My First Presentation

In Thailand, I never had to make a presentation and present it in front of the class, but since I moved to the United States, schools are more advanced and there are many presentations that you have to make throughout your school years.

So this is the first presentation in my life that I presented in front of the class and it’s about Jewish Migration. It might not be as good as the last one though.

Press “S” or press the cog wheel for speaker notes (there’s not much but there’s some)

And there it is. Thank you for reading.

My Best 8th Grade Presentation

Our Social Studies teacher gave us our biggest assignment since 8th grade will end soon and this assignment is worth a lot of points so I tried my best to make this perfect. It took me around 1 week to create this and present this and I thought it’ll be nice to show it to you because I’m very proud of it.

I made a presentation about Benjamin Franklin using google slides. His biography, information about that time period, and his primary sources need to be included. You also had to include a video, podcast, or an app.

I put the whole presentation into HTML code and put right here:

You can open speaker notes by pressing the cog wheel or pressing “s”


Speaker Notes:

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 and passed away on April 17, 1790. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States (A group of leaders who made the new United States upon republican principles). He was a statesman, author, publisher, scientist, inventor, and diplomat. His father, Josiah Franklin, married twice and had 17 children. Franklin launched a hospital, college, and library and he had performed many experiments with electricity and many more projects. As an inventor, he was commonly known for the lightning rod, bifocals (glasses with 2 different optical powers), and many more. He made people understand electricity by saying that it has positive and negative elements. He also negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War. His education was limited and ended when he was 10 years old, but he was an enthusiastic reader and he taught himself to become a skilled writer.

At age 12 he was apprenticed by his older brother James, a Boston printer. But at age 17 he quit the apprenticeship and became a printer. In 1726, he opened a printing shop, and the business was successful. He created a variety of things such as newspapers, currency, and government pamphlets. In 1748, when he was 42 years old, he retired, and he conducted many experiments to fully understand electricity. He also invented the lightning rod that prevented houses from catching fire caused by lightning. He invented bifocals. In 1766, he traveled to London and testified in the British Parliament against the Stamp Act. In 1776, he helped draft the Declaration of Independence. And again, he negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary War.

In the 1700s, popular entertainment for children would be checkers, kite flying, and tag. For grown-up men, there was a special game called nine pins, played out doors. It’s similar to bowling but the ball and the pins were way much smaller. Quilting was entertaining for women at that time, but the most popular was storytelling and it was a great way to pass time.

For jobs, agriculture and farming were the most popular at that time, but blacksmithing, candlemaking, fishing, and gunsmithing were also popular jobs too.

For food, eggs, bacon and bread, cheese, potatoes, pumpkins, and squash were popular at that time. But seafood, vegetables, and fruits were also common. For fashion: women had stockings, gowns, belts, hoods, capes, and hats. For men there were, shirts, stockings, hats, coats, and breeches. Women wore their hair up in a bun and men braided their hair.

Classical music from Mozart, Beethoven, and other artists was the only music people listened to. But a small amount of people listened to opera too.

JOIN, or DIE is the first political cartoon attributed to Benjamin Franklin. It was designed to unite the colonies and each segment represents one of the Thirteen American colonies or regions. It soon became a symbol of colonial freedom during the American Revolutionary War.

The gulf stream is located along the East coast of the United States. He was interested about the stream because he discovered that the warm surface water of the stream could improve and speed up postal delivery from America to Europe.

He signed the Treaty of Paris, in 1776, he helped draft the Declaration of Independence, he negotiated the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the Revolutionary war, and he testified in the British Parliament against the Stamp Act.

He wanted to abolish slavery 1787 and he brought the matter to the Constitutional Convention. And he launched a hospital on May 11, 1751, a college in 1714, and a lending library on July 1st 1731.

Benjamin Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726, opened a printing shop, and produced government pamphlets, newspapers, and currency. He also made a coin called the Fugio Cent made from copper electrical parts and it was worth 1 cent. The message “mind your own business” meant “pay attention to your affairs”. The sun and the sun dial represents the word “Fugio” in latin which means I flee or I fly.

He was intelligent because he created the lightning rod, the bifocals, signed many documents, and made many right choices. He was mysterious because he was a member of a secret underground society known as the Hellfire Club. He was determined because he self-taught himself to become a successful writer. He was inventive because he was creative and made many inventions. He was engrossed because he concentrated hard on his experiments.

