Vanessa's+Reflection+Page

= = =**//__Community Links__//**= 1st August: On the first day I wasn't sure what to expect so I was a bit nervous. I realised once I was there and met the teachers and students it wasn’t so bad. I t was really hard to remember all the kids names, I only remembered a few names, I remembered most of the names by Tuesday and Wednesday. I got to take home their class teddy home who’s name was Robert. On the first day we had independent reading and literature. I was asked to help the kids sound out the words if they couldn’t spell them. In independent reading I read to some people and some of them read to me. After that session it was time for recess. I wasn’t sure what to do because I have never been there before so Casey and I went into the staff room. It felt really weird being in there because it was full of teachers and it was kind of awkward. It was funny because we didn’t know how to use the hot water to make a hot chocolate. After snack we had maths and sport. In maths we did simple addition. In sport we did gymnastics, things like swinging on ropes and balancing. I was supervising the ropes. Soon lunch came and we aging went into the staff room. Last session we had jolly phonics and integrated studies, their topic for their term is Authors, books and super heroes. Home time came very quickly and I was happy with my first day experience.

4th August: I had been going to Bellbridge for just under a week now and I was really starting to enjoy it. As i got to know the kids I felt more comfortable with the kids, teachers and the staff room. I had grown really strong relationships with some of the kids and I didn't want to leave for MacKillop day and the weekend. Like the whole week we had the little ones stalking us AGAIN! While I was there that week it took me back to my primary school days, good times. I was surprised by what they learn in prep/1. Some of the kids really stood out to me and they looked so much older then they were and their personalities were like they were in grades three or four. One of the activities i like is the jolly phonics. They sing songs about letters and sounds so they remember them. Because they were for little kids they were catchy and I went home singing the songs, my parents were looking at me and thinking what happened to you? Every Monday they have assembly's and give out laminated awards. I am really enjoying my time here and I wish we could stay longer!!! they are like my kids.

12th August: If i was at the start of this two weeks I would of never guessed or have thought that I would gained this much knowledge at the end. Days prior to these two weeks I thought it was going to be boring. As the days went on I got into everything more. I gained great relationships with the students in the class. As today was the last day it went very quick. I didn't want the day to end. I have become so attached to the students as did they. I feel that I have gotten much knowledge and experience for the future, it also opened a few windows and I learnt that I am really good with kids and should become a teacher. I would like to go back to the school on days off at our school. Last night I made each and everyone of them a bookmark. when I handed them out the teachers said that out of all the other people that have come into the class, I was the only one who gave them all something. It made my day to think that I put a bit more effort people appreciate it alot. I really enjoyed my time at Bellbridge and wish I could stay longer. it was a great experience for me and I will cherish the memories shared forever.


 * //__Year 9 Outdoor Education & St Mary's Campus Experience 2011__//**

‍1. How were you feeling prior to this experience ?
Prior to this experience i was feeling rather excited because i really like camp. i couldn't wait to start the activities and try new things.

2. What were some of the things you were nervous about ? What were some of the things you were excited about ?
Things i was nervous about were getting hurt and getting sick. I was excited to try new things and be in situations i can learn from for the future. ===‍3. What do you think St Mary's is trying to achieve by taking you on this experience ?=== Get outdoors and not sit inside all the time, learn physical skills andmental skills. Become a better leader and a better individual. ===‍4. Do you think this experience achieved these things ? Why / why not=== yes, i achieved theses things because i had a go at everything even though i was scared to do some. i faced my slight fear of heights and now feel more comfortable being up high.

‍5. What was your favourite activity ? Why ?
My favourite activity was canoeing becuse it was a great experience to and i really enjoyed it, i also enjoyed capsizing. the water was freezing cold, as soon as you fall in it takes your breth away. that made camp for me, i also enjoyed the disco.

