Category: Reflections

IO Final

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My final IO was between the THT section in the Jezebels club and a political cartoon called Rule of Law. I actually first came up with this connection when first coming up with IO ideas in Y12 (DP Year 1) and I first wrote it out in the second paragraph of a post on my learner portfolio titled ‘IO Preparation’, published on December 21, 2019. They connected with higher-ranking men worsening the oppression of women.

Excerpt from Learner Portfolio post titled ‘IO Preparation’, published on December 21, 2019

I think it went well. My memorisation and practice enabled me to learn what I said really well to help the fluidity of my IO, I used the same technique as I did in my practice as I found that worked well, except this time I memorised more as I had more time to work on it. When I was speaking I was confident in what I was saying, and I did end up saying more analysis than I planned as I recently had discovered more things to analyse. I think I did a better job analysing my non-literary extract but I hope that my literary extract was still analysed well enough. I feel like I improved from my practice as my connections and global issue was much stronger so I hope it paid off but I am glad it’s over and now all I need to focus on in English is Paper 1, due to COVID.

IO Practice

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On Tuesday 15th, I did my practice IO presentation. It compared the section from TILOHL about Henrietta’s procedure with an article from IFLScience about drug use on rats. I connected this through the ethics and consent in scientific procedures. To practice what I was going to say, I memorised the introduction paragraphs for each text as that had necessary information in it that I needed to say, and then with the analysis sections it was easy to do as my 10 points included the examples and why I used them. I found it a lot easier to learn what I was going to say for the analysis sections as I could easily analyse the examples I had and for the memorised paragraphs I just practiced them over and over again.

After doing my IO, I got feedback. I did well on keeping time and staying within 10 but also not being too short. I also had a good balance, time wise, between the extracts. The main thing to work on is my analysis of the different elements as my literary extract was analysed better than my non-literary- this was mainly due to not being that focused on this practice as it wasn’t anything like what I would be doing in my final. I think overall I did okay for my practice, my grade wasn’t the best but I know I can improve for my final.

Oral Presentation and Paper 2 Practice Essay

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For our oral presentation, our group looked at a prompt under the identity concept in our course. Specifically on the prompt, It could be argued that in some societies or cultures women at a disadvantage to men or even actively discriminated against. To what degree is this evident in the way women are represented in The Handmaid’s Tale. We made the points that through the change in society, the way they are represented and the perspectives of other characters, we can clearly see the discrimination women face through what Atwood has wrote.

The feedback we mainly got was to interpret the prompt better in order to show our understanding more as we didn’t do that. I also personally think I could of wrote the first point better, so that’s something I can work on for my essay.

For the essay we kept the same prompt and I used the quotes and points we made in the essay. I think I rewrote the first point better and paraphrased the prompt. I am still confused a bit on the interpretation but after the essay is handed back to us, I will double check if the interpretation is ok.

The presentation was a chance to practice skills that will be necessary in our IO that we will do in the future. The presentation skills can be applied in our DP core through our TOK presentations as well as being transferable to other subjects were presentations are necessary.

Connections to the DP Core

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The skills and content that we learn in English can be applied through some of the core aspects of the DP: CAS, TOK and EE. The ATL skills we learn are applicable to all subject areas and core areas. For example the communication skill can be applied to all three because we have to effectively say our ideas clearly and articulately. 

We can use English skills through our EE essay to communicate our ideas well, it could also be a topic we choose to research into. As well for TOK it could be a topic we choose to discuss through our presentations and our essay. The TOK and EE essay will link with the essay’s that we write in class and for our Paper 1 and 2 assessments. For CAS mainly the skills we learn can apply and link with communication, organisation and other ATLs. For CAS we also have to do more presentations style work, as well as in TOK we have presentations, these skills can be transferred with our IO.

These skills can be developed and learned through this course and through the entire 2 year journey. They can be transferred to other classes and also the DP core as well which would help us improve our work.

First Reading Reflection (THT)

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After reading The Handmaid’s Tale for the first time I really like the book. I think because it is set in a dystopian society and could be something that happens to us, it makes it more interesting to read and see how the author, Margaret Atwood, portrays the world. I also think that the fact that this was written in the ’80s and the problems Margaret Atwood researched and the issues that were present in this time period still apply. 

My favourite section of the book was from Jezebels’ to the end of the book (Page 205- 320). I liked it the most as a lot of things happened throughout this section. It involved the wife, Offred and Nick, Offred and the Commander, it showed the ways that Offred has changed with her views on Love and Luke as well. Then we find out about what happened with Offred at the end. At the end of the book, Serena Joy finds out about Offred and the commander, which she doesn’t take well. Offred knows that something might happen but she doesn’t do anything. She hears the black van and Nick is the one who opens the door which makes her accuse him of being an eye. Nick says that it’s ok and that she should go with them. He says it’s Mayday which links with the earlier quote about what Mayday means when Ofglen said it was a password. “‘There’s a password,’ she says… ‘Mayday,’ I repeat… M’aidez.” (Page 208). Offred ends up going with the van. 

The ending, usually something that answers questions, creates more. Is she took to the colonies, killed or saved? Who are the mayday people that took her? Was it really someone that was helpful? Is Nick helpful? Will she see Luke and her daughter again? What would happen with Luke/ Nick Triangle? Does Nick actually like Offred or is he just doing it to be paid? We can guess but never really fully know.

I think during my next reading I want to look more into the symbolism and look deeper into the book and analyse it more as this will be interesting in order to look at how it connects with women inequality, views of the future and other issues the book brings up.

Reflection on Practice Essay

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For this practice essay it was on the political cartoon by Adam Zyglis, called “Rule of Law”. This referenced a 2005 video with lewd and inappropriate comments about touching women as they will let you do anything to them because they are ‘stars’. 

For my essay I analysed the text and the images used in the political cartoon. For the text I discussed the title of the political cartoon which is shown on the base of the statue. I also discussed the papers in the unbalanced scale and what Trump is saying in the speech bubble. For the images I talked about the elephant caricature, the statue itself and the #metoo movement poster.I got 9/10 points.

To improve I could make my analysis more detailed and give more examples of irony as well, while explicitly referencing juxtaposition. If I was considering the other criteria, for organising, to improve I could separate the juxtaposition from the two paragraphs rather than including it together like I did. There was a lot of Irony in this political cartoon so that would be a better option. In general I could vary my sentence structure and make sure my spelling and grammar is accurate. This was a good practice essay and next time I will make sure to be more detailed in my analysis to improve that strand.

1st Impressions of the Lang and Lit course

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After 2 lessons of Lang and Lit, I am already confused. I don’t know what the assessments will be. The learner profiles we have to do make no sense and I don’t know what I would have to include into them. What are the different categories of posts I have to do?

In Art, we used a portfolio to show our process and the plans for our art. In Criterion C in Design, we kind of used them to record how we made the product using photos and small reflections on the changes we made. In the Personal Project, we had to use one as well.

Throughout all of DP, it might be hard to sustain the blog with one entry per week and they might become less detailed as I get tired as the course progresses. It might be hard with the assessments to link everything across but eventually, I will figure it.