The Giver #2 - Utopia :)

Okay, so this time in Humanities, we're have just finished our 2nd Lit Circle. For this blogpost, we had a chance to choose one of these questions: 1. When Jonas learns all about colors, he claims "it isn't fair that nothing has color". Why does he say this? 2. Why does Jonas find the instruction about lying so disturbing? 3. Why does The Giver say that making choices would be frightening for people? Out of those, I would either choose question 1 OR question 2. It was a tough decision, but in the very end, with some help from friends and a 2 minute debate with myself, I finally chose question 2: Why does Jonas find the instruction about lying so disturbing?

Well, the truth is, that for Lit. Circle 2, our reading instructions were pages 26-64, but the instructions for Jonas were on page 68 of the book. For some strange reason, I found the fact slightly amusing.... But that's beside the point. To me, lying is not a very great thing to do. What I mean, is lying will never get you out of anything. See, if you tell a lie, like for example a rumor about someone else, or something supposedly like that, that person may find out, and never speak to you ever again. Or, if you borrowed some money from someone, but you truly aren't supposed to borrow any money, the lies keep on building on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on until, you tell the truth.

From my experiences, lying has gotten me in L-O-A-D-S of trouble. Once (and this was recently), I forgot my end-of-trimester report card on the bus, and only had realized when the bus was pulling away. My friend, well, she just called me an idiot. And I truly felt like I was. What I thought was that I would get in a lot of trouble for not being responsible-- but hey, I forget things. Everyone has to. So I just came up with the "I left it in my locker" excuse, and my mom and sister believed me. So, I had no school the day after, but my elder sister did, because she's in High School. So, knowing we were sisters, the bus monitor gave the report card to her. I guess I didn't think that through well. It's not like me, so I'm guessing I was just panicking.

I have been writing about examples about how lying had got me into trouble, but I haven't talked much on Jonas's situation. So in the book, lying was against the law. A rule never to be broken, or you simply had to be released. That rule, is basically the only rational rule to me, for I wouldn't want to get my bike at the age of nine, I just think that it would be really, really late. I mean, I learned how to ride when I was four. Four years old. All the other rules, like button-down jackets, or jackets with pockets, all symbolize growing up. Well, growing up in the community. It's just the rule I respect: No lying whatsoever.

Jonas, avoiding to lie all his life, just suddenly has been ordered to lie? I don't think that it's very natural for anyone, weather it's a community citizen, or someone here in the present; to change their ways. It's hard, and takes time. And now, Jonas had to hide things from everyone, his parents, his sister, his friends, and even the Elders he has laid his trust with. Sort of. Is it possible to do that? If I were Jonas, then I would be scared if I would make a mistake, or maybe slip something out. I just would try my best, and I'm hoping that's what Jonas wants to do too.

Graphic Sources:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4rvjBnWbm-VNVv56EP02D9YeGKbbm-wywCzCB7M91QrqSPTb55aWv0kxIIfS4c7r7J1gGHMBfLxOLy3xcBBVB1R0NBget6pco9UZ06U7XP5XHsRIC1wYxnFezAzzTXTmfXyRw10CYuw/s320/TheGiver.gif

The Giver #1 :)

This time in Humanities, we are doing Lit Circles again! So, there are two books, The Giver By Lois Lowry, and The White Mountains: The Tripods by John Christopher. I am reading The Giver, and so far, it is a very, very good book. I do suggest you read it, if you haven't already. Well, enough of this stalling, let me get to the point. For this blogpost, we are supposed to pick a question out of three: 1. Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not? 2. How do you feel about the "standard practices" and "rituals" in the community? 3. Why is interdependence fostered in the community? Out of these, the most appealing to me would be: 1. Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not? I guess I chose this because when I have this, I have a story to tell.

1. Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not?

No. Not at all. I mean, who in the right mind would want that? Maybe people who are insecure. Lonely. Shy. But, no, not me. I would say that life is a place for choices. Your choices. But in another way, your choice may be to have other people make your decisions, so you wouldn't have to be thinking all night long about weather to say yes or no to a job offer, or buy a new phone. Well, I'm more of a.... I'm more of a quick thinker at times. Well, if its life or death, or about my future, I would make a plan. And if my plan falls a part, then, there plenty of time to make a new one, rather than sitting at home and thinking how much my life sucks. It doesn't take that much time.

