Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Anything interesting happening in my life????



This is my last week here at CHS since I'm moving to Cambridge so I better make this blog count for something. I spent most of my Easter break at home packing for this big move of ours. It isn't all that bad moving to a new place. I have alot of friends there but I will miss all the ones I have here. My sister is planning on staying an extra week so she can go to her Washington D.C. Trip so I'm transfering a week early. I'm finishing out the last two months of this year at Cambridge Schools and then I'm being home schooled my junior and senior year. Yeah it will probably get boring having to stay home all day and do homework but at least I won't have to wake up EXTRA EARLY !!! :) School starts out there around 7am so I have to wake up at 6am to get ready for the bus at 6:30. So now I can't sleep in like I do every morning!!!! Over the summer I'm planning on finishing my new room. My parents gave me the choice to draw whatever I felt like on my walls. They think I'm a good artist so I guess they want to show me off everytime someone comes into my room. I'm not for sure what I want to draw but I know I don't want to draw little hearts and candy canes. I don't want it to be little girl stuff, more like something that will catch your eye and make you curious. Any ideas???????

Monday, April 6, 2009

Plagiarism

In the magazine called "The Journal" there is an interesting article called "Taking The Work Out Of Homework". Matt Villano the author of this interesting article is researching and interviewing teachers about catching copycats in the act. Since the internet is being used to research assignments, teachers are finding that students are using the cut-and paste method of plagiarism. Instead of creating their own work they are taking from other authors and putting them in their reports. In this article you will read about how a teacher named Roland Herberg at Oak Park High School in Ventura, CA assigned his Advanced Placement English students to create a brochure. After the class finished reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the class was to pair up and make a brochure from the book that had to contain an essay about totalitarian tendencies in modern society. The work had to be orginal! Unfortunately one pair of students didn't understand the concept of orginal. Two 17 year olds created a brochure titled "Religion is Terrorism" and thought that Mr. Herberg wouldn't be suspicious. Mr. Herberg thought that the essay was to sophisticated for two 17 year olds to come up with on their own and decided to see if the words in the essay belonged to another writer. Mr. Herberg went to http://www.google.com/ and typed in "Religion is Terrorism." He discovered that the first four pages were used in their brochures taken from a book on the same subject. Herberg gave the students a C- and confronted the students about the plagiarism. The students confessed to the accusation but didn't think what they did was wrong. But these teeenagers aren't the first to plagiarise. Since plagiarism is becoming world wide educators are taking the matter into their own hands and fighting back with technology. Now teachers are using solutions such as www.ipardigms.com and www.questia.com . These websites help teachers catch students in the act of cheating. So as a warning to all students who are planning on cheating or plagiarising: BEWARE! Teachers have their ways and will eventually catch on.

Friday, March 27, 2009

Obama's Plan


Ok.... We finally try to get our troops back and away from this war and Obama is sending more out. Obama's plan is to send 4,000 troops to Afghanistan which is adding to the addition of 17,000 that they already have. More strategies are being made. Obama is planning on doubling the army's ranks to 135,000 and the police force to 80,000 by 2011. Their goal is to get rid of Al Qaeda's central leadership. In case you have not been reading the newspapers or watching the news Al Qaeda is is an international Sunni Islamist extremist movement founded sometime between August 1988 and late 1989/early 1990. Al Qaeda has attacked civilian and military targets in various countries. The most recent attack a few years back was the September 11th attacks. Al Qaeda's leadership has been moved from Kandahar, Afghanistan, to another location somewhere in Pakistan.
I know that many family's are going through a hard time with their daughters, uncles, cousins, sons, or even fathers going to the war to fight for our country. All we can do is pray they come home safe and keep them in our prayers. If you want to find out more about this subject click on the link below to search the article.

Monday, March 2, 2009

My Hobby

Yep! I'm back! I only have one hobby really. I know it isn't much but it gives me something to do besides hanging out with the my friends all the time. My 8th grade year I had Ms. Beil for my Art teacher and honestly I think that woman has inspired me to acheive my goals. She has taught me so much and I love her class so I joined again this year. In my spare time I go out to Kimbolten and sketch down by the lake across from the bridge. I use the techniques that she has taught me and use them myself and get some practice in. I don't really consider it to be a hobby more like a secret passion of mine. It's a little corny but it actually feels good to get away from people and do what I like. During Christmas break I went down there and sketched the ice on the river where my step-dad goes to fish. Each day is different, so when I go back there is always something new to draw. It's my favorite place to go because it's not in a town where there are a bunch of people and cars. It is peaceful.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

First Blog of the year....

I don't usually blog much but I guess it's worth a try. Well my name is Faith Danielle and currently I'm in this wonderful Computer class with Mrs. B. There isn't much to write about myself but I'm a sophmore. I learn quickly and try to suceed sucessfully. Although this year is almost over, I'm going to be finishing out the school year in another district. Hopefully I get enough credits to graduate my junior year rather than senior. I try to work hard at everything I do and if I fail, I always try again.