Blog 10: Reflection on the progress over seven weeks

Ollie is deep in thought, as you should be in your post this week. (photo credits Bent)

We are seven weeks into this course, and you should be beginning to wrap up your work, and see light at the end of the tunnel. I would like you to reflect and write about the following questions:

Post due Monday April 3rd, with two responses to others due Wednesday April 5th 

1. What has surprised and frustrated you with your project and your research?  Do you have other surprises or frustrations?  Let me know.  (Do not just give a one sentence wonder here.)

2. What has been your biggest time waster?  (you or work...be frank and candid, I can take it)

3. How are you dealing with stress? AND Have you identified the stresses and ways to avoid or fix them?

4. This one may not apply to all of you: If you are behind, own it and discuss what happened...do not blame other people, or other classes, be up front and honest.  Take a good look at your performance and talk about it.

We have three more weeks of class...make them count before the sun sets on your work....do not let the fog roll in and complicate things.  Stay the course, and finish strong.  (This is corny I know, but you get the point: WORK)

Blog Post # 9: Belonging-Motivation-Checking In-Reflection

Knowing when to lean on others and work through projects (photo credits Bent)

This is blog post 9,and it is due on Monday March 27th with two responses due by Wednesday March 29th. Try to respond to two people you have not responded to before.

At this writing, this class has four more weeks of seat time....that really is not that many days.  For those of you who have routinely not worked in or out of class, get going....graduation is almost here. For the rest of you (the larger majority of the class) "stay the course" and move forward.

This week I want you to reflect and blog on the following:

1. How do you keep yourself motivated when you can almost see the end, but you still have quite a few things to complete before you arrive at the end?

2. Where are you in this class, behind, on track, ahead?  Consider where you are, and then blog about your performance as a student, be honest about it.

3. Why am I asking you to make this community connection?  Obviously I think it is important, but why?

4. How does the act of reflecting promote learning?

Remember, ticktock...the clock is winding down on your high school career.  Go out with your head held high, and a feeling of complete accomplishment.  You are almost ready to spread your wings.

The feeling of successful completion of your assigned tasks (photo credits; Bent)

Sailing into Success, even with bumps in the road. (Photo Credits URI Sailing)

Blog Post # Eight: The Bumpy Road to Success

In life there will always be success and failure, and often times you learn more from the failure than you do from the success. A good number of you have been successful with your project proposals; meaning everything has worked so far.  However, there are some of you who had great vision for success, but have been met with some bumps along the way; meaning you have had to make adjustments to your original project plan.

1) For all of you, what has been the the hardest part of this journey so far?  Share the failures and setbacks so far. (These can be as small as not doing your work on time, to as large as having to go back to the drawing board for a project.)  What insight have you gained from these "bumps" in the road?  How will you take this insight and use it to help frame out the remaining time in this class?

2) What part of your planning has been the most rewarding so far, and why?

3) Any stresses over the last week or so? What were they, and how did you handle them?

This Blog post is due March 20th AND two responses to others (choose some people you have not responded to) are due on March 22nd 

Examining leadership qualities through reflection

Leadership is a process of earning respect and gaining trust (photo credits Bent)

We are entering the fifth week of class.  So far you all have identified and reflected on skills you have through a series of exercises finishing with the creation of a resume.  In addition you have started research on both your project and your paper.  I admire your ability to juggle this in the final semester of your senior year, when in reality your focus is probably not a 100% on school and school related work.

This week your blog and part of your work on google classroom connect through leadership in a service-learning environment. This course is built on creating a service (your project) with the idea of learning from that service (doing the project-learning from it and providing a service to others).  To complete a project you need a leader, and guess what that leader is YOU.  Although you might be gaining some advice and direction from someone else, you are the leader of whatever your project is...you are the expert, and the person who others will/are counting on to follow through with your project.

Remember that the blog post is due on  Monday.  The scoring for the post is as follows: 25% for on time posts, 50% for content and grammar, and 25% for responding to two other peoples' blog by Wednesday of the post week.  

Note: For responses this week,  I am looking for something longer than just a sentence or two.  When you are commenting on other blogs, especially this one, connect with the blogger and really take an interest in what he or she has written.


Blog Entry Seven "Leadership" (due Monday March 13th) is asking you to examine leadership:

We encounter leaders in many different parts of our everyday lives; family, work, community groups, religious groups, sports teams, and social movements. We learn about favorite leaders from the past in history books and about those from the present through news media.  We value leaders for different reasons, including getting things done, promoting specific social values, and empowering others. Some people are born leaders and others are situational leaders.  For your blog this week, pick a leader from any area of life whom you admire and answer the following questions.

Part One: Someone you admire
1. Who is the leader you most admire?
2. How has this person demonstrated that she or he is an effective leader?
3. What qualities does he or she have that you think contribute to his or her being an effective leader?

Part Two: You as a leader 
Think about your own experience as a leader in different areas of your life: home, school, sports, work, volunteering.
1. Describe the best leadership experience you have ever had.
2. What kind of leadership style (see styles discussed in your handout) were you using in this situation? Explain
3. What effective strategies did you use in this leadership experience?
4. What personal qualities do you think contributed to your success as a leader in this situation? Explain how each quality contributed to your leadership success.
5. What effective strategies did you use in this leadership experience?
6. How might the effective strategies you used in this situation be used in your service project?

Make sure that you answer these questions in PARAGRAPH form...do not just give me one sentence wonders.  Dig deep and talk about your choice in detail, and then when responding to others, dig deeper and create a substantive response for that blogger to read.

This is Panda Bear, and he has an announcement for you (photo credits Bent)

I have been asked to list all the possible days we have scheduled for the library.  Just because I have scheduled time in the library does not mean go there first.  Please check with me, and then proceed, unless otherwise told on our mandatory Monday meeting in the classroom.  

The month of March the library is open to us on:
March 13-17th, but come to class on Monday to see what the week holds

March 20, 22-24, but come to class on Monday to see what the week holds (no library Tues)

March 27-31, but come to class on Monday to see what the week holds

April 3, 4, 7, but come to class on Monday to see what the week holds (no Wed, Thurs)

April 10-13, but come to class on Monday to see what the week holds (yikes this is the last week of class)