1. Introduce yourself:
My Name is Curtis B, I am a grade twelve student taking project design and development in my final year. In terms of skills, I have a wide variety: I can snowboard, run long distances, play guitar, ukulele, and mountain bike, and do mountain bike maintenance and repairs. I work two jobs: the first, I sell popcorn at NHL games, the second, I package water bottles in a factory. I took this class because I want to develop my presenting skills. I want to make presentations that are memorable, relevant, and relatable.
2. Reflect
a) Are you more like this or that?
In this activity, the speaker read out a list of pairs of words that are opposite or considered very different and we, the students chose which one best represents us. I did not fully understand what this activity was supposed to teach us as we did not share anything as to why we chose what we chose. Which, in my opinion, would have let us better understand how our classmates think.
b)Who will cross the line first?
In this activity, we were paired up and separated over a line and told that the purpose of the game is to make the other person cross the line first. My partner did not want to move at all, I tried bribery and other methods of that sort but could not get her to move. We had a one minute time limit so I decided trying to get her to cross was futile. I then offered her a deal, if she agreed to out her shoes on her hands for the rest of class, I would cross the line. My thought process here was that if I could get her to do something funny then it was worth me giving up the win. Ultimately, she declined the offer and neither of us crossed. When the game was over, we went over what we thought the game was for. We mostly said it was for communication skills and arguing a point. Ms Lees, however, told us it was for something far less obvious. The purpose of the excersise was meant to teach us that not everything is a contest. If we had decided to cross the line at the same time, both our goals would have been accomplished. The game gives a very good learning opportunity but I think it could be improved upon a little bit. If I wrote the game, I would call it "Who will cross the line" because that way it makes it easier to make the point at the end. Technically if two people cross a line at the same time, neither of them crossed the line first, therefore neither of them won or lost. It's just even. If the goal is to make the other person cross the line and it doesn't matter who does it first or who does it second, then the game would make sense and be winnable for both parties.
In this activity, we were paired up and separated over a line and told that the purpose of the game is to make the other person cross the line first. My partner did not want to move at all, I tried bribery and other methods of that sort but could not get her to move. We had a one minute time limit so I decided trying to get her to cross was futile. I then offered her a deal, if she agreed to out her shoes on her hands for the rest of class, I would cross the line. My thought process here was that if I could get her to do something funny then it was worth me giving up the win. Ultimately, she declined the offer and neither of us crossed. When the game was over, we went over what we thought the game was for. We mostly said it was for communication skills and arguing a point. Ms Lees, however, told us it was for something far less obvious. The purpose of the excersise was meant to teach us that not everything is a contest. If we had decided to cross the line at the same time, both our goals would have been accomplished. The game gives a very good learning opportunity but I think it could be improved upon a little bit. If I wrote the game, I would call it "Who will cross the line" because that way it makes it easier to make the point at the end. Technically if two people cross a line at the same time, neither of them crossed the line first, therefore neither of them won or lost. It's just even. If the goal is to make the other person cross the line and it doesn't matter who does it first or who does it second, then the game would make sense and be winnable for both parties.
c)Paper Folding
In this activity, we were instructed to fold our piece of paper multiple times until finally making a triangle and ripping off one corner. After that, we opened our papers up and looked at one another's. This activity was my favourite because I understood the reason for doing it and it had no apparent flaws. The idea behind this activity was that we were supposed to be able to see that other people think differently than we do and that we need to be able to understand where others are coming from. This activity accomplished it's goal very well.
In this activity, we were instructed to fold our piece of paper multiple times until finally making a triangle and ripping off one corner. After that, we opened our papers up and looked at one another's. This activity was my favourite because I understood the reason for doing it and it had no apparent flaws. The idea behind this activity was that we were supposed to be able to see that other people think differently than we do and that we need to be able to understand where others are coming from. This activity accomplished it's goal very well.
Hi Curtis! I enjoy reading your first reflection, it is coherent and demonstrates logical thinking. One part I appreciate the most is your thoughts on "Who Will Cross the Line" activity. This activity implies an unique way of thinking which we seldom evaluate. You thoughts are very detailed and consistent, and by reading them my mind shifts back to the activity again :) Great job!
ReplyDeleteCurtis,
ReplyDeleteLike Natasha, I appreciate the way you explain your understanding of the tasks, and even critique them. Clarifying what you understand from the varied tasks, including ones you did not think met the intended objectives, helps me to understand you better as well as evaluate the effectiveness of the tasks.
While most of the ice breaker tasks focussed on 1 or 2 intentions, I think it is completely valid if you are able to come up with other goals or intentions that are met as long as you can justify and connect your thoughts - which you did above when you indicated that the class felt the main intention behind "Who will cross the line first?" was primarily about communication skills. I think this could be elaborated upon further - how did the task address communication skills? In our post - activity discussion, students mentioned trying to tailor their message or strategies to appeal to what they thought their opponents (audience) would relate or want. This will be important in our presentations for sure as well as when you are working or approaching others for support or input throughout your projects.
Perhaps the lessons the majority of the class took from the activity is more important than the one I was aiming for, as stated above, and my execution of the activity itself could have been better. Either way, the debrief discussions and reflections are important to demonstrate your learning.
For future reflective posts - consider adding links, articles, images, videos, quotes or other texts to show your connections more and get the audience thinking - perhaps even end with challenges or questions for your audience.
Hey Curtis,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post. You probably know I was not here for the first couple of weeks so it made me catch up on what I missed. This post was really informative and also funny at the same time, so it kept me engaged throughout. Your thoughts on "who crossed the line first" was interesting and the "deals you made made me laugh. One thing you could do to engage your readers even more is add links or pictures. Overall, good first post.