Model Senate
The purpose of this project was to understand the senatorial process, study party viewpoints, and further our understanding of American politics. We, as a class, conducted a model senate using a very similar process to the actual American senate process. This process started with an in-depth study into the legislative process. Then, we were assigned to a senator, and we conducted research into the senator's viewpoints. The final steps before the model senate were writing bills, practicing speeches, and learning parliamentary procedure. The senator I represented was John Cornyn, the current Republican Majority Whip. As the whip, I was not assigned to either committee, but instead I moved in between each committee in order to make amendments to each bill and make sure all the republican senators voted with the party. Overall, it was a very informative and engaging project and I now feel like I understand the legislative process much better than before.
Click Here to read my Speech
Writing reflection 1
In future writing pieces, I will make sure I fully develop all of the evidence I provide. In my Tocqueville writing, I said “As a whole, this pressure to conform leads to a system that is unjust and tyrannical to the minority, such as the southern states during the Jim Crow years.” and then just ended that paragraph. In a future piece, I will fully develop all of my evidence by making sure I use the full TEA format and have at least 1-2 sentences of analysis explaining each example. Additionally, presenting the evidence earlier in the paragraph, rather than just tacking it on at the end, will force me to add analysis in order to make the section flow logically.
Another writing goal I have is to stop writing run on sentences, and therefore improve the flow of my writing. In my Tocqueville writing, my original thesis was “Ironically, democracy, the type of government those early Americans intended to erase tyranny with, can become tyrannical and oppressive because of the inherent danger of power, the pressure to conform to popular opinion, the potential of inequalities leading to uniform beliefs, and the difficulty of changing an unjust majority opinion.” This is rather cumbersome and a very unconcise sentence, let alone thesis, and if it was shorter or separated into bits it would be far easier to understand. I can change this bad habit by specifically looking for sentences three lines or longer when I proofread, and then changing those sentences to make them more easily digestible while still conveying the same message. When I am writing my paper, it will also help to take small proofreading breaks where I re-read the last paragraph or so checking for run on sentences. Then, I can change them while my paper as a whole is still developing and the ideas are still fresh in my head.
My final writing goal is to make sure I have sufficient evidence for all of the claims I make. In my Tocqueville writing I said “Despite it’s potential for tyranny, democracy generally tends towards just decisions” without actually explaining why democracy tends towards just decisions. This created a huge hole in my argument, as it left questions about why what I said was actually true. In the future, I will make sure I add evidence to my claims by having someone unfamiliar with the topic read my paper. Having an outside source look at my piece will expose any lapses in evidence I have made, because when someone is unfamiliar with the subject, they need more evidence behind every claim to really understand what you are saying.
While writing my college essay, I learned that being able to crumple up the proverbial sheet and toss it into the garbage can is one of the most important skills to have as a writer. I started my original draft, which was about kayaking, this summer, and I had almost a full draft of it done at the start of the project. However, no matter how many times I re-wrote it, it felt off, perhaps too vague, my points never quite hitting the mark. I think that was because it simply was too complex of a topic for me to explain in less than 650 words, and no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn’t be able to batter this topic into a polished, concise essay. As soon as I realized this, I started over fresh, and armed with a new idea that better fit the constraints of the assignment, I was able to produce an essay that I am proud of.
Another writing goal I have is to stop writing run on sentences, and therefore improve the flow of my writing. In my Tocqueville writing, my original thesis was “Ironically, democracy, the type of government those early Americans intended to erase tyranny with, can become tyrannical and oppressive because of the inherent danger of power, the pressure to conform to popular opinion, the potential of inequalities leading to uniform beliefs, and the difficulty of changing an unjust majority opinion.” This is rather cumbersome and a very unconcise sentence, let alone thesis, and if it was shorter or separated into bits it would be far easier to understand. I can change this bad habit by specifically looking for sentences three lines or longer when I proofread, and then changing those sentences to make them more easily digestible while still conveying the same message. When I am writing my paper, it will also help to take small proofreading breaks where I re-read the last paragraph or so checking for run on sentences. Then, I can change them while my paper as a whole is still developing and the ideas are still fresh in my head.
My final writing goal is to make sure I have sufficient evidence for all of the claims I make. In my Tocqueville writing I said “Despite it’s potential for tyranny, democracy generally tends towards just decisions” without actually explaining why democracy tends towards just decisions. This created a huge hole in my argument, as it left questions about why what I said was actually true. In the future, I will make sure I add evidence to my claims by having someone unfamiliar with the topic read my paper. Having an outside source look at my piece will expose any lapses in evidence I have made, because when someone is unfamiliar with the subject, they need more evidence behind every claim to really understand what you are saying.
While writing my college essay, I learned that being able to crumple up the proverbial sheet and toss it into the garbage can is one of the most important skills to have as a writer. I started my original draft, which was about kayaking, this summer, and I had almost a full draft of it done at the start of the project. However, no matter how many times I re-wrote it, it felt off, perhaps too vague, my points never quite hitting the mark. I think that was because it simply was too complex of a topic for me to explain in less than 650 words, and no matter how hard I tried, I wouldn’t be able to batter this topic into a polished, concise essay. As soon as I realized this, I started over fresh, and armed with a new idea that better fit the constraints of the assignment, I was able to produce an essay that I am proud of.
fourth amenDment and street law project
The purpose of the Fourth Amendment project is to inform us about our constitutional right to privacy, with the essential question being "How do we balance the need for personal privacy with the need to keep a safe, orderly, and just society?". We first studied and annotated the Fourth Amendment in order to determine exactly what protections it gives us, and then we learned about the difference between probable cause and reasonable suspicion, and the effect they have on police encounters. We also studied how privacy changes in schools and how to act during a police encounter. For the project, we made some sort of informational piece, such as a poster or a song, that could help people better understand their right to privacy.
My friend Drew and I teamed up together to make a short video about how to act and how not to act during a few different law enforcement scenarios that we think are relevant to high schoolers. Since most high schoolers are about to start driving or beginning to drive, and beginner drivers tend to make more mistakes, we chose to show them how to properly act during a traffic stop. We also had scenes about getting stopped on the street by an officer and about officers knocking on your door.
Interestingly enough, I think I connected more with the content we learned than the actual project I made, which is completely opposite of my norm for projects. This was probably because this summer I was pulled over by a police officer while on my way back from a late concert, and while I was doing nothing wrong and had nothing to hide, he bullied me into consenting to a search and then left my car in total disarray. That experience really showed me the relevance of the hard content we were learning, and I believe I connected more with this project and got more out of it as a result.
My friend Drew and I teamed up together to make a short video about how to act and how not to act during a few different law enforcement scenarios that we think are relevant to high schoolers. Since most high schoolers are about to start driving or beginning to drive, and beginner drivers tend to make more mistakes, we chose to show them how to properly act during a traffic stop. We also had scenes about getting stopped on the street by an officer and about officers knocking on your door.
Interestingly enough, I think I connected more with the content we learned than the actual project I made, which is completely opposite of my norm for projects. This was probably because this summer I was pulled over by a police officer while on my way back from a late concert, and while I was doing nothing wrong and had nothing to hide, he bullied me into consenting to a search and then left my car in total disarray. That experience really showed me the relevance of the hard content we were learning, and I believe I connected more with this project and got more out of it as a result.