“And I can’t help but notice, you reflect in this heart of mine
If you ever feel alone and the glare makes me hard to find
Just know that I’m always parallel on the other side.”

-Mirrors, Justin Timberlake

TOO IN-TOUCH WITH TECHNOLOGY?!

I’m pretty sure over 90% of grade nine students at Eric Hamber have smart phones or their own laptop/computer. Now, it’s great to be able to have access to the internet in a matter of seconds and be able to finish your homework by googling the questions but there are definitely cons in this too.

I still remember when everyone would sit around the dinner table without electronics simply eating and talking to each other.  Nowadays, all you see are people hunched over their cellphones and ipods scrolling through Facebook or answering questions on ask.fm.

When you think about it, is it actually necessary to be scrolling through facebook while eating dinner? Do you have to instagram every meal you eat? Even though I’m saying this, I too, will probably not be able to go a day without access to the internet.

So, the other day I was eating lunch with my friends when they started talking about this “thing” they all do during lunch. Everyone would place their cellphones on the floor for the whole lunch period and they won’t be able to touch it or turn it on. The first person to turn on their phone before lunch ends, will get smacked by everyone participating. This may seem sort of violent but it’s actually a great way to help us stop using our phone when it’s unnecessary.

Even though it’s difficult to go without the internet or your phone for a period of time, you will get used to it and it’s easier done than said! Image

PROGRESS REPORTS AKA REPORT CARDS

After struggling for months on end, pulling all-nighters trying to finish that one project, or even skipping meals in order to finish our work-all our hard work has finally been brought to a conclusion. Why do students work hard anyway? Students work hard for solely this one thing-our progress reports.

Now, as many of us dread the day where we’ll have to drag along our backpacks with our hideous grades trying to look for our dignity, there are a few of us that are quite excited. I can’t blame them, they’ve worked so hard for this moment, I’d be proud myself. 

Sometimes I wonder, what do students think about report cards? Other than “Gosh, I should’ve tried harder.” Is there anything else they think? So I went around my internet technology class and asked a few students on their ideas of report cards. “Umm.. It’s nerve racking and you get nervous and I don’t like how we get our report cards this late.” -Chae-Young Yu (9) “I don’t understand why we get our report cards after term three starts, I dont like it.” -Sophia Cho (9) “I believe that report cards are a source of great stress but also great satisfaction.” -The Great Subini (aka Subi Rixat) (10) 

Another thing is, some teachers want your mark to be more of a surprise and this may add to your nervousness. Sometimes, I would like to be able to find out my mark in advance just so I’d have a few days to prepare to break the news to my parents, but at other times, I guess a little pressure is a good thing. 

In the end, it is a good thing that we get to know how we’re doing and this motivates us to do better. In my opinion, if progress reports weren’t issued, I probably wouldn’t bother to try. No matter what, there’s still next term, so if you don’t do as well as you hoped this term, try harder next term! It’ll definitely pay off. 

To all students reading this, good luck.