Climbing blog

The climbing unit we had this year was really fun. We enjoyed a lot and we accomplished a lot of things and we made a lot of goals that we had to work on. As far as I can see my writing log, I am proud of myself. I achieved a lot of things this year which I couldn't do last year. There were some things that I had to work on but as time went by, I completed them all. Some of the things I achieved this year included doing a wall F blindfolded. When I mastered this skill, I tried the chimney blindfolded. I went half way up and got sore limbs. Also another thing that I accomplished this unit included to do four players attached and three of them blindfolded.

There is always to work on even when you are the best. Some of the goals I had this year had to do with me trying to get up a wall blindfolded and i accomplished this one the third day of this unit. Another goal that I had this year was to try doing the overhang. On the last day of this climbing unit, I tried my luck on the climbing unit. I got to the point where we had to turn and hang but I failed and fell. This happened to me several times. On the last time I tried, I got to the same place and I was about to fall when my partner gave me encouragement and pulled me up the rest of the way.

As for the climbing and belaying part, I was really good at all times except for the part when I dropped a person while belaying. My hand slipped on the handle and I got a rope burn. Overall, I think I was very good in terms of climbing and assisting. Belaying was a little challenge but I got it down as we went through.

Even though I had some things that I did not accomplish, I am proud of what I did during this unit. I made some goals and I nearly accomplished all of them. Hence, I will make more goals next year so that I can be a better climber next year and improve my skills.

The non-violence fight...........

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.

Mahatma Gandhi

There are many ups and downs in life. Some people are free and others are not. Some people have the rights to do some things and some people just do not. There are many people who are brave stand up for their rights and freedom - but some people just fall too short because of the lack of power they have or their race. Such was the story of India. India was under the British rule for nearly 200 years. India's interaction with the Britishers started from the late 16th century. On such a day was born this great man, Mahatma Gandhi, who fought for his rights and the freedom of his country.

The Britishers came to India to influence trade by the command of Queen Elizabeth 1 in the year of 1600. The British nationals came to India to trade spices in the South. When they came to India, they established the East India Company in Calcutta. After a little chit-chat with the Indian rulers, the Brits set up their factories all over Calcutta and India. Later, the Brits took advantage of internal conflicts and soon set-up colonies in India. By the year of 1856, most of India was under the rule of the Britishers.

In the year of 1914, the great Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi returned to India to fight for rights and freedom. He had been in politics for several years where he fought for human rights and freedom. Once in South Africa, he was thrown off a bus for not following orders. The rule was that whenever a 'white' man entered a bus, the 'black' man would have to give up his seat for the 'white' man to sit. This act offended Mahatma Gandhi a lot and he started to fight but without violence. Mahatma Gandhi started many movements in India to get the Britishers out of India. He had seen many coincidences of race and rights in South Africa, but none was as harsh as this.

One of the Acts he had started in India was the Non- Cooperation Movement. This movement was launched in the year of 1920. In this movement, the Indians were told not to cooperate with the Britishers. The Indian Citizens stopped following the orders that the British government were giving them. The started doing street demonstrations and protests. They agreed with nothing that the government told them to do. This movement turned out to be a great success as millions of people gathered from all around the country to protest.

Another act that Mahatma Gandhi had started was the Civil Disobedience Movement. This movement was put to place in the year of 1930. The main purpose of this movement was to completely disobey the orders of the British government. During this movement, it was decided that India would celebrate its Independence day on the 26th of January. On 26th January, 1930 meetings were held all over the country and the congress tricolor was hoisted. The government tried to repress its rules but failed and resorted to brutal firing. Thousands of people were killed and many were captured including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. This movement was revived again.

The last movement that Mahatma Gandhi started was the 'Quit India Movement'. This is known to be the mot important movement for the independence of India. This movement was launched in the year of 1942. The main purpose of this movement was to force the Britishers out of India. Another name of this act was 'mass civil disobedience movement'. The citizens called a 'do or die' call to force out the Britishers. This movement was followed by large-scale destruction and violence. However, all the leaders were arrested, the congress was banned and the army was brought out to suppress the movement.

India got its freedom after all the struggle in the year of 1947. Without Mahatma Gandhi and his followers, the independence of India might not have been possible. We should all thank our ancestors for the great work they have done for us. We should thank them for their courage and their bravery that they had to fight for the independence of India. Do you have your freedom? If you don't, go fight for it!
I found this source inspirational because we have a lot to learnt from it. We never think about how much freedom we have. We just live with what we have. But I believe that we should have the courage to go and fight for it. Mahatma Gandhi also fought for the same thing- FREEDOM!!


Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFaFXgnmF9c
http://www.india.gov.in/knowindia/culture_heritage.php?id=7
http://www.india.gov.in/knowindia/culture_heritage.php?id=6
http://www.india.gov.in/knowindia/culture_heritage.php?id=7
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/m/mahatma_gandhi.html#ixzz1kMrIByw7
http://www.flowofhistory.com/units/eme/18/FC123

The Dominant Factor

Everybody has a unique way of learning and studying things. People learn to do stuff best when they are sitting in the right place, listening with their good ear, visualizing things with their dominant eye and when they have a solution to the stress they have at school or at other places. The dominant profile test helps us know all of these things. We get to know if we are 'Logic Hemisphere Dominant' or 'Gestalt Hemisphere Dominant'.

