I am a student at in Uru Mānuka. In 2020 I was a year 9 and in 2021 I will be a year 10. This is a place where I will be able to share my learning with you. Please note....some work won't be edited - just my first drafts, so there may be some surface errors. I would love your feedback, comments, thoughts and ideas.
This week is the third week of school and it feels good to be back at school. My start to the year was good because I got put in the same Wananga Class as my best-friend Daisy and I enjoy my options class. This semester I'm taking esol, music & Business & Enterprise. This year we are in the same wananga class with the year 11's and it is a good mixture because I got meet new students and work together with them.
Note To Self
All feelings are Allowed!
"Just as the ocean waves ebb and flow so too do our emotions come & go!
This term in Social Studies we started off by learning and discovering about Slavery. Slaves is a human being who is the property of another person. When Africans were captured and shipped to the new world they were enslaved for their entire lives their children also were enslaved. By 1600 Europeans had many plantations in the new world, to exploit their new riches they needed workers. In turn they could get slaves in exchange for guns and textiles
LIFE IN THE PLANTATIONS:
Most slaves work as Field hands
The average lifetime of a slave was 25 years
Many slaves lasted only 7 years in the plantation
Field Hands work the hardest working 16 hours a day, six days a week while being supervised by their overseer
Field hands work longer than any other slave clearing land, planting and harvesting below the sun
Their job was to pick cotton.
FAMILY LIFE:
Slaves were forced to live together in small cabins away from their owners house.
Families would live in a one room shack that had no furniture, plumbing, or electricity.
Most houses were simple wooden huts and some had little gardens
After the slave trade was abolish owners encourage family life
Slaves could be separated from their families when they were sold.
Coded Songs
The codes of the first enslaved spirituals are often related with an escape to a free country.
Home = a safe place where everyone can live free (sometimes mean heaven)
Chariot/Train = these were ways in which escaping slaves could get to a free country
Moses = the nickname for Harriet Tubman who helped many slaves escape on the Underground Railroad
Glory = closer to freedom
Darkness = in slavery
Wade in the water = advice to slaves to how to escape being tracked by hounds
Steal away to Jesus = a warning than an escape would be happening soon
Sweet Chariot
Swing low, Swing chariot,
Comin' for to carry me home!
I looked over Jordan and what did I see?
Comin' for to carry me home!
A band of angels comin' for me,
Comin' for to carry me home!
Codes:
Swing low = come down from the north (where there was no slavery)
Sweet chariot = the "Underground Railroad"
Home = freedom
Jordan = The river
Angels = workers on the Underground Railroad
Coming after me = helping me to reach the North
Who is Harriet Tubman and what is the Underground Railroad?
Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist. She was born into slavery and started working at the age of 5 as a house servant. Harriet had escaped slavery and went back to sneak other slaves out of slavery using the Underground railroad. she knew she risked her life to do this. She was known as the moses of her time because she led her people out of slavery into their promise land, Harriet also sang songs that were in code and only other slaves knew what she was saying.
The Underground Railroad is not a real Railroad! The underground railroad helped slaves from South get to freedom in the North. Slaves ran on the Underground Railroad to stay safe while escaping. Sometimes they got help to hide but sometimes they had to hide alone. The station masters made the slaves comfortable whey they were there. They disagreed with slavery. The Station Masters let them sleep and fed them. The railroad workers and conductors led you to the next station. This is how slaves got freedom. Slaves would have to hide somewhere for days or maybe weeks or even months before they could come out of their hiding spot. The slaves would need a signal so they know it was safe to go and they have help. Slaves would face dangers like getting caught and wild animals.
Unwind Blurb: The process by which a child is both terminated and kept alive is called 'unwinding'. Unwinding is now common, and accepted practice in society.
Today in English class we have started our novel study, firstly we are examining the cover and making hypothesis's on what we think the book is about by just looking at the cover. How do you think this story will be written?
I think this story will be written as a drama or fantasy because the color is red and that represents Drama and Action (violence) and the photo of the eye makes it more mysterious.
Why do you think the story is entitles as it is?
I think they named the story "Unwind" because it could be unwinding mystery and secrets within the government and spreading it to the people. I think the world it is based in is a dictatorship and it could be a messed up world where strict laws are made and people are meant to follow and there could be war within the story.
Where do you think the story will take place and when?
I think that the story will take place in the future and set in the countries with war such as Iraq.
This term in Health, we had the opportunity to research about a health subject that interests us. For Ms Aitken's health class I decided to work on Social Media.
What is Social Media?
Social Media refers to interaction among people in which they create, share, and/or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.
"Social" refers to instinctual needs humans have to connect with other humans
"Media" - what we use to make connections with other humans
"Social Media" - Media uses for social interaction
Popular Social Media Tools and Websites
Whatsapps
Twitter
TikTok
Facebook
Instagram
Snapchat
Messenger
Youtube
According to a poll:
- 22% of teenagers long on to their favourite social media site more than 10 times a day.
More than half of adolescents long on to a social media site more than once a day
Sevety-five percent of teenagers now own cell phones.
In health we had to create a learning outcome of our research, I decided to create a documentary, I thought that creating a documentary would be a good idea because I get to involve other students and get their opinions on social media.
This Year in Music we have been trying out and learning how to play a variety of instruments including the Piano/Keyboard, Guitar, and Ukelele. This year I decided to take music as one of my option classes because I love music, and I want to extend my knowledge of music by learning how to play the piano.
In the beginning of term 4, we had to form groups within our class, and create a piece of music performance to perform to the rest of our class. In my group was Chara and I. We decided that I will play the piano while she will sing, our song choice was "All of Me" by John Legends. We picked this song because it wasn't too challenging and it wasn't too easy for us, due to our time frame we decided to only perform the first few verses & intro. For me it was my first time performing in front of a crowd, I was nervous and excited because I knew that this was a good opportunity to get me out of my comfort zone.
To be able to perform a successful performance, we had to cooperate and make sure that each of us are playing a fair part in our performance, I had to make sure that I wasn't playing over Chara while she was singing, therefore Chara had to participate by singing while i'm playing.
This year in Music has been very good, I've really enjoyed music this year, I've learnt how to play a few chords on the guitar and Ukelele and I've also worked with other students in my year level. Below is a video of our music performance! I can't wait for music next year!
