Reflection: Where we are in place and time

Over the course of this unit of inquiry, I have learned that the qualities of an admirable person include determination, courage, the will to make a positive change in the world and the ability to inspire others. I thought about the admirable people in my life. These people are my friends because they always help me if I am feeling down and are determined to make the lives of people around them happier. The family member I interviewed and wrote a biography on was my mum, Carolyn Pik. She has impacted on my life by staying strong and calm if I am stressed and working so hard for our family. I chose to research Joan of Arc. She has influenced me by showing me how determination and courage can make a big influence on the lives of people around me. Joan of Arc made a contribution to the development of society by preventing the English from invading France and saving her country. In listening to my peers presentations, I was interested to learn about Jonathon Welch, the conductor of the Choir of Hard Knocks. He has made a contribution to society by helping people less fortunate than us do what they love. During this Unit of Inquiry, I particularly enjoyed creating Joan of Arcs Fakebook page. It was a lot of fun trying to create something that wouldnt have existed in the 1400s. I have developed my skills in other areas. My research skills have improved, as I used a wider range of sources to find out more about Joan of Arc. It was harder than usual trying to find reliable resources for someone who lived so long ago and this meant that I had to use my common sense more and work harder to find good sources. I have improved my note-taking and summarising because since Joan of Arc did so much in her short lifetime, I had to make sure I only included the main events and not just copy down useless information. At first, I was writing down

points with unnecessary words and facts, but I soon adapted to writing in short points. It was a bit of a challenge, but I think I really improved in that area. My writing skills have developed because I had the opportunity to practise writing with formal language. I also had to practise writing persuasively, and convincing people that Joan of Arc would be a rightful TIME Person of the Year. I think my writing skills have really improved over the course of this Unit of Inquiry. My ICT skills have improved greatly from making magazine articles and TIME Magazine covers on the computers. At first, I found that inserting text into the magazine template and using Photoshop was very fiddly, but with perseverance, I was able to complete these tasks and improve my ICT skills significantly. I have improved my art skills from drawing the portrait of Joan of Arc. It was a challenge to get the shape and shading right, but now my tone work has improved greatly. I am also much better at copying lines and I am very proud of the end result of my portrait. I have become much better at managing time. I had to do a lot of work in quite a short amount of time for this Unit of Inquiry. There was no time to waste when researching or writing and now, from experience, I have learnt to use my time wisely. My organisational skills have developed quite significantly. It was vital to save work in both my folder and USB. I made sure that I kept saving my work and checking that I had completed the aspects of the magazine report. It was also important to keep a list of references up to date. In the end, I have improved my organisational skills greatly. To conclude, I have learned that the actions and contributions of people impact on our lives.