Vonny Cooney Diary

Dear Diary,

Frances is such an idiot, she didn’t know where babies come from. Who would think that babies come from Gracie. Bros. She should know, she sits up the back with all the other geeks and nerds. My teacher hit me again because I didn’t know how to say ‘the’. She never gives me a chance, I try my hardest and all I get is a slap over the face. She doesn’t even try to teach me how to read, not like that other student teacher that came in. I tried to teach Daffy to read. Teaching him to read I hope will help him to speak properly and not get made fun of by other people. I really wish I could read properly, everyone makes fun of it.

Ski Camp

Year 9 Ski camp was a truly amazing experience. It would probably have to be the best school camp I’ve been on. Never in my life had I actually seen snow let alone ski, so this was a completely new experience for me. First arriving at the snow on day 2, I was very excited, even though the skiing shoes were digging into my legs with every step. I got on the chair lift, and when I got off at the other side, I fell over in a painful position and slid along a couple of metres. The first two days in the snow (out of 3) weren’t that good, as I was like an “octopus”, I couldn’t do much. It was only of the final day that I finally got the hang of it, and it was a lot of fun. I went down an actual hill that day. The worst part was when we had to stop skiing, and go back down to the buses, the last time we would ski that week. Back at the resort, the cabins were good, some cabins were better than others, sometimes a lot better. Meals were all free except the last night when we had a barbeque, all of the meals tasted good. We finally took the 3 hour bus trip home.

Year 9 Physical Program response

The Year 9 physical challenge program in the first term of '09 was a lot of fun and brought many benefits. The program teaches us what we can accomplish physically while extending those boundaries. It makes the lazy students become fitter, all of this in a positive environment. Students push themselves outside of their usual comfort zones, and shows them what they can really do if they put their minds to it. It didn't matter how tiring it got, the program was always fun to be a part of. It also stopped us from kicking down lockers and beating each other up, since we were tired. Those that move into year 9 are faced with this challenge, have a lot of fun and learn a few things a long the way.

Peaceful Warrior Response

The Peaceful Warrior movie was as enjoyable as it was educational. There was many fun and dramatic moments in the movie that made it nice to watch. It also sent a strong message to viewers. Don't let your ego and fears get in the way of your dreams, just focus on the moment in front of you. There are also some very good quotes that come out of the movie such as "The journey is what brings us happiness - not the destination." There are some symbolic scenes while watching that are very well done. For example, one scene depicts the main character about to jump off a high tower. Someone is standing on the same tower, acting all arrogant and fearless as this person is doing flips and cartwheels right on the edge. He turns around, and the main character finds himeself looking at his own face. He drops this man off the tower, and this symbolises him letting go of his ego. And thus explaining the movie and its contents.

Urban Adventures Description

Homelessness in Melbourne, you wouldn't think much of it. During our short time in the city, one man showed us what was really happening behind the scenes. That man is Tim. He only took us up a street and down an alleyway, but we had learnt so much. He taught us about his 'soup kitchen', though he doesn't like to call it that. It is called 'Urban Seed'. He told us some very moving stories about some of the people that come into the building just to get a little to eat. Tim dressed in a strange way that some people would find unacceptable. He had some cool dreadlocks, tied up with his own hair, a nice jacket and some old trousers. The experience at 'Urban Seed' was a memorable one, and you leave with a lot.

Movie Quote Paragraph

"Emotions musn't control you" From the movie 'Peaceful Warrior', this is not just a simple statement. What it really means is that you must not let an emotion such as anger, affect your judgement of the situation. Imagine you were a school student, and you've jsut woken up in a bad mood. 'Gee I hate school, there's so much homework, I'm going to pull a sickie'. Anger is changing your judgement, and you're not looking at it seriously. You could end up getting into deep trouble. Therefore creating a worse scenario then if you went to school. So you shouldn't let an emotion control you.

