My growth mindset
Over the two week period in the beginning of the year, I first decided to go to the gym everyday and eat healthy to show what happens to your body. Unfortunately, my ride situation did not work out so my plans had to change. My new idea was to teach my dog, Koda, new tricks! The idea of a reward helped him focus on the prize and then do what I said so. The growth mindset project will always be in use whenever I want to get better at a certain task. I did try to improve my project by continuing to teach my dog new tricks. He first was able to sit and lay down. Now he is able to swim and once he is done we simply say "Dry yourself!" and he will roll on two towels until he is dry. As I said before, the growth mindset project is very usable in any situation. Before the math final, I was struggling to remember concepts that we learned earlier in the year. I decided to go into tutoring to get help from Mr. B. This really helped me remember topics that I was really unsure about. So overall, growth mindset is a great tool to use for anything you'd want to get better at.
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Problem I enjoyed
"The cow problem started with a farmer who had his cow attached to a 10' x 10' barn at an outside corner by a 100' rope. The farmer is only going to plant grass to wear the cow can roam, so we needed to figure out how many square ft. of grass the farmer needed to plant."
This was an intro to the cow problem when I struggled with understanding sectors! At first I was very confused at what I was calculating and how does it make any sense. As we progressed through the problem, I asked my peer Valerie to explain what was going on. By sharing notes with each other and having someone else explain it and the way they understood it really helped me as well. This also included growth mindset with asking a partner for help when I am stuck instead of going to the teacher. Using resources! |
Content area i struggled with
An area that was difficult at first was simplifying exponents. I was confused about when simplifying with negative exponents and how that turns into a fraction. To solve that little road bump, I asked my peers and also used this tool called Khan Academy! It was great to go over questions and practice them step by step. This helped me understand how to actually solve the problem without getting stuck. Another very helpful thing was the practice packets Mr. B gave out. Practicing over and over until the steps were drilled into my head.
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overall
This year I have grown in many different ways. One in particular would be my study habits leading up to the SAT. While taking practice tests in class for the no calculator portion, my score would range from 10-12 out of 20 correct. My expectations going into the SAT on March was to get roughly the same amount. As a result, I saw all the time I spent studying show its worth. I got 15/20 which is a 3-5 point difference! The new study habits I picked up included doing self studying for 30 mins followed by a 10 minute power-break, as well as working with a study group or partner to talk about concepts that challenge use.
Next year, I have decided to continue to push myself to take calculus. I am very confident in my algebra skills, which is shown through tests and assignments, and I want to not only prove to colleges but to myself that I am capable of any level of math. The subject has always been a strong suit of mine and me wanting to go into engineering perhaps, this is a very key subject. A great little extra thing that I have is pre-calculus workbooks I got last summer! My new "growth mindset" goal is to read over the book and continuing building up my skills to get a head start for next year. I wish to continue to push myself next year in math and build up my new study habits. As many seniors this year gave as a tip, forming study groups is a great way to work with new people and bounce ideas off one another to understand the concept as a whole. As a senior, I would like to build up good habits and skills that would be much useful in college. By coming up with a complete study routine to finding what helps me release stress will surely help me for the years to come. |
honors student
This being my first year taking honors, I felt great to push myself to fully understand every math concept in order to get a great I know I deserve. Honestly speaking, honors math wasn't as difficult as I anticipated. I expected more homework assignments and getting graded more often. Not complaining how the year went at all, because I did learn so much and benefited from the structure, but I do wish that honors students had more assignments or other topics to learn added on top of what was already required.
During the end of the year honors project, I was able to use a skill that I learned way back in 8th grade! I did a mini project about graphing lines (using y=mx+b) to create a design or artwork on the front of a foam board. By remembering a skill I learned proved to me that practice and practice is key to remember useful information. Lines and graphing was huge both this year and last year in math. Putting that concept into my project really helped me understand it even more as well as spell "MATH" for the teacher's office! My suggestions would probably require the honors students to do extra assignments. I honestly went weeks without doing math homework besides SAT studying. Sure that is practicing but I would have also benefited if we learned new concepts as well. Overall, I was very pleased with the year and my great teacher Mr. B. I thank him so much for everything he has done and he is just a wonderful teacher to have. Thank you to him for being so willing to help no mater the problem was and also giving his time for tutoring. I will miss you Mr. B! Good luck at the middle school! |