This project was a combined effort by both my humanities and physics teacher to try and bring the two classes together. We were tasked with creating a rube goldberg machine that had a satirical meaning. Our rube needed to include all six of the simple machines including one challenge step; this challenge step could be a loopty loop, a time warp box, or a 720 spiral. we also learned about different types of satire and then we created our own piece of satire using the knowledge we gained. |
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Project reflection
My satirical piece is a drawing of a man being handed a pill and a prescription and that's the start of the long trail of pills and medications that are leading to a trap. It's supposed to look really happy because that's what they do. They make prescriptions and pills look like a great thing iwch they definitely can be for some people. However there are some people who are negatively impacted by prescriptions but they still take them because they believe it's what they have to do. I learned to use my time more efficiently while at home. This is going to be an important skill for the next couple years as we are going to be doing a lot of work from home. I typically have a bad habit of playing video games or watching tv while doing online school so learning how to manage my time is going to make it easier to cut that habit. A lot of people use satire to try and add some type of emphasis i dont think satire plays a big role in society no ones going to use satire to stop a war. But satire is used for the small things swaying one person's opinion using satire adds emphasis to the point you're trying to make. Like using sarcasm to undermine an opposing opinion. Hyperbole to exaggerate unattractive features of something. I gave myself a score of 9 using this rubric because I've always showed up to class on time unless there's a tech issue and I usually clear up my tabs and open that day's work with the instructions. I need to work on remembering homework when we go on personal days. It's hard for me to remember we have more work when I get off of school because I'm so used to getting off around 12:30. I've set timers for all my classes and I have a reminder that repeats every Monday and Friday to check for work I may not have done yet. |
Project Reflection
My stress levels varied a lot during this project. Part of it was like having a mini panic attack while other parts felt like I had already finished the project. My proudest moment during this project was managing these stress levels specifically during the second part of our research. I slacked off a lot during the beginning of this project and from this came a lot of stress and regret when i had to get caught up. But i managed to stay calm and clear headed and i talked to my teacher and my peers which allowed me to communicate my situation better and allowed me to advocate for myself. I struggled a lot with management in general managing my stress and my time. I dedicated certain times and days to work specifically on this project. Like i dedicated a whole wednesday to doing my art piece i just threw on some podcasts and got to work. Creating a schedule for myself and structuring my day was a big help in all my classes. I feel like if I had just gotten my work done when I needed to, a lot of unnecessary stress wouldn't have happened. I learned more about my own strengths and weaknesses in online school and has helped me to realize what specific things i need to work on like time management, what helps me focus like music ect. It was a nice change to study the history of another country because it's not something I usually do in a class. I've also re-learned how to cite in MLA format which I had forgotten. I found out what works best for me when I'm asked to write a lengthy paper. I usually just rush through and try to get as many words as i can on it. However for my op-ed i really put thought into my rough draft which made refining it a lot less work. Im proud of my use of many examples in my Op-Ed “Many acts like this would soon come in the following years most notably the Group Area Act, 1950 which started the physical separation of ethnic groups, and the Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951” i used the many acts and laws made during the apartheid to try and show some examples of exactly what was being enforced during the apartheid. Overall I am proud of my Op-Ed and my ability to write a long paragraph about a topic I had zero knowledge about prior to the project. I gave myself a 10 for listening to my peers as I'm always open to hear other opinions in any class and I am respectful of their beliefs. I gave myself a 9 for 1 and 2 as i'm not always prepared for class however i always keep my tools(pencils, paper, ect.) in my bag and on me however sometimes i will forget an assignment or documents but only on occasion. And I try to use my time effectively when at school but it gets a little tricky when I'm at my home spacing out my assignments so I'm not overwhelmed but I also can't get caught behind so I'm still trying to find that sweet spot. And I gave myself an 8 for 2 and 4 because I can never remember at the beginning of class and I'm always having side conversations which is a problem but I can usually manage that by spacing myself from my friends. |
