ENLIGHTENMENT PROJECT
For the Enlightenment project we watched Into the Wild, read Siddhartha and learned the theory of the cave. We had a mini project that had to relate to one of these ideas I made prayer flags with quotes from the end of Siddhartha.
Here is a link to my final project...http://faculty.animashighschool.com/~jfisher/Enlightenment%20Project%20Final.html
IMPERIALISM PROJECT
In our imperialism project we first read King Leapold's Ghost which is a a book about what happened in the Congo involving imperialism and Europe. We talked a lot about how if affected the people of the Congo and the why King Leopold would come in and do such terrible things to the people of Africa. After reading this book we Studied individual country in Africa that has been affected by imperialism.
My final project was a slide show on Tanzania. We spent weeks researching our individual countries then spent a few weeks finding people to interview. We interviewed people from our country about what it is like where they are from and also what they know about imperialism in their country. Here is the link to my slideshow...http://www.youtube.com/user/johnfisherjf?feature=mhum#p/u/4/VF61GPWUElA
Section 1-
Arab travelers were first to colonize Tanzania. They were later colonized in the early 19th century by Germany. Germany also conquered Rwanda and Burundi and turned them into German East Africa. The British also wanted these countries and they decided to draw an attack during World War 1. The British ended up getting most of the German East Africa except the area that is now Uganda and Burundi. British rule ended in 1961 but they drained them of recourses and money that was earned. This led the country off to a bad start, and when they became independent in 1963 they had nothing to work off of. In 1970 they hit a point of severe poverty. They also had no proper education. Education in Tanzania started way back before colonialism. It was used to tame the people and they used British methods. Somewhere between independence and now they left British methods and now they are wishing that they still used them. The British set up a system that allowed the Tanzanians to make their own successful government and be independent from other countries. (1 minute)
Section 2-
Food shortages are a large problem in Tanzania. There are 40 main countries in the world that have major food shortages and 26 of them are in Africa. Almost ¾ of African food comes from Tanzania but they are still extremely poor. The food shortage mostly have to do with change in the climate and natural disasters. People have also not made proper investments in agriculture, including what they grow and the area they grow it in. Most of the farms in Tanzania are owned and run by small families. The woman do most of the work. All of the work is done by a hand hoe, they individually plant each seed. Farms are often taken out by natural disasters and major weather storms. Like most other countries you never know what you will get in that season.
Like many other African countries AIDS is a huge issue. It affects people physically and emotionally. AIDS in Tanzania is recently a huge factor in the economy. Companies and people are in debt because of employees not being able to work and also family members being out of work because of the disease. All aid that is coming to Tanzania is helping extremely by reducing the spending that is going on in the country. Most of the money they have been spending in the past is for AIDS relief. Tanzania had a budget of Sh1,670.88 billion for the months of July and August of last year but with the help of many different organizations they spent Sh608.14 million less. The US Global AIDS Program is trying to get around 5 million Tanzanians tested by the end of the year. No one can be positive if they have the disease unless they are tested, so this will help with the spreading and also prevention. The Tanzania National AIDS Program is also working with them and is going to educate all people on AIDS and the dangers of it. It may sound as easy as just saying not to have sex but that would lead to a major population drop. The AIDS programs are trying to spread and convince people to live by the ABC’s. A being abstinence B is be faithful and last but not least C, use condoms. The work that they are doing will continue until they are finished and have healed all with AIDS and educated or are kicked out. (2 minutes 10 seconds)
Section 3-
Joshua Njogolo, a Tanzanian Native, let me recently interview him about where it comes from and the history of his country. German Colonization Society founder, Dr. Karl Peters, was the man behind the fight for Tanzania. “Peters who once in time was the colonial governer was called “Mikono wa Damu” meaning “Man with blood on his hands”. He was told all about imperialism from his family and grandfather. I knew that there were a few cases of severe bloody riots over the country but not so many that they renamed a man for them. I think that it is interesting that countries faught over Tanzania and none of them truly conquered the world (took over a continent). The british are now an active role in helping Tanzania as is America.
Section 4-
Njogolo went to college at Fort Lewis for a few years and is now back in Tanzania at a University. I would first like to give a little background information about education in
Tanzania. It is run just like the British education just not the same knowledge that they receive. When he answered my question about education and the issues that they are having in Tanzania he said this, “Education in Africa is a really big concern involving the government and all people. There are some economic development plans from the U.N. about MGD’s. This is all about providing free education for all people from primary school to secondary school. This is very hard to Tanzania to succeed. “ This quote stuck to me because you can really see that they need help with teaching children. Njogolo was lucky enough to get a proper education and get the opportunity and come the the states and learn at a college. This quote shows that there is a lot of foreign involvement in the country and that other countries are willing to help. When Kip came into our class near the beginning of this project he said that the imperialism of Kenya was a good thing because the British actually did help them with the education and other things in their country. I almost think that is very similar in Tanzanai. The British helped set up their education and got them started.
Tanzania. It is run just like the British education just not the same knowledge that they receive. When he answered my question about education and the issues that they are having in Tanzania he said this, “Education in Africa is a really big concern involving the government and all people. There are some economic development plans from the U.N. about MGD’s. This is all about providing free education for all people from primary school to secondary school. This is very hard to Tanzania to succeed. “ This quote stuck to me because you can really see that they need help with teaching children. Njogolo was lucky enough to get a proper education and get the opportunity and come the the states and learn at a college. This quote shows that there is a lot of foreign involvement in the country and that other countries are willing to help. When Kip came into our class near the beginning of this project he said that the imperialism of Kenya was a good thing because the British actually did help them with the education and other things in their country. I almost think that is very similar in Tanzanai. The British helped set up their education and got them started.
