MYP Reflection: Semester 1

I am proud of what I was able to accomplish in the first semester, but there is room for improvements! There is no specific pattern to most of my grades, and therefore, they are quite inconsistent. However, there is one criterion where my grades are more consistent; Criterion C (Skills). This is the category for Document Based Questions (DBQs). Although I feel as if I struggle with drawing my own conclusions from what I see or read, I can tell, from the table above, that my strengths are in Criterion C/DBQs. This being said, I still feel like one of my main weaknesses is the inability to go in depth and fully answer a question. I am able to come up with a satisfactory answer, however, I usually miss some key ideas. Sometimes it can be difficult for me to read a passage, for example, and then be able to take key ideas and answer the "so what?" question. I am quite sure that if I focus on finding key points, connecting them, and drawing conclusions from them, my grades in Criterion A (Knowledge & Understanding) would increase. Another weakness that I have is managing my time during an assessment. I always spend too much time on the first few problems and then I run out of time for the last few. I can improve by planning out my time and setting a time limit for each question. Also, if I am more prepared before class I can balance my time better. Hopefully I can make these improvements happen in the second semester!

Can You Define Love?♥

She is no stranger to the miseries of unrequited love,

She is free, afloat, watching somebody else,

She pretends to spy her loved ones in sun-speckled cloud shapes,

She has not been asleep.

Squashed roses, in darkening shades of pink, float on the water

Your time has come, they say

Go, be brave.

She has a distinct hourglass figure,

She wears a long, lilac gown,

Her skin is white as whole milk,

Her lips are a peachy orange.

She finally closes her eyes,

Kiss me, kiss, kiss, sweetheart, she whispers.

He holds out a hand for her to grab,

Both beautiful, they meet,

She doesn’t blush, and he breaks down,

She lets him fall into the calm, glassy waters,

This is the thing called ‘love’

A story of enchantment.

Reflectively Speaking!♥

When the speech project was introduced to us, the first topic that came to my mind was womens’ rights in the Middle East. I thought of burkhas and hijabs and how much I dislike them and decided that I definitely wanted to include something about them in my speech. After researching a little and talking to Mr. Bellew, I realized that it was better to make my topic related to the whole world because there are many cases of the oppression of womens’ rights everywhere. Not only did I read and learn more about womens’ rights throughout this process, but I also learned how to be a more persuasive and more effective public speaker through the use of literary devices. While writing my speech I was sometimes conscious of the devices that I was using. But most of the time it happened naturally. I used repetition, an anecdote, personal pronouns, and more. After we had delivered our speeches and had to annotate them, I noticed that I had more devices than I had expected and that many were put in unconsciously. I feel like the main thing I learned was the importance of each of the literary devices and how much of an effect they really have on making the speeches more persuasive.

In my opinion, both presentation and content have a huge impact on persuading a listener. These two factors depend on each other very much, because without one, the speech is either pointless or not very interesting and persuasive. Without the adequate content, the speech becomes pointless and even though it sounds good because of its strong presentation, it still lacks the support from the content. However, if the content is excellent but the presentation is not, then the speech becomes either boring or not persuasive at all. Therefore I believe that although it is extremely important for a person to have great presentation, their content also makes a big difference!

My speech related to the mission statement (“Canadian Academy inspires students to inquire, reflect, and choose to compassionately impact the world throughout their lives”). In my speech I initially asked the audience to change their perspectives on womens’ rights. From there they can “choose to compassionately impact the world” and make a difference especially in Islamic countries in the Middle East. I hope I was able to inspire women in the audience to be their best and to attempt to impact the world.

Nationalism: Cohesive or Divisive?

nationalism -

The Oppression of Women's Rights!

Women's Rights Around The World!

The Oppression of Women's Rights -

My Goals for the Future!♥

I have both short term goals and long term goals for my future. My main short term goal related to my education is to have a 4.0 GPA for the second semester. My grades are very important to me so my goal has always been to have straight As. I want this to continue throughout the rest of my highschool years and therefore I need to keep up my efforts and always try my best. I also want to prepare for the SATs so that I can get a high score that will help with college. My main long term goal is to be accepted to a great college in the United States and have a job that I am passionate about, such as a chemical engineer, architect, or lawyer.

Next year, if I am still at Canadian Academy, I would like to take Economics HL. I am passionate about math and since this course involves math I am quite sure that I would also be passionate about this course. Economics relates to everyday life and is often based on common sense which interests me. I also want to try something new since the only time that I have been exposed to economics was in 7th grade for one quarter. However, I also would not mind taking History HL. This is because I enjoy DBQs; analyzing data, then drawing conclusions from it. So far I have enjoyed Social Studies and I like studying history and finding changes or continuities, for example. Both history and economics interest me and I am sure that I would be passionate about both the courses.