‍6. What was your least favourite activity ? Why ?
My least favourite was initiatives, i ddint really enjoy that one because it was boring and not that hands on or physical as the mountain bike riding or canoeing. ===‍7. Do you think this experience will help your time at St Mary's ? Why / why not ?=== Yes, it will help me to understand that i wont always get everything right and i have to except that. For example in a test or contributing in class if i get something wrong i dont beat myself up about it. ===‍8. Discuss one thing you learnt about yourself whilst on this experience.=== i learnt that i have a slight fear of heights. Prior to this experience i didnt think i had a slightr fear of heights, but i have now faced my fear and it is gone. i am glad i faced this fear. ===‍9. Discuss one thing you learnt about someone else whilst on this experience.=== i learnt that my friends casey has no fear of heights what so ever.

‍10. How do you think you behaved on this experience ?
I think i behaved to the rules and regulations, i was being safe on the equiptment and not being silly. ===‍11. What do you think could be improved for next years Lady Northcote experience ?=== i think i could improve on my team input and contribute more in group situations. When we were in initiatives i could have put in more to help the group. =‍//__**Reflections**__//= Each student will build their own page for the puposes of Reflection. This is because when two students are using the same page at the same time the page will not save properly.

Each week for 10 weeks you will need to make a relection about your experiences. Each reflection is expected to at least 200 words in length.

The topic or questions you are asked to reflect on at listed below. Copy these questions to your individual reflection page.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Week 1
What is the best piece of advice you have ever received? The best piece of advice i have ever received was to be yourself, love who you are and don't care what other people think about you. My parents always tell me this and this is the best piece of advice I have ever received. i always stick by this because it reveals the inner and truer you, even if you are the shyest person you should not give a damn about what others think about you. Just as Lady gaga say's ''Cause you were born this way baby." Don't ever live your life as someone else, stay true to you and you will always find the lighter side of things, only the real you knows what this means.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Week 2
What would happen if you threw a piece of trash on the ground? What if everyone did? If I threw a piece of rubbish on the ground, I would pick it up, but lets say that I didn't pick it up. Lets just say that i threw two pieces of rubbish on the ground everyday for the whole year, that would be 730 pieces of rubbish left on the ground, 730 pieces of rubbish blown into the water where animals live, 730 pieces of rubbish spread around Australia and also with the others who litter. Even if you don't realise one person can dramatically change something in just a short amount of time. If no one picked up their rubbish, we would be living in a sea of rubbish. imagine that, driving through rubbish or not even being able to drive through the rubbish, everything would be smelly and lots of decaying food and not to mention diseases spreading maybe even new kinds. This is why we all must remember to pick up after ourselves, even if it is one or two pieces of rubbish. Remember every bit counts.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Week 3
What would you do if you saw a friend cheating - report it, confront the friend or nothing - and why? What do you think courage means? What do you think makes a good friend? If I saw my friend/s cheating I would confront them and ask them why they were cheating. When they explain it would be decided weather or not to report it, depends on how serious the cheating was and for what test. I would ask nicely and calmly and not judge them. In my eye's courage to me is being able to stand up for your self and not caring what others think of you if you muck up. Just like the situation above, you should have the courage to own up. Courage also shows the maturity of some people, some people may not have the courage to own up or tell the truth. Courage is a wonderful quality to have because it allows people to be themselves and enjoy life more. A good friend is someone who is there and ready to listen no matter the situation. Doesn't judge you by your problems and never talk bad about you behind your back. Respects your opinion and lets you have your say. Not everyone is like thins but we can all try to be like this, the world could do with more people like that.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Week 4
What is your most indispensable possession and why? My most indespencible possession is my juniour ex swim top, I got it a few years ago and I got it for being the third best swimmer in my age and gender. It means alot to me because I can always go back and see how good i swimmer i was once and know that I can always be this successful in everyday life. When i got it i was so happty and I couldn't belive it. the top is blue with graffiti like writing on it and it is juniour ex bronze. I love this top so much and I will never give it away because it is something I worked hard for to achieve. it also came with a letter from Grant Hackett. I will cherrish them forever.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍**Week 5**
What do you think about people polluting the environment? I personally do not like seeing pollution being put into the environment, it makes me sick to think that people can be so careless about their envoironment and that their childrens children are going to walk on the earth. they deserve the same luxuries we have enjoyed in out lifetime. Soon we will have no exotic natural landmarks to show our children. All we would have is memories and photo's. We are destroying our earth as we know it. If I had one wish, my wish would be to have a green planet and not have all ths pollution and be a safer world.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Week **6**
How do you feel when you do something wrong? How do you feel when you do something that is very good? When i do something wrong i feel instantly guilty and want to go back in time and not do what i did wrong. I feel small and that i ahve let the teacher down and feel out of my comfort zone. i instantly go red and do the rioght thing. When i do something really good i feel proud and sometimes my ego kicks in. I feel like nothing can touch me and nothing can bring me down. it is a great feeling of accomplishment. Accomplishing something of very good standard and you feel good about it it also means that you care for what you do and you care for your work.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Week 7
I wish there was a law that said... This would be a good law because... I wish there was a law that it was illegal to smoke. As unrealistic as that sounds it would be good law to have because look at all the people who have died from lung cancer. People lose their loved ones to smoking but they continue to smoke, i know it is addictive but losing a loved one could be the cure. Love is a powerful tool and love can make you do anything. Even with all the adds people still ignore the effects, they even make them gory and show diseases that could kill them in one shot. All them chemicals used to make the cigarretts eg: rat poison, paint stripper ect. It's called poison for a reason. Why sell something that can kill people, I don't get why people sell pretty much death stick so people. It seems silly to me.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Week 8
When you are angry, how do you look? When are you happiest? When have you felt lonely? When do you feel proud? When I am angry I keep a straight face but on the inside I am furious, bubbling and hot. wanting to punch whatever get on my nerves. I don't really show my anger with my face expressions but when I talk it is quite obvious. I am my happiest when I am with my friends, I love their company and they always make me laugh and I always make them laugh too. The time I have felt lonely was when I was in primary school, we had a buddy stop, it is where you sit there and wait for someone to pick play with you. I always waited there all day everyday but no one came. I feel most proud when my team wins basketball, we do it all together and looking at everyone cheering for us and shouting with excitement, it is amazing.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Week 9
Which quality do you dislike most about yourself - laziness, selfishness, childishness - and why? The Quality I dislike the most about myself is, Snapping at people before they get a chance to speak. I do not like this because I have to listen in order to know the truth. It makes people feel bad a just makes the situation worse. I do this to my younger siblings and sometimes to my friends. I have to stop this because it makes people feel bad and be upset at me. I don't want my friends to be upset at me just because of my mistakes.

