Ender Games Anticipation

Lying is justifiable if it's for the greater good. 
I ranked this a 3 because sometimes lying to someone can benefit them. When you are young and your parents want to protect you from something and ensure that you are going to be okay, then hiding something and twisting the truth is fair. But when you are asked a question or are in a situation where the truth must me told, then lying is unacceptable. 

Sometimes violence is the only way to solve a problem
I disagree with this pretty strongly because words can do a lot. Talking things out and finding a solution that way is a lot easier. Sure, violence may get the job done quicker but in the end, a bunch of fighting and yelling isn't going to make a solution. When you are in danger then I can see a place for violence. 


It is okay to kill someone in self-defense.
If there is ever someone threatening your life, fighting back, maybe even to the death, may be necessary.  If the person is acting like they will kill you or hurt you, and defending your own life comes before anything, then yes,  killing someone to save yourself seems like the right thing to do. However, if there is nothing life threatening going on then there is really no reason for taking someones life.

Words are stronger than fists.  
 I rated this a 4 because getting physically hurt and beat up is bad. But wounds heal on the outside with the right care. Sometimes getting hurt mentally and inside is way worse. No cream or medicine can erase mental scars. I agree that fists can be very damaging and screw you up pretty badly, but I've never experienced getting "beat up" but there are somethings that I will never forget that have been said  to me.


Bullies hurt others because they have low self esteem.

 I strongly agree with this because I've seen kids become bullied, and it's always from the kids that have something to be insecure about. Having a rough life at home and having your family degrade you or have other kids say things that you don't like behind your back  can affect the way you think about yourself. The bully may think that being mean to someone else can make them feel better, but really in the long run, it won't.

Only the best and brightest students should receive the best education to become a nation's leaders.  
I strongly disagree with this. Given an opportunity, even people with disabilities can empower other people. Sure, people that apply themselves more and get a really good education might have a better chance to be a "nations leader" But sometimes, the kids that  don't know how to do school subjects as well as other kids have gone through a lot more and actually know what to do in real-life situations. I think having a 4.0 might be nice for everyone, but having people skills and working with other people I think will help you WAY more in the long one. Grades mean close to nothing to me when I think of someone's personality. 

Revenge is never justified. 
Revenge is one of those things that can be really really funny but also really backstabbing.I rated this a 3 because I'm in the middle and am unsure about what ki8nd of revenge they are talking about. I like a little revenge, makes everything just a little more interesting.

Crying is evidence of weakness.  
 I strongly disagree with this. I think crying is just one of those things that is really natural for everyone. Being sad isn't being weak, its having emotion. Getting hurt isn't being weak, its a feeling and a pain. Justifying "weakness" is something that I can't do.

Any action is acceptable in war.  
People  will do crazy things in times of war and fighting. I gave this a 4 because war can make people lose their minds, and forget what's really important. A lot of things done in war aren't necessarily on purpose.
Teenagers need discipline and rules because they can't control themselves.  
I really don't agree with this. Teenagers are very capable of making their own choices, they just might not make the right ones. Parents and guardians supply guidance and help for kids that need it. I think having some small rules for the kids that get into a lot of trouble might be needed but not too much. Being young and making mistakes and learning from them is sometimes the best way to learn things. That's why I gave it a 2.

Only through personal sacrifice can someone create positive change.   
Sacrifice is something you have to lose or change about your life to benefit something else. This is not always true. Doing good things like raising money for a charity aren't sacrifice and they are benefiting something. Some kinds of sacrifice like getting a dog from the pound, might be a little sacrifice with money but in the long run, the dog will give you happiness. I gave this a 2. 

Generating compassion for your enemies is the only way to create peace.  
Bullies and enemies like it when they get what they want to hear. But turning it around on them and acting nice, is a way to get to them and bug them.   It might make them think that no matter how mean they are to you, you aren't going to be bugged by what they try to do.  This isn't the only way to make good with your enemies though, so I gave it a 3. 

My learning Style

I am a Bodily-Kinesthetic Learner

       
Your mantra: Movement is fun-damental.
       
Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence means you think in movements. The fundamental ability to use movements for either self-expression or precision to achieve a goal is crucial for surgeons, athletes, mimes, choreographers, and directors.
The best way for you to retain information is to associate it with an activity. Dance, acting, and sports are easy for you to master. Relate what you are trying to learn to one of these activities, and you will retain information and gain understanding.

I took acting from when I was 5 to when I was 11. I did learn a lot. Having fun incorporated into my work  is one of the things that basically  helps me learn. Sitting in a classroom is boring and I just get tired and don't retain as much information as I could. I think this describes me pretty well because moving around and doing things helps me learn the concepts better.

I am a Naturalistic Learner

            
Your mantra: Let's investigate the natural world.
       
Naturalistic learners often understand the patterns of living things, and they apply scientific reasoning to the world. You recognize (and can classify) different types of plants or animals. You also empathize with animals. Some well-known careers for those with naturalistic intelligence are farmer, naturalist, animal behaviorist, and scientist.

I love being out in nature, but I really don't think I  "understand the patterns" of the natural world. I like going outside and going to the beach and all that but I don’t think I really learn THAT much from being outside. I go outside to have fun and just relax...not really to learn anything.
        

