In the first quarter, in Mr. R’s English class, we read a book called Lord of the Flies. Reading the book, a few chapters each day, was our daily homework assignment. When it was first assigned, we thought that this book was going to be so long and boring. Actually it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The last half of the book was very suspenseful, and I actually wanted to read past what was assigned. In class, the day after reading the assigned chapters, we would have a class discussion. We talked about hidden meanings, overall summarization, and symbolized objects. Lastly, we were assigned a project of our choice, to show our thoughts about the meaning of the book. Throughout this journal, I will tell you how I accomplished being each ESLR, and what I didn’t do.
By being a self-directed learner, I accepted responsibility for my own learning. I also demonstrated competency in a goal setting, time management, and organizational skills by writing down my homework in my planner when it was assigned, as well as writing a schedule for the separate parts to complete my project. Even though it’s a simple concept, sometimes you don’t do it because you overestimate your time management skills, which also helped me become a better academic achiever by improving my ability to continually assess, evaluate, and adjust work to maintain high standards. A problem that arose was that I not able to follow the schedule throughout the whole project or assignment. I sometimes lost concentration while doing things and fell off schedule, or else I decided to do it later and forgot to go back to it. To improve this, next time I would write a schedule for each day and a rough one for the amount of time to do the project in total. By completing that, I would accomplish a certain amount of work each day and not have follow a certain time schedule, but still finish by the deadline. By taking important notes in class I could just read over the notes in the chapters that had those certain points or hidden meanings. I also took creative risks in developing untried ideas by designing and creating a t-shirt for my project. This is a creative risk for me because I do not usually do art projects, because I think I am a bit artistically challenged! But I did an artistic project to see what the difference was, and how it was different from just a poster with information on it. I actually found it quite fun and enjoyable, and I’m glad I chose to do that one. I think that I did an average job being a self directed learner with the book, project, and in class. On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being poor, and 10 being outstanding, I would give myself a 6 or 7.
I cooperated with people in my class and listened to others speak in the group discussions. I was an academic achiever, demonstrating the ability to work both independently and collaboratively. I showed that I was able to work independently by doing my project independently and efficiently. I think I succeeded at about the same level while working together and alone. This is because when you work together, you can talk and ask others’ opinions, whereas when working alone you just do what you think. While working together, I was able to gather, analyze, and process information from a variety of sources, which helped me become a better critical thinker. I was also able to collaborate with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goals, which assisted me in being a better effective communicator. I also accessed various sources for extra information and ideas for my project. By using the dictionary, context clues, and the computer to understand the book, I accessed information from a variety of sources. However I was not always looking at a trusted site; I based it on what I thought it was. Some sites I knew were trusted, and those I used often. Since I did not research many sites for one topic, the understanding may not have been correct. Next time I could improve by looking at more sites for the same information to clarify the accuracy of what I understood. I also demonstrated technological literacy and the use of technology as a tool for the efficient and creative completion of a project by using the computer for information. I think I did an admirable job in being an academic achiever, and I would give myself 9 out of 10.
I was a critical thinker because I identified, evaluated, and used resources effectively for the purpose of problem solving when I looked online for a description of a certain scene in the book. I also asked my classmates and friends. I selected, monitored, and adjusted problem solving strategies by changing the way I think when I read the book. For example, I usually read the book and did not stop until there is something that I did not really understand, and then I would stop and read it over again and again until I understood it, but while reading Lord of the Flies, since the language was a bit tricky, I read the part that I did not understand a few times, and then looked on various sources for a clarification of my thoughts and understanding, just in case I misinterpreted it. I also solved problems using a variety of strategies such as looking online, looking in the dictionary, analyzing what I thought, and analyzing what other people thought, and then I would put all the information I got together, which is gathering, analyzing, and processing information from a variety of sources. This helped me be an academic achiever by accessing information form a variety of sources. I did all of the steps of being a critical thinker, but I did not go in depth in each of these ways of how to demonstrate being a critical thinker. Next time, I would try to summarize my thoughts with what information I got from other people, and thinking why what I think would be right. I think I did a superior job being a critical thinker, so I would give myself 9 out of 10.
I was an involved citizen, who demonstrated responsibility in active decision making by making good choices in the choice of which project I was doing. I tried not to do the same things as what I thought many of people in the class were doing, or what other people were not doing. I did this so that while presenting our projects, the same thing would not be repeated over and over. During the discussions about the book, I tried not to repeat what others said because that would be redundant and a waste of peoples’ time to listen to. By accomplishing that, I also listened respectfully and asked questions to facilitate understanding and achieve insight, which is part of how you become an effective communicator. I demonstrated awareness and respect for the rights of others by thinking of what they would think when I said something, and if it would actually be useful to the learning and progress of the class. Sometimes what I said and thought was wrong, and it brought up confusion in the class. By doing that, I also interacted respectfully with people of diverse cultures when I talked to people in my class that were different cultures than me. I did not really demonstrate care and concern for the environment, because when we were all sitting on the couch having a group discussion, we didn’t spread out, instead we just all crammed onto the couch. And the rest of the room was empty, so we didn’t have any concern for the environment. Other than that, I think I did an outstanding job being an involved citizen. So I would give myself 9 out of 10.
Lastly, I was an effective communicator, demonstrating my creative talents to convey ideas, by creating and designing my own t-shirt that I had to imagine was going to be sold at a book promotion, because I thought it would benefit me because I can imagine things well, and not have to write a lot, since I am not very good at writing what I think. I think I convey ideas best through imagination and creativity. I understood and conveyed written, oral, and visual information using appropriate media. I thought it would be best to show my creativity and imagination by doing this project. I did not do a project which involved oral presenting grading because I did not feel that it was very beneficial to me. This is because when I present, I get really nervous and talk really fast to the point where it is very hard to understand. I also mumble and say the word “umm” a lot because I can’t really think of anything else to say about my presentation. I think I could improve and change this habit because I realize the problem, and now all I need to try and do is find a solution for that problem. Another problem is that I do not make eye contact with people in the audience when I present. I just look at my project and the floor. I think I could fix this by practicing presenting in front of people before presenting it in class. I did all these things, but not to the max. So I would say that I was an acceptable effective communicator and I would give myself 8 out of 10.
Overall, I think I did a good job being each ESLR. There is obviously more room for improvement, so I will try to improve to the best of my ability. I think I did a pretty job completing the 6 levels of bloom’s taxonomy, but again, there’s still room for improvement.
No Comments » | 
Social Studies Block F | 
Permalink
Posted by catrina
