My learning style

This is the results I had after taking the multiple intelligence test and it seems that I am best at intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence. As my intrapersonal intelligence is high, I think this means that I can understand my own feelings, motivations, and goals, which more or less means I like to work alone. However, the interesting thing is that my interpersonal intelligence is just as high, and interpersonal intelligence means to be able to thrive at social interactions, which means I can work well in a group.

In my own preference, I think I like to work alone more than to work with others. I also think that I am music smart, although it shows that my musical intelligence is the lowest, I think I can do things better with music, that is the whole point why I learn violin. I find that this survey might not be so accurate after all.

Want to do it by youerself?

Follow this link http://tinyurl.com/32ge4g and do the questionnaire!

The scarlet ibis

Summary of The Scarlet Ibis

Basically, yesterday we did a tableau for the sarlet ibis. (Scarlet ibis is a name of a book) In case you never read the book before, here is the summary:

The scarlet ibis opens with the narrator reminiscing about the past. He remembered his brother, doodle, as a baby, where nobody expected him  to live. Doodle was diagnosed with many health conditions, and according to the narrator's recount, his parents never really showed much affetion to him., they only tried to sheild him off from the outside world. It was the narrator who took him  out all the time after his parents kept telling him to do so. Much of their time was spent at Old Woman's swamp, where the narrator succeeds in teaching doodle how to stand up. After his first feat, the narrator believed that Doodle could be like any ordinary child who could run and swim, despite the warnings given by the mother and the doctor. One day, while they were eating lunch, a scarlet ibis landed in their yard, dead. Doodle felt sorry for the beautiful bird, an decided to bury it. later that day, they went to the swamp again, and suddenly, a storm  broke out and the narrator rushes to get home. He walks faster, and faster, soon leaving his little brother way behind. he hears his brother cry:"'Brother, Brother, don't leave me! Don't leave me!" The narrator, however felt a sense of cruelty in his heart and abandoned him.. Later, however, he slowed down, peering back, expecting to see Doodle amidst the rain. To he surprise, no Doodle came. He decides to go back, only to see his brother lying dead on the floor...

To read more about the details of the story, visit http://www.answers.com/topic/the-scarlet-ibis-story-1

Tableau- unfortunately i can't get the pictures for the tableau.

What is a Tableau?

A tableau is a group of people attractively arranged.

Theese are the important snapshots of the story: (acted out) 

• Doodle as a baby - Narrator feels that doodle was not all ther and found him a burden.
• Doodle at two - The narrator feels doodle is a part of the family. Doodle begins to crawl and talk constantly.
• Doodle and the go-cart - The narrator feels that doodle is a nuinsance and drags him roughly.
• Doodle at five - The narrator is embarrased at having a brother of that age who couldn't walk.
• Doodle's six birthday - The narrator was very proud to show his family that he taught his brother how to stand.
• Doodle during the storm  - The narrator was having a feeling of cruelt and abandoned doodle.

Socratic seminar reflection

What is a socratic seminar?

You might be wondering: what is a socratic seminar? A socratic seminar is when the class brainstorms their views and opinions about a certain topic.

What is the purpose of a socratic seminar?

It is to...

• Foster analytical skills that will be applicable to us in the future
• Enable us to read extensively and be knowledgeable about important issues affeting modern societies
• Enable us to express our views regarding theese issues
• cultivate confident oral communication with articulate voicing of opinions and authentic conversations between students and stakeholders.

Formation

 A socratic seminar is held once a week an d the positioning of the class is as follows: The class forms an inner circle of 8 and an outer circle of 8 while the rest are the audience. The people in the inner circle are those who will be sharing their opinions and views while the outer circle acts as judges and grade how well the people in the inner circle do, as for the audience,  they don't really do much until the discussion is open to the floor where everbody can comment and rebutt. A leader is appointed and he will lead the discussion with a summary os 3 articles and an opening question. The opening question is answered by the person on his right and he will then ask another question and pass it on to his right. In other words, the discussion goes in a clockwise direction. After the round is completed, the dis cussion is opened to the floor.

My first socratic seminar

Today was my first socratic. I was part of the audience ^^. Anyways, the topic was " what does it mean to be a Singaporean?" and the openning question was " do you think the government or the citizens should create national identity? Why and how?"

Key ideas

It started of by saying that Singaporeans complain to much. They complain about taxes, they complain about erps, they complain about GST. There were some mixed viewpoints about this topic. Some people think that the taxes were good as it was used to improve the development, safety, and basically improve our enviroment, which is indirectly bennifiting us. However, some think that the taxes are too high and the government should not impose such a high tax as some people might not have savings. They compare it to other countries which have much less tax. To me, i think we need a balance. Without tax, our nation cannot maintain its cleanliness, security, and development as all this money for all this comes from the tax money. Contrary to this, I think that high tax is not the way to solve theese issues. With too high a tax, we are unable to lead a comfortable life. I think the government should also consider a person's level on how good their lifestyle should be.
What defines Singaporeans? Is it the language? My classmates thinks that it is not language, but about Singaporean's attitude. Singaporeans might like to complain, but in the end they always get the job done, they always want to do well for their country. Maybe complaining is a way of passing the time. Also, to me, food, singlish, kiasuism are also traits of singaporeans.

