Athletic Improvements and Progression

Since the start of the year in PE, we have mainly been focussed on the upcoming Athletics Day and its events. Those events are long jump, high jump, discus, shot put, and the sprints, as well as javelin and triple jump for those who chose to compete in the competition area.
The options I chose for competitive were long jump, high jump, triple jump, discus and the 200-metre sprinting event. I chose my events because I feel I excel in those particular ones compared to the others and that I have improved over the past few weeks I have had to learn new techniques.
Since the beginning of the year, I have learnt a new technique for discus and been over a new technique for high jump which I vaguely already knew.
The discus technique was that you stand with your back to the throwing circle before spinning with my right foot around 200 degrees and stepping towards the front of the circle with my left and throwing the discus. When it comes to new techniques with the discus I have also learnt to keep my pointer finger at the very top of the discus, facing '12 o'clock'. The high jump technique was the Frosby Flop, where instead of jumping over the bar using the usual scissor kick, you simply jump over the bar with your dominant foot and attempt to land on your back instead of your feet.
I have been able to enjoy doing all of the activities with my friends in my class and the other we do PE with. It was nice to be able to have the calmer periods of PE rather than 15 laps of the gym at the
beginning of the lesson like we had last year.

Animaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaals View Pointing

We have continued on with the animal's theme and have moved onto animal view pointing, which is basically looking at how the animals we have 'studied', move.

So far we have been playing with a rabbit, a dog and a turtle, as well as a guinea pig and a second dog. The rabbit was a special rabbit that had been rescued, she had one floppy ear, which I believe was the result of an accident and now she can't use that ear, her name was Lightning. As known, the bunny hopped about. But instead of constantly hopping, Lightning put her front legs in front of her and stretches out before moving the back legs up with them into a more comfortable position.

There was also Mr Mitchell's turtle, Yurtle. He was a little rascal who almost sent me into a panic attack because he decided it would be a good idea to crawl under the deck. It was terrifying and the only other person there was Kaela, who thankfully stopped the turtle and brought it out. The turtle seemed faster than I thought it would be, but it still was quite slow. It had very sharp claws and an even sharper beak.

Chloe and Gizzy

Finally, I got to meet Mrs Beer's dog, Gizzy, a short little fluffy thing who is adorably excitable. I and a few others spent most of the period sitting and playing with the dog who couldn't stop moving. Gizzy has short and fast legs, she could only sit down for a moment or two before running around again. It was hilarious to watch as the dog left from leaning and lying down next to a person to go and bark at Mrs Beer.











The next week we got to meet Jakita's guinea pig, George of Durham, a pedigree, who has to have a certificate to state that he is pedigree bred. He's quick to move and has really sharp claws. When he's scared he tends to hide under things, particularly the towel he was brought with. While I am writing this he has pooped on Jakita and Chloe multiple times, thankfully, it isn't messy. Unfortunately, my phone doesn't want to connect and upload the pictures.

On the same day, we got to meet Kaela's dog, Rosie, a scruffy dog who can't stop moving for a moment. It was a bit of an extravaganza, seeing as the dog came fashionably late and then got dressed in a unicorn onesie. That wasn't the end of it though, Kaela had brought treats so she could get the dog to do tricks, as you do. But, when Kaela wasn't paying attention, Chloe opened the treats, intending to give only one accidentally lent down and the dog started eating from the container.

The Slave Trade Triangle

The slave trade triangle is the cycle of trade made with trading slaves, weaponry, and materials like cotton, tobacco and sugar.
The first passage was the link between Europe and Africa, where the Europeans went down to the slave ports in Africa to trade the weaponry. The weaponry would be traded for slaves the African Kings had captured from their enemy tribes. The weaponry that the African kings would gain from trading their enemies would go towards fighting their enemy tribes.
The middle passage went from Africa to the America's where the Europeans took the bought slaves to trade for materials and money in America. The slaves the Europeans bought would be auctioned off for money, which they then used to buy materials such as tobacco, cotton, and sugar.
The Europeans would then take the bought materials back and sell them off to companies and buyers.
I found the topic interesting because we got to briefly look at Christopher Columbus, who is seen as both a murderer and a hero. I always find the flip side or darker side to a story more interesting than the original story told. That may be why I like Greek Mythology and reading the original stories behind Disney movies.

