system of letter grades that have been gong on since who knows when. The principals of participating schools simply said "most parents want better feedback", although on elementary report cards, there is a section labeled as "comments". This part should be the area teachers give their feedback towards the student. On most projects done during elementary schools, there also should be an area for comments from the teachers in regard towards their performance on the student's work. This is also another area for feedback from teachers. Letter grades are very important in the education system. Letter grades provide information to the parents in regard of the student's progress in learning. To know where the student is at is very crucial in terms of giving feedback. By deducting all the letter grades is the same way as hiding the student's skill level and progress from the parents. By doing this, nothing will come out as to benefit the learning and education student's have been working on, only to add additional vacations and breaks for the teachers. If the surrey school districts really wished to improve students skill and knowledge, they would not be taking such a step. My opinion is that letter grades are very crucial, as well as feedback. I do not think by deducting a major part in education will benefit students either way. If teachers only gave feedback, students will not know the grade they attain after working for long hours, day and night. By only giving feedback, the student will also feel discouraged as if their project was good enough, even after sugar coating words. They will lose self confidence in taking risks to higher levels of education when they probably could've done even earlier. To sum it up, by removing the letter grade system and replacing it for more feedback is a foolish desicion.

Report card changes: Edited

I understand that Surrey Schools want to abandon letter grades because feedback would be much more effective. A,B's and C's are simply not enough to show the child's progress. About 34 schools in Surrey want to take on this new form of evaluation. They believe that this will have a better affect on the child's learning.
As for the parents, they will have a better understanding of the child's learning habits and can help them make goals for the future to improve. Sending samples to the parents of the child's work would show them how much the child has improved throughout the year.
It seems that parents would have a better understanding of their child's learning in which they can know what areas their child needs improvement on. By this the parents can then know the child's strengths and weaknesses.
As for the child, I believe that he or she will take things more seriously if they get letter grades. On the other hand it is also helpful for the child to get one on one feedback from his or her teacher. The child could then make sure to improve on that mistake.
  In my opinion I think that high school students are old enough to get grades because then they know the expectations and how to exceed.I also believe that letter grades would motivate the student. For example if the got a B this term they would strive to get an A next term. If they got an A this term they would feel a lot of accomplishment and that would motivate them to keep doing their best. Whereas if it was just feedback they would not know how high the bar is set. But I know this idea will work very well on elementary students. They often don't understand why they got a certain letter grade and often come to the teacher for answers. So if teachers gave feedback to their students then they can discuss it with their parents and make goals for the future for what they want to improve on.
Here are a couple of links that have helped me write about this topic.

Http://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/dozen-more-surrey-schools-consider-scrapping-letter-grades-1.1630197

Here is another link that let me see both sides of the discussion

This link showed me that parents could really connect with their children's learning with this new program.

Report cards

Recently 34 elementary schools in surrey have made a shift to the new system. The new system lets parents and children how they are doing in class instead of bring a letter grade home; The new system is called constructive  feedback also more elementary schools are slowly joining into the new system.The reason is because they want the parents to have a better understanding where there child is at.

The idea of constructive feedback is that by offering more information about students projects and tasks, and focussing less on the superficial  “A,B or C” evaluation. Antonio Vendramin, principle of  George Vanier elementary school in surrey, says he appreciates that letter grades make it easy forparents to track their children’s progress – “It's an A, I know my kid is doing well”— but thinks they limit how students and parents interact over education.

So they are hoping that their removal  steers people into the constructive feedback instead or A,B or C.

Report cards

Recently 34 elementary schools in surrey have made a shift to the new system. The new system lets parents and children how they are doing in class instead of bring a letter grade home; The new system is called constructive  feedback also more elementary schools are slowly joining into the new system.The reason is because they want the parents to have a better understanding where there child is at.

The idea of constructive feedback is that by offering more information about students projects and tasks, and focussing less on the superficial  “A,B or C” evaluation. Antonio Vendramin, principle of  George Vanier elementary school in surrey, says he appreciates that letter grades make it easy forparents to track their children’s progress – “It's an A, I know my kid is doing well”— but thinks they limit how students and parents interact over education.

So they are hoping that their removal  steers people into the constructive feedback instead or A,B or C.

Current Events 09/01/2014

            Many people consider the first Monday of the New Year as blue Monday. For some it can be a bad day, for others it can be good. There are many different reasons why it could be good or bad. Everyone has their own perspective towards it.

            Studies show that you’re perhaps not the only person who is feeling depressed and in a bad mood on the first Monday of the year. Everybody has to go back to work and school. They don’t get to sleep in anymore. Blue Monday is also the day that has received the most negative tweets and the day where divorces are mostly discussed. There are many different reasons why blue Monday can be an unhappy day for some people.

            Others consider blue Monday a good day. Those lucky people, that don’t have to return to work or school. They enjoy having fun with their wonderful families and people they enjoy spending time with, the important people in their life. Parents enjoy taking their children to the park and pushing them on the swings. There are many different reasons why blue Monday can also be a fun, good day for others.

            My personal opinion is that I think there are different ways of looking at blue Monday. I think it can be a good day for some people but not so good for others. Some enjoy it, if they enjoy seeing their coworkers and friends. Other people may not enjoy returning to school or work. Some may get to stay home and be with their younger children if they don’t have to work. I think it all depends on what they have planned for the day.

Current Events

      I read an article about a program in Surrey in which 39 schools are removing letter grades completely and replacing them with an explanation of what the student is doing good in and what the student is doing bad in. They believe that giving them in depth feedback is better than a plain old A or B. It may also be easier to change your work habits by seeing what you have done wrong, or right.
     Some people think this may be a good idea. They think this because the student gets a better idea of what they are doing right or wrong. If they just get a B, that tells them nothing. It doesn't tell you if it was on time, what parts need improvement, etc. They cant see a B and instantly know what they are doing wrong. Telling them, "you could've handed it in a bit earlier, and made it a little bit more detailed" for example, is better, so they can fix what they have done wrong.
     The other remaining people think this is bad. Getting to see an A or B is convenient. You instantly know that you're doing good, or bad. If you are doing bad, then it is probably obvious what you are doing wrong. They think an explanation isn't needed, because the student can figure it out on their own.
     In my opinion, I don't see why they cant just keep both. If you see an A, then you know you're doing good, but then you can read and see which areas you're strong in. If you do bad, you can instantly see that you're doing bad and then you can see what you're doing wrong, and then change it. Having both is just a win-win situation, and doesn't get anyone mad.
     In conclusion, I think it is a great idea, but I don't see why they can keep both.