week 4

Week Four is here, and that means when we come back from February vacation, you will only have another seven (7) weeks of "seat" time in class.  YIKES!  You are beginning to think more deeply and looking forward towards the horizon, or at least I hope you are.

1. Where does the project and the research paper overlap? Tell me about it. 
For my research paper, I am researching how different coaching styles affect different aged kids. For my project, I am implementing this by using drills that highlight different coaching styles on different aged kids, and comparing my results. By doing this, I am overlapping the topic of my research paper to my project to get my own results. I will then compare my results to my research and find similarities and differences. 

2. Make a plan for yourself for the month of March....write a real plan on your calendar.  Make time for the research, the reading, working on your project proposal, and making project connections. Use this month wisely because it is your LAST FULL MONTH of high school.  Accomplish what you will be proud of and what you want others to be proud of you for. Take a picture of the calendar and paste it here.

During the last week I will make preparations for my experiment and make sure all of my other stuff is completely done. 

3. Tell me how I can help....what do you need from me? Share that here. 
I feel pretty good about my ideas so far but I am a little worried if I have enough of a topic to write a long enough research paper. I feel like my idea is solid but I don't know if I have enough to write about for 10 pages. If you have any ideas of how I can expand my idea that would help me a lot. Thanks. 

Week 3

1.  Respond:

How do you approach data base searches?  Be honest here

I am not a huge data base guy, and I generally do not use them for research. I know that they are great resources and always correct, but until Mrs. Costello told us about how to use them, I did not know how to get there. Now that I know how to do it, I will use data bases more often because they are a very reliable source to get info from. 

How much time have you and will you spend on these searches?

I have spent about 20 minutes on my searching so far, but that was just to secure good sources that I could use. I plan on spending at least a couple more hours to find good coaching styles and techniques to get the most out of my experiment. 

Which data bases did you use and why?

I used that Gale database on sports sciences and medicine and found a few great sources on coaching styles and stories about great coaches. I used this one because the other database we had access to didn't have anything on sports or coaching. 

How was/is the frustration level during your search?

I have had a fairly easy time researching my topic. Coaching is a relevant topic and there is an abundance of resources that talk about good coaches and what they did, or just techniques in general. When it comes to lacrosse there is a lot less to choose from, but my plan is to research more broad and apply those things to a lacrosse setting. Overall I do not have any frustration when it comes to the research portion of the project. 

If you change the way you search, would that alleviate your frustration? Explain what you can do....

I do not have any frustration so I do not have to change anything. I could get a few more database sources to increase the amount of sources I have, but that's pretty much it. 

Be honest, how much progress are you making on acquiring journal articles to read?

I have acquired 2 good articles from the databases. One about specific coaching styles, and one about stories on what made coaches so successful. I could definitely find a few more about more broad coaching techniques to add to my sources. 

How do you manage time? Think about this questions in terms of "activities you like"and activities you must do".

Usually, I am very good at time management, and do not have a problem meeting deadlines. My parents have always instilled in me that idea that there is never an excuse for something to be late, and meeting deadlines is a huge part in being successful. Sometimes though, there are times when I have a lot of things going on and I have to move something to the back burner. Because I do not enjoy school all that much, it seems to get the boot when something like this comes up, but I try to stay ahead of my schedule so I know about, and can prepare, for these things. 

Give me a typical day, and how you designate time before and after school?

I wake up for school at 7:40, do my stats homework, make my coffee, and leave for school at 8:15. Then I sit in school until 2:15. After that I either go to work at 3:30 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, or go to the gym on Monday, and Friday. If I do not have work I usually hang with my friends after the gym and then go home for dinner. If I do have work I do not get home till around 8, and I eat dinner then. I do my homework after dinner and then go to bed around 10:30. 

Where and how can you improve your time management? Be realistic, and be truthful.

If I have an assignment that is long term and I have months to work on it, I usually procrastinate it until the last minute because I have so much time, I think I won't have to start it for a while. I know that in college I am going to have many long term assignments, so I am going to have to work on not procrastinating. I can do this by making a schedule on what I am going to do in the weeks to come, and keep a calendar to keep track of what I have to do, and check off what I have done. 

What does time management look like to you? Show me a picture......What I want here is YOUR CALENDAR filled out...yes, the one I gave you.

3. Respond...think about Emily and Dana stories.
What will you do that is challenging and out of your comfort zone during this class....or what do you think you will do?
I will have to reach out to adults, which is kind of out of my comfort zone. I will also have to teach, and deal with younger kids. I predict that this will be challenging because I am not an adult in their eyes, so I may not get the same respect as their coaches. This will require me to step out of my comfort zone and be an attention demanding coach. 

What might scare you about this challenge? (Being uncomfortable is good....it means you are challenging yourself
I am a little worried that my kids will not respect me, and thus I will not get good results that I am looking for. This worries me because if I do not get good results because of my subjects, it will make my end of year project look bad.

What sounds exciting and do able during this class?
I am exited by the fact that I do not have to come to class everyday after April break. I am aware that I have to do my project, but it will be nice to leave after fifth period because I have sixth period study hall. All the work in this class is very do able and I am not worried about completing the work from week to week.

What might hold you back?
I think that when the year winds down and we get closer to the end of the year I will begin to slack, and this may hold me back a little. I need to remember to focus at the end of the year and buckle down for just a little time every day so I can finish the year strong. 

