Here is my video reflection (the file was too big so I linked it to a gdrive file)
Kahaani (Final)
Kahaani 2021 was a great experience for me to enjoy and make new friends, while also raising awareness about the organisation ‘Voice Of World’, which aims to support mentally and physically disabled children in Kolkata, India. This year we had to film Kahaani instead of performing it to a live audience, so it was quite hard to fully show our energy through a video, but it was still a fun experience.
As mentioned in the first post, I was not really fond of this dance because I prefer dancing to upbeat songs rather than slow songs, but I still maintained my motivation for this activity because I knew that this performance is for a good cause as it raises awareness about the mentally and physically disabled children in Kolkata. I attended most of the rehearsals and participated with my full energy and I think this was also motivating for others to stay committed as well because having a good attitude in rehearsals made the environment much better hence making others want to stay motivated as well (LO4).
I think the main thing that affected my commitment levels for this activity was the fact that I didn’t get into the dance I wanted to get into, so I was bummed out by that and that made my attitude towards this Kahaani dance pretty bad at the start, but as I persevered on with this dance I started to enjoy it so I was really happy that I stayed committed to this (LO4).
Here is the final performance:
Through Kahaani, I also had the opportunity to work with others and make new friends. I collaborated with other from my grade and a few people from grade 9 and 10, and it was really easy to work with them because we all had the same goal of wanting to make our dance look nice, hence we all put our maximum effort into this dance. I feel like one challenge I faced when working with them was the fact that not all of the others in our group had a background in dance, therefore they needed extra practice to make the dance look good, and this made me quite annoyed because they wasted a lot of our rehearsal time just to go through the same steps we did the previous week. I guess the main way I was able to overcome this challenge was to help those dancers myself because I learnt the steps really quickly and I thought I could help the dance leaders by teaching it to those who didn’t pick up the dance yet. I think this was really effective and helped to make our dance look better at the end (LO5).
I think that collaborating well was really important in making this dance look good because we need to be able to synchronise with one another and know the dance well by teaching it to each other so that our final performance will look good, and I really think that our collaboration was really good and it made our dance look really pretty. In the future, I think that I should keep in mind that not everyone will be at the same level and that some people may need more time for others, and in order to be a good group member, I should be patient with everyone and make sure that everyone is on the right track (LO5).
IFP (Planning for conference reflection)
In the past few weeks of IFP, we started planning out the final IFP conference, and in order to help us with our planning, we had multiple workshops about how we can be better conference leaders.
I think that all of these workshops are useful for us because we learnt about how to keep our audience engaged. Our final IFP conference is going to be with grade 10 FIBs personally I think it will be easier to keep them engaged compared to the 5th graders we held a practice conference with earlier this year. However, I also feel that these 10th graders might get bored easily if they don’t find our conference interesting, therefore I think that we will need to try our best to make our conference engaging.
From Mr Alchin’s talk, we learnt about the importance of paraphrasing especially when it comes to ensuring that the audience really understands what we want to say and it also helps to keep them engaged. Of course, paraphrasing only appears natural with practice therefore in the upcoming sessions we have, I want to try to practice my paraphrasing skills with my group members so that we can incorporate paraphrasing in our final conference.
From Mr Q’s talk, we learn about the importance of structuring our session properly so that the audience remains engaged and understands the information we provide. So for our final conference, I think it is best if we have essential sections such as an icebreaker and a recap at the end, but it is also important to have some calming or ‘aesthetic’ music in the background as we learnt that learning works best as an aesthetic experience. It is also very important to make sure that we create a comfortable environment and be inclusive of everyone so that everyone feels like they can contribute to the discussions.
Badminton
I have been doing badminton since 6th grade, and it is basically the only sport that I do. In previous years, we were actually in teams and played against different schools, and in the past, I was usually in the A or B team, and I really enjoyed badminton.
This year I participated in preseason badminton, which lasted for four weeks, and currently, I am doing season 3 badminton, which will last for 6 weeks. Due to covid, we are unable to play games with other schools, so I don’t know if badminton this year will be as fun as the previous years. Anyways, my goal for badminton is to have an increased awareness of my strengths and areas of growth, so I can improve as not only a badminton player but also a team player (LO1). Another goal of mine to work well with the other people in the team and help them improve as well as improving my skills as a badminton player (LO5).
