3 yeahs (positives) and 3 nahs (negatives) for your capstone experience

Yeahs:

1. I learned how to write a really long paper
2. Preparation for college
3. Gained a lot of confidents; presenting and sharing my thoughts

Nahs:

1. I feel like I spent my half of senior year writing paper and being stressful
2. Too much work. Cant even go on a field trip; I have other works to do from other classes too. Saying that I shouldn’t be going on a field trip is not something the capstone teacher should care about. It was an important field trip and I learned a lot of things from it. And I still finished my paper.

Top 10 Important skills or things to know for Capstone Class (My Final Blog Post)

Top 10 Important skills or things to know for Capstone Class:

1. Don’t procrastinate; don’t wait till the last week to write your paper. You need more time than you think you need.
2. Ask questions; don’t be afraid to ask your capstone teacher questions. If she/he is busy, ask other capstone teacher questions. Ask questions about your topic, ask them to read over your paper before you turn it in, and ask them about the presentation; your visuals and practice with them when you can.
3. Use your class time wisely; don’t play games on your computer… use your class time to get help from your classmates and get your work done.
4. Don’t volunteer to go first for the presentation; observe other people’s presentation then make some improvements. Think about what the other people that went before you  did well and did bad and think about what you can do differently.
5. Be unique; maybe for presentation, bring props or something (depending on your topic). For example, I was the only one who showed a video on their presentation. So I thought mine was unique. If your topic is about sports, then wear uniform… something like that.
6. Research more; the whole point of the class was to do ‘research’. More research widens your knowledge on your topic. When you present, it really shows the difference between the people who really did their research, and those who just procrastinated.
7. Think positively; writing a 15 pages long essay is a lot. But the teacher breaks it down for you by sections. So don’t be a child and annoy your teacher. Have a positive mind and start typing. Once you start, I swear you’ll be half way done before you know it.
8. Write the due dates on your agenda; knowing the due dates is very important because you can plan ahead what you are going to do. Every Friday before the due date, I wrote what I needed to finish during the weekend.  In your senior year, weekends are not the time for you to relax. You gotta do something like writing your paper little by little.
9. Don’t be shy when sharing your work with your classmates; at the beginning of the semester, you will be doing a small, very short presentation with a group of people. That really helps you to become closer with your classmates because after your presentation, the teacher and students ‘criticize’ or make comments on your presentation. So participate. Don’t skip the class on the day of the presentation.
10. Be passionate; have passion in your topic. It really makes a difference. Again, you can tell the difference between people who are just doing it just because they don’t want to take the finals and those who really are passionate. It also makes your grades go up.

 

Update on My Research Paper Assignment [4.5.13]

Another week passed and I have finally organized my thoughts. I took a break because during the whole spring break, all I did was homework. I also wrote five more blogs on this page. It was hard. And I also had to write my research paper (Section1-3). I needed a break.

I didn’t know what to do with my paper. I had a clear question but I didn’t know how to dig in. I didn’t know where to start. Yesterday, I talked to my teacher, Mrs. Taylor, and I realized how much I needed her help. I am someone who tends to think deeper than I should. Mrs. Taylor organized my thoughts and gave me really good sub questions. I once again realized the importance of communication. To be honest, I was a little embarrassed of my paper because it was unorganized. But now, I know which part is unorganized and how to organize it.

I am will write my section four. I still need to write my section three but I am going to finish my section four first. I have sent emails to my friends. I still need to send emails to my teachers. It might take some time. I hope I can finish it during the weekend. Sigh.

Section Four… [Tuesday 3/19 – Friday 3/22]

I haven’t started writing section four yet because tomorrow is Easter and I will be going over to my sister’s house, but I will begin soon. for section four, I need to write 8 to 10 paragraphs. The main goal of this section is to answer your secondary questions, which will ultimately lead to an answer of your essential research question. I need to include following things: my most relevant questions,  the research that led me to my answer, and mention areas of contention for people who study this particular topics. it shouldn’t be follow narrative or chronological format and shouldn’t be organized by sources. Over spring break, I posted all my missing blog posts which was like five. and I still have to write my section one through four.