Week 2

By the end of week two you will need to have a basic idea of a project and a basic idea of a research topic. This does not mean that you need to have the whole thing hammered out, but you will need to be able to show effective progress.  This will look like:

1. A simple plan born of your original idea-written out and uploaded to Google classroom

• In a sentence or two, put your project plan here, so we can all see it and be excited for you.

My project plan is too come up with multiple coaching styles, and drills that correspond with those different styles. I will then do those different drills with kids of different ages and compare results of how they went. I will try multiple drills on each age group and compare the results of how successful they are at completing the drill. Drills will focus on game review, skills, and conditioning. 

2. A book that you will be reading connected in some way to your project.

• Show me a picture of your book, and tell me why you decided to read it-your thoughts might help others to find a book.

I decided to read this book, coach, because every chapter is from a different persons point of view on a coach they had that changed their life. This will give me good insight on what great coaches have in common, and give me ideas for styles to use on the kids.  I am also hoping to be able to connect to the stories and try to emulate those world class coaching skills to my project. 

3. An idea for a research paper that connects to the project and the book you are reading.  For example if you are interested in landscaping, you might have a plan to do some landscaping, and you have decided to read a book about a famous landscaper.....your research project could be about how the history of professional landscaping or how flowers and plants improve people's moods

• What is your idea? Tell us, and share a picture that connects to your research

My idea for my research paper is to research different coaching styles and how they affect kids of different age groups. I will first research different styles and then how they affect kids of different kids. This will help me to find out what may work, and what may not work on the kids. I can also connect my great coaches in the past to the styles I learn about and try to recreate those styles to the kids I am helping in my project. 

4. How are you feeling week two? Be honest-we are all in this together and are here to help one another.  You might be surprised how many others share some of your feelings of success or frustration in week two of this class.

I am feeling very dandy about week two. I have my idea for my project and research paper and there are many sources in the database for this idea. The workload too bad and I am finding the timelines manageable. Overall I am enjoying the freedom of this class and how we can work on what we want when we want. This will be valuable for me in college and prepare me for the independence I will face in the future. 

5. As you have already discovered, there is time on your own in this class.  How are you going to commit to "time used wisely" here?  Explain
I feel that I am very good at using my time wisely. I did fine last week in getting all my stuff done and I feel confident that I can continue doing this throughout the semester. I have experience being independent through my last semester English class and the two virtual high school classes I have taken. 

Week One

1) Introduce yourself to me:
-tell me your reason for wanting to join this class...do not tell me you joined because it sounded easy...
I joined it because I was getting bored of the conventional English class. I took topics in lit first semester and I liked how independent it was so I thought this would be a good option for me. I was done reading books I didn't care about and discussing them every day, so I was drawn to the fact that I got to pick my topic for the semester. I also liked the idea of getting to leave after April vacation and working on something I enjoyed. Also, you were the teacher so it made it sound like the best option.

-tell me your interests....(not your life plan)....what you like to do and maybe even what you are passionate about
I enjoy playing sports, I am on the football and lacrosse teams here. I plan on further pursuing this in college where I will be majoring in sports management. I also enjoy hanging out with my friends and family. I love listening to music also, my favorite genre is rap/hip hop, and my favorite artists are Logic, J-Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and Travis Scott. I also enjoy cooking meals for myself and my family. This is a skill that will serve me very well later on in life, and I am glad I learned how when I'm still young.

-tell me about what you want to do after high school...trade school, college, workforce, the armed forces...
After high school I plan on going to college at either Kansas University, West Virginia University, James Madison University, or Indiana University. I will be majoring in sports management with a minor in marketing. This will give me a broad range of job opportunities coming out of college from coaching, to working in the offices of a sports team, to working for a brand in sports marketing. All of these schools have good sports marketing programs, and good sports teams so I will have good field experience in college.

-tell me what you have most proud of doing so far in your life
I am most proud of being accepted into college and knowing that my future is set up to be great if I put in the necessary time and effort. I am proud of this because my whole life my parents have been telling me I need to work hard in school and get into college and I finally did it.

-tell me about your time management or lack of time management
I feel that I have great time management and I work well independently. I have taken multiple VHS classes that are totally independent, and my English class was independent last semester. I am trying to be more independent with my work this year so that I can prepare myself for college, so this should further help me. 

-tell me something I would not normally know about you...especially if I had you as an English student junior year
Something you may not know about me is that I like to cook and I pride myself in my cooking ability. I went to Whittier for a quarter because I wanted to pursue cooking, but I left because I realized it was more of a hobby than a career. 

 I want you to go to your local library and do the following:
-obtain a library card, if you do not already have one
-renew your library card, if it needs to be renewed
-take a selfie with the librarian and post it to your blog this week....and yes I do mean a selfie with the librarian (not Ms. Costello....the librarian in your town).  If the librarian will not do that with you, take a selfie of you and your library card inside the library and post it to your blog.

If you have an idea for this class (what you might like to do...or where you might like to focus), tell me about it. 

I would like to focus on coaching, particularly coaching youth lacrosse. If I could do some type of experiment where I have multiple drills, targeting different aspects of the game, and give them to different age groups, I think I could get some interesting results. 

Connections: Choose another form of social media and CONNECT your blog so that others may share in your journey through this class.....screen shot this AND post a picture of this share in your blog.