City Connection

This week in humanities we have been doing a project called City Connections where we research a city we have lived in. In the presentations we had some Environmental Factors,some Historical Factors and some statistical Information and maps. I did the city Calgary in Canada and I think I did pretty well on the Historical Factors because Calgary is a very historical town, it used to be a fort and it is also near many other historical sites like Dinosaur National Park and Banff National Park. I also think I did well on Environmental Factors because Calgary has many rivers and there are a lot of mountains around like the Elbow and Bow Rivers and the Rocky Mountains for me to research. I think I did well on the environmental factors because my city was very easy to research and my dad helped me put it into my own words.

In future presentations I think I should practice what I am going to say some more so that I will be more prepared and make me look professional as well as making it easier for my audience to understand me.I also think that I should try to make my presentation more eye catching and interesting for the audience. I also think that I should tell more about the city not just what it says to write but also more to make it more interesting. I also think I should add more pictures so that I could show my audience more about the presentation, not just tell them.

In my presentation process I learned that you should always follow the instructions so that you have everything in your presentation not just some of it because you might not get a good grade if you don't. I also learned that you should not do your presentation at the last minute because you might not do such a good job and you might bore the audience with things that they can just read themselves from the board. I also learned that you should add some personality to your presentation so that it is not just facts. Some things I learned from other presentations are that you should not say ummmm or like etc...because it ruins the whole presentation and you feel embarrassed and stutter if you have not prepared. You should actually listen when the teacher says you have to do all of those things on the list not just make a presentation on one of the steps.

I met all of the expectations on the rubric by doing specifically what it said on the rubric instead of only the instructions so that I met every single thing on the rubric. In my performance I think I did pretty well because I was prepared, my presentation had personality and the audience liked it. I also think that I did well because I had a LOT of facts! I actually had fun doing my presentation on Calgary because I learned a lot of things I never knew about Calgary and I got really into my work it helped me understand my presentation more. I think I did well and I think everybody else did well too! I did have a little matter of time but I was ready and prepared to present when the day came. I did still almost have a heart attack when I could not find the file at home!!!

Learning Profiles

In class we did some learning profiles. I figured out that I was an L profile and I was Gestalt. This means that I learn well when I am not under stress. I also know this from experience because once I lost all of my french supplies and I was really stressed out. I went two nights without sleeping more than 3 hours and I did not tell anyone except the french teacher. I got new supplies but before that I could not concentrate on anything like math science, french and humanities. I could concentrate in PE and Drama because I didn't really need to think but other subjects I just didn't understand anything. In Math the teacher asked me a question and I could not answer because I was too distracted by a bird outside and a kid fiddling with his fingers and my brain could not process the question. My paper explains that this is because when I am under stress I will become clumsy and I lock myself into the right(gestalt) side of my brain so I don't really understand the logic things that people ask me I can answer them if it is an easy question but anything new does not go into my brain. Also, I do not have a clear memory of what happened, I always think it was a rainy day in the middle of nowhere when I lost my things.

I need to have something to fiddle with so that I can concentrate on other things like the teacher. I need an environment that is calm and no one fidgets so that I can concentrate. I also need a seat where I can get up and move around without disturbing someone else and I can fidget in and not annoy people . I know they will be irritated if I do especially if they are Gestalt like me. I need to combine my learning with physical activities because I learn best through physical activities.I need to be left alone when I am under stress because I will have to think much harder to access my dominant hemisphere and I will be struggling.

The strategies that would help me in my learning are squeezing something while being attentive. Sitting in a place where no one can distract me and I would not distract anyone. Doing physical things at lunch and in class might also help me be more attentive because I often find myself restless in class and if I did physical activities that could stop happening. I also find I cannot concentrate on lots of things at once because when someone fiddles with something or gets up and walks around I get really distracted and I cannot listen. A way of solving this problem is having something to fiddle with so that I don't get distracted by other people fiddling with little things.

