3.1 Mood board (Cityscape/Urban world)

 Mood board

The photo above is a mood board. It is like a student guide of what their artwork would be like and it is for students to get ideas from.

To start off with L3Art Photography, we were to decide on a theme, choose at least an artist from each section (Traditional, Contemporary, Aotearoa) of the matrix given, and collect an example of their work related to our theme. 

The theme I decided to work on was cityscape/urban world and the artists I chose were Walker Evans, William Eggleston, David Hockney, Duane Michals, Larry Sultan, and Ans Westra.

My Very Important Presentation

For NCEA Level One, students who took ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) are required to do the presentation assessment. As I am one of the students who took the subject, I had to do it.

At the start of Term 3, we students were given the overview of the assessment. Before the presentation weeks, we were given the chance to learn and practice on how our presentation should look like. We learned some presentation skills and practiced several times. We did this for four weeks to improve our confidence in speaking in front of a group of people. After the senior assessment week, I decided to present on Friday, the 6th of September.

My presentation was about my best friends. I presented in front of the teacher and some of my classmates, who are also my friends. I chose to present in front of them rather than in front of the whole class because I was too nervous. Even though I practised and memorised my presentation, I still had the nervous feeling inside me. Among all the presentation that I have done, this was the first since I came here, that is why I felt nervous. However, I felt proud of myself knowing that I somehow overcome presenting by myself. Despite my nervousness, I stood in front and presented my best friends and their importance to me. 

The South Island Robin

For my research, I needed to find out some facts or information about the South Island Robin. To organise my research, I made a list of K - What I already know, W - What I want to know, and L - What I have learnt.

What I already know:

• It is a small bird with white patch on its chest.
• It is only found in New Zealand.

What I want to know:

• What they eat
• When they breed
• What they look like
• How small/big they are
• What behaviour they have
• Where they live (particular place)
• What conservation and threats they have

What I have learned: (Information from this websites: NZBirdsOnline and RareSpecies)

What they eat

• They are insectivorous and they eat invertebrates when drought.
• They also eat ripe fruit in summer and autumn.

When they breed

• They start nesting in July, with the last clutches laid in December.
• Only 2-4 eggs are incubated.
• Nestlings leave the nest about 3 weeks old.

What they look like

• Light grey to dark grey with a white patch on its lower chest area. 
• They have long, thin legs.

How small/big they are

• They are 10-18cm in length and they weigh about 35g.

What behaviour they have

• Male robins are territorial year-round, although their aggression towards intruders is subdued during the moult. Pairs remain in their territories most of the time, occasionally sneaking elsewhere to feed, drink or bathe. Males dominate their mates during the non-breeding season, such that pair members are occasionally found apart.
• Robins use a variety of activities to flush hidden or camouflaged prey, such as foot trembling, wing-flicking and tail-flicking. 
• Other activities of South Island robins include anting, sunbathing and pellet casting.

Where they live (particular place)

• They are found in the South Island and Stewart Islands.
• They live in a mature forest, scrub, and exotic plantation.

What conservation and threats they have

• While forest clearance for farmland during the 19th and 20th centuries resulted in loss of habitat for the South Island robin, today the main threat to its conservation is predation by introduced mammalian predators, such as feral cats, stoats, possums and ship rats. Eggs, nestlings and adult females (which carry out all incubation and brooding of young) are frequently taken during the breeding season where predators are not controlled. As a result populations become male biased. Where pest control is carried out, populations increase rapidly, and the sex ratio returns to almost 1:1 within a few years – there are usually a few more males than females.  

My experience of researching the topic 'South Island Robin' became exciting yet challenging at the same time. South Island Robin was an unfamiliar subject or topic for me. I had a vague knowledge about it because I heard it before. What I found the most challenging aspect of my research was the similarity of information that different websites had. I did not know which was the reliable or unreliable website I need to look out for. 

I had 6 questions that can widen my knowledge about researching. 

1. Why do you think some of these websites introduce/recommend other websites that are similar to their topic?
2. Where did they get their information from? Was it their own investigation or they got the original information from other websites?
3. Why do different sites have the same topic but reported it in different ways?
4. Which part of their report or investigation showed contrast?
5. What does some of the websites mean by ‘references’?
6. How are these sites contrasting each other?

