SML Reflection

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My topic for SML is learning American Sign Language I chose this topic because I have always wanted to learn a new language, ASL really appealed to me because it was so different, and would be able to open me up to a whole new different group of people, and surpass the language animals.

There are some parts of learning sign language that are more difficult, I am mostly struggling with memorization of all the different signs as well as learning the grammar rules of ASL. I am still in the process of overcoming these challenges as I still have a few misunderstandings about the ASL grammar as it is very different from english and I haven’t been able to memorize all the signs yet. However, I am proud that I have been able to learn so many new words and be able to spend so much time studying and not giving up even if some sections are hard.

In the beginning, I wanted to make i-phone cases however I soon realized that I didn’t have a real passion for making phone cases, plus I already did an SML project that involved arts and crafts. This year, I decided to pick ASL because I have always had a passion for learning languages and sign language has always been very interesting and appealed to me the most. 

I feel more creative when participating in SML because learning sign language is so new and it is something that I would never be able to do on a normal school day. Learning ASL has helped me see how different languages are and how so many people around the world perceive the world. 

In the beginning, I didn’t know anything about ASL, all I knew was that words were expressed using hand motions. Once I started actually studying ASL, I realized that it was very hard to memorize all the motions, and I also realized that the grammar in ASL was completely different. 

I learnt that as a learner, it is much easier for me to use visual aids instead of reading. The structure of SML does help me because SML gives me enough time and has a basic outline to guide me through learning a new language. The teachers and experts have helped a lot and have given me many tips on learning a new language such as using just a piece of paper and folding it into a useful tool to assist learning new vocabulary.

PBL Final Reflection

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1) VIA Strengths:

Which ones did you see yourself during PBL? How/Why?

– Perseverance

I saw myself persevering because even if there were times that our model failed, I came back up and tried again.  For example, our model’s mouth was always not right, either because, we cut too far, the hole wasn’t right, the angle wasn’t right etc.  However, after each failure I learnt from it and tried again then again until I succeeded.  I went through at least 4 plastic bottles.

– Hope

I saw myself having hope throughout the project because even if things weren’t going right or I couldn’t do something correctly, I still had hope in my heart knowing that I had to keep my head up and try again.  For example, my model’s large intestine didn’t function properly because there were no more pumps.  I was disappointed, however I didn’t just give up and have a bad attitude for the rest of the model, I just went through with it and kept my good attitude.

– Creativity

Throughout this model I had to have a lot of creativity, which I am not used to having.  I had to decide myself what I needed to use to create a working model, how I was going to do it and all the details.  For example, during the project we couldn’t figure out how to demonstrate the water absorption in the large intestine, however after thinking through it and going out of the box, we decided to cut through the whole tube and put sponges in.  Another example is when my teammate and I figured out that if we made the holes that we needed to stick tubes through slightly smaller that the tube itself, so that there is less space that we have to silicone, which means less space for human error.

Which one do you want to see yourself doing next time? How/Why?

– Bravery

I think I need more bravery because I need to take more risks with my model, I was slightly too conservative, and I feel like that I can still expand more on my model and it could’ve been better if I had just taken a risk.  For example, now that I think of it I think I should’ve tried adding teeth, even if it meant having the risk of breaking the mouth.

 

2) Why is collaboration & teamwork important in problem solving?

I think collaboration & teamwork are important parts in problem solving because when a certain person faces a situation, they will have solutions to the problem, and a different person will probably have a different solution.  When these two people come together with these two solutions and think about it together, point out each other’s flaws and good points, they can learn from each other.  In the end, they can compromise their ideas to create an even better solution.  Two minds are stronger than one, is a good saying, because if one mind doesn’t understand something, the other mind can come in and assist it, vice versa.  So overall, one mind can only extend so much in a certain way, like a brank only being able to grow in a direction.  With another branch, they can grow together and push each other in the right direction.

 

3)  Which video did you like most? Why?

