I have written various stories this year, stories on the Fine Arts Festival, Security at Las, Save the world, Ban the Bottle and Exams. Writing different stories and interviewing different people gave me a good understanding of how to interview people and I got to experience how actual interviews are done. Since I had been interviewing people from the beginning of the year, by this time I feel like a Journalist myself.
I'm most proud of the story, “Ban the bottle and Save the world” because that article was very interesting and it gave the students a good idea of what the school is planning to do. This article was about banning plastic bottles so that students not only reduce the usage of plastic bottles but to totally get rid of them. I think the readers enjoyed this piece the most and we got a positive feedback from the students and the teachers.
The most challenging aspect of this course were the interviews, rough drafts, outlines and the final piece because we had to be accurate with our information. The part which I liked the most about writing articles was that you couldn’t write something on your own, we had to quote exactly what the person had said. Apart from that I think I still need to improve in alot of other things as they say "practice makes perfect". I should be focusing more on structuring the newspaper and the organization of the stories.
I could have interviewed the people differently and I should have taken a lot more quotes from different people to support my article. Along with that I should have elaborated more and could have improved my pieces by giving them a closer look and reviewing the articles before its final submission.
The most significant things that I learned this year were the way to write a proper article and how to interview the people and what questions to ask and what not to. Every article which we had to write needed a few interviews from different people. These interviews gave me a good idea of what the people really think about the specific topic, the public insight. As I believe that public insight is one of the most significant things.
At first I didnt know anything about Journalism but had always heard that Journalists are the most informative people. I thought writing articles was an easy job but it really isn't, one has to put alot of effort in order to create an outstanding piece. From my experiences in Journalism I have learned alot this year by taking Journalism as one of my classes and it truly enhanced my knowledge about the different aspects of Journalism. In future I would like to have Journalism as one of my options and I believe that Journalism would be one of the most interesting fields to pursue your career in. Beyond all of that I believe that this years Journalism class has motivated me to become a Journalist and I think it's a tremendous idea to look into something productive and informative like this. Journalists have nothing to lose but to gain alot from the world around them.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
12 Grade English:
1. Of all of the books that we have read and studied this year, which has been your favorite and why?*
This year we read seven books and I liked Hamlet and the Kite Runner the most. Both of theses novels were very interesting and we could actually relate to the Kite Runner, Hassan and Amir grew up and the problems Hassan had to face because of Amir as he wasn't rich.
*N.B. We have read: Hamlet, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Persepolis, Moth Smoke, The Kite Runner, The Metamorphosis and Angela’s Ashes.
2. Of all of the books that we have read and studied this year, which has been your least favorite and why?
Of all the books that we have read this year, Metamorphosis has been my least favourite because that was one novel which was very confusing. Even after reading it twice I couldnt understand it well enough.
3. As a reader, what have you learned from Grade 12 English this year? What do you still need to work on?
As a reader, I have been reading these books with interest and I even make notes as I read, that makes it easier to understand the book. I have to work on the annotation at strong as its not that strong. I believe the best way to understand a book is to make notes for it.
4. As a writer, what have you learned from Grade 12 English this year? What do you still need to work on?
I have learned how to annotate properly and compared to last year my essay writing has been improved as I can write my essays in a shoter period of time. I need to work on improving my vocabulary. I have made my own blog and various other accounts for example on twitter, blogger and etc.
5. As a student, what have you learned from Grade 12 English this year? What do you still need to work on? (Here, you can think about such things as academic discipline, participation in class, working together as part of a group, making presentations, etc.)
As a student I have learned alot this year in English 12. I have learned about academic discipline, I have been participating in class way more than before. Apart from that working together and interacting with other students in the class has made my learning experience more effective. We even did presentations, which made me more confident than before now when I present I feel very comfortable.
6. Technology has been a major part of Grade 12 English this year. How do you think that your computer skills have grown and developed as a result? What would you still like to learn more about?
Yes, certainly technology has been a big part of our class this year, all of our work has been done on the computers. This was a very different experience as we had never used computers continously in any of our other classes. I have become a fast in typing and It has enhanced my knowledge about different websites and how to operate them and make my own accounts.
