Wednesday 28 November 2012

Homework 24/25: Shakespeare stuff

Just saying, all of the Shakespeare stuff is in my book. I just haven't been in class to hand it in :)

Monday 12 November 2012

Homework Post 23: Attitude Review

On the 9th of November the year 10's were taken to the gym to watch a presentation called 'connected' by a group known as 'Attitude'. A man named Jordan came and ran the presentation, helping to educate us about the importance of staying safe whilst interacting with one another through electronic means of communication. We learnt many things, including how what you do now can effect you in the future, that everything on the internet is out of your control once you've put it there, and that you don't know what people come to school from.

Whilst presenting Jordan managed to get a tonne of laughs out of everyone in the room by incorporating many of his unfortunate yet funny life stories into the hour long show. Everyone was talking about the presentation long afterwards and the school was on a buzz for the rest of the day. It was enjoyed by many, and we all hope to have many more presentations shown to us in the future.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

Sunday 14 October 2012

Homework Post 22: Shakespeare Research



Feel free to pause and read each slide, looking back I realise I didn't leave enough time to read some of the longer slides :)
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
http://www.biography.com/people/william-shakespeare-9480323 http://www.william-shakespeare.info/ http://www.state.tn.us/environment/tn_consv/archive/starlings.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scottish_Play

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Homework Post 21: Book Description

I've just finished a book called 'The Perks of being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky. The book is set out differently to normal books, and is basically a series of letters written to someone only known to be 'friend' from a person with the alias of 'Charlie' who heard about this 'friend' from some of the girls at his school. Charlie begins his freshman year of high school a bit distraught because of the death of his only good friend Michael, who committed suicide several months before. He does not feel that he can lean on his parents or older siblings for support, because they never truly understand him like Michael used to. Charlie also explains that the only other person from his family he ever felt close to was his Aunt Helen, but she was killed in a car accident on his seventh birthday.

Charlie soon makes friends with two seniors, Sam, and her step-brother Patrick. Throughout the story, Sam, Patrick, and Charlie's English teacher Bill introduce him to many new experiences and the letters he writes show his growth. During this time a lot of different things happen ranging from school, to family, to dating issues all of which are documented in his letters. The further along you read in the story, the more is revealed explaining Charlie's current situation, and his past, all of which revolves around the fact that he is the kind of person known to be a 'Wallflower' (someone who prefers to watch life, rather than actively participate in it).

I love the book, and although it's kind of sick and disturbing and inappropriate at parts, it's still good :)

Tuesday 4 September 2012

Homework Post 19: Poem

(A Sonnet, I wrote this before I read that thing you said to someone who asked what type of poem we should write. And I liked it so I'm not going to change)

Mirrors  

Able to make imperfections enhance
 

coming away happy is unlikely. 
Never quite the same upon second glance 
it will make you rethink its loyalty.

Indirectly, the reflections murder
 

by manipulating society. 
Teasingly it asks, still want that burger?
A photo shop induced anxiety.

To question its views though, no one daring 

despite some distortion at its surface. 
Believing lies, and soon second guessing 
people kill themselves inside without trace.

Whilst razor sharp edges have ways to cope
 

your own insecurities hang up rope.

Homework Post 18: Most Inspiring Teacher


My most inspiring teacher ever isn't one I have this year, but my English teacher from last year, Miss Schroeder. She never failed to keep class interesting whether through the actual work she set us, or the way she reacted to things that happened whilst we were there. For just about every single one of our assessments she extended the criteria allowing us to push the boundaries of normal class learning by either making a movie, powerpoint, or even writing poems instead of writing out boring old Positive, Negative, and Interesting tables. She also let us play mass class games and let us have movies playing in the background whilst we worked.

