The First Amendments

The First Amendments include speech, petition, assembly, speech, and religion. However, not everything is completely spelled out. One question is about the freedom of speech. Do you have the same freedom of speech on the Internet vs. other forms of media? The First Amendment Center states that the Supreme Court ruled speech on the Internet receives the highest First Amendment protection.

Another question I have is about the "separation of church and state." Does it say this in the Constitution? The words do not appear in the Constitution. However, according to the First Amendment Center on religion, it was intended when it was written. The government may not favor one religion over the other. In fact, they cannot not favor religion over non-religion.

One last question has to do with the freedom of the assembly. When am I allowed to protest? Where am I allowed to protest? Well, according to the First Amendment Center on assembly, the government can restrict the time and place to protect public safety. That answers when and where. I guess now I don't have any questions so.....I guess I'm done.

Grading System

Grades are very important in schools today. The purpose of grades is to show students how they are doing in school. If they didn't have a number grading system, teachers would be subjective, personal opinion,  rather than objective, fact based. Scores are based off of 100% because it is easy to convert to and from a fraction. To some students, grade are their entire lives. To others, it is just a number. This does nothing to prove how well we are at something. All we do is answer questions on paper. There are no questions that test our actual intelligence and creativity. There are no questions that say "If you were alone on an island, how would you survive?" We should combine both grading systems. The numbers that we are assigned on Powerschool mean nothing. If it only said "Proficient", how are we to know exactly what score we got? That could be a large range of numbers. If both are combined, we can see exactly what we need improvement on and what we are excelling in.

What Happened to Creativeness

Sir Ken Robinson of England spoke on Ted Talk about his opinion on our creativity. He is a great speaker, with the way he incorporates stories. Anyway, on to what I am supposed to be blogging about. I think he made very good points. If someone is a dancer, put them in a dancing school. What he means is that someone's talents should be nurtured so they can be enhanced. Schools make tests and quizzes the focus of everything. All of our in-school activities are planned around it. Creativity has dwindled, but has not been totally destroyed. We all learn the same thing no matter what level the students are at. We should be put in a group that suits our intelligence.

The Creativity Crisis article gives an accepted definition of creativity. It is the production of something original and useful. James C. Kaufman says that 'creativity can be taught.' I'm not sure if I agree with that. But anyway, branching off of the article, us children are so used to the drill-and-kill method. You practice the same thing over and over until you get it right and it is embedded into your brain. Some middle school children have created paracosms, which are fantasies of entire alternative worlds. Studys show that these paracosms are very strong signs of future creativity. These are points I entirely agree with.

My Test Results

Turns out, according to Gregorc, I am random: abstract and concrete. Abstract random meaning I am caring and sensitive towards others emotions. I love listening to music and acting. Concrete random meaning I am independent and like trying new things.

According to Gardner, I have strong bodily-kinesthetic and musical abilities. I also have a stong intrapersonal ability. Apparently, I think deeply inside myself. I sing and tap my feet often. I enjoy doing sports and playing outside.

I admire many people but here are three:
     1) My mom- My mom is probably concrete sequential. She is very ordered and structured.
     2) My sister, Kaity- Kaity is abstract sequential and logical-mathematical. She is very smart.
     3) My dad- Dad is concrete ranom. He is independent and likes doing things his own way.

Ups and Downs, Truths and Myths

As a gifted child, there are many ups and downs I face throughout the day. Many people have heard myths about us that they think are true. They are so wrong...

An up of being gifted is that it enables you to learn faster. Therefore, you are put into advanced classes. This helps someone gifted to work at their own pace and achieve their full potential. You can receive high school credits for being in the course. When you are gifted, you have special talents that many other students do not have. Being gifted gives you the power of making something great greater; putting over the top and what's expected.

There are downs, too. Society sets higher expectations of you. If you don't know an answer to one question, society thinks it's a big deal. You stand out to others and you are perceived as weird and strange. Gifted children often dumb themselves down to fit in. When you are gifted and talented, you are the one that needs to help the slower kid...or show someone where their class is...or take someone to the nurse...etc. It can become annoying and get on your nerves.

Truths and myths come and go, as well. Talented kids are more than often smarter in one area. In reality, students who are average or below average don't look up to gifted children. They feel inferior and try to stay away from them.

A myth is that gifted students always get straight A's. They are always well-behaved. Average people assume that we are stuck-up and elitists, meaning superior. Well this is their wake up call because as I said before, they are so wrong.

Yep, that's about it. You should understand by now.

It's All About Me...All the Time!!!

Hey rogate people!! My name is Jessie. I am an eighth grader. My favorite subjects are gym and lunch. I like to learn about random stuff; something totally irrelevant to whatever I'm talking about. I am a field hockey-aholic. Field hockey is so much cooler than soccer or cross country or any other sport. I also love singing. When I grow up, I want to be a professional country singer or a pro-field hockey player in the Olympics (I know, everything I just said was totally redundant). I know those are far out goals, but maybe I'll make it. Music makes me happy quite obviously.