My Learning Profile

     On the 12th of January we learned about learning profiles. We learned that everyone has not only a dominent brain but also a dominent eye, ear, hand, and foot. People with a dominant right brain are gestalt and people with a dominant left brain are logical. As I thought, I was left brain dominant. Everything else is right dominant which makes me profile A. This means that when I am stressed, my eye, ear, hand and foot still all work. It also means that I have difficulty seeing the big picture and that I focus on the details.

     Being a profile A means that I should sit on the left side of the room so that I can access my right ear easily. I know that I am right ear dominant because we did a test in class. For me, when I pick up the phone, I would usually bring it up to my right ear. Another test we did was that imagine that someone is talking on the other side of the door. You want to know what they are saying so you go up to the door and put your ear on it. When I acted that out, I put my right ear on the door confirming that I am right ear dominant. It is important that I can access my right ear easily because it means that I can hear the teacher better. I also learn best when I focus on the details. I process by analysis, verbalization and writing. Being a profile A also means that I like and have the ability to follow step-by-step visual and auditory instructions. I learn best from oral and written communication. This means that I am not very creative or emotional. I think that is very true because I like to follow instructions. I also like it when there is only one correct answer. Because I am a visual and auditory learner, this can mean that I might find it hard to excel at physical education. 

     I should be encouraged to understand information from a whole perspective. I should also allow time for my ideas to generate. I need to learn how to not always ignore and dismiss my ideas to quickly. This happens to me very frequently especially in humanities. When we are have to write a story but not told what to write about, I get ideas but most of them I would ignore. This would make what I write about less creative and in other words, more boring. I also need to trust my instincts more. Sometimes, my movements would be planned. This means that I don't like to improvise because I would have to trust my instincts. To help me trust my instincts, I could try to draw blindfolded because I would not be able to see what I was drawing in result forcing me to follow my instincts.

Strategies that would help me learn include trying freeform painting and writing poems that don't rhyme. Freeform painting would help me because it would help me to trust my instincts and to use my imagination. In freeform painting, there are no rules and your results can never be wrong. Freeform painting also allows me to show my emotion through the artwork. For example, if I was sad then I might paint using black, grey, and brown but if I was happy, I would use bright colors like yellow and green. Freeform painting will help me be more creative and show my emotions more and this would help me to write better stories in humanities. Writing poems that don't rhyme can also help me a lot. It will help me to be more imaginative and it will improve my writing. It will help me to be more imaginative because there are no rules and I could write about anything. Even if it doesn't make sense to others, it is okay. This means that I can use a lot of imagination. By writing poems, I am also improving my writing because I am practicing my writing skills and practice make perfect.

     I would like my teachers to know that though I am suppose to try to use my imagination more, I do not like to be imaginative or creative. I like it when I have specific instructions to follow. Though I like to have instructions, the thing that I dislike the most is when teachers give instructions that are not clear. It is annoying because you know that they want you to do something in a specific way but you don't exactly understand what they want you to do. Another thing that I would like teachers, especially Mr. Smith and Ms. Thomson to know is that I don't like to perform what to the class. I don't like to because I am always not sure if what I was doing correct or not. I also don't like it because I think it is embarrassing when you make a mistake.

Graphic Citation:

http://qwickstep.com/search/learning-brain.html

http://www.sacredheartsns.net/poetry/

My Resolutions and Winter Break

To start 2011, I have made two resolutions. Resolutions are like goals. It is important to have resolutions or goals because:

- It gives you direction to life

- It motivates you to do something good for yourself and others

- It helps you get what you want from life

- It saves time

- It reduces stress

- It gives you a sense of accomplishment when you achieve your goal

My resolutions:

My first resolution is to always try to do my best in everything. This is a really important resolution because by trying my best for everything, I can improve my grades. Grades are very important because it can influence what you do. Your grade not only affects your future but also your self-esteem. If you always get failing grades, you might keep thinking that you are stupid and dumb. When you think negative thoughts, negative things are most likely to happen to you. If I always try to do my best, I can avoid having little self-esteem and be proud of myself. By trying to do my best in everything also allows me to be a happier person. It will make me a happier person because I will have nothing to regret if I fail to do something. I believe that it is always the effort that counts, not the success.