The best thing about Miss Schroeder though was definitely her attitude. She was a complete and total free spirit and stayed calm despite anything that was thrown at her (sometimes literally). In fact right now she's on maternity leave and I think her kids going to be one of the coolest alive just because of what a great person she is. Yep. Miss Schroeder's awesome (and not because of the fact she sent people out to go and catch rainbows, or the time we had a class party in English, or when she accidently dunked the pom poms at the end of her beanie into her coffee, or when she always gave Shelly half of whatever she happened to have for lunch, or when she pulled our entire class out of module because we were bored, or when she let us just hang around or leave stuff in her class or, or... there's too many things) but because of her appropriate teaching methods ;)



Saturday 11 August 2012

Homework Post 17: Olympic Opinions


Tae Kwon Do first appeared at the Olympics in Seoul, Korea during the 1988 Summer Games as a demonstration sport. Once more it made an appearance as a demonstration sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. It was made an official Olympic sport in the year 2000 at the games in Sydney Australia, and has been at the games ever since. I don’t think Tae Kwon Do should be included in the Olympics as it fails to convey the true spirit of the sport.

There are two main Tae Kwon Do organisations around the world; the World Tae Kwon Do Federation, and the International Tae Kwon Do Federation. At the Olympics, the World Tae Kwon Do version of the sport is played. This version makes a mockery of what Tae Kwon Do actually is, displaying an undisciplined and reckless competition between athletes. An example of this is the way the athletes compose themselves throughout the sparring matches. Their constant screams, celebrations of scored points, and attitude towards the referees not only shows their lack of sportsmanship, but their lack of understanding for the art side of the martial art.

This sport has come under fire by the IOC, having been threatened to be removed from the Olympic Summer Games. The action came about after the Beijing Olympics in 2008, when one of the athletes after having been disqualified from his match, earned a lifetime ban for firing a kick at the head of the man refereeing his match. I think this assault should have sealed the fate of Tae Kwon Do at the Olympics, hopefully saving many martial artists from the disgrace it puts upon them every four years the games come about. As it has not yet been removed, I think the IOC should push for it to be taken off the list of 28 games to be played in Rio, 2016. Not only would this removal stop Tae Kwon Do from being ridiculed by the public every four years due to the reputation it has managed to gain, but it'd also save me from having to explain that I don't do that Tae Kwon Do. I do ITF Tae Kwon Do, the more respectable version of the sport.

Friday 27 July 2012

Homework Post 16: Greatest Moment in Olympic History


The greatest moment in Olympic history was on the 24th of September 1988 at the Summer Olympics because of Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian sailor. During the sailing competition, Lemieux was in 2nd place near the half way point of the Finn class race. Close by, the 470 class race was also under way, and Singaporean sailors Joseph Chan and Shaw Her Siew had been thrown into the rough waters. They were injured and unable to right their damaged boat when Lemieux noticed the capsized crew, and broke away from his current course to rescue them. After he rescued Chen and Siew, he waited for, and transferred the two sailors onto an official patrol boat before continuing on to finish his race in 22nd place. This act of selflessness not only earned him a place in the history books for exemplary sportsmanship, but the Pierre de Coubertin Medal in honour of his self-sacrifice and courage. I consider this to be the greatest moment in Olympic history.

Monday 4 June 2012

Homework Post 13: Collaborative story Part 1


The Crash

In a time like this, it was hard to work out who was to blame. The old French man couldn’t have seen it coming. The ambulance worker couldn’t have stopped. The market stall owner couldn’t have warned either of them. Looking back on it now, it wasn’t actually anyone’s fault. However, the public needed a verdict, and a person to blame. The crash had caused so much grief, and without anyone to pin it on, the police would cop the rebuke. Detective Jones had known this all along, and if he didn’t find a fall man, his superiors would make sure he never saw field work for the rest of his career. His first job was to face the media.

