Adora Svitak

While watching TED talk with Adora Svitak, I realized many things that I've never thought about before. When I first began watching it I could not believe that Adora was just a kid. Her vocabulary was so advanced that most of the words she used I didn't know the definition of. One of the points she made was that a common assumption that adults make is that children and the word "childish" represent irresponsibility and irrational thinking. But why is irrational thinking such a bad thing? Aren't children supposed to have wild imaginations? Doesn't irrational thinking make things more interesting and fun? In my opinion there aren't enough dreamers and irrational thinkers in the world. Another good point that Adora made in the TED talk was that learning between adults and kids should be a two-way street. Adults should realize that children have opinions and voices too. We are the new generation after all, so why aren't our voices heard as much as adults? Since what we do today is setting the stage for the future generation, children and teenagers should have more of a say in what goes on in in the school systems and in our community.

BEST FRIEND WANTED

A best friend is someone who you can spend hours with doing nothing, and still never get bored. A best friend is also someone who will listen to what you have to say and be there for support.

Qualities of a best friend:
-Good sense of humor
-Trustworthy
-Good listener
-Caring
-Kind
-Likes to talk about music
-Has a similar taste in music as I do/ open to the music I like

A best friend cannot:
-Be conceited
-Only believe that their opinions are right
-Be close-minded
-Be judgmental

The Piano

I can only play two songs.
The song of my brain and the song of my heart.
The song of my brain is played by hundreds of students who come and go.
Some are happy, some are bored.
One boy with curly hair comes in every Monday.
He slams his book on my book stand.
He groans when the teacher asks him to play.
He jabs at my keys with every note.
It hurts, but I have to keep playing.
One girl with pigtails always comes in with a smile.
She tickles my keys as her tiny, gentle fingers try and hit each note.
I am always happy to see her.
She only comes for a year.
When all the students leave for the day, and my owner sits down and touches her fingers to my keys,
I play the most beautiful song.
Made of pure happiness and serenity.
But then one day something is wrong.
I don't see my owner anymore.
I stay in the same spot for 18 years.
Not a single person has played me.
One day, I am put in an auction.
A rich woman wearing designer sunglasses bought me.
I am moved into her house the next day,
Hopeful and excited that maybe someone in this house will want to play me.
It turns out I was just for show.
I sat there, idle for years and years.
People passed by, saying how beautiful I was.
The only time I spoke was when the housekeeper dusted my keys,
or when the cat scampered across me.
When the rich woman died,
Her children, all adults now, went around the house, deciding which things were theirs.
I sat there watching,
Praying that one of them would take me somewhere where I could finally be played.
One of her children came over,
Pressed hard on my keys,
And I made an ugly sound.
I'd never heard myself make that sound before.
The sound of sorrow, neglect, and loneliness.
The children looked at each other with a look of disgust,
And the next day I was sent to a horrible place.
I was thrown into a pile of garbage.
Completely surrounded with trash and other unwanted items.
I will never speak again.

I can only play two songs.
The song of my brain,
that I was made to play.
And the song of my heart,
a beautiful lullaby, turned into an ugly tragedy.

Enthusiam

Usually what makes me enthusiastic about learning is when I am motivated. Going to school for 180 days and having to sit in 5 different classes for 67 minutes each can get pretty boring. But even though I sometimes dread waking up early and getting out of bed in the morning, I try to look at the big picture. If I get through these school days and learn what I'm supposed to and get good grades now, my future life will be more successful. When I'm motivated to do something and I succeed in doing it, I feel proud of myself and that is the best feeling. So what makes me enthusiastic about learning is the proud feeling I will have when I learn something new and use that knowledge in school and in the outside world. Also what makes me enthusiastic about learning is when the teacher uses a fun and interesting approach towards a subject. I personally think it is the worst when you have a class that you really do not like, and all we do in the class is take notes and listen to the teacher talk the entire time. If the class is boring and I don't enjoy the subject, why would I be motivated to learn about it? Why should I be enthusiastic to learn more about the subject? Last year, I really enjoyed my chemistry class because chemistry came easy to me and I found it really interesting. I was wide awake in that class and was ready to learn. We got to do experiments and visually see things that we were being taught instead of just simply taking notes on them. Since I was enthusiastic about learning more about chemistry, I got good grades it made me really proud of myself.

Courage

Two years ago when I went to Disneyland and there was a giant roller coaster that my little brother wanted to go on. I don't really do roller coasters and neither do my parents but I built up the courage to go on with my little brother. I ended up having a lot of fun.