Journal

2 October 2010

I have finally finished everything for my WISE project =) I have done all the research that is needed, I have typed up all the information into a book format, I have drawn all the pictures of the musical instruments, I have written the bibliography to reference my sources and last but not least, I have scanned a copy of my book for my WISE teacher to look at. All I have left is to donate my book to a place. In the end, I chose to donate my book to the Music Conservatorium (Griffith University) in Southbank, Brisbane. I have already contacted a person called Dr Weston and she has accepted my donation. I am planning to give the book to her on Monday after the school interviews. She will then donate the book to Brisbane on my behalf.

Journal

14 September 2010

As you could probably see, I was not very organised this week. I have not done any reflections since last week. Even though I was sick during camp, I did not get time to post on my blog. This is because I had the hay fever and had to lie in bed all the time. I only got better on Sunday afternoon. I tried to catch up to my timeline on Sunday but I did not exactly succeed. I did do a lot of research but I am still not up to date. I would have to catch up during the holidays or during the next few days. However, we still have some assessments this week which means that I may not get the time. I have to revise for the science test tonight because the test is tomorrow and then on Wednesday I need to work on my business assignment since it is due on Thursday. Therefore, I may not get time to work on my WISE project before Thursday. But I am still positive that I will be able to catch up as it is really not that much work. My goal for next week would be to decorate and finish completing my book so that I can donate it during the last week of the holidays.

Journal

1 September 2010

As mentioned on my last blog post, I had a lot of tests to study for and assignments to complete this week. As a result, I did not have enough time to do my WISE project. Hopefully I would be able to catch up during the holidays and this weekend (before year nine goes to camp). I think I should be able to catch up to my timeline because there is really not that much to complete left. My goal for next week would be to catch up to my timeline and to continue on the work I set for next week (if possible).

Journal

28 August 2010

Unfortunately, I have not done any work since the last time I blogged which means I am TWO weeks behind my timeline. This is not good and I should be catching up right now. However, it is test week next week and all my spare time have been spent on studying or completing assignments. Even the long weekend (Gold Coast Show Day) was "wasted" because of this reason. This weekend has been so hectic that I'm not even kidding. Most of my subjects' assessments are all next week. I have my music assignment, music performance and maths exam on Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday I have the science QCAT test and my business assignment draft is also due on that day. On Thursday, I have the second maths test (LEAP Maths exam) and a Japanese listening test. Finally, on Friday I have the english assignment and japanese project due. It will be a chaotic week full of tests and assignments. That is why I have not completed any of my WISE project. However, I will still have one week of the holidays to work on my project before I have to donate it. I believe that in one week's time I would be able to finish my WISE project since I'm not planning to go anywhere for the holidays anyways.

Journal

18 August 2010

Now that the english test and UNSW maths competition is over, I now have more time to work on my WISE project. However, this week we also have to write up an EEI prac report. But it is due on Friday which means that even if I don't have enough time to do any work on my WISE project, I still have the whole weekend to continue working on my book. My goal for next week would be to finish researching about the North American instruments as well as the musical instruments from South America. After this I could use the last week and/or the holidays to scan my whole book and to find a place to donate the book to.

Journal

15 August 2010

During this week, I have not been working on my WISE project as much as I should be. My goal was to finish it off this weekend but I did not achieve this goal in the end. This is because I have an english test on Monday and Tuesday so I needed to work on my english essay and plan my feature article. Because of this, I did not spend much time my WISE project. Therefore, I am behind in my WISE timeline. About half a week behind to be exact. But I should be able to catch up by next week, right after the english test is over.

Journal

4 August 2010

During this week I have continued to work on my WISE project. The work I have done so far is successful and I have already drafted/edited them all. I am glad that I have maintained my progress even though I was actually quite busy last week. In fact, last week I had three tests from my tutoring classes and we also had the ACER japanese competition. I am proud of myself for being able to fit in time to work on my WISE project.

The number of musical instruments which I have researched and completed a document about is twenty. I only have ten more instruments to do research on. I am getting closer and closer to finishing my WISE project. My goal for next week would be to follow the timeline and complete all the requirements I set for myself.

