How to get a high Excellence

12.06.19

What three pieces of advice would you give to someone aiming for high excellence in this exam? Bullet point these and post to your blog.

Tips for getting a high excellence in 1.3 unfamiliar texts exam:

• Personal voice- Making connections towards the text, and linking it to the world or to yourself.

• Appreciation for the text- Appreciating the text, looking more in-depth and what the author is trying to say. Gathering a deeper understanding of the text. 

• Look at the HOW and WHY it's not about the What. - Focus on why they used certain techniques and how they used it. What was the purpose of it?

• Make links to your personal experiences- More real, more authentic.

• Talk about the EFFECT of language features. -  How does the author use language features purposely to cause a reaction of the readers? The Purpose.

• Author's Purpose- Think about the effect and the purpose. What was the author trying to do using different language features/choices? 

http://www.studyit.org.nz/subjects/english/english1/3/achievecriteria/

Read the Webpage above. In your blogs (same post), write a paragraph which summarises the difference between an Achieved, Merit and an Excellence exam paper. 

Achieved: To get an Achieved in your exam you must show understanding of significant aspects by close reading and using supporting evidence to back up your understanding in the unfamiliar texts.
For example, focusing on the text, not general knowledge.

Merit: To achieve a Merit you must show convincing understanding of significant aspects through close reading using supporting evidence. For example, understanding the purpose of the text (emotion, convey, emotion etc...).

Excellence: To achieve an Excellence you must show a perceptive understanding or the significant aspects making sure you show and understand the text with more insight. Do this by close reading, and using supporting evidence to back up your understanding of the unfamiliar texts. For example, making connections to the text itself, between the features of content, style and language.

Art Inspiration

04.03.19 

My Work:
Recently I have chosen three artists by the name of Jerry Ueslmann, Man Ray and Bill Hammond. Currently, I am working on Jerry Ueslmann and incorporating similar ideas of his into my own artwork. It is a work in progress, and I am trying to add a touch of my own ideas as well as his. The pieces of art that I am going to create will be based on good and evil. There will be a lot of symbolic meanings behind it and views and perceptions of it will also be varied. Although it is going to be based on just good and evil it's not going to be that easy to tell what is going on and you'll have many perspectives of it. To make things stand out, in certain parts of my artwork I will use dark black, blue, or grey tones while adding brighter colours to one specific area/object so that it stands out.

Steps:
My next steps will be to make my artwork more detailed and more meaningful. To do this I will add extra details to objects and figures. To make it so that it is more meaningful, I am going to use things that could be sensitive to people e.g An angel could represent life and death, which could remind people of their loved ones etc... 

Artists 
Jerry Ueslmann
Man Ray 
Bill Hammond 

I, Robot

22.02.19

I, Robot reflection:

Did you enjoy the film? Why/Why not?
I enjoyed the film because it was something different to watch and they were thinking more into the future.

Who was your favourite and least favourite character and why?
My favourite character was Detective Spooner because he was the only one who knew something was up and was determined to figure it out even if no one believed him. My least favourite character was L.T John Bergin because no matter what Detective Spooner said he wouldn't believe him and that was really annoying.

What did you think of the ending?
I didn't really like the ending they could have added a better twist to it and I really wanted Detective Spooner to rub it in everybody's face that robots weren't good and couldn't be trusted.

What themes/messages/ideas do you think the director was trying to get across?
The director seems like he has a very creative mindset and thinks really forward into the future. Maybe he doesn't like the idea of the modern world advancing and us having robots do everything for humankind. The director could also be pointing out that in future if our modern society does advance majorly that it is possible that robots could evolve and potentially become dangerous.

Passion Projects

12.11.18
Climbing and Abseiling 


Gear: 

• Shoes with good grip Belay device Stuff they provide (Harness, Helmet) 
• Life insurance
•  Karabiners 
• Drink bottle
•  Rope 
• Lunch

 Skills: 

• Foot placement 
• Strength hand/eye coordination Endurance
•  Knot Tying
•  Wearing harness correctly 
• How to belay 

 Safety:

• Focused
• Multi-tasking 

How to put on a harness

Music Reflection

12.11.18

What did you perform?
Kashaye and I performed a duet on the piano and performed  Lovely by Billie Eilish.

Who did you do it with?
I performed my duet with Kashaye Une.

Why did you choose this song?
I chose this song because I really like the melody of it and it's a very nice song.

If you perform again what would change?
I wouldn't change anything because I was happy with the performance even though we hit like 2-3 wrong chords, but it's funny to look back on.


What has been your favourite project this year?
My favourite project was the horror composition that we created. It was my favourite because Kashaye and I had a lot of fun getting frights from our own piece of work. Although I was not able to perform the piece ith her, I had a lot of fun.ud

What have you found challenging about this year?
This year I found it challenging to overcome my fears of performing in a crowd. I'm really proud of myself because I don't have any nerves anymore and I'm keen to perform again.

What advice would you give to the year 10's of 2019?
Just do it. If you are passionate about music and you really enjoy learning new types of instruments or songs then you should do it. At first it's scary but after so many performances thoughs nerves fade away.

