Overview
_ Humanities is my fourth and fifth period, which means it is a block
period. Humanities is a class that I hadn't even heard of when I first
came to Animas, and a lot of people I know have given me funny looks
when I tell them I have Humanities as a class. In the simplest way,
Humanities is a mixture of history and language arts, which is why the
whole class is two periods long. So far in this class we have covered
sociology and historical fiction. Click on the titled sections below to go to each individual page.
Utopias and Dystopias
During this unit we read the novel Brave New World written by Aldous Huxley as well as having the option to read a separate dystopian. A utopian, as you may know, is a perfect world. This unit was all about learning about the opposite of that, dystopians. A dystopian is the idea of a utopian and its logical conclusion, really just a utopian gone wrong. We analyzed the text of the book and compared it to our world as well as diving deeper into the authors true meanings, and analyzing why the author chose to make Shakespeare such a large part of the novel. We also discussed truth and beauty and shallow pleasures compared to deeper pleasures. Not only did we talk about the book, but we also were taught mini-lessons through out the project on Freudian concepts, Henry Ford and Pavlovian conditioning and how they tied into Brave New World.
Model United Nations (MUN)
This project was our chance to see how the United Nations worked as well as learning about current issues that the UN is actively discussing. From each class, two exceptional students were chosen to be the chairs of the conference and the rest of the class were assigned countries. The chairs job is to run the conference and make sure that the debate goes smoothly for the delegates as well as writing an issue brief to familiarize the delegates with the issue at hand. The delegates research on their country and write resolutions and then in the conference they have to represent their countries view on the issue which is a challenge for many; having to put away their personal ideas and represent something that may not ring true for them. For this project I was chosen to be a chair and so I was researching the topics in general and running the conference, which was slightly intimidating but I had a great time doing it.
First conference topic: Palestinian Refugees (2.6.12)
Second conference topic: Iranian Nuclear Production (2.27.12)
First conference topic: Palestinian Refugees (2.6.12)
Second conference topic: Iranian Nuclear Production (2.27.12)
Creative Historians on Carthage
Similar to the creative historians lesson we did earlier in the year, this unit was writing historical fiction. The only difference is that we did our pieces on a different ancient civilization than Rome. My group and I decided to study the Italian City-States originally, but when we discovered that all of the primary sources for the Italian City-States were in Italian, we switched over to the Phoenicians. As we were researching them, we learned that they were set up in a city-state system as well. This then presented us with the issue of how to write our stories so that they all connected and encompassed the information necessary. Using problem solving and critical thinking, we came up with the solution to focus on one particular city-state; Carthage. Part of the requirements of the project was that we had to have stories that all connected some way and so we chose to have ours connect with an artifact. Our stories go in chronological order and the pendant (our artifact) gets passed from the blacksmith who made it (my story) to his daughter (Marissa Padilla's story.) After this, quite a while passes and Kohler McInnis's character gets the pendant because he is Marissa's characters great-great-great-great grandson. After his character asks a girl to marry him, with the pendant and he gets rejected he throws it into the ocean. Then about a hundred years later an aqueduct engineer finds the necklace washed up on the beach and that is the final story by Rachel Gonzales.
Shakespeare Unit
In the Shakespeare unit we read The Tragedy of Julius Caesar as well as researching the actual history of Julius Caesar. One of my favorite parts of this unit was reading Shakespeare. Although when we first started reading it, I had difficulty understanding the actual content of the writing but then we began doing skits of specific scenes and analyzing what it actually meant. This really helped me learn the meaning of the book, and it also helped me fall in love with Shakespeare. My favorite part of the analyzing was comparing the funeral speeches of Antony and Brutus.
Creative Historians Projects
Slow motion. Everything stops; it takes ages for me to fall. And then it happens. I hit the ground, slamming to dirt feeling the solidness of the earth beneath me. The stench of blood, dirt and sweat from thousands of men surrounds me. The hot sun burns my eyes, forcing them to close. I feel the blood oozing from my chest as the dry ground soaks it all up. The pain takes hold enveloping me, crushing me. Starting shallow, and beginning to implant itself into my whole being, the pain spreads rapidly though my whole body. I ache feeling everything I could have become, feeling everything I was, remembering who I had lost and knowing quite simply all these men who had faith in me were slowly dying. The pain so intense and so harsh in all its essence takes me now, even the simple thing like blinking hurts. No longer is there a point to hold on, so I let go…I relax for the first time in months and let the beautiful oblivion of death swallow me whole...
Sociology Essay
Today, in America there are high expectations for who to be and who to socialize with, for how to act and how to dress...All these things are promoted by the media, family, friends, religions, churches, and even schools. Women are targeted and bombarded by the media, resulting in pressure to look right in order to fit in to the norms of our culture. Some common female norms, instilled at a young age, all serve to lower a girl’s self-esteem and push women into a box of limitations. Examples of these stereotypes for teenage girls are: girls should shave, have long hair, and cover their faces with coats of makeup. There are also clothing requirements: girls should wear tight clothing, and begin to wear things that enhance their body’s features when they reach middle school, rather than wearing what makes them comfortable. I believe that women are highly targeted by the media to be perfect, and wear all the right brands. The media also targets men and leads them to believe that there actually are women just like the advertisements portray. As a woman, throughout history there have always been differences in our privileges and men’s; in the modern day there should be more equality that ever before, as we are evolving more and more...
Animas High School 3206 North Main Avenue Durango, CO 81301 (970) 247-2474
My Contact Information: [email protected]
Updated on: 3.31.12
My Contact Information: [email protected]
Updated on: 3.31.12