This morning in tutor we discussed about the safety amongst internet, and computer uses. We searched on the internet if our names, age, addresses, or information were found. For me, there was someone else who shares the same name as me, and so my information wasn’t found. Although when searching my school email address, I found this blog. But in the end I didn’t find any private information about me.
Digital Citizenship
Apr 15
In our English class, we have been working on the play, “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare. Recently we’ve been focusing on Mark Antony’s speeches in Act 3 Scene 1, especially the imageries Shakespeare uses.
This task helped me stand in the perspective of Shakespeare. By reading the text closely and finding the imageries, it made me think about how these give an effect to the whole speech. Thus it made me think about why Shakespeare chose to write these things. All these things made me pay attention to the specific techniques in the speech. And to find the meaning of the text, I had to research further, which in overall made me understand the whole play even better.
I didn’t find a lot of difficulties, since our teacher explained thoroughly what to do, and she showed us an example of what we were supposed to do. But I learned that I can embed a google document or presentation onto the blog.
This is a presentation I have made, which represents the few imageries of Mark Antony’s speech in Act 3 scene 1.
My Presentation on Antony’s Speech(Imagery) - Julius Caesar
Presentation explained:
Slide 1
This photo is a photo I searched on flickr, representing line 265, in Act 3 Scene 1; “Blood and destruction shall be so in use”. The drop of blood obviously represents the blood in the text. The reason why I chose this photo out of the many, is because of the texture and atmosphere of this photo. This photo has a dull atmosphere, and it has darker tones of colour on the edges, making the blood stand out even more. This dull atmosphere related to my idea of “destruction”.
Slide 2
Line 254 of Act 3 scene 1 says, “O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,…” This photo is from the common search of NASA, and it shows the Earth’s heat, when putting the thermographic effect. When reading this line, I simply thought of a photo which has the Earth, and blood drooping out. Although when looking at this photo I thought it related to the feeling of the line.
Slide 3
“Which like dumb mouths do ope their ruby lips”. This line is line 260, from the same scene. I chose this photo since it simply displays “ruby lips”. This photo is also from flickr.
Slide 4
This photo is based on line 268 of the same scene; “Their infants quarter’d with the hands of war,…” This is also another photo from flickr, and is a photo thought to be taken during a riot. I thought this photo represents well of the war, and also how it is blurry, it expresses the chaos of wars.
Slide 5
This photo is what I chose from reading the line, “Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war,…”, line 273. This photo is shot right at the moment where a dog is jumping. I thought the excitement would be well represented in the photo.
Reflection on Mock Exams
Feb 26
1. What worked well for you in terms of preparing for mock exams?
Preparing by testing with friends helped a lot, I noticed on what I really didn’t know.
2. What will you do differently to prepare for the May exams?
I would start to prepare a lot earlier, since I started realizing that I didn’t have much time to study in the end.
3. Make a list of each class in which you will write an exam. What topics are you most comfortable with? What do you need to review?
Classes I will take exams:
- English
- Mathematics
- Coordinated Sciences
- Japanese
Most comfortable subjects for me are Japanese and Coordinated Sciences.
I feel that I need to review and study more maths.
Semester Reflection
Jan 15
Questions for reflecting the first semester:
1. What are you most proud of in your semester one results? Why?
I was proud to see that I improved on all sciences, and music areas.
2. Given the comments of your teachers, what do you most need to work on?
I need to work on recommending more ideas in class, being more cooperative during class discussions.
3. How will you work on #2 above?
I will try to speak up when having a discussion in class.
4. How do you feel about your Approaches to Learning (ATL) feedback?
There are points where I need to improve, however I am improving from last year.
5. Review the learning goals you established in Semester One. In what ways have you met them? What remains to be done?
I have met some of the goals, however there are goals remained. I will work on these this semester as well.
Figure Paintings Review
Nov 28
These are my 3 paintings I have worked on in class. The first one (far left), was a painting where I focused on using realistic colors, and I followed the tones in the actual photo. However, as I investigated on Francoise Nielly, I got interested in using vivid bright colours. Francoise Nielly uses wide ranges of colours on her human figure paintings. So I decided to use the similar idea for my paintings.
I personally found it difficult on using various ranges of colours, since you do not have any reference on where to use them. But as I started, I began to get used to it. The very last painting was done by palette knives, which is also interpreting the idea from Nielly. I think this was a good challenge for me.
For the next figure drawing, I would like to improve on using wide range of bright colors, and at the same time having the proportionate to be accurate and realistic.
Charcoal Drawings from Class
Nov 25
This monday, tutor groups from our grade went down to the elementary classes for Values Education. We went and discussed our goals towards education and socializing together. The 3rd grade students presented their goals to us, by voice thread, which was very interesting since I did not know how to use voice thread when I was their age. I found it engaging that some of their goals were the same as mine.
Chiaroscuro is a style of art focused on the contrast of light and dark. In Italian, Chiaroscuro literally means “light- dark”. Chiaroscuro paintings have very clear difference in tone, making the piece more vivid. Chiaroscuro was originated during the Renaissance period.
I will be investigating Chiaroscuro by focusing on two works from artists. First, I will be focusing on “Supper at Emmaus” (Oil on Canvas, 1601) by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Here’s the art work below:
“Supper at Emmaus” is thought to be a painting portraying the moment where Jesus has restored to life, and appears infront of his followers, but disappears again. From this, Jesus is right in the center, and Caravaggio has left the most light on his face. And the three followers are all laying their eyes on Jesus. This makes the viewer notice how the major subject of this piece is Jesus in the middle. This painting has a crisp, realistic texture to it. Many movements can be seen, as if the painting was a photo taken with a sharp flash. Caravaggio was a Baroque painter known for his dramatic uses of light. This painting also includes wide contrast ranges of light and dark.
The second piece I will be investigating is: “The Girl with the Pearl Earring”(Oil on Canvas, 1665 – 1667) by Johannes Vermeer.
This painting is also a work with a clear style of Chiaroscuro. “The Girl With the Pearl Earring” is considered one of Vermeer’s masterpieces. The contrast between shadows and light is very obvious, seeing that Vermeer used black on the background. Here, it is also shown how the dramatic difference between light and dark gives a mystifying feel to the piece. Vermeer was a Dutch Baroque Painter well known for his paintings, which captured calm moments usually with a female centering it. In this painting, the light and dark gives more of a smooth feel.
