MUN - Nuclear Proliferation
Project Description: This project was a model of the united nations. We began by doing research on our country, this entailed finding who our president is, who our allies are, who we have conflict with, and many other things. We then did a conference on the Venezuelan refugee crisis. Our second conference was on nuclear proliferation. We had to do lots of research which included things like, who are the big nuclear powers, how many nukes are there in the world, is our country in favor of nuclear disarmament, and overall nuclear relations. This time we did our conference differently. Instead of writing resolutions before the conference and choosing them for the docket we wrote and voted on resolutions during the conference. We still wrote policy papers beforehand and we wrote resolution brainstorms to help us write them quicker during the conference.
MUN Conference Reflection - Nuclear Proliferation
MUN Conference Reflection - Nuclear Proliferation
- International Diplomacy: The model united nations project has really shown me that solving global issues is way easier said than done. It has shown me how difficult it is to reach a consensus with all the nations and it has given me more of a respect for the individuals who do solve issues on a global level. I think our way of solving global issues isn’t perfect but I also think it would be incredibly challenging to refine or change the system we have in place. The UN is discussing such complex issues that it can’t be easy to reach a solution.
- Growth: I don’t feel like I grew very much from our last conference to this one. I maintained similar work habits but I feel I didn’t put as much work into this conference compared to the last one. I think that is because I wasn’t as captivated by nuclear proliferation as I was by the Venezuelan refugee crisis. Nuclear proliferation is also more complex so it was harder to wrap my head around all the information. I do feel I grew as a delegate I was more versed in parliamentary procedure compared to the first conference. I think doing the model UN project helped me grow a lot in my speech-giving skills, my researching skills, my ability to manage more of a workload, and my knowledge of what is currently happening in our world.
- Knowledge: I will carry on the researching skills and my knowledge of whats going on in our world forever I hope. I feel those two skills are very important to have especially in my college career and adult life. This project has changed my thinking by realizing all the different perspectives nations have. When I read that Iran named the pentagon as a terrorist organization it really put that into perspective. I hope to carry everything I learned in this project into other aspects of life because this was the valuable, interesting, and relevant project I’ve ever done.
- Refinement: If I could go back I would do the first conference the same, maybe I would get more heated (at the US) during the conference but other than that I really like how that conference went. If I could do the second conference again I would try and go more above and beyond with the effort I put into prepping for the conference. I feel I wasn’t as knowledgable about the issue in our second conference which made me contribute less. Other than that I’m very happy with how this project went and I feel I gained a lot from it.
MUN - Venezuelan Refugee Crisis
Project Description: This project was a model of the united nations. We began by doing research on our country, this entailed finding who our president is, who our allies are, who we have conflict with, and many other things. We then did lots of research on our country’s position on the Venezuelan crisis. With all the research we did we wrote policy papers and resolutions regarding the crisis. Once we had those important documents we became prepping for the conference by practicing amendment writing and writing our speeches that pertained to our country’s position. Finally, we conferenced on the issue.
MUN Conference Reflection - Venezuelan Refugee Crisis
Highlights: The best part of this project so far has been the conference. The conference was the best part because it was very fun and engaging. Our class took the conference seriously for the most part and took the part of their country really well. The fact that almost everybody took the conference seriously made us get into some very involved and heated discussions on the issue. I also enjoyed how there were clear sides being taken on the issue, which helped with having successful caucuses and an overall challenging conference.
Growth: I grew the most in my motivation and confidence during this project. Throughout last year and the beginning of this year, I have been unmotivated to do my school work. This project forced me to do my work because I knew if I didn’t do it I wouldn’t take the perspective of my country well and I would let others in the class down by not bringing much to the conference. This project helped me grow in my confidence in my work by showing me that the effort I put into a project translates to how well I do and feel at the end of it. I was shown that work I think is alright or not that good could end up being some of the best in the class. I am happy because I feel the motivation and confidence boost I got from this project will translate into other classes.
Conference Preparation: I felt extremely prepared for our first conference. That preparedness is due to the incredible amount of effort I put into things like my policy paper, resolution, and the research of the issue and my countries perspective on it. My preparedness translated into participation by helping me accurately take the perspective of my country and holding that perspective until the conference was over. Being prepared also helped by making me confident in my speech and the questions and comments I was making after others gave their speeches. Overall my preparedness made me have a successful and fun conference.
