Yoko’s Blog

Reflective Journal

For this unit on poetry, I wrote many poems in class and at home for my poetry book and for the poetry night that composed me to reach some of the ESLRs. Most of the people, when we had to write loads of poems, whined while some people were interested. I was one of the people who were whining when I had to write many poems, because I hate writing poems and I thought they were very hard. However, when we reached the end of this poetry unit, I started to like writing poems, because they are easy and enjoyable to write. It seems like I was misunderstanding poems. At the end of this unit we had the poetry night, which we brought in our own, hand-made poetry books and teachers and parents and the students all gathered and read those books.

When we had the class discussions (writing poems in class), I felt I was an Effective Communicator by demonstrating creative talents to convey ideas. In my own words, this means that I had demonstrated my unique talents to convey my ideas. I did this by writing uniquely and asking people whether my poems make sense or not. Effective Communicator is similar to Involved Citizens, because they both are similar in the way that we work together as a group. I didn’t collaborate with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goals, because I was more likely a Self-Directed Learner, who works by one’s self. If I had done that, I would ask for some help and improve on writing poems. I would write longer and much better poems for the poetry book project, and I could have read for the Poetry Night. I also didn’t talk much with my classmates about thoughts of my poems. I didn’t talk that much about my opinions or loud enough when I present my poems. I struggled to do these things when I’m supposed to, because I’m not used to speak during the class. In conclusion, I think I did pretty well being an Effective Communicator. Overall, I would give myself a C- as a bit below the average.

I felt I was a Critical Thinker while creating my poetry book project by gathering, analyzing and processing information from variety of strategies. This means that I gathered and evaluated information through selections of methods. To prove that I had done this, I used what I had learned from the class and used the internet to look for some examples of poems. For the project, I tried my best to make my book attractive by making a hand-made book. For the project, I sort of did it till last minute, because my printer was broken, and I had to use the school library’s printer to print all of my poems. I didn’t use problem solving skills to do my work. If I had done that, I would gain more knowledge of doing this poetry book project. I also would understood better on what I’m expected to do. Overall, I would give myself a C for being a Critical Thinker, because I didn’t meet most of the achievements for being a Critical Thinker, but I would try to do better to give myself an A next time. So, in order to reach this goal, I will try to meet more achievements for being a Critical Thinker.

While I was writing poems, I believe I was a Self-Directed Learner by identifying learning strategies. In my own words, this means that I had discovered some needs and found ways of doing learning strategies. Everyone has their own learning strategies, and I found myself that I need some helps and found different ways of learning styles. I did this by writing my poem with a thesaurus and a dictionary, because I rarely use them while I write poems. I tried to look for words that I didn’t know by using the thesaurus, because I was repeating the same word over and over. I tried something new for writing poems, such as using a lot of metaphors, similes, and personifications, because I rarely use them. I have a feeling that Self-Directed Learner is similar to Critical Thinker, especially when they both monitor and adjust work. I feel like I didn’t do that much of untried ideas. If I had done more untried ideas, I may find more new things and learn new ways of writing. I would give myself an A, because I almost accomplished everything for Self-Directed Learner.

I felt I was an Involved Citizen while we were presenting some poems to our own classmates as a practice for the Poetry Night. I did this by interacting respectfully with people of diverse cultures. In my own words, this means you don’t talk over them and you talk with other people with different cultures and religions. This also includes respecting each other and not talking bad about their culture, but appreciating it. I did this by giving opinions and suggestions to other people and help give ideas outside the class and outside the school. Although I was quiet most of the time during the class, I still tried to give ideas to my friends, and they too, helped me back. I did almost everything, but I would try to get more involved next time. I think I would have a B+ because I did almost everything but I need a bit of an extra word in order to be an Involved Citizen.

