First Semester Reflection

My first semester of high school has been very successful, in my opinion, because of the focused approach I have taken to studying and completing assignments. Between sports and general exhaustion, I sometimes find it hard to just "jump in" to whatever needs to be done, but rather than procrastinating, I try to start on something, whether or not it is the thing that needs to be done the most. In a perfect world, I would complete English or E-Learning assignments first because they require the most thought and are thus the most advantageous to just get out of the way; however, most Saturdays mornings I am not yet mentally ready to complete a writing assignment, so rather than sitting on my bed staring at a blank Google Doc, I jump in with something more simple like math or science that I can get out of the way.

The project I am most proud of this semester would have to be my original adaptation of the frame story of the 1001 Arabian Nights. I feel that I put in a more than adequate of time to work on it and as such created a final product that I am very proud of. I know myself well enough to recognize that I do much better work when I am having fun, and my fascination with the world in which I set my adaptation made the project a joy to complete.

My first (and only, thankfully) experience receiving an unsatisfactory grade in English occurred at the beginning of the year when I turned in my first reflection. I had been extremely busy the previous week, and as such had the entire essay to write the night before it was due. In addition, I did not realize the significant point value of reflection assignments in general, which led me to underestimate how much I would actually need to do. When I received my grade, an 80, I was miffed at first, but came to see Mr. Zellner's perspective after looking over an essay fraught with weak verbs, grammar mistakes, and shallow analysis.

I found some of the strategies and technologies taught in E-Learning extremely useful, while others did not really seem applicable to me. The most useful lesson for me, personally, was the Evernote module, in which I learned to use an application I had never even heard of before. I used Evernote to take notes throughout my first-semester World Cultures class and found it to be a user-friendly and pragmatic platform. The least useful lesson, in my opinion, as the one which we had to test out StayFocusd because I find my phone to be my main source of distraction.

My goal for the second semester is once I start my homework, to be more effective in competing it, so I can go to sleep earlier. I plan on putting my phone off to the side when I am doing certain types of assignments, so I can maximize the time I have.