A virtue is a trait of mind or character that helps us achieve a good life. The app has Benjamin Franklin’s original virtue’s chart to improve your daily conduct. Tap the day’s date to add a mark if you conduct wrong doing on that week’s virtue. The goal is to live and pay strict attention to each virtue without placing any marks on the chart.


Also, a huge thanks to my father who helped me a little bit with the grammar and thank you to my Social Studies teacher that gave me a 10/10.

My Certificate Collection

I currently have 3 Certificates and 2 medals but all of them are in Thai language. I was really hoping to join clubs in my school to get more certificates but I was late. All of the clubs were full and the available clubs are just not for me.

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3 Certificates and 2 medals

The leftmost certificate is for getting second in the province of all subjects in third grade.

The next certificate is for getting first in English grammar in the whole province.

The medal is for winning a spelling B in 7th grade. I came out 1 out of 80 contestants and I forgot what the other one is (it was a very long time ago).

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This certificate is from the spelling B

First Day in a Foreign School

*These are some of my opinions and comments and I am not insulting anything/anyone

School Website: http://www.nhcs.net/noble/


This is the first American school that I’ve been in and I would like to tell my experience to others. I hope you are looking forward to this and I tried to take pictures but it’s hard because there is a rule that you cannot take pictures.

This is Noble Middle School, one of the public schools in Wilmington North Calorina. This school has a very strict policy about bullying, inappropriate content, and profanity. And the school mascot is an eagle.

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Waiting for the school bus

I got into the school in the middle of the semester which is bad because everyone has friends except me. But don’t worry, I’m used to it. At least, I made a couple of friends over there.

I was struggling so much on my first day. It was such a horrible nightmare. I was so scared that I had to ask the school counselor so many questions so many times. The system is very different from Thailand obviously because Thailand schools had no lockers and you do not need to change classes most of the time.

Many of my classmates were afraid to talk to me because they do not know who I am and they didn’t even realize I could speak English. One thing that I remembered is a group of 4 girls gave me a salad in a cup, which is very nice of them because they paid for it. They handed me the salad and then they ran away. I was so scared that I sat there looking at the salad like a mindless person, I threw it away and ran away. But don’t worry, I gave them a quarter and they still talk to me until now.

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The school’s yard

To go to another class, you’ll need to go to the room with the right number. But I couldn’t find the room with that number so I walked around the school like 3 times (and I was terrified) until I found the counselor and she guided me to the correct class.

And that is the first day in an American School and I didn’t study at all (lol).

I remembered myself trying to open a locker. It is hard because I’ve never used a locker before so I had to ask the school counselor many times, but now I know how to use lockers, I just had to practice.


This school is not the “competitive” type which means the students that are behind can catch up easily, but the smarter students (not being narcissistic but like me) they can get bored easily. I know I know, my grades are quite low right now, but I can get them up easily if I stop slacking off.

One thing that is good about this school is that it has no bullies. Not a single bully. This school had only a couple fist fights before but that was a very long time ago.

This is a good school for students who are behind and are sensitive to bullying.

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The important thing to take in that things might not be scary as you think and thank you to the students who accepted me and tried to help me.

And that is my first day in a foreign school.

Paper or Digital?

I rather use paper because I feel much more comfortable and it is easier for me read and some students can process the content better. But some kids are more comfortable with screens.

E-readers appeal by being travel-friendly and storing a whole library at your fingertips, but print books seem to win when it comes to comprehension. Studies have shown that readers often remember more when they consume material in print rather than from a digital source. This is most likely linked to the concept of spatial context, which causes “seemingly irrelevant factors like remembering whether you read something at the top or the bottom of page—or whether it was on the right or left hand side of a two-page spread or near a graphic—can help cement material in mind.”

According to the market research firm Millward Brown, “tangible materials leave a deeper footprint in the brain.” The physical and sequential task of writing letters and words creates a stronger connection with working memory than tapping on a keyboard. The physical representation of written plans and tasks is then perceived as more “real,” which makes them easier to remember. Here are tricks to writing a more productive to-do list.

A UCLA study has shown that manually writing notes with a pen and paper is more conducive to retaining information than typing notes on a laptop or computer. This is because “analog” note takers—those who used a pen and paper—were forced to synthesize lectures rather than merely transcribe everything they heard word for word. Being forced to sort out what was worthy of being written helped to trigger stronger mental processes that promote retention, a phenomenon known as “desirable difficulty.” Additionally, digital note-takers often felt less compelled to study because they felt all the answers were right there on their laptops, and would typically perform more poorly on exams.

