Picture from "THIS" website.

In Mumbai, India, the Indians took control of Taj Mahal Palace & Tower and killed lots of people. Three terrorists were found dead and parts of the hotel were on fire. Soldiers went and searched the whole hotel but it seems that this BIG event have ended. This is what happened...

The Indian terrorists were trained well, one of them carried a backpack filled with rounds of ammunition. It seemed that those attacks indicated high degrees with preparing because they know the layout of the building very well. Some of them were caught arriving by boat and disguising as guests for days.

The soldiers searched in a gunman's backpack and this is what they've found:

- found dried fruits (safe).

-400 rounds of AK-47 ammunition.

- 4 grenades.

- Indian + American money.

- Seven credit cards (from some world's leading banks).

- 1 national identity card (Mauritius, an Island).

MY THOUGHTS:

It's really scary. Just imagine... You just want to have a normal vacation in India. Suddenly, you were caught by some strangers (terrorists) asking you questions and killing the others~ What a terrible sight (and I mean it)!!!!

(I only wrote a little... to find more information about this scary event... go to the link below...)

LINK:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/29/world/asia/29mumbai.html?ref=todayspaper

LINK:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7750000/newsid_7750600/7750650.stm

In Advisory, our goal was to build a tower with paper that can hold 50 g. In the end, our group (Lian, Annchi, Grace, and me) made this strange looking tower ~ an upside down flower tower. We were troubled by the balancing part. It should be able to stand when there's no weight on them, but it kept on falling. When the time was over, it finally stood! But, still, if we put the weights on together at the top, it went PLOP!

During this activity, I used 2 student outcomes and they are:

- Community Contributor = I contributed thoughts, thinking about how to make the tower for it
to be able to stand on its on.
- Effective Communicator = In order to do community contributor, I communicated a lot to my
group.

The experts tracked the beavers in Norway for about 2 months and then at last, they caught the whole family 1 male, 1 female, including 2 ~ 3 of their baby kits. The experts need to watch the creatures to make sure that not one member of one family are left behind.Now, they're being cared in a quarantine. The quarantine is where animals are kept while experts study them carefully, observing them if there are any diseases that may spread to other animals. In the spring time of 2009 they would be released into the wilderness once again.People used boats and if they want to catch the beavers, they'll need to catch them in the dark (nocturnal)

Beavers could / are :
- Stop fish numbers ~ blocking their routes = Effect fish industries.
- Create wetland environments for other animals (Some people are and others are about
this idea).
- Trapped by hunters (16th Century) to sell their furs ~ so wiped out.
Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7740000/newsid_7741600/7741684.stm

There was this hippo (pygmy) named Chico (above) at Heythrop Zoo that stopped eating... but with the help of a puppet, he happily starts eating now. The puppet that save the hippo from hunger, was also a hippo like Chico himself.

People that worked at the zoo was amazed and because of that, zoo keepers now used the famous gloves to feed Chico. Although the Chico starts to eat but the head keeper is still desperate to find the solution that lead to his problems.
This is what he said: "We had been trying everything as Chico was refusing to feed and when I saw the Madagascar hippo puppet in the supermarket I thought I'd give it a try. "We were extremely surprised when he took a liking to Gloria and we have been using it to feed him ever since."

Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7730000/newsid_7738000/7738042.stm

1. Person of High Character:
- I continued to comfort my friends when they needed me.
- I'll wait for them if they want me to.
- I helped classmates if they have problems with anything (Math, Science, Technology, and
Humanities).

2. Community Contributor:
- There was times that I helped put up some chairs after Wellness.
- I found things in the desk that I was at and either gave it to the teacher or to the owner.

3. Effective Communicator:
- I communicated with people when we played a game in Ms. Smith's classroom.
- I communicated with classmates in order to help them.
- I communicated with my group members about what we should do and how.

