My 40th Reflection May 31st 09

Today wasn't a good day for me at all. I had a lot of computer problems which lead to my downfall. My overall strategy was actually to get a good start on my powerpoint as I had already handed in my essay. The only problem was that my computer wasn't working. The first computer I went on, got frozen and I couldn't do anything for about 10 minutes. I got a little frustrated because we only have this week to actually finish the whole power point presentation. Mr. Sparks then put me in another lab on a different computer so I could work. There was another problem on that computer. It was taking ages to log in. It took 20 minutes for the computer to actually log me in and another 10 minutes to get microsft word open. I only had 20 minutes left to work, so I hurried up a little bit. I think I worked better in the other lab, as I did not have anyone to talk to and nothing to distract me. Next time I think if I do ot sit with my friends, I can work a lot better and faster.

My 39th Reflection May 28th 09

Today, my strategy was to finish my bibliography completely, finish my essay completely and finish checking over my essay. I actually finished all of those this lesson. I rushed a little bit because Mr. Sparks said that if we use the next lesson, we will only have 3 days for the power point presentation to be done. I talked a lot this lesson, mainly because I did not have anything to do as I submitted my essay early in the lesson. After I had done my essay, I looked for images on my 3 characteristics. I found the images I needed, but I think I will need more when I start my power point presentation. I think I worked well today in the end, I talked a lot though which was probably the only thing I did wrong today. It was the last lesson to write up our essays and I submitted it. I think throughout the essay project, I could have improved on my talking at the most part but other than that I think I did everything well.

My 38th Reflection May 26th 09

Today, my objective was to finish my essay completely and print it. I went over my essay twice before I printed it. I though my essay was perfect until Mr. Sparks and Miss. Fletcher said how we had to write the bibliography. I worked effeciently to try and finish my bibliography and in the end I did finish it. I also put my bibliography in alphabetical order. I think one of the things that dragged me down this lesson was the ammount of talking I did. I talked a lot during the lesson and was again surprised that Mr. Sparks did not move me from my place at the beginning of the lesson. I also sometimes dozed off in the middle of the lesson because I thought I was done when I could have still improved my essay. I think if I avoid talking and dozing off next lesson, I can check my essay over and over again to completely make sure that my essay is complete. 

My 37th Reflection May 25th 09

Today I was determined to finish looking over my essay as well as checking for errors. In the beginning of the class, we were a bit delayed because Mr. Sparks had to change our places. I was surprised he did not switch my place because I was talking a lot during the lesson. I did not have many problems during the lesson. I checked over all my work as well as finished my bibliography. I am happy with my work because I fit the limit and also I finished all my work. Tomorrow I will check over my work one final time and then probably print it.

My 36th Reflection May

Today, I was focused on getting my note cards and checking over my information. The only problem was that Mr. Sparks had forgotten where he put our folders, so that delayed me a bit. Even when we got the folders though, I was talking quite a lot. Which actually made me waste valuable time. I could have used the time to actually check over my work a bit more. I still checked over my work, but only twice. I still found errors both times, so next lesson I have got to work harder to check over my work more thoroghly. My strategy next lesson will probably be to check over my work and make some final changes as well as check if the word count is in the limit.

My 35th Reflection May 21st 09

Today, my strategy was to finish typing up my essay, then start editing since I knew I was gonna go over the limit. I took away the word count again, so I would look at how many words I had written. In the end, I did finish writing my essay, the only problem was that I had written over 1700 words. This meant that I had to do some serious editing. I had a bit of trouble actually editing my work. I thought all my information was relevant, so I had a hard time picking the bits which I didn't need. But I did actually finish editing my work and ended up with 1499 words. Which is below the limit so I'm not worried anymore. But now I have to go over my work and check for errors. When I stopped editing, I also started to slack off and started talking to my peers which made me lose valuable time.

