The Socratic Method

For our Forbidden books course, my classmates and I looked at how people that have political power try to ban books because of it's content. We also focused on a writing called The Apology .This reading is very important to today's world because it talks about Socrates, a wise philosopher who was on trial for ''corrupting the youth''. He would often go to the youth and ask them random questions just to hear their responses. The people of Athens, a city in Greece did not wan't the youth thinking for themselves or starting to ask questions, this would lead to a chaos, this is also why they considered his method peril. This method that Socrates used is called question and answer method. 

Socrates  was also put on trail for not believing in the gods of Greece. Although, a dime-god called him the wisest, he wanted to find out if their was anyone wiser. Socrates often questioned everyday topics and was founded guilty and sentenced to death my Hemlock poison. I believe Socrates was truly the wisest because although he had knowledge he did not flaunt and pretend he was something he is not. A famous quote from Socrates is ''I know that I know nothing''. This quote shows that Socrates is willing to admit that he does not know everything rather than pretend he does. Socrates was executed and did not refuse because he wanted to obey the law and truly stand up for what he believed in.

For our action project we had to use the Socratic questioning and answering method on a topic of our choice. The question and answer method is supposed to get the person who answers to dig deeper to a philosophical level and answer a question.The topic I chose was, What does it mean to be alive? I chose this topic because I felt that it makes you really think therefore you should not give a generic answer. I learned that many people have different definitions of the word 'alive', when you hear all these different answers it actually makes you think about what it really means. When writing the script for my project it was somewhat difficult to stay on track on  of the one topic I had. But I managed to make a well crafted script. Down below is my video on the topic: what does it mean to be alive? Along with the transcribed version.

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Characters

Savannah-character 1 AMK

Adam-character 2 -GN

Filmed-outside

Topic: What does it mean to be alive?

S: Hey Adam! I haven’t seen you in a while. Why do you look so happy?

A: Hey Savannah, I've been feeling depressed for a very long time, and now I finally feel alive!

S: Well, I’m glad you are not depressed anymore, but what do you mean by that statement, that you feel alive?

A: Feeling happy, and having something to look forward to of course!

S: Well what’s the difference between feeling alive and being alive ?

S: So if you're feeling depressed or unconscious are you or are you not dead?

A: Being alive is being alert and responsive. Feeling alive is, like I said before, feeling happy and having something to look forward too.

S: What if a person is in a coma or life support, the machine is keeping them alive, so do you think they are alive or dead? They don’t have any feeling or emotion because their brain can’t function on its own so what state is that person in, in your opinion?

A: Um, I don't know. For all we know they could be looking forward  to waking up from the coma..so they could be alive?

S: And for all we know they are unconscious so they may not feel any emotions.

A: I don't know they possibly can’t feel emotions then. When you're asleep aren't you half dead, or umm unconscious? What is the difference between being alive and being unconscious?

A: I suppose, the person in the coma could be dead but they have a small chance of living do they not? Someone who is asleep is still alive.

S: Yes, but If the machine is keeping them alive they are alive but without it they are dead. Therefore, they are unconscious or unresponsive.The person’s brain cannot function on it’s own, but in actuality they are alive and breathing.

S: When you go to sleep are you alive or dead?

A: Umm, I’m not sure now. I guess i'm alive but unconscious, right?

S: So if you are unconscious can you still feel emotions? Is that your definition of being alive,  being able to feel emotion?

A: I don’t know if we can, when I’m asleep I don’t think I feel my emotions. However, I do think that in order to feel alive you have to feel some sort of emotion.

S: I think the problem is that you have a fixed definition on what it means to be alive. You see Adam, being alive doesn't just mean the change of emotions. The actual definition of being alive is alertness,having a pulse, and not being dead. Also the term ‘alive’ has evolved  throughout history. For example people use the term ‘alive’ to express emotion rather than actually being alive.

A: I think I see your point Savannah. Maybe next time I will think twice before I make such a statement based off of my emotions. Let me restate what I said before, I am glad that I am no longer depressed, and I feel happier than  i’ve felt in months!

S: It’s okay Adam, i'm only here to help and i’m glad that you are happy! Have a nice day, bye!

A: You too, bye!

An Alaskan Malamute, A Great Candidate For Mars!

For this action project our class had knowledge of a group of people who are planning on traveling to Mars, since it is possible to live on mars we decided to bring a companion along, a pet. I chose an Alaskan Malamute a dog that I personally think is cable of surviving on this planet. One of the challenges for this project was to find a suitable dog that could adjust well to the cold. The thing I liked most about this project was the video because, it was somewhat like us stating our case on why our pet was the best.This action project also focused on math. We looked at central tendencies calculating all the data of different dogs, comparing them with ours, and the set notation. Down below is a picture of my dog, River and Video describing why it would be a great candidate to travel to Mars. Also down below are my math calculations.