In Humanities Class, we were being showed a presentation on how to set goals. So far, we only went through the first 2 steps...and those were to "Discover" and to "Plan". It;s all about finding what our values, roles, contributions are, and etc. As we shared our values with the whole class, all of us found out that sometimes we'll have to achieve in our lives. Now, I'm going to list 3 of my mission statements!
1. Come on! Speak up and be proud of your thinking, thoughts, and ideas!!
The first mission is:
To raise my hands ~ speak up and express everything I can think of to participate more in class.
- Maybe I'll raise my hand more and think of complex questions to ask.
- Like act as really being someone who's into doing some homework? :P
- Practice at home on ways to speak loudly (but not too loud).

2. Get your head of the table and show some respect dude!
The second mission is:
Sometimes, when the teachers and students are speaking or presenting something, I often get bored listening to all of their detailed descriptions. When I show I'm either tired or bored, I often lay on the desk, play with my hair, and yawn. So then, I'll improve by:
- Sit up straight ~ with my back tightly touching the chair. (Maybe bring a jump rope from home and tie myself onto the chair :P)
- Sleep early.
- Prepare something that'll wake you up from getting tired.
3. Wo, wo, wo! This is YOUR BIGGEST PROBLEM!! Try hard to keep it inside!
The third mission:
Sometimes, when somebody (no matter who) kept on bothering me, nagging me, shouting at me, losing his/her temper, and so on... I do too!!! When they do that, sometimes I... act calm, stare at them, and act as if nothing happened. And if I am absolutely mad mad mad mad (!!!!!!), about a certain purpose, I'll sometimes find a place where there's nobody, and shout about things I had problems with. To hide my feelings, I think I'll need to:
- Really try hard (force myself maybe) to contain my attitude.
- Take some deep, deep, deep breathes and exhale them out.
- BE HAPPY AND TRY TO FORGET ALL THOSE UNHAPPY THINGS.

Maybe YOU have the same missions to take as I do! Look at the points and maybe they'll help YOU improve more!!!

( Picture from "THIS" Website.)

Here are some time management tips that may help you with your "everything based on work you need to do and being organized".

1. Have a good study environment.
2. Take breaks after few minutes.
3. Begin with the difficult ones first.
4. Do set goals, but don't set too many goals before you do anything else, set a purpose.
5. Create schedules like a "To Do" list, calendars, and other kinds.
6. When using time, use shortcuts, and processes.
7. Classify if the tasks are urgent or important, both, or neither.
8. You can also study & review in other places, before and after class, with a group, use study sheets, and recite into your own words to say that you really understood what something meant.
9. Find focuses, perspectives, and look for information that might come out in tests, while reading. Plus, you can remember as you read along.
10. Use note taking techniques and other methods.
11. Keep track of time and improve the time you've spent doing something.
12. Reward your achievements.

Now that you've understand the tips of time managements... Remember them! Use them! They'll help you!

Links: To understand more... go to the links below and read again!!
1. http://www.studygs.net/timman.htm
2. http://www.coun.uvic.ca/learning/study-skills/
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_management

(Picture from: www.gemzies.com/ )

Will Barack Obama focus more on the Asia-Pacific region?
By Vishakha Desai Posted on Thursday, Nov 06, 2008.

As we all know, Barack Obama was elected as the US new president. Now, people all over Asia hope that he will support them. People were asking others about Obama's postion right now based on 3 issues ~ those are dealing with trading, foreign policy, and the geo-economic orders. All of us are still hoping that US new president we give the answers in a way of action.

Countries including India feel that the America and Europe have been on the sides ~ "free” and “fair” trade. But from a more narrow nationalistic perspective. If they are going to have "fair" trading, the new administration will need to deal agricultural problems ~ WTO. Most of all, it'll need to be include both free and fair trade and that comforted Asians that Obama will be alert and aware of their needs.

As the US economy falls lower and lower, the economies of Asian countries will continue to rise higher and higher. Until then, they will remain into such an important source on high technology and industrial goods.

CONCLUSION:
And now, the eager of the answers they questioned, the Asian will continue to look forward into future and see Obama help change the world. The needs for Obama to lead the region’s new realities in condition, has been moved toward East. It is so very clear, that the future of the West will depend on the ways US manages the new power. Do you think so too?

