WELCOME TO MY STUDENT LED CONFERENCE BLOGPOSTS!!!
While making these blog posts I really was able to reflect on my past mistakes and achievments and I think writing all this stuff has really hammered it all into my brain… especially the things I need to improve on. I hope you enjoy!
– love youna š
ā¢ Performance and effort thus far
Overall in the first half of this school year being in FLIGHT 9, I think I have learned a lot of new things that I probably couldnāt have in any other program such as learning to make the most out of technology and different apps.
ā¢ Study habits
I still have difficulties with staying on top of assignments, due dates, and doing my work diligently but I think that I have improved a lot in incorporating technology and different formats into my work and using research of my own along with my own ideas to complete projects.
ā¢ What are your strengths as a learner?
My strengths in school are being able to research and understand most of the things we are learning about in depth and being able to easily access that information later on for assignments and projects. For example, with the Cray Cray Yay Yay Keynote, I could easily remember the things that I had read about Frank Lloyd Wright making it super easy to answer all of the questions that others asked me. I also have really good short term memory, which is honestly
ā¢ What are your challenges as a learner?
Iāve realized that I need to improve the structure of my writing and maybe increase the variety of words that I use because after having to write more āstructuredā essays and paragraphs, I found that all of my info was scattered around everywhere instead of leading to the point I was aiming for. One example of this would definitely be my Gates essay (first draft) where I just took all of my information and put it together without any particular order or ending conclusion.
I also have trouble with staying on top of my work not because I donāt have enough time to complete it but rather because I procrastinate and thatās something that I definitely need to work hard on to fix as soon as possible.
ā¢ How can you take your academic performance to an even higher level?
I need to work on structuring my written work so itās main point is clear and understandable and I need to work on getting assignments completed ahead of time so I have time to improve, edit, and revise it rather than doing it last minute and not having time to edit or getting caught up with other unexpected things like more homework or incase we go somewhere and run out of time.
ā¢ What are your social and participation strengths and challenges?
My strengths in working socially and in groups would be contributing to ideas and information and doing as much as I can. I would definitely make the Seattle Cray Cray Yay Yay project an extremely good example since I feel that I did a ton of work to pull the video and script together. Being DRI in that project especially made me work harder to improve the end result and I found it really hard trying to get the others in my group to work, but in the end it all worked out. I think my challenges would be getting others to listen to my ideas and my opinions because I have a hard time speaking up and sharing what I have to sayā¦ especially when itās infront of the class.
ā¢ How have you grown in the classroom this year as a young adult?
This year Iāve learned many valuable (and hard) lessons and skills that will definitely help me in the future. For example, I learned the (very) hard way that I shouldnāt underestimate how important time management is even in āeasyā assignments. Time management is something that I have continuously struggled with but this year, I took the easy work for granted and pushed it off and honestlyā¦ small stuff piled up over time REALLY adds up!!! The big example for this was the Into Thin air reading and I can read a few chapters in no time really and I can read an entire book the same size in literally two days (InkHeart) if Iām into it, but I really canāt if itās something that long and Iām reading it for just school. I learned a lot about using different ways to present my work that typically in a regular class would have just been filling out a worksheet or answering questions. In FLIGHT though, I had the opportunity to present my work in various ways such as preziās, keynotes, brochures, skits, and the most interesting one for me was using iMovie!
