Street Law mini Project
Reflection
This mini project focused on the Fourth Amendment and the essential question: how do we balance the need for personal privacy with the need to keep a safe, orderly and just society? To begin this mini project we looked at scenarios that involved the police and the possible violation of Fourth Amendment rights, and then were asked to develop our own definition of privacy. We read and rewrote the Fourth Amendment to gain a better understanding of its purpose and meaning. After we learned about the legal differences between reasonable suspicion and probable cause we identified what police can do in a situation so we will know what to do if we have an encounter with law enforcement. We also learned a little bit about how our rights differ in different settings, such as school or on the street. Once we gained a better understanding of the Amendment and what the police can or can’t do we wrote our own ruling for a case using all of the facts and knowledge in front of us. Lastly we developed an informative and interesting project that showed what we learned about Fourth Amendment rights and the freedoms and restrictions of police.
In the beginning I had a hard time finding a topic that not only fit what we were doing for the project, but also was interesting to me. I wanted to do something that would benefit my peers and I and that wasn’t a popular topic. My process started by looking at a bunch of Supreme Court cases that involved the Fourth Amendment. There was too many to pick from so I pursued help and Lori (my teacher) was able to give me the cell phone topic. I found that just last year the Supreme Court ruled, after two major cases, that cell phones cannot be searched by police without a warrant. In my research I looked at special circumstances that they could search phones and I read up on the cases that really made this happen. All of it was interesting. Finding how I was going to present it was easy. I wanted my peers to easily read it because it pertains to them, so I went with an infographic. Everyone these days has a cell phone that holds a lot of personal information and I believe it is important that they know their rights as cell phone owners and users.
In the beginning I had a hard time finding a topic that not only fit what we were doing for the project, but also was interesting to me. I wanted to do something that would benefit my peers and I and that wasn’t a popular topic. My process started by looking at a bunch of Supreme Court cases that involved the Fourth Amendment. There was too many to pick from so I pursued help and Lori (my teacher) was able to give me the cell phone topic. I found that just last year the Supreme Court ruled, after two major cases, that cell phones cannot be searched by police without a warrant. In my research I looked at special circumstances that they could search phones and I read up on the cases that really made this happen. All of it was interesting. Finding how I was going to present it was easy. I wanted my peers to easily read it because it pertains to them, so I went with an infographic. Everyone these days has a cell phone that holds a lot of personal information and I believe it is important that they know their rights as cell phone owners and users.
Writing reflection
Goal 1- Argumentation
My goal for my writing is to work on the arguments I make in my essays or blog posts. I need to make sure the commentary and evaluation is beneficial to my argument and that it connects to the bigger point or thesis. I also need to work on misrepresentations in my arguments. For example, in my Tocqueville essay I wrote, “Tocqueville’s statement on the greater truth is flawed…” however, when analyzing what Tocqueville would have actually said he would have agreed. In this context I should have done the work and gone back to better understand the reading I was writing about in order to support my argument well. I think what will work best for me to accomplish my goal, will be to analysis and dissect the readings or resources I’m using to the point that I can summarize in plain terms. This will allow me to fully understand what I am using to support my arguments.
Goal 2- Editing and Proofreading
I will improve upon my writing by allowing for more time to edit and review, while also asking my peers and teachers to help me revise and proofread. My writing has quite a few awkward sentences that could have been rewritten if I had read my writing out loud multiple times before turning it in. In the first draft of my college essay I wrote, “Heading out on a lone stretch of road that has little traffic and just enough of an incline to get my heart rate going.” One of my peers was able to point this out to me and show me that this is a poorly written question, but in my head it sounded fine. By reading my writing pieces out loud and asking people to help me edit my writing will improve.
Goal 3- Use of evidence.