Creative Writing Reflection

For the past week or so we have been doing tasks to do with creative writing, that being the Haiku, Slam Poetry, Sensory Language, Metaphors and Similies, and Language Features blog posts. I have finally finished all of these and have nothing left to do but my reflection on all of this. As an avid reader and sometimes writer of fiction I really enjoy creative writing and the many different faces of it. 

What did I enjoy the most out of the tasks and why?

My favourite task was the Haiku and Sensory Language post challenges. 
I enjoyed the Haiku challenges because of the way it was set. I quite like writing small poems when I'm in the mood. Getting given a prompt and rules of how to do it just made me even more determined to do it the best I could. I love writing about scenes and describing the picture I have in my mind to others and then hearing how they envision what I write is a really amazing thing to see. The difference between the two scenes an author has painted and how two different people see that place is astounding to see. To think that one person can see one thing one way and someone else can see it another will always be the best thing about reading and writing to me.
I appreciated writing using sensory language because it had rules, someone else may tell you that writing shouldn't have any rules and I would usually agree with that, but being able to write with rules and accomplishing that is astonishing because you have created something entirely new while staying within those rules at the same time. Creative writing is one of my favourite parts of my English classes and being able to create an entire business or restaurant or school for a single paragraph is enthralling to me. Because with every story you create something new, you create somewhere new and create someone the world has never seen before. 
Getting back to the topic and stopping my geeking out, Sensory Language and Haiku were my favourites.

What was my least favourite and why?

My least favourite was either Metaphors and Similies or Langauge Features, they both took me a while because of how slow they were and how boring they could be. Except, of course, writing the metaphors and similes, that was my favourite part of both of them.

Gotta love Uncle Rick

What did I learn

From these tasks, I have learnt about the art of subtle referencing others or things using allusion, like Rick Riordan's reference to John Green that I used in my language features blog I did - 

‘Bacchus scratched his stubbly chin. “Ah … yes. John Green.”

“Jason Grace”’

There was also anaphora, where you use repetition at the beginning or inside of the sentence to express a point -

My love will never go.

My love will never fade.

My love will never dissipate.

My love will never leave me.

Slam Poetry

Continuing on with the abundance of English tasks the next was Slam Poetry, where we had to look at some slam poetry competition winners, pick our favourite and discuss why it was our favourite. The one I chose was by a poet named Mohamed Hassan and is called I am Dangerous.

Lollipops

We have been discussing putting on a children's show for some of the children at the primary school right next door. While being on the topic of animals, we have been told to make a children's show that lasts around twenty minutes for children of the age of 5 - 6 years old. During this we were also given a group name for the entire class, seeing as we only have ten people, and we have been named the lollipops, hence the title. We have also been continuing work on kinesthetic response and using space and have been able to get out and do some improvisation around the school.
In the past few weeks, we have also memorising our text for the term,

'Rumour is a pipe,
blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures,
and of so easy and so plain a stop,
that the blunt monster with uncounted heads,
the still-discordant wavering multitude,
can play upon it'

If the language used didn't make it obvious enough, this is a quote from Shakespeare, to be specific the play, King Henry IV, Part 1. Mrs Clark, our Drama teacher, gave us this text to memorize on the account of whenever we are doing an activity and she yells out 'Text!!', we have to recite the text, no matter what situation we are in.

Heart Attacks

What is a heart attack?

A heart attack is caused by a build-up of cholesterol or fat or other substances in the arteries that feed the heart. After the build-up clears away it leaves a clot, stopping the blood from passing through. This can severely damage the heart. Should the clot block the entirety of the artery the heart becomes starved of oxygen and leads to the cells in the heart muscle dying. This is not the only cause of a heart attack, it can also be caused by, in a rare case, a spasm of the coronary arteries means the coronary arteries tighten and prevent blood from flowing to the heart. Most conditions often don't lead to heart attacks, being temporary and not lasting long. But, in some cases, longer periods and more extreme cases of coronary spasms can lead to a heart attack.

What are the causes of a heart attack?

There are quite a few potential causes for a heart attack, but just because you have or experience one of these causes, it does not ensure you instantly for a heart attack.

