Month: October 2019

PSE: Optimism

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on October 23, 2019

Today please read this article and do some further research into the benefits of optimism. Write a portfolio reflection at this stage about your level of optimism and what you hope to work on in order to improve your level.

For our second unit of PSE, we looked at optimism as well as the benefits of it.
Optimism is the hopefulness and confidence about the future and yourself. It is when hardships are seen as learning opportunities and when the most miserable day still holds the promise that tomorrow will be better.

I think my level of optimism overall tends to be normal, in which I strongly believe that bad things will come to an end (temporary), that I believe that it’s not the end of the world, but I do most of the time think that they are within my control and that I could have prevented it/reduced how bad it was.

So if I was to say one thing I could work on, it would be to not feel all that responsible for all the bad things that happen. Though I do find it funny since I believe in karma.

Though I do agree that optimism is important, I don’t think that being pessimistic or being a realist is that bad to the extent that some companies have to go out of their way to hire optimists.

I think that what is being missed out here is that although optimists are more prefered because they get things done while having high hopes, pessimist can get things done too! There needs to be a distinction between being pessimistic and being negative.

There is a difference between pessimists and people who think negatively overall – in which it is the way they cope. Pessimists can use their negative expectations to motivate themselves to take active steps to be more prepared and more in control of the outcomes, while people who think negatively tend to use avoidance to cope with anticipated problems.

So I think that everything should be balanced. I also think that a quiz about optimism and stuff like that is flawed. People can easily choose and say what they think suits the taste (optimistic) but when it comes down to action, it’s hard. Also, I feel like we have only been learning about optimism through the encountering of hardships, what would an optimist be like then in everyday life?

The Danger of a Single Story (and Sketch-noting…)

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on October 7, 2019

Today in English class, we listened to Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie’s talk about the Danger of a Single Story, which is ultimately about how only learning one representation of a culture/group of people/community can influence people’s perspective and view on the group.

We then attempt to learn how to sketch-note, which is a visual+word way of taking notes. Personally, I don’t use it a lot because I feel like it is only used to make notes look attractive (look it up in Google and perhaps you will see what I mean) and it takes a lot of effort into doing it like planning out the layout (at least for me), needing to carry around a bunch of colour markers and pen to make it look pretty etc.

But it’s worth giving a shot.

However, apparently we ain’t quite doing it the right way? (According to Ms Wallace) (Is there even a right way?)

So perhaps stay tuned for more sketch-noting…(But do give some doubt on whether I will actually use it)

EDIT on 10 Oct 2019

We redid our brainstorm on Adichie’s talk on the Danger of a Single Story

This time, we made sure to share each other’s quotes and build from there. I think that we also came to an understanding that just because it’s sketch-noting, doesn’t mean we have to minimize the number of words we use. We should let it just flow. Sketch-noting is about making it a little messy to show how things connected and can be as simple as drawing arrows and highlight words.

By the way, here’s the video that we watched. I really liked how smooth her narration and thoughts were.

0 Waste Event Supporter – 1

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on October 7, 2019

LO3 – Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
LO4 – Show commitment to and perseverance in you CAS experiences
LO5 – Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
LO7 – Recognise and consider the ethics of your choices and actions

Once again, I signed up for another year of 0WES, but this time, I have a goal – to be the chairman of the service.

Since Grade 9, I have been in the service (though initially unwilling as I was assigned there due to no allocations), but I just really love the fact that I can make a change first hand in events by providing washable crockeries. The interaction with the community was incredibly satisfying as well, as we work together with Buddha Tzu Chi in events like Sunday recycling and Pasir Ris day.

What I wrote when I was applying for 0WES leadership position

The application process for the leadership positions included having to give a speech (which was notified last minute…) as well as have an interview.

For the speech part, to tell the truth, I was pretty anxious as well as in awed when I listened to the other candidates as they were incredibly good speakers. Their confidence and passion towards the service really shown through their voice, and they had talked about many other things as well such as their experiences outside the service, their abilities to lead the service etc.

Personally, I felt that I wouldn’t get the position as they were all going for it, applying for both chair and vice-chair of the service. That kind of made me sad as I can see my weak points, however, I was happy at the same time to see so many people applying and wanting to make a change in the service, as well as that it was good for the service if there is someone capable than me to lead the service despite my feeling of hope.

For the interview, when asked about what my plan is for the service, I replied that I would like to continue refining and improving our efficiency in the service as well as develop the portfolio. But when asked again, repeatedly, I started to understand that I am most likely not going to be the chairman. I think that it is because other than supporting zero waste events, the service does not really address anything else, thus they are expecting the future chair to have some ideas of initiatives that the service can take on. I realised that what I currently am is not what they are looking for in a leader, which I felt make sense after attending a leadership workshop. A leader is meant to inspire and engage people, what I am particularly focused on is the management aspect of leadership, not the actual leading part. (Though I feel that a leader doesn’t necessarily need to have ideas of his/her own.)

