In addition to my previous final blog I wanted to go into more depth on my skill evaluation. I think that my reading skills also improved greatly. I had to do a lot of reading and analyzing for this project and at first it took me a really long time. The Libra section took about a week to go through the book and pull out information and figure out how to put it together but as soon as I had done it once it became much easier. I found that the reading aspect of my project was the most difficult but also the most enjoyable. It was hard to read with a purpose but as I began to do write ups it became easier to pull out the information I needed to pull out. I think my organization skill improved tremendously with this project as I stated previously I had to map out my time and also the information I collected. I think over all this project focused on the 6 skills individually but I had to incorporate them together to ensure I produced the best work that I could.

Final Blog post

I can’t believe it is finally done! I am really glad I choose to do the project that I did, because I think I learned a lot about myself and I was genuinely interested in the topic. I think that my project focused on a lot of the skills, one skill I didn’t get to use as much as I wish I could have was my speaking skills. Although, I noticed when I spoke in front of the class about my project I was not nearly as nervous as I thought I would be. I had practiced the night before it was about 10 minutes but I knew that I would talk faster in front of people because I usually get so nervous but my speech in front of the class was even longer because once I got going I relaxed so much. I think this was due to the fact that I was so passionate about my topic. Another skill I think I have improved on was my writing. I had to do a lot of write ups and as I continued with my project I found that they got easier and easier. I have learned a lot about myself because the project was based solely on my friends and their personalities and how they relate to my personality. I thought it was really interesting how much of a connection there was with my friends at LA and my friends back home. I think my biggest strength was the way I managed my time. For the most part I stayed right on track which made it so much easier once we started getting to the end of the project. I always thought I struggled with time management and I think having to do this project on my own really helped me and I think it will be really helpful once I go to college. My advice to students in the future is to pick a topic they really enjoy because you will be spending your entire spring working on it. Also because it is a project that you have to work on outside of class you want to really enjoy what you are doing or else it will not get done.

I forgot to mention that I am preparing my presentation aspect. I am not sure which parts I want to read from my book. I was thinking of presenting the Virgo page because there are three people that fit that sign. I then want to read the last write up I plan on working on now. I think that this write up will pull together the entire project and be of some interest to the listeners. Also last night in the library I showed Devin his page and he was shocked by how accurate it was he then started flipping through the other pages and when he handed me my book back he said "I definitely believe in this stuff now". That was the reaction I was hoping to get out of this project so that made me really excited!

I have been so busy the past few days I have not had time to get to a computer to blog. I have finally finished putting together all of the pages! I found that for the pages with just one person I had to be creative with my placement because there was a lot more extra space. It took a full 2 hours last night to do the final touches but once it was done it felt so relieving. I plan on doing a last write up tonight on the whole project and then I have to put together my bibliography. I am glad I stayed on track for most of the project because I know that some people are struggling to get it finished now that we only have a week left. I am glad we went through a project like this where we had to plan out time well because it definitely helped me with time management and disicpline.

Last night I started working on the Sagittarius page, I thought it was going to look strange because there was just one person but I figued out how to arrange it on the page so it looks organized. Today in class I spent the entire period printing out the information I need for the rest of the pages in my book. As I had stated before this is the hardest part for me because I am generally not very creative and I need to figure out what to put on a page and where it should go and what colors to use. It should be the most fun part of the project but for me it is actually more stressful then the actual writing!

Today in class I spent the whole period maping out my book. I realized that my audience is definitely the people who are based in my book, they will find it the most interesting. My hope is that they can look at it when it is done and it will help them understand our friendship a little bit better. I have found that since I started this project all I do is analyse peoples personality traits and I find myself thinking about why I get along with them and what I can compare from their personalities to those of my other friends. I have a week to finish putting together my book. My plan is to finish a page each day and then if I have time which I anticipate having I will do a over all write up of the entire zodiac signs and focus on mine and what I have figured out about the horoscope in general throughout my project. This I think will allow peopel who are not involved directly in the book to find some aspect of it interesting.

I am finally almost done writing all my write-ups on the different signs. Friday I spent the night at Haileys house and it was just me and her. This was the first time ive really hung out with her alone so on Saturday I did my write-up for her and I felt that it was much more in depth than it would have been. I am realizing that I haven't incorporated a lot of what I got from the interviews so I am thinkig I will do one last write-up about my friend group as a whole. I think this will help add a little excitement in my project and it will also be enjoyable to look back at in the future.

