Reflection

          While working on the Sir Gawain and the Green Knights project, I learned a lot and I had fun. I learned a lot about the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knights. I also learned about the symbols, each character of the story, the setting of the story, and the themes of this story. I really enjoy story because it is quite cool. Also, I had a lot of fun making the Prezi presentation. If I can improve my presentation, I will improve it. I wish I typed less text in the part with the plot because it have way too much words and in presentations, people won't do that. I also wish that I can be able to see other people's presentation. However, I think that both me and Dylan did a pretty good job on the Prezi powerpoint as well as the presentation and if I am allowed to change things, I won' t change a lot of it.

Heroes Nowadays_Stephen Hawking

          Stephen Hawking is a hero alive nowadays. He is a hero in my opinion because he is one of the top most influential scientists alive nowadays and not only that, he who suffered from motor neurone disease still tries and help other people nowadays learn even though he can't talk. He is almost completely paralyzed but he still takes account of changing the world with science. He also wrote books for children for them to understand about space such as George's Secret Key to the Universe. He is a hero to me.


To learn more about Stephen Hawking, please click the following link of his biography: http://www.biography.com/people/stephen-hawking-9331710

Online Courses

After looking over the website of MIT Open Course Ware, we saw that there are a lot of catagories and sub catagories. Under each catagory is another sub catagory where you can choose one specific course. For example, under Engineering, which is a catagory, you can find a whole other classes based on engineering such as Biological Engineering, Chemical Engineering,Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Engineering Systems Division, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering. After choosing which certain class you want to learn about, you click into it.When you click into it, you can find videos and audio courses which you can download to listen or watch if you do not wish to read. There are also tranlslated coursed for people who do not understand English or who are not fluent in it.  These languages include Chinese, Thai, Turkish, Spanish, Portugese, and Persian.We think that the website provides many courses for people who wish to learn during their free time.  However, it would probably be best if you get a high school degree and graduate from college.  This website is still great for learning for additional help in certain courses or a sort of way to gain more inforamtion during somebody's free time.

Traits of a Hero

          In my opinion, I think that a hero can be anyone depending on who's point of view you are looking at. To a little brother, his older brother, a criminal, might be a hero to him since his older brother once helped the little brother but from the outside world, the older brother is not a hero but a criminal. It all depends on which point of view you look at it. However, why does the little brother consider his older brother to be a hero? Because of something the older brother did before, so in order to be a hero, there is some qualities that you need to have or once owned. Some traits are honesty, kindness, bravery and courage, and a kind heart. These traits are very similar to what make a legendary a legendary. A hero can be a major character like Rosa Parks or people like you and me depending on which way you look at it because to different people, you might be heroes.  

Peer Review

          I have done peer editing in school with my classmates several times and most of the time, I ended up grading a lot of stuff on the other person's paper. Here is a list of some things that I base some critics and what some classmates can do better to improve their writing on:

• Check for name, date, class on either upper left or right corner depending on the teacher
• Check for a tittle of the paper 
• Check for grammar mistakes such as run-on sentences or incorrect use of verb tense
• Check for any spelling mistakes
• Check for paragraphs and indents at the start of each paragraph
• Check for main idea/thesis
• Check whether the content of the paragraph match the main idea/thesis
• Check whether they have concluding sentences at the end of each paragraph.
• Check for a beginning, middle, and end paragraph

Qualities of Legendaries

          What makes these legends Robin Hood, King Arthur, Robin Cruise who they are? They must have special qualities and traits that make them different from other people. Most legendary people are people who did something that made a big difference during that time or someone who did some kind of good deed during their lives. Some traits that might turn someone into a legend is kindness, honesty, a good heart, bravery and courage. For example, Robin Hood is a very kind person even though he robs from the nobility. However, he don't rob those people for himself. He robs those people for the poor. Nowadays, it will be hard to have legends since everything will be well recorded through technology. With technology, nearly everything will be recorded and so, I don't think there will be any legends in the future. 

Remember, don't...

          The people around me are always reminding me to remember to do something or remember, don't do something and sometimes, it gets very annoying. It gets even more annoying when the notice to do something or don't do something is basically things I've never considered to do. There are also some people that always remind me to do something when I've already done it and that can also be very annoying. For example, when it is my turn of the week to feed the turtle, my brother will use the telephone and phone my room to remind me to feed the turtle when I'm trying to fall asleep and most of the times, I've fed the turtle already. So, that telephone is basically a wake up phone call. Other times, my mother use to remind me to to "Don't do dangerous actions". For example, a couple years ago, I jumped off the swing while swinging way up high and to be honest, it is kind of dangerous, but most of the time when I do such things, I am not used to consider such consequences. If my mother didn't remind me, I probably will never stop jumping off the swing and one day, I probably would get hurt. Of course, all these reminders are said in Chinese and not in English.

