Dance Teams

       I am planning to do my 20% project on various dance teams, such as high school dance teams, college dance teams, and professional dance teams.  I would like to learn about this because I am a dancer and I have been one since I was about 4 years old.  I would also like to know this because I want to go to a college with a dance team, and I would like to pursue a dance career.  However, I want to go to a high school with a dance team, too.  Additionally, I would like the dance team to be pretty competitive and successful.  

Materials needed:

Laptop/ Net-book

       There are a few anticipated obstacles that I could face.  One of them is my laptop could crash and I wouldn't have a source of information.  Another is if I can't use the laptop, I won't be able to do that much research.

       Someone I can consult about this project is my dance coach, Jenn.  She knows a lot about various dance teams.  I can also ask a teacher that my mom works with, Mrs. Taft, because she used to be on a dance team and she knows a lot about them.  

The New Year is Finally Here

           2012 was a very crazy, but amazing year.  Now that it is the new year, 2013, I want to take a look back at how I have changed, the world has changed, and how the people around me have changed my life.  First of all, I have become a better person.  I have learned how different things can impact my life and how different people can impact my life.  Many things have impacted me and changed how I look at life and how quickly things can change.

          In 2012, the world changed a lot.  The United States reelected Barack Obama as president.  A girl in Benghazi, Malala Yusofzai fought for her education and was a target for many people.  She believes that education for women is just as important as education for men, and she is 100% correct.  The world has changed a lot in the past year, some things for the better, some things for the worse.  I believe that 2013 will be just as exciting as 2012, and I hope there is less conflict.

           I have also learned a lot about life.  We should never take life for granted, because it can be taken away from you any second.  Many people were hurt by the bus crash that occurred this year at Chesterfield Elementary School.  It brought sadness to the entire town and surrounding towns, because many people were close to the people who lost their lives and were injured.  Also, in the beginning of the year, my friends and I were going through a rough time.  During that time period, I learned who my true friends are.  We eventually made up, but some those few months were some of the worst months of my life.  I now look at life as a privilege, and not something that you automatically get.

           Since it is the new year, many people make New Years Resolutions.   Some people, although are anti-resolution.  I like to make resolutions so that I have something to live up to.  Here is a list of some of my resolutions:

1. Get all A's all year long.
2. Be more optimistic.
3. Live life to the fullest.

Effects of Media

          Recently in class we learned about how the media affects teenage culture.  Our question was "Does the media affect teenage culture or does teenage culture affect the media?"  It's a question that really no one can answer, like the chicken and the egg, which one did come first?  Personally, I think its a little bit of both. The media definitely has an affect on teenage culture, and I think that teenage culture does somewhat have an effect on the media.  The media tries to intrigue teenagers and tries to get them to do certain things such as lose weight.  That effects the media and teenage culture at the same time.  

          The effect media has on a teenagers' body image is immeasurable, says teens.lovetoknow.com.      Many ads say that you need to be skinny to be pretty, which isn't true.  Many teenage girls want that model figure because they think that girls like that live a perfect life.  The girls do anything to become like them, and they end up hurting themselves in the process.  They go on crazy diets that make them sick, they exercise too much and they hurt themselves in the process.

              Teenage girls aren't the only people affected, however.  Teenage boys are also greatly affected.  They see advertisements for acne-free skin and automatically their instinct is to want that.  They also see ads with guys with toned muscles and they want the, so they go on crazy diets and if they want them that bad, they take steroids and that can get them in a lot of trouble if they want to participate in sports.

           Also, many ads for certain games and other things are violent.  This promotes violent behavior in adolescents.  Many people get very into these video games and they get aggravated when something doesn't go exactly how they wanted it to go.  This transfers into real life and they get even more angry at people and themselves.  Clearly violent ads have a negative effect on teenagers.

           So many teenagers change themselves every year because of the media.  If we didn't pay so much attention to what the media says, we would be an entirely different person, most likely.  I believe that we should pay some attention to the media, but our life shouldn't revolve around it.

