Hello. My name is Aidan. My coding experience so far covering my two basic projects has been stressful, but at the same time enabled me to more deeply how really everything technology related operates, but obviously in a less sophisticated manner. My first project I did on Tynker, it was about when you touch an animal, it makes various songs. The instruction manual was very good by the means of how it really helped me with understanding the newly introduced coding language. It explained it in a very inspirational way, which encouraged me to continue to share my ideas by coding, and rally made me just feel good about coding. The stressful part was troubleshooting the problems that I encountered a lot of times. I became very addicted with making it so perfect that it was too time consuming, but the good thing is that I was very determined to complete my goal.
In general, my first project was really nice because the way I was introduced to the coding language, and the determination that evolved from Tynker to complete my goal. So far I am loving this coding experience with Tynker!

In the video that was recorded of our groups final debate on Plastic Bags, whether we should or shouldn’t ban them, I think that in general we were all really well prepared, but I think the executing aspect of the debate (when I refer to debate I mean the final one in the video) wasn’t very good. Here are my reasons why:
Our debates didn’t show much energy:
I think that the debate didn’t show much energy because mostly we all were very nervous, I mean I know I was nervous, but I anticipated that the other group members (Ben, Emma, and Ayyan) were nervous too because it was an appearance. On camera, which initially does put a lot of stress on the reader, because it brings the mindset of them needing to be perfect, and not mess up on absolutely anything. Their were things that I noticed from all of our group members. I don’t want to give the input that I am criticizing anyone, I just wanted to remark different things that I noticed, to hopefully help those people, and me improve. I was personally “stealing the show”, because I barely let Ayyan speak because I had so much to say, and more things that I wanted it say. I felt bad for him after the debate because I feel like I stole a lot of the things that he initially was supposed to say. I also want to give a lot of credit to Ayyan because he decided to speak up a lot more than he usually does, although it wasn’t as loud as I hoped for, but it was a massive improvement, and I also understand that there was a lot of pressure because this debate was being recorded. Their were a couple of times that I noticed myself hesitating and not knowing what to say, especially when Ben brought up the point that people were losing their jobs because of the banning of plastic bans in some countries. I actually knew what to say in reality from some general knowledge and creativity, and a little bit of thinking on my feet, but when I paused for a couple of seconds I got terrified because of the camera, and was stalling by saying, “You mean the people that are losing their jobs are lowing their jobs because of the banning of plastic bags in certain countries?” (Which is exactly what he said and I already knew that) I also was thinking about saying, “Well then they can go get a new job like flipping burgers or something, but that would have been off topic. Another thong that I noticed is that Emma was extremely quiet, which was very unusual, but I think again that it was the pressure of the camera. Ok, so in general our debate didn’t show as much energy as I initially hoped for, but it got pretty elaborate at some points and I had a lot of fun. That’s what counts!
This debate unit was really fun and required some deep concentration and thinking in order to get the job done, and I also generally like debating because I have an opportunity to win with words, which I have discovered I have a big toolbox to refer from. Anyways, this unit was really fun and I wish we could do more of these related things. I loved this unit!

Here is the video of our debate:

I have been really deeply working on my Rube Goldberg project, and I over a long course of time have finally succeeded. This blog post that I am writing is trying to push some of the aspects, or lessons that I have learned over the course of this projects duration. This project has taught me many different life lessons that I am very glad did. This blog post also covers my experience and thoughts after the project.
This project has taught me many different things. First, is has taught me to be patient, and to observe and to not over exaggerate from a problem, especially the mental ones, because his project initially made me very stressed. This project has taught me to be patient because of how stressful the project was. The reason why it made me so stressed is because of how a large portion of my plans didn’t even come close to turn out as I think they would. As I stated in the earlier blog posts, I think that one of the downsides of this project, specifically the way our teacher, Mrs. Edwards assigned it, is for our sketch to have a due date that is before the original project’s due date, in this case the movie reporting the project, and about your project itself. It is very reasonable to have the sketch due date assigned before the movie reporting the project, but I think that since I made countless changes compared to how my sketch stated the steps would be, it was very hard for me to “have the cement harden inside the ground structure of the building.” In other words, to have a layout before randomly trying to execute the project. I don’t want to make it seem like I am criticizing anyone, I just have a strong suggestion that I actually think is good for Mrs. Edwards to consider when she hands this project out to her next year of yet to come students. Anyways, the project has taught me persistence because of all of the stress in the project that I encountered. The persistence aspect of the project that has taught me really helped me improve my thoughts and actions in general because it taught me to not overreact to something that is stressful, or that gets in your way. It is like a physical obstacle, but not one that is meant to be avoided, rather one that is meant to be matched with the will of the mind.
This project has also taught me to handle/coupe all of my negative thoughts. It has helped me coupe them by simply testing my mental approach/strength with its intentions to annoy me. And believe me, this project did really annoy me. I really had to stay extremely positive and have a lot of motivation, or something that keeps me fueled that makes me feel like I have purpose, meaning a real reason to do what I am physically and mentally doing in the moment, not meaning because this project is an assignment, more of something that makes me feel like I am doing the project for a good reason, not because it is fun. Actually, I know this statement is really weird, but the motivation that I had mainly was from music. I would put my Beats on and start listening when I am doing the project. Surprisingly this didn’t minimize my concentration, it just made me have more energy and have a more positive approach in terms of my mental approach, which in general really helped me coupe the negative thoughts in this project.
Overall, this project has taught me a lot of things, but I only wanted to point out a couple of them, because then you would be reading 100 pages. I thought that these 2 aspects were the most important aspects/emotions that I encountered during this project. The reason that I love this a project is because it is fun, it inspires creativity, and really builds character and tests you in many ways. This project is one of the best and worst projects of all time! (It is bad because of all of the time it takes to complete, and how stressful it is)

