Reflection Process Journal Day 43 (1-6-09)

I worked excellently today. I had already almost finished our next reasearch project about making a powerpoint in the Multimedia Lab. Our goal was to create a bullet point powerpoint with pictures about our ancient civilization's three characteristics that we had chose for the essay. I think I went very close to achieving this goal, as I had already finished two characteristic's slides. I think I can improve today's lesson by getting even more done in the next lesson.

Reflection Process Journal Day 42 (31-5-09)

I had a great lesson today! I finally managed to complete my huge task of editing my essay so that it would be in the word limit in the Multimedia Labs. I had decide to cut out paragraphs into sentances, and managed to take my word count to 1497 words. Once I printed the basic draft of 1500 words, I had noticed some mistakes and syntax errors, and I had added many words, but had cut out just a bit more, taking my word count to 1497. I had made the changes to the essay on the computor exactly at the time of the bell, but quickly printed it out and handed the essay in the "nick" of time. I think I worked well today, but I think I could improve by slowing down a bit, that would allow me to give absolutly 100% concentration on my work.

Reflection Process Journal Day 41 (28-5-09)

I had a good day today in the Multimedia Lab. I am just 50 words above the word limit now after a great period in wich I cut nearly 300 words. I am hopefull that by the last final day on Sunday I will have my essay within the word limit and will be able to hand in a good essay. I think I can still improve on today's work by worrying less when it comes to facing a problem, in my case the problem of being over the word limit, but by thinking of solutions and working at the same time, instead of just sitting there and worrying.

Reflection Process Journal Day 40 (26-5-09)

I think I worked well today. I had almost finished my bibliography and had cut out roughly 300 words from my essay in the multimedia lab. I think I have taken the a great step to finsih my editing, as I have roughly only 100 more words to cut, and I am very optamistic that I will be able to have my essay be within the word limit. I believe that the timing of my findings of what words to cut could not have been better as I was starting to think that I woukdn't be able to make my essay within the limit. I believe this leaves me with little room for improvement, and a great reason to look forward to the final lesson for our essay.

Reflection Process Journal Day 39 (25-5-09)

I think I worked moderately today, I continued my editing process and by the day I am finding it harder and harder to cut out the words as I am starting to figure out how I can still cut roughly 400 words and still keep the vital information in my essay. I had asked Mr.Sparks to show me a few ways to cut out words and still keep the information, and it did prove to help a little. He shown me a way to cut out the "did not"s into "didn't"s, "can not"s into "can't"s and some other ways to make sentances smaller and eventually cut out a lot of words. I am hoping that by the end of the project I will be able to have a excellent essay and be able to keep it within the limit.
I think there is lots of improvment needed, as I can make sure I can observe my essay carefully and be as miserly with my words as I can.

Reflection Process Journal Day 38 (24-5-09)

I think I worked well today. I had fully concentrated on my work and did behave badly throughout the class today, in the Multimedia Lab. I had finished my writing process with a staggering 2212 words, about 700 words over the limit! I then found myself starting big editing process as I needed to cut out 700 words, and still keep my essay rich with information. I had edited roughly 2-3 hundred words today by cutting out the excess information, but I find myself in a dilemma where I'll have cut out some of the important information. I think I can improve by continuing to try and find ways to keep my essay within the the word limit.

Reflection Process Journal Day 37 (21-5-09)

I think I worked okay today. I had finally gone over the word limit in my essay in the class using laptops. I had managed to come up with a plan to how I would keep my essay within the word limit of 1500. by the ned of the day I finsihed with roughly 1650 words, 150 words more than the limit. I had typed a lot during the lesson but at the same time I was pondering on how I could solve my problem. I had initially come upwith the idea of cutting out the additional parts of my very lengthy religion characteristic. I don't think there is anything new I can improve on but I that I should always keep my mind open to new ideas on how I can solve my problems in class.

Reflection Process Journal Day 36 (19-5-09)

I think I worked well today, though I was worried at times. I belive I had no behaivor issues today. I had managed to write about 300 words to take my overall word count to 1309 today in the multimedia lab, but I have noticed that I am starting to get very worried over my word limit issues. This is because I still have to write the majority of my last characteristic aswell as my concluding paragraphs within 200 words. I dicided that I would cut and edit a lot of the parts of the essay once I had finished writing what I called the "first draft". Apart from some of the dillemas I was facing I belive my lesson went by smootly and managed to type my essay well, and thoroughly go through my note cards. I think that I can improve on today's lesson by worrying less and getting the job done, and editing when finished, becuase I think that worrying will only slow me down whilst working.

