Genius hour reflections

Process log

Week 1

          For the first week of starting my project I feel like I have got a lot of work done. I decided that I was going to create a sock that has pockets on the top and bottom of the sock so you could place in an ice pack and walk around with it on. Now you don’t have to take time out of your busy schedule to ice your feet. I have a list of all the materials that I need but I’m not sure that the ice pack will fit into the pockets.

Materials to create the socks

1.    2 pairs of socks one to wear on your feet and one to cut in half to create a pocket

2.    an ice pack

3.    a sewing kit

 Hopefully I can finish the socks by next week, but overall there were no problems so far.

Week 2

      I created the sock but I am having trouble finding something new to replace the icepack because it fits into the pocket but it is really hard and I slipped a couple of times because it wasn’t very comfortable to walk on. Then I replaced the icepack with a sponge but it was too thick to fit into the pockets. So I made gel pads with dish soap and placed it into a plastic bag and put them into the freezer. But if I put too much pressure on the gel pads they popped.           I am a little bit upset that I didn’t finish the model completely, so hopefully I can figure it out soon because I haven’t even started gathering the information for my speech yet.

Week 3

     I finally finished the socks. I decided to use Dr.Scholl’s heel cushions because they are soft and squishy so you can walk around with them on for a long period of time. They freeze and heat very well, and the ice or heat lasts for around 45 minutes. I am so happy that I finished the socks!! I have now started to research my information and I have found everything pretty easily. I only need a little bit more information and then I can start writing my speech.

Week 4

     I have finished finding all of the research and already put most of it into the speech. I am a little behind schedule because I wanted to start my poster by this week but I won’t rush through things because then it leaves more room for mistakes. My goal for next week is to finish the poster and memorizing the speech.

Week 5

     I have finished my speech and my poster but I still need to practice more before the presentation. I was having a bit of trouble finding the perfect introduction for my speech but I figured it out by watching a video on how to write the perfect speech. It was very similar to the one that you showed us in class. I am looking forward to the presentation because I want to show the class what I have been working in for the past month.

Genius Hour Reflections

Humanities Proposal (topic number 1)

Purpose

For my project I decided to ask the question how can you create a new style of dance. I choose this topic because dance is something I am very passionate about. I hope to create a dance style that may be used in the dance future. The learning intention for my project will be; learning how to combine two very different dance styles into one unique style.

Rationale

I have been dancing since I was 2 years old and I have trained in ballet, jazz, lyrical, contemporary, modern, acro and hip hop. I have always wanted to try to create a new style of dance so I am very excited, that I get to do this as a topic for my genius hour project. Creating a new style of dance is going to be very difficult because I am so used to other people choreographing a dance for me. The possibilities are endless there are so many different styles of dance.

Connections

To help me with this project I will research some of the dance styles I do not know so I can try to combine it with a style that I already know. I will also Google different choreographers so I can see their interoperation on the different dance styles.  I will present my project in a video form so I can demonstrate my new style of dance. I am also going to show different types of dances and dancers, famous choreographers and explain the difference between similar styles (for example; modern vs. contemporary.) This project will probably tale a lot of time because I have to be very creative, patient and there is no answer to my question on the internet. My project will be a creative/artistic exploration

Estimated Timeline

My project will approximately take 8 weeks to prepare the new dance style, the presentation and the information that goes along with the dance portion. The first week I would like to get an idea on what two dance styles I want to combine. The second week I would like to start choreographing my new dance. The third week I want to start the research on the dance styles and finding dance videos. The fourth week I would like to be half way done my dance. The fifth week I want to have the research portion finished and start working on my oral presentation. The sixth week I want the choreography for my dance done. The seventh week I would like to have my oral presentation finished and memorized. For the final week I want to film my dance and put everything into a PowerPoint or keynote presentation.

Resources

           My resources for this project will mainly be websites and books. I would also like to use some of my dance friends and teachers as resources because they can give me constructive criticism on my choreography.

Audience

          Dance is something everyone can enjoy no matter how old; however I would like my intended audience to be Artistic Edge Dance Academy (my dance studio.) I want them to see my presentation because it will show them how passionate I am about dance and because I want them to introduce my new style of dance to the studio. 

Process log

          To show my process log I will take pictures/videos and report what I did each day like a journalist.

Peer Review

           For my peer review I would like to do a survey or conference. I think that this is a great way to practice our constructive criticism skills.  

Genius Hour Proposal (topic number 2)

Purpose

I decided to ask the question, how to create a new product that will help you with your feet problems?  I wanted to create a model that would help athletes prevent or heal injuries. The learning intention for my project will be; how to innovate an ice pack and turn it into something that you can wear all the time.

Rational

I definitely need something like this to help my feet from dance, because I am so busy I never have time to sit down to ice my feet. The pain just gets worse and worse because I don’t have any time. A lot of my dance friends also have this problem and it can turn into a serious injury if we don’t treat the pain now.

Connections

To help me with this project I will research the most common foot diseases and how they can all be healed so I can create a product that will help heal all of those diseases. I will also look up how all of these conditions occur and how you can prevent them from happening. I will figure out how to create this product without using the internet because it will help me develop creative thinking skills. My project will be creating a model.

Estimated Timeline

My estimated timeline for this project will probably be 4-5 weeks, to gather all of the information create the model and create a poster or PowerPoint presentation. The first week I would like to have an idea about what my model is going to look like and buy all of the materials so that I can start creating it. The second week I would like to have finished making the model and start working on finding all of the information. The third week I would like to have finished the information and start writing a speech. The fourth week I would have liked to be done the speech so I can memorize it and start a PowerPoint presentation or create a poster. The fifth week I would just like to keep practicing the entire presentation because practice makes perfect.

