Key Competencies

Today during our English lesson, we learnt about the Nexus Key Competencies. 

Here are 3 of the KCs:

1. Communicating & Interacting with ICT

2. Self Management

3. Participating and Contributing

I think I am fairly good at communicating and interacting with ICT as well as participating and contributing, but I would like to improve on my self management by finishing my classwork in the limited amount of time and completing my homework before their respective dead lines. 

THINK-PAIR-SHARE

How are these words (below) connected to the Key Competencies?

1. Independence

2. Life

3. Transferable

4. Relationships

5. Team

These words can be grouped into the groups in the Nexus Key Competencies. 

The Learner: Independence.

The Learner's World: Relationships and Team.

The Wider World: Life and Transferable.

I grouped them in this way because: the learner learns how to be independent when doing individual classwork; relationships between friends happen around the learner's world, and teamwork involves the people around them as well; the wider world involves various things about life; transfers of all kinds involve the people all around the world.


Look at the LR below from Joe. What positive and negative features can you identify in terms of the reflection being a tool for learning?

Positive: He knows what he has learnt.
Negative: He lacks details and is only giving a rough idea of his learning. 


Now, look at the LR below from Hafiz. What positive and negative features can you identify in terms of the reflection being a tool for learning? How does this compare with Joe's reflection?


Positive: He gave lots of detail and explains clearly what he has learnt and how.
Negative: He shouldn't stick to writing long sentences all the time; he should add different types of sentences in as well. 


Joe's reflection is really short and he doesn't explain what he has learnt and how. He has only attempted to answer each question roughly and didn't extend it further. On the other hand, Hafiz's one contains a lot of detail and has explained clearly everything that he's learnt. He has done a better job than Joe. But one thing he can improve is that he needs to add more sentence types to his piece of writing. Most of them are long sentences and I don't see much variations. 


From comparing these two reflections, what would you say are the features of a valuable LR that can move your learning forward? Aim to note at least four positive & two negative features.


Positive:
1. Good amount of detail.
2. Good vocabulary.
3. Describing your feelings when writing about something you found difficult to learn or achieve.
4. Correct spelling and accurate use of grammar. 


Negative:
1. Don't add excessive information in your reflection.
2. Don't stick to writing one type of sentence only; add more variations.

Summarise today's lesson in 3 words only.

Learnt to Reflect.

My Learning Journal

In English lessons so far, I have learnt how to write summaries, organise work, work as a team, use my human ingenuity and think up of creative solutions to various situations, writing instructions, plot devices, etc. During this process, I have also learnt how to use RAF 1 (skim, scan and detailed reading), RAF 2 (retrieve information and ideas from text), RAF 5 (explain and comment on writer's use of language), WAF 1 (write imaginative, interesting and thoughtful texts), WAF 2 (produce text which suit task, reader and purpose), WAF 3 (organise and present whole texts effectively), WAF 6 (write with technical accuracy of grammar and punctuation), WAF 7 (use appropriate and effective vocabulary) and WAF 8 (using correct spelling).

I think I did fairly well when using these AFs:
1. RAF 1 - during English classes we had to read through various different types of texts and use those techniques in different situations. For example, when I was looking for a certain word in a long paragraph, I used the "skimming" technique and found it without much difficulties.
2. WAF 1- we were told to write a summary of our own survival stories we had in mind, thus this involves creativity and imagination. A story idea immediately surfaced in my mind and I summarised it as much as I could, and ended up with one paragraph. When the teacher checked it, she said I had done a good job, so I guess I have accomplished this AF pretty well.
3.WAF 2 & 3 - we were told to produced different kinds of text over our recent English lessons, e.g. summary writing, instructional writing, etc. I was able to do so without any problems, so I think I had done well using these AFs.
4. WAF 6, 7 & 8 - these are essential for all kinds of text, and I was able to use all of them correctly in the majority of the writings we did recently.

On the other hand, I think I can work on improving these AFs:
1. RAF 2 - when I read a text, I always pick out the unnecessary information along with the important ones, so I need to learn to leave out the extra bits and pieces.
2. RAF 5 - after we finished writing an instructional writing each, we exchanged them with a partner and let them check the language we used; I wasn't very sure which ones were appropriate to use and which weren't, so I'd like to improve my knowledge about correct uses of language in certain types of texts.

Recently in our English lessons, we were watching a movie called "Cast Away" as to give us a whole idea of what a survival film was like. I found out that these types of films were popular because human beings have the will to survive even in a devastating situation, and it's interesting to watch how they persevere and overcome the difficulties in the end. I also learnt that the use of symbols in any type of movie is very essential as they usually tell someone whether something is important or not and how they should be handled. An example of this in "Cast Away" was the wings on the parcel which ended up on the same island the main character, Chuck Noland, was stranded on. There were other parcels which had drifted onto the island as well and Chuck made use of the contents inside them, but he did not open up the one with the wings. That's because the symbol shows that the parcel is a very important one, and during the time he was desperately trying to survive all by his own on the uninhabited island, the thought of delivering the parcel to its owner kept his will from shattering into pieces.

There is another important device that kept the movie enjoyable, and that is Chuck's "best friend" when he was on the island, the volley ball "wilson". He found "him" in a parcel and used his own blood to draw a face on it. Since then, he felt like he had made a companion and talked to wilson about all his thoughts and problems he had about the island. Even though "he" had never replied to any of Chuck's words, "he" still kept him from going insane out of absolute loneliness. It was interesting but sad at the same time, watching a drama between a human and a non-living thing. I think this was one of the key points which made the film unique.

After watching the movie, we will start filming our own survival films. The idea I have in mind is somewhat similar to "Cast Away", but then the main character (which will be me) will get stranded on an island in a completely different fashion. It will go something like this: I was in a hot spring enjoying my time when I suddenly got sucked in to the ground and somehow got stranded on an uninhabited island! From there, I will slowly learn to adapt to the harsh wilderness and find out a way to escape from that place.

How's that for a story? I'm still not sure what details to put in, but that's roughly the whole idea. I am looking forward to writing scripts and filming the movie soon!