While I was doing the project, I thought I was an Academic Achiever by demonstrating technological literacy and use of technology as a tool for efficient and creative completion of a project. This means, using creative project by using technology and other varieties. I did this by decorating and making my book look special using the computer to have a good font for each poem, looking for pictures that express poems. I believe Academic Achiever is similar to Self-Directed learner. They both have a similarity in having both their needs and maintaining the high standards. As an Academic Achiever, I didn’t really work on collaborating; I should focus on working with the whole class so that I can share my ideas and opinions often rater than just being quiet as usual and not helping the situation. Overall, I would grade myself a B, because I did everything, except collaborating with others.

At the end of this poetry unit, we had a Poetry Night. We had to present one of the poems we had written in front of the audience (our class mates, teachers, and to parents). It seems interesting; however, I was very nervous when I had to read my poem, because I thought that everyone else’s poem was very good, that I was impressed with them. I read my street poem, which is about a street on the rainy day.

For the whole thing, I would grade myself a B+ because most of the time, I did the ESLRs but I just need additional effort and helps to be a better poet.

This article is about why smokers find it so hard to stop smoking, which was referred from BBC News, dated February 24, 2007. The researcher from the National Institute on Drug Abuse used some samples of human brain tissue from the people who had smoked until their deaths, people who had smoked for up to 25 years before their death, and the brain tissue from the non-smokers. They found out that the smokers are found to have higher levels of typical enzymes in a part of their brain, which almost all illicit drugs act upon, than the non-smokers. The researchers are still working on why the smokers can’t stop smoking once they started, but I think that they will find out soon. I thought that this article might affect the world, because a lot of people get cancers and die by smoking. So, if the researchers find out why smokers found it hard to stop smoking, I think that the rate of people dieing each year (from smoking), might decrease. Also, this can stop people from smoking, and might find a way to stop people from taking drugs. If you want to see the original article, click here.

Step 1:

The Aztecs originally lived in a place called Atzlan, which was located somewhere in the north west of Mexico. However, the god Huitzilopochtli told a guy named Tenoch, to find an eagle perched on a cactus, and they ended up to a swampy island in the middle of the lake called, the Lake Texcoco.

Step 2:

The pro of settling in the middle of a lake is that the Aztecs were able to grow crops all year.
The cons of settling in the middle of a lake are that the people were poor, ragged people who ate rats, snakes, and they stole food. Also, they only had a small piece of land, surrounded by the marshes.

Step 3:

The gods that the Aztecs worshiped are: Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, Chalchiuhtlicue, Huitzilopochtli, and Xipe-Totec. The purposes of the pyramids were to do the sacrifices to the gods.

Step 4:

The members of Aztec society are slaves, commoners, and nobility. The role of the slaves: Usually the children could be sold for a certain time period.
The role of the commoners: Resident farmers, who can use the land, but never own it.
The role of the nobility: People who were considered to be the most respected in the Aztec society.

Step 5:

The language, which the Aztecs used is called, Nahuatl. Through writing, they also used pictographs to communicate. The pictures symbolized ideas and sounds of the syllables.

Step 6:

The Aztecs used a slash and burn method of farming, like the Olmecs. The main crops are corns, chili peppers, squash, tomatoes, and beans. They traded masks, jewelries, sumptuary items, such as beads, cetros, etc. They didn’t have money.
Step 7:

Step 8:

If my parents told me to pack up things I would need to escape, I would first question myself what is important to me. I know that everything in my room is important, but if I can bring only few of them, I have to decide what to bring.

The first thing that I would bring with me is my note books. I really love drawing something in my note books and in my planner. I always draw, whenever I have a free time, like Anne writing her diaries, so I don’t think that I can’t live without them, and if people forced me to stop drawing, I feel like my life is ruined, and I feel like there isn’t any hope to live.

Next, I would bring my computer, so that I still can keep in touch with my friends even if we are living far apart, and I can find out what’s going on, even if there isn’t a TV.

Then, I would take my iPod and my CDs, so that I can listen to music. Besides, my father bought the iPod for me, and I take good care of it, and I always carry it around with me. I enjoy drawing, while I am listening to music. I can’t live without music too, so if there isn’t any music, I would feel doomed.