Walking out onto the podium, Jones could feel all the eyes in the room trained on his every move. The way he walked, stood, and even dressed was being carefully scrutinized by the journalists before him. Melanie, Jones’ personal assistant, had typed up his speech the night before. All morning he’d been rehearsing the thing, making sure it was word perfect. “Greetings,” he began, “The police department can in fact confirm the fatalities of 9 civilians after the fruit stand incident. We are currently inquiring into the cause of this tragic event, and should have a confirmed recount within the next month. The police are currently searching for any witness’ of the crash, and it would be greatly appreciated if they could come forward. Thank you”.  

Part 2 can be read at: http://112506382.blogspot.co.nz/

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Homework Post 12: 3 Day Episode

I'd probably call my 3 day Ep something literal, not something that tricks people into choosing it. I'd rather people choose it based on its actual activity than the name. People'd get bored otherwise doing something they don't enjoy...
Name: Thread Bracelet Making (LITERAL)
What would people do:
-Day 1: First I'd teach everyone how to start their own bracelets. After a few practice goes on some plain string they'd get to try it on actual embroidery thread. Once everyone manages to get the hang of starting the bracelets then I'd teach them the basic knot on single string threads, and then how to join different string threads together. The last thing they'd learn on the first day would be a basic arrow knot and how to pick out colours. For the rest of the day they could practice it on some bracelets of their own.
-Day 2: I'd start with a few tips on how to keep their bracelets straight and ways to undo mistakes in the bracelets. Once everyone got the hang of that I'd teach them a few more styles eg. cloud, beaded... The rest of the day they would spend making bracelets for themselves
-Day 3: At the beginning of the last day I would announce a 'best bracelet' competition. The person who could make the most creative bracelet would win :) The student who could make the most bracelets would win :) And the student who could make the bracelet with the least mistakes would win :) Everyone would have until half way through third block to finish when at which time judging would commence.
Trip:
No trip... but the class wouldn't be in a classroom. The library or something. A place where people can get comfortable.
Cost:
$30... embroidery thread is expensive :)
ILQ development:
It'd develop thinking because the bracelets take a lot of focus to learn how to make thread bracelets :)

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Homework Post 10: New Blog summaries




5. thehungergamessecrets.tumblr.com
This blog does not reveal its owners but does admit to being a collaboration between a number of people. The blog allows for readers to share their opinions about The Hunger Games series with one another by posting “secrets” to the blog managers and having them transformed into a picture quote. These quotes can be shared with one another by means of reblogging and have made their way around Tumblr like wild fire. Reading the opinions is addictive and I will continue to read them until the final Hunger Games movie is released.


4. jillybeanj.tumblr.com
This blog is run by a girl named Jill who posts her adorable doodles on Tumblr for many people to see and reblog. The doodles are mostly quoted and can be used to relate to everyday life situations. This fact makes them so enjoyable to see and almost impossible to not reblog. I love all of the doodles on her page and hope she keeps making them for many years to come.


3. bakingmakesthingsbetter.com
This blog is run by my English teacher (aka. the person who will read this) ;) and her friend Courtenay. They met one another at university and bonded over their mutual love of baking and eventually created the blog to share their delicious recipes. The blog consists of a whole range of tasty goodies including sweet treats and lunchbox snacks. I am tempted to try many of the recipes on this blog and will stay tuned for many more to come.


2. abeautifulmess.typepad.com
This blog is freaking amazing! It has some of the prettiest decor I've ever seen and I'm really tempted to make a lot of the small trinkets and do the projects Elsie does. Although the blog is a collaboration between many people, I much prefer the posts from Elsie rather than the other bloggers. The blog’s content is of a vintage style and consists of a range of things from baking, to DIY to photography.


1. chibird.tumblr.com
This blog is a drawing blog that is run by a girl named Jacqueline or "Jackie" as she prefers to be called. She fills her page with cute drawings and gifs to entertain her readers. The pictures and gifs are all really cute, and I envy her mad drawing skills. I'll be checking this blog regularly for new content and wish I could draw like her :)


The new blogs I follow :D