GS Portfolio

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the second Action Project of the Humanities class, Journalism. In Unit 2, Image, we have been focusing on learning about photojournalism, practicing the skills of photography, and the critical thinking behind the images that shape the way we see the world every day. We examined the job of a photojournalist and what it meant to be objective versus subjective and the power behind certain images. Skills such as knowing how to adjust shutter speed, aperture, contrast, and using the rule of thirds are important for photography which we covered as well. For Field Experiences, we met with a photojournalist and visited the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. This Action Project asks us to find someone to interview and take a photograph of, all aligning with the question: "What is the meaning of life?" I have chosen to interview a neighbor of mine, Kevin Sur, who you will get to know more about in the following paragraphs. Below you...

Welcome back to my blog! This post is for the first Action Project of the STEAM class, Economics: Risking Value. As a class with only two Action Projects, this post and another in the future will show off a lot of work completed over a few weeks. In this first unit, Growth, we have investigated the economic and math concepts that would be useful in modeling choices. Throughout the class, we read Freakonomics  by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, which presented economic utilities through real-life examples. We have also explored how incentives can persuade others and affect decisions. Other essential vocabulary words such as opportunity cost, supply, and demand became useful leading up to the AP. For Field Experiences, we met with a Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago representative, who talked with us about what the FED does nationally and locally. In this Action Project, we have been tasked with thinking about plans after graduating high school. We would have to consider c...

Welcome back to my blog! This is the first Action Project of my Humanities class Journalism. In this unit, we have been looking at what it means to be a journalist. We examined different types of media bias and news literacy which are important to know as a consumer and producer of news. In preparation for the Action Project, we learned about the 5 core values of journalism which are Accuracy, Independence, Impartiality, Humanity, and Accountability. These values are important for journalists to be mindful of when creating news. Accuracy means looking for the facts, independence means making the work your own and impartiality ensures there is more than one side represented in a story. Humanity is all about being aware what you write impacts others and consequences can come from that. Finally, accountability lets journalists engage with the audience and admit their mistakes. For this Action Project, we have been tasked to write a story about a recent event in our neighborhoods. In my ar...

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the third and final Action Project of the Humanities class, Policy. In this unit, Judge, our class has been focused on the Judicial Branch of the United States Government. We began the short unit by reading Article 3 of the United States Constitution, a  short article explaining the abilities and formation of the Judicial Branch. We then moved to look at Supreme Court decisions over the years and create a timeline, demonstrating our knowledge of a chosen cause and the impact it has had on the United States' political system, past, and future. To learn more about the beginning of the Supreme Court, we watched a PBS documentary. Moving more into the present day, we examined the Supreme Court case: Bush v. Gore . This case is very important to how the Supreme Court and other federal branches have been run in recent years. For Field Experiences in this unit, we spoke to Iyana Simba, a member of the Illinois Environmental Council. She spoke to u...

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the third Action Project of the STEAM class Urban Planning. In this third and final unit, Flow, we focused on how cities and urban areas have developed over the years. We first learned about how cities have always been centered around trade which has always relied on transportation and studied different modes of travel over the years that all contribute to urban planning. We took some time to learn about eminent domain which is something the state can use to claim private land from a private citizen for its own use if it has a strong case such as public use. We then looked at INVEST South/West, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's community development initiative to reverse disinvestment on Chicago's South and West Sides. This initiative is trying to bring together multiple city departments, community organizations, and corporate partners and so far the city has aligned more than $1.4 billion in public and private investment. We then moved on...

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the second Action Project of the STEAM class, Urban Planning. In this second unit, Power, we have been studying all things electricity. We started by looking at how batteries work in our phones and then onto Nikola Tesla with his Alternating Current and Thomas Edison and his Direct Current. These two current systems have played an important role in how energy is transferred through electronic devices and across large distances. Using this research, we investigated static electricity, current electricity, and magnetism to understand how electricity works. We also worked with circuits to see how electricity would flow and provide light. For math, we studied Coulomb's Law compared to Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation, Ohm's Law, and equations using the Power formula. We finished up the unit by looking at light pollution which is a problem in Chicago and then smart grids like the one in Denmark. For this AP, we have been asked to ch...

Welcome back to my blog. This post is for the second Action Project of the Humanities class, Policy. In this unit, Execute, we have been focusing on the Executive Branch of the United States Government. We started by examining Article II of the Constitution, Executive Office Cabinet Positions, and Executive Orders. After the introduction to the Executive Branch, we moved into looking at war policies and the actions our executive leaders have the power to enforce. First, we studied President Truman's actions during the Korean War and later the Cold War. We also spent time on the Vietnam War and reading from The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. For this Action Project, we have been asked to look deeper into a war the United States was involved in and if the war was justified or not. To help with the justification, we would examine a policy that was enacted during the war and see how its application affected the people. The war I chose for this AP was World War II because I hav...