Humanities 10
Model United Nations (MUN) Nuclear Non-Proliferation:
Project Description:
Our second debate topic was Nuclear Non-Proliferation. With some people changing their assigned country or staying with their original. The same rules applied to our last conference, in that we represented a country and all of its biases, in order to write policy papers on our country's stance related to the debate topic. The only difference between the two conferences was that we wrote the resolutions being voted on during caucus instead of having them pre-written.
Policy Paper:
Project Reflection:
International Diplomacy:
I believe that this system could work well on minor levels, but is not very effective to solve major global issues. I say this because from what I see in our government the amount of consensus is much lower than in our conference. I feel that our government could use this method if they had a greater level of consensus. Our conference ran smoothly with minimal arguments because everyone wanted the same thing just with slightly different parameters. While our actual government seems to be too stubborn to reach the level of consensus we did, however I do realize that what we debated was on a much smaller scale. Though I still believe that our governments system could work just as well as when my class did our conference if countries can cooperate and come to consensus of the issue.
Growth:
I feel that throughout this conference and the first I’ve grown a lot with my involvement, during conference. The first conference I wasn’t able to participate as much as I wanted due to my country's stance of abstaining from almost everything being debated. Though in the second conference I was able to collaborate with three of my classmates in order to write the resolution that ended up being voted on and accepted. My habits haven’t changed. I've done the same things throughout the whole year. I feel that my system works well and is efficient, however my skills with collaboration and my knowledge of how our governments problem solves has increased. Through the conference I have learned how MUN works and collaboration with other delegates to reach a consensus.
Knowledge:
Knowing all the parliamentary procedures and all of the components for a resolution to be passed is something I won’t forget for awhile. You have to get signatories and have all of them agree to what you are writing. You also have to be extremely clear throughout the resolution with what you want the purpose of it to be. During resolution writing I gained a lot of skills with getting your point across with very little words, this was a challenge for me because I tend to drag on sentences when it's not necessary. I feel like throughout writing resolutions it has helped me gain more writing skills and better knowledge of how MUN procedures function in a real conference.
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Refinement:
If I was going to do this project again there wouldn’t be too many things I’d change. The second conference went really well and I gained a lot of skills and knowledge on how the United Nations works with their problem solving. Though this I would have liked to start off with a different country for the Venezuelan Crisis, due to the lack of challenge. After the first conference I changed my country to New Zealand instead of Indonesia. I felt like I could actually participate in everything throughout the conference. If I were to do this project again I would want to represent a country that has a clear standpoint and strong biases, this would allow me to get more involved with the caucuses and debates.
Model Untied Nations (MUN) Venezuelan Crisis:
Project Description:
During Model UN each student was assigned a country that is a member of the UN. We had to learn as much as possible about The Venezuelan Refugee Crisis because it was our debate topic. With our assigned country we had to become experts on where our country stood with the crisis at question, regardless of our own opinions we had to step out of our biases and step into the country we were representing. In preparation of the conference we each took a deep dive into our countries biases in order write policy papers, and resolutions. Once all of the background and papers were written then parly pro rules were learned and the conference was held.
Policy Paper:
Project Reflection:
Highlights:
For me the best part of the project was having the conference, this is because it was cool to see how much knowledge everyone had on the topic and the rolls their country played. However I didn’t feel that I contributed as much as I could have due to the fact that my country wasn’t very involved in the crisis. Having everyone stay so engaged and in character was interesting, I wasn’t expecting that much engagement.
Growth:
Throughout this project I gained a lot of new knowledge regarding being efficient with the time we had for each piece of the project. When we were doing the main piece of research about our countries I was able to plan backwards from the due date to when we got the assignment, this allowed for me to gauge how much I needed to complete each day in order to finish by the due date. Staying focused and on task was also something I worked on throughout the project I normally don’t get super distracted while I’m working but it proved to be a challenge, not from my own behavior but rather from a classmate that wouldn’t let me just work. Even though this was the case I still completed everything that was assigned and took in a major amount of information on my country as well as the crisis itself.
