ELA Component:
The topic my group members and I have decided to do for our PBL this school year is the journal.
Alejandro, Karla, and me decided to do the journal for our ELA component because we all agreed that if we had journal entries since we began our PBL project we could see how our project changed throughout time. We could also see how we could make it better and what we could improve our project.
The reason that my team members and I chose this format and believe that it could help us was because our pbl project has to do with creating a slope with each letter of the alphabet and we know that it would be something challenging and each letter is different we could just write in our journal some of the pros and cons, even some of the difficulties that we had to go through as we created each letter of our project. The point in all of this is that we know that their would be difficult parts in our pbl project and a journal could be like a diary entry and we could talk about how we could improve it, what went wrong, what we can do better for the next letter, etc.
We believe this will monitor our pbl in a great way because it will show just data throughout the entire project so it could help and we could avoid making mistakes and what not.
Journals:
Journal #1
September 5, 2014
The process of developing our project idea isn't that difficult at all, we know we want something simple and creative. My team members and I also know that we want to create something small that won't be very big so we decided that in the poster board instead of breaking our heads and trying to make it all perfect we would use index cards for each alphabet letter. The reason we chose to write or design each letter in a index card was because they would all be the same size and if we messes up we wouldn't have to start all over again. Now that I gave you a hint of what my project is I might as well tell you what it is exactly. It is the ALPHABET SLOPE. When are in the process of developing our project ideas on what we want to create it quickly, we don't need something big or too fancy we just want something that will really show what our project is about. Coming up with these ideas for our project is also quite fun!
Journal #2
September 17, 2014
Collecting ideas for our project isn't quite hard due to the fact that their isn't much information to gather. We actually need to come up with the ideas ourselves and be creative enough and come up with how our project will look like in the end. We basically have all the information we need to know when our project was assigned to us, all we need to do is put our thoughts all together on how we want it to be and make good use of our creativity. What we have in mind all along is just using the poster that we were going to use for the entire project and actually know what and how to demonstrate that we could find the slopes to each one of the letters in the alphabet. We also needed to be creative enough to make the letters in a way that we could find the slope for each of the lines in the letter. We are going to repeat this process for each one of the letters of the alphabet and just make sure that we get something in the end that gives us the slope of each of the lines or line.
Journal #3
October 2, 2014
The experience of seeking information from a teacher was quite great, due to the fact that my group members and I have the most caring and helpful algebra teacher in the world and of course as many of my other teachers. But seeking for help with my algebra teacher was honestly stress reliving. Anything I had a doubt about, a question, or even if I was simply confused we always get an answer from her immediately and honestly that makes this project simple or at least it seems simple after she explains it to us. Seeking help from my team members is also great. We support each other and even when we can't seem to get our ideas to be the same we gather them and make it a great one that can make our pbl project better. We really appreciate the help we get from our professors it's really great and we really appreciate it, in other words we value it very much.
Journal #4
October 12, 2014
The diagrams we have aren't really diagrams their more like a graph and we have to plot the points or see the points that are on the graph and figure out which ones we need to use to figure out the slope of our alphabet letter. It is very important that we create a graph for each one of our alphabet letters simply because if we don't do that we won't be able to get the slope we need. In order to get the slope of our letters we need to create a graph that will also be the same for all the letters that will also go in the poster. So for that we have started to design or create the same design on each of the index cards where their will be one letter of the alphabet. Our thoughts on our graphs are pretty great so far. We are very satisfied with what we have created so far and love how we have collected all of our ideas and have been able to agree on something. For instance it was pretty obvious we needed a graph to be able to find the slope of our letters, if not out project is going to be a complete failure.
Journal #5
October 21, 2014
Some of the plans that me and my classmates have in mind for revising our project after we have more work done is double checking that the graphs have a similarity, maybe they aren't perfect but making sure that they give us a good answer or it looks at least some what accurate. We also will revise that its going good and that is looks good, nothing looks bad or maybe even by revising it we might get new ideas on how we can make it better. We may also revise it not once but a couple of times because sometimes we find mistakes we don't see immediately. Also by revising it we also get a chance of making it better and also we have better chances of getting a better grade, because you never know maybe those small changes make it better and you get something you could of gotten wrong correct. Something that as group members we came up with is each one of us will revise the project as the time goes and make changes as we go and the due dates closer.
Journal #6
October 30, 2014
So far so good, our project looks good so far and we are very happy with how it looks and we are very excited to see the final product after all the work put into it. Some of the things me and my classmates notice is that it's harder than it seems when it comes to designing the letter in a way that we can get it to be a straight line. Some letters are very simple but some we actually have to put more thought into it simply because if we leave a letter the way it is the project will be a complete failure and it won't be the way it has to be. That's pretty much all we have had a bit of difficulty with, but other than that it's looking very good. Oh and also sometimes we have a hard time finding the slope because we don't know if we can use the same point of another like to pair it up with one of the other lines that already has a slope.
Journal #7
November 4, 2014
So exciting! Our project looks great and i'm very proud of my team mates and I, and all the hard work we have put into all of it. It has really payed off and i'm very proud of them and myself. When we first started the project we thought it would be simple you know drawing letters and finding the slope. But oh we were wrong, through out this entire process we have learned that sometimes when things seem easy they really aren't. Sometimes you have to put more thought and actually try to be really creative to get a well planned project or simply something very good. My team mates and I are glad we had to go through all that work, because in the end you see that its more than that and you actually tried and its all worth it in the end. It simply makes you very proud. And you learn many new things for the next time.
Journal #8
November 14, 2014
Teaming up with amazing people was one of the best things we could have done. My team members and I were very supportive since the beginning of this project. Always giving each other ideas and making one another see how we could improve our project. Giving each other positive vibes and over all being great team members. It hasn't been all about trying to finish the project or having team member to help you finish it. It has been about getting to know them as well and seeing how different ideas connect and how we can make them better day by day. Its a great opportunity to also get together with some friends and give each other ideas on many things on how to make our project better, I am proud to say that I am beyond blessed with them. It has been working with great people. Without all our effort our project wouldn't have been as great as it is.
Journal #9
November 22, 2014
Some of the outcomes of the project were great, like the overall fact that we were great team and stuck together throughout the good and the bad moments of our project we were very proud of how far we came with our work. One of the frustrations was that sometimes we couldn't all agree to get together because some of us already had after school activities, some worked almost every day and sometimes in school we would hardly see each other and the time we could only really see each other was in Mrs. Shives class. So that was one of the few frustrations.
Journal #10
November 29, 2014
This project might assist me in my future goals because we might need help organizing ideas, or coming up with new thoughts or simple over all being able to interact with people. One day this might assist me in life because the experience of being able to talk to the same people and interact with them for a while or some time actually, it helps us get some experience so in the future we know how to do it, maybe one day when were at our job. We will use the skills that we used as a group later in the future.