Weekly Competition #34
31 May 2019WINNERS ANNOUNCED:
artistic_opinion and honorable_conclusion
It was amazing to hear your examples of then you have used the Burnet News Club skills outside of the club. Our winners this week gave specific, clear and creative answers which were concisely explained. We enjoyed reading about how artistic_opinion used their news literacy skills to check out an article, and were really impressed by honorable_conclusion writing to their MP - and getting a reply! Well done to everyone who entered. You can check out the result of the poll below!
WEEKLY COMPETITION #34
It's the end of the Issue and next week we'll be ready to launch the final topic for the year!
This week's competition will really flex your thinking! Can you tell us about a time when you used a Burnet News Club skill in a subject or lesson OUTSIDE of the BNC? Select the skill in the poll and then explain below.
Winners will be:
- Specific - give an example of when you used the skill
- Clear - explain how you used it and how it helped
- Creative! Think of something original and unusual, if you can!
Winners will be announced on Friday.
Comments (39)
When I was in school I was writing a horror story and I used story making and reasoning to tell the reader what is happening in the story so I have used 2 of the burnet news club skills in my learning out side of burnet news club(bnc)
Can you do more than one a day so you can test us on loads of things
Cool
I have used reasoning a lot more outside of BNC when arguing my point in family discussions and meetings I have been involved in. I have said what I thought, then a fact, said what I thought, and then a fact. People have understood more because I have said so much evidence and added information in that my answer is almost impossible to argue against, although there was a space for open-mindedness. When using reasoning, I have been able to say exactly what I think without struggling to get it into words due to my examples.
When I was in school and I was answering a question in literacy and I used reasoning to convince the teacher why I thought a specific thing. I really enjoyed sharing why I thought something in class and it helped other people as well on their writing and I was very happy that I got to help others.
At my school, we were doing a letter, I used a lot of reasoning with information on what we did on our trip, it was really fun! Also, just a quick note that Olivia @ The BNC came to our school on the 23rd May 2019, Thursday, it was really fun! She came all the way from London!
When I was in school we were writing a missing chapter from Beowulf I used storytelling really well to make a great missing chapter
Reasoning
In school we do guided reading and the questions you answer you will need to back up you answers from facts in the text
At school, we did a debate and I was being open minded by using counter arguments. I was also good at reasoning because I used strong reasons and facts.
I was being open minded because whenever someone said something about why we shouldn’t do something, I would agree with them but show that my idea could help. Someone said that space exploration wastes money and it should be used to find the cure for cancer. But I said actually in space we could find many resources which could contain what we need to make that cure.
I also used reasoning because I strengthen my reasons and stuck to accurate facts.
I am was also curious because whenever someone said something, I gave them a question which makes them really think about what they said.
Once I went to a conference about safety in the community and a teacher asked if this news was real 'Bengal workers hire Bengal Tigers' I did not believe this and so I researched about this. I used my scepticism skill and doubted this happened. I also used my open-mindedness skill by going through ALL the logic and reasons why. At the end I searched this headline to see if other newspaper articles had this. However, when I looked on the web, and asked many people no body had heard of this, so I concluded that this headline was fake
At home I sometimes have debates with my parents. I sometime have discussions at school too. Our latest was: Should not voting be illegal? I said no but I was also open-minded(I think).
Last month(April 23) me and my dad and my sisters went Westfield. We got hungry so went to go eat. My dad wanted to get Pizza from the Pizza Hut while me and my sisters wanted to get chicken and chips from KFC. I was being open minded because I told my dad that although the pizza toppings may make the pizza healthy, the chicken and chips had less oil and was less fatty. I was also using the reasoning skill and gave other reasons to why he should chose wings and chips. I said how it's cheaper, it's his favourite etc. This helped out a lot and really changed my dad's mind around. (In the end we got wins and chips🍗🍟🍗🍟)
Although I have used most (most likely all) of the BNC skills outside the club, the skill I have perhaps found most useful and possibly used most frequently is reasoning. In many of my lessons we are expected to argue our point and in some we have full-fledged debates in subjects like history, english and RE. Apart from having debates we often need to/ are encouraged to give reasons and say why we think something when answering a question. To give an example of when I have used reasoning is in a history lesson last term. We had been looking at World War one and whether General Douglas Haig was a butcher or a hero. We looked into it a bit in lesson before then being encouraged to do extra research into him on whichever side we had decided to argue in our own time (I chose the defence, that Haig was a hero, not a butcher). The next lesson we split into defence and prosecuting sides, debated and put forward our reasons and evidence. Having improved my reasoning through BNC I was able to deliver my points in a clear, reasonably concise (which is good, as we had a time limit for each point) and persuasive way. At the end of the lesson, with solid reasoning from both sides our independent jury (a group of class members not involved in the debate) delivered the verdict: that Haig was a hero and not guilty. The whole defence was a strong group effort and was won by the strong reasoning and undeniable facts found in our research. The bits of the defence I prepared and delivered were, I hope, well reasoned and structured. We had done our research but we weren’t just shooting facts at them: we were combining our facts and our reasoning to deliver our points in a persuasive way, resulting in our ultimate winning of the case.
