City Connection Reflection

In humanities class, we worked on a project about a city we've lived in, which we presented on a PowerPoint slide-show. I think the things that I did good on this PowerPoint was that I didn't include too much text in my slides. Instead, I memorized all the information and spoke it to the audience. If I put all the information on the PowerPoint, it would be hard for the audience to read. Also, there wouldn't be any point in presenting the PowerPoint, because the audience could also just read from the screen.

I think the things that I need to improve in my future presentations are to make sure I don't get too excited or worried about presenting because when I am, I tend to speak fast and sometimes forget what I have to say. Or sometimes, I gradually speed up towards the end of the presentation and mix some words up. Mostly when that happens, I find myself doing a tongue twister of my PowerPoint to the audiences!!

Coming to think about how much I have met the course expectations.....well, to tell the truth, I did try my best to do it. In the statistical information slide, it had the word resources in it, which I did not understand. I included the rest of the others, and added the climate for my city. Especially in this presentation, I think that I didn't meet the expectations for historical factors. This is because I only had one historical factor for my city, but went deep into that factor and added interesting information. I think that I should have got at least 3 historical factors to meet the expectations.

Personally, I think that I didn't do too bad on this project. I had at least a picture for each slide, except for the statistical information and bibliography slides. I didn't put so much information on the slides, but instead presented everything to the audience, so that it catches there attention a little bit. I also threw in interesting information to keep the audience awake at all times. The only thing I wasn't sure about how good I did was the volume of my voice during the presentation. I wasn't sure if the people at the back could hear me clearly, but I guess they could because some of people sitting at the back gave me comments (not about the volume!!!)

Normally, the rubric would be most helpful resource for me in whatever assignment I do. But in this case, the rubric did help, but not as much as the "B" example from last year. I looked at the rubric, and at the example, but spent more time with the example than the rubric because it tended to give me a clearer vision of what my presentation should look like. It helped me to understand what historical factors are and while doing that, I thought of ways to make mine better than the example, so I could get an "A". Really, what struck in the beginning was the level of expectation for this assignment. I thought that the example might as well be an "A-". But, I took that into consideration and tried my best to make mine an "A".

My Learning Profile

In humanities class, we have been figuring out our learning profile. We did it by finding out our dominant hand, foot, eye, ear, and brain hemisphere. I ended up with the profile "K", which is Gestalt Dominant. 


I learn best when I am relaxed. When I am stressed, I would not be able to focus on things going on around me. I would only be able to think of the thing that worries me. I normally need to spend quiet time alone to cool and regather myself. I also try to do something that I really like, such as listening to songs I like, would also help me. Sometimes I think logically, and sometimes, I use my gestalt hemisphere. When I don't understand something, most of the times examples would help me. Sometimes, I just need explanations in words. 


I need to manage my time more wisely both in class and at home. I can sometimes go off task easily, and realize that I was wasting my time later. Or sometimes I spend too much time on one subject, and end up having to rush on the other things. Sometimes I expect good grades, so that's why I put so much effort on one thing while I forget about the time.


A strategy that would help me is that at home while do school homework, "private" homework that my mom gives me to do daily, and my chores (but I don't get pocket money for doing that; I just have to do it), I should set a timer, and try to finish it within that time. Another strategy would be to right a note in planner (in big and bold) about the work assigned and the due date, and then in my calender set up a routine. If it's a project, then I would break up the work into parts and do one or two parts per day, so that at the due date, everything is ready to turn in.


The thing that I want my teachers to know about me is that if you look over what I have written so far in this blogpost, it doesn't seem that I am a gestalt learner as what my profile said so. I tend to put everything in order, and I like to organize everything I do. To tell the truth, I don't really agree with the profile I ended up with. When I took the booklet home to review with my mom, she also didn't agree with my profile. So we used the chart on page 20 to figure out which hemisphere was my dominant one. I found out that I was more logic than gestalt. Here are some examples.

1. I usually process from pieces to whole, not whole to pieces.
2. I like to do everything exact - exact numbers, not estimation.
3. I am planned and structured, not spontaneous, fluid.
4. I think logically, I don't estimate so much.
5. When I'm under stress, I tend to try harder, and still able to control my emotions.

