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

Tiffany's 2010 Zeitgeist

The beginning turned out a bit wacky, it's not supposed to be like that.  

Here's my Zeitgeist! Enjoy!

Footnote:

I have an IPod to the right--> 

While watching the first part of my Zeitgeist, Try to find Rue's Lullaby.

For the second part, find Crazier by Taylor Swift! 

Thanks for watching!

Working With Others-Literature Circles with a Twist

   This time for literature circles, instead of working by ourselves and filling the whole thing out, we had a partner and divided the work in half. Some parts were easy, while others were not. Working with others was a really good experience for me, but slightly challenging. It made me think more about the book and how to make level 3 questions and better passage responses.

   There are tons of benefits of working with your partner. Doing only part of it made the work a lot easier. It was harder to run out of questions or connections to use. Another benefit is that if you made a mistake, they could help you correct it. They can also give you feedback on how to improve your work. Working with my partner helped me concentrate more and do my best so I don't let her down. If we forgot to do something, or if we were getting close to do it at the last minute, our partners would remind us either at school or by email. Also, if you didn't know what to do, they could help you come up with ideas and get you started on something. It's also good to have someone prodding you to do your work before the last minute

   There were some challenges, but not many. One of them is how much we have to do each day. We didn't completely follow the schedule. Madyson and I sometimes did 2 things on one day or just skip a day completely. I reminded my partner to do some work so had more time to check over it. She ended up doing an excellent job. We also tried to make level three questions, which was kind of hard for me. My partner helped me though, and I think the question came out pretty good.

   I learned a lot of things about the novel from working with my partner. We had slightly different views of the book. Madyson viewed the book like an adventure. I viewed it as kind of a mystery that could happen in the olden days. I never really thought of it as an adventure. It was an interesting thought, and it makes sense. I saw how my partner interpreted the book by how she answered the question. I understood the plot better, and made the story more interesting. Instead of trying to solve the mystery of Captain Jaggery, the ship, and the crew, it also became Charlotte's adventure on a ship, where she finds a lot of new knowledge, as how to sail a ship and parts of a ship.


   We did our literature circles by collaborating constructively with our partners. We learned how to work well and improve our answers. You were able to have a second opinion on your work before you submitted it. It was easier to get a better grade with it, since you didn't want to let your partners down. It was a really good experience and I enjoyed it a lot.

True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle: Literature Circle Reflection

  My literature circle group consisted of Aishah, Caomhie, Josephine, Madyson, Nick, and me. We read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. Everyone but Madyson had their literature circle paper, but she didn't have her's because her printer went out of ink! Even so, she still participated and contributed ideas to the discussion.

  Our discussion definitely helped me understand the book better. We all had different ideas and had different interpretations of the meaning of the book. Some of us inferred that Captain Jaggery was evil, but the rest of the group said, "Maybe Zachariah is the bad guy because he gave her the dirk to frame Charlotte when he committed a crime." I think that it wasn't very possible, but it still made sense. My group helped me think more about the characters and what was happening.

  A few of us had the same connections. Similar things had all happened to us, such as getting blamed for something we didn't do. Whenever someone shared their connection with the book, I think of a similar thing that had happened to me before. Then, we would talk about how our connections were similar with the book.

  Some of us predicted that Zachariah was probably evil and gave Charlotte the knife to frame her. They guessed that Zachariah was going to kill a crew member with the knife that he gave Charlotte then hide it under her bed again. The rest of us thought that Captain Jaggery was evil because the porter showed a negative feeling toward Captain Jaggery. We also thought that was why Zachariah gave her the knife; to protect herself from Captain Jaggery. We also suspected Mr. Keetch, who said that he put on a show to try to get Charlotte off, so the other crew members wouldn't notice. I guessed that he was a spy.

  I think that having the discussions helped me understand the book and the plot better. We all had different ideas to what could happen. Even though I dislike filling in the discussion sheet, I believe that it is worth it after our literature circle group discussion. The discussions are always interesting, no matter what the book is. Before for Call it Courage, we only had 4 people to talk about the book. For The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, my group had six people, including me. That gave us more ideas to talk about. It is fun hearing other group member's thoughts and telling your own.  I certainly can't wait for our next group discussion!