Learning Styles

           We recently took test to find out what learning style we were.  The tests we took were called the Anthony Gregorc Learning Styles Test and Gardner Multiple Intelligences Test.  On the Gregorc Test it says I am a concrete sequential learner.  What that means is I am ordered, structured, organized, detailed, and I like to be exact.  According to the Gardner test I am bodily kinesthetic and logical mathematical learner. Bodily Kinesthetic learning means that I learn through somatic sensations, in simpler words, I learn through movements.  I think this one fits me since it says I love dancing, running, and other bodily movements, which from you learned from my first blog, I am a dancer.  Logical mathematical means that I think by reasoning.  It states that I love experimenting, questioning, figuring out puzzles, etc.  The test also says that I need things to explore and think about, science materials and manipulatives, and trips to the science museum and planetarium.  I disagree with this because I have never been to a planetarium and/or science museum in my life. 

           From the Gregorc test results I have learned that if I make checklists, summarize things, and do hands-on experiments, I can better my education.  I already do these things when I have an upcoming test or I just need to do this to make things a little easier for me.  From the Gardner test I have learned that if I make flashcards and move around while someone is quizzing me on them, I might learn the vocabulary words better.  Also if I experiment with things instead of just sitting there wondering about them, I will learn more facts about various objects. 

           One person whom I admire is my mom.  I think she is a Linguistic learner because she always has a new book she's reading.  Also, she is a language arts teacher at C.B. Lamb Elementary School in North Hanover.  Another person I admire is Lea Michele.  She is a singer so I think that she would probably be bodily-kinesthetic, because that involves singing.  The last person I admire is my brother. I believe he would be bodily-kinesthetic too because he played soccer about his whole life and baseball and all-star baseball until the end of sixth grade. 

           These test for the most part were correct, but because this was only a sample of the real ones, the result weren't as accurate as they could've been.  I believe these tests were a good way to discover more about ourselves.

I commented on Jenna and Zach's blogs.

All About Me

                   For those of you who don't know me, I'm Maddie.  I am in seventh grade and I am 12 years old.  I am a dancer on the New Egypt Warriors competitive dance team.  The league that I dance in is Pop Warner Football, Dance and Cheer.  On that team we have taken 1st place three times at Eastern Regionals, 1st place twice at Nationals in Disney World, Florida at the Wide World of Sports, and 2nd place once at Nationals. I have been dancing for 8 years and I have been on competition level now for 4 years.  Dancing is something I love and I wouldn't give it up for the world.



Cupcakes that I made

                     Some of my favorite things to learn about are different techniques on decorating different types of pastries, (such as cakes, cupcakes, cookies, etc.).  Another thing is I do a lot of gymnastics in dance so I like to learn how to do different types of gymnastics moves.  Lastly, I love to write so learning different types of writing is another.

                      A few of my hobbies include dancing (obviously), gymnastics, reading, and hanging out with my friends.   Some of the gymnastics skills that I am working on now are back walkover, side aerial, and front handspring.  A few of my favorite books are The Hunger Games Trilogy, Prom and Prejudice, From Willa With Love, and the Your's Truly, Lucy B. Parker series. 

                   My family consists of my mom, Yvette, my dad, Russell, my brother, Brandon, and of course me, Maddie.  I also have a Bichon Shi Tzu named Cloe.  My Nana and Dzia Dzia (grandparents on my mom's side) and my Grandpop (on my dad's side) are always very supportive in everything I do.  I am very lucky to have them. 

One Direction's new album cover

                    One of the things I want to be when I grow up is a dance teacher/choreographer.  I want to do this because I love dance and about everything related.  I have also considered  being a teacher or pastry chef.  I think I get this from my Aunt Jeanne and cousin, Kristen because my aunt loves to bake and my cousin went to college to be a pastry chef.  Sometimes she comes over and we just bake together.

                 One thing that makes me happy is listening to One Direction!!! Their new song Live While Were Young, LWWY, just came out Thursday, September 20.  They are my favorite band.  Another thing that makes me happy is being around my friends.  They are always there for me, and will pick me up if I'm sad.

              Okay, so that was a little bit about me.  Keep reading this blog if you liked it!