I also would bring books and my math textbooks, so that I still can study. Math is one of my favorite subjects, so I would definitely bring them.

In my English class, I read a book called Lord of the Flies, and I think that I accomplished some ESLRs by reading this interesting book. This book was quite a long and detailed book, but I enjoyed it so much. I made a project about this book after I finished reading it. I played some music to represent the main characters of this book to my classmates and to my teacher, Mr. R.

I was a self-directed learner by doing this work. Self-directed learner is a person, who works very hard, accepts responsibilities for their work, using their own strategy of learning, and sets goals for oneself. I accepted responsibility of creating my project by reading the books and using my notes from classes. In addition, this work helped me to be an effective communicator, because I asked some people about whether my choices of music were excellent or not. I did well, being a self-directed learner, but I could have finished making another project, so that I could have got a higher grade on it. In addition, I feel proud of myself for taking a risk by presenting this project differently than I do regularly. I was the only girl in my class, who decided to choose exciting music to make a good theme song for the movie version of Lord of the Flies and the main characters of it. This helped me be a critical thinker, because I used variety of sources from my CDs to do this project.

I was an effective communicator by finishing this project. Effective communicator is a person, who interacts with others, listens to the others respectfully, and asks lots of questions. While I was completing this project, I had a hard time selecting music. In order to solve this problem, I asked my friends for ideas, and I tried to listen respectfully about their opinions. I also asked their opinions about my choice of music that whether they are good theme songs or not. By some helps from my friends, I was able to get some ideas efficiently. If I didn’t ask for help, I wouldn’t be able to get ideas, and complete the project. Also, I think I was an academic achiever, because I demonstrated the ability to work independently and collaboratively while I was working on the project. Academic achiever is a person, who uses information from many sources, is able to work independently and collaboratively, and adjusts their work to keep high standards.

The ESLR, which I couldn’t achieve, was involved citizen. Involved citizen is a person, who takes good care of the environment, takes responsibility when making decisions, works hard to improve the lives of other people, shows sensibility and honor for the right, and interacts respectfully with others. I couldn’t accomplish any of these, because I don’t think that this ESLR is needed in this work. So next time, I will try to be an involved citizen by thinking about the environment and trying to improve the lives of other people.

I was a critical thinker while I was doing this project. Critical thinker is a person, who tries to solve a problem by using variety of sources and methods, and evaluating and using sources effectively for problem solving. I tried to solve my own problem, while I was doing this project. For example, when I got stuck, I tried to solve the problem by thinking hard and analyzing information from a variety of sources. By solving this problem, I became a self-directed learner, because I accepted my responsibility. In conclusion, I wasn’t an involved citizen and I wasn’t a good critical thinker. So next time, I will try to be an involved citizen and a critical thinker too, by accomplishing the characteristics of these two ESLRs.

Overall, I was a self-directed learner, an effective communicator, and an academic achiever by doing a project on Lord of the Flies. Although I received a low project grade on this, I am proud of myself for completing my project in a different way than I do regularly. I feel regret that I should do two projects instead of one, so that I could receive a higher grade. Next time, I will try to achieve more ESLRs by working harder and trying to achieve more of the characteristics of the ESLRs.

According to a dictionary, the word “courage” means the quality of being brave. In my own words, courage is an ability to face something that you think is dangerous, difficult, or painful. For example, you use your courage to say no, or to say your opinion to your friends, even if they think that you are crazy or something. Or you use courage when there is something you might not be able to do, and you just try doing it anyway. In my opinion, I think that courage makes people feel good about their self, because even if you couldn’t do something, and you were afraid to do it, you tried your best. Also, when you want to say your opinion, you might feel that it is wrong, but you still might say it. For me, I don’t think that there is right or wrong opinion, because people think differently, so for example, if one person thinks that one’s idea is wrong, other people might say that it’s right. So if you want to say your idea, I think you muster you courage up, and say what you think. In conclusion, courage makes you overcome your weaknesses and you can experience something new to you.

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