1. What does it mean to be independent worker and learner?
I think that independent learners and workers are people that can get their work done by themselves and don't need to be nagged to get it in on time. Also they don't rely on others to help them and tell them the answers.
2.Describe your strengths at working independently, using evidence from at least 3 different times during this project. Describe at least one time for KLG.
While we were reading the book King Leopold's Ghost we had to fill out a chart of things and quizzes that we took while reading. I decided to read the whole book instead of just reading the sections. The book was pretty difficult and there were some words that I did not understand. Instead of asking Mr. Fisher for the meaning of the words I looked them up in the dictionary. If I still was not sure of the meaning I would then ask for the definition. When I was doing my research on Tanzania I could not find any websites that I could get good solid information off of so instead of complaining I spent hours at home looking then when I got to school I asked Cat to help me go through some of them and pull out some strong information. Last but not least when we had to record the script I had to record my script almost 4 times because it was not clear. I knew that it wasnt the highest quality so i made it as good as I could.
3.Describe your weaknesses at working independently, using evidence from at least 3 different times during this project. Include at least one example from the section on KLG.
I did not spend my time wisely at all while reading the book. I had to spend the whole weekend before we had to be done with the book reading and getting it all in. I also could have studied for the quizzes better and made sure I knew exactly what to look for. I stayed after school to work on my slideshow but it was still not as good as i wished it would have been. I dont think I started the slideshow process early enough to not be super stressed to get it in.
POETRY
This poem project, we had to write poem on either enlightenment, violence, or peace. My poem was inspired by an activity we did in class where Mr. Fisher asked a perspective question and we would move to a corner of the room with a sign either saying agree, disagree, strongly agree, or strongly disagree. The question that most stood out to me was, are people naturally violent or not. I thought about this for a while, and if people arent naturally violent then what makes them violent? That is what my poem is about, the things that make us violent. Each stanza is something that i think can make people violent. Enjoy!...
Destiny of Violence
A young seed growing from the ground
Developing into a grown being
Not knowing what could get in the way
Often turning into a fierce addition to society
Why do we stab friends in the back,
And tear old sidekicks apart;
Passionate feelings shattered and left in the dark.
Honesty is lost and left far behind.
The beating of the heart stops:
All love has disappeared.
Words leave their mouth like swords.
All the affection has led to cruelty.
Hiding behind broken walls,
Hands shaking and eyes full of fear.
Not being able to cope
Allows us to push it away and pretend.
Bundles of gold fall from the sky into the hands of people
The classes we are put into make no sense,
Wealth divides our world and causes grief.
Focused on climbing to the top only.
The cross is a symbol of God,
But why was it used as a weapon to kill?
The Faith of all people,
Breach away the idea of believing.
Authority is taken too seriously,
People take advantage, when really they have no place.
We want to fight back.
Greed is the ultimate downfall.
Kicking and wailing for more,
We can’t always get what we want.
Longing to stand out and above.
These words, twist and form us,
Not always to the most preferred in the world
People that really don’t care for others,
And others who are left hurt inside and out
Artist Statement....
My poem, the Destiny of Violence, was inspired by an activity that we did in class The activity is called four corners and there is a sign in each corner of the room that read; agree, strongly agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. Mr. Fisher will say a perspective and we move to the corner in which we believe. One of the questions he asked was, are we as humans naturally violent? This really made me think. If we aren’t naturally violent then what makes us violent. That is what my poem is about and why those specific things make us violent. The ideas that I cover in my poem that I think represent violence are greed, betrayal, money, fear, religion, and love. Some think that it is very hard for love to be violent but really it can be the most violent. Relationships hurt people all the time whether it’s physical or emotionally.
My form is free and I got the inspiration from a poem that I memorized by Pablo Neruda called Laughter. This poem is about not being able to live without his woman’s laughter. The meaning of the poem did not inspire me, it was more the way it was written and the sentences that are broken up in it. The sentences are broken up in a way that makes it fun to read and flow very easily. In his poem each stanza is a visual way of showing that her laughter helps everything and he can’t live without it. I tried to set my poem up like that but with each stanza an idea of what makes people violent. I think that they are set up in a way that is easy to understand what exactly the idea is. There are many visual representatives.
The inspiration for my performance is a video I watched of a man reading Laughter. This inspired me because it was simple but had so much emotion in it, you could really tell he meant every word. I feel that people aren’t naturally violent and that there are so many things that bring violence out of us. Violence is a very important aspect in our world and I think that it will be easiest to show that this is important by reading it to a crowd with a lot of emotion.
I would also like to have an artistic piece that represents what makes people violent. A possible idea I had was getting a doll and writing words that relate to violence on it to show a child or just a person in general growing up with violence. Visual images make things easier to understand, especially in poems where there are different perspectives. The poem can be easier to understand and listen to if there is a powerful piece to go along with it.
Through out this project we read many different poems and analyzed them. We learned poem language, the types of poems and the way that they are written. We also memorized poems of our choice and analyzed them in a paper. All together i went through about 10 drafts til i got to my final poem. I had people critique mine as well as participating in process Journals. Process journals helped because they made you go deeper into the poem and the prompts also gave me many different new ideas and topics to work off of.
We were able to write our poems about anything that we have covered in the last, or something that related to those things. We covered enlightenment, imperialism, and the Vietnam war. So, this concluded a lot of violence and peace concepts.
In this project I learned a lot about metaphors and digging deeper to get the meaning out of words. For example, The baby grow up. Instead you could say, a young cocoon blossoming into a majestic butterfly. Writing more interesting for everyone is a plus, whether listening to it or reading, you can get bored with it just as fast. I learned how to not let people get bored!
