Onion Cells

Problem

What will happen to an onion cell in a high salt environment compared to an onion cell in regular tap water?

Hypothesis

I think the onion cell will shrink when exposed to a higher salt environment compared to a controlled environment. This is because cells are 95% water and a little bit salt, while salt water is only a little bit water and mostly salt. Therefore, I think water will move out of the cell to gain a higher concentration of water on the outside in a process called osmosis.

Experimental Design

Materials

• Onion
• Microscope
• Razor
• Slide and cover slip
• Dye
• Eye dropper
• Tweezers
• Salt

Variables
Constant Variables

• Same onion and the same layer
• Amount of dye
• The room temperature
• The microscope

Independent Variable

• The amount of salt in the environment

Dependent Variable

• What happens to the onion cells

Procedure
To get to the center of the onion where the moist onion cells were, the first few layers of the onion was pealed. A razor and tweezers were used to peal a thin layer of skin from the onion. After that, the onion skin was placed on a slide and the eye dropper was used to apply one drop of water on the slide followed by a cover slip. The slide was examined to see the onion cells. Dye was then added to the slide. By looking through the microscope at the second lowest intensity, the nucleus was found and the cell bounders were found. Then the onion cell in a high salt environment slide was prepared by first adding one tablespoon of salt to a glass water to make a salt water mixture. A new piece of skin was pealed from the onion and mounted on a slide with the salt water mixture and dye. It was examine with the microscope at all the intensities. To record the image, a picture was drawn to match the what was seen through the microscope for both the cells.

Observation

The experiment went as smoothly as planed. I successfully created two slides -- one of the onion skin in tap water and one of the onion skin in salt water. I examined both of them through the microscope. I was new to using a microscope, and I had only used it a few times prior to this project. Before actually examining the slides I had learn how to use the microscope properly. It was pretty simple once I learned how to do it. In order to look at the slides properly, I had to place one slide on the stage and clip it in. I started off with the onion skin in tap water, and examined it through the first intensity. Once it was focused with the fine focus, I could only see a faint outline of the onion cells, so I moved onto the next intensity. Through that lens I could see the nucleolus and each individual cell. To demonstrate what I saw, I drew the diagram above. Following that, I looked at the onion skin in salt water through the second intensity as I did with the other one. Just by adding salt water the onion skin had changed very much. I could see all the little organelles clumping around each nucleolus and all the cell's vacuoles were now visible. To match what I saw, I drew another picture and labeled the differences between the two pictures. Just so there was a clear picture of what I actually saw through the microscope when looking at the onion cell in tap water, I include a photographed image of it.

Though I didn't have any trouble creating the slides and examining them, the precise method of creating a slide could be affected by so many external factors it was very difficult to get them just perfect. First, I had to make sure that slide and cover sheet I was using had no dust of other residue on them because that could potentially blur what I saw through the microscope. Next, I had to be very precise when pealing the onion skin and adding the same amount of dye to each slide. At the same time, I was making sure I didn't get any finger prints on the slide. I pealed the onion skin from the same layer and used tweezers to do it each time so my fingers never came in contact with the slide or the onion. Overall, I eliminated all the external variables that I could. Though when looking through the microscope, I saw some air bubbles that blocked me from seeing some of the onion cells, it didn't affect the rest of the cells.

Conclusion

Though my hypothesis wasn't quite right, in theory I had the right concepts. You see, it really wasn't the onion cell that shrunk, but the vacuole in the onion cell. When I looked through the microscope at the original onion skin, before I added the salt water, I couldn't see the vacuoles at all because they were lined up with the cell walls. Once the salt water was added, I could actually see the vacuoles pulling all the organelles to the center as they were shrinking in. This process is called osmosis and it happens because the concentration of water in salt water is lower than the concentration of water in the onion cell. Therefore to make up for the low amount of concentration on the outside of the onion cell, the water molecules in the vacuole moved through the membrane to the outside of the onion. This causes the vacuole to shrink. Therefore the organelles were all grouped in the center because they got pulled in as the vacuole got closer to the center. For most polar molecules, such as sugar and protein, this process doesn't work. Even though water molecules are polar, they are tiny enough to slip through the membrane. Therefore, the onion cells didn't shrink, but the vacuoles in the onion cells did.