My second resolution is to try to have a better attitude towards everything. This is an important resolution because it will help me to have more friends, be happier, and more successful. My dad always tells me that what you do is only one half of success. The other half is your attitude. No one likes a grumpy or mean person. If I have to good attitude towards everything, it will also help me to think positively. When you think positively, it means that you are thinking on the bright side. It is important to think on the bright side because it will help you to accept new things easier. It will also help you to be an easy-going person. Being an easy-going person makes others like you more.

My two resolutions for 2011 will help me to become a better person to others and myself.

The most exiting part of my winter break would be when my family and I had a party on the 24th until the 26th. This party was special because it was not only to celebrate Christmas but also my sister's birthday (which is on Christmas day). To celebrate, my parents rented a chalet and invited all of our five aunts, five uncles, and fourteen cousins to come and stay over for three days and two nights. The first few hours of the party were not very fun because all we did was unpack and talk. During the night, we had a barbecue. There was tons of food and everyone was happy. Towards the end of the barbecue, my parents brought a cake for my sister. We sang Happy Birthday and then came the fun part. We toke the whip cream of our pieces of cake and smeared it all over my sister's face! Later, my sisters and I went back into the chalet where my cousins, Justina and Felicia, taught us how to play a fun card game based on strategy. The card game was called DEAL and it was made to be like Monopoly. It is really popular in Singapore right now. My cousins, sisters, and I played that game until one in the morning.

On the next day after we ate breakfast, we all went to play bowling. We played two separate games, one for the good players and one for the okay players. Everyone played two games in total. One was just a trial and the other was a competition but you don't win anything. I played with the okay group and for the first game, my sister, Melissa, won. But on the second game, Flora and I tied for first place. In the night, we had a barbecue again. This time, some people had left so it was not as crowded as it was the last night. When nearly everyone was in the chalet, Melissa and I came out to help with the barbecue. My parents let us tend the fire. When we got tired, we went back into the chalet and played a few rounds of DEAL with our cousins. When I woke up next morning, I found that all of my relatives were gone. They had all waken up early to go to church. My family and I packed up, checked out of the chalet, and drove back to Malaysia.

Graphic Citation:

http://ebuzz24.blogspot.com/2010/12/happy-new-year-2011-clip-art.html

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/winter-break-color.html

http://thewondersofdoing.blogspot.com/2010_04_04_archive.html

http://www.sherv.net/newyear-emoticons.html

Zeitgeist

Above is my zeitgeist for the first semester of sixth grade (August 3- December 17). The zeitgeist shows how I felt during the semester. I hope you enjoy!

Collaborating Constructively in Literature Circles with a Twist

For literature circles with a twist, instead of filling out the discussion sheet by ourselves, we had to work with a partner. To do this, we had to collaborate constructively. My partner and I both had to pick on passage and write about why we picked it, think of one question, do one response to the question, one connection, and one vocabulary.

What are the benefits of working with a classmate?

There were a lot of benefits from working with a classmate. One of them was that you didn't have to do as much work. When you work with a partner, you only have to do half the amount of work. Before we started working with a classmate for literature circles, we all had to do two of everything. Now all we have to do is one of everything, which is much easier. This is very helpful because you can spend more time editing your work. Another of the benefits of working with a partner is that you get a lot of helpful feedback. This can help us get a higher grade. For example, when my partner read my passage and noticed a few grammar mistakes. With her help, I fixed them. If I hadn't fixed my mistakes, I would have gotten points of from them, giving me a lower grade. The last benefit of working with a classmate is that it makes you do your work on time. It makes you do your work on time because if you don't, your partner would remind you at school. It is good to have someone to remind you to do your work because sometimes to forget and have to rush to do it at the last minute. Having someone to work with you is really helpful because they help to improve your grade.

