Unit One Reflection!!!

The Unit

Which of the books you have read for this unit has the most literary value and why?

– I think that Snowflower and the Secret Fan has the most literary value, because the novel included the Chinese way of langauge and through reading the book, I learned about how the Chinese people spoke in the old days. Not only do I have knowledge about the English language and how it was written in books, but also about the Chinese language.

 

Which book did you find the most valuable and why?

– I think that Snowflower and the Secret Fan is the most value, because I learned about the Chinese culture and about the footbinding. Even though Chinese and Koreans are Asians and have similar traits, we are different in a detailed way and I found out that by reading this novel.

 

Which task/project did you find the most challenging and why?

– I found the “acting out scene” very challenging, because acting is very hard for me and I can not act, because it is embarrassing.

 

Which task/project seemed the most valuable?

– I think the drawing Snowflower and filling in the different bubbles was very helpful in understanding my own character more thoroughly.

 

What changes would you recommend to the unit in order to enhance learning and opportunities to think more deeply (do not consider grades when you answer this)?

– I would do more group activites, because I learned more from discussing and doing group activites than learning by myself.

A Bumpy Train Ride

This year a one heck of a train ride. Starting from the first station I got on the beginning of the school year to the last station that I will get off. During the few stations I was on the train, I learned and tried many new thing. Not only school related, but also lessons in life. I have learned a lot in my school wise. I’ve learned more deeply about my country, Korea, and how Korea was raised up , algebra 2, a little bit of trigonometry, how to write essays better, how to improve my grammar, how to understand a novel more deeply, how to engage myself more in discussion, increase my skills in speaking, and way more. But more importantly, I have learned life lessons. I have learned that failure happens and we shouldn’t be regretting and hating ourselves to much. Also, another lesson is that not everything is fair and we should know how to act upon an issue that is not fair or satisfying.  These aren’t the only lessons I need in life, but I became more mature and wise during this short year of sophomore. Sophomore felt like it went by really quickly, but it was a year that can be look back at and not regret about learning anything.

Macbook in My School

At our school, we are required to purchase a Apple Macbook and required to bring it to our school on a daily bases. But I am not sure if the idea of Macbook is good or not for the students. For an educational purposes, the resources are unlimited so we can broaden our knowledge to not only what is in our textbooks. Also, we turn in homework, do projects, and read online. It is so easy to do homework and projects. But the bad part to doing everything on the computer is that sometimes the homework or project gets lost or erased. And also, because it is online, some teachers take advantage of that and assign projects due on the weekends or late at night. At school, students are distracted by Facebook, Myspace, Ichat, Aim, Messenger, or other online entertainment stuff. And also, Macbook and it’s parts are very expensive so to get or fix one of the Macbooks takes a lot of money and time, because not a lot of Macbook after service places are available in Korea. Macbooks are very useful, but can get very distracting.

The Way I Want My Life To Go

Students at the age of sixteen have many different futures that they consider. My plan, as of right now, is go to a college that I like and is good for my major and after graduating, find a job that I like and good at. A job has to be something that we enjoy and have fun doing it. After settling down, get a wife that is always happy with me and willingly to spend the rest of our lives only with me. Before I have kids, I want to travel and spend quality time with my wife. And after we have kids, I want to go on camping trips and a lot of trips together as a family. I want to have a very cozy home with everyone together. After our kids have gone to college and have a life of their own, I want to travel around with my wife and get old together. If you see in movies, old couples driving on a sunny day with the top of the car down is what I have been wanting to try. That is one of my plans, but right now, I should be studying hard to achieve at least one of these goals.

LEARNING IS FUN!

What do you LIKE about learning? (I know, this one’s tough)

Learning itself is a very complex term. It is strongly connected to experiencing, teaching and feeling. As people get older, they learn continuously throughout their lives. They receive information from others or by themselves. Also every parts of their learning are directly and indirectly affecting each person in a different way. The field of learning can be also different by the atmosphere or situation that one is in. Learning new information and taking in new information is not an easy step. However, I enjoy the challenge from the step which requires me to overcome. By learning I can make a better choice and become a more mature person without going through unnecessary mistakes. It may be hard to start learning about something new, but after the process, the feeling of accomplishment and achievement will be a great encouragement to start learning about something new again.

