Wednesday, March 30, 2011

How Does Ethnocentricity Cause Conflict?


On the 26th of January, 1788, the British arrived to the place where is now known as Sydney to find the land to colonize and start their new life. Seeing the First Australians, the British thought they were just animals because their skin tone, behavior and manners were totally different from the British. Therefore, the British took over their land without permission. First, the British wanted to make a good relationship and colonize together with the aboriginals in order to keep stable lifestyle between British and First Australians. Eventually, driven by bias and inconsiderate views of the British caused by their ethnocentrism, the consequence was in vain exerted and resulted in conflicts and misunderstood among them. When the colonists first came to Australia, they were unsatisfied with savage manners and appearances that First Australians had. With their bias view, the aboriginals' actions were not understandable. Their first attempt was to eliminate all the crops that the First Australians used to eat and plant their own crops such as corn and potato because they were not comfortable with the lifestyle with those barbarous people. Due to the difference in the food supplies, the aboriginals suffered from starvation. Seeing this terrible situation, the man named Pemulwuy realized that their land was being taken by the evils. As a consequence, he started burning all the crops and food supply in rage which caused a conflict between aboriginals and the British. Eventually, Pemulwuy was killed. At that time, Bennelong, who went England to experience new things, has returned and found out his land was in misery. He lost his wife, family and trust with the aboriginals. He decided to leave England and live in Australia in his savage lifestyle. At this point, the British reported that in spite of their benevolent treatment towards Bennelong, these could not warp his menacing and barbarous manners with their ethnocentric view. The British and the First Australians were no longer in an amiable relationship. Although the British's first request was acceptable, their ethnocentric views towards the aboriginals could not overcome the cultural conflicts between two countries.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Julius Caesar Duet

I will be prepareing the play with You Jin Reo. I will be Caesar and You Jin will be Calpurnia. We will perform: Act two, Scene two, Lines 1-56.

In this scene, Calpurnia tries to persuade Caesar not to go Senate house because of her nightmare about Caesar's downfall. Calpurnia thinks her nightmare is a foreshadowing of Caesar's death. She begs Caesar to stay at home for the protection.

This scene is significant because Calpurnia's nightmare is a foreshadowing of Caesar's assassination from the conspirators. It makes the story more dramatic. Also, this scene shows Caesar's public self and his private self. When Caesar and Calpurnia are talking, Caesar pretends not to be afraid. The quotation "Caesar shall go forth," demonstrates Caesar's public self. However, when Calpurnia explained her nightmare about Caesar's assassination, he suddenely decided to stay at home. This shows that Caesar is afraid that he might be murdered. Then he says that he is staying at home to plead Calpurnia not that Caesar is afraid of her nightmare. This scene helps readers to think more about Caesar's character and the relationship between Calpurnia's dream and Caesar's death. It also shows the relationship between Calpurnia and Caesar that while Calpurnia does consider about Caesar, he looks down at her and does not admi what she is saying.

CAESAR

Nor heaven nor earth have been at peace to-night:
Thrice hath Calpurnia in her sleep cried out,
'Help, ho! they murder Caesar!' Who's within?

CALPURNIA

What mean you, Caesar? think you to walk forth?
You shall not stir out of your house to-day.

CAESAR

Caesar shall forth: the things that threaten'd me
Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see
The face of Caesar, they are vanished.

CALPURNIA

Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies,
Yet now they fright me. There is one within,
Besides the things that we have heard and seen,
Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.
A lioness hath whelped in the streets;
And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead;
Fierce fiery warriors fought upon the clouds,
In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan,
And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
O Caesar! these things are beyond all use,
And I do fear them.

CAESAR

What can be avoided
Whose end is purposed by the mighty gods?
Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions
Are to the world in general as to Caesar.

CALPURNIA

When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.

CAESAR

Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.
Of all the wonders that I yet have heard.
It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.

CAESAR

The gods do this in shame of cowardice:
Caesar should be a beast without a heart,
If he should stay at home to-day for fear.
No, Caesar shall not: danger knows full well
That Caesar is more dangerous than he:
We are two lions litter'd in one day,
And I the elder and more terrible:
And Caesar shall go forth.

CALPURNIA

Alas, my lord,
Your wisdom is consumed in confidence.
Do not go forth to-day: call it my fear
That keeps you in the house, and not your own.
We'll send Mark Antony to the senate-house:
And he shall say you are not well to-day:
Let me, upon my knee, prevail in this.

CAESAR

Mark Antony shall say I am not well,
And, for thy humour, I will stay at home.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Learning Profile-K

I am a gestalt thinker with the profile K.

In a K profile, I am a visual learner that must see the whole three-dimensional perspective and emotional elements to learn. My tendency is to see the big picture and to be less concerned with the details. I learn best through movement and by focusing on the whole picture, context and emotional relevance to self. When I am relaxed, I may easily communicate the details and sequence of information, both verbally and written. I prefer not to follow step-by-step instructions and tend to start by imagining the end results and then intuitively doing what seem appropriate. My movements tend to be spontaneous and fluid when relaxed.

There are many habits and strategies that will help me to learners like me become more orderly and analytical in you thinking and your work habit. I need to sit in front row on the left hand side where they can access their left eye most easily because I am in a left eye range. I need to see the whole picture but not know where to start to chunk it down into the linear pieces of language to express it. It will be highly beneficial if I work on an integrative balance of art, music, movement and interpersonal skills combined with cognitive endeavors in linguistics and mathematics. Also, in order to be a good learner, I need to make lists, prioritize, use flow charts and attend to details.

