Name of Assignment: Junior Project Subject: Junior Seminar Facilitator/Teacher: Ms. Kepler
Description of Work/Assignment: In my Junior Project, I come in on every Tuesday of the first semester to tutor algebra students as well as during free periods, before and after school for algebra II.
Which 21st Century Skill do you feel this assignment addresses, and why? I think this project addresses communication. In this project, I have used math skills to solve problems but I also have to explain them to math students in order for them to understand without just giving them the answer. I have to make a new way to understand it because they have already seem the lesson, so they need a different way of thinking that I need to provide.
What are you most proud of from this assignment, and why? I’m most proud of the time that I spent on this project, (around 245 minutes) which may not seem like a lot of time, but I spent that teaching each student.
How did you develop and/or improve upon your 21st Century Skill with this assignment? I definitely had to think in a new way, I think of things straightforward, and trying to explain a math concept to a person who doesn’t understand or just doesn’t want to understand is difficult. You have to engineer a different way of getting them to think about it that works for them. I think that improved my Thinking and Problem Solving.
What was most difficult about completing this task? What was most difficult about this project is that it takes a lot of my free time. My workload has almost doubled since I started this project which has made it very difficult to want to spend time helping other people instead of myself. Although, I am following through and I plan on spending the rest of the Tuesdays with these students. It is also really easy to fall behind on your log if you miss even one week, and I have missed two from being sick! It’s really upsetting but I try to make up for the time lost in the following weeks. This has also made math more confusing, because I am in Precalculus and teaching older math has taken up brainspace that I would use for precalculus.
How could you improve this work? If you could start over, what would you do different? If I could improve this work, I would try to get the students to like me more. They don’t really ask me for help, I just hover around and look at their papers to see if they’re doing it wrong, and if they are then I move in on them. If I were to do this project again, I would choose a smaller time slot. It forces me to spend four and a half hours at school that I would normally spend at home working.
How does this relate to what you have learned in the past? This project uses everything algebra related that I have learned in the past four years. I need to be able to use my math capabilities and help other people use theirs. I also use my Interpersonal and innovative Thinking and Problem solving skills.
How can you apply this to future learning? I can apply this to my senior project, now that I know what my junior project is like, I know what I will need to do in the future.