English Social Studies

Northen Ireland.

2009-04-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

The Troubles.

When the Irish independence was a fact, struggle to get Ulster back form the British continued.The biggest problem was the majority of people in the region: they did not want to be liberated. As Protestants they were happy citizens of the United Kingdom.

During the 1960 the confrontations got more severe. A revolutionary spirit influenced Europe and the USA also affected the green island. Catholics felt concealed and started to demonstrate for civil rights and felt that there should be the same treatment with the Protestants. On the other hand, Protestants felt this action was a provocation towards them as a group and the situation got out of hand.

The period following 1968 has been named “The Troubles”. In 1969, British soldiers came in to bring order to the conflict in the society. Unfortunately the soldiers took sides and this led to more discrimination against Catholics. Both extreme Catholics and Protestants committed terrorism and murder and a lot of civilians have suffered. The ones who got suspected for being a terrorist could get in jail (kept in internment) for years without a trial. Most of these people were Catholics. Today, the fact of the British soldiers still being there is very provoking to the Catholic side.

Student Challenge

2009-03-31T03:21:00.000-07:00

I have entered a student challenge and this is the taks i chose:

"Your story of how blogging has helped you connect to a global audience and what this connection has meant to you. e.g. the friends you have made, what you have learnt about other cultures, how you are able to share your passions with others, how you are able to use blogging to share your views on topics."

I had never thought of blogging as a way of learning in school. One day one of our teachers told us that we had to make our own blog and post our assignments on it, we were also told to be creative with it. For me it did not seem to interesting at first. It was all very “mechanic”, and I did not enjoy doing it. Then our English teacher told us we had to make another blog, for her class. My first thought was: “Oh, not another blog!”
After some time I started to get used to this whole project, and actually started to enjoy it. We were also told that we could use pages as www.glogster.com to make our work a little more interesting. The work became more creative and I started to post more than the assignments we were given at school. A few weeks ago our English teacher introduced us to a new project, to communicate with American students for Louisiana through our blogs. This all seemed very cool! Suddenly I was getting comments on my English Social Studies blog and that was a lot of fun. Having other students on the same level looking through your work was a little scary at first, but I got used to it. We also got to leave comments to their blogs. I feel that during the rest of this school year, the Norwegian and American students will have a great opportunity to learn from each other and maybe become friends. We have already seen pictures from each others hometowns and learned a bit how they work when they are at school. For example, the American students don’t use computers in every class like we do.

Besides making possible friends, I feel that blogging is a perfect way to express your opinions. You can post whatever you like and you have the right to do it as well. So far I haven’t posted too much outside of school. My little sister on the other hand is a good example. She has made her own personal blog where she expresses her feelings around every subject that concerns her. All from animal rights to fashion! She has gained a lot of friends online and she also sells clothes. I would say that she is an inspiration to keep blogging after school is finished. I feel that I have learned a lot from blogging, not just from my own blog and how it is to blog, but how people react to others. I have seen some provoking posts, and it is very helpful when it comes to school papers and so on. All in all, I feel blogging is a great way to learn how to be creative and a great way to share your own passions.

To join the student challenge follow this link:

http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2009/03/27/the-student-blogging-challenge-celebration/#comment-3649

Carina :)

Obama on the Jay Leno Show!

2009-03-31T01:47:00.000-07:00

Hei,

I just saw a clip on youtube where Obama was one of the guests, on the Jay Leno Show. I must say that my first reaction was: “Wow, the president is on a talk show?! I have never seen any of the presidents before make an appearance on a talk show. Apparently, Obama did this to reach out to the people who don’t usually watch CNN and so on. So I do get the point on why he did it. The population in America is about 300-350 million people. Not all of them voted in the presidential election, so it is perfectly normal for the president to try other distribution channels, like talk shows. When I started to watch the clip I noticed his way of behaving on the show. He was so relaxed and chilled out and he seemed very “cool”.I feel that as the president of the United States, you should have a different attitude.

Here is the deal, Obama and Leno were talking about bowling. Then suddenly, out of the blue, Obama makes a joke about the Special Olympics. The Special Olympics is nothing to joke about, the people who attend these competitions are people to look up to. They try really hard to become the best within their discipline, just as the athletes attending the Olympics. I see no reason to make this into a joke. Is this how Obama wants to reach out to the people watching talk shows? Just because he’s not participating in a political debate does not mean he has to make “funny” jokes about people. If he really wants to reach out to most people, why doesn’t he just behave normal? I guess the president has several sides of his personality, but he could consider holding on to some of his “good” jokes when starring in a talk show.

