S is for School

"RING, RING, RING" "OH MY GOSH THE BELL! I can't be late again! Oh jeez Miss Weldons going to KILL me if I don't have my L/A binder today! But If I get it then I'll be late! Wait was there homework? A SPEECH! For today? WHAT? I promised my best friend I'd meet him on the swings this recess, now I have to go to homework club! Oh well I better get to class". "Sigh"

"Your Late" Miss Weldons tells me as I scurry in from the hall, without my L/A Binder.

"And let me guess, your dog ate your L/A binder and your homework?" I try to just get to my seat before I get really embarrased.

School! what can I say? There's homework! that is hard enough. Why do we need tests, quizzes, assignments, exams, AND homework?!?! People forget their homework all the time, and every time they do they get put behind, causing them to do worse on tests, quizzes, assignments, and exams.

People have extra curricular activities too you know! How can they juggle all of that? Someone could come home at 6:00 from a long practice for soccer, then they try to relax for about half and hour then they study for about an hour and a half. Then they have to be up until 9:00 doing there homework, finaly realising that they have to finsh an entire assignment for tommorrow. So they work untill 11:30 at night getting everything done.

The next day at school they have a hard time trying to concentrate because they are just so tired. And then the teachers wonder why their students aren't doing aswell as they could be.

Don't forget people need to have a social life too! After people's extra curricular activity they have half an hour to learn about the latest gossip, and talk to their friends about how everything is going! Then people have parents who give them chores, and take them out to dinner. How can they do ALL of this in thirty minutes?


The weekend should be a break though, right? Well many teachers think that since the students have two whole days to the work, they pile it up. Then the teachers make it seem like the entire weekend is a long time, but it's only two days. When the teachers do this, they make the students feel really relaxed, causing them to leave everything untill sunday night, and then they have a hectic night. Causing them to have tired morning.

People also have their own personal problems too. Like when students get ill. They could potentialy miss a lot of school. And the teachers just give them all the work they missed, plus the new work, and all future assignments still are expected to be handed in on time!?!? Kids who are in prediciments like these usually just have to quit there after school activity and then they have to be working until nine or ten o'clock finishing everything.

Then when people go on vacation, they have to do all their work when they're supposed to be having a good time on holiday. Students get really excited for their vacation then they get a pile of work to do, causing them not to have at all a good time! Then if they don't do and have a good time instead, the teacher doesn't think that they should give them a break because they were on vacation, they just put them in homework club untill the see the work.

Teachers should give students a break on their tests, quizzes, assignments, exams, and homework. Why assign so much homework? Why have so many tests? Why make pop quizzes? Just make it easy for the students, give them a break! Before the tests give them hand outs they can do so that they can definatley be ready. Don't assign so much homework that the student feel overwhelmed with it all, just give them a page at at time. And please don't make the assignments so hard that it takes the students an hour to read the instructions.

Life Lesson: Teachers, don't school so difficult that I can write this much about how hard it is. Please.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L16ZeEYRNaM&feature=related
Thatr video is about homework

By the way, I didn't mean to make you look so mean in this Miss Weldon. Your WAAAAYYY nicer than that. :P

Andy Takhar

A is for Andy

ANDY! That's what A is for! Well Andy is me, I mean I'm Andy. I was born October 26th 1997. I guess that's all I can say. I guess I can tell you where I was born (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) and I can tell you my age (12) but really what else? I guess I don't know much to say.

This should really be easy to write about, I mean who know's more about me than me? Maybe my mom could tell me, or maybe one of my friends, but what makes me different? What makes me be able to write something about my life without people getting bored. Did I telll you that I have a sister named Pree, or that I'm in grade seven....umm......well....maybe...no.. I guess I actually have nothing to say about me!

Maybe I can't explain me because I've never seen me. I guess I've never seen me in person. So could my classmates tell me who I am? That definatley doesn't seem right. So what should I do? I'm trying to write a series of blog post alphabetically and I'm stuck at the first one! And to make it worse the first one is about ME! How can I be stuck on writing something about me, I've been me for almost 13 years, I've been researching for this blog post for almost 13 years without even knowing it, yet I don't know what to write.

