Technology Blog Post #1

This week was super fun! We got to do a lot of things and learn a lot of things, like safety in the tech room, the whereabouts, and we even broke out of the breakout room with 15 minutes left to spare! 

 

But first, let me talk about the safety presentation day. That day was a bit scary for me personally because Mr. Calvert shared a lot of scary stories that happened in the tech room. Felix creeped me out, the missing finger also creeped me out, and the sauter drill one too! But, I think that if everyone follows the safety codes of conduct, then everyone should be fine (and hopefully accident free!). I’m excited to use every new tool!

 

Then, we have the whereabouts. The tech room looks so cool! There are tools that I’ve always wanted to use, but never have gotten the chance to! Especially things like the 3D printer, sauter tools, and even more! I’m super excited for what this quarterly and this quarter has to offer this school year! 

 

Finally, we have the breakout room! We did surprisingly good, especially since Mr. Calvert said that we solved it the fastest out of all his classes, with 15 minutes left! But… the other group finished with 22 minutes left. It was still awesome and fun! Thank you Mr. Calvert, and I am very excited to what will happen next in technology class! 

Blog Post #3 – Capstone Essay, Answering my Main Inquiry question, and Final Presentation (Part 1 of 2)

My Capstone Essay and my project is on leadership. My main inquiry question is: “What are the most common traits in highly effective leaders?”

Working on my Capstone Essay was a long process full of drafting, editing, and revising. But in the end, it not only was essential to the making of the script for my final presentation, but it also helped me improve on my writing skills. My Capstone Essay was also really essential towards my project and provided me with a lot of helpful information.

Back to my main inquiry question. “What are the most common traits in highly effective leaders?” I sent out a lot of emails to Fortune 500 CEOs, just a few that replied including:

  • Bob Iger from Disney
  • Bernhard Kuhnt from BMW
  • Jamie Dimon from Chase
  • Michael Dell from Dell

I analyzed responses from dozens of CEOs, and then I have concluded 3 key traits. Those 3 key traits are:

Authenticity, Perseverance, and Optimism.

A lot of my research from books about leadership, and articles on leadership also proved those 3 key traits as very important. Of course, not everybody just said authenticity, perseverance, and optimism. They usually sometimes showed words related to that word. Like for authenticity, there was honesty and truthfulness. For perseverance, there was tenacity, grit, resilience, and determination. And lastly, for optimism, there was positive, cheerfulness, and confidence. It is a long process, but in my opinion, in the end, it is worth it!

Capstone, in my opinion, is a very exciting, entertaining, interesting, and fun topic! I can’t wait to complete the last steps of this project!

Blog Post #2, The Interview

I really enjoyed conducting my interviews. They are really important to the structure and research of my topic and/or project. It will be important because I am getting advice and talking to people that are experienced.

I decided that since my project is on leadership, I would interview 2 leaders. I ended up with two interviewees: Jane Veron, the Mayor of Scarsdale and the CEO of The Acceleration Project, and Darren Walker, the President of the Ford Foundation. Jane Veron is the Mayor of Scarsdale, and a CEO, so she would know things about leadership. Darren Walker is the President of the Ford Foundation, so he will also know things about leadership. 

It was pretty easy to find some people to interview because for one, Jane Veron was just elected, and she sent out her email to everybody just in case they had questions for her. I found out that she was also a CEO, so we arranged a Zoom meeting. For two, Darren Walker was also pretty easy because my mom works at the Ford Foundation, so we arranged a Zoom meeting. 

The interview did go as expected, but for the Zoom Meeting with the Mayor, we went 15 minutes past the scheduled time. They were both really nice, and did give sort of the same advice. They however, had 2 very different personalities and a sense of achieving things. Mrs. Veron is a nice person, but she believes in getting things done quickly and efficiently. Mr. Walker, on the other hand, believes in being nice to everyone, be authentic, treat others the way you want to be treated, and also, get things done. (They were the same in some ways, but different in more ways.) 

I really liked conducting my interviews. They were fun, but also inspirational. I love the Capstone project, and I can’t wait to do more!

Rube Goldberg Blog Post #2, Final Rube Goldberg Machine

My Task: Turning off a light.

Building the Rube Goldberg was hard and painful, but the success of the contraption made it all worth it! It took a lot of tries/attempts, determination, and patience. Sometimes I accidentally set off the Jenga blocks, and it sent the golf ball down the ramp. Also, sometimes before the golf ball even hit the plastic holding up the ping-pong balls, it would collapse, sending the hockey stick forward, turning off the light.

However, I still love this project so much! If I ever get the opportunity to do this project again, I would try to do a different topic and challenge myself with even more steps!

Below is my Final Sketch and my Final Rube Goldberg Video!

 

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Capstone – Task Definition

Capstone is a special project that all 5th Graders like me do at the end of the school year. It is the last big project that we will have at Heathcote before we move on to the SMS (Scarsdale Middle School). It is special because you get to choose what you want to learn about. No one tells you what to do or what question to pick or learn about. You then research it on your own and make either a WeVideo, Ignite, etc.

Some of the first steps of Capstone, is Task Definition. That’s when you choose the question that you want to learn about. My topic is: “Is there a common leadership trait among 21st century leaders and how have they used this trait to improve the world?” I was interested in this topic because I think that it will be good future references.

My sub questions are:

  1. What are 3 essential qualities that define a leader?
  2. Are a lot of traits the same for some leaders? Different?
  3. Do leaders with better traits accomplish more in the world?
  4. What are 3 big world leaders that everybody knows about? Why do they stand out?

I am so excited to do the rest of my Capstone project!

