Thursday, December 16, 2010

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

L for Lucky

On Tuesday, Mr.Whiting came and visited Mrs.Narsiman's class, Purple. He had started talking about learning profiles, how you work best. Everyone took tests to figure out how their body worked, like if you used your right hand. You're either gestalt or logical in your brain, better with your right or left hand, what ear do you use to hear, what eye do you use to look at things and what leg/foot you would use to do something. I'm gestalt and I have everything on my right. I'm Profile L.

I learn best when I fidget while during work. I can't really sit still while during work that well. I either have to play with my hands, or scribble with my pencil, whether it's swinging my feet or just tapping my hands, it helps me work better. I focus on the whole picture often, not putting it bit by bit, breaking it down. I keep my emotional relevance to myself because I'm uncomfortable sharing and telling others about it.

I need to move around when I'm processing something in my mind. I need to be alone and have everything quiet when I'm thinking of new ideas, I also need to do this when I'm under stress. I don't enjoy step-by-step instructions and I also imagine the end results first and than doing what suits the end result.

The strategies that would help me learn is to sit where I can process anything in my mind internally, somewhere quiet and without disrupting any others. A balance of crafts and skills would be great and keep me steady. Some activities that would work for me is Lazy 8's and Thinking Caps, blinking while tracking with my eyes, martial arts, sports, writing and drawing the non-dominant hand and basically moving around helps me.

I would like my teacher to know that I'm not any help when I'm under stress. I can't access any of my senses, they are completely shut off. I can't read without not remembering it in a couple of hours, I have to scream in my own room for 3 hours at the most to iron out my stress. But when I'm relaxed, I can do work easily. I can access logic/gestalt integration more than any other gestalt profiles.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Working With Alex

This week, for our 3rd literature circle on Charlotte Doyle, I worked with Alex. The benefit of working with a classmate was having less work than usual, because we shared the same amount. Usually, it's 2 of everything on the literature circle. But now, it's 1 of everything with a classmate, which is the least a real literature circle has ever been. There's also the feedback, you can get feedback from your classmate a little quicker than Mrs.Narsiman and more than once. Mrs.Narsiman has tons of literature circles to grade and she has to read a literature circle last so you might have to wait until midnight for her to give you feedback. Your partner has plenty of time to grade on your work.

The challenge I tried to overcome was writing a 3/3 passage. Alex has experience and knowledge about getting full marks on the literature circle because he sends his literature circles in for feedback, I've barely gotten any feedback. It takes me at least 30 minutes to write 6 sentences in a passage. But this literature circle, Alex gave me feedback and put in his expertise a little too much, I told him to stop editing my passage.

New understandings about the novel I gained were about Hollybrass and Jaggery. Hollybrass seems to hesitate a lot but never disobeys.  When he finally disobeys Jaggery, his existence is gone. Everyone may hate Jaggery but don't dare to speak up to him about their hatred for him. Plus, the crew did what they were told for their jobs. Hollybrass is used for the cruel orders.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

A Charlotte Doyle Literature Circle

The discussion went fairly well today, as we had all listened, contributed and participated in our group. We all had a good understanding went we came, all fully prepared as well. As we went around, sharing our passages, questions & responses, connections and vocabulary, we had small talks and advice for each other. We stayed on topic and were able to get an excellent understanding of the book. We got ideas to do better responses for our next literature circles. We asked each other questions and interrogated each other.

We made connections to our groups' responses, sharing our thoughts and ideas about it. I had seen that Natalie had written about the same thing as I had on our passages. Our connections were mostly based on ourselves and other types of media we had seen similar things in. We made connections to each other as well about how well we knew the book and how we interpret it as.

I predict that the future discussions with my group will be much better due to us having a great first discussion. Discussions usually get better through each discussion, as we learn to get better at participating well.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Malaysia's Development

Malaysia is the 43rd most populated country in the world. It is a tropical country, bordered by Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, on land.  Over the waters, it is bordered by Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines. It is separated in to two parts, West Malaysia and East Malaysia, it has 13 states and three federal territories. Malaysia has one of the best economical records. Their natural resources and geographical location help in their economy as well.
Malaysia is a great place to trade due to The Strait of Malacca, the most important trade route in the world, in between Malacca and Peninsular Malaysia. Malaysia is known for its natural resources. Once, Malaysia was even the biggest producer of palm oil, tin and rubber in the world. The trade route (Strait of Malacca) and manufacturing are two of the big economy money makers, our trades going international. Malaysia offers natural agricultural resources, the most valuable is petroleum (that's why Petronas even exists.) Tourism is starting to win over manufacturing, the government is trying to do that, which is why they made the campaign of tourism. Malaysia Truly Asia. Malaysia also has its land helping with its development.

Malaysia is the 66th largest country (land.) With being near the equator, Malaysia is hot and humid through out the year. The rainfall is 2000 mm (yearly) and the average temperature is 27 degrees Celsius. There are two wind monsoons, the South West Monsoon and the North East Monsoon. With all this rain, the soil is good, resulting in a great farming source.