7. How do you plan to prepare for the final exam?
For my final exam I will read all of the novels again and will make notes which would help me to get a good understanding of the books basically it will be a review as we have already read these novels. I will compare these books with eachother which would give a better understanding of what overall these novels are about.
8. What lessons from Grade 12 English will you carry forward into the next stage of your academic journey?
A few lessons from Grade 12 English which I would carry are not to use google for writing any research papers as it dosent always give the accurate information. Another thing is that I would keep my laptop with me all the time, its very convienient to work on your own laptop.
This year we read seven books and I liked Hamlet and the Kite Runner the most. Both of theses novels were very interesting and we could actually relate to the Kite Runner, Hassan and Amir grew up and the problems Hassan had to face because of Amir as he wasn't rich.
*N.B. We have read: Hamlet, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Persepolis, Moth Smoke, The Kite Runner, The Metamorphosis and Angela’s Ashes.
2. Of all of the books that we have read and studied this year, which has been your least favorite and why?
Of all the books that we have read this year, Metamorphosis has been my least favourite because that was one novel which was very confusing. Even after reading it twice I couldnt understand it well enough.
3. As a reader, what have you learned from Grade 12 English this year? What do you still need to work on?
As a reader, I have been reading these books with interest and I even make notes as I read, that makes it easier to understand the book. I have to work on the annotation at strong as its not that strong. I believe the best way to understand a book is to make notes for it.
4. As a writer, what have you learned from Grade 12 English this year? What do you still need to work on?
I have learned how to annotate properly and compared to last year my essay writing has been improved as I can write my essays in a shoter period of time. I need to work on improving my vocabulary. I have made my own blog and various other accounts for example on twitter, blogger and etc.
5. As a student, what have you learned from Grade 12 English this year? What do you still need to work on? (Here, you can think about such things as academic discipline, participation in class, working together as part of a group, making presentations, etc.)
As a student I have learned alot this year in English 12. I have learned about academic discipline, I have been participating in class way more than before. Apart from that working together and interacting with other students in the class has made my learning experience more effective. We even did presentations, which made me more confident than before now when I present I feel very comfortable.
6. Technology has been a major part of Grade 12 English this year. How do you think that your computer skills have grown and developed as a result? What would you still like to learn more about?
Yes, certainly technology has been a big part of our class this year, all of our work has been done on the computers. This was a very different experience as we had never used computers continously in any of our other classes. I have become a fast in typing and It has enhanced my knowledge about different websites and how to operate them and make my own accounts.
7. How do you plan to prepare for the final exam?
For my final exam I will read all of the novels again and will make notes which would help me to get a good understanding of the books basically it will be a review as we have already read these novels. I will compare these books with eachother which would give a better understanding of what overall these novels are about.
8. What lessons from Grade 12 English will you carry forward into the next stage of your academic journey?
A few lessons from Grade 12 English which I would carry are not to use google for writing any research papers as it dosent always give the accurate information. Another thing is that I would keep my laptop with me all the time, its very convienient to work on your own laptop.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Angela's Ashes: Movie vs Book
The scenes which were left out were the details of how Malachy Senior and Angela meet in New York, whereas the movie just starts straight from the scene in which their son, Margaret is born. There are no details given in the movie of how Malachy was born but in the book there were. The other part which was left out in the book was when the baby is dieing of cold, Angela takes Frankie and Malachy Junior to pick up coals from the road. In the movie they also show that when the baby Eugene dies, Malachy Senior is drinking away and puts his drink on his coffin. They show that this act disappoints Frankie and he shouts at his father. Angela’s mother is much nicer in the movie then she is in the book. In the movie they also left out Angela’s birth.
There were a few scenes which were changed from the book. In the book Frankie gets caught while watching movies at the cinema, whereas in the movie they show that he doesn’t get caught. Malachy's drinking problems are not detailed in the movie as much as they are in the book. There were changes in the movie as they show that Frankie has his first pint and he comes home drunk singing songs just like his father.
The casting is very effective because the family looks as if they are facing troubles and show that they are living a miserable life. The casting has represented the characters very well. The moments of depression Angela faces in the book, has been acted out quite well.