So overall, although I did sign up with the hope of becoming the chair of this service, I am not confident that I will get the position, which I understand since there are many great candidates applying for it too. Regardless of the results, I will continue to do my best in 0WES and support the team.

Edit on 11 Oct 2019:

The results are out!

I’m not surprised that I ended up being the secretary of the service once again, as I have mentioned before, I don’t think that I currently have the right skill sets to lead as I tend to focus on the management side of leadership. In fact, I am really happy that Siya got chairman not only because I trust her due to our friendship from badminton, but also because I know that she is an incredibly hardworking and inspiring girl who will definitely strive for the better of the service. I am very glad that I will be working together with her in the service

However, what came as a surprise was that in Season 3, due to Siya needing to be away on study leave due to Grade 10 IGCSE, I will need to be the acting chair of the service during that time period. This is because Albert, the vice chair, have shown no interest in being chair and I have been in the service for a long time, thus would be suitable to be the acting chair. I am incredibly grateful that the teachers have given me a chance to not only learn from Siya during the first 2 seasons, but also to show and improve my leadership skills in season 3 and 4.

I am looking forward to working with Siya and Albert, as well as the rest of the leadership team (that has not been decided as of now) to continue the good work of the service and further better it.

Badminton – 1

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on October 6, 2019

LO1 – Identifying your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth
LO4 – Show commitment to and perseverance in you CAS experiences

Recording for reflection

Notes for convenience

Season 1 – signed up for Sunday competitive training with East Badminton Club

Background with badminton
– Started in Grade 6, start formally training in Grade 7
– In SEASAC A team as singles last year

Took a break from badminton for 1 month
– Drastically impacted performance
– Season 1 only started 4 weeks into school, which means 4 weeks of no training since I train with the school club
– Yet to adjust to balancing IB life and others, thus lack exercising

After training
– Tired and demotivated
– A 5 minutes video of my 11 point match with Coach Alvin
– Typical game length 10 minutes,
– Laughing at ambitious goals from end of IGCSE (and actually start of IB?!)

So what is my plan?
– Gradually increasing training days
– Fitness
– Planks (normal and side-on) – currently 45 seconds, increase 5 seconds every week
– Calf lift 50 times each leg, every other day
– Tricep dips 30 times, to increase elevation

Swimming with Hougang Care Center

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on October 5, 2019

LO3 – Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
LO5 – Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively

INVESTIGATION

The first session of Swimming with Hougang Care Center was a get to know session as well as a little introduction to what the service is about. My understanding of the service is that we are empowering people with mental health issues by leading activities in the pool (infant pool) to build mental resilience to cope with stress, improve their self-confidence, motor skills, fitness and overall well being. We also covered and read some of the SWOT analysis from last year, with one of the major weaknesses being punctuation. Last year, the team struggled to pick our partners on time as they arrive at 3 pm sharp, which is when school ends. This makes it hard for many to be there as some had to rush down from the 6th floor. Other than that, the session was mainly on building and fortifying the relationship between everybody in the service.

The second session was more about investigating, where we brainstormed how we could find out more information about our Service partner and the issue in which they are tackling with MISO (Media, Interview, Survey, Observation) as well as brainstorm some questions to ask the Hougang Care Centre’s Director and staff.

These are some of the questions we would ask to find out more about our partners:

Is there anything that we should avoid in terms of activities or actions?
If the members don’t want to participate – should we let them be? Or encourage them to participate?
What are their habits? What’s their daily routine?
How do they react to activities and certain situations?
How can we determine or know the nature of their disability? How to know what activities suit them?
Are there going to be people who have specific needs? Or things we should know.
English ability? Or What languages can we expect to hear?
What activities do they enjoy the most?
How do they introduce new activities to the members? Direct instruction? Demonstration?
What activities do they already have at the centre?
How do we react to unfamiliar behaviour?

We also decided on our leadership team, which was pretty straightforward. I didn’t go for a leadership role in this service because I worry that it may become too much for me to handle as I am aiming for a leadership position in the college service I am in, 0WES. In the local service, we have Owen and Lucy co-chairing, Anna on logistics, and Shweta on communications. Arkie and Poppy will be co-chairing in the second semester of the service.

In the third session, our Service Partner came to our school to give us a brief introduction as well as an explanation of regarding their actions towards the issue of mental health issues. They also gave us time to ask them questions that we have.