THE THING I NEED TO WORK AT..

What is your biggest weakness (in general, not necessarily English or class specific) and what do you do to work on it?

Concentration
Throughout the short 16 years of my life, I didn’t really notice that I had something call, “weakness.” But as I entered into high school, I had to keep up with more demanding works. Then, I began to notice the biggest weakness that I had which was having hard time concentrating. This weakness was shown, especially when I study or read long texts. Until now, it wasn’t such a big obstacle since the amount of work wasn’t too much. However, as my homework increased, not being able to concentrate worsened my sleeping habit and my health.
Then, I realized that I would have to work on this problem in order to perform better on my studies. I have tried to focus on one thing for about half an hour and comeback to it after refreshing my mind for about ten minutes.

We think differently!

There are many different interpretations of different novels and how it is shown through out the world. Not all of the interpretations or scenes will be the same as everyone thought it would be. In our English class, we have been reading and learning about Bram Stocker’s Dracula, and how each of the students interpret the novel differently. Recently, we watched two different versions of Dracula and saw how these two different versions differed. The first version we watched was a very old version, where in those times, not many technology was available. The Dracula, in that version of the movie, was very old style and had the vampire look of long black coat, waxed hair, white pale face, young, and very tall. Not only that, but the story line was tangled. Jonathan Harker was suppose to be the first one that visited Dracula, according to the book, but in the first version of the movie, Renfield was the first one that visited Dracula because of the estate. However, in the second, more modern version of the Dracula. Dracula was more buff, hairy, and young, but after Mina died and few decades later, Dracula became very old and gray. The story line for this movie was very different too.

All you need is love~~

Most of my blog posts were related to school related stuff and seemed boring, sp this time I wanted to make it sound as if it wasn’t related to school.

What is love? This question would bring up many images and descriptions that would be said to tell and describe what love is. Love can be described as a deep intense feeling of affection. To me, love is a very strong connection that is shared both by the two people. A connection that can not be broken. Love is made and shaped by the person is who is in love. Love is a great thing to experience, because love follows with care, support, encouragement, and incredible power. Love can be a great power to the students that are having a hard time in school, because the love can be a very strong motivation to study. Parents go against this idea of love between students, thinking that it will bother the students and get them off track. But the parents should notice that love comes with responsibility and studying requires responsibility and love and study can come hand to hand. Love can be help to everything and love is a “must feel” thing.

WHAT MAKES A BLOG SUCCESSFUL?

A blog should be interesting and full of interesting information that draws audience to the blog. A blog should be done out of interest. A blog is interesting and fun to look at when the author had fun and excited about writing the blog. The blog looks the best when there was enjoyment involved. When the author writes about something they like, the writing will show the author’s enthusiasm and feel the enthusiasm too. If the writing and the contents are full of excitement, the blog becomes unique in the author’s way. A unique blog has to be totally from the author and his or her way of expressing and showing her writing and feelings. If they write about something they love, they will be new ideas to make his or her blog unique. A blog that has the author talk about a topic they love is a blog that is worth subscribing too.

YANGBANS

In our Asian Studies class, we are learning about Korea and Japan and their history. This is a very interesting study, because I can learn about Korea’s history and learn how it has become from a small nation to a major country. Some of the topics are Hwarang, Silk Road, Bushido, Ranagaku, Yuan Dynasty, Yangban, Sirhak, and more. From these, we had to pick which ones we wanted to continue a deeper study. I chose Yangban, because they were like the elite class in Korea, who helped govern the society. They enjoyed many privileges and actively sought to preserve the purity and exclusivity of their group. Many in the yangban class were accomplished artists, practicing calligraphy and ink painting. Korea is so divided into groups: the rich and the poor, and Yangban, who were a type rich class, might have set the standard for this. I always admired Yangban class people, because they helped make Korea a very prosperous nation.