One thing that I really value about the IA, is the way that we give each other feedback: straight talk. I once told Corey something along the lines of "I love it because I get to see what others see as my strengths and weaknesses." It's the absolute truth. When I was being challenged, one thing that really stood out to me and hit me kind of hard was the fact that I don't take enough INITATIVE anymore, unlike in the beginning of the semester where I was running around buying fruit for our first sale or ordering fruit from the first supplier. It's something that I have started to realize too but had never quite sinked in until Thursday. Another point of improvement that I had never actually thought about was the fact that I have to be more CURIOUS with my surroundings and break out of my "bubble", becoming more interested in things that others are doing. Doing this would help me expand my bubble of knowledge and I would definitely learn from what others are doing, such as media skills from DD, creativity from Babi or organization skills from Drew. One last thing that stood out was a comment that I had also gotten when we did the mid-term straight talks: you have to use more MEDIA to tell your story. I should also change the structure of my blog posts and make it more interesting for my readers. This is something that I have tried hard to improve on but I know that I still have a long way to go. I know that media is my weakest point because I've never had the opportunity to work with it as much as I have this semester; therefore it's definitely something I know I need and want to improve on. Every time that I have published a blog post, I've found myself trying to balance on the fine line of using purposeful media and just filler pictures and that's an aspect that I still need to work on. On the other hand, without trying to sound arrogant, it comes to no surprise that my strongest area is English although the individual strengths that were pointed out to me were. For example, being able to PRESENT well. I have never considered myself a public speaker however I have apparently improved since I last presented. Another comment that came as a surprise to me was the fact that I ask for clear FEEDBACK, and I apparently know where my strengths and weaknesses are. When I write things such as articles, my POL outline, my college essay or anything else that I want feedback on, I highlight the parts that seem unclear. I do this because it allows me to be more efficient when asking for feedback because I know what to concentrate on; I, however, had never considered this as pinpointing my weaknesses or strengths are. Lastly, my WRITING keeps coming up as one of my strengths, something that I had never really considered. I have a strong writing voice, and concise and I use clear examples. This is an area which I definitely want to keep IMPROVING because I like knowing that I write well and I have that power.
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So I'm sitting up in bed, it's Wednesday night, waaaay past my bedtime, but it's been a while since I've been inspired to write my blog so early in the week. We've just presented our semester POL's and I'm still on my presentations' high (or it could be the sugar rush I'm about to get from eating so many sweets). So I can't miss this golden opportunity.
However, I'm relieved not because I was nervous to present and I just wanted to get my presentation over with, but because I was so excited that I couldn't hold it in anymore. This was my first POL and I'm pretty darn proud of how it turned out. ALSO, I've never been one to stand up in front of a crowd without becoming a nervous wreck; so when I realized that I was more excited than nervous, I was surprised.
Over the weekend I've spent an approximate of 7 hours working on my POL for Wednesday and I still havn't finished. I had everything planned out and I honestly wasn't expecting to for it to take so long. But it has. And I can only pin-point it on one thing: Keynote. As a life-long Windows user, I have never used Keynote before in my life. However, this time I did. It has been a curse but also a joy. I was scared to try it out, especially since so many of my peers create such powerful presentations with this program. Although I didn't find it easy to use, I couldn't believe that I had been missing out on something so fun to experiment with. PowerPoint might be good, but Keynote is better. Change. Why is this word so scary to us? Why is it that we like being stuck with the conventional? These are things that I've asked myself this past semester; something I'm really starting to think of now, especially since I've realized that change means progress while the conventional means regression. I recently came across this quote "Don't be afraid of change. You might lose something good, but you'll gain something better." This is true many times, and in some cases, when doing something as simple as trying Keynote rather than using the standard PowerPoint, does not mean you lose the good one and only keep the great; it means you gain another which can become such a blessing. On the other hand, as I mention more than I should, I switched into the IA after doing a year of the IB. Yes, I lost some good things and I miss some excellent teachers that I can't have anymore, but as a whole, I went from good to GREAT. I "lost" something good, a traditional, world-renown education, but ended up somewhere great, somewhere where I truly value the education I'm getting and where I question in a good way, not the typical "when am I ever going to use this" type of way. Again, I was worried about this change. I didn't know if I was going to adapt or if my peers would truly accept me in to the niche they had so carefully built over the past year. Essentially, change is the only way to try new things out and progress. If we don't embrace change, or "pivot", then we don't know what we're missing. And we might never know...
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Author"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." Archives
June 2015
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