So I'm sitting here today, trying to blog about what I want to get out of my experience abroad for senior exhibit! easy, yes, because I know exactly what is going to happen next year. no... wrong... have no idea whats going to happen next year... not as easy as I thought this would be... Okay so, I'm reading other people's blogs on the senior exhibit website, here( http://fablogs.org/seniorexhibit/ )if you're interested. For those of you who don't know what a "Senior Exhibit" is, Senior exhibit is a process that begins in January of the eleventh grade year. (Or in my case during my 11th grade year) Students select a topic of their choice and undertake a learning activity related to that topic such as taking a formal class, completing an internship, or travel. They work with a faculty mentor, and the scope of the topic evolves as the student applies that learning to another element related to the topic, finally giving a formal presentation to a panel where the student has the opportunity to showcase the struggles and successes of the Exhibit process. (thank you FA website)
Everyone's learning activities seem to have them learning the things they want to learn, such as how to cook, lots of people are taking classes, and other people are doing community service things.
So let's see what am I certain of doing next year? Biking alot, traveling with my amazing host family, going to school, learning dutch, learning how to budget money, being a part of a new family, being apart of another culture, and representing the two cultures (American and Puerto Rican) that influence my life. So. What in the world can I do with any of those things? Well, I guess this is where I'm supposed to go back to my goals for senior exhibit. the goals I wrote down were as follows:
To not hate what I choose to do
Learn more about my work ethic
Learn to deal and cope with deadlines
Possibly become a better public speaker
Find out if my major choice right now will still be my first choice in two years at the end of this process
And most importantly, enjoy what I choose to do and benefit from this whole process.
Okay well...
I don't think I'm going to like teaching people Dutch, because Dutch is a really hard language to learn. Well, I don't really know if I'd like to teach a class at school at all, because I feel like people might not get what I want them to get out of the class. And people probably will get tired about hearing about my year abroad, so it's not like I can expect them to want to listen to me ramble in a classroom. Well, speaking of that, would I even enjoy teaching people about my experience or anything at all? Probably not... but I would like to work on public speaking. Okay well, I still have no idea what I want to do and I'm just starting to frustrate myself. I really wish I knew what other people planned to do with their learning activities, and what they want to do with their application. Maybe i'll edit this in a few days, and something will pop into my head.
EDIT: okay, what if I helped my school make foreign exchange a part of our school? I could work with the English teachers and history teachers and make up two online classes that would satisfy graduation requirements, so that way while students were abroad they could do these classes before they left so they would have the credits needed? I think that'd be a good idea
Let me jump in and reassure you that you do NOT need to know right now what your application will be. That is definitely something we can and will determine together once you have spent time abroad -- next spring via Skype or something cool like that. (and it will not need to be teaching!) So, while this blog post created some stress for you, it was very helpful for me to see where your thinking is. Release the stress now :)
ReplyDeleteWhat you should be thinking about is what part(s) of your experience you are most excited about right now. Is it the travel? Going to school in a new place? Representing the 2 cultures of your life? If you can start this experience with what you THINK will grab you most, you can watch whether it does. If it does, then roll with it and do all you can in that area. If it doesn't, drop it and find out what is grabbing you.
Ultimately, your study abroad is the SE learning activity, and that is what needs defining first. We will then talk application next -- but not for awhile! I think if we set for you the deadline of knowing by late October/early November how you want to define your learning experience, you would then have plenty of time to really dig into that specific learning for the rest of your time there. And to also assure you, you will be learning tons about lots and will continue being able to learn it all even as you focus in by November. The focus will be what you can blog about, try to do all you can in, etc.
Can you respond here or on a new post to your thoughts about this -- what do you understand? not understand? is there something you are worried about?
I am so excited for you and all of the experiences (known and unknown) that you are going to enjoy this coming year. Traveling outside of the your home country is invaluable and while we'll all miss you, you are going to have the experience of a lifetime. Have a great trip. Hopefully, I'll get to see you before you leave.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Clark Evans