I’m no expert, but I believe this was a tiny, tiny step across the

The holy month of May!!

2009-03-24T03:37:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! :)

I would like to share a Norwegian tradition with all you American students.

I don’t know it you have heard about it before, but it is called being a russ. Every year in May all the Norwegian students that are about to graduate celebrate for 4 weeks. This probably sounds perfectly normal, but here is the thing.
The celebrations take places on busses! About 20-25 (girls, boys or mixed) get organized to make memories for life. We start about a year in advance to gather enough money to finance this adventure. We each have to pay from our own pockets, and we all have to work together to make money outside our own wallets. Then it is time to buy a bus and you have to make sure that this bus is up to code, considering it has been used as a “russe bus” for many, many years.

Finally, it is time to start planning what the bus is supposed to look like. You can pick any theme you want, but you have to make sure no one has done anything like it before. It is all about being original. Some decide to make their bus look like night club, a cave (!) or a tennis ball. Of course you have to make sure that no one knows about the concept until May. You also have to make clothes with your own logo and hire artist to make songs, tailored to your bus. In other words, you can say that every russe bus is a small organization. We have to deal with bills, authorities and so on. It is NOT easy to pull it all together.

We also have to rent big sound systems and light systems. There are also several parties arranged just for the russ. About 8000- 11 000 russ gather for 3 days to experience artists from all over the world. This year Busta Rhymes, Dj Antoine, Booty Luv and Yves Larock are amongst some of the artist.

There are also several competitions during this time, like: Best sound system, best light show, best exterior, best interior, best concept and best bus. During the 4 weeks everyone drives around in their busses, partying has much as they can. (By the way, in Norway you have to be 18 years old to drink.) Of course, it is also important that you wear the official russ clothes during these 4 weeks. The outfit contains of a red, blue or black (depending on your studies.) pants, your own bus sweater and a hat. During the 4 weeks, you are also supposed to do different dares. For example, holding hands for an entire day without letting go, wear bread as shoes for an entire day and so on. For every dare you do, you will get some sort of symbol fasten in your hat.

There is A LOT to say about being a russ, but it difficult to try explaining it all.

So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask :D I would be happy to answer, considering I’m the boss of my bus :D Oh yes!!
Also, this means that all the Norwegian students you have been talking to are going to be a russ very soon!

Check out these links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE-Z-l6hsKs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHwhrweUo5M&NR=1

PHOTO CHALLENGE

2009-03-17T04:39:00.000-07:00

Hei everyone!

This is a challenge to all the american and norwegian studenst!! :) I've been talking to some of the studenst in my class, and we figured it would be fun to post some pictures of ourselves. To see who we really are talking to. You don't have to if you don't want to.

To break the ice, I'll start!!

This could be fun :D

Carina

Senior Project.

2009-03-17T04:19:00.000-07:00

Hei!! :)

It’s time to start working with my senior project. I’ve been trough several themes for my project, and I have finally decided what I want to write about.

I want to write about the N.R.A.
A relevant question is why do I want to write about this? Well, I don’t know much about the N.R.A and would like to learn more.

I want to learn more about the background story as to why N.R.A got established and what kind of influence the organization have on American politics.

I’m very excited to get started and I believe this will be an interesting project. I will get a better view of the N.R.A as an organization and a hold of American politics. I believe this is important for me to know, even though I live in Norway, this influences Norway as well.

I will keep updating my blog as to how the project is going.

Carina :)

Microsoft Office, ONENOTE

2009-03-17T03:06:00.000-07:00

Hei! :)

Last time in history class, out teacher introduced of to Onenote from Microsoft.

This program works like a notebook. What is great with Onenote is that it accepts everything you wish to copy over to it or download. It works great as an organizer as well. You can make your own tabs for each subject at school, and then make several pages with notes under each tab. I think that Onenote makes it much easier to take notes and keep it all in one place, instead of having too many folders spread around on your computer. Another great thing is that you don’t have to safe every tenth minute in case your computer argues with you.

It safes everything automatically! I’m very excited over using Onenote, and I hope that more and more students will “convert” to it soon. I absolutely recommend it to every student that wants to keep school papers, power points and so on organized.

What students want.

2009-02-03T02:23:00.001-08:00

Hei :)

After listening to a lecture about a professor discussing how they should make the students "knowledge-able". ( To view the lecture click on this link, http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=195#comments )

As a student at Sandvika VGS, we all have our own computer. We use it everyday in every class.

