Currency Throughout History

Solomon Islands- Dolphin Teeth

Between the years 1976 and 2013, the villagers of the Solomon 

Islands killed more than 15,000 dolphins for their teeth, which they used as their currency. Some advantages of this could've been the fact that this currency was small and easy to transport.

Greece- Drachma 

Drachma is a silver coin that was used from about the mid 6th century and was one of the earliest forms of currency. People stopped using the drachma after the conquest of Alexander the Great. It's weight varied between regions. Some advantages of this money, were that is was hard to counterfeit due to the lack of technology at this time. The fact that it was probably a lot heavier than modern coins.

UK- Pound Sterling

Pound Sterling is the national currency of the United Kingdom, consisting of £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes, and 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2 coins. This currency has advantages due to the fact it is light and easily transportable. However, disadvantages could include the fact it is made from an easily damageable material. 

By Chloe and Natasha

Lone Elderly Man Visits Pond To Pelt Ducks With Rocks - Factual or Satirical?

Factual or Satirical?

The Onion: 

What does this website look like?

If you were to just scroll down this page without looking at headlines or reports, you would think it's a genuine news site. 

What photo is it using?

A man sitting on a bench in a park 'throwing rocks at ducks'

What headlines are they sharing?
Some of the headlines on this news site look like they could be actual headlines. There's some headlines about Trump, other numerous political events, etc. But then there's headlines like this one...

Seems legit

Do you think this is a factual website or a satirical website?
Satirical

The New York Times:

What does this website look like?

Again, it looks like a genuine news site. Only difference is, The New York Times actually is a real news site. The Onion? Not so much...

What photo is it using?
The article I chose from this news website doesn't actually have a photo, but you can tell it's factual by the fact it's a genuinely serious topic.

What headlines are they sharing?
Headlines about current events, politics, things happening in other countries, and more.

Do you think this is a factual website or a satirical website?
Factual. For starters, I've heard of this news company/site before, so I already know that it's factual. Another thing that shows me that it's factual is the fact that it uploads more frequently than 'The Onion', and every single article has what exact time it was uploaded, where as on 'The Onion' only some of the articles have details about when it was uploaded.

First week of Art: Shading and Tonal Notes

Year 10 Art - Week 1

This year, one of the choice subjects I chose is art. Today is our fourth lesson, and so far we've learnt quite a lot about shading and tone. We spent the first lesson going over the course line for this semester, and doing some drawing. We got to choose whatever we wanted to draw. If we already had an idea, then great. If not, there's a shelf in the art room full of random objects to choose from (mannequins, models, cups, cameras, jars, etc). These drawings gave an idea of how well we understood tone, proportion, and different shading techniques. I chose to draw a truck (one of the objects on the shelf), but never ended up finishing it, so it doesn't look too great.

We spent the next two lessons learning about shading, and creating a page filled with a range of different shapes and objects showing what we learnt. The first of these two lessons, we were instructed not to use an eraser, which I found kind of hard, considering when it comes to drawing and artwork I'm a slight perfectionist. After watching a video about some of these techniques, I feel like I got a better understanding of negative space, highlight, and reflected light, along with how to use them. Here's the page of tonal notes I created, along with the video we watched, and some of the examples we were given. 

Questions: 

Have I improved with shading?

I think I have. I have a better understanding of how to draw shadows and highlighted areas, so yes.

Do you understand that using a structure can help you draw better?

Yes, it makes your drawing more accurate, more specifically proportion.

What are you going to work on going forward in pencil drawing in and out of class?

I think I'll start using structure a lot more, because it looks kind of cool to see whats been done underneath the art, and it also makes your drawing look more precise.

Critical Thinking: Untold Stories

What aspects of stories was she (Andrea) interested in?

The parts and sides of stories which remain untold that no one spoke of and that no one told her about, and that you have to figure out yourself.

What did the ad imply with the big diamond ring?

- That love can only be measured in what you buy someone and how much you buy them.

- It gives people the notion/connotation that if guys don't buy the people they love a fancy ring, or they don't spend all their money on them, then they can't truly love them.

What is subtext?

- What you can't see but can interpret by an image or the text itself.

- Subtext is your own interpretation and opinion on what someone puts in front of you.

- Hidden messages in a story line

With CL, can each student have their own answer?

Yes, because it allows people to have their own answers and ideas, and interpret things for themselves.

What does Andrea compare CL to?

Wonder Woman's lasso of truth. AKA being able to understand the subliminal messages in modern culture and media.

How can CL be applied to your life outside of school?

You can find the subtext and the real subliminal messages in media, books, advertising, and every other aspect of your life.

Crtical Literacy: Brain-dead teens

What makes this video so convincing?
This video is reasonably convincing at the start, mostly because it doesn't seem like a very difficult thing to believe, also the fact that it starts as a fairly normal news article, up until the part where they start talking about euthanizing their daughter. Bit strange.

Who published this video?
A Youtube channel/website called 'The Onion', who take ideas and turn them into realistic looking but fake news articles.

How are teenagers portrayed in this clip?
It would seem that this video heavily implies that all teenagers are obsessed with technology, more specifically phones and social media, and that all teenagers disrespect their parents and spend their whole lives doing nothing. Though I don't think murdering your children is an appropriate way to solve that problem...

Why has the director cast them this way?
I think the director emphasised on normal characteristics of some teenagers to a point where it isn't quite believable, to make it funny to watch due to typical stereotypes about teenagers.

In whose interests is this text?
Parents of teenagers who can relate (mildly), and to make teachers aware of what can happen when you're on your phone all the time.

Who is real in this video?
No one. They're all fake. However casting a doctor who uses lots of intelligent sounding medical terms does make it kind of convincing.

What social realities does this video portray?
That social media and modern technology has become a huge part of peoples lives, not only teenagers, but people of all ages.

Passion Projects Day 6

Today in Passion Projects, I put together my display board, and painted three out of the 7 planets and stars with help from Jakita. We painted a gas giant, a terrestrial planet, and an ocean planet. On Monday I plan on finishing painting all of the planets and stars and continuing to set up my display board (figuring out what information I'm going to put on it and where I'm going to put it.)

Logbook: 29/11/18 Thursday Day 6

Aim: Start painting my planets and setting up my display board (putting all my information on it).

What I did today: Painted three of the planets, attached my display board, figured out how I’m going to display the planets I made and found a way of finding enough space on the board to display all my information.

Display Board

Gas Giant

Some of the information I printed out

Terrestrial planet and ocean planet that we started painting

Passion Projects Day 4 & 5

Over the past few weeks, I planned my project and the topic I'm doing it on, I've come up with questions I want to answer, done plenty of research and answered most of them. I found cardboard to make a board to display all the information I've gathered on. I made five planets and two stars out of paper mache (a rogue planet, a terrestrial planet, an ocean planet, a lava planet, a pulsar star and a pulsar planet, and a red dwarf star).

Today I continued my research and started looking into forms of life that don't need oxygen to survive (Facultative organisms and Aerotolerant Anaerobic organisms). I also did some research on dark matter.

On Thursday, I want to paint and put together my display board, print out all my information and start painting the planets and stars I made out of paper mache.