English Scholarship Pathways Day

 Today during school we took a day out of each class to look into key categories in English. These categories were Narratology theory, Rhetorical Theory, Philosophy, and Shakespeare. 

In Narratology Theory, we covered different story structures including Todorov's Equilibrium structure, Barthes' Engima, and Strauss' structure.

In Rhetorical Theory we learned about different rhetors and their rhetorics. These included Aristotle, Jean Baudrillard, and bell hooks

In Philosophy, we discussed the trolley problem and being human. We had a great class discussion about these things

In Shakespeare,  we talked about the story of King Lear, and how because he broke the pecking order of the kingdom, everything fell in chaos

Overall, I had a lot of fun and learned a lot whilst doing so

If there were to be more of these workshop days I would definitly consider going

English Connection Planning

In English, we have been reviewing different pieces of text to find connections between them. The texts we have been viewing are Blade Runner 2049, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Black Mirror: Be Right Back, and The Outsider by H.P. Lovecraft

Here is what I can connect between them

Analysing Language Techniques - English

The air was full of noise and smoke

• This is past tense

• It was used to show that the day was gloomy, dark and all-round horrible

• I think it worked well as when saying the air was full of noise shows how noisy it was

I was quite nervous

• This is a 1st person view

• It was used to show the reader how scared and nervous the writer was

• It worked well to show how the writer felt about the activity he/she was about to do

As the river finally came into view, we found ourselves a small clearing

• Past tense again

• 1st person view

• It was used to show the reader what the writer and her friends were seeing

• It was also used to show the reader that the writer was safe

The story The Rivers Pawn is written using first person and past tense. This is used to show what the writer was feeling at the time and that it was in the past.

This work was a collaboration with Levi, we both did really good work

Todays lesson

The lesson today was fun with the new teacher. We discussed some techniques and I am looking forward to the rest of the term

The bystander effect

The Bystander Effect

The bystander effect is something many people probably haven’t heard of. At first thought you probably think it has something standing by someone. Close, but not close enough. Let me ask you a question. If you were at university during a lecture, sitting around about the middle with a packed house, and suddenly the professor just fell on the floor, would get up to help them, or would you wait for someone else up near the front? What if you were sitting in the front row? What it was just you and like, five other people? What if it was just you talking to the professor after class? In some of these situations, you probably would, but in the other ones, maybe not. Studies show that if someone needed help and you were standing in a room full of people, most people would wait for someone else to do something. But as the group size decreased, the more likely someone was to help. This is all due to dependency on others and just sheer nerves. What if you tried to help but just made it worse? What if there was a doctor in training in that lecture? These are limiting factors in our helping of others. Now many of you will say no matter how many people are there, you would help. But the truth is, you probably wouldn’t if there was a group over like, 7 or something. But hey, it’s not personal, it’s just science.

Complete Combustion

In science today we did an experiment about complete combustion. To do this we filled a plate with water (and added red food colouring), placed a candle in the water, lit the candle and put a beaker over top. The resulting reaction led to the water rising inside the beaker and once the candle was starved of oxygen and burnt out, the water stopped.

Video:

The way this works is without an outside source of oxygen, the flame uses it all and eventually runs out, thus making more space and allowing the water in.

English - Ideal World

My ideal world would be a world where big airlines flew to Chch direct, NASCAR and V8 Supercars visit Chch. A world where the Prime Minister would be Peter Griffin, Mr Stokes would keep teaching at Hornby. There would be a massive restaurant chain in New Zealand where they just sell bbq ribs. Milkshakes of tap in all homes. Michael Schumacher wakes up. New Zealand gets a proper military. They start selling golden gaytimes in New Zealand.

That's my ideal world, let me know what you think

Edit: A golden gaytime is an Ice Cream BTW

Composition - Music

What is Composition?: Composition is creating something without instructions, for example in music composition is creating a completely new song

What style of composition have you chosen to do and why?: I have chosen to do an advertisement because it is short but it also allows me to add some comedy into the mix

What ideas do you have so far and what do you have so far?: We have some rough ideas of what we're are going to do but not really anything solid, which means we need to come up with something quick

The Treaty of Houston

The Treaty I have researched is the Treaty of Houston. It was a Treaty signed between the Texas Commissioners and the Cherokee tribe. It relates to the Treaty of Waitangi as it was created to stop conflicts between two parties of varied development.

