Academic Development
March 12, 2014
Humanities
Everyday I typically start with humanities for two hours.
We recently finished the Forward to the Future project. In the humanities aspect, each student read a science fiction novel and analyze the book. I got to read the book 1984 by George Orwell which is about a utopian society. This society is separated into social classes. At the top is the ultimate leader, Big Brother. Then comes the Inner Party which is the high class and government. Then comes the Outer Party which can be seen as the middle class. Then comes the lowest class referred to as the proles. The main character is Winston who is part of the Outer Party. These people from the Outer Party are the ones strictly under surveillance. They have a telescreen which is basically a television, that watches them. They must show no sign of hate towards the society. They must only love Big Brother. (They can't love one another!) Well Winston hates Big Brother. He thinks that he's fooling the society, but in the end, he is defeated and is brainwashed to love Big Brother,
I think my strength in this class is turning all my work in time. Well this is seen throughout all my classes but here that is what our focus is on. When we started doing this new project there was a new addition to the reflections, Each Friday we had to write a reflection of the week. A lot of kids in my class would procrastinate and do all the reflections at the end of the project which resulted into crappy writing. So the teacher made the reflections be checked by her each Saturday morning. If it was done, she would add one point to our grade book. If not completed, it would be a zero. Well kids kept procrastinating and literally 3/4 of the team had a bad grade. By missing one they would bump down, out of the A's. This caused a lot of stress so the teacher decided to take this off and it was up to the students to urn in the whole thing at the end. I was successful in turning it in because I had been part of the students who had completed each reflection each week. Hopefully this leads me to an A. The last two weekly reflections, I got an A- on the first one and then an A+ on the second one.
Evidence I have on turning my work in are my reading notes. Each Tuesday and Thursday we would have lit circles where we would discuss what we have been reading with those reading the same book. I always wrote detailed notes to refresh myself while we discussed important parts of the book. This helped with having a smooth, flowing conversation.
Areas that I could focus on is my style of writing. The teacher commented:
Moving forward, I’d like to propose a challenge. I already enjoy your style of writing reflections. It’s sincere, thorough and perceptive. Now, let’s give a different style a try, perhaps one you’ve always wanted to dabble in or have read before in an article or a book. I believe your writing potential is unlimited. Let’s prove it :).
I did try that in my week #2. I wrote in a way of telling a story. Describing the scene, the feel. Normally I just flat out say the truth. But this way of story telling is not my type of writing. What I'm going to do is look at different styles of writing and with my teach discuss what I should choose. I mean we both discussed on the scene describing on it not being my thing.
Physics
As part of the Forward to the Future project we teamed up with the first graders. They were researching ponds to create their own. We were learning about light, mirrors, and lenses. So we had to come up with a tool using these three to help the first graders observe the pond. Some students created from microscopes, to telescopes, to periscopes. My partner and I decided to create a full periscope the height of our buddy. It turned out so well and she loved it. She would be able to look underwater without having to get dirty.
My biggest strength was sharing the work. I've always had the problem of taking the lead. I take all the work and do it all. I can't rely on others. I feel like they'll mess up causing us to get a bad grade and I can't take in bad grades. But here we were able to create an action list to keep each other accountable and were able to split the work evenly which has been a huge improvement to me,
But sometimes I still struggle in this.
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1bSJZ9-vwrble-P2aaKuouMYGUtIixI7qE1yXOhUGyZs/edit (February 9, 4:42) Everything is in my color because I did the whole thing. My partner was pretty upset that he didn't get to have a say which made me feel bad.
So the only way I can improve is making sure I stick to the action lists. Keep others accountable and prevent myself from taking it all on because it is stressful!
Math
Math is definitely my favorite class. I just overall enjoy math. My biggest strength in this class are my weekly problem sets. We get them each Thursday and have to turn it in the next. There's usually around 10 problems, including challenge problems. This trimester I have concentrated the most on the challenge problems because I don't fell challenged with the others. I discussed it in my previous SLC and were just told to focus on those. In these weekly reflections there's different questions that are worth different points. (Of course the challenge problems are the ones with the highest points) To get a 100% you must do a total of 10 points. Highest possible is 12 which is what I have been aiming to do.
9/1090A-These two grades brought down my grade from a 112% to a 106%.
