Japan 2020 Olympic Games Bid

This presentation is my group's bid to hold the 2020 Olympics in Japan. This was in the works for 4 weeks as the Year 9s and 10s of Tamaki College were apart of a integrated learning programme and this was one of the final products of that programme.

A.W.K.X Party Advertisement

In my Social Studies class, we have been focusing on Government. To better our understanding, we went on a trip to Wellington two weeks ago to see Parliament. But we can talk about that on another post.

Anyway, my class was split into groups and we had to come up with a Party name, policies in which each party member was to be responsible for and a vision that our party had for New Zealand. 

After all of that was established, we had to create an advertisement that tried to convince New Zealanders to vote for us. Here is our campaign video. Enjoy!

In spite of this video not having a thumbnail, it does play. :)
Also we have a website for our party if you would like to check that out as well.

Safety Video - Hard Materials

Here is a short video my friends and I created. It talks about the Do's and Don'ts when you are in a Hard Materials class (Wood Work or Wood Tech). We based our movie mostly around a certain piece of equipment; the saw.

Robert Mugabe

For the past 2 days, in my Social Studies class, we have been learning about governments. Currently, we're looking more into DICTATORS! To help us better our understanding of dictators and dictatorship, our teacher, Ms Watene-Taie split our class into groups and gave us each a past or current dictator to create a presentation about.

We had to include a biography of that dictator and had to talk about their life before coming into power and how they came into power. Here is our presentation about Robert Mugabe; the current president of Zimbabwe. There is quite a lot of writing so HAPPY READING! 
Hopefully, you learn something from it.

Maori Language Week

Although Maori Language Week is long gone, my friends and I created these two movies while in Maori class. These movies showcase a few students and teachers in our school reciting our school pepeha.



Here is our school pepeha:

Ko Maungarei te maunga

Ko Wai o Taiki te awa

Ko Te Poho o Tamaki te Marae

Ko Te Kura o Tamaki te Hapu

Ko Tainui te Iwi

Ko Tainui te Waaka

Ko Hoturoa te tangata

Success Movie

In my first term at Tamaki College, our Social Studies teacher gave my class and I the task to create a DLO based around the core values in our school known as the RISE values. RISE stands for Respect, Integrity, Success and Responsibility (though Responsibility doesn't start with E).

Our class was split into 4 groups and were assigned a value. My group and I received Success. We decided to create our movie sort of like a TV show, we titled Extreme Makeover: Success Edition. It soon turned into an instructive movie on how to be successful by changing the small things like how you wear your uniform and how you behave in class.
This movie was posted on Youtube and was shared with my class and teacher.

Our Future Focus Poster

During reading time, we were given a challenge by our teacher Mrs Nua to create a digital learning object (DLO) about Future Focus Learning. My friends and I got together and had a planning session to decide what we could make for this task. After a while, we came to an agreement on doing a poster. We thought it would be different to what everyone else was doing since the majority of DLOs that were being created were movies. This movie shows the process of our poster and what meanings are behind the things in it.

Laita drew, painted and came up with what objects should be in this awesome painting. She was involved a lot in this and did an amazing job. Although, all of us contributed really well and worked pretty hard. Enjoy!

Tattoo Mini Project

This is a task that we were given by Mrs Tele'a. We had to create two tattoos. One that was cultural and one that had elements that represented you. Here is a presentation that includes my tattoos. They each have an explanation so you can understand the meaning behind them.

If the presentation isn't working for you, I have put the explanations here too. By the way, there is a LOT of writing.

My first tattoo is called the Fata ‘o Tu’i Tonga. It is a portrayal of the central beam in the King’s house. More specifically, of the sennit bindings that hold the central beam, which supports the thatched roof. So why did I choose this particular Tongan pattern as one of my two tattoos?

The Fata ‘o Tu’i Tonga symbolizes unity, strength and coming together. This was exactly the reason why I chose it. I thought it reminded me of family - distinctly, my family -. When I saw the Fata ‘o Tu’i Tonga and it’s the meaning behind it, it reminded me of all the times my extended family has given my parents and I a helping hand. It’s a pretty significant design since one of the many things I value is family.

In this slide, I have included my own tattoo design that I created. It is based off of the things I value the most; Friendship, Trust and Animals. These are more of symbols than they are patterns and drawings.