My 34th Reflection May 19th 09

Today, my strategy was to keep typing until I finished my essay completely. As I did last lesson, I removed the word count so that I wouldnt look at the words every 5 minutes. I did not really talk much the whole lesson, I just kept on working. My strategy today, was to actually first organize my note cards. I was on my last chracteristic, but I spent about half the lesson actually organizing all of them. I think this was better than just typing it because then my organization grade will get higher. After I had finished orgaznizing my note cards, I worked quickly and started to continue writing my essay. I think that this will probably put me behind schedule as I took a long time organzing my note cards. I kept working, but when I looked at the amount of words I had written, it turned out I had wrtieen over the limit. I had written 1586 words in that time. I still have a few more note cards left to type after this, and will probably hit 1600 words. I think I worked quite well today, since I have most of my essay done and I have finished organzing all my note cards. Next lesson, when I finish typing my essay, I will have to do some editing and erase all of the information not needed.

My 33rd Reflection May 18th 09

Today was our first day back from our WWW. I don't think I worked well today. My overall strategy was to delete the word count so I wouldn't look at it, which actually helped, because I did not look at it for every 5 minutes. The only problem was that I looked halfway through the lesson and it turned out I was writing too much. So I worked on deleting some words from my other section. This will probably put me behind in the class so I have to work hard next lesson. After I deleted some sentences, I kept writing on and on and did not look at my word count. so I have no worries at the moment about how many words I've written. This shows me that my strategy was effective.

My 32nd Reflection May 7th 09

Today, I think I made a lot of progress in my essay. I worked hard on trying to organize me note cards and I also didnt chat much through the lesson. I am having 1 problem throughout the lesson though. I keep looking at the word count every 5 minuted which puts me off. This puts me off because I think I have already written too many words. I am gonna try to find an option on the computer to remove the word count so I wont be looking at so frequently. I am having a bit of trouble with orgaznizing my essay, because I cant just mention what happend after an emperors death, I have to talk about the emperor, that is what I am having trouble with. When I have removed the word count on my screen, I will keep on writing an probably will have to cut off a few words or maybe even full sentences out of my work. I hope that next lesson I will work harder and get more of my essay done.

My 31st Reflection March 5th 09

I was planning to write my essay today, but I was a bit delayed because I had a meeting with Mr. Schwaberow. I was delayed again because my there were no more computers in the multi-media labs, and I had to get a laptop from Mrs. Blackburn. This put me off quite a bit. I think after that I worked very well and hard. I finished organizing my note cards and I also started writing my essay. I worked well while writing the essay, I did not talk and I also did not waste any time. I think if I had not been delayed at the beginning of the lesson, I would have finished a lot more of my essay. I hope I will do better next lesson.

My 30th Reflection May 4th 09

I was still planning on my essay today. I did not work as well as I thought I would , but I did get some work done. I kept talking through the lesson because I was in a sort of hyper mood I guess. I mostly talked when Mr. Sparks was out of the room which made me feel bad at the end of the lesson. Although I was slacking off, I still got quite a bit of work done today. I finished organizing my religion notes as well as my government and law. Now I just need to work on typing the plan on the computer. I worked well when I wasn't talking. I worked faster and more efficiently. Next time I will try to work more efficiently throughout the whole lesson.

My 29th Reflection March 3rd 09

It was time for us to work on our essay now. I think I worked well well today, but I could have worked a lot better. We were planning on how we will structure our essay. I had a bit of problems at the beginning because I was looking for Inspiration file which would help me, but I could not find it. So I used Microsoft Word. I was keen to get on to do the essay, but I was also talking through the class. I think this is because I was sitting between my friends. Next time I will try not to sit with them. I worked well today because I worked hard on trying to organize my note cards. It actually took me a while to organize them because I had quite a lot. It took me almost the whole lesson to just organize the note cards. I will talk less next time and hope I do more. 

My 28th Reflection April 30th 09

It was our last day of research today. I think it was my best lesson , because I was determined to finish 10 note cards also I was keen on getting more information. Mr. Sparks was not here today and Mr. Sweeny was taking his place for this lesson. I had a few bad parts in the lesson, because since Mr. Sparks wan not here I started talking a bit more, but when I realized that I had been talking a lot, I stopped and started to work more and harder. It paid off in the end, I got more information that I did not have before which will be very useful in the essay when we write next week. These 10 note cards give me a total of exactly 100 cards in total! I think when we write the essay I will first work on organizing the note cards. I am pretty satisfied with the information that I have collected, hopefully I should do well.