One reason I would NOT like to have someone choosing my future is that, I already have a plan. And a back up plan. And a plan C. Like I have said before, I make plans instead of worrying about what will happen. That doesn't help at all. My plan A: Go to a GREAT university and become an infamous lawyer. Plan B: Become a famous singer. Plan C: Become a writer. There. If someone messed up my life, then they would have a lot of trouble coming to them later. This is a fair warning to anyone who is reading this. You mess up my life, you pay. I would never, ever, ever not have a plan for at least something big in my life. Well, any moment of your life, something could happen to change you entire life. Just. One. Little. Moment.

Another reason why I would NOT like to have someone choosing my own future is that I like to make my own decisions, and that I sometimes would like to be something people wouldn't expect me to be. I mean, if someone told me that I have to be a surgeon, I would never say "Yeah, okay. I'll be a surgeon!" The truth is, I hate the sight of a lot of blood, and any thing that's inside someone else's body. It's not very nice, in my opinion. I just can't accept the fact that I won't be able to run my own life, that someone else is controlling it. Another thing is ordering me around. That never helps. I mean, if it's something I'm not good at, like Four Square, I would let my friend (who is VERY good at it) tell me what I should do. But, if it's something like writing an essay on the Greek goddess Athena, I would probably lead.

Like I keep on saying, I hate people choosing my decisions, ordering me around, and running my life. I really don't know how someone would be able to cope with that. As you know, I wouldn't. If Jonas and his Utopian-Community was real, I first-second go there and probably show them what it is like here, in the 21 century. Well, these were the reasons why I wouldn't want anyone messing with my future. I guess if it's fate or destiny, or something superstitious like that, I would let it pass, because I can't mess with it, obviously, and I don't believe in coincidences, so it's meant to be.

Well this is why I would hate having someone decide my future. I hope you enjoyed and learned a little more about me!

Graphic Sources:

http://i.treehugger.com/images/2007-3-7/books-th-kk-007.jpg

Hatshepsut iMovie Reflection.. :)

Recently in Humanities, we were assigned a project to do with a partner. The project was to research a certain pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. What we had to do was look for a whole lot of information about the pharaoh, write a script and find graphics, then make an iMovie. The pharaoh for my partner and I was Hatshepsut, the first female pharaoh. Below is the iMovie Interview about Hatshepsut we made. In this blogpost, we're supposed to answer some questions about Ancient Egypt and what WE think about it. Well, I hope you enjoy the movie!

I believe the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt built monuments because of many different reasons. The reasons may be that the Pharaoh wanted to show people their beliefs, that THEY ruled Egypt, and just the sake of having accomplished a monument! Some monuments could be temples, statues, or obelisks. It depends on what the Pharaoh made. The Pharaoh could want to express their beliefs of what gods they worshiped, like maybe Isis, goddess of motherhood, magic, and fertility, or Osiris, god of afterlife, the underworld and the dead. I think some Pharaohs also wanted to let their reign last forever. Not literally of course (or then they would be immortal. But they would have to find a way.. magic??), but they wanted to be remembered, and one way to do that, is to make a monument! I assume some Pharaohs just wanted to build a monument just for the sake of it. Just to have a great accomplishment in their life, instead of being the Pharaoh.

Like I explained before, Pharaohs wanted to be remembered, and wanted for their monument to stay strong and literally now, last forever. The problem nowadays, is that we humans run-down old buildings, and create new ones. But that's not very exciting, is it? New buildings? Nope. Old buildings, on the other hand? Yes please! There are HEAPS of examples of monuments similar to ones of Ancient Egypt, but sadly, I'm only going to name a few. You've obviously heard of the 7 wonders of the world, right? Some are tombs, some are defense-wise, and some are just amazing. The Great Wall, Taj Mahal, and The Great Pyramids are just 3 of the 7. But obelisks can be another matter. What obelisks are, is a 4 sided building, with a pyramid-shaped top. Maybe you've heard of Cleopatra's needles, well, if you haven't, then basic information: there are two of them, and they are located in London and New York. But, what they all have in common, is that their creator, wanted to make it last forever.