Courtesy to Owen, our service’s co-chair, for taking notes

Many of them have a job, some may be too tired to participate in sessions
The end goal is that they stay with the centre for two years and then can move on
Try to encourage the members to join in the activities
Don’t be patronising, they are members, not patients
1. If they want to be back in society they need to feel included
Most are English speakers – don’t always need to speak Chinese
About 10 people per session
schizophrenia, bipolar, autism, PTSD
Make sure that the activities aren’t repeated from the actual centre
They follow an American system, so they are freer
They have choices to do activities
We should go talk to the staff if we feel uncomfortable in any way
If they choose to change outside, be firm with our policy
Don’t take pictures of their faces, if need to, blur the faces out

This is a recording of the session, which I decided to take around 10 minutes into the introduction:

What struck me was the realization that they were normal, that I somehow, despite supposedly having exposure to them, still have the image of them as a stereotype. This realization made me disappointed with myself but also pushes me to change the image of them in my head by having direct interactions with them.

Something that I found amazed and important was that the end goal for them was to allow them to gain confidence so that they can assimilate back into society after 1/2 years. I find that amazing due to the image I have of the service partners as a care centre, which again, I will need to change how I look at them.

PREPARATION

After the interview session with our Service Partner, we begin to prepare and plan for the activities we would be running with our partners/members (the Center insists on us to call them members so that we are all equal). As there is an even number of people in the service, we decided to go in pairs to run each session. I was partnered with Hamza. Whilst everybody has decided on what activities we are to run, Hamza and I has yet to decide. This is because we wanted to decide what to do after experimenting with different types of activities and receiving feedback for them.

Here are some pictures of us brainstorming some activities we could do in preparation for the sessions.

I am looking forward to meeting with our partners after the October break and getting to know them. I hope that it will go as smoothly as possible.

Memory Project – 1

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on October 5, 2019

LO1 – Identifying your own strengths and develop areas for personal growth
LO6 – Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance

The first session on September 9th started with a little introduction from Mr McGrath and Mrs Dinsdale on what the Memory Project is. Actually, it started with me getting lost when trying to find the classroom but let’s just ignore that.

The Memory Project is an activity that creates a connection between high school students and children in Pakistan through the giving of art. It’s not one where we go “OH, look at how we are drawing some portraits for these POOR ORPHANED CHILDREN!”. No, just no. They still go on living their lives, smiling, laughing, doing all sorts of things children do! This is about giving them something that they can call theirs when they don’t, it is about forging friendships and gaining intercultural awareness through the universal language of art. It is about creating a kinder world through art – and that is why I joined.

When I join the activity, I have to admit that I thought that we were just going to start on the drawing aspect of it right away (probably because I was very eager to stretch my fingers and draw). But we started with brainstorming and creating an imageboard on Pakistan’s culture for potential background designs.

So here’s mine. I chose a lot of scenery pictures as well as patterns that I could potentially use as background.

Also, when Mr McGrath stated his expectations that each of us will be able to draw 3 high-quality portraits by December. From my personal experience of drawing portrait, it takes very long. The drawing aspect of getting the proportions right is incredibly hard – one small shift of the eye can change the whole picture. I was also very nervous when I realized that everybody was a former fine art/graphic art student in IGCSE because I felt unconfident that I can create high-quality portraits. (I took Design Technology: Resistant Materials for IGCSE, though I used to take fine arts outside of school) But I reminded myself that I have joined this activity in order to make a change through something I love, that as long as I try my best, that is what that matters. The fact that I am surrounded by super experienced peer is a good thing as well, though I will need to step out of my comfort zone to ask for help from them (in fear that they would make fun of me… I don’t know how but that is just my fear).

In the second session, we were each given a photograph of one of the children we will be drawing a portrait for. It really touched me, how besides their name and age, they gave us their favourite colour. It’s something really simple thing, but that is why it touches me. It is something that you see in every children introduction worksheet. It’s as if it is hope, it is childhood.

So I am partnering Zain. He’s 8 years and likes green.

This is my image board slides for Zain

This is my annotated brainstorm and thinking process:

On the third session, I was incredibly surprised to find out that we would be tracing the portraits instead of drawing freehand. The reasoning behind it was that the Memory Project team emphasized artists to capture their characteristics and make the drawings as realistic as possible, also that it allows us with more time to paint rather than drawing. Though understandable, I find that it contradicts one of my main goals for joining this activity, which is to learn how to draw portraits.

Tracing on Zain’s photograph as well as the colour value.

However, for now, I will challenge myself with painting a person realistically – something that I have never done before.

The Official Website of the Memory Project

Should we ‘police’ language?

