Reading an image

This is the British actress Tilda Swinton, she is in Russia supporting gay rights, many celebrities have done this recently, especially due to the upcoming Olympics.  This is because it seems to be very few countries still that discriminate against the gay community, whereas many countries have came to accept it, and have hate crime laws to stop any further discrimination that may arise. This act by Tilda was named "Gay propoganda" by the president of Russia. 


This text is a picture of a woman holding the gay flag in Russia with police following closely behind.
This is so significant as in Russia it is against the law to publicly display same sex relationships.
This is part of their culture, it is not widely accepted to be gay, and there are rules to when and if you can show your affection to the same sex. In this relationship the police and higher authority hold the power, but this woman is not only representing the gay community in Russia, she is supporting all gay rights across the globe.

Being gay is part of your identity, it makes you who you are, it can influence the way you express yourself among other things. By this woman holding the gay flag it communicates to us the pride she holds to be gay or the support that she wants to share with others. It is so significant as it shows a clear set of codes- you aren't supposed to show support especially in front of the palace and the police.

Task 1- question 2 exam paper

Self concept can be defined as the idea we have of ourselves as individuals. Explore one of the following statements about self-concept, using examples from your studies and experiences.

• Our self concept relies heavily on the feedback we receive from others.

Feedback can often affect someone's way of thinking about their-self, it can boost self esteem, or knock it. If someone speaks badly of you, you would assume it could have an affect on the way you think about yourself and your confidence- especially if you already thought bad of yourself and someone confirmed it. Rogers spoke about our ideal-self (the person we would like to be) and our self-image (how we see ourselves) if someone confirms our self image is far from our ideal self it may mean our gap between self image and ideal self is very big, making our self esteem very low. For example if you would like to think that you are smart, and you get a result back which in reality is not so good, it confirms the reality, therefore lowering that persons self esteem.

If my friends give me good feedback and confirm my self concept or give me complements, it boosts my self esteem, and allows me to higher my expectations and feel better about myself, but if they dismiss me or give me negative feedback my self esteem would lower, I would feel less confident in myself and overall not feel myself. Because of this I would usually keep quiet and let people not see my 'Hidden self' and try to downplay my 'Open self' (Johari Window) because generally I have a very loud, bubbly personality and it does not always work in my favour. This would also happen if someone was to say a face threatening act to me (Ervin Goffman). Ervin Goffman speaks about how we have 2 faces, a positive and negative face and when people are intentionally trying to offend they may say something more bluntly- 'I don't like you'. This will knock your self esteem and may then change your self concept.

Jewelry- My watch

My watch is a Michael Kors, silver and gold watch.

To me my watch represents me working hard, I had to work to get the money to pay for it, and it was the first expensive thing I brought myself out of my wages.


Representation: My watch represents money and work.



Piercings
I get a new piercing every year or so whenever i'm on holiday, it's almost like a tradition and my culture. Holiday's are when you are care free and I suppose a piercing to me shows fun and happiness. Also my mum doesn't like them, so it seems like I do it to spit her or rebel against her because of how much she hates me having them, and when she gives in and says I can have another one- I find it funny. It is part of my identity, because it modifies my body, it allows me to communicate messages about myself non verbally, and it sends messages about my personality.

My response

"Perhaps I'm getting too old to understand but it seems to me that most young people today go out of their way to look ridiculous. Perhaps they just don't like themselves. How else can you explain the tattoos and body piercings? Why else would they dress in the style of convicts, hardened criminals or extras from a horror film? As for music, the most popular types seem to celebrate negative or anti-social behaviour: violence, drug abuse, suicide, selfharm and anti-materialism. Is it all the fault of the older generation for bringing up youths who just reject society's values"


This person is clearly cannot except subcultures, and changes in society. I can assume the writer fully supports the society's ideology mainly held by the older generation.

Just because you are a youth and have tattoos does not mean that you will then display anti-social behaviour, and support violence and drugs. I have a few piercings but I don't take drugs, i'm not anti social, nor do I self harm, or condon suicide. Nor do I display violent behaviour.

GCSE grades to change to help bosses select brightest pupils

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/gcse-grades-to-change-to-help-bosses-select-brightest-pupils-8916476.html

 

The article is about how the gcse grading scheme is changing, as you get marked from 1 to 9 so that employers can spot the 'high-flying pupils'. This means that the exams will be changed to make them harder and seen as more respectable. The students will be expected to take the English bacculaureate - science, english, maths, history and a language. This will broaden their choices. They expect to see a "greater differentiation” between students.

