Evaluating My Ideas
I definitely learned a lot in the first term of this school year. Though I learned all about English, Science, Math, etc., the most important thing I learned wasn’t taught to me by a teacher, or even through my iPad. The most important thing I learned is that sometimes, thinking outside the box isn’t the best decision.
I find I am always trying to do something special. I figure there’s no point in being in PLP if all I’m gonna do is make the same project as the person beside me. So I often find myself in situations where I have committed too much to a difficult idea to back out. My stubbornness doesn’t exactly help with this either. Before committing to my ideas a lot of the time I’ll be warned that it might not work, but to be completely honest, I just brush that off and think nothing of it. I definitely shouldn’t think like that anymore especially seeing as the one warning me is usually my teacher.
The project that triggered the discovery of my issue was most definitely the Frankenstuffy project from a couple months ago. Right off the bat, I didn’t like the idea of the project. Not sure about you but I’m not a big fan of stuffed animals, especially not cutting them up. I don’t know, the whole thing kinda seemed a little strange to me. However, I’ve always liked making videos, (in fact my PLP entry video was literally a video of different videos I had taken) so at least I had something to motivate me. The project took a while to get off the ground, and for the first three weeks of the project I was feeling really good and completing work I was confident about, such as my script, storyboard, and planning. After completing everything necessary before actually shooting our videos, things started to go downhill.
Honestly, I knew there was no way the video would turn out the way I wanted when I thought about how I was gonna film it, and I drew a blank. It was one of those moments when I just figured somehow the project would figure itself out in the end. But me being too dim-witted to ask any questions was really the initial downfall of the whole product. After seeing how other people shot their videos, I decided on a technique that only a few people where using. However, at the time I didn’t realize the technique wouldn’t work paired with a background video, as appose to a still photo. Anyways, I don’t really need – or want – to go on and on about how terrible my video was in the end. The important thing I took away from this was not that Apple’s new screen/audio recording feature is buggy, but that sometimes I need to think ahead and see things through a little more while I still have the chance.
In Science and Math I have been feeling really comfortable so far this school year. I haven’t felt much of a challenge and I’m not worried at all when it comes to either of these subjects. I enjoy Mr. Gross’ teaching style. I appreciate the laidback attitude he has, I think that really helps with the confidence I have in his class’. We haven’t done many projects in scimathics yet but I would say my best works were first off the safety video and also the science aspect of Frankenstuffy. I am proud of the work me and my group did for the video because we had a good time filming it, we cooperated well, there was actual informational content, and most importantly, everyone liked it! I think I had really intricate scientific reasoning behind the way I used the carbon cycle in my Frankenstuffy project. I think it showed a great understanding of what we learned about matter cycles.
My work habits have been a lot better of late. I feel like I’ve actually been able to concentrate during lessons without being distracted. Who knows, maybe it’s just because everybody is finally growing up! No but seriously I’ve been feeling a lot more focused and in tune with schoolwork lately. In scimathics the new seating arrangement is pretty much perfect for me, sitting next to someone like Luca O.G. is a good compromise as he is my friend but he knows how to get down to work when it’s necessary.
So after wrapping all of this up, I have come up with one goal I want to feel like I have accomplished before the end of the school year;
I want to create work that pushes my own boundaries whilst still feeling in control at all times.
To complete this goal I will use all the experience I have gathered from my failures and check in with myself before commuting to an idea. This way I will know whether or not the idea will come full circle, if I cannot see the idea through to the end, I may need to revise/reevaluate. My question for my teachers and parents is…
What is my greatest strength? And how am I not using it to my full advantage?
danielw • January 23, 2018