On Wednesday, 14th of December, Mr. Whiting introduced us to the basics of this and made us have the dominant hemisphere test. In the test, I came to know that I was 'Logic Hemisphere Dominant'. If you are 'Logic Hemisphere Dominant', it means that you work very systematically and you are very organized. In this test, my profile was 'BB'. This means that my dominant eye is the right one, my dominant ear is the left one, my dominant hand is the right one and my dominant leg is the left one.

In order for me to gain knowledge the best, I have to sit at the front of the room and at the right side so that I can use my dominant ear the most. If I am under stress, brain-gym activities help me a lot to come out of the stress. The lazy 8s and the cross lateral foot play like cross-crawls are some activities that help me a lot. Another thing that helps me a lot is to visualize something from a whole perspective, and explore ambiguity, emotions and movement.

To improve my learning skills and activities that may help are: I need to practice reading out loud , active listening, Brain Gym Thinking Caps, megaphones, listening to the words of music and playing soccer.

I would want my teachers to know that I am logical learner and I prefer to do things in a systematical order. I would also want them to know that I work best when I listen to some kind of music or tone. I may have some problem with spelling and memory but they are only temporary.

All these things listed above help me to be a better learner and a better student in the class. Every other student has a different manner of improve their learning skills and process things in their brain. Knowing your Dominant Eye, Ear, Brain, Hand and Foot can improve your learning a lot. If the teachers follow all the things that help me learn, I will definitely improve in class and get better grades.

Buy less and protect the environment

In the video, 'The Story of Stuff', encourages us to realize what we have done to this planet in the past few years. We have wasted nearly all the natural resources we had. We only have one planet, and so we only have a limited amount of resources. The story of stuff tells us where the stuff comes from and where it ends when we throw it away. It tells us what many of the products are made of and what affect they have on the environment. We should fight for people to consume less and own less.

Environment is one of the things we should fight for. All the stuff that is made, comes from the extraction of mountains and trees. People take away water and chop down the trees to manufacture products. They blow up the mountain so that they can use up the metal inside. Because of the use of natural resources, 1/3 of the planet's natural resources are gone. 75% of the global fisheries are fished at or beyond capacity. 40% of the waterways have been undrinkable. Also, the U.S creates more than 30% of the world's waste. There are a limited amount of resources on this planet and we have to protect them by fighting for people to consume less.

What the companies do next is to put the resources into the factory and start creating products with them. They use a lot of toxics to create products. After that, they sell it to the citizens and make the products cheaper so that the citizens can afford to buy it. The companies want the customers to buy a lot of the stuff. So they make things which cannot be reused and are not supposed to last that long. As a matter of fact, the customers throw the products away to buy new stuff. The stuff that has been thrown away gets burnt and all the chemicals are released into the air. This causes pollution, As a matter of fact, the U.S admits to be releasing over 4,000,0000,000 LBS of toxic chemicals each year. We do not want pollution. People should consume less in order to slow down the rate of pollution.

Additionally, it is important to fight against the advertisements the media makes everyday. The media makes well over 3000 advertisements per day to make us want to go shopping and buy new stuff everyday. For example, if you just bought a phone with no camera. You find out that there is new phone with a camera and certain more features. You get interested and go buy the new product and dump away the old one. For this reason, more stuff is made and it results in a lot of pollution. But if you don't buy the new product, it shows that you have not contributed in the process of consumerism.

Technology is changing rapidly everyday. New things are coming out the old things are being trashed and burnt up to form chemicals. People throw away things that are perfect in shape and could be used longer. If we could stop this, we could stop the world from polluting.

As it has been noted, we should stop the people from consuming and owning less for their own good. If this does not stop, more of the natural resources will be extracted and be trashed to make a specific product. Companies may develop another way of manufacturing the products and perhaps it may be a "green way", where less natural resources and people will be wasted. Perhaps it may also use less toxins so that less pollution is created. This information would make people educated, and they will not be influenced by the media. If we consume and own less, we will be able to live longer and make this planet survive a little longer. This source is inspirational because Annie Leonard it helps us learn why consuming and owning less stuff is important for the environment.

Information from:

Google images

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Leonard

Hopes and Dreams

John Marsden Poem

The poem, prayer of the 21st century, is a prayer for the future of the Earth and its Mankind. This poem is named the 'Prayer of the 21st century' because it lets us know what the mankind hopes the world to be like. The speaker is trying to influence the readers to make the world a better place to live for the mankind and the children. The speaker wrote this poem because he wants the world to change. He wants the world and its people to have justice, freedom, fairness, human rights, no oppression and Peace.

Peace is important to fight for because is the key to everything positive in this world. To live a happy life we need to have a peaceful world. There should be no war, fear and terror in order to have a peaceful life. In John Marsden's poem he states that;

"May every aircraft land safely,

May every traveller be found,

May sailors in crossing the seas

Not her the cries of the drowned."