In the near future I am going to have to apply my reasoning skill well. In RE at the beginning of this coming term we are producing our opinions and debating on the death penalty (as part of our unit religion, crime and punishment) and I know that there are definitely some people who have opposing opinions to me in my class. I’m personally against it in all circumstances, but I am going to have to reason that point of view as well as possible because I know for a fact that there are several in my class who will have good reasons for their opposing points of view too and who will highlight any flaws in my argument if there are any. I also know that there are, admittedly, strong and compelling arguments for a death penalty that I will have to reason against. My hope is that, with my strong skills of reasoning that I have developed through this year of BNC, I will be able to well reason why I hold a certain point of view and maybe even change some people’s minds. In this debate I also think my skill of storytelling will come in useful, as I will need to well communicate my ideas clearly so my classmates can fully understand my points.
So those are two examples of when the development of my reasoning skill through BNC has/ will soon come in useful. However, I think that it is all the BNC skills combined that have allowed my debating and writing both on the BNC and in class to improve so much. With all the skills I have been able to: improve and better communicate my ideas (storytelling), been more open to criticism, opposing ideas and more open to accept other points of view (open-mindedness), become harder deceive and questioned my sources and people’s claims more (scepticism), of course been able to reason better (reasoning) and the curiosity skill has helped me to ask better questions and helped me to become more inquisitive, has made me actively want to learn more about each topic and find out more information. I think one of these skills alone (reasoning) has allowed me to become a better writer and debater but it is when I combine all five skills in one piece of writing when I think I do my very best work.
When I was with my friends and we went to the cinema I convinced them to go Mc Donalds saying that food was cheap and good
one time the police came to the school and talked about how to be safe i used my reasoning skills to convince the police officer that sometimes violence may be the only solution ej: in an attack
i used curiosity for knowing about knew things that I can then use on my studies.
I used the story telling skill when I was in a familiar reunion and the room was stressful quiet. I got fed up so I started telling a very interesting story. This was so successful that I encouraged other people to tell stories when they are afraid of it
I used curiosity yesterday when i wanted to find up the capital of Guatemala.
when i was in school i reasoned everything doing an activity and that helped a lot and i was so good
One day I was writing an essay about a book we were reading in class when I remended some of the burnet news club that help me improve
At school, we did a debate and I was being open minded by using counter arguments. I was also good at reasoning because I used strong reasons and facts.
I was being open minded because whenever someone said something about why we shouldn’t do something, I would agree with them but show that my idea could help. Someone said that space exploration wastes money and it should be used to find the cure for cancer. But I said actually in space we could find many resources which could contain what we need to make that cure.
I also used reasoning because I strengthen my reasons and stuck to accurate facts.
I am was also curious because whenever someone said something, I gave them a question which makes them really think about what they said.
Reply to this comment
Arnhem-Wharf-logo-250x250.jpg artistic_opinion Arnhem Wharf Primary School 27 May 2019
Once I went to a conference about safety in the community and a teacher asked if this news was real 'Bengal workers hire Bengal Tigers' I did not believe this and so I researched about this. I used my scepticism skill and doubted this happened. I also used my open-mindedness skill by going through ALL the logic and reasons why. At the end I searched this headline to see if other newspaper articles had this. However, when I looked on the web, and asked many people no body had heard of this, so I concluded that this headline was fake
Reply to this comment
Streatham-Wells-logo-250x250.jpg adventurous_piano Streatham Wells Primary School 27 May 2019
At home I sometimes have debates with my parents. I sometime have discussions at school too. Our latest was: Should not voting be illegal? I said no but I was also open-minded
The other day, my parents were talking about politicians and I was very curious about how every politician thinks, so I went to internet and I researched it. Then I told them what I thought.