Bibliography

"Animation: How Osmosis Works." Your Page Title. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. <http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072495855/student_view0/chapter2/animation__how_osmosis_works.html

"Osmosis." arbl.cvmbs.colostate.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/cmb/cells/pmemb/osmosis.html>.

"Osmosis." Molecular Physiology & Biophysics / University of Vermont. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. <http://physioweb.uvm.edu/bodyfluids/osmosis.htm>.

Queen Elizabeth I

Author's Note: Ever since the royal wedding, I’m been very interested in the royal family. I decided to do a project on Queen Elizabeth I because I knew so little about her at the time, but I had heard her name so many times that I knew she was a prominent figure in history. When I first started this project I was not quite sure where to take it and I was a little overwhelmed with all the information I found on her. After, many weeks of researching I drew some conclusions and I summoned up her life into this essay. I included a few semantic and syntactic devices, including the antithetical pattern, a simile, and many other ones. This is only part of my Queen Elizabeth project, to the view the rest of my project you can go to http://academy21projects.wikispaces.com/Queen+Elizabeth

Queen Elizabeth I was a magnificent leader, and to this day she is still praised for her accomplishments as Queen of England. She was determined, but not stubborn. She listened to other’s advice, and would change her ways if it was thought unpopular among the people. Despite her horrible childhood, she lead England in a way no other ruler had before. In a time where women were thought of as insignificant, Elizabeth managed to lead England singlehandedly in a very successful way. Today, we are still amazed at the ripple affect she had on all of history.

From the moment Elizabeth Tudor was born, her life was troubled. King Henry VIII had gone out of his way to marry Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother, hoping she would bear him a son as his previous wife never did. On September 7th, 1533, Elizabeth was born, and the King was greatly disappointed with his new found wife for not giving him the son he desired. When Elizabeth was merely three years old, the King gave orders to have Anne beheaded because she fell short of Henry’s standards -- bearing him a son. It's horrible to think that the only thing King Henry VIII wanted with his wife was a son to succeed his throne. He didn't care about treating her right, he didn't care about giving her the love she deserved, and he didn't even care about murdering her. Back in the 1500's, women did not have the same rights as they do today. They were used as tools and they were not respected. Elizabeth managed to stay free from marriage, to avoid all of this.

The next eight years of Elizabeth's life was filled with stepmothers coming and going. First, there was Jane Seymour, whom gave birth to the King's longed for son, Edward. She then died shortly after giving birth. The next two were Anne of Cleves, whom Henry divorced, and Catherine Howard, whom Henry beheaded. Elizabeth's last stepmother was Katherine Parr, she was said to have the biggest impact on Elizabeth out of all of her stepmothers. When King Henry VIII died, Katherine became the Dowager Queen, or widowed queen. Katherine arranged to have the finest tutors in all of England for Elizabeth and her brother, Edward. Some say Elizabeth was as well educated as any prince. Her tutors consisted of only the best, including William Grindal and Roger Ascham."Her mind has no womanly weakness," Ascham wrote, "her perseverance is equal to that of a man." He also wrote, "She readeth more Greek every day, than some Prebendaries of this Church do in a whole week."(Queen Elizabeth I: Biography) Elizabeth's love for learning never faltered, especially in an age where men were considered inferior to women. Elizabeth proved that wrong, and her legacy for this still stands to this day. As a child, it was clear that Elizabeth was clearly gifted; she had a special talent for language, and by the time she was an adult she could speak five differently languages fluently. Elizabeth's education may have been one of the reasons why she was such a great leader.