I hope that badminton will be as fun as the previous years and that I will be able to improve as a badminton player and a team player.
Sustainable Enterprise Consultants (Mid-reflection)
So far in the first two seasons of Sustainable Enterprise Consultants (SEC) we have actually done a lot to raise awareness about the issue that we are advocating, which is sustainable consumption and production (SDG12) but we haven’t actually made any impact on campus, like we haven’t physically helped any GCs yet.
As I mentioned in the previous post, I am in the communication team of SEC, and we have contacted GCs and made them aware of our presence and we let them know that we are here to help them make better decisions on how they can be more sustainable. We also made posters about SDG12 and the triple bottom line. These posters will be put up on the blackboards in the plaza, and it will help the students to learn more about the issue that we are advocating. We also create a slideshow that will be shown to the grade 4s and 5s so that they can learn more about sustainable consumption. Through this, we hope to foster the ‘ethical thinking’ mindset into children at a young age, so that they will choose sustainable options and products when they are older.
By making these posters and the presentation I have learnt a lot about SDG12 and sustainable consumption. The main thing that I learnt is that SDG12 is all about sustainable consumption and production, which means choosing renewable resource, recycling electronics, not buying unnecessary things, etc. I also learnt about the triple bottom line, which is a sustainability framework that focuses on the ecological and social aspects of businesses. This issue of overconsumption is really important because we need to realise that there will be many generations living on this planet after us, and we need to make sure that there are enough resources for them to survive with as well, so we need to be sustainable in the way we consume (LO6).
Participating in this activity has also made me rethink how ethical I am and how I can change my consumption to make it more sustainable. For example, recently my family and I went to the grocery store but we forgot to bring reusable bags. However, instead of choosing to get plastic bags, we chose to carry the items with us because we didn’t buy that many items. Another time was when I was contemplating whether or not to buy an iPad for my studies. In the end, I chose not to because I realised that it is not necessary for me to have an iPad at the moment, and it will just lead to an increase in electronic waste. These two decisions were based on SDG12 and the fact that I wanted to make sustainable choices and ensure that my consumption is sustainable. By doing so, I will also set up a good example for the people who we are planning to help because if we can’t make a change in our habits, then how will we make a change in other people’s habits? (LO7)
Since grade 6 I have been doing all types of service that aim to help the community, for example in grade 9 I did arts and craft with preschool children, hence making their days much better. Through all these services I realised that I am good at planning activities, for example during SEC I was the one who planned how the slides should be and what information to put on the slides. Through this activity, I would like to improve my communication skills and hopefully, this can be done through communicating more with the GCs that we are going to help – so I will be obtaining my personal goal of being a better communicator, and I will also be obtaining the service’s goal of making the GCs more sustainable. (LO1)
Karate (Mid-reflection)
I did my karate grading back in December and I am officially a brown-black (brown tip)!!! I am honestly so proud of myself and I did find the grading really challenging but I am so glad that I put lots of effort during my karate lessons, and I am so glad that I pushed through.
Here are photos of me receiving the black tip (on my brown belt) 😀
The grading was a big challenge, and I was so sore afterwards and I had so many bruises on my arms and legs but I had so much fun taking part in the grading and I am just so proud that I passed. The running was a huge challenge for me because I usually only fun 4.5km, so running 6km was really hard. Another factor that made the running really challenging was the fact that I did not train for it at all, like the last time I went running was around 5 months before the grading, therefore I completely lost all my stamina and I just found the running really challenging. Luckily my dad was running alongside me, so he kept motivating me and telling me to keep going. For the next grading (which will be in August), I will be taking my black belt, and I’ll have to run 7.5km. In order to train for that, I have been running more often (like around once or twice a week), therefore I don’t completely lose my stamina. (LO2)
Another challenge of this grading was the sparring. I had to do 12 rounds of sparring, and most of them were guys who were much taller and stronger than me, so I got beat up! The sparring was also challenging because it was really hard to control my strength and ensure that I don’t run out of stamina by the 10th round. For my next grading I will have to around 15 rounds of sparring and then another 5(?) round of sparring with black belts. I am pretty scared about this, but I feel like in order to approach this challenge I will just have to train more. For example, during Monday training I could stay back and do some sparring with the black belts and learn some techniques from them. Another plan of mine is to start building arm muscle so that my punches are much stronger because as of now my kicks are very strong, but my punches are pretty weak. I guess the main skill that I need is confidence and perseverance because I really do need to believe in myself and believe that I can spar all these people without getting beat up! (LO2)
I guess by doing all of these challenging activities in karate and still pushing on and looking forward to my next grading in August really shows my perseverance and commitment for karate. My main motivation factor for karate is my progress and the fact that I have come so far since 7th grade and I am so close to finally reaching my goal of getting a black belt. Going to training in the CC has helped me make so many new friends and they all help me stay committed to karate because I really do enjoy spending time with them, and if not for karate then I just won’t be spending any time with them. (LO4)
So for now I will just stay committed to karate and train stronger and harder until my grading in August where (if I pass) I can finally get my black belt!