A couple of weeks ago, I was discussing climate change in my form lesson. This sparked my curiosity as to what my local MP (Michael Ellis) thought about climate change. Therefore, I decided to write a letter to ask about his opinion. In my letter, I presented my opinion using facts and this showed reasoning - I said that polar bears would die as a result of the ice caps melting among other things. Also, I showed scepticism by asking some very controversial questions. For example, I asked " Do you think that your party are too focused on Brexit to be concerned with climate change?" Being curious and asking these questions helped because he responded within two weeks. The response was really informed and helped me to understand more about the issue and how the government were responding to it. Overall, showing these skills helped me to receive a more detailed answer to my questions than if I had written without using them.
This is a great use of your BNC skills! Well done.
One day, my friend told me that A man from Waterbury in Connecticut faces divorce after his wife found out that he was not actually deaf and had been faking it for more than 62 years to avoid having to listen to her.
I found it quite funny at first but I didn't quite find it realistic so I decided to dig deeper. So I went home and did a bit of research. Instantly, hundreds of websites came up saying that this was fake news. I went to my friend an exposed the truth to her and explained how she can spot fake news. I was being curious because I was not easily statisfied and asked more questions to dig deeper.
I finished all my work at school one day and handed it to my teacher to mark. She said that I was incorrect because I put in the wrong information in my fact file. I accepted what she said and used it as constructive critiscm. I went home and researched and it said that I was right. So I went back to my teacher and challenged her statement. I knew that I did thorough research the first time and suspected that what she said was incorrect so this time I challenged her fact. So we both went on her computer and searched it up. Once she knew the truth, she apologised for her mistake and went on to mark other peoples work. I was being spectocal because I challenged her statement thinking it was wrong. I also think I was spectocal because I spotted the weak statements that my teacher said.
Last term I was in form and we were having a debate. We had to state our opinion on the statement: "Donald Trump is a good leader" It was very fitting.
One person said that she thought he was because he had kept his promise to America. However, I disagreed with this statement because of this 'big beautiful wall' that he's building. Nevertheless, I didn't just 'say' my opinion. I gave examples, to back it up, like the wall splitting North and South Korea, to say how it was dangerous and unfair to the people. And I gave another one about Inoutia ( the thing that we did in the session ) and the troubles that people faced because of it like, overpopulation for example. This shows that I can use reasoning and storytelling.
Furthermore, I listened to her opinion instead of just ranting on about mine. I used Phrases like: ''I can see where you're coming from, however...'' This demonstrates my open-mindedness.
The skills that I have used outside the Burnet News Club is reasoning and open-mindedness.
At school, we were learning about a balanced argument and I had to come up with my own. My balanced argument was “Should “Article 50” be revoked?” My argument had to have lots of reasoning and reasoning was the vital skill to complete my argument. Open-mindedness was also used in order to consider both sides of leaving the EU and staying in the EU.
My reasons for that “Article 50” should be revoked was:
• It’s extremely complicated
Some people describe Brexit as, “separating the ingredients from a cake after it has been baked from an oven”. It is similar to that because if we leave the EU, then as well as doing that, we would have to worry about another rule of one of the articles of leaving the EU. If that article is secure, we will have to worry about another article and it will take an awful amount of time to untangle all the strings of leaving the EU.
• It’s always being delayed and Theresa May could deal with the more worrying issues of the UK
We have been talking about Brexit since 2016, three years! We had many times to make a deal with the EU but Theresa May has been delaying it for about three years. Instead, we could revoke “Article 50” itself and we could go into the more worrying issues of the UK and focus more on them.
• “Article 50” is dividing MPs (within the same political party) as well as the UK citizens
Many MPs have been divided with Brexit and even the UK citizens have been divided. An example of this is that the Labour Party’s strong member called Alastair Campbell voted for the Liberal Democrat Party instead of his own Labour Party in the European Election, which after, made the Labour Party expel him. Different constituencies have been divided because one place votes for another party that the other place does not and nobody really considers the other party and what would be the best decision. If we revoke “Article 50”, then the nations could come together.
My reasons for that “Article 50” should not be revoked was:
• Theresa May could explore this issue further and establish a compromise with the EU
If “Article 50” was revoked, then Theresa May could have looked further into this broad topic and maybe after a few years, make a deal, which will fulfil the UK’s needs. If we revoke “Article 50”, then we may not be able to achieve this and it could mean that we will not be able to have a satisfying deal, which made Theresa May forcefully resign and step down as Prime Minister.
