ELA Grade 9
2020-2021
This webpage contain most of my works during grade 9 in ELA class, most of them are essays, we have a specific way to generate this type of writing using some technique such as inquiry path.
Grade 9 ELA work
Past. Present. Future.
The following is a collection of my ELA writing projects. Each piece is unique in style which teaches by Mr. Adam. I hope you enjoy my work.
Socrates and his punishment
Death is not the opposite of life, but it is a part of it. In 469BC, Socrates had admitted his punishment of execution; he got accused of going against God and corrupting the youth. Socrates believed that he should die either because he did not need to worry about all of his accusations and other problems anymore or if there is an afterlife, he would be able to continue his mission.
Since the beginning of time, people have been expressing their thoughts on death in many ways. Socrates believed that there are two directions to go afterlife. According to the text, “To have died means one of two things: either to be in a state of nothingness and to have no awareness of anything; or else, as they say, it’s a kind of change and migration of the soul from where it is to somewhere else.” This demonstrated that Socrates believed that there are two ways to go afterlife: the first direction is being in nothing and not needing to be aware of anything. The second direction is being in heaven or the underworld, which he could continue his mission in the afterlife.
Death is a word, and it is the word, the image, that creates fear. Socrates thought that he was not scared of death because he knew nothing about it, so Socrates didn’t need to worry about the afterlife, but he also thought about what he would do if there were an afterlife. Based on the text, “Best of all would be to spend my time examining and questioning the people there as I do here to discover who’s wise and who thinks he is but isn’t.” This implied that he thought he would talk and ask the famous people in his afterlife because he wanted to know who is the wisest and not wise.
Life is trouble. Only death is not. Socrates believed that his accusation had created many problems for his life. According to the text, “It’s clear to me that it’s better for me to die now and be free from all my troubles.” This shown that he should die because he won’t need to defend himself from his accusations and what others blamed him.
Socrates admitted getting an execution because of going against God and corrupting the youth. Socrates thought he should die because he didn’t want to worry about his accusation and could do anything he wanted to do and continue his mission. He believed that life hurt more than death, so he accepted the execution rather than living without happiness.
Gene Therapy Acceptance
There are many potential ways to treat diseases. One of the effective ways is gene therapy, a new technology that modifies a patient’s gene to treat or prevent disease. Although gene therapy is relatively new and may have unpredictable risks, gene therapy should be allowed for human use because it can effectively cure genetic diseases without affecting future generations.
As a new scientific technology, gene therapy brings many benefits to humans. Gene therapy can efficiently eliminate genetic diseases and pathogens. According to an article in Nature, “It has countless applications: researchers hope to use it to alter human genes to eliminate diseases; create hardier plants; wipe out pathogens and more” (Ledford and Callaway). This implies that there are many benefits from using this treating method, scientists hope to use them to create hardier plants, wipe out pathogens, and eliminate diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, hemophilia, and AIDS.
There are two types of gene therapy, somatic cell and germline therapy. Somatic cell therapy aims to treat the disorder only in a target patient, not their children; it’s not heritable. The following quote is from the book International Encyclopedia of Social & Behavioral Sciences: “Somatic cell gene therapy involves the placement of a human gene into a living person’s somatic cells—cells that do not produce the eggs and sperm that in turn produce the next generation” (Greely). This treatment technique aims to treat only a patient person, which will not pass to their offspring, meaning that only the treated individual would have the modification.
However, several scientists have concerned about the risks of gene therapy as it’s a new technology without much data surrounding it. This is being addressed with clinical trials, which are research studies that help doctors and scientists determine whether a gene therapy technique is safe for people. According to the FDA’s research, “Gene therapy uses carriers called ‘vectors’ to deliver genes to tissues where they are needed. Researchers are currently investigating the safety and effectiveness of a variety of different gene therapy vectors in hundreds of clinical trials in the US” (Byrnes). Many organizations, including the FDA, the United States Food and Drug Administration, are currently investigating the effectiveness and the risks of this technology, which will be completely safe soon.
Gene therapy can prevent or treat many genetic diseases without inheriting the modification or the side effect to the offspring and should be allowed for human use because of its benefits. Even though there are some risks from using this therapy method, many researchers investigate the risks and effectiveness of gene therapy to ensure that it will be safe for the patients to use this technology. In the future, gene therapy will bring many benefits to humans with fewer risks or no risks so that patients can use this method without any concern
Memories and Student
Some people think that memories are not important, but in reality, it can change your life. Memory is an essential thing that everyone needed to become a success in academic learning and life. One of the key aspects that lead to academic success is managing memories, which can be enhanced through correct lifestyle choices, including choosing to get enough sleep and not drinking alcohol. Sleep and memories are linked together, when students get a lot of sleep, students will be able to make new memories, which means that their grade point average will be higher, and they will be able to memorize things better.
Alcohol affects memories which can affect students’ health and learning progress. Most of the time, people know that alcohol is bad for themselves, but they still drink it. According to the article written by the experts from an American Addiction Centers, “In some cases, where a person has been heavily dependent on alcohol for a long period of time, there may be some long-lasting effects to the person’s memory. This may mean the person struggles to learn new things, as well as experience problems remembering details such as birthdays and other important dates” (Kelly). This demonstrated that drinking alcohol for a long time can cause that person to lose memory, which means that they will struggle to learn new things and experience some issues with remembering details. If the students have been drinking alcohol for a long time, this can cause their grades to become lower because they will experience poor school performance due to the lost memories and lack of ability to learn new things.
Sleeping affects performance to remember. Many teenagers and parents did not realize that sleeping is related to memories, sleeping can be beneficial to the students. Based on the journal on the topic, “Our findings suggest that getting an ‘average’ amount of sleep, seven hours per day, may help maintain memory in later life” (LeWine). This indicates that having enough sleep, 7 hours, helps teenagers to maintain the memory for the future, this also means that the students can get a higher score because of the capability to memorize more.
To become successful in academics, the student must pay attention, focus, and know-how to read and speak. However, most of them know how to read and say the word but didn’t know how they learned it. Working memory, Auditory working memory, and Visual memory are significant to students, affecting their future lives. According to the text, written by the Associate Director of Thought Leadership, mentioned that “Working Memory is responsible for many of the skills children use to learn to read. Auditory working memory helps kids hold on to the sounds letters make long enough to sound out new words. Visual working memory helps kids remember what those words look like” (Morin ). This indicates that without having working memory and auditory working memory, and visual memory, teenagers will not be able to know how to read, speak, or imagine how those words look like, which cause them a negative effect in the future and affect their learning progress because they will not be able to learn new things. Memory help students to maintain focus and paying attention which allows teenagers to studied better. The author stated that “The part of the brain responsible for working memory is also responsible for maintaining focus and concentration. Here, working memory skills help kids remember what they need to be paying attention to” (Morin). This shows that Working memory can be used to maintain focus and help students pay attention, which grants them a higher chance of getting a better score.
It depends on their lifestyle of choosing not to drink alcohol, get enough sleep, and have a good education to accomplish in life. Memories can affect their lives because they lack the ability to memorize, which caused by drinking alcohol and getting insufficient sleep, changing their future lives. Also, not getting a good education can influence learning development, affecting their future lives and ability to learn new things.