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on October 3, 2019

Today, we looked into the political correctness, which is the “avoidance of forms of expression or action that are perceived to exclude, marginalize, or insult groups of people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against” (according to Oxford Dictionary).

In class, we listened to 2 speakers who were both against the policing of language, one coming from the standpoint of a comedian and one from the standpoint of polarisation of political groups (left and right). They both argue that political correctness retrains freedom of speech, which leads to people’s thought going underground (like maybe the deep web) and that people should control their own emotions and reactions to it instead of attempting to control and police others opinions.

When given the example of how universities are increasingly leaning to the left, it reminded me of an article about how speakers with opposing values were barred from speaking in the universities due to students’ values and inability to accept opinions which undermine their values. This aligned well with both speakers’ thoughts of how increasingly in society that there is binary opposition only, no grey area within subjects, as well as the natural human impulse of wanting to be right.

I agree with them. It is only further dividing people and creating tension. It is causing voices of the opposing side or those in the middle to be unheard. We need to assimilate these ideas and opinion, gain a middle ground to make progress which benefits most of us. By polarising values, we are neglecting the very thing that everybody has been arguing for: Freedom of Speech. If not, how different will the left be from the right?

Representation and Identity in Mass Media – Apu

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on October 2, 2019

I feel that this post really reflected how I feel about representation and today’s mindset as we approach the grey area of cultural appropriation and accuracy of representation. After reading both articles, I decided to write out my own personal opinion regarding the two opinions I read as well as draw a small illustration to show my thinking and mocking of one of the opinions.

I think that the main point that we must remember is that the Simpsons is a show that makes fun of everybody and utilize humour to remind and raise awareness on issues as well as cultures. It is also a pop-culture TV show, it’s targeting us, the everyday people, a massive target audience. They can’t possibly cater to every need or wants of everybody and this representation. Because as I have said and will keep repeating, everybody is different, thus not all representations will apply to us. But really, Simpson is a comedy show. Is there a need to take it so seriously?

Thoughts on Representation (D&G case study)

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on October 1, 2019

Write a detailed paragraph (@300-350 words) which is evidence of your thinking about #Representation (linked to your study of the D&G campaign).

Representation is a messy subject. It may sound simple to define it as the portrayal of someone or something in a particular way, however, when talking about the accuracy of representations, it gets messy. Especially when the topic of identity and cultural appropriation is brought in. For example, in 2018, Dolce & Gabbana released an ad campaign in China which instructs Chinese on how to eat some typical Italian food. This caused a huge backlash on the company as many Chinese interpreted the ad campaign as the brand was portraying western culture as the sophisticated and cosmopolitan dominant culture, whilst eastern culture is more basic and primitive. This is maybe through the various props used, ranging from the animated and exaggerated movements of the female model, which was seen as a representation of how westerners view Chinese females to be submissive, to the script of the male voice off-stage such as “If you are able to master [eating spaghetti with chopsticks], you will be successful”, which was understood to be implying that spaghetti is a more complex food than Chinese noodles. Many question the brand on whether they have the right to represent Chinese culture? Better yet, who has the right to represent and decide what Chinese culture is? Whilst Dolce and Gabbana was a case of culture appropriation clearly defined, there are still grey areas within the issue of representation. When can we represent a culture? Is it when we have experienced the culture? Or when we have received permission? Even with these questions, there is still the need to clarify and specify. Personally, I feel that the term is beginning to lose its meaning. In this era of globalisation, people are starting to become oversensitive and confused about their identity as we begin to mix with other cultures. The understanding of representation is becoming shallower as we use it as a term to further divide ourselves into categories to feel like we are a part of something, instead of accepting that, yes, we are different. This scenario/context doesn’t necessarily have to apply to me, as it can be applicable to someone else. Representation is a messy subject, no doubt. In this world of technology, where there is little to no filter for us to control our impulse, it is easy to misrepresent something or somebody. But it is crucial to remember, that representation can never be accurate, because everybody is leading their individual lives, in unique ways and experiences.

[HOW I WISH I CAN SPLIT UP THE PARAGRAPH!!!]

Notes as well as the original document

Personal favourite lines (because I can have them)
– Who has the right to represent and decide what Chinese culture is?
– We use it as a term to further divide ourselves into categories to feel like we are a part of something

Notes of Dolce and Gabbana

Published by liew48863@gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg on October 1, 2019

So for a case study regarding cultures (dominant and subcultures, as well as the representation of cultures), we had the Dolce & Gabbana’s controversial ad campaign for China.

First was the initial impression notes on the ad campaign

Then a worksheet to further analyse the adverts by ourselves

Followed by class discussions regarding the campaign using notes we took in the worksheet