• In 2016, the people had a vote and this would mean their votes haven’t counted
If the people had voted for what they had wanted, then if we revoke the whole of Brexit, the public would think that our votes have not counted. This also means that our fair democracy in the UK is not being valued and there would only be MPs and Prime Ministers voting and changing the circumstances of Brexit. It would be extremely unfair.
• If we don’t leave the EU, we could miss advantages
We do have advantages of leaving the EU because if we stay in the EU, then we give more money to the EU than they give to us, we could protect our borders so people would not be able to overuse our facilities and come back to their country wealthy and we could have our own stricter rules and laws since we are currently following the rules of the European Court of Justice. If we revoke “Article 50”, we could be missing many of these advantages.
I also had to use reasoning for my personal opinion to conclude my balanced argument. My opinion on this topic is that “Article 50” should not be revoked since (as I have mentioned before), Theresa May could explore this issue into greater depth meaning that we could have a better deal. Despite three years being wasted on this topic, we could miss many advantages that could definitely have a massive impact on us. In my opinion, Theresa May should act from her first day of being prime minister and should immediately negotiate with the European Union and at the same time, within the UK parliament, for Brexit negotiations instead of waiting for the last minute. I believe that she must take each and every problem regarding Brexit separately rather than trying to solve everything in one go. She should have debated and taken vote for each and every problem separately (in another words, she should have categorised each problem and separately take the party’s vote) within her own party (Conservative), then negotiate with the EU rather than taking all the EU’s opinions and asking her own party to agree for it, which makes the party fragile and divide in many directions against their own party leader: Theresa May.
Another very important point I have to talk about is the knowledge I have been given by learning all these skills and through the Burnet News Club, they will remain all of my life for my future studies and day to day outside the academic life. I have realised this because of my SATS exams and secondary school entrance exams that I have used these skills successfully.
One of the many questions I always ask is why people hold bizarre customs which never seem logical to me. Now Chinese cultures have many customs and superstitions that people follow religiously, but sometimes I struggle to make sense of it all. There are many but I will tell you one that might make you a bit flummoxed.
My parent’s friend recently gave birth, and she’s confined to her house for a month. After giving birth she didn’t wash at all, yes that’s right, not a sprinkle of water, just wiped her self down. And, she is not allowed to do so for one whole month! “Why does she not wash?” I asked my mother. Well, apparently, it’s a chinese tradition of ‘postnatal confinement’; where new mothers do not leave the house, have visitors or shower for a month after giving birth, reasons for this is that they believe mother and baby’s immune systems are very low and they are likely to get ill, so they believe if you expose yourself to the elements, then you are putting yourself and the baby’s health at risk.
Surely there is no scientific proof? And surely just washing yourself down would not cause you any harm? Unfortunately, my mother tells me that it’s so engrained in the Chinese tradition that people just follow it without asking. Is there any real benefit to it all? Many will follow it through because you don’t want to be seen to be the bad mother that jeopardises herself and the child’s health by going outside even on a nice warm day. I reasoned to my mother that this really doesn’t seem healthy at all, even for your mental state. My mother agrees, she says it may stem from the fact that centuries ago new mothers frequently got ill and your chance of dying was higher and thats the same all over the world due to bad sanitation, but now in the modern world, we have a greater understanding of infections and better healthcare, so there’s no need to follow this practice. In my opinion, it’s like a superstition that’s fed down over many, many years; you don’t want to break the rule because there’s always the fear of the negative consequences of ‘what if’ that prey on their minds and that’s why mothers even highly educated mums are still following this practice to this day. But, in my opinion there’s no logic to it at all, in fact, I have found a practice that is the opposite of postnatal confinement, where, in Sweden, many Swedish parents put their babies in their strollers all bundled up outside to nap, even when the temperatures are sub zero! They say children sleep longer and better this way and believe the cold and the fresh air is good for a child's health and their immune system.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21537988
What a fascinating example of having a thoughtful discussion with a parent and using your skills, along with knowledge you gather, to form a sound opinion.
Last year, I signed up I be school council. But to be school council, you had to write a speech. It didn't take me that long but I wrote my speech in a very formal and understanding way. I gave strong reasons and talked through the reason which was strongest. I used my reasoning skill hear and I also uses the open mindedness skill because I welcomed different points of view. I asked the people what they want and what they think in order to write my speech. P.S that speech made me get the job for school council!
In my school, we do a choral speaking every year, and i was open minded to the way of doing it.