The video I liked the most was the last video of teamwork and the three analogies of teamwork with the penguins, ants and the crabs.  The three species of animals all worked together to defeat that one big monster.  Alone as one, the monster could easily overtake a penguin and or a crab.  However, when they worked together they found a way to defeat the monster creatively.  Throughout the PBL model my teammate Mia and I were just like the animals, once there was a problem without model that we couldn’t overcome as one, we put out minds together and tried again.

The video:     🙂

 

A Letter to a Future Grade 6 Student

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Dear Future Grade 6 student,

Firstly, I wanted to say that 6th grade is actually very fun, and it is not that bad.  The best experiences that I have personally experienced in Grade 6 this year was mainly the science labs.  Not only are these labs very educational, but they are also very fun to do.  In one lab, we got to use different chemicals and mix them together.  That was very interesting because we never really get to use real chemicals on a daily basis and I find that very interesting.  Many people find these labs interesting too because once we got to dissect owl pellets.   In my opinion, the hardest subject would be doing Language Arts writing, because personally I don’t really have that much experience with writing, before I came to HKIS, so it was really hard to write a good essay.  However, writing may not be hard for anyone else, it is just my opinion.  There isn’t really any “non challenging” subjects because, basically everything has some kind of challenge within it.  Tips for success are probably to take notes during class, because that can be really helpful and to stay focused, because some things in math are confusing at first.    In all, 6th grade is pretty fun, however one thing I would change, is a little less homework because there are many who have extracurricular classes and it may be slightly stressing for those to have a lot of homework.  Other than that, I feel that there is nothing really to change.

 

Dear Next Year’s grade 7 Math & Science Teachers,

As for me, I think my best learning style is to use diagrams when doing science, because I am more of a visual thinker.  As for motivation, I am pretty self-motivated, so I think you can just tell me all my flaws so I can improve without hesitating or sugar coating anything.  As for studying for a test I just re-read and re-write out everything I learn until I understand it fully, I also create questions and answer them by writing them on a piece of paper.  Other than that, I like to write down everything  have learnt in both math and science on a piece of paper in “learning log” form, because I feel it is that that really helps me understand.  A few activities I have done and I hope to do more in 7th grade is probably learning logs, because not only do they allow me to show what I have learnt to the teacher so she/he can help me find all my errors and ways I can improve but it also helps me revise and do more reading if I am stuck on the learning log.  I have also enjoyed the labs because I enjoy doing science and actually seeing what happens and how it relates to the world.  My one and only fear of going into seventh grade is that I won’t be able to learn as much as I had hoped and cant develop deeper understanding to the main concept in math class due other reasons,because if I don’t I am afraid that I will not be able to fully understand and be able to elaborate on calculus classes in the future; since calculus is a major part in college, if I don’t do good in calculus classes, it may lower my chances of pursuing my dream job.  However, I still think that that issue is not much of a problem because I also enjoy doing more research outside of the curriculum.   To be honest, I find math and science very fascinating, mainly because of the abstract and conglomerate link between math and science.   My main goal for the coming year is to be able to find the fundamental core of math and science.  Another goal is probably to exceed the standards, not only based on the school curriculum but based on what I think I am capable of in math and also science.  My final goal is probably to be able to REALLY understand math itself and to be able to amplify and develop my knowledge to a different level and that is to really think about the whole world using the infinite wonders math.