CultuRama 2020 (Final)
CultuRama ’20 was an amazing experience that I enjoyed and learned a lot from. This year we had to do an online recording of our dance instead of performing it live like the previous years because of covid, therefore it was kind of a bummer. Despite this, I really enjoyed this experience and Nigeria was an amazing team to be a part of.
Learning this Nigerian dance was a big challenge for me as it is completely different from the dance styles that I usually do, and because it requires a lot of stamina as the dances have a lot of bouncing/jumping. I feel like by putting my full effort during the rehearsal I managed to overcome this challenge of learning a new dance style. I also made sure to ask the dance leaders, Lorette and Phuza, if I had any doubts about the choreography, and I also constantly asked them for feedback so I could show my best performance during the final recording. (LO2)
However, I feel like one challenge that I could not overcome was my nervousness and to be completely honest I was pretty nervous to stand on stage and record the video for everyone to see. The main reason for this stage fright is due to the fact that I thought my dancing wasn’t perfect, or good enough. In the future (for dance showcase, or kahaani) if I have this same stage fright then I would approach with changing my mindset. Instead of wanting my dance to be perfect, I would want to enjoy dancing in the moment and flowing with the music, because dancing is more about the feelings you portray or just enjoying the moment rather than perfection. (LO2)
Here is a video of one of our final rehearsals.
Despite feeling nervous on stage, I feel like I also developed some confidence through this dance. Dancing, in general, makes m feel very confident, especially if I get into the zone and vibe with the music, and the songs that we danced to for Nigeria were very fun to dance to and I definitely vibed with it. I think that this confidence was really important in making sure that I looked good while dancing and that I actually enjoyed the dance. This confidence that I developed can be used in all my other activities like karate (when sparring with others), ballet (during the exams, or during performances), dance showcase in school, etc. (LO2)
The biggest challenge of this dance was the fact that it was not a live performance, it was prerecorded. This was really hard to work with because for dance performance I usually get my energy from the audience who hypes us up, but this year because of coivd-19, it was not possible, so we all had to be extra energetic during the recording so that our passion for this dance, and out energy really shows through the screen. Luckily we had a few dancers from the other groups sit (socially distanced of course) in the auditorium and cheer us on, so it gave us a lot of energy (but of course not as much as a full house would). (LO2)
Here is the final performance.
Through this experience, I have also been able to develop my collaboration skills as I had to work well with the people in my group in order to make sure that the dance looked good, and I also asked others for help if I needed to. It was really easy to work well with the other people in this group because we all wanted to make the dance look really good, so everyone was willing to help or provide feedback if we asked. I didn’t really find any challenges while working together because everyone was really nice and willing to help, and we all knew that collaborating well means that our dance would look nice in the end. (LO5)
Overall this experience was a great way for me to challenge myself but also make new friends and develop important skills that can be used in other situations. I really hope that CultuRama ’21 will be as fun as this years, and hopefully, it will be live!!!
Mini IO Reflection
Here is my recording for the mini IO.