Reflection Process Journal Day 35 (18-5-09)

I think I worked moderately well today. I had just comeback from my school Space camp trip to Turkey and I had lost track a little on what I was doing on my essay. But fortunatly Mr.Sparks had kindly given us the period to reorganize and get to familiarize with our note cards again. I think that letting us (the students) familiarize with our work has made a difference to how we will continue to write our essay, as it will allow us to further understand our work and let us have a better understanding of what work is done, and what will be done next. Towards the end of the lesson, I had finally started to write more in my essay, though I had only managed to write about 100 words. I think that I don't need to improve anything in today's lesson, because I didn't really face any problems to improve on during the lesson.

Reflection Process Journal Day 34 (7-5-09)

I think I worked well today, even though I had some dilemmas throughout the lesson. I had managed to write roughly 500 words in my essay today, a fact I am happy about. But I am starting to get a little worried on how I will be able to fit one and half charcteristics and concluding paragraphs in 500 words left within the word limit for my essay. I had worked carefully throughout the lesson, reading through note cards and writing about them. But I belive I can improve in one area; my planning, as the today I have noticed that I write a few paragraphs but only to waste time in rearranging and cutting parts away from them. I think that if I plan out each and every paragraph, my writing progress will go a lot smoother.

Reflection Process Journal Day 33 (5-5-09)

I think I worked well today I managed to write 400 words today, which takes my total word count for my essay upto 672. I think I worked very well today because I behaved well and managed to write quite a lot. I didn't have many problems when writing my essay, I had done what I had told myself before and read through the note cards before I wrote about them. But I am growing a bit concerned to how many words my religion charactaristic will take up as I do have a limit of how many words I can use. I will be hoping I can finish the religion charcateristic by the time the word count reaches 800-850, so that I can have 600 words to write about my two other charcacteristic; government & law and social class, as well as my concluding
paragraph(s). I think I can still improve though predicting ahead of how I should manage my amount of words and who I can fit the things I wish to write within the boundries I was set.

Reflection Process Journal Day 32 (4-5-09)

I think I worked very well today in the MultiMedia Lab. As soon as I sat down beside a computor and logged in, I immediately read through my plan and begun writing my essay. I didn't talk to any one through the whole lesson, I fact that I am proud of. I did stumble at times through my essay, especially when writing a paragraph and deciding to write a new paragraph before it. I had often found that when I had written about 1 or 2 note cards in paragraph, I had found that the next note card had information that would fit before the paragraph I had just written. I also had some tough times when deciding whether to improvise on the information or copying the summary I had written on the note cards. apart from some of the minor problems I had faced during the lesson, i think that I worked well today and had already written 257 words by the end of the period. I think I can still improve though, by reading a few note cards before writing about them, so that I can understand and plan where which piece of information would fit best.

Reflection Process Journal Day 31 (3-5-09)

I think I worked perfectly well today. We had to plan out our research essay today , and I believe I did a good job of that. I had written many of the points that I wished to have in my essay onto my plan. I constructed my plan well, as it was thorough, but also listed many points I needed to put in my essay. I think that I didn't waste any time in today's lesson, subsequently allowing to finish my plan in time. I think I worked perfectly today, I didn't talk, or distract anyone today. I don't think there was any thing to improve on today's lesson.

Reflection Process Journal Day 30 (30-4-09)

I think I worked okay in our last day for research in the MultiMedia Labs. I had made only 1 note card, but I feel that what I had done was okay, as I wasn't finding suitable information through out most of the period. Not finding the right information was frustrating for me which did effect my behaivor a but I found that once I had started to find the information I was looking for, particularly when I started to read through the Ancient Greek page on the site "wikipedia.org". I think I can improve on this lesson even though we won't do the same research in humanaties though. I believe that if I don't give up when searching for information, I will, eventually, find what I need.

Reflection Process Journal Day 29 (28-4-09)

I think I worked well today. I had searched through many sites, and although I had only made one note card. I had searched through many sites, and every page I had read through, unlike before, I had made sure that I analyized the information as well and in-depth as possible. I think I had only managed to make one note card today becuase a lot of the information I had already known from previous research. I think I can improve on my work today by being open to all means of getting information, like through videos etc. If I can be more open I am sure I can have lots of note cards on the class's last day of reasearch in two days.