Not a long time ago, I had an English teacher who was completely into conspiracy theories, he said things about the flat earth, which myself and classmates were very skeptical about and something called pizza gate (..?). I showed skepticism and researched about the things he said, which did not sound real at all.
in debating class we talked about Donald trump and I supported my ideas to stop migration and people from invading the USA, I supported my ideas with facts that made my class mates and me see the wall from different points of view
At my school every year we do a choral speaking,where each class in a year performs a poem against their year. Lets say the year sevens, each year 7 class would perform a poem against each other.
I was open minded in the way that I was open minded with how to perform this poem, every time an idea would come up I would listen and understand where it came from, and then from there ask questions about it. I would never desert an idea I would work with it and understand where it came from.
When I had an idea I would explain it in detail and so my peers would be able to understand my idea, as a form we tried to be open minded with each other so that we could have a better poem, and all our ideas would be included.
I am open minded because i ask the waitwer what is the best food and i let him choose
I was open minded because I let people choose their food in a restaurant even if I do not like it.
we were speaking about Donald Trumps' wall and I was giving strong reasons and talked through the reasons which was strongest and more important
After school I do a debate club to help me with looking at different perspectives as well as helping others understand my own. Over weeks I have used many debates to help me use reasoning within my argument. I use reasoning weakly and I have improved in debate aswell as my writing. Using the skill I create a wide range of information and help others to understand me and my ideas. Reasoning can help with other skills such as: openmindedness as it can resolve an argument by giving facts to help others understand and think about other views on the topic.
I find that of all the skills I have learned from Burnet News Club, the one that has made the biggest difference to me was the open-mindedness skill. This is because prior to my recruitment at the Burnet News Club, I have always had quite fixed opinions on things and often only saw things from my point of view. However, over these past few months of writing things from other people's perspectives, my mind has changed and I have started to think about things from every angle. For example, I recently used this skill in my end of year business test. We had a question where we were given some information on 2 people and we had to decide whether they should set up as a partnership or a private limited company. Earlier on in the year, I had this question and I answered with: 'I think they should set up as a private limited company because...' However, now I had this question, after months of the BNC and I found that I looked at it in a different way, and the first thing that came to my mind was: 'They could set up as a private limited company because...' and 'or they could set up as a partnership because...' I wrote it down and surprise surprise I got full marks on the question! Now, this is only one example of many, but my point is that open-mindedness has helped me everywhere, my grades, my decisions, it's even helped me to make more friends! And to sit here and think about it now just makes me feel so grateful to be a part of this club and to have this available to me, as I know for a fact that I wouldn't be in a good place without it!
During this issue I have developed the Burnet News Club skills substantially,widely and variously.This topic has enabled me to use the skills of open-mindedness;reasoning;storytelling;curiosity and scepticism in our lessons and elsewhere.In this I am going share with you my experience of the BNC expertises.
I have come across the capability of open-mindedness in school and outside of school.For example, someone questioned me whether it is good to know another language; I thought of reasonable ideas for my answer.For instance, it is really good because you can ace your GCSE language test as you can already communicate in another language.Another upside would be becoming a multi lingual:you would get a good pay with that job: approximately £30,000 just for knowing a different language.
However you could use a different language to talk behind someone’s back or help a criminal. You could do this if police ask you to phone them and ask where they are as they won’t be thinking you are working with the police but then in another language you tell them to ‘RUN’ and the police don’t know you’ve done that.
Throughout this topic I have also been sceptical about what people say. Such as the time when I was told that a famous person had died.I didn’t think this was true so I asked them how they knew and they replied saying online.So when I got home I checked for myself on lots of loyal popular news stories and it was actually true and I was paralysed with shock but I was glad I didn’t just believe it that easy although it was true .
There was a time where I had used my curiosity capabilities.When I was younger I had found something very peculiar and distinctive to anything I had ever seen; it was The Crown Jewels and The Royal Punch Bowl ; it was so beautiful and I started to ask lots of questions like where do all the diamonds come from?,how do you make it? Where they got the gold from? and whey it was made but I couldn’t answer my questions because before I knew it I woke up and realised it was all a dream.
I have also really emphasised the skill of reasoning in my reading comprehension questions and my answers have been becoming more fuller and explained with lots of evidence to back up my idea and make other reasons sound like the worst idea to agree with.
In this piece have actually been using my storytelling skills but I have also used it when I got asked how I broke my leg.Also the experience in full detail and very good memory. For this you would need to make the story interesting maybe by the voice you use or the intricate information and excitement.