Journalism

Over the past 6 months, I’ve definitely learnt a lot about myself and my skills as a writer. At the start, I didn’t really want to set myself too many goals, as I wasn’t sure what I would be capable of, and what would be easier said than done.

I’ve really enjoyed my hour a week, writing about things that affect me in all sorts of ways; things that make me happy, things that make me sad, things that confuse me, my experiences and anything else on my mind. My last article was particularly fun; I just hope I don’t get into trouble for writing about teachers. I think I demonstrated self-control fairly well, however; it took a lot of will power not to be rude and us expletives all the way through.

But I think I have definitely developed my writing skills. I do prefer writing creatively and fictionally, creating my own characters and setting my own scenes, but I have learnt a lot about writing more ‘professionally’. I don’t think any of my articles would be suitable for publishing or anything; there’s far too much sarcasm, and there’s not really much content than real newspapers or magazines would use. But either way, it was challenging for me to not turn my articles into informal babbling; I did try to steer my work towards the more formal sides of things, but I don’t think I did too well.

I’m doing it again, aren’t I?

After these 6 months, I think I can safely say I know what works well for me and what doesn’t when I’m writing. I don’t really bother giving myself a set structure for my writing, because otherwise I’ll feel like I haven’t lived up to my own expectations, regardless of the quality of the piece, and I won’t be fully happy with it.

I think, for me, it’s a good idea to just go wherever my thoughts take me, rather than outlining exactly what I’m going to write about before starting. This is why I’ve always kind of generalised my titles, so I don’t really have to confine myself to specific topics or areas within a topic. Although, this is supposed to be a review of my 6 months (I think) and so far it’s kind of worked out.

I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to set up my own blog, and write essentially whatever I want, and have been supported by so many people, when I wasn’t really expecting to go anywhere with it, or tell anyone about it. Now, a few of my friends read it from time to time, and looking at the stats for the views of my blog, there appears to be a large Russian audience. I’m not sure how accurate this is, however. But, I’ve done about 50 posts and gotten nearly 5x as many views. It’s not many, but I thought it would get about 3 views.

I’m definitely going to keep the blog, and maybe update it now and then if I feel like it, or have something to write about. I really want to thank everyone who has ever read my blog, and especially thank you, Mr Worsley, for reading it for 6 months as well! I really appreciate it.

I think I’ll do 1 more week, just to be on the safe side of how long I have to do my skills section, and then sign this section off.

:)

Teachers

“Teachers these days seem to care more about what students look like than our education”

I definitely agree with this. It’s almost a fact. It’s not all teachers, so I don’t want to label everyone, but it seems to me like teachers aren’t really doing what they’re paid to be doing; teaching us.

I don’t really want to name and shame, but it thinks it’s a common opinion coming from students. I’ve noticed some teachers just hand us text books, for us to copy out and answer questions in Maths for example, or in other lessons such as Chemistry, the substitute teacher teaches us nothing, instead making us copy out of text books and off PowerPoints.

Maths, for me, is the worst. It’s not exactly my strong suit, and the fact our teacher doesn’t show us how to do half the calculations and workings out in the first place really does not help. If we’re lucky, we’re shown the basics, but then expected to know the A/A* stuff already? I think that’s kind of missing the point of teachers teaching and students learning. The clue is in the job title.

It really annoys me though; teachers get paid to help us learn things, and some just aren’t doing that. Instead, they let the books do it for them, so they can sit at their desk and drink coffee. When it comes to maths, I definitely need someone to tell me how to do the workings out; in some subjects its more logic based and I can get there eventually, but usually in maths, I’m rendered very stuck indeed without help.

I understand teachers can’t stand up at the front for hours on end, lecturing students on their various subject area, but they shouldn’t just give us PowerPoints and books all the time either, right?

I know teaching isn’t the easiest job in the world, and I am aware not all students are very cooperative and well behaved at the best of times, (believe me, I’m fed up of half of my year) but I think, considering it’s what they’re trained to do, some teachers should up their game and get themselves sorted because it’s beyond a joke now.

It may have been alright at the start of the year when we didn’t really have to do that much work and we could just go at our own pace or whatever, but now, our GCSE’s are just around the corner and we really need to know this stuff. It’s not acceptable for these teachers to just sit on their laptops for an hour whilst we practically teach ourselves. This is our education and it sets us up for life. If teachers make a mess of it now, there’s not a lot we can do about it.

I think this is pretty serious and really unacceptable. I hope I’m not the only one who has noticed this, or is even bothered about it, but I think something definitely needs to be done about these teachers. Just what, I don’t know.

Daytime Television

During the holidays, daytime TV is something most people have to deal with, unless you’re insanely busy or lucky enough to spend time away in a ridiculously sunny country.

I, for one, am not one of those people.

I haven’t exactly been given a generous array of wonderful activities to do over the holidays; they have mostly consisted of revision, homework, sleep, Tumblr, Twitter, and of course, television.

The quality of daytime TV is, in one word, dreadful. More often than not, it’s unbelievably repetitive and dull, and nothing productive ever comes out of it. Unless you like cooking lunch with Gino and Mel.