Another controversy: does foreign talent dillute Singapore's attitude? It might. Right now, only about 65% os singapore's population are singaporean citizens while the rest are foreigners. Most foreigners do not have a stake in the country. When people from other countries are offered schloships from Singapore, most accept, come to Singapore, get the degree, and desert the couuntry. Think of it this way. A domestic worker comes to your house to help you clean. They don't have any blood relationship with you, their aim is to take the money and go home. Do you think they would rather stay here miles away from home? It is the same thing. Foreigners come to Singapore as a stepping stone, their ultimate goal: the U.S, or their homeland. They do not really treat Singapore as their country, morever, they treat it as their hotel. I'm not saying that all foreigners behave this way, but most do.

This is what one of my clasmate said: "foreigners are taking up jobs and Singaporeans therefore, do not have enough jobs."

Some of my classmates think that this is not true. They say Singapore is based on meritocracy, and foreigners with higher merits deserve the job. My opinion is that this is indeed true. Employees prefer foreign workers as they accept lower pay and will take them in even if they have the same merit as a Singaporean. Why can they afford a lower pay? This is because workers come from countries like China and India. The exchange rate for 1 singapore dollar is much more in ren min bi and rupee. After a few years of work, it is enough for them to go back to their homeland and rest. Whereas Singaporeans cannot afford to have such low salaries as they live in Singapore, using singapore currency, and a higher cost of living.

How did the seminar influence my views

The seminar made me think: Why is the government not putting a rule for foreign talents? I always thought that the government was fair and just. But this made me think: Is it right not to protect citizens of Singapore? Should we be like japan, where the best things are in for their own citizens?

Connections

I think that this job issue has made many Singaporeans jobless, and the government doesen't do enough to protect our citizens. Many of theese jobless citizens have very poor living conditions and i have experienced it myself when I see some of the old, rundown HTB flats that people are living in. I think it is very pitiful that Singapore is sacrificing its citizens for faster development. I think the government needs to take action as this condition will not get any better.

I couldn't really voice all my thoughts and opinions as I was in the audience, in the next seminar, i hope to be able to say all my points as we take turns to be the audience and the inner circle. 

Essay

It was the first time I was doing a summary essay. I did not know what a summary essay was. My teacher told me that a summary essay was to summarise the story and answer the question given to me and he also assured us not to worry as he was going to go through it with us.

What is a story?

First, he explained to us that all narrative stories have a plot, characters, settings and themes. The plot also consist of an exposition text, complication, climax and resolution. In the complication, there is conflict and tension which can be between characters, within a character, or between a character and enviroment.

Skeleton of a essay
 He explained to me that in an essay, you have to have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. He said it in a form of a hamburger, where the introduction and conclusion was the bread while the body was the patty and if we did not include any one of them, the burger would be incomplete.

Introducion
He also gave us a handout that in the introduction, we must first set the content, then use a graber to get the attention of the reader, followed by the thesis and the essay map. I did not understand what a thesis was so he told me that a thesis was the main point of the article.

Body
The body is the meat of the patty, and it is very important that it is sufficiently elaborated as it can cause a major drop in your score. The body should have at the minimum 3 paragraphs. He said that we would have to PEE for each paragraph. (not literary) P stands for point, E stands for elaboration and the other E stands for example.

Conclusion
The conclusion, he siad was not as important as the other paragraphs. However, if you want to get your A, you would still have to do it anyway. He said that without a conclusion, the best he could give was a B. Anyway, in the conclusion, you would just have to make a restatement of the thesis. It eshould encourage further thought on the issue and it should not be identical to the thesis stated earlier.

Blog description

What is a blog? Is it a diary?

Yes and no. People think that a blog is just like an online diary, but there is many differeneces between them. Today I will share with you the similarities and differences between  a blog and a diary.

DIFFERENCE:

• A diary is alwys kept personal, so that only you know what you write in your diary. Normally,  Blogs is a public area where everbody can see what you post onto it.
• A blog can be commented on while a diary cannot.
• A blog is in reverse chronology, showing the latest entry on the front, while a diary is not.
• A journal is where people write their closest feelings that record the most intimate aspect of a person's feelings and thoughts and these are things that the writer feel close to and only the writer has the right to read its content.While on a blog, writers do not share their stories into such intricate detail with all their feelings written in as they know that other people will read it, therefore, making a blog less realistic and believable.
• A blog can also be a platform to advertise or promote their ideas, products, etc. Many people see a blog as a marketing tool as it gives them a very powerful microphone, however, a diary cannot be used as a marketing tool.
• Multimedia can be added into blogs while it can't be added into diaries.

SIMILARITIES

• They are both platforms to express one's opinions, thoughts, and ideas.
• Both diaries and blogs are usually written in 1st person.
• We get freedom of speech on both diaries and blogs. (except for offensive remarks)