ESLR
ESLR Journal
Novia Soo
Eng. H
This post acknowledges my past experiences and lessons from the third quarter. As a brief overview, in English class each person created a personalized hand-made book from the poetry unit. All our work was compiled at the end and presented during poetry night. In the meantime, we participated in a Teen Life project, which is a program for teenagers to come together and contribute thoughts and ideas of the global happenings with each other and help widen their views. In the process of all this, I have represented a specific ESLR for some of my actions.
During the Teen Life project, I exhibited being a critical thinker for I had to use my past knowledge and manage to share it with others for them to contribute to the thought, idea, etc. In other words, I built meaning and understanding using prior knowledge and new information. Furthermore, while sharing my ideas I was forming solutions and trying to find ways to solve the problems of today, meaning that I applied problem-solving skills to facilitate learning. Of course in the proceedings I had to search through sources such as the Internet, magazines, newspapers, and books again showing me to be a critical thinker for I had gathered and processed information from a variety of sources to solve problems using a choice of strategies, therefore using resources effectively for the purpose of problem solving. Maybe if I had done more into research and found specific sites where there were solutions offered it could have resulted in better outcomes. From this realization, in the future I will plan to be more thorough and strive for accuracy, so the information would be more valid and useful. What’s more is that using books more would have been more accurate since the internet has not been checked by professionals and may have been altered where as books have been doctored by numerous professors and specialists. Being a critical thinker was mandatory for the Teen Life project for vague and unexplained answers would leave problems hanging in midair with useless solutions that offer no help. To conclude I would grade myself as an intermediate critical thinker who still has room for further improvement.
As for the poetry unit I used book examples in class to refer to and study for a better understanding on the structure and language of the specific poem introduced. For instance, the alliteration poem where a letter would be constantly repeated at the beginning of the majority of the words in the poem creating a sort of feel, for example the “s” sound is creepy and soft. Moreover finding a way to illustrate an image in words was a task that included extensive word choice to be able to paint your thoughts in a reader’s mind. In order to do that a thesaurus is needed meaning a source would be in use, then again proving my actions to be one of a critical thinker. Also meaning that I apply problem-solving skills to facilitate learning. Some things I believe I could have done better was that I should have been more willing and accepting to assistance and guidance therefore helping my poetry be more of a success. If I had done that I probably would have gotten a better grade on my poetry book results for that was where my points were taken off from. In summary poetry unit needed a critical thinker. In order to compose good poems you need to be able to think of things in different angles and ways to put it out on paper, so in conclusion mentions above should be sufficient to give you a clear idea of how my actions had proven me to be a critical thinker in the poetry unit.
Through out the Teen Life project I had demonstrated being an academic achiever for when ever I see areas in need of improvement I add and enhance to its quality and information. In ESLR terms, meaning that I continually assess, evaluate and adjust work to maintain high standards. Independence is another vital point you need, at the same time must be able to collaborate with a team resulting in an academic achiever. In order to achieve this I created my own poems and posted ideas on how I would like the project to turn out and allow others to make edits and respond to my interpretation or opinion. Being an academic achiever it helped me progress further with the teen life for I managed to get more out of it and strived for accurate information. However some things I could have augmented was demonstrating progress in all curricular areas, although I was detailed in some areas I was not consistent in all, for example, there was a site for each project to take place in and I had not contributed as much as I really could have and doing only what I had been asked to do, therefore in that area I lacked being an academic achiever for I did not accent on any important points nor did I stress on anything else of importance. So probably in the future I would plan to be less inconsistent and strive hard to fulfill each task with full efforts. In conclusion I assess myself to be an average academic achiever still in need of higher goals and greater motivations to be able to push forward and expand in my educational studies.
Amidst the poetry unit, I indicated an academic achiever because for every poem, thought was put in many angles and checked for better word choice in the internet thesaurus. When an idea was unclear or foggy, or if word choice was in need of change the improvements were always made and if not improved it was completely reconstructed into something, which was a better fit to the poem. This showed that I continually assess, evaluate and adjust work to maintain high standards. As well as the use of the thesaurus meaning that I demonstrated technological literacy and the use of technology as a tool for the efficient and creative completion of a project. However some things that I could have performed to higher standards is the ability to work both independently and collaboratively. I worked independently however to collaborate with others was one challenge I faced and cost some points off my grade from the poetry book. Cooperation and teamwork for the poetry book was a point, I was weak in and enhancement would be favored in that skill. For future references I will be more accepting to other’s points of views and be more of a partner than working independently on the poems with no exception of help from others. As a result I feel to be a work in progress for I do not cover all areas and my efforts are unevenly scattered through out the fields of an academic achiever therefore consistency is to be practiced.
