My Independent Writing Project: Emily and Valerie's Cultural Cookbook

Health Issues With The SAS Cafeteria Food: News Package

News Package Element/ Time Reference	Script
Introduction	Students from the middle school of Singapore American School came back from summer break with surprising new changes. Walking into the MS and HS cafeterias, they learn the healthier developments with the provided food. While many students are more satisfied than before, not everyone is happy with the new transitions and they still have some thoughts and opinions to say about the recent adjustments.
Soundbite 1-Yubin Ohn (student)	“They’re putting in effort into making it healthier, but I don’t think its making such a big affect on students, because while its healthier, students still don’t choose to buy or eat it.”
Bridge	states Yubin Ohn, an eighth grade student. Although the school has been putting in a lot of effort into the meals they provide, students are the main struggle in this situation. Like most of us, they are provided with different varieties, but only choosing the unhealthy.
Soundbite 2-April Yoon (student) (1:14)	“Sure, some food are healthy, but the really tasty ones are really greasy, like the donuts or the fish and chips.”
Bridge	Again, from the perspective of an eighth grade student, April Yoon, she claims that yes, the school might offer a mixture in the menu, but the tasty ones are the unhealthiest.
Soundbite 3-Elena Cheung (student) (did not record)	“After the few years I’ve been here, there has been a lot of changes and the food got healthier, but by taking the unhealthy food away, they’re also taking away the range and the freedom. For example, they took away the vending machines and the soft drinks in the HS is now replaced by juice boxes. I understand that they’re trying to improve our diet, but they should still give us a choice.”
Bridge	Another MS student, Elena Cheung, mentions. Despite the fact that the students understand and accepts what the school is trying to do with the food, they have to admit the unsettling feeling of some of their favourite products being taken away.
Soundbite 4-Yenny Kurniawan (parent) (did not record)	“From what I have been hearing about what my daughter eats at school, I am fine with what they have, and I think that they are trying hard to improve it. I believe that SAS is on the right track and should keep going on this situation. It’s a great school where I am sure that they will think of all the problems they have with much depth.”
Stand-Up	The parents of SAS, such as Yenny Kurniawan, an eighth grade parent, recognizes and trusts the school’s decisions to make good decisions for both the campus and the school. There are still more improvements that’ll develop, and we’ll see how that will transform the school in years to come.
Sign Off	I’m Valerie Darmawan, reporting from SAS for the GR8 News Network (GNN).

Journalism Reflection

This year’s journalism unit was a new kind of learning for the students, especially me. I was surprised when Sean Thomas came to present and teach us about this whole unit, because it really is a great opportunity to meet with an actual professional journalist. Not only did he teach us on the skills of a journalist, but he also taught us how the news industry operates.

For my topic on the interviews, I decided to research on the SAS school cafeteria and the menu. Specifically, my angle was the health issues with the meals and students’ opinions and thoughts about it. I interviewed about 4 people, but I only recorded 2 on quicktime. Three of them was with 8th grade students, and one with an SAS parent. At first, I had decided to interview with Mr. Hoe (Head of the Kiosk department), but it was too difficult to find a schedule for him. Because I didn’t get the time to interview with him, I decided to interview a parent instead. I wanted to get students’ opinions because they’re the ones purchasing the meals provided to them, and I interviewed a parent because I wanted to know more about what their concerns are on what their kids are eating.

My interview with April Yoon, a B side student was first, and my first question was, “In your opinion, what are your thoughts about the provided school menu?” (April, 0:50). I asked this because I wanted to start off the interview with a broad open-ended question that will give me follow up questions to ask. At the end of the interview, I decided to ask if her parents were ever concerned or worried about what she eats because I wanted to know about what the parents think or might’ve said from a student’s perspective. This was my first interview on my topic, and I have to admit it wasn’t my best. After I listened to it, I realized that I barely had any follow up questions and it didn’t sound conversational.

