-How do the main ideas go together or connect?


This week was more of a starter week for a new big idea. But I think that being said it still relates to the last topic of story. As the weeks go on and we continue to do different activities and use different thoughts together to answer our big questions in general everything connects and relates. 

My big question is how do we have a good team without mature people? So far this week the things we have read and watched haven't had much to do with maturity, however I do think that they have to do with teamwork. And though the new idea of leadership is a little more analytic we are using more sources that are real instead of fiction but who said a story had to be fiction.

 I think it all goes into learning who you are as a person. It's about learning what your story is and what kind of person you aspire to be. I don't know if that's just what i'm taking from it or if that's an accurate idea, we have to learn who we are as a person before we go out into the world and decide what we want to do. 

• What activities or experiments did we do that went along with these ideas?
  

This week we did a lot of work with our groups, and at first this project seemed pointless but as time goes on I realize how much thinking I've had to do along with the book. Each day we go farther in depth with our big question and doing the presentation really helped me to think about what was happening in the book and how it related back to our big question. In my group we had a lot of good discussion and working with a group was sort of an experiment I think. Because it's easy to let others do the work but to be involved and actually grasp what the group is talking about is a great thing for everyone. I think that also ties in with the learning a lesson through hard work thing that Mr. S brought up in class. That being told how smart you are isn't going to prepare you for anything. Nothing is handed to you, just like how a grade isn't just handed to you if you didn't pull any weight in the group. 

The Alchemist works along with these ideas of hard work and following your dreams. Mainly because the main character Santiago goes through some of the same experiences we face but in a different fashion. He has to work with others in order to accomplish his dream. In class we had to work with others in order to expand our knowledge. In both cases you're working with others to gain something else. This class for me is becoming more and more about working hard to get to where you're going. And to me that's one of the most important lessons in life. That you can't just assume your life is going to be great or that you're going to get good grades, you have to put forth that effort. 

• What were some of the important details to the main ideas?
  

This week we started with picking our books and getting our small groups for the BQ. My question was How Can We Focus on Our Lives Without A Dream. I think that this was the main idea I focused on this week. With this I thought about what sorts of things do I think about when I think of my dreams. And in turn some of the things i worried about were also some of the things Santiago worries about in The Alchemist. I think that the main idea of dreams and life are supported by our logic and wants. As I said earlier, I relate to this because in my life I'm trying to decide on a career. It's hard because my brain tells me one thing and my heart says another. In the Alchemist Santiago is deciding to follow his dreams and find treasure. We can't find out and think about a main idea without having things to back it up. 

• How was my participation in the learning process this week

This past week I think I participated a lot. I got a lot accomplished and finished a lot of work on my wevideo. I think that even though I've been pretty productive when it comes to the work we're doing in class that I could probably say some more when asked questions in class. I have the answers but most of the time I don't say anything. I think that as time goes on I will work on this and probably by the end of class I should be participating more on the vocal front. The WeVideo is important to me because it really works with modern technology and I think it will be a useful tool to have in college and such. So overall I think the learning process this week was good, I learned a little about technology and a little about my comfort zones. 

• What were the main ideas we learned this past week?

To me the main ideas we covered this week were really more about learning who we are and who everyone in this class is. We did the This I Believe paper and I think the main goal for this was to learn what we stand for and what we believe in. To me this is extremely important because before writing this paper I really hadn't put much thought into who I was. I think that this paper was really important because most of us are heading to college next year and if you're like me you have no idea what to do. I think the main goal is to find something you love doing and have a passion for. I actually really enjoyed the paper. It wasn't ridiculously long which is always nice, because I feel like I start to ramble on about random things when it's too long. When it's a smaller word count I am more precise and really have to think about what I want to put. So finding what you love, and knowing that's who you are was the main idea. I'm probably rambling again, so I'll be done now.