As you can see, one of the symbols are in a different language. When translated, it means trust. You may be wondering what this language is. It is Kanji. Kanji is used in the modern Japanese writing system. So why would I include Kanji in my tattoo? Another thing that I value is culture and language. I thought instead of using the Tongan language, I would use a language that was foreign to me and that I was fascinated with. And that was Japanese.

Behind the friendship symbol is a pawprint. The main reason why I used a dog pawprint to represent animals was because I absolutely love dogs. Another reason why was because I recently lost a close family member. Sisa. He was my dog that I grew up with in Tonga. I had received him when I was aged one and at the time Sisa was just a pup. So we were really close since we LITERALLY grew up together. This symbol really did mean a lot to me. I actually hope one day I will get this tattoo.

I would say this tattoo is also apart of my own design. It shows my religion, family and culture.

The flower is supposed to be a franjapaini. It represents where I was born: Tonga. Popping up behind it is a koru. This represents New Zealand. Overall, this shows where I was born and where I am currently living.

The stick figures may look a little out of place but they symbolize my parents. I used the cliche gender colours blue and pink to identify them.

They are big part of my life and although they may have problems in their relationship, they’re still making an effort for me.

I think doing this task and all the research about tattoos and symbolism we did has really helped me understand symbolism and my culture. Everything has a meaning behind it. Whether, it’s the symbol on your school uniform, the tattoo your uncle has or that tick on your Nike shoes.

My friends and I have talked a lot about tattoos and what we were going to get etched on our bodies when we were older. The past seven weeks have really broadened my mind on tattoos. They are a form of art on people’s bodies, especially when they have meaning behind them. That’s when they become symbolic and can be a constant reminder for you.

What's Been Up at Extension?

Extension has been taking closer looks at tattoos and symbolism. Specifically polynesian tattoos. We researched about it and even created our own designs but we had never really seen the real thing. Although a bunch of us had already seen a pe'a before due to someone in their family having one. Anyway, Mr Tele'a was invited to come to one of our extension sessions to show us his traditional samoan tattoo. Whether we had already seen one or not, it was still a really good way to expand our knowledge.

He came to give us a personal view on what's it like to get a pe'a (samoan tattoo). Not only that but to give us a closer look at the intricate designs.

Mr Tele'a was a really good model and teacher. We all prepared questions to ask him and he answered them with great detail.  The questions varied from: 'What did your parents think when you wanted to get a tatau?' to 'What did you do to get your mind off the pain?' and many others. He explained and showed us what parts were meaningful to him and the reasons behind them.

For example, there was a 20-30 cm wide black strip that started underneath his armpit and wrapped itself around his back to the other side of his body under the opposite armpit. To an uninformed person, it would look like a patch of green on his backside but it actually held a big amount of meaning. This part of the full pe'a is supposed to be a canoe or va'a. The va'a represents the family who the wearer of the tattoo has to always protect. (Click image underneath for an actual look)

Because the extension group have been looking at tattoos and symbolism, we were given mini project that we had to complete. This task was to create our very OWN tattoo. There were two crucial things we had to include in our tattoos. One was to use or make a symbol of any part of our culture or heritage and the other was to create a symbol to represent yourself. Currently, I have nearly finished my work. I have already completed the cultural side of this project and am still working on my own symbol.

Year 8 Camp

Camp was full of so many fun activities! I had so much fun, I wish it lasted longer than it did. Going on the Year 8 Camp gave me the opportunity to get to know my peers outside my usual group of friends which was really awesome.

Out of the four days, I least enjoyed day 1 of the camp. After, taking a 1-2 hour bus ride, we arrived at Langs Beach where we began a tramp towards Waipu Cove. Ms Squires had planned for it to be a nice elegant walk but thanks to the weather, the track had become slippery and muddy. This lead to a number of falls.

Not only was it a very long walk but it was also a pretty dangerous one. We traveled up hills and jagged rocks that were rather narrow and some of us were very close to plunging to our deaths. Thankfully, we all survived. I, myself got a few battle scars but overall, I was fine.

When Day 3 came along, I was extremely excited. It was - for me - the most anticipated day. We were scheduled to do a bunch of activities varying from archery to toasting marshmallows to kayaking. Plus, that night was when had a campfire where we sang some songs.