Anyway, this doesn't mean that I am completely logical. I also have gestalt ways, for example:

1. When figuring something out, I look for similarities, not differences.
2. I am both future oriented and now oriented. (Both logic and gestalt)
3. I am both structured oriented, and people oriented. (Both logic and gestalt)
4. I have trouble expressing and cannot remember details when under stress.

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year Everyone!!! I've never thought of New Year's Resolutions until the past two years. I remember that my first New Year Resolution in my life was a really weird one....but I can't remember what it was. Anyway, my New Year's Resolution for 2011 is to enjoy studying, and get determined. My second resolution for the year is to start organizing my time more wisely. This resolution is important because as I've told you in my first blog post, I am a slow worker. I know that 7th and 8th grade is going to be tougher so now I have to start preparing myself for that by organizing my time more efficiently.

During the winter break, I went back to my home country, Thailand. Just before Christmas, my uncle and aunt brought my cousins, brother, and I to a restaurant named Hajime, the robot restaurant. The price was 60RM per adult, and 30RM per child. Customers order through a touchscreen at their table and robots come and serve the food. But they can order everything they want within 2 hours and 45 minutes. Well, we ordered, and everything came quick, and yummy. After finishing what we ordered, we wanted some more. So, we ordered the second time, and waited for a long time, and it still didn't arrive. We thought that what we ordered didn't reach the robot, so we pressed the same thing again, and again. After another half an hour of waiting, the robot came. It carried ten trays, five stacked up on one side, and five on the other. Then the robot came again, with ten more trays, and then came the third time with ten more trays. So there we had on our table, 30 trays of food.

 We gave about 10 trays back to the waiters, so we had 20 left. We had 6 people, and 20 trays of food. After the six of us shoved in 10 trays of food, my aunt, younger cousin, and I went to the toilet. We had to clear our stomachs before shoving another lot in. Then, when we went back to our table, the rest of the people at the table said that we were so unlucky - the robots just finished dancing Spiderman and "Nobody" by the Wonder Girls as well. Argh!!!! Anyway, we each ate one more tray, leaving us with four more trays to clear. Since no one else's stomach had space for the food, my brother decided to finish it all. In total, he ate about 7 - 8 trays of food (not including the rice!!!!) I had no idea how he managed all that, and actually, no one did, not even he himself!! What an experience!



My talents lean towards the arts. I like art, no matter what kind - crafts work, painting, drawing, sculpting, mixed media in art, music, etc. People say that I'm good at arts, but I think that I'm especially good at crafts work and music. I know how to knit and sew, and I play the piano and violin. I also play a Chinese instrument named erhu. Now my mother wants me to start on a Thai instrument, called the sor duang, but I prefer another instrument named Kim better. I was also trained as a swimmer for about 6 - 7 years already. The best thing I like in swimming is competitions. You have the opportunity to get medals in competitions, and on competition days, you don't need to train as hard as normal times. The only bad thing is the training on competition days are in the morning, when the weather is cold along with the pool and you have to wake up early as well.

Collaborating Constructively in Literature Circles

One of the benefits in working with a partner is that each one can help the other get along, explain, or make comments so that we do better on the Literature Circles. If one person comes up with a level two question, then their partner can comment and both of them can work on it and improve the question so it becomes a level three question. Another benefit is that we can get the assignment done in less time, or with the same amount of time, come up with a higher level quality of work.
However, on the other hand, working with a partner might cause some problem, or disagreement between each other. One of the problems that I had was that I didn't agree with everything that my partner thought, and also, we kept on coming up with the same ideas. For example, when we wrote our connections, we both came up with the idea that we didn't think Zachariah would die of just 50 whips. Another problem was that we had to wait for one another, so that we can go over the document and improve it. That means that we need to make an appointment so that both of us are online at the same time, and to do that, both of us have to be free at the same time. For this, we might have to spare some of our own time as well.One of the new understandings I learnt was exactly how cruel and unreasonable Captain Jaggery could be to such innocent people. I also learnt more about Charlotte's personality. I learnt that she was a very brave young lady who doesn't care about the bad things people would say when they knew she had joined the crew. As long as she is not doing any harm or wrong to anybody, and that what she is doing is right, she would go for it. And as soon as she had stepped forward, there was no turning back.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle

