COVID-19 Time Capsule

grace.fung / / Asia and the World 1

1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/28/how-did-the-coronavirus-start-where-did-it-come-from-how-did-it-spread-humans-was-it-really-bats-pangolins-wuhan-animal-market

This link is useful to historians and geographers because it explains how the coronavirus started and where it originated from. HIstorians could study how it came to be and how it spread, while geographers could study the place the virus originated.

2. https://www.rolandberger.com/en/Point-of-View/Coronavirus-Current-status-and-economic-impact-forecast.html

This link could be useful for economists because this link shows how the coronavirus impacted the economy.

3.

This link will have meaning to political scientists because it talks about how President Donald Trump suggested that people inject disinfectants into their blood. This will be interesting for political scientists to read about.

4.
This artifact could be meaningful for historians and political scientists. Historians could study how people used the pass during the coronavirus while political scientists could learn about the regulations that lead to the pass being made and given out.

5. This picture could be important for geographers because they could study how the coronavirus spread throughout China. It also allows them to see which areas were the most severe.

English 9 Humor Reflection

grace.fung / / English 9

Throughout the final month of eLearning, we worked on the final English 9 humor unit.  In the last few weeks, we got to set our own deadlines for these three assignments; dialectical journals, CER, and this blog post. We also created a SMART goal, which meant we had to manage our time accordingly.

During this unit, the main focus was humor, more specifically how language is used to create a humorous effect. We learned how to analyze plays and poems. For example, in Mother Figure of Confusions, I found the stage directions and change in character very interesting, and I also noticed that there were a lot of subtle techniques that go deeper than the literal meaning. In the poem Sick, by annotating it, I learned that the poet used language devices such as rhyme, anaphora, and hyperboles. For example, when Peggy in Sick says “[her] hips hurt when [she] move[s] her chin” (line 15) and “[her] spine ain’t straight” (line 25). It is funny for the reader to imagine Peggy’s hips hurting when she moves her chin which is completely unrelated, and how her spine not being straight is something that elderly people would experience. Learning to identify these techniques is definitely one of the big takeaways for me from this unit.

(Wechat conversation with friend-me struggling with dialectical journals)

One of the biggest challenges from this unit is the deadlines I set for myself. First of all, I forgot to take into account my other final assessments, so I didn’t give myself enough time for each assignment. I also forgot about the long weekend when I was setting my deadlines, so I had either too much time for a task, or too little. From this, I have learned to double-check the calendar and my other assignments, so if I ever need to set my own deadlines again, hopefully, it will be better.

The SMART goal I set for myself was to meet all of the deadlines I set for myself and complete them to the best of my ability for each assignment.  I believe that I have put my best effort into the assignments. However, as I mentioned before, deadlines were the biggest challenge for this unit. I know this is not a good example of time management, and I will definitely work on that in the future.

The responsibility strand of the student as a Learner rubric is willingness to accept feedback, preparation, and time management. I sent my work to one of my friends and got some feedback, and I then revised my work based on the feedback. For preparation, I had all the resources downloaded, and attended all of the zoom meetings that were held. They were helpful and guided me when I wasn’t sure what I was doing. However, for time management I didn’t meet all of my deadlines. Taking into account of all three parts, I would give myself a satisfactory for responsibility. As for attitude, I think I have a positive attitude because I made sure to complete the assignments to the best of my ability. So, I would give myself a satisfactory.

This is the last piece of work I will do for English 9. Next year I hope to be able to meet all of the deadlines I will set for myself and persevere on challenging tasks. I hope to improve my understanding on of language and also to broaden my understanding of different text types. Now this marks the end of my freshman year of high school, so I’d like to say a big thank you to Ms. Wong and my classmates for such an amazing English 9 experience!

Reflection: Analyzing Visual Texts and Public Speaking Skills

grace.fung / / English 9

For the past month, I have analyzed a propaganda poster and an editorial cartoon. I found analyzing different texts both through the visual and language elements really interesting because it is somewhat crazy that an image can contain and communicate so many ideas. Throughout the presentation, I learned that texts use subtle details that can persuade or alter the audience’s perspective drastically, and how we have to be aware of how the little details are capable of conveying such powerful messages. It lets us know that not only words in a book or essay can express ideas, but even the visual elements in a cartoon or propaganda poster can persuade its audience equally as effective. For instance, propaganda and cartoons use irony in language for different purposes while different colors can have different meanings and effects. In this unit, I also learned how to improve my speaking skills. By reviewing the feedback I got from the presentations and watching a variety of speeches. I learned how effective pausing, emphasis, and repetition are. Even though I know that they are effective, I still struggle to do them in my presentations. To sum up, both analyses have taught me a lot and strengthened my presentation skills. I believe with more time and practice, I will be able to use these techniques to do better in the future.

IDU Reflection

grace.fung / / English 9, Grade 9

Throughout the grade 9 Interdisciplinary Unit Project, I worked with Kelly, Gary, and Felix to address an inclusion issue that occurred in our school. I learned how to collaborate successfully when doing group work, and also the importance of these inclusion issues.

I assessed myself as satisfactory/exemplary for the collaboration strand of the student as a learner. I contributed a lot to our group throughout the project and helped others with their individual work and provided support. For example, when we felt stressed because of the deadline, I volunteered to finish the ppt and script. Also, when my teammates came to me asking about the individual assignments, I tried my best to provide feedback which hopefully had improved their work. This is also my strength as a team member, I know what to do and can help others as well. An area I can improve on is trying to take a step up and leading the group more.