Sonnet

That good feeling that goes through the body.
It brings you up when you are feeling down.
It will protect you from feeling shoddy.
It will improve your look like a nice gown.
If you are about to become sadder,
It will always find away to come back.
No one could ever get any madder.
That great feeling that many people lack.
Allows you to laugh when things are funny.
Laugh at all those miserable people,
Only becoming happy with money,
A lot of them are just businesspeople.
This feeling is opposite of sadness,
This very good feeling is happiness.

Virtual Character Box

Can you guess who he is?

He is like metal, because he is hard to shape, and can take a lot of punishment. This is shown because he can deal with the remarks and jokes of others, and is hard to change into a different person.

He is like a pineapple, because he is hard on the outside, but is soft on the inside. This is shown when he falls in love with Beatrice, when he changes from his harsh personality and shows his softer side.

He is like a bull, because he can become angry very quickly. This is shown when he and Beatrice start throwing witty comments at each other almost as soon as they meet.

He is like a chest, because once he is open, he has a lot to offer. This is shown because when he and Beatrice are both in love with each other, he shows a lot of affection.

Urban Adventures writing

Eureka Towers
As night falls across Melbourne, it is no longer dull, grey and ugly. It becomes a beautiful display of lights. As the blanket of night slowly engulfs the city, you see the first specks of light appear, slowly gaining in numbers, until they are everywhere. The only way to experience such a magnificent sight, is to be on top of the biggest tower in Melbourne, The Eureka Towers. Melbourne during the night becomes beautiful, there are so many colours, yellow, blue, red. The moving cars and the. It feels like a once in a lifetime event. To see this in the best perspective, you go on what many people would not attempt, The Edge. You get in a glass room, which is then pushed out, literally protruding from the tower itself. It is like flying, but scary at the same time, since you are more than 80 floors high. Words cannot explain the experience up in the Eureka Towers, you need to see it for yourself.

Journal Entry
This building is a large office building that looks like it is almost completely made from glass.
In the past this building would have a lot less glass, maybe even none. It would have been used as a bank, or perhaps a theatre. The streets outside wouldn't have been filled with cars and trams, but carriages, and maybe some early cars. The people would be dressed in high class and expensive clothing. High classed people would have used it, and a few lower classed people. There would not be any signs, besides a sign to name the building.

Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice Diary

The soldiers arrived home today, oh joy. There is one, extremely annoying man that is one of them, Benedick. What a clown, he talks about absolutely nothing, and complains about how women are imperfect in every way. I honestly don't know why he exists. He shows no change from the last time I saw him. When I spoke to him I said "A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours". Making quite clear that I did not enjoy hearing him talk. I pray that he may not bore me to death with his constant ranting.

Reach Foundation

Reach foundation was quite interesting. We got to see other teens standing up and doing things they wouldn't normally do, or standing in front of a big crowd and doing something. There wern't many people from our school that went up, mostly because our minds kept saying no. I was too afraid to get up and do something. I spent too long asking my self whether I should do it or not, and eventually was left out. It was pretty nice when they gave us KFC chicken. Sometimes it got a bit boring when people were talking about stuff. And it was a bit strange when they came onto the bus with the stereo, it took me a while to notice that they were actually from Reach. I originally thought it was some weirdo that decided to walk onto the bus to show off his stereo or something. Over all, it wasn't as fun, interesting, but not fun. It was better than doing schoolwork.

Triathlon

Lachlan is getting out of bed, and getting ready for school. Taking a shower, getting dressed, having breakfast. Suddenly, he remembers this is not a normal school day. Today is the triathlon, which he has been training for all term. He quickly gets up and changes out of his school uniform and gets into his sports clothes. The clock is running out, hurry up Lachlan! Finally he is on his bike and is riding to school.

Now he's on the bus, his bike already loaded onto the truck. He hopes he's going to do well, he has a big challenge ahead of him. When he arrived at the venue, the swimming pool, he sits down, waiting for his turn to start. While he's waiting, Lachlan cheers on his mates that start before him. Now it's his turn, blue team.

