You know what is - Black and white. :)

The song - made by the community featuring myself - Dee Zee!

But that's not what we're here to talk about today. Infact, in the 6A team at ISKL, we're reading The Giver by Lois Lowry and this is the second blogpost on it. There were 3 questions to answer back on this site: http://isklrewired.blogspot.com/, the 6A team site. I chose this question to respond to:

When Jonas learns all about colors, he claims "it isn't fair that nothing has color". Why does he say this?

This question is a good one and, well, it's answer is basically like a question: Would you like the world without color? Thinking about all the reasons of a world without color, anyone could understand Jonas. But anyways, here's the explanation...

Colors are beautiful and to us, it's just a typical part of our everyday world, it soon becomes something we don't really think about. Well, except for when you're learning it and in art situations but otherwise, they're like a chair. No one has actually thought of a world without color, well, because it would never happen, but we never know.

When Jonas said it wasn't fair and when we really look in to colors, they are actually beautiful and just make everything more vivid and amazing. I mean, what would beautiful, gentle scarves be without their color? Nothing, just soft items that are barely acknowledged or described as anything more then comfortable and has a pattern.

If you were the only one besides The Giver that knows about color, wouldn't you say it isn't fair that nothing has color? I mean, we're so lucky, we get color everyday. Their community has no color at all, objects just barely acknowledged and probably with no color, definitely no art classes. Some people take colors passionately and use them like that in their art pieces. It wouldn't be fair for a person to not find out that they could be a good artist.

Jonas said it wasn't fair to live where nothing has color since colors actually fill the world, making it more interesting to us and can be undefining at times.

A Day In The Giver

Would you want your future to be decided by others? Why or why not?

Honestly, I would never like to have my future be decided and written out for the rest of my life. Our lives in Malaysia aren't even that controlled, rules for safety, rules for property, not any rules that are in The Giver. We have choices if we want to do some work, choices to do what we want. In The Giver, they don't really have a choice to do volunteer hours or else they don't graduate and have to have their own private ceremony later and are shunned for it.

Of course, freedom of choice is important for choosing what you have to work with or live with. What if you don't like the choice they give you, it may not fit what you're interested in. Having a spouse, they may be most compatible, single and appropriate, just for you, but that doesn't matter if it happens to be someone you weren't very interested in. All those romance movies and romance comedies would have to make a run for it if the government chose your spouse.

The main idea is: I would never want to have someone deciding my future. If it was my parents pushing me to become a doctor or something, just because it was good for my future, I would only choose a job with a passion for it, my eyes wide open and concentrating on it. It would never be just that person's choice, it would be mine as well. If someone was pushing me in to a relationship, I would push back as much as I could if I didn't want it. If it was someone I did take interest in, again, no one would just push me in. Never, am I going to let someone run my life when it is mine.

The Hatshepsut Reflection

The reflection on the latest show of Kids' History...

Why do you think Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs created monuments?
I think the pharaohs made monuments in honor of themselves. For example, Hatshepsut made Djeser-Djeseru in honor of herself, with scenes of her reign covering the walls. But, some pharaohs created monuments for gods and other great ones.

What monuments in our society are similar?
Some monuments that relate to those in the past are like The Washington monument, the one where Abraham Lincoln sits in a giant chair (all made out of cement.) People had made that in honor of him, since he was a very well respected president. There's also monuments of gods for people of those religions to respect, since they believe in it very much.

How did the using google docs as the main portal for collaboration help you with the assignment?
Since it was online and Shannon and I both had internet, it was easy to access to work on the script and note taking. Having the script actually helped a lot since we got in all the videos done in about 20 minutes.

What did you learn from this assignment?
Well, of course, I learned more about Hatshepsut's life and the achievements she did (1st female pharaoh, promoter of Egyptian trade, etc), and I also found out the key is: Organization.

What was challenging?
For Shannon and I, it was getting all of the videos, pictures and conversation on to IMovie. Her laptop was loaded full of things from 2 years ago to today and it was slow working with it. For pictures, we've tried dragging it to IMovie from Google Docs. We've had some discussions about how to put it on and ended up kind of frustrated with it. You would think that if we can get all the hard work done in about an hour, it would take us less to put it all on to IMovie! Exactly the opposite.

Which Schoolwide Learning Results were evident in this assignment?
I think collaborate constructively and learning enthusiastically were the most evident in this assignment because Shannon and I had worked together quite well to do our work, getting the video contents completed quickly. We didn't even have to split up the work, we just knew what to do with out telling the other what to do. Learning enthusiastically because it was part of our motivation to do our work. It was fun getting to move around outside of the class a little bit while getting work done. Shannon could be a stand-up comedian, which makes it that much funnier. Anyways, since we don't mind each other, we enjoyed each other's company and looked forward to doing the video, it was learning enthusiastically for us.