Overall I view myself as an involved citizen during the Teen Life project because I had to converse with many teens around the world and share my ideas and merge thoughts with them in order for this project to be a success. I also had to involve myself in the global affairs to talk about them with others and so that I have a better understanding on the topics at hand. During the discussions, I kept a low accusatory tone and use a very welcoming and non-offensive language, which would encourage others to share and collaborate further with you. This showing that I demonstrate awareness and respect for the rights of others, furthermore I make sure who my audience is and use the respective choice of tone to suit the targeted audience to make it easier to understand showing that I interact respectfully with people of diverse cultures. With the teens I discuss the conflicts of the world and offered solutions, which might have made the world a better and safer place to inhibit. Some things I could have done better was to contribute in more detail to the page of the project preparations and ideas. I had not given much to that page and only minimal work which was asked for however points were not elaborated. In the future I will input more facts and fully explain each point put out. Judging by my actions I find myself to be a self-sufficient involved citizen, but like everything else I am not perfect and improvement is always welcomed.
During the poetry unit I was an involved citizen because I would first think about who am I directing my poem too and what kind of an audience it is, so I know what words to use. For example when I was doing the “Bagel Poem” I used simple words for the targeted audience would be kids. Every word would be of my decision to see if its appropriate or not, this would be demonstrating responsibility in active decision-making. Some things I could have been better in is probably by demonstrating care and concern for their environment by writing more environmental and problem solving poems. In the future I will write more things on how to improve life and more helpful poems rather than passive ones, which come of no use. I believe that the ESLR involved citizen does not relate to poetry much for it is a practical thing to help and respect others where poetry is rather more towards abstract and fantasy. Overall I believe that I was an exceptional involved citizen during the poetry unit and improvement would be of help.
The Teen Life project proved me to be an effective communicator for while I was having on going conversations with people I managed to convince them about many things and what directions the world was heading. At the same time they helped open my eyes to their world and how different we are, how diverse our cultures were. It was a learning experience, which helped everyone expand in their views of the current world. Some example of me convincing people would be that I believed that human trafficking was a very rich and ongoing market. If this market was not to be stopped this would be the business of the future, this got many people concerned about this conflict, before when many were concentrated on famine, drugs, global warming, and smoking. This action demonstrates the skills of effective collaboration I also used the Internet to the best of my abilities for successful interaction to have clear communications and no misunderstandings, in other words I incorporate/utilize technology as a tool for communication. I also wrote poems as a way to demonstrate creative talents to convey ideas. Some things that I could improve on is not much actually. I do not do well in the media section, however that was not my job, so I believe that I had done my part and nothing was left undone so in conclusion I feel that I have done a satisfactory job in the effective communicator area.
The Poetry Unit made me realize that I was a very effective communicator. This would be because I can say or convey ideas in many different ways, such as grammar, word choice, and structure. This meaning that I demonstrate creative talents to convey ideas. I also achieved understanding and conveying written, oral and visual information using appropriate media because I had recorded my voice in the poem “We are” and have created a hand made book from scratch and writing my work in it, then orally presenting it, in front of an audience during the poetry night. My details in the poems were very intricate and there for making it very clear in the reader’s mind. To be able to paint a picture in a mind is an art that an effective communicator and poet must have to be a success. I believe that in the most part I have done what I needed to do above average in this area, but of course some of my work will still need editing. In the future I will just work harder and that’s about it. On the whole I think I did a pretty good job and got sufficient work done.
A self-directed learner is an ESLR I have been during the Teen Life for quite a bit of it was voluntary and I did it. I participated in resourceful comments and met new people who shared the same interests and by doing this I am accepting responsibility for their own learning. I also give the site that belongs to my project a check up every now and then to see how its going and clean up anything left affray. This would be monitoring, adjusting and documenting work in progress. Some things I could have performed to a higher standard is being more thorough and detailed with the research explanations rather than vague definitions of certain points which are left hanging and unclear to the public. In the future I will stress and enhance certain points and on every point a clear and concise definition will be placed for it. For an evaluation on myself I believe that I did not cover all areas of being a self-directed learner but I think its enough to call myself a good self-directed learner.
During the poetry unit I find that I was a successful self-directed learner for I would work on poems and find definitions or synonyms. If something doesn’t fit I would take it out and put in something more worthwhile. Weighting each of my words to be heavy and leave a heavy imprint in other’s minds. Some ways I did this was to reread my poems and see how it sounds or peer edit. Even though I tried to be as thorough as possible, room for enhancement is recommended for being better is never suppressed. I find that I enjoyed the poetry unit making me to do extra things like writing them in my free time meaning that I accept responsibility for their own learning. Another point I had shown is taking creative risks in developing untried ideas; a way I do this is by trying to visualize things in ways that people would usually find unusual or better yet, original. Some things that could be improved upon is having ideas planned out first and main ideas. In the future, I will think and plan out the poem first before I start to have a better idea of what it will turn out to be. When grading myself upon this ESLR I find that I have done a good job on it and if improvements are to be made I will do my best to do them.