He's ready, he climbs into the pool, since he can't dive. Ready, Set, GO! He's off, swimming as fast as he can to the other side. He doesn't dare to look where he was compared to the others, in case it slowed him down. Lachlan's getting tired already, he starts to slow down. Keep it up, you're doing well! Finally he finishes his last lap, and is surprised to see that he isn't the last out of the pool. He doesn't have much time to think about it, as he has to put on his runners and keep going. Next comes the ride, 8km ahead of him, 16 laps of the oval. Round and round he goes on his bike, he's feeling pretty comfortable now, as this is his best aspect of the triathlon. He goes around that oval so many times he's memorised every bump and hill along it. He's done it, now it's onto the running, 2 times around the block and you're done! He's made it too far in the triathlon to give up now. He's really putting all his effort into this, he looks so exhausted. But he knows he can do it, no matter how hard it gets. Round the corner, keep going, never go right! One lap finished. Almost there! Don't give up! He's so close now, just the final stretch around the oval. Lachlan looks like he could fall over at any moment now. Just a couple more metres! He comes through the finish line, finally done, he just wants to sit down immediatly. Someone hands him a bag of lollies, he doesn't seem to care much, that seat is looking so inviting.

He's done it, it's over. He can rest all day now. But wait, he has to ride home! Not only that, but his bike has gotten a puncture when they took it off the truck. He has to ride home exhausted, and with a flat tire. Oh dearie me.

Clothes Status

In today’s society, clothes can affect your status greater than what it would have been in the past. For instance, someone dressed like the man on the right would be considered as someone important. He might be someone high in a company, such as an executive. If met by someone, they would possibly think of this man in the same way.

This man on left dressed in overall wouldn’t be thought of as highly as the man in the suit. He is most probably a farmer, as one would think, simply because of the way he is dressed. He would not be treated in the same way as the man in the suit.

Because of the way these two people dress, they would get different levels of respect, depending on who was looking at them. The man in the suit would generally be shown more respect than the man in the overalls. The way people dress can also make people generalise about them. Meaning that people would take a look at them and would immediately think of them being a certain person that has a certain status. You can look at the people here as having completely different status's

In conclusion people with certain clothes would be thought of and treated differently to others dressed differently, and can affect how well you do in life.

Train Contrast

Bruno and Shmuel in the novel ‘The Boy in Striped Pyjamas’ by John Boyne, have journeys to Auschwitz, Shmuel is a Jewish prisoner while Bruno is a young German. They both have train trips to the location, but the trains are both portrayed in completely different ways, Shmuel’s trip being described as being horrifying, while Bruno’s trip being portrayed as pleasant. Shmuel explains his trip as being horrible saying “There were too many of us in the carriages for one thing. And there was no air to breathe. And it smelled awful.” Shmuel acts very sad as he says this, showing how it was a painful memory to bring up. Bruno said his trip was “a very comfortable train with very few people on it and plenty of empty seats and fresh air when the windows were pulled down.” This shows the differences that the Jewish people and the German people were treated and how much of a privilege Bruno has over Shmuel.

Edventures

On the first day of Edventures I didn’t know what to expect. At first I thought that they were just going to talk to us all day. When I walked into the gym it was totally different. They talked for a little bit. Then we started doing fun activities. The first one we did was guessing clichés from words. One activity that required the most of our cooperation was the jump rope. We had to get all of our class through the rope to the other side in as little swings as possible. After about half an hour, we managed to get down to 3 swings for 21 people.

The next day we went to an aquatics centre. But we weren’t there for the swimming, we went there for the high ropes and activities. Firstly we did a few activities and games on the ground. One activity we did, we ended up being the first people in about a year to complete it, where we had to walk along a wire and get everyone to the other side. When it got the high rope courses, I sat out for everything. When it was getting close to the end of the day, Mr. Parsons, my classes mentor, made me put on the gear and climb up a pole, starting with a ladder, then climbing rungs. After a bit of a drama, I got on and started climbing. I climbed up as fast as I could, to get it over with. But when I made it to the rungs, I couldn’t go any further and had to come down. Even though I didn’t enjoy climbing up, it taught me to believe in myself.

Edventures was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun doing the activities that they had for us.