 "The change comes in the wake of up to 40 per cent of pupils in some exams, notably in science, achieving top grade A* or A grade passes, " - By changing this it brings out more competition between students, and may cause them to be upset or disappointed by their grade.

 

 

Should children have best friends at school?

An article about how children shouldn't have best friends because it causes them to fall out with people, and feel ganged up and disappinted.


(from the article- '
A south London school has recommended that younger pupils try not to have best friends, and should have lots of good friends instead. Ben Thomas, headmaster of Thomas's school, Battersea, London, explained that cultivating a wide range of good friends can be healthier than becoming too possessive over just one and avoid painful episodes of falling out.
Did you have a best friend at school? Did you spend all your time with just one pal, only to be devastated when they teamed up with somebody else? Do you keep in touch with your first best friend, or did your lives drift apart? Can you ever match that first childhood bond? Tell us all about your first BFF (best friend forever).

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/02/best-friend-at-school



Schools must take account of girls' precarious friendships

'. These little girls, soon to face the crucial rite of passage to big school, seem bewildered by the reality of having friends. Asked about the positives of friendship, they have talked instead about the unhappiness it can bring. "Friends can be bullies to your other friends because they don't want you to be with them," says Naomi.'

'The dynamics change with greater maturity at secondary school, George notes. "One of the girls said that when she got to her new school she looked around and saw who the noisy group were, and kept away. Girls are better able to assess what's going on as they get older, they can see the potential for destructive situations, so they develop skills to make sure the painful things don't happen. They're more careful about who they make friends with.'

This article is about how girls friendship groups can be very nasty, and people gang up on others and often make them excluded, but as they grow up they mature and pick wisely who their friends are.
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/mar/22/schools-beware-girls-friendships-precarious

Drama improves pupils' self-esteem.
 This article is about how drama boosts self-esteem, and how it teaches skills, and valuable lessons such as team work as they are able to listen and speak publically. It talks about how it makes people have an intrest in the arts. 'Researcher Helen Turner said: "Our research highlights several key educational issues: how to make school more enjoyable, how to provide learning environments where different talents are recognised and valued, how to make literacy more exciting, how to encourage and promote creativity, and how to ensure cultural entitlement. '
 

 

 http://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/oct/06/schools.primaryeducationhttp://www.theguardian.com/education/2004/oct/06/schools.primaryeducation

Education: all I learnt at school.

Education: all I learnt at school.

·        The happiest days of my life?  School and me. 

·        A hidden curriculum? What school taught me to be.

-Take some notes on the kinds of ideas you could include in the essay.

Was it the happiest days? How did it start, and end?

  Dimbleby+Barton - self esteem, how we compare ourselves, identification,  roles. (Friendship group, how they make you feel? how you compare yourself academically to people and physically. how you connect/identify with someone and what role you played in school within a class, and friendship group)

Ervin Goffman- with friends you may feel the need to 'perform'. 

How was self esteem built, and knocked. Why was it built-whom influenced this? Why was it knocked- Cooley's looking glass theory (reaction of others) and Myers + Myers ( behaviour that confirms and rejects). Who's opinion did you value? How did this change your behaviour?- Cooper and Smith- compliments. How did this build self esteem.

Lessons you learned, rogers- core self, how much you disclose and the gap of self esteem. How it relates to you and why?

Brimsham Green Secondary School. 2008-2013.

Tutor group-M

Yr 7- Everyone was close, friendship groups we're a lot bigger, groups of about 30.

Yr 11- Groups split, everyone had smaller friendship groups; 10 to a group.
It taught me to be aware, and not naive in this aspect. Everyone can change or not reveal their true self (Jo hari window). As you get older you see faults in peoples personalities or what they say, and it causes you to question it.

In lessons I learnt that to achieve higher, there was a form of competition and you had to strive to beat the person next to you. You felt the need to get higher than those around you or you would be put in a position where you felt bad about it or knew you could of done better. This taught me many lessons as in the work world you have to be prepaired to be disappointed.
 

School teaches you to be aware and independent as you have to take on your own load of work and complete it, it prepares you for later life and gives you access to learn new skills.

 

I am who I am

I am my family who support me,
And the pets I've had through my life.
I am that first A grade in chemistry.
I am that 'never gets the job'.
I am my friends who support me.
I am my nan who always believed in me.

I am who I am because of everyone.