Thursday, November 18, 2010

Working With A Partner On Literature Circle Reflection!

The benefits Of Working With A Partner!
There were a few benefits of working with a partner on my Literature Circle. The first advantage was that we got to discuss and improve what we had already worked on and written. (Example) Over the weekend we somehow were on Google Docs at the same time, so we both were writing and fixing errors at the same time and complimenting each other or giving suggestions on ways to improve it. My partner and I had been writing or editing each others passage, responses to the questions, connections, etc. 
The Challenges/Obstacles which you overcame or tried to overcome!
Along the way, we faced a few challenges which we had t overcome in order to have completed a successful Literature Circle for the chapters we were told to read. One of the first issues we (at least I) encountered, was that over the weekend, I had FORGOT MY BOOK! It was a GIANT issue.Though I was lucky that I had remembered my passage and connection. I THINK I personally had a pretty decent passage and connection. The question was... another story. I had to come back to school during and find all the pages during home group. The other major issue I faced was that when I worked on my Lit. Circle, Megan wasn't online, and when Megan worked on it, I had stepped out. It was almost a challenge finding a time in which we both were online to work on it.

  New Understandings That I Gained About The Novel!
Throughout this Lit. Circle that we worked on in a partnership, I hadn't gained much. Working in the partnership didn't make me realize anything that I hadn't realized before. I am just hoping that working with my partner made my partner/I improve our previous Literature Circle grade. 

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Literature Circle Reflection!

     During humanities, we have recently restarted Literature Circles. I am reading a novel called "Thunder Cave" by Roland Smith. Our second Lit. Circle group discussion has just finished.
     My group's discussion helped me to understand the novel better because when our group talked about Jake's choice on going to Kenya... I realized that him going to Kenya, maybe wasn't the best choice because of when we discussed with the other members of my group. (Megan, Pavel, Viet) I had first thought, that him going to Kenya was the right choice. But, my group proved me wrong because Jake had to face so many challenges within the f'tirst day. First, his bicycle got stolen, next he got beaten up for his clothes. Other group members of mine said that they would prefer to have stayed with the uncle in Nebraska. I asked them why and they replied that there are a few reasons why. The first reason why is because in Nebraska, they are within the safety of their home. So they don't have to worry about animal attacks or things like that.The next reason why is because if their relatives ask Jake to come to Nebraska, it is because they probably feel bad about him not having a proper guardian to take care of him so they want to take him in. The final reason why is because what is the possibility of a kid finding his father in such a big country like Kenya, when the experts themselves can't find him. Along with that, we don't even know if he is still alive.
     I didn't make any connections throughout the parts of the book we have read as for now. This is because this book is about a kid whose mother is dead, his stepfather doesn't care much about him, and he has no idea about the whereabouts of his father. To get to his father he has to write a fake note to get his visa and passport. He also has to sell some jewelery to get the money for the ticket to Kenya. My life isn't similar to this in any way. I have never come to a point in time where any of this has happened to me.
     While at the point in the book where we are, I came upon a few predictions I thought would happened. In one of my Lit. Circles, I had mentioned a little bit about this. I predict that his grandfather was right that Jake didn't ride his bicycle for the whole journey. This is because I thought that when Jake came face-to-face with the lion, it was because the lion thought that his bicycle was a zebra and attacked it. So it broke and Jake couldn't ride it anymore. The other prediction I made, was that Jake will find his father because most books end with a happy ending and this will probably be the happy ending of this one.
     I hope my Literature Circle Reflection has everything it needs to be a good one.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Symmetry In KL!


I took a picture of a yoga mat. In this picture there are 2 lines of symmetry. The first one goes up and down through the middle of the yoga mat.The other line of symmetry goes side to side right through the middle of the yoga mat (from left to right). The shape is a parallelogram and also a rectangle.