Are boys actually better in math?

In preschool and elementary school boys and girls generally perform similarly on math tests. Later in school, in high school and college, more consistent differences start to emerge. In addition, gender differences are often larger among higher-performing students but not necessarily for lower- or average-performing ones. Within this specific group of higher-performing math students, boys tend to perform better. Similarly, when studies do find gender differences among elementary school children, they find these start to appear for higher-performing students earlier in schooling than they do for lower- and average-performing ones.

Whether a gender difference is found also depends on what type of math the kids are doing. In general, boys tend to outperform girls on tests that are less related to what is taught in schools (like the SAT math test, for example) whereas there tend to be minimal gender differences on statewide standards-based math tests, which are more tied to what’s taught in schools. When it comes to grades in school, which are even more closely tied to the curriculum, girls often outperform boys. A recent meta-analysis of research on the performance of students from elementary age through adulthood found boys tend to outperform girls in more complex areas of math such as those involving more advanced problem-solving. In contrast, there are no differences—and, in some cases, an advantage for girls—on more basic numerical skills and on math problems that have a set procedure for solving them

Two of the factors above, age and the type of math, can impact research results at the same time. This could be partially explained by the young age of the sample, and also because there are often few gender differences found in basic numerical skills.

Although there are differences in math performance between girls and boys of both high school and college age, and when doing certain types of math, these studies find only a small gender difference in math performance. The mean performance scores for boys and girls are about 0.1 to 0.3 standard deviations apart from one another—very small differences and with a lot of overlap between boys’ and girls’ math skills. Thus, boys and girls are much more similar than different in math performance, even when considering studies that found the largest gender differences. In addition, even when we find there are differences, it is important to remember they are in the averages of the two groups and are not deterministic of any individual student’s performance.

Interestingly, we often see larger gender difference in other math-related outcomes compared with overall performance. Girls tend to have less positive math attitudes: They have higher levels of math anxiety and lower levels of confidence in their math skills. This means even when girls show similar performance levels to boys, they are often less sure of themselves. In addition, we see larger gender differences in spatial skills, the way students approach solving math problems and math-intensive career choices. Therefore, these math-related skills and attitudes may be more useful areas for researchers to investigate related to gender and math.

Stanford looked at 260 million test scores in more than 10,000 school districts in the United States between 2008 and 2015. Researchers found:

– The math gap between genders has narrowed over the years.

– Boys outperform girls in math only slightly.

– Boys outperform girls in math in wealthy, suburban school districts.

– Girls outperform boys in math in low-income districts only slightly.

– Girls excel in English across all economic groups.

– Wealth likely plays a role in creating gender gaps.

The examples of researches and studies cited above imply that the gender-based gap is only made by the environment rather than the X and Y chromosomes. What is needed at this point is to alter our mindset and discuss how perceived inequality can be eliminated from our society. The first step should be to stop drilling it into the female psyche that they cannot be good with numbers. In fact, parents need to support their girl child and make them believe that math is not rocket science.

Sources:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-boys-better-than-girls-at-math/

https://www.voanews.com/a/gender-gaps-in-education-are-closing-study-indicates/4486638.html

https://opinionfront.com/are-boys-better-at-math-than-girls

How to write faster by hand

Writing fast gives you many benefits. For example, I’m at school and the teacher told to copy a paragraph from the board, and I copied it pretty quick (Most of the time I write fast and copy everything). So I’ll show you how to write faster with good handwriting.

1. Maintain good posture. Straighten your back and make sure that your feet are resting flat on the floor. Your lower back and hips should be fully supported by the chair that you’re sitting in. Both your knees and your elbows should be bent and you should feel comfortable while you sit. Maintain this posture to reduce fatigue and improve stamina as you write correctly.

  • Maintaining good posture is also beneficial for your back and hips.

2. Hold the pen or pencil properly. The way that you grip your pencil is a big impact on writing speed. When writing, make sure that your hand is in a comfortable position and doesn’t cramp or get fatigued as you write. If it does, consider switching the way that you’re holding the pencil or pen to improve your writing speed.

  • Rotating the paper in a different way may also feel more comfortable for you.

3. Use a pen or pencil that doesn’t require you to press down hard. If you have to press down hard as you write, you will write slower. Find a pen that isn’t so thin that it’s hard to grip, but that isn’t so thick that writing is uncomfortable. That is why I rather use pens than pencils.