Reflection Process Journal Day 28 (27-4-09)

I think I worked quite well today, even though I only managed to produce one note card. Today was also a good day becuase we could now use the whole internet and could search for information where ever we wanted to. I didn't talk much and I concentrated on my work and I think that the only area I needed to improve on was my speed of working, which today was very slow. I hope I can make up for today and working even harder the next lesson.

Reflection Process Journal Day 27 (26-4-09)

I think I worked poorly today. I couldn't make a single note card and was constantly talking. I think this was mainly due to my frustration at the fact that I wasn't finding any good information on the sites. I need to focus more in class so that I can be more efficient in my work and behave well. I think that if I improve my concentration and not give up finding information, I can work extremelly well in class.

Reflection Process Journal Day 26 (23-4-09)

I think I worked well today. I had not talked too much nor not work at all. although I managed to only produce one note card, I believe that I behaved well today, and that I had fully concentrated on my work, but only lack of good resource finding today didn't allow me to make many cards. I believ I can still improve by looking and reading the information sites more carefully so I can get information all the time.

Reflection Process Journal Day 25 (21-4-09)

I think I have worked well today. I had managed to make a note card, but the best part of today was the fact that I didn't talk. Talking was one of the major problems I was facing in some of the previous classes, and I am happy that it has stopped for now and will continue like this for the rest of the year. I think when I was working today, I believed I would be able to find extra information, but then Mrs. Fletcher gave us some new sites to look at and from those new sites, I managed to "extract" some information that was new. I think can still improve though, by being more active when looking for information, rather than being grim faced and bored. I think I can do this by picking myself, and trying to enjoy the class work.

Reflection Process Journal Day 24 (20-4-09)

I think I worked okay today. The internet in the MultiMedia Lab was very slow so at the end I could only produce one card. I think I was very distracted at times in the class. Since I had to wait a long form sites to load I had nothing to do and often found myself talking. I am also finding it hard to find information on the websites. I think i can improve on today's lesson by always looking at the computer screen and by wiating patiently when sites are loading.

Reflection Process Journal Day 23 (19-4-09)

I think I worked medicrorely in the MultiMedia Lab today. I had written a note card, but I often found myself talking to others. I think that if I didn't talk today I would have got a lot more work done today. If I didn't talk I would have more time to read through the web articles and get the information I wanted faster. I think I can improve by not talking at all with my friends.

Reflection Process Journal Day 22 (16-4-09)

I think I work well today. I worked hard in the Multimedia Lab as I looked and searched through many pages and managed to make two note cards. At the beginning I had found it very hard to find information on the topics I had chosen about the Greeks on the two sites ( www.britannica.com, and www.grolier.com) we had to use. I think i worked well in the second half of the class as I then thought of not just searching for the topics but reading through different pages to find information. I think I can improve by keeping my mind open to different ideas to find information.

Reflection Process Journal Day 21(14-4-09)

I think I worked well today evem though I made only one note card. Today was our first day in the I.T Lab and the class would now take information from websites Mr. Sparks had listed for us. I think I worked well because I concentrated fully on my work and didn't allow myself to get distracted by others. I think the note card that I had made had lots of information. I found it hard to get information from the websites, it was hard to find information from the sites, because there was lot's of information that I didn't need. Overall I think I can improve by looking through pages on websites better so that I can be more efficient and work faster.

Reflection Process Journal Day 20 (13-4-09)

I think I worked well today. Despite making only one note card in our last day at the library. I think I did well because I had managed to "squeeze" out more information from the books as I already had lots of other information from the same topics. I think I have finished off our time at the library with a sufficient amount of informaton. I think I could still improve on today if the class is to return to research in library in the future, by taking every lit bit of information in the books and summerizing as well as I can.

Reflection Process Journal Day 19 (12-4-09)

I think I could have worked better today. I managed to produce only one note card. I had the book I liked, but I just could think of what other information I could have written. I read alot but I could only make a few sentances to summarize the information. Overall I think I can improve by reading and writing faster aswell as concemtrating more.

Reflection Process Journal Day 18 (2-4-09)

I think I could have worked better today. I think this because I produced a meagre two note cards even though I had full acsess to the books that had the best supply of information. I had read through the selected pages, but I think I was a bit lazy and couldn't pick myself up to get the work done. I should also not get distracted as much, and I should stop wandering off in the library. I can, fortunatly, say that the information I have written was good and was in large quantities. I hope I can improve on my work after the holidays.

