After reading my essay, I found out that I did well on using a lot of words and phrases to transition, link and create cohesion. Another thing I did well was that I made my thesis clear in every paragraph including the introduction and conclusion.

However, one thing I could work on is to add more reasoning to show that my evidence is relevant. Another thing I did not do well is that sometimes I did not make my evidence relevant and mixed up “marine debris” and specifically “single-use plastics”.

 Schoolwork and friendship are an important part of everyone’s life and well-being. Strong relationships can affect your health while children with ADHD can still concentrate on some subjects! In chapter 1-3 of “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief”, Percy Jackson struggles in school because he has ADHD plus dyslexia, and only one friend.  

  Positive relationships are an important part of everyone’s well-being. On the way to the museum, “I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly red-headed kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend, Grover, in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-and-ketchup sandwich.” (page 3) When Grover gets bullied by Nancy Bobofit, Percy stands up for Grover, saying “I’m going to kill her.” even when he is already on the edge of getting expelled from Yancy Academy. In the Newsela article, the author states that “Friendship bonds can help reduce stress, increase happiness and bolster self-confidence.” This means that Percy and Grover’s friendship contribute to a happy and healthy life. When Percy finds out that Grover was actually a satyr, he wonders if Grover was faking being his best friend. “But I wasn’t faking being your friend”, he added hastily. “I am your friend.” (page 44) According to an article published by the University of Minnesota, “Healthy relationships are a vital component of health and wellbeing.” Having strong relationships can also fight off depression and avoid a common virus. When Percy is experiencing stress, he can talk or go and hang out with his best friend, Grover. “Friends are like families, and they may be better than real ones.” 

   Young adults with ADHD struggle in school, but have you ever wondered what their study habits are like? When Percy tries to concentrate and study for the Latin test, he gets frustrated and throws the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across his dorm room. “There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.” (page 18) The ADHD article shows that children with ADHD are often “Avoiding activities that require focus.”  Percy’s grades are slipping from Ds to Fs, and he is really stressed out. “Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped.” (page 17) Percy was too lazy to study for spelling tests because he is avoiding activities that require focus. Later, Percy called Mr. Nicoll an “old sot”. This is also a symptom of ADHD because Percy is blurting things out in class. According to the Newsela article, “They might be very focused when something interests them.” People with ADHD are distracted easily, but they can concentrate very well when something interests them. Percy likes Latin class because Mr. Brunner’s classes are always interesting and fun. Linking ‘boring’ activities with Latin can increase Percy’s interests. ADHD isn’t as bad as you think. Sometimes, it can actually benefit some people.  

  While Percy Jackson deals with ADHD, he is also finding more strong relationships on the way. Positive relationships can affect our health, and symptoms of ADHD can affect our study habits. When Percy struggles at Yancy Academy, Grover helps and supports him. This shows that schoolwork and friendship are an important part of everyone’s life and well-being. 

Collage

For “Our Stories make History” , I created a scrapbook that represents my emotions and creativity during COVID-19 for our final project. The goal is to create multiple primary sources during the pandemic that can be later shared with others.

I organized my project on big poster paper. Since I created most of my sources on paper, I decided to make a scrapbook. I think it might be cool for people in the future to actually see a real book in their hands, instead of on a computer.

I think this primary source can be useful to a historian because it helps them to better understand the feeling  of being stuck in home in COVID-19. They will understand how important it is to entertain yourself and wear masks. Also, some 6 graders might connect my source with their own experiences if they also experience another pandemic.

Being able to enjoy the final published piece made me felt very proud. I also had lots of fun creating new sources. During the progress of this project, I learnt about confirmation bias and fake news, which can help me ‘separate’ real news articles/sources.

Some things that were challenging in this project might include the internet being slow and running out of creativity. Also, it was quite difficult to express very complicated emotions on paper.

I hope you enjoy!

6-word memoir and performance proposal

1 journal entry & 1 journal recording QR code

3 articles

Timeline page 1

Timeline 2

Works cited

June 23, 2017

Dear Abby,

I am an orphan on a island with only 8 kids keeping me company. Everyone is an orphan here, and the island must only contain 9 kids, or the sky might fall. (just like what the song says) Each year, a boat will come to pickup the oldest on the island, and it will also bring us another young orphan.

This year is my “brother’s” turn, it’s like this every year on this particular day. After he goes, I will become the elder on this island, and I will also need to take care of the new kid that just arrived. There are so many things that I need to teach her, so many rules to tell, so many places to show. The memories of my brother keeps on flooding back, all the lessons and adventures, all the things he did when he took care of the new orphan.  What if I don’t know what to do? How can I take care of the new orphan? How will I face the outside world next year?

Sincerely,

Elder on the island