Conference Preparation:
Coming into the conference I felt pretty prepared all my work was completed so I had a lot of background on the crisis. Even though I had all my knowledge of the crisis I would have liked to participate more than I did. I do know that I’m fairly shy when it comes to things with talking as a whole class, but I didn’t feel this way during conference. My country didn’t have a roll in the crisis other than want consensus, because off this it proved difficult to contribute. Indonesia isn’t one of the countries that butts into the conversation, but rather sits back and observes. I didn't want to make unnecessary comments that didn’t contribute to the greater conversation. After the conference I wish I had contributed more but didn’t know how I could have done more to contribute. For the next conference I hope my country is a bit more involved so I can make more significant comments with a clearer stance.
​Refinement:
I want to be more involved but that depends on how involved Indonesia is. It’s hard to participate when the country your representing isn’t really doing anything but just sit there. If I can contribute more I feel that It would make the conference more interesting from my standpoint. The first one was fun and very engaging but I didn’t feel that I could contribute as much as I would have liked. I don’t want to be making comments that aren’t necessary but for that to not happen I need to find a clearer standpoint that my country is taking, I hope that on the next conference my country will be a little bit more involved, just so I can contribute more.
The Work Of Adolescence
Project Description:
In this project, we learned about the work of adolescence. We talked about different theories and how adolescents may act due to different things going on in the brain and around them. Our task was to find someone over 30 to interview about their adolescence. After the interview was done we wrote an essay on a perspective we choose depending on what direction our interview went in. In addition to this, we also took photos of our interviewee to show who they were at an adolescent these photos could be taken in whatever way we wanted to show the uniqueness of our person. The end results were then showcased at exhibition.
Project Reflection:
In all projects, we have things that we’re proud of. During this project I was a little worried about how my essay was going to come out, although now I’m pretty proud of the refinements I made. My favorite piece would be my conclusion. This is because when I was wr-
iting the essay it was the hardest part to make sound right but in the end, I added a good quote and was able to wrap it up nicely. Writing is not something I considered a strength for me but when I put enough effort into something that I feel sounds good the feeling of completion is worth it.
After we had interviewed someone we then had to write our essay based on what they had to say. This included pulling quotes from the interview itself. For me this was my biggest challenge due to the fact that I didn’t have many quotes to pull from the interview. When I started writing, I knew that it needed more voice but I didn’t have the right quotes to pull out of the interview. To combat this I ended up texting my interviewee, asking for a specific quote when it was needed. I told her what I wanted it to be about and she gave me ones to use. This helped greatly in the end result of my essay because without the quotes I know that it just didn’t sound as if it had much voice or perspective.
In preparation for our interviews, we learned about several different developmental theories. One of the theories we looked at was Bowlby and Ainsworth’s theory of attachment. For me personally, I felt that learning about attachment theory was one of the things that stuck with me the most, I say this because as I went more in-depth with my research on attachment theory I started to notice things about how people were acting that I didn’t quite understand before. This was something that I think is cool to be able to look around you and see something you might have never realized before.On the rubric, I believe that the first category fits most of my work and classroom habits. I am almost always prepared for class with the necessary materials and have yet to forget an assignment that was needed for the day. If I am late to class I sit down and see if there is a starter, if so I’ll start that and then talk to a student next to me or the teacher to see if I missed anything important. The third part in the first section says constantly using class time wisely, this is normally the case for me however depending on the day I can get sidetracked and not use time wisely. During content, I try my best to find something out of it that I think is interesting to keep myself more engaged in the learning. When someone is talking to the class or in a small group I try my best to listen to what they have to say although I occasionally get distracted and will talk over them. When this happens I try to catch myself and stop as soon as I realize what I was doing. I feel that I am a productive and engaged student that wants to greater enhance their education.
Exemplary Essay