Human Ingenuity

On the IB Website the definition of Human Ingenuity is...

• Why and how do we create?
• What are the consequences?

This area of interaction allows students to explore in multiple ways the processes and products of human creativity, and to consider their impact on society and the mind.
Human ingenuity allow students to focus on the evolution, process and products of human creativity and their impact on life and society. Human ingenuity provides opportunities for students to appreciate and develop in themselves the human capacity to create, transform, enjoy and improve the quality of life.
In particular, human ingenuity:

• stresses the way humans can initiate change, whether for good or bad, and examines the consequences
• emphasizes both the importance of researching the developments made by people across space, time and cultures, and the importance of taking time to reflect on these developments.

In this way, human ingenuity goes beyond the act of creation alone, leading students to examine, experience and reflect on the creative process.

Evaluating my sources

All of my sources were other review websites except one.  I used them to help me create a guideline foir my reviews.

http://www.teenink.com/
Teen Ink is a teen literary magazine and website.  They also have reviews.  I used the website to look at their style for reviews and the way their website was set up.  I would say this is a fairly good source.  Before this project I had never really written reviews of books, so it was good to be able to read other people's reviews to understand how to create a review.

http://www.allreaders.com/bookSearcha.asp#S2
I liked the way this site has their home page has a search bar where you can search genres, characters, and plots which is really cool.  I don't really like all of the reviews on the website because most of are not very helpful.  This website isn't to good of a source for what I was looking for, but it did help a little bit.

http://www.yareads.com/
I really like the way this cite sets up their reviews.  They flow really well and are extremely helpful.  I think this cite was a fairly good resource for my project.

 http://www.goshen.edu/english/critique-html/
This is one of my only sites that isn't an acutal review website.  This is site shows guidelines on how to critique.  Even though it mainly talks about using this for critiquing.  I think this was a great source.

Reflection #

I have finally reached my goal.  I am so excited. I put so much effort into this project, and I am glad to be able to look back and see that I was able to create something as complex as this project was.  I am very happy about how this turned out.  At times,  I really wanted to give up on trying to reach my goal because I was having a hard time reading new books an writing reviews on them with the amount of homework my teachers give and my busy schedule.  I really learned time management and being able to stick with a goal and following through with it through completing this personal project.

Now the only thing I have left to do on my project is complete my presentation which I sort of started a few weeks ago.  I am not very good at doing presentations, so it will interesting to see how everything turns out.

Bloodline

Bloodline by Kate Cary

I would give this 3 out of 5 stars.

John Shaw has been sent to the front lines for World War I.  He is very mystified by his captain, Quincy Harker, by his abnormal qualities. During the war John is injured and his is sent back to his home town in England to recovery.  Mary Steward, a nurse, takes care of John and becomes quite fond of him as well as John's little sister, Lily, who lives near by.  John now suffers from odd delusions from his time in the war.  In order to help him recover, Mary decides to read his diary which is filled with gruesome stories from the war and interesting tidbits about Captain Quincy Harker.

I actually enjoyed reading this book.  Normally I don't like when books are in letter form, but this is the book I really liked.  I liked the fact that it changes point of views because you get to feel what other characters are feeling. This book is supposed sort of a spin-off type of story about Dracula which makes this book a whole lot more interesting in my opinion.  I have never read Dracula, but someday I hopefully will.  It is set in the World War I era, so it is very interesting to read about a different time period.

I would say this is middle school and up. I would say this is like PG-11 because it is not PG, but it isn't PG-13.

Reflection #4

So I spent today finishing my goal and on Sunday and Monday hopefully I will work on my presentation, but I am not quite do sure what to do. Our packet says I can do a website (which I am already doing), so I don't know if I can just use that?? I am highly confused and stressed about this.  If I don't work on my presentation on Sunday or Monday and even if I do work on it then, I am going to talk to my mentor and ask her about all of this. 

The Secret Circle

The Secret Circle by L.J. Smith

I would give this 3 out of 5 stars.

Forced to leave her home is California, Cassie finds herself in a new town meeting her grandmother for the first time.  She feels a strange bond to a terrifying group of teens who seem to rule her new school. Initiated into the coven of witches that's controlled New Salem for hundreds of years, she's drawn into the Secret Circle, a thrill that's both intoxicating and deadly. But when she falls for the mysterious and intriguing Adam, Cassie must choose whether to resist temptation or risk dark forces to get what she wants—even if it means that one wrong move could ultimately destroy her.


I genuinely enjoyed this book.  I am glad for a change of species since mainly I have been reading about vampires.  I am watching the TV series to this book series which is quite interesting.  Some parts of this book are cheesy and predictable, but what books aren't these days?  I really like L.J. Smith her books are so captivating and once I start reading, it is hard to put it down. 


I would say this is for middle school and up.  I would also say this is PG.

Angelfire

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton

I give this 4 out of 5 stars.

When Ellie meets Will, she feels like she has meet him before.  Then she begins having terrifying nightmares of monstrous creatures that are hunting her and killing her.  On Ellie's seventeenth birthday, Will awakens Ellie's power, and she knows that she can fight the creatures that stalk her in the shadowy darkness, but only Will has the keys to unlock her memories. Now that her power has been awaken she must hunt those that are trying to kill her.  Ellie has power that no one can match, and her role is to hunt and kill the reapers that prey on human souls. But in order to survive the dangerous battle between the angels and the Fallen, she must also search for the secrets of her past lives and truths that may be too frightening to remember.

This is a cool and interesting twist too angels.  I love the fact that has Ellie is reborn over the centuries she has become more human.  I wish the author added more detail because that would make this book 10 times better. Also this book felt a bit rushed, but other than those to complaints I really enjoyed this book.

I would say this book and soon to be series is for middle school and up.  I would rate it maybe PG to PG-13.