Retreet

      Well this has definitely been one of the busiest weeks of my life. I had a family reunion on Saturday. Then I spent my entire Sunday with them and we went to dinner. Monday I packed for the retreat and later fell off my longboard and sprained my wrist. We had to go to the ER at 8:30 and didnt get back till 2:30 AM and I still wasnt done packing so lets just say I only got an hour of sleep. Then I woke up and went to the retreat for three days and squeezed in a few cross country work outs while I was there and a little sleep. Then I came back and had practice on Friday. Cross country meet the next day on Saturday. Then after the meet I slept, all day.... Yup its been a crazy week.

     

     Overall besides all the craziness I had a really good time at the retreat! Even though I sprained my wrist I was able to do most of the actitites like the swing, junior swim, and class skits(: Overall I learned the most from the messages we heard. Pastor Carl and Dr.Chivallette taught me a lot about what it means to be a Christian and what faith really means. What impacted me the most was when Dr.Chivallette talked about our influence on the younger kids in our school. How we dont realize just how much they watch us and look up to us. I learned to be an example for Christ and the younger kids in our school. I also learned alot about the girls in my class through small groups. We were able to talk alot, share testimonies and prayer requests.

     As for challenges I faced this week I would have to say the swing. The first time I got on it me, Megs, and Alet got stuck at the top. Megan couldnt chop the rope (gosh Megs!). Anyway its was really nervewracking and we ended up having to go down again and have them fix it before we could actually swing, turns out it wasnt Megan's fault.... bad luck most likely lol. Another challenge was the team competition. It was really intense and we were constantly running everywhere. The most challenging part was trying to find the flags in the sand. Our team found every flag accept a blue one. We were there for a really long time, Mr.Shutz (probably spelled that wrong) finally let us search with our whole team and we found one. In the end gray team got fourth place which I think is pretty good(:

     Successes this week would include conquering any fear I had of the swing. Ive been on it before but I still get nervous every time. Another success would be growing closer with my class. Through skits and small groups I was able to get to know everyone a bit better. Lastly I was able to learn alot about God and what it means to be a Christian through listening to Pastor Carl and Dr.Chivallette's messages.

     This week I plan to work alot more on my 20 time project because I kinda took this week off from it. At the moment Im still trying to work everything out. Im pretty sure Im gonna do a powerpoint presentation I just dont know how I'm going to break it all up into slides. I also plan to get a head start on all the powerpoint presentations I have to make for all my classes and finishing up any projects I have due soon. I'm also planning to get alot of rest this week for the meet on Saturday. I didnt get enough sleep for the one we had last Saturday and I was dead. 

     As for how I utilized my PLN Im still working it out. With all the craziness this week and the retreat for three days I kinda took the week off from my 20 time project. I plan to pick up where I left off this week and work on finding some people who know alot about my topic.

  

     I lived out the biblical principle this week by having faith in God this week at the retreat. Its important that while were having fun and enjoying ourselves at the retreat that we dont forget, we are there to grow closer to God. I lived out this principle by choosing to focus on God most of all during the retreat and by learning what it really means to have faith.

Week Four

     Another week four, yup im soo creative with my titles. I thought last week was week four but apparently this week is week four so now I have two blog posts named week four...Anyway this week went pretty well. Me and my group were able to work on our wikis and are still battling it out with the other groups to prove which is the best, obviously team No Dip got the best one duhhhh;) Also this week I made alot of progress on my 20 time project. I have been able to narrow down my favorite coral reefs. It was tough since there are soo many beautiful spots all over the world but with much research I was able to choose which ones would be the focus of my project. Overall Ive learned alot this week. Today in biology we did an experiment with potatoes in different solutions. In english we learned about Hawthorne and took a quiz:P Hopefully progress reports dont look as bad as Im expecting them to be.

     As for challenges faced I would have to say figuring out which of our wikis in our groups is the best. Its hard to get in contact with the other team since were not in any classes with them so were a bit behind on that part. Another challenge was writing my blog post. Yup I wrote this whole thing out during school today and opened my iPad after practice to find it no longer existed. You have no idea how aggrivating it is to have to write this all out again... The last challenge would be my honors class, I had no idea it was gonna be this hard so its a bit of a struggle to keep up with the rest of the super smart people in the class.

