Gotcha there, didn't I? By the way, my blog post title goes hand in hand with Mr.Arkin's blog post title. Cool eh?
Class today was a very interesting affair. We continued to work in our groups and become a 4. But instead of working in my group today, I worked with Grace to understand some of the concepts I didn't get in my group. I have to say, Grace really helped me so if you're reading this, THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Anyways, I will be leaving and going to India tomorrow. My flight is at 5.45 and I'm so excited. I promise to blog whenever I will get the chance - (I doubt I will be free enough but still.....there is some hope.) And when I come back, I will definetely post some pictures of my trip.
Mr. Arkin said to 'eat good food' in India and I plan to take his advice. I think that I will get the opportunity to closer and more familiar with my home country and its customs.
My schedule is packed from the moment I get off the plane; I will only get 2 days in the end to relax. I sincerely hope I will be able to recover from the jet-lag.
I am almost done packing and like the responsible kid I am (haha), I have packed my computer notes so I can review them while on the plane and during my stops in Amsterdam (4 hours when I'm going, and 8 when I come back.)
Anyways, I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Sincerely,
Natasha who has been smothered in hugs :-)
P.S I think that I will really miss you guys while I'm away! :'-(
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Peer Tutoring Benefits!
Hello readers,
Before I start my actual ICS related blog, I need to take the time to say that tomorrow will be my last day in school before I go off for holidays.
*back-to-work sort of attitude* Anyhow, getting back to the topic, today in class we continued to 'become a 4' in our groups. It was a great help as both of my group members were very strong and understood the concepts well. It was a good learning experience for me. Thank you Jerry and Andres! (By the way, Jerry, if you're reading this, I put your name first as you said - LOL :P)
Our homeowrk for today is our daily blog (check) and to continue becoming a 4; which I think I am on my way to becoming.
Cheers,
Natasha
P.S That holidays are getting extremely close!
Before I start my actual ICS related blog, I need to take the time to say that tomorrow will be my last day in school before I go off for holidays.
*back-to-work sort of attitude* Anyhow, getting back to the topic, today in class we continued to 'become a 4' in our groups. It was a great help as both of my group members were very strong and understood the concepts well. It was a good learning experience for me. Thank you Jerry and Andres! (By the way, Jerry, if you're reading this, I put your name first as you said - LOL :P)
Our homeowrk for today is our daily blog (check) and to continue becoming a 4; which I think I am on my way to becoming.
Cheers,
Natasha
P.S That holidays are getting extremely close!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
I've Caught a Dandelion and I'm on My Way Back to Earth!
The title of my post is related to my yesterday's blog post title http://www.natashajain.blogspot.com/. Yesterday, I recall that I had told you my brain had "Gone with the Explosion". Today it seems as if my brain had hitched a ride with a passing by dandelion and is on it's way back to the surface.
What I mean by that is I am slowly beginning to understand the concept that only yesterday sounded like an alien language to me! Mr.Arkin, Andres and Jerry were a huge help to me today! Mr.Arkin patiently took all of my questions (which were very muddled up I must admit) and clearly clarified the concepts.
Yesterday we learnt about functions, and today Mr.Arkin introduced us to programmer-defined procedures. A procedure is a subprogram which performs a defined task. We learnt a new keyword today 'procedure'.
The second major thing that we did in ICS today was rate our understanding of programming on a scale of 0-4, with 4 being 'I perfectly get the concepts and can ace any test you throw my way!'. I rated myself as a 2, partly due to my not understanding substrings, arrays, function, and procedure clearly. We then got into a group of three in which all people were a different level. Our job for the rest of the week is to become a '4'. We'll accomplish that by going through all of our notes. If we aren't 100% clear with the concept, our group has the task of explaining it to us. Mt group consists of Jerry and Andres; both who are very strong in Turing. I think we make a great group. I ask the "What if.." "But how..." and "So whats..." and they answer them.
Our homework is to create a function under the name of 'nextConstant' and to type our daily blog as usual.
