At the beginning of the week, I wanted to stay as far away from the example projects as possible, especially the one that focused on the same book as my group, “Things Fall Apart”. I was afraid that if our group looked at it too much as a reference point, our webpage would slowly look more and more like the example; that it would cease to be our own work. This week I learned that it’s okay to look at examples, and that if you are cautious, they can be a great source of help. First, I looked at Snowfall. I was okay with looking at that example since it was so different from our own, but I was still apprehensive about exemplifying everything they did. As I looked into the piece, I was easily caught up in the story it told. It captivatingly took me through a journey that I hadn’t thought of before. Snowfall explained how an avalanche affected a group of skiers as they traveled down the mountain. The way that it was set up was easy to follow and kept me interested in the topic. By the time I was near the end, I loved the way they set up their multimodal piece, but I still wanted my group’s example to stay away from the techniques they used. However, after a group conversation with Schoenborn, I learned that it’s okay to use examples as a starting point. As we deconstructed Snowfall and looked at how the author set up their piece, the overall process of how we were supposed to create our own piece became much clearer in my mind. I learned that we should mention the major environmental event in the beginning. However, most importantly, I learned that I don’t have to avoid examples, as long as I exemplify the process instead of the material. https://sites.google.com/a/uwlax.edu/exploring-how-students-learn/learning-from-examples
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This week we started a new group project that discusses the importance of environment in our development. The book that the group I’m in chose “Things Fall Apart”, by Chinua Achebe, and the question we are focusing on looks at the pressure the world puts on succeeding. To answer this question we started reading our book and looked specifically for points when Okonkwo, the main character, feels pressure to do well. There are many instances when this character feels this. When Okonkwo was young his father was lazy and didn’t take very good care of his family which made Okonkwo loath everything his father loved; compassion, kindness, and fun. He knew that his father would provide him nothing to help him succeed in life, so he took his future into his own hands. He started building his farm and taking care of his family at a young age, trying to gain a higher status. Thus, as a teenager, Okonkwo already felt the pressure the world places on success. By the time Okonkwo was older, he was doing very well in life. His determination and work paid off with much food to eat and a large family. However, he still felt pressure. He knew that because he had such a high status that if he slipped up once, everyone in the village would know. He hid all the emotions he had that showed weakness and continued to try for a higher status. This is the problem with the pressure that the world puts on success, nothing is ever good enough. You could have the highest title in the world, yet you still would want to do better. This pushes people farther and farther, trying to reach impossible goals that will leave them discouraged when they are not met. As shown by Okonkwo, nothing will ever seem good enough. When you reach one high point, the very next thing you look for is the next place to aim for, not looking back at how far you have come. That is the key to overcome the pressure that the world puts on success, people still need to have goals, but they need to know when to look back and be content with the work they have done. http://victoriaerfle.com/2016/11/15/success-secret/ This week has been stressful, but a good learning experience. It seemed like everything was due, and actually, it was. The trimester ends next week, the community foundation scholarships are due today, and the college I want to go to tells me their decision today. It seemed like I got nothing done this week in this class since most of my focus was elsewhere, but really, quite a lot happened. I learned how to create effective slides that capture the audience's interest and keeps them focused on what you are saying. As I continued to read my book, I found that I unknowingly fixed a problem I had with my independent reading project in the beginning of the trimester. When I first made my independent reading proposal, the overall theme was too broad. I decided to fix it later but never got around to it. However, this week when I looked back at my original ideas, I found that as I had read my books, my ideas had changed for the better. In the beginning I was going to focus on change, but while reading the books I chose, in my mind the main idea went from just change, to change within a family setting, an idea that is much less broad and easier to work with. Thus, I changed my guiding questions and worked out my main idea. Along with all I learned about making slides look professional, this week was fairly productive, even if I didn’t see it as first. https://www.hanselman.com/blog/ProductivityVsGuiltAndSelfLoathing.aspx |
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April 2017
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