Humanities -This week we were assigned to read "Thank you ma'am" and respond to some questions. Because our first four weeks of zoom learning have come to an end, we also had a reflection about each of the readings thus far. Thank You Ma'am by Langston Hughes (PDF) 1)What is the lesson for Roger? What is didactic about the story? (didactic means intending to teach something) -The main themes in the story, “Thank you Ma’am” I think are trust and forgiveness. An obvious answer would be not to steal, but this story goes beyond that. Ms. Jones could have let him go after his attempt, and maybe he wouldn’t have ever tried to steal again. Yet the most important part of the story was when she explains her past, “You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to say that.” Pause. Silence. “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son—neither tell God, if he didn’t already know.” This quote shows that she too has made mistakes. Instead of punishing him for what he had done, she is kind and empathetic towards the boy and shares her own personal experience instead of punishing him. 2) Why does Hughes include the little blurb about her past? “Well, I wasn’t going to say that.” Pause. Silence. “I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son—neither tell God, if he didn’t already know.” -Mrs. Jones uses that statement to show the boy that she was once like him. She didn’t go into much detail about this, but you can infer that she had done things in her past that she regrets. “The woman said, “Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn’t you? You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks.” This quote shows that she has also made mistakes. This was a way for her to connect to the boy and maybe gain his trust. 3) Why does she give him the money? WHY?! -I think she sees a little of herself in him. He could have attempted to run away, “There was a long pause. A very long pause. After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do dried it again, the boy turned around, wondering what next. The door was open. He could make a dash for it down the hall. He could run, run, run, run, run!” This quote shows that he could have ran away, even the writer seems to encourage the idea of the boy running away. Yet the boy stays. Ms. Jones explains to the boy that she has also done some things that she regrets. In explaining her past a little bit, I think she aims to teach the boy a lesson. She does this by explaining a scenario that she has gone through and gains the boys trust. Because she sees so much of herself in the boy it seems like she is kind of giving the money to herself?? Or more like a past version of herself. Final Writing Piece from Our Stories… How might we connect the age and background issues in “Thank You Ma’am” to those in “Everything that Rises Must Converge”, “Marigolds” and Barn Burning”? -In each of the stories, we see young adults accompanied by an older possibly “wiser” adult. We see these very impressionable young adults becoming their own person. It’s almost like you can see what the people around them want them to mold into, but then you see them turn in to their own person. This idea seems most prominent in the first story, “Everything that rises must converge”. “He looked at her bleakly. She was holding herself very erect under the preposterous hat, wearing it like a banner of her imaginary dignity. There was in him an evil urge to break her spirit. He suddenly unloosened his tie and pulled it off and put it in his pocket. She stiffened.” We see a mother who desperately wants her son to be a certain way when all he craves is to be anything but his mother. I think in these stories, we see these young adults who just want to fit in, and do what everyone around them is doing. In “Marigolds”, we see Lizabeth joining in with the other children to torment the old lady. In the end she grows past this and sees the old lady for who she is. In “Barn Burning”, we see a son who tries to please his father and his family. ““Does hit hurt?” she said. “Naw,” he said. “Hit don’t hurt. Lemme be.” “Can’t you wipe some of the blood off before hit dries?” “I’ll wash to-night,” he said” The son in “Barn Burning” sort of wears the blood with pride, to show that he stood up for his family. In the end he goes against this. He starts to think for himself, make his own decisions and do what is right. In “Thank you Ma’am”, we see a woman who teaches a young boy who tried to steal her pocket book a lesson. Instead of punishing him she explains a little of her past. “You thought I was going to say, but I didn’t snatch people’s pocketbooks. Well, I wasn’t going to say that.”” This shows that maybe she came from a similar background as the boy, and wants to help him. Science -This week in science, we wrapped up our four weeks by learning about vaccines. Notes from The race for coronavirus vaccines: a graphical guide article: -90 thousand vaccines being developed for corona virus -Corona virus uses spike to lock onto our cells -antigen presenting cells help to fight against virus -memory cells (b and t) help provide immunity for months and years to come -vaccines aim to give the body an antigen and “block out” the virus -developing vaccine by using the virus -inactivated virus vaccines, weakened virus vaccines, and viral vector vaccines -virus like particles, look like virus sort of mimic the virus more difficult to manufacture -clinical trials on animals :( then people Notes from How long will a vaccine really take? article: -corona virus vaccine=“ultimate weapon” -vaccines take a long time -vaccine could take 4 years → long time to be social distancing -at least 254 therapies and 95 vaccines being worked on -vaccine then has to be approved by food and drug adm -side effects and effectiveness -head start of research for vaccine -clinical trial for vaccine end of this year -questions being raised about vaccine being a magnet for getting the virus -learning curve and human live risk -millions of doses -nobody has ever made an rna vaccine for humans -would it even work? -once vaccine is actually made approvals from the fda take a long time -corona virus doesn’t mutate significantly -our return to normal is gonna be a while How do you see science changing after the pandemic? In what ways do you think science will be different in the years to come? -We know for a fact that this pandemic is going to change the way we live. I feel like science will continue to evolve. I’ve heard talk about vaccines with gps trackers in them, along with some other crazy ideas. I think that this will cause more people to consider careers in science to help prevent anything like this to happen again. Math
-This week in math, we had some skill practice, a desmos activity, and practice with definite integrals. Still working on it
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