Fall pols 32Q
Celebrations
This year in Humanities I have found a deeper understanding of the texts that we have been reading. For the past couple of weeks, we have been reading Thing Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe which was a very interesting book. This was the first piece of text that I have read in school that I found myself actually reading deeply and engaging with. One piece of evidence is in my seminar reflection where I found a connection in the book about the suicide of Okonkwo and the possible significance of it. I think this really shows that I am reading deeper into texts and digging out pieces that may be missed if you only skim through the book. This is a celebration because reading is not always an easy task for me and being able to look deeper into a story has been a real success for me.
There have been some struggles and obstacles this year in some of my classes. Whether that be getting a bad grade on a paper or not understanding content in Advanced Algebra, I have had to find ways to overcome them. In Advanced Algebra I have been struggling a lot this year because the math we are doing is very complicated and I have had trouble comprehending it. One particular assignment that I struggled a lot on was the Quadratic Equations Workshop. I was extremely confused on how to do it so instead of suffering in silence I asked for help. I first asked my advisor Aliza for help during advisory and then went into Dan’s class during my project application for help. By asking for help I was able to get a clearer understanding of the topic and actually succeed in finishing it. I have learned that advocating for what you need and getting help when something doesn’t make sense is really beneficial. Advocating has helped me surpass many struggles throughout this semester which I think is something to celebrate.
Collaboration has not always been my strongest area in the past but this semester I feel that I have been successful in working with people and managing the amount of work we all do. Last year during the Rube Goldberg project I did not work very well with my group members but this year during the Take Action Project I worked very well with the members of my group. The trouble I have had during in the past with collaboration was that I would take on all the work and not let anyone else help me. During this project though I trusted my group members to write their portions of the science paper which allowed me to create higher quality work in my paragraph. Learning to collaborate has been an important and difficult task for me but I feel very proud that I was able to work well with others this semester. This is something that I am celebrating.
Areas for Growth
I have not been the most organized person this year and that has not only affected my grades but also my stress levels. I seem to not keep my work in order and that leads to me either losing it or not turning it in on time. An example of this is my POW 3 for Advanced Algebra. I finished it in class with the help of my friends but instead of turning it in, I put it in my messy binder. This meant that it got lost and I had to turn it in for late credit which brought down my grade significantly. My lack of organization has had an effect on my stress levels as well because I do not have an effective way of to know where things are or when they need to be turned in. I need to work on my organization for next semester in order to keep my grades up and my stress levels down. Some ways I think I may do this is by keeping a planner with everything I need to get done and keeping my binders and folders organized. I believe this will help me a lot next semester.
An area this semester that I have not been doing very well in is refinement. I tend to be the kind of person that once I finish something, I don’t want to go back and make it better. This can be an issue, though, when there are serious problems with my work. One project that I felt could have used more refinement is my infographic for Tina’s class. This was something that I did not feel super proud of and could have definitely made better. I need to take the time to make something I feel proud of, even if that means spending an extra hour to get it just right. Next semester I am making it my goal to feel proud about every piece of work I turn in. I will accomplish this by taking an extra hour at home before turning in every project and use this time only for refinement. This will help me create better and more beautiful work.
Question
What can be another motivator for me to learn other than my grades?
This year in Humanities I have found a deeper understanding of the texts that we have been reading. For the past couple of weeks, we have been reading Thing Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe which was a very interesting book. This was the first piece of text that I have read in school that I found myself actually reading deeply and engaging with. One piece of evidence is in my seminar reflection where I found a connection in the book about the suicide of Okonkwo and the possible significance of it. I think this really shows that I am reading deeper into texts and digging out pieces that may be missed if you only skim through the book. This is a celebration because reading is not always an easy task for me and being able to look deeper into a story has been a real success for me.
There have been some struggles and obstacles this year in some of my classes. Whether that be getting a bad grade on a paper or not understanding content in Advanced Algebra, I have had to find ways to overcome them. In Advanced Algebra I have been struggling a lot this year because the math we are doing is very complicated and I have had trouble comprehending it. One particular assignment that I struggled a lot on was the Quadratic Equations Workshop. I was extremely confused on how to do it so instead of suffering in silence I asked for help. I first asked my advisor Aliza for help during advisory and then went into Dan’s class during my project application for help. By asking for help I was able to get a clearer understanding of the topic and actually succeed in finishing it. I have learned that advocating for what you need and getting help when something doesn’t make sense is really beneficial. Advocating has helped me surpass many struggles throughout this semester which I think is something to celebrate.
Collaboration has not always been my strongest area in the past but this semester I feel that I have been successful in working with people and managing the amount of work we all do. Last year during the Rube Goldberg project I did not work very well with my group members but this year during the Take Action Project I worked very well with the members of my group. The trouble I have had during in the past with collaboration was that I would take on all the work and not let anyone else help me. During this project though I trusted my group members to write their portions of the science paper which allowed me to create higher quality work in my paragraph. Learning to collaborate has been an important and difficult task for me but I feel very proud that I was able to work well with others this semester. This is something that I am celebrating.
Areas for Growth
I have not been the most organized person this year and that has not only affected my grades but also my stress levels. I seem to not keep my work in order and that leads to me either losing it or not turning it in on time. An example of this is my POW 3 for Advanced Algebra. I finished it in class with the help of my friends but instead of turning it in, I put it in my messy binder. This meant that it got lost and I had to turn it in for late credit which brought down my grade significantly. My lack of organization has had an effect on my stress levels as well because I do not have an effective way of to know where things are or when they need to be turned in. I need to work on my organization for next semester in order to keep my grades up and my stress levels down. Some ways I think I may do this is by keeping a planner with everything I need to get done and keeping my binders and folders organized. I believe this will help me a lot next semester.
An area this semester that I have not been doing very well in is refinement. I tend to be the kind of person that once I finish something, I don’t want to go back and make it better. This can be an issue, though, when there are serious problems with my work. One project that I felt could have used more refinement is my infographic for Tina’s class. This was something that I did not feel super proud of and could have definitely made better. I need to take the time to make something I feel proud of, even if that means spending an extra hour to get it just right. Next semester I am making it my goal to feel proud about every piece of work I turn in. I will accomplish this by taking an extra hour at home before turning in every project and use this time only for refinement. This will help me create better and more beautiful work.
Question
What can be another motivator for me to learn other than my grades?