Upon hearing the word, "Project" one would probably think that it was graded or for school. But it isn't. What I have been working on is a documentary project; it is one which I have chosen to do at my own will. It started off over this last summer when I began noticing how differently disabled children as well as adults were treated in comparison to so called "normal" people. At least in America we have systems to create some sort of equality between the two supposed groups, but while teaching in a school within the coast of Mombasa, I realized how discriminated students with disabilities are as compared to others.
The purpose of my blog today isn't about the documentary I am working on. Rather it is on the thought process behind the project. I will be focusing today on Meta-cognition or in other words, "Thinking about my thinking."
Back in eighth grade, I felt as if I had one of the most alert, and critical thinking mind than I have had at any other stage of my life, in many ways more so than now. In contrast, when I was working on this project (and many other essays and presentations) I felt as if I had a ton of brain fog making it difficult for the wheels of my mind to know where they were headed. For example, I first knew that I wanted to make a documentary after my recent trip to Kenya, but I didn't know on what I wanted to make a documentary on. I continuously encountered waves of brain fog and dead ends. I didn't know what I would want to make a documentary on, and when I had an idea, I had a hazy sense of it and was so confused and muddled that I decided to drop it. I feel as if this problem may be due to the fact that in middle school we did not get much homework and followed a block schedule, allowing me to dedicate large amounts of time to each topic I was doing, as well as allowed me to get outside more and gain "Real-Life experiences" so that I could apply them to my project. On top of that I would get nine hours of sleep on average in middle school allowing my brain to be at the top of its game and ready to learn
The problem I feel that I am approaching today, along with several other students, is the fact that we care "Too much" about school. We want to finish all of our homework and projects, as well as study for tests at the best of our ability, and now without the block schedule we must stay up late to thoroughly understand concepts in class. We must do that because even in Academy we only have around an hour and a half of each class. Back at my old school we would have two and a half hour classes in which the teacher would make sure everyone understood everything so that we could go home with only small pieces of homework that reinforced what we learn in class. I feel like in today's school system, students cannot fully understand the content that they are being given in class or that they are just given so much homework overload every night (I'm not much of a procrastinator and I only get around 4-5 hours of sleep per night which is not sufficient for a brain to be working properly, no matter how much coffee I drink) that they develop brain fog and cannot fully dedicate their attention to their homework or studies. I feel that people need to start understanding that peoples mental health becomes messed up due to constant stress from school and not being able to get out side of the house EVER because of homework. That is why schools in Japan, China, Singapore, India, or even a local school like New Trier have suicide rates that just keep on going up. Though we want our education systems to be "competing and exceeding" those of the world wide system, we have to understand if our students are going to have a proper teen hood (Most of the people I know today don't even have time to go out with friends to the overload) and live healthy lives in which they enjoy and actually learn (rather than memorize things for a year to quickly forget about them).
Anyways, my process of thought for this documentary were as follows:
step 1: Brainstorm
step 2: Choose an appealing idea
step 3: Find ways to present the idea
step 4: Constantly revise and find new ideas
step 5: Final touches and finish
Other than that another problem that I saw while working on this documentary was the fact that whenever I felt as if I was running into a wall, my mind would just stop working and start thinking about something else. One of my biggest dilemmas was trying to lace in poetry to the video clips, pictures, and facts to create a piece of compelling and moving art. I kept on trying and trying, but as soon as I hit a dead end I gave up and decided to just lace the video clips with facts and get over with it. Maybe as I explained above, I might have had more time to finish it and get past that road block and persevere for a wondrous result.
Yet I feel as if I have nicer qualities of my thinking that I would like to emphasize on. I loved the fact that when I am thinking of ways to express ideas, they go off like rapid fire in my head. Though some may find that to be overwhelming, I find it to be nice to have such a variety of sources to choose from. This leads to the main feature of my mind that I love, my ability to make instant connections between ideas. While working on my documentary I was surprised to see how nicely this played out. I would have an idea, and my mind would want to extend to different realms of thought, allowing me to understand my project better and change it so it could be a powerful form of art.
Also my mind gets interested very quickly, and once that occurs, I have a spark of interest which inspires me to do more. But my only problem with this is that it isn't sustained. I have instant flashes of interest and inspiration that cannot be prolonged.