Reflection Process Journal Day 17 (31-3-09)

I think I was very lazy today! I couldn't really get the energy in myself out in the library. I had managed to produce a meagre one note card. I think I wasted a lot of my time. Even though I had written a considerble amount of information on the note card, I feel I could have and should have done more work. All I can say is that I am to blame. I think I can improve though, I should talk less to my friends, and read faster with more concentration. I hope my last day in the library can be a productive one, so that I can finish with a large amount of information.

Reflection Process Journal Day 16 (30-3-09)

I think I worked well today. I had written lots of information, though it only produced two note cards. In the library I had not talked with anyone, and I think that was a great improvment for me. I also didn't disturb anyone today. I had done a good thing by taking an Greek encyclopedia, intstead of a normal non fiction book about the Greeks. I got the most wanted books because I came early today, and I hope I come early for every humanities library period. I also think I can improve by reading faster and get distracted less. I also had to write the reflection you have just read for homework.

Reflection Process Journal Day 15 (29-3-09)

I think I worked well. Though I only made two note cards in the library, I believe I worked well because the quantity and quality of my information was very high. I think I made some excellent note cards today. Apart of my class was disrupted as Khalifa was porpously taking the books I was about to take, even though he isn't doing Greece and annoyed me for a lot of the period. Apart from that I concentrated on reading the books I took and writing notes on them. I had used many different books today, but unfortunatly they (the books) combined only produced a meagre two note cards. Mr. Sparks also told us that he would be checking our reflection blogs this week. My lesson ended well and badly as Mr. Sparks had told me I was getting a six out of seven in my report card for the term, but the bad part was the fact that Khalifa spat on my pencil case.

Reflection Process Journal Day 14 (26-3-09)

I think I worked well today. As soon as I reached the libary and quickly got my folder of notes and books, and started working immideatly. Starting off was slow as finding the right pages in the books took some time, but once I got down to it, nothing distracted me (apart from joking with Mr. Sparks once!). Today, I chose not to sit with my friends, because sitting with them would slow me down. I think I mad the right decision, and I hope I can cotinue making good desicions like this one. I had wrote three note cards, and I really wanted to do four, but I didn't have enough time. To improve, I want to make more note cards next lesson. Mr. Sparks also gave us homework; to write the reflection you have just read.

Reflection Process Journal Day 13 (24-3-09)

I think I worked very well today! I finally managed to stop talking and work. Though I only managed to produce two note cards I had worked well, and didn't talk at all. I think this is how all students should work. I hope that if I follow this system of working, I can work to my maximum potenial. I also hope that I can get to the library earlier so I can get the book I want and need. I don't think I need any improvement for today, but I hope to work even harder the next lesson.

Reflection Process Journal Day 12 (23-3-09)

I don't think I was at my best today. In the library I had only managed to write two cards. The amount of cards produce wasn't my main problem today though, the real problem was the fact that I kept on talking to my friends (I'm lucky Mr. Sparks didn'y notice!). The fact that I am talking too much is bothering me, it (the talking) is lsowing me down. I hope I can develope a method to stop this excesive talking. As I have just mentioned I could improve by talking less.

Reflection Process Journal Day 11 (22-3-09)

I think I worked very well today! We had went to the library, and much to my amazement I wrote three note cards! I ahd taken the book with the write information. I still think that I could have written more information today, but for the moment I am pleased with my progress. I think I could improve by working faster, if I could do what I have mentioned I belive I would write many note cards in no-time.

Reflection Process Journal Day 9 (17-3-09)

I think I worked well today because I wrote three note cards. I think my progress today has been a further step for me to achieve my goal; have a lot of information. I think I worked very slowly before, but now that I have found the right books which will give me the information that I need. I still think I could improve by working faster on finding information and writing it down. I am hoping that in due course I will write many notes in a lesson. Mr. Sparks also told us to write the process journal entry that you have just read.

Reflection Process Journal Day 8 (16-3-09)

I think I worked poorly today. We went to the library to write notes for our essay. Today, I only managed to write one note card, this is why I think I worked poorly. I think that I could not get much done today because I was talking to much to my friends. I think I can improve on this by talking less and working more. I really hope I can lift myself up and start getting some work done, I will need to! I also need to write the reflection you have just read.