     Successes this week would be my group completing our wiki. It looks really nice and clearly is the best in the twitter division. Another success would be that Ive been able to get all my homework turned in on time this week, this tends to usually be a bit of a struggle. Lastly I been able to do really well in science and math this year which is unusual since they seem to always be my toughest subjects. Im anticipating my junior year to be one to remember.

     This week I plan to have a really good time on the retreat and grow closer to God and my classmates. Im really excited for what this year is going to bring and I cant wait to go to the retreat! Its gonna be a lot of fun and Im really looking forward to introducing the freshies to our retreat traditions. I also plan to work alot more on my 20 time project this week. Im not sure whats next on the schedule but whatever it is Im excited to dig deeper into my topic. Along with that I plan to work out with the other teams on Friday how we are going to combine our wikis and stuff. Lastly Im planning to have a good race at the cross country meet this saturday:)

     As for utilizing/growing my PLN Im planning on working some more on finding people who know alot about or have experienced diving at coral reefs. I think I might have found some people within my church but Im still working out the details. Hopefully on Friday I can work out all my plans for the 20 time project and get started:)

     I lived out the verse this week by thanking God for everything he has given me. No one seems to really realize how precious our freedoms as American citizens are. How rare and valuable it is to have freedom like we do in America. I was reminded of this in history, that we need to constantly thank God, not everyone has the freedom we have. What we have is valuable.

Anyway that its i need to start packing(yikes its late) see you all at the retreat tomorrow!!

week 4

    Things are really starting to settle in around MACA. Now that were on week four I think everbody's learned their locker combos and arent wandering the halls looking for their next class anymore. Anyway last week went really well. Me, Kara and Alet worked hard on our wiki project. Henry Lemon's twitter account is lookin prettty sweeet. So yup we got that turned into the second phase spot on moodle. Also last week we got to work on our 20 time projects. I basically just researched various coral reefs since thats my topic. Im still trying to pick my faorites but I found some really cool reefs out near Fiji and some place called the coral triangle. From what I learned coral reefs arent doing to well these days, in other words due to all the toxic waste their starting to die all over the world. People dont really see how much this will effect them. In other words if the coral reefs all die the fish will die and then the fish that rely on those fish for food will die and so on until the food chain works its way up to us... coral reefs play an important role in the environment.

     Challenges I faced this week would include just distractions on getting homework done. Its been tough lately, not all the teachers are obeying the 2 night a week rule so sometimes Im overloaded. Another challenge was editing our wiki. Without Alet to help us Im not sure if me and Kara would have been able to work out all the formatting. Lastly for challenges I would have to say the cross country meet last weekend. I got a cold from running into the wind that day, not feelin too hot right now.

     Successes of this week would be working on our wiki project. Alet, Kara, and me were able to get Henry Lemon's profile set up. We also got some good screen shots and worked on editing them. We edited them in skitch and used the arrows and circles to explain the steps in our wiki. So when we finished we got our project turned in to phase 2 on time:) Another success would be my progress on the 20 time project. I got a lot of work done on it in class the other day and its really starting to get interesting. I like that we have our own time to research what we want to learn about. Lastly I had success in getting all my assignments turned in on time. Hopefully I can keep this up for awhile.

     This week I plan to continue working on my 20 time project. Basically Im gonna pick up where I left off last week and just keep researching all well known islands/areas with coral reefs and choose the top ten best spots. I also plan to continue working on the wiki project. This week we are going to collaborate with people from the other CS1 class. Our other group is the leprechauns so hopefully we can get together and combine the best parts of our wikis. Lastly this week I pan to go to a family reunion. All my family from West Virginia and other places are coming together on Saturday. Thats why Im really glad we have Friday off so I can spend the day with my cousins;)

     As for utilizing/growing my PLN Im just gonna keep researching coral reefs and following the plan/schedule I made for the project. Also me and my group buddies are gonna continue working on our wiki projects and making sure they look awesome. Lastly Ill be attempting to read more of Wuthering Heights this week for lit class, its a pretty depressing book.

