Home Learning 2010 - Pros and Cons

For the two days, 1st and 2nd of March, we do not need to go to school as we had home learning. Just like last year, due to the outbreak of H1N1 flu, we had to stay at home for a few days for home learning too. I would like to share my view on the pros and cons of this home learning activity.

Most of you may wonder what is home learning about. Students get to stay at home and complete the online packages posted by the teachers on their websites. They are also provided online resources such as websites and attachments which contain notes.

As a student, I feel that it is quite relaxing for us during home learning. We can wake up at a later time and do the assignments at our own pace. This makes us less stressed and less tiring. Depending on your learning strengths, some people can absorb more information through this form of teaching method.

However, there are more cons than pros. From what I experience, students tend to "multi-task" and get distracted from studying. Not only will some of them log onto "Facebook" or "Windows Live Messenger" to chat with their friends, some would even play games. By playing games, they may forget about their tasks and submit the assignments late. By sitting in front of the computer for such long hours, it will be bad for your health. It is bad for your eyesight and radiation emitting from the computer can harm your skin because we sit in front of the computer for long periods of time with our face absorbing the radiation. Hence, I feel that we should not have too much of home learning and the current number of home learning days are just right.

Who would you want to be friends with in the novel? (Intrapersonal)

I would like to befriend Scout, Jem and Dill. This is because they are not prejudiced against African Americans, due to the fact that they were such good friends with Dill, who is black. Furthermore, being children, they are innocent and will not cause harm to you, unlike Bob Ewell, who tried to kill Scout. If I were a child, I would not mind befriending Boo Radley. He went into hiding because he wanted to escape from the cruel reality of the world. He wanted to befriend Scout and Jem in the novel because he knew that children were innocent and not evil.

Is Maycomb a good place to live in? (Naturalist)

Mockingbirds live in open country with thickets, farmland and desert brush. Mockingbirds eat ants, beetles, grasshoppers, seeds and berries. Although Maycomb is not a village, it is a small town isolated from the city, so around Maycomb is a ocountryside. The diet and habitat of the mockingbird suggests what flora and fauna existed, which are listed above. Since Maycomb is nota big city, and technology is not very well developed, I feel that it is not a good place to live in. However, for those whose livelihood is farming and agriculture, Maycomb would be a suitable place.