Reflection Process Journal Day 7 (15-3-09)

I think I didn't work well today. I managed to look at some books on the Greeks in the library when we went there in class. I think the overall lesson was un-productive because I didn't manage to write any notes. I think this happened because of two reasons; my lack of concentration and the fact that the books I had taken were usless for me. I think I could improve on today's mistakes by fully concentrating on my work and also to waste less time. I also had to write the process journal that you have just read.

Reflection Process Journal Day 6 (12-3-09)

I think I worked extremly well today. Not only did I finish the task we had to do early, I also wrote some extra process journal entries. Today, the class went to the multimedia lab to make blogs for our reflection journal so that Mr. Sparks could easily acsess our journals. Then we had to link the blog we made to our personal school wikispace page. The whole process was a lot easier for me since I already had a school wikispace for myself (some of the other students had to make their own!) . Once I had finished the main task before the end of the lesson, I wrote soem of the process journal entries in the blog. I think I don't need to improve on anything on anything for today. Mr. Sparks also gave us some homework; to write the process journal entry that you have just read.

Reflection Process Journal Day 5 (10-3-09)

Today, in class I think I worked very well, thoughthe class didn't have to do much work. Mrs. Fletcher showed us how to make basic notes. She gave us a sheet with some information about a civilization and a place to write a summary about the information and write bullet points about the information. In think I made a good summary, but much to my disliking Mr. Sparks didn't choose me to read my summary to the class. I don't think I did anything wrong in class today, thus, making me believe that I don't need to improve on anything for today. Mr. Sparks also told us to write the reflection that you have just read.

Reflection Process Journal Day 4 (9-3-09)

I think I worked slowly today. In class Mr.Sparks gave us folders to put our notes about the civilization that we would chose and write about later. He also gave us sticky note card holders to stick onto the folders. I had quickly finished sticking the note holders to the inside of the folder. Then we had to give titles to the stickers and out of those six stickers, three stickers had to entitle the three characteristics of a civilization that we had chose earlier. The other three notes had titles called "Introduction", " Conclusion" and "Bibliography" . Then Mr. Sparks gave us some note cards which we placed in the note card holders. Under the note card holders for the three characteristics of civilizations we wrote the questions we had made earlier about the characteristics. Unfortunately, I could not finish writing down the questions. I think I could improve my lack of speed by writing faster, as well as concentrating fully on the work.

Reflection Process Journal Day 3 (8-3-09)

Today in class, we went to the library. The librarian tought us how to make proper bibliographies. To make it easier for us, the librarian showes us a site could "easybib.com" This site was simple to use. I believe I participated very well in class today, as I asked many questions. I think I asked lots of questions becuase I was really interested with the topic. I even went up to the laptop the librarian was using to show us the website, and added a new entry for the example bibliography that she was making. Afterwards, we took reference and information books on the civilizations. I had a hard time choosing between the Greek civilization and the Mesopotamian civilization. My overall interest in Greek culture and Mythology made me chose the Greeks. Today, I took three books to look through, but unfortunatly I did not have enough time to write any notes on them. I also had to write the reflection that you have just read.

Reflection Process Journal Day 2 (5-3-09)

On Thursday, we had had to make questions for three characteristics that we could chose from the six characteristics that Mr. Sparks showed us on Tuesday. We had to make eight questions about the three characteristics. (This is similar to what we did on Tuesday). I think the questions I made were very interesting and I also managed to relate them to the other aspects of a civilization. I made these questions like the good questions the whole class came up up with on day 1 (See previous post). I think I could improve by working faster as the question writing process took much longer then I had orgininally planned, "this was not a good sign.....". We also had to write the reflectionb you have just read in our notebooks.

Reflection Process Journal Day 1 (3-3-09)

I enjoyed class the past two days. I believe I worked effectivly in class and that I participated a lot. On Teusday Mr. Sparks told us about six main characteristics of ancient civilizations. The characteristics were" religion", "government & law", "variety of jobs", "social class", "arcitechture/art/design" and "education/writing/math/science". The class had to vote for three characteristics to write questions about. The class chose "government & law", "social class", and "architecture/art/design". On Teusday I activly added questions to the question list Mr. Sparks was making on the the three charcateristics of a civilization that the class chose. Sometimes the other studenst thought of some of the questions I had, (This mad me feel very frustrated!). Though most of the time in class was positive for me, one part I disliked was that the "religion" topic was not chosen. I believe that I had done everything i needed to to do in this class, and that I didn't have anything to improve on.