Journal

29 July 2010

During this week I have tried to catch up to my timeline and have succeeded. Therefore, I am all up to date with my WISE project and if I keep up my efforts I'm sure that I would be able to finish my book on time. My goal would be to finish my WISE project before the holidays ended so that I can donate my book to either a library or a music conservortarium (if they accept me). I would like to donate my project to a well known place where everyone would be able to read about the mysterious instruments that have been created in our world (i.e. the music conservortarium in Brisbane). However, I'm not sure if they would accept such an offer which means that I would need to investigate. If they reject my project then I'm going to donate it to the Broadbeach library which is near my house. By next week I hope to have continued working on my WISE project, keeping on time with my timeline.

Journal

23 July 2010

During this week I did not complete as much work as I planned to. This was due to the fact that I had to memorise my japanese speech for the Griffith Competition which took up the time I usually work on my WISE project. However, I already researched about the instruments in that continent so I am not that far behind and catching up should not be a big problem. During the weekend (starting from today), my goal is to finish researching and start typing/editing the reports I am going to write. Hopefully if I complete all that work then I could continue decorating my book and making it look more colourful.

Journal

15 July 2010

School has officially started again. So far, I have been progressing well through my WISE project and have been up to date with all of my work. During the holidays I did a bit more research and came up with a list of all the instruments I'm going to include in my final product (a book). The list is as follows:

Africa:
- Gankogui
- Udu
- Ngoma drums
- Shekere
- Kalimbas

Australia:
- Gum leaf (Folded leaf whistle)
- Bullroarer
- Seed rattles
- Clapsticks
- Didgeridoo

Asia:
- Guqin
- Sanshin
- Erhu
- Bianzhong
- Jew’s harp

Europe:
- Balalaika
- Flageolet
- Gemshorn
- Gudok
- Lute-harpsichord (lautenwerck)

North America:
- Appalachian dulcimer
- Bata drums
- Deer Hoof Rattle
- Courting Flute
- Water drum

South America:
- Siku
- Rainstick
- (Hammered) Dulcimer
- Ocarina
- Cajon

On the holidays I have started decorating my book as well and have began putting my research together. Overall, I believe that I have worked well and am definitely up to date =).

Journal

20 June 2010

The holidays have officially started which means that I will have more time to work on my WISE project. I have been up to date with the researching component but I haven't done much decorating. So my goal during the holidays would be to work on the decorating side of my book. During the beginning of the holidays I have thought about my project in detail and thought that I should provide information about 5 different instruments in each continent. Beside the information, I would then draw an enlarged picture of the actual instrument so that the reader could see what it looks like. Also, I have decided to make North America and South America into one category. In other words, I would not research about North America and South America separately. I believe that this will be more efficient and easier for other people to understand. Hopefully by the end of the holidays I would have done enough work to start fresh next term!

Journal

9 June 2010

During this week I have continued researching about musical instruments in Asia. I have successfully caught up with what I allocated myself to do last week which means that I have caught up to my timeline. Now all I have to do is to continue working at this pace. Then I won't have to do any catching up work during the holidays. But that is only if I do not stop working at the same pace. My goal for next week would be to finish decorating my book's title page and to finish researching about the instruments in Asia. This seems a lot right now because I still have a few assessments left until the end of the term. But I'll see how I go and determine whether I am behind or ahead of my timeline. I hope all goes well for the next week :)

Journal

1 June 2010

My progress during this week was not very productive. This is because we had test week this week which meant that I had to revise for tests and work on assignments. As a result of this, I did not have time to work on my WISE project. After this week I plan to catch up on the work I have not yet completed. So my goal for next week would be to catch up on last week's work and begin this week's work. If I complete all this then I would be up to date with my project. Hopefully I would be able to finish all the tasks I allocated for myself this week and then I would not have to work on my project during the holidays.

