Week 9 - Learning reflection

This week on Wednesday we presented our work in the hall. I think our group could've done a little more work or decorations on our project. Here are my thoughts on our NPDL topic, if I am being honest I didn't really like doing this. I think it was just because of the whole change into different classes and having to be in a classroom with other people instead of my core class, but once we got more into it I started enjoying doing the project a lot more. It took us a lot of trouble to get started because we were really stuck but once we got the hang of it, it turned out to be quite fun. But I also would not prefer doing something like this again in the future.

Learning Reflection - NPDL Week 6

I have learnt how to blog properly and using the correct grammar, I have done as much work as I can with the time we've had during jumbo which was a lot less than how much time we had last week. I have contributed to our groups progress by logging what we did last week onto our google slide.

Something that is going well for our group is that we have contacted Energise Otaki and might be having someone from there come in and talk to us about our topic! I think that I need to work on not getting so distracted in class. I could focus a lot more which will help me. The next steps for our project is hopefully getting Energise Otaki to come in and speak to us.

 

1. NPDL Week 5

Since my last post I have learnt how to properly use grammar. I have taken as much time and also having breaks through double periods and done as much work as I could throughout this whole week. I have researched our topic/question and written down what I have found out for my group.

Something that is going well for our group is how much work we have achieved within this week. Something I need to work on is asking for help when I need it instead of being stuck so I should ask teachers for help when needed. Our next step for our project is finding more sites to get more information about our group's topic.

Mauatua, Radio Show reflection

Our Radio Show show project was about sports at Otaki College and human interests. We Interviewed 2 students at Otaki College. Our first person we interviewed is the captain of our junior basketball team. The next person we interviewed is a student who plays in our year 9 and 10 netball team.

Here is a link to both of our interviews

Basketball Interview

Netball Interview

Our group's teamwork went well, we made sure each person had a job to do and each person got to be a host of an interview. We made sure everyone had a turn at editing and agreed that our final segments were really good.

I think that next time we should be more organised and have a script to read off when doing interviews. Only because interviewing became very challenging when someone would forget what to say.

I contributed well to our group with being one of the hosts for each segment and made sure everyone was using the correct words. I also helped with the editing and getting everyone prepared for our interviews.

I think I definitely improved on my communication skills because now I know not to use the word "um" while interviewing but I do think I should've talked more clearly.

I enjoyed this project a lot because this is something I've never done before and honestly wouldn't have ever tried to do anything like this in my life. So I'm glad I gave it a go and ended up really enjoying it because I learnt a lot about communication and how to edit segments. I think it showed leadership in each person in our group since at least everyone had a job to do.

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas essay.

This is my essay The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

The novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas written by John Boyne, helps young people understand what happened during the Holocaust. An important relationship is between Bruno and Shmuel. Bruno is a young boy who moved from Berlin to Auschwitz, also known as Out-With by Bruno in the novel. Shmuel is a young Jewish boy who was imprisoned in a concentration camp during World War ll. This relationship helped me to understand that people from different cultures can form friendships even with what is going on around them. In my opinion, children and adults should understand the horrors of the Holocaust and never forget.

Bruno moved to Auschwitz for his "father's job" without a choice. He didn't like it one bit, "Not even insects would choose to stay at Out-with," said Bruno. The one thing keeping him there was his friendship with Shmuel. The two boys met at the fence of the camp and, despite the two different worlds they live in, seem to click right away, "'Hello' said Bruno, 'Hello' said Shmuel." Bruno does not understand why Shmuel isn't allowed on his side of the fence or why he can't go in there. Bruno thinks it's unfair that Shmuel has so many companions on his side of the fence. This helped me understand that at this point in  the novel, Bruno didn't know anything about the hate Germans have for Jews at the time.

At first they didn't know each other very well and had not developed a trusting relationship. Bruno and Shmuel share many things alike; they are  both 9 years old and born on the same day, "'How old are you?' said Bruno…. 'I'm nine, my birthday is April the fifteenth nineteen thirty-four.' Bruno's eyes opened and his mouth made the shape of an O. 'I don't believe it… We were born on the same day.'" I think that the fact they have many similarities is what makes it such a good friendship, they both care for each other very much.`

Bruno went out to see Shumel almost every day just to talk and play. It was the joy of his day. He brought Shmuel food almost every time, if he didn't eat it himself. They talked about their families and different lives, "'Where did you come from?' said Shmuel, 'Berlin' said Bruno….. 'Don't you come from Germany?' said Bruno, 'No, I'm from Poland,' said Shmuel." Bruno and Shmuel's friendship is something special, it goes to show no matter who the person is, friendships can be made. 

Bruno's lessons with Herr Liszt taught him untrue things about Jews, like they are the reason why Germans lost the Great War, they have made millions of Germans have no money, that they are dirty and in general bad people. The author showed this when Bruno said, "We're not supposed to be friends, we're supposed to be enemies." That helped me understand that Bruno still didn't stop being friends with Shmuel after what he had been told; he continued to treat Shmuel like nothing was different about him. That shows me a strong, trusting friendship. 

Reading about Bruno and Shmuel's friendship helped me understand key messages within the book like their forgiveness, support and trust for each other. Their relationship helped me understand what happened to Jews, that in my opinion, no matter who or where a person can be, it is easy to create friends with people that are judged. The book is heart-warming and upsetting. Reading the novel made me feel like I was a part of the Holocaust. I think their lost voices should be heard much more.