Something my teachers should know is that when I am under stress I may have trouble answeringn the questions and I will be very tired. When I am under stress I like being left alone to concentrate and I will be upset if someone disturbs me. Another thing is I talk a LOT! That is because I am usually bored and I ant to move around so my energy comes out verbally. I like to read because it is interesting and distractiong so I don't need to move around as much and I will be quiet. If I am distractiong others I like to be told so that I can try and stop. Those are some things I would like you to know.

New Years Resoloutions

To enter 2011 I made two resolutions, first to become a vegetarian, and second to exercise more. I wanted to become a vegetarian because I always feel guilty of murder when I eat meat. I don't like killing things and even though they are just animals they are still live things and I just can't eat that. I will still eat fish because it contains omega 3 and that is healthy. I will eat chicken soup no more than once a week but when I go to my friends houses I will not make their parents make me a vegetarian meal, I will just eat whatever is there even though it makes me feel extremely guilty. I will also have to eat more tofu, beans,dairy, and other meat free things. But I don't really mind these things if it means I am saving a life, I say this, but I don't think I could ever become a vegan! And I need to exercise more because I like to eat sweets and junk food so I have to burn it off somehow. Apart  from climbing once a week and tennis and rollerskating every now and again I plan to participate more in PE and try to get better marks so that my fitness level rises. I will also try to do some sports during lunch break and what I would really love to do is go ice skating twice a week but we are in Malaysia and that does not happen here so I don't think that is possible. I really need to improve my swimming and I have a pool at home so I can practice and I can improve my fitness while also improving my strokes. These are my two new years resolutions and I hope I can keep them up and enjoy my life at the same time!

During the holidays I went to England and Germany, and Thailand and Laos. I know it sounds nice but truly it was a disaster. We were on the plane to England so that we could catch a connecting flight to Munich, Germany. Unfortunately we went the day that England had a huge snowfall and Heathrow airport closed and our flight was diverted Frankfurt, Germany, which is a three hour drive to Munich. We got off of the plane and I hadnot slept for the whole flight and I was sooooooo tired!!!! We went to the luggage carousel and waited for five minutes only to hear the announcement " All passengers from the flight from Heathrow please proceed to counter five to be provided with a hotel while we locate your luggage" It was something like that. At this time I am not going to document the words I heard after the announcement was finished, there were a lot of British people on that plan and they did not use the most appropriate of all words to express their feelings. My dad was trying not to swear as he said, our luggage is tagged through to Munich and these *#@$!s are going sort this out for us soon! I was so tired, all I wanted was a bed and I would sleep. I was also constantly looking out of the window to see the snow, I had not seen snow for three years and I was amazed by it. So we went to the hotel and slept for a night and got a rental car the next day and drove to Munich. We saw my German Oma ( grandma) and went shopping in one of the many Christmas markets, but first we bought clothes.We had fun but it was time to go to England, we did have one bag for our new things.

We also had a great time without luggage in England and on Christmas day we celebrated with cousins and other family. After that my grandma in England started acting weird because of the drugs she was taking for her Parkinson's. She was using a flashlight as a toothbrush and she was upset because it would not work, she also burned the kettle by setting it on the stove which was still on. When we came back home for one night we were exhausted and tired. The next day we left for Laos and almost immediately after we arrived I got strep throat  and in Laos in Luang Prabang there were no good doctors so I used up most of our painkillers before I recovered. My brother went biking with my dad and fell, scraping a quarter of the skin on his knee off. Soon after that we went to Railay Beach in Thailand and finally relaxed a little bit. Those were the places I went on holiday and as you heard it was not the most enjoyable of all holidays but some people have evidently had worse.

Something nobody knows about me is something I only just figured out which is that I sleepwalk and talk. I know this because once when my mom came in to tuck my sister Amelia in I got up with my eyes open and I walked all the way around the beds to my brother Jaspers bed. My mom asked "Johanna, why are you over there??" I ranted back at her " I don't want to see Amelia go to the bathroom!!" My mom realised that I was actually asleep and came over and gently shook me I shook her off and walked all the way around to my bed, said "Because it is disgusting!!" And closed my eyes. And I got all this from my mom because I do not remember any of it !!!!
So that was my New Years Resoloutions, What I did on Holiday and Something that Nobody knows about me.