Elizabeth's teen years were as much of a struggle as her childhood. While King Henry was alive, Elizabeth was save from the political world. When he died in January 1547, Elizabeth became vulnerable to those who saw her as a political pawn. In addition, his son, Edward, became King of England, and because he was only nine, his uncle, Edward Seymour, was declared Lord Protector of England. Even though it was completely illegitimate, Henry made sure his daughters were still in line for the thrown. Mary, Elizabeth's half-sister, was to follow Edward, and Elizabeth was to be after her.

In Tudor times, a girl was eligible to marry at age twelve, and since Elizabeth was now in line for the throne, she was a most desired bride. Thomas Seymour, a brother of Edward Seymour and the late queen, Jane Seymour, made no effort to hide his affection for Elizabeth. He asked for Elizabeth's hand in marriage multiple times, but every time she refused. Thomas was very jealous of his older brother's position as Lord Protector of England, and fought for it, as well as Elizabeth's hand in marriage. While scheming to kidnap the boy king, Thomas was caught and sentenced to death. Upon his death Elizabeth was known to have said, "This day died a man of much wit, and very little judgment."(Queen Elizabeth I: Biography) Though Elizabeth had shunned Thomas, she was convicted of being part of the plot, and at age fifteen she successfully persuaded her interrogators that she knew nothing of the plot.

In the summer of 1533, King Edward VI died prematurely from bad health. Though nobody knew exactly how he died, it wasn't uncommon in that day to die of unknown diseases. Even in the royal family, people didn't have as much knowledge on health as we do today. This tragedy put Elizabeth's half-sister, Mary, on the throne.

Queen Mary I was not particularly popular because she was a Catholic. On the other hand, Elizabeth was a Protestant, and admired by many even though she wasn't Queen of England yet. Mary was jealous of Elizabeth, and she accused Elizabeth of conspiring against her. Even though Elizabeth claimed that she wasn’t, nobody knows if it was true that Elizabeth was planning to overthrow her half-sister. Mary still found her guilty, so she arrested her and sentenced her to the Tower of London as a prisoner. Many people surrounding Mary wanted Elizabeth to be executed, but there was no evidence against Elizabeth. She was held captive at the Tower for two months, until the Queen's husband, Phillip of Spain, let her go. He wanted to get on Elizabeth's good side because his wife was ill, and he wanted to ensure a peaceful relationship between Spain and England once she died. Yet again, we come back to the relationship between husbands and wives in the time period. Phillip of Spain only married Mary to have peace between their two countries, and he didn't even care that she was on her death bed. All he cared about was making sure he still had a place in the royal family.

Finally, Elizabeth succeeded the throne when Mary died on November 17, 1558. It was a monumental moment for the daughter who came into the world unwanted, who lost her mother at an early age, and who's seen her family slowly wither away. When her father died, she was cautious and sober, but now that she was Queen, she was determined to live life to the fullest. She was like a rare flower. Nobody saw her beauty when she was budding, so she was trampled and stepped on, but when she bloomed, nobody could keep their eye off of her and they all wanted a piece of her.

As Queen, Elizabeth loved all kinds of sports, especially horseback riding, and in her early years of reign she spent many days doing just that. Also, she enjoyed hunting, hawking, bear baiting, and watching the male courtiers joust or take part in other sporting contests. In addition to all that, Elizabeth was very into music, and played the lute and the virginals. Elizabeth opened many opportunities for play writers and other literary authors, in an age where theatres and playhouses were sparse.

Two months after the death of Mary I, Elizabeth was officially crowned Queen Elizabeth I. For every new king or queen, an immense ceremony takes place, called a coronation, celebrating the new ruler. As for Elizabeth, the total cost of her coronation was approximately 16,741 British pounds, which was thought to be about 3.5 million pounds today. Elizabeth new the importance of a good show, much like her ancestors. She needed to ensure the public that she had the right to the throne, despite they way her father had illegally added her into the line.

