Grade 9

Tightrope – Mini-Inquiry Project

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My legs are dangling off the edge

The bottom of the bottle is my only friend

I think I’ll empty this bottle of pills again

And I’m gone

 

 

I’ll Carpe Diem with my newfound love

My legs feeling different than ever before

There’s just so much of her to adore

And I’m gone

 

Lean, lean, left and right

The rope is there for you to walk so light

Happiness and despair you will fight

Like yin, and yang, they must unite

woman-tightrope-walking

Life can’t be full of happiness

Or full of despair

Life is a tightrope

Keep your balance, or you’re gone too

 

‘Tightrope’ by Alex Redwood is a rhyming poem that talks about humanity’s need for balance in their lives. The poem tells us about Alex’s beliefs on balance. He tries to explain that the consequences for having a life unbalanced can be much larger than you think. That the consequences can be invisible to you, that you could be facing the consequences of imbalance right now without even realising it.  The title, ‘Tightrope’, also references the subject matter of the poem. Alex Redwood chose to write a poem such as this because he has had difficulty in his life at the moment with trying to find balance between a multitude of things, and he believed that this was the best way to ‘take some of the heat off’.

 

Hyperlink a Video

Blender Animation

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  1. The purpose of this project was to help us learn about Blender.
  2. I learned how to use a brand spanking new program, from modelling to animation. I’ve never used Blender before.
  3. I’m proud of the plane, as that took the most work
  4. I could improve on the landscape. But there’s not much to add, since it’s an ocean. So the landscape is pretty flat.
    I made waves though! So that’s cool, I guess.

Blender Plane

Launching a Restaurant

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  1. This project was about faking a launch of our very own restaurant.
  2. I learned how to use formulas with Microsoft Excel
  3. I’m proud of my spreadsheet. I think it looks very professional, or polished at least.
  4. We could have done more than one take for our commercial, but I hate being in front of the camera so…
    Our menu was also pretty mediocre.

Link to a spreadsheet detailing the restaurant’s first month of operation:

https://sd43-my.sharepoint.com/personal/132-aredwood_office43_ca/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?guestaccesstoken=6MmUdVjtbgKN1FUDWKaKlseO4EyA093h9Ntmvj8suWQ%3d&docid=0b3cfa62e3b594cd6915b3a00c20bd867

National Research Project (England, United Kingdom)

alexr2015
  1. My project was about England, United Kingdom. I made the document in Microsoft Word.
  2. I learned how to use headings.
  3. I’m seriously proud of the last section, “Other Tourism Highlights”
  4. I guess I could improve by adding more pictures, but I think the whole thing is pretty good.

Mock Powerpoint Website

alexr2015
  1. This project was about creating a mock website using Microsoft Powerpoint
  2. I learned about the “Master Slides” feature in Powerpoint, along with actions.
  3. I’m proud of creating the roll-over effects.
  4. I could improve on the amount of content. I didn’t put too much effort
    into looking for content to put in the “website”.

Building Understanding: Whirligig and the Theme of Interconnectedness

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Title: Everything is Connected.   Your name:Alex Redwood

Which Essential Question(s) is addressed in this piece of literature? Content:

a)    What happens in the text/movie/Talk?

b)    What is the main message/theme?

 Understanding:

How does the text answer the EQ?

Answer in full sentences. Record relevant quotes and page numbers/lines if needed.

How does the influence of others impact our own lives? There are multiple themes in this book, but I’ve decided to focus on the theme of interconnectedness, and this theme talks about how everything in the world is somehow connected to one another, almost like a web. An small action that is preformed one one side of the world could affect someone on the other side of it. mabi logoSomehow, in some way, everything is connected. Your actions in one place can have a ripple effect across the WORLD.

I feel like this book’s main theme is interconnectedness. Think back to the very beginning, where Lea was just a normal, very successful kid, brightening up the whole room with her smile. Now she’s all over the United States in the form of whirligigs, influencing everyone’s life for the better.

In The Afterlife, Brent begins to think of the word karass, and it’s a term for a goup of people that are someone connected; linked together without even knowing it. He believed that Lea was for sure, part of his karass. Lea was a woman that Brent didn’t know of until he killed her in a car crash. And because he killed her in this car crash, he’s now sent across America building whriligigs with her face on them. These whirligigs end up influencing tons of people’s lives, changing them for the better. Who would have thought a typical girl would end up marking her spot all over America, helping people through the tough times of their life.

In Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, two people attempt to rob him of his belongings. He alerts the bus drivers in time for the muggers to back off, but then he has this thought, “It dawned on him why animals lived in heards,” and this is connected to Miami, Florida, where Flaco sees the shearwaters for the first time, and he’s surprised to see them flying in a flock. Fighting over fish. He’s disappointed to see them flying in a group because he saw them on TV flying alone, looking majestic and all. When he gets backs, he also sees a wooden marching band. It’s a whirligig that Brent made. This whirligig told Flaco, “Birds don’t live alone. They live in flcoks. Like people. People are always in a group. Like that little wooden band.”

Whirligig Pre-Reading Activity: Forgiveness

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“Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offence, lets go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well.”

This definition is telling me that I am not a forgiving person.

But vengefulness is not a part of me either.

I can forgive someone for doing nearly anything, but wishing them well is far beyond me. I understand forgiving someone that hurt one of my loved ones, and then moving on from the past. Continuing to live in the past is, to me, a dangerous thing to do. You can get stuck, metaphorically speaking, in the past if you stay there long enough. Your brain will only think about that one horrible accident with your loved one and the offender, causing you to change, and not for the better. It’s just better to move on.

Forgiveness is one thing. Wishing the person that possibly destroyed your life well, is a completely different story.

Your Phone

alexr2015

Small, in the palm of your hand.

It can do almost anything.

It keeps you connected to the world, your family, your friends.

Your phone.

 

You constantly care for it.

It’s like your baby.

It is your baby.

It’s your phone.

 

You’re babysitting your neighbours.

You give them their parents’ iPad.

Angry Birds captivates their brain.

Three hours, and they haven’t moved.

 

Your phone receives a text message.

It’s your mother.

You went over your data plan.

She is taking your phone away for one week.

 

Sitting in your room, your leg vibrates.

You reach into your pocket to fish out your phone.

It’s not there. You’ve been grounded.

Your phone is gone.

 

You begin to worry about it, wondering if it’s been cracked.

If it’s been hurt.

You’re worried you’ll miss someone’s Facebook post.

You miss your phone.

Only your phone is on your mind.

You think about it all the time.

You think you’re going to go insane.

It causes you oh, so much pain.

 

One week later, your phone is back.

You start to realize what you lack.

But before you realize what you truly need,

Your phone distracts you with a special DING.

 

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