Hello everyone! We are almost finished with this incredible journey. It has definitely had its ups and downs. Some days I feel totally excited about everything that's going on here and I'm completely enthusiastic. Then other times, I am very stressed and feel overwhelmed. For the most part, my blogs have been very positive, but I feel that I should also include some of the negative thoughts I have towards the program. Because I want to be completely honest with myself and with the people who read this blog, and to be perfectly honest, this program is not perfect. But I believe it can be.
So one of my overall complaints about the program was the lack of organization/preparation in general. I understand that's what the program is about, and that you have the responsibility to manage your own time; And I'm not even talking much about specifically the projects or the tasks assigned to the students. I just feel like we weren't given enough information right at the start of the program and even before we got there. And of course, I totally understand that this was a new experience for the student as well as the teachers, so I'm giving everyone the benefit of the doubt there. For example, we were only notified we weren't guaranteed a 4th credit until about a month and a half into the program. This was a huge shock to a lot of people, because some people were relying on a 4th credit here, so that they didn't need as many credits next semester. And for the people that decided to go for the 4th credit anyway, they had to log hours. Which is fine, but the problem was that we had already been in the program for a while. So we ended up having to back track quite a ways to attempt to roughly guess how many hours we got. So for next semester, my suggestion would be to let the students know before hand that the 4th credit is optional, and also give them the hour logs as soon as you start the projects. And as I said before, I completely understand that this is the very first semester of this program, and that things like that will just come with time and experience of running Propel. There are a few other little things here and there, but I am just being truthful, and am just looking for things to criticize the program on. Overall however, I absolutely love the program, and I can't say enough good things about it to do it justice. I can't wait to share all of my final thoughts in my final blog next week, and also in my final presentation, which will be on Jan. 26. I look forward to signing off for the last time in Propel next week. Talk to you all later! - Connor
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Hello everyone! We had many visitors come into "Propel Headquarters" this week. We were all asked many tough questions about the program. The first to visit were the teachers that will teach next semester of Propel. We were asked things like "what would you change about the program?" and "Would you go through the program a second time?" These were all interesting questions and made me think even after the school day was over. So I will share with you just a few of my thoughts on the program itself.
If the program went into grade 12, and I was given the chance to go through Propel again, I personally would not do it again. Not because I don't like the program, but because I feel like the skills you learn in propel, only need to be learned once. I feel that I've gotten all I can get out of Propel, and wouldn't need to experience it again. For me, I think Propel is less about the one final project, and more about the skills gained during your entire stay here. Like I said, I absolutely love this program. I can't tell you all the skills I have learned during Propel. I am exponentially better with my presentations, formatting emails, writing technically, and myself as a person. So that is just a quick thought on Propel. I'll talk to you all next week! Hello again Everybody! This week, we worked on setting our own final goals for each of our projects. We did this because it would be impossible to to create one universal rubric for all of our projects. So we are getting a huge say in what our project has to include. Right now we have laid it out pretty generally. We have a category for great qualities and a category for poor qualities. If we were talking about the steering portion of my car, a great quality would be:
- Turns tightly with ease And a poor quality would be: - Very loose, wide steering Any we continued like that, filling out an entire chart. This program is giving us a huge opportunity, because it is specifically tailored to us. We are not forced to do things we are not interested in. In normal schooling, you are just expected to keep up with your work, and you are being dragged along for the ride. With two teachers in Propel, you have twice the support and it feels so much more personal. I am so glad I got the chance to be in the Propel program. We watched a TED Talk this week all about opportunities, and take every chance that arises. So I am treating Propel as a huge opportunity, and this program is going to help me SOOO much in the future in many different ways. Talk to you all next week! Hello everyone! During my time here in Propel, I have needed to consult many outside sources of information. The construction of my RC car requires many different materials from multiple stores. I have made phone calls to places such as Eliminator RC, and other various RC car stores. I have physically gone to visit some stores, such as Home Depot and Walmart. I have talked to a couple experts. I talked to my aunt who is an expert in electronics and circuitry, and I have talked my teacher back at my old school who is an engineer.
