Blog 24: Last Presentation Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your block presentation and/or your senior project? Why?

• I am most proud of how natural I felt up that there. I didn't feel out of place. I felt like I was supposed to be there.
  
  

(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your block presentation?  Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

AP/P.
I say that because I deserve a P because my presentation itself was really good (as said by Pang), although my third answer was incredibly short and was unsure about his reaction towards that.

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project? Use the component contract to defend that assessment.

P

I did everything I was supposed to do on time.

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?

I was able to get everything in on time and really felt passionate about my topic.
(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your senior project?

I would make much more of en effort for my research checks and take them more seriously.
(5) Finding Value

How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.

Senior project has taught me to not give up no matter how badly I may want to give up.

Blog 23: Exit Interview

Content:

(1) What is your essential question, and what are your answers?  What is your best answer and why?

• My essential question is "how can family history be ascertained when written records are hard to find?"
• My first answer is to look beyond the "obvious" sources and look at the smaller ones.
• My second answer is to understand what is happening in history at the time period of the research being conducted.
• My third answer is to understand someones genetic history with medical and ethnicity.
• My best answer is my second answer.
• This is my best answer because history is what makes family history make sense and answers questions that cannot always be answered by documents and pictures.

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

• When prepping for my third interview, I was trying to think of a question that has the potential of achieving substance for a second answer.
• I then asked Lisa Feranttee (the person I interviewed) and told me history was incredibly important and to consider the fact that if some events had not happened, the American culture would be different.

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

• Problems I would face was the issue that I was not entirely sure what to do about research because it seemed to be repetitive and not as helpful as I would hope so.

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

• My third interview for answer two.
• Because it provided me with the building blocks of my second answer which grew to be my best answer.
• The video from Ancestry called, "How to get Around the 1890 Census."
• This is major for me because this is exactly what my first answer is about.

Blog 22: Independent Component 2

  

LITERAL
(a) Include this statement: “I, Diane Gordon, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component.
(c) Update your Independent Component 2 Log (which should be under your Senior Project Hours link)
(d) Explain what you completed.    

• I was able to learn about Kenzie's family history and tell her about it throughout the journey.

(e) Defend your work and explain the component's significance and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.   
(f)How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 

• This helped me determine my EQ answer because I had to go under and be careful and look for sources that weren't going to be as obvious and also had to understand what happened in the states during the 1910's and the late 30's and earl 40's/

Grading Criteria 

• Log on a digital spreadsheet under Senior Project Hours
• Evidence of 30 hours of work 
• Blog explaining and defending significance of component

Blog 21 - Interview 4 Reflection

Please copy these questions and answer them in your own blog.  Attach a link to your video or sound file (at least 5 minutes of what you feel is your best portion).  As usual, you'll want an appropriate image to lead this. 

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview? 

• That wars have more of an impact to the places people go and why people leave.
• And how genetics does play some kind of role in how some people live their lives.

2.  How will what I learned affect my final lesson?

• It will affect my final lesson because I can now go into a small section about wars when discussing my second answer.
• It will go over how genetics and how some diseases are genetics are going to impact the health of someone.

The text of this interview should be turned in to turnitin.com.  A verification form for Interview 4 can be printed out from the Senior Project Packet link on the side of the blog.  Do not forget to justify your mentor as an expert in your specific topic. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5TdWp8sdyWnU05wR0xpZnNCZGc/view?usp=sharing 

Blog 20: Fourth Interview Questions

• Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?
• I plan on interviewing the guy who runs the family history center that I attend to for mentorship.
• Post 20 open-ended questions you want to ask an expert in the field concerning your senior project. Your focus should be finding answers to your EQ
• I asked my interviewee a question about my EQ because I wanted to hear his perspective.
• I also asked him how history affects family history.
• I then asked him how genetics comes into play when it comes to family history.
• I asked him how to help me relate this to high school students.
• I also asked about where to get resources.

Blog 19: Third Answer

• EQ 
• What is the best way for family history to be ascertained when written records are difficult to find?
• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*
• It is important to understand where a person comes from on a genetic level.
• 3 details to support the answer
• Take into consideration, someone who is adopted and wants to find their birth family. If they had an idea as to their heritage instead of just guessing, as to where someone came from.
• In cases of African Americans, when trying to understand where they come from (if slavery is apart of their history) they could learn where exactly they are from and that might inspire them to feel complete.
• Also knowing your genetic ethnicity is important, because there might be diseases in your family that could impact your life as an adult,=.
• I.e Breast Cancer, Alzheimer's, Diabetes, prostate cancer.
• The research source(s) to support your details and answer
• Ancestry DNA
• Concluding Sentence
• Therefore, it is important to understand your genetic history for the reasons of adoption, wanting to know where you come from, and from health reasons.

Blog 18: Answer 2

1.  What is your EQ?

• My EQ is How can family history be ascertained when written records are difficult to find?

2.  What is your first answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• My answer to my EQ is to look beyond sources that are "obvious" and to look beyond birth certificates and look at smaller sources such as directories and newspapers.

3.  What is your second answer? (In complete thesis statement format)

• My second answer to my EQ is to look at the historical events of the time era I am researching.

4.  List three reasons your answer is true with a real-world application for each.

• My answer is true because events in other countries led to families from other places to come to the United States. For example, WWII Europe was not safe for Jews, so for safety, they came here to the States where they would be safe.
• My answer goes into customs, and it is true because there are naming traditions in countries like Italy. For example, if a family has a son and if the child dies before they turn 2, the next baby will be given the same name.
• It is also important to understand the impact religion has on people. Take the mormon church, the saints moved across the plains for something they believed in, no matter how long it took. It would make sense as to why they are off the grid for a few years, because they were traveling from New York to Utah within the span of about ten years.

5.  What printed source best supports your answer?

• My third interview provided me with this source.

6.  What other source supports your answer?

• A video on Ancestry that discusses the importance of understanding the importance of migration, time it happened, and how long they were traveling.

7.  Tie this together with a concluding thought.

• My EQ answers are not always self explanatory in the sense that if someone is new to family history, they may not understand that history is a major factor when impacting family history.