Essay Reflection

During this entire year in ISKL, I have never done such harshly graded essays in my life. This year was a great, great challenge. I have, in this entire year, felt that these 2 essays were the hardest. I have written essays before but I always failed them and I don't think I will learn too quickly. this post is about the 2 essays I wrote.

Ideas and Content:
First of all I will talk about my 'Alchemist' essay. This essay, I didn't do so well on. According to me my writing kind of made sense but not really because I was missing some key parts and words. I did have a clear and focused topic because I kept on addressing the main idea in this essay. The essay showed me that I wasn't really clear with the topic. From my sense I know the topic well it's just really hard to write it down. I sometimes included interesting and relevant details in my essay but I still felt that there could be some more work done to it. I usually had quotations that related ti the main idea, although there was in the part where I didn't include the entire quotation which would have helped me with my explanation. In the Julius Caesar essay I did pretty well which shows some growth between the and now. My writing made sense sometimes. I had a clear and focused topic. I knew the topic pretty well but maybe my essay didn't show that. I usually included interesting and relevant details to my essay. I usually explained how my quotation related to the main idea of the paragraph.


Organization:
Continuing with the Julius Caesar essay I thought that I began with a great hook to grab my reader's attention and explained why it was significant and the context. I didn't really have a clear thesis statement. It just jumped right into the topic of the essay which I made pretty clear. Sometimes my body paragraphs would start with a good topic sentence. This is because I mostly just began with the context of the paragraph. I did establish context before introducing a paragraph. Although I think I did this after the quotation was introduced. All my body paragraphs ended with a good summarizing sentence. My conclusion was pretty strong and pulled all the idea together and put them into 1 paragraph. I always began with an interesting hook to grab my reader's attention. I did have a pretty clear thesis statement. My body paragraphs sometimes began with good topic sentences. I usually established the context of a quotation before introducing it. All my body paragraphs have okay summarizing sentences. I didn't really have a very strong summarizing paragraph that pulls together all my ideas together.

Personal Growth:
I do note improvement in between both my essays. I see growth because in the beginning of the year I was really new to this essay writing like as if I was in high school. Also in my past essays I haven't done too well. I feel like an Essay is my one enemy. Also there is a large amount of time in between of the 'Alchemist' essay and the 'Julius Caesar' essay. During this time I have developed a lot because we have done vocabulary and right now we know more vocab. This influenced the way we structured our paragraphs.

SLR's:
Thinking Creatively is very important in the process of essay writing. This is because you need to creatively structure your paragraphs and sentences to make it make sense. Also you need to use your vocabulary creatively to enhance a deeper meaning with the reader. The more clever you are with the words the better and more depth you put into your writing. I am not so clever with my words.

Julius Caesar Essay

Cassius

"Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.” (pg. 38; lines 191 and 192) The quote above shows us that Cassius is a very vicious and creepy kind of person. It also shows that Cassius has been waiting for something for a long time, in this case it would be the perfect moment to release his plan to kill Caesar. This quote also shows that Cassius is showing himself talking to Brutus in a sly way to Caesar to warn Caesar that something will happen to him. Cassius was motivated by 2 goals to do all these actions. 1, he wanted to prove to Caesar that he was and still is better and more powerful than Caesar. 2, he wanted to gain higher power. The reason for Cassius being motivated like this is because he knows that if Caesar were to be crowned king he would loose every bit of his power and this he does not want. In this essay I will be talking about what motivated Cassius to do what he did and the behavior caused by this.