     I lived out the verse this week by working well with my group. Sometimes its hard to get along with people you hang with every day but we were able to work as a team and get the project done. Also I would say I lived out the verse this week because I didnt lie or hold any grudges... so yup.

     Sorry for the late post, I had alot of other work to do.

     

yahay

     Hey guys, arent mondays the worst? I dont know about you, but i hate mondays. WORST DAY OF THE WEEK.

     Anyway last week went pretty well despite my rough start to this one. Alet, Kara, and me worked hard on on our wiki project and its all done now, I just have to figure out how to get the link to upload...?? Also the 20 time projects are going well:) I was absent on Friday so I didnt get to present but Im excited for everyone to see my presentation once its done. In Biology last week we did a lab on toilet paper, ya it was interesting. Me and my group tested the strength of four different brands of toilet paper using a bunch of pennies. Just in case your wondering, Charmin Ultra strong was the best and withstood 65 pennies😉 As for what Im learning I would have to say most of the general stuff. Ive been spending alot of time on math Hw and history Hw. And in english we've been working on our in class essays. Sadly I dont think mine was that good....still alot of room for improvement! Oh and I had my first cross country meet of the season! got 15th for varsity girls, Im pretty proud of my self;)

  

     As for the challenges I faced I would definitely have to say pure exhaustion. Had alot of trouble getting my HW done last week at home cause I kept falling asleep... Also lit class for me. Were reading this book called Wuthering Heights and I cant for the life of me focus when Im reading. Every five seconds somebodys trying to kill someone else, everything is starting to get all jumbled up... sparknotes here I come. Successes would be the toilet paper lab. We were able to get through three trials before the end of class so we have plenty of data to work with:) Also the wiki project. Im soo glad my group and I were able to finish it before tonight.

  

     This week is gonna be interesting. Most likely Alet, Kara, and me will try to finish up the second portion of the wiki project. Also I will be hard at work on my 20 time project about famous coral reefs;) cant wait to dig in and learn some more about ocean life! Hmmm... oh and another cross country meet on Saturday at clearspring. Im also planning to finish a lengthy lab report before Friday. Ive never done a 'lab report' before so Im kinda finding my way, my group is as lost as I am.

     As for PLN what does that exactly mean?? I know it has something to do with twitter so no guys, my account is still suspended. Theyve sent me a few emails about my plea to them about my suspension but I havent found the time to work through all the steps.

     I lived out the verse this week by working well with my group. Sometimes its hard to get along with people you hang with every day but we were able to work as a team and get the project done. Also umm I would say I lived out the verse this week because I didnt lie or hold and grudges... so yup.

See you all tomorrow, get ready for a long week.

second week of school

     Id have to say over all this week has had many ups and downs. Between homework and practice its taken a bit of adjusting but after a long while I usually get used to the idea of only have small amounts of free time (if any). Anyway I really like the idea for the 20 time projects!! Giving us our own choice of topic to research and learn about is so much better than being assigned a topic;) Im really excited to see how the projects will turn out(:

     First of all this week we got our groups. Im with my friends Kara and Alethea, we get along well enough;) Also this week we chose our 20 time topic ideas and worked on creating wikis. My group got twitter, hopefully the suspension thing will go away.

     As for challenges I would definitely have to say me and Kara were confused more than once. Alets real smart with computers though so she helped us;) Also the whole suspended from twitter thing was a bit annoying and definitely considered a challenge.

     As for successes, we are currently working as a group on directions of how to make a twitter account. We each successfully made our own accounts for the places and made a first blog post in google+ called "All about me".

     Personally I think the next few weeks are going to be a lot of fun(: Im really looking forward to working on the 20 time projects and working in my group. Cant wait to see everyones projects!

     This week I utilized my plan by picking my 20 time project and working with my group (NoDip haha) on the wikis, we got a lot accomplished.

     I applied the biblical principle this week by helping the other two people in my group when they got lost working on our assignments. As for areas of improvement I would have to say patience, Im not the kind of person who enjoys doing things that take alot of time and dedication so thats something I need to work on. 

     Well any way I'm really tired good night all