Growth mindset project
The mission for this project was to find something you wanted to learn and take steps in accomplishing it for the limited time of two weeks. I wanted to learn how to back-bend in order to achieve a back flip. I have never even attempted a back-bend, the first few things I need to do was stretches and strengthen my arms. With constant practice at least a little each day, I was able to do it by the end of the two weeks. It was a very new experience because I have so many things I don't think I have the time to learn on my own but now I have the confidence to aim higher. I plan on learning to surf on my own this summer, I have the board, wet suit and the resolve to put in the work in order to learn something on my own.
Cow problem
The Problem is - You are a very humbly farmer, so in order to sustain a stable income you have to find ways to save money. You only own one cow named Betsy, you tie her to the outside of your red barn with a rope that's 100 ft long. To save money you want to only water the grass that Betsy can get to while tied up. To do this you need the exact area that she can roam on. My class was presented with this problem months ago and slowly we learned how to solve it. I really liked this problem because it looked really difficult and hard the solve. I enjoyed this problem in the moments where I understood it or solved something complicated. I got excited and felt smart. The most difficult section for me was finding the area for the pizza shapes. I had no idea how we were going to solve that but when I learned how it worked, it filled me with a sense of accomplishment. I now have the knowledge to find the area to any 2D shape I could think of and now on to 3D shapes.
Content Area
Everyone talks about how they hate math and how it's so useless but I personally enjoy every minute. I'm not saying I'm good at math because I still struggle like everyone else but I have fun working on a problem. Then figure it out and having the excitement of deciphering something complicated, something new. Suddenly out of nowhere, I meet logarithms which were very scary looking with its full word and tiny numbers. This got complicated because you need to know the placement of everything in order to solve anything concerning logarithms. Where the base goes and how to convert it to a different placement. I don't do good with remembering complicated steps so when I came back to logarithms to prep for the finals test. I had no idea what my first approach to the problem could even be. I was lost but then I was found when I looked at my resources in schoology and khan academy. I feel like I really learned how to study on my own or with a group outside of the class. Not only with math but with other everything, school subject, and personal goals. I'm more comfortable with learned on my own because after high school I will have to teach myself a few things. Next year I made the decision to sign up for Collage Algebra, I knew in my heart of hearts that I just wasn't ready for calculus. It wasn't meant to be but I do plan on working on SAT math during the summer I have the huge SAT textbook. I would also like to practice learning a subject on my own using text books and math websites. I plan on taking what I learned to next year, I already have a study buddy.