Romea and Juliet Act 1 Scene 4 - Reflection Section

Date: 21/06/21

Text Title: Romeo and Juliet Act 1 Scene 4

Text type: Play

Text source: Spark Notes

Text purpose: To tell the story between two characters

Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio are with a group that are wearing masks during the Capulets feast, However Romeo is still confused on how he was invited to the feast considering that his family (Montague) and the Capulets are enemies. Romeo does not want to dance at the feast. Mercutio mocks Romeo by turning all his statements into sexual metaphors this lead to Romeo regretting attending the feast.  

Mercutio responds with a speech about Queen Man of the fairies who enters peoples dreams. The speech started off as a calm, fancy note, however, it starts to escalate. Romeo calms Mercurtio down.

Critical literacy:

What genre does this text belong to? Tragedy and romance. 

Millennials in the workplace - Reflection section

Date: 10/06/21

Text title: Simon Sinek on Millennials in the workplace 

Text type: Interview on Yt (Inside Quest)

Purpose: To help understand millennials and improve wellbeing through reducing screen time.

Simon Sinek is interviewed about his view on the millennials addicted to their phone. He states that a certain generation lacks social skills because social media has made it easier for us to communicate with others, whether it may be a msg or even a swipe. He also talks about dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical your brain generates the make you' feel-good'. The message he is trying to convey is that we shouldn't restrict all that generates dopamine but instead restrict such high amounts of dopamine in our brain to the point where we are unable to cope with it. An example of this would be Instagram. Most teens have Instagram and when we post we get likes. Likes, comments, shares give us dopamine that makes us feel good and valued by others. However, when addicted you would start to rely on social media to make you feel good. You'd stop relying on others to help you with a certain situation. 

Critical literacy question.

Is the text fair? I wouldn't say so because he isn't a millennial himself, he wouldn't understand. He stereotypes a generation without knowing these things are true and really apply to them 

SayNopeToDope - Reflection section

 Date: 04/06/21

Text title: Say Nope To Dope: Jake's Story - mental illness

Text type: documentary 

Text publisher: Family first NZ

Text purpose To share Jakes experience with narcotics and how it affected his personal wellbeing as well as his relationship with others negatively

Jake was a student at Otago University to become a doctor. He was important to a group that was very pro-legalisation for marijuana. 4:20 on Fridays he would host a gathering of up to 60 people to smoke cannabis. He was initially supposed to use marijuana to help with his research however, this started to interfere with his life in a negative way. He started to have severe symptoms of psychotic episodes that made him see/hear things that weren't really there and he lost focus on his studies. Jake was then diagnosed with cannabis-induced psychosis which pushed him to later drop out of his studies to heal from this traumatic experience. 

Marijuana and other recreational drugs are rising as a problem in NZ if you or someone you know is struggling, here are some places to get help.

Helpline - 1737 (NZ's mental health and addiction helpline number) Lifeline (open 24/7) - 0800 543 354 Depression Helpline (open 24/7) - 0800 111 757 Healthline (open 24/7) - 0800 611 116 Samaritans (open 24/7) - 0800 726 666 Suicide Crisis Helpline (open 24/7) - 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO). This is a service for people who may be thinking about suicide, or those who are concerned about family or friends. Youthline (open 24/7) - 0800 376 633. You can also text 234 for free between 8am and midnight, or email talk@youthline.co.nz

Critical literacy question:

What views of the world is this text presenting? According to statistics made by researchers the use of narcotics has raised up to 34% since 1964. Meaning narcotics is known in many places around the world and some are relying on it. 

Punnet Squares - Reflection section

 Date: 28/5/21

Text title Genotypes and phenotypes 

Text type: Article 

Text source: Scipad 

Text purpose: Readers to understand what genotype and phenotype is. 

From reading this article we understan that a phenotype is observible traits/characteristic of an organism. It is a result of the interaction between its genes and enviornment. For example, eye colour is observable so its part of your phenotype. A genotype is a combination of alleles/genes that an rganism carries. The phenotype of an organsims is an expression of ones genes/alleles. Each gene that you inherit come from your mom and dad. If one allele is dominant over the other it will be expressed through the phenotype. A recessive allele will only be expressed if there is no dominant alleles present. Dominant is shown with a capital letter while recessive is shown with a lower-case letter. 

Critical literacy question:

Why am I reading this? This will help me to further understand the genotype and phenotype as it will be of great use to pass one of my ncea externals and internals. 

Denzel washington - Reflection section

Date: 21/05/21

Text title Denzel Washington's life advice

Text type: Video

Text source: Motivational madness

Text purpose: Offer life advice to those who feel like giving up 

This video was a powerful and motivational speech that was performed during graduation. His intentions were to inspire others to live mindfully in every aspect of their life; mentally, physically, economically, spiritually and socially. He tells his life story and explains how he got to where he is now including the trials he had to go through. 

Failing is a part of learning without failing, are you ever learning?

Critical literacy questions:

1) How does the text construct a version of reality. It is human for us to doubt ourselves at times and sometimes even give up however Washington has shown the outcome of what would happen if you just keep going forward. 

2) Who is allowed to speak? who is quoted? Denzel Washington because the speech is somewhat based on his life story and he is also quoting himself much time. 

Cultural clay model

 

My clay model is a skull inspired by Día de Muertos or Day of the dead.  This celebration is celebrated on November 2nd to commemorate those  who have died. It is commonly celebrated in Mexico as it is associated with the Catholic religion. We paint our faces because it gives us a chance to overcome the fear of death. As you can tell by my clay model, painting would usually include a skull and colourful flowers all around. 

 

My culture