My goal is to use more evidence that relates to my argument or topic that I am writing about. In some cases in my writing I will make a statement without providing evidence to back up my argument. This is a big deal in my political blog posts. Most of my response could be a lot stronger if I had taken the time to do research or take notes and use that evidence in my writing. Although my blog posts are opinion pieces I could still use more insightful and supportive evidence that will reassure my opinions. So in the future, I will work harder to do some digging and find some strong evidence for all of my writing pieces.
Technology and solitude
MINI PROJECT ARTISTIC STATEMENT:
My artistic piece is responding to the idea that the use of technology and social media engulf your life and isolate you. Using magazine cutouts and construction paper I created a piece that shows chaos from technology and a lonely person standing alone in a black hole. I really wanted to convey the idea that the more connected we become through social media, the more isolated we become as human beings. William Deresiewicz writes in his piece The End Of Solitude, “If boredom is the great emotion of the TV generation, loneliness is the great emotion of the Web generation. We lost the ability to be still, our capacity of idleness. They have lost the ability to be alone, their capacity for solitude.” This idea of solitude is lost in the new generation because of the overwhelming amounts of technology and social distractions. Many people believe that solitude is important to our survival and that we cannot find solitude unless we take the time to put away our social media. I believe that the more connected we become over the Internet the less fundamental human interactions we have. In an article about self-reliance by Ralph Emerson the idea that society affects how we think and act but what we believe and think in our mind when we are alone is what is true, is brought to light. It is OK to be alone and be bored in the black hole. I want the takeaway from this piece to be that technology and social media isolates us as humans however we should take the opportunity to use our loneliness to find our selves and be our own person.
The idea of being alone and putting away the less vital connections intrigues me. I feel like I am my true self when I am alone, when I have put my phone away and stopped communicating over social media. Looking back, in my freshman and sophomore years of high school I was highly influenced by the popular culture and what was cool online. I was living in the moment and doing the things that everyone was posting about. Taking a step back, it’s easy to see that I was acting like the people I saw on Facebook or Instagram. Now, I have forced myself to put my phone away and be OK with that, and not feel completely left out and disconnected. By doing this I have seen how easy it is and how it benefits my day. I have more time to spend with my family and be outside doing the activities I love. I also notice how strong my friendships have become; the conversations have become more honest and genuine.
My artistic piece is responding to the idea that the use of technology and social media engulf your life and isolate you. Using magazine cutouts and construction paper I created a piece that shows chaos from technology and a lonely person standing alone in a black hole. I really wanted to convey the idea that the more connected we become through social media, the more isolated we become as human beings. William Deresiewicz writes in his piece The End Of Solitude, “If boredom is the great emotion of the TV generation, loneliness is the great emotion of the Web generation. We lost the ability to be still, our capacity of idleness. They have lost the ability to be alone, their capacity for solitude.” This idea of solitude is lost in the new generation because of the overwhelming amounts of technology and social distractions. Many people believe that solitude is important to our survival and that we cannot find solitude unless we take the time to put away our social media. I believe that the more connected we become over the Internet the less fundamental human interactions we have. In an article about self-reliance by Ralph Emerson the idea that society affects how we think and act but what we believe and think in our mind when we are alone is what is true, is brought to light. It is OK to be alone and be bored in the black hole. I want the takeaway from this piece to be that technology and social media isolates us as humans however we should take the opportunity to use our loneliness to find our selves and be our own person.
The idea of being alone and putting away the less vital connections intrigues me. I feel like I am my true self when I am alone, when I have put my phone away and stopped communicating over social media. Looking back, in my freshman and sophomore years of high school I was highly influenced by the popular culture and what was cool online. I was living in the moment and doing the things that everyone was posting about. Taking a step back, it’s easy to see that I was acting like the people I saw on Facebook or Instagram. Now, I have forced myself to put my phone away and be OK with that, and not feel completely left out and disconnected. By doing this I have seen how easy it is and how it benefits my day. I have more time to spend with my family and be outside doing the activities I love. I also notice how strong my friendships have become; the conversations have become more honest and genuine.