Journal

22 May 2010

During this week I have successfully finished researching about the African instruments and have started decorating my book. This means that I have caught up to my timeline for last fortnight. However, there is still one job I have yet to do which is to start researching about the instruments in Asia. In order to catch up to the timeline completely, I would need to start researching in week 7. The only problem with this is that I have many tests to study for and assignments to finish so I don't think I would have much time. But I will try my best and hopefully I would manage my time well to work on my WISE project.

Journal

17 May 2010

From the last time I updated my blog until now, I have continued researching about the instruments from Asia. However, due to my term 2 timeline I believe that I am still not quite up to date with my WISE project. I have not yet started decorating my book and have not completed the title page or the first page (which is the world map). My goal for next week would be to catch up to my timeline so that I would be able to finish my WISE project in time.

Journal

15 May 2010

During this week I haven't been working much on my WISE project because of all the assignments and tests from school. I also have a scholarship interview and piano exam next Saturday so I would imagine that I would not have enough time to work on it. However, I have finished researching for the musical instruments in Africa which is a start. During this hectic term, I plan to just work on the WISE project as much as I can. But if I go along at this rate, I predict that I would not be able to get everything done in time. Therefore, I would need to work on my project during the holidays. My goal for next week would be to start decorating the "Lost Instruments in the World" book and to research the instruments from the next continent.

Planning My Work for Term 3

Planning:

Term 3:

Week 2 - Finish researching about the Australian instruments, start researching about the European instruments and continue decorating the book that is going to be my end product

Week 4 - Finish researching about the European instruments, start researching about the instruments from North America and start drafting everything I've done

Week 6 - Finish researching the instruments from North America, start researching about the instruments from South America and continue the drafting process

Week 8 - Write a bibliography on all the sources I used to find my information and create the quiz that is supposed to be the last page of my book which tests the reader on their knowledge they learnt from reading my book

Week 10 - Make sure everything is done and well decorated and find a place to donate my book (for example: the Broadbeach Library)

Journal

3 May 2010

Last lesson I have been completing a timeline that shows how I am going to manage my time this term. So far, I believe I am not up to date on what I should have completed in week 4. I have started researching about the instruments in Africa and am pretty well into it. But I haven't started decorating the book yet. To try and catch up, I will start decorating the book tomorrow and continue doing so during the week, as well as researching about more instruments. My goal for next time would be to not fall behind on my schedule and to manage my time properly.

Planning My Work for Term 2

Planning:

Term 2:
Week 2 - Have started researching about the musical instruments in Africa and collected some useful information that is suitable for my WISE project

Week 4 - Start to compose the book "Lost Instruments of the World" (for example: select a notebook to complete my project in, begin decorating the title page and the world map) and continue researching about Africa

Week 6 - Finalise the information about the African instruments, start researching about the Asian musical instruments and continue decorating my book for the project

Week 8 - Continue researching about the Asian instruments and finish decorating the title page

Week 10 - Finish researching about the musicals instruments from Asia and start researching about the instruments in Australia

*Any work that has not been completed throughout the term would have been caught up during the holidays.

If all of the above has been completed then I have done half of the hours I needed to dedicate to the WISE project :).

Journal

14 April 2010

Term 2 has just started and I'm excited to start my WISE project. I haven't had any new ideas since the last time I posted but I have completed the planner which was handed to the teacher last term. The planner is as follows:

Title: "Lost Instruments of the World"

Goal: To educate everyone (especially musicians or students that are interested in music) about unique instruments from different countries

Relevant Curriculum Framework Dimensions:
- Reflective Thinking
- Stewardship to the Community

Final Product: The final WISE project would be a book that provides information and interesting facts on many different instruments around the world (which the majority of people would not know about as they are not well known). The target audience would be made aware of the book through emails that would be sent to the students. A quiz would also be attached to the back of the book to assess the knowledge the readers gained from reading and provide corrective feedback on whether or not the book was found interesting and informative at the same time, depending on how much the readers get right on the quiz.

