Lauren's+reflections

Welcome to St Mary's Campus, Semester 2 2011.During your time @ St Mary's you will have a range of tasks to complete as part of the Wikispaces assessment task.In order to make things happen!! I ask that each individual 9 BROWN class member create their own page in the 'SMC Reflections page' and put your name to it.When you have created this page can you please copy and paste the following questions on to your page.We will discuss this further in terms of expectations etc during class. I will also issue you a Wiki rubric that will further outline the expectations. Please note the following Reflections and Discussion Posts need to be completed by FRIDAY 23rd SEPTEMBER. We will continue to use the Wiki beyond this date as a communication tool.Regards Ms Kays Each student will build their own page for the purposes of Reflection. This is because when two students are using the same page at the same time the page will not save properly. Each week for 10 weeks you will need to write a reflection about your experiences and opinions about the topic. Each reflection is expected to at least 200 words in length.The topic or questions you are asked to reflect on are listed below. Copy these questions to your individual reflection page. Thank you
 * Reflections **

** Week 1 ** **What is the best piece of advice you have ever received?** There have been so many great pieces of advice that have been given to me, each just as useful and important to me than the other, so it's hard to just choose one. However this piece of advice would have to be the one that sticks out the most, as it was given to me and I am still passing it on today. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Ok you might think that I am quoting something that teachers have told us for years, but when I was in a dispute with one of my friends in primary school another of my friends gave me this advice and it really helped me. I was then able to put myself into their situation and figure out what I would have done and how I would have reacted. After I did this I was soon able to figure things out with the friend. If friends or family ask me for advice on certain things and this advice could help them, even if they have heard it before, I will still remind them of it and most of the time they have said that it had helped. Many disputes can be stopped if everyone just puts themselves in the other persons' shoes.

**Week 2** **What would happen if you threw a piece of trash on the ground? What if everyone did?** ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ If I threw a piece of rubbish on the ground nothing would happen, however when everyone starts just dropping rubbish everywhere that's when it becomes a huge problem. The average person approximately throws away 2 kilograms of rubbish a day, in a year approximately 726 kilograms. That's a lot of rubbish and if everyone threw their rubbish on the ground as well we would all be swimming up to our necks in rubbish. I can’t even begin to imagine the damage that this could cause our environment, our lifestyle, our animals and marine life or our economy. Each person thinks to themselves if I just throw this wrapper here nothing will happen, however if everyone thought like that the amount of rubbish would add up. Just think about our marine life, or animals, if litter was everywhere they could potentially be trapped and die, later this could affect the food chain and could lead to other problems. Not only would our environment seem uninviting with rubbish everywhere but it could also further hinder the rat and mice problems that our country is already experiencing. If living in an environment full of rubbish is avoidable why would you throw that next piece of rubbish on the ground? You could just be encouraging the next person to do so.

** Week 3 ** If I saw a friend cheating on a test I wouldn't go straight to the teacher I would simply confront the friend and ask them why they needed to cheat. I guess their typical answer could be something like I thought I was going to fail and then my parents would get mad at me. I would ask them to ask me for help if they didn't get something next time. Because if you copy someone elses test you could just be copying their wrong answers. You are only cheating yourself if you cheat on a test. If the friend continually cheated, say 2-3 times after you spoke to them that's when I would talk to the teacher. I would just say that I saw them but I am only telling you so that they can help themselves, the teachers wont tell your friend who told them. But if they do ask you can't be made out as a bad friend because in actual fact you are helping them which is what makes a good friend, it's not like you went straight to the teacher, you didn't dibby-dob. Maybe that friend was too scared to ask for help and thought that cheating was their only chance at passing. A good friend is encouraging, supportive, acknowledges you for who you are and tries to see your point of view and is always there when you need them. Courage is when you stand up for what you believe is right no matter what.
 * What would you do if you saw a friend cheating - report it, confront the friend or nothing - and why?What do you think courage means?What do you think makes a good friend? **

** Week 4 ** If I did a survey now and say 10 years ago, the most indispensable possession would differ greatly, this is mainly because of the technology that is now available. Most people if you asked them now what is your most indispensable possession would say computers, phones or Ipods. However my most indispensable possession would have to be books. They fill in time if I’m bored, they are always on my bookshelf so I’ll never lose them, but most importantly they are a great way to escape your own reality and focus on a fictitious characters made up reality. I always try to read before I go to bed. I have found that after reading many books my english, spelling and grammar has improved dramatically and I have a much larger vocabulary, I’ve noticed much of this in my writing. I really can’t imagine my life without books. My favourites at the moment are Gallagher Girls and Uncommon Criminals series’ by Ally Carter and the Fallen series by Lauren Kate. From when I was little I always had a book in my hand and then as I grew up I always wanted to write a book just like the ones I read, this was always my dream from when I was a little kid, and still to this day I write stories but I mostly enjoy reading.
 * What is your most indispensable possession and why? **

