Time to Reflect

I cannot effectively convey how incredibly relieved I am to be done with this entire project!

Before the presentation, I was so nervous. I wasn't sure if I was ready, even though I had been practicing for two weeks and had a really good practice run with Mrs. Haag on Thursday. So I paced around the gym for a nit, got in the zone, stumbled a little, but ultimately made it through my presentation. I think I effectively conveyed the information and kept the audience engaged. I also think I did well giving specific answers to my oral defense questions.

But now the project is over.
What do I do?

I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, but also this was one of the only things that has kept me on a schedule and responsive for deadlines. Also, I think having this project the third trimester has made me work on something school related, and therefore is keeping my skills from completely deteriorating. 

Besides this life reflection (cue existential crisis), I am also amazed at what I accomplished this year. 

I went from... 

I distinctly remember showing up at the beginning and saying "yeah I am thinking something biology or film related." That is literally all I knew. And now I have submitted a huge paper and talked for 15 minutes about a project that I did. 

A few things I really found helpful this year were teacher resources, weekly meetings, and peer editing. My experience with the teachers I worked with was amazing and to be honest, I probably should have used them more. They were extremely willing to help, and got so excited about my project. I think this is one thing to take advantage of with the research process because BASIS teachers (and I think people in general) are passionate about what they do, so if you approach someone with a good attitude and ask for opinions, advice, or even help with a situation, they are generally willing to give some type of feedback if not even more individual time. This was a huge learning point for me, since I generally don't like to approach people. I often fear I am wasting their time, but I needed help, and when I received that feedback it was amazing. 

Weekly meetings with Mrs. Haag kept me on task this year. She was amazing at keeping up with progress and setting goals. I think the personal attention we received was so helpful especially when we have such a long time and nothing else to do, it is easy to push it off. But breaking the project down helped lessen the procrastination and also increase the effort put into each part. 

Peer editing was also extremely helpful. Personally, I love helping people edit. I enjoy reading projects and immersing myself in the thought process of others. On the flip side, it is really helpful to have someone else point those logical gaps and confusing areas, to improve such a big project. 

When looking back on the project I think the most stressful time was the data collection. It felt like this was the most rushed. The literature review was also difficult, but we had such a long time to work on it and break it down. One thing that was also frustrating about the lit review was writing it like three times. If I had to give one piece of advice to a student taking research, it would be to prepare to constantly adjust your project and paper.

Overall, this has been an amazing year in AP Research and I am reluctant to say goodbye. But I know that we are off to do even more amazing things. So here's to the research students of 2017! 

6 DAYS!!

Hi all!

This week was practice presentation week! I had my first practice on Monday and it was a little rough  since I had only practiced for a few days.

I felt like I stumbled through the information, hastily skipping transitions or not conveying information very well. A lot of these problems stemmed from a lack of familiarity and nerves, but there were also sections where I needed to add transitions. I also had to add a hypothesis slide, and an accompanying section on explaining the parts of my hypothesis. Also, in my first practice I realized some slides needed more transitions to make the information more digestible.

After I changed all of these things I was feeling pretty good, but then.... it was time to present in front of Mr. Molk and Dr. Helmers, the two people who helped me with my project besides Mrs. Haag. I was honestly terrified. I overcame my nerves a few slides into the presentation, and overall the feedback I received was super helpful. Mr. Molk asked me to define the capitalist system and justify why I am using that specific definition. Dr. Helmers told me I could cut out a section (maybe even in my paper) to make my argument more concise and credible. He also gave me a new direction I could take in my discussion: individualism as another fundamental aspect of a capitalist structure. This discussion is particularly interesting since it fits REALLY well with the themes I found in a majority of movies, therefore tying my results more directly to my discussion.

I walked away from my second practice feeling really good. My fears of being wrecked were not fulfilled. Instead, I got amazing feedback. So I am going to take this moment to give a shout out to the teachers I have worked with, and all the teachers who I know are working hard to help us. This research process has not only taught me about research and my own process, but it has also helped me to learn more about the academic community. I went into this project knowing very little, but with the discussions Dr. Helmers and I had, he was able to introduce me to film analysis. Mrs. Haag taught me more than I imagined about research formalities, as well as always provided strong insight on argumentation. Mr. Molk provided a separate perspective, allowing me to realize the connections my research had with other academic focuses, and also pointed out some logical gaps. Each one of these teachers helped me improve my project so much and their willingness to be an integral role in my paper, shows the support and passion they have for the subject and their students. I definitely think that their guidance has helped bring me to a higher level, since I felt like they expected a certain level from me.

Me @ the amazing BASIS teachers

I am really looking forward to finishing this project and polishing my presentation for the final practice on Thursday! 

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Presentation Preparation

Hello AP research pals!

Colorful slides with a variety of words and pictures, with a passionate speaker engaging the audience, and a steady flow of information is what I envision as an ideal presentation. I like a lot of variety when I am watching a presentation, like alternating between words and pictures, even formats. I also think an ideal presenter is passionate about the topic, transcending merely memorizing the presentation to an interesting conversation of information. Additionally I love when slides match exactly what is being said, like when the slide is immediately related to the script and timing is matched as well.

This last week I redid my power point and script. I got really into it and tried to make it as engaging as possible. On my own, I was able to create a colorful and vibrant slide show that limited the amount of words, instead using lots of images and gifs (Disney gifs in an AP presentation? What?!). Although my slide show is really long, many slides only have a sentence attached to them, so I think the constant movement and flow of slides will be engaging. With Mrs. Haag's reminder, I added transitions to create even more flow in the presentation, while also matching my words perfectly to the slides. Also, she suggested creating diagrams like flow charts for some of my wordier slides. Overall, I feel extremely confident in my power point presentation.

Feeling confident about my Power Point

I am slightly less confident in my script, not because of information included, but just the amount I have to know and make engaging. My script is strongly aligned with my slideshow and it accurately covers all of the points I need to effectively present my project, so now I just have to practice. I also think that there might be some transitions that are not as smooth as I want them to be like between different sections. So, once I hope that those will become more apparent when practicing.

Freaking out about memorizing a 54 slide script

This project to me seems different from a seminar presentation because it's like.... a big deal. Not that the seminar presentation wasn't, but in comparison this is way more legit. We have a panel of viewers. We are presenting a YEAR of research. I also think that we have to be more engaging since we have a panel, and keeping them happy and into the project seems like it would mean better oral defense questions. I feel like this is a big step in maturity from the seminar presentations, since we should be more advanced than last year.

My plan for practicing is to rehearse a lot by myself for these first few days. This way I can get the information and slide transitions down. Then I will start practicing my presentation style by presenting to my parents and sisters. I also really liked Mrs. Haag's idea of getting research kids together, so if anyone wants to practice together I'm down!
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Until next week!!