First Amendment Rights

     Over the last week we have talked a lot about the first amendments.  The five amendments are freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of press, freedom of petition and freedom of assembly.  Those freedoms are designed to protect our rights so the government can't take them away.
         One of my biggest questions is what is the extent of freedom of religion.  I know you have the right to practice your religion freely but how far does that right extend.  If your religion goes directly against the law are you still allowed to practice your religion. For example, if a child is sick and its against their religion to get them medicine and the child dies can the parents be punished.  That situation happened a while ago and at first the parents were sentenced with man slaughter but they had it removed because they told the judge that that was their religion.  The judge repealed the sentence.  In that case freedom of religion won out but will freedom of religion always win?  I think that although we have the freedom of religion if what we do in out religion goes directly against the law than the law should be more important.
      Another question I have is what is more important: the school code or freedom of speech.  Technically we have the freedom to say mostly whatever we want as long as it isn't threatening and isn't fighting words.  Normally in schools if you say what you're thinking it doesn't matter that you have the freedom of speech the school code wins out.  I think that the answer to my question is that the school code is more important that freedom of  speech. Although that may sound weird because the freedom of speech is a stronger and more important thing, normally school code wins.

Grades

I think  the purpose of grades is to assess your learning ability.  Also so the teacher can see how welll you're doing.  I think the current grading system is okay.  It's easy to understand  because you know if you got an A you did good and if you got an F you did bad.  I think the system could be improved.  I think the current grading system does represent our skills accureately but if a parent were to look at it it would be hard to understand.  All you would see is the grade and nothing else.  I think we should transfer to standard base because that way when you look at your grades you can see what the test was one and also weather you are average, above average, or need to improvement. The current grading system doesn't tell you that much.

Are Schools killing creativity????

Are schools killing creativity?  That's the big question that everyone has been asking.  I agree with Sir Ken Robinson that schools are killing creativity.  Kids, myself included, are losing their creativity because it isn't being used in school.  For example every kind of project teachers assign they want it done a certain way and if you don't do it that way than you're wrong.  If you aren't able to do the project the way you want than you can't be creative. This actually happened to me last year.  My reading teacher assigned us a project and in that project we had to use drawn metaphors to relate to the character's life.  I did some different metaphors including one about crayons and I got a bad grade because they were out of the ordinary and in other words CREATIVE.   I guess because I didn't do the usual metaphors she decided that I was wrong.

A schools whole curriculum is based around passing the NJ Ask.  That test has absolutely no creativity incorporated into it.  So if the big test has no creativity in it than schools curriculum has no creativity in it either.  Sir Ken Robinson had some very valid points.  The one point that I thought was the best and made the most sense was that creativity needs to be nurtured.  You can't just not do anything with creativity and expect it still to be there.  Schools need to start embracing creativity instead of pushing it away. Creativity tests show that most children have less and less creativity.  Every one's born with creativity the trouble is keeping it.  In my opinion schools need to incorporate creativity into daily lessons.

My Learning Styles

          Just from taking those 2 tests I learned alot about myself.  From the Gardner Multiple Intelligence Test I learned that I'm Bodily Kinesthetic.  That means I think through Somatic Sensations.  From the other test I learned that I'm Concrete Sequential.  This information will help me in school because now I know I learn better with hands on learning.  I also need to do sports and physical games.  Also I learn better with ordered, structured and practical lessons.  This will help me because now I know what type of learning I need to suceed.
      I admire alot of people. One person I admire is Abby Wambach. She's a u.s soccer player.  I tihnk her learning style is also bodily kinesthetic because she needs lots of activity and she enjoys playing sports too.  Another person I admire is Gabby Douglas, the olympic gymnast.  I think her learning style might also be Bodily Kinsethetic.  I think this because it says people need movement, physical games and sports.  Also people like thi also enjoy dancing, running and jumping. Those are 3 very important parts of gymnastics.  Another person I admire is Piccasso.  I think his learning style is Abstract random and  Musical.  I think this because both of those styles are creative and imaginitive.  Piccasso is an artist so he has to be creative and imaginitive.

Being gifted:Ups and downs

          There are many ups and downs of being gifted.  There are also alot of truths and myths about being gifted.  I'm going to tell you all about them so hopefully you will be able to understand gifted students better.
          One good thing about being gifted is somethings come easier to us than others. I guess technically that could also be a bad thing. For example I excel in math.  I'm taking honors geometry at the highschool this year.  On the other side I struggle with history and writing.  I still manage to get good grades in these classes but it takes me alot longer to understand something. Another up side is you get to take different classes. For example ROGATE.  This is a whole class designed for gifted students.  Taking this class also looks good on a college application.  You get 7 points added to your GPA just for taking this class. Another thing about being gifted is we are special.  We are unique and different.  You may not think that means anything but to us it's just a little confidence booster.  Any time you get down you can just think about why you're lucky to be gifted.  Overall being gifted is a great thing.
            Sadly, there are alot of downsides of being gifted.  There's alot of pressure.  People always expect more of you.  I usually get decent grades but if I slip up and get a bad grade my mom can't belive it.  She gets mad at me.  On the other hand my brother doesn't get very good grades. If he doesn't get a good grade my mom doesn't really care.  Just because I normally get good grades doesn't mean she should yell at me and be harder on me than she is to my brother.  Being gifted could also cause asynchronous development.  That means that parts of you develop faster than other parts.  For example you may be mentally developed but you might not be emotionally developed.  I am mentally developed but I'm not physically developed.  basically that means I'm short.  Another downside to being gifed is it's harder to fit in and you're sometimes bullied.  Becuase gifted peopel are so skillec in one or more areas we stick out from other kids.  We all try different things to fit in and try to be like everyone else.  Some people, myslef included, dumb themselves down.  That means we pretend to be stupider than we really are.  By pretending we aren't as smart we don't stand out as much.  Anyway, being gifted isn't aways fun.  There's alot of bad stuff (baggage) that comes along with being gifted.
            Now for the myths and truths of being gifted. One of the biggest myths about being gifted is.gifted students don't need help they will do fine on there own.  That is soooo untrue.  The truth is gifted students need just as much help as regular students.  We need to be given more advanced classes because we could get bored whitch could lead to bad habits in class.  Another myth is we are super smart and get straight A's and good grades.  A gifted child could get poor grades and still be gifted.  Being gifted doesn't mean your are smart and excel in every subject.  For some students that could be the case  but being gifted means having a special skill.  For example a student could be gifted in music.  Therefore, that doesn't mean they get good grades.  Another myth is that we are stuck up and think we're better.  In most of our cases that's not true at all.  The truth is we are just like every other kid.
       So hopefully after reading this blog you will understand gifted students better.   I hope next time you see a gfited student you will pay attention to the truths instead of the myths. Well hope you enjoyed!

First blog Post!

 Hi my name is Erin
I'm in 8th Grade
My favorite subject is geometry!
My favorite thing to learn about outside of school is sports!!!!!!
In my free time I like to play soccer, field hockey and run track.
When I grow up I want to own a bakery!
Playing Sports make me happy.