Progress Reports - 8P2

Using the GlowForge, I created a wooden coffee coaster because back in the first grade, I had made one out of different material for my mother. The material it was made of was in indeed durable, but mot durable enough. The heartfelt drawings with me and my mother, colored with crayons, and made with my little hands had long since yellowed and faded. The coaster had definitely seen better days. So, out of the kindness of my heart and the knowledge that this wont only be a better replacement for the old one, but will her table from things like coffee stains and yellowing.

During this process, I learned to not just give up if something gets confusing, and to look further into it. I learned not to overcomplicate things and to ask for help more often- even if its again and again and again. Not to mention, I learned how to use the GlowForge machine piece, what it can make, how it makes it, and how I help operate and and tell it what to get a stunning project that was definitely worth the time and effort that I took out of my day to complete this. Overall, not only did I learn how to operate new things and see what amazing things they can do, but I also learned a lessons in the process- which will all benefit me in the future.

The 7 standards of the class are Empowered Learner, Digital Citizen, Knowledge Constructor, Innovative Designer, Computational Thinker, Creative Communicator, and Global Collaborator. My project ties to Innovative Designer because during this project, you're trying to use new technology to create something helpful, useful, and good quality You make changes to what you were doing to make it better, and at the same time your learning more about it which will help you understand the topic and do better in what your doing and the things in the future that come up that are just like it.

A challenge I overcame on this project was giving up when you don't understand or when things get too hard. I was able to do it by revaluating what I was doing, assessing what I already know, and forcing myself to ask for help- even if it was embarrassing and to keep trying to understand. In the end, the project was very easy overall, it just took some embarrassment and mistakes to be made to finally understand. Fear of failure is a common thing- so is the fear of making mistakes, you don't want to make mistakes because mistakes because mistakes feel like failure when in reality it's only failure when you give up.

Given a chance to do this again, I would change the size of the design I engraved. The reason why I would change it is because although it looks good in lighter color, I still don't feel as if it pops up enough. I feel like if someone wanted to, it wouldn't be too hard to overlook it. If I had maybe gone over it with the laser one more time or requested it bigger from the start, it would be even better. I suppose this knowledge will just have to be applied to my next project- or any time I decide to use the GlowForge again.

Hastings High School Career and Technical Education Program offers Agriculture, Business Management, Computer Programming, Construction Trades, Culinary Arts, Digital Multimedia, Engineering Design, Finance, Insurance, Marketing.  My project connects to the Engineering Design CTE program at Hastings High School. I believe this because there's many careers in the engineering field who do things like this daily, and benefit from past experiences such as this. The GlowForge, although just one small aspect, is a step closer to the innovation of engineering and the overall idea of the career.

My project connects to careers in Carpenters, Joiners, CNC Machine Operating, and furniture/Interior Design because people in this field have to work with not just the overall aesthetic and looks of things butt also the extensive planning to make them, the skills in technology used to help them create these pieces, and the artistic abilities they all have in order to complete it all and make it presentable rather than basic cut wood. With all these three skills in one and maybe more, projects like this are completed and the knowledge these people learn while doing these is always applied to the next project- these people are always improving, always polishing, and always moving forward. Which is all what this class is about.