The Link To Our Rubric: https://docs.google.com/a/iskl.edu.my/Doc?id=ddht9gz8_47fqcnd9cc

Find a rubric box that's empty.

Another Presentation down... 200 to go!

A few days ago, our class presented presentations on cities/towns/places we have lived in before. Using the internet, we all got our research and facts together, making 21 amazing presentations! Mine was on a smaller city based in Indonesia...

I believe the best thing I did on my presentation was the graphics and design, the layout, mostly. The graphics were clear and showed where the island was in the world and where Pekanbaru is in Sumatra (the island.) The design was spread out, fit and it was all spaced from one another. Overall, the graphics and design was the best I probably did.

For future presentations, I should bring notecards so my oral in the presentation is done well. Reading off the screen is not a good thing to do in a presentation since, well, the audience can read off the screen! The presenter should be fully ready, knows what to say and runs the presentation smoothly. I wasn't fully ready, still worrying about my presentation, thinking of what to say and running the presentation nervously. Notecards and more information is probably the key to my next presentations.

I learned to have some notes written for my oral from another's presentation. He had notes on the presentation itself, to sum up the important things on the slide. Another is to have some interesting facts that are still on the subject. It kept people entertained instead of yawning because of your fully-factual presentation.

I think that my performance was odd but OK. Because I didn't know what to say, I read off the screen, probably making some classmates bored. My city was a smaller one and there were less facts that weren't very interesting. I kept hesitating because I wanted to stop reading off the screen but didn't know what to say, making it more awkward for myself and everyone else. They were just waiting, staring at me to go on. But, now I know one of the keys to presentations: NOTECARDS.

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0Af9rSXv2Lhs2ZGRodDlnejhfMThkY3p6ZGtmaw&hl=en&authkey=COzdqNkM

Happy New Years! Who's got a resolution?

Hi, it's Dhabitah reporting for the first time in 2011. Enough with the reporting, it's time to get down to my New Years.

Like every new year, people make resolutions for the year to try to complete. My own 2 resolutions is to find happiness in anything I do and to go in confidently to any situation. For finding happiness, I guess it's because to look negative on every situation, it really dulls the world to your view. To even look negative on something, it brings down the mood a lot to me. It's like when I have to go to an event I don't like, I don't smile, I don't move around much, I'm like a rock. All this makes my own mood turn into a rock, even my personality at that particular event that I don't enjoy.

My other resolution is going confidently into any situation, which works. Like on my holiday, I wanted to try something but I wasn't fully confident about it. Sometimes I get pushed into something I don't want to do like try a new food that I know I wouldn't like. Turns out, I actually didn't like it. Of course, trying new things is nice but I would like to do it with myself being OK with it.

My holiday on the other hand... It was... normal. I visited some family, went to a themepark, had a little bit of fun, stayed up late and got to see friends. I got reminded of summer in a way, staying up until 6 AM with my friend, the internet, and sleeping until after lunch. Visiting family and going to the beach, teasing eachother and suffocating eachother in water via banana boat. I watched movies again and again, laughing at the movie "Grown Ups" with Chris Rock and Adam Sandler in it. But my Christmas was spent at Genting Highlands and its themepark.

The themepark was spectacular and the type of put your heart in your mouth. But maybe that's because I don't go to many great themeparks. Just the other day, I was hearing about a better themepark but I've never been to it. My favorite ride and probably the only thrilling ride I went on was the Flying Coaster. I passed it, looking at the people screaming in terror, horror and just screaming and laughing for the fun of it. It was Christmas Eve and there were lots of people rushing around. My sisters started pushing me into going and I thought it looked fun... Kind of. Even though we had wrist bracelets, we still had to pay 10 RM for this ride for each person and we got onto the seat. Nah, it was more like a bed. I was the shortest height possible on the ride so I climbed up another and I started panicking. Then, they closed the casket and I was more terrified as I was now lying on my stomach, gripping the handles as hard as I could. I heard a loud click and the Flying Coaster was going up slowly. I started trying to talk to my sisters who were already too occupied. I saw a woman and she saw my face which pretty much got her thinking: "I'm not going on that ride." I regretted it just a little as I shut my eyes, clenched the handles that were far from me and was too upset to scream. I was trying to open my eyes but I spun upside down, clenching the handles tighter. There were some sharp turns and I was panicking, thinking of if I let go, I would hit the metal casket in pain. Once it was done, I was shaking as I got off and my sisters were laughing at me while 'comforting' me. People looked at me, pitying me, and I simply shrugged, my hands still shaking just a bit. But it was fun and I'll be ready next time. I think. :)

A Zeitgeist of the first 6 months in 6th grade.

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.