BTW, 2 more days left.
Cheers,
Natasha Jain
What I mean by that is I am slowly beginning to understand the concept that only yesterday sounded like an alien language to me! Mr.Arkin, Andres and Jerry were a huge help to me today! Mr.Arkin patiently took all of my questions (which were very muddled up I must admit) and clearly clarified the concepts.
Yesterday we learnt about functions, and today Mr.Arkin introduced us to programmer-defined procedures. A procedure is a subprogram which performs a defined task. We learnt a new keyword today 'procedure'.
The second major thing that we did in ICS today was rate our understanding of programming on a scale of 0-4, with 4 being 'I perfectly get the concepts and can ace any test you throw my way!'. I rated myself as a 2, partly due to my not understanding substrings, arrays, function, and procedure clearly. We then got into a group of three in which all people were a different level. Our job for the rest of the week is to become a '4'. We'll accomplish that by going through all of our notes. If we aren't 100% clear with the concept, our group has the task of explaining it to us. Mt group consists of Jerry and Andres; both who are very strong in Turing. I think we make a great group. I ask the "What if.." "But how..." and "So whats..." and they answer them.
Our homework is to create a function under the name of 'nextConstant' and to type our daily blog as usual.
BTW, 2 more days left.
Cheers,
Natasha Jain
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Gone With the Explosion!
You readers are so predictable; I know exactly what you're thinking. You're thinking isn't it 'Gone with the Wind'?
The name of the movie is actually Gone with the Wind, but Gone with the Explosion best describes my state right now. Explanation to title as follows :
We had ICS today first period and boy, o, boy was it very busy. Today Mr.Arkin introduced to us a variety of different things. The first thing that we did was write an algorithms. Algorithms are specific instructions that explain the program. Mr.Arkin told us that it is best to write algorithms out and then make your program (on Turing in our case.) We wrote our algorithms in pseudocode. Pseudocode is a mix of both English and Turing language. It is a great help and very beneficial I noticed!
Next, we were introduced to programmer defined functions. Programmer defined functions are subprograms. One instance subprograms can be created in is when you are creating multiple program each with a simmilarity. In this case, all you need to do after you write the program is to simply "call" it wherever needed!
Two important keywords we learnt today were "result" and "function"; both extremely important in creating a function.
Our homework for today is to check the assignments 10 - 24 and make a function (subprogram) for them is needed (which in my case is a YES!)
BTW, 3 more days left before I leave for India. (I haven't started packing yet, though)
Cheers,
Natasha Jain
The name of the movie is actually Gone with the Wind, but Gone with the Explosion best describes my state right now. Explanation to title as follows :
We had ICS today first period and boy, o, boy was it very busy. Today Mr.Arkin introduced to us a variety of different things. The first thing that we did was write an algorithms. Algorithms are specific instructions that explain the program. Mr.Arkin told us that it is best to write algorithms out and then make your program (on Turing in our case.) We wrote our algorithms in pseudocode. Pseudocode is a mix of both English and Turing language. It is a great help and very beneficial I noticed!
Next, we were introduced to programmer defined functions. Programmer defined functions are subprograms. One instance subprograms can be created in is when you are creating multiple program each with a simmilarity. In this case, all you need to do after you write the program is to simply "call" it wherever needed!
Two important keywords we learnt today were "result" and "function"; both extremely important in creating a function.
Our homework for today is to check the assignments 10 - 24 and make a function (subprogram) for them is needed (which in my case is a YES!)
BTW, 3 more days left before I leave for India. (I haven't started packing yet, though)
Cheers,
Natasha Jain
Monday, December 6, 2010
1/2 Day Today!
Hey readers! Today was a half day which meant that school ended at 12:00 on the dot. (Well, maybe not on the dot, but you get what I mean right???) Anyways, this also meants that all of our periods were cut down. We had all 4 classes in the morning but for 40 minutes each. Cool eh?
