This week, we tied up most of our loose ends, and we finished up our project. I'm pretty sad that this class is going to be ending. Having taken it freshman year and senior year, I feel like I've come full circle, and it makes me feel quite melancholy. I feel like this class has begun to represent my high school career, and the growth throughout. Looking at my old Weebly posts, I see how freshman Mattie saw the world, and comparing the two is quite interesting. I'd like to be able to say that I've made great progress since then, but I really am not quite sure.
This class has helped me to remember the importance of taking risks in writing. As much as I love English, it often leaves me feeling drained, and like everything I think is wrong. In this class though, there really are no wrong answers, and there are many directions one can choose to go. When one is not scared of being wrong and ridiculed, they are more likely to fearlessly explore. As a result, you are filled with the curiosity of a child, and are able to think outside the box. I'm really quite sad that this class is nearing its end. It's gone by so fast, and I wish I could have learned about every single category. I suppose I could do it individually, but I don't think it would be quite the same. It would be really neat if there was a Sci Fi club that was similar to this class, so that the learning could go on for longer than just a trimester.
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This week our group worked on our project, and made a decent amount of progress. We watched some Twilight Zone and then did the corresponding blog posts for them. My group mates and I also have all began our artifacts. Their artifacts are turning out so nice, and I think they are going to be great assets to our presentation. I began to gather information about infamous robots in the media so that I can begin my project. I read little blurbs about each one, and I'm very excited to delve deeper into the history of robots.
One thing that really got me thinking this week was the concept of robots coexisting with humans. Not all robots have the ability to think and feel, but in my opinion, if they are able to, they should be treated equally to humans. As silly as it may sound, robots with higher intelligence should be given the opportunity to be evil or not. Humans everyday are given the chance at being good or evil, and robots should be given the same freedom. I would like to somehow incorporate this argument into my group's robotic project. This week we continued to work with our groups. We made progress and we continued to talk about the things we want to accomplish with this project. I'm really excited to see where this project leads us. In my opinion, this topic is one that we should be thinking heavily about. With all the technical advancements we are making, robotic intelligence is something we will have to figure out how to handle. During this project, I hope to see how it's handled in works of fiction, and also how robotic interaction is handled currently, in the real world. Not only that, but I would like to investigate all the technological advancements that are being made in the robotic field.
The main concepts we learned this week were the criteria for our next group project. It is the same project that I did Freshman year, but some time has passed, so it's practically a new assignment for me. Not to mention that when I did it Freshman year I focused on mad scientists and mutant children, and now I am going to be focusing on the blurred boundaries between man and machine. Some of the important things to remember whilst going into this project is to stay on top of things! For our last project my group sort of did things at a leisurely pace and towards the end we were scrambling a bit to get things done. This time around I would like to do things at a pace where it's not rushed, but I will have everything done when it needs to be done.
I'm very excited at having this chance to work with people that I do not know very well, and to get to know them. My group seems to be on the same page and we are all very excited and passionate about our topic. My goal for this project is to be more vocal in my thoughts and opinions. This will help me with working with others in every aspect of my life. This week I learned that you can really tell a good public speaker from a bad one. There were some groups that were talking about fascinating topics, but I found myself not as interested as I should have been. The groups I were actively interested in were the ones where the speakers were very enthusiastic about what they were talking about. This made me realize that I really need to work on my presentation skills. I did not do too well with my presentation, due to the fact my anxiety is always at an all time high when talking to large groups of people. This is something I need to work on, especially since I plan on being an elementary school teacher. I think I need to work on what to write in my presentation. I need to work on what to write when I do a presentation. I need to work on writing down the main ideas I want to share, and not every single thing I want to say, because it's quite boring when people only read what they've written, and they don't expand on any of the ideas. Working in a group for projects has always been a struggle, and this is no exception. Whilst working in a group, you open up yourself to criticism, making yourself vulnerable. Sharing your ideas is sometimes hard, because you do not know what the other group members will think of them. Being in a long term group project is helpful to me because it is helping me become more and more comfortable with the idea of sharing ideas. Not only that, but I also am learning how to compromise. At times, I have a somewhat difficult time with compromise, often times thinking that my ideas of how to pursue something is the best idea. This however is not always the case, and working with a group project is very helpful.
This week we worked in our groups for most of the time, and I think that is was very beneficial. Often times we work completely individually and we become used to only doing that. From a real world stance, this is not completely beneficial to us. In the real world, we will be working frequently with others, and we need to learn how to do this properly. Working in a group is also helpful because you are able to hear things from your partner's perspective, and it will allow your thinking to grow.
That being said, I definitely need to improve my skills of working in a group. I'm very opinionated and often times find myself getting grumpy when my idea's aren't chosen. I need to better myself, and realize that it is not something to take personally. It is merely that some ideas work better for some projects than others. It does not mean my idea is not good, it just means that another idea was better suited for what is being worked on. As an introvert, sometimes it is hard to have such close interaction with people regarding things as personal as my thoughts, feelings, and writings. http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/teamwork.htm This week, we learned about the 3 (+1) elements of science fiction. Having this knowledge will greatly help us as we work on our group projects. My group read " How to talk to girls at parties", and knowing the 3(+1) elements gave us a nice foundation for being able to find out what made this story a work of science fiction. It will continue to help me when I have to read the other stories and watch the other movies and shows.
That being said, I will have to make sure that whilst I am reading the stories, I also analyze them. When I read or watch something that I have an earnest interest in, sometimes I forget that I have to think deeper about it. I will accomplish this by making sure to have a notebook always handy, so that I am able to jot down all my notes and thoughts really quickly. That way, I won't have to think about it all after, because odds are, I'll have forgotten most of the thoughts I had. This was the first week of school, so I will need some time to get back into the swing of things. That being said, I think this week I did pretty well considering. However, there are things that I do need to work on. One of those things is that I need to get back into reading science fiction literature. Over the summer, I watched copious amounts of X-files and The Twilight Zone, but did not read any science fiction books. I'm hoping that I will have enough time in my schedule to do so, because I think that it's important to make time for reading.
As a student in this class, I also need to work on being comfortable with using Weebly. I haven't used it since Freshman year, so it is important that I become reacquainted with it. Something that goes along with that is that I need to become more comfortable with writing pieces on a laptop instead of with pen and paper. For whatever reason, I am able to write better and more freely on paper than I have ever been able to with a laptop. Typically, I have to write on paper, and then I type up what I have written. A goal that I have is to be able to express myself properly through typing, so I don't have to write things and type them up. It will help me be more efficient with my time, and it will also help me become more prepared for college. |
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November 2015
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