Today I finished writing the Scorpio piece. I realized that with the help from Mr Igoe it was much easier to write and get across what I was trying to say. The writing that I am doing needs evidence or else it will be hard for the reader to read it with interest. I found this was the hardest part of the writig process because I had to get really specific which is hard to think of things that help explain a characterstic in that detail. I've noticed that my project is going to be much more enjoyable for people involved in it to read than for outsiders, but I had planned my audience to be them and myself from the very begingnig. I am really enjoying reading about my friends traits and seeing how the correlate with our relationship. This weekend I need to finish the Saggirtourus sign so then next week I can work on putting the scrap book together.

I struggled with motivating myself to write today. I think because I had so much to do for tomorrow I couldn't really focus. So instead I went through the pieces I already wrote and edited them. This took a lot longer than I expected but I think I fixed up some of my work so that it flows better. I think what I am going to do tonight is go through some of the readings for Scorpio and then I will begin writing that aspect this weekend. I need to also start working on the Saggitarous piece. I see myself figuring out where I need to be and what state of mind I need to be in to produce my best work. When I am overwhelmed with other work I get really stressed and I can't focus on something for longer than 10 minutes. A project like this I need to be able to spend a lot of time so I don't repeat myself or leave something important out so I need to a solid hour or longer of complete focus.

Today in class Mr Igoe helped me edit my work. He told me to focus on giving evidence, which is something I knew would make my writing much more interesting and believable. I had stated in my presentation that I felt I was getting manipulated into believing the book was completely accurate so in my writing I have to make sure I am giving evidence as to why I believe what I am reading. He also helped me figure out how to incorporate quotes better. He wants me making it flow into my writing, which is actually a much easier way to use quotes. I started working on my next sign which is Scorpio and these small tips were helping majorly with my writing process.

I realized that I have a real difficulty writing when I am surrounded by other people. Especially if I am writing about people's personalities because it is something I really have to think about. I found that I tried to do work in the library surrounded by other people and I would find myself being influenced by what they had to say or distracted and not able to focus. Writing about peoples personalities has been really repetitive and although I really enjoy it it is very hard to stay focused. I found that I need to do the work in a area not surrounded by other people and the best way to go about the writing process is to read the information in the book again real quick to remind myself what that sign is like and then go into a analysis comparing my friend to the personality traits of the book. It's starting to get harder also because the only signs I have left are the ones with only one person. When I had numerous people in one sign I could compare and contrast their personalities to not only the book but each other.

I finished the Cancer page this weekend. I won't be in class tomorrow because I have my Ap exam so for Tuesday I am going to do the writing for Aries. This should be quicker because there is only one person to assess. I am not sure if I should still do the two page set up because there is only one person for the Aries sign? I am going to try and figure out what I should do for the rest of them but I am going to wait until I see how much I write about them.

I finished the check list today and after doing the calender I realized how much I have to stay focused for the end of the term. I need to make sure that I stay on track because I have to do the write up for four more signs, although these signs only have one person per sign. I also decided to finish all the writing first because although it is my favorite part I think it takes longer than putting the page together and I want to make sure I don't wait until the last minute to finish the project. This weekend I am going to put together the Cancer page and maybe if it doesn't take to long I will get a head start on some of the other writings so I can get ahead of my schedule.

Today in class we started filling out the checklist. This had me think a lot about the work I have done and the work I am doing. I realized once I got to my speaking aspect that even though originally this project didn't focus on speaking as much as the other criteria, I have improved my speaking so much. I found that not only did I do the initial interviews but I found that I was talking to people about their signs constently. This conversational piece had me practicing explaining my project and getting feedback without me really noticing it. I showed the book to a lot of my friends around school so they could read through there signs and as a result they would ask me questions that surpisingly to me I could answer. This really helped me when I had to give the presentation because I am usually so nervous public speaking but I found that all the information came really easily because I had discussed it so many times.

Today in class I spent the entire period typing up about the Cancer, which is my brother and Ashley. This was the most interesting part of the project so far for me because both of them described themselves in ways much different than the book. I think its common for a Cancer to be much more optimisitc about themselves than they may show to other people. I am realizing how hard it is to write a review up on these people that I've know so well and make them sound bad in my description because they are all my closest and greatest friends. I think that the manipulation I was speaking of is coming more into play now that I am getting further into my project. Now that I am aware of it though I am being very cautious in what I use to describe my friends because I want to make sure I am being precise and accurate and not just shaping their personalities to sound like the book.