Fighting the Apartheid The word apartheid when translated directly from the South Africans means apartness. Almost every country has been involved in racism and slavery in some way especially Africa. During South African Apartheid, it was a hard time for lots of European countries, and Africa was seen as a solution to many of these problems. If the colonists had not developed a system based on racism, then the ancient cultures of South Africa wouldn’t have been lost and many of the modern-day backlashes from this event wouldn’t exist. Some of if not the earliest human remains were found in South Africa and a lot of scientists believe this to be the origin of humanity or the cradle of mankind. South Africa has a lot of important history and very unique cultures. Before colonists settled in the population of South Africa was very diverse and made it challenging for the South Africans. Conflict wasn't always a thing between the South Africans some of these groups even lived together peacefully. But as the lands became more prosperous and valuable battles were fought and some of these tribes would take over other tribes and grow to become large political communities. Some of these groups were the Khoisan, San, and the Khoikhoi. These groups lived fairly peacefully until migrants from the northern part of Africa who came from a larger African group known as the Bantu took in most of the Khoikhoi and Sans people and pushed the remaining of the groups to the southwestern edge of the border. “The arrival of Europeans in South Africa and their gradual conquest of African peoples, the establishment and exercise of colonial control over Africans, and, later, apartheid all had major impacts on group identity formation and change.”(“Before Apartheid.” Facing History and Ourselves,). The very first people to colonize South Africa were the dutch and English. The dutch came to the shores of South Africa to set up colonies that would supply ships passing from Europe to Asia. They wanted little to do with the native South Africans and contact between the two groups was very limited. The English however was not as peaceful as the dutch as when the discovery of diamonds and gold spread to the English they dispatched troops to Cape Town and took it over. These events and colonists are who introduced racial segregation to the South Africans and it lasted until the 1900s. In 1948 the national Afrikaner party gained power in South Africa the all-white government then started enforcing its racial laws. Apartheid becoming law started with the Prohibition of mixed marriages act, 1949 which as it sounds prohibited the marriage of two people who were of different races. And at the time your race would be determined by your appearances, where you came from, your parents, etc and this led to many families being split up due to what race they were determined to be. Many acts like this would soon come in the following years most notably the Group Area Act, 1950 which started the physical separation of ethnic groups, and the Separate Representation of Voters Act, 1951 which essentially removed all non-white voters from the voters roll. This gave the “cloured” community in South Africa little to no choice about anything that goes on in their lives. The South Africans had held protests and their leaders had given speeches but nothing would reach through to the new white governors of South Africa “A group calling itself the Congress of the People adopted a Freedom Charter in 1955 asserting that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black or white.” The government broke up the meeting and arrested 150 people, charging them with high treason.” (“Apartheid.” History.com,). The protests had gone on until armed resistance as necessary. In 1960 in a black township called Sharpsville police had opened fire on a group of unarmed Blacks who were involved with the Pan African Congress. Another incident like this took place in a small township outside of Johannesburg called Soweto a group of thousands of black children opposed to learning the afrikaan language which was forced to be tought at schools for south africans police opened fire and threw teargas. However these deaths were not totally in vein as for “The protests and government crackdowns that followed, combined with a national economic recession, drew more international attention to South Africa and shattered all illusions that apartheid had brought peace or prosperity to the nation.” This led to the united nations general assembly had denounced apartheid in 1973. If the colonists had not developed a system based on racism, then perhaps the ancient cultures of South Africa wouldn’t have been lost and lots of modern-day backlashes from this event wouldn’t exist. The South African apartheid had affected and taken many lives of the cultures of South Africa and was truly a tragedy. Works Cited History.com Editors. “Apartheid.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 Oct. 2010, www.history.com/topics/africa/apartheid. “Before Apartheid.” Facing History and Ourselves, www.facinghistory.org/confronting-apartheid/chapter-1/introduction. “A History of Apartheid in South Africa.” South African History Online, www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa. The History of Apartheid in South Africa, www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html. |