Referring to outside sources of information has been very beneficial to me because I have learned things I have would have missed out on in everyday schooling. My project is going well. I should have the frame done by Sunday. Talk to you all next week! This week in Propel, we were tasked with answering one of many Phys. Ed related questions. We have one week to answer the question, and present it to the class. My question is "Should fighting continue to be in hockey?". I personally think fighting should be in hockey, because it discourages the players to do something worse than fighting. Fighting is a good way to relieve the tension before the situation escalates to possibly life threatening acts. This morning, we collaborated with a group of people to discuss different viewpoints on the issue. As for my project, I am planning to have my PVC frame completed by the end of next week. I am currently working on figuring out how much PVC I will need, and also how many joints I will need. I am working on figuring out the cost of the frame, too. I have drawn a few sketches on what I want the frame to look like, and now have to find the dimensions. I have worked it out to be a foot long, and a little under half a foot wide. I will keep everyone updated on how the frame construction is going! Talk to you all next week.
Hello again everybody! I have made some great progress in the development of my RC car. This week, I began brainstorming some basic body styles and also worked on designing the frame of the car. I have a few sketches made. I decided to model my car after a Jeep Wrangler. My car is actually the same dimensions as a real Jeep, just 140 times smaller! I originally thought of giving it a dune buggy look, but I ultimately decided against it. Designing it after a Jeep will take a little bit of stress off of me, because I won't have to worry so much about the curves of a dune buggy, as a Jeep is very box-like. I have purchased a small $15 RC car from Walmart, and I plan to use the electronic components from the Walmart car in my own project. I also have already taken apart a hand power drill to use the motor and battery pack. In the near future, I will be able to starting working on an actual car model, and I can't wait for that moment. I'll talk to you all next week!
This week, I worked on my technical proposal for my final project. I wrote a very detailed proposal on an RC car. we went to Innovation Alley, where we saw many cool machines that are used to do what I want to do, but professionally. The trip gave me a few interesting ideas that I think I could implement into my final design. I think that if I needed any advice or support, I could ask the College we visited for help. I am very excited to begin working on my RC car and will be getting started soon. The whole project should take about a month, as I predicted on my timeline chart. This will give me lots of room for improvement and changes. I will keep everyone posted and up to date on my progress!
Well, I have about four different projects on my mind. I am having a little bit of a hard time settling down on one project. A new possibility that I have been introduced to is joining a team to build a hovercraft. I would spend almost all of the semester working with two of the teachers at the school to build and compete with a hovercraft. The competition will be held at The U of M, and is a pretty big deal. People from all different schools come together to put their hovercraft against everyone else. I will leave a link to the website at the end of the post. I am very interested in the whole concept because it involves electronics, building, and drawing technical diagrams. I have begun research on flotation and how a hover board works. I will be meeting with the team ASAP to get started on the design process. I am very excited about this project, and hopefully will be the final project change that I make!
The classroom building process has been a very fun, educating, and beneficial experience for me personally. I have learned how to properly prepare a room to be painted. I've learned to tape walls and items around the ProPEL classroom to avoid getting paint on them. I went downtown and got some photography experience. I've gotten a lot of website building experience, and I've been managing the ProPEL Twitter and Instagram accounts.
My suggestions for the second semester students would be to enjoy ProPEL while it lasts. Because you're only in it for one semester, and it will go fast. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I guarantee you will take away at least one lesson that you will use throughout your life. Enjoy every moment because it is such a great way to learn, and you will never get as much useful information in a whole year of regular school than you will with one day at ProPEL. Today, as a class, we did an activity that focused on different views on the refugee crisis. We were put into groups of three, and were all given statements related to the refugees. We then had to come up with three thought provoking sentences, and put them on a poster. After all the posters were complete, we all looked at each others sentences, and put quick responses on sticky notes up on the posters. It was interesting to see some of the mini debates people were having about the statements. Some of the responses agreed with my beliefs, and some didn't. I had never thought of some of the viewpoints I read about. A question that I have is what can Canada do to help the refugees? It seems that many other countries are doing much more than we are. So how can we help? What I took away from this activity was to never disregard others viewpoints and opinions. You may think your beliefs are right, and that is OK. But others point of view could make you think in a whole different way. It is important to think of others. Because maybe if you combine one opinion with another, it will form a stronger viewpoint for the both of you. This activity was very beneficial to me.
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AuthorConnor Rose |