All of the members of the group that I choose seemed to be fun people, and I wanted to get to know them better. Each one of us pulled our own weight and did a good job at getting the assignments done. Like most groups, we had some difficulties working together, but we worked through our difficulties and did what we had to do.
The USEM project was a great way to get better at working with a group. We worked very hard on all aspects of the assignment. I don’t think that we were the best team at working together, but we all worked hard and did a good job. If I could choose a different group, I think that I would have picked a group where that did not have all female members, to cut down on the drama that girls often seem to start. There was quite a lot poor communication between group members and some backstabbing. I dealt with the backstabbing and drama the way I normally deal with it; I ignored it and tried to keep my involvement with it small as possible.
The ADD essay and speech are the biggest group projects that I have ever done; it was allot of work for each of us. It was difficult to find time that all five us could meet to work on our project, but we did. We ended up spending several hours in the library together. We split up the work for the things that only one person could be working on at a time. Rachel did most of the PowerPoint, which turned great. Sammie did most of the group essay organization, which took much hard work. We were all motivated to do well on this project because it accounts for a large portion of our grades.
Most of the time, I didn’t enjoy working with my group on this project. My group was very good at getting all parts of the project done well and on time, which I liked, but I would have rather done it alone or with a different group (please don’t tell them about any of this). I was okay with all of the work that I did alone and I worked very diligently on it.
Sometimes I enjoy working with groups, but I didn’t have a very good experience this time. Although I didn’t enjoy my group as much as I hoped to, I learned from it. In life, there are often people that you will have to work with, and you don’t always like these people. The ADD group project helped me improve on working with people whom I didn’t always want to work with.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Verbal Skills
I am not a horrible speaker, but I am definitely not a great one either. I often get nervous when I have to stand up in front of a class to speak or give a presentation. I tend to not get as nervous when I am not the only person in front of the class, but I still get nervous. I have never had very good verbal skills, but have slightly them improved over the years.
Last term I was doing a demonstration for my T’ai Chi class. For some reason I was extremely nervous for this presentation. I got to choose to either face the class or face the front of the room, when giving my presentation. I choose to be brave and face the class. After a couple of moves, I stopped and said that I actually don’t want to face the class. After turning around, I went though the T’ai Chi steps. I did many of the moves that I knew well incorrectly, and I added an extra one. After I was done with my presentation, the class was to tell me what I did well and what I should improve on. The professor could tell how nervous I was and half was through the people telling me what I did well, and what I should work on, he told me that I could sit down. This is a good example of just how nervous I can get when standing in front of a group of people.
I have given many good speeches through out my school days, as well as a few number of speeches where I was so nervous that I did a very poor job, even on well-reversed presentations. I have no idea why I sometimes get extremely nervous, and sometimes I hardly get nervous at all. I often get nervous when talking to a cute guy or a person that I am trying to make a good impression on. I have never had very good verbal skills, but I think that I am improving every day. I think that if I give speeches more often, I will become more comfortable with them. I hope that USEM 103 will help me become more comfortable with standing in front of classes to give speeches and presentations.
Last term I was doing a demonstration for my T’ai Chi class. For some reason I was extremely nervous for this presentation. I got to choose to either face the class or face the front of the room, when giving my presentation. I choose to be brave and face the class. After a couple of moves, I stopped and said that I actually don’t want to face the class. After turning around, I went though the T’ai Chi steps. I did many of the moves that I knew well incorrectly, and I added an extra one. After I was done with my presentation, the class was to tell me what I did well and what I should improve on. The professor could tell how nervous I was and half was through the people telling me what I did well, and what I should work on, he told me that I could sit down. This is a good example of just how nervous I can get when standing in front of a group of people.
I have given many good speeches through out my school days, as well as a few number of speeches where I was so nervous that I did a very poor job, even on well-reversed presentations. I have no idea why I sometimes get extremely nervous, and sometimes I hardly get nervous at all. I often get nervous when talking to a cute guy or a person that I am trying to make a good impression on. I have never had very good verbal skills, but I think that I am improving every day. I think that if I give speeches more often, I will become more comfortable with them. I hope that USEM 103 will help me become more comfortable with standing in front of classes to give speeches and presentations.
Writing
I have always struggled with all of the language arts. When I was in fifth grade I was diagnosed with dyslexia, and I had to take my reading and writing classes with Special Ed. I was made fun of for going to Special Ed and it soon lowered my self-confidence. I wanted to prove to myself and my peers that I was just as good as them, so put allot of effort in improving in the language arts. Once I got into middle school I just had a study hall in Special Ed, but didn’t take any classes there. I tried so hard in my English class and eventually was doing well enough that I didn’t have to go to any special classes anymore. I have always had to try harder than other students to do well in the language arts, but I never stop trying.
I went into the ADD project thinking that it would be a lot of work, and I was right. I’ve never had to write an essay near the required length of the USEM research essay. The most difficult part of the writing process was finding creditable information to write about. I knew allot about ADD before researching because of my personal experiences, which made writing a little easier. After I was finished researching, I had to figure out how to word my findings and what order to put them in. Because writing has always been difficult for me, the writing process took me a long time. After I was done writing, I had much editing to do. I am still quite bad with spelling, but luckily my computer could help me with that! I read my essay several times to myself and had a couple friends help edit it for me. Although it was a difficult project, I found my topic to be very interesting and enjoyed learning more about it.
I am satisfied with how my essay turned out. I learned much information from the project and feel like my writing skills may have improved a little from it. I now can confidently and accurately explain most anything about ADD or the drugs used to treat it. I feel that I can help people that I know with this knowledge, so they won’t have to go through bad experiences similar to the ones I have had concerning my ADD.
I usually don’t enjoy writing, but I often fell accomplished after. I have found that once I get into my “writing mood” I can write quickly and well, but it often takes me a while to get there. I need to improve my writing in many aspects, especially spelling. I hope that USEM 103 will improve my writing skills.
I went into the ADD project thinking that it would be a lot of work, and I was right. I’ve never had to write an essay near the required length of the USEM research essay. The most difficult part of the writing process was finding creditable information to write about. I knew allot about ADD before researching because of my personal experiences, which made writing a little easier. After I was finished researching, I had to figure out how to word my findings and what order to put them in. Because writing has always been difficult for me, the writing process took me a long time. After I was done writing, I had much editing to do. I am still quite bad with spelling, but luckily my computer could help me with that! I read my essay several times to myself and had a couple friends help edit it for me. Although it was a difficult project, I found my topic to be very interesting and enjoyed learning more about it.
I am satisfied with how my essay turned out. I learned much information from the project and feel like my writing skills may have improved a little from it. I now can confidently and accurately explain most anything about ADD or the drugs used to treat it. I feel that I can help people that I know with this knowledge, so they won’t have to go through bad experiences similar to the ones I have had concerning my ADD.
I usually don’t enjoy writing, but I often fell accomplished after. I have found that once I get into my “writing mood” I can write quickly and well, but it often takes me a while to get there. I need to improve my writing in many aspects, especially spelling. I hope that USEM 103 will improve my writing skills.
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