I haven’t been writing a lot of blog posts in a while because I have really been spending a lot of time thinking about my potential machine and how to compensate my bad Sketch in the first place with a better and more clear vision on how my project will commence in the proper way. I have been thinking about ways to do this and I decided to use the same method to make a new sketch for my planned contraption. Right now the sketch is in the past, because it was already due last Wednesday, so the reason why I am talking about this is because I wanted to cover the information that I have not told because of this delayed Blog post.
First I want to talk about my sketch and how I managed to compensate for all of that time that I consumed on a unsuccessful sketch. The sketch was really hard, because in my opinion if you wanted to have a successful sketch, you had to experiment all of the aspects on which you plan to use for your contraption. Another way to think about it is the tools that you have on your toolkit, but in order to use them the best possible way, it is best to experiment and test before randomly using your tools without a clear purpose on the way you want to use the tools. And without really changing a majority of your Sketch because if failures in the testing, you pretty much have to start off with a new idea, or pitch in the holes in your Sketch that you are uncertain about. For me, it was very time consuming because I kept experimenting with no luck, trying to find a layout that actually works for my sketch. I don’t want to try to imply a negative feeling, but I wanted p endorses why it was hard at least for me to come up with a sketch, ad simultaneity do the other requirements, especially the blog posts. Ok. Enough of that. Let’s get into reality and what is happening right now.
Right now, which is after I handed in my Sketch, the rest of the project is coming really easily because when I had a successful and clear sketch, my layout for the rest of the building/executing part was very simple and straightforward. And especially since I have done a lot of experimenting for my sketch, I have some of the building part down already. What I am trying to say is that now I have a good sketch, the rest of my project is going to be so easy, and not as hectic. The sketch was really the hard part of this project, far more than the execution aspect of the project. Now, all is left in my way is the blog posts!

Today I have encountered many different things than I mentioned in my last blog post (4th). I have felt like the project is a lot more work than I expected. There have been some major changes that I have made to my plan, after my Sketch was due last Wednesday. I have felt like there wasn’t enough time for the Sketch to be completed, and since I had to rush to make a sketch, I didn’t have as much of the building and experimenting stages of the project to do so that I know if this or that step works or not. I initially had as successful plan that number one was way to simple, and number two, defininty to not have many fails. My sketch was very boring and not as exciting as I wanted it to be. Considering how exciting and risky I imagined my project to be in the beginning, has not came out as I expected, not meaning that the experimenting part of success or not, or how the project steps work as you anticipated go as planned. I mean that I was wanting my project to be very exciting and uplifting, compared to a very easy and basic layout, and how my project in terms of the building part, it unfolding. Me and my mom went to the Art Room, (where my Rube Goldberg is) and thought that in order for my project to be somewhat interesting, we needed to add some steps that would be very unique. I already had some other cool machines such as what I call the elevation machine using dominoes, but that is only one unique step that is more sophisticated, compared to a simple chain reaction such as a classic domino effect. Me and my mom were brainstorming what we should do for my project to be more exciting and interesting. We decided that after the first few steps, that we should add another step that is a little bit risky, but despite it being risky, would definitely be more exciting and be a better experience for the viewers when we share our videos on our Rube Goldberg project. This step involves a simultaneous effect by having one marble complete a very fancy inclined plane that will hit a little cube causing a domino effect, while the other does something (don’t want to tell what it is) to make the project a lot more exciting and interesting for the viewer. It would also bring more steps ot my project, which I had aimed for at least 10, but my sketch ended up to be 9. The number would go up, and it would be more entertaining and more unique. Why I keep saying this is because I deeply think that my project initially was very basic, short, and not very interesting. It looked like I didn’t spend that much time investigating on how to make the project how creativity and lots of thought behind the working aspect of the project, more specifically then the planning aspect of the project.
I really have encountered a lot of unexpected aspects of this project that I thought before were an obstacle that I would never bump into, but as I said before, in Rube Goldberg projects, nothing happens the way you encounter them to initially unfold. (Ok, maybe not nothing, but at least most of the project)

