Profile JJ

Last year, Mr. Whiting came into the classroom to help us learn our learning profiles. Then, it was Profile JJ. Now, it is still Profile JJ. To figure out my learning profile and confirm whether or not it has changed, we tested our eyes, hands, ears, and feet to determine what our learning profile would be. Even a switch of whether you use your left or right ear can be a big difference. This year, both of my hands reached out to catch whatever was falling, so after thinking a while upon the situation, we decided that my right hand would be dominant.


I think I learn best when there's nothing to distract me from what I'm doing. I sometimes spend hours on my homework when it should only take me from 15-30 minutes. Being alone in the room would also benefit me, because when certain people come into the same room as me, I randomly remember something else I have to do, and whatever I was doing originally gets left alone. On the paper I received, it says that sitting on the right side several rows back will help me learn better because there, I can hear easily.




The strategies that would help me learn better is learning how to prioritize. If I could learn how to do that, my school life and home life would be easier. Another strategy is for me to analyze decisions and go through logical reasoning processes. That might be a challenge for me-I'm the kind of person who doesn't think through everything before doing it. And time management, definitely need to work on that. I do other stuff when I'm only supposed to be concentrating on my homework, so it takes longer.




I would like my teachers to know that I don't like thinking logically, and I don't like it when we have to order/number things. I find it useless and boring to do. I like to write or doodle during class if I have a paper in front of me. If the teacher talks for more than five minutes at a time, I tend to zone out and not pay attention to what the teacher is teaching us. I also get distracted easily during class.

Take A Stand

"He who lends a book is an idiot. He who returns the book is more of an idiot."

- Arabic Proverb

What are the importance of a library? It surely isn't that minor of an importance, but the UK government seems to disagree. Their idea of closing down libraries all around the country brought millions of people in a uproar. Indeed, the budget needed to keep the libraries from closing, and that yes, they do need to make cuts, but destroying the libraries simply isn't the answer. Governments have a duty to care for their citizens, and if they take away all access of knowledge, how is that care?


I believe that libraries are worth standing up for, for they offer people, regardless of race, age, or history, a place to learn, a place to simply read. Not everyone can afford to buy books, and now everyone can afford a computer. If we were to buy books for everything we needed, from learning to enjoyment, the cost would be great. But in libraries, they offer access to both books of all genres and computers with internet access to search up all things. In communities where people don't have computers, they can go to the library for research. 


Books not only supply information, but they make you think, they make you question things that you've never thought about. They take you to places you've never gone before - past, present, future. They open up portals to horror, wonderment, love, hatred, to dragons and knights, from eras past to the present. They are a way of free speech, to be able to talk about whatever they like. Books allow the readers to dream, to escape reality into any world they want. Does the government have the right to take this away? 


Once, Neil Gaiman said "A librarian is the thin red line between barbarism and civilization." Without the access to books, where would we be? Surely not living as educated people, for the gift of language is what made us what we are, and what has took us this far in life. Removing books are just as bad as book burning, for what are we without free speech?

My Five Special Objects

What describes me in five objects? A violin case, swimming trophy,  silver necklace, mermaid key-chain, and my bookshelf.

                                             

The violin case is one of the most important things that describe me. It’s one of those things that if you take it out of my past and current life, it’d leave lots of holes. I started learning the violin when I was five, and had several recitals, and orchestra performances during that time. Sometimes, I absolutely loathed to play the violin, and would have to force myself and play. It was frustrating to try to get every note in tune, and to play it flawlessly like my father or teacher might want me to. However, the violin is a way for me to relieve my stress. Some days, I’d pick up the violin, and just play to my heart’s content. I’d never notice the time pass by, and just keep on playing.

                                            

For me, my swimming trophies hold a lot of memories, starting from first grade summer to fifth grade summer. In those times piled up, a lot of memorable things happened. There were two swimming pools in the neighborhood, but often, we’d just use the pool called “Ellis Creek.” At the Ellis Creek Pool, there was a lake right behind with a river flowing towards another lake. My friends and I would always go to the river before play around before our practice or after.

