Portfolio
Hello, my name is Simone. I chose this avatar app because the clothing options on the app were a representation for my love for fashion. Also, it reminds me when I was younger and I would dress up my Barbie doll from head to toe. Though, my silk back ponytail doesn’t resemble my braids as much. I feel it still shows a deeper meaning of confidence and how I show it through my appearance. My rich chocolate skin represents my African descent, which I get from my dad and mom. Making it feel like an equal amount of love from each parent. During, the process of making my avatar I was having the feeling that I had to be perfect. But , I know that later in life I will start to appreciate the work I have done on my avatar.
The title I have above is for my children’s book, which is called “The Family Reunion.” After editing and editing on another book, I realized that this book was more relatable to my life.
I chose to do a sequel in my book because I have a crazy family, but know I will always love them. This was a book that might have had the same morals as movies, tv shows and other books, but I think sometimes being original isn’t a bad thing. That is why, I chose to keep the author’s traits of the characters the same, but changed the season and side of the family going on a trip.
The first thing I did to make my “masterpiece” is the plot. At that time I was writing down the important events in my book. Then I sprinkled on an interesting holiday that most people love. Finally I looked at my finished rough draft and thought I went overboard. But, soon I was making my visuals for my book and recognized that there was extra thoughts that I said goodbye to. Leaving me with a book I could be proud of.
My book’s sequel follows the other side of the family. With having their love for family being shown throughout the book. I like to think of my book as similar to the original story, but a little bit better. In the book, my family has a hardship that they come across, on their trip. And soon the other side of the family comes to rescue them. So, in conclusion they learn that family will always be there for you no matter what!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WZ8wJO2Zm1DR413sluw3EMUcICJgXv5SWtr9eGjLe0Y/edit
The link above is my article called “Fight For The Rights of RBMS Students.” After our class came up with ideas on school related topics, we all chose one, which now I can call a finished article made by a future journalist.
I chose to write about rbms students rights because I have heard many complaints when walking through the halls over the rules, which led me to think, Can I find a way to make these rules unbiased at school? Though, the rules at school aren’t as strict as they used to be, there are still new ones that don’t sit well with many of my peers.
My process for creating my article began with interviewing students and teachers. I did have trouble though in beginning the writing portion of my article. So, instead I started with structuring my inverted pyramid and wrote down notes on what information will be most important to add in my article. With misspelled and incomplete sentences in the process of doing so. I did this because I wanted to get all my thoughts down, so I don’t have a million ideas in my mind at once. I was also planning on doing many direct quotes from people I had interviewed, but quickly realized indirect quotes gave a better understanding of what the interviewee was telling the audience.
In my article, I focus on making sure students understand how the rules are in enforced at school, but also give them different options on how we could take action without it becoming a big conflict at school. However, my article is mainly on students I still focus on getting teachers perspectives on if students follow the rules well and how they feel about these rules being used in classrooms. In conclusion, I believe you can learn to use your voice and words, through reading my article.
Light Lavender summons friendship, affection, and freedom all in one. To me though it represents peace, love, and connection with oneself. Almost, like I’m in a meadow of lavender plants and the whole world is mine. I have had many colors over the years that I thought I liked, but I never abandoned my love for the color purple. Some people believe royalty is the only meaning for the color purple. But, they are missing the other side of the story, because over the years I have learned that only purple has given me the courage to find myself in this complicated world.
The links above are my script and presentation slides for my Tedx Talk called “How to build a positive mindset?” After browsing through TED Talk videos I found one that really spoke to me. It was called “How to find humor in life’s absurdity”. This video made me think of life and how you can shift your life with a change in thought. This made me think of the brain and how it helps you to make decisions throughout your life. So, why not train it to be a healthy, growing brain.
I chose to write about a positive mindset because in my past life before having a therapist I would feel restless by all my negative thoughts. Which made me believe I needed to change myself to feel better about myself. But really it started to get out of control with me severely hurting myself and the people around me. This comes with me believing I could fix my mindset on my own. Soon someone realized what I was doing to myself was not okay and they pushed me to get help from a professional. This made me feel relieved that I was going to be okay and have a bright future ahead of me.
My process started with me using the planning sheet provided by my Communication’s teachers. This helped me to start my structure of presentation to have a better understanding of how I was going to captivate my audience. While organizing and planning came naturally to me. I found myself struggling to make my script. This comes from poor motivation to even want to do this assignment. Since, I personally didn’t like the idea of speaking in front of people about something so personal about me. But, I realized that it was my negative thoughts speaking in my head trying to make me feel I am not good enough and I don’t get this. So, I started to breathe in and out and say, I’ve got this. Which, overtime helped me get to my final product. Also, I tried a method of where I work on my script each day until I had a well written script to present to my audience. This helped me to get new ideas and perspectives the next day, since I had a chance to rest on my work I had done that day. Furthermore, it helps me to give my brain a break and make the work seem easier, since I broke it down in chunks.