Anways, since we had a shorter class, the teachers had less time to finish what they had planned for us today. In ICS, we took some notes on counter loops and then Mr.Arkin showed us some of his programs with encompassed counter loops. It was very interesting to see how efficient the counter loops are.
We also learned a few more important key words. The rest of the period was spent asking questions and familiarizing ourselves with the counter loops.
All in all, a very good day. Oops...I mean half day. :P
Our homework is to complete our daily blog and to modify substrings assignment number 9 so that in the run window the program put the next consonant. That wasn't so good of an explanation was it??
Ok, here's an example.
If I put in table as my word, I should see ----- uacme ----- in the run window.
I must go finish that assignment.
Cheers,
Natasha Jain
P.S IT"S SNOWING LIKE CRAZY OUTSIDE MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.P.S 4 more days until I go to India!
Anways, since we had a shorter class, the teachers had less time to finish what they had planned for us today. In ICS, we took some notes on counter loops and then Mr.Arkin showed us some of his programs with encompassed counter loops. It was very interesting to see how efficient the counter loops are.
We also learned a few more important key words. The rest of the period was spent asking questions and familiarizing ourselves with the counter loops.
All in all, a very good day. Oops...I mean half day. :P
Our homework is to complete our daily blog and to modify substrings assignment number 9 so that in the run window the program put the next consonant. That wasn't so good of an explanation was it??
Ok, here's an example.
If I put in table as my word, I should see ----- uacme ----- in the run window.
I must go finish that assignment.
Cheers,
Natasha Jain
P.S IT"S SNOWING LIKE CRAZY OUTSIDE MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.P.S 4 more days until I go to India!
Friday, December 3, 2010
One Week of Substrings Complete!
What do I mean by one week of substrings done? I mean that most of us have learned and almost completed all the substring assignments without Mr.Arkin's assistance.
All of us went on the substrings page and understood the concept. Then we used our knowledge of substrings and other useful stuff we have learned to complete the questions 1 by 1.
I have to say that there were times when I was stumped, but I'm lucky that I had my friends and peers to help me out in those sticky situations.
In class, Mr.Arkin wasn't here again; soinstead of having our substrigs quiz, we spent the period woring on the rest of the substring assignments if we had any left. (BTW, it really helps when you do the question and think it out on paper and pencil first.)
I am currently on #18, which means that I after this one, I have 6 more to work on. Mr.Arkin would like us to have all of the assignments done by Monday.
This is a bit off-topic, but I must say that I have a lot of work. You're probably thinking, what's new - we all have a lot of work!
Aah, that's where you are wrong, I have a lot more work than your average IB kid. Next Friday (as in a week from today) will be my last day in school before I go to India for the holidays. Cool eh?
Not so much when you have a load of homework, test and essays that teachers expect you to complete before you go.
Anyways, I have confidence that I can finish all of my work on time.
Sincerely,
Natasha Jain who is struggling to keep her head above all the homework she has.
All of us went on the substrings page and understood the concept. Then we used our knowledge of substrings and other useful stuff we have learned to complete the questions 1 by 1.
I have to say that there were times when I was stumped, but I'm lucky that I had my friends and peers to help me out in those sticky situations.
In class, Mr.Arkin wasn't here again; soinstead of having our substrigs quiz, we spent the period woring on the rest of the substring assignments if we had any left. (BTW, it really helps when you do the question and think it out on paper and pencil first.)
I am currently on #18, which means that I after this one, I have 6 more to work on. Mr.Arkin would like us to have all of the assignments done by Monday.
This is a bit off-topic, but I must say that I have a lot of work. You're probably thinking, what's new - we all have a lot of work!
Aah, that's where you are wrong, I have a lot more work than your average IB kid. Next Friday (as in a week from today) will be my last day in school before I go to India for the holidays. Cool eh?
Not so much when you have a load of homework, test and essays that teachers expect you to complete before you go.
Anyways, I have confidence that I can finish all of my work on time.
