TIoL 3 Questions Artifact
3 Custom Questions for TIoL:
Sophomore year was definitely the most well rounded school year of my life. It had its highs, its lows, its sleepless nights, its unforgettable moments, and its incredible accomplishments. As I sit here, preparing for my TIoL, it has barely dawned on me just how much we did this year, and how much I believe I have prepared for the infamous Junior year of high school. Overall, I am extremely proud of all I accomplished this year. When you walk through Sophomore Hall, and you look around at all the projects exhibited on the walls, all the projects that really capture your attention came from us. That says something. All of these experiences pushed me to create these three custom questions, which I will be responding to in this narrative essay: How did my expectations for the curriculum of the 10th grade influence my actions and decisions in the beginning, middle and end of the year? How did HTHCV projects, The Siemens We Can Change the World Project in particular, expose me to real world issues? How did the structure of the groups in my projects expose me to new methods of working?
This year was a very surprising year for me because it was nothing like what I expected it to be like. At the end of last year, all the previous sophomores told us that we would have nothing to worry about next year; that next year would be a walk in the park. Right off the bat, it was extremely evident that this was not going to be the case, but all of summer I prepared as if it would be very easy. For the first few weeks of school, I did not come as prepared for class as I should have, and believed it would be a good idea to share a binder between chemistry, math humanities. It was the first time in my life I ever had one binder for two classes, and it was very evident in my organization skills. I lost many papers that I previously would have had neatly organized in my specific class binders. As the year progressed, however, I began to adjust accordingly to the reality that sophomore year was indeed going to be challenging. I got my grades together, and as I became better organized and began to pay closer attention to detail, my grades reflected that improvement. Towards the end of the year, a rumor began spreading that we were not going to do anything of great importance after the MUN Summit, but I did not believe that rumor this time. As it turned out, the period of time after the MUN Summit was the busiest part of the year for us, but I was prepared.
This year also helped expose me to many real world issues through many of the projects that we completed. During Torture on Trial, we were forced to accept the fact that torture is still used today, and during some occasions forced to consider whether the use of torture was justified or not. In the Tableaus for Humanities, we were asked to consider issues that the human race may or may not be forced to face in the future. Then, of course, there was the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, where above all other projects we were asked to, not only identify local water issues, but also try to find a viable solution. This project gave us the opportunity to do two very unique types of learning that I do not believe would have occurred at a normal school. The first was to really dive deeply into one issue that is seriously impacting our community, and gave us the opportunity to actually try and make a difference instead of just talking about it. The second was to learn briefly about other issues impacting our water community from the projects our peers completed.
Another aspect of this year that I believe was instrumental in my growth was the structure of my groups for many projects (especially during second semester). During my POL of first semester, I made it my goal to learn to work well with those whose thoughts and ideas do not go with mine, and on the very first project of the semester I was tested on that. I had to work with someone who does not necessarily have completely different ideas from my own, but who is just as assertive and demanding of their ideas as I am of mine. Having to powerhouse control freaks in the same group, and one person with good ideas who never voiced their opinion, obviously caused many arguments, but I genuinely believe it was an amazing learning experience, not because of what we accomplished in the project, but because of who I worked with to accomplish it. For the Water We Doing Project, I received a group that consisted of all completely capable people, but two out of the four just did not feel secure enough during the beginning of the project to voice their ideas. When we ended up choosing one of their proposals as our final idea, I believe it gave them the courage to be more open about what they wanted to accomplish. As the project progressed, so did their involvement, and the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge is the project that I probably ended up being the most proud of this year. Ironically, the group that I thought was going to be easy to work with was the difficult one, and the group that I thought was going to be difficult to work with gave me one of the best scholastic experiences of my life.
- How did my expectations for the curriculum of the 10th grade influence my actions and decisions in the beginning, middle and end of the year?
- How did HTHCV projects, The Siemens We Can Change the World Project in particular, expose me to real world issues?
- How did the structure of the groups in my projects expose me to new methods of working?
Sophomore year was definitely the most well rounded school year of my life. It had its highs, its lows, its sleepless nights, its unforgettable moments, and its incredible accomplishments. As I sit here, preparing for my TIoL, it has barely dawned on me just how much we did this year, and how much I believe I have prepared for the infamous Junior year of high school. Overall, I am extremely proud of all I accomplished this year. When you walk through Sophomore Hall, and you look around at all the projects exhibited on the walls, all the projects that really capture your attention came from us. That says something. All of these experiences pushed me to create these three custom questions, which I will be responding to in this narrative essay: How did my expectations for the curriculum of the 10th grade influence my actions and decisions in the beginning, middle and end of the year? How did HTHCV projects, The Siemens We Can Change the World Project in particular, expose me to real world issues? How did the structure of the groups in my projects expose me to new methods of working?
This year was a very surprising year for me because it was nothing like what I expected it to be like. At the end of last year, all the previous sophomores told us that we would have nothing to worry about next year; that next year would be a walk in the park. Right off the bat, it was extremely evident that this was not going to be the case, but all of summer I prepared as if it would be very easy. For the first few weeks of school, I did not come as prepared for class as I should have, and believed it would be a good idea to share a binder between chemistry, math humanities. It was the first time in my life I ever had one binder for two classes, and it was very evident in my organization skills. I lost many papers that I previously would have had neatly organized in my specific class binders. As the year progressed, however, I began to adjust accordingly to the reality that sophomore year was indeed going to be challenging. I got my grades together, and as I became better organized and began to pay closer attention to detail, my grades reflected that improvement. Towards the end of the year, a rumor began spreading that we were not going to do anything of great importance after the MUN Summit, but I did not believe that rumor this time. As it turned out, the period of time after the MUN Summit was the busiest part of the year for us, but I was prepared.
This year also helped expose me to many real world issues through many of the projects that we completed. During Torture on Trial, we were forced to accept the fact that torture is still used today, and during some occasions forced to consider whether the use of torture was justified or not. In the Tableaus for Humanities, we were asked to consider issues that the human race may or may not be forced to face in the future. Then, of course, there was the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, where above all other projects we were asked to, not only identify local water issues, but also try to find a viable solution. This project gave us the opportunity to do two very unique types of learning that I do not believe would have occurred at a normal school. The first was to really dive deeply into one issue that is seriously impacting our community, and gave us the opportunity to actually try and make a difference instead of just talking about it. The second was to learn briefly about other issues impacting our water community from the projects our peers completed.
Another aspect of this year that I believe was instrumental in my growth was the structure of my groups for many projects (especially during second semester). During my POL of first semester, I made it my goal to learn to work well with those whose thoughts and ideas do not go with mine, and on the very first project of the semester I was tested on that. I had to work with someone who does not necessarily have completely different ideas from my own, but who is just as assertive and demanding of their ideas as I am of mine. Having to powerhouse control freaks in the same group, and one person with good ideas who never voiced their opinion, obviously caused many arguments, but I genuinely believe it was an amazing learning experience, not because of what we accomplished in the project, but because of who I worked with to accomplish it. For the Water We Doing Project, I received a group that consisted of all completely capable people, but two out of the four just did not feel secure enough during the beginning of the project to voice their ideas. When we ended up choosing one of their proposals as our final idea, I believe it gave them the courage to be more open about what they wanted to accomplish. As the project progressed, so did their involvement, and the Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge is the project that I probably ended up being the most proud of this year. Ironically, the group that I thought was going to be easy to work with was the difficult one, and the group that I thought was going to be difficult to work with gave me one of the best scholastic experiences of my life.