My second interview was with another student, Yubin Ohn. This interview was a lot better than my first, because when I listened to Yubin’s responses carefully, I had a lot more follow up questions with much thought. An example would be, “If you could bring your own food from home, would you? If you had the choice? Why?” (4:58) Not only did I ask more follow up questions for this interview, it also seemed more like a conversation when I was having the interview and after I listened to it. At the end of my interview, I made sure that I asked the question, “Is there anything you’d like to add?”, as Sean Thomas said that this last question is essential in interviews. Also, I told the interviewee that I appreciate their time for answering my questions.

For some of my text evidence, I didn’t record it on quicktime because I had asked a few people some questions after the deadline on Wednesday. I had to ask more people because I needed more answers for the soundbites in my news package. For example, on my news package, I asked Elena Cheung a few of my interview questions to get more of a variety of opinions. I also asked my mother to represent an opinion from an SAS parent and I asked her a few questions such as, “Are you ever worried about what I eat at school? Do you trust what SAS gives and provides for your kids?”

Overall I thought that this whole journalism unit was a great opportunity for eighth graders to experience what it’s like to be a journalist and an interviewer. The interviews and news package helped me understand more about the news industry and how it all works.

Label Test

Feature Article

RLA Podcast Book Review

Why You Should Include Insects In Our Diet

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Why not eat insects? If insects were the only edible food alive, would you eat it? When your friends or relatives tells you they ate insects over the holidays, you would probably think that was disgusting. But why do we dislike it so much, when we've never even tasted it?

The population is growing. Right now, the world's population is about 5 billion. In 2050, it will increase by 4 billion. How are we going to feed the whole world? Agricultural productions need to increase by 70%, and that is almost impossible to accomplish. Meat isn't enough. INSECTS are the answer to this problem. Worldwide, we have more than 1,000 insect species. Bugs are the only thing we have left. 

Already, 80% of the whole world eat insects. Experts say 1 kg of grasshoppers have the same amount of calories as 10 HOTDOGS. Secondly, insects won't become scarce, unlike meat. Also, the meat we eat, contains DISEASES while insects have NO bad effect on human health. They're much more HEALTHY and NUTRITIOUS than chicken, beef or pork. In a year, an average human being eats already about 500 grams of insects, not knowing what's in our food. How hard can it be, eating an extra 1kg or 2? 

Our main problem, is that we find insects not so visually appealing. But maybe, if we fried, grilled, baked or put those bugs in sugar and icing, it'll taste A LOT better than it looks.

Who knows, someday when you're walking around a park and you feel hungry, you might just have to pick up a grasshopper and pop it in your mouth without needing to spend ANY money!

The Outsiders-Movie vs. Book

The Rumble Scene

I think that the rumble scene was much better portrayed in the movie than the book. The director showed a clearer scene of how the rumble went than the author. In the movie, the scene showed a better understanding of what was happening during the rumble, but the author wrote it focusing only on what Ponyboy was doing, and so that made the scene harder for me to visualize when I was reading that chapter. In the book, the author only wrote about two paragraphs about the rumble, and it happened too fast. While in the movie, it was longer, and much clearer than how the author wrote it.

Darry and Pony's Hospital Scene

I think that Darry and Pony's hospital scene was much better portrayed in the book than the movie. Darry and Pony's scene at the hospital was supposed to be a long and emotional scene of both of them finally bonding. But in the movie, the director made it too simple, and it was like nothing changed between them that moment. In the book, it said, "Darry had only stood there, his fists in his pockets and that look on his face, the same helpless, pleading look that he was wearing now.)Darry looked down and turned away silently. Suddenly I broke out of my daze."Darry!" I screamed, and the next thing I knew I had him around the waist and was squeezing the daylights out of him."Darry," I said, "I'm sorry..."" The book took it much slower, and it showed more emotion and meaning to that scene. I thought that the director made that scene go too fast, and it was a great disappointment to see that one of the main relationship changes happen too quickly without barely any emotion, when it was supposed to be one of the main turning points in the book.

DCA

1. Respect and Protect Yourself
2. Respect and Protect Others
3. Respect and Protect Intellectual Property
4. Respect and Protect Property
5. Why is DCA important? Why do schools have these agreements?

The DCA is important because it helps to prevent cyber-bullying. It also helps to stop the illegal spread of copyrighted material.

Schools have these agreements because they want to provide good and safe learning environments for all the students at their school.

Creating Class Labels