I Can Describe The Structure Of A Short Story

Something I have learned about the structure of short stories is that the problem happens quite early into the story.

After reading some short stories two things I will remember when I write my own short story are don't make it too long and make sure that the problem is quite early into the story.

Student Led Conference Reflection

1. The things I enjoyed most about my SLC were: Sharing my learning with my parents.
2. What went well and why? I finished sharing the most important part of my SLC.
3. What were the challenges you faced when preparing and presenting your SLC? The internet connection wasn't very good.
4. What changes would you make for next time and why? I would try to finish my whole presentation before we finish.

My Short Story- The Cake Frenzy

For this piece of writing I have focusing on my vocabulary and punctuation. I have been learning to:

• Use a large productive vocabulary across the curriculum (Year 9/10)
• Use a wide range of punctuation appropriately and with increasing accuracy. (Year 9/10)

A shrill, repetitive alarm rings through my ears. Reaching over, I slam down the snooze button. I sit up, rubbing my bleary eyes and drag a comb through my knotty hair. I'm not normally somebody you would describe as a ‘morning person’. I hear a single knock at my door and without warning my seven year old brother, Bean bounds through the door.

“It's Mum’s birthday!” He says in a singsong voice.

“Yes.” I reply, slinging on my sunglasses that I had scooped off my bedside table.”Yes it is.” I finish dramatically.

“Okie dokie! Assemble the troops! We're baking a cake!”

I all but yell.

Bean obediently ducks out of the room. He emerges through the door seconds later with my four year old younger brother and sister, Kelly and Eliot (twins) slung over each shoulder. They look bewildered, probably because they got ripped out of their beds by their older brother dressed in his Mum’s wedding dress and a beanie with two eye holes cut out, acting on orders from his twelve year old sister currently dressed in an over sized tuxedo and a false mustache plastered above her nose.

“Alrighty, now that we are all…”

I search for the right word.

“Gathered, I'd like to make an important announcement! While Bean was gathering the troops I thoroughly searched the pantry; THERE’S NO CAKE MIXTURE!”

I obviously took the twins by surprise seeing as they had leaped into the air. I chuckle, bemused by their cowardliness.

“While I go to the shop you,”

I say prodding Bean in the chest.

“Mow the lawn.”

I order, despite the fact that Bean had never mowed the lawn before.

“But I…”

He splutters helplessly. I narrow my eyes and he scurries hurriedly away.

“As for you two.”

I say directing my remark at the twins.

“Vacuum the floor.”

Unlike  Bean they happily agreed to do their assigned job, probably so they can attempt to vacuum each other. The twins have always been known as the violent pair at preschool, I'm proud of them. Meanwhile, where is Mum? There she is, the average lazy mother in her natural habitat. I am slightly disgusted  to see her lying in bed with a trail of drool hanging out of her mouth.

It's not long until I'm on the very road of the shop. I pedal a bit further so it's in full view. A large wire fence and cones are surrounding it. Inside the site are some workers and several machines.

“Oh no!”

I groan. I hear a chuckle from one of the men in bright orange overalls, I'm not sure if he was laughing at my outfit or just my cluelessness on the topic. I give him a sharp glare. He stops abruptly, I can be rather intimidating at times if I want to.

“Why?”

I whine as I leap back onto my bike.

“I, am not surprised.”

I admit. Bean lost half his hair from the lawnmower resulting with a bald spot in the center of his head and both the twins managed to lose a sock each from the vacuum cleaner.

“Elliot, Kelly you two make sure Mum doesn't get out her room for the next hour, two hours.”

I hand out jobs to the twins.

“On it!”

They cry in unison. I turn to Bean and mockingly rub my chin.

“Now, what to do with you…”

I utter.

“You can help me with the cake?” I question rather than state. He pulls a face.

“Is that an order?” He asks meekly. I grin and nod my head while he rolls his eyes.

“Happy birthday to you! You’re one hundred and two! You look like a monkey, and you act like one too!” Bean, the twins and I yell rather than sing in unison.  Apparently, according to the twins Mum wasn’t at all hard to keep in bed, in fact, we had to pour a bucket of ice cold water over her to get her up and out of bed! That probably exclaims her dripping hair and damp clothes.  Mum smiles at us fondly and I rip the tea towel of the cake.

“Viola!” I shout triumphantly. “How many slices Mum?”

“Zoe… It’s green!”

She exclaims. I nod excitedly.

“Sorry I’m full from the purple pancakes, speaking of which are you sure that you used food coloring for the purple color? I don't feel so well…”

I shift my glance to Bean, he too has a disgusted look on his green face along with Elliott and Kelly. I sigh. I guess I'll be finishing the cake on my own.

Apply the techniques of improvisation to a range of different scenarios.

Improvisation techniques that I have used successfully are saying yes all the time instead of saying no and stopping the flow of the act.

Improvisation techniques that I would like to have more practice at are thinking on spot.

The thing that I enjoyed most about this unit of learning was doing lots of activities and games because it was something I hadn't done before.

The thing that I found most challenging during this unit of learning was…thinking on the spot because we we didn't get time to think.

My favorite improv game was the gift game because we got to use our imagination.

My next step/ something I need to work on further  in improvisation is trying my best because I could've done better in some things

Improvisation techniques that I have used successfully are, saying yes and carrying on the flow.

Improvisation techniques that I would like to have more practice at thinking on the spot because I wasn't very good at it.

Exposition

For the past few weeks the year 7/8's we have been writing expositions (similar to arguments). In our exposition we have been comparing two leaders and their strengths and decided who is the better leader. Here is the conclusion of my exposition:

Overall, I believe J.K Rowling is a better leader than Barack Obama even though she has never been elected president because she demonstrates many valued traits of a respected leader.

Term 1 Integrated Learning - Leadership

We have been learning all about What makes a good leader.

Here is a link to the Leadership modelling book.

We identified that good leaders show 6 main character traits. These are: Integrity, Trustworthy, Goal focused, Resilient, Active Thinker and Motivational.

The leadership trait that I think I show the most is active thinking because one of of the activities we did was quite hard but I figured it and got it right.

The leadership trait I would most like to develop is trustworthy because not everybody trusts me.

Something NEW I have learned about leadership is that leadership is the skill of being able to motivate a team/individual toward their goal.

The SOLO level that I reached during this unit of learning is Relational because I can identify the traits of an effective leader but I didn't quite finish one of the activities.

My next step in learning about leadership is to apply everything that I have learned about leadership to my own leadership roles.

Mean, Median, Mode And Range Prove It

MEAN:
Example: 5, 3, 3, 1, 6
1.) You would add up all the numbers.
5+3+3+1+6= 18 
2.) Now count up how many numbers there is.
3.) In this case there is five numbers.
4.) Now divide five (the amount of numbers) with eighteen (the numbers all added together) 
Eighteen divided by five= 3.6
MEDIAN:
Example: 5, 3, 3, 1, 6
1.) You have to order the numbers from smallest to largest.
1, 3, 3, 5, 6
2.) Now find the number in the middle.
1, 3, 3, 5, 6
3.) That is your answer!
MODE:
Example: 5, 3, 3, 1, 6
1.) Find the number that appears the most in the pattern.
5, 3, 3, 1, 6
2.) That is your answer!
RANGE:
Example: 5, 3, 3, 1, 6
1.) Find the biggest number.
5, 3, 3, 1, 6
2.) Find the smallest number.
3.) Take away the smallest number from the biggest.
One minus six= Five
4.) That's your answer!