One day, my friend, Kasey, and I went down to the creek. Every year, there would be some ducklings, with their mother to watch over them. And every year, we would be tempted to try and catch one. The year right before I moved to Malaysia, Kasey and I finally decided to try and touch one. Just seeing a duckling made me want to try and pet it. Let’s get this straight: it was tempting. The river water was clear and cold, and the sun was beating down on us. Even though stepping on the sharp, minuscule stones in the water would hurt, it beat standing on the sun-cooked concrete any day. Kasey and I quietly slipped into the water, approaching the ducks. Lucky for us, one of the ducklings went swimming away, back into the lake, and the momma duck chased after it. In that moment of time, Kasey and I ran towards the ducklings, making loud splashing noises. Not the smartest thing to do, but it worked for us. We managed to catch one, but the momma duck abandoned its chase for her duckling, and came flying towards us. I dropped the duckling on the water, while my friend was being pecked by the momma duck. I couldn’t stop laughing - it was honestly a ridiculous sight: a girl running around, screaming, with a duck flying behind her, pecking continuously. It’s one of those memories where I always smile when I think about it.

Of course, the trophies I got was later on, but in each trophy I’ve gotten each summer, they always contained special memories.

                                             

The silver necklace is one of those really important things to me. It’s one of those “best friends” necklace, broken in half a heart for two people. My friend, Megan, gave it to me. It’s important to me, because it marks our friendship. Admittedly, Megan and I weren’t friends at the beginning. She came around in second grade, and the first impression I got of her would be cocky. The way she acted, talked, walked just simply screamed “arrogant.” Most of my classmates agreed.

I was kind of reckless back in second grade-that was probably the year I got injured or something the most. I once bluntly told her, “You know, not many people in this class likes you.” Afterward, I felt horrible, but surprisingly, she didn’t mind. Megan simply shrugged and said, “I don’t really care.”
During recess one day, the boys and I were playing this game, and near the end of recess, I tripped and fell over a boy’s foot. He was one of my close friends, and he came and asked if I was alright. I told him to go ahead, and tell the guys that I went off to do something else-I was prideful back then, and was reluctant to say that I was winded from falling down. When the whistle blew, signalling the time to go in and eat lunch, everyone rushed past. Everyone but Megan. By then I was crying, because I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t stand up. She was the one that took me to the nurse, and not anyone else. After that, through a series of weeks, we became best friends. From second to fifth, we would always hang out, and even after I moved, she would still chat with me from time to time.

 

I have this mermaid key-chain that’s special to me. It’s made out of yarn, and the length’s about the length of my palm. I got it from my friend right before she left for California. However, a week or two before, we were fighting about something. I don’t remember what, but it seemed really trivial, unimportant. Fortunately, right before she left, we made up, which I’m really grateful for. As a reminder of her, she gave me the mermaid. It’s special to me because before our fight, we were the best of friends, and we also stuck together, like glue. After she moved, I never saw her again. We used to email, but slowly, we stopped, and pretty much lost contact. I hope I can see her again, but if I don’t, at least I have something to remind me of the time we spent together.

I know many people who dislike reading, because they think it’s boring, hard, or something like that. But I, on the other hand, absolutely love reading. For me, reading is a way for me to just have fun with the characters, and forget about reality. I love how authors can just spin some words into a wonderful tale of magic, love, or mystery. My bookshelf holds a variety of genres, and even some math books.

I don’t think there’s much history to the books I have for people to be interested in. But I can definitely say this: They’re worn out, and many of the bindings have broken at some point, which my father fixed it for me. I know some people think rereading books is a waste of time, but to me, I think it’s wonderful to travel to another world again.
The each and every book I have in my bookshelf are books that I’ll treasure forever.


Me in five objects: A violin case, a swimming trophy, a friendship necklace, mermaid key-chain and my bookshelf. All of those objects hold a million of tiny pieces of memories for me, and they're special to me.

What's in a Name?

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose,

By any other name would smell as sweet."

- Romeo & Juliet

Tiffany

Tiffany. It is a bold and elegant name, a name so unlike me. When heard, it paints a picture of a dark, stormy night, when lightning lights up the sky for all to see, glorious and daunting. Yet, it can always create an image of a ribbon flowing elegantly in the wind, dancing lightly. It means Manifestation of God - Divine Manifestation - yet I am neither religious nor special in any way. I’m just a girl on the street you walk past without giving a second thought. A name derived from the Ancient Greek Theophania, it is a name that does not represent me well. Yet, when people call my name, it sounds natural, it sounds like me.

When my name is written, I always thought it looked awkward, how the ‘i’ always looked crushed between the towering ‘T’ and ‘F.’ When someone whose mother language isn’t English says my name, they elongate the ‘I,’ which makes it sound like a ‘ee.’ When that happens, my name no longer sounds bold and elegant, but more like a beautiful note on a violin gone wrong.

