Step 1-My Goals/Instructions:

Today’s Challenge: Using only newspaper, 24 inches of tape, and one scissors, you and your partner need to create one shoe that fits either you or your partner’s foot. The shoe must be able to come on and off without falling apart.

Teamwork Rubric Focus (Communication)

My goal for communication today within my team is:

My goal is to not interupt someone while they are talking even if I think I have a good idea because then they might think that Im not listening to them.

Step 2-Planning:

My Individual Plan:

My plan is to make a boot so what me and my partner can do is first make the base and we can do that by out lining in a way a little bit of the newspaper and try to shape that into a boot base. Then we will make make the top part of the boot by making a big circle out of news paper by circling up the paper and then taping that together and then taping the base to the top part of the shoe. If it isnt sturdy enough,we can always add more layers by adding more newspaper if needed.

Why I think my plan will be successful:

I think my plan will be succesful because it will be super sturdy because we can always add more layers of paper and its something that you can really build of off.

My Partner and I’s Plan:

The shoe we want to make is an ankle boot heel.Our plan is to first take one our feet and then put a piece of newspaper under it and then start building layers off of that up to our heel. After that, we will attemp to make the heel by wrapping up pieces of newspaper together and taping it to the bottom of our sho3. It will be a little heel so we will use little pieces of newspaper.

We chose this plan because:

It combines both of our ideas and we can always adjust the plan easily if something goes wrong.

Possible challenges that may come up during construction:

The heel may break because of the pressure of our foot and we might not have enough newspaper/tape but I think we will as long as we are both aware of what we are using and communicating about it with each other.

Each partner will be responsible for:

My partner will be responsible for having her foot used to make the shoe and guiding me in what Im doing while making the shoe on her and I will be responsible for making the shoe.

Step 3-After the Build Pictures/Reflection:

Here Is A Picture of Our Final Product:

Our design worked well because:

It fit very well on my partners foot and it looked pretty much like a shoe, or at least as close as you can get to one while using newspaper! Also it was easy for my partner to take on and off the shoe without it breaking. Lastly, we had tons of leftover newpaper in the end.

This activity was challenging because:

It was hard to make the heel at the bottom look like a heel without making it to high that my partner would be tripping.  It was also hard with the amount of tape that we had(too little). We maybe didnt use it in the most effective way though.

This activity was comfortable because:

It was comfortable because the challenge didnt take that long to do(actually putting the shoe together). Also our shoe design was pretty easy to put together minus the heel.

I met my teamwork communication goal by:

I let my groupmate speak before me and I waited my turn to say something and if I thought I was gonna forget what I was going to say, I wrote it down.

A strength of my partnership was:

We communicated pretty well with each other and comprmised really well.

An area of growth for my partnership is:

When we were presenting our design to the class, we wernt very clear on who was saying what so my partner ended up saying everything but it wasnt her fault because again, we wernt being clear.

For our next challenge, my new teamwork communication goal for myself is:

As Ive said before in other reflections, we should both be on the same page and be clear on who is saying what.

How have you changed as a group member this year in ETC?

I feel that I have become a little more layed back about things(but not too much). Also Im doing a better job at letting other people have a long time to speak since Im not talking as much so Im getting more to the point while speaking.

How has working in ETC made you a better student in other classes? 

It has made me a better student because Im better at communicating with my peers and better at explaining things faster and more to the point. Also it has made me work with teams better since in ETC we work with teams a lot.

Thinking about my blog posts, I have improved by:

I have explained things more in depth and have said my because’s. I have also been more aware of my spelling and grammer since Im not that great at either of those things and Im slowly improving.

In the future, I plan to improve my blog posts by:

I want to make my blog posts a little more to the point and maybe not repeating what I have already said because its very time consuming to do that and not really needed. This way these blog posts can be a quick exciting thing to read!

Cup Holder Challenge

Beforehand:

Today’s Challenge: Using only provided materials ( 6 straws, 1 piece of paper, a piece of tinfoil, 12 inches of masking tape, 2 paperclips, 2 pieces of string, 1 envelope, and 2 pipe cleaners)  create a structure that holds two cups as high as possible and as far apart as possible.

Teamwork Rubric Focus: Participation In Groups

My goal for participation today while working in my group is:

I will try to speak up a little bit more but at the same time,not speak up to much. I want to find a good balance between speaking up and stepping back and letting other people have a chance.

Step 1:Planning

Here Is A Picture Of My Individual Plan:

Why I think my plan will be successful:

I think my plan will be succesful because the beams will be a very good source of support for the rest of the structure and the tinfoil wont tear easily(hopefully).

My Groups Plan:

We will do the idea of cutting up the 1 piece of paper into 4 pieces and then roll them up to make support beams. After that we will put straws in the tinfoil to make it more supportive and then we will close that up and tape the the support beams to the tinfoil . Lastly we will cut an envelope in half and tape that to the tinfoil for just extra support and to make it look cool.

We chose this plan because:

The beams will be a great source of support for the tinfoil and the tinfoil will even hold up better since there are straws in it. Also we compromised all of our ideas this way because someone else in my group bassicly had the same idea as me and another had the idea of putting the straws with the tinfoil to make it more sturdy which was a great idea.

Possible challenges that may come up during construction:

Our idea might not be sturdy enough or we might get into a fight about something.

Each group member will be responsible for:

One person will be in charge of documenting/taking pictures,another will be in charge of assembling everything together,and I will cut up the piceces of paper into 4 strips and then tape it.