Using Google Docs helped a lot. When I mean a lot, I mean a WHOLE LOT. We both (My partner and I) could do many, many things with it. We could edit each others work, but I don't think my partner was too happy about my-ah-improvements. Let's just put it that way. I could see what my partner did, and what we needed to add to our facts. The best thing about Google Docs, is that every 2-5 minutes or so, it updated and you could see the changes anyone had made. Google docs is so much easier than anything, believe me. It makes your life easier by far.

I learned a numberless amount of facts learning about Hatshepsut. But I actually learned a thing or two about partners. You see, my partner and I are most likely the same in one way. We both want our way, and when it comes to that, we argue. A lot. Next time, I'll try to be more careful. But more importantly, the facts about Hatshepsut. When I first started off, the only thing I knew about Hatshepsut was that she wore a fake beard and men's attire. Now, I think I'm near to being close to an expert. Did you know that she actually re-established the trade systems in Egypt? She also led an expedition to Punt, an African Civilization. But, I think that you can find out more about her by watching our movie, so I don't bore you too much.

There were countless challenges in the way of us and success but I think we coped really well. If Finding information for Hatshepsut was not very much a challenge, but all went wrong on the pictures. The day we were going to record, we noticed that our pictures were pix-elated. So, on that night, I spent looking for pictures. Now, that I think about it, the main problem wasn't finding facts or fuzzy pictures, it was my partner and I. We argued about changing each other's lines, what pictures to put, how many pictures to put, and too many others. I lost a lot, and I won rarely. Which is kind of weird, because I usually win arguments. Guess I wasn't that prepared.Our school has SLR's= School Learning Results. They are 6 of them, but the most evident was to collaborate constructively. I mean, it's a partner project. But I guess we could have done much better without the arguing. Like I mentioned before, it was a problem. A big one. Now I say,"Thank gods it's over".

Well this is where, again, my blogpost unfortunately comes to an end. Hope I didn't bore you! :P Seriously, I don't really want a boring blogpost. That would be not that great.

The Great Wall of China

The Taj Mahal

Pyramids of Giza

This here is the link to the movie about Hatshepsut: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGg0BnFUxOc

Graphics:

http://www.metrolic.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/When-Was-The-Great-Wall-Of-China-Built.jpg

http://www.worldhistoricalsites.com/images/tajmahal.jpg

http://www.canaryzoo.com/Wonders%20World/1%20pyramids%20giza.jpg

P.S: Bye! :)

City Connections Reflection :)

For Humanities this time, we have to write a reflction on a presentation we have recently done. This presentation was about the place you call home. For me, its K.L, since I have been living there for around 7 years. But there was a catch. You had to present about the environmental factors, statistical information, and historical factors, not just random facts. Well, I should leave you to read about how my presentation went. It might have been a mess, but, you'll see!

After I presented my powerpoint, I thought I did a mess of a job. But a few days later, I looked at my grade, and I was fine then. I actually got a really good grade on it. The reasons I thought that I would get a not-so-good-grade, was because of one thing. Ok, maybe not only ONE thing, but all the other reasons are connected to it. I spazzed out. I had a nervous breakdown. I thought that nothing would work out the way I planned. But I had something that saved the day. My script (Hurrah, hurrah!). But throughout my powerpoint, I stuttered and sometimes I didn't keep to the script. Now that I think about it, I think I did pretty well on my environmental factors, and I added additional information to the statistical info. But, I think the best thing I did was talk normally to the audience. Not the mono-tone voice some people had, I had kind of a casual voice. I think that it calmed me down a little. Generally speaking, I actually think I did well!

What I think I would improve for my future presentations (and I know I'll have plenty more) is that I should be more organized and less distracted. I admit I can forget important things a lot. I forgot my thumb drive 2 days in a row, one in my class room, and once on the bus. To top it off, I forgot my thumb drive 2 days out of the three days left 'till the presentation. Since I finally didn't forget my thumb drive a day before the presentation (I put it in my wallet), I was then distracted from writing my script, by chatting. I knew that I shouldn't have done it, and I tried to stop, but I just ignored the thought as it came through my head. What I plan to do next time though (and all the other times), is to keep focused on my work at all times, and actually put my thumb drive in my bag, not my jacket, where I'll forget it again.

