PW Jeff's Blog

http://www.ric.edu/faculty/rpotter/smithpeck.html

Annie Smith Peck was a mountain climber in the 1800′s. She was the first person, male or female, to climb Mount Huascaran, a Peruvian mountain that is over 22,000 feet high. The 1800′s were a time of women’s rights and slave’s rights. Annie Smith Peck had to compete with several men, but on her sixth try, she climbed to the top of the mountain.  At the time, mountain climbing wasn’t as easy as it was now. Equipment was very expensive. She wasn’t exactly rich and had to make her own climbing shoes! This was only one of her many climbs. Her last climb was Mountain Madison (over 5000 feet) in New Hampshire when she was EIGHTY-TWO years-old. I have no clue how she could do that, all I know is that when I’m eighty-two, I’ll be sleeping in my house. Round of applause for this extraordinary 1800′s woman!

One leader is Martin Luther King. He was:

1. Smart

2. Passionate

3. Persuasive

Martin Luther King was a very smart man. He went to college at a very young age and skipped grades. This helped him be a leader because it showed people that they weren’t following someone who didn’t know what they were talking about.

Martin Luther King was also very passionate about segregation. This drove him on to chase his goal of ending segregation.

He was also very persuasive. Martin Luther King made people follow him and agree with his ideas. Without his persuasion, not as many people would have followed him. Segregation might’ve still existed today without his persuasive powers.

A quote: Do great leaders make history, or does history make great leaders?

I believe great leaders make history. In history, great leaders make decisions. This can be to war another country, explore new lands, etc. Something has to massively happen with a lot of people effected. You need a leader to make history because leaders influence a great amount of people.

After presenting our own significant objects, our class made up significant objects based on the Social Studies unit we were studying. My group did the the construction of Washington D.C.  Our object was a watch that one builder gave another builder. We had to make up a story about the object to go along with it. The hardest part was finding pieces of history and connecting them. For example, in one article, I found Benjamin Banneker( a astronomer/mathematician) was a clockmaker. In another, I learned L’Enfant died with three watches. Our story includes both of these things. I learned a lot about the history of our nation’s capital doing this project. Did you know the capital used to be the home of disease and mosquitoes? No one even wanted to live in it. Anyways, if you want to see our story, you can read about it here. You can even bid on it if you want it. All the money goes to a charity in Africa called Clinique Monique. Adios!

The watch

Leaders are very important to the world. If there were no leaders and we were all followers, who would lead us? Nothing would get accomplished.

Leaders should be intelligent and know how to deal with people. If they’re smart, they’ll know what to do. If they know how to deal with people, people will want to follow you. For example, take any President. They always come from great colleges, so they’re intelligent. Also, they have to be able to be liked for votes.

I believe leaders are made. When you’re growing up, you can either slack off or work hard. This will determine your intelligence. When you go to school, you can either be a leader of a follower. It’s not something that you’re born with. It’s something you develop.

Last year, I worked on a Social Studies project with some friends on my team. We were assigned roles. I was leader, one person was artist, another person was writer, and there were two helpers. My job was to make sure everyone worked efficiently and to put together the project. I was the leader.

Once, during a summer program,  we played a cooperative game. Five teams had to race and put a puzzle together the quickest. There was someone on my team who was really good at puzzles, so we voted him as our leader. I was a follower.

Not everyone can be a leader. If someone has a bad temper, no one would want to work with them. If someone didn’t know what they were doing, no one would listen to them.  Leaders have to be made.

I don’t think of myself as a great leader. A lot of the time, I get too nervous and rush things, and get things wrong. I’m not a terrible leader, but I could be better. My strongest ability as a leader is probably my knowledge. I get pretty good grades at school, so I tend to know some things other people don’t.

My overcompetitiveness is standing in the way of being a  leader. Sometimes, I can get mad at people if they do things wrong. If I could overcome that part of my personality, I would be a better leader.

Do you consider yourself a leader?

(Edited with BeFunky)

When I was in 3rd grade, I was in ESL, a class for people that supposedly spoke English as a second language. At the time, I had a higher vocabulary than most of my classmates, had no accent, and had already learned English from preschool, although it was my second language after Chinese (I had forgotten all of my Chinese anyways). My good friend Alvee was in ESL too. Anyways, in 3rd grade, we went on a field trip for ESL.

Our ESL class went on a field trip to a swamp habitat place in Milford. We studied wildlife there and had a lot of fun. Anyways, there was a gift shop there. In it, I found something really cool. There was a pencil made of wood. Well, all pencils are obviously made of wood, but this pencil was lead jammed into a twig/small tree trunk. It was only a dollar, so I decided to buy it. I put it in the pocket of my jacket. Afterwards, we went to one of our ESL sister schools. We were going to each lunch there, then head back to school.

When we got to the school, I had to use the bathroom. All my friends got their lunches from a big box that had all the brown paper bags in it. I came out of the bathroom and there was just one bag left. I took it, thinking it was mine. I hurried outside so I could join all my friends while eating. As soon as I opened my lunchbag, I noticed I had Kool-Aid. I thought my mom bought CapriSun, not Kool-Aid, so I had some doubt. Then, I saw the sandwich. It looked just like the one I had packed. I unzipped the sandwich from the bag and took a bite.

I’m allergic to peanuts. I have been since I was 5. Whenever I eat them, I throw up. Every time I ate them during my childhood, my allergic reactions would get worse and worse. Eventually, I would throw up and my lips would swell and my breathing would get harder. I’m still allergic to peanuts today although I’m much more cautious and haven’t eaten them for a while. Needless to say, the lunch bag wasn’t mine and I took a bite of a peanut butter and jelly fluff sandwich.

My teacher immediately called 911. The ambulance came within 10 minutes. After I threw up, I felt fine and the only thing that troubled me was my breathing. It felt like I couldn’t get enough air at times. I was very scared. When the ambulance came, paramedics immediately got out and put me in a stretcher. I told them I could walk, but they made me lie down in it anyways. During the ride to the hospital, I noticed I still had my souvenir pencil in my pocket. It was comforting because it gave me something to concentrate on while the paramedic stabbed a huge needle into my arm. If I didn’t, I would be a lot more fearful. Finally, we arrived at the hospital.

At the hospital, things were a blur. I was fine after the paramedic gave me a shot, so I basically stayed in the hospital while my ESL teacher ran into the hospital, panicked. In 10 minutes, I was out of the hospital and the bus was waiting for me outside. My tuna fish sandwich that I originally was supposed to eat was offered to me by the person that accidentally took it. When tuna gets warm, it isn’t very appetizing. Besides, I was still traumatized by the incident. We went back to my school, answering questions the whole way.

The pencil is still in my room today. I haven’t even written more than a few words with it and have never sharpened it. Occasionally, I peek into my drawer to look at it and admire it’s craft. I wonder how the lead was somehow put into the pencil. More than anything, I think about what happened to me in 3rd grade. I think about the fear, the comfort of its texture in my hand, and the memories it brings. If I were to lose my pencil, I could easily replace it but it wouldn’t be the same. The pencil has a lot of sentimental value and you can’t buy that. When I grow up, I might pass it down to my children if it doesn’t decay. I’ll share the story it contains and I hope it becomes a family heirloom. This pencil is one of the most valuable objects I own.