The Declaration of True Immersion Experience

Throughout this unit of my humanities class, Argument, we have dove into the deeper meaning of what exactly is argument, how it can be detected, and what makes an argument strong? We have looked into argument in a political setting, so we had the opportunity to head down to city hall and observe a couple committee meeting that were taking place that involved alderman from throughout the Chicagoland. This gave us more of an idea of the kinds of premises, or statements,  that were being used to prove the claim that was being brought up. We have also been looking through the declaration of independence and seeing who exactly is being addressed throughout the document. Who exactly is receiving the right to  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? We have been looking over syllogism which is a group of premises that make a conclusion true or false. We were also able to sit down with Walter Burnett Jr., Alderman of the 27th ward and ask some questions about Chicago politics, relationships within your community, etc. This was a meaningful conversation to have in order to help us think not only more about the city we live in, but also think about our action project. For this AP, we were asked to create our very own declaration of independent study where we would be able to study whatever we chose and create a set of unalienable rights that come with the independent and a declaration to help back it up. Read through my declaration of independent study to learn more about my hopes for this independent study.

Argenberg, Vyacheslav. “File:Syria, Damascus, Life on the Streets.jpg.” Wikimedia Commons, 15 Aug. 2018, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Syria,_Damascus,_Life_on_the_streets.jpg.

Why I'm writing this declaration?

The reason why I find the need to write this Declaration today is due to the fact that as a student and as a global citizen, I see my world deteriorating right before my eyes. I see countries deteriorating. Families being separated. Children not receiving an education. It is necessary for me to visit a country like Syria where Syrians have been facing a war for the past nine years.

Purpose of school/learning?

The purpose of school and learning is for students to reflect and learn about their identity and connect their true forms to the real world. Learning can take place in any way, not just in a setting where education is intended. Although school is a place to learn, it’s truly a place where students are granted to learn in their own way that makes them comfortable rather than in a strict structure.  

Guiding Question 

How have the lives of Syrian communities changed since 2011?

I hope that this independent study will give me the opportunity to not only grow my knowledge of communities around the world, but also allow me to grow connections with people from around Syria to get to know this country a bit better in order to grow and help a country thats situation is yet to be resolved.

Analogy of historical revolution: 

Back in 2011, Syria was faced with war between its citizens and the Assad government and have continued to destroy Syrian civilians for the past nine years. Syria has been a headline on mainstream news outlets for the past nine years, and within those nine years, Syrians have been misunderstood, especially by Americans. The Syrian Civil War needs to be reexplained to the public in order to educate citizens around the globe on the true Syria. 

Unalienable Rights

• Right to travel to Syria 
• Right to build relationships with Syrians
• Right to grow and teach others about community building through what my learning in a war torn country. 
• I reserve the right to learn and explore in any place and form.

Resources included into study

People:
Abdalaziz Alhamza- Syrian Activist

Isra Chaker- Civil Rights Activist, advocacy expert, and public

Movies:
1. “For Sama”
2. “Last Men in Aleppo”

Books:
1. Dam, Nikolaos Van. Destroying a Nation: the Civil War in Syria. I.B. Tauris, 2017.

2. Malek, Alia. The Home That Was Our Country: a Memoir of Syria. Nation Books, an Imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a Subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2018.

Syllogism

Premise #1: The Syrian war has been going on for 9 consecutive years now.
Premise #2: The Syrian war has been misunderstood by mainstream media for almost nine years.
Premise #3: Aleppo, Idlib, and Damascus. The cities that have been most affected are
Premise #4: Syria is being represented as a "dangerous" country full of dangerous communities.

Therefore, I have the right to create relationships with communities in Syria in order to have a better idea of how Syrians are doing in their war torn country. I have the ability to pursue this independent study due to the fact that I am a person who is constantly learning and wanting to see changes in my life. I can educate myself on the situation in Syria including where its people stand today, and bring this information with me to the U.S. to educate Americans on the true Syria.

Conclusion

This action project truly allowed me to gain a better understanding on what it would be like to work on an independent study like this one. If I had enough money to work on an independent study like this one, I would take that opportunity! I think that students should be given the opportunity to travel abroad to these countries facing conflict like Syria in order for students to learn more about the world around them, and its citizens. 

My camera is better than yours!

For our first unit of Light, Sound, and Time we took a deeper dive into light and how light affects our everyday lives. The first two weeks we looked into the electromagnetic spectrum and how these waves surround us day in and out. We also looked into prisms and with that came the topic of refraction because a prism is essentially bending light whenever light passes through it. We spent some time learning some trigonometry and what exactly happens when light passes from one substance into another (Snell's Law). For this AP we were asked to create our own pinhole cameras to study how cameras take in light, what happens when light goes into a camera, and finding out the ending result. As an FE, we visited a darkroom at Harry Truman College where we were able to take some photos using our pinhole cameras and go through the step by step process of developing our images. To learn more about my pinhole camera and the process that came along with it, look through my presentation!