Group discussions really did help me understand this novel better. This is because every time I go to discussions, each person in the group would have questions and thoughts about the book. As we share our ideas, we get deeper and deeper into trying understand the author and the novel. I think that is is actually why we have Literature Circles and group discussions-to help each other to learn. Some of the subjects we talked about were why Zachariah was the one who was treated quite badly compared to the rest of the crew, especially when he was chosen by the captain, a white, to be beaten up. This could be a reason for the captain to have done that. I think that this is important because it is one of the conflicts that would have an effect in the story. We came up with an answer that during those times, racism was still a big issue. In the first group discussion, we also made predictions of who was the good and the bad in the novel, and what would happen next in the story.
Some of the connections I made during the group discussions were actually connections within the story. One of them were about when Charlotte overheard some sailors that were in the forecastle. A brief summary of what she heard is that these men didn't want her on board the Seahawk. I connected it with an event that happened early in the story when Charlotte first set foot on the ship. One of the sailors, Barlow, came to her cabin and told her that she wasn't supposed to be on this ship. I thought about the his purpose-keep Charlotte off the ship. I also thought about Barlow's role in the forecastle and the issue of the round robin. The other connection was just about when I traveled to Japan and also went on ships.


My predictions for the rest of the novel would be rather a happy ending. I think that Captain Jaggery might die eventually. Maybe the hurricane would put his life to an end, or he might die of killing another member of the crew-the crew might judge him and take over his place. Also, another prediction is after this voyage has ended, I think somehow Charlotte will find another opportunity to sail with "her" crew again. My last prediction is that Charlotte's father and mother might be quite angry with her since she did so many 'unlady-like' things.

Symmetrical Objects

This is an image of my glasses. It has one line of symmetry, that is located in the middle of the picture, from top to bottom. This line of symmetry cuts through the bridge.

Cute Miniature Kuala Lumpur!!

One of the most funniest times I've had as a memory wasn't too long ago. It was only one year ago, when I first arrived in Kuala Lumpur, where I am living now. Before I came here, I lived in Miri, Sarawak. Miri was the second best place I have ever lived in. We lived in a house, which was about a ten minutes walk away from school. We were a member of 'Piasau Boat Club (PBC)'. It offered us sailboats, powerboats, diving lessons, kayaks, fitness center, tennis, fishing, wind surfing, duathlon/triathlon, parties, kid's playground, restaurants, pub and bar, etc. Everything was free, apart from the member fee (RM 65 per month) and the restaurant fees. My whole family was very sad when we had to leave Miri. On the day we had to travel to KL, we set off on the plane, and I secretly cried too!


When we arrived in Kuala Lumpur, I had to stay in a temporary place first. I was shocked when I saw my condo. The kitchen of our house in Miri was as big as the master bedroom here, the master bedroom in Miri was as big as the living room in KL, and everything was nearly 10 times smaller than before. We started to wonder of how we are going to survive in this 'miniature' condo. Later, I found out that all of the houses were about this size, or some, even smaller! During the first month, we learned that KL was completely the opposite of  Miri. We discovered the 'syruped food', the amazingly confusing road signs, all the bumps on the road, the terrible traffic jam, sirens, and most important of all, we don't have anything to do.


You might be wondering why this is funny. I'll tell you why. First of all, it's the city of unexpected events. Second, I can assure that we always hear the siren every single day, without an exception. Third, we find police in the middle of intersections everywhere, which is not a bad thing, but instead of reducing the jam, the police makes everything worse. In the end, cars from all distances get stuck, and the police don't know what to do after that.


One of the most important things I learned was that I would never live in a condo again, and probably not come back to KL again after this (and I think I mean it....)!! But the thing I'm sure about is that I like ISKL, and Mrs. Reiser and Ms. Nadaraj are two of the many favorite teachers I've had!!!