On April 4, 1968, Robert F. Kennedy addressed the death of Martin Luther King Jr. He wanted the audience to feel a sense of power in carrying out MLK Jr.’s dream to “understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love.” RFK also wanted the audience to be understanding about the situation and not do anything irrational because of their sparked feelings. He instead wanted them to be loving and “do well for this country.” This was a short, sweet, and inspirational speech about making the right choices with the outcome of feelings and transferring the strong emotions to do good things.
Category Archives: History
Current Event #4
This week, the current event I chose was called “Spinner Shark Attacks Florida Teen Surfer“. The article is from the Newsela website, and was published on January 5th, 2015. It is about a surfer who got bitten by a shark in Boca Raton, Florida. All he thought about while it was happening was if he would be able to surf again.
I think that it is awesome that he wants to goer in the water and surf again even though he got bitten by a shark. My classmate Dani thinks that, “It is good that he wants to surf again.” The author seems to not have a bias, but to just state the facts as they were.
Inspiration
M.L.K. Jr. Micrography Portrait
Cracker Book Review
In the book Cracker by Cynthia Kadohata is about a young German shepherd who is taken away from her civilian home and transferred to an military base and trained to help soldiers by doing things such as sniff out bombs and booby traps and hidden men. She is then assigned to a soldier, Rick Hanski, who had joined the military to make a difference. It takes a while, but with the help of good handling and a few hot dogs, the two become inseparable. They go to war and face many missions and challenges together until the time finally comes for them to part.
I enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in dogs or the military. With the perspective changing between the soldier and the dog, you get the feel of the war through both pairs of eyes. Even though at some parts, it gets a little sad, this story is action pack and I ripped through the book in a few days.
Interview
In class, we interviewed Mr. Dee Christensen, Ms. Christensen’s dad. He is a Vietnam veteran and served as an army engineer. In this interview as followed, Janel is the interviewer and Mr. Dee Christensen is the interviewee.
Janel: What was your position in the army and what did you do? What types of projects did you work on?
Dee: “I was a Lieutenant engineer and basically ‘fought war against the supply system'”
J: Did you write letters/get any letters? If so, how often did you write?
D: “I only wrote a few, I’m not a very good writer.”
J: Did you have a partner or friends in the war? If so, is he still alive? Do you know anyone who is MIA?
D: “I had lots of friends, but my best friend got killed. Haha, we thought we could do anything.”
J: From your perspective, how bad was the war? How did you feel about being in the war? Did you feel like you personally accomplished anything?
D: “I think that I accomplished a lot and did what i needed to do, but I don’t think that I would be considered a ‘war hero'”
J: How did you leave Vietnam? How did you feel when you returned home? Did people treat you badly when you returned? What did you do when you came back?
D: “I left on a 707 on a 20 hour flight and landed in California. I didn’t have a problem with threats. I was a truck driver in 1973 until gas prices went up.”
Tweets
Current Event #2 (Q2)
This week, the current event I chose was called “Everyone knows students learn more in smaller classes, or do they?“. The article is from the Newsela website, and was published on November 18th, 2014. It is about how even though a lot of people think that smaller class sizes makes students learn better, that is not always the case. Students who get distracted easier and avoid paying attention in class, do better because there is less people to hide behind, and get chosen instead. Most people assume that teachers just have a better amount of time for individualized teaching, however that is not always the case. A researcher says,
“’In a big class, everybody in the back of the room is talking and giggling, and the little kids are throwing things at each other,” Finn said. “But in a small class, the first thing a teacher says is ‘Let’s all bring our chairs around me here in a circle.’”
“Smaller, quieter classes (fewer than 20 students) may have their biggest effect on kids who are inattentive and try to avoid looking the teacher in the eye. The reason is they can’t hide.”
This is so true! I see it in our very own classroom, even if kids try to hide, they can’t and everyone has to participate. My classmate Dani thinks that, “It is extremely true.” …The author seems to not have a bias, but to just state the facts as they are.
Melba Patillo Beals
History was forever changed in 1957, when Melba Patillo Beals and eight other black students integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. She had a plain childhood, but she achieved a lot. She is remembered for being in the Little Rock Nine and writing Warriors Don’t Cry.
Melba was born on December 17, 1941 in Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas. Not a lot is known about her childhood, but she came into the spotlight at age 15 when she was one of the nine colored students to help integrate Central High School.
In May 1955 Melba Beals and eight other high scholars integrated Central High School which was a school for only white students. The Little Rock Nine as they were called, were met by an angry mob that mocked them, spat in their faces, and called them awful names. One of the Nine got lost and had to face the crowd alone. The students were escorted by the National Guard so that nothing bad would happen to them. Melba wanted to go to the high school because, “They had more equipment, they had five floors of opportunities. I understood education before I understood anything else. From the time I was two, my mother said, ‘You need to go to collage. Education is your key to survival,’ and I understood that.” But at the same time, she had no “overwhelming desire to go to and integrate this school and change history.” Later on she wrote the book Warriors Don’t Cry about how she felt during the integration.
Melba Patillo Beals still lives on, yet is remembered as on of the Little Rock Nine and a civil rights activist. Her work still affects us today, because schools are still integrated, and black people are treated a whole lot better than they had been. Warriors Don’t Cry is a window into the feelings that were felt during this nation-wide event, and it makes people rethink the way people treated the black students. This gives people in the present day a new way to look at the past.
Current Event #1 (Q2)
My current event this week is called “Scientists study anti-aging drugs for dogs“. The article is from the website Newsela and was published on November 16th, 2014. It is about how a scientist named Daniel Promislow is trying to figure out if the drug rapamycin works to make dogs live 10-15 percent longer than the average lifespan. He’s not sure if it will work, but it works on mice, worms and even fruit flies. The drug is currently used,
“along with several other medications in organ-transplant patients. It keeps the body from rejecting their new kidneys, livers and other transplanted organs. The drug has also emerged as the most promising candidate among dozens of substances studied for anti-aging effects. Nearly 50 laboratory studies have shown that the drug can delay the onset of some diseases and restore vigor to elderly animals. It also extended their average life spans 9 to 40 percent.”
If this medicine could work, people could maintain their human-animal relationship that is so dear to them. Also then the people don’t have to dread the day when they have to put their beloved pet down so soon. They are working on experiments to see if it works, but they need more pets to be signed up. This would be good because they will be investing on the idea of getting them to live longer.
I think that this is good and especially if it works. The one concern that I do have is any side effects, because I know that most things come with a price. My classmate Angelina thinks that, “It is a bad idea because it disrupts the natural lifespan that dogs are ment to have.” The author seems to not have a bias, but to just state the facts as they are.