With the stanza stated above, we can tell that the speaker is trying to say that we should have a world where there is no fear and terror. There should be no war. Lets live in a world where nobody is scared of anybody and everybody has their own rights to do anything they wish. This stanza relates to a poem called the 'two roads in a yellow wood'. The poem tells us about how we should have the rights to make our own choices and decisions. Our choices depend on many things, it helps us find what we are looking for.

Additionally it is important to fight for Human Rights because everybody in this world has the same rights as the other. A poor person has the same rights as a rich person. In the poem, 'The Prayer of the 21st century', the speaker states:

"May those who live in the shadows

Be seen by those who live in the sun."

The lines stated above mean that the rich people should look down at the poor and see their sorrows. The rich people should not brag about their money and how much power they have. The poor people are the one who live in the shadows which represent sorrows and other things that are not good. The people who live in the sun are those who shine, are dictators and don't have that much sorrows in their life. The speaker wants the rich, the greedy, the oppressors and the cruel to look down at the people in the shadows who are being oppressed and are powerless.

These dreams for a better world without war, without greed, hunger and starvation, without oppressiveness, with peace and freedom is a world worth fighting for. The prayer stated above is just a hope and a dream. My prayer for the 21st century would be to make the hopes and dreams come true and not let them float in the air.

The most important thing.....

In case you hadn't noticed

It has become cool

To not to believe strongly in what you think is right

it is uncool to question

and DECLARE that you need freedom...

People on the street

have heard of the word but don't question it

Have their tongues been chopped down

Have they got nothing to say

Have they forgotten the point

or have disguise the fact

that we've become slaves!!

I exhort you, I challenge you

Have the determination to speak up!

Join me and I will help you make it all better.....

The poem above describes the fact that we should have freedom in the world. We should not be bystanders. We should not just stand at the side and see bad things happen beside you. You have to stand up and make everything right. If you think that one person can't make a change; then perhaps you are wrong because you are the one who can start the change. You can lead it! "Be the change you want to be in the world", as Mahatma Gandhi said, relates to this topic too. Even he started out alone for the freedom of India but eventually the whole of the country came in to join. Everybody wants freedom for their country or their nation even if they lose their life! They will want their freedom in any way, even if it costs their life. I inspires you to fight for what is right; freedom!! :)

India's freedom

"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."

Mahatma Gandhi

What is freedom? Freedom is the right to do anything. If there was no freedom to make mistakes, what would be the point of freedom. It was a cold winter day; October 2nd, when this great soul was born. Mahatma Gandhi! Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India was the person who guided India safely to freedom from the British control. Because of this great man, India got its freedom in the year of 1947. This man encouraged many others to join him during the war, and he helped people fight for their rights and their freedom.

Freedom is worth fighting for because everybody has the rights to do what ever they want. Can you imagine a place without freedom? There would be fighting everywhere. Everybody would want to fight for their freedom. Nobody wants to be a slave. As Langston Hughes says, "I dream a world where all will know sweet freedoms way". He wants to tell us that everybody should have their own freedom. Everybody on this Earth, no matter what race or color they are, have the same rights as every other person. Every man will share the bounties of the Earth and there will be no greed, as Langston Hughes states in his poem. He says that there will be no unhappiness in this Earth. There will be jot everywhere.

In Hughes poem, he mentions that "peace will adorn its way and no man other man will scorn". Without freedom, there can be no peace. Everybody would be fighting for their freedom. There would be huge war. How is this peace? In order to have peace, every other man should have freedom. Hughes also says that no other man will scorn. He is trying to say that, nobody is worthless. Everybody should have the chance to so something in his/her life. Every man can do something for this Earth. As the saying goes, "Be the change you want to see in the world". This quote means that if one person stands up for their freedom, the whole country will come to their senses. Every man can do something to change this world.

India, in the late 90's had no freedom. Mahatma Gandhi, the great soul of India, started alone to fight for India's freedom. After a while, the whole nation joined him to get freedom. When Mahatma Gandhi wan in South Africa, he was travelling in a bus. The rule was that whenever a white person entered the bus, the black would have to give up his seat. But Mahatma Gandhi refused to do so when this case happened with him. He was thrown out of the bus because of his actions. This is when he started the civil rights movement. He wanted everybody to be equal and fair. He has been arrested a several times for trying to do the right act. He never did any violence. He only fought with his mouth which never said bad to any other living being. Freedom and peace was all he wanted.

Another great soul was Martin Luther King. He had stood up for the black people. He didn't want any difference between the white and the black. He wanted everyone to be equal and fair. Martin was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and Bayard Rustin. He was amazed to see that Mahatma Gandhi did no violence to the the British. Martin Luther king wanted everybody to have equal rights and the same share of the Earth. He stood up for himself, after some time, millions of people joined him in this act. He had made the world a better place to live.

Imagine the people who fought for years and years to make this world a better place to live. Right now, if there had been no act of this civil rights, you would have not been in the situation you would not have as much freedom. You would have strict rules and you would have no rights. You should thank you ancestors for making this world better place just for you!

In this world, everybody longs for their rights to do anything. Every other man wants freedom. If there is freedom, there is peace. Don't you want your freedom?!