16V Freedom

Freedom: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

Freedom is what a lot of teenagers value.  Although I was nervous coming into college and being on my own, I was excited to finally be free.  I would say my parents are pretty strict.  In high school something I really hated was having a curfew.  Every time I was out with my friends I would get a text from my parents saying "be home by 12:30."  I know my parents did this because they care about me and are worried when I'm out late at night, but it did get kind of annoying.  This semester made me realize how much freedom you really get.  I got to come back to my dorm as late as I wanted without having my parents yelling at me for coming home past my curfew.  Although having all this freedom in college is very nice, sometimes people take too much advantage of having all this freedom.

New Vocabulary

Monopoly: the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service.
In economics I learned about how monopolies can effect trade.

Hegemony: The domination of culture by one particular cultural group, resulting in the empowerment of certain beliefs, values, and practices over others.
In media I learned about how people from different cultures live their lives.

16A, B, & I The First Semester

My first semester at Southern Connecticut State University is officially over!  It's crazy how fast the semester went,  I feel like move in day was just a couple weeks ago.  Throughout this semester I have learned a lot about myself.  I have also faced different challenges throughout my time here at SCSU.  After this semester I am very aware of how I should be managing my time each day in college.  I was proud of most of my grades and everything I accomplished this semester.

Coming into college I was very nervous about leaving my family and friends at home.  I didn't like knowing I was going to be on my own.  Thinking about not having my parents around whenever I needed them also scared me.  Another thing I was scared about was having to make new friends.  It was so weird thinking that I wasn't going to be around all the people that have been in my life for so long.  This semester made me learn that being on my own isn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  College made me learn how to be independent and responsible.  I had to learn how to be an adult and do things on my own.  This semester made me learn that meeting new people is a fun experience.  I had to become a lot more out going to make new friends.  A few weeks into the semester I made a great group of girls and I am so grateful that I am friends with all of them.

I am an athlete at Southern, so one of my biggest challenges during this semester was balancing out school work and lacrosse.  I did play sports all throughout high school but I feel as if playing a sport in college is a lot more of a commitment.  One of the reasons why balancing out school work and lacrosse in college is such a challenge is because I did not get as much work in high school as I do in college.  Since this semester was just fall ball and not my actual season, next semester is going to be an even bigger challenge playing lacrosse and balancing my work.  Another challenge I have faced this semester is being sick and not have my mom and dad around to take care of me.  This is probably one of the worst things in college but I just had to suck it up.  Luckily when I was sick I just went to the health center to get medicine and felt better a couple days after taking the medicine.

 This semester taught me how I should be managing my time in college.  I learned that I can't wait until the last minute to do any papers or projects.  Although I learned that the hard way, after this semester I hope that I never save anything until the last second again.  In the beginning of this semester I did a lot of relaxing and not enough studying or reading.  After doing a time study work sheet in inquiry I realized that I did a little too much of relaxing.  This assignment made me change the way I spend each day.  I told myself that I can't watch tv and relax until after I finish my work each day.  By the end of the semester I always got all of my work done because I managed my time wisely.

Overall, I am very proud of my grades from this semester.  I do not know exactly what my final grades are but I have an idea of what most of them are.  I have learned a lot this semester and most of my classes were pretty easy, which means my classes next semester are probably going to be a little bit more challenging.  I really enjoyed my time here at SCSU and I am looking forward to coming back to school for the spring semester!

Final Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZbVlx8UjWo&feature=youtu.be

15V Autonomy

Autonomy: the state or condition of having independence or freedom, or of being autonomous.

When I was applying to colleges in high school I was scared thinking about being on my own.  I always used to go to my mom for everything and anything.  My mom use to always tells me I was independent when it came to school work and I agreed with her on that.  I was always on top of my stuff in school and made sure I always did my work in advance.  As it got closer and closer to move in day I was getting nervous thinking about what I was going to do without my parents.  The first couple of weeks were very weird being all on my own.  Now that I made it through the first semester, I really learned what it is like to be autonomous.  Being independent prepares you for what you might be doing in the future.

New Vocabulary:

Rapport: a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other's feelings or ideas and communicate well. 
In media I am learning that it is important to establish rapport with your audience when making a persuasive speech.

Fixed cost: costs that do not vary with the quantity of output produced.
Variable cost: costs that vary with the quantity of output produced.
I am learning about fixed and variable costs in economics.

15I Basketball Game

Last night I attended the men's basketball game with my friends.  The game started at 7:30 and they play Saint Rose.  It was very exciting to support my schools basketball team.  The game was very intense, the score at half time was 26-26.  In the second half it went back and fourth but SCSU pulled through and got the win.  They won 76-65, it was a very fun game to be at.  I played basketball in high school and I really miss playing so I like to watch the women's and men's SCSU basketball games.  I plan to attend more basketball games in the future and support my school!

15B Preparing For Finals

I know I probably say this all the time, but I seriously can't believe how fast this semester went.  Thinking about finals makes me really nervous and stressed out.  Luckily I only have two finals and one of them I am already pretty confident about.  My first finally is for Math 100, which I should do pretty well on.  Then my last one is for Micro Economics and I am very nervous for this one.

Since I already feel pretty confident with my math final, I am not going to spend much time studying for it.  My teacher sent us a practice final exam so I will probably do the practice exam so I know that I am fully prepared to take the final.  I already started preparing myself for my micro economics finals.  I started making a little review sheet of everything we learned.  I like to study with flashcards so I might make some cards for some of the key terms I will have to know for the final.  After studying all the material I am going to take a the practice final exam that my teacher sent us so I am familiar with the questions that will be on the final.

I need to make sure I am studying in an quiet area so I can concentrate.  I usually study in my room but sometimes I get distracted, so if this happens I will probably go to the library to get most of my studying done. I just keep telling myself that after these finals the semester is over and I get to go home and relax.  
If I really prepare myself for these finals I should do well on them!

15A Video Project Feedback

In these last few classes of inquiry we have been looking at everyones video rough drafts.  After we watched each and everyones video, everyone in the class gave some feedback for each person's video.  The feedback included the videos strengths and weakness, what the person can do to make their video more creative, and how to incorporate college level thinking into the video.

Personally, I love getting feedback from other people.  Im not the best at giving people feedback, but if I did have any ideas of how someone can make their video better I would suggest it.  My rough draft didn't include a skit so I asked my peers if they had any ideas of what I could do as a skit.  They gave me a couple ideas of what I could do to make my video more creative.  My video is on underage drinking so I am going to try to add a skit from a mock on drunk driving from youtube.  I think so far my video is coming out pretty good.  So after receiving some feedback from my classmates, I just have to add some things to my video in order to receive a good grade.

I also got some good ideas of what to add to my video just by watching everyone's videos in class.  Sometimes you come up with creative ideas just by watching someone else's video.  I think watching everyones videos in class was a very good idea because if your watching your own video you might not notice some errors that other people may notice.  My classmates were aware of all the typos I made, which I didn't even notice after watching my video several times.  It is always good to have an extra set of eyes to look over something to catch your mistakes!

After watching the drafts of the videos in class I came up with some ideas that I can apply to my video. I am very happy that we got the opportunity to have everyone in class watch each others videos and give back feedback.  I just have a few things to do to my video to make it more creative and then my video should be good to go!