I think that I have a very good personality, and that I give off a good vibe when you meet me. I like hanging with friends and just relaxing somewhere. And then I get stuck. What else can I say? ARGH! It's just so frustrating!
So I can't right off the bat tell you who I am, but maybe that will make it more fun! Throughout the next few week I will be writting a series of blog posts, and by the end I'll probably be able to tell you.

Is it weird that I can't explain myself? Is it weird that I can't just simply put that I'm this or I'm that. No. Because that's what makes me different. That's what makes me be able to write something about my self without people getting bored. I'm Unique, and definatley not boring!

Life Lesson:
You don't have to feel bad that if you can't explain yourself right away, because if you can't then your way more unique! :)

Empathy

Empathy - The ability to share in another's emotions, thoughts, or feelings.

How does Deborah Ellis make me so empathetic? She manages to tap into my mind and make me feel bad for these people I don't even know. I mean all through Breadwinner I felt so much Empathy for Parvana.

I have no idea what it's like to be pregnant. If Deborah Ellis was writting a book on the pains of being pregnant then she would have to manage to make me feel empathy for a pregnant person. But still the question remains, how do authors make their readers feel empathy?

I believe that authors just put down the foundation for empathy and the readers do the rest.

"Afghanistan needs more illiterate thugs like you," Father said. One of the soldiers hit him in the face. Blood dripped onto his Shalwar Kameez.

-Breadwinner, pg. 31

I felt empathy when Deborah Ellis wrote this because I imagined that I was wearing my favourite outfit and it just got ruined by these mean men who just came into my house randomly.

Deborah Ellis didn't expect me to connect it to that for all she knows I could of connected that I was in Afghanistan.

So in conclusion authors don't make Empathy we do.

Nov. 3rd, My name is Ameer...

I walk into the street and see tons of men trying to sell things. Women are walking around covered from head to toe in burquas in the hot sun. I hear screams from the Taliban beating girls. My throat is parched, but I can't go home, I know I have to finish my job. If I don't work my family will go hungry. Little do you know, I'm only twelve.

What kind of life is this for a twelve year old. I bet he doesn't beg his parents for a new I-pod, or have tantrums in the grocery store for chocolate. He doesn't wake up in the morning and go to school, turn in his homework, and come home. He gets up, and starts to work. If he doesn't sell enough of his items he knows that his family won't eat. His father's been killed by the Taliban, his mother is depressed because of this. Both of his sisters just walk around the house aimlessly, and he has no other family. He doesn't have any hope, friends, or inspiration.

This young boy, Ameer, is the breadwinner for his family. They survive off of the little money Ameer makes. He has his entire family depending on him, he can't accidentally drop all of his items he sells, he can't not feel like going to work in the morning , he can't even take a break and go home to get a drink of water. Imagine that.

Now imagine you are Ameer. With no one to play with you, no one you can hug when your upset, not even a bed you can cry on. What would you do?

A twelve year old in this day and age usually have the latest I-pods, cell phones, laptops and cry if they don't get these things. Ameer just wants a glass of water he can bring when he is working to support his family.

So Ameer is a the only boy in his family so he has to work (because women can't). Ameer works everyday in the busy market so he can support his family. He works very hard, but can still only get enough money to eat and live. He does the same routine everyday. So imagine if you were him. I know I would act a whole lot differently.

For more information about Afghanistan street children, and a fabulous organization please visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPAFSvgH_Xw

Eva Olsson Speech Oct. 29th

"Wow" I thought to myself as Eva Olsson spoke. Immediatley a thousand questions ran through my mind. "How could they do that?", "What did they do?", "How did this start?". When Eva started to speak I knew that I was going to have a truly remarkable speech told to me today.

I'm sure your probably sitting there pondering what I could be possibly be talking about. Well, I was talking about the holocaust and a lady named Eva Olsson who came to my school and talked about her life in the holocaust and the tragaties she had to go through.

Before this presentation all I knew was that 60 odd years ago a war happened and jewish people were mistreated. But now I know it was so much more. People were sent gas chambers to suffocate, girls saw their parents be killed in the gas chambers, and people starved to death. I don't know what I would have done if I was in those days. I will find it hard to remember that

The most shocking part of the entire presentation was when Eva told us that people were put on trains that went up and down the tracks for a few weeks until the jewish people on the train just wasted away. This was shocking because they didn't just give them a painless death, they tortured them. This almost brought me to tears. I don't know why they wanted to hurt these people so badly.