When asked what color my name could be, I think of a dark, navy blue color tinged with silver is the color I imagine with my name. It is dark and mysterious, and is not easily spotted in a mass of colors, and mysterious like the gods. Though it may not seem so, the colors represent both my name and me. 

My name doesn’t have much of a history. My parents had simply picked up a name book, and chose between Stephanie, Sabrina, and Tiffany. But out of all those, my father chose Tiffany because of the jewelry Tiffany & Co. “I chose it because it was elegant and beautiful,” he had said. I used to wish I had another name, but when I think of the other names I could have gotten, like Sabrina or Stephanie, I am grateful that I had been chosen the name Tiffany. 

Though I may not be elegant nor bold, beautiful or special, I am still me, and no other name would fit me as perfectly as Tiffany.

Imperfection is Beauty

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring."
— Marilyn Monroe


The reason why I chose this quote is because everyone's imperfect. In the world, there is no such thing as "perfection." To me, the quote is saying "Be yourself, and don't let anyone else get you down." It might not be the meaning, but I have the feeling that the quote is implying that.

Another reason why I chose this quote was because it was probably one of the few quotes that made me smile. Perhaps it was the part where it said, "it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." Or maybe "madness is genius." Or even "Imperfection is beauty." But I guess to me, it was one of those quotes where it just tells you "to live your life how you want." You don't have to be beautiful to be perfect, a genius to get good grades, or act the same as everyone else to get in the crowd. Life is about living as yourself, and doing what you believe in.

Just because we're different, doesn't mean we imperfect! After all, we are made out of imperfection.

Infallible (Greek Movie Trailer)

Infallible:




In humanities, we were supposed to make a movie trailer on a myth. We could choose from Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, or Aboriginal. So, I decided to do a Greek Myth on the battle between the Gods and Titans. The story originally started out with Cronus eating his sons and daughters. Rhea, his wife, managed to hide one baby before Cronus could swallow him up-like he did with the other children. The baby was Zeus.

When Zeus got older, he returned to Olympus as Cronus' cupholder, and slipped in a drink that would make his father vomit up his other children.

Zeus' siblings, grateful, made him their leader. They declared war, and it became the battle between the Titans and Gods.

Infallible: I chose the name Infallible because it meant incapable of error. Since it was a war between the Titans and Gods, one single mistake might've plunged them to doom.


Hope you enjoy!


Greek Graphic Sources

♫ The End ♫

From August 3rd to June 3rd: The whole school year has been filled with fun, friends, and most of all, work.

Sounds kind of depressing, doesn't it? Work. But so many things happened this year, so it evened out. MS Parties, Spirit Week, Malaysia Week, Bake Sales...to name every single detail of this year would take a while! 

The piece of work that I was most proud of this year was my Ancient Egyptian diary entries. These three diary entries are perhaps the ones I worked hardest on this year, and showcases my best writing. Writing is my passion, and that's why I worked the hardest on the AE diary entries this year. 

The greatest challenge for me this year was probably our first literature circle, when we had to read Call it Courage. Mr. Thomas explained the whole thing to us, but I didn't quite get the whole thing. The connection and vocabulary were easy enough, but the passage and question just plain confused me. So that was my reason for why I thought my very first literature circle was hard.

I think I learnt a lot about myself this year. I think that I could work a lot faster, definitely. And the most is that I get distracted easily. I mean, no matter where I am, I get distracted. Empty room, I find out a way to procrastinate. A noisy room, I space out. A quiet room, I just get distracted. Sure, I'll say that I'm doing my homework, and that it just takes a while, but honestly? I just can't concentrate. I somehow always manage to convince myself that I always have more time; not the best thing. If I try to work on one thing for too long a time, I'd just walk away, and not finish it till the last minute.

a) Behavior: 
Well, personally, I think it's satisfactory. I mean, sometimes I goof off, and sometimes I work. I guess it depends on the day, or my mood, or what we're doing. If I'm bored, I do tend to space-out.

b) Participation: 
Satisfactory, I think. Well, I personally don't like participating in discussions, but I think that I do sometimes. I do think that I need to participate more in discussions, however.

c) Organization: 
I like to think that I'm organized, and that I know where everything is. But sometimes at home, I loose stuff, and I freak, and freak, and freak until I find whatever I was looking for. So, I'd rate myself a 'satisfactory.'

d) Effort:
Personally, I like to think that I always went 'above and beyond what was required' this year. I worked extremely hard on all my projects/homework, and tried my best on everything. 

