Month: March 2018

My Top 5 Strengths (viacharacter.org)

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  • TOP 5 STRENGTHS –

An Analysis…

  1. Humour
  2. Kindness
  3. Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
  4. Teamwork
  5. Perseverance

Humour – This is mainly evident in my friend circle where I play a role of a clown and joke around lots, however, this is an aspect which I am less open within my classes and in front of my teachers as I find the comfort of this jolliness with just a few people.

Kindness – I have been trying to work more and more on this, especially after learning and working with some new people who have taught me to be kinder in their own ways and have adapted their manners, and overall become a genuine person who enjoys helping those around me.

Appreciation of beauty and excellence – I think NYAA has really helped me in developing this aspect as I am more open and appreciating of the beauty around me. I have developed this like during training sessions where I found the many different views of Singapore to be so much more beautiful than the cityscape that I am so used to.

Teamwork – This is an aspect which I thoroughly enjoy as I take interest in working with people I am not familiar with, so I can familiar and meet new people but also because it is a fun alternative than to working by yourself to accomplish a common goal shared with everyone else.

Perseverance – This is something which is less seen by others around me, but mainly can be shown through the effort I put into something I am passionate about or something I really care about. The effort I put in includes the increasing contributions in class as well as asking questions when I am not very sure of a certain topic.

Celebrating Women Enrichment and Rights (Thursday, March 8th 2018)

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The phrase ‘commitment to care’ can have several meanings. For me, it means that I am trying to work for a cause which I am passionate about and want to see further development in the field. It means that I am willing to cooperate with the others around me to learn and share the information I have gotten from the coming events.

From the three upcoming events, I am most interested in International Women’s Day PRESS FOR PROGRESS which is an event being initiated by the Girls Action League which is an awareness program to empower gender equality and take action upon it depending on what you want to do support gender parity. I personally took action when I pressed for challenging stereotypes and bias to fight in my own way for equality and to stop unjust stereotypes which impact women on a regular basis.

This year for International Women’s Day, I dressed in a navy blue, velvet sweatshirt which was striped in a red line with the words “CHALLENGE” burning white in the middle and back. It was accompanied with shorts and sneakers. This was an outfit which I very carefully picked up, thinking that it carried meaning and was something real. Women, everywhere, everyday face challenges because of their gender, the stereotypes, the people who believe in such discrimination. They face these challenges and overcome them, and there is only learning which can take place and maybe perhaps a click for change.

During the focus weeks, I particularly found interest in learning about the service which started in our own schools, GAL – Girl’s Action League. I found it a group which I could connect to and would definitely choose to join it in the coming years because I take interest and am passionate to support this large community in any way I can. I also find the activities the group has planned to be enriching and informative, along with it being mainly for spreading awareness.

From this particular focus day, I was really encouraged to make a change and tried to make a short clip sharing my thoughts and ideas on this global issue. It was about how women’s rights are not always considered to be human’s rights and how this is wrong. I mainly used gifs of famous women who have been working to support this rights movement to create this video clip.

This is a topic which I believe should be added to the unit on Commitment to Care as it is a global political and social phenomena which carries so much misinformation and doubts which need to be cleared. This week, I have tried to be as supportive of women behaviour as I can. From my usually jumpy but quiet, masculine but feminine personality, I have tried to bring to light that I am a woman of choice and no stereotype can define me or my actions. I am my own person and can do what I want without stereotypes affecting me. I am extremely grateful for this, just disappointed that not all women in this age aren’t allowed this basic right.

Below you can find a short clip that I made on my understanding and take on the issue. 

A Mentor’s Questions

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1. Moving from Grade 8 to Grade 9, what qualities have you gained or improve upon?

I think that overall I have definitely improved and gained skills which I never had in Grade 8 and have become more collaborative and accepting of those around me. I have definitely developed in being co-operative with what I am asked to work with and enjoy doing so in a genuine manner. This can be seen from my growing participation in different classes and working well with those who I am not familiar with. I think that this needs to be further developed with time, but I am working on it and I think most of my teachers can agree with this as well.

2. Your contributions to PSE sessions?

 I had initially supported the PSE sessions when I used to share my thoughts in discussions, but after I tried to support by leading a certain PSE session which was based off healthy relationships and how to know if the relationship is healthy or not very. I like contributing to this community because I think it is somewhat essential for students to be participating and learning about the life skills which most schools don’t offer in such an in-depth manner.

3. What is the highlight or your most proud achievement so far in Grade 9?

 I think that my proudest moment was when I had received my Term 1 reports and saw that I got a 7 in Enterprise which I initially thought I never deserved, however by discussing this with my parents and teacher, I thought that I underestimated myself too much. After finding this out, I never stopped putting in the work which I had been putting in and think that my effort has been consistent throughout.

4. LIST the activities that you have been involved with in school. What learning or experience were you able to take from your involvement with this activity?

  • Drums Grade 1

I think that I really developed my playing and this is evident as I am able to understand different drum notes and am able to play all drums in the drum kit. This has been an improvement from the last year where I stuck to just the three main drum, the snare, the base and high-hat.

  • Table tennis

This activity gave me a chance to really improve my table tennis playing from last year. I have been consistently playing this sport since last year, however, I have had previous experience as I grew up playing this sport. This year, the activity is giving me a chance to play in a more competitive manner and I think this is something important for me to learn and grow into because it is something I take interest in and may want to pursue in the future.

  • Yoga

I had initially signed up for this activity thinking that I could fulfil my requirements for NYAA (see below) but for the first two seasons that I participated in the service, I was able to learn so much about peace, bodily and mentally and it brought me health and goodness to the point where I was physically relaxed when I was studying over an important test or assignment. However, I quit the activity after the completion of Season 2 because I had another activity which was of higher priority, which in this case was NYAA.

  • PAW

I have been continuing this service since the Middle School days and plan to continue so as it is one which I am very attached to. So far into Grade 9, I think that much has changed as now students are really in charge of the structure and assembling of the service. This gives me a chance to speak about my own thoughts and worries and contribute in a more physical manner.

  • Lakeside Reading Service

This service is one which I also have been continuing since the Middle School years as I used to participate in Reading Buddies before too and was very passionate about it because I personally love reading and writing and this service really brought out my light as I was able to work with what I love and for a better cause. And by having personal experience with my younger sibling, I am able to incorporate this into the service to make the time I spend with the children, enjoyable as well as informative.

  • Writing Soc

I think that out of all the activities I had taken up, this was one which was the most unexpected and one which didn’t quite meet my expectations. I had originally thought that this service would offer me time to write, which as mentioned before I enjoy but due to school work and other priorities, I am not able to continue this as much as I want in my daily life. The session is mainly focused on re-learning aspects of creative writing which doesn’t really seem to help me personally but seems as just something which has to be done. This, however, does inform me on how this activity could improve, and I will try to relay my thoughts to the student leaders as constructive feedback to better help the students in achieving what they want with their writing.

  • NYAA

This is one of the activities which I generally say that I regret taking, however, it is something I truly appreciate being in my life. It keeps my activities, services, skills, sports and social life on track, giving me an opportunity to improve what I already have and to create the skills that I don’t. NYAA is an activity which mainly takes up the most of my time, but I do not mind this and quite frankly enjoy it as it gives me an opportunity to absorb the physical and practical skills which others may not have learnt. It is quite frankly enjoyable, that is when I am actually able to think about it.