Monthly Archives: October 2018

Newspaper Shoe Challenge

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Title: Newspaper Shoe Challenge

Category: ETC

 

Today’s Challenge: Using only newspaper, 24 inches of tape, and one scissors, you and your partner need to create one shoe that fits either you or your partner’s foot. The shoe must be able to come on and off without falling apart.

 

Teamwork Rubric Focus (Communication):

 

My goal for communication today within my team is to not get into any arguments and get this project done smoothly.

 

My Individual Plan :

My plan is just put a few newspaper on the floor and call it a shoe. It can easily come on and off and there’s no rule saying we have to step with it.

Why I think my plan will be successful: There’s no loose ends. No reasons it couldn’t work. It is a foolproof plan.

 

Our Group’s Plan 

Our plan is to just put some newspaper on the floor and call it a shoe. Still follows the rules.

We chose this plan because it has no loose ends and it’s going to work.

 

Possible challenges that may come up during construction are non-existent. This plan is foolproof.

 

 

Each partner will be responsible for putting paper on the ground.

 

After the Build

Our design worked well because the shoes didn’t break when we put them on.

 

This activity was challenging because the teachers said we couldn’t use our initial plan so we had to improvise.

 

This activity was comfortable because me and my partner worked well together. 

 

I met my teamwork communication goal by not getting into any arguments with my partner.

 

A strength of my partnership was coming up with the brilliant idea to call the shoes flippers.

 

An area of growth for my partnership is working better in larger groups.

 

For our next challenge, my new teamwork communication goal for myself is to not get into any arguments with my group mates.

 

Textual Tuesday

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Bamakom sh’ayn ish, tishtadel lehiyot ish.

It means that when everybody else is acting childish, step up.

It actually means in a world without men, be a man.

My goal to achieve that is when everyone in my class is shouting out, I will stay quiet and not join in.

 

This quote connects to Parshat Chayei Sarah because when no one was helping Eliezer and giving his camels water, Rebecca helped him.

End of NA Unit Reflection

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How do you think you have grown as a learner since the beginning of this unit?

I have learned a lot about the native Americans since the beginning of the unit that I had no idea about.

What topic this unit has been most interesting to you? Explain.

The mascots. I’m a huge sports person so I’m interested in anything involving sports.

Think about our school values.

  • What has this unit made you wonder? What other bad things we did to Native Americans.
  • How has this unit made you feel empathy? It made me feel empathy to the Native Americans for hating Americans.
  • How has this unit strengthened your feeling of Tikkun Olam? I now want to go out into the world and help this stop.

 

What can we (your teachers) change to make this unit better in the future?

Nothing.

My prior knowledge of what an invasive species is

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What do you think invasive species means?

A species that invades other ecosystems.

What does it mean to invade something?

Move into their territory.

Can animals invade?

Yes. They can just move to another animals area. Like if your dog started sleeping on your bed.

What about plants?

Probably if their roots end up twisting enough they can maybe overlap with other roots.

How might invasive species affect other organisms in their environment?

They might make them have less shelter.

Native American Experience

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Some Native Americans do not like the term Native American. Explain why they reject this name.

Because Native American still has the word Native American in it.

One person in the BBC Video said that living in poverty does not mean they are poor. What do you think he meant by that?

Some of them still have money, they’re just living in a bad area.

Some Native Americans approve of the team name Redskins. What is their reason for approving this name while others do not?

Because the football team has been around for a while and they think it should be kept that way.

In the CNN segment, there was a story told about a woman who used to approve of the name Redskins, and now does not. What changed? Why does she no longer approve of the name?

She saw a bunch of non-native Americans using the term and having no idea what it meant. She decided that it wasn’t a great name if people are saying it not knowing what they’re saying.

How can non-Native people help others learn about Native Americans current issues? What can we do to help?

For one, we can just open their eyes to what their life is. The average American has no idea about any of the harsh living conditions for Native Americans. If they could just learn about it I think they would be much more inclined to help. 

Reflecting on ETC

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How have you changed as a group member this year in ETC?

I don’t really think I have that much. I have stayed the same because I still am very flexible and do whatever the group needs me to do. 

How has working in ETC made you a better student in other classes? (Social Studies, ELA, Jewish Studies, Hebrew, Math, Science)

It hasn’t at all. None of my other classes require me to do random challenges and spend entire class periods learning how to blog.

Thinking about my blog posts, I have improved by…

I haven’t improved. At the beginning of the year, my blog posts were detailed and descriptive. They have stayed the same.

In the future, I plan to improve my blog posts by….

putting more time and effort into them.

Paper Chain Challenge

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Today’s Challenge: Using only provided materials (two pieces of construction paper, 1 pair of scissors, 1 ruler and one 12-inch strip of masking tape) create the longest paper chain possible.

 

Teamwork Rubric Focus:

 

My goal for teamwork today is to not get mad or yell at anyone.

 

My Individual Plan 

My plan is to just make a normal paper chain with the paper that we have. Instead of staples we’ll just use the tape and make a paper chain.

Why I think my plan will be successful: Because it’s not that hard to make a paper chain.

 

My Groups Plan 

To make a regular paper chain but cut the strips really thin.

We chose this plan because…

it just seemed the most reasonable out of the plans.

Possible challenges that may come up during construction…

The strips may become too thin and break.

Each group member will be responsible for…

I’m going to cut. One of my group-mates is rolling the paper into circles. The other one is taping.

After the Build

Our design worked well because…

It was 806 in.

This activity was challenging because…

A lot of people said what we did was not a real paper chain.

This activity was comfortable because….

I had a lot of fun doing it and it was really easy.

I met my teamwork goal by…

not getting mad at anyone.

A strength of my team was….

being able to make an 806 in. paper chain.

An area of growth for my team is…

Using our tape more effectively.

For our next challenge, my new teamwork goal for myself is…

To help our group as much as I can.

Native American Mascots

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Explain why or why not Mascots meant to resemble Native American people should be changed.

A few should definitely be changed. If the mascot is not rude or stereotypical in any way why does it need to be changed?

Should Native American people be given something in return for these mascots? Why?

It would be nice but it is not really needed. Do pirates get something from the Pittsburgh Pirates? Do brewing companies get things from the Brewers? 

Do you think it would be important to you to change these mascots if a mascot was made of you? Explain.

No, because I would be completely alright with a mascot of me. I would actually be the one inside of the mascot controlling it. That would have nothing to do with Native American mascots.

Should these teams and the government give Native Americans reparations? Why?

Not unless the mascot is inappropriate and rude.

Columbus Debate Reflection

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Explain how your group worked together before the debate (during research). Did you work well together?

I wasn’t  there for most of the pre-debate research so I don’t really know.

Explain how your group worked together during the debate. Did you work well together?

I think so because every single person got to say their lines and we had fun.

What can you do differently next time? Why will this help you and your group improve?

I can try to be there for more of the research and planning. This will make me more prepared for the debate.

Explain how this debate influenced your opinion on Columbus.

It didn’t change my opinion really. I had always known Columbus wasn’t really as good as he was supposed to be. I also knew that Spongebob celebrated Leif Erickson (the actual discoverer of America) day and not Columbus day. True Fact.

Me as a Learner

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In August, I thought the following about myself as a learner: I’m a good learner.

 

Today, I would add the following to my puzzle piece: No distractions because if I get distracted from my work then it’s hard for me to continue.

 

Today, I would take the following off of my puzzle piece: nothing because I still agree with what I wrote in August.

 

I think I’ve already grown this year as a learner by learning new things.

 

Thinking about working in teams in ETC, my classmates can best support my learning needs by pitching in and doing their part to finish the project.