Optimising

This week in maths we have learnt to optomise. Optomising is when you make something more efficient. We practiced optomising by making actions in day to day life more efficient. One of our examples was that instead of taking one step at a time, you take two steps at a time, therefore moving faster.

Mystery Genre Performance

Our topic right now in music is a 'mystery genre performance,' where you have to pick a genre at random out of a hat and then perform a group performance of a song from whatever genre you get.

The genre that we picked out was disco.

Disco is a genre of dance music that began in the '70s in the United States' urban night-life culture. Disco's sound is characterised by horns, string sections, syncopated basslines, electric piano, electric rhythym guitars, and "four-on-the-floor" beats. 

Our group has:

Myself on drums,

Shanix on lead guitar,

Daniel on bass, and

Reige & Adelaide on piano.

The song that we have chosen is a popular disco-rock tune, Another One Bites the Dust by Queen.

Harriett Tubman

This is my blog post about Harriett Tubman.

Self Directed Learner Matrix 2

This is my Self Directed Learner Matrix. It consists of skills that I need to work on in order to become a Self Directed Learner. Last week I worked on my ability to ask for feedback when I am unsure. This week I a going to improve on my ability to know what skills I need to develop so that I can learn.

I will improve on this by:
- Assessing and improving work that I have completed, and
- Asking others to check over my work.

I hope that by the end of this week I have become a Self Directed Learner.

Spirituals

Spirituals are acapella songs that african american slaves would sing while working. They are often religious and expressed either freedom from their slavery or for expressing emotions. Spirituals were sung to keep slaves sane and comforted while labouring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-zlSq4mWiE
This song was used to establish and keep a rhythym going while slaves work.

Think Like A Mathemetician

In maths we have been learning about thinking like a mathemetician. This is a question that we had to answer. I saw the pattern growing the previous figure plus the number of the figure you're on.
My algebraic expression for this equation was n(n + 1) / 2.

My Kind of Music

My favourite musician is Stevie Wonder because he was able to overcome his disability to become a legendary music artist. I play the piano. This year in music I would like to hone in on my skills on other instruments, such as percussive instruments and guitar.

Atlantic Slave Trade

I have created this map that shows the Atlantic Slave Trade route for Social Studies.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hZ94cYuhc5Nfhwjh5Qa_OSNGipqXKjrw&usp=sharing

Critical Literacy Questions

Task 2: Get Questioning
Using the Critical Literacy Questions, find 4 questions you could ask to find out about:

• Inclusion in a text
• Exclusion in a text
• Representation in a text

Inclusion in a Text:

Question 20: What knowledge does the reader/viewer need to bring to this text in order to understand it?

Question 21: What positions, voices and interests are at play in the text?

Question 24: Whose views are excluded or privileged in the text?

Question 27: What view of the world is the text presenting?

Exclusion in a Text:

Question 14: Who is missing from the text?

Question 15: What has been left out in the text?

Question 19: Is the text fair?

Question 24: Whose views are excluded or privileged in the text?

Representation in a Text:

Question 7: What do the images suggest?

Question 8: What do the words suggest?

Question 12: Why has the composer of the text represented the characters in a particular way?

Question 27: What view of the world is the text presenting?

Dance Monkeys

How are adults portrayed in this text?

The eldery in this text are portrayed as energetic, and shown enjoying themselves, breaking the stereotype that elderly are unable to have fun.

Somewhere That's Green
How are men and women portayed in this text?The woman singing in the piece sings softly and with a high pitched tone, as to sound more feminine. The man in the video is stereotyped to be working outside the house, while the woman is stereotyped to be working inside the house, completing general house chores and cooking. The woman is dressed in an elegant manner, wearing a long poofy dress, with her hair sprayed back.

I Am So Much Better
How are men and women portayed in this text?
The woman in this musical is able to overcome her stereotype of looking stupid and bimboish, and that she requires a man in her life to be successful. She is celebrating because she has landed herself an internship without the help of her ex-boyfriend. She is loud and expressive, in comparison to the previous text, where the singer is quiet and high-pitched.

11. How are adults constructed in the two texts?
Females should be second to males in both texts. The woman in the first text is portrayed as rather ambitionless while the second breaks the stereotype that blodnes are dumb, and lands an internship to be a lawyer,

28. What kind of social reality do the two texts portray?
Somewhere That's Green
Life wasn't fun people do not want to do things outside of their stereotype.
e.g. men in the garden, women in the kitchen.

I Am So Much Better
Set thirty years after Somewhere That's Green, both genders are now being given the same opportunities.

29. How do the two texts construct a version of reality?
The texts draw from history, using items and places that existed during their time.

34. What different interpretations of the two texts are possible?
Yes, we can view the shift from men being positive to being put down, we can view the shift in society and culture and the values they have on individuals.