When we are told to shut down our computers, I feel like I am missing out on something. Like my computer is my safety device, I've grown to attached to it. I use it to look up information and to talk to fellow students about assignments. Without sounding like an angel, I also use my computer to check out facebook every now and then, but I do not feel that this use of the computer is interrupting me learning in class.

It is easy to believe that every student wants free access to the Internet during classes, but that is not necessarily the case. I am very happy with the Internet, but I also find it very annoying at times. It is too easy to do what you are not suppose to do, during class. Therefor I believe that most students would love the Internet access, but their subconscious would love to learn without the Internet.
The point is not to remove the Internet access for students, but to teach them how to use the Internet in a positive way, and I agree with that.

Except for the Internet, students also want a good teacher. A teacher that can catch their attention at any time, not a teacher that is just standing there holding a lecture.

When it comes to the location of where students are learning, I think that is very important. For instent, at Sandvika VGS almost every classroom has windows that let the students look outside for a few seconds, and not just staring at a gray wall.

Timeline!

2009-01-27T04:41:00.000-08:00

Hi,

I've made a timeline about the "First World War To The Present".

To take a look, follow this link : http://www.xtimeline.com/timeline/History-of-United-Kingdom-1

My hometown :)

2009-01-27T02:10:00.000-08:00

Hey!

We were just given a task, to write about our hometowm. We were given this task because we might be able to communicate with studenst from Louisiana by using "skype".

Some information about my hometown, Asker (click on "Asker" for more information):

I live in Asker which is about 20 minutes from the capital in Norway, Oslo.

I love living in Asker because you are surrounded by water, nature and cultural events. We live right by the sea, which is amazing during the summer.

We also have great access to go skiing during the winter.

Both in Asker and in Bærum (Baerum) people have the opportunity to visit cultural houses with local artist. It could be dance shows, paintings and so on.

If there are any questions, don't hesitate to ask :)

New Glogster!

2009-01-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

Hi!

I've made a new "glogster", this time about The Disunited Kingdom. Click on the link below to take a look at it! :)

http://carraa.glogster.com/The-Disunited-Kingdom/

Into The Wild.

2009-01-13T01:54:00.000-08:00

I decided to make a "glog" about the book we read in class, Into The Wild.

You can look at my "glog" by clicking on the picture.

In the Valley of Elah

2008-10-21T02:18:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday the class saw the film "In the Valley of Elah". I did not get the chance to see it myself because I was sick that day.

Fortunally, I have seen the movie before and I am now going to do my best to write a little about it.

This Acadamy-Award nominated film is starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron and Susan Sarandon.

The plot in the movie is based on actual events. It is based upon the Iraq war, abused prisoners and P.T.S.D (Post-Traumatic Stress Diorder.).
It's about a young man who returns from Iraq, but is suddently gone missing. His parents get the message, and his father (Tommy Lee Jones) is desperate to search for him. After some time, along with Detective Emily Sanders (Charlize Theron), he discovers that his son has been killed.

This is when the story evolves to a story about a father despretly trying to figure out what really happend to his son. After carefully observations, he realizes that his son's friends from the army ,stands behind the murder of his son.

Of course, the military and the government do their best to cover up what really happend the night of the murder, and they to their best to keep the press away.

This movie portrays how soldiers have to deal with a lot of pressure and active combat. It also shows how many people who have to suffer because of the Iraq war.

Carina Jurs

Lions for Lambs

2008-10-07T01:45:00.000-07:00

This is one of the topics i chose from the movie "Lions for Lambs."

"What consequences might there be if the press and the media do not write the stories the government wants them to. Discuss."

In "Lions for Lambs" we get to see how the press works and how they get some of their stories from the inside. Sometimes it can be difficult for the people to rely on the press and the media, are their stories reliable?

In the film we see how reporter Janine Roth gets her story from Senator Jasper Irving.The senator “leaks” out a story about what the next move in the Iraq war will be.
He does this because he believes this is something the people in America would like to know, Janine on the other hand does not want to publish this.

What are the consequences here?
The people will not be informed about something the Senate wants them to know, and this will arise a internal conflict between the press (in this case with Janine Roth) and the government. This might evolve to a even bigger story, “ The press refuses to cooperate with the government.”
The Senators story will probably leak out anyway, maybe through a different paper. Words and statements may be twisted as the story is written by someone who wasn't in the room at the time the story came out. This will cause a lot of chaos. The government would have to do something drastic to get the story right, like holding a press conference. It would cause a lot of trouble when it was suppose to be subtle and discrete.

Carina Jurs