There are two goals I want to make in grade 7 next year: To work more efficiently, and to participate more in class.

Goal 1: I want to work more efficiently because it would save me so much more time, and leave me free time to do the stuff I want, and not just spend my whole after-school life doing homework. So I just need to think, "If you don't do this now, you'll get a B or below.' That somehow helps...most of the time.

Goal 2: I think that this isn't just a want, it's a need. I need to participate more in class. Participating in class helps me learn better, because when I'm not talking, I'm spacing out.  So sometimes I have no idea what's going on.



Well, if there's something I would like the teachers to know, it would be the fact that I absolutely love writing. But there's one particular genre I like to write: It's not essays, or narratives, but it's imaginative writing. Paranormal, fantasy...I can write those kind of stuff in a matter of minutes, with just one single word as an inspiration. But if you tell me to do an outline to go along, I'll write down the story then do an outline. If making an outline is part of an assignment? I'll probably start on it, but not finish it until I finish the story. Well, the main thing is, I absolutely hate planning my stories. They never seem to work out that way.
Another small thing is that I don't have a particular liking for working with partners, unless it's literature circle, where I can learn something from working with a partner. 

Which activity did I like the most in Humanities? It would be the Tic-Tac-Toe. It definitely helped me study about whatever historical era we were doing, and it's a fun way of learning about Ancient China, or India, or Egypt. I also liked how we could choose the projects we wanted to do, so that it would best match our group's skill. That definitely helped.


I honestly wished that we could've spent more time on our Imaginative narratives. To me, one is too little, and having a word count doesn't exactly help, either. If you really want to write, you should be able to write as much as you want, as many times as you want. When we were doing the project, I could see that a lot of people enjoyed it, shared ideas and all.


A word of wisdom? From me?
Take you time, do your best, and mots of all, enjoy! Don't let your first year of middle school go to waste. Instead, have fun!


Advice?
Do your homework the minute you get it. Finish it at lunch, on the bus, during break, whatever. Makes like much easier ;)

Welcome to the end of 6th grade.

Tiffany 

A Letter: The Giver #5

Dear Fiona,


You might notice, by the time you have received this letter, that I have left-away from the community, from this place that feels like it's suffocating me little by little each day I stay here. The lack of freedom, of choice...it was just too much for me to bear, so prison-like. So I fled-perhaps looking for another place, where I could have freedom, and make my own choices. To live my life fully, with emotions. But I didn't do it for myself. I also wanted everyone to feel what I could feel, and that would only be attainable by what I have been given: memories of the time before our generation, and more generations back, before we transferred to Sameness. Maybe when you will understand better why I left after all my memories return to the community. But for now, and until that happens, you must be wondering why I decided to leave, suddenly and forever. Choice and freedom: what exactly is it? 


You must understand that there is more to society and life then what we-you-have now. Life...it contains emotions, love, hatred, sorrow, joy...those are all part of life. Life also holds friendship and family, real and true, for all that you could actually feel. Though society may not always be perfect, like the one we had back here in our very own Utopia, there still were flaws. You were trained in the arts of Releasing, I assume? Though you may not realize it, death is always, always a cruel thing, no matter if it is done in the most peaceful way without any pain. I had just recently witness my father put a helpless twin to sleep; to death. You could not comprehend the sorrow I felt, how painful it was to watch the one you love betray your trust.  Hopefully, one day, you will realize this. The Giver had once told me, "Making choices are frightening." But I believe they are necessary. We did not get to choose our jobs at the Ceremony of Twelve-think how amazing it would be to choose our jobs, to do what we loved. In fact, think about it: if we were to marry the ones we really loved, to spend the rest of our lives with our loved one just as our ancestors had done generations ago, there would be so many things we could do.

Love is a big thing, isn't it? Though my feelings were hurt when I asked my parents whether or not they loved me, when they replied, "Love is a very generalized word, so meaningless that it's become almost obsolete," I still loved my parents, still loved Lilly.  You Fiona, I think you had also experienced love, when you took care of our elders. But trust me, that itself is nothing compared to the love you feel when you have the memories. This is another reason of why I left: to give everyone, including you, a chance to feel. Life is more then simply doing what we are told to do.

So, please don't worry about me, because I'm safe with Gabriel. Please tell my parents and Lily that I miss them, and The Giver that I hope he succeeds. Tell Asher that I hope he's okay, and hopefully his job goes well.  Tell everyone, each of our friends, our teachers, the ones that helped us, that I sorely miss them, and hope that their lives go on well, and that I hope they appreciate the things they will be able to feel when they have the memories. And last of all, Fiona, I miss you lots, and hope that everyone can have the chance to sense your compassion. Please go on well, and visit my family often for me. For the times I could've seen them again if I had not left.