During the days in HIS, I've been:
1. A person of character:
- I will comfort people when they are sad.
- Today during Wellness, I helped to pick up the cones and gather the (about 4) soccer balls.
2. A community contributor:
- There was once when I say somebody's empty juice box. I picked it up and threw it in the recycle
bin.
- I contributed my ideas when our class was divide into two, at Language Arts class.
3. A critical thinker:
- Before I do any of the contribution of ideas, I will need to think deeply first and that's what I
did.
- I ask questions if I didn't understand.

For our class during Humanities, out teacher ~ Mr.Carpenter told the people who sat in the same table to look at each others' blogs and comment on them. My table mates are Annchi, Andrew, Chris, Spencer, and Wesley. There are 2 blog post that we need to look at ~ "Reflections on blogging" and "Reflections on learning".

When I was finished with all the reading I realized that sometimes we have the same thinking, ideas and thoughts. But sometimes, there are different. This way, by looking at their reflection posts, I can learn things I had not thought of before as I wrote mine.

Annchi ~ She really got into writing the reflections and thought really carefully!! She explained using a kind of conversation technique. She did great and wrote a lot of her thinking, deeply (very deeply). She separated the paragraphs into different parts for readers to understand what each blogs are saying and what they mean.
Andrew ~ He talks about sharing ideas + opinions with others and explore into more depths. Also, of interacting with other people and doing hands-on activities in order to learn.
Chris ~ He found a way of learning by asking parents + friends, writing the knowledge out, sharing, and practicing your grammar as you read along. By using this way, he learned stuffs.
Spencer ~ He used the 5 special words to express what he learned, and this showed that he learned things with those words. He also talked about writing blog posts are like journals (something you can enjoy.
Wesley ~ For Wesley, I did not see the 2 posts that he wrote and because of that, I was enable to give a comment, learn, and to reflect. :(

Important way of learning includes to reflect, look at other people's comments, and blogs!!!!

Why do you think they do this?
- So we can feel what it's like to have another grading method.
- For us to easier understand ~ traffic light.
Why do you think this might be important in your learning?
- So we can try something new all the time.
- It may lead to other ideas on grading and report to the teacher.
What do you like about this approach?
- This system makes me have the feeling and eagerness of wanting to turn to bright green all the time!
- It is clear (easy to understand!)
- Makes learning fun.
What do you dislike about this approach?
- I wish that it is better to have both the grades and the color symbols, so then we can see how much we are left till we got to our goals.
THAT'S IT!! OTHER WISE, I LIKE THIS SYSTEM!!! >o<

Interviewing at least 2 students and 2 adults:

1. Explain the benefits of being more organized.
   

Lian: I think that organizing makes everything easy to access and make everything a whole lot
easier. It allows people to find things easier and to save time for more important things!
Victor: The benefits are that you are always on time so you've got more time to work on it to
make it better.
Sandra: I that then you can have more time to play and you can finish homework on time.
Spencer: I think organizing time is what we should do and it can make our life more specific.
Andrew: I think that it keeps us tidy and u can find the thing that u organized easily.

Mom: I think then you will not loose your information and things you need, focus and the main spot, and you won't waste time!!!
Ms. Fortune: 1) you can find things more easily, 2) if you are organized by making lists of things you have to do you can feel proud when check them off the list and get them done, and 3) you won't loose things.

2. Explain what prevents people from being organized.

Lian: People get lazy when it comes to organizing because they want to do something else
before and want to organize it later. but then they get lazy as all humans do and then
they never go to do it.
Victor: What prevents people is listening to music, watching videos, playing games, etc…
Spencer: I think it's because every time they want to organize their time they will think of other things to do like chatting or playing games.
Andrew: What prevents us from doing it is by being lazy.

Mom: I think laziness and being irresponsible prevents people from organizing.
Ms. Fortune: Sometimes people get too busy or too overwhelmed.

3. Create your own “top 5 list” of how to be more organized. In other words, what actions do people need to take to be more organized.

- To take or open the things or websites you need to do.
- Shut down anything that may distract you from concentrating.
- Take notes.
- Maybe set an alarm clock.
- Concentrate more and more!!!!

I think to be able to concentrate and to finish your work faster are ways to be more organized.