The first day I started thinking about what the concept of my Rube Goldberg machine was going to be, I was just completely baffled because I never have had this kind of experience before, and it looked like to was way too complex for me. It took a lot of brainstorming to figure out a concept for my machine. I was thinking for and hour or two, and then I thought, “Maybe if I just start building a few random chain reactions I would gather the idea of how the steps respond to each other and create a simple task to be executed. I fiddled around with some old toys from when me and my little brother were little, and experimented some chain reactions. I started getting doubtful in my chances of succeeding in this entire project because I haven’t found anything at all to possibly use. (It now has been hours of me experimenting) I tried really concentrating, but I couldn’t find anything that could be the concept for my machine. Then, I remembered something from one of my grandfathers that is a professional physicist, and I remembered that he had taught me a few forms of chain reactions, and I then decided to experiment some of those. I was still baffled with what I was going to use, and then I came across an old metal Star Wars lunch box that I used to use, and thought, “Maybe I can use this to end my complex machine?” I then saw my brothers old car toy set, and thought, “Can I possibly use both of these to create a simple trapping scenario?” I decided that I could, and that trapping a little car inside of a metal Star Wars lunchbox was going to be my task. Now, all I had to do is figure out a way to complete the circuit. I had the ending, but not the middle, or the beginning. After that, I discovered some old dominoes and thought that I could use the dominoes to create a domino effect, that somehow ties into my end step. I fiddled around some more with old toys, and then I found my old Thomas The train set. We had so many of them, I mean sooooooo many! I asked my mom for some suggestions on the project designing and planning in, and we both came up with a new concept of hitting a train on an elevated set of tracks, which the train would roll down the tracks, and park in a small plastic tunnel, that is protected at the end by duct tape. Now I felt a lot more confident in my success. I felt like I had all of the pieces almost completed, and at the same time, it was going to take some deep experimenting and more planning to complete the sketch, or the plan in general. I felt like I had a little spark of hope for me to depend on to have any idea on how to get anywhere in this project. I now had something to use, and after a lift more time of planning and experimenting, I started to really figure out some more possibilities! I started drafting all of my ideas on a google doc, and then got somewhere!
So far, the project has been very stressful and hard, but after a lot of patience, it was a great experience for me! Despite all of the tough aspects of this project, I am loving it so far!

On the second day of the Rube Goldberg Project, I changed my approach to how I was handling the pressure of the project, and how I was managing my thoughts. I think that today was one of the biggest “turning points,” although the it was only the second day. I am actually very proud of myself because of how I am managing this project.
First of all, I want to talk about why I felt so much pressure. The pressure that I was feeling yesterday (January 4th) is probably nothing you feel because, well, probably you don’t feel any pressure at all. I felt a lot of pressure on completing this project for many reasons. Here are some reasons why:
My schedule (Barely any time to make room for this huge project)
Drawing my sketch – I am a very good planner, but I am horrible at drawing, so I was worried about my sketch being neat and organized.
These are a couple of reasons why I felt some pressure going into this project, and at the very early stages of the project. I felt really weird in a way because I anticipated the fact that there really was nothing for me to be worried about, and that I was so worried about completing the project, I couldn’t get much done. I really didn’t know how to conquer all of those fears.
All of the above is what I felt yesterday. But when I got up this morning, I felt like I was going to need to change in how I approach this project. I took a few minutes to mark up the calendar that Mrs. Edwards gave our class, and I noticed that the 4 days I had some time to do the project are Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I planned out when I should do the Sketch, Blog Posts, etc. After I really analyzed the situation, and how I can manage everything timewise, I started thinking that I do have time to do this project, and that if I just do it, and stop worrying about the time, or me failing, than I felt that I can do this project more and more, and more broadly, anything. I gained a lot of confidence in myself, and then was able to really concentrate on my project. (I didn’t feel like I was concentrating as much as I could possibly concentrate, because I was thinking that, “I can’t do it, I can’t do it” over and over yesterday, and that took away a lot of my ability to focus, and brainstorm some of the best innovations that I can.)
Overall, I feel like I have made a giant improvement on how I approach this project, and how I respond to my negative feelings on this project. I think that this project has really made my mind grow in all areas. The experimenting part, because this project takes a lot of experimenting to do. I also think that this project has taught me that I can’t do everything in one day. Yesterday, I was trying to push myself to do everything on that day because I felt like I wouldn’t have any time to do any other part of the project, any other day. I was too stressed about completing it, that in reality, I only did a little a little part of the project in the whole day I had to do some of the project. I felt like my mind was basically “clouded” because of all of the other negative things that I was thinking about related to this project. I really have noticed a significant difference in how I am couping what I feel that I have a lack of capabilities for. This has helped my face whatever is put ahead of me. I have really learned to just do it, and not worry about anything else, which I have noted made a huge difference in how I am responding to negative thoughts, and more specifically,my negative thoughts in this project.