You're a Bloody Idiot
Synopsis:
Four men go out to a pub for some drinks, three drinking and one the sober driver. The sober driver snuck out to drink alcohol, then, knowing he was drunk, drove his friends home and crashed. At the end of the advertisement, the 'sober' driver greets only two friends, instead of the three before, and instead of referring to the driver as 'mate,' they refer to him as 'Dave.'

Bloody Legend
Synopsis:
A group of friends are at a party, and someone has been drinking. His friend, worried that the person who was drinking would crash while drivin home, convinced him to instead sleep the alcohol off first.

19. Are the texts fair?
The texts are not fair, as they are targetting young P.I. and Maori men, and are portraying said audiences as the only group to drink alcohol, and are a group which often make uneduacted decisions.

10. How are children, teenagers or young adults constructed in the two texts?
The texts stereotype young adults and teenagers as drunk, irrensponsible and not capable of making educated decisions.

23. How do the texts present age, gender or cultural groups?
The first text, You're a Bloody Idiot, encourages the stereotype that young men, especially p.i. and maori are attracted only to alcohol, and portrays women as only sexual objects.

26. Why are the texts written this way?
The texts are written this way to appeal to a specific audience, young men. The second text is written in a different manner to the first, using humour instead of shock value, because audiences have become desensitized to car incidents.

Group work- Critical text analysis

Texts(s):  Eminem - Love The Way You Lie

Topic: Stereotypes

How did your group focus the analysis? (Which aspect did you select to critically examine?) Stereotypes

Which critical literacy questions did your group select to analyse the text(s)? Q. 1   What is the text about? Q. 11 How are adults constructed in the text? Q. 23 How does the text depict age, gender, and/or cultural groups?

Why did your group select those questions? Q. 1   because we can give the information across easily. Q. 11 because this question will let the reader’s know what we are talking about it's also one of the main focus points of the music video Q. 23 because it will help us break down the stereotypes featured in the video.

What did your group conclude from the critical analysis? (So what?) Love the Way You Lie encourages the stereotype that the male is the alpha in a relationship, especially relationships that suffer from abuse and domestic violence. The male is depicted as angry, an alcoholic, and unable to let his anger out in a healthy manner. The female is depicted as submissive, and not only unable to see the abuse that she is facing, but also reliant on the male for emotional support.

About Me

Critical Literacy

(11/2/20)

What is Critical Literacy?
 -  Critical Literacy is when you apply Critical Thinking to a literacy topic.
 -  Critical Literacy is when you question how and why as text was made.
           - A text is something that displays information.
 -  Critical Thinking is a skill that we will be practicsing throughout the year.

Vocabulary Refresher:
Bias - An opinion that favours one side over another; favouritism.
Source - The birthplace/original location of something, e.g. information.
Credible - Somebody/something trustworthy; can be backed by facts.
Authority - The power to give orders/somebody with the power to give orders.
Reliable - Trustworthy.
Perspective - A point of view; a way of seeing something.
Agenda - Something you are planning to do; the reasoning behind you did something.
Manipulate - To convince somebody/thing to commit an action.

(12/2/20)

Find Your Focus:
Text - A written or spoken piece of information.
Construction - The act of building something, often a structure.
Representation - The portrayal of somebody/something.
Stereotype - An often incorrect, widely held idea/image of somebody/something.
Bias - A swayed opinion; prejudiced.
Inclusion - To make somebody/something a part of a larger group.
Exclusion - To refuse to make somebody/something a part of a lager group.
Masculine / Feminine - Having characteristics similar to that of a man/female.

Crossword Puzzle:

Sentence Examples:

We had to study the text for our English assignment.

Hornby High School's new blocks have recently undergone construction.

There was no lawyer representation of the criminal.
The thought that men are always stronger than woman is a stereotype.
The referee had an obvious bias for the other team.
The team captain showed resilience in allowing the inclusion of less experienced players.
The team captain showed arrogance in allowing the exclusion of less experienced players.
The way that he walks is very feminine.

What Am I Learning?
I am learning to apply critical literacy to my learning.

How Does This Show My Learning?
I have showed that I know what these words mean by writing their definition, putting them in a sentence, and making a crossword puzzle using them.

What Am I Wondering?
I am wondering why Mr. Sutton said that an orange wall is considered a text.

Human Rights Poster

In Social Studies we are talking about human rights. As part of our human rights topic we were tasked with creating a poster about Human Rights. This is my poster.

Self Directed Learner Matrix

This is my Self Directed Learner Matrix. It consists of skills that I need to work on in order to become a Self Directed Learner. This term I would like to work on my ability to ask for feedback when I am unsure. To do this I will need to improve on my ability to:
- Ask for help when I require assitance,
- Accept feedback without taking offence, and
- When I reach a roadblock, think creatively to get around it.

I hope that by the end of this term, I have worked on these three skills and will become a step closer to being an independent learner.