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.

Blog 17- Interview 3 Reflection

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

The most important thing I feel I learned from my interview is how important it is to focus on the actual history part of family history and to understand customs and traditions of the country of your area of study.

2.  How has your approach to interviewing changed over the course of your senior project?

My approach is to now let the answers to my questions decide my next question and not worry to much about having set questions ready right away.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5TdWp8sdyWna1BWVEZlRWh0NTQ/view?usp=sharing 

16: Independent Component 2 Approval

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

What I plan on doing for the next 30 hours is completing the family history of Kenzie McCarell.

2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

What I will do to prove that I spent 30 hours is by having someone taking pictures, of me doing research, show pictures of the start of the tree when I begin the project, and then show a picture of everything I have found by the end of the 30 hours.

3.  Explain how this component will help you explore your topic in more depth.

This IC will help me understand the answers of my EQ because I know that not all of her families sources are not going to be obvious. And my EQ is about finding sources that are not easily accessible.

4.  Post a log in your Senior Project Hours link and label it "Independent Component 2" log.

Go to Mentorship hours and scroll down to the IC 2 Section.

Independent Component 1

• LITERAL
  (a)  “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.
•  Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org 
  (c) Update your hours in your Senior Project Hours link. Make sure it is clearly labeled with hours for individual sessions as well as total hours.
• (d) Explain what you completed.    
• INTERPRETIVE 
  Defend your work and explain its significance to your project and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  
  
• APPLIED
  How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate this. 
• This goes into my topic because my topic is about helping myself connecting to my family and helping someone connect to theirs. So for my independent component, I did my best to help someone understand their family,

 I had to start with Isaac. 

 This is my end result of the project.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BzMeYW7pfRpZOmgTX9CiMwrZNV_XKU2yeUgtqrXNHms/edit?usp=sharing 

my IC essay. 

Lesson 2 Reflection

1.What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

I am most proud that people actually seemed to be interested in my topic. I say that because I was very worried people would find my presentation boring and not really seem to care about my topic. I know that the class seemed to care at least a little bit because someone asked me what kind of free website they could go to and I said one they could go to and I saw a number of people write it down really excited.

2. a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

I deserve an AP.
   
     b.     I deserve that grade because I did not make it to the 20 minute mark and failed to cite at least one source.

3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

The thing that worked for me, was being able to have time to tell a story that I love to share, and being able to have people get to know who they are, and help them start trying to discover themselves.

4. What didn't work? If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

I didn't make time and forgot to go over the purpose of one of my props. There is not that much that really didn't 

5. What do you think your answer #2 is going to be?

I think my answer number two is to look at the problem at another angle. Such as, for tracking an african american family, not just giving up, but trying to track the family that owns the slave.

Third Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview?  What is this person's area of expertise?

I plan on interviewing a man in my area names Clifford Rackley. He is a family history person who is very well known within the LDS church in this area.
2. Verify that you have called your interviewee to schedule an interview.  What is the date and time of the interview? 

I have not called this person, but do plan on talking to them over the weekend. 
3. Phrase an open-ended question that will help you find research resources that would help to answer the EQ.

What kind of resources are most helpful when looking for ways to help those who are in a situation such as African Americans. 

4. Phrase an open-ended question that will help you think about other useful activities you might do to help you answer the EQ (IC2, possible experts to talk to, etc).

What is a unique way to convey Family History to high school students who aren't active in it at all?

5. Phrase two open-ended questions that help you to understand your interviewee's perspective on an aspect of your EQ. 

Blog 13: 10 Hour Mentorship Check-In

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?

For my mentorship, I am going on Ancestry and Family Search to complete my own personal family history.

2.   Who is your contact?  What makes this person an expert?

My contact is a woman names Sherri Salmans. She is considered an expert because she has not only done this for 15 years, but has also helped people by doing their family history. Throughout her time completing family history, she has had to figure the out how exactly to find family members because of coming from different countries and moving across the country in the mid-west.

3.   How many  hours have you done during the school year? (Summer Mentorship Hours and Mentorship Hours should be reflected separately in your Senior Project Hours log located on the right hand side of your blog).

I have done 10.5 hours.

4.   Succinctly summarize what you did, how well you and your mentor worked together, and how you plan to complete the remaining hours.

My mentor and I work together well not only because she and both care about family history, but also because I see her on a regular basis.

Blog 12: Holiday Project Update

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you do over the break with your senior project?

Over the break I did nothing until about New Years Eve. On New Years Eve, I completed research checks that I had been behind on. While doing research, I had looked for research for future sources.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did, and why?  What was the source of what you learned?

My research was actually about basing research while completing family history. The videos I watched went over how to properly determine who your family is and to not just seeing one document and just assuming that the name on the paper is who you are looking for. I learned all of this on the Ancestry youtube channel.

3.  Your third interview will be a 10 question interview related to possible answers for your EQ. Who do you plan to talk to and why?

I plan to talk to other people I know who are involved in family history. I might contact someone who works at a separate Family History Center and ask them about interviewing them. I plan on doing this because it important to get more than one perspective on family history work and how they would answer my EQ based on their experience.