All in all, I wish I could have more time to work on thinks such as going beyond the dead ends and capabilities and do my utmost best work through that. I also wish I had more sleep so that I wouldn't have so much brain fog impairing my analyzing and critical thinking skills. But I will have to make do with what I have now and persevere with my writing and thinking to knock down the so called "fort" that surrounds my mind to reach the paradise beyond it.
The purpose of my blog today isn't about the documentary I am working on. Rather it is on the thought process behind the project. I will be focusing today on Meta-cognition or in other words, "Thinking about my thinking."
Back in eighth grade, I felt as if I had one of the most alert, and critical thinking mind than I have had at any other stage of my life, in many ways more so than now. In contrast, when I was working on this project (and many other essays and presentations) I felt as if I had a ton of brain fog making it difficult for the wheels of my mind to know where they were headed. For example, I first knew that I wanted to make a documentary after my recent trip to Kenya, but I didn't know on what I wanted to make a documentary on. I continuously encountered waves of brain fog and dead ends. I didn't know what I would want to make a documentary on, and when I had an idea, I had a hazy sense of it and was so confused and muddled that I decided to drop it. I feel as if this problem may be due to the fact that in middle school we did not get much homework and followed a block schedule, allowing me to dedicate large amounts of time to each topic I was doing, as well as allowed me to get outside more and gain "Real-Life experiences" so that I could apply them to my project. On top of that I would get nine hours of sleep on average in middle school allowing my brain to be at the top of its game and ready to learn
The problem I feel that I am approaching today, along with several other students, is the fact that we care "Too much" about school. We want to finish all of our homework and projects, as well as study for tests at the best of our ability, and now without the block schedule we must stay up late to thoroughly understand concepts in class. We must do that because even in Academy we only have around an hour and a half of each class. Back at my old school we would have two and a half hour classes in which the teacher would make sure everyone understood everything so that we could go home with only small pieces of homework that reinforced what we learn in class. I feel like in today's school system, students cannot fully understand the content that they are being given in class or that they are just given so much homework overload every night (I'm not much of a procrastinator and I only get around 4-5 hours of sleep per night which is not sufficient for a brain to be working properly, no matter how much coffee I drink) that they develop brain fog and cannot fully dedicate their attention to their homework or studies. I feel that people need to start understanding that peoples mental health becomes messed up due to constant stress from school and not being able to get out side of the house EVER because of homework. That is why schools in Japan, China, Singapore, India, or even a local school like New Trier have suicide rates that just keep on going up. Though we want our education systems to be "competing and exceeding" those of the world wide system, we have to understand if our students are going to have a proper teen hood (Most of the people I know today don't even have time to go out with friends to the overload) and live healthy lives in which they enjoy and actually learn (rather than memorize things for a year to quickly forget about them).
Anyways, my process of thought for this documentary were as follows:
step 1: Brainstorm
step 2: Choose an appealing idea
step 3: Find ways to present the idea
step 4: Constantly revise and find new ideas
step 5: Final touches and finish
Other than that another problem that I saw while working on this documentary was the fact that whenever I felt as if I was running into a wall, my mind would just stop working and start thinking about something else. One of my biggest dilemmas was trying to lace in poetry to the video clips, pictures, and facts to create a piece of compelling and moving art. I kept on trying and trying, but as soon as I hit a dead end I gave up and decided to just lace the video clips with facts and get over with it. Maybe as I explained above, I might have had more time to finish it and get past that road block and persevere for a wondrous result.
Yet I feel as if I have nicer qualities of my thinking that I would like to emphasize on. I loved the fact that when I am thinking of ways to express ideas, they go off like rapid fire in my head. Though some may find that to be overwhelming, I find it to be nice to have such a variety of sources to choose from. This leads to the main feature of my mind that I love, my ability to make instant connections between ideas. While working on my documentary I was surprised to see how nicely this played out. I would have an idea, and my mind would want to extend to different realms of thought, allowing me to understand my project better and change it so it could be a powerful form of art.
Also my mind gets interested very quickly, and once that occurs, I have a spark of interest which inspires me to do more. But my only problem with this is that it isn't sustained. I have instant flashes of interest and inspiration that cannot be prolonged.
All in all, I wish I could have more time to work on thinks such as going beyond the dead ends and capabilities and do my utmost best work through that. I also wish I had more sleep so that I wouldn't have so much brain fog impairing my analyzing and critical thinking skills. But I will have to make do with what I have now and persevere with my writing and thinking to knock down the so called "fort" that surrounds my mind to reach the paradise beyond it.
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