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍Week 10
Why do you think prejudice exists in the world? Prejudice does exist in the world. In my opinion being prejudice is being scared of the the unknown. For example, people who don't like black people, im pretty sure they don't know them personally. They are scared of what they don't know. But I bet that if they were one of their family members they would think twice. Prejudice exists everywhere, prejudice is being one sided. Everyone can be prejudice at times, if you don't like something you always are one sided because you are against it. Sometimes being prejudice is ok and a low level, but being prejudice about people and taking it too far is not ok. So in my eyes prejudice does exist.

I really enjoyed Melbourne Experience, it was a great experience. I really liked the freedom we had over the two days. I and many others wished that it was longer like one tour a day. We didn't have much time and it was all crammed in and we didn't get to enjoy and take it all in as much. My favourite tour was on the waterfront. I liked it the most because we could take our time and take things in. Everything was alot slower. My least favourite was the Queen Victorian Market. That one was my least favourite because I have been there many times and it is always the same thing. I liked having a map a finding our way around the streets. I also enjoyed  walk in the park. it was fun navigating our way through the parks and getting lost a few times and then finding out that we weren't too far off the right path. I think as a group the thing that we did well was navigating and group work. The thing/s we could do better if we had to do this again we would choose sustainability first. We didn't really have any solid evidence of it so we started taking photo's of sustainability in the city. Overall I really enjoyed it and would love to do it again. I would rate my experience a 9/10 it wasn't perfect but it was awesome.
 * Melbourne Experience**