Understanding Features of Publishers (C.R.A.S.P)

Understanding Contrast
In its simplest from, contrast means making things different. This could include:

• Using small and large fonts.
• Using colors from opposite sides of the color wheel.
• Having dark colored text on a light colored background and light colored text on a dark colored background.
• Dark and light colors include black and white.

Understanding Repetition

There are two types of repetition:

• The first is repeating the same word a number of time "Sale Sale Sale" uses repetition to get the message across. In this case that there is a sale on.
• The second repetition is the same as consistency. If you choose a particular font/size/color for a heading or body text you should stick to it.

Understanding Alignment

• Alignment is a big word that basically means make sure things line up. None of the examples we have done so far have had any sort of alignment needed.
• Alignment is needed when you have blocks of images or text. It also means not mixing left, right. center and justified alignment when blocks are close to each other. 

A few tricks you can use to help with alignment include:

• Using the arrow keys to move objects around one pixel at a time.
• Increasing or reducing the size of the space between words to help get the size to match.
• Using separate text boxes for each block of text and making use of the alignment options.
• To get more precise font size types in the font size such as 10.5.

Understanding Similarity and Proximity

Similarity when things look similar - but they are not necessary similar at all.

Proximity is another word for close. It just means keeping things that are similar/related close to each other.

• You should not put half of a person's address at the top of a document and the other half at the bottom.

My Trip to Willowbank

On Tuesday 4th of June, we had an education trip. Ms. Briggs' Year 11 ESOL class went to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve.

At 10:50 am, the class walked together from class to the front of the school and got on the bus.

After half an hour, we arrived at Willowbank and got off the bus. Ms. Briggs assigned us to three groups

of eight with another teacher with us. Then, we entered the place. First, our group went to the area of

different kinds of birds. At 11 am, the three groups met in the Kea enclosure to learn about the Kea bird.

When the keeper, Rachel, gave us information about the Kea, we took notes and watched the Keas fly.

I shivered while were inside the Kea enclosure. Next, we had a thirty-minute break. After that break, we

again took a walk and looked at different animals inside the place. We went to the farm area and answered

the booklet that Ms. Briggs had given us. Next, we spent our one-hour spare time around the place.

We communicated with different animals and patted them. We then went home after we took some photos

in front of Willowbank.

The experience I had on this day was amazing. I learned new information and facts about the animals that I

have seen. I am glad that I got to experience this with my friends and the class.

The Kea

The Kea is a strong-flying alpine parrot. They are called 'Kea' because of the sound they make.

Keas have green feathers to camouflage them in trees. They also have 4 toes on each foot which allows them to manipulate objects. Keas’ beaks are long and curved which enable them to eat different types of food. Kea live on a forested and rocky mountain. In summer, they live on top of the mountain and in winter, they go down the mountain. They can be found in the South Island of New Zealand. Keas live for about 5 to 25 years in the wild and about 50 years in captivity. Kea breed from early July to January. The Kea’s nest is mainly below the tree line. Baby keas, stay in the nest for about 12 weeks with their mother, while their father hunts for food. The keas population size is now difficult because of the extensive range, low kea density, and rugged terrain. The conservation status of keas was declared naturally endangered in 2013.

Image from PxHere

Image from Pinterest

Puke on the Page - Recount Writing

"A Time When I Did Something Silly"

I was in a summer vacation when I did something silly. Since it’s summer, me, my cousins
and our families went to Hanmer Springs to cool ourselves.

It was a four hour drive from my cousins house to the location, so the trip turned out to being
boring. When we arrived at the place, we paid an entrance fee so we could go inside. Straight
after that, my younger cousins jumped onto the pool while me and my older cousin went to get
changed. After getting changed, I walked around the area and did a photoshoot with my cousin.
Everyone was enjoying but we had to stop so we could eat our lunch. The prepared lunch by
our parents was very delicious and we ate an ice cream as a dessert. Then one of the silliest
thing I have done, happened. While eating the ice cream, I dared my cousins to continuously
eat the ice cream which means they can’t stop until they finish it. Because of their reactions, I
laughed so hard and hit the table unintentionally so my elbow was in pain.

Three hours later, we changed into our normal clothes and prepared ourselves to go home.
It was a hot and tiring day, however, the time spent with them became a memory as we
enjoyed throughout that day.