Superheroes

          Little kids often want to grow up to become Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, or one of the superheroes that turns up when people need help, but as they grow older, they realize that they can't turn into heroes like them since they are ordinary people without any super powers. However, they don't realize that they still can become a hero to other people such as their family and friends. The difference is that the Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman kind of heroes are heroes that have super powers that tends to defeat the villains and save the world. In real life, things can be a lot different. Real-life heroes can be ordinary people like you and me. I might not be a hero to the world but I might be a hero to a first grader because of one simple thing I did such as teaching them how to tie their shoelaces. What makes a hero a hero in real-life and in the comic land is completely different. The super heroes in comics tends to be very brave, courageous, and smart but in real-life, not necessary. In real-life, a hero is someone who does something that contributes to the society or people around them.

I longed to fly....

          I longed to fly like a seagull because being able to be high up in the air and look down at everything is a wonderful feeling that I've always longed for. However, I don't want to be a seagull if I am going to be soaring in the sky. I want to be a peregrine falcon, the fastest diving bird in the world. Being able to soar above everything and see all the wonders of the world will bring me happiness. Also, it can be another way for me to run from my problems. When I have problems or when I am just bored, I want to run but I can't and don't want to run away because I will cause trouble for my parents and family. But if I can fly, I can fly away from my problems and just relax and have the wind blow in my face. Also, being a bird, I can see and observe things that most people won't observe. I like birds a lot and I do want to try being able to fly.

Quickwrite-The Great Musician

          Music is a great influence to my life. Without music, my mom won't have a job she have now which is teaching students piano. It is because of that, I learned how to play piano and violin. My whole family is influenced by music and by saying whole family, I mean my family outside of just my parents and my brothers. My mom's side's family is from the Haka culture so my mom's oldest brother and second brother plays weird Haka instruments. There are a lot of weird Haka instruments. My mom's oldest brother's oldest daughter plays the piano, the flute, and I heard that she once played the cello. As for his second daughter, she teaches the recorder and piano. My mom's second brother also plays and teaches the violin and his oldest son plays and teaches the violin and piano while his second son is still in college with a major of music of piano. That is a lot for music activities. My oldest brother plays the violin and piano while my second brother plays the violin, the viola, and once the piano while I play the piano and violin. I practice both piano and violin every single day so music touched my life every single day. I often wonder what life will be like without music. I mean, everyday after school, I head to my mom's office where I practice piano and violin. Without music, I will have a lot more time doing other things and a lot more time spent on the computer and it will change my life completely.

Seasons

          The seasons where I live in which is in Taiwan, is not very diverse. In the Summer, it's hot and sunny. In the Autumn, the weather starts to change colder and in the winter, it's colder but it's not very cold compared to other places in the world. As for Spring, it's about the same temperature as Autumn except that the weather is far more rainier. Since Taiwan is located near the equator and it is a small island, the weather all around Taiwan is pretty similar. However, when you head South, you can feel that the weather is much more warmer than the North. When I am younger, I came up with interesting questions about the seasons that I didn't get the answer to until I am older. I got most of the answers from school classes. However, these days, I don't spend time wondering about the seasons but when I do, I don't come up with any questions about them.

Reflection on Billy Collins

          After visiting the TED Website and watching the five videos of the animated poem by Billy Collins, I like them all very much except for one. I dislike Some Days because of two reasons. First, the poem itself bores me and second of all, the animation is not that cool and interesting. It doesn't catch my attention. Out of all five poems, I think I like The Country and The Budapost's animations the best. I like how the little squiggly lines comes to life after being drawn on paper. I like the poem from The Country and also it's animation. 

          In the first poem, The Budapost, I think the theme of this poem is when you are writing, you often have to reread what you have written and make some changes and edit some things. In the second poem, Some Days, I think the theme of this poem is that people, unlike plastic figures, have a different and unique life and something unexpected might happen every single day. On the third poem, Forgetfulness, is about what you have to be go through when you write. In the fourth poem, The Country, it's about how people should be careful no matter what because something unexpected and dangerous might take your life away one day. Finally, the last poem, The Dead is about how The Dead looks down at the mortals living on us while people like us often look up at them in return.

Fame

        ...If I became a celebrity overnight...

Advantages (+)

-Have a forever changed life (maybe for the better but maybe for the worse)

-I become popular                        

-I become famous
-Get opportunities that ordinary people won't have

-I (might) become rich

-Bring glory & fame to my family

-Have an interesting life FOR A WHILE because people consider of having fun by having a break out of their ordinary lives but if your life is already very unpredictable, you probably won't consider that as an interesting life

Disadvantages (-)

-Have a forever changed life (maybe for the better but maybe for the worse)

-Don't have privacy anymore
-Don't have opportunities that normal people have

-Bring/cause trouble to myself and the people around me

-probably won't be who I am now

-Adjust the changes from who I was to who I am now

-I would have a scheduled life, meaning when you become famous, you will have people all around you telling you to do this and do that

Haiku

          Haiku is a kind of poem that includes only three lines. The first line can only have five syllables while the second line can have seven syllables and finally, the third line with five syllables. This is an example of a haiku that helps you remember how a haiku work: 

I am first with five
Then seven in the middle --
Five again to end.