Goals for 2019
I'm just hoping to succeed in NCEA and make it through all of my exams. I also hope to fail at least once and learn from it cause it's a really good way of learning and improving.

Ratios

Ratios 

24.10.18

Last week my class and I learnt about Ratios. We were given problems to solve that were based on Ratios. During that week the whole class had to pair up and create a slideshow based on what ratios are.

So what are ratios?

• As we made our slideshow I found out that a ratio compares value.  A ratio explains and shows how much one thing is compared to another.
• To express ratios in words we use the ratio of one thing¨to¨ something else.

• Ratios can be used on drawings and maps to show a scale in relation to real life.

Example:

A bowl has 6 apples and 4 peers.

The ratio of apples to peers are 6:4

Where do we use them?

Ratios can be used during your usual grocery shopping, cooking and getting from place to place these are the most 3 common real-life situations.

Questions:

What questions do you still have about Ratios?

I don't actually have any questions about ratios, because I feel like I have a learnt enough about them and there's nothing that I think I still need to learn. I also don't know when there will be a time where I desperately need to use ratios because there are also other alternatives to things.

What were some of your strengths and weaknesses in this unit? What is your plan to improve in your areas of weakness? 

One of my weaknesses was not being able to fully understand what ratios really are. As we continued to learn more about them it became easier than before. My strengths were being able to persevere through my learning and not giving up on trying to understand this unit. To improve my weakness I just need to keep trying and keep pushing forward.

Social Studies ENE Reflections

 ENE 
Reflection
09.11.18

What went well today?
We manage to write down our scripts.

Is there anything you need help with? Who can help?
No we are fine.

What didn't go well today?
Everything went smoothly.

How will you improve in the next lesson?
We will try and present the best that we can.

07.11.18

What went well today?
Today we manage to fix a lot of things up and we disscused stuff for a very long time.

Is there anything you need help with? Who can help you?
Yeah the paragraphs. Our teacher.

What didn't go well today?
We took forever trying to understand one paragraph.

How will you improve next lesson?
Work faster and practice heaps.

02/11/18
What went well today? 
We managed to finish out decoration on the presentation to make it look more presentable.

Is there anything you need help with? Who can help you?
There is nothing we need help with.

What didn't go well today?
Everything went well for us.

How will you improve in the next lesson?
Keep doing what we are doing, working well as a group.

31/10/18 What went well today?
Today I enjoyed decorating the presentation and helping Lenora out.

Is there anything you need help with? Who can help you? 
I didn't need help today only Lenora did.

What didn't go well today?
Everything went smoothly so there was nothing that didn't go well.

How will you improve in the next lesson?
I say this all the time but its because I think we can still work harder and faster. So yeah just to work more efficiently.

29.10.18

What went well today?
Today was a very fun lesson I really enjoyed and things were smooth.

Is there anything you need help with? Who can help you?
I didn't need help with anything and if I did I probably would go to Lenora and Ofa.

What didn't go well today?
So today there was no problems at all, well atleast I think.

How will you improve in the next lesson?
Next lesson I am hoping to have the presentaion close enough to being finish and also make some modifications.

26.10.18

What went well today?
Today we manage to find a different way of presenting our work, which was good for us because no one else will be using this idea.

Is there anything you need help with? Who can help you?
I don't think we need any help with anything because there is three of us and we are pretty good.

What didn't go well today?
It was kind of hard when had done our presentation and were told to like come up with something different because we had spent time doing it. But eventually, we persevered and found something different.

How will you improve in the next lesson?
I think we have to work faster and possibly spend some time at home working on it cause we have to catch up on creating our presentation and just figuring out how we are going to make our pictures fit.

24.10.18

What went well today?
Today I actually enjoyed my lesson because everything was going smoothly. As we were looking at the map of Samoa and where the natural disaster occurred, we got to find out where Lenora comes from.

Is there anything you need help with? Who can help you?
I needed help with the mapping. I could not find exactly where the Tsunami hit but with the help of Lenora, I was able too.

What didn't go well today?
I don't think we got as much done as I'd like to but it's fine cause now I've just gotta play catch up.

How will you improve in the next lesson?
Hopefully, we are going to be working much more efficiently and make the most of our time. Other than that I am positive that we will complete it and have everything done on time.

19.10.18

What went well today? 
Well, today we basically finished everything and there wasn't much to do which worked smoothly.

Is there anything you need help with? Who can help you?
I didn't any help but I think Lenora did so I went and helped her out with her task.

What didn't go well today?
Not everyone was communicating well. Which I thought made it hard for me to work well.

How will you improve in the next lesson?
I am hoping that by the next lesson everyone is speaking with each other and communicating with each other properly.

17.10.18

What went well today? 
Today I enjoyed working with my group. We all took on different roles as well as helping each other out. Everything went really smooth. I had no trouble really.

Is there anything you need help with? Who can help you?
 I only needed help with my essay and luckily Ofa helped me.

What didn't go well today?
I think everything was actually fine etc... We didn't fight or argue and we were all on the same page as each other, which made things easier and I am very happy with the group I am with.

How will you improve in the next lesson?
I think the next lesson I am going to try to get a lot more work done and maybe even get ahead of the class and be really detailed in my writing, but also keeping the reader interested.