From my presentation, and all others, I believe I have a few things to learn from them. One is, of course, is being prepared, as I said before. Some people read off the slides, so it felt like they could only say what was on the slide, not say a little information about it, and then go to the next slide. Sometimes, it was kind of annoying (no offence) that they read the WHOLE ENTIRE SLIDE. When people did that, it felt like it would last forever. Thankfully, it didn't. From me, I think I should have practiced before-hand more. Also, sometimes it seemed like people were whispering while presenting. So the things I have learned were, being prepared, not reading off of the slides, and maybe to speak a bit LOUDER. But I learned plenty about K.L too, like it's history, rainfall and resources, and the population and average age group.

The analysis on my presentation, was that I did a pretty good job. I mean, I was panicking at a point of time, but then I just calmed down. I had clarity and volume to my voice, instead of speaking quietly and not slurring my words. I mostly speed up when I'm talking, but I've learned to speak slower, instead of having 2 second slides of my usual gibberish. Since I had a script, it helped so I wouldn't mess up that often, which, I didn't. But, what I have to work on is that I needed to practice. Overall, I had a great time doing the power point and I learned a lot about, the place I call home.

~By the way, here's the link to my power point!~ https://docs.google.com/a/iskl.edu.my/present/edit?id=0AZUcPzipaK3iZGczeG1uYzhfNzBjODlqcHJmYg&hl=en

Graphic Sources:

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg-_fe7Qm1Z_StTPeTxlbb4igQY_Cp3zs6KSX6V_Dim48vnKNmHhzV4JIWceGN23USE5i-fMGfQPC1W9fCtenOXAWsX7fWctA1aDt5m5zT6BTdzTRVJ73_sWpHVd7q0rBfTuWNMqQB3Rg/s1600/rain-blog.jpg

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-YhFkJIQamfxlJkZ9z-kmUZdoE9nrpOkQFo0ywZ7_E8S2rAlSrIjB6-AAJqBGrLcPipDjVl7-s5bwrodp2ij74wgWQOaFHLhjRjbuA78aTEH8MdT_okc0GG0vJw4FBIonEIhM6Tb3A/s205/I+love+KL.jpg

My New Year Resolutions! :)

On the 1st of January, thousands of people made new year resolutions, but I, wasn't among them. At that point of time, I was having a movie marathon with my sister and my two elder cousins. But that's not main idea of what I'm planning to tell you, the reader. What I want to talk about, is my new year resolutions. What my resolutions are now, aren't close to what they were last year. They are more about me, trying to be a better person, and gaining more knowledge. Well, it may sound a little bit nerdy, but it's what I'm interested in. Here you go. These are two of my 2011 new year resolutions!


My first new year resolution, is to be nicer to people that annoyed me in the past year. I want this because if I'm nicer, then there's a possibility that they may be nicer to me than what they were before. Part of this resolution is about my spanish class, really. How? Well, there's someone there that really gets on my nerves, and causes me to get into trouble at times when I tell them off. What I plan to do is  just be nicer to that person, like I said before, and not get on their nerves (because I can get a little annoying sometimes). That, will help me pay more attention and not fool around not only in Spanish, but any other classes.


My second resolution is to learn more about the architecture of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece. Ever since I read Percy Jackson and The Olympians and The Kane Chronicles, I was hooked on to Mythology. But, when I read a little about the Parthenon, I wanted to know more about it. The reason why I would actually bother to learn about it, is that I love anything to do with History, so with architecture,  you actually see it, it's not the way you have to believe in myths. It's just right infront of you. Sometimes proving, that maybe those myths, aren't actually myths after all.


So there was my resolutions. You finally know. Being nicer and learning architecture. Even though some people won't take my resolutions seriously, but when I achieve my goals, and I plan to do so, I can turn to them and show them that I actually could do it! Take that, disbelievers. But, enough of these resolutions. Let's go onto a quick snapshot of my Christmas break.