One of Cassius’s motivators was the need to be better than Caesar. Cassius is motivated like this because he believes that if Cassius hadn’t saved him from the raging Tiber, he wouldn’t at this stage. This motivator was not much the major because it just made Cassius start to think of awful things to do to Caesar. “I, as Aneas, our great ancestor, Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder the old Anchises bear, so from the waves of the Tiber did I the tired Caesar.”(pg.34; lines 111-114) in this quote Cassius is speaking with Brutus about his past “bond” with Caesar, and how now he has to kneel upon his presence. This quotation means that when Caesar was young, Cassius and Caesar were friends and had a competition to swim across the Tiber to the other side. When Cassius was close to winning Caesar cried for help because he began to drown. Then Cassius describes himself as Aneas who had carried the old Anchises to the city of Rome. This really enraged Cassius and began to plan ways to defeat Caesar. One of his plans was to take in noble Brutus into his group of conspirators. “Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that Caesar? Why should that name be sounded more than yours? Write them together, yours is as fair a name; sound them, it doth become the mouth as well; weigh them it is as heavy’ conjure them ‘Brutus’ will start a spirit as soon as ‘Caesar’”(pg.36;lines 140-145) in this quote Cassius is slowly pulling Brutus into his trap and tries to convince to him that he can also be a leader not only Caesar. In this quotation Cassius is trying to say that Brutus has to rise up against Caesar and take over Rome. What Cassius is trying to do is that he wants use Brutus as a noble tool to fulfill his needs. Another reason for Cassius to use Brutus is because Brutus is Caesar friend and could be a very good target. Also Cassius notices that Brutus is not liking what is happening and Cassius tells him that together they can put an end to this whole drama. So, Cassius is using his past and a very loyal friend as tools to fulfill his task.


The second motivator for Cassius is his greed over power. Since he doesn’t have a lot of power before Caesar’s death he thinks that if Caesar were to live on and become king he would loose all of his power and become weak. So, Cassius thinks of killing Caesar. Then he realizes that there are other people in Rome who don’t like Caesar. Cassius begins a group of conspirators, including Brutus and devise a way to kill Caesar. “And this man is now become a god, and Cassius is a wretched creature, and must bend his body if Caesar carelessly but nod on him” (pg.34; lines 114-117) in this quote Cassius is trying to convince Brutus to fight against Caesar by telling him all the bad things he did. This quote also portrays how angry and enraged Cassius about Caesar. This enrage motivates Cassius to think of the brighter side if Caesar were dead. So, Cassius is using his past to portray his agony that resides within him.


Eventually it all comes down to Cassius hatred against Caesar. The need to prove himself and greed for power has made Cassius swell up into a big ball of anger that can’t wait to release all that is trapped in it. Cassius’s goal was to kill Caesar and rule Rome beside of Brutus. This was partially accomplished because he killed Caesar and did not rule Rome with Brutus instead died. I don’t think that this act was noble because they had killed Caesar because they thought he was ambitious, and not for any reason. They didn’t support the idea that he was ambitous

collage reflection

Think Creaively:

Mostly this collage used my thinking creatively side. i thought creatively for the pictures and the way they were constructed on the collage. I thought creatively by splitting the collage into 2 parts. top; as future, bottom;as the present and past. I also thougth creatively with the placement of the images in the collage. Yhe 2 location images are in the 2 far sides of the collage. The other images in the middle of the two location images bringing a connection between the two location images.

Reason Critically:

For this collage I think I had not really reasoned critically. This is because when I see my collage I can really feel for the Lost Boys and would like to help. Still most of that influence comes form the movie that we watched. But I think that I did include a little insite on their past situations and their life in America.

Communicate Effectively:

I am not really good at communicating effectively without using a lot of words. I feel that the text given for some of the images really show what the boys and Sudan are going through even now. For example the text given under the dipiction of Sudan is saying that Sudan has gone through a lot of bad times and wars and that many of the people os Sudan were killed or taken away. The text under the dipiction of the USA states that the government of the US will allow a certain number of Lost Boysinto the country and let them be citizens. This will motivate other countries who are not doing so to do it.

