Metacognition: Water Balloon Project

The purpose of this project is to hit my professor with a water balloon, by dropping a balloon off the bleachers as he is walking and using physics to calculate when to drop it. We are given enough information to solve the problem, all we have to do is use formulas and what we already know to solve the problem. 

After i started to solve the problem I looked at all the information I was given and used information I had learned in class. I went over the question several times to  get the idea of what i need to solve for. I looked at an assignment that we did the other day that was similar to this project. I already knew i would have to find out the professors average speed and how fast the balloon would drop. I found out the measurements and looked through it to see if it would make sense. If i did not look it over then I would have never noticed that the point of this project was not to have the balloon hit the ground but the teacher. Meaning i had to calculate his height and subtract it from the distance of the bleacher from the ground. 

Whenever I have a project or an essay, I always organize my thoughts and prepare myself for the final draft. I always look over my work, recalculate and check to see if it makes sense. If a measurement does not seem right then you probably did something wrong. I like to know the purpose of the assignment and have all the information needed to solve it. I try to be careful with my work, making sure everything is right. I always think what if this happens or what if he does this? How would it change the ending of the story or how would the solution change. 

What I need to work on the most about my thinking, is to stop thinking I am always right. I need to learn how to accept that I am wrong, or that someone else's idea is better. I am too confident with my answers and when I am wrong I often get frustrated and sometimes give up. If i work hard on something and end up wrong, it brings down my confidence. 

Best of Week: The College Application Essay

In class we read over Students College application essays. They were each different and unique to the person. Some were amazing and others were decent. One student used his comedian side to express himself, while another student was more personal and used a serious tone.

Mr. Allen explained the difference between sending essays out to hundreds of colleges verses sending to a fewer schools that you are really interested in. Colleges want to know that you are really interested into just them. Also that you’re not just using them as a plan b, in case you don’t get into another college.

College is very important to many students, including myself. Many colleges require an essay, and depending on your essay will help decide if you will be accepted. I learned that when I right my essay I should use my voice, otherwise it can sound fake or boring. Not only did I learn how to write a good essay, this will help me determine my future college.

Connection: The Writer

To be successful you must work hard and never give up. This poem is about a writer who never gives up, even through rough times she continued writing until she was finished. When people did not believe in her and no one supported her, she still fought on and continued her work.

So many people give up simply because they get bored with it, or because it is too hard. Life is not always what you expect it to be, and sometimes unfair. But if you take it day by day, and never give up, you can achieve so much.

This forces me to believe that I can be successful. If I believe in something and really stick to it, I know I can achieve a lot. If I give up then all the hard work and struggle I went through would be put to waste. This relates to me and everyone in the world, that success does not come without a fight.

Change of mind: Denis Johnson, 9/11

Everyone remembers September 11th 2001 as the day terrorists flew airplanes into the Sears tower. It was a horrible day that shocked people all over the United States. No one expected something like this happening to them. It was always the "other" people that bad things happen to them, not them. How could this happen to me? Why me?

I agree that this event was a tragedy, but look around bad things are happening everywhere. There are people that have been in war for years. They see people dying, villages being burned to the floor all the time. Everyday they are happy to be alive, and fear that they might not make it another day. Here we are making a huge deal about the Sears tower destroyed and lives taken, not saying that we should not, but we are selfish for which we are lucky. We are lucky to be free, that we are protected and safe. Others would kill to get just a little of what we have.