In trade, Malaysia is starting to receive technology from other countries. Malaysia is one of the biggest exporters of semiconductor devices, electrical devices, and information, communication products. The Malaysian Armed Forces uses high tech weapons (designed and made by other countries) and local military weapons.

Malaysia develops through its natural resources through trade and the geographical land also helps the natural resources grow. This is how it helps develop Malaysia.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia

Monday, October 18, 2010

My Adventure

I dug my way out of the dirt. There was high tide last night and every mudskipper in this area got buried under the deep dirt. I had spent the whole night digging my way out. I saw my brother whining about how tired he was. I rolled my eyes. Only a few mudskippers were out of the dirt.
"Stay close to the trees today, if you need to go anywhere, ask me." My mom yelled. I jumped to the family tree, everyone else already there. All the mudskippers fell asleep and I was still awake. So was my mom. We were staying awake, rescuing the other mudskippers. People say I'm a skilled mud diver. Even the guys deny but they're asleep. They call themselves strong. I saw a big group of humans. I stared at them. My mom was diving in to the mud to help my sister. I saw squirming in the mud and thought about it. Save the squirming mudskipper or don't get squished by humans. I jumped in anyways. I always leave a tunnel when I dive in, easier to get out. I was pushed suddenly deeper, my tunnel closed. Humans have huge feet, that's all I have to say. I saw the baby mudskipper and started to push it up. After a while, the baby got stronger and pushed itself up to the top. I emerged at the top with the baby. We were punneled back at least 1 foot down. I pushed the mud out of my way and got back to the top. The baby emerged and I took it in to my arm. We were a long way from the family tree. Humans were going 2 humans each time. They were planting trees. It was interesting, my grandfather always told me stories about humans planting trees, that are the big ones I see today. But than, grandfather got stepped on a human and he's in a better place. That's what mom says.
"How are we going to get back?" the baby asked me.
"Well, first, what's your name?" I asked.
"Amo." the baby answered. Probably didn't know its own name correctly.
"My name's Green, I'll be helping you get back." I explained.
'Amo' nodded his head happily.

Ok, it's been an hour and we keep on getting shoved under the dirt. The humans are slopping dirt everywhere. Only a while ago, a bunch of boys got stuck in the mud. I saw one, they called him "Gerald." He was slopping the mud around in his hands, he was playing with it. One of his slops landed on my mom and I had to dig her out quickly before I got slopped also. I was still way on the other side of the family tree. One whole side away and meters away from across the tree. Amo looked up at me.
"This is fun." Amo giggled. I looked at him as if he was crazy. I nodded my head from side to side.
"I guess it is fun. I mean, it's not that bad." I muttered back. The group of humans got smaller and smaller. Eventually, there were only 4 left. They were huge but not as big as that big man next to them. Two girls, they were called I think, Li Yen and Valerie. I had heard the third girl talking to them. Their voices are loud, as if someone was screaming in my ear. Li Yen and Valerie ran like mad. Amo and I were around in the middle of the dirt. They ran past us and Amo sighed happily. I saw them slop some mud as they ran back past us. I quickly shoved the dirt off Amo. I went to go look at the trees up close. Amo was next to me and I smiled. The tree would grow up larger and future generations would see it. The third girl, I think named Nabeeta? Daabeeta? Her name sounds confusing, but she ran quickly over to plant the tree. The man probably wanted to get it over with, because he did most of the work. Dabeeta's foot closed on to us and I held Amo tightly. I held also on to Daabeeta's shoe. She lifted her foot up and kicked off the mud. Amo and I went flying in the air. We landed at the family tree. I smiled happily as my whole family stared at us. They all broke in to applause.
"Let's do it again." Amo shrieked.
"Tomorrow. Just maybe, we can do it again tomorrow." I muttered.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Courage Connections

In fifth grade, I had arrived 3 days late to school, the start of the year. When I came, people were in their groups and cliques. I blame myself for not coming early enough, because if I had, maybe I could stop the problem. I'm going to write about what happened on the internet in the whole problem. Cyber-bullying. The bully was named Vivienne, the queen bee of the year. She acts like she's the nice person and her friends are too. But her and her friends just gossip, act nice, act smart, etc. I'm not afraid to stand up to boys so I've been in their gossip before. Ok, so, this bully sent me emails (i need to inform, there was a new girl who I was nice to but everyone wanted to be friends with her so I washed away) about how mean I was. She had said, "It's like you guys are acting cooler than us. Just you and your friend, walking around alone talking, avoiding us, as if you're cooler than us." I had cried once from her emails but it was more like a "I'm sick of this, leave me alone, you annoying person." cry. She had even whined on the messages, "You made me cry!!" that's what she had said. I was just like... "Ummm... yea, ok. I don't care, stop sending me and my friends emails." I stood up to her in the end and took my friends away from the problem. My friends found out why I was so hung on to not being with the cliques and just us. Because, it tore us apart and there was so much back stabbing people could get.

