November
2006
Quarter One Journal Entry…1
When we first began the book The Lord of the Flies, I had no clue what was in store for me. Mr. R talked about hidden meanings everything in the story, and how we had to all look out for similes and metaphors. I was incredibly confused, at first. Then we did things like reading the book, discussing it in class, and completed the final project on the book. By the time this book was done I was an expert on The Lord of the Flies. I shall now tell you what I learned, how I learned it, and how I used it.
While reading the book I felt that I demonstrated the ESLR Critical Thinker because I feel that I built meaning and understanding using prior knowledge and new information. In my own words that means that I can take what I have learned in the past and use it in the present. I did this by thinking about past books, and information that I had gotten to figure out what might happen next and how it will affect certain characters in the book. We also use this skill in modern dance. We take dance moves from the past and remodel them to make new creative moves. There is always room for improvements so I think that I could do this better by taking more information from other classes and putting them into my every day learning. I might use P.E. stretches and put them into my drama stretches that I do every day. Overall I found that I did exceptionally well in the critical thinking area, and I can use past knowledge. Out of 10 I give myself a 7.5.
I found that I was not the best Self Directed Learner while reading the book. I didn’t completely demonstrate competency in goal setting, time management, and organization skills. What that means to me is that I set goals that I can accomplish, managing my time so I can complete your goal, also organization can help you to keep on top of things and keep going and going. Out of all this the only fault that I had was not managing my time wisely. I didn’t read every night, I read every second and some times I found that I was a chapter behind some classes. This reminds me of last year in grade 7 English, I was not into the book King Arthur, and I tried to read it but after about 6 chapters I gave up and discontinued reading it. My goal failed and I was most definitely not organized, all my notes were every where! I didn’t get very high marks reading that book. I could have taken notes in class so that I would still understand what was going on in the book. In conclusion reading a book and being a self directed learner is not going to work well, but I have to try and work on that more. Out of 10 I give myself a 2.
In class there were many discussions about the book and many many activities. We talked just about every class about a chapter or a topic that had come up in the book. I found that while we had this class meeting I was an effective communicator. I demonstrated the skills of effective collaboration. That means that I can work well with my classmates and members of a team. You should listen well and pitch in ideas. I have shown this in class by staying calm and listening to every one around me and also saying things to help out my class. What triggers into my mind is being an involved citizen when I am respectfully interacting with diverse cultures. I know I have shown this by not excluding people because of their diverse culture and not speaking to people badly. I know that I could work on these skills and I might try doing that by listening more to what is going on around me, and even to encourage others to speak up more (I talk too much). There are many ideas out there not just my own. Thus I think this was my strongest area in the ESLRs. Out of 10 I would give myself a 9.
On the other hand while I was participating in class discussions and work, I believe that I didn’t demonstrate the ways of a critical thinker. I didn’t apply problem solving skills to facilitate learning. Possibly it means that I try to solve problems using trial and error, by asking questions and discussing the problems with other people. I didn’t do well in this certain criteria because I didn’t ask for help, ask people around me or even try to work out problems for myself. When I am in algebra, I sometimes use this skill in my work. If you don’t know or understand a certain question then you try it once then you try it again, and that is the trial and error. I know that I could use this skill more in all the work that I do, and I could do this by asking more questions if I don’t understand a certain assignment. On the whole I didn’t do terrible at this skill but there is always room for improvement. Out of 10 I would give myself a 4.
The project was the most stressful part of the whole book. We had less then a week to do a certain project that we had picked ourselves. As I was doing this project I felt that I hit the ESLR Academic Achiever, in the area of accessing information from a variety of sources. That to me means that I can look in a book or on the internet, interview people and ask them questions about information they might know, so that I can find different information from different sources. This reminds me of book interviews that you sometimes see on television. When people talk about the book that they wrote and they explain it coming from them, so you have two sources that come from one line of information. I could always do this better by getting my mother to edit some of my work, and then getting my peers to edit it. That would be two different minds making it two different sources. Finally I conclude that being an academic achiever is harder than it looks. Out of 10 I give myself an 8.
There was also an ESLR that I didn’t do that well when doing the project, and that ESLR was self directed learner, I just didn’t seem to get that specific ESLR into my project. In this particular project I didn’t take a creative risk in developing untried ideas. I know this means that I am original in my work. I hand in something that is unlike all the others that are handed in. I have not done this because I did what just about every one else did, and I played it safe. Mostly every one made a book and I made a book as well. This makes me think of my father. He is always safe in the work that he does day after day, unoriginal and sometimes boring. He tries to make what he does a little more creative like color coding things, but he just does what he is practically told. I could take more risks by doing something completely different on my next project. Still do what it is asking me to complete but also go an extra mile, and think outside the box. At last this ESLR was terribly ignored and must be worked on much harder in the future. Out of 10 I give myself a 4.
Over all everything that had to do with the book went pretty smoothly. I read it and learnt how to improve my reading. I also learnt loads more from just writing this journal entry. In the future, I possibly might be able to enhance my learning capabilities.
IDEAS: I narrowed the topic of my journal entry down to “what I have learned from the ESLR using blooms taxonomy”
ORGANIZATION: my organization went in a specific order. I put reading the book first with an eslr that I did and did not do. Then I put in class with an eslr that I did and didn’t do. Then last but not least I put project last with an eslr that I did and didn’t do.
VOICE: I tried to use as much voice as I could in the over all essay. In this sentence I used the word particular, and I find that that word is a big part of me. “In this particular project I didn’t take a creative risk in developing untried ideas.” I use the word particular a lot and when I talk I use it as well. There are many words through out the paper that are very “me” words, that give it is voice.
WORD CHOICE:… Started to Began…idea to Clue ….very to ncredibly… higher to Enhance
SENTENCE FLUENCY: There was on sentence that started out as “in the future I might have a higher learning standard.” Wasn’t that detailed and was very sloppy. I then changed it to “In the future I possibly might be able to enhance my learning capabilities.” This was much better and much clearer for the reader.
