Songs

1. Stressed out by Twenty One Pilots from the album Blurryface

This song represents one of the many emotions that we felt throughout this year. The chorus quotes, “Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days, When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.” which makes sense in this context, before a test, and we are stressing out about it, and wishing we could go back to the good days where we didn’t have stress.

2. Happy by Pharrell Williams from the album G.I.R.L

Happy by Pharrell Williams is a good representation of how we felt on some days throughout the school year. The lyrics go, “Bring me down, Can’t nothing, Bring me down, My level’s too high, Because I’m happy, clap along if you feel like a room without a roof, Because I’m happy, Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth.” Some days, if we get good results on a test, or if we are having fun with our friends, we feel as if nothing can bring us down, as we are so happy, which is exactly what is written in the lyrics of this song. 

3. On Top of The World by Imagine Dragons from the album Night Visions

On Top of the World talks about how even if you are falling behind or struggling, don’t give in and get back up, even if it seems like it’s impossible or far away. Once you’ve achieved your goal, you feel as if you are on top of the world and nothing can hold you down. This is how we feel at the end of the year or at any point of the semester after completing a test or assignment, as we have worked so hard, and tried our best, and now we are finally at the end, it was all worth it. The lyrics quote,  “And I know it’s hard when you’re falling down. And it’s a long way up when you hit the ground. Get up now, get up, get up now.‘Cause I’m on top of the world, ‘ay. I’m on top of the world, ‘ay. Waiting on this for a while now. Paying my dues to the dirt. I’ve been waiting to smile, ‘ay. Been holding it in for a while, ‘ay. Take you with me if I can. Been dreaming of this since a child. I’m on top of the world.”

4. What Time Is It? From the Disney movie High School Musical

I think that every student in this school has all felt this feeling of excitement and anticipation at the end of the year. This song accurately portrays that feeling of enthusiasm and eagerness for summer vacation to come, where there will be no work to stress about. The lyrics are, “What time is it? Summertime, it’s our vacation. What time is it? Party time, that’s right, say it loud. What time is it? The time of our lives, anticipation. 

5. Friday by Rebecca Black (Single)

This song is portrays how most students feel on a Friday morning. She sings, “Everybody’s lookin’ forward to the weekend, weekend, Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday,” For most, Friday is the day which everyone looks forward to because it is the end of the week, and leads into the weekend. There is no school the next day, which means we have time to stay up late, hangout with friends and do whatever we want.

6. Brave by Sara Bareilles from the album the Blessed Unrest

I think that this is a great song as it’s main message is about standing up and staying true to yourself even when people may knock you down. This especially applies to middle school, as middle school is a time where we begin to discover who we are as a person, and pass through a tough stage in our life where we may feel peer pressure or insecurities about ourselves, and this song tells us to stay brave. “Say what you wanna say And let the words fall out. Honestly, I want to see you be brave.”

The topic I chose is allergy free baking, which includes vegan, dairy free and gluten free desserts. I chose this because I have many friends and family members who are allergic to products made in cupcakes or other desserts, therefore unable to eat it, and I wanted to try making desserts without those products so that they can. Also, I know that when a lot of people hear the words vegan or gluten free, they automatically assume it’ll taste bad and be bland, however I wanted to experiment and see the differences between a normal dessert, vegan ones, dairy free ones and gluten free ones and see if they actually taste different.

One of the challenges, which I have faced so far was dealing with how to substitute out ingredients for vegan ones and gluten free products, and still find the correct proportions to make the cupcake taste good. Out of the three batches of desserts I have made so far, only one of the three turned out successful as the first one sunk in and did not rise, while the gluten free batch became elastic like and would not cook nor burn. After doing research on what could have possibly gone wrong, I will try a different method on the next batch I will be baking.

I am proud of the research I have done during the SML sessions as I was able to gather lots of information both on types of allergies and recipes. Also I am super proud of that one batch of vegan cupcakes which turned out as they were super tasty, moist, and got very good reviews. When doing SML I feel that I am being creative as one I look at a recipe, I try to alter it to add flavors, which takes creativity. Also, decorating my cupcakes is creativity.

At the beginning of this unit, I had only a vague understanding of four key concepts stereotype, racism, prejudice and identity, without really knowing how they all interconnect and can impact who someone as a person. I learned that Identity makes up who you are on both the surface and underneath (your appearance and who you are deep down that people wouldn’t be able to see if they looked at you) and that most of the time, because of your race and how you look, it impacts how society views and treats you.  The four concepts all connect to courage, as throughout our lives, it is inevitable that we will be exposed to some form of prejudice, stereotype or racism, and we need to have courage to overcome those words or actions thrown our way and stay true to our identity without trying hide from it or deny it.

Race is a word produced from our imagination that was created by us to classify groups of people and separate ourselves different from others just because of the colour of our skin or our nationality, when truly, we are all the same. Race does not define who you are as a person, however, just because of how you look, society makes assumptions and generalisations about who you are even though the way you look has no ties with the way you think or your characteristics. Because of  assumptions and discrimination against your race or someone else’s, it can hugely impact your self-esteem and how you see yourself as a person because they make you feel less important than others, making you feel as if race is the only thing that defines you. Most of the time, if you are in the majority, not the minority, you may seem as if you have more power and confidence to embrace who you are without any doubts or hesitations, because you are comfortable with living in your own skin as you are similar to everyone else, while as if you are of a race in the minority, you may sometimes as if you are not as good as those in the majority because you don’t fit in, but rather stand out, and get treated as though you are less. I feel that if people had the option to change the colour of their skin, or their hair or their eyes, they most likely do so to fit in the majority and escape the prejudice they experienced before, impacting the way they act. For example, during the 1950s-1960s when segregation and racism was apparent especially in the United States, if the African Americans had the option to become white, I believe that most of them would take up that option back then, and sometimes even in today’s world, the white people are the more “superior” race and treated better. If they did so, they would probably act differently as they would not have the feeling of self doubt pulling themselves down as they did as a black person, because of the way society made them always feel less important, and possibly feel more proud of who they are. I gained this understanding from the brown eyes blue eyes video when a elementary school teacher gave her 3rd grade students a lesson on discrimination and prejudice by putting them through a simulation where the people with blue eyes were more superior than those who had brown eyes. Immediately after she told her students that blue eyed people were smarter, better looking and better than brown eyed people,  the blue eyed people began to tease and bully those with brown eyes, even if their friends were in the brown eyes group. This shows that when people are given the promise or possibility to become more superior than others, they will seize that opportunity

After meeting with Ms. Bevear and my parents at conferences, I have decided that I really want to work on taking risks by using challenging vocabulary, and also reading a larger variety of genres. Regarding my vocabulary, I am really good at taking down wonder words and putting it up on my wonder word wall with the definition, however, I have not been able to apply those challenging words to my writing and everyday speaking. To improve, I will try to use at least 3-4 new words in my writing and underline it, and also pick one new word a week to use in my speaking. For my reading, I will try not to read more than 2 books of same genre in a row to ensure variety.