4 most important Habits of mind

Curiosity

Curiosity to me means wanting to know more, taking action, and exploring. This year, especially in this class, I have used my curious habits to explore more than I have in the past. Through projects like researching for the monsters and villains paper or learning how to actually work Minecraft, my curiosity was what drove me in this class. In my first journey log, I wrote about curiosity. I still think this is my best journey log I did throughout the semester.

With a quote from Alice in Wonderland written by Lewis Carroll, I drew a stick figure coming out of a page of paper, illustrating how curious one can be. Alice in Wonderland is all about curiosity and exploring the unknown. This is a great example for me to be "curiouser and curiouser," hence why I believe its one of the most important habits of mind.

Creativity

Another habit of mind I find very important is creativity. Being creative is a huge part of who I am. I categorize myself as an artsy person and can think of new, original ideas fairly easily. Personally, I feel that if you're not creative, your life is probably boring. I am always looking for something new in my life, which takes my curiosity into play as well.

Persistence

The next habit of mind I find extremely important is persistence. With persistence is determination. I categorize myself as very determined. I know, that if I put my mind to something, I will get it done. Being persistent requires knowing the goal you want to achieve and constantly working towards that goal, despite of what may stand in front of you. There were times in this class that I had to be persistent. Examples of times I needed to use the quality were when I would wake up at 6:00am to finish a journey log that was due at 9:30am or spending hours on a Minecraft build when I had no idea what I was doing. Persistence also has a lot to do with remaining interested in things, especially if they last a long time. Sometimes it is difficult for me to remain interested in what I'm doing, but that doesn't stop me from continuing on. I really like the picture used below from Finding Nemo, (used in one of my previous journey logs) to describe persistence because it shows through determination, skill, and effort, one can get through anything. In the same journey log, I wrote about Dabo Swinney's story about persistence and determination which is one of my favorite life stories of all time.

Flexibility

One of the most important skills that I developed in college was the ability to be flexible. There is always so much to do and very little time. Between classes, social life, extracurriculars, homework, projects, and studying, while getting enough sleep and exercise to be healthy, acceptable time management seems impossible. And there are times where it is not possible to get everything you want accomplished, but flexibility becomes the ability to time manage and prioritize your tasks.

The above pictures make a collage of some of the many all-nighters I've had to pull this past semester. Sometimes, for me, being flexible requires giving things up, such as sleep, to get everything done. I try get the most sleep I possibly can but when you have a ten page lab report, two exams, and a 2000 word paper all due in one week (week when left most picture was taken), sleep isn't prioritized. Flexibility is one of the most important habits of mind to me because it is truly what got me through not only this class but through my first year of college.

The journey through the journey logs

When reading through my old journey logs, I noticed something different in each one, as explained below.

1. As I mentioned above, I think my first journey log is still the best one I have done. Not only was it one of the best drawings I have done, but I was also very into doing the journey logs. It was before I got slammed with so much work at once so it was very well done. But, it was my first time using Adobe Spark so the page itself wasn't very well done. I think I started off very optimistic about the class and what was to come of the semester.
2. In my second journey log, I did a really good drawing because I was still a bard, which I wish I never had to switch from. I was still into the journey logs at this time so it was still very optimistic and well done, just as the first.
3. My third journey log was when it started going downhill and I didn't have the time to make it as perfect as I wanted to. My journey logs started being rushed and I did them very quickly just to get them done. I did not talk much about the habits of mind at this point but I seemed to be very into what we were learning each week.
4. As a bard, I loved how my specialization allowed me to reflect on my week through drawings. My fourth journey log was the last drawing I got to do for our English class up until the last week of classes. The past four journey logs, I was optimistic and willing to do all the work for the course. In the next couple, the trend starts to go downhill.
5. Journey log number five was one of the best journey logs I have done since I changed my specialization to a ranger. I think my best journey logs were when I was passionate about the habit of mind I was speaking about. Because I was talking about persistence, I think this journey log was one of my best.
6. As mentioned in #4., my journey logs were not as optimistic and well done as the semester proceeded. Finding sources as a ranger made my journey logs more boring and less personal. This journey log was very surface level and not deep.
7. I remember writing this journey log because I had to wake up very early in the morning to submit it on time. It was somewhat of a cynical attitude because I was cranky and frustrated at how much work I had to do with so little time.
8. My eighth journey log I talked a little about Minecraft. My feelings about the game are explained in the section below. But at this point I finally got the hang of my journey logs as a ranger and they were getting deeper and more creative.
9. My last journey log consisted of creativity in formatting including themes, headings, videos, etc., as well as detail about my journey through the class and the habit of mind itself.

Throughout all my journey logs, changes seem to have been made. I was very optimistic and excited in the beginning of the year, but towards the end, I was not as thrilled about doing these homeworks. However, in contrast, I did make many improvements when working with Adobe Spark and all the other components within the journey log.

Minecraft Education

I think my feelings toward Minecraft Education summed up in three words is "I hate Minecraft." I was initially excited to have a video game in the classroom because it was not a traditional tool used and I honestly thought it would make the class easier. Little did I know I would have to spend countless hours building things I didn't care about whatsoever. Not only did it take me a very long time in the beginning of the year to get the hang of Minecraft, but I also did not have the time to do it from the start. Besides my initial reaction to the thought of the game, my feelings toward the virtual world have barely budged. Granted, I did get the hang of it which made it somewhat bearable, otherwise, I was not a fan.

Creativity

As I have said a couple times in the past, I find myself to be a very creative person. I definitely came into this semester with this quality already, but I got to use it in this class much more than others. I guess you could say my creativity did improve because I was actively using it.

Writing and Thinking

My writing skills definitely improved because I had to use them in many different contexts whether it was a time attack, a 2000 word paper, or an Adobe Spark page. I got to know my writing style better and the skill became much easier to me as the semester went on. Lastly, my thinking habits I would say stayed the same or slightly improved. This class did have me thinking creatively as opposed to most of my other classes that have me thinking analytically. Switching gears from English to Chemistry everyday can be quite challenging, which ended up helping me in the end.

This picture shows all of the assignments done by out class in seven tiny, little thumbnails. A whole semester of creativity, thinking, and writing is crammed in the above folders.

Crazy how fast time flies when you're having fun.. if you consider all this work to be fun. (lol)