I believe our most important norms of collaboration were ‘Ensure that everyone has equal opportunities to contribute to the group’, and ‘Provide and seek feedback to improve work quality’. Most of the norms were easy for us to implement, but I found it quite difficult to cope with situations where some of my group members did not do their share of work. Despite that, we were able to provide good feedback to each other and which allowed us to improve our work.

Collaboration Norms

I feel like communication and a busy afterschool schedule were the biggest challenges for our team. Often when we needed to do group work, we would have one teammate or two missing, which left a lot of work for the rest of us. To overcome this, we finally discussed a time that was suitable for all of us. Additionally, on the day of the final presentation, one of our teammates wasn’t there and didn’t notify us beforehand. So, to adapt to the situation, we used break time to split and practice that group member’s part of the presentation. I truly feel like we could have done better on our presentation if we practiced more and had been notified of that person’s absence. Due to this adaption, our presentation skills may not have been the best during the absent group member’s parts of the presentation. Nonetheless, we were able to overcome this challenge.

Besides the challenges, I learned a lot from this project. I learned how to use various methods to analyze data, come up with a solution to a problem regarding its sustainability, viability, and feasibility, as well as the limitations when collecting data. I also learned the difficulties and challenges a group may face, and how to overcome them. All in all, the IDU project was a valuable experience for me.

Designer Persona

grace.fung / / Product Design

What do you think product design is?

To create something that will serve a purpose

what skills do you hope to learn?

To further develop my design skills

What is the best thing you ever made?

I made this very convenient shoe, that you can clip together easily, instead of having to tie the shoelace

What do you want to make?

Not sure yet

What strengths do you have that you can bring to your learning in this course? 

 

Socratic Seminar Reflection-The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

grace.fung / / English 9

In class, we did an hour-long Socratic seminar on the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Even though I was quite prepared with several pages of notes, I was only able to make one contribution to the discussion. I talked about an analogy of a relationship in the book and was not able to make another contribution. I need to take more initiative instead of being invited into the conversation. I feel like small group discussions definitely make it better for me to participate. I will make a goal for myself to not only speak but make meaningful contributions to the discussion next time we do a Socratic seminar.

Practice Socratic Seminar Reflection-The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

grace.fung / / English 9

What I did well:

During the Socratic Seminar, I added a few ideas to the different questions that were asked. I was able to agree to other people’s claims and contribute additional evidence and reasoning about why I agree with the claim. I feel like smaller groups are what allows me to participate more because I will be able to get a chance to talk.

What I would like to improve on:

I would like to focus on asking deep questions. I was only able to comment on other people’s questions and wasn’t able to make my own questions. I also would like to have better annotations, because I didn’t really have enough evidence to support my claims. An example would be when the question “Are we products of our environment or is identity determined from within?” was asked, I wasn’t able to quickly find evidence from the text to back up my claim.

Prisoners of War

grace.fung / / English 9

What did you learn from viewing this TEDtalk? What further questions do you have?

I learned from Aaron Huey’s TEDtalk that to this day, the Native Americans are still trapped on the reservation as prisoners, where they have no future. They are being treated unfairly, and there’s nothing they could do about it. Their human rights, as well as cultural identity, have all been stolen from them. After watching the TEDtalk, a question I have is why haven’t more people talked about this issue?

What realizations do you have about the novel?

After watching the TEDtalk, it helped me realize that the theme of poverty in Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian actually relates to real-life on the reservation. This helped me truly understand how bad Junior’s life is, and how the theme and symbols affect Junior and his people’s life and future.

How does this TEDtalk help you better understand some of the context for Alexie’s portrayal of the fictional Wellpinit Reservation and Junior’s life?

Sherman Alexie didn’t really depict the history of the Native Americans in the Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. After watching the TEDtalk, it helped me better understand Junior’s life. Especially at first when the white people were all scared of Junior because he was an Indian. This also helped me understand why the Indians are so violent and why most of them are alcoholics.

Why do you think Alexie chose to write a young adult novel instead of something aimed at an adult audience?

Maybe Sherman Alexie thought that writing a young adult novel could inspire the kids in poverty and give them the strength they need to change their situation just like Junior did. The novel could also inspire other kids to help the Native Americans in the future. Another reason might be because the story is about a teenager, and only teenagers would be able to relate to a teenager easily.

Phoenix

grace.fung / / Design Tech

My biggest success was when we finally put the whole Phoenix together. It took a long time for us, because we both skipped a lot of classes, and wasn’t able to do it any other time.

My biggest obstacle was when we tried programming our Phoenix. We did everything right, but we just couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t work. I feel like that was a huge obstacle for us.

If I did this again, one thing I would do differently is color the Phoenix, and actually programming it. We didn’t have enough time to color the Phoenix, so if we were to this again, we would color it. We tried programming our robot, but it didn’t work, even though we did everything right. So if we were to do this project again, we would try programming again.

Throw a Ball

grace.fung / / Algebra 1

What did you learn from this activity? How does that relate to the concepts we learned in Algebra 1?

I learned how to use logger pro. This relates to linear and quadratic functions.

What did your group do well?

We split up the work well.

What were some of the challenges your group faced?

Figuring out how to use logger pro.

What aspects of this activity could your group improve?

We could have spent more time on this.

How could you do it differently if you are given another try?

We would have planned better.