4. Write more. Practice every day to improve the speed and the appearance of your handwriting. The more that you do it, the quicker and neater your handwriting will become.

A New Year a New Life

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It is now 2019 which is the starting of a new year and a new life for everyone and tomorrow I’ll be going right to school. And it’s very scary for me because I have no idea what an American School looks like, and I hope my school will go well for me.

But let’s think about the moments that we had in the last year. Leave the bad vibes and only think about the great moments that all of us had.

Alright! Have a nice day and once I settle down in school, I will make more posts.

Peace,

Dan

Inconsistency…

Im-Back-e1447780576866Hey guys, I’m back.

I’m sorry for not posting anything for a while

I didn’t have any time to blog because of problems that I had and many other things.

Since my school has changed its time and added more study time, I had to be at school for 9 hours. Yes, 9 hours for the whole of September. And I told them I wasn’t learning anything and I didn’t have many friends, so they decided to take me out of there. And since my father doesn’t have time to teach me, now I have 5 months of free time (Yay)! I really like to blog but I just didn’t have time.

I also have a surprise for you guys in my next post.

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Homeschooling vs. Public School

Homeschooling vs. Public School

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Homeschooling or Public School? I’m really curious which one is better so I’ve done my own research and compare my opinions.

But first, before we begin, I’ll tell you about my history in my school life:

From kindergarten to grade forth, I’ve gone to private school but I’ve never gone to a public school before. And after that horrible school that the teacher gives answers (cheats) on tests, I decided that homeschooling will be the best way. But I lasted only for 4 years because I started to feel lonely. And I decided I will stay in traditional schools forever.

Let’s start comparing:

My opinions:

1. Homeschooling:

It’ll be nice to get away from the distractions (bullies, social media, unsuitable content for kids) and everything is so much easier because you’re at home. No late classes, you can eat anything you want, take many breaks. And the best thing is: you don’t have to pay anything (not for the books, obviously).

But your student will start to get lonely (like me) and will soon to have problems in the future about getting in/along with people.

But that won’t always happen. If your student has neighborhood friends, brothers/sisters, or classmates, your student will be fine. It’s just if you don’t have any friends.

They are still more negative opinions but they’re not as bad as the first one.

2. Public/Private School:

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There’s no difference between these two schools, and they’re pretty much the same.

It’s nice to have friends and be able to practice to live without your parents for a while. But what happens if your kid gets bullied and gets to see unsuitable content? (Note: both of these things will happen, and they happened to me already.)

From researching:

Pros & cons from Homeschooling:

  1. Children have a flexible schedule and are not restricted to the place and time where and when they must study. It allows developing child’s gifts by dedicating more time to enrichment activities.
  2. Such learners obtain real-world experience as they communicate with people working in different fields, of different age, and with different backgrounds. They can be involved in clubs, volunteer organizations, religious communities or try their entrepreneurial skills.
  3. Studying takes place at the learner’s own pace and there is no exhausting homework. On average, homeschool students show 30 points better results than their traditional school peers.
  4. Homeschool kids appear to be more mature in comparison to the school children of the same age. A higher level of discipline and self-organization. Total freedom allows managing time better.
  5. Better family relationships are guaranteed because children spend more time with their family members, communicate and discuss any problems with them. Consequently, relatives become closer to kids and understand them better.

  1. Lack of socializing with peers.
  2. Critical thinking is developed not so well.
  3. Additional money on materials is required.
  4. Being misunderstood by other members of society.
  5. Such kids have fewer friends.

Pros and cons from Private/Public School:

  1. Traditional timetable guarantees that a child will get acquainted with all school subjects beginning with their basics.
  2. The school program is organized in such a way that students get all the necessary skills to be able to live in the modern world analyzing the behavior of heroes and avoiding their own pitfalls.
  3. Children learn to cope with difficulties faced at school themselves, without the assistance of their parents and that prepares them for an adult life.
  4. Teachers offer a variety of learning methods and approaches that will meet the requirements of every child.
  5. Moreover, they have a decent person to take an example of. Public schools are affordable for all kids and parents.

