I was surprised to hear in the beginning of the week that our projects would be due in five days. At that point, I was still reading the book, our picture notes weren’t quite done, we still weren’t sure what we were going to write, and the interview hadn’t been finalized. Basically, I was hoping the due date would be extended. When I realized that it was fairly set in stone though, our group went into high gear. By Wednesday I finished my book and decided on a clear outline to write about. The finishing touches were put in on the website, and all we needed was the writing and the interview. However, we were still stressed because the writing was a major part of the project. During class time, our group would work on it together, each person adding what they could to the piece. By the end of class on Thursday, we finished the first page and part of the second, but still hadn’t touched the third. That night each one of us got onto the document that the paper was on and wrote what we could about each subject. Although the due date loomed above us, we pushed on, eventually finishing by around eight o’clock. Even though the due date seemed overpowering at times, by working as a team we finished in time. http://www.sixsigmaonline.org/six-sigma-training-certification-information/the-importance-of-business-teamwork-2/
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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 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 Even though by the end of last week I knew that creating the This I Believe video would by hard, I didn’t realize how much time even simple tasks would take. This week, I created the video for my This I Believe essay, which helped me learn a new skill that I actually really enjoyed. I started putting together my recording, music, and videos on Monday, and it took a lot more time than I thought was necessary. First, I had to find videos that would fit my topic well and illustrate the point I was trying to make. It was pretty hard to find the right video. I quickly found out that you can’t just type sad people into Youtube and find a video with the exact scenes that I wanted. I had to think outside of the box by considering videos that would have people that were sad in them. Then I had to convert them into MP4 files, upload them to my computer, and then upload them to WeVideo. Just those steps alone took around two hours to complete. The music came easier since I had previously picked most of the songs. Then, when I truly starting creating the video after I had obtained all the supplies I needed took awhile too. I had to cut out the parts of the videos that I wanted, place them in the right spot of my recording, and pick the right music to set the mood of the scene. It took me quite a while figure it all out, but eventually I made my video exactly how I wanted it, and uploaded it to Youtube. Thinking back, I really enjoyed this project. I had loved placing the videos and making the music drop at the exact right moment. Even though it took me a long time to write down my belief and create a video for it, I found something that I loved to do in the process. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/274960 At the beginning of this week, I didn't have my This I Believe essay written. I had an idea in my head, but I didn't know how to put that belief into words or ideas that I could write about. This essay came up in conversation with friends, and I mentioned that I had an idea, but didn't know how to phrase it. They asked what that belief was. At first it was hard and I could tell they were confused, but after I explained more, they finally understood what I was trying to say. By talking out loud about my belief, I realized what it was that I wanted to share. Also, by speaking with them in conversation, it helped me add conversational elements into my essay. For the last few days of the week, I revised and edited my essay. I thought at first that it would be fairly easy to put together my words, the songs I chose, and the pictures or videos, so I wasn't too stressed about finishing my essay until this morning. My friend was showing me her video, and at that moment I realized how complex it actually was. Picking out songs and videos was the easiest step. After picking a video, you have to turn it into an MP4 file, find the right spot in your recording to place it, then figure out your transition. By understanding how complex creating the entire video was, it made me understand that I need to use my time more wisely. By speaking to my friends this week about the project, I was able to put words to my belief and understand how much more I need to work on. http://www.customspeechwriting.com/compose-your-speech-out-loud-speeches-should-be-heard-and-not-read/ In the beginning of this week, we learned storytelling tactics that would be helpful for telling our digital story. I watched The Mystery Box, spoken by J.J. Abrams. There were many helpful tips that I picked up while watching him speak. The overall message was good, but the most help I received was by looking closely into how he told his story. For example, he explained that he started thinking of ideas to talk about on TED by asking himself why he was passionate about mysteries. To find the answer to that question, he looked back into his past and visited different memories. This helped me find the