CYOA Self-Reflection

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In my opinion, I did a okay job at this CYOA, however I don’t think this one was as good as my previous one, and that is because my time management wasn’t as good.  Also, near the end, our story got thinner and thinner, I think I could have improved on making my writing longer and not making everything thinner  near the end.   That is mainly because we had no time.  Even if I did want to make it longer, my peers gave me a kind suggestion for me not to because there was not enough time.  At least we finished the story.  I could have elongated the pages, but I did not have enough time, so this shows how our time management went.  That may be because the tie limit was actually A LOT shorter than I have expected so I had to finish a ton of  work by the last two days.  It was pretty hard, but we got through it.   I have reminded my friends that we had to have 4 choices, but they said it was fine, because quality above quantity was more important.  So I am not very sure about what will happen to our grade in the end.  Even if each of our parts had at least more than 3 or 4 paragraphs, there are some pages with only one path way by the 2nd choice.  Again, I have tried hard to make things longer, but there was just not enough time.  At times, I wouldn’t know how to do some things and my team mates would help me, and at other times, at times my team mate may also have a writers block so we helped too.  So overall, our communication and cooperation turned out very well and cooperative teamwork was no problem for us, our team were very swift when it came to brainstorming ideas because we agreed with basically everything one of us suggested, so this team was a good choice.  My teammates made very good suggestions.  If they hadn’t told me not to make that many choices, I wouldn’t have finished even by now.  I really enjoyed working with them and they were really nice to work with.

Overall grade (Self): AE+

Overall grade (Team): ME-

 

LINK TO OUR CYOA:

https://sites.google.com/a/hkis.edu.hk/cyoa-jae-greece/

Temple Reflection

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As for our temeple that me Arden and Jeannette made, we used mainly rice krispies for the basic structure of our temple.  For other details and decorations, we used different candies.  Also, for the pediment, we used animal crackers to decorate.  We used an owl to represent Athena.  As for the columns, we used rice kricpies and stuck then to oreos so that they would stand up staight.  Since the top of the temple is very heavy, we first places a piece of cardboard on top of the columns, and we then placed the frieze and the pediment on.

I think next time, we could’ve made the rice krispies a little softer so that it would be easier to mold into different shapes, because this time, the rice krispies were hard and un-easy to mold.  Also, there was no way for the rice krispies to stand properly on the roof.  Other than that, I feel that we should”ve decorated the pediment and frieze better because for ours, there was little to no decorations.  I also think that the columns could have been more sturdy and we should have added more designs.  However, in all, our temple was okay, and it turned out well, because it did not fall and it had the main and basic parts to the temple.

Reflection (End of the Year)

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At the beginning of the year, I was not a very strong reflective reader.  When I read books, I would just flip through the pages and I would’t be able to get the full meaning of the book.  Also, I didn’t know how to reflect on my book.  In my first E-Log, I wrote a mere sentence, however now, I am writing a full essay.

Before:

http://mydragonnet.hkis.edu.hk/blog/post.php?id=56237

After:

http://mydragonnet.hkis.edu.hk/blog/post.php?id=65152

 

As you can see, my reflective writing has improved A LOT since the beginning of the year.  As a writer I really have improved, as seen in my e-logs, other than those, my essay writing has improved a lot too.  Before, I didn’t even know what a thesis statement was and how to use a topic sentence.  However, now I know how to properly and efficiently use both.  I feel that throughout the year, I have learnt so much in Social Studies class, because back in my previous school, there was no history classes, so it was really fun and interesting to learn new things.   Also, in Social studies there was a pattern in how we approached our topic.  We started from less civilized civilizations up to much more civilized ones.

As for math and science, I really enjoyed doing the math word problems because I never really got the chance to do any word problem in my previous school, so that was a really positive thing for me.  Also, at my previous school, there was english math class once every week, and that class basically didn’t teach us anything. We had chinese math classes everyday, now we have english math classes every day.  It is a pretty big difference but I think it is a good change for me.

Throughout this whole year, smething I have been really proud of was how I could at least understand the math problems and be able to attempt to solve them.

Coriolis Effect

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1. What is the Coriolis effect?

Describes how the earth’s rotations effects the movement of water and air.

2. What is subject to the Coriolis effect?

Water and Air

3. What is the direction of deflection in the Northern Hemisphere?

The deflection goes to the right.

4. What is the direction of deflection in the Southern Hemisphere?

The direction of the deflection is to the left

Test your skills on the Coriolis effect.

http://www.montereyinstitute.org/noaa/lesson08/l8ex1.htm

5. What happens if pilots do not correct for the Coriolis effect?

They will either fly to the west if they are going north and will go too far east if they are going  south.