• Age, often men over the age of 45 and women over the age of 55 are more at risk of a heart attack than younger people.
• Smoking, tobacco, as well as the secondhand smoke from it, can put you at risk.
• High blood pressure, having high blood pressure can often damage the arteries that feed blood to your heart, putting you at further risk.
• Obesity, cases of obesity often come along with other things such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, high triglyceride levels and other things that can cause a heart attack.
• Diabetes, not producing enough insulin or not responding to the insulin properly can cause your blood sugar levels to rise, increasing the risk of a heart attack.
• Genes, family history of heart attacks can be an obvious giveaway to the genetic transition of a likely heart attack.
• Physical inactivity, people who are known to regularly exercise have a lower blood pressure putting them at less risk than those who don't exercise regularly.
• Stress, some people respond to stress in a way that can induce risk factors for a heart attack.
• Drug usage, those who use stimulation drugs like cocaine or amphetamines are more at risk due to the fact they can trigger the spasm of your coronary arteries.
• A different condition, having other conditions can often put you more risk of a heart attack.
• Alcohol, having alcohol unless in moderation, is likely to put you at risk of a heart attack.

How can you prevent one?

To prevent heart attacks there is both a lot and a little you can do if you are only at risk of a heart attack due to genetics, there is nothing you can do. Let's say someone has a family history of almost no one having heart attacks, but they smoke, are an alcoholic and don't do much physical activity, depending on the severity, they could be at more risk than those only at risk because of genetics.  The only way you can prevent a heart attack is to avoid most of the things named in the list above. That could lead to more damage than any form of genetic transition.

What are the symptoms?

There are quite a few symptoms of a heart attack but they are quite recognizable.

• Pain in the chest, shoulders, jaw, back or stomach, in some cases it is in more places than one
• Shortness of breath
• Sweating
• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Discomfort, tightness, pressure, or squeezing in the chest.
• An irregular heartbeat
• A drop in blood pressure
• Fluid enters the lungs
• Vomiting
• Coughing
• Dizziness
• Face appearing grey
• Restlessness

What kind of treatment is there?

During a heart attack -

In the case that the person having a heart attack ceases breathing, CPR should be started immediately, with the usage of defibrillator if available, but until it is available it is best to start manual chest compressions to either the beat of Staying Alive by the BeeGees or Baby Shark. I have my questions about why they chose Baby Shark of all songs, but I won't complain if it keeps me alive.

After a heart attack -

Most people will have multiple conditions as repercussions of the heart attack. That can make reference to edema, a condition where fluid builds up in the legs and ankles, causing them to swell, congestive heart failure, where your heart will have a much weaker beat, often leaving a person exhausted quickly. There are many repercussions that can affect you after a heart attack, but most of these can be treated to at least improve the condition of the said person.

Maths, maths and more maths, I guess

Today in math, we were given something very simple to do. The problem started off like this.

Sonny gets given twice as much as Sam.
Sylvia gets triple what Sam gets.




The kids receive a certain amount of candy each per day. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Sylvia gets eighteen pieces of candy. How many candies should Sonny get for five days?
Because of the information we got about Sylvia, we can say, if she gets eighteen in two days, then it must nine for one day. From there we figured out that Sam gets three pieces per day and Sonny gets six. Using simple multiplication, that being six times five, we figured out that Sonny will get thirty pieces in five days.
There was also a second part. If Sam wants to get thirty-nine pieces by Saturday, how many more pieces would he have to get? So, from here we went he would get fifteen for the first five days of the week and need another twenty-four to get thirty-nine pieces by Saturday.

Phillip and his Phalanges

This is Phillip. Nadia, Molly and I drew Phillip during Science, where we have been researching medical science. In this picture, you will be able to see the bones we drew, using me as the base for tracing. You can also see there a few muscles coloured in there because Nadia and Molly weren't told till the last period that we needed to add muscles and I wasn't there to help. Thank you, Molly, for the photo, and also for gracing Phillip with his amazing hat, thank you, Nadia, for creating Phillip's phalanges, they have to be one of the most important parts about him, thank you. 

Sensory Language

For English, we have had to do a small task on sensory language. Sensory language is language that connects to the five senses to create an image or description for your reader. We were also given another obstacle, we were not allowed to use words like tasted, smelled, felt, saw or heard or anything like that.

The aroma wafted around me as soon as I pushed the cold metal of the door open. The warmth of the ovens enveloped and enclosed me into a world of my own. The taste of fresh bread's and cakes had already reached my lips and the constant chatter of the bakers calmed me. The cakes were decorated with colours that you could never see on the street, the ocean of cerulean hit the sandy frosting of the beach that laid upon the fluffy sponge of the cake.

