About Me

My earliest memory of school is prep. We were doing some writing and my teacher was going around to each student, checking that they were okay. When she was helping a boy called Khalid, he stood up do that she could sit down. She hesitated slightly before sitting down and Khalid took the opportunity to pull her chair away. Because our classroom was pretty small, there wasn’t much room between tables and when she landed on the floor, her head hit the table behind her very hard. In fact, she had hit her head so hard that she had to go to sickbay and later, home. Our replacement teacher was the librarian who I was scared of at the time. She only made me more wary of her when she started yelling at Khalid. It wasn’t a very enjoyable day.

I learn best when the teacher is talking out the front of the class and is also writing notes on the board for us to copy. I find this the most effective because you can listen to the teacher while still taking notes so that you can revise for tests. I also find answering questions from textbooks a good way to learn, but only if the teacher has explained it first. I do not learn well by reading from a textbook and answering the questions because I often find it harder to learn by reading than to learn by listening and writing.

My worst trait is expecting too much from myself. I often put a lot of pressure on myself to do well and if I don’t, I feel angry and upset with myself for not doing better. This usually leads to bad moods and I become harder to talk to. The pressure also sometimes makes me feel stressed which can impact my view of projects. Expecting too much from myself may be my worst trait but it can be one of my better traits as it gets usually gets me the results I want.

My best trait is my persistence. I believe that I am very persistent and rarely give up. When learning new things, especially when I don’t completely understand them, I keep on trying and practising until I get the right answer or point of view many times in a row. Even in sports when I am loosing, I do not give up and stop running or sit down on the ground. Instead I keep on going and most of the time, losing makes me want to do better next time.

I often wonder if in the future, children will still learn how to write with a pencil or only learn how to type. If technology progresses at the rate that it is now, I think that at the turn of the century, children may not be taught how to write and handwriting will be a rare thing, as it was before the invention of a public education system. Or, if they do learn how to write, they won’t do it with pencils or pens on paper, but by using their fingers to create letters on tablets.

One of the hardest things I’ve ever done was ski down a double black run for experts only in New Zealand. I was in a lesson and the teacher took us to a very steep run, full of rocks and tufts of grass. To get there, we had to go on a cat track which was only one metre wide and was about 50 metres long. There was a steep drop to the right and rocks jutting out from the mountain on the left. On the cat track, there were lots of bumps and little jumps and it was very hard to control my speed because I didn’t have enough room for a hockey stop or a snow plough. The actual run was very steep and the snow varied in softness. Some bits were really soft and loose and they would slow you down while others were icy and hard to control yourself on. I got down the run without falling over and without too much trouble. It was hard because of the steepness and the narrowness. Looking down on the run was also challenging, but looking up at it from the bottom made me feel proud.

The last possession I would give up is a small sculpture of a big rabbit with a little rabbit sitting on its lap. It is not worth much but it has a lot of sentimental value for me. My grandpa gave it to me a while ago and told me that it reminded him of me sitting on his lap when I was younger. I would not give this up because it is very special to me and is one of the few long-lasting objects that he or any other of my grandparents have ever given me.

This term I am looking forward to camp. I love the outdoors and I love all the camps I have been on. I am especially looking forward to this camp because it is more about getting out into nature than previous camps. At the other camps that I have been to, we have been outside but we haven’t been doing much that is not man-made. For example, the giant swing and flying fox are both man made but caving and hiking are all about nature. From what I have heard, there may be aspects of camp which I am not so fond of (leeches) but overall, it sounds like a great experience.

What image would you put on a postcard of Melbourne? Why? I would put an image of an old tram (one of the city circle ones) in front of Flinders Street station with the Eureka tower in the background on a postcard. I would do this because I believe it shows that Melbourne has a proud history but is still a very modern city. The old tram represents age, adaptability and reliability. The tram was built to last and I believe that any person can adapt to the Melbournian lifestyle. Flinders Street Station shows some of Melbourne’s past culture and is a figure in history as it has been standing in that very spot since 1854. The Eureka tower is currently the tallest tower in the southern hemisphere and I believe that it shows that Melbourne is a modern city and has the money and services to be the best in this half of the world.

Which Melbourne person would you most like to sit next to on the tram? Why? I would sit next to John Marsden if he came into the city (as he lives in outer Melbourne) because he is the author of one of my favourite books series, Tomorrow When the War Began. I would like to sit next to him so that I could talk to him and ask him what gave him his inspiration to write the series. I would also ask him why he decided to write the ‘Ellie Chronicles’ which are set after the war ends. I would like to find out if he has ever lived in a country town because he describes them very well and seems to know a lot about how they work.

If you could invite any 3 people from history to dinner who would you invite? Why? I would invite a slave from the Ancient Egyptians, Plyni the Younger and Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah. I would invite a slave from the ancient Egyptians because I have always been fascinated with the construction and engineering of the pyramids. I believe that by inviting a slave, they could provide some insight as to how the pyramids were built and what tools and resources they had at the time to do so. I would invite Plyni the Younger because I would like to know how he survived or how he knew what was going to happen in the Mount Vesuvius eruption of 79AD and why he was one of the only two surviving witnesses of the event. I would also invite Captain Zaharie because I would like to find out what happened on board flight MH370 and if he was involved in the crash or if the plane was taken over by hijackers.

Describe Melbourne in three words: modern, beautiful and lively.