In the months that followed, Elizabeth established the long gone Protestant Church of England. To please the Catholics, or as some say, to disprove those who thought a women could not be head of a church, Elizabeth became Supreme Governor of the Church of England. That is a big step for any ruler, for Elizabeth's father had only been Supreme Head of the Church. Though it was never clear what Elizabeth's beliefs were, she was displayed as a Protestant. She liked candles, crosses, crucifixes, and church music, but she was more of a conservative Protestant. She didn't believe in persecuting people for their faith nor did she believe in being all out for one religion. Because of the split between the Catholic and Protestant churches, Elizabeth had to be harsher to Catholics than she wanted to because she was a claimed Protestant.

Immediately when Elizabeth took the throne, she was greeted by people looking for her hand in marriage. She never did marry, though. She often used she single status to benefit the country, such as using the bait of marriage to draw in enemies or to frighten them by suggesting she would marry one of their foes. Many people say her refusal to marriage was because her father treated his wives as tools, and she didn't want that to happen to her. Though nobody knows Elizabeth's true thoughts on marriage, twice she came close to marring. Her first suitor was Robert Dudley, who became Earl of Leicester in 1564. He and Elizabeth had been imprisoned in the Tower of London together and she had know him before that. He was a serious contender for the Queen, but political it would have been a disaster. He was married, and while he was in love with Elizabeth his wife was found mysteriously dead. This made him loathed by many people because that thought he had murder her so he could marry Elizabeth. The other contender was Francis, Duke of Alencon, heir to the French throne. Yet again, politically it would be incorrect. Elizabeth managed to avoid marriage her whole life, but this meant that she had to children of her own to succeed the throne and this made her very unsettled. Elizabeth tried to avoid talking about this, but the people were anxious about what will happen to their country when she dies.

The reign of Queen Elizabeth I was often referred to as the "Golden Age" of English history. There were two major things that happened during Elizabeth's time on the throne that made her politically praised. The first had to do with the Catholics, as did many issues in Elizabeth’s time. According to the them, Elizabeth had no right to the throne. They believed that Mary, Queen of Scots, was the rightful Queen of England. Plots were made to have Elizabeth over thrown and for Mary to be put on the throne. When Mary was forced to flee Scotland after her reign, so she came to England pleading with Elizabeth to help her. Elizabeth had no choice but to imprison her because of the rebellious schemes, and she was kept in prison for over twenty years. Elizabeth didn't want to execute her, but it seemed inevitable. It was a very traumatic time for Elizabeth because it was against her will to kill someone. She believed in not being as harsh as her father and other past rulings of England had been .On February 8th, 1587, it seemed as if Elizabeth would not have the strength to follow through with the execution, but she did, and on that day Elizabeth showed she had the power in her to do anything.

The next major event was the defeat of the Spanish Armada. It was the greatest military threat to England during the time of Elizabeth's reign. Queen Mary I’s husband, Philip, now King of Spain, had been on good terms with Elizabeth when his wife died, but as the years went by their relationship dwindle because of their different religious and political beliefs. In 1588, they were enemies. Phillip had always spoken of over throwing Elizabeth, but had never went threw with it. After the execution of the Queen of Scots, Phillip had an extra incentive to attack England. In the summer of 1588, he sent his immense fleet of ships to England. With good ship design, superior tactics, and sheer luck, Elizabeth and her army defeated the Spanish Armada. This was a marvelous accomplishment for Elizabeth, and proved that a women could lead an army just as well as any man. It, also, was the first step toward England being the supreme naval power it was in the 1600's and 1700's.