Someday, you may thank me for my efforts, though you may despise me for the pain you must go through bearing the memories. And maybe one day, we may see each other again.

      Jonas

Freedom & Choice

'Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn.

"Gabe?"

The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him.

"There could be love" Jonas whispered.

The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away'

I think that this quote relates to the subject of freedom and choice because it shows that Jonas is doubting the choices of the community, and is starting to think about making choices and having freedom. In the community, everything was controlled, and it had become such a habit that the people never thought of 'freedom' or 'choice.' They were just so used to have everything decided for them. From chapters 16-18, it also shows Jonas' thoughts on what had been going on in the community, and his feelings about it. The quote shows that Jonas wants everyone to be free, to feel love, to feel pain. 

Chapters 16-18 relates to freedom because because it shows that Jonas is slowly starting to feel restrained, so that he even decided to skip his daily pills, on the page of 129. Though it might not show in the direct way, it shows that Jonas is slowly starting to rebel against the rules of the community, starting with not taking his pill that was required for everyone to take starting from when they had the 'stirrings.' 

Another thing that shows how chapter 16-18 relates to the subject of freedom is that in page 134, it said that Jonas had sensed a feeling of loss, since he had felt love for Asher and Fiona, but that they couldn't feel any emotions back. I think that Jonas wanted them to have a chance to feel actual feelings, but that would require freedom. 

The third reason of why I think that chapters 16-18 relates to the idea of freedom is because that he couldn't tell anyone anything, about his job, feelings, memories, dreams, nothing. Before, he had a little more freedom, but now since he received his assignment, his freedom was all taking away. Jonas wasn't even allowed to ask for a Release.

I think that chapters 16-18 relates to the idea of choice is that the citizens never got a choice, and Jonas is starting to question the method of one person choosing the life of another. Jonas wants everyone to feel emotions, and most of all, love, on page 135. In his community, there was no such thing as 'choice', as everything that the citizens in the community did was all decided by the Elders of the town. Everything was done for them, no questions asked.
Jonas wasn't allowed to have what he wanted: he couldn't have the choice to ask for a Release, a choice to see which memories he could gain from The Giver, the choice the share his feelings and events of the day with his family. 


Chapter 16-18 does relate to the idea of freedom and choice in many ways. In these 3 chapters, there are lots of mentions and implications of Jonas wanting freedom and choice-not just for himself, but for everyone. Freedom and choice are closely related subjects, and if they get one of the two, they most likely would get the other because freedom and choice reflects on each other. It's like saying, you have the 'freedom of making choice', or you have the 'choice to gain freedom'-something along those lines. Maybe the quote above signifies the importance of having freedom and choice, and is possibly the start of Jonas and The Giver's rebellion. 

The Giver: Comments

In humanities, we were told to comment on our friend's blogpost for The Giver. I decided to comment on:

-Aishah's Blog Post

and

- Alexandra's Blog Post

Choices: Are they frightening?

In the novel, The Giver, the Giver had told Jonas that making choices could be frightening for people. Before that, though, Jonas had suggested that maybe if things had color, they could choose what he wanted, instead of Sameness. The Giver, however, had mentioned that you could make wrong choices, and Jonas had agreed and said, "Oh, I see what you mean. It wouldn't matter for a newchild's toy. But later it does matter, doesn't it? We don't dare to let people make choices of their own." But then again, in our modern day world, people make choices all the time. So just why are they frightening?


Well, the most simplest reason for why making choices would be frightening would be making the wrong choice. That would probably be the most voiced fear when making a choice. Several times, I have said to my parents, "What if I made the wrong choice?" After all, no one likes to make wrong choices-especially if they end up impacting you later in your life. Though the citizens in The Giver might cherish making choices for themselves, it might end up as a disaster later on. Jonas had also said, "What if they were allowed to choose their own mate? And what if they chose wrong?" I think that Jonas has a point here. When you marry someone, you usually stay with them your whole life-and in their community, there was no such thing as divorce. The Giver had suggested that it wasn't safe. 