Toasting marshmallows was my highlight of that day. I had never eaten roasted marshmallows prior to that experience so it was pretty special. My teammates and I gathered around the fire as we stuck our marshmallows on the tips of our sticks. One by one, we set them above the fire. Mine caught a blaze a few times but I didn’t really mind. In fact, I ended up really liking the burnt taste.

Colour Wheel

This is the colour wheel. It has the primary colours, secondary and tertiary colours. I created this because it was a task that was given to us by our teacher, Ms Pagdet. I tried to interpret all the colours that are in the actual colour wheel and this is the final outcome.

Tangled Artwork Explanation

A tangle art piece is exactly how it sounds. They are pieces that intertwine together to create a celtic knot. Producing this tangled artwork makes a great team project as each person is able to incorporate themselves in their designs. Being that now Class 1 and Class 5 are conjoined (Panuba), this is the activity that was attempted.

Initially, it’s important to plan. Look up patterns, symbols and different designs. However, do include elements that represent you. A less busy pattern look the finest, due to how they are not full of details. They tend to look broader and stick out more to the eye than a more intricate design. I constructed myself a template to follow so that could be an ideal thing you could use when drawing.

Limiting yourself to just one colour will produce the best result. Too many can ruin the repetition of the pattern. When the final product came out, I noticed that the pieces with warm colours looked the best. So preferably, use a distinct hue that will make your designs pop.

When putting everything together, label your pieces so you will know where each is placed. Labels such as Yellow for the corners, Green for the middle pieces etc etc. When the final product comes out, it looks awesome. Especially with all the different designs intertwining together.

My Avatar

In my class, we have Self Management Level Board. There are three levels on it. Level 1: I need help managing myself. Level 2: I'm able to manage myself but can get off task and Level 3: I am able to manage myself inside and outside the classroom. 

This is my avatar that I created to represent myself on that board. I'm currently thinking of placing myself on Level 3 since I am a trust worthy person who can manage really well without a teacher. 

In this picture, I have my favourite animal; the wolf. Taki, which is my House Team and a bunch of symbols at the bottom which represents my favourite book characters.

Term 4 Day 1

For the last term of 2014, Class 1 and Class 5 were put together to create Mafia Ono (although, the class hasn't decided that name yet). Now that the two have been merged, Class 1 has now got 3 teachers instead of two. It was quite a surprise to hear this from Mrs Nua but yesterday proved that being with Class 5 wouldn't be so bad.

My friends and I have been in and out of classes since last year so it was very different to hear that our class would no longer be on it's own. Not to mention that we just received our new class last term after two terms of living outside of the senior block. 

Party Vote 2014

As the reveal of the new government drew nearer, New Zealand waited in front of their TV screens and computers, awaiting for the final word. After seeing many signs and advertisements, I can say that the support from the people is incredible. Seeing kids and adults alike, coming together and holding signs at the side of the road, showcasing who and what they believed in was pretty awesome. 

Just by looking at the vote count, National is the team bypassing everyone else. 48% of the votes were National while Labour lagged behind with only 24%. It seems that National's Mr John Key will be receiving his third term in the office as the Prime Minister.

Now that the elections are over, one of National's things on their to do list is bringing a simple economical plan to the table for the next three years. Their main goal is to Live within our Means, Start Paying off Dept and Keep Generating New Jobs. Since 12 months ago, they've grown eighty three thousand new jobs and by the time its 2018, there should be 150,000 new jobs. More on the subject about new jobs, National plans to lift the quality of teaching to provide a better education. Not only that but now they are providing free doctors visits for children under 13. 

New Zealand has voted and hopefully this is the best choice for our country. Although I am not a very big politics person, I actually can't wait to see what happens next time Elections come along. Maybe they'll get more creative with their advertisements, who knows. But for now, congratulations to National.

Sources: 

National Campaign

BBC National Party Wins Elections 

Self Management Reflection

After a week of filming and ubiquity, we finally completed our movie. We worked really well together, only arguing about a few things once or twice. But now we have to ask ourselves; How well did we manage?