This is an essay that will always take me back to that day when we were all stuffed into the lounge at 9:00pm and told to write a 500 word essay on the Gates Foundation. I was so tired and wanted to sleep so rather than focusing on the writing component, I kind of have to admit that I focused most of my time trying to extend ways to say one thing such as adding words like āvery, extremely, amazing, soā and etc. So that was embarrassing but I think I did a good job at gathering examples and information to support what I was saying. One example for this would be the part where I was describing the mosquito trap and the process they used to create the foundation
I found out last year that I have a really really good short term memory that helps me when I am studying for tests, quiz’s, projects, and assignments. So basically I study, do the work, and forget everything. (I am starting to wonder if this is my brain adapting to classroom ways?) This has helped me a lot with my tests in particular but I think thats it’s really bad ghat I just forget everything after because then I feel like I learned and did all that stuff for no reason and I think thats what makes it a weakness as well as being a strength. As I have probably talked about (or will talk about) I have very very poor time managment and creating a time line I find helps a lot with this so I still need to improve in that area for sure before I get caught in big trouble in the future. I love doing these projects rather than just tests and notes because it helps me remember so much more and that was honestly why I wanted to join Flight before highschool. I had already realized in Gr. 6 that projects worked really well for me. My biggest goal for the next half year in Humanities other than time managment would probably be increasing my writing skills.
For me, my favorite and best work in this class would have to be the Frankenstuffie
Project and the http://goo.gl/vmd0h5. I think I was able to learn alot and increase my video editing skills and expand ideas to create these to projects. You can probably tell that there is a big difference in levels and I think that this class has really helped me increase my level. I have to admit they weren’t easy assignments but they were definitely worth it!
I decided to choose my Cancer Project because I thought it was a good example to show some of my strengths and weaknesses. In this project, I found myself doing a lot of research on the topic in a way that kind of distracted me at the same time. Instead of focusing on the criteria given, I spent extra time on areas that I didn’t even need and found myself having to delete paragraphs because I didn’t have enough room to explain all the information that I wanted to present. I gathered my information from all sorts of places, I found some websites that contained lots of information and the coolest part was finding these really cool apps in the app store that contained loads of information that was very well organized into sections and visually easy to understand too. I don’t think I would have even thought of trying to find apps containing information on cancer. I think I did strongly in researching my specific topic and cancer in general but I think I should have payed closer attention to how I organized and prioritized the way I was presenting it all.
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I think that I need to improve in prioritizing my time between different subjects just because when ever I get caught up between 2 projects or assignments, I’ll tend to spend less of my time on science because I always feel like the other project is more significant and because it is worth more in grades and I’ve realized over the first half year that even if science labs or work sheets aren’t worth as much as a big humanities assignment… it really starts to build up, and fast too. I guess it all goes back to time managment that creates problems like this in the first place!! My main goal for this class though is to try to remember most of the stuff I learn because so much of it is so cool and facinating but in the end, I’m so focused on getting the homework and assignments done and passing quiz’s that I forget almost everything.
1. Specific, measurable goal for Humanities.
In Humanities, I need to speak aloud more clearly infront of the class and participating more in class discussions.I think these two factors have definitley held me back in some areas and improving those skills I’m sure would help me a lot.
2. Specific, measurable goal for Science/Math.
Following the criteria specifically following the direct instructions. I found that from my previous assignments, I lost a lot of marks from becoming distracted sometimes and not answering the questions given in the criteria. I know I can improve greatly with my marks for the style if I manage my time better.
3. A personal goal that is related to work habits, habits of mind, or personal development.
Being diligent with my work and working towards not procrastinating making further problems. If I can fix this problem then I think I could improve greatly and not get into stressfull situations in the first place.
While making this project, I learned how interesting and detailed iMovie and Garage band could be to create a movie with so many options while I has previously used it only in class before for making “trailers”. I learned to fade out audio, add different filters, add sound effects and use multiple transitions.
I created a video to show the creation and story of how my “Fuzz Puff” came to life and how Barbie’s madness was released by the creation of this adorable animal.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=_yiFD1pgVJc
Many knew and incredible inventions came to life during the Industrial Revolution and allowed people to invent things to create things in mass amounts and work more efficiently while also improving lots of medical and engineering knowledge. Through this, lots of knowledge, tools, and machinery were invented to help create the Fuzz Puff.
I would definitely go into more detail scientifically on how my frankenstuffie was created and why if I could redo it but overall I think it was pretty good. I really loved this assignment and learned so much from it and had lots of fun doing it too! THANKS!