What did we learn about in this project? In this project, I learned that many people are not allowed to speak about war especially if they are veterans. I also learned that war veterans were not showed much respect at all and even had people calling them “baby killers” when they came back. I had learned that people get drafted and not many of those who have been drafted have control over what they do during war, people can call them a baby killer but that doesn’t mean it was their fault. I learned to respect all soldiers no matter what because I would’ve never known if they got drafted or not and I haven’t seen the horrors the Vietnam veterans did. I got to learn about Tim O’Brian’s book, “The Things They Carried” and in my opinion was one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking stories I have ever read. I had learned that a veterans memory can also be distorted from PTSD as well.
How did we exhibit our learning? Our group (America Divided), we decided that we were going to use posters and actors to have people do protests, we wanted to make it look more alive too so that the people walking through could get at least somewhat of an experience of what it was like with protesters back then. We also wanted to give people a stronger emotion than that though so we decided to have some people who were part of our group that wanted the part in our room as a band, to sing songs to bring people back to visualize what it was like back then. We also posted a video of protesters and soldiers from back in the day to make people see all that conflict that was going on and too see how much people were actually struggling with others getting drafted like family members, and how others thought that drafting was a good idea.
How did you strengthen (or not strengthen) your skills during this project? How did you stretch yourself? I used a lot of avocation, I feel that I have personally advocated about the things I need to do for our group work like how I’m supposed to setup poster boards for our exhibition room or how I can help with anything the group needed done. Although, I do feel that people weren’t giving me enough work causing me to not look like I was working. Even though that’s not an excuse I did find it hard to work because of this and I really did need to work on my distractions because I wasn’t only distracted myself I was distracting others. I feel that I could have tried a little harder to keep myself on task and not bother others while they were working.
How did this project change your thinking? What enduring understandings will you take away, and why? I feel that I will most definitely take away my knowledge on how to respect veterans, as I do not want to offend someone if I ask a question and I don’t want to be too intrusive because it’s rude, but I will also take away my understanding that not all Vietnam war vets can talk about this stuff, and I cannot start calling them names because I don’t know what they have been through weather or not they chose to go to war or not it’s still disrespectful. I will also take away that a lot of people died in the Vietnam war and I should show my respects for those who did and honor them.
My 32Q
32Q Kamaryn L. Bielenda December 18th 2017 Effort I would like to celebrate my new skills in effort, ambition, and advocation this semester. For evidence I will be showing my starter journal and my printed off assignments that I have turned In. As some of you may know that I have put a lot of effort into not only turning in assignments but getting them completed as well. I have worked so hard into pushing myself to getting my work done, especially in Spanish as I failed Spanish last year. I have put loads of effort into my work because I wanted to make myself less stressed out and more happy and relaxed with my school life so that I didn’t have to feel the weight of life start to push me under with stress and even depression.
Ambition I have pushed myself towards reaching my goals with ambition, determination, and self motivation to get my grades and my emotional status stable. I will be showing my Spanish folder for evidence. This has caused me to become happier with my day to day life at school and even at home. I have thought many times about my future and with my ambition this semester I have been pushing myself to do better and get where I want in life to achieve my goals and dreams of getting to college and making it through life. Although, my grades might not be perfect right now I’m still very proud of the work I put in the making these dreams come true. My ambition making me seek out what I need to do in order to grasp my dreams and make them true.
Advocation I also would also like to celebrate my advocating and for this I will be sharing a story that I personally have with Summer and the time when I asked about the cow eye discretion. I had told her that it was a sensitive topic and how cutting open a cow eye really gets to me and shedding make me do the dissection. I am very proud that I am learning that when I need help with something or when I feel uncomfortable or upset about something I can feel completely free and comfortable to just ask a teacher instead of keeping quiet. This has helped me this year by keeping me from getting far to stressed out like I normally would have when if I don’t advocate. Last year I never advocated and it quickly turned into chaos with both my grades, my emotional status, my anxiety, my home life and started to take a toll on everything else going on in my life and quickly started to add to the pressure I was feeling at that moment.
Goals: I may have been doing well with advocating, but that doesn’t mean that I still don’t need any more improvement. I still need to start asking more questions in class and getting more clarification on things. This is a huge goal I have set up for myself for this next semester. I also need to work on time management, I turn in a lot of my work late so I really need to work on this to keep my grade up and this is another one of my goals I’m setting up for myself to reach as I try harder and harder in school.
Last year, I was depressed and didn’t think life was worth it and that there's no point in doing anything if it’s all just gonna end anyways and life is hard and there's no point in living if all we get is a really hard life. I didn’t remember myself and I couldn't find myself again. I lost myself. By using these skills and pushing myself to use them, I have found myself once again and found my determination and ambition to live life to the fullest without hesitation, to live like this is my last chance to experience life. I am starting to remember parts of my life that I wouldn't have remembered before and now I am working towards finding more of my happiness and now I have found the point in life and have for the most part, escaped my depression. I am so happy to say that you guys have even helped me on this journey to find myself.