For my Christmas break, I went back to India for 15 days. Not the most fun I had, to tell you the truth. What I basically did was move around every few days. Either to my cousin's, my other cousin's, my grandparent's, my other grandparent's and then everywhere else. I just played with my 3-year-old cousin, chatted on Facebook, and went to malls. The most fun I had was when I went to Dili Haat, a market, and got some strands of my hair- how do I explain this- wrapped around in colorful string, went to my cousin's to actually get access to the internet, and had a movie marathon in which I watched Paranormal Activity 2 (scary!!!). 


I also watched Tron: Legacy, and it was pretty good, I must say. But when I came back from India, I was bored, stuck in my room for 5 days. Then, I had to help out new students before school restarted. At least it's more fun than sitting in your room, looking through bad Youtube videos. The thing is, when I left school, I didn't want break to end. But when I arrived in KL, I didn't want anything more in the world, than to go back, to school. So, this is where my blogpost finally comes to an end. I hoped you enjoyed! 

The Parthenon in Greece

The Sphinx in Egypt

Sources:

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/parthenon-and-the-acropolis-landmark-1.jpg

http://cache.virtualtourist.com/756288-Pyramid_and_Sphinx-Pyramids_of_Giza.jpg

Half of 6th Grade Zeitgiest

Above is the Video of my Half Of 6th Grade Zeitgeist. So what this video's for, is to show you, the reader, what basically what my half of 6th grade experience was.  I have put pictures of my friends, the instrument I play, lockers, my favorite band, and all the other things in the video. Well, go check it out!

Enjoy!

Our Learner Profiles...

On the 30th of November, we had a look on ourselves. We learned what our dominant side was, and what our Learner's Profile was.  There are 2 sides of the brain. The Gesalt (right brain) and The Logic (left brain).There are different types of Learner's profiles, but mine is HH, and my dominant side is my left. My dominant brain is left, my eye is left, my ear is left, my hand is left and my leg is left, basically all my body parts are dominant in left. I was kind of surprised when I saw the paper that says what your profile type needs to improve. It said "- May reverse or transpose letters.". First I was stunned, but my friend told me that some people believe that left handed people, when they were children, used to write right to left, but I was never one of them.


I think I learn best when I am alone, the door closed and the room silent. I believe this because once, there were two people in my room, and it took me three hours to finish my homework, when I only had a blogpost to do. In a classroom, I think I learn best at the front of the class, at the left side. That's because my left ear is facing the board, so I can listen better and pay more attention. I'd rather have my back toward the back of the classroom, not the front. I think the best way for me to learn is in a quiet class room, where there are no distractions, one person talking, and no music. These things are my strategies that will help my learning. Besides, on the paper that says things about my profile, its says: " Quiet time alone is especially beneficial."


On the paper, it says that it will help me to sit were I can "process internally, quietly.." I think that is true for me, because I mentioned before, I can only work when it is quiet. It also says on the paper: "-integrated cross-lateral hand and foot play like knitting, writing and drawing with the non-dominant hand, and massaging the Temporal Mandibular Joint to assist communication, conscious walking, dancing, soccer,...." I understood most of the things that were in there. I know knitting, but writing and drawing with my right hand? I don't think I'll be doing that soon. 


The Temporal Mandibular Joint is the jaw joint, I don't understand how that will help me learn. I don't know what conscious walking is, so maybe not that, yet. Dancing I like, but soccer, I have had bad experiences with. They also put: "An integrative balance of art, music, free form movement..." By that I believe they mean art, music such as instruments or maybe singing, and dance as free form movement. I guess most of these will be helpful to me and things I need. Maybe they should put things for stubbornness?


There are a few things that I would like my teachers to know about me. First off, I like quiet spaces. Like I said before, many times, I can get unfocused. Another thing would be probably that sometimes I am actually imaginative, not all logic. Like right now in Humanities, we are writing our imaginative stories. Instead of laying out the plan of every thing, I just decided to make it up as I go. Believe me, I NEED imagination sometimes. I like expressing myself, but only when I am relaxed and clam. I really am a bit clumsy when I get stressed, but only sometimes. These are basically what I want my teachers to know, if they don't know already.


I wonder what YOUR learner's profile is...?

My Learner's Profile :)