12th Grade: 2023-2024

Investigate the World- What is the evidence that a student can initiate investigations of the world by framing questions, analyzing and synthesizing relevant evidence, and drawing reasonable conclusions about global issues?

For this artifact, I participated in a salsa dance night for the Spanish Honors Society at Sauder Elementary. I did not really know what to expect, as I am not the type of person to enjoy simply being in public, let alone dancing in an elementary way in front of people. However, the process of salsa dancing I actually caught on pretty easily. The teachers were fantastic and made it very simple, and the steps were merely foot movements rather than complicated dance moves. I enjoyed being with my friends learning the different styles of dancing, and I surprisingly found myself researching the history of salsa following the event. While I was an amateur dancer, everyone was pretty impressed with my performance, and even the authentic dancers found my talent pretty astonishing. The group there also enjoyed chips and salsa, and fully immersed ourselves into the culture.   

With this artifact, I came to understand and research a culture completely different from the one I was used to. I´m used to dance music being electronic, with lots of jumping and less dancing. However, with salsa dancing, it was much more intimate. It required practice and skill, and reflected how narrow American culture is sometimes, and how enriched some cultures are with their own traditions. The ability to blend myself into another culture demonstrates investigating the world, as fully immersing yourself in sometimes that you do not know much about is very important to growing into a globally-competent mind, and having a more complete understanding of other cultures. But, the fact that in the United States we were able to dance to uniquely hispanic dancing is simply wonderful, as it shows how diverse the United States can be, and even in Jackson which is predominantly white anglo-saxon, we can come to appreciate the different offerings of different cultures.

Investigate the World-What is the evidence that a student can initiate investigations of the world by framing questions, analyzing and synthesizing relevant evidence, and drawing reasonable conclusions about global issues?

For this artifact for AP American Government and Politics, I was tasked with creating a portfolio detailing current events that relate to the topics we were learning about in class. For example, I would have to write a two page paper about an article that relates to federalism, the president, state´s rights, etc. It was a very daunting task, and required lots of research, writing, and time management in order to complete. In the end, I decided on researching one article per week, writing the article during the week, and then I would do that 10 times in order to finish by the required date at the end of the quarter. The research was quite rigorous, as I scoured through tons upon tons of articles in order to find the ones that correspond correctly to the topics we were studying in class. From this research, I was able to find multiple topics that were critical to the world at the time. For example, I learned more about the Israel-Palestine conflict as it relates to the United States foreign policy, rights for minorities in foreign countries, and multipl;e other topics that relate to our class. Eventually, from the hours of painstaking work and oftentimes frustrating research and writing, I was able to finish the nine weeks portfolio with a 100 percent, and a sigh of relief after the work that I had to do. While it was very difficult and felt like busy work, in the end I was glad to have completed the assignment, and learned much more about foreign affairs. 

As it relates to investigating the world, I had to do lots of research about foreign countries in relation to the United States, and the different issues that are faced from both nations. For example, a large issue in the United States is immigration at our southern border, and whether or not we should heighten border security, or recognize the need for human rights for migrants. Analogous to this issue, I drew a juxtaposition between this issue and the immigration issue in European countries, especially from Middle Eastern countries due to the tons of war in that region. So, in turn, from this research, I was able to research different countries in their relation to the US, and draw distinctions between the two countries, and differences that are important to the cultures of both. This project helped me to become a more knowledgeable citizen of foreign affairs, and on the different issues that many countries face today, not only the issues that face the US. Oftentimes we are taught in school only the basics and the issues of old, but with this project, I was able to learn about topics that were important to the modern world.

Take Action- What is the evidence that a student can translate his/her ideas, concerns, and findings into appropriate and responsible individual or collaborative actions to improve conditions?

For this artifact, I really was challenged to interpret the meaning of a text, beginning with J.R.R. Tolkien’s interpretation of the heroic epic Beowulf, and the book of Beowulf itself. I’ve never really read any text that old, probably the oldest text being Shakespeare, which is still decently easier to understand due to it having multiple elements of modern english. However, with Tolkien’s interpretation of the book, it was basically incomprehensible to understand what he was trying to say and communicate to the reader. I absolutely tried my best, probably read over his analysis dozens of times in order to garner some sort of meaning. In the end, I didn’t fully understand the complicated writing that Tolkien had, but I ended up feeling appreciated in that I tried intently instead of being forced to use secondary resources in order to gain meaning and understanding. Along with Tolkien’s interpretation of Beowulf, I also had to read Beowulf, and learn some words from the Germanic text. I wasn’t forced to read it in its original print, as it would be nearly impossible, but I found the book very applicable to the modern day with its archetype of the hero, and the language and story being very culturally significant for the time. I finished the book, and I was very glad that I did, even though it was very difficult to do so. Along with taking on the text, I was able to receive a very solid grade for an essay that I had to write for Beowulf, which I’m even more proud of as it demonstrates a thorough understanding of Beowulf. 

This artifact reflects taking action as I never really took on a reading challenge like this before, and I was very frightened and nervous for my own intellect if I was unable to gain interpretation from the text. But, instead of backing down and using ChatGPT or Sparknotes, I took on the rigorous challenge of conquering this text and read it, and understood it pretty well. I could have just never read it and looked up the deeper meaning, but I decided not to. Sometimes taking action is simply recognizing the need to dive into unfamiliar territory, and I think that this Beowulf venture reflects that very well. The reading of this text helped me to learn more about reading and gaining insights from text, and strengthened my ability to read difficult texts, which will no doubt support me in my future endeavors. I’m really proud of myself for taking on the challenge and taking action, and look forward to reading more difficult texts to strengthen my skills even more.