I still need to interview some of my Korean friends for the project. I do need to find more articles and do more research.

Positive Attitude [Friday 3/1]

A successful researcher uses his/her time wisely. he/she doesn’t depend on others and thinks about their goal carefully. I think in capstone class, it is important to do the work on time. like keeping up with the blog posts and essay due dates.

For my personal productivity, there are few necessity attributes. I get distracted easily sometimes so in order to stay productive outside of school, I need to organize myself. for example, I  write a to-do list and always keep my planner with me. and before I do my homework and things, I think about which one I should do first and  at what time. this is necessary because when I do this, I manage my time very well. for my capstone project, I can always research my questions instead of worrying about them. I can also ask some questions to my Korean friends and my parents who knows very well about the education in Korea.  

to stay productive at school, I can always talk to my teachers about my troubles. sometimes many students get scared to talk to teachers about their failure(?). I do too. but when I shut off my communication with my teachers, oddly my grades drop. it is because I tried to do everything by myself. it is normal for students to get confused and it is the teachers duty to solve the confusion and give students an answer. so it is important to talk to your teachers. and also, to stay productive, I will do my homework. homework is important. teachers don’t us assign it for no reason. we might not know at the time but we learn many things by doing homework; we learn how to stay productive, be punctual, and sometimes it helps the students to review or prepare for their classes. lastly, I think for my personal productivity, the most important thing is to have positive attitude and think I can do anything if I put my mind to it.

Update… and Small Group [Monday 2/25]

My topic is The difference between South Korean and American education. I have many sub questions that will help guide me through the conclusion; like the effects of the different education, what the philosophy look like in a class day to day in both South Korea and America, and the students goals. I have started researching using the Google Scholar and many other websites. for the interview, since imp from South Korea and have some friends who are in high school, I thought I’d ask them few of my sub questions using Facebook and etc. I mean who would know better than them? they go through the stressful high school days Monday through Saturday…

Capstone is especially a very interesting class for me because we have a small group where every students share their topic and their work with group of other students. it is interesting to see so many different topics and what other students are truly interested in. but at this point, we should all really focus more on our project than small group discussions and activities. we have about 27days left till the expo night (which is our presentation day: May 7th).

It is hard to keep ourselves moving forward with this kind of a big project where we started from nowhere… but we can do it because seniors from past years have done it too. let’s just get this thing over with! let’s not be lazy.

“Why Parents Need to Let Children Fail” [Wednesday 2/13]

This article is very profitable but it is biased because the author was a teacher. To me, as a biased student,  it makes me mad to hear what the author has to say about school. there are ‘rules’  and we pay the price for what we do in school.

 for example, when I skipped my food class several times, I got two days of in school suspension. I was scared and felt terrible but I silently accepted it because it was my mistake.  Long story short, after the first day of in school, after a dreadful extent of eight hours of sitting and silent, I regretted not what I’ve done, but how light hearted I was toward my classes and looked down on them. I knew I learned my lesson. after a long night, I didn’t feel like going to the second day of in school. because first it made me feel very sad and second, even though it was a rule, I didn’t think I’ll learn anything more by going to the second day and third, it was my very first time skipping. But I still went. what I’m trying to say here is that what we do to price the pay isn’t important. anyone can do that. anybody can go to in school suspension. but what’s important is what we learn from it and the enlightenment. but school don’t give the students the chance to learn these valuable things.

since my topic is on the difference between the  United States and the South Korea’s education, I want to share a story with you all about Korean elementary schools. in South Korea, misguided and the concept of over parenting is carried to excess. this is not because … teachers assign their students homework like always. but it’s not the students who does their homework, it’s their mothers. parents say it is because their kids don’t have time for it. it doesn’t stop here, teacher, by knowing the work isn’t their students,  assign harder and tougher homework. so the students who doesn’t live with their parents or something is basically going belly up.

it is interesting how in two different country, the same problem is interpreted differently.  but one thing is the same; parents have high responsiveness and low demandingness.

