We finally made it! No more formal school ever and no more classes until college. Though it is an exciting time, it is also a little scary. All the responsibility of being productive now falls onto my shoulders. Mrs. Haag is still here to guide us but much of the burden of meeting deadlines and showing up on time to meetings is on us.
As we go off on our own, there are numerous pitfalls we can fall into that must be avoided during the third trimester as well as life after high school. I feel like the number one thing that will happen is that I will feel like I have so much time to do stuff that I keep putting it off and never get anything done. It's an easy trap to fall into and it will be detrimental to the progress and quality of my research project. Sometimes too much time is the enemy of productivity. Not that there isn't time for chilling and relaxing, but after research is done is the best time for that.
In order to ensure that I do not fall into a rut of laziness, I am going to try and fill my days with productive work by making a schedule. With a set weekly schedule, which will include breaks and time to relax, I feel like I can continue to be productive throughout the third trimester. The schedule will be flexible and change week to week depending on what's going on, but I feel like a schedule for myself will be a good way to combat incessant laziness and "Netflixing." I've also been setting reminders in my phones for important deadlines and meeting, so I do not forget to show up or hand something in.
This week I finally confirmed my research times and reserved a room at BASIS for my research. My research will be implemented on February 8th, 10th, 15th, and 16th at BASIS Scottsdale. Now we need to finalize and send out the email to the parents in the coming days. Once I collect my raw data, I will need to implement a more strict schedule for myself to analyze the data and write the paper. Until then, I can't really do anything without the data and I already have the times set up to perform the experiment. I feel like I'm making good progress towards finishing my data collection, even though I haven;t actually begun the data collection. My experiment involves a lot of logistical planning, so getting that done was a step in the right direction. (433)
Hi Max!
ReplyDeleteWoah, I didn’t even realize that the next class that we would attend would be in college…that’s really crazy to think about. Anyway, I commend you in being determined to make a weekly schedule. I would also suggest including not only tasks that you want to get done for the week, but tasks that you want to be do each day. Setting a daily schedule will be the most effective in not procrastinating, in my eyes. I would also send out that email to parents very, very soon, since February 8th is the day after tomorrow. I would also suggest having an idea of how you are going to analyze your data after your collection, since you don’t want to suddenly be faced with the deadline for the Results section and not know how you’re going to handle your raw data. I would focus now on receiving the most number of participants possible for your experiment, just so that you can account for outliers, etc. Other than that, kudos to you on figuring out to logistics of your study!
Also, why in the world is there a gif of Drake playing tennis??? I get the whole Drake theme of this blog post, but at least make sure that your gifs are relevant. Ream a' Paper out.
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Hey Max!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rema, it would definitely make your life easier if you made a daily schedule. Your data collection days are coming up pretty fast, so you're going to want to make sure that you set aside enough time for a thorough analysis of the results of each day. Reading through everything at once may become a little overwhelming. I definitely sympathize with your concerns about procrastinating, but I know that you've got this! I'm also glad that you have a pretty solid plan, because that'll ensure that everything goes smoothly on the days you're at BASIS. Great job, and I can't wait to see what you discover!
Hi Max,
ReplyDeleteI think you may need to make a daily schedule like Kimy and Rema stated to make sure you do not put everything off until the end of the week. Additionally, I agree with Rema that you need to send out the emails ASAP to ensure parents participation. On that note, do you have a plan in the rare occurrence that not enough individuals participate and do you have a goal for how many participants you need? Also, you may also want to have a trail run with your parents or some of your friends to make sure your procedure runs smoothly when the times comes for the real deal. Good Luck :)
Max -- I know you've already begun, but it's time that we need you to hustle. You need to get participants in whatever ways you can -- reach out to your parents' friends, your grandparents' friends, whomever will listen to you! I know that we're using the school population, but we CANNOT rely entirely on one means of securing participants. Therefore, it's time to get creative and make this happen.
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