Author: evielearnerportfolio

Creative Writing Article Practice

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On the 17th of March 2020, the campus of Luanda International School of Angola (LIS) was closed down due to the fast spread of COVID-19, a flu-like virus that’s all over the news with new cases and developments of the outbreak daily. following in the footsteps of many schools around the world. The board of directors made a quick but important decision, after weeks of discussion, and the next day the campus was closed. For the students of LIS, this means online schooling like many other schools worldwide, international or not. It’s an unsure time but the school and the country are doing what they can against COVID-19.

Angola is one of the countries where schools are shutting. Along with the schools like LIS, the airport is also stopping international flights as a way to reduce incoming people that could have the virus. Other smaller measures are being taken with more masks, hand sanitizer provided in places like the supermarket and self isolation as well.

Hopefully the actions taken by the government and the people of Luanda and other areas in the country can all help prevent and reduce any cases of COVID-19 present in Angola. Along with the actions taken by the school, hopefully this situation can be handled fast in the country and in regards to the world, each country’s actions will impact the situation for the better to put a stop to this outbreak and eventually, allow LIS to reopen again.

Journalistic (TILOHL) v.s. Academic Writing

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When reading academic writing in comparison to TILOHL there are differences in the features of the writing style. There is a clear distinction with less scientific terminology used in TILOHL but it’s due to a difference of target audience as the academic writing is more for educating or informing whereas TILOHL is more creatively informing the story. Academic writing will most likely be read less and enjoyed less by the general public as it’s meant for a specific group.

Using Cells now and in 1950s

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When thinking about how different it would be nowadays if what happened with the HeLa cells happened in the present day, there would be a lot of differences to the reactions of people when they find out. I feel like there would be a stronger reaction to finding out someone’s cells were taken without their permission. People’s rights and ethical decisions are thought of more. This would have also been a big scandal type of situation for the hospital which would lead to more press and media being involved.

If I was in the 1950s and I found out about this, I don’t think I would have reacted the same as I would have been less knowledgeable about people’s rights and other important information about the ethics involved in medical procedures. This would be due to a lack of resources and a different method of research than we have in the present day. Also the story of the cells being took from someone without their permission wouldn’t of traveled far even if people knew about it and discussed it, as the media wasn’t as developed in fast communication as it is now.

This would definitely be a topic able to be discussed in TOK as it links with Ethics and can be discussed in the Natural sciences AOK.

Guest Speaker

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When we had a guest speaker discussing her experience of the HeLa cells it was really interesting to find out about medical opinion of the HeLa cells. Dr Srivastrava told us how she works with the cells often, she referred to them as a daily ‘bread and butter’ implying that it’s a common practice to use them. When she found out about the cells from an article, she said she forwarded it to her colleagues as it was something really shocking for her and she didn’t know about it. 

We learnt about the cells and she talked about different uses of the cells and other medical information to help us develop more knowledge of things that can help us better understand the cells. I found learning about this interesting as even though I didn’t choose biology as my science choice, learning more about the body and different things that are involved.

Summary and Structure of Henrietta Book

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The structure of TILOHL weaves 4 different storylines throughout one another. It includes a Henrietta storyline, the cells, Skloot (the author) and Deborah’s storyline. All of these are included to add more information to build a detailed book. The Henrietta storyline mainly appears at the beginning to introduce her and the situation to begin the story. The cell’s story is included to add scientific background to explain terms and knowledge needed to understand the situation. Deborah’s story is included to learn more about the family and her journey to discover more about her mother and what happened. In the FAQ of the book it was said that everyone said she needed to include her perspective and story in the book as she had put so much time and effort into making the book and her journey to get interviews and meetings to make a stronger story. The quote was “You have to put that in the book, because the family’s response to you is part of the story—it shows how deeply they’ve been affected by Henrietta’s cells and their legacy.” Also Deborah said Henrietta would be mad if she didn’t include herself.

I like the way that the book is written as even though there are 4 different storylines included in the book, they all flow really well and seem naturally written. All the different perspectives in the book are necessary for the story and all play apart in educating people on HeLa cells and what happened. I also like the separation of having 3 different parts to split up different stages in the journey of the story.

After the First Reading of Henrietta Lacks

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After reading ‘The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks’ by Rachel Skloot, I was really interested in her as a person. The idea that her cells were took from her body without her consent and then turned into the huge discovery that they were, was really interesting. It prompted me to do more research about HeLa and I found interesting things that the cells are used for like:

  • Polio vaccines
  • Different virus testing
  • Cancer research
    • Helping define cancer markings in RNA
  • Gene mapping

I think that with this book, we will be able to talk more in depth about racism, healthcare treatment, corruption in the healthcare system in the past and possibly, corruption in the justice system (the law). This book has many topics that can apply to possible IO ideas as I feel like there will be many non-literary texts to analyse like maybe more articles. Also the idea of HeLa and how her cells were taken without consent could be able to be a TOK real life situation as it looks at natural sciences and perhaps the methodology and ethics being the main concepts involved.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HeLa

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/henriettalacks/importance-of-hela-cells.html

https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/hela-cell.htm

Essay Outline

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For the second paper 1 practice it is on articles as a non-literary text type. I chose quotes to do with juxtaposition and irony, descriptive language and their connotations, and the tone. These techniques link with the situation and how Donegan is presenting the different sides of #MeToo movement and the two sides with the feminist and anti-feminist ‘groups’. 