I Am an Interpersonal Learner

Interpersonal learners thrive on social interaction. Friends often ask you for advice because you are understanding and in tune with the people around you and their motives, emotions, perspectives, and moods.
Your ability to manage relationships helps you understand situations and take a leadership role when necessary. You enjoy teaching and sharing your thoughts.
Careers that require insight and the ability to read what someone else is thinking or feeling -- such as teaching, psychology, or sales -- would be a great match for those with interpersonal intelligence.    

For me, being social and being around people is basically the biggest and most important part of my life. You can learn so much from other people through their successes, their mistakes and things you do together. My friends and family seriously mean everything to me. Without them, I couldn’t get through anything.  I also really love working with little kids and I think that it’s something that I want to have a career in, which the paragraph is right about. I think that this is the learning style that is most like me because interacting with other people is the way that i learn. Reading straight from a book doesn’t work, At all. There is something way different about trying to learn something on our own and working with others to get it done.

The Epileptic Event

Alyssa

12/4/12

The Epileptic Event

Hearing the halftime whistle blow during a sports game can be a true relief.  But one Saturday in September, one girl didn’t come off the field. Halftime had been called and there was something that we didn’t realize.

                  “Kay girls, bring it in,” our coach Larry said as he high-fived all of us coming in for our water break.  It wasn’t sunny but the air was so cold that day that it was burning our lungs.  The fog hung low in the air and clusters of crows dotted the field. The grass was so damp it had soaked through our grass packed cleats. We were exhausted and it was only halftime. The score was 4-2 and we were in the lead.

 “Where’s Ayla?” Larry said. Ayla was one of the more soft spoken girls on our team so maybe she was just behind someone. We all looked around and saw her on the field looking down at the grass. She probably lost a hair tie or something, we all thought to ourselves. But it was only a few seconds later that we started to doubt our predictions.  She started stumbling backwards like there was someone pushing her from the front.  She fell down flat on her back and her hands were spasming like crazy.

“Oh god!” Larry exclaimed.  He dropped his clipboard and ran straight for Ayla. Her parents got up from their chairs on the sidelines and ran over, with Ayla’s baby twin siblings in hand. The twins, a boy and a girl, began to cry and scream. Their parents gave them a quiet but assertive hush as they kept sprinting across the field.  They had a look on their faces that told us they knew what was going on.  As they got closer to her, her hands stopped moving.

The other teams coach had a concerned yet perturbed look on his face as he came over to our team. He had on a black sports jacket and a bright red baseball cap. His face was scrunched up like he was trying to see something.

“What’s going on here?” He said shrugging his shoulders glancing at our team and then looking back at the field.
“We know as much as you do right now.” I said passing a worried look around with my teammates.
         At that point Ayla was laying there completely still with a blank stare on her face.  Her skin had already been a fair tone but now she was pasty and clammy looking.  We weren’t even that close to her but we could still see her face. She was a pretty small girl and so seeing her small motionless figure laying in the middle of the field was really scary. To be honest, for a minute or two, I think our whole team thought she was possibly dead.

“Ayla,” we heard her mom say. “Wake up, come on hunny, we're gonna go home.” Her mom’s messy bun sat at the nape of her neck and her jeans peaked from under her baggy sweatpants as she bent over.  Soon enough, Ayla’s  head raised from the grass but her mom laid it back down on the ground.  

“You just take it easy.”

Alya closed her eyes.

Her parents looked at each other. Her dad took of the hood of his jacket and pushed his hair back. He took a deep breath and then looked back down at Ayla.

“ I’m gonna sit you up now but I want you to let me know if you feel dizzy, okay?”  he said.

Ayla’s eyelids quivered as she forced herself to open them. It looked like she was trying to say something but her words just wouldn’t come out. She turned her head a little. I guess her Dad took that as a yes.
He  tilted her back forward.

“Does that feel okay?” he asked.

She nodded weakly. She pushed her dark brown hair out of her face and let her dad carry her off the field. Relief washed over our whole team. We were hugging and just still standing there in disbelief.
Once on the other side, her parents wrapped her in a Mexican blanket. She looked back at us and managed a feeble smile.
When Larry came back over from helping Ayla’s family, the team was buzzing with questions.

“Is she gonna be okay? Where’s she going? What happened to her? Why did she fall over? Is she hurt?”

        
We later learned that Ayla had been diagnosed with epilepsy when she was little. She had had a seizure on the field.  She recovered quickly and was back playing with our team at the next practice.  In following weeks, she had recurrent seizures at school and at practices she would get bloody noses. She had gotten new medications that really weren’t helping her and they thinned her blood out a little too much which caused her to bleed really easily.  
“One time, when I was little,” she told us, “my aunt held me by my feet to try to stop my bloody nose. It didn’t work. Don’t try that at home.”  We all laughed at her stories because it seemed like she wanted us to. She was so open about the fact that her epilepsy was a part of her life, and it was one of those things that she couldn’t do anything about.  We all learned a lot from Ayla about how when something is in your way, you can’t spend all your time trying to make it better. Ayla also taught us to accept the things that we didn’t like about ourselves.  She didn’t like having seizures but it was something that she had to live with.   She scared us all on that one day but in the long run it taught us a lot about living life to the fullest even with the things that try to stand in our way.