Wardrobe was very important for the Elizabethans. It was a way to show people's status, and a way to show their rank in society. While in private, Elizabeth preferred to be comfortable and often wore the same, plain gown for several days in a row. In public, Elizabeth dressed to show her royalty and to impress the people. No one was allowed to dress better than the Queen, and if they chose to do so, they could risk severe punishment. It was mandatory for the Queen to be the best dressed. Though, she had gowns of all colors, her favorite colors were black and white, because they symbolized her purity and her image of the Virgin Queen. All of the Queen's dresses were handmade and embroidered with all kinds of jewels including rubies, diamonds, and sapphires. Dresses were usually layered with a petticoat, necks ruff, and wrists ruffs. Elizabeth always dressed according to what she was doing. If she was going riding, she would wear a certain outfit that would make it easier for her to move in. If it was cold outside, she would wear a rich velvet coat and gloves made of cloth or leather. If it was warm outside, Elizabeth would usually wear a light hat to shelter her pale face from the sun.

Make-up was, also, very essential in the Elizabethan times, and no outfit was complete without it. When Elizabeth was younger, she wore a minimal about of make-up, but after she had smallpox in 1562, she wore a lot of make-up to cover up the scares on her face. Elizabeth would wear white lead and vinegar on her face, red dye and eye white on her cheeks, and red powder on her lips. All of this make-up was horrible for her health, and slowly poisoned the body, but because image was such an important thing in those times, Elizabeth continued to wear it every day.

As far as food goes, the rich ate very well when Elizabeth was Queen. They ate all kinds of meats, everything from rabbit to beef. Vegetables and fruits such as turnips, parsnips, carrots, onions, garlic, radishes, apples, pears, plums, and cherries were served with the main entrees. Though, fruits and vegetables were not commonly seen in meals because there was still some suspicion as whether or not they were poisonous. The Tudors were very fond of a good dessert, and for them, they usually enjoyed pastries, tarts, cakes, cream, and custard. Also, for special occasions, they would have sugar made into the shape of plates, wine glasses, and playing cards. Throughout, the Tudor reign, new food was constantly being introduced, and their diets were continuously changing.

When it was time for Elizabeth to go, the people around her were well aware of it and they had been preparing for it, too. She was old, and the illusion that she could lead these young hearts was drifting away. Elizabeth had been suffering from a disease for some time, but it was impossible to diagnose it in that time and age. She wasn't the same beautiful and charming queen she used to be. She was getting increasingly paranoid and lonely, as her friends began to pass away. In 1603, Queen Elizabeth caught a cold while walking outside in the winter. She complained about not feeling good, but refused to the doctors help her. Nobody could persuade her to get into her bed, or to do anything about her pains. “I am not well”she declared. Some say she would have recovered from this disease if she chose to fight it, but she seemed as if she was ready to go. Eventually she fell into a deep sleep, and died on March 24th, 1603.

There was an issue that remained unsolved from the moment young Elizabeth was declared Queen, and now it was more urgent than ever. Elizabeth had no one to succeed her. It was believed that James VI, King of Scotland, would succeed her. They asked the dying Queen her impute on the situation, and it was said she agreed to have James VI succeed her, but nobody knows whether she agreed to it or not. So, indeed, James VI of Scotland was the next king of England. It was hard for the public to take the announcing of Queen Elizabeth's death. For 45 years, they had been ruled by Elizabeth, and they had to adjust to new life style. The Tudor era of England had finally come to an end, and now a new era was to begin.

One month after Queen Elizabeth's death, she was given a magnificent funeral. Her coffin was pulled by four horses draped in black as it was paraded around the streets of England. On top of it was a statue of Queen Elizabeth I dressed in robes with a crown and a scepter. Alongside the coffin, six knights held a canopy over the coffin. People crowded the streets to come pay their respect to the Queen that had so diligently ruled them for so many years.

Queen Elizabeth I had, indeed, impacted her generation and all the generations to come. She taught us that after a troubled childhood, you can still bounce back and be a great leader. Elizabeth continuously reminds us to never stop learning, to create your own image, and to never put an issue aside. Even though Elizabeth was a women during an age when women were not highly respected, she still lead England in the most influential way.