We had to find our pet from an adoption agency, and also find 12 to 15 other animals that would then be arranged in a set notation, and central tendency. My Malamute is from Crystal  lake IL, and her name is River. These animals helped us find the standard deviation in weight among them.River was the outlier of the group of dogs weighing, 95 pounds. River is 2.323 standard deviations above the mean, 39.5  We also had to create a box and whisker plot from our data. There are many different areas on mars, since my dog is use to the cold it would live near the ice caps, and since its fur is dark it would be able to catch the sunlight producing warmth. My Alaskan Malamute would be a great candidate. Below you will see my voice recording and math calculations
 

AMK(2014)

AMK (2014)

The Peacock & Squirtle.

For my Stories class, our second action project was to create a fable. A fable is a story often giving animals human like features to convey the moral. While working on this project, we had to incorporate dialogue into our fable, which was somewhat difficult for me. I managed to complete the story with dialogue in it. Down below is my fable about the Peacock and Squirtle! Also down below are my pictures for my story.

“Ugh, another day at this stupid school,’’ muttered Peacock. She got out of bed and looked in the mirror she sighed, ‘’why am I so ugly?’’ Peacock got in the shower dreading the day ahead. Out of the shower she decided on what to wear, booty shorts and a crop top suited her just fine. Peacock was one of the more rare of her kind, she had beautiful feathers that only male peacocks were supposed to have, but instead of finding the unique beauty in this, she saw this as weird and uncomfortable. Peacock then got out her big makeup bag and started applying, primer, foundation, powder, and lastly blush. She felt somewhat satisfied and went downstairs where her dad was sitting. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and immediately told her to change her clothing. Peacock ignored him and stormed out the house. Once she was outside she thought ‘Why does he even care?’.

She arrived at school and saw her clique, they greeted one another and walked down the hall bullying other students. All of the students kept walking, paying no mind to them but, there was one student named Squirtle who always wept whenever they bullied her. Squirtle was nice, pretty, and very shy. No one bothered her except Peacock and her friends. Squirtle would always whisper, ‘’Why are you so mean, I didn't do anything to you.’’ Peacock knew she was right Squirtle never bothered her, but she didn’t care it, made Peacock feel better about herself. 

Squirtle’s life was great aside from getting bullied. Her mom and dad always provided for her when they could. Whenever Squirtle came home sad her parents would always ask ‘’What’s wrong?’’ Squirtle would force a smile and reply with ‘’Nothing.’’ Squirtle had few friends but no one bothered her except Peacock. She always tried to avoid, Peacock but she never failed to find ways to torture her. Peacock made school dreadful for Squirtle, she always thought ‘’One day it'll get better, she'll stop bullying me one day’’. 

Later that week, peacock was getting ready for school, she decided to wear something daring that day, something that she thought was so cool everyone would like her. Peacock wore a tight mini dress that barely covered her legs. She smirked at herself in the mirror saying ‘’I look so cool’’! She then did her normal makeup routine, and left her home for school. Luckily, her father wasn’t there.

When arriving to her first class with her friends, Peacock was the talk of the hour. Everyone kept staring at her but no one actually complimented her. Peacock was confused, she thought everyone would compliment her. Once the class started, the teacher immediately called her out, telling her to go to the front office and find some clothes that covered her up. Peacock immediately shouted ‘’Why?! What’s wrong with it’’? The teacher told her to leave but she refused, she had another outburst when the teacher stated in a stern tone, ‘’If you don't leave you will be suspended.’’ The whole class started to laugh including her friends, she then ran into the bathroom crying. After a while in the bathroom, Peacock heard the door open, she thought it was her fake friends, but it wasn't, it was Squirtle.

Peacock was already angry because Squirtle saw her crying. However aside from Peacock’s cruelty towards her, Squirtle responded by giving her tissues. Peacock muttered ‘’Why are you helping me?’’ As she wiped her eyes. Squirtle responded saying, ‘’My parents always taught me to be nice to people even if they are not nice to you’’. As Peacock re-did her makeup, Squirtle looked at her and said ‘’You know you are very pretty, your feathers and all. I think you don't need makeup, you are beautiful just the way you are.’’ Peacock thought about it and slowly said, ‘Thank you, for everything.’ She then apologized for bullying her. Squirtle helped Peacock clean up, Peacock decided to leave for the day. As she walked home she regretted bullying Squirtle, and promised to become a better person. She also realized that her feathers are actually beautiful. While Peacock walked near the curb a car zoomed fast splashing Peacock with dirty sewer water, causing all her makeup to smear. Peacock got angry, but then realized it was Karma, she whispered, ‘’I deserved that’’, and kept walking.

AMK(2014)

AMK(2014)

The Amazing Planet Of Asadon!

