Zac

=WEER 7 HOMEWORK=  What have you learnt about cooperation through your Community Service?  Thanks to the young students I have been working with, I have a learnt that cooperation is an essential value needed in everyday life. If you cannot cooperate with people, then it makes it very hard to get through general tasks that involve others. For example, take a family that is getting ready for dinner; in order to create a fair amount of work for everybody tasks must be delegated and family members must agree to contribute. Being cooperative involves being flexible, which means that if you come across a disagreement you can then negotiate a fairer solution. Imagine that the son is told to do the dishes and the daughter is told to wipe the table; the son argues that his job is harder and he did the same job the night before. The daughter considers this and agrees to the swap realizing it was the fairer way. The kids have helped me realize this from attitude towards their work in general.

 How did the Primary School students benefit from your work with them?  I think that the students I was working with at Errol Street Primary school could have benefitted positively in a couple of ways. One simply is having the extra hand around to help out with whatever the kids are doing. This includes things as simple as assisting the students with reading a picture story book, to helping them with their spelling and grammar so they can complete activities. My role as an extra helper is largely so that I can help the kids that are falling behind most, because the teacher cannot spend all of her time with the one student. I give these kids a short period of one-on-one help so that they can get the support they require. As well as all this it is a good experience for the students themselves as they would be interested in high school. From this they can also develop a positive attitude towards moving on to secondary school and also develop a broad understanding of some of the good things that you can do in high school. Sometimes they do this by asking me questions while I help them with their work.

 What have you learned about the life of one or more of the students you worked with? (Please use a made up name when referring to your student to protect their privacy)  There is one person from the class that I have really gotten the chance to get to know. I chatted to James on my first day at community service. Since it was my first time there, I wanted to make a good impression on the kids so I tried to get to know as many as I could. After being introduced to the kids the teacher told me to go with James to pick up some books, so really he was the first student I met. On that day I learnt a few things about his family. He has two brothers and a sister. One of his brothers goes to Uni high and is in year 10 or 11; this he was unsure of. His sister goes to a different school in which the name he cannot remember. She originally went to University High but did not like it there so she moved. His eldest brother is now studying at University. James enjoys playing sports such as basketball and soccer, but especially has fun playing downball at school with his friends.

Describe the relationship between you and your supervising teacher(s). In what ways was this relationship different or similar to what you normally experience with teachers at school? The relationship I have with my community service supervising teacher is up on a very mature level. We share the same purpose, which is to help the students learn, therefore putting us more on the same level. Although she does have the higher status, and often exercises her right to tell me what to do, we still have a very neutral relationship which is evident in our conversation. For example if she were to tell me to take the chairs down in the morning, it would not come across as an order, but more a suggestion. This is very different to most of the relationships I have with my teachers. In almost all of my classes, the teachers have complete and absolute authority over me. I seldom speak to a teacher in a friendly and forthcoming manner. Perhaps this gap in status is for the better for me as a student and my education. Although if the question is regarding the Galileo teachers then the matter would be different. This relationship is more on the friendly side but not quite as far as my community service teacher.

=WEEK 6 HOMEWORK= = =

Chocolate Dilemma Question
In a sense, it is indeed true to say that everything we as humans do in life is ultimately selfish. Take the chocolate sharing activity as an example: Obviously it would have been the selfish decision to write down ‘T’ indicating to take the entire block of chocolate, but if we think further we can see that choosing to ‘share’ the chocolate among the class shares the same intention to receive a portion of the block. You could say that somebody that goes to a third world country to help a community survive is doing a great deed of utter altruism. Although at the end of the day, you would be helping them for your own satisfaction and if selfishness is simply doing something for the benefit of yourself then therefore this act can be considered selfish. Both these statements are very similar, just on a different scale. Perhaps this argument is a question of the definition, or rather how far one can take the concept of selfishness.

=WEEK 5 HOMEWORK= Day 1 Breakfast: 2 slices of multigrain toast with margarine and vegemite with a Milo. Morning tea: Banana, assorted nuts bar packet of chips. Lunch: Multigrain sandwich with cheese, avocado, ham and lettuce. Afternoon tea: Muffin Bar and a glass of diet coke. Dinner: Rice with beef, egg, snow peas, carrot and broccoli. Supper: Yoghurt with a glass of milk. Cruelty to Animals The meat consumed from this day is the ham I had for lunch and the beef I had for dinner. I’m not sure of the exact conditions, but if there is nothing on the packaging stating the environment in which it was extracted from, we can assume that it is not of organic up-bringing. <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri; text-align: center;">Day 2 Breakfast: 2 slices of multigrain tost with peanut butter and jam with a tea. Morning tea: Banana, muffin, assorted nuts bar. Lunch: Multigrain sandwich with cheese, avocado, ham and lettuce. Afternoon tea: Bag of hot chips. Dinner: Fried rice with bacon, corn, carrot, broccoli, peas and tofu. Supper: Egg tart with a glass of milk. <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri; text-align: center;">Excessive Carbon Emissions Carbon emissions are unavoidable in the production of our modern day foods, although some can be a lot lesser than others. Some of the foods that I have eaten on this day are a victim to excessive carbon emissions. I think that the nuts bar and the spreads would have released emissions in transportation to our local supermarkets as well as in their own individual production line. <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri; text-align: center;">Day 3 Breakfast: Bowl of Special K with Chocolaty Flakes Cereal Morning tea: Banana, muffin. Lunch: Packet of chips and a can of Fanta. Afternoon Tea: Wholemeal sandwich with lettuce, avocado and ham with a Slurpee. Dinner: Rice with fish, tofu, carrots, broccoli, beans and squid. <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri; text-align: center;">Overfishing The fish that I had for dinner this night was Basa fish. I don’t think that this species is endangered, therefore by eating it in moderation is doing no harm. In order to insure that I am doing no harm to a certain species, or further more an entire ecosystem, I must avoid eating overfished or endangered fish species. <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri; text-align: center;">Day 4 Breakfast: 2 slices of wholemeal toast with peanut butter and jam. Morning tea: Banana, muffin, biscuits with cheese dip. Lunch: Wholemeal sandwich with lettuce, avocado and ham. Afternoon Tea: Packet of chips and a Milo. Dinner: Fried chicken with carrots, broccoli, egg, rice. <span style="display: block; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Calibri; text-align: center;">Packaging In my morning tea there is a fair bit of unsustainable packaging involved. Perhaps the worst I had was the muffin is part of a box of 10, all individually wrapped in a tight plastic. Instead of buying items like this, I should just go to a bakery and buy multiple muffins than put them in a small reusable container to take to school.

