Collaborate Constructively

1) The benefits of working with a classmate

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In my experience of working with my classmates from the literature circle, I was definitely benefited in many ways.

Since Korean is my first language, due to the fact that most of my classmates are from America and Canada, I was forced to communicate with them in English Language. The main aim of literature circle is to use English language effectively; working with my classmates enables me to achieve this goal easily. Another benefit which I gain is since I am a timid and petite person, working with my classmates enabled me to speak and establish better relationships and cohesion with my classmates which gave me a chance to get rid of my shyness. I feel more comfortable to speak and learn from my classmates. We share ideas and views openly and exchange opinions without fail. We agree or sometimes disagree with each other’s views but finally we all come to a common conclusion. When I work with my classmates, my teachers agree and feel that there is more effort and improvement in our work with allows us to achieve higher grades. In a group, I am able to explore wider and deeper into a topic and gain more insights about the topic. We share approximately the same skillfulness, creativity and enthusiasm to collaborate as a team. Cooperative learning is great because it allows different brains to concentrate on the same ideas which finally give a quality end product. Team work also helps narrow down jobs to be done easily and to create a better division of duties.

A personal factor affects me is while experiencing several group situation is the ability to carry myself even better and to be more focus with my work. I was keen to contribute and give my best. Collaborating with my classmates gave me an opportunity to gain better understanding of the subject and to think creatively too. I enjoyed working with my classmates.

2) Challenges / obstacles which you overcame (tried to overcome) 

The challenges which I had to overcome are first of all, my shyness and fear. I had to get rid of my fear factor and learn how to work in a group which was quite difficult for me at first but later I managed to overcome it because my classmates gave me the moral supports.

Another big challenge for me was my language ability, coming from Korean background I had to struggle to keep up pace with my classmates who are native speakers but on the other with strong determination and encouragement I was able to break that barrier too. Apart from these, I also had to cope with those with more experiences and international exposure. Most of my classmates came from American Curriculum who already had a feel of the subjects and they knew exactly how the subjects or topics are discussed and evaluated by the teachers. Age is also another factor, I am the oldest in the class but coming from different cultural background prevented me from asking a lot of questions. Group work is in fact never a common habit in Korea so for me doing working with a group made me feel uneasy at first but now I am used to it.

Last but not least, I realize that I am an independent, private person so working in a group and taking instructions from a leader was a chore for me. I found it tedious initially but now I have learnt that teamwork produces excellent learning outcomes.

3) New understandings that you gained about the novel

I understand even further on how the children with their pet started made their way to the mountain although they had to face many barriers like the bitter winter, lack of food and love from their mother. The weather turened so bad that the cildren had to bild snow house to protect themselves. They were also surrounded by many mountain spirits and wild animals waiting to hunt them.

I understand that at one point in time, the children became home sick and wanted to be near their mother. However, they had a mission to complete and they wanted to achieve their best in their trip. Rivo also proved to be a good pet who accompanied them in their endless dangerous trip. The novel is so interesting that I am keen to read on further to find out more about the ending of the story.

I also realized that the Maroo was a confident and determined person who was also able to control Otak. Otak on the other hand was still young but he too proved that he was not a timid child anymore. Both worked as a team well. Both the children were also very careful with their food supplies. They tried not to waste their food and eat only when their stomachs were really groaning in hunger.

Literature Circle Reflection

       

           Group discussions have been helping me in a numbers of ways. First of all, I am able to stimulate my thinking capabilities in an innovative way. I expand my knowledge on the novel by listening to feedback and giving my opinions among my peers. Secondly, I learned to identify my weakness and strengths and contribute better by sharing my ideas. Group working made me realize that I have excellent leadership skills to lead a team which helped me to think deeper and improve my creativity more. Discussing among peers widen my language skills even further. I learned how to adapt and move with a group despite the fact that all my group members come from different countries with different characters and attitudes. I instantly built a good rapport with them which was so helpful for me to complete my assignment on time.

 

            We try to predict what will happen to the next chapter. Each one of us, come with different ideas, we then compile the ideas and rank them accordingly.

 

            We share our thoughts, feelings, and ideas relating this story. Most of us put ourselves in the author shoes and view the story in a different angle. It is because we come from different academic backgrounds most of the time, our answers differ and we hear interesting opinions for most of us to benefit.

 

            We picked important, interesting passages and expand on it even further in a group discussion. Interesting passages again differ from each other because some may use a simpler text and some may chose a more complex text. But the key point here is we were able to share and gain knowledge about the novel by deep discussion showing specific reasons why my peers chose that passage. At this point open questions such as “How, When. What, Whose, Where" were asked among peers and good answers are discussed openly.

 

            These are important to the plot in various ways. We learned that by viewing and answering many different questions we were able to get a deeper knowledge of the plot. Sometimes, peers can also illustrations on regard to the plot. In a discussion of a plot, my peers and I are able to outline the story goal. The combination of goal and consequence creates the main dramatic tension in the plot which makes the plot meaningful. Next, my peers and I have our requirements and responsibilities to achieve our goals by doing a checklist which is related to the plot.

 

            I grew to be creative with my ideas. I worked constructively with many key points in order to achieve my aim. I created an image which my peers appreciated and included me in all their active discussion. I was a keen participant and willing to share my ideas very openly. The discussions have given me an insight to better understand the passages and view them from many different scenes. Moreover, I learned how to work as a team which enabled me to move towards in becoming a more extrovert person in ISKL.

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SYMMETRY IN KL

(My mom's car)

There are lots of symmetries in KL.

For example, a tyre, as you can see.

 Circle has an infinity amount of lines of symmetry

which means you can fold the a circle in half
 an infinity amount of times.