Personally, I think my group did exceptionally well on managing our time and working independently. We stuck criteria and made a great MTV in the time frame we were given. I helped out more specifically with the filming, editing and planning. Lots of the scenarios and ideas in our movie was created by me. I appeared the least amount of times in the movie since I worked particularly behind the scenes.

When it comes down to managing myself, I think I did a pretty good job, especially as apart of the group. I was there to kick my friends when we went off task so we were able to finish on time and move onto the next thing on our list. Editing was probably the task that I managed myself the most with, I focused solely on finishing the movie so we worked more quickly than we thought we would and got a lot done.

If my group had to do something better, I think it would be all doing something at once. Some of our group members started to mess around when they were not needed. It would had been better if we got each other to work on something else while we worked on the movie. Other than that, I think we did pretty good on our movie and managing ourselves. We got a 17 out of 20 on our rubric which is pretty impressive.

Click the photo to see the specific details.

They Don't Really Care About Us!

Self Management was a topic that our class was examining, so to practice this key competence, we were given the task to create a Music Video using one of Michael Jackson's songs. We had to work in our year groups so the Year 8 Girls had to work together and same with the rest of the class. Our teacher will be judging our movie and marking it based on how we managed ourselves and the quality of our movie. We worked pretty hard to complete this movie and put quite a lot of effort into it. Hope you enjoy!

Self Management

Key Competencies are a part of the New Zealand curriculum to help young people, like ourselves become supportive, confident and actively involved lifelong learners. Self Management, being one of the Key Competencies, is the aspect that we are currently exploring. People who are effective self managers are reliable and are able to set high standards.

Being able to manage yourself during class is actually pretty difficult to do. It is really easy to get distracted by friends and surroundings when trying to complete work and tasks. Plus it’s as simple as that to go onto another site and play games. During class, self management looks like working independently and working away from interruptions. Also knowing when to tell someone to do their work and when to take a break and talk.

The Street is an area in our intermediate block that is another working space for us. Its reasonably large so there is lots of room for all our classes to use. When in the street, we have to fight the temptation of speaking to our other friends in different classes. It’s not a very quiet area so distractions are inevitable.

Outside of class, like at the playground, kids find it much harder to manage themselves. Although lunch and morning tea is a time for us to play and take a break, it is a great idea to always think ahead and reflect. Obeying the rules and thinking about others around you is how the kids should manage themselves when playing and messing around.

In conclusion, self managers are innovative and cable learners. With can-do attitudes, they can make plans and strategies for meeting challenges. They can also set goals for themselves to strive and achieve. Whether they are leading or following, they are resourceful learners.

Storylines Festival Reflection

The Storylines Festival turned out to be pretty successful. I definitely enjoyed the show and the authors who presented. However I liked last year better, the audience was more involved and the authors were connecting with us. Not that this year was terrible, it was really educational.

Juliette McIver and Jill McGregor were probably my favourite authors during the festival. Juliette was incredibly funny with her bubbly personality and her books and stories were really out there. She liked to rhyme a lot and she even created her own words to match her story, much like Margaret Mahi who she looked up to. She read aloud one of her many books, Queen Alice’s Palaces. The graphics stood out to me a lot. The illustrator had used iconic buildings to incorporate Queen Alice’s many Palaces and that made the book even more interesting.

If I were to present at the festival, I would really interact with the audience. Paula Green had gathered some students to create a poem on the spot. They each had a line they would say directly after the person before them. I thought that was a great way to get involved with the kids and teachers. Another way I would do to get the kids intrigued is get some kids up to act out the story as I read it. That would be pretty funny since they are just improvising.

I would’ve loved to have seen the authors collaborate to create a wonderful masterpiece. That would’ve been amazing. I would like to give a great big thank you to the authors and to the Storylines Festival holders because it’s such a great experience for kids everywhere. Their stories and backgrounds gave us a look at what an author really endures to make their stories the best it can be. Cath Mayo traveled to Greece where she got lots of information for her books. That’s just plain awesome.

Mortar Bucket Advertisement

Last term in Extension, we did the 40 hour famine. Because of this, we explored all kinds of things that people who lived in poor parts of the world use for work, cooking and all kinds of stuff. I combined two of the tools that I saw some people used. A water bucket and a mortar and pestle. Here's what it would look like and how it would be presented.