Second Semester Honors Book Club
For this project the honors we did a book club. Because I had completed honors last semester, I only had two read two out of the three books required. For each of the books that we read we had to participate in a seminar, but we only had to do a project for one of the books. The books that I chose to read were Half the Sky and Cat's Cradle. I chose these books because I had heard glowing reviews on both of them and i thought that it would benefit me to read them. I chose to do a project on Half the Sky. For my project I created an art piece that included a quote from the book to convey my opinions on oppression against women.
Although I enjoyed reading Cat's Cradle more, Half the Sky had a more profound impact on me. Half the Sky really opened my eyes to the world around me. Living in a small town, it's easy to be sheltered from a lot of the worlds problems. Reading this book educated me on the struggles the women encounter everyday in developing countries. I learned that sexism is much bigger than unequal pay for women. This book also enlightened me on my interest in women rights. Before I read the book, I didn't necessarily not care about women rights, but it did not effect me very much. This book showed me that I might even have an interest in helping oppressed woman in the future, even as a possible career choice. It helped point me to possibilities in my future and I am so glad that I read it.
To be honest honors was a challenge for me. I struggled with keeping up with the work amounts and keeping track of all the various due dates. I think that it was good for me to do honors because it taught me to preserver even when I really wanted to give up. Honors was especially hard just because of all of the extra work given to us. Junior year in general is a difficult time at animas mainly because you constantly have work. Adding on the honors while trying to keep track of all my other work was a little much for me. I don't think that I should have done honors just because having all that work didn't allow me to do my best on my honors or my core classes. I am happy that I preserved but at the same time I regret not knowing my limits. The book club was fun because it gave me an excuse to read. I used to read a lot just for fun but with the junior year work load I haven't had time. Reading the books not only got me reading again but it also allowed me to read stories that I might have never read on my own. I loved the books that we read and I am glad that I joined the book club.
Seminar Prep
Honors Independent Study
For this project we had to choose a topic that involved history. I chose to do the topic of the Palestine Israel conflict. After choosing our topics, we researched all of the perspectives of our topic. We independently researched or topic based on required guidelines from our teacher. These requirements would be things such as having a certain number of primary sources and secondary sources. The guidelines also included what form the sources had to in, such as documentaries journals, poem ect. One we had written reports on all of our sources, we had to write a paper on our perspective of the historical event, along with doing an art piece that expressed our opinions. Finally we presented them to the public at our honors exhibition.
With this project I struggled with managing the deadlines of the project. I found that I struggled with the independence and the freedom of the project. With out the strict deadlines of school I procrastinated and did not do my work till the very last minute. Thanks to my extremely supportive teacher I was able to perceiver and finish my work in a decent amount of time. This project defiantly prepared me for when I have more freedom in life to not put off work.
The first thing that I wish I could revise would be my sources. This was a very difficult topic and I rushed though them. I did not have enough time to really get into each of the sources and I do not feel like a got the fullest understanding of my topic. I wish I had not rushed so I could have gone deeper into the information. The second thing I wished I had revised was the final paper. This was something that I also rushed through. I wish that I could redo this paper because I did not do my best on that paper and I regret not taking more pride in my work.
Next year I think that there should be either more support during this project, or for there to not be this project. It was a lot of extra work for everyone who did it and over all I think that it was too much for kids our age. I think a different honors project would be a better experience for future honor students. I think that a research project would be okay but not so much of an independent study would be good, or if anything, a less independent study.
For my art project I was trying to convey that the Palestinians were the most recent rightful owners of the land. The Palestinians were forced out of almost all of their country in a very short amount of time.
With this project I struggled with managing the deadlines of the project. I found that I struggled with the independence and the freedom of the project. With out the strict deadlines of school I procrastinated and did not do my work till the very last minute. Thanks to my extremely supportive teacher I was able to perceiver and finish my work in a decent amount of time. This project defiantly prepared me for when I have more freedom in life to not put off work.
The first thing that I wish I could revise would be my sources. This was a very difficult topic and I rushed though them. I did not have enough time to really get into each of the sources and I do not feel like a got the fullest understanding of my topic. I wish I had not rushed so I could have gone deeper into the information. The second thing I wished I had revised was the final paper. This was something that I also rushed through. I wish that I could redo this paper because I did not do my best on that paper and I regret not taking more pride in my work.
Next year I think that there should be either more support during this project, or for there to not be this project. It was a lot of extra work for everyone who did it and over all I think that it was too much for kids our age. I think a different honors project would be a better experience for future honor students. I think that a research project would be okay but not so much of an independent study would be good, or if anything, a less independent study.
For my art project I was trying to convey that the Palestinians were the most recent rightful owners of the land. The Palestinians were forced out of almost all of their country in a very short amount of time.