Haiku

Haiku are short poems originating in Japan, they are comprised of three lines and a pattern of syllables. The first line comprised of five syllables, the next of seven and the last line made up of five. I have had to do four Haiku about the seasons without calling them as such, like saying summer in the Haiku about summer would not be allowed. I have done one about each season using Piktochart and done an individual picture/poster for each one.

Metaphors and Similies

Metaphor

/mɛtəfə/

A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn’t literally true, but helps explain an idea or make a comparison. - Grammarly

An expression, often found in literature, that describes a person or object by referring to something that is considered to have similar characteristics to that person or object. - Cambridge Dictionary

A metaphor is an imaginative way of describing something by referring to something else which is the same in a particular way. For example, if you want to say that someone is very shy and frightened of things, you might say that they are a mouse. - Collins Dictionary

A word or phrase that means one thing and is used for referring to another thing in order to emphasize their similar qualities. - Macmillan Dictionary

No matter how many different descriptions or definitions this word may have it will stay the same. The word metaphor, in my definition, means to describe yourself or someone else by saying they are something thing else. Similies are similar to metaphors but instead of saying you are something else, similies refer to that someone being like something else

Metaphors Examples

She danced, the grass under her feet was her stage and the flowers that laid at her feet watched and waved with anticipation. The girl's arms were leaves that flew in the wind, her legs wound around her audience of flowers and trees, her song harmonised with the animals that chittered and tweeted into the wind. She was the wind that she breathed, she was the nature she danced with.

The blood trickled and fell mixing with the rain that trickled onto her face. He felt his heart drop and his own tears with them. They had danced across the winds together, they had leapt through the clouds and littered rain across the world. 

Similies

ˈ/sɪmɪli/

A simile is a phrase that uses a comparison to describe. - Grammarly

An expression comparing one thing with another, always including the words "as" or "like". - Cambridge Dictionary

A simile is an expression which describes a person or thing as being similar to someone or something else. - Collins Dictionary

A phrase that describes something by comparing it to something else using the word ‘like’ or ‘as’. - Macmillan Dictionary

A simile is used to describe something using comparisons such as 'like' or 'as' instead of directly calling something something else like in the case of a metaphor.

Similies Examples

She is like the moon, you could stare for hours and get lost in every detail, in every rigid edge she has, every perfect scar in her skin, everything she is perfect like the forest of words she grows with every sentence she speaks, every mumbled word she mutters. She's as bright as the sun, yet as silently beautiful as the stars that shine in the night.

Like an open book, it was a perfectly readable situation, except Georgey couldn't read words, much less read a room. Tristan could've torn a room up in anger or cried a river and Georgey could've simply asked if he was okay. Georgey was as dumb as a rock.

Human Rights

Here I have a poster I made myself with the abbreviations of all thirty of the human rights from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Some of the rights have been combined with others to make way for some of the others. Before starting on this project I did not know much about human rights, I knew of their existence and what they meant, but I did not know how many there were or what they exactly were. I found it quite interesting to know that these are not law and not every place.

In Drama 2019 we have been working on using our bodies to tell the story instead of words. In the first scene, we were doing an exercise to learn about tempo and lanes, meaning moving with the others and responding to their actions with our own while keeping the tempo (or pace) that is set. In the next scene, we began work on a kinesthetic response, meaning we responded to everyone else's actions with actions of our own while having to keep with the given tempo. In the scene, we also worked on building a story without having to communicate and speak to tell it, basically, we were all a bunch of mimes. We also worked on using the stage and it's different levels and area's to enhance the story and help it progress. The third scene is self-explanatory.

Language Features

For English, I have had to do a short little thing on language features, in the shown slideshow I have down little bits of information on anaphora, personification and allusion.

Soundtrack of my Life

For English, we have had to do a presentation on songs that hold places in our hearts, whether it's because they have stupidly hilarious memories with them or they make us almost cry or we simply enjoy them. Most of mine, fortunately, come with good memories and while I do not listen to them as much as I used to or maybe not even at all, they still remind me of good times.

