Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Project Reflection
I think that if I could have been any animal during this project, I would have chosen the Velociraptor. I would have chosen this for many reasons. One is that velociraptors are very swift, and hunt for their food efficiently and on time. I think that if I can work faster, my final project can be slightly tastier, and will not have gone bad from it staying out too long. Another great benefit of being a velociraptor is being able to teleport. This comes special with the limited edition velocohmylordaptor, but it can prove extremely useful when you need a more first hand experience about what you are learning. If I had upgraded, I would have been able to really experience the feeling of actually meeting the people in Ethiopia, and knowing through emotion and sight what they are dealing with. In addition to these things, Velociraptors are really good at narrating presentations, and eating dictators.
I believe that being an independent worker and learner is having the ability to accomplish a task well on your own time, with minimal direction from a teacher. During this project, the independent work that we did was very time oriented, and the ability to complete assignments was challenging within the constraints of due dates and check ins. One critical skill in being an independent worker is having a drive to learn more about the topic. It is very easy to put off work and learn little during free work periods, but a strong independent worker and learner will pursue their goal with their own schedule, and hopefully come out with a strong project as a result.
I do have a few weaknesses a an independent worker, mostly involving procrastination. However, I do have many strengths in working and learning when I am interested in the subject. Some of my independent work during this project showed my ability top pursue my goals, and delve deeper into the different points of the project that caught my interest. One example of delving deeper into research is my interest in the Ethiopian Dictator, Mengistu Mariam. I realized that Mariam played a very large role in the destruction of Ethiopia’s health and wealth, so I decided to look further into his life and story. Although not all of the research I did found its way into my project, I did learn a great deal about Ethiopia’s leader, and how he destroyed his country. To date, I am receiving a news feed from google, so that every time a news article about Mariam is published, I am given a notification. This shows that while doing independent work, I am willing to go deeper into my research, even if the project doesn’t require it. This will help me carry my knowledge from school into the future.
Another example of my strengths as an independent worker is my ability to use creative thinking to create projects that intrigue and excite people. This project was designed from a project that I completed last semester, so I knew that I would have to give my project an appearance that separated it from the rest. So after some critical thinking, I decided that a creative theme to help better educate viewers was a good choice. My final product was themed around the American view of Ethiopia, and how it is so uneducated and stereotypical. Because of my creative independent thinking, I was able to better educate the viewers of my presentation.
One final strength that helps me do independent work is my ability to pursue topics, even if they do not interest me. During King Leopold’s ghost, I found myself very bored while watching the film and reading the book. I was searching for a way to become more invested in my learning about the topic, but had a hard time finding one. Eventually, I realized that I needed to just push through the project, so I could move on to more interesting work during my time as an independent learner. I ended up reading all of KLG in about two days, and doing the chapter summaries over the next two days. This enabled me to spend the rest of the time learning more about the few sections of KLG that did interest me. So although i was not very interested in the topic at hand, I pushed through it so I could learn and be better prepared for work in the future.
As I said before, I also have many weaknesses as an independent worker. Probably my greatest weakness is my inability to manage time efficiently. I procrastinate. My fault is splendidly displayed in my independent work during the reading of KLG. Remember how I told you that I pushed through most of the work in only 4 days so that I could pursue more interesting pieces of the project? Well, that may have been slightly misinterpreted. You see, although I really did do the project work in the time period that I stated, it was in a later date than that which I may have eluded too. In fact, all of my interesting independent research was done during the first few weeks of the project, while my KLG reading and chapter summaries were completed in 4 of the last 5 days available to work.
Another strength that I lack in projects is focus. Although my intentions are good, I often become enchanted by a small side note, and stop trying to push ahead on the large scale of what I need to be doing. For instance, during my research on Ethiopia, I became very interested in the religious founding of Rastafarianism, and became distracted from the research that I needed to be doing. Although this can sometimes lead to a better understanding of the topic at hand, it also takes away from my focus on other important deadlines and required learning.
My final weakness in independent learning is my inability to complete a project. When I am completing a project, I always look at a project and wonder what I can do to improve it, and often, I end up unable to find a strong end point. I become so focused on detail I can forget to make the project a well flowing completion of my work. One example of this is during my project on imperialism was during my final steps, I was unable to decide how to finish off my project. I kept adding more and more information, and could not finish. Fortunately, I decided to finish up in a way that did not leave more to guess or not enough information.
I believe that being an independent worker and learner is having the ability to accomplish a task well on your own time, with minimal direction from a teacher. During this project, the independent work that we did was very time oriented, and the ability to complete assignments was challenging within the constraints of due dates and check ins. One critical skill in being an independent worker is having a drive to learn more about the topic. It is very easy to put off work and learn little during free work periods, but a strong independent worker and learner will pursue their goal with their own schedule, and hopefully come out with a strong project as a result.