The first action project for my humanities class, stories consisted of writing our own creation myth.This story had to come from our own imagination, and have similes, metaphors, adverbs, adjectives, and sensory imagery. This action project was harder than I expected because, we had to put key details into the things we described and made sure it fit the criteria. Down below is my wonderful creation story on the planet Asadon!

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AMK(2014) Planet

40,912,1026 miles straight up through the sky, a god and goddess named Diamond and Coal lived. Both were both beautiful, Diamond had a face like Beyonce, and long thick honey blonde hair hair that could never become messy. She was walking perfection. Coal on the other hand was strong, but gentle like a giant. They both were wealthy but decided to save their money. No one knows how they became so rich, its almost as if the money just came out of the Blue. They made their home in a particular cloud named Clouden. It was small, but offered enough room for the both of them to live together. One day, Diamond had the idea of building a new world where creatures would roam more freely and happily. Her husband, who liked things the way they were, disagreed and did not want to build a new world. Furious with his stubbornness, Diamond stormed out and left her husband and never returned. Coal got so angry that his wife left that he vowed that he would do everything in his power to make her new world terrible.

Diamond spent months thinking about the world she would build without her ex-husband, and finally awoke one day eagerly ready to create this world. She had thought of shapes her planet could take, and decided on a triangle because it was her favorite shape. She also knew that she wanted to build her planet atop a cloud like her own home,so even when her time was over, she'd have a memory with the cloud planet. Diamond got to work .She created a massive triangular world that sat atop the cloud. She painted the entire world black, then, with a soft stroke, added a bright rainbow across it. Diamond then decided to enter the new world she’d made. It was dark as night in the triangle so she decided to add more color with splashes of blue, pink, yellow, and orange bringing bursts of brightness to the place.

At the very top of the triangle, she created an abundant supply of fresh healthy (and junk) food. With one zap of her pointed index finger she created this supply of food that would never run out, and always stay fresh. It grows from Diamonds powers. Therefore no one would ever go hungry. She also decided on having protectors of the food to prevent robbers from leaving with too much.

With one zap of her index finger, two alluring creatures were created, similar to humans These creatures were majestic, because they were new and innocent. They greeted Diamond, who did the same. She told them their duties, to protect the food, and the newly made creatures agreed, staying completely still like guards in the U.K. as Diamond gave her orders. The creatures had heads like humans, eyes like squirrels, faces furry like gentle foxes, and human-like bodies. These creatures were happily roaming this new planet that the goddess had named Asadon. not really knowing why, Diamond thought it would be a great name for her planet. The creatures had specific roles and schedules--some would work in the technology building finding new ways to make technology better, some would work in a hospital, and some would work in sales.

Asadon was powered by cloud juice. From filling chair cars with cloud juice, to charging phones, the whole planet relied on cloud juice. They received the cloud juice from the cloud their planet was sitting on. The people of Asadon never ran out of cloud juice because it rained once a year and that rain water was stored in that particular cloud. Since the cloud is below them it rained upsdown. Asadon also had an endless supply of water, so no one would go thirsty. There was a big a waterfall with the purest supply of all that came from all the tears Diamond had shed when she fought with and left Cruel behind to make her world. This waterfall was near the gates of food.

After spending time at the top of Asadon with her new creatures, Diamond decided to go to the very bottom of the triangle where all the bad creatures that entered Asadon without her knowing, would reside. She drew a thick black horizontal line at the bottom of the triangle that would separate the good from the bad This was the place where any bad or unwanted creatures would go.

Meanwhile, from his own cloud, Cruel heard Diamond building her new world and was as red and angry as a volcano. He decided to visit the world when Diamond was asleep, and unleash terrible things as punishment. When Cruel got to Asadon, he saw how beautiful the planet was, but didn't care. He unleashed a crazy species that had just one leg and green skin, with crazy bulging eyes. He also let loose a giant, angry wasp that caused the whole world to shut down temporarily. Diamond’s creatures reported these punishments to her, but there was nothing she could do for her ex husband's powers were too strong. She was able, however, to control the giant wasp to attack only once a month, so the creatures of Asadon just had to beware of that day and stay inside their homes. Ever since cruel unleashed these terrible punishment there has been a black line going through the other side of the rainbow.

Down in Asadon the creatures roamed freely, they worked all day and had fun at night. The little creatures lived alone their houses still connected to their parents just so they can be prepared for the real world. The teenage creatures were nice and never disrespectful, they obeyed the older creatures. They also had very nice fashion taste often shopping at places like, M&H, Forever 23, and Urban In Fitters. These creatures were so stylish because diamond always had the best clothes, so she only wanted best for her younger creatures.

In this beautiful world of Asadon, no one would harm one another, but if they did, those causing strife would get locked in the nasty depressing pits of beneath the black border at the bottom of the triangle. Her planet would always be with her even if she became cloud dust, this was truly a place to call her own!