Refinement: In our next conference I plan to let my confidence in how prepared I am, take hold more. I say that because I knew I was plenty prepared for our conference once I had finished and refined all my work but I was still doubting myself. So when I prepare for the next conference, I won’t doubt myself as much once I have made sure all my work is done to the best of my abilities. This will improve my experience in the next conference by relieving some unnecessary stress. Other than that I feel I did really well with what I did to prepare for our first conference and I feel if I take the same steps I will be just as successful in our second conference.
Highlights: The best part of this project so far has been the conference. The conference was the best part because it was very fun and engaging. Our class took the conference seriously for the most part and took the part of their country really well. The fact that almost everybody took the conference seriously made us get into some very involved and heated discussions on the issue. I also enjoyed how there were clear sides being taken on the issue, which helped with having successful caucuses and an overall challenging conference.
Growth: I grew the most in my motivation and confidence during this project. Throughout last year and the beginning of this year, I have been unmotivated to do my school work. This project forced me to do my work because I knew if I didn’t do it I wouldn’t take the perspective of my country well and I would let others in the class down by not bringing much to the conference. This project helped me grow in my confidence in my work by showing me that the effort I put into a project translates to how well I do and feel at the end of it. I was shown that work I think is alright or not that good could end up being some of the best in the class. I am happy because I feel the motivation and confidence boost I got from this project will translate into other classes.
Conference Preparation: I felt extremely prepared for our first conference. That preparedness is due to the incredible amount of effort I put into things like my policy paper, resolution, and the research of the issue and my countries perspective on it. My preparedness translated into participation by helping me accurately take the perspective of my country and holding that perspective until the conference was over. Being prepared also helped by making me confident in my speech and the questions and comments I was making after others gave their speeches. Overall my preparedness made me have a successful and fun conference.
Refinement: In our next conference I plan to let my confidence in how prepared I am, take hold more. I say that because I knew I was plenty prepared for our conference once I had finished and refined all my work but I was still doubting myself. So when I prepare for the next conference, I won’t doubt myself as much once I have made sure all my work is done to the best of my abilities. This will improve my experience in the next conference by relieving some unnecessary stress. Other than that I feel I did really well with what I did to prepare for our first conference and I feel if I take the same steps I will be just as successful in our second conference.
Adolescence Project
Project Description: I studied the development that happens in adolescence. Which includes moral, social, physical, and emotional development. I Interviewed my Dad, Caleb Gates and wrote an essay about his interview. My essay had an overall perspective on how adolescence is a time of discovery, facilitated by your parents, your peers, and yourself. Then I took a photo portrait of Caleb, in front of a poster that was made to keep the Gunnison River wild and free. He was in front of the poster because he fought to keep a dam from being built on the Gunnison.
Project Reflection:
- When I think back on this project I am most proud of the revisions I made to my interview write-up. I say this because when I started writing it I was so lost. After I finished my first draft. I felt like I had a big, jumbled, blob of words on my paper. But after our peer critique and my conference with Lori, I felt like I had some direction. My third paragraph is the best evidence for this. I totally restructured this paragraph in my revisions and I am happy with how it turned out. I was originally comparing Caleb’s relationship with his parents to my relationship with mine. I changed it to talking about how child-parent relationships change in adolescence, I used Caleb's interview as evidence for this.
- I ran into difficulty in a couple of different places during this project. My first major difficulty was deciding who I was going to interview. I debated between a few different people, such as my uncle, my cousin, and some of the Durango skatepark locals. I took so long deciding who I was going to interview that I ran out of time and chose to interview my dad. Which I didn’t mind, I still took a very interesting interview. Another difficulty I had was finding inspiration for my photo portrait. I didn’t put this at the top of my to-do list for the project and forgot to do it till the very end. I still ended up taking an alright portrait of Caleb in front of a Gunnison River poster.
- The most important thing I learned during this project is that I need to give myself more time to do my work than I think I do. Once I had taken my interview I had a hard time starting my interview write-up. I struggled to pull things from my interview and write about them. But even after I conferenced with Lori I procrastinated and didn’t do my work till the last four or five days of the project.
- I give myself a score of eight on the class habits and Intellectual presence rubric. I gave myself this score because I pay attention and am engaged in class most of the time. I don’t always jump write into the starter at the beginning of class, and I definitely have watched one or two skateboard videos during class. Something I can do to improve my performance is to use class time more effectively. Aside from that I can do my homework more often so I have all the assignments I need at the start of class.