Educational Digital Portfoilio
20091 HWY 160 Durango, CO 81301
School Main Office Phone: 970-247-2474
My 20% project Blog
2/26
Today was the official start to our 20% project. I am super excited to do this project. However, I am definitely feeling a little bit discouraged right now. I had a really awesome start to a project regarding the homeless population in Durango. I was really passionate about the issue and what I had to do in order to achieve my goal. I then began to feel that my idea wasn't as impactful and unique as I had wanted it to be. So, I am basically back at square one. On the bright side, I think that this will give me a chance to explore my passions a little bit more deeply. Unfortunately it wasn't a very productive day. I am hoping that I will have a little bit more luck brainstorming this weekend and I will come back on Monday ready to go.
In my opinion the difference between student centered learning and audience centered learning is the content that I will be presenting. Usually when presenting to a student, they know most content, like a school project on WW1. Audience centered learning is starting from square one, on a topic that is personalized and interesting to the general public. This project to me is so interesting because it very much is an audience centered learning experience. It is up to me personally, to make my learning so worthwhile that it impacts more than the kids in my school. I am so excited to showcase my project to the public. That is, as soon as I find the inspiration for my project to be more than I ever thought it could be.
3/8
This week, I have learned that creating a product as simple as a yoga clinic is an immense amount of work. There are so many steps, and so many people to collaborate with. So far, I have been in contact with the Women's Resource Center and two teachers that are certified yoga instructors. Right now, I am waiting to hear back from the Women's Resource Center to find out if there is a need for the service that I would like to provide. The biggest challenge I am facing right now is the idle time. I am under a very short time constraint with a very large goal to achieve. I feel that I have done all that I can do at this point in time, and this is very frustrating for me. As soon as I hear back from the people I would like to collaborate with, my next step is to make some key decisions. I will be deciding where my retreat will be held, what resources are needed to make it possible (such as childcare), and considering my budget. If my efforts of collaboration do not go as planned, I will then begin to think about altering my project to fit the resources that may be more easily accessible to me.
3/9
I still haven't heard back from the Women's Resource Center. Frankly, I am really frustrated right now. I have been filling my class time with research that I feel is unimportant to the main goal of my project. Seeing as we only have a short time to do something so large, I am concerned with failure actually being present in the final product. I don't know where to go next, to be completely honest. I am losing passion in this project everyday that I come to class with little incentive to look forward to. I know that this feeling is completely personal, and it is something that only I can fix. This is my project, and for me failure is absolutely not an option. Im sure I will figure out a way to push forward after this week, that is if I don't hear back from my potential mentors.
3/16
I have made a lot of progress since our last blog post. To start, I have gotten in touch with the Women's Resource Center and I have a meeting set up with the project director for Tuesday. I also found a mentor, her name is Sheryl and she is the co-owner of Yoga Durango. I am really excited to be working with her because I think that I will learn a lot from her about yoga as well as being a good student and potential teacher. My next step is to find a place to hold my yoga class. I would like to go to my meeting with a really solid plan for what could happen with the project. I think the most beneficial thing that I have learned throughout the duration of this project is that sometimes it pays to wait. I was losing faith in this project for sure when there wasn't a lot for me to do. Now, I am super excited to see that things are starting to come together, even if I am still kind of doubting my abilities .
3/23
The mid- project gallery walk was really cool for me. It might not have been particularly beneficial but it is super cool to see how many students are really interested in supporting the sophomore class. I did have one student brainstorm with me, and it was surprisingly helpful. She seemed very engaged with what I was doing and wanted to help in whatever way she could. I now know that I should leave my students with "homework" to do when we don't have class, because sometimes the stressful days are the days the days we don't have class. With this in mind, my next steps are to secure my venue (the public library), make posters, create a survey for potential students and email my mentor again. As well as contacting Alternative Horizons, and Housing Solutions. I feel a little bit more confident in my project after meeting with the director of Women's Resource Center. Yet, I am still struggling with how I can pull this off. I'm feeling a little bit like it is me against the world in this project. I need to keep myself motivated to finish this project very strongly and to keep it going in the future.
4/8
Since the last blog post, I have learned a lot about myself and my interests. I knew that my heart has always lied in the mountains, and I understand their powers. To not have this aspect incorporated into my project simply felt strange. I also learned that sometimes it is very hard to keep pushing through a hard time by yourself. With low stakes and no strings attached, I felt that there was little to no motivation to follow through. With that being said, I decided to join forces with two other people. This way I have Brianna and Lilah to hold me accountable, as well as to help me create an awesome final project by combining all three of our individual projects. I am really excited to be teaching yoga at our Junior Orientation camping trip. Since Spring Break I have gotten a lot done. I have created an entirely new project and group, created a project proposal, gotten it approved, and started an itinerary for next years camping trip. Right now, I don't really imagine that we will be presented with many challenges. By combining our projects I feel that we have only made our individual projects better and stronger than ever. As we approach the date of the cam
ping trip, more issues will most likely arise. I am excited to see what will happen in the near future!
4/18
Since my last blog post, I have been working hard on our film and film trailer so that I can present it in my TED talk. We have also made progress in making camp reservations and transportation for students. It is really hard to show final product for a camping trip that is yet to happen. In saying this, I am also working on an itinerary for what our camping trip could look like next year. My major challenge right now, is trying to get our documentary done on top of a TED talk. It is definitely hard to transition from very free structure back into assignments and regular teaching. I have really learned how to effectively work with a group this past week. We have been splitting a lot of the workload evenly, even though it is hard to work on the same video from different computers. I have also learned a lot about planning effectively and gearing activities towards the general group instead of what I would like to do as an individual. I am currently feeling really inspired with my project. Even though class time is over, I'm so ready to continue to make this project great.
4/26
The biggest obstacle that I faced during this project was deciding on a project to follow through with. Maybe the bigger issue was trying to figure out what my true passions and priorities are. I fully believe that in order to overcome this challenge I needed to step back. I needed to realize where my roots were from day one. In the end, finding a group who supported both of my passions really helped me get passed this obstacle. The most valuable thing that I learned in this project, that I will remember 10 years from now, is probably how to show compassion. This project was really meaningful because as I went further and further into this project I began to see what my community was really in need of. I took a step back from constantly thinking about myself and directed my energy towards others, consciously. I have given back to my community before, but this time was different and came solely from the good inside myself. I absolutely think that every school in America should teach the 20% project. Not only does it teach students kindness, but it also allows them to explore the passion. It is a time to experiment with and recognise new motives for themselves as humans, not just students. That is the most powerful thing a teacher can give to their students. Freedom of expression, actions, and true freedom of speech. It teaches them that their actions impact those around them, which could be positive or negative depending on how they choose to use this new found power.