Step 2:Pictures and Reflection

Here is a picture of our groups final product:

Our design worked well because:

It was pretty tall and it looked really cool(before it fell down at least).Also the straws in the tinfoil worked really well because it stayed put together and was super sturdy!

This activity was challenging because:

By accident I cut the paper only in 2 parts not four so then the structure didnt hold up as well that way. Also it was hard dividing up the tape portion for everything.

This activity was comfortable because:

I understood the directions very well and since the challenge itself was very comfortable for me,I could really focus on what I was actually building rather than the guidlines. Also I liked having group roles since that way we could all take responsibility for our own actions and what we were doing so if something didnt get done,it would be on the person who had that job! Luckily we all did our jobs and behaved well.

I met my participation goal by:

When someone was talking and already said an idea of mine I didnt repeat them because that tends to be the reason why I talk a lot and sometimes that can waste time. But,I spoke up and shared my ideas as well. I felt that I did do a good job of balancing those those 2 things out.

A strength of my team was:

I think we all worked well together because we never really fought and we were kind and respected each other! Also we all had some great ideas and were good at combining all of our ideas together.

An area of growth for my team is:

I think we could have communicated a little bit better because when we first started to build, we were all a bit confused but then we talked and worked things out with each other and then everything was fine.

For our next challenge, my new participation goal for myself is:

To have everybody be on the same page and know what we are talking about and if we have a question to ask. I feel that this was the reason why we got slowed down at first because people werent asking questions when they were confused(including me).

Today’s Challenge: Using only provided materials (two pieces of construction paper, 1 pair of scissors, 1 ruler and one 12-inch strip of masking tape) create the longest paper chain possible.

My goal for teamwork today is:

To not take over the group and make sure everyone has a chance to speak and feels involved/included.

My Individual Plan:

My plan is to cut up the pieces of paper into very thin strips so then you have maybe 8 strips for one paper and thats already about inches just from one paper. Then our group would do the same with the rest of the pieces of paper. Lastly we would tape together all the pieces of paper into mini circles and connect them.

Why I think my plan will be successful:

I think my plan will be succesful because it will be super long because of how the strips are cut and how many strips there will be and each strip of paper needs less than one inch of tape.

My Groups Plan: 

Our plan is to cut the paper into very thin strips and then turn it into a circle and tape it and connect it to the other paper strips that are circular as well.

We chose this plan because:

Its very simple and easy because the paper chain will be super long because we are cutting the paper very thin and that way there can be a lot of strips of paper and the more strips the longer it will be and it doesnt take that much work to do that.

Possible challenges that may come up during construction:

The paper might tear up because its super thin and we might need more tape than we think we do.

Each group member will be responsible for: One person is in charge of taking pictures,another is in charge of cutting strips of paper, and Im in charge of connecting and taping those strips of paper together.

After the Build:

Here Are Some Pictures of Our Final Product:

(I couldnt upload the final product photos)

Our design worked well because:

We actually switched up our design about half way through so instead of our original design,we just made two paper chains connected and then just connected strips of paper with tape flat on the ground. This wasnt cheating because as one of our teachers said, we just interpreted the challenge that way.

This activity was challenging because:

Some groups were not being kind to our group and said that we were “cheating” just because we only had 2 chains but technically that isnt cheating. Also since our chain was super long, it took up a lot of room with was hard for other groups because we took up their space and then it became challening to us as well.

This activity was comfortable because:

I understand all the instructions and I felt very confident in what I was doing because I love activities where there really is no wrong or right answer,you can just really do anything which is awesome!

I met my teamwork goal by:

Communicating with my group really well to make I wasnt the only one talking and other people got to talk because we went in a circle and shared our ideas one at a time. Also,everyone felt involved because everyone had something to do because as I mentioned earlier we assigned roles to everyone in our group. Also, for example the picture person wasnt always taking pictures so they also handed me tape and help tape together the strips of paper.

A strength of my team was:

I think we worked really well, together and the group roles helped a lot with that.

An area of growth for my team is:

I think we could maybe improve just a little bit on having everyone feel like their ideas were shared but overall I feel that we did pretty well.

For our next challenge, my new teamwork goal for myself is:

Maybe ask more questions if I get confused and just making sure that we are all focused and on the same note.

Here Is A Photo Of My Puzzle Piece:

In August, I thought the following about myself as a learner:

I thought I liked to study in a cozy space,needed to take notes,liked working by myself,needed a safe envirement to ask questions in,visual and listening learner,need a planner to space out my time, could listen to quiet music while studying, and lastly I needed a break before I start to study.

Today, I would add the following to my puzzle piece: 

I need to ask a lot of questions to fully understand something because otherwise I will be confused and I like to always clarify things just make sure that I do everything correctly. I also talk to myslef a lot while studying/learning because it helps me to remeber information.

Today, I would tweak or modify my puzzle piece by:

I would take off the part about taking notes because to me that just stresses me out and makes me forget what Im trying to do. I would also like to change that I need a cozy spot to study in because I realized that if I had a cozy place to study in, I would just want to fall asleep! Lastly I would like to change that I need to listen to music when learning because that kind of distracts me because I need to really focus on what Im doing unless its just quiet noises in the backround or quiet music with no words.

I think I’ve already grown this year as a learner by….

Perservaring and working with people that I dont always want to work with and having a growth mindset when I do work with people that I dont want to be with.

Thinking about working in teams in ETC, my classmates can best support my learning needs by….

Being quiet when people are working so that everyone can focus and if I have any questions they can be kind and respond nicely and hopefully give me an answer.