I have found myself zonked out on the sofa, watching endless repeats of Top Gear on Dave almost every day. If it’s not on the main channel, it’s bound to be on the +1 channel. I don’t mind Top Gear; I actually quite enjoy watching the 3 idiots. But when you know there’s nothing else on to watch, like you’re stuck with it, I think it makes it less enjoyable. This is especially so when you know the words to a few episodes, they’ve been shown so many times in 2 weeks.

The Jeremy Kyle Show is often on, but I can only watch that for 10 minutes or so before changing the channel. This is mostly because the people on the show tend to be a waste of airtime and what they’re arguing about is generally very materialistic and preventable if the people on the show were more considerate and thoughtful before jumping into bed with one another. I just get fed up of all the shouting and arguing over idiotic and pointless things.

Anyway. That’s beside the point.

On the rare occasion when mum lets me stay off school when I’m ill, the quality of the television shows make me feel worse, if anything. It’s normally Homes Under The Hammer on BBC1, Bargain Hunters on BBC2 and Jeremy Kyle on every ITV channel possible. Which leaves me with Dave, as repeats of Top Gear is pretty much the only show I can bear.

The holidays are far worse; it’s like being off ill for 2 weeks. Well, for me anyway. I think TV would be much better if there was more variety; that way people wouldn’t get so sick of the same shows, repeated over and over again.

Or maybe everyone else adores Dickinson’s Real Deal and it’s just me.

North Korea

I don’t really understand what’s going on with North Korea and the people who run it, but I know that it could very easily turn sour and possibly end in world destruction.

I know very little about the UK’s history with North Korea, and the same with the relationship between the USA and Korea, but I know we’re not the best of friends. In History, having studied the Cold War and the Korean War, I understand the battle with Communist and anti-Communist forces and the effect this has had on Russia, China, the US and many European countries in the past.

The Korean War, being the political battle between North and South essentially, also involved the UN (which was influenced mostly by the US Government), the US itself and the UK on South Korea’s side, with China and supposedly the USSR fighting with North Korea, although the USSR boycotted the UN and the war.

So, I’m guessing what’s happening now, 50 years on, is sort of the same; something political that people aren’t happy about.

But, we have nuclear weapons thrown in the mix. Back in 1950-53, General MacArthur openly threatened China and North Korea with nuclear weapons but he was removed from his position by President Truman, as this was out of order.

But now, there doesn’t seem to be anyone telling Kim Jong Un he’s been a bad boy. Some people think Kim Jong Un is testing the US and South Korean response to his threats while others believe North Korea has a secret weapon system that can destroy and neutralize Americas advanced military capability.

But, to be perfectly honest, I think Kim Jong Un should take a step back, a big step back. This could result in nuclear Armageddon; it’s not just a problem for the US, it’s for any countries within North Koreans ICBM range, which is a lot.

There’s always another way to sort things out, and I personally don’t understand what has provoked this uprising from within Korea. There probably is a reason, but I can’t shake the feeling that if there was a valid, genuine, realistic reason I would know about it.

I’m probably wrong and this article didn’t work because I don’t know enough but I’m not a big politics person… although I should probably be more bothered about this, seeing as it very slightly possibly the end of the world.

Revision

I listen to Radio 1 a lot, every day in fact; when I’m getting ready for school, doing homework, or just on my laptop. They often have different ‘events’ or ‘themes’ for their shows, like during February it was Access All Areas, meaning listeners could watch online and see what the DJ’s and their teams get up to when they’re off air. There were all kinds of backstage cameras showing us what goes on behind the scenes.

This week, however, it has been Revision Week. DJ’s have been introducing Revision Power Hours into their shows, where they essentially shut up for an hour and play tracks for us listeners to revise to.

Greg James has also created some special ringtones for students to download, which basically tell us off for being distracted when we get a text, and warning us to not pick up the phone. We should be revising instead. BBC Bitesize has also created ‘master classes’ for each day of the week. Today, Friday, is English day.

I have a History test when we get back to school, on everything we have done since the start of the year, which means 8 or 9 months’ worth of work. I do have revision books and all my old text books, but it’s still a lot of work to go over, and a huge time span to cover too. So, I have been making the most of this Radio 1 event, taking the time to revise when the DJ’s tell me too, and taking a break when they tell me to as well; they have breaks every now and then when the DJ’s shout at you to stop what you’re doing and relax. These are very welcome breaks.

I’ve also used the shows to do my homework as well, as I have a large amount of that too. But revision is my biggest problem as it is very time consuming and pretty boring. But necessary. I know I have to do it but there are loads of other things I would rather be doing; sleeping, for example. Come on, it’s every students wish, right?

Either way, I have to do it, and I know that. I think I have gotten quite good at prioritising tasks now; I did my most important assignment first – writing out questions for my German controlled assessment, the only piece of work I’ve had over the holiday that counts towards a GCSE. The History comes next, as it is a pretty major test, but note a GCSE exam, or part of one. Plus, the revision notes I make now will hopefully save time when it comes to revising for actual exams and controlled assessments in the future.

But, I think what Radio 1 is doing is a really good idea; it motivates millions of student listeners to revise. Partly because they know they should be and the DJ’s are making them feel guilty for not doing it, and partly because it makes the revision more bearable. I hate having to sit in silence whilst I do my homework or revision, and having the radio on with supportive, relevant tracks playing and the DJ’s encouraging me helps a lot.

So, as a result, I’ve already done more revision and homework than I thought I would have within the first week of the holidays.