Last week of January...

To evaluate what I did last week and also how much I stuck to my timetable:

Monday

-I researched short stories that I will analyse and write about in literature. I found many short stories with literary techniques I'm interested in looking at, but at the moment I'm drawn to a short story by Roald Dahl from a collection he wrote in the 90's called Switch Bitch. This took research skills to search out the right short story for me. It felt quite good to have a choice in what I will write about about and I felt responsible for finding something good.

-I revised Trigonometry and Pythagoras quite a bit on monday to make sure I pass the test.

-I revised Spanish-what was covered in the class and also some exercises on things I felt I needed more practise on. So I ended up studying the text that we were looking at in class and trying to pick up some vocabulary from that and also exercises of my own to practise ser and ir, just to revise because we are now starting the past tense beginning using these.

Tuesday

-On tuesday I completed a short essay on my school uniform. It helped to revise vocabulary and sentence structure using clothes, people and my likes and dislikes. It was a good exercise for revision.

-Also on tuesday I started to read the book I bought: Mastering Modern British History, which is helping me to revise what we've covered in class. I want to feel confident in this subject to get the best essay out of me as I can. Reading up on topics we've covered already is helping to jog my memory for our assessments.

Wednesday

-On wednesday I spent some more time revising modern British history.

-In addition I studied maths to try and understand the subject of the assessment and feel confident in it too. I feel the more time I spend on it, the easier it gets so I can see my hard work producing the result I want. This spurs me on to work even harder.

-I took some time to listen to Spanish to try improve my listenening. Each week I try to revise the different areas of Spanish that I need to work on. Speaking is one that might get neglected, so I will try to work on that.

Thursday

-On thursday I spent my time doing nearly the same things as I did on Wednesday. After a long day of studying on wed I have realised more the importance of taking regular breaks to maintain concentration and energy.

-I did some Spanish revision. This helped me to memorise the information learned in last class. I got less done because I was quite ill, but still managed some revision.

Friday

-On friday I passed the maths assessment with full marks and began the last assessment. I completed that pretty much with a couple of simple points to complete on tuesday.

-On friday I broke with my timetable for the first time and studied some history instead of Spanish. I was still feeling quite ill so I relaxed and did some more Spanish listening while I recovered.


Next week...

Monday

-History revision. I will also try to find a subject I like for my history investigation.

-I will cover what we did in Spanish class once I get home. Next week I hope to see that I've memorised some words acquired in this class.

Tuesday

-There may be some homework to complete from the literature class, if so I will begin that.

-Maths drop-in- I will complete my maths assessment and write on the next blog about what maths has given me.

-Spanish revision of what was covered in class.

Wednesday

-I will continue looking into the subject I will study for the history investigation.

-Spanish- I will try to attend the intercambio in the evening to practise speaking. During the day I will test myself on what was learned in class and some other things from next week.

Thursday

-Spanish revision. I will try to write a story on a subject yet to be decided. I may do two essays, one covering food and money, and one covering clothes and/or directions..or perhaps and can be elaborate and combine them!

-For history I will continue studying modern British history.

Friday

- Friday is a good day to study Spanish because we don't have much class time then. Also we don't have Spanish class on friday and so I try to keep up my Spanish over the weekend to ensure I'm memorising it.

-I will look at the subject I may study for my investigation and try to find out how much resource I could have available to me on that subject. I'll also plug on with modern British history and make sure I read a least a chapter of my book. I want to make sure I'm well read on this subject so I may look at other books also for an all round opinion.

Reflection and plan

Reflection

• Spanish

This week I wrote essays in Spanish on family and my favourite clothes. These are good because the more I write the more I improve by learning from the mistakes I'm making. It highlights any problems I need to work on.

• Comms

I had the remediation of my ethical essay. I learned from Scott that I must print out my work and proof read it thoroughly. Also I am working on the structure of my essays.

• Literature

Providing more quotes and evidence to back those up is something I'm working to improve in literature class. Also I'm trying to analyse techniques more to create a good analytical essay.

• History

I am gradually working through my essay for history class on the subject of how successful the labour governments of 1945-51 were in creating the welfare state. I have kept to my goal of completing this essay more gradually and reading to understand as much as possible about the subject.

• Maths

In maths I passed the algebra maths exam I have been working on. Algebra has given me some trouble, however I have managed to pass the assessment I was dreading so much with full marks and a little more confidence that hard work can give you the results you want.

Goals

Monday

1. I'm going to find a short story that I want to write about for literature. I want to choose carefully and find something with some varied literary techniques and that I feel some passion for. I think thats the key to working really hard on something, I have to feel some passion for it.
2. Spanish practise which I go through daily. Today I'm going to cover what was done in class and cover a little of what we learned next week.
3. I'm going to cover Maths Trigonometry and Pythagoras tonight in practise for the test on Thrusday.

Tuesday

1. This afternoon I will do some more Trigonometry and Pythagoras in preparation for the test.
2. I will write a Spanish essay on a topic yet to be decided and work on some listening.
3. Lastly I will work on my history essay

Wednesday

1. More trig and 3.14
2. Daily Spanish. Perhaps I will cover more of what we've done in class this week and begin Spanish higher
3. History-I will continue with my history essay and read over a new book I have-Mastering Modern British History. In the next couple of weeks we will do an assessment on what we've covered in class so I want to get my head around a summary of all the details.

Thursday

1. More trig and 3.14
2. History-continue with essay and reading.
3. Spanish higher work

Friday

1. In class-hand in day for history essay.
2. In class-Independent mathematical investigation begin and hopefully finish.
3. Maths- study more at home if neccesary.
4. Spanish higher work and some revision of past work.

First Post 2010

In this term I plan to build upon goals I started working on last year.
These are my goals I want to complete by next week to start with:

Spanish
This week I plan to use essay writing to improve my sentence structure and vocabulary. I will write essays on the topics of family, travel and time. From this I hope to see improvement by comparing my past essays to my new completed essays.

Communication
In communication class I want to sucessfully learn from the remediation of my ethical essay. I seem to have problems using connector words and by next week I want to see that my work is flowing a little better with connecting syntax.


Literature
In literature class I will work to improve my comparative essay. I have written over the limit of words allowed and I want to prioritise the information outlined within the essay. By doing this I hope to learn to get my point across in the required amount of words while still using enough examples and explanations to prove my point.
I also want to improve my memory of literature terms and techniques. I will do this by examining texts that we have been given and trying to recognise the techniques used with help from the information I have.

History
In history class this week I hope to mostly complete my essay, by using a schedule to organise my time this week. Quite a lot of reading is required to gain the information needed to write the essay and that can't be rushed. In order to complete the essay I will do some reading and research everyday alongside my other work. By next week I also hope to have thought of the subject I want to research for my history subject.

Maths
In maths class I will take my Algebra test which I feel confident in now after working on it over the holidays. By next week I also hope to be on my way to taking the trigonometry test.

Investigating Europe
I have completed my report for the class and it doesn't require any remediation. However this week I will do my presentation on the same subject and I want to feel confident in performing it. My aim is to practise and to feel calm beforehand.

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