The reason why I do such a bad job in group works is because I take the whole work on myself. I can't rely in my group members. "If you want the job done well, do it yourself". This idea is what goes through my head.
Currently in math we each got assigned a particular role in a group. The options were GeoGebrer(using Geogebra), documenter(takes notes), facilitator(keeps others on task), spokesperson(presents work), and skeptic(questions everything). Well we each had to write or top three choices and the teacher will assign us into groups. I chose to be spokesperson since I love presenting and got it. The person in my group across for me but GeoGebra as his first choice he got it, and started to complain that he hated it and didn't know how to use it. It got me so mad and I knew if I let him do that he wouldn't do anything. So I made him switch roles with me even though I loved it a lot but work comes first and if I wanted to get the assignment done well, then I should do it.
The only way I can improve it is do the same thing I do in physics which is assign people to specific tasks and keeping them accountable so I'll try to do that in math too.
Study Habits
Well my study habits consist of getting home and starting right away on my homework. I like to get home, write down all my homework tasks on my whiteboard and start going. If I forget I start thinking about what we did in each period which reminds me of what we did which reminds me of the homework. I like to get home and do my work because sometimes I don't know how long it's going to take me! If I start like at 5 and I have 5 hours of homework I am going to have to stay up late which I do not enjoy. I like sleeping and getting a good night's rest to prepare myself for the next day's learning. Oh and one other thing, I like to do my homework ahead of time. I used to do this because I would have soccer practice and I would come back too tired to want to do homework so I checked my teacher's DP'S and checked the homework ahead of time and do it so during the weekdays I would be free to relax. This consisted of doing the weekly problem sets ahead of time, and my KWL charts for physics.
For my classroom behavior and participation what can I say? I definitely annoy my math teach because I always raise my hand to questions. I get the answers so easily I just have to get it out of my system. Math is definitely my most active class. Physics and humanities is not something I am as passionate but I overall love talking so I'm an average talkative student. I am one of the top participators which has lead me to remembering the activities done in class, which leads to me remembering the homework, doing it, and turning it in.
I feel that my improvement should be to share the air. The teachers already know my capability. Time for others to show theirs.
March 12, 2014
Humanities
Everyday I typically start with humanities for two hours.
We recently finished the Forward to the Future project. In the humanities aspect, each student read a science fiction novel and analyze the book. I got to read the book 1984 by George Orwell which is about a utopian society. This society is separated into social classes. At the top is the ultimate leader, Big Brother. Then comes the Inner Party which is the high class and government. Then comes the Outer Party which can be seen as the middle class. Then comes the lowest class referred to as the proles. The main character is Winston who is part of the Outer Party. These people from the Outer Party are the ones strictly under surveillance. They have a telescreen which is basically a television, that watches them. They must show no sign of hate towards the society. They must only love Big Brother. (They can't love one another!) Well Winston hates Big Brother. He thinks that he's fooling the society, but in the end, he is defeated and is brainwashed to love Big Brother,
I think my strength in this class is turning all my work in time. Well this is seen throughout all my classes but here that is what our focus is on. When we started doing this new project there was a new addition to the reflections, Each Friday we had to write a reflection of the week. A lot of kids in my class would procrastinate and do all the reflections at the end of the project which resulted into crappy writing. So the teacher made the reflections be checked by her each Saturday morning. If it was done, she would add one point to our grade book. If not completed, it would be a zero. Well kids kept procrastinating and literally 3/4 of the team had a bad grade. By missing one they would bump down, out of the A's. This caused a lot of stress so the teacher decided to take this off and it was up to the students to urn in the whole thing at the end. I was successful in turning it in because I had been part of the students who had completed each reflection each week. Hopefully this leads me to an A. The last two weekly reflections, I got an A- on the first one and then an A+ on the second one.
Evidence I have on turning my work in are my reading notes. Each Tuesday and Thursday we would have lit circles where we would discuss what we have been reading with those reading the same book. I always wrote detailed notes to refresh myself while we discussed important parts of the book. This helped with having a smooth, flowing conversation.
Areas that I could focus on is my style of writing. The teacher commented:
Moving forward, I’d like to propose a challenge. I already enjoy your style of writing reflections. It’s sincere, thorough and perceptive. Now, let’s give a different style a try, perhaps one you’ve always wanted to dabble in or have read before in an article or a book. I believe your writing potential is unlimited. Let’s prove it :).