=WEEK 3 HOMEWORK= //<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">**23. Why was exploration important to Europeans in justifying their settlement of Australia?** // <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It was important to the Europeans to further explore Australia because they needed to justify their ownership of the land. European Explorers were well aware of the Aboriginal inhabitants but simply ignored them totally. They continued their discovering by giving their own version of maps, observations and recordings then bringing them back home to the people. In order to claim this land, they needed evidence like such to make it look legitimate. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">**24. How did Victorians respond to the Burke and Wills expedition? Give examples.** // <span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Victorians were thrilled with the idea of this expedition; as this was evident in the large number of applicants that tried out. Although when it ended in a horrible failure, there was definitely a massive impact on the people. The first state funeral was held for Burke and Wills, and this saw the biggest crowds that Melbourne has ever seen. //<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">**25. What roles did Aboriginal people play in Burke and Will’s exploration of Australia?** //<span style="font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"> The Aboriginal people only wished to help Burke and Wills along their path. As the expedition travelled through <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial Narrow','sans-serif'; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt;">Yantruwanta territory, gifts from Burke and Wills was exchanged with food such as fish and cakes of Nardoo seed. Even after Burke shot a gun unjustifiably over an aboriginal man’s head, the generous Yantruwanta people continued to show them no hostility.

1. I did not think of this rule badly because if this weren’t a rule then the game would be much to easy. It was a good rule that encouraged us to think deeper.
 * __POTATO DETECTIVE__**

2. I found it harder to work in a group because it is always a challenge to get a bunch of people to cooperate and focus on one thing = = 3. In our group, we tried to describe the potato by looking at its general shape and observing any abnormalities. We also used any indents of holes in the potato to describe its look. I think this was more effective because there are many variations in how the dents were situated, therefore meaning you can provide a description in detail compared to just describing the general shape. 4. The only role was the scribe; someone that wrote what the rest of the group though of, as well as coming up with his own ideas. 5. There are a few vital intelligences needed in this exercise. One is interpersonal which is very much about communication and cooperation so then everyone has a contribution. The mathematical/logical intelligence was used in describing the potato because we could use the patterns and connections that the indents made. When we were listening to the clues, it was essential to have the visual/spatial intelligence so that we could imagine what the potato would like and then match with the real one. 6. We worked together by each suggesting ideas for Channa who wrote them down in dot point form; this required a lot of cooperation.. We took turns at looking at our potato closely and needed patience to wait for our turn. We also needed good communication skills to be a good team. 7. There were not many difficulties as I found this task fairly easy. For some groups it was hard to find the right potato because of a poor description and it the start it was hard to get everybody to contribute. 8. In describing, I think we could have paid more attention to the patterns and connection made by the spots. In finding the potato, we just needed to concentrate harder and examine every potato to see which fitted the description best. 9. We could have avoided deliberately saying the wrong answer aloud so that the other groups would answer wrongly. = = =WEEK 2 HOMEWORK= =media type="custom" key="3722071"= = = = = =WEEK 1 HOMEWORK=

//**Think back to the Hermann Brain Dominance test earlier this week …**//

What are your learning styles? What have you learnt about yourself from the Hermann Brain activities this week?

Did you disagree with any of the findings/observations? Explain

Were you surprised by anything you discovered about yourself this week? Consider for example, what you learnt about your learning style, working in teams or observing others in the group …

Do you think you rely too heavily on one style of learning? What new skills would you like to develop? What questions has this raised about: A. You as a person? B. You as a learner?

//**Due on the Wiki: Fri. 24/04/09**//


 * Your responses should be detailed and in written in full sentences. Remember to draft your work; looking specifically at spelling, expression and grammar.**


 * __Reminder: Keep your Hermann Brain Dominance Test sheets in a folder for use later in the term.

ANSWERS:__** My figures resulted in a near win to Quadrant C. This showed that my learning styles are predominately based on feelings both physical and mental. I learned that i liked to learn by experiencing things and feeling them physically but through my inner feelings. I also work well with other people and enjoy group discussion.

I agree with all of the results that i got and think that this test is very accurate.

At first i was a little surprised that it said i was interpersonal and that I learned through experience but after i thought about this and it made sense.

I don't think I rely too heavily on one learning style. You could see this by looking at the sheet where there was a circle split into four quadrants. It was fairly even and the scores in alphabetical order were 7, 6, 9 then 8. Perhaps i could try a little more on the planned mathematical based learning style which i got 6 in.

As a learner I wonder if i will be able to pursue and excel in a career that is heavily related to maths or science bacause of my learning style. As a person this asks whether I will be able to become well organized and structured if i practise or if it just won't happen since I have low numbers in that learning style.