Superstition

1. Evaluate the claims about superstition made in the article, citing an example either from the reading or another from research or personal knowledge.
2. Contrast the potential positive and negative impacts of holding a superstition.

Language and Gender

How has gender shaped my experience as a knower?

Well, I don't know. I take gender equality very seriously and I'm proud to be a female, but I don't think I know anything that males don't know. I'm better at math than my friend Jacob, but he's just not good at math. It's not like he's bad at math because he's a man and I'm better because I'm a woman.

I guess it depends on what  it is that I am knowing. If I'm having an informed conversation about the 28-day woman's cycle, I would probably have a better time with another woman, because we would both have the innate knowledge and experience. A man would not have that knowledge, simply because he would not have experienced it. But I wouldn't know how to have a conversation about men's biological processes (a fact of which I am not proud.)

I don't really believe in maternal instinct. I know a lot of terrible mothers. My mother is wonderful, but I feel like maternal "talent" is passed down. She had a wonderful mother, and maybe I'll be a wonderful mother. But in terms of maternal instinct, I just don't believe that people are born with the ability to be mothers just because they are born with the parts that carry babies.

My gender has played a huge role in my life, since I’ve been using my identification as a woman to help me discover who I am. I think that my gender has shaped the way that I know myself, and the way that I think. If I wasn’t part of a gender that has been oppressed (and kind of still is), I wouldn’t have the knowledge that I do about gender equality. This is partially because my mother and grandmother have taught me a lot about women’s rights, and I think that’s why I feel like I’m informed because of that. I’ve been raised around a lot of really strong, smart women.

Does it Matter if What we Believe is True?

https://docs.google.com/file/d/1k8V7a_m_4Es8Y_K3Uyh4hwhsqUylDa7ZHIjG5bN37GMpdmb238syX2InfEbU/edit?usp=drive_web

Truth and Deception

I feel that in mathematics, deception may be necessary to knowing. I feel this because I believe that a teacher, when teaching mathematics, may need to use a lie to make the truth clear. The teacher may say "SIN means System In Numbers, right?" to get us all to say "No!" And then think about what it really does mean, not the acronym, but the concept in and of itself. 

Perhaps this can be applied even on an elementary level, such as talking about the commutative and distributive properties. For example, a teacher might say to a student, "So,  5 x 6 = 30, so that means that 5+6 = 30, right? Wrong, it's actually 6 x 5 = 30" and so on. I think that in many cases, deception is necessary to knowing. But I do think that knowing can also be achieved by the truth and the truth is usually a better way to learn.

ToK/CAS Reflection

        My senses play a role in my action CAS activities. This is because when I am doing active things, such as dancing or running or going to the gym, I feel the physical aspect of the dance in my muscles and I hear the music that I'm listening to when doing these activities. Imagination has played a huge role in a lot of my planning for CAS, especially for Sturgis Passion Project. Julia and I have come up with all of our ideas by ourselves and thought about how they impact people and the way that the world works. In addition, I have had to use reasons to determine what projects are important to me and why. It has been interesting to see the ways in which I view issues I am passionate about as intertwined in larger global issues, and reason through how others view the connected, larger issues. 

       "I was up on a ladder,  6 feet up in the air, with both hands applying wood filler to hole in the roof created by nails that had been removed. This ladder was rickety and it was being held by a girl that I had never even met before that day. I had to immediately trust her, and believe that she would prevent me from falling, even though I didn't know her at all and didn't have any idea if she even knew what she was doing. She kept me safe the entire time, and I stayed up there until the job was done. We collaborated on keeping me from falling out of the ladder, and I even went up again later. I conquered my fear of heights with this girl, and we  became good friends by the end of the day."

(2nd reflection on building a house with Habitat for Humanity)

       I believe that faith was a way of knowing that played a role in this reflection. Faith is the way of knowing that is most similar to my idea of trust, and I trusted this girl just because I had to. If I hadn't trusted her, I would have become scared and panicked and maybe even hurt myself by accident! The emotional way of knowing was also a factor in this reflection when I say "I conquered my fear of heights." I could make this statement because I knew that I had conquered it through emotional connections: I felt proud of myself. I wouldn't have felt proud if I didn't know that I had conquered my fear, so it was through emotion that I knew what I had done.  

      I said in my proposal for the orchestra that my learning outcomes were both "increased awareness of my strengths and areas of growth" and "undertaking new challenges." I think that a good reason to claim these things is that am going to increase my awareness of myself and undertake new challenges. I felt emotionally devoted to doing these things, and that's why they were valid learning outcomes to select. Musical notations are a language in themselves, and this is a way that I will be undertaking increasing my knowledge through the language way of knowing. It is challenging to learn the language of music, so that is what I am increasing my understanding of in this CAS activity.  Also, I will using sense perception (hearing, seeing the music, and feeling the music) as I get better at the cello. 

Who Am I As An IB Knower?

Who am I?
My areas of knowledge are the arts and ethics. I am knowledgeable in the arts because I am a musician and a writer, and I'm knowledgeable in ethics because I'm a good communicator and I have a good knowledge of other cultures. I'm also knowledgeable about indigenous knowledge systems, because I am bilingual and I like to speak to native speakers about their culture and customs.


My ways of knowing are language, emotional, intuition, imagination, and memory.
My memories shape who I am today. It is undeniable that I would not be who I am if it weren't for my memories. I'm an emotional knower, too: I have an anxiety disorder, and my anxiety helps me to know when things are unsafe or unhealthy. I am like "the deer that sniffs the grass first to make sure it's not poison, while all of the other deer are going ahead and eating it", as my mother used to say. "You protect yourself, sweetheart," she would say. I'm intuitive because there are things that I have always known and will always know, like the fact that my family loves me and I love my family. I'm imaginative because I love to find new knowledge through meditation and visualization. I also compose most of my own pieces, and when I do, I imagine a whole world in which the song is being played and how it's supposed to be played.

One trait that I can really relate to is the trait of a risk-taker. I'm a risk-taker because, honestly, all I want to do in my life is make a difference. I want to help people and give all of my love away, and I'm always taking risks by starting up campaigns, going to protests, making phone calls, and informing others about that things that I'm passionate about. I believe that informing is the highest form of making a difference.

A trait that I don't relate to is "balanced." I am honestly the least balanced person I know. I am easily overwhelmed and often bite off more than I can chew. All I can say is, thank god for Wellness, because without it I would be a total wreck. Yoga and deep breathing have influenced me so much; I am considerably less anxious and depressed than I used to be. I find it really difficult to balance Sturgis Passion Project, Fiddler on the Roof rehearsals, cello practice, Sturgis Singers, friends, homework, my own sanity and my boyfriend without becoming highly stressed out and overwhelmed.