I did try that in my week #2. I wrote in a way of telling a story. Describing the scene, the feel. Normally I just flat out say the truth. But this way of story telling is not my type of writing. What I'm going to do is look at different styles of writing and with my teach discuss what I should choose. I mean we both discussed on the scene describing on it not being my thing.
Physics
As part of the Forward to the Future project we teamed up with the first graders. They were researching ponds to create their own. We were learning about light, mirrors, and lenses. So we had to come up with a tool using these three to help the first graders observe the pond. Some students created from microscopes, to telescopes, to periscopes. My partner and I decided to create a full periscope the height of our buddy. It turned out so well and she loved it. She would be able to look underwater without having to get dirty.
My biggest strength was sharing the work. I've always had the problem of taking the lead. I take all the work and do it all. I can't rely on others. I feel like they'll mess up causing us to get a bad grade and I can't take in bad grades. But here we were able to create an action list to keep each other accountable and were able to split the work evenly which has been a huge improvement to me,
But sometimes I still struggle in this.
https://docs.google.com/a/hightechhigh.org/document/d/1bSJZ9-vwrble-P2aaKuouMYGUtIixI7qE1yXOhUGyZs/edit (February 9, 4:42) Everything is in my color because I did the whole thing. My partner was pretty upset that he didn't get to have a say which made me feel bad.
So the only way I can improve is making sure I stick to the action lists. Keep others accountable and prevent myself from taking it all on because it is stressful!
Math
Math is definitely my favorite class. I just overall enjoy math. My biggest strength in this class are my weekly problem sets. We get them each Thursday and have to turn it in the next. There's usually around 10 problems, including challenge problems. This trimester I have concentrated the most on the challenge problems because I don't fell challenged with the others. I discussed it in my previous SLC and were just told to focus on those. In these weekly reflections there's different questions that are worth different points. (Of course the challenge problems are the ones with the highest points) To get a 100% you must do a total of 10 points. Highest possible is 12 which is what I have been aiming to do.
9/1090A-These two grades brought down my grade from a 112% to a 106%.
The reason why I do such a bad job in group works is because I take the whole work on myself. I can't rely in my group members. "If you want the job done well, do it yourself". This idea is what goes through my head.
Currently in math we each got assigned a particular role in a group. The options were GeoGebrer(using Geogebra), documenter(takes notes), facilitator(keeps others on task), spokesperson(presents work), and skeptic(questions everything). Well we each had to write or top three choices and the teacher will assign us into groups. I chose to be spokesperson since I love presenting and got it. The person in my group across for me but GeoGebra as his first choice he got it, and started to complain that he hated it and didn't know how to use it. It got me so mad and I knew if I let him do that he wouldn't do anything. So I made him switch roles with me even though I loved it a lot but work comes first and if I wanted to get the assignment done well, then I should do it.
The only way I can improve it is do the same thing I do in physics which is assign people to specific tasks and keeping them accountable so I'll try to do that in math too.
Study Habits
Well my study habits consist of getting home and starting right away on my homework. I like to get home, write down all my homework tasks on my whiteboard and start going. If I forget I start thinking about what we did in each period which reminds me of what we did which reminds me of the homework. I like to get home and do my work because sometimes I don't know how long it's going to take me! If I start like at 5 and I have 5 hours of homework I am going to have to stay up late which I do not enjoy. I like sleeping and getting a good night's rest to prepare myself for the next day's learning. Oh and one other thing, I like to do my homework ahead of time. I used to do this because I would have soccer practice and I would come back too tired to want to do homework so I checked my teacher's DP'S and checked the homework ahead of time and do it so during the weekdays I would be free to relax. This consisted of doing the weekly problem sets ahead of time, and my KWL charts for physics.
For my classroom behavior and participation what can I say? I definitely annoy my math teach because I always raise my hand to questions. I get the answers so easily I just have to get it out of my system. Math is definitely my most active class. Physics and humanities is not something I am as passionate but I overall love talking so I'm an average talkative student. I am one of the top participators which has lead me to remembering the activities done in class, which leads to me remembering the homework, doing it, and turning it in.
I feel that my improvement should be to share the air. The teachers already know my capability. Time for others to show theirs.