Maori and European populations 1836-1901

In social studies,
we have made graphs on the populations of the Maoris and the Europeans every 5 years between 1836 and 1901

Here is mine:

Questions

1. What does this graph show us?: The more Europeans that arrived, the more the Maori population decreased

2. Why do you think the numbers of Maori change?: They either went off on ships or died in the musket wars

3. Why do you think the numbers of Europeans changed?: Because more Europeans came on ships and were bred in colonies

Pepeha

Ko Aoraki Toku Maunga
Ko Pacific Toku Moana
Ko Waimakariri Toku Awa
Ko 2004 Honda Odessy Toku Waka
Ko Canterbury Toku Rohe
Ko Havrilla Toku Hapu
Ko Logan Toku Ingoa

Creative writing - In The Navy

Title: In The Navy

USS Nimtz, Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean

‘This is Supercat One. Ready to go, Cat One.’

‘Supercat One you are cleared to go.’

‘Cleared to go, Supercat One’

The F-18 shot across the deck as steam spat everywhere. Just another take-off
for the Supercat Naval Squadron. Then suddenly. Clang, scrap, bang! 

‘Fire crews to the deck! Fire Crews to the deck!’

‘Get a search party in the water now!’

Supercat One, starts skating on it left-wing across the deck, catching fire and drops
into the water

‘What happened?’

‘The tank fell off.’

‘Did he get out?’

‘I didn’t see any ejections.’

‘Supercat Two this is Nimtz, shut down the engines and return to your cabin.’

So the two pilots in Supercat 2, Terry townsend and Chris Mortimer, did as they were
told and hoped out

‘Terry, did you see that crash.’

‘Something tells me they didn’t survive that.’

A while later

‘Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen. Unfortunately Commander Harrison Scott and Lieutenant
Commander Jack Martin have been killed during an incident that took place on the carrier
deck this morning. The cause of the accident has been put down to a faulty fuel tank
mounting on the left side that took out the landing gear on that side and exploded.
They weren’t able to eject as they were still connected to the CAT. It shot them into
the ocean at 200 mph and trapped them there. It has been decided that all pilots will
move up one spot and the official new leader of Supercat Squadron will be Lieutenant
Commander Terry Townsend. Morti you will still fly with him, but as Supercat One.
Juicebox and Cassie you will be Supercat Two and so-on and so-forth.’

‘Wait I can’t lead this squadron, I’m not ready.’

‘Well, I suggest you become ready. First Mission is tomorrow at 0845, briefing at 0800.’ 

‘I've only been in this squadron for 2 years.’

‘Pyro, we’ve all only been in this squadron for two years, it’s brand new. Besides, you didn’t
like the way that Groover ran things, so maybe you can change it up a bit.’

They pull into their bunk area

Juicebox then walks up to the pair

‘I look forward to being under your command sir!’

‘I look forward to bossing your ass around, as you were. Also keep your stuff on your
side we like to keep ours clean. Where's your RIO?’

‘Cassie is in a different bunk, with the rest of the girls.’

‘Oh right I forgot. Well then be as messy as you want, but only on your side.’

‘Sure thing sir.’

‘Cassandra Lopez reporting to the captain.’

‘Ah, hello. Welcome to our humble home.’

‘I look forward to our mission tomorrow, but can you give me some insight to what it is.’

‘I can. Tomorrow at the briefing.’

‘See you then sir.’

‘We will.’

The next day

‘Welcome to the first day under my command. Unfortunately I haven’t lead a mission,
but this one is critical. We will be going into Burjanistanian territory to sort out some
fighters that have been causing trouble.’

Maori Mythology

In social studies, we have been discussing Maori mythology.

Discuss the idea of Mythology/stories in religion, and the role myths and stories play in society?: They make people believe that back then there was a God that created the world. It is providing people with an understanding of how the world was created, as well-meaning to their life.

What similarities are there between the myths and stories of Màori and the first British Missionaries?: They all believe that there is some type of god that created the whole back then

Why would the difference between Màori beliefs and English beliefs cause conflict?:
Both the Maori mythology and Christain religion emphasised worship and solidarity of their god/s respectfully

We have also been talking Maori deities. Mine is Tane Mahuta, God of forests and Birds:

Mt St Helens 1980

Name: Mt St Helens

Location: 154 km south of Seattle, Washington State

Year: 1980

Type of Eruption: Plinian, Pelean

Consequences: Side of the mountain was broken off

In 1980, Mt St Helens, situated just south of Seattle, Washington, erupted as a result of a 5.1 earthquake. This eruption launched a plume of ash 63000 feet in the air! It was classified as a Plinian and a Pelean eruption because not only did it explode from the top and release that massive plume of ash, it also blew a hole in the side in which lava leaked from. The created a crack from that hole to the top. The rock then slid down and broke up in a land-slide. This created a large hole in the crater.