Fixed Mindsets and Growth Mindsets

For English, we had to do a task on fixed and growth mindsets and from a video lecture, point out three pieces of information we learnt and create a Piktochart showing these. From that video, I created three separate points. The first discussing that fear is often a form of construction that helps build a fixed mindset in people. The second talked of how attitude has a lot to do with whether you have a fixed or growth mindset, especially in younger children. The final point mentions how praising progress and process in a child work over them themselves can construct a growth mindset.

Arthritis

Arthritis, also known as joint inflammation, is a condition where bones that are a component of joints wear away the cartilage in between themselves and begin to rub against each other, wearing the bones. The result of this can be developments such as swelling, pain and stiffness in the joint itself. Although, these are just more basic forms of the symptoms and there are many others that come and go with the different forms of the disease. Over long times arthritis of all forms will begin to make daily tasks a struggle, with arthritis in the knees it will become difficult to perform tasks like climbing stairs and walking on upward or downward slopes. If you have arthritis in your elbow you may find it difficult to bend your arm and hold items.

newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org

There are over one hundred different forms of arthritis, but the two most common forms are osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis, which call also be known as 'wear-and-tear' arthritis, is the most well-known form of arthritis. It begins with the bones in the joint wearing away at the joint itself, whether it be through over-exercise, an injury, or obesity, pressure is put against the ends of the bones and wears away at the cartilage. After the cartilage has been worn away the bones rub up against each other, without the cartilage there to stop them from doing so, the bones press and chip away at each other, leaving shards of bone inside the arm itself. Rheumatoid arthritis, while similar to osteoarthritis, is in itself, something almost completely different when it comes to how it happens. The origin of the disease comes from when, for an unknown reason, the immune system, which usually would protect us from viruses and bacteria, instead attacks the joints. Due to this the tissue that lines the joints, known as the synovium, tends to thicken, resulting in swelling. If this goes unchecked and is ignored, the cartilage, like in osteoarthritis, breaks away and the bones soon chip away at each other, often resulting in weaker and unstable joints, in rarer cases joint deformity and many other unfortunate circumstances.

theconversation.com

There are many different things that contribute to the development of any form of arthritis, however, there are a few main factors that add to the risk of getting arthritis.
Genetics, the disease, in all forms, has been noticed to transition through genetic or family bloodlines. Injuries, if left unacknowledged, joint injuries, even if they appear to be alright and treated properly, can soon develop arthritis if the joint is repeatedly injured and constantly has weight on it.
Weight, if the skeleton endures an unhealthy amount of weight on the joints it can press the bones in the joints closer together, letting the cartilage wear away even quicker than the anticipated rate for more common forms of arthritis.
Age, it has been identified with arthritis that people over 65 have an around fifty percent chance to develop the disease in their joints if they haven't experienced it or are experiencing it already.
Repetitive actions, such as lifting boxes from one place to another, applies constant strain onto the joints in use, especially if it is for an extended period and then the person proceeds to lay down and not exercise the joints or use them.

A case of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
gettyimages.fi

Gender, arthritis has been found to be common in women than men, although there is no scientific diagnosis as to why this happens.
There are many myths surrounding arthritis and how you can get it, especially one of the more common ones like 'If you crack your knuckles, you will get arthritis', this is in fact, false. My science teacher told me so so you can bring it up with him. But, there are many other myths surrounding arthritis and how it can affect your body. There are other myths than the ones I will bring up here, if you wish to look over the others they will be from the sources I will have.

1. Only older people get arthritis, this is incorrect. There are over 300,000 cases of infants, children, and teenagers, having the disease in its different forms in their earlier stages of life.
2. All pain in the joints is arthritis, this is incorrect. There are other conditions such as tendonitis and even in some cases, it can be simple as soft tissue damage that can appear to be arthritis at first.
3. Taking it easy is the best thing for arthritis, this is incorrect. Regular exercise without overuse of the joint can be helpful to treat the joint, it is not a cure though.
4. There is nothing you can do about arthritis, this is incorrect. While there is not an absolute cure for arthritis, regular exercise, reducing weight, having both time to relax and time to be active, sleeping well and having a healthier diet can assist, but not provide any medical cure, with arthritis.
5. Applying heat to the joint is better than applying ice, this is incorrect. Both elements can help with the pain of arthritis in different situations, heat can be better for joints in the mornings while icing the pain can be more helpful before going to sleep. Both assist in dealing with the pain though.

Sources - 

arthritis.org

southerncross.co.nz

healthline.com

blog.arthritis.org

health.clevelandclinic.org