  1. Customary routine does not always allow taking up activities a child would like to.
  2. No motivation to develop.
  3. All the students are placed in the equal positions so more gifted and talented kids have to wait for those who follow behind.
  4. Children are passive listeners and their participation is minimal. Parents are not usually involved in the educational process.
  5. Students make efforts to receive better grades rather than obtain new important knowledge or skills.blog.noplag.com

Conclusion:

I will stick to public/private school for the rest of my life. Since my father is too old to teach me and my mother can’t, and I don’t want to have problems in the future about getting in/along with people.

But I’d say both of the choices are good.

There might be many things I’ve missed, but that’s all I’ve got. If I miss anything, can tell me in the comments.

That’s it! And that’s all I know.

End of the week #3 (My exam results)

 

Alright so my midterm exam results finally came out, and I didn’t do so well.

Here are three reasons why didn’t do well: First, I wasn’t paying attention (I didn’t put effort into getting good grades). Second, I past the 8th grade many times already, and the grades are better than this. And lastly, the test is in a language I’m not comfortable with.

My parents were upset that I got these grades, but I wasn’t sad. Because I didn’t try my best (but they won’t listen to me). Anyway, let’s see the grades:

Math: D 40% (It was in Thai)

Science: C 67.5% (It was also in Thai)

Computer: D 56.67%

History: C 62.5%

Thai language: F 22.5% (There’s nothing I can do)

P.E. B 80%

English Grammar: A 95.5% (Easy)

Social Studies: C 75%


And there they are.

Plus, nothing really happened this week, except for the grades.

I would of gotten better grades if I was paying attention.

Thanks for reading.

 

Here are some tips to past a Test at school

Here are some tips to past a Test at school

Well, it’s back to school, which means it’s back to tests 😦 Which also might mean it’s back to being stressed out.

Exam

I have already done my midterm exam. If you don’t know what a midterm exam is, it’s an exam given near the middle of an academic grading term, or near the middle of any given quarter or semester.

If you want to pass tests, then try these tips that I always use:

1. Do your homework: Always try to complete all of your assignments, essays, and homework. I just realized that homework was important because the teachers warn the students to finish all of their homework. So try your best to do your homework and you’ll definitely get extra points.

2. Schedule your study time: Trying to fill in all of your studying the night before a test is impossible because you won’t be able to master all of the material, and it also makes you tired on the day of the test. Instead, prepare for a test by scheduling your study time each day for several days before. Trust me, the step is pretty important.

I usually study a day before and a little bit before the test day, and I spend the whole day resting.

3. Use your time wisely: Before studying, clear your desk of electronics and your phone so you don’t get distracted. When hitting the books,  be sure to take a few breaks (not too much though).

4. Form a Study group: Studying with a parent or friends can help you better understand the material and learn from one another. But you have to keep the group small, the larger the group, the more confusion, the more distractions.

I never had a study group before.  I only had a partner, which was pretty good. Many of my classmates recommend this step because it works many times.

5.  Get ready: Sharpen your pencils, grab your pens, and get your bag ready the night before the test. Get a good sleep and eat your healthy breakfast. Now your mind and body is prepared.

You must get your rest. It very important. I didn’t get enough sleep many times and I’m not able to think. So sleeping is very important.

Now you’re ready! Good luck!

Answer sheet

Now, The Test: 

1. Answer the easiest questions first, then the hard ones.

2. Read the instructions and the questions carefully (you might miss something).

3. Guess if you have to (if you’re really stumped).

4. If you start to feel stressed, remember to breathe deeply and relax.


I hoped this will help the students out there and good luck!

 

 

End of the week #1

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Hey guys!

I’ll be making new posts that will be called “end of the week” every Sunday. And the posts are going to be about what I’ve learned in the week, and what will happen next week. So it’s basically like a diary.

Alright, let’s begin:


About my school, I hate it. No friends, boring activities, 9 hours of studying every day.

Studying isn’t the issue here, it’s about time. It’s really difficult to survive when you have no friends. I do not know why no one wants to talk to me. But anyway, I have to deal with that myself.

Two days ago, my father told me that my mom’s visa to move to America (we’re trying to move to America) will be coming in November and I must finish eighth grade in my school that I hate…

I will get horrible grades since I’m not good at the Thai subjects.

So I have to stay in that school for another long long time.

“Ugh, 5 days per week of nothing to do. Just thinking of it makes me don’t want to go to school.”


About this blog is good news: I’ll make 5 posts on Saturday and Sunday, then I’ll post on the weekdays.


So that’s pretty much it. And the school is really annoying–that’s my conclusion.

The end…..