Self Evaluation

I think that I did ok with the first C layer section.  On a scale of one to ten, I would give myself a 6 or 7.  I did a lot of it last minute, because I kept putting it off because I had other stuff due sooner in other classes.  This made it particularly hard the night before it was due.

When I do the next sections, I will not due the majority of it the night before.  I will spread it more out.  I will also not annotate as much.  I had started off annotating a lot, but it took soooo much time and so eventually, I had to make it so there were only two or three annotations per page so that I could actually finish annotating the chapters due.

 I was most satisfied with my vocabulary test, because I circled words that I could use throughout my annotating, so I felt like I was the most prepared and did the best job on those.  I felt like the point was for me to be more familiar with the words, and I feel like that I now am.  I was not very satisfied with my annotations, because I felt that at one point, I was just writing things so that I could be done.  I didn't feel like I got anything out of it.

Reading:
Nervous Conditions: In class: 40 minutes
Nervous Conditions: Not in class: 2.5 hours
Nervous Conditions: Time spent working on projects: 4 hours total

Reflection

I started off doing a lot of research on my topic.  I know a lot about World War 2, just not about the after effects of it on Germany.  After I found some information I thought that I could use in my paper, I started making an outline of what I wanted my paper to be like.  This part was very easy because while I was researching, I was thinking about what I wanted in my paper and where I wanted it.  After I had my outline, I started working on my paper.  This was the longest and hardest part for me.  Eventually, I finished my draft and turned it in.  I didn't look at it for 10 days, and then when I looked at it so I could make it my final copy, I realized just how bad it was.  I ended up going and finding more information and pretty much redoing the entire paper.  I made sure all the formating was correct and then turned it in.  I felt like the most helpful thing was Dr. D's comments.  After I realized how bad it was, I didn't really know where to start fixing everything.  I started with her comments and they helped tremendously.  I don't think anything should change in this assignment.  

I was told by my peers that my biggest problem was formatting.  I fixed that easily.  Dr. D told me that I got off topic and to fix that/  I did everything that they told me to do and it made my paper better.  

I think that my ideas are the strongest.  They are there throughout the entire paper and it is supported with a lot of facts.  I'm not really sure what the weakest part of my paper is.  It might be word choice because I didn't use any big words or interesting words.  I used more common words.  

There is nothing else that I want you to know about my paper.


I spent about 2.5-3 hours total this week working on it

Writing and Reading Times

Writing: 1 hour reviewing and correcting little things
Reading: 1.5 hours reading different books about Spain to prepare for trips
                               reading Nervous Conditions and annotating

Researching Times

Writing Draft: 1 hour
Outline: 1.5 hours
Research: 45 minutes

Research Project

My topic is about World War 2.  I am focusing on the end of the war and the aftereffects.  If I focused on the aftereffect of World War 2 for the whole world, then I would end up with and 200 page paper.  To avoid writing 200 pages on the after effects of World War 2, I decided to focus on one country.  I thought that any country would be interesting to study, but I thought that not many people think about what happened to Germany after World War 2.  I decided that it would be really interesting to study Germany.  I have always found World War 2 really interesting.  I have studied it many times, but never looking at Germany and what happened to it.  So far, the answer I have come up with has been that after World War 2, Germany had to re-build itself completely.  I have found a lot of information about how they had been split into 4 parts, and how a different country ruled each part.  I have read a lot about how they were left with nothing.  There was also a lot about how they were finically and economically declining rapidly.  I have never really thought about the way Germany was affects so this was really interesting to learn about.

My research topic is about World War 2.  I am focusing mainly on the aftermath of the War on Germany.  I was originally going to do the aftermath of World War 1 on Germany, but after some research, I found out that the main aftereffect of World War 1 on Germany was the start of World War 2.  I have always loved studying World War 2, but I have never looked at it in this way.  The main answer that I have found was that the aftermath of World War 2 on Germany was that Germany was left with almost nothing.  They were finically and economically dead.  Their people were all poor and had few possessions and were struggling to get food.  The country itself was split into 4 separate parts that were controlled by the 4 main powers on the Ally side.  The interesting thing about that was the berlin wall and how it affected the other parts of Germany.  I have never looked at Germany and what happened to it after World War 2, so this is really interesting for me to learn about.

Minutes:
1.5 hours on annotated bibliography- making sure I have everything required in them; finishing up the 10 annotations due; trying to fix the formatting (actually fixed it correctly in class)

1.5 hours doing research and finding good, reliable websites; going back and trying to find authors and publishers for some websites and determining if they are reliable

The Fellowship of the Ring: J.R.R. Tolkieng
52 pages; 1 hour

Finishing A Marathon

This weekend, I finished my first marathon.  I didn't even train for it, i just ran it.  It was really easy, but that was probably because I started at mile 22 of 26.  My friend's dad was running in it.  His name was Mr. Sergio.  He did it last year too.  The Louisiana Marathon goes right in front of my house.  All morning, every time that I walk out my front door, there are always people running by with police men at every section between the blocks.  They go past our house at around mile 11 and then the run some more and come back around at close to mile 22.  I ran with Mr. Sergio when he passed out house the second time.

I got to run to the end of the neighborhood, over the over pass, then all through downtown.  We talked about all sorts of things, which surprised me a lot because I figured that someone who had already run 22 miles wouldn't be in the mood to talk.  We talked about school, sports, and other marathons.  I told him about the disney marathon that my friend once ran in.  It is a marathon where they run throughout Disney World.  I don't know where they start, but I do know they run from Epcot all the way to the Magic Kingdom on the interstate.  They get to run through the parks, meet and take pictures with characters, and get to see all of Disney World from a different view that not many others do.  It is not a serious marathon like the boston marathon is.  I think that it would be fun to do the Disney Half Marathon one day with my family.  I had lots of fun running with Mr. Sergio and am glad that I finished my first marathon!

Work Minutes:

In English Class: 1.15 hours approx. finding information and doing annotated bibliography
In Social Studies Class: 1.15 hours finding sources and information
Out of Class: 1.5 hours approx. finding information
Annotated Bibliographies: 50 minutes

Research Update

So far, I have found basic facts about World War 2 and the basic aftereffects.  I have mainly been using google as a source.  When we first started, I was going to do the after effects of World War 1, but after I did some research, I figured that the biggest, and main after effect of World War 1 was the starting of World War 2.  I didn't think that I could write that much about the after effects of World War 1 and not go into Word War 2, but still have enough to write about and stay on topic.  So, I decided to change the after effect of World War 1 to the after effects of World War 2.  

At first, I didn't know enough about my topic to do a good search on the databases.  I was to broad and the searches came up with all types of World War 2 stuff.  It came up with things about the beginning of the war, how America got involved, how World War 1 was different, etc.  I decided that if I went on google and learned more about my topic, then it might be easier to do a more narrowed search in the databases.  I am still using google.  I find that it works better for me and that I don't have trouble finding information.  The databases don't always work for me, and I find better stuff that I can use in my papers on google.  I have found lots of stuff so far, and I hope that they will help me to write a good paper.