What are some of the challenges and obstacles which you overcame or tried to overcome?

There were a few challenges that I had to overcome on the way. One of them was my question. I find it really hard to think of a level three question. At first, my question was only at level two. To get it a little higher to a level three, instead of asking my partner (she wasn't online at that time), I asked my sister instead. She helped me by giving me feedback. Another challenge that I faced was that my partner didn't do her work according to the recommended daily workload. I got worried that she had forgot to do her part and told her to do it the next day. Though my partner started doing filling in her part on the discussion sheet on Friday, she still did a really good job.

What are some of the new understandings that you gained about the novel?

There are many new things that I learned that helped me understand the novel better. But all the new information that I learned was not from working with a partner. This was because my partner and I both think from the same view. One of the things that I learned was that Captain Jaggery is a murderer. The captain killed Cranick by shouting him with a pistol. This was very surprising to me because I thought that Captain Jaggery was a gentleman and a gentleman would never do that. Even though it was surprising to me that the captain is a murderer, it fits right into place and I finally know the answer to the mystery of who is the "bad guy." Another thing that I learned is how brave Charlotte is. Charlotte had whipped Captain Jaggery on accident and got him really angry. Though she knew that she had made the captain really angry, Charlotte still managed to find the courage to go and apologize to him. This is really brave of Charlotte because she knows that Captain Jaggery is a murderer and could murder her at any moment. I have learned a lot of things that have helped me understand the book much better.

Collaborating constructively really helped me to improve in filling out the discussion sheets. Learning to work together is very important because by working together, it makes your job easier and better.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle Discussion Reflection #1

In humanities, I am reading the book The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi for literature circles. In literature circles discussions, my group and I have to share the passages that we picked and why we picked it, our questions and answers, our connections to the book and some new vocabulary that we learned. This is my reflection for our first literature circles discussion for The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.

How did your discussion help your understanding of the novel?

My discussion helped me understand the book better because my group made me think about the book from a different view. My group members and I all have very different personalities and that causes what point of view we think from to be different. Before the discussion, I thought that Captain Jaggery was the "bad guy" in the book. After the discussion, my group members gave me a few more possibilities. The discussions also help me understand the book better because if I have any questions, I can ask my group during the discussion. The last way that the discussion helped me to understand the book better is because during discussion when we share our questions, it makes me think deeper into the book to try and answer my groups questions. That makes me realize some things about the characters that I never realized before.

What connections did you make during your discussion?

My group and I made a lot of connections during our discussion. Some of them were when we were sharing our passages. A lot of the passages and why we choose them were the same. We also made a lot of connections when we were sharing our connections to the book. Sometimes when another person is sharing their connection, it reminds me of something similar that happened to me before. The last connections that we made was that we all thought that the book was interesting to read.

What do you predict will happen in the book?

I predict that there is someone on the ship that wants to harm Charlotte. I think that it might be the Captain, Zachariah, or Mr. Keetch. Charlotte is in danger. I also think that in the next few chapters, Charlotte would start to feel lonely and start to become friends with the crew. I think that because the only people on the ship with Charlotte are the crew and the captain. Charlotte likes the captain because he is a gentleman but he is also very busy and does not have much time to sit and talk to Charlotte. The only other people that Charlotte can talk to is the crew. I think that at first, Charlotte would try to avoid the crew but soon get too lonely and start talking to them. When she talks to them, they would slowly start becoming friends. 

Even though I find it hard to fill in the discussion sheet, I think that it is worth the time. The discussions help me understand the book much better in many different ways. I also think that the discussions are fun. In my opinion, they are the best part of literature circles.

Graphic Citations:

http://boughanfire.com/2009/09/book-review-true-confessions-of-charlotte-doyle/