Wind Racers: Science

In science, we have been making wind racers. It had to go as far as possible under the power only of a leafblower. We were allowed limited resources including paper, cardboard and tape. We were also supplied a little cart that our racers would be built upon. Lots of other groups came up with regular sail designs, but Robbie (the mastermind of our group) came up with a radical design the consisted of a cardboard back and a whole lot of masking tape. It would have small strips of cardboard around the sides, a longer piece down the middle as a support, and a large piece for the back, and the rest would be covered by tape. It didn't look very good, but we thought it would work reasonably well. It had a large area for the wind to hit and propel it forward, an aerodynamic design to minimize wind resistance and light materials. Lots of people doubted us, but when we came to the actual testing of the racers, we flew. The test was to see how far they got. We chose to go sixth (for whatever reason) out of seven, so we at least got to see how well the others did before ours. Some others tried and did alright but not great. But then when someone went further then everyone's so far, so they did a victory lap. Then it was our turn. We hoped it would make their victories premature. And it did. The so far best was just over 2 metres, ours went and blew it out of the park, 3.1 metres. The last racer didn't get anywhere clos to that. We did another run after that and it went 5 metres! It's fair to say people were jealous. We then got to redesign our racers for another run. We didn't change much apart from putting a little tape edge around the outside of the back. Other groups were adopting large cardboard on the back of theirs like we had done, and so as a back-up plan if theirs somehow became better, we would put lynx spray on the wheels to grease them up and decrease friction. Others weren't happy. But the teacher said it was fair game, if they were going to take our basic design advantage, why not make a new one. We didn't end up going further, eventually going 4 metres, but it was still the best.

I had a lot of fun with this activity and hope I could do more like this in the future.

Thanks for reading my blog, please give feedback that could help my learning

Gymnastics - P.E

In P.E we have been doing gymnastics. It's not my favourite thing but here is my best

Trampoline (mind the annoying idiots that are my friends):

My routine is something on the trampoline. I chose this sequence because it was the first one on the list. I think I have improved on this sequence as before I used to take a long time to do it

Technology and Change

In social stuies we have been doing technology and change. We learnt about the Stone age, the Ancient Egyptians, and the Romans.

Stone age: We learnt about the different ages, the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, the different tools they used, and the cave paintings they made. Then we made our own. Mie was some people praying to an almighty fish lord

Ancient Egyptian: We learnt about what they used to make the pyramids such as sandstone and limestone. We also learnt about hieroglyphs and mummifying. We then made mummies ourselves.

Romans: We learnt about the way that rome was run and all sorts of different thing they invented. Then we made a display about how Julius caesar was assassinated. Then we presented it at an exhibition. 

The exhibition was really cool and I liked all the displays.

Here is a video of everything

Subscribe to Mr. Wilson

Thank you for reading my blog, I had a lot of fun in this unit.

Speeches in english

In English, we have been doing speeches. It was fun, especially when Nathan did his about why Donald Trump is not racist

What was your presentation about?: Why everyone should be excited about the Bathurst 1000 2019 (it's lit)

Which part of your work are you proud of?: The part where I mentioned golden gaytimes

Were there any challenges?: Not really, just writing it I guess

Would you do anything differently next time?: Make it shorter as it was 6 minutes long

Investigating Levers

Aim: To investigate the advantage of using a lever to lift a load

Hypothesis: I think the more you move the pivot point the less load it will carry

Equipment: 30 cm ruler, a pencil, 2 plastic cups, 20 marbles, blue tak

Method: 

1. Tape the two cups to either end of the ruler centred on the 2 cm and 28 cm mark
2. Place the pencil under the ruler at the 15 cm mark. The pencil will act as the pivot point
3. Add 10 marbles to the cup at the zero end of the ruler
4. Add the marbles one by one to the other cup (at the 30 cm end) until the cups are balanced
5. Record how many marbles were needed
6. Move the pencil to the 13 cm mark and repeat steps 4 and 5
7. Move the pencil to the 10 cm mark and repeat steps 4 and 5

Results/Conclusion: The more we moved the pivot point, the fewer marbles were able to be carried

Egyptian Pyramids

The ancient Egyptian pyramids were large stone triangles in the middle of Egypt. They were and still are marvels of engineering. Commonly made of limestone and other stone materials used to form large structures that were the eternal home of the dead pharaohs and nobles. The oldest pyramid in the world is the Pyramid of Djoser. The largest pyramid is the Great Pyramid of Giza at 139 metres tall

In social studies, we made our own pyramids out of Mega Bloks. My group's pyramid was the largest and probably the Great Pyramid of Giza out of the lot.

I had fun with this and hope we can do more with the mega bloks

Please leave a comment to tell me what I can do better