The setting is one of the most significant aspects in a movie. It shows how their life is and gives a clear idea of their living conditions. It shows how their condition changes after every event that takes place in their lives. It even shows how the setting itself is a problem for the family and how they try to overcome their problems but their situation just gets worse by the day. Overall the movie is put together in an interesting way, it delivers the main idea, the real thought behind the book.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Luke Martin's visit to LAS
A few days back Luke Martin visited the LAS journalism class. He is Journalist and also seemed interested in photography and various other elements related to Journalism. He visited our class and enhanced our knowledge about Journalism and his experiences which he had during his career. From interviewing other people to taking pictures. He not only discussed about his own experiences and hardships which he had to face but he even gave us chance to ask him questions and get a good understanding of it.
He told the class that in the present moment he is living in Washington D.C. It showed that he had interest in travelling and exploring various places but mostly related to areas on which he could write his articles on. His main idea which I thought was one of the significant elements of writing an article were to get the readers attention. He also mentioned that if your writing doesn't get the readers attention in the first few lines your articles would be boring and wont be read. Another interesting thing was that he took pictures for his articles himself and then chose which ones would be suitable for the article.
He went through a few of his pieces in class and discussed how and why he wrote them. We even asked him questions related to these pieces. One of his piece which I found interesting was "Chrissy Murderbot can pronounce “Eyjafjallajökul", it was a very interesting piece and had a unique title. The title itself would get the readers attention within seconds. Luke Martin is a talented young man who has achieved quite alot in a short period of time and at such a young age. Looking at him alot of us would want to become a Journalist.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Look around you, there are people who need you..
"I believe that a society cannot be truly successful with a mentality that every individual should only worry about themselves and in the end things will work out for the best. Community service is about building a stronger community whether on campus, in your neighborhood, city, state, or any other type of community. "
--Regis Murayi ‘10
Monday, the 17th of January is "Martin Luther King Day", on this day people do Community Service and we were told to do some sort of service which would benefit the people around us. As Community Service is essential in our lives i believe that there are people around us who need us and even if they don't we need to take a step in order to make tomorrow better for them. In this country the poor people are not educated due to lack of funds, so i thought maybe i could be the one who could bring a change in their lives. It certainly was not on a larger scale but i feel good after accomplishing what i aimed for. My aim was to teach my servants how to read and write in English and Urdu, so i gave them one hour everyday for five days. During these days my servants discussed how their children are not getting education. They asked me if i could pay for their children's school fee, so they could get some sort of education. This was the best time to help them as it was my birthday and i had enough money to pay for their fees although i could have asked my parents but i thought to do this on my own. I went to a school named "Iqra Foundation", which is located near Garden Town and asked for their fee structure and how the school was like. The fee wasn't that much they took only two thousand rupees per month and the school went on for approximately five months, i thought it was a good idea and was reasonable enough. That day when I got home, I provided my servants the details about that school and i payed them well enough so that their children could get education easily without having any burden on them as this is the main problem why these people don't educate their children, lack of funds. As location matters, i thought it was convinient for my servants to send their children to this school since it was near their house. This act of service must have changed their lives in a good way and i could see the happiness on their faces as i handed them over the money. It's not always about us, look around yourselves theres so much we can do it's just the effort which is required.
