For this weeks student blog challenge, I decided to check out Miss Z’s #17stubc Flipboard Magazine. I wanted to check out three other peoples blogs, their names were Nook, Mai Thao, and Kem’s Animal Blog. Kem and Mai Thao’s blogs posts were on the 2eek 6 activity, and Nook’s was on week 4’activity. Here are the things I read on their blog and the comment I left.

Mai Thao

Mai Thao wrote his blog on comedy, with an inspiration of Caleb’s blog ‘Flashback to Egypt.” Mai Thao wrote about one time as kid’s there was black rubber that made his hands black. He continued to talk about how his friend tried getting rid of it a countless four time until he found a sewer drain. Then, another friend of his found another one hidden in between rocks.

However, the comment I left on it was referring to how when we were kids we do all these things that in the moment are so serious, then, later on, we find them so funny. It was seen on Mai Thao and Caleb’s blog post’s and I noted how relatable it is.

Here is the link to the post: http://raindropdream.weebly.com/home/week-6-visiting-others

Nook

For her week 4 post, Nook wrote about French Fries, more specifically, their name. It’s basic knowledge to know that they aren’t actually French, and Nook wrote how they actually got their name. She talked about how the snack is traced back to Belgium in the late 1600’s. Nook continued to talk about their historical context, such as the time the American troops in World War I first found them. The name was given then, as Belgium’s language where the troops were stationed was indeed French, so the troops gave them the name ‘French Fries’ because they were fried and made by the francophone.

The comment I left on her post, was talking about how it’s something that is usually not known by the average person, along with a follow-up question asking about the process learning about this topic.

Here is the link to her post: http://21wattk.edublogs.org/2017/11/19/why-are-french-fries-called-french-fries-sbc4/#comment-26

Kem’s Animal Blog

On Kem’s blog, she talked about the Ivory Coast. She got an inspiration from Jeune who talked about his life in Senegal. Kem included some facts, such as diseases like HIV/AIDS, Malaria, some facts about the population and how many people are in poverty. This was very interesting for me to read since I also live in a country in West Africa. I live in a country called Senegal, that is somewhat like the Ivory Coast. She continued and got into politics and how bad the government can be.

I commented on how the Ivory Coast was. I had a layover in the country for a basketball tournament and it seemed like a wonderful country. However, from her description, it seemed to be the opposite. I added the question of wondering what the government will do with the pollution.

Here is the link to her blog: http://krazykem.weebly.com/home/week-6-visiting-others4279398

Reflection

Genius Hour is a project that we do in my technology class. We choose our own topic that we want to learn that’d we be interested in and learn about it. Every few classes we have a Genius Hour day where we spend the whole class only researching our topic.

We started Genius Hour towards the end of August. If recalled, in August and September there was a lot of things going on in the politic world. Such as America’s 45th president, Trump. Due to the heat in politics, I was interested and brought into the political world. I was also very interested and tried to stay tuned into what’s going on. This, giving me the idea that I should do my research on politics.

I couldn’t have just ended with Trump, it was too broad. I was able to narrow it down. I have never been in a nation that used the parliamentary system and I had no clue how it was set up. I finally decided to narrow it down. I wanted to compare what was better, a president or a queen. It could have gone in multiple ways. Since my presentation would only be limited to only a few minutes, I had to have everything on a direct path.

I had the original research question of “What is better, president or queen?” However, that was still too broad. I could’ve done it all time but still wasn’t narrow enough. I originally wanted to include bits of the path and also the future of it, however, it’d be a long presentation.  I came to the idea of doing it for the present because the final answer could be anything if I did it for the past or future. Still, then we don’t know what will happen in the future.

One thing that I learned from my Genius Hour project is that it’s not factual. For my project, I went to a website where debates could be made. I saw a debate that had my research question and I decided to check it out. I wanted to see if it could change any information I had or give me any ideas. When I opened the debate I was surprised, to say the least. There were thousands of people who voted their opinion and it was something I wasn’t expecting. I was expecting a close 49% to 51% for one or another. However, that was not the case. Queen Elizabeth II had 70% and Trump had 30%.

I think this helps me grow as a student and a person mainly for seeing the other side. Usually, when people argue they never see the other half of it. When someone says they don’t like Trump they never look into the other half and who is better. From this project, I was taught that skill and I feel like I would need it later on, especially for a class called Theory of Knowledge (TOK).

I think my project helped the small community of my class in some certain way. Some kids are from America and others are from Europe and places in Africa. This usually means they don’t know a whole lot about U.S. presidents and monarchs from the U.K. They always hear about in the news and I think doing all of this brought it towards them. Along with the fact, there is fake news everywhere nowadays and nobody can get a break from it. Sometimes we don’t know what is real and what is fake and so I wanted to go around that and find the truth along with what and who is better. However, it may not be so useful in the future but it definitely helped in the present.

The link to my slideshow made for the project: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1WgFIz–NU-FeZ8loTFoKUQ8wS5A5FXQ7jawB6zMYU_k/edit#slide=id.p

For my next Genius Hour project, I am focusing on basketball. More specifically the Minnesota Timberwolves and the way they play. Being the normal human I am I have an opinion and I think the Timberwolves are one of the best teams and in the future will be the well known Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers. I don’t think it will impact anyone as a person but more of their opinion. So for my project, I’m going to be looking deep into how the team plays. Then, I want to prove to people with their offense and defense along with changes to the team, how they could beat the Warriors and Cavs. I don’t think it will impact anyone too much but I think it will definitely impact their opinion.

Everyone has some pretty big dreams when they leave school, some they accomplish, others can be another story. One of my dreams goes with my love for basketball. As I go to an international school and it’s hard to be scouted by American teams, especially Division I basketball colleges I’m aiming for a Division II or Division III team. I know everyone says to go for your dreams, no matter how hard they are, however, it’s pretty much the possibility of being struck by thunder to get scouted by D-I teams, I aim for the lower ones. I’m still beginning high school which means I’ve still got time to improve. First I got to get some popularity on social media, so I’m shouting out my Snapchat, that’ll do it!

It’s a little far-fetched but I believe I can do it if I can manage my grades and practice basketball daily.

However, if I can’t make it to a D-II team I want to be like my older brother and attempt to be a game warden, as both of us have been dreaming to be one for so long. The steps to being a game warden are very long, you’ve got to go to multiple colleges and take police academy. If it’s not easy to juggle college and police academy, imagine having a job on top of it. Once done with all of it you’ve got to join the police academy for x amount of years.

It’d be great and all to be a game warden, however, I’d rather be an ordinary officer, and yes, the donuts too. Anything to deal with the police force is an extended part of my family and so it’s definitely easy for connections. I wouldn’t know about the college. It’s on the border of Canada and the U.S. and the nearest big grocery store is hours away in a big town that’s deserted most of them. As it is on the border it’s freezing cold most of the time. Glad I don’t live there, yet, hopefully never.

What do you want to do when you’re done with school? Answer by clicking the link:

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