Habits / Skills:
- Organisation
- Time management
- Internet and library research
- Referencing (how to create a bibliography correctly)
- Book design
- Self analysis of thinking skills and learning habits

20-30 Hours:
- 4 hours of research on the musical instruments in Africa
- 4 hours of research on the musical instruments in Asia
- 2 hours of research on the musical instruments in Australia
- 3 hours of research on the musical instruments in Europe
- 2 hours of research on the musical instruments in North America
- 2 hours of research on the musical instruments in South America
- 1 hour of book design
- 2 hours of drafting the whole project
- 1 hour on quiz

My goal in term 2 would be to maintain organised so that I would not panic when the WISE project is due at the end of term 3. I would like to keep working on my project every week except in the weeks I would need to be revising for all the tests and doing my assignments so that I would not have to do my whole project in a couple of days. If I am behind in my WISE project I would just finish the work during the 3 week holidays. Hopefully my strategy would work out and I would be able to keep up to my "schedule" and improve my organisation skills.

Journal

22 March 2010

I wasn't very satisified with the amount of work I did on my WISE project this week. This is because I was too busy studying and revising for tests, resulting in no time to stop and think about my project. However, I have been starting to write my planner which is due on Wednesday. My goal for next week would be to think deeply on my WISE project and to try to create more inventive ideas that would suit it. Since Term 1 finishes this Friday I would have more spare time and would need to contribute more time in doing my WISE project. Hopefully by the next time I write my reflection I would have thought of some new inspiring ideas.

Journal

14 March 2010

During this week I tried to build on my "Lost Instruments of the World" idea. I came up with quite a few different inspirations. The best one I thought of was having a world map as the first page and marking off the places I talk about. For example: if I write about an african instrument I could put a little cross where the unique instrument is found. This would give the readers a sense of direction so they know where they "visited". My goals for next week would be to start filling out the planner sheet on my WISE project so I can hand it to the teacher in week 9. Another goal would be to expand on my ideas otherwise my project could turn out too "straight" and a bit boring.

Journal

8 March 2010

After I changed my topic from animal cruelty to lost musical instruments of the world, I have started to brainstorm about how I should present my WISE project. Eventually, I decided to design and write a book. Every few pages I could "travel" from one country to another, talking about their unique instruments that many people did not know of and introduce the readers to them. That was all I could think of this week. I hope that by next week I would be able to invent more creative ideas about my chosen topic. I am really glad for having a whole term to refine our ideas because it gives us more time to deeply think about what topic we should choose to do our project on.

Journal

28 February 2010

During our last WISE lesson the teacher made us do some brainstorming. We had to list ten interests/hobbies and write at least three ideas about each of them. After that lesson I started to question myself about which topic I should do. In the end I decided to change my topic. I am now going to do my WISE project on lost musical instruments of the world. This idea randomly popped up to me yesterday and I thought that it was fantastic and that it would be better than my previous topic on animal cruelty. I hope that by next week I could have thought about some ways I could present my idea in whether it is a music video, book etc.

Journal

21 February 2010

Since the last time I did my first reflection I still haven't changed my mind about the topic "animal cruelty". Instead, I have been thinking about how I could present my project. For example: would I create a video, book or an activity for the other students to participate in (like the Big Sister project)? So far, I think I would design a book about animal cruelty to raise awareness of this subject. But like last week, I am still not sure, since this is only the brainstorming stage of the whole project. Hopefully by next week, I would be able to finally decide what my project is about or something. I look forward in starting my project in term 2.

Journal

14 February 2010

After our last WISE lesson I have been trying to plan what I want my project to be about. The only topic I feel like I'm the most interested in is information about animal cruelty. But I'm not exactly sure yet. I will have to think about my decision some more before I actually decide. Anyways, the date where we have to tell the teacher what topic we are going to do is still a long time away (at the end of this term to be exact) so I still have plenty of time. I think I will probably stick to the topic of animal cruelty though because I like animals and pets a lot. I would like to own a dog but my mum doesn't allow me because she believes that it is too much trouble and that it will make me unfocused on my school work. Even though that is true it doesn't mean I don't like animals as much as I used to. This is why I think that animal cruelty would be the best subject for my WISE project.