--Regis Murayi ‘10
Monday, the 17th of January is "Martin Luther King Day", on this day people do Community Service and we were told to do some sort of service which would benefit the people around us. As Community Service is essential in our lives i believe that there are people around us who need us and even if they don't we need to take a step in order to make tomorrow better for them. In this country the poor people are not educated due to lack of funds, so i thought maybe i could be the one who could bring a change in their lives. It certainly was not on a larger scale but i feel good after accomplishing what i aimed for. My aim was to teach my servants how to read and write in English and Urdu, so i gave them one hour everyday for five days. During these days my servants discussed how their children are not getting education. They asked me if i could pay for their children's school fee, so they could get some sort of education. This was the best time to help them as it was my birthday and i had enough money to pay for their fees although i could have asked my parents but i thought to do this on my own. I went to a school named "Iqra Foundation", which is located near Garden Town and asked for their fee structure and how the school was like. The fee wasn't that much they took only two thousand rupees per month and the school went on for approximately five months, i thought it was a good idea and was reasonable enough. That day when I got home, I provided my servants the details about that school and i payed them well enough so that their children could get education easily without having any burden on them as this is the main problem why these people don't educate their children, lack of funds. As location matters, i thought it was convinient for my servants to send their children to this school since it was near their house. This act of service must have changed their lives in a good way and i could see the happiness on their faces as i handed them over the money. It's not always about us, look around yourselves theres so much we can do it's just the effort which is required.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Extra Credit
Highschool speech competition:
Grade: 9
2)Fatima Z: 3rd culture children
3) Qasim Sheikh: Poor people
1st)Nareman Malik: Rich to poor
| Content | |
| Quality of ideas – depth; originality; reasoning | 9/10 |
| Presentation of ideas – clarity; organization; attention device; thesis; appropriate finish; time limit | 9/10 |
| Quality of English – vividness; variety; grammar | 9/10 |
| Delivery | |
| Voice – volume; pace; tone; enunciation; confidence | 8/10 |
| Physical – poise; eye contact; gestures | 8/10 |
| Total: 50 marks | 43/50 |
I n 9th grade Nareman Malik deserved the first place because I think her information was interesting. I liked the way she compared Shamir and the poor guy. Though her eye contact needs work, her style of reading was much more clear than the other two. My reason to give her first place was her over all accent and articulation.
Grade: 10
3) Zohat Pervez: 2012
2) Rafay Saigol: Hunting is not a crime
1) Danyal Saeed: Religion: Quran burning
| Content | |
| Quality of ideas – depth; originality; reasoning | 10/10 |
| Presentation of ideas – clarity; organization; attention device; thesis; appropriate finish; time limit | 9/10 |
| Quality of English – vividness; variety; grammar | 8/10 |
| Delivery | |
| Voice – volume; pace; tone; enunciation; confidence | 9/10 |
| Physical – poise; eye contact; gestures | 10/10 |
| Total: 50 marks | 46/50 |
In 10th grade Danyal Saeed deserved the first place because the way he delivered his speech it was excellent he sounded prepared and he didn’t get nervous at all his information was attention-grabbing that a few people who were talking during speeches even they were focusing on his speech and were listening to his speech attentively.
Grade: 11
1) Mustafa tariq: Chicken & egg
3) Zahra sadiq : Knowledge is power
2) Eisa piracha/Hamza Alam: Tribute
| Content | |
| Quality of ideas – depth; originality; reasoning | 10/10 |
| Presentation of ideas – clarity; organization; attention device; thesis; appropriate finish; time limit | 9/10 |
| Quality of English – vividness; variety; grammar | 9/10 |
| Delivery | |
| Voice – volume; pace; tone; enunciation; confidence | 9/10 |
| Physical – poise; eye contact; gestures | 10/10 |
| Total: 50 marks | 47/50 |
In 11th grade Mustafa Tariq deserved the first place because his topic and the speech itself was very motivating it actually got me thinking it was a knowledge enhancing speech, a speech which will leave you with such an impression which would stay with you for a long time. He sounded convincible and he knew what he really wanted out of the audience, he knew how good he was while delivering it his confidence showed it all.
Grade: 12
1)Shayan Sadiq: Effects of love
2)Saif Lone: Space colinzation
3)Amina Khalid : arsenic in drinking water
| Content | |
| Quality of ideas – depth; originality; reasoning | 10/10 |
| Presentation of ideas – clarity; organization; attention device; thesis; appropriate finish; time limit | 9/10 |
| Quality of English – vividness; variety; grammar | 9/10 |
| Delivery | |
| Voice – volume; pace; tone; enunciation; confidence | 9/10 |
| Physical – poise; eye contact; gestures | 8/10 |
| Total: 50 marks | 45/50 |
In 12th grade Shayan Sadiq deserved the first place because his topic reflected most of us in a way. He was speaking clearly at the same time he was confident. His speech made the audience laugh, it was definitely very humorous. I loved the way he caught peoples attention by saying “Your love is my drug”.
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
In regards to my speech, I felt that my speech could have been much better. I felt the length of my speech was very short, but my topic was such, that couldn’t write a really long speech. The audience was already against what I was preaching (I mean wouldn’t they want to party all night ;)). Even though I looked confident, I thought i was a little nervous in regards to my volume. I feel that I knew my speech, but I need to work on my articulation. I almost stuttered in the middle.
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