How Have I Improved Since My Last MPOL?
A couple of the goals I made for myself in ninth grade, one being time management and not letting school takeover. I believe recently with the help of time blocking, I’ve almost completely achieved my goal.
For the past couple of years in school, I have been struggling to find a way to keep track of my time, making sure I use the time I have wisely and keeping track of what had to be done in the day. I tired a few different techniques but none stuck.
Humanities
Crazy People Think Differently
I look back on this presentation and I realize how its the exact opposite of what I was supposed to do. I remember thinking, “John Lennon, yes! I’ll do a presentation all about him.” Once the presentation came together it was way too “biography like” and did not cover what it was supposed to. The presentation went smoothly and I was happy with it afterwards but I really just read from presenters notes infront of the class.
How to Improve:
What I were supposed to do was, take the “why does it take a crazy person to change the world” question and answer it with evidence from John Lennons life. In the end of our crazy unit I believe I got ahold of this skill, I still have not mastered it or anything but I definitely understand how to think of units and topics in a more abstract way now. By taking a question and answering it with new found evidence.
Habit of Mind: Thinking Flexibly
Science
This project was quite stressful to put together, this is because I didn’t ask for help when I needed it. This is something that has happened in other subjects in school as-well. I seem to try and take on more than I can handle in group projects, along with the fact that I need to learn how to give instructions to classmates. I will have a certain idea in my head and I don’t bother to share it with my group member, because I feel as though it won’t turn out right or won’t fit the theme of the rest of the project.
How to Improve:
The lesson I’m still learning but starting to understand is the fact that, the whole point of group projects is to collaborate, work together and get different ideas from everyone. I’m learning to do this by thinking as my group as a team and staying in contact by checking in with each other.
Habit of Mind: Thinking Interdependently
Math
Reykjaviks Rules for Solar Panels
For me this project was one of those ones that I was introduced to it and I instantly knew what I wanted the final project to look like. Last year, I would’ve thought that was a good thing and it’s true its great to be excited to create but it is important to not jump the gun.
How to Improve:
I’m learning to do this in DI right now. My group was hoping for one challenge because we all had so many ideas on how we wanted the presentation to look. But now, with the other challenge we are learning to focus on the foundation and build up
Habit of Mind: Remaining Open to Continuous Learning
Maker
From a distance this project was quite successful in my eyes but one “behind the scenes” factor of this multi video project was the storyboarding part. I made storyboards for each of my videos but neither were helpful, I spent all that time making them yet I just threw them aside and decided to use the video we were re-creating as a “storyboard”. This worked out fine but storyboarding is an important part of video making and film making and i need to get this skill down.
How to Improve:
This is a piece of critique for myself that isn’t just for this project but any video based project we have in the future. Once I begin making short films in my senior years of plp I’ll need to be making storyboards even longer and more detailed than the ones I do now. In order to do this I will ask for help and maybe even research how professional storyboards are put together, so that I can learn to create a helpful and advanced storyboards.
Habit of mind: Thinking and Communicating with Clarity and Precision
PGP
I have not finished the “What Do You Really Want” goal setting book. And, I have not finished all the forms. This happened because, I did not use my time as well as I should’ve.
This is not an excuse of any sort, but I have been journaling on my own for about seven months now. On the very last day of school I began writing, no it’s not an organized question and answer goal journal but I do write about my future and what I want to do in this world, topics that I’ve noticed seem to pop up often in the book forms. I belive that a lot of these things are private, this is why I chose to write privately when I did. This does not mean that I won’t do the required forms it just means that I have been writing.
My Question to You
If I’m at school for 6 hours, working hard all day long, how can I make sure that I don’t have to keep working for another 3 hours once I get home. I understand 30-40 minutes of homework but another half of a school day pretty much?
“How can I separate my school day and school work from my free time at home? How do I do most of my work during the school day instead of at home?”