The Semester Review

I learned many things this semester, including how to write a thesis statement, how to construct a 1 or 2 paragraph response, how to write a letter, how to debate about a topic, such as our Rwandan Genocide Debate.

I thought a thesis statement included reasons for your point of view. Such as Jon West is smart because he gets good grades and tries hard. But I now know that it is supposed to be Jon West is smart. That really makes things a lot easier on your topic sentence. A thesis is really showing your point of view, it is the topic sentence’s job to provide reason. I found this very useful because it helped me write a better paper and get a better grade.

When I wrote my first paragraph response, I got a C. I really had to rewrite and rethink my thesis, which was written incorrectly, my topic sentence, which made no sense, and my support paragraphs. Writing these responses was very difficult and is becoming easier every time. I have learned that to have good support, you need to include analogies, comparisons, or real life experiences. You have to do this to help your reader understand what you are talking about. This also comes in handy when you yourself have no idea what you are talking about. The order of a paper goes: Thesis – Topic Sentence – Support 1 – Support 2. This pattern is a basic overview, but it helped me better understand writing.

Through many paragraph checks and criticism, I learned the ability of letter writing. Letter writing seemed like a piece of cake when I first heard about it, I was wrong. I did not know how to put ethos and pathos into a paper and what on earth a counter was. Ethos is making people want to help and pathos affects people’s emotions. These are very important in a letter especially when you are writing to government or the UN. I still have to get better at using ethos in my letters. A counter is also very important because it shuts down any opposition to your point. For example, some people may say that Jon West does not get enough done, but that is not true. Jon West is a very smart student and always tries very hard.

Margin notes are not fun, but they do provide you with more information about a topic. Margin notes are really just notes in the margin of a page. They can be questions, comments, important details, or key words. Margin notes really come in handy when you are researching a topic and have no prior knowledge of that topic. They are very messy, yes, but do a better job than normal notes because with margin notes, you can read your point and then read the phrase you made your point about. This is extremely useful, just try it out.

When we were learning about Rwanda and the Rwandan genocide, we did a lot of research and worked in a group to try to “win” the debate. It took a lot of margin notes and countless articles, but to achieve “victory” in the debate, this had to be done. The debate was really just supposed to get us ready for SIMUN. It did its trick. Now I believe that I can participate in a debate and do a good job. If not good then maybe okay. I believe that this was a great experience to prepare us for SIMUN debates and help us with the research. I learned a lot throughout the preparation of and during the Rwandan Genocide Debate.

America the Beautiful

If I could choose which country I could be native to, America, Australia, Rwanda, or South Africa, I would want to be from America.

I would want to be from America because there was a lot of land that the British had no knowledge of. Native Americans also travel often to a variety of different places. This would be very useful to obtain knowledge of different places. This could also be useful for trade and finding minerals. The minerals could also be used for trade, crafting, or making weapons. America was huge and the British only had a portion of it. The remaining land had many lakes, rivers, and animals for food. One thing I think of when I think of Native Americans is spears and hunting. I think it would be an amazing experience to throw a spear made out of a stick and a stone into a living animal. Also, I think it would be awesome to use every part of that animal to help me survive. I would also love to see the villages of the Native Americans and how they really relied on animals. It would be cool to understand the language and writing of Native Americans. This would be awesome to know because all my life I have always wanted to be an Indian and talk like one and if I was an Indian, this would not be a problem. I think it would be fun to play Indian sports and see how lacrosse was played when it was created. I played lacrosse in fifth grade and hated it, but sports are always changing, so I would like to go back and see lacrosse played the real way. Another great thing about being a Native American is to see if history changes and to learn the actual real history of the Native Americans.

One thing that would not be cool about being an Indian would be to lose everything I have now. It would completely suck to not be able to listen to the Beatles, I mean that alone makes it worse. I also would not be able to go to school. I would not have my friends and I would not be writing this blog. Well, the blog part isn't so bad. Although no homework would be nice, but modern food like pizza would suck really bad. Oh my God, no Call of Duty... I would have a life... but, that game is way too fun. No Family Guy or Simpsons would be terrible. I would also have to get around on foot. Well I guess it is good exercise but it would take a long time. So I guess that the bad outweighs the good, a rare occasion.

Modern Warfare 2

One of the best video games ever created is definitely Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I got this game for Christmas and have been playing non-stop until my older brother kicks me off and wants play. The campaign is one of the best story modes I have ever played. Special Ops is amazing and online multiplayer is the most fun thing ever. This game took my decent social life and destroyed it; that proves it is an amazing game.

Let’s get one thing straight, the campaign is short but filled with levels that are full of you doing everything possible in warfare, silenced weapons, blowing up vehicles, using predator missiles, command a tank where to go, take out an enemy soldier by dragging him underwater and knifing him, and breaking a man out of jail. I am only talking about four levels, that is how action packed these levels are. There are also many achievements for the campaign and achievements are fun to get, not to mention it says you have skill.

Special Ops has a bunch of missions for you to do at different difficulties. You earn stars for completing missions, the better you do or the harder difficulty you are on. My favorite mission was called Evasion. You have silenced sniper rifles and you have to get to the safety of a village, whether it means killing a person or not. Another awesome Spec. Op is called Race. In this op, you have to drive a snowmobile to the finish line, the faster you finish, the more stars you get.

Last but definitely not least, online multiplayer. A lot of people buy Call of Duty games only to play online. Online multiplayer is by far the most addictive, frustrating, and fun thing in a video game. However, most multiplayer games have absolutely horrible graphics; Modern Warfare 2 has the best graphics in a multiplayer game. You have to level up and different levels bring new guns, perks, death streaks, and emblems. You can play with your friends in private matches or with random people. Many people have this game, so a lot of little kids are playing with the headset and are very annoying. The most fun things about multiplayer are the kill streaks, you can get air strikes, predator drones, UAV, and even nuclear bombs. If you get a nuke, your team automatically wins because the nuke kills everyone alive.