If I had that type of problem now, I'd take my friends and explain why I didn't want them there. I know, it's like bossing them around. But, I just don't want to see them in cliques and just gossiping like that. Cause' those cliques? They don't care. They just keep talking like it's nobody's business. And THEY think they're the nice ones. My friends didn't know why I was so angry. Well, they did, but I guess they wanted to not be in my rules. But they got the consequences. I let them learn. They came back, knowing why I did that and it's a tight bond, even now.

To help ISKL feel more safe and welcome, I would do absolutely nothing! It is already as safe and as welcoming than any other school I've ever seen in my life.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

A Time Of Courage

A time when I had to had to take risks and show courage was about 2-3 years ago. My mom was pregnant in the first time in 9 years with her fourth child. It was a huge surprise to my sisters and I. I might have to mention, there's no males in my family, except for my dad. There was name planning and we settled with Delilah. About during summer that year, there were these problems. My family was staying at my grandparents' house (no reason what so ever, we had our own apartment close enough to there.) It was night time and we were just relaxing on the beds in one room. Mom went to the bathroom, Diyana (11th grade, oldest sister) went to check what happened, told me not to go. And so on. These things resumed. I was beginning to worry.

 We lived in the middle east in a country called Oman. I won't be specific because not many people know about Oman. But it's a very friendly country with great people. Right, moving on, the problems began moving on. Once back from summer, my mom was off to a hospital in Oman. MPH, Muscat Private Hospital. She was in the hospital and my family was casual with it. As in, it was just like a week's stay for checking and testing. Not much. Time passed, she got out of the hospital, time passed by slowly, everything was okay. This is where it really kicks off. But now it was more worrying.

The baby was 6 months old. Not like I was counting. 9 minus 3 is 6, I seriously wasn't counting. So, my dad has these lunch breaks, sometimes he comes home to eat lunch on work days. Diyana, Dahlia (9th grade, 2nd sister) and I were at school. Dad was at home on his lunch break or he had no work at all that day. My mom wasn't allowed to go upstairs because of the pregnancy problems. So, their matress was downstairs, on the carpet. Small TV for my mom also downstairs. Temporarily, of course. My mom was downstairs resting and my dad was upstairs, watching on the bigger TV. Mom called for dad, dad came down. My mom was bleeding and she was probably running around trying to do something about it. My dad drove her to the hospital and my mom's doctor was ON VACATION. How idiotic. So, MPH took out an ambulance, put my parents in it and drove to a public Oman hospital. Khoula Hospital. They had an emergency and had a surgery on my mom. This is where the physcho freak out comes in.

Diyana, Dahlia and I came home, I was the first one to dump my bag, sigh and suddenly see blood. The gory sight of it all was a little too much. I gasped like in those over dramatic movies. Diyana just stared and Dahlia nearly went up the stairs, nearly stepping in some blood. There were puddles from the bathroom, to the stairs, from the bed, to the bed. My dad came down, emotionless and we all came down to the kitchen. He explained it, Diyana made some tea/coffee for all of us and it was pretty astounding. I was surprised. Time passed by, silence filling the house. Pretty empty and my dad told us to focus on homework. There was no more than 10 % of my little sister living, the day she was born. The doctors just told us to go home and pray. The chances didn't get much higher. Maybe to twenty percent? But everything came out fine. We had milk mothers to bring milk for Daleela (yup, my mom named her Daleela instead of Delilah.) It was such a long experience and a rather forgotten one. Terrifying and annoying. It took courage for me, if you could imagine. Courage to sit down, look the truth and the eye and not hate it. Because, it's the truth anyway, why try making a fairy tale?

Anyways, that's my time of courage for my blog post.

Signing off,
Dee Zee

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

1st Blog: About me

Hey, I'm Dhabitah Zailani, not as if you already knew. :) I'm 10 years old and I'm Malay. I've never lived in Malaysia except the short little time when I was born here, in KL. Please, remember this, because I've gone over it hundreds of times. I've been to 3 schools before in my life and this is my 4th. 1st, Balikpapan, P.R.I.S. 2nd, C.A.S., and 3rd, T.A.I.S.M. The first two were in Indonesia and the third in Muscat, Oman.

The last 3 books I read were Mediator #5 by Meg Cabot, Mediator #6 by Cabot also, last but not least, Crocodile Tears by Anthony Horrowitz. I'm reading Mediator and Crocodile tears at the moment.

The last movie I saw was Inception. It was kind of based on dreams. I loved the movie because of the actors and also the plot. A dream, inside a dream, inside another dream. Confusing, I know.

My academic goal is to concentrate on French more, getting it done, memorizing and remembering it over the next summer. I already forgot a lot this past summer. :(

My social goal is to try having a few new friends and be socially comfortable at school- awkward situations aren't exactly easy to leave without damage... I have experience with social groups and I dislike it. I'm hoping to net get in a situation like that here.

My favorite vacation memory is my first visit to Genting Highlands. It was exciting and still is. To me, anyways. Sometimes, there were these creepy characters from a haunted house, walking around.

Happy, Strange, Sarcastic, Evil, Witty (don't worry, I can be evil when people don't use their common sense and etc.)