Another reason of why The Giver had said that making choices were frightening for people was maybe because they wanted to be the same, and not stand out like an eccentric person. Maybe they were afraid of being unique and different. After all, it mentioned that certain age groups wore certain clothes. Maybe the Elders thought that if someone was rich and someone else was poor, the poorer one wouldn't be jealous. And if someone was jealous, then they might do things they might regret later, so it could also be frightening making choices. 


Choices effect your future. If you make the wrong choice, your whole future gets ruined. Just one little choice can affect so much. Maybe that's why it's frightening-you wouldn't want to get your whole career ruined because you made a bad choice, now, would you? I certainly wouldn't. In the book, it mentions a release-and in the earlier chapters, it had described that if you are released, it brings great shame. At the beginning of the book, a pilot had read his route wrong, and flew over the town. The speakers had announced that the Pilot-In-Training was to be released. Such a small mistake, yet it impacted a whole life. Small mistake, big mistake, you would still get released if you happened to break a big rule.


So yes, making choices may be frightening. But nevertheless, making choices is how we learn. If we didn't make mistakes, then the only way we could learn would be the things that others taught us. That's a good way to learn, but that would mean you never got to experience anything, right? After all, half of our experience comes from making mistakes-which comes from making choices. So, in a certain way, making choices can be frightening, but mostly, it is just a way to experience life.

The Giver Reflection: Would you Want your Future Chosen?

The Giver is a story written by Lois Lowry. In the book, it portrays a perfect town, or an Utopia: an ideal place of perfection. The rules are strict, the place is orderly, and everything is predictable. Even your future is chosen for you. When I first read the book, the first thought for me? This book is depressing. Why? Because they live their life like robots. Everything they do is what they were told to do. So, I picked the prompt: Would you want your future to be decided by others ? Why or Why not?

In all honesty, it depends. Sometimes in life, you want things chosen for you while in other parts, you want to make the decision yourself. And at other times, you simply didn't have a choice, like Jonas and his family. But in reality, life isn't that simple. It is never handed out on a silver platter so easily. Instead, life is more like a road, and sometimes there are many roads you could choose to follow, each one ending up with it's own

consequence. Whatever you do, something good or bad comes out of it. Sometimes, you really just don't have a say in your life. Like when I moved to Malaysia, it wasn't by my own choice. I nearly cried for a week when I learnt that I was moving here. I wanted it to be my say whether my family and I moved or not. But alas, that was my dad's decision, and not mine. If I sum it all my feelings and thoughts up though, my answer would be:

No. I wouldn't like to have my future chosen. Why? Because life is about making choices. If we didn't make our choices, we would have to follow someone else's demands. Like how everyone in the community has to do the jobs that the Elder had chosen for them. If you had a gentle nature, you had a job like Nurturer or the Director of the House of Old. If you had imagination, you would be an architect. You had no say at all of what you would want to be when you grew up. That would infuriate me. I generally hate people dictating my life. To me, all the decisions I make are the ones I make for myself, and I would take the consequence for whatever happened because it would be my fault. To have the gift of choosing taken away from me would be like living an empty, gray life with absolutely no excitement.

Also, to me, taking away the ability to make choices is like taking freedom away. After all, isn't freedom about doing what you want? Well, in The Giver, they didn't have a choice. They were only given bikes at the age of nine, and starting at the Eights, you had to do volunteering hours. And everyone in the community had to depend on each other in some way. From what I have read so far, if one person got taken away, such as the Director or Recreation, things would start falling apart. I like to be independent, and not have to rely on someone to do things.

If you were also able to choose your own destiny, you could experience so many more things. The minute you have your future decided, you become biased, and only do things that would help you in your future. That would be all you would ever strive and work for. In other words, you become single-minded. Not knowing your destiny lets you do so many things, like climb mountains, invent things, write a story, and so much more. Life is about making mistakes. If you don't make any, you practically learn nothing. Having others choose your destiny gives you nothing to look forward to. While some people might take that for granted, they would never know what they were missing out. You would think, "I know what I am going to do, have got everything planned out, now what am I to do?"

But even so, sometimes you don't get to choose. Monarchy is passed down, and you have to become King/Queen no matter what. But when you get a choice, think of it as a gift, and not a liability. There are people who want to have the choice to choose their destiny. Many people don't, like slaves. They don't get to choose their destiny. It's controlled by their masters. In The Giver, the people in the community are like slaves that way, and their masters are the Elders. The Elders chooses the people's occupation, love life, children. Those three things are probably what makes up a life most. So I choose to have the privilege to make my own choices.

What about you?