This means that the first line have five syllables, the middle line can have seven syllables and five syllables in the last line. Also, most haiku don't have end rhymes but there are some exceptions and the main requirement is to make it sound natural. 

These are examples of haiku:

1.) Leaves down everywhere
Different colors through the year
Fall is almost here!

2.) Fall is leaves falling
Eating crisp, crunchy apples

A warm fire burning.

Fall is leaves falling,
Munching on sweet red apples
A warm fire burning.

Unusual Culture Experience

          One of the unusual culture experience I've always read about in books that is related to immigrants who live in another country, is: When a group of people are meeting together to eat a meal in the West, they tend to let the younger children start eating first and then to the oldest. However, in the East, children always have to wait for the older people to start eating before they can start eating. When I was young, I didn't know about this rule and when the first dish is served, I really want to start eating especially when I'm hungry and when it is one of my favorite food. I will then, raise my chopsticks but then, my mom will stop me. I dislike that very much. Then, I have to wait for a long long, super long time for the elders to start eating because they always like to chat and they keep on chatting with each other. I never can wait long enough and I start to move around in my chair. And when I'm lucky, one of the elders will tell us, children, to eat first. But that is only when we're lucky.

Genetic Experinment of The Fastest Animal On Earth!

          As a scientist, I imagined the fastest animal on Earth. It is a combination of the peregrine falcon which is the fastest bird on Earth, the cheetah which is the fastest animal on land, and the sailfish which is the fastest bird in the ocean. The cheetah is much faster with the speed of 75 mph compared to a sailfish which reaches about 68 mph. Even though both of these creatures are the fastest of their kind, the peregrine falcon can reach a speed of at least 202 mph while they are diving so with the cheetah and the sailfish comparing to the peregrine falcon, they are nothing at all. My animal will be called Speedo because of their great speed. This animal owns Sailfish's pointed stick, the tail and colors of a cheetah, and the body and wings of a peregrine falcon except that it have four legs sticking under it. The animal have pale yellow fur with round dots just like the cheetah except that the location is located on the feathers. This creature also have the really long and sharp pointed stick that sticks out of a Sailfish. There is also another peculiar thing about this creature. This creature have gills on it's feathers so it could be able to breath properly while swimming. Those are thought that belong to my imagination but when I decided to take some action and build the animal together through genetics, it didn't work that well. It won't be the fastest animal in the air, on land, or in the ocean because it have all the extra parts of the body that creates weight and friction, so genetic experiment failed! Below is a picture I drew of what I think my creature will look like.

SuperCut-We've Got Company

This is a super cut of We've Got Company...

Vocab Mashup

This is my vocab mashup...

Justice And Revenge

What is the difference between justice and revenge? What do these two concepts have in common? What are some examples of each? 

          Justice and revenge is two very different words that describe different concepts but in a way, they are similar. Justice means the quality of being fair and reasonable and have just behavior or treatment. On the other hand, revenge means to take back on someone for what they have done. When you have justice, you are trying to be fair by taking a look at both sides of the argument. However, when you want to revenge, since someone harmed you so you want to harm them, you won't take time to consider why they did what they did. For example, you are walking down the street and you saw a group of children surrounding one poor and homeless looking dog, beating it up, if you are being fair, you would help the dog out but if you are being injustice, you would just leave the dog alone or you would also join the group of kids and start beating the dog up. On the other hand, justice and revenge can also be similar. Why would someone want to revenge? Well, it's nearly mostly because you have done something to them that had made them suffer. So, if they revenge, they are being justice in a more violent way. For example, April's uncle is used to drugs and one day, he made a stupid move by killing his own sister because when they are young, their parents always favor toward his sister's side. Well, April, who have done nothing to his uncle will feel like revenging for a lost mother especially when she have done nothing wrong. What April is searching is justice. 

I like this video because it reminds me of some facts that are similar in nearly all mothers and fathers and teachers even. Mothers. Most are similar in some ways. They care about how things look around the house (like in the video, she's telling Bill to clean his room) and they always made sure their children are clean or at least most parents (like in the video, Bill is talking about the part of clean underwear). As for Fathers. They are different than Mothers (like what the video said) but in a weird kind of way. As for some teachers I have met, when they get angry, they starts yelling at the students and through those yelling, you will catch some questions and students who try to answer, get yelled even more. 
I like this video not because it's funny but because it's true. I barely hear grown ups talk about their parents like this. Children talking to their friends in that way is more normal but a grown up, it's just interesting and weird. I like Bill Cosby and his stories.