As I mentioned before in my 2nd blog post, I think that this point also is a huge “turning point” on my project success because I have finally after a lot of experimenting and planning, have finally figured a layout and strategic approach to how I am going to execute this project. I now have a very clear vision of what my Rube Goldberg is going to look like. I obviously don’t want to get to specific, because that would result in you knowing a lot about my project, because I want to save that information for when I present my video on the presenting day. (January 31st) I feel very optimistic about my chances in succeeding in this project, because of my recent success in planning my contraption. (Sketch) This project (like I mentioned before) has really helped conquer my fears that I originally had about succeeding in this project. One of the things that made me most afraid of succeeding is not having a partner. I got really stressed about myself then. (I couldn’t have a partner because of how crazy my schedule is) But comparing those couple days to now, I feel a lot better in how I approach the project, and how I stick with the project, meaning my dedication and persistence in not giving up, after one little thing doesn’t go the way you expect it to go. I just wanted to note that in this Rube Goldberg project, I have never experienced anything more stressful in my life, because of how things just don’t happen the way you anticipate them to. It takes a lot of persistence and dedication to come close to being able to complete this project. I am also feeling really confident in myself, especially because I now have a basic input for my plans for executing this project, which makes it a whole lot easier to know how I am going to approach this project.
In synthesis, me finally having a plan and knowing about how, and what I am going to do to complete this project really enables me to number 1, have less fear about my chances in succeeding, and 2, being able to monitor the timing, or in other words, to be able to monitor my calendar so that I can have an idea about how the timing is all going to unfold, and not worry about how I am going to make time for the project, and more specifically, the sketch and the blog posts, because they both took a long time to execute. For example, the blog post that is am writing now is taking a long time to wright. Before, I was a lot more concerned about the timing, and how I am simply going to get the assignments done, more than concentrating and completing my goal at what I am doing in the moment. I have felt a lot more confident in myself because of me finally figuring out a sketch and a great plan timewise for my Rube Goldberg, which overall made me be able to concentrate more on the task that I am doing in the moment, compared to my nervousness about the other things about my assignments. It is hard to explain, but I now feel really positive and optimistic about me being able to complete this project, despite all of the negative inputs that I was implanting on myself in the earlier stages of this project. I basically feel that I simply am able to do this project, and shouldn’t spend my time worrying about the task, because simply there is nothing to be worried about. I am so happy that I have found a great planning strategy in general for my Rube Goldberg, and I feel very good that I have, after all of this time, convinced myself to really stay on task and continue even further with ideas instead of just despising them the first moment you think something might be out of order, or in other words, incorrect. I am able to do this by all of the planning that I have perfected. I know that was a lot of reading on your end, but I hope you got the message of what I am feeling.

So far, 5th grade has been filled with excitement, hard work, and tireless dedication to be able to do the best that you can. I have noticed a significant difference in how the level of focus that is needed to put into a project is so different. For example, in 4th grade, it more took muscle memory to remember specific calculations, more than the level of attention to deeply understand the broader concept of what was being taught. However, in 5th grade, I have noticed I really have to push myself to really think deeply about the calculations, but more about what is being taught. Eg. In math, when you are solving a problem that has to do with fractions, and you understand how to do the calculations, but you don’t really get what the broader lesson is. For example, if the teacher is teaching equivalent fractions, and you don’t get how the specific problem ties into the lesson. This kind of stuff I think happened to me in the beginning of the year, but when I pushed myself harder to deeply understand how the specific teachings ties into what we are learning, it really helped me be a better thinker. Mrs. Edwards does a great job with pushing us to really understand that. I really appreciate what she has done for me, and our whole class. She made me take responsibility, and understanding the concepts more seriously. I really am loving 5th grade so far!

Today,The Flying Savages and the Rampaging Rockets presented their presentations. Our group, The Flying Savages, were very nervous at first because of the parents attendance to the presentation. I think that our group worked really hard, and that hard work and dedication that was put towards this presentation really payed off. Despite the nervousness, I think that our our group, and our entire class all did really well. I think everyone felt that they were very natural presenters because of the practice that everyone put into this presentation. This really built our trust in each other, and also helped us experience what it is really like presenting to everyone. This experience will help us with collaboration, our presenting skills, and even in coping nervousness in the future. This wouldn’t have been possible without Mrs. Edwards, or Mr. Casal, because of their dedication towards them dedicating a majority of their daily time to help us with our presentations. I am really proud of are group, and the entire class on these successful presentations! Check our Rocketry Unit Overview, and Our Groups Presentation! (The Flying Savages)