Live ethically:

Lost Boys

Santino

Ever since Santino was orphaned, due to wars between the Sudan People's Liberation Army and the Sudanese government, he has been fighting for survival, like the rest 20,000 boys, in Sudan. Here in Sudan, he lives in a refugee camp in Kenya. Everyday he eats the same food and cleans his clothes and goes to school. This life seemed good to Santino and anything better a bonus. Later he gets to know that he is going to Houston, Texas to learn and try to live a better life in the United States of America.

Everyone seems excited to go to America but, Santino isn't. He says that if he left Africa he would become lonely and grow skinny. He was seriously nervous to leave his country and people. The sad thing is, he had to leave to educate himself better and live a better life than the rest of the Sudanese people. So he agreed to go. He went with many other Sudanese boys. They were picked up by a and taken to a project. Santino lived most of his time in America happily with his friend Peter.

Then they separated and Santino began to feel what he had dreaded. He was partnered with other people but they left as well. Then the problems began. He didn't have enough money to pay the rent and had to work extra hours. The place he was living was occasionally bombarted by Black Americans who, with guns, took their money away. Santino was caught 3 times for driving without a license and needed to get a license as soon as possible. He started feeling like as if he wanted to go back to Africa. Slowly his need to go to Africa left him. He began to come into the American society. He became better at working at the factory. he grew faster with doing what he was supposed to do. He began feeling more welcome to the society.

At first he went into a culture shock with all the things that the Black American did. they were completely the opposite of what the Sudanese boys did. The way they played Basketball and their bombarting into the house. Santino had to learn more english, get a job and be friendly with al te people to fit in. Although mostly the people of America were the ones trying to make them feel at home and welcome.Some boys began to dress like the Black Americans. But mostly they had to do absoluetly nothing to fit in when their space is already made for them.

Julius Caesar Perfomance Assesment

Antony : "O pardon me, thoud bleeding piece of earth,
That i am meek and gentle with these butchers.
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tidde of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over the wounds do i now prophesy
(Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue),
A curse shall light upon the men;
Domestic fury and fierce civil strife
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy;
Blood and destruction shall be so in use,
And dreadfull objects so familiar,
That mohters shall but smile when they behold
Their infants quartered by the hands of war,
All pity chok'd with the custom od fell deeds;
And Caesar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confineswith a monarch's voice
Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war,
That his foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial."

(Act 3, Pg 124, lines 254 - 275)

In this passage Antony is speaking to Caesar's body and promising him that he will create a war agianst the conspirators and rebuild Rome. This passage is significant because Antony is showing another part of him. a very vicious and furious and a revenge wanting side of him.

School Of Athens

Art can be a mirror of society by the way it is painted. the paint itself gives the painting an whole new picture. For example in this painting Raphael has used oil paints to create a more realistic look. Also this was a new discovery that all the artists could use to give their paintings a realistic look. Another factor that helped make a piece of art a mirror image of the society are the different techniques of painting. Some of these techniques are, anatomical accuracy, light and shade, focal point, background, vanishing point.etc.The background of a painting shows what the painter knows about or is inferring where this certain scene is taking place. The vanishing point is the first technique that gave the background depth and the actual point creates a bit of questioning about what could be on the other side. Anatomical accuracy was used only after people actually knew about the human body and it's function. this technique created a better portrait of the human body which was to scale and of what the painter sa in his head.

If I had a choice to put myself in the painting of "the school of Athens" I would say I would put myself as Athena. Athena, the goddess of justice, skill, the arts, wisdom and war. She was the favorite daughter of Zeus( in my case my father). Athena was a very logical person although she was born as a goddess. In this painting Athena is speculating over the scientific people of the painting who are discussing interesting topics. Like Athena, I am very wise with my desicions and I don't like seeing injustice in the world around me. Unlike Athena I don't hold a special power or think only practically. I think practical when necessary but not always. I prefer thinking abstract to get my mind moving more. I also enjoy reading and listening to people who have made a difference and would like to do something like that. Because I have no supernatural power I can't just change everything, so I have to continue to make small differences.