Bibliography

Blefari, Gino. "Queen Elizabeth I – A Master of Relationships | Intero Mojo." Intero Mojo Blog. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. <http://interomojo.com/2011/04/28/thoughts-on-leadership-queen-elizabeth-i-%E2%80%93-a-master-of-relationships/>.

"Brief Biography of Queen Elizabeth I." Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2011. <http://www.elizabethi.org/uk/biography.html>.

"Elizabeth I, Queen of England." TudorHistory.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. <http://tudorhistory.org/elizabeth/>.

"Elizabethan Food." Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2011. <http://www.elizabethi.org/uk/food/>.

"Elizabethan music: classical, elizabethan, john_dowlnad, lute, music , music, william byrd | Glogster EDU - 21st century multimedia tool for educators, teachers and students." doveskillponys's Profile | Glogster EDU - 21st century multimedia tool for educators, teachers and students. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://doveskillponys.edu.glogster.com/elizabethan-music/>.

"Portraits of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603), with commentary." MarileeCody.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2011. <http://www.marileecody.com/eliz1-images.html>.

"Queen Elizabeth 1." Britannia.com - British History Travel. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2011. <http://www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon45.html>.

"Queen Elizabeth I: Biography, Portraits, Primary Sources." EnglishHistory.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2011. <http://englishhistory.net/tudor/monarchs/eliz1.html>.

"Queen Elizabeth I's Wardrobe." Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603). N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2011. <http://www.elizabethi.org/uk/wardrobe/>.

"Religion in Elizabethan England." ELIZABETHAN ERA. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2011. <http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/religion-elizabethan-england.htm>.

Looking Through the Lens

Author's Note: This piece started off as a stream of consciousness. It was a rather bizarre one, and it went all over the place, so I had a hard time deciding which topic to write about. I finally decided on a photo album because I knew I could take that in many different directions. After rewriting this a few times I finally chose this copy of the poem. In this poem, the photo album is a metaphor for my life.

A photo album: just pages of plastic,

My life summoned up in one little scrapbook,

The holidays, the vacations, the fun times,

Smiles to show no worries are present,

Goofy poses, lots of laughter, just carefree.

Everyday I turn a new  page to start out fresh,

It starts out blank, then fills up throughout the day,

The times I laugh, the times I cry,

Happy or sad, I'll show it all,

Crafting each page to be the fullest it can be.

Defense Mechanisms

Author's Note: This is a content essay that I had to assign to myself. Mr. Roehl gave me the topic of Animal Defense Mechanisms and I had to go from there. I am, yet again, trying to have my essay on something other than my science topic and incorporate the science into it with it being the main focus. I wrote it about our defense mechanisms and compared them to animal defense mechanisms. I also tried to the use some syntactic devices I've never used before because I tend to use the same ones.

When you're tired, when you're sad, when you're feeling lonely, you long to be home. There is always an appeal to be in a warm and cozy place, where you don't have to worry about being judged. Our homes are our physical form of protection, they make us feel sheltered from the outside world. This is one of the many forms of protection we use to block ourselves from our pains, hardships, and worries; much like animals, we have our own forms of defense mechanisms.

Sometimes we just try to blend into the world, and conform to what everyone else is doing. In order to avoid ridicule, we try to disguise ourselves. If we just mind our own business and do what everyone else is doing, we think no one will see us.  For animals, this method would be called camouflage. Camouflage can be used by the prey and the predator. Sometimes the predator can try to blend into the environment to avoid being detected by the prey. As for the prey, they use their coloring to not be seen when the predators are around. Some animals are born with natural camouflage, others  are able to adjust according to their surroundings. As the iguana changes color to blend into it's habitat, we change our patterns of life to blend into what everyone else is doing.

In addition to blending into the world, we put up invisible shields to make us look like what we're not. Some people pretend to be rich by wearing the latest trends and fashions, but really deep down inside they are poor and are just looking for someone to notice them. We always look to deceive people by covering up our flaws and pretending to be someone with more authority. Trickery is one of the most interesting animal defenses because it takes intelligence. Animals sometimes mimic other animals that are higher in the food chain to try to frighten their predators, just as we do to the people around us.