 

My Topic. [Wednesday, Feb. 6th]

Whenever I’m on my facebook, my friends from Korea always ask me how I’m doing here in the United States. that kind of conversation became tedious but I was curious why they were so envious of me. I felt like I was locked up in prison for past five years I’ve lived in the United States.  but I gradually learned that I live the American Dream and not everyone has the chance to study abroad and widen their mental view.

my parents, especially my mother, encourages me to do things that I want to do. I learned that it is only possible for me to do the things that I want to do, which I took it for granted, here in the united states. for example, I  joined many club activities such as art club, environmental club, and bio club. I also did many other things like running for the student council,  joining track, lifeguarding, and etc. my mother says that I wouldn’t have all these opportunities if I lived in Korea so even though I don’t live under the best circumstances, I should be thankful.

even though I am from south Korea, I don’t know much about Korean education. I’ve heard many things about it and experienced it indirectly through my parents. I want to know more about it. my indirect experiences definitely helped push myself to work harder. I want to know the students life; what the philosophy looks like in a class to day. I want to know the effects of the Korean education and difference between the Korean and American education.  I want to know what their goal is, or our goal is.

(Here are some cool articles about Korean education:)

1. C, Alice. “Getting into a College…” Review.Web log post.Education in Korea and America.N.p., 22 May 2008. Web. 22 May 2008. (This article compares and contrasts the different requirements for college in Korea and America.)

 2.”The Difference between Korean and American Education.”EHow Mom. Ed. Matthew Spira.N.p., n.d. Web. (This article is about Korean education, how competitive it is and the outcomes in mother’s perspective)

Edgan’s Moving toward adult maturity…

I agree with Egan’s Moving toward adult maturity. I think we all should remember these six examples because for example, I will be going to college in almost five months. I have been living with a host family for almost six year and solely took care of my grades and managed my expenses so it’s not a big problem for me but I saw many students being afraid of going to college and not having their parent right next to them. I think if we learn how to behave like adults, then it will automatically make us more responsible and mature.

 

I don’t think Sycamore does a good job giving us a chance to grow in the way that Egan Describes. Looking back, I remember many parents being involved in their children’s learning at school. For example, the students tell the teacher to email their parents when things go wrong, or the teachers telling the parents to tell their kids to do their homework… when I became a senior, I felt like the teachers were treating me differently. They expect me to do my work without them telling us what to do.  The teachers never told us to do our homework over and over again. But this doesn’t apply to all my classes. In AP classes, the way the teachers teach the student is very different; it is like college.

Students can learn how to interact with others and respect them, be responsible, and act more mature in many different ways in school; they can join a club, sport, do their school works on time, and join student government. I don’t think the school has the problem, but we do. Not all the students try hard enough, not all students apprehend it. Teachers can’t make them do that. Students are the one who is responsible for it. All the school can do is providing the good environment the students can study hard and achieve their goal.

Have you ever heard of Facebook Graph Searches?

This really puts the privacy dangers of Facebook’s Graph Search in perspective. All of the searches on that site are unflattering for anyone who appears in the results, no question about it. But some of them are downright dangerous. If you can specify people who live nearby, any criminal could take advantage of that. A robber would need only search for people who like expensive products. Sex offenders could search for nearby women with qualities that might make them easy targets. No business is going to be pleased to show up on a list of companies that employ racists, that’s a major PR disaster. Also troubling are the searches for Islamic men who are interested in men in Tehran. Homosexuality is illegal in Iran, just as Falun Gong is in China. Both of these searches could be used by governments to easily find and persecute members of the population. This is another way people take advantage of- such as young people who “like” topics like racism and prostitution as a joke, because they don’t get that people outside their immediate group of friends use Facebook for all kinds of purposes, and take everything on it seriously. Facebook has crossed a line here. This isn’t just creepy or disrespectful of users’ privacy anymore, but it’s dangerous.

Has Facebook crossed a line here? What does your profile say about you?