** Week 5 ** **What do you think about people polluting the environment? ** ====  ﻿ ﻿ I think that pollution in our environment on a local and global scale has increased and is becoming a more common problem in today’s society. I don’t know whether it is just pure laziness that they can’t walk that extra couple of meters and put their rubbish into the bin or they simply don’t care, but either way something needs to be done on a more local level. We already have ‘Clean up Australia’ day, but I don’t know of anyone who has volunteered to pick up rubbis ﻿ h on this day. Do you? I think that if something on a more local level is advertised, annual and everyone is aware of it then it could really help everyone think about what they are doing next time they decide it’s a good idea to throw their rubbish on the ground. But pollution doesn’t just end at people throwing rubbish on the ground; pollution is a very broad subject there is ocean pollution, pollution from cars, pollution from energy sources like coal, pollution from factories and there are many other forms of pollution. We are all to blame for the pollution because it is everyone’s environment to take care of. We all pollute the environment in one way or another. ====

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">** Week 6 ** When I do something wrong I get quite annoyed at myself and feel that I have let myself down. In primary school one time I let everything get the better of me, I left all the friends that I knew and trusted to hang out with other people. Everything about me completely changed and I didn’t like it no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t get used to it. I soon realised what those other people were really like and I didn’t like them or what I had turned into. One day we got into a massive fight and by the end of that week we were no longer friends. I went back to my old friends, but soon realised that many things had changed and it wasn’t them, it was me, I realised what I had missed and for what? I realised that I had done something wrong and my real friends treated me differently from then on. So now I value friendship and my true friends, sometimes I need to remind myself just how lucky I am. When I do something that is very good I feel really proud of myself, and then I can understand why it pays to persist and do well, which makes me feel a sense of self-satisfaction.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">How do you feel when you do something wrong?How do you feel when you do something that is very good? **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">** Week 7 **
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">I wish there was a law that said... This would be a good law because... **
 * ** I wish there was a law that said we could all download as much music as we want for free. This would be a good law because then it would stop people illegally downloading music through Limewire (which recently shut down) and many others. I know that there are sites that you can download music for free but you don’t know if they are safe or if they will bring viruses into your computer. But if we had one downloading system that was safe, free and updated regularly then we wouldn’t have to worry about unsafe downloads or paying for your music on iTunes which is very costly if you consider the amount of new songs flowing through the charts every couple of days, I know that I haven’t downloaded songs since early August and my list to download only keeps getting bigger. I know and understand the reason that we pay for music, that it goes to the artists, recording companies etc, but maybe if we didn’t pay for the songs individually perhaps we pay a membership fee which then allows you to download songs for free. Maybe then it would be possible for everyone to listen to all their favourite songs all the time.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">** Week 8 **
When I am angry I don’t know how I look, but I am usually just really quiet and try to keep everything in, I usually have to step away and sometimes if I am at home I will listen to music to calm myself. Other times I write about my anger until the thing that I am angry about seems completely ridiculous. I am usually happiest when I’m with my family on holidays or spending quality time with them; I’m also very happy if I have a great day or if Collingwood win!! I have felt lonely numerous times like when my friends talk about facebook or other social networking sites and I have no idea what they’re talking about (I’m still not getting facebook though!) I also felt lonely last year when Collingwood won the grand final because I had no one to share the excitement that I felt with, as the rest of my family go for Geelong. I feel proud when I complete my homework, and I also feel proud when I do well in my tests or assignments. I felt really proud of myself last year when I received a general excellence award, and I felt that all my hard work was finally paying off.
 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">When you are angry, how do you look? When are you happiest? When have you felt lonely? When do you feel proud? **

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">** Week 9 ** ====**<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 120%;">Which quality do you dislike most about yourself - laziness, selfishness, childishness - and why? **<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The quality I dislike most about myself is laziness. This is because half the time I am capable of doing things but I just can’t be bothered. I think that this quality has really shone through the last couple of months because my grades have dropped quite a bit and I am none to proud about this. I always work hard to complete my work to a high standard but that needs motivation which has been lacking, I think this is mainly because of all the work that we do in groups (I know that I can't blame this completely), but recently I have realised this and have worked harder than ever to keep my grades up. The other quality I dislike also about myself is childishness. I think that sometimes it is good to goof around and have fun. I play and watch ABC with my little cousins a lot when we go to their place or they come to ours, but sometimes it is good to take a break from my day to day busy life; however I think that this quality has impacted me more than adding more fun to my life, it has made me take a step backwards to a level that I already passed, that is why I don’t like this quality about myself. ====

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 170%;">** Week 10 **

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">**Why do you think prejudice exists in the world? ﻿ ﻿ ﻿ ﻿ ﻿ ﻿ ﻿     **
==== ﻿ ﻿ ﻿ ﻿ ﻿P     rejudice means to have an unfair or unreasonable dislike. I think that prejudice exists in the world because of misinformation, ignorance, religious beliefs or lack of education. Many people as a result put others down, stereotype and don’t accept others because they make assumptions without really getting to know a particular person. However prejudice can also be neglecting something because of a bad experience or being racist. Everyone is prejudice in one way or another as it is a natural reaction to cling to the familiar and push away the unknown. Prejudice also exists because people are used to consistency so when things are unknown and unsettling they are quick to judge first without further investigating. For example when we all came to St Mary’s Campus we had no idea what it was going to be like, because for the last 2 and a half years we had been at the main campus, many were quick to judge and say there’s nothing to do, it’s in the middle of no where, but now that I have been at St Mary’s campus for a term I don’t really want to leave at the end of this year and I’m really enjoying it. This is evidence that sometimes you do have to take one step at a time closer to the unknown until it becomes known. ====