Sample Essay

Please do not use this as your essay.  I have included this as a reference point to get you started.  I will know my own work and you will obviously get zero if you use it!

Star Trek

Science Fiction writing through the ages has been a struggle for survival.  Wether it is a virus about to wipe out the earth’s population or  a super powered man stopping a robbery, all Science Fiction is a battle between good and evil.  The director of the film Star Trek from 2009, J.J Abrams, has shown the binary opposition through good and evil quite clearly by manipulating how the characters look and speak.  The writers, Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, on the other hand have produced a story involving the technologically advanced Romulans hell bent on revenge and incredibly cunning Federation who will sacrifice themselves to save the universe. 

The writers also have created heroes of different varieties.  While their ideologies are the same, the way they achieve their goals are often very different.  James Kirk is the main hero of the story and he could be classed as the anti-hero.  A man who is willing to break the rules to bring justice, peace and safety.

Gradient and Finding the Equation of a Line

Linked below are the presentations that were used in the last two lessons.  For those students who were away or were catching up on exams, please go through these presentations and see me if there are further issues.  I am more than happy to set aside time to get you back with the rest of the class.

• Gradient
• Finding the Equation of a Line

 

Binary Oppositions

At this stage we have watched the majority of the film that we are studying (Star Trek).  I recommend that you find a way to watch this film either at home or organise a time to see me at lunch time to watch the movie.  You can easily watch the entire film in three lunch times.  I will be conducting these sessions and be personally inviting people who have missed lessons to come and watch the film.

A link to the work that we have done today can be found here.

Please see me if you are having problems with anything in this lesson or in a future lesson.

Important Concepts

Binary Oppositions

Dichotomy

Year 10 – Game On!

Its that time of year where you are seeing the Summer with a massive smile on your face.  However, this is the time where most students will start to stress because they haven’t completed ECDL.  Firstly, lets remember the most important reason why we are doing ECDL.

Its a GCSE Equivalent Qualification.  This is the same as getting a B at GCSE IT.  How many B’s are you getting?  More importantly, how good would it be if you walk into year 11 knowing that before you even take all your other GCSE’s, you already have a B in one subject!

I will be hunting you down if you do not finish this.  I will be calling your parents telling them the importance of this qualification.  I will be seeing you repeatedly until you come to my after school sessions to complete this.

Please see me with the modules that you need to complete.  This does not apply to my year 10 class that have a lesson on Tuesday, period 5.  They have OCR coursework that will need to be completed and I will be seeing you about this also!  Please check the year 10 page for details about the OCR coursework and your dropbox folders for a list of tasks that need fixing up.

If you wish you can get your friends together and do a group session.  I am more than happy to see any student or group of students after school on any day.

There are no excuses, everyone will be finishing their course.

Booking Exams/Getting Extra Help

With the end of the year approaching a lot of students are looking for additional help. Whether this is to complete exams or generally catch up on work, students are spending time outside of class completing whatever they need to

To help with this you can view my calendar from the link on the right. It will bring up another page that will show my calendar. To make a booking with me you should email me with a date and time that suits you. I will email you back telling you if I can make it or not. I will also give you the room you can meet me at. This will generally be 116 unless I email you otherwise.

Feel free to just view the calendar, you might find a session which you would like to join.

Year 8’s on WordPress

All of my year 8 students over the past few lessons have been making WordPress sites of their own. Place your cursor on the Year 8 link at the top and select a class to view their pages.

I particularly like Dylan Lee‘s site. Even though he has not finished all his Dropbox links but has put a YouTube video up on his own. These pages are already or well on their way to finishing their sites.

Jessica Watson
Ruth Bayley
Alex Downes
Kayleigh Herzog

Please feel free to comment on any of the sites as I know these students would love to hear what you think about their work.

To those year 8 students, I will be marking your pages over the holidays. As always I will be in H21 every lunch time to give you any additional help. When marking your work I will be looking for the following…

Home Learning Excuses…

Common excuses…

• My computer is not working
• I don’t have the right software
• “I don’t get it”

If your computer at home is not working then you need to come to H21 at lunch time.  Mr Powell opens the room every day and on the majority of days I will be there with him.  With that in mind we come to the most common excuse…

“I don’t get it”.  I commonly get emails stating that you do not understand the home learning.  You have many options here.  Rather than just saying “I don’t get it”, be precise in what you are saying.  Tell me the exact problem.  “I don’t know what you mean by primary key”.  “I don’t know how to freeze the panes”.  I can help you with this!  If you find that you are having too many of these questions then you should get to H21 at lunch time.  I will be able to sort out all your problems within five minutes on most occassions.

If you do not have the right software then you to acquire it.  If you require Microsoft Office which will include Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel, you will need to see Mr Powell at lunch time in H21 to get a letter to take home to your parents.  The school can arrange a copy of the software if you don’t have it already.  Scratch and Photostory can be found for free on the internet.  The only software that is not available to you that we use at school is Dreamweaver and Fireworks.  No home learning will be set that requires these pieces of software.

Hopefully this solves a few problems!

Home Learning Folders

This week I will be moving your old home learning. I will be making a folder in your home learning folder called “old home learning”. This is just to make it easier for me to find and mark the current home learning.

Keep an eye out in your dropbox, home learning folders for file name changes. If the word “commented” appears at the front of your home learning it means I have made commented on your work.

If you have not worked out dropbox yet, please see me as soon as possible in H21 at lunch time.