It was hard to decide the different body paragraphs and what to talk about as some things were hard to pick out from the text but also hard to explain. The thesis as well, it is still confusing to write about what Donegan is trying to communicate through the article.

Through the article there was a lot of different language used and different connotations to the words which made it harder to pick out a consistent tone but also a lot of the words linked in with other sections of my essay outline. The descriptive language was the easiest to decide quotes to use as there are a lot of words used that fit with this and the connotations also are clearer to pick out. Though explaining the irony and juxtaposition used in the article was harder as the way it was used I felt it was harder to find good examples. With the tone, it changes as there is a negative tone through most of the article when talking about the assault cases and the anti-feminist movement, probably to do with Donegan’s bias. Though the article kind of intended to show hope for the movement which is shown by the title and how the article ends as well.

IO Preperation

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When preparing for the IO it was difficult to find segments from both the literary and non-literary text types. I couldn’t decide what made lines from different texts connect with each other. I looked through the articles to look for the first pairing and when looking at one of the articles, specifically to do with the “What Christine Blasey Ford reveals about womanhood” article, I found that Moira Donegan gives examples of what is expected of a woman and certain gender roles and behaviours that they are expected to have. This idea that is represented through how Donegan wrote the article is also present in The Handmaid’s Tale through what is expected of the handmaids and other women in their roles for this society. I looked at how the handmaids were expected to act and compared it too how Christine Ford acted.

When using a political cartoon as the non-literary text type I found it was easier as I could clearly see a connection with the ‘Rule of Law’ cartoon and a segment from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ at Jezebel’s when the commander was saying how you ‘can’t cheat nature… at least for men’. I saw a connection as ‘Rule of Law’ implies there is a rule hidden in the law (law against assault and fair judgment of punishment) if you were a man, particularly a rich white man. This links to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ as there are things that men are able to do which in comparison women aren’t, but women understand that men can get away with these things and accept that it’s in men’s nature. I looked at how men can act and be treated differently to women which was what I focused on when thinking of points I can analyse.

Oral Presentation and Paper 2 Practice Essay

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For our oral presentation, our group looked at a prompt under the identity concept in our course. Specifically on the prompt, It could be argued that in some societies or cultures women at a disadvantage to men or even actively discriminated against. To what degree is this evident in the way women are represented in The Handmaid’s Tale. We made the points that through the change in society, the way they are represented and the perspectives of other characters, we can clearly see the discrimination women face through what Atwood has wrote.

The feedback we mainly got was to interpret the prompt better in order to show our understanding more as we didn’t do that. I also personally think I could of wrote the first point better, so that’s something I can work on for my essay.

For the essay we kept the same prompt and I used the quotes and points we made in the essay. I think I rewrote the first point better and paraphrased the prompt. I am still confused a bit on the interpretation but after the essay is handed back to us, I will double check if the interpretation is ok.

The presentation was a chance to practice skills that will be necessary in our IO that we will do in the future. The presentation skills can be applied in our DP core through our TOK presentations as well as being transferable to other subjects were presentations are necessary.

What would the pro-life side think?

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During a class discussion at our table, we were thinking about what the pro-life side would think about this book. We first were thinking about if they would agree with the points made about abortion and also about the views about women and babies. We were thinking that they would as the points made by Aunt Lydia in particular, are logical and make sense even if I don’t personally agree with them. 

I also wondered if a religious person with pro-life views, specifically more fundamentalist Christians,  agrees with the use of religion in this book. Since the view of religion is so twisted and manipulated in order to fit with the beliefs of the society would a religious person agree with the points made? Would they like the use of the religious aspects or would they consider it blasphemous? Also if a religious person agrees with the manipulated religious aspects would that mean that the aspects of religion that the person believes in could also be manipulated to fit what the views of this pro-life side think?

Hypothetically, if the religious side of thinking, in regards to pro-life and fundamentalist views, believes a twisted view of religion then that would mean that by that side referencing the bible when talking about the pro-life debate would have been twisted to match that view. Also, the bible has constantly been read and had the meaning deciphered, not always in the correct way. 

A bible verse often used alongside the pro-life movement is Deuteronomy 30:19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.” The specific part ‘Choose life so that you and your descendants may live.’ has been taken literally in regards to keeping the ‘descendants’ alive referring to the children which obviously is a big argument with the fetal right, arguing against the ‘unnecessary murder’.