When a rabbit sees a fox coming, its initial reaction is to run away. It's one of the most common defense strategies among animals -- and humans.  Usually our first thoughts are to flee from evil.  Though it's a good thing to run away from it, but you can't run forever. Just as we can't always run from our insecurities, the fox eventually will get the rabbit.

All animals and humans have their own forms of weapons. Animals' weapons can range from using their horns to fight other animals, to throwing up its stomach to scare the oncoming predator -- as the sea cucumber does. Our weapons can range from using our mouth to put down other people to actually physically hurting someone with our bodies. Some animals are born with features that make them undesirable for oncoming predators. For a turtle, its weapon is its shell, predators think it would be hard to sink their teeth into it, so they stay away from the turtle.

Which lead us to physical combat. Physical abuse is frightening, yet it happens everyday. In school, they call it bullying. Though, there is so many anti-bullying signs, committees, and assemblies it still goes on. The truth is, most of it is done because the bully feels insecure about themselves. Some people use other people to make them feel better about themselves; therefore, to protect themselves from being hurt, they put down other people. Though animals don't use physical combat for their insecurities, they do use it to hunt for food. Animals will sneak up on other animals and fight them using their weapons. Just like the porcupine's spikes are used to make battling another animal less difficult, we use our size and other features to make fighting someone easier.

Just as animals' defense mechanisms don't always keep the predators away from them, we can't always flee from our troubles, either. It is part of the natural life cycle that the bird gets the worm, and it is essential to our life that we go through hardships. We may have many defense mechanisms, much like animals do, but defense might not always be the best option. Sometimes, just taking the situation on with the right mind, minding what we know is right, and knowing whatever the outcome is we did the right thing, is the best way to go. It's the way we handle situations that make us who we are, not how we cover up our insecurities and protect ourselves.

Fire Can't Always Stay

Author's Note:This is a poem I wrote for Book Club. We were trying to mimic Robert Frost's poem Nothing Gold Can Stay. I put his poem below mine so you could see how my poem is parallel to his. The main theme of my poem is how temptation is hard to avoid, but it doesn't last. The Fire in this symbolizes the temptation.

Fire’s sweet touch, a scar
His flame: something bizarre
His blazing heat’s a fear
You can’t help but go near
Then flames turn to ashes
Healing our deep gashes
So dark then turns to day 

Fire can’t always stay

-----------------------------

Robert Frost's Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Teaching

Author's Note: I wrote this piece because of a one on one I had with Mr. Roehl in which he taught me about inertia. I tried to make my writing more advanced by incorporating a science topic, but not having it the main focus of the essay. In this piece I tried to focus on word choice and incorporating both a semantic and syntactic device.

Having a one on one meeting with a teacher is already painstakingly hard; you have to make sure you say the right things and sound professional, and frankly, it's just difficult. In addition to that, add your teacher getting up and throwing himself at the wall. By then you might just hang your mouth agape and try to search for an explanation. Though, of course, no teacher would do that without having a purpose to it. At the time, it might seem strange, but for me, things like that stick with me forever. According to your learning style teacher's method of teaching will impact you differently.

In this situation, my teacher, Mr. Roehl, was trying to demonstrate the concept of inertia to me. It started out with him jokingly shoving me with his chair causing me to sail across the desk. To play along I pushed him back, but he didn't budge. He just sat there and laughed. He told me that was inertia, and, of course, I didn't have a clue what that was. Mr. Roehl then got up and threw a stack of sticky notes against the wall. Following that he ran straight into the wall, which made many eyes turn around in their seats to see what was happening. You see, inertia is the tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged. The principle of inertia is one of the fundamental principles of physics which are used to describe the motion of matter and how it is affected by applied forces. When I moved my chair that was inertia. Then when I hit Mr. Roehl he stopped my inertia because he was in the way. In the example with the sticky notes, their inertia was while they were in the air flying toward the wall. The same is true for when Mr. Roehl ran into the wall, he had inertia until he hit the wall. As Newton's First Law of motion says, that an object not subject to any net external force moves at a constant velocity. Thus, an object will continue moving at its current velocity until some force causes its speed or direction to change. Mr. Roehl purposefully explained this concept to me by visuals, because he knew it was the best way for me to comprehend what he was demonstrating.