I will definatley remeber this speech for years to come. What she said was so remarkable that I couldn't stop thinking about it. I really didn't know why they did this in the first place. I didn't know how they brainwashed the soldiers into doing these things. And I didn't know what the jewish people did. I wanted to research but my mom advised me not to, she said I might come across some disturbing things that I would want to wait untill I'm older to see.

I have tryed so hard never to say hate again. I mean if the word hate started the holocaust, I don't want to start another one! Eva Olsson told us that hate is an evil word and now that I think it about it is. At first when Eva Olsson said not to say hate, me and probably a lot of people on the school thought:

"Ya right, I'm not going to start another Holocaust by saying hate".

But after the presentation I definatley changed my train of thought.

So, in overal I think that Eva Olsson changed the way I think about the holcaust.

By Andy Takhar

Norval October 22th 2009

Over the course of three hours my team and I had two activities that made us work more as a team. One of them was very hard, but when we worked together it became easy. Our team had to start on a block of wood, and walk across wires and try to get to another block of wood. It was at first, very hard, but soon we started to help each other and we did the entire activity very easily. When we started, people only cared about getting to there spots, and pushed people out of the way to get there. I guess our leader realized this and started to change the rules. When we realized that we could be voted off of the team, we started to help other people. By the end of the activity people had spent most of the time just helping other people! This was a great experience to see how well we could work if we just tryed more as a team.

I think one big problem our team had at first was that we didn't really comunicate a lot. Some people tryed to take total control, and some people didn't like that. We soon had to each give ideas and brain stormed together. We got a plan that wold help everyone.

"if you help liam get there, then when your finished I can help you, then Chloe can help me get to my spot and on the way help Kate..."

In the end we got a very detailed plan and it worked great. I think that if we didn't start communicating we would probably still be there now.

Norval was definitely a great learning expirience. I would definatly do it again. When we did the drums it was so fun, and the activities made me work so well with my partners. If I didn't go I would not be able to work in partners as well as I do now. I think that everyone had a good time at norval. I know that I did.

By: Andy Takhar 7B

Do clothes make the man?

October 12th

Do clothes make the man? That's an idiom that means people judge you by the way you dress and not by your personality, I'm going to explain to you how clothing shapes who you are, and how it doesn't.

Most people pick out their own clothes. You don't have people following you around telling you what to wear, you decide. So clothing doesn't shape who you are at all, infact you shape what your clothing is.

People judge other people by their clothing choice. People say they don't but everyone does, it's human nature. So maybe one day your parents buy you a few outfits, and they expect you wear them the next few days at school. You don't want to, but you do to make them happy. People at your school or at the mall or even on your street, will look at your clothes and judge you. Some people might hate the outfit and not hang out with you, but some people my love your outfit and hang out with you. So if you wear types of clothes that make really energetic people hang out with you then you will be influenced by those people to act energetic. Even though before you wore those clothes you weren't very energentic.

Maybe if you wear a suit rather than some ripped jeans and an old t-shirt you will get a better job, changing wear you live, how you eat, what you do in your spare time, and how much money you have. Clothes can actually change everything about you!

People also do want to always have the latest trends, maybe wearing a new pear of skinny jeans from American Eagle and a brand new top from Abercrombie matched with a hoodie from H&M make you feel really good and self confident, letting you be brave and maybe talk to your teacher about your grades, or ask the girl you like out, or eat that last french fry! Well now I'm getting off topic but honestly, you know I'm right.

So what I'm trying to say is that clothes don't shape who you are but people do, and people judge if they want to hang out with you by the clothing you wear, so ultimatley clothing influences your entire personality, shaping who you are.

But also clothing doesn't shape who you are in a sense, because some people at first think they don't like someone's clothes and try not to talk to them, but then they face their fears and walk up to that person and talk to them. This isn't because of your clothing choice or anything, it's because this person wants to talk to you to see if you'd be a good friend.

Clothing isn't always the first thing that people look at aswell maybe they'l look at you hair colour, or your cleanliness, or your skin colour. Maybe that's how they'll judge you, who knows? People really shouldn't though. They should talk to you before they make the decision to like you or dislike you.

Unfortunatley most of the world is shallow so that's how people decide if they like, or dislike you

So, what I'm trying to say is that someone could have their entire personality changed by thier clothes but maybe not.

By Andy Takhar 7B