Here is the feedback from Reesa:
Here is my marking:
Criteria A (Knowledge, understanding and interpretation):
- understanding of the text and the context is clear, but it the global issue could be referred to more
- referred to other artworks by hoch that helps to develop ideas, and convey that these themes are shown throughout hoch’s artworks
- 6/10
Criteria B (Analysis and evaluation):
- there is analysis throughout the oral, but I’m not sure if there is enough
- could talk more about authorial choices – hoch is a dadaist, therefore she would choose to present her artwork in certain ways, this would relate directly to the global issue of how hoch uses art to convey/challenge society’s culture
- a lot of the points i made was repeated
- there was a mix of both micro (details about the painting – photomontage, overlapping) and macro (society – new woman, dadaist)
- insightful? no
- 6/10
Criteria C (Focus and organisation):
- the focus in the task was maintained throughout, but there was a lot of stuttering and pauses
- i and not too sure about the development of ideas, i think it was lacking
- 5/10
Criteria D (Language):
- spoke for too long – could have spoken much faster
- formal language
- refers to terminology
- 5/10
PSE Reflection
In this unit of PSE, we the three main concepts we learnt about are self-advocacy, self-knowledge and informed decisions. Personally, I think that the concerted that resonated the most with me was informed decisions and making the right choices in order to maintain relationships.
key takeaways:
during conversations with others:
- don’t try too hard to make the conversation go in some certain direction, go with the flow and let the thoughts come and go
- never equate your experiences with theirs, because you will end up making the conversation all about yourself instead of talking about the issue that the other person is going through
- watch out for their body language, if they seem uncomfortable, or uninterested, then change the topic
ways to prevent conflict with parents/siblings:
- keep in mind that they have a different upbringing than you, and they will have a different outlook to things, therefore you should consider their point of view as well – helps you make better choices
- if you find the conversation with them turning into a battle, stop and tell them that you will continue the battle another time – AFTER LOTS OF THINKING!!
relationships with others:
- you should know whether the relationship is professional or not, don’t cross the boundary
- consider the feelings of the other person in the relationship and the situations that they may be going through, give them space if needed
- trust is not hard to gain, once you gain someone’s trust, DO NOT break it
my goal for this year is to prevent arguments with my parents or my brother and to think about how our feelings are different, hence my choice of words have to be nice to prevent anyone from getting hurt.
IFP Reflection – Microagressions
During our last session of IFP, we discussed microaggressions, which are brief daily verbal or behavioural acts that can communicate hostile, derogatory or negative attitudes to minority groups (it can be intentional or unintentional). These microaggressions could range from assumptions such as “You’re Indian, so you must be good at math.” to detrimental assumptions such as “They’re wearing hijabs hence they are terrorists”. These assumptions and stereotypes really do impact these people in multiple different sectors, including education and opportunities; employment and income; health and welfare; conflict and violence; politics and power; and intentions and assumptions.
Stereotyping others could lead to immense levels of conflict, hence being a barrier to peace. For example, in terms of education and opportunities, multiple people do not get access to education due to where they are from, despite being at the same intelligence as other applicants. In countries like South Korea, society puts an intense amount of pressure onto the student to do well in their studies as they believe that only those who do well in school will be successful in the future. This pressure that students have, due to the stereotypes in South Korea, has lead to the suicide rates of teenagers in South Korea to increase rapidly as they believe that they will never be good enough or fit the stereotype. This shows that stereotypes based on one’s background or intelligence leads to intense pressure on the individual, hence leading to immense amounts of internal conflict. Here is the brainstorm that our group did on the impacts of stereotyping on an individuals education and opportunities:
These stereotypes could also lead to physical or verbal violence, such as bullying or riots. For example, in terms of intentions and assumptions, if one stereotypes someone as dangerous due to their skin colour or religion, it could lead to immense levels of conflict and violence. An example of this is the USA, where many individuals assume that just because an individual’s skin colour is black, they are dangerous. This has lead to immense levels of abuse and violence towards the black people in America, such as black kids getting bullied in school, or even getting shot and killed by other Americans. Hence stereotyping people is one of the biggest barriers that human have to peace. If we stop making assumptions about people, and if we stop marginalising them and stereotyping them, then the levels of conflict in the world will significantly decrease, and the world will definitely be a more peaceful place.
During this session, we also watched a documentary of a teacher doing a simulation on her third-grade student in order to make them experience what it feels like to be marginalised and judges based on features that you are born with, like skin colour. The teacher separated the class into blue-eyed children and brown-eyed children and gave more attention and privilege to the blue-eyed children. In the end, violence broke out between the kids from the different groups, and it brings up the question of whether or not this violence was inevitable. This experiment suggests that conflict will always arise between people, even if it is because of something as simple as eye colour because humans have a superiority complex. However, violence can be avoided in every situation because it really depends on one’s ability to control themselves.