right memories in my own past to explain my belief. Abrams also gave only just enough information to explain his topic, he didn’t go too deep into the memory. While writing my essay, I found that some of the topics I wrote didn’t necessarily go with my belief, so I cut it out. Abrams showed multiple clips from movies and added humor to many of his concepts. This kept his audience interested in what he was saying, and supported his points because they were relevant and helped him connect to the listeners. After everyone finished watching the TED Talk of their choice, we all came together to discuss key points of digital storytelling. The tips that people spoke of helped me see more ways to write my belief and and successfully tell my story. http://edtechteacher.org/8-steps-to-great-digital-storytelling-from-samantha-on-edudemic/ In the beginning of the week, we learned about tracking. At first, the concept scared me and now, it still scares me. It is insane that the internet contains so much information about the people that use it. I came to the conclusion that there the government needs to regulate tracking to give the citizens a choice on whether they want to be tracked or not, and to create consequences for companies that violate a citizen's information. As of now, companies can sell your personal information, and you can't do anything about it. There is no legislation to stop them. After we decided if we agreed or disagreed on the matter of government regulation, everyone in the class split into separate groups. In the agree group we talked about the issues with tracking and decided that the people need to have a choice when it comes to tracking. By the end of our discussion, I was pretty decided that tracking was one of the worst things in the world. I couldn't see how anyone would disagree, and started creating a closed mind on the subject. However, when all the groups came back together for a discussion, the person that argued for no government regulation helped me understand the flip side of the matter. One thing they said was that tracking helps companies know how to best meet the needs of the people and that when companies create profiles of people online they never use names, making it hard to violate a person's information. Although I still think tracking is wrong, that discussion made me understand both sides of the argument and helped me keep an open mind to others' opinions. http://www.qatardebate.org/debate-and-debating/benefits-of-debating In the beginning, I wasn't sure what to make of my critical theory group. We had such different tastes, and had trouble from the start. First, it was hard to pick out a critical theory we could all agree on. Then, after we had chosen the Marxist theory, we each took our own perspective on what it meant, focusing on aspects that didn't always align very well. It wasn't until Professor McDermott came in that we truly came together in our interpretations and made a thesis statement. We decided to look at power within King Lear, especially the process of gaining more. However, even though we now had a thesis statement, we still didn't totally agree on the content we would use for our paper. At one time, Marybeth and I flat out disagreed, to the point where it seemed more time efficient to take out that specific paragraph than rewrite it in the way that would please us both. Little conversations/arguments such as those truly made our paper, and even our presentation, great. We found new and interesting ways to combine all our ideas through the process of give and take. We also developed a greater appreciation of each team member's perspectives as we talked through our problems. Although there were tough and numerous bumps in the road, our group became better from them. Without those trials, we would have understood Marxism and King Lear nearly as well as we do now. http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidroth/2013/07/29/supporting-healthy-conflict-in-the-workplace/#c0613e8577ba On Thursday, we had a guest speaker, Dr. McDermott, come into the class to discuss Shakespeare with us and give us advice for our Shakespearean Drama Project. The discussion was very interesting and helped me understand how important Shakespeare was to England, as well as what elements make a culture. Overall, it gave me a good insight to how much we reley on Shakespeares's works today. After the discussion everyone broke into their groups while Dr. McDermott came around to talk with our presentations. She came to our group first, which meant we received ample time to talk about our project together. Dr. McDermott was extremely helpful to my group. She gave us more characters to consider, explained important parts of our play (King Lear) that we could use in our paper, and explained our critical theory (Marxism) in great detail. These elements gave us more information to put into our paper and gave us a clearer vision of our presentation. Before that conversation, our group wasn't quite together. We each were interpreting the purpose of our paper a little differently. With Dr. McDermott's help, we came together in our purpose, making our paper much look much less daunting to write. http://www.neindiaresearch.org/where-to-find-expert-help-with-your-paper-writing |
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April 2017
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