Rube Goldberg – Designing the Machine and Testing the Design

For my Rube Goldberg, my simple task was turning off a light.

I really like this project because it involves certain things, creativity, innovation, focus, and patience. But best of all, it is also fun!

Designing the machine was exciting, but also challenging. When I sketch the machine out, it made it easier to build because all of the steps layered out more and were easy to take on. What was challenging was putting or combining all of the simple machines together, and to work.

Some online resources that I used were Joseph’s Machines, and some of the other student’s machines. I used those resources to get inspiration for what my project would look like and operate. I also referenced the simple machine online handout. I wanted to include as many simple machines that I could have. (In my design, I have 4 simple machines.)

My Ah-Ha! moment was when I realized that I didn’t need to make the machine so long and boring. It could be short, but with a lot of energy and stuff going on. For example, my original design went around a whole room, but it took a long time to perfect and it would be troublesome to set it up all over again. But, now, my perfected design is much easier to put back up if broken down, and it has more ‘action or energy’ than the first design.

I really like the Rube Goldberg project, and I can’t wait for the next steps!

Below are my final sketches (In link format) :

Reflecting on My Immigration Interview WeVideo

In this blog post, I will be reflecting on My Immigration Interview WeVideo.

What I enjoyed the most about this project is that I learned more about my mother’s ‘backstory’. When you interview someone, and make a video about them, you get to know a lot more about that person and/or what type of personality they have. For example, my mother was rejected to get a visa when she applied the first time to go to school in the US, but did she give up? No! She applied again and got the visa granted. My mother is a determined person, and this proves it.

I also enjoyed making the WeVideo. This is only my second WeVideo, but it feels like I’ve been making WeVideos forever. I feel like a pro! To make a good video, you need to plan your questions and your script. That was the hardest part of the project for me. The questions have to coordinate with the script. I rewrote the script lots of times just to get the perfect one. Then, when you write the script, you have to make sure that everything is accurate, matching the answers to the questions, and that you aren’t making any answers up.

I am so happy to do these projects, especially when you get a lot of learning experience out of it. I really hope that we can do more of these projects again!

(My WeVideo is below.)

 

Reflecting on My Immigration Interview

In this blog post, I will be reflecting on my immigration interview:

For my Immigration Interview, I interviewed my mother. I chose her to interview because: 1. She is the only interview I know. 2. She is my mother and I want to know how she got here and started her actual life.

The way I selected the questions to ask my interviewee was basic questions to start off, like Where you born? Then, I chose questions based on how important they would be for the interview. I also based some questions off on how curious I was to know about my interviewee.

These questions that I chose were eventually a success because I got clear, nice, thorough answers. I found the answers that I was looking for, and the information that I found would help me make the WeVideo out of them. (Also, my interviewee provided me with some pictures.)

Something I learned about my immigrant interviewee is that not all immigrants have to be emigrating from their country, or not in my interviewee’s place. My mother had a great life back in her country, but she just wanted to experience life in a different country or culture.

What I learned about conducting an interview is that you need to talk in a slow and clear voice. You can’t rush your interviewee. You also have to make eye-contact with your interviewee so that they know that you care and you are listening to them word – for – word.

For me, some big ideas about immigration is that you don’t have to have a bad life in your home country just to immigrate to another country. Also, even though immigrants may seem different than you, they just have differences from you, like their language or religion. You are all the same people on the inside.

I liked the interview because it was a learning process, I learned how to conduct an interview, and because helped me to enhance my language skills. I really hope that we do more of these projects soon!

Argument and Advocacy Debates

Assignment: Write a blog post reflecting on your research, preparation, and presentation experiences including working as a team and seeing the same issue from both sides. 

The experience for me during this writing unit was unlike any other writing unit that we have done so far. I say this because it was more of a collaborative teamwork unit. Me and my team worked together as a group to talk, research and debated, against the other team who talked, researched, and debated.

Debating is also a life skill. It comes in handy anywhere, especially if you want to be in politics or run your own business. You need to know how to debate for yourself and to protect your benefits.

When you are debating, it is also important to look at an issue from both sides. You want to know what the other team’s weakness’ and strengths are, and you want to know what your team’s weakness’ and strenghts are. That research is what will win you the debate.

When you are preparing for a debate, you have to make sure that the evidence that you provided fits your argument. If your topic is that plastic bags should be banned, don’t say that reusable bags are worse than plastic bags for the enviorment.

In addition, when you are talking for your debate, make sure not to talk so soft so that no one can hear you.

I had a really fun time researching and debating with my team, and look forward to doing this type of work more often.

Constitution Project Final Blog Post #3

Q: Reflect on your overall project. Did you successfully answer the question and share your learning? Explain your thinking.

My question is: How did the Voting Rights Act of 1965 help stop Voter Suppression?

I successfully answered the question because I learned how the Voting Act stopped voter suppression. The Voting Act stopped voter suppression by making it illegal, and also taking the Civil Rights Movement one step closer toward ‘All men are created equal.’ The Voting Act also helped blacks realize that they should do the same things as whites and that they wouldn’t be punished for doing it.

I also learned a lot during the process about Civil Rights that I didn’t know before. People like MLK Jr. didn’t stop fighting for their rights even though other people told them they couldn’t. MLK Jr. sacrificed himself for the Civil Rights Movement.

Things that I learned myself, as a life lesson, is:

  1. To never back down to a problem that you think is wrong and you want to change.
  2. Always have your mind open to change.
  3. Never let people boss you around.

From this project, I have learned how to make an Ignite for my presenation, and also learned new things about the Civil Rights Movement, which is the most important part of this project.