I have decided to write this out as a post on the blog, despite the fact that my proposal stated that I would be using a journal. I do have a journal with my reflections in it, but with all of my scribbles and arrows, it isn't very easy to read. If you would like, I can post pictures for you to see, but for now I am just planning to write out my "good copy", here.
I would like to start with the fact that I am very excited about this project. I know this will be our last one, and I am hoping to do something with my project that will make it a good ending to this course. As I mentioned in my proposal, my project is on the apathetic mentality of our society.
For our proposals, I really enjoyed the new format that we tried, where we were able to pitch our project to a mini group. This more formal setting helped me to take the pitch more seriously and to put some preparation and thought into my pitch. Not to say that our proposal conference didn't require any planning, but the it did seem less formal. However, one of my favourite parts about the conference was the question and comment period after. Admittedly, I was a little bit nervous about this as I wasn't sure what questions would be asked or how I should answer them. Also, Ms Morrisette was in my group, which is pretty intimidating in itself ;). I didn't end up presenting due to an appointment that I had that day, but I learned a lot from watching other people answer questions. Some of the questions that my classmates were asked were difficult, and what I learned by watching people answer them was how to remain calm and take some time to think out a logical answer instead of scrambling for words and filling pauses with "um" and "uh".
When it came time for my own presentation, I was less nervous than I had been the other day because I had an idea of how it would be. Nonetheless, there were certain questions that made me think for a little bit. I found that my challenge was not necessarily not having an answer, but not knowing how to fully articulate it. Ultimately, it is something that I still struggle with a little bit today. I think that the solution (or something that helps at least) is just practice and as I mentioned before, to just try and think through your thoughts a moment before you say them.
This week I have started with research component of my project. I have seen a numerous amount of TED talks (eg. Simon Sinek: Start with Why, Dave Meslin: Antidote to Apathy), as well as read multiple articles in books and online. I was a little bit surprised at how many new things that I got from the things that I had already read or seen before. As an example, I have seen this particular Simon Sinek talk multiple times before (both in class and at home) and wasn't expecting too much out of it. However, I ended up noticing many things that I hadn't necessarily payed close attention to before. I was curious as to why this was. Did I just not pay too much attention before or was there another reason? Admittedly, as I repeatedly watched this video throughout my school year, I began to lose interest in it, so this could have been part of the reason. I think that the main reason though, was because I had a different mindset when I was watching the video this time. When I was doing my research, I was specifically looking for ways to make my video more persuasive, inspiring, interesting etc. So when I saw all of the different ways that Simon Sinek's ideas could apply directly to my video, I looked deeper and more intensely into the video than I had previously.
I haven't yet started with the actual making of my video, but I plan to start later in the week. I am excited, though a bit anxious, to see how it will turn out.
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