Journey to the IB Diploma

I know that I had promised to bring that prezi here all that time ago, but I forgot. So here it is, including facts about it and how we believe that it should figuratively work. Our project was still on the rough side, and I will admit, we were not at all prepared for the presentation. We had not yet worked out all the little kinks in it and inevitably were not able to answer all the questions we were asked. One good thing about it is that we were able to collaborate well. We worked on this project almost equally, with one of my partners doing a little more and one of my less ambitious partners doing a little less. Still, we were able to get through it with the knowledge we had and the confidence we had in pushing a product that we didn’t quite understand.

Until next time, Nicole

June 27, 2012

(Source: prezi.com)

In my entrepreneurship class, our final project was to make a business plan and to pitch it to our teacher, our peers, and to a venture capitalist. Right now, I’m nervous because I haven’t done much. We have four parts of the eleven parts required and my prezi has not gained the support of others in my group. I’m really worried that I won’t do well because of this. I am not prepared and I don’t how to fix this. Honestly, I spent more time trying to get into the wi-fi, then listening to the important sayings that my teacher was speaking. Anyways, I’m going to go back to it soon, so I’ll report back tomorrow on how much work is done. And after I’m done with it all, I show you my prezi. 

Until next time, Nicole 

June 13, 2012

I remember that at the beginning of freshmen year, I had told myself that I would never procrastinate, never leave things for the last minute. I had ended up doing my lit packets on the day before they were due that year. Lit packets were the result of a week’s worth of reading and questions put into a nice little packet. Anyways, I, like many others in my class, didn’t think about doing any of it until the day before it was due, leaving me to stay up all night and finish it. At the beginning of sophmore year, I told myself that I wouldn’t do the same thing I had during freshmen year. It wasn’t a big surprise when I found myself scrambling to finish projects and papers only two months later. It didn’t help that many of my friends would do homework during classes. If I sought out their help, they would be doing it during class, so I did the same. Throughout the year, I would leave projects last minute and papers would be started at 10, leaving me little time to rest. For my final project for math, my partner and I finished a graphed poster and 120 equations in one night, which was surprising since we had asked our teacher for another day. Our project had been restarted halfway through and we thought that we weren’t ready, but with the help of time management, fast food, and her car, we were able to finish with a 89%. For English, my partner and I started much much later than others, but by focusing all of our energies into working and continually practicing, we were able to bring home the highest grade in all of the 10th grade English classes, 100%. For History, my partner and I were not matched well. I had not wanted to present alone, so I chose a partner, unfortunately, I had not chosen her well as she didn’t help me as much as I had wanted. After a few hard nights of trying to do as much as we could, we could only get a 78% on our final project. It was hard, but it was a learning experience, one that I will take account of in the future. So, my goal for next year is not to “stop procrastinating”, but to use time management and to choose wisely, because who knows what the consequences may be of these.

Until next time, Nicole 

June 13, 2012

There’s just one last thing that I wanted to talk about today. That is planning. During my entrepreneurship class today, we were talking about how planning is one of the most important things you can do for your life and how planning too late may end in disaster or about how planning early can set you up for the rest of your life. We used real companies and compared their failures and their successes. This way, it became more relevant to me, more realistic and tangible. Having a plan can help you from not making the wrong choice in the future. That’s why I hope to be able to make one soon. 

Until next time, Nicole 

June 9, 2012

This summer, I was told I’d be doing a few things. The first of those is Health class. Seeing as I could not take it during the school year, I decided to take it during the summer. Two days ago, I went to orientation, and I’m not sure why I was shocked, but 90% of the class had failed. Failing is a foreign concept to me, but I understand that some people just don’t do the work, even if it is seen as easy to me. My classwork consists of an online program to put me through the next six weeks of summer. 

Along with this, I’m also volunteering at the library. Our minimum is to visit and help two hours a week for most of the summer. I hope to do this so that I can learn to help people. From my experience, I cannot really help, as much as I can guide someone to another and have them help someone else instead of me. By the end of my next session, it will be goal to help a child myself. Having it as a requirement helps push this along in my head and make it a priority. As well as that, one of my goals is to teach someone. If I could learn to teach someone, anyone almost, to do something then I would feel better about my abilities to work with others and that would, I feel, make me a better person. 

Until next time,

Nicole

June 9, 2012

In this class, I expected a learning experience where I would be in a sit-down classroom, in the traditional sense or class. Instead, I have been participating in a much much different activity. I have been put in a group where we learned while we built up an imaginary product.

For my group, we have decided on putting up a pair of glasses that could instantly stream everything it saw to a database on the internet. The design would be simple, a pair of glasses, maybe prescription, maybe not, maybe a pair of sunglasses, maybe not, and a small camera in the middle of the lens that did not appear to be there. My group decided that it would be used as “spy tech” or as a tool to be used by those who need to note everything that they see in a methodical way.

Our entrepreneurship class revolves around learning on the go. So far, we have learned why branding is important, how important it is to keep employees happy, the reason for customer service, and how to think of new ideas. This class has kept me on my toes, as we constantly need a stream of new ideas. Our teacher has challenged us to become adults and think on our own. He has also told us that the reason for creating this class occured when he was in a conversation with a college recruiter who had said that colleges wanted people who were different, who were not normal, who had done something that no one else had done, like create a business…

From there the class was created and from my last 5 sessions this week, I have learned so much about the world of business. At the end of next week, we are supposed to pitch our idea in front of the class. Seeing how my public speaking skills are not exactly above par, I’m nervous. I’m also nervous of the criticism that my teacher has said is a large part of the final project. I’m scared of it, but for now, I’m still confident that we will be able to do all the work that is required for making a good project and a good product. 

Until next time, 

Nicole

June 9, 2012

Yesterday, I started the first session of my entrepreneurship class. It was 4 hours long and at first, I had absolutely no idea what we could learn in this 2-week long class. The first thing we saw was a video on one’s opinion about the public education system and, might i say, it was quite intriguing. You would never think about such a thing unless someone else says it t was a team effort, but some of the other groups in class were influenced by one particular individual instead. 

At first I wasn’t sure that I even wanted to be in this class, but from yesterday’s session, I think that this will be a good learning experience for me. 

I’m off to start my next session today, so I’ll be back later to post more of my findings. 

Today is June 3rd, 2012 and it has been 2 and a half days since the end of school. When I go back to school in the fall, I will become a junior and I expect that it will be a hard year, a very, very hard year. I’m both excited and scared of what’s in store for me when I return, but I’m hoping for the very best.