Graphic Source:

- http://www.clmchurch.com/site_backup/images/destiny.jpg

- http://ritamou.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/medium_diverging_paths.jpg

-http://www.randomhouse.ca/images/dyn/cover/?source=9780553571332&height=300&maxwidth=170

My iMovie Grading

For class, we had to grade our own iMovie and 4 others. The Pharaohs were Tutankhamen, Ramses II, Cleopatra, Hatshepsut, and Khufu.

Here is a link to my rubric:

My imovie Rubric

Tutankhamen

For this project, I was partnered up with Jamie to make a video on Tutankhamen, who became Pharaoh at the age of 9. We hope you enjoy it, and learn something about King Tut!

Houston, Texas Reflection

A few weeks ago, my class did a presentation about a city we've lived in and it's geographical luck, establishment and prosperity of civilization. I did mine about Houston, Texas since I had lived there for a little over eleven years. In class now, we are doing a reflection on what we thought we did well, what we could improve on, what we learned from our preparation and presentations from others, and last of all, the analysis of our performance.

I think one thing I did well on the project was probably organizing the way I did my information. I put all the information I needed into bullet points and organized it so that it was in chronological order. I also think that it was neat, and didn't look as if facts were strewn all over the place. I made sure my pictures weren't pixelated and that it stood out on my presentation background.

I think I could improve on my future presentations and projects in many ways. I suppose I could first practice presenting my presentation. When I got called up to the front, I was nervous and I could practically feel my heart pounding. Truth to be told, there was no reason for me to be nervous if I practiced a bit before. Sure, I looked over it a few times, said some lines out loud that I thought was necessary. But I didn't practice the whole thing, and certainly not in front of an audience. Next time, I'll know to do that so I won't have to freak out when it becomes my turn to present my project.

Another thing I could improve on would be speaking more slowly. When I get nervous, I tend to speak fast, and that's what happened to me when I presented the City Connection presentation. I think some people couldn't understand what I was saying. Slowing my speech down is another thing I could practice.

I actually learnt quite a bit from preparing my own presentation and listening to others. When I prepared my presentation, I realized that I never gave much thought to how Houston got started. I knew that Houston was named after Sam Houston, yes, but for almost everything else? Not quite as much. It was interesting learning all these other information while I was working on the project. I learnt from preparing my presentation that John and Augustus Allen founded Houston near Buffalo Bayou. I never even knew Houston was built near Buffalo Bayou!

Something I learned from listening to my classmates presentation is that not one city is the same as another. They all offer different weather, crops, resources, and history. It was interesting learning about new cities-some that I've never heard about.

As for my analysis of my performance, I believe that I did pretty well. I worked my hardest, and believe that I didn't leave out any of the requirements. Despite on what I think I could improve on, I'm proud of my finished presentation. I made sure that the information was accurate-I double checked the information. I used my time wisely, and didn't get distracted doing this presentation. I presented well, even though I may have talked a bit fast. I'm sure it could be improved though, but all in all, I believe that I did pretty well.

You can view my presentation from the link at the bottom. Hope you enjoyed both my reflection, and will learn something from my presentation about Houston, Texas!

My Presentation: Houston, Texas

Sit back and learn a bit on Houston, Texas. Enjoy!

Picture Source:
- http://green-real-estate.com/media/site/6NJRPR3PWWYQ14FH/uploads/Houston_Skyline.jpg

My Learning Profile: JJ

       

     On the 12th of January, we got to look at ourselves and our learning profiles. We learned that there were two sides to the brain: The Gestalt(right brain) and The Logic(left side). There are 32 different kinds of profiles, so we tested our eyes, hands, ears, and foot to find out what learning profile we were. Since my eye and hands are right, and my ears and legs are left, that makes my learning profile JJ. Being a learner profile JJ makes me learn best through movement and by focusing on the whole picture, context, and emotional relevance to myself. It also says I interpret language mainly from it's tone, pitch, and rhythm, and an auditory learner that must hear the intention and feelings of the person or information to learn. I also prefer not to follow step-by-step instruction.


    I think I learn best when there's nothing to distract me from what I'm doing. I sometimes spend hours on my homework when it should only take me from 15-30 minutes. Being alone in the room would also benefit me, because when certain people come into the same room as me, I randomly remember something else I have to do, and whatever I was doing originally gets left alone. On the paper I received, it says that sitting on the right side several rows back will help me learn better because there, I can hear easily. That won't work as well for me, because when I sit at the very back, I don't pay attention as much. Sitting on the right side works for me, but not several rows back.