I may have difficulty communicating, listening and remembering when under stress. Because I am in a left eye range, it scans from right to left. It is possible challenge reading or writing languages that move from left to right like English. I may reverse or transpose letters or numbers. My biggest challenge may be to access the pieces of information and be able to put them together in a linear logical manner that I can then communicate, so I may not know what you are talking about. Also, I do not really understand when someone is explaining about an object step by step. I might have to see an image. For example, if I buy a new phone and there is an instruction how I should use this phone and what function this phone has. However, I do not read it but I just use the phone whatever I want. Therefore, I have a difficulty when there is an long instruction about problems.

I would like my teachers to know that I need to be encouraged and modeled how to work with and communicate the details and linear aspects of life and learning. There are many activities that can help me to be a good learner. They are reading out loud, Thinking Cap from Brain Gym, megaphones, toning the vowels and cross-lateral hand play like knitting, writing and drawing with the non-dominant hand, and massaging the Temporal mandibular Joint for communication. Also, if I see an image while I am learning, I will be a better learner. I would like my teacher to explain problems with images. Other than these situations, I am most likely be focused in class.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Arts mirror


The painting, 'The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolas Tulp' was drawn oil on canvus by the Renaissance artists, Rembrandt, in 1632. This painting demonstrates the group of people who are studying and dissecting corpse and discovering about human facts. This piece of art is indicate of rediscovery and new knowledge of Renaissance. In the painting, Dr Nicolas Tulp is teaching a group of people about the dissection and interesting facts about the human body. This shows that people in Renaissance looked for many new discoveries and interesting knowledge and inquired more about the world. Many people started questioning about how the bodies of human look like and how the anatomy works. Therefore, people began dissecting dead bodies after being permitted by the Churches. They explored many scientific techiniques and new knowledges from dissection of dead bodies which led people to high development of new knowledges such as medicines. People in the Renaissance also pursued realism of paintings. There is In the painting, dead bodies and expression of people were drown with more details. Also, shadows on men's clothes and anatomical drawing make a painting realistic. In the Renaissance, people began patronizing talented and skilled artists to develop their country. All the artists drew paintings with realism and anatomical techiniques. They brought attention from people and formed rivalry between city-states. Arts reflect the situation of that time period. It illustrates how people lived and what people were aiming for in their society with new artistic techiniques and varied subjects.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Driving Forces of the Renaissance

I believe trade and banking was the most crucial driving force of the Renaissance because it helped people to adopt new knowledge from other city-states. In order to trade, people in Renaissance had to travel around to trade some goods. During this process, people also traded new knowledge such as Earth and universe. Banking was also essential because as banking flourished, people became richer so they hired some creative thinkers to their city-staes. As a result, those creative thinkers helped city-states flourish as a Renaissance city. As trade and banking flourished, people got new valuable knowledge and also wealth that could help city-states develop.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Dear Mom and Dad

Welcome to Student Led Conference! I am really glad that you came to see my work. I am going to share with you how I have worked and improved throughout the year. My goal this year was to learn enthusiastically and collaborate constructively. This binder contains many activities from different classes. This conference will be held for 30 minutes. You can also discuss with other teachers.

In About Learning section, there are SLR’s which are the learning target of ISKL. Those are 'learn enthusiastically', 'reason critically', 'collaborate contructively', 'live ethically', 'communicate effectively' and 'think cretively'. I have strived to accomplish all SLR’s this year. I divided my activities by different subjects. Also, there is Multiple Intelligence that was done in trimester 1. It tells me which type of person I am.

For each subject, I have organized the activities that I have done throughout this year. I have completed many lap activities and take home exam for the science. I also wrote the reflections on those. In math class, there were many quizzes and tests for each topic. Some quizzes were nicely done, and some I failed. After taking those quizzes and tests, I reflected myself so I could find out what was wrong with me. From each reflection, I could know how I can hand in work differently as before.

As I explained to you, my portfolio contains variety of activities. You will know how far I have improved this year compare with last year. Thank you for coming to student led conference and I hope that you figure out what activities that teachers let us finish and how I have completed those works nicely. Thank you.

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Object Writing

"Ah! Again! It really hurts me! I'm really sick of you! Seriously!"

My owner threw me to her friend again. She will never understand how I feel and the behavior that she is doing right now is torturing me. I am aching so much as though I just had a car accident and being stepped under the truck. Unfortunately, she throws me everyday whenever she gets pissed. What have I done to her? Only thing I have been working so hard was to keep her stationery safely. If she treats me badly, she should not have bought me in the store. OK, well, I was too furious. Be patient.

Oh no, I can't be calm and quiet like a sheep! Readers, do not ever think that I am complaining too much. My owner starts to draw some weird-looking creatures on me. Furthermore, it is now being smudged. Please stop drawing on me! It's extremely ticklish. You are not being responsible for your object. I am not a piece of paper. Don't you think that I am a container of your stationery? In fact, I was really beautiful. Yet, my owner will never know how I used to look like. I am perfectly ruined.

I think my owner just stopped drawing things on me. Finally, I got a free time! She never touches me when she is taking tests or doing something very important. Only thing I do in this time is to count my precious pencils and pens. Let me check. Oh my god! She lost one of my babies again. That pink pen had been staying with me only for three weeks! My owner always makes me despondent. The pink pen was the most gorgeous and colorful pen that I have ever seen! After school, she may hop to the store and stuff me like a turkey. She loves to purchase new things. It's such a waste of money! Don't be panic. Let's think in a optimistic way. I lost some weight because of the gorgeous pink pen which is really good for me.

It seems like 1 hour passed. It's really quiet. I have been carried in her bag hearing the whistle of wind. Oh this is sweet! Nobody will draw some ridiculous things on me or lose one of my precious stationery. Although I will be tortured again when my owner get back to home, (her sister chews me every single day. I am not a chewing gum!) I will enjoy this time.