My Capstone Reflection

Have you ever done a really big project? If you have, you probably know how many things you have to do for it. Sometimes you might have felt like giving up. I just did my Capstone project which had many phases to it.

First, we had to do research for our main inquiry question. My main inquiry question was How has figure skating evolved throughout history? I chose figure skating because I have been doing this since I was 4 years old and I was curious to learn more about it. My research went well and I got it done before the due date. In class, a lot of the class time was dedicated to working on capstone. That helped me finish in time and I was even done a little before the due date.

Next step, Capstone essay. My essay was basically just all my research put into body paragraphs with each sub question as a body paragraph. I also finished this early and did not feel rushed. Writing my essay was easy in my opinion because I had already done all the work in my research notebook. I basically was just copy pasting it into my essay adding a few words here and there. You can view my essay here.

The next step was to choose to do a ted talk or movie. Then you had to create a script. I chose to do a movie because then it would be easier to picture the old figure skating things that I was talking about. I also wanted to do something different. Last year we did an Ignite and we had done presentations for that. I felt a little rushed creating my script because everyone was finishing and moving on to their video while I was still working on my script. I had gotten my script done before the due date and had started my video.You can view my script here.

The last thing I had to do was make the video. Making the video was the hardest part for me. This was hard because I had to make sure all my images were the right time. I didn’t want them to move on too fast or too slow. What helped was doing a rough recording first so you know about how much time it takes to say everything. I went a little over the due date for this but it was only by a day and it was okay. My classmates and teacher watched my video and they gave me some feedback which helped.

In conclusion my capstone project was hard and easy at different parts. In the end it all worked out! 

Immigrant Interview Reflection

Today I will talk about this immigrant interview project that I started. This is where you write a narrative and a script and then gather some photos to create a video of you narrating your interviewee’s story. 

First, we came up with some questions. When I was coming up with my questions my teacher gave us a list of possible questions so that helped me. Our class also had to put the questions in chronological order because you don’t want to ask your interviewee “ When did you come to America?” and then ask them “ Do you think you will ever go back to your home country?” It will just mess up your conversation. We also learned we should ask open-ended questions so we get more information. For example you could ask “ Do you like it in America?” and just get yes or no OR you could ask “ Do you like it in America? Why or Why not?” If you ask open ended questions it’s helping you so you can have more information for your script/ narrative.

First, we came up with some questions. When I was coming up with my questions my teacher gave us a list of possible questions so that helped me. Our class also had to put the questions in chronological order because you don’t want to ask your interviewee “ When did you come to America?” and then ask them “ Do you think you will ever go back to your home country?” It will just mess up your conversation. We also learned we should ask open-ended questions so we get more information. For example you could ask “ Do you like it in America?” and just get yes or no OR you could ask “ Do you like it in America? Why or Why not?” If you ask open ended questions it’s helping you so you can have more information for your script/ narrative.

That was the first part of my immigrant interview project. Stay tuned for the next part!

 

Tough Trees

“Talent wins games but teamwork and intelligence wins games” Micheal Jordan once said This quote relates to what i’ll write about today. I’m writing about a field trip we took to the Bedford ropes course ( the Bedford ropes course is at a middle school and takes place in the woods) The Bedford ropes course also includes a lot of teamwork.

Here are some things that we did at the ropes course.One thing we did at the ropes course was the rope swing challenge ( this is a challenge where you have to go on a rope swing to a platform and you have to get your whole group there) . I liked this challenge because we had to work together to find a strategy. I also liked this challenge because I was one of the people who got to swing before our time was up and it was fun! I remember before I went on the swing my friend Jordyn said “ You got this!” and that made me feel good and was really encouraging. Another thing we did at the ropes course was the rope bridge challenge ( This challenge was a challenge where there was a bridge and 2 groups coming from opposite directions had to cross the bridge without touching each other). I liked this challenge because when people were crossing you would just hold onto the bridge and lean back outside of the bridge for them to pass. I remember after a while of doing this my hands started to hurt so bad and I was holding on so tightly I felt like I was going to fall and badly hurt myself. I also liked challenges because while you were crossing you could see others trying different strategies like climbing up onto the sides, walking over people etc…

There are so many good ideas but people are just doing their own thing I thought. 

The most hard challenge for me was the wire walk ( the wire walk was where there were wires from tree to tree and you had to get across with nothing to hold onto)

This was challenging because if you tried to walk there would be nothing to hold onto and you just relied on your balance. This looks challenging. What if I fall? I  remember thinking to myself. Another reason the wire walk was challenging was because one strategy we tried was butt scooting to the end. Everyone was complaining, “ It hurts!” “The wire is so hard and thin!” I definitely agree with this! So those are my opinions about some of the challenges.

Some things I learned from this are that I’m patient, Jordyn can be really encouraging, 

and working in big groups can be hard because there are many opinions on how we should do these challenges. I learned I’m patient because when everyone else was shouting and arguing I still stayed patient. I learned that Jordyn is encouraging because as I mentioned earlier it was really encouraging when she said “ You got this Suhana!”.

The last thing I learned was that working in big groups can be difficult because there are many opinions and everyone wants their way so what happens is in the end everyone is just talking over each other. So those were some important things I learned.

In conclusion, the two challenges I liked the most were the rope swing and the rope bridge. I learned about someone in my grade, I learned about teamwork and big groups, And lastly I learned about myself and how I do in bigger groups. Also, the thing that I noticed the most is working in big groups can be hard. 

Do you agree?

 

 

Identity Map Reflection

Do you know what an identity map is? Well I think Identity maps are cool because you can write down and show who you are on paper. Identity maps are also really fun to make. Here are some parts about me that I wrote and drew onto my identity map.

I love ice skating. Some of the reasons I like ice skating are:I’ve been ice skating since I was around six years old and I have always enjoyed it.  Another reason I like ice skating is because Ice skating is one of the sports I feel most confident in. And lastly when I go to my lessons I’m always looking forward to them. I am also a dog lover because I have a dog and he’s one year old. I’ve loved dogs ever since I was little. Also,I always make sure to make time for my dog and I enjoy playing with him. And lastly I am a drawer because I’ve always loved drawing and coloring,I enjoy things like arts and crafts. And It’s fun to draw different things and see how they turn out. 

Next I’m going to tell you about some things my classmates shared. Their names are Nina, Ebrar and Noah. First is Nina. She is a dog lover. She says that she likes dogs because they are friendly, playful and cute. Next is Ebrar. Ebrar said she likes to cook but she said she mostly likes to bake things like muffins and cupcakes.And the last person I will talk about is Noah. Noah is a tennis player and he likes to watch tennis and play tennis and he is very good at it.

In conclusion, I had a great time making my identity map and reading other classmate’s identity maps. Did you ever make an identity map?