Research Project

My topic is about World War 2.  I am focusing on the end of the war and the aftereffects.  If I focused on the aftereffect of World War 2 for the whole world, then I would end up with and 200 page paper.  To avoid writing 200 pages on the after effects of World War 2, I decided to focus on one country.  I thought that any country would be interesting to study, but I thought that not many people think about what happened to Germany after World War 2.  I decided that it would be really interesting to study Germany.  I have always found World War 2 really interesting.  I have studied it many times, but never looking at Germany and what happened to it.  So far, the answer I have come up with has been that after World War 2, Germany had to re-build itself completely.  I have found a lot of information about how they had been split into 4 parts, and how a different country ruled each part.  I have read a lot about how they were left with nothing.  There was also a lot about how they were finically and economically declining rapidly.  I have never really thought about the way Germany was affects so this was really interesting to learn about.

My research topic is about World War 2.  I am focusing mainly on the aftermath of the War on Germany.  I was originally going to do the aftermath of World War 1 on Germany, but after some research, I found out that the main aftereffect of World War 1 on Germany was the start of World War 2.  I have always loved studying World War 2, but I have never looked at it in this way.  The main answer that I have found was that the aftermath of World War 2 on Germany was that Germany was left with almost nothing.  They were finically and economically dead.  Their people were all poor and had few possessions and were struggling to get food.  The country itself was split into 4 separate parts that were controlled by the 4 main powers on the Ally side.  The interesting thing about that was the berlin wall and how it affected the other parts of Germany.  I have never looked at Germany and what happened to it after World War 2, so this is really interesting for me to learn about.

Minutes:
1.5 hours on annotated bibliography- making sure I have everything required in them; finishing up the 10 annotations due; trying to fix the formatting (actually fixed it correctly in class)

1.5 hours doing research and finding good, reliable websites; going back and trying to find authors and publishers for some websites and determining if they are reliable

The Fellowship of the Ring: J.R.R. Tolkieng
52 pages; 1 hour

Finishing A Marathon

This weekend, I finished my first marathon.  I didn't even train for it, i just ran it.  It was really easy, but that was probably because I started at mile 22 of 26.  My friend's dad was running in it.  His name was Mr. Sergio.  He did it last year too.  The Louisiana Marathon goes right in front of my house.  All morning, every time that I walk out my front door, there are always people running by with police men at every section between the blocks.  They go past our house at around mile 11 and then the run some more and come back around at close to mile 22.  I ran with Mr. Sergio when he passed out house the second time.

I got to run to the end of the neighborhood, over the over pass, then all through downtown.  We talked about all sorts of things, which surprised me a lot because I figured that someone who had already run 22 miles wouldn't be in the mood to talk.  We talked about school, sports, and other marathons.  I told him about the disney marathon that my friend once ran in.  It is a marathon where they run throughout Disney World.  I don't know where they start, but I do know they run from Epcot all the way to the Magic Kingdom on the interstate.  They get to run through the parks, meet and take pictures with characters, and get to see all of Disney World from a different view that not many others do.  It is not a serious marathon like the boston marathon is.  I think that it would be fun to do the Disney Half Marathon one day with my family.  I had lots of fun running with Mr. Sergio and am glad that I finished my first marathon!

Work Minutes:

In English Class: 1.15 hours approx. finding information and doing annotated bibliography
In Social Studies Class: 1.15 hours finding sources and information
Out of Class: 1.5 hours approx. finding information
Annotated Bibliographies: 50 minutes

Research Update

So far, I have found basic facts about World War 2 and the basic aftereffects.  I have mainly been using google as a source.  When we first started, I was going to do the after effects of World War 1, but after I did some research, I figured that the biggest, and main after effect of World War 1 was the starting of World War 2.  I didn't think that I could write that much about the after effects of World War 1 and not go into Word War 2, but still have enough to write about and stay on topic.  So, I decided to change the after effect of World War 1 to the after effects of World War 2.  

At first, I didn't know enough about my topic to do a good search on the databases.  I was to broad and the searches came up with all types of World War 2 stuff.  It came up with things about the beginning of the war, how America got involved, how World War 1 was different, etc.  I decided that if I went on google and learned more about my topic, then it might be easier to do a more narrowed search in the databases.  I am still using google.  I find that it works better for me and that I don't have trouble finding information.  The databases don't always work for me, and I find better stuff that I can use in my papers on google.  I have found lots of stuff so far, and I hope that they will help me to write a good paper.  

Harry Potter

This Christmas was really fun.  All seven of us got really fun stuff.  But the best present of all was Harry Potter.  Harry Potter was our new puppy.  He was a fat, 7 week old shitzu.  He waddled all around the living room and everybody loved him.  When my cousins came over, they both asked their parents if they could have a puppy too.  Their dad said absolutely not.  My dad didn't want another dog at all before Christmas.  I had asked for a puppy for almost a year, and every time he said no.  For someone who really did not want another dog, he loves Harry Potter a lot.  He plays with him, holds him, puts him on his bed and reads with him.  He loves this puppy.

Everybody in my family LOVES Harry Potter more than anything.  My bothers went with their dad to Alabama a few days after Christmas.  My cousins walked out to day bye to them.  Richard was holding Harry, and my cousins walked up to him and bent down and said "bye bye" to harry, but didn't say bye to Richard and David!! They completely forgot!  It was really funny.  My cousin had surgery over the break, and she looked terrible after it.  I would bring Harry over and she would smile a little bit.  Harry made her feel way better.

Harry Potter has affected our family a lot.  He makes everyone smile whenever he waddles up.  He always plays and always seems to have energy.  We all love him and he is probably going to be the most spoiled dog in the history of the world!

Reading Minutes:
The Hobbit, J.R. Tolkin
1/5/12: 116 pages, 1.15 hours
1.6.12: 103 pages, 1.15 hours
1/7/12: 28 pages, 40 minutes

The Hobbit

The Hobbit, by J. R. Tolkin,  is about a time before humans when the fairies, dwarfs, goblins, hobbits, and wizards would venture out into the open.  A hobbit named Biblo gets drawn into an adventure with 11 dwarfs going to travel across thousands and thousands of miles of land to reclaim the riches that originally belonged to them.  Throughout the book, the reader can really see how Biblo changed and how he affected the dwarfs that traveled with him. 

There are many things that affect how you act and how you change over a period of time.  The people you are usually with, where you live, the types of things you like to do, etc.  The things that make you who you are the things that you do.  If you change what you do, then you can change the type of person you are, and what people think about you would also change.  Biblo changes who he is and his view of the world when he travels with new people and goes to new places,.  He experiences new things that changed his personality greatly.  He learns much about himself.  When people try new things, they learn new things about whatever they are trying, but also about themselves.  If you tried a new sport, you could learn whether or not you are good at it, how strong you are mentally and physically, and what types of things you like to do. It is always good to try new things so that you can learn new things about yourself and push yourself to do things that you don't usually do.