Independent Novel Study Review

The Outsiders

outsider the book – Bing images

The Writing Process

This review was surprisingly easy to write. There is plenty to say about the book, so I did not have difficulty brainstorming things related to the themes presented within this novel. However it was difficult to categorize the events into the appropriate plot points. Some of the moments could have fit within more than one of those categorizes. I liked being able to share my thoughts on the book. However, I did not find much joy in presenting orally to the class. I overcame the challenge of presenting because otherwise my grades would suffer.

Core Competencies

I use evidence to make judgements or decisions as demonstrated by how I had to figure out the themes of the Outsiders based on what their actions where within the book. Examples of where I communicate clearly and purposefully can be seen in how I had to concise my points about the book into a seven minute speech. An example of something I have spent a lot of time learning about is how to properly identify and categorize the structure of a book that I am reading. I hope to improve on my strategies for collecting relevant information for specific tasks because it is useful for projects, and I will practice this by visiting a variety of sources for research.

Core Competency Self-Assignment

Social Responsibility & Awareness in BCA 12

I demonstrated social responsibility and awareness when I was playing a game of Telestration with my class. It demonstrated that I can interact with others and the environment respectfully and thoughtfully. Through that game, I was able to build a positive connection with my class because we found amusement in what we were drawing. It helped strengthen the relationship between my classmates and me since we were sharing a bit of ourselves in those pictures. We valued the diversity in our perspectives that led to each of us creating a different interpretation of the original word that was used, and we were all respectful of the art that each person created. This resulted in the classroom feeling like an inclusive place for everybody, and helped us sustain healthy relationships with each other. From this activity, I learnt how to work with people that were not familiar to me. This is important because there are many times in life when you have to do something with someone that you do not know well.

Final Meal

I planned for my meal to be strong in flavour, enticing with smell, and containing a satisfying texture. My meal ended up with all the appropriate textures, and all the flavours worked well together to make an excellent combination. Practically everything was how I wanted it to be, but perhaps I would add additional flavoring to some of the dishes because they were just the slightest bit weak. I showed strength in the skills of perseverance and improvisation because when I accidentally burnt the garlic for the garlic prongs, I was able to figure out how to save it without causing any more problems. I believe the greatest connection that this meal has to my personal and cultural identity is that all of the recipes were taught to me by my mother, therefore they were family recipes.

Clam Chowder

The dish I made this week was clam chowder. The broth of the soup was smooth while the clams themselves were soft and easily chew-able. There was no written recipe for this, but instead I followed verbal instructions. I don’t think I would change anything next time. The challenge I faced was having to learn how to skin a potato with a knife. However, it was also my greatest success and what I was most proud of since it was a new skill.

Pizza

The dish I made for this week’s assignment was pizza. The crust was just the right amount of crunchy, and the cheese melted pleasantly i n your mouth. This tradition of home-made pizza only started a couple of years ago. It reminds me of the fact that my family’s origins are fully Italian. The best part of this tradition would be the great tasting pizza. One challenge was kneading the dough properly, but that was an easy fix after I was taught the correct technique. My greatest success and thing that I was most proud of would be how delicious it turned out.

Accidentally ate some before remembering to take a photo, oops!

Manual Food Processor

The tool that I used for my dish was a manual food processor. I used it to efficiently slice cauliflower into small pieces. It could be used to easily cut most things into small pieces. One safety concern was making sure not to go anywhere near the blade. The proper way to use this tool is to rotate the blade using the lever then to dump out the contents every once and a while to make the blade wouldn’t get stuck. You could use a knife for the same purpose. I followed verbal instructions for my dish, which was cauliflower fried rice. I wouldn’t change anything for the dish. I didn’t have any real challenges. My greatest success would be that I didn’t have any challenges. I’m most proud of that too.

I didn’t take a picture of the tool, but one of the food that it was used to make.

Buddha Bowl

The process of making a Buddha bowl was interesting. The biggest struggle was honestly deciding what to put into the bowl. This was solved by a few suggestion. After that part was finished, I think my greatest success would be putting everything together in a neat way. The texture of my dish was both crunchy, due to some parts of the lettuce, cucumbers and corn, and also soft, due to the couscous and other parts of the lettuce.

Sweet Chili Thai Pineapple Chicken

For this week’s dish, I made sweet chili Thai pineapple chicken, which is an amusingly long name in my opinion. The dish had a tender texture accented by the slight scent of pineapple. The recipe was a verbal one from my mother. I’m not sure what I would change, perhaps I would add more pineapple as I love the flavouring it gives. There was no real challenge for this dish as it was pretty straight forward. I’d say that my greatest success here is learning how easy it is to make this recipe. I’m most proud of how strong the flavour turned out to be.

Roast Beef

One of the dishes that I cooked this week was roast beef. This dish had a lovable texture that just melted in your mouth. There was also the familiar and enticing smell of cooked meat. I did not use a recipe; instead, I was given verbal instructions. Honestly, I don’t think I would change anything for this dish. I really enjoyed it. There wasn’t any particular challenges either. My greatest success, and thing I’m most proud of, would have to be that aforementioned texture, as that is exactly how I like my meat.

Garlic Potatoes

One of the dishes I made this week were garlic potatoes. They had a faint scent of garlic, which was what I used for flavoring. The texture was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. I did not need a recipe for this dish as it was quite easy to make. If I were to make these potatoes again, I would add more garlic. I love garlic, and as such, it was my opinion that there was not enough to impact the taste all that much. Due to this recipe being pretty straight forward, there were no challenges that I can think of. My greatest success, and also the thing that I am most proud of, would have to be making something that I liked using potatoes, which is a type of food that I’m not the most found of.