I do have a few weaknesses a an independent worker, mostly involving procrastination. However, I do have many strengths in working and learning when I am interested in the subject. Some of my independent work during this project showed my ability top pursue my goals, and delve deeper into the different points of the project that caught my interest. One example of delving deeper into research is my interest in the Ethiopian Dictator, Mengistu Mariam. I realized that Mariam played a very large role in the destruction of Ethiopia’s health and wealth, so I decided to look further into his life and story. Although not all of the research I did found its way into my project, I did learn a great deal about Ethiopia’s leader, and how he destroyed his country. To date, I am receiving a news feed from google, so that every time a news article about Mariam is published, I am given a notification. This shows that while doing independent work, I am willing to go deeper into my research, even if the project doesn’t require it. This will help me carry my knowledge from school into the future.
Another example of my strengths as an independent worker is my ability to use creative thinking to create projects that intrigue and excite people. This project was designed from a project that I completed last semester, so I knew that I would have to give my project an appearance that separated it from the rest. So after some critical thinking, I decided that a creative theme to help better educate viewers was a good choice. My final product was themed around the American view of Ethiopia, and how it is so uneducated and stereotypical. Because of my creative independent thinking, I was able to better educate the viewers of my presentation.
One final strength that helps me do independent work is my ability to pursue topics, even if they do not interest me. During King Leopold’s ghost, I found myself very bored while watching the film and reading the book. I was searching for a way to become more invested in my learning about the topic, but had a hard time finding one. Eventually, I realized that I needed to just push through the project, so I could move on to more interesting work during my time as an independent learner. I ended up reading all of KLG in about two days, and doing the chapter summaries over the next two days. This enabled me to spend the rest of the time learning more about the few sections of KLG that did interest me. So although i was not very interested in the topic at hand, I pushed through it so I could learn and be better prepared for work in the future.
As I said before, I also have many weaknesses as an independent worker. Probably my greatest weakness is my inability to manage time efficiently. I procrastinate. My fault is splendidly displayed in my independent work during the reading of KLG. Remember how I told you that I pushed through most of the work in only 4 days so that I could pursue more interesting pieces of the project? Well, that may have been slightly misinterpreted. You see, although I really did do the project work in the time period that I stated, it was in a later date than that which I may have eluded too. In fact, all of my interesting independent research was done during the first few weeks of the project, while my KLG reading and chapter summaries were completed in 4 of the last 5 days available to work.
Another strength that I lack in projects is focus. Although my intentions are good, I often become enchanted by a small side note, and stop trying to push ahead on the large scale of what I need to be doing. For instance, during my research on Ethiopia, I became very interested in the religious founding of Rastafarianism, and became distracted from the research that I needed to be doing. Although this can sometimes lead to a better understanding of the topic at hand, it also takes away from my focus on other important deadlines and required learning.
My final weakness in independent learning is my inability to complete a project. When I am completing a project, I always look at a project and wonder what I can do to improve it, and often, I end up unable to find a strong end point. I become so focused on detail I can forget to make the project a well flowing completion of my work. One example of this is during my project on imperialism was during my final steps, I was unable to decide how to finish off my project. I kept adding more and more information, and could not finish. Fortunately, I decided to finish up in a way that did not leave more to guess or not enough information.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Enlightenment Project Reflection
After the completion of our Enlightenment project, we were asked a few questions that summed up our feelings about the Enlightenment project, and what we could have changed if we could do it again.
1. If I could do anything differently during my enlightenment project, I would have used higher quality sound for my narration in my video. I also would have made my trip longer and slightly more seclusive. I think that I would have enjoyed my project slightly more if I was in the wild for a longer period of time.
2.If I were to give a student advice on completing a project as open as this one, I would tell them that you will get the most out of your project if your truly immerse yourself in the philosophy and action behind the content. Also, be sure to get your project done early, because you will probably want to refine your ideas and improve your experience.
3.I would like to remember something that I learned on my hut trip; That freedom is not only the liberation of a superior force, but the consumption of a force that leaves you in a stated of fulfilling awe, and that you will turn to whenever you wish to gain wisdom.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Enlightenment Project 2010 "A Weekend in the Wild"
Our humanities class recently finished up a project on enlightenment. we were given a shallow pool of knowledge on famous forms of enlightenment, and the people whom made them famous. We studied Transcendentalism, Buddhism and enlightenment by experience, enlightenment by reason, and enlightenment for a community. We also did a brief presentation of an enlightened figure in society. I chose to do a project based on transcendentalism, which is defined as, "any system of philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the empirical and material" I decided that if I was to experience this form of enlightenment to its fullest during a project, then I should simply go out and do it. So here is my Weekend in the Wild
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Humanities
Welcome to my humanities class, the study of, well all things human.
Here is a video that I made for a Reading Enjoyment Maximizer on Siddhartha
My REM
Here is a video that I made for a Reading Enjoyment Maximizer on Siddhartha
My REM
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