February 2, 2018
I am worried about finding a mentor. I want to get a mentor that can offer me insight and advice on both my project and my paper but I think it might be hard to find someone with the expertise. Aside from that, I am really excited to start the project because I am pretty sure I know how to execute it very well. February 7, 2018 So I just looked at the calendar for senior project/paper and it is kind of overwhelming. There is just a part in March where I can tell the work load is just going to explode. I am going to have to do my best to stay on top of everything so I do not fall behind. As long as I do that I think my project and paper are both going to be great successes and I am looking forward to starting. February 13, 2018 I wrote the intro to my senior paper last weekend. I am trying to figure out who my mentor is going to be. I think I am going to get in touch with the counselor at the doctor's office that my mom used to work at. I am hoping the counselor will be able to give me good info and direction on planning my paper. I also know I am going to ask my 8th grade core teacher if I can teach my public speaking seminar in her class. February 27, 2018 I found my mentor yesterday. I got in touch with my old middle school teacher and she said she would be flattered to be my mentor. I ditched the idea of having the counselor be my mentor because I could not find one that would be able to give me enough of her time. I think this is going to be good because I can ask to use her class for my public speaking class and she will be right there to guide me along the way. Plus, she teaches core so she will be able to edit my paper well. March 1, 2018 I met with my mentor the other day and she signed the mentor agreement form. I am really excited to start working on my project once I get finished with my paper. The paper is really what I am focusing on right now and it is getting me a little stressed out to say the least. I have all of the sources I need to get and I have an interview so I am pretty good on sources. I am really just stressed about putting it all together. I know to get a good grade I am going to have to maintain a consistent voice which has always been a struggle for me. March 2, 2018 The most challenging part of senior project so far is definitely the time management. The paper is such a huge time commitment and budgeting my time for it is really hard. I'm pretty good right now on time as long as I can pop out a few pages of my paper this weekend. In terms of the project, I just need to start making my presentation. After I start, I have a feeling I'll get rolling and I'll be able to get it done pretty quick. March 6, 2018 I am half way through my paper and I am planning on rolling out another page tonight. I have found that if I do one page a night, my enthusiasm for writing remains throughout the writing process for that day. I thought writing the process would be really stressful but as I have progressed in the essay, I actually have really enjoyed learning about body language and writing about it. It has helped me see the world through a different point of view. March 12, 2018 Freak out mode is officially on. The senior paper is due tomorrow. I have all the writing done and a bunch of my works cited as well. In all respects I am pretty good and I didn't procrastinate so I think I am pretty good to go. With that said, I am still super nervous that it is not going to be good enough. I did my best so I will definitely be looking forward to any comments that Mrs. Reed has for me. I am just dreading to see that grade in the grade book. March 13, 2018 Alright my senior paper in (the first draft that is). I feel pretty good about it. I wrote a really good paper and I think all my mechanics are good aside from a couple grammar issues I had that I discovered after I had already turned in the paper. I think my interest in my topic really shined through. I enjoyed researching stuff for this picture and I tried to convey this enjoyment through my voice. Hopefully Mrs. Reed will feel the same way! March 14, 2018 So now it is time to get into full project mode. Now that I do not have to worry about the paper anymore I can put all my efforts into popping out my PowerPoint for the class I'm teaching and figuring out what I am going to say. My biggest goal is to not be cliche. I really want to give the class something meaningful that they will not just forget the day after I leave. March 21, 2018 The project is under way. I am in the preliminary planning phase right now. I am gathering some sources to use in my presentation and am going to get in contact with Mrs. Higgins to plan some of the logistics of the project and how it is all going to work. This is going to be a lot of fun I can already tell so I do not feel that much stress in starting it, I am more excited. April 2, 2018 I am on spring break right now so I am going to take this extra time I have to get ahead on my project and edit my paper a little. I realized that I turned in my essay with a bunch of typos so I am really angry at myself for doing that because I know I am going to get docked points for that. I fixing the obvious ones now but am waiting to get my rough draft back to make the final corrections. April 8, 2018 So tomorrow I go back to school unfortunately. I definitely was not as productive on my project as I wanted to be but I still got some good work done. I made those tweaks to my paper and I sent it to Mrs. Higgins to edit. I also am planning on meting up with her this week to plan the logistics of when I should come in and present to her class. I have also gathered info for the presentation. If I grind this week to get the presentation finalized I should be really ahead of the game. April 11, 2018 I went to a meeting with my local Toastmasters club last night. What Toastmasters is, is a public speaking club where the members all do a lot of activities for public speaking. I really enjoyed it because it was a very welcoming environment and I felt really comfortable getting up to talk. Everybody was incredibly nice and I really felt like I learned a lot that I can give to the eight graders. I also went up to do Tabletopics which is to do an extemporaneous speech for two minutes on a random question. I actually got voted the best Tabletopic speech of the night. April 19, 2018 I talked to Mrs. Reed today about dates I can leave class for my senior project presentation. I got some dates that work for both Mrs. Reed and Mrs. Higgins so I am just about good to go. I have to meet with Mrs. Higgins one more time to finalize the dates and times but it looks like I am cruising. I just need to finish my slides and practice my presentation! April 23, 2018 I turned in the final draft of my senior paper this morning. It was definitely a relief to finally put that thing in the box! I think it is a really good paper and I am very proud of it. I had my dad correct it. He is a lawyer so I am pretty confidant that it is pretty well corrected considering he literally tears argument and stuff like that to shreds for a living. April 25, 2018 I went to another Toastmasters meeting tonight. There were more people there this time around and it was really fun. The speaking theme of the night was beer. I am not very familiar with the topic so when I had to give an off the cusp speech on why I like beer I didn't have much to say considering I do not drink. I talked about how my brother is a beer expert and how he loves to talk about it. I felt more comfortable talking extemporaneously this time even though I did not have as good a handle on the subject so I think I am getting better at it. April 26, 2018 I decided that along with Toastmasters, another way I am going to enrich my public speaking skills to become a better teacher for the middle schoolers is to audition to speak at graduation. I think this will be an excellent way for me to step out of my comfort zone and do something that will excite me and teach me something that I can pass on. I really hope I make it and I am selected to speak because I am actually really excited it for it now. April 27, 2018 I finished writing my speech for graduation. I think it is pretty good and I am feeling confident about the content in it. I am going to need to practice it a lot if I want to get a spot to speak at graduation so this next week is going to be a little bit of a grind. In other news, senior papers were read today by the teachers so I should be getting my paper back on Monday. I am pretty nervous about my score. I tried my best on it though so hopefully my efforts yield good results. April 29, 2018 I finished the slides for my presentation today. I also have all of the dated that I am going to present finalized with Mrs. Higgins. I am presenting May 2 and May 7. May 2 is actually my birthday so my first presentation is going to be like a little birthday present to myself (sarcasm). No but seriously I am actually pretty excited to get going. I am feeling pretty good about the whole thing. I have logged 14 hours so far so I am going to be well over the 15 hour minimum requirement for the project. I think I am going to do very well. |