Wondering

Questioning the ways of the world have always bothered me (war, government spending, work conditions) and I find myself asking How can _____? Why do we allow ____? I get rather upset when I think of some of the injustices in this world. Although these type of issues I am interested in, knowing too much about them will depress me. So I pick something that is fun and educational in the process.

Focusing on a topic has never been difficult for me. Although I have always been interested in lots of things that I could research further, I could always pick a topic (usually before the instructor was even finished with the project's introduction.). I have never had regrets on my choice or what I needed to do next. I always knew I could find out more about something else on my own time if the issue arose during the project. So being helpful with students that can not make up their mind on a topic is something I know I will have to work on. That is why I did my focus for Skyhopper 4 on the first stage of the process. After I picked a topic, I collected everything I could on it. Countless books, journals etc would overtake my room. I would read articles, books and take tons of notes. I would then re-read the notes, highlight what was most important and then I would just start writing. Often my writing would become arrows, circles, and numbers. I would read what I had written and determine that this sentence/paragraph went 1st and this 5th etc. I would then type the paper and re-read it and then edit again. I spent hours on the researching until I got enough to fill the page requirement instead of looking for information in particular.

As I move into the second stage of this project's process, I see that using graphic organizers help students find focus. I looked at several of the online organizers with confusion. You see I have never used a graphic organizer or seen anyone else use one. I thought how can I teach this if I can not do one myself.. I finally did find a couple of organizers that were something like what I do when I research. They were lists-two, three, and four column lists. Well those type of organizers I know I can do. But my students may need more of a visual type organizer. So I have printed out a few of them and will try them out. Hopefully I can scan them and add them in my blog and then everyone can see how good or bad I did on them.