Sincerely,
Natasha Jain who is struggling to keep her head above all the homework she has.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Substring Continued Part 2
How do you like the title guys?
*audience with raised eyebrows*
Ok, I know it isn't exactly original but it'll have to do because the title explains exactly what we have to do in class today.
We continued on our substrings assignments. I like a fool, used built-in functions in my program when Mr. Arkin told us not to. So, I spent the entire period working on editing the assignments. I integrated ASCII codes like we were supposed. Luckily, in class I have time to finish 2 more substrings assignments after I was done editing my incorrect program. That now brings me up to assignment # 11.
Mr.Arkin told us in the wikispaces message that he expects us to have a minimum of 15 assignements and a maximum of all (24) assignments. It is close to impossible for me to finish all assignments by tomorrow so I'm going to aim for 15.
Eleven down, 4 more to go!
Anyways, after that I'll going to look over my notes in preperation for our substrings quiz tomorrow adn maybe if I have time I'll study for the programming test next week.
Adios,
Natasha Jain
*audience with raised eyebrows*
Ok, I know it isn't exactly original but it'll have to do because the title explains exactly what we have to do in class today.
We continued on our substrings assignments. I like a fool, used built-in functions in my program when Mr. Arkin told us not to. So, I spent the entire period working on editing the assignments. I integrated ASCII codes like we were supposed. Luckily, in class I have time to finish 2 more substrings assignments after I was done editing my incorrect program. That now brings me up to assignment # 11.
Mr.Arkin told us in the wikispaces message that he expects us to have a minimum of 15 assignements and a maximum of all (24) assignments. It is close to impossible for me to finish all assignments by tomorrow so I'm going to aim for 15.
Eleven down, 4 more to go!
Anyways, after that I'll going to look over my notes in preperation for our substrings quiz tomorrow adn maybe if I have time I'll study for the programming test next week.
Adios,
Natasha Jain
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Substrings Continued!
Don't mind me today guys; I'm just not feeling up to par which concludes why my blog entry today will be very basic.
We had computer science class Period A today. We also had a spirit assembly today which is why we missed about 25-30 minutes of class. The assembly was very interesting by the way. (Don't ask me what I mean by interesting.)
When we came back to class we set straight to work on our substrings assignments. I have to say that I am not the only one having trouble with substrings assignments #5. Note to readers : I spent more than half the period working on substrings assignment 5 and I still haven't finished it. How on earth does that happen? *incredulous look*
Mr.Arkin wasn't in class today and unfortunately won't be here tomorrow as well. He sent us a wiki message saying that there will be a substrings quiz on Friday. I suppose that is a good wake-up call for those people who have been misusing their class time - MYSELF NOT INCLUDED!
Ha ha!
I didn't understand index in class but Grace kindly explained to me the concepts. (She confused me a bit but called to clear up the confusion !)
Anyways, our homework is to continue working on the substrings assignments and make good progress.
Signing off,
a blue Natasha (by blue, I mean not feeling well)
We had computer science class Period A today. We also had a spirit assembly today which is why we missed about 25-30 minutes of class. The assembly was very interesting by the way. (Don't ask me what I mean by interesting.)
When we came back to class we set straight to work on our substrings assignments. I have to say that I am not the only one having trouble with substrings assignments #5. Note to readers : I spent more than half the period working on substrings assignment 5 and I still haven't finished it. How on earth does that happen? *incredulous look*
Mr.Arkin wasn't in class today and unfortunately won't be here tomorrow as well. He sent us a wiki message saying that there will be a substrings quiz on Friday. I suppose that is a good wake-up call for those people who have been misusing their class time - MYSELF NOT INCLUDED!
Ha ha!
I didn't understand index in class but Grace kindly explained to me the concepts. (She confused me a bit but called to clear up the confusion !)
Anyways, our homework is to continue working on the substrings assignments and make good progress.
Signing off,
a blue Natasha (by blue, I mean not feeling well)
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