   According to the paper, I need to do cross-lateral hand and foot play like writing and drawing with my non-dominant hand. I'm also supposed to do Lazy 8's from Brain-Gym and blinking while  tracking with eyes-that, I don't get as much. it also tells me to massage the Temporal Mandibular Joint for communication, cross crawls,walking, dancing, soccer, and martial arts like Tai Chi. I probably won't be doing martial arts, dancing, and soccer and time soon, though. 


   The strategies that would help me learn better is learning how to prioritize. If I could learn how to do that, my school life and home life would be easier. Another strategy is for me to analyze decisions and go through logical reasoning processes. That might be a challenge for me-I'm the kind of person who doesn't think through everything before doing it. And time management, definitely need to work on that. I do other stuff when I'm only supposed to be concentrating on my homework, so it takes longer. 


   I would like the teachers to know about me is that even though I tend to look at the big picture, I can also focus on really small details. Another thing is, is that I tend to lose my focus, or spaced-out. One moment I'll be paying attention, the next moment, I won't, even though I'll probably look like I'm paying attention. I also have a temper. I can get angry or annoyed easily, even though I try to hide it. I love to read, draw, write, and play the violin. They all help me stop moving around, and concentrate on what I'm doing. When writing, I love to imagine and be creative, so I can write really well when it's free choice-I'll always pick fantasy to write. I also like it when people let emotion in when their talking. It gives me a sense of what they're feeling, and let's me know what's happening-especially if I lose my focus. 


   Thanks for reading about me, how my brain works, strategies to help myself, and what I would like the teachers to know!

   

Winter Vacation & 2011 New Years Resolution

  It's 2011 now, and many people of the world has made new resolutions to start the new year. I've made many resolutions, but the top two are:

- Use my time better

and

- Learn more about history

         I put using my time better because I usually slack off and do other stuff. For example, when I have to do a homework, I start some of it, but then do something else that's completely unnecessary. I do that with a lot of stuff, and usually get in trouble for it, because I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. Also, if I use my time better, I could get more things done in the day, and not of to defer it to another day. Then when I'm done with all the things I need to do, I could have fun, and not be bothered with the things I haven't finished. I would be more relaxed, and not have as much stress.

          My other resolution is to learn more about history. I know that may seem weird at first, but it's a new year, and learning history would be something to look forward to! I've always liked history. After all, history is what made us where we are today. Famous rulers and people like Julius Caesar, King Tut (Tutankhamun), Aristotle, or  Socrates all interest me. But, other history apart from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome would be nice to read about. All history are interesting, and it would not only be an educational resolution, but also fun at the same time. In my mind, it's totally worth it.

          2010 winter holiday, the last break before 2011. For this winter holiday, I traveled to Taiwan with my family to visit my relatives. They lived mostly in Taipei, so that was were we mainly stayed. From Kuala Lumper to Taipei was a 4 hour 35 minute flight, and there were barley any time difference. For most of the holiday, my cousins had school, so we mainly hanged out after they came back-around 5:00. Christmas, though, was entertaining. My uncle took us out to buy Christmas presents for ourselves, and my 6 year old cousin chose a bat man costume box. When he opened it, it was empty-later, we found out that he had chosen the wrong item. He started to throw a fit, but them my mom told him to put his 1 million cars in there. At least that idea saved us from all the screaming.


          As for Christmas presents, I didn't exactly ask for anything. My aunts and uncles pestered me about what I wanted, but I told them: "No thanks, I don't want anything this year." I suppose I did get a form of my Christmas present though. My aunt took me shopping, and bought tons of small, useful stuff for me. My mom and dad bought me a book, and my brother gave me a ocean scented candle. They were all wonderful.


           On New Years Eve, I stayed up until midnight, where my relatives and I saw the fireworks on Taipei 101 from the window. It was an amazing sight, but it soon ended. After the fireworks, I went back to the computer, and didn't sleep until 4'o clock. My cousins were asleep before me!


  Well, here's a recap on my blog post:


 My two top resolutions of the year of 2011 is using my time wisely and learning more on history. I hope to learn how to use my time wisely before 6th grade ends, so I can be more prepared for 7th grade. As for learning more history, I can continue on it for the whole year, and also learn more next year to, but it may not be my resolution. I hope you enjoyed learning my New Years resolution and reading about my Christmas break!






Picture Source:
http://ahoyhanoi.blogspot.com/2009_12_12_archive.html
http://triblocal.com/wheaton/files/2010/12/new-years.jpg