I've always known that I'm a very visual learner because I can vividly remember watching or seeing something better than hearing it, that is why I understood Mr. Roehl's way of explaining inertia. When I was in sixth grade, for me, science class consisted of reading straight from our science books and answering the questions at the end of the chapter -- no science experiments or demonstrations. I found it very difficult to learn the certain concepts because it was just a bunch of words. After staring at the book for so long the words would started to mesh together and spin in circles in my mind. I tried to keep focused, but I just couldn't picture anything. I can truthfully say that I don't remember a thing I learned in science that year.  Though, that teacher's method of teaching wasn't helpful to me, personally, auditory learners may have gotten more out of it than me. Being a teacher you have to take into consideration that everyone learns differently. You need to make sure visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners can all hear and understand your message in a way that's best for them.

According to our school district, thousands of people apply for one particular teaching job. If there is such a vast number of applicants to choose, then why are we sometimes stuck with a teacher that doesn't adhere to our learning styles? Based on our different learning styles we comprehend teachers differently. Maybe if a teacher doesn't teach to our likings, we have to do something to make it so we can understand it better. For example, if a teacher gives a long lecture, we could take notes and draw pictures to help us stay concentrated. We need to be the initiators of our learning; we need to take matters into our own hands; and we need to be responsible for how we learn.

Success

Author's Note: This is a piece I wrote for the District Writing Assessment. Lately I had been very busy with sports and school, and I was starting to get stressed. So I decided the best thing to write about was a reminder to myself that you have to go through hardships before you achieve success.

I enjoy the going through hardships; not because it makes my body ach and sends painstaking thoughts to my head . But because I know that pain comes before success, and that if I can just endure the pain for a minute then I can relish in the success forever. Though we all just want to succeed in life we have to realized that we must fight for want we want, and these struggles are what makes the prize so much more treasured.

Many very famous people had to experience hardships before they succeeded. A very keen example is someone who's known for his bravery and dedication  -- Abraham Lincoln. You may be familiar with how in the twenty years prior to Lincolns election as president he lost his job, lost his sweetheart, and failed in starting his own business. Along with that he was defeated for legislature, defeated for Speaker, defeated for nomination for Congress, defeated for Senate twice, and defeated for nomination for Vice President. But in 1860 Abraham Lincoln put all of that behind and was elected as President of the United States of America. Most people don't realize how much he suffered before he became a propionate idol to nation. They just look at all the successful things he's done and wish to be like him, but even Abraham Lincoln felt pain before success.

For me running is a great example of perseverance. I remember watching the marathon runners in the 2008 Olympics; how their muscles bulged out of their legs and how fast their legs moved. After seeing all the cameras and attention the winners got, I thought to myself that I should start running so that one day I could be a good runner. Though I had no intentions of going to Olympics, I thought it looked like fun. So the next day I went running with my sister. Little did I know that running wasn't half as easy as it looked. After about half mile I had to beg my sister to stop for an "emergency stretching break" because I had a horrendous side cramp. Once it went away we starting running again, and that was when I realized that running was really painful. Yet to this day I still run, not because it's as fun as thought it was, but because I know that the pain is only a reminder that someday day it will pay off.

An anonymous source once said "Success is failure that tried one more time." I think this means that we need to persevere through the failure and keep trying because success is only one step away. Then when we achieve the goal we can put all of our struggles, pains, and hardships behind us and focus on the success we just had. Therefore because of what we had to endure it will be ten times more worth it.