Assignment Goals:
Once a week, for the entire month of September (1st Quarter of the school year), we were assigned to write a report regarding a news source within the last five (5) years, that relates to the lesson topic of the week (e.g. DNA & Genetics, Mitosis & Meiosis, Bacteria, etc.) and to our own interests (e.g. painting, math, robotics, anatomy, animals, etc.) to write a summary of the news source, how it helps society (social justice), and how exactly it relates to the lesson.
Why I want to show this work:
There are multiple reports that I've submitted, as we had a new lesson each week in Biology class. However, at the end of the month of September, we were asked to choose and present one of the four reports that we've written in as of that month. For that presentation, we could choose to, well, present it through a choice of multiple forms, such as slides, a news reporter, a poster, a video, etc. I chose to present through Google Slides, where I chose to present the first current event I researched and made a report on about DNA/Genetics & Music. Although it was far from perfect, if was one of the first assignments that included intense research; at least the report that I made was quite intense.
21st century skills:
To be able to research, we must first find out what kind of interest we would like to connect to the lesson of the week. Once we have that sorted out, we have to be able to research and find suitable information to be able to have something to report, and we need to write and revise our own papers after drafting out the ideas. All this would require the ability to understand how to write the report in the best way possible, and to actually understand what we're writing about (as it might or might not be too advanced for our level). This also needs for us to monitor ourselves to know what we need to know what to do (to goal-set), how to do it, how long it will take, etc., which is where I was able to use V. Self-Directional Skills.
Current Growth:
This sample has enabled me to have more experience in researching information and to further understand the new information I found, as there were many scientific definitions and terms that I researched even more to know what it means, to at least know enough about it to be able to understand what the article is trying to say for me to know what exactly was happening.
New Growth:
I think this project, like I mentioned earlier, has many flaws in both the current event report and presentation [of the first one I did: DNA/Genetics & Music]. I would like to improve on my time management once more, because I did majority of the slideshow's contents just hours before the presentation, but I think it was good? Not the procrastinating, but because of how simple the slides turned out to be since I didn't have much time to put too much details into it, as I usually put in a whole lot of stuff (sometimes too much). While I was finishing up my slides, I realized that I didn't understand enough of my own report to answer one question that was asked after my presentation regarding my report. It was really frustrating and disappointing because I didn't even know the answer to my own report. This made me realize, if I was going to learn something advanced, I needed to make sure that I've fully understood ALL of it's contents. If I wasn't able to do that, then I should just stick with an source that is easier to understand, even if it may not be as game-changing as the more complex one that I couldn't even understand.