In my TEDx Talk, I focus on making sure people understand the causes of a negative mindset and how it can affect your future and mental health. This is why I try to encourage my teachers and peers to try and change their mindset for a better you in your life. In conclusion, I think you could learn how to start small habits to help reach the big goals in life with a change of mindset.
In this unit we created poems that were more advanced than our poems that we wrote in 6th grade. Among making more developed poems that adults could read, I learned the difference between consonance and assonance in a poem. Consonance: being the repetition of numerous constant sounds in the middle of or at the end of a word and assonance: being the repetition of vowel sounds inside connecting words to help set the mood or induce a meaning to your poem. One skill I had used during the production of writing my poems was imagery. Besides, me making another set of beautiful poems I would like to leave you off with a little tip, if you ever want to pour something out into a poem one day, be confident in what your writing and make sure it is something you yourself can be proud of when you look upon what you have done in your past life.
My Pixar Storyboard / My Storyboard planout
The links above are my storyboard planout and my Pixar storyboard. In this unit we created a storyboard that we could send to the Pixar company. At the start of this project I was worried I wouldn’t be able to write a story to help intrigue my audience. But, with the help of videos from the Pixar members I was able to make a story that captures my audience and teaches them a thoughtful lesson. Also, on top of that I felt that all my ideas were going to get jumbled up in my head. However, when we started brain storming ideas for our storyboard we split our notebooks into two sections. The first section was for creating the story and the second section was for developing the characters. This helped me to stay organized and not feel overwhelmed. Besides, organizing my thoughts and getting advice from professionals I learned that the most important part of creating a story was the connection it has with your life. Furthermore, how it makes the story more meaningful with a strong bond attached to it .
Hi
1-I am the biggest chatterbox out of my family. I like to think of my family as my heart. If one piece is broken off then it’s not full of care. My parents are the 2 big hills on the top of my heart. My dad makes me cringe and laugh from awful dad jokes. My mother, on the other hand, is my role model and my shooting star. She is very independent and helps to show me that I can lead my own life. The sides of my heart are my siblings. My brother’s room you could call a landfill, because of the stacks of toys and piles of clothes. He is suprisingling the nice twin. While my sister is the storm of our house anywhere she is. You feel like you’ve just walked into a horror film. As you can tell she is the monster of the two. Finally, the point at the bottom of my heart is my cat, Boo. He always acts very shy towards strangers. But, will pounce on his prey as if they don’t stand a chance.
2-I used to be that student that would roll their eyes everytime the teacher said “It’s time to read your books”. But, when we did a book club in 6th grade I started to pick up books at the library smiling. One of my secrets for fun reading is when it’s raining and you’re curled up in something warm and imagining your life ahead is going to be fine.
3-I like to incorporate alone time for at least 30 minutes or more each day. Since, I stay focused more and put myself first.Usually, to do this I do the following: I would put away things in my kitchen, go into nature, or pick up my bike and feel the breeze. And if It’s a sunny day, I will go swimming.
4- When my mom says “We’re going on a trip”, I am the first one to pack my bags. Though as a young child, I did not really care for traveling. Soon, I found the beauty in it. But, I think the one trip I will never forget would be France. I liked the Eiffel tower lights sparkling at night and the kind people on the streets with funny accents. I would love to come back every year if I could. And that is why when college comes around the corner I will be looking for studying abroad or even better going to a school there!
5-I was born in South Carolina, which is where my love for beaches and watermelon came from. I lived here for most of my baby months. Before moving to Virginia to start my school years.
6-My all time favorite Movie would have to be Wonder. Spoiler Alert- I cried. For, it’s shown in bullying, being harmful to others and empathy being there to comfort them. I never fell in love with the book though. In my opinion , the movie is better!
7-My favorite sweet treat would have to be a chocolate lava cake. I love the melted chocolate in the middle and the moist, fluffy and warm cake around it. It reminds me of the Great Wall of China. Even though I love the taste, I have not found a place that keeps me coming back.
8-An ongoing fear I have in my life is being pounced on by others. One thing though, I have been trying to start a tradition for myself, to get back at all those people on April 1st.
9-I have loved music and dancing ever since I was 5. I would just get out my Alexa and freely dance with my sister by my side. I have always dreamed that either my sister or I would make it big. sadly , my sister and I went our separate ways. So, even though I lost my partner in crime. I still, to this day, love to move my body and scream at the top of my lungs to rejuvenate myself.
10-My favorite color in the world is purple, lavender. The color is light and settling. The vibrant color brings me comfort. This color reminds me of a meadow of lavender flowers blowing gently through the wind, as the petals stick to the stem with each one having its own hint of purple.