~.:JasmineTea:.~

Compared to last year’s semester one report card, I have been able to improve. For example, I have gotten much better for my math. I still have areas to improve on and I would still have to continue working hard, however compared to last year, I have gotten better scores overall. Also, because I got fairly used to the speed of the IGCSE math last year, I think I have gotten quicker, giving more time for myself. This comes into all my subjects and so I would like to continue like this next semester as well.

Although this has always been a trouble for me, I think  I would have to try harder in joining in with class discussions. However, compared to last year or the year before, it was mentioned less on my report card. I would like to continue trying to join in and give my ideas.

For many of my classes, the Approaches to Learning section showed that I have high organizational skills, but an effective or average for all the other ones. I have a feeling that the Collaborative skills drop comes from me not joining in for the class discussions, so by overcoming that, I think I would be able to get better next semester.

My three goals had been:

• Understand how to do the redox questions in Chemistry
• Start understanding business, by the learning we do in Business Studies
• Be able to draw figures from any angle by the things I learn in Art

Because I tried to do Nielly Francoise’s style and failed to paint in that style many times, I am planning to not paint in her style. I looked at a couple of artists who paint in interesting styles, using many colors, and I found Corno.

She studied at the University of Quebec in Montreal, obtaining her BA in Fine Arts. She became a full time painter in her early 20s. Her paintings are displayed world-wide.

I had been looking for artists similar to Nielly Francoise, who I had talked about previously. I then found Corno, who paints portraits. I found her interesting at first because she uses many colors, and I found the way she paints her hair interesting. I then was attracted to the way she used color (example)

Although I can tell she uses a palette knife for painting, however since I do not have a large enough paper to work with, I am planning to only use the palette knife for the hair. I also noticed by using a dry brush, i could kind of copy the texture of her paintings, so i am planning on using that as much as possible.

Portraits

Chiaroscuro

Looking at my first charcoal figure drawings, I can see that I have improved a lot and got better at using charcoal through using it many times. At first, I had a very hard time adapting to the idea of filling in the volume of the figures when drawing. I basically just drew a silhouette of the person (seen in here),  or started with the outline of the figure and drew in (as seen in here). The silhouette was too dark to see how the figure was posing, and when drawing from the outline, there was not a large variation in tone.

After September 28th (here)(here), I started to ge used to filling in the volume and I could see the difference quite clearly. The figure’s pose could be seen, and the variation in tone suddenly increased by a lot.

As I got used to using the charcoal on its side, I could put in more detail. It got so much faster for me to finish a figure drawing by using it on the side because it would fill up a large space, and I could get the overall feeling of the figure before adding any shadows to make it a person. As I look at my most recent charcoal drawings, I know I have improved and have gotten better.

I have a reflection video as well:

Charcoal Figure Drawing Reflection from Jasminetea14 on Vimeo.

We started using charcoal as our media from this week. Instead of creating an outline and shading it in, we tried to fill in the volume of the figure at the beginning.

We used color charcoal for this lesson. We had to choose a light color and a dark color in the same family. I chose green as a color.

We then went back to filling the volume of the figure in with normal charcoal.

Le National

Step 1: Identifying strengths and areas for improvement

• Think about your achievement last year in school and in the first few weeks of this school year and make a list of your strengths as well as areas for improvement.
• List them in the table below.

Strengths:
Example: I work well with others
• I am flexible working with other people.
• I am organized at school.
• I usually finish things on time.
• I try to solve problems on my own and if I cannot, I ask for help. Not the answers.

Areas for improvement:
Example: I need to pay more attention in class

• I don’t participate in class a lot during discussions.
• I should complete my sentence even if I don’t have confidence in what I’m saying.
• I am quiet when meeting new people from other grades or people I am not used to.
• I sometimes get distracted by little things.

Step 2: Organizing the information
Looking at the table, identify the top 3 strengths and the top 3 areas for improvement.

Step 3: Identifying my goals
Over the next semester, I want to …. (Insert goal here)
 Aim for three achievable goals over the next semester.
 Be very specific in your goals. Do not state, “I want to do better” or “I want better grades”.
 Be specific about what you would like to improve. For example, “I would like to improve my understanding of the concept of change in Humanities or “I would like to learn 100 new words in French.”

Goal #1:
Over the next semester, I want to ….
Understand how to do the redox questions in Chemistry
Goal #2:
Over the next semester, I want to ….
Start understanding business, by the learning we do in Business Studies
Goal #3:
Over the next semester, I want to ….
Be able to draw figures from any angle by the things I learn in Art

Step 4: Developing strategies to achieve my goals and ways of measuring them to know if I have achieved them. For example:
Goal# 1: Over the next semester, I want be less distracted by my computer.
To achieve this goal I will … (these are my strategies)
1. Make eye contact with the person who is speaking
2. Close the computer down even if the teacher hasn’t told me to do so because I know that I listen better that way
3. Never have anything open which the teacher hasn’t asked me to open
I will know I have reached my goal when…
• These are how I will measure whether I have achieved it
• See Y Chart on PPT slide to help you

Step 4: Developing strategies
Goal # 1: To achieve this goal I will…
Step 1
Ask people to explain to me. For example, Mr. Midgley or fellow classmates
Step 2
Practice redox questions until I have the hang of it
Step 3
Continue using them so I don’t forget it

I will know that I have reached my goal when . . .

It feels like…

I understand how to do the redox questions with no problem.

It sounds like…

I can explain how to do them to other people

It looks like….

I have no problems with redox equations

Goal # 2: To achieve this goal I will…
Step 1
Pay attention during class
Step 2

Participate in class discussions

Step 3
Try to understand what my dad is talking about and keep using business vocabulary

I will know that I have reached my goal when . . .

It feels like…

I know what my dad is talking about

It sounds like…

I actually understand business

It looks like….

…I’m smart

Goal # 3: To achieve this goal I will…
Step 1
Practice drawing with many different angles, poses, etc.

Step 2
State the things I need to improve on the drawings

Step 3

Repeat step 1, taking into consideration the things I write in step 2.

I will know that I have reached my goal when . . .

It feels like…

I am confident in drawing figures

It sounds like…

Drawing doesn’t require sound

It looks like….

I can draw a rough sketch of people in proportion from many different angles or poses