Resources

For this project I will use the internet for looking up most of the information along with some books. I would also like to ask some of my fellow dancers to help me because they might be able to help me improve the design of the product.

Audience

          My intended audience for this project would be anyone that has foot pains so I welcome all athletes or just the average busy person. Athletes aren’t the only ones who get foot pains my mom is very busy and she gets foot pains all the time. Anyone can learn at least one thing from my presentation and how to apply it to their everyday lives.

Process Log

          To show my process throughout this project I would like to use a journal reflect on what I accomplished every week. I won’t just record all of the good things that happened I will also write about my problems and how I solved them.

Peer Review

           For my peer review I would like to do a survey or conference. I think that this is a great way to practice our constructive criticism skills.  

Learning Blog 17/12/14

What Did We Do?

First we went over the paragraph booklets, our teacher was going over what was assigned and instructions for the next assignments. We went over questions and answered them for people that were unclear about the instructions. Next we were told to work on our critiques for our lit circle novel. We needed to put at least ten pros and cons to our story. We worked on our individual critiques while the teacher came around to check every body's.

Why?

We went over the booklet to make sure everybody had a clear understanding on hat needed to be done. We do the booklet to be able to improve our paragraphs and writing skills. We wrote a critique about our novel because we want to try and practice our constructive criticism and be able to identify each part ( ex. we had to be able to think about the target audience and be able to identify the pros and cons about the book). We also wanted to try and back up our points with specific details and examples from the story. That way our points become more reasonable

Reflections and Connections

Criticism is important even outside of novels. Since we are identifyingstuff like the pro's and con's and finding the target audience. WE are building up our constructive criticism. We can use this skill for a wide variety, whether it's a poem or even a movie. Being able to find the pints and improve upon benefits both your own skills and youracademic skills. Also to improve our writing skills is going to be very useful as well as developing paragraphs because we are going to needing that skill quite a lot in our high school life, we also want to be able to develop our explanation skills

Homework Reminders

For block 1: remember to work on your paragraph booklet. 
The first four paragraphs will be due Friday.

Homework Tips

If you ever need help remember to ask your study buddy or even just your friend from Humanities.
Don't be afraid to ask Ms.Lees any questions about the paragraphs.

Three Words

Hi, my name is Josh and these are my three words to strive for in 2015.

Friendliness

            There are lots of new people in high school and I want to be more social and meet more people. This would be a change for me because I am usually awkward and I have trouble talking to people. This way I would probably be made fun of less often.

Grades 

        I was not very happy with my grades this term, I think I did well but could have done much better, I was not happy with one mark in particular where I was getting a very high A but it was cut by about 12%. I thought I could have done a little better than that, because my mark only needed to be a little bit higher and I would have had an A.

Organization   

                I have said this before quite a few times but I am not the most organized person. I want to be more organized by having all my work done before the deadline, and well before the deadline. I also want to use my agenda more, so that I can keep track of what is due, when and to which teacher. However, I also want to have my handouts and papers more organized in the right binders in the right spot. Organization is something that I want to work on in general to, not just with school. I have a tendency to forget things so this will probably help me with that as well.

                So those are my three New Year’s words!

learning blog

WHAT DID WE DO? On Friday December 12^th we held our lit circle discussions on our novel, made group and self goals for future conversations and did a group and self evaluation sheet . Each member of the Lit Circle group discusses about a certain section in the novel. We choose a quote that we can make connections to or that we found meaningful. Everyone should lead the discussion for at least 5-10 minutes. While 1 group is having a conversation the other group is observing us and tallying every time we make connections, ask questions and contribute ideas to make the conversation flow. Once all the people have finished discussing we switch so the other can hold their conversation.

WHY? The learning intentions for the activities were to make connections with other pieces of text, real life and our selves, practicing our oral communication skills and collaboration skills, goal setting/reflections and listening skills.

REFLECTIONS AND CONNECTIONS: I think that having the lit circles have already given me more confidence on my oral communication skills. These simple skills will help you a lot in school. When you are giving an oral presentation you have to speak loud with confidence, make eye contact and engage with the audience. I feel like I have improved a lot with this skill in three weeks so I can’t wait to see my growth by the end of the year.  

Homework reminders: innovation fair proposals are due on Monday as well as our lit circle discussions #3 and #4. Don’t forget that Ms.Lees is open for flex at 11:15 on Thursday in room 213. Keep working on the paragraph booklets because they are due soon. That’s all for today Bye!!!

3 Words

Hello my name is Shirley and I'm here to present my three words that I strive for 2015.
The challenge is to come up with three words that you want to live by or a goal for the New Years.

Open: I have to the bad habit of always concealing my feelings and bottling them up. This word means I want to be able to express my feelings more openly and freely. To be able to tell someone how I feel even if it's hard.

Relaxed: I can be really hard on myself and my self esteem is quite low. So I want to be a bit more laid back and go easier on myself because if I'm being too hard on myself, it'll only add to my stress and that's not good for my health.

Health: I have always been conscious about my health, both mentally and physically. I want to be become more cautious because you can always achieve higher. I want to be able to eat right and exercise more. Because this will help benefit me in many ways.



For more information on the challenge you can visit it here -->http://sheownsit.com/forget-year-resolutions-just-pick-three-words-live-your-life-by/

Have a nice day everybody!

three words

Three Words

 Hi my name is Sophie and my three words for inspiration are patience, positivity and control. I chose patience because last year I lost patience when I was practicing my front aerial. I thought that this year I would put a lot of effort into achieving my front aerial, but to do that I must have patience. Last year I always looked on the negative side of things so I thought that this year I can focus on the positive outcome. I chose the word control because to get my front aerial I need to have control over my arms and my lower back. I have a really flexible back so this goal may be harder to manage but I am up for the challenge.