Wedding Dance

October 26, 2014

This is the first of many wedding dance posts. During this activity, I and a couple others worked together to choreograph a dance for a dholki, which is a dance/ceremony in honor of the new married couple in Pakistani culture. We worked together to brainstorm and choreograph the dance, and then practiced and edited it to make it smooth and well performed. We interacted by bouncing ideas off of each other and learning from each other. The CAS element involved here is Creativity. The learning objectives advanced here were: Increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth, because I learned of my abilities and how I can change as a dancer from others, Undertaken new challenges because I have never done anything like this before, Planned and initiated activities because we started this and organized our ideas on our own, and came up with a final product. We Worked collaboratively with others because this dance was a team effort and wouldn't have been the same without our collaboration. I Develop new skills because I learned how to choreograph and dance. Through this activity I hoped to accomplish creating a new dance, experiencing other cultures, and learning more. I was successful in accomplishing my goals as I successfully learned about and created a dance, and also I really enjoyed doing so. Some difficulties we ran into were my inability to dance well, and also occasionally we disagreed on our ideas. To overcome this, we taught each other and compromised. Through this activity I learned a lot of new skills and ideas, and that I have a great appreciation of new cultures and ideas. I learned that others are very accommodating and helpful to someone who is trying something new. This activity benefitted others because it was done in honor of a wedding and so it helped the family and the couple celebrate. Next time, to improve, I would like to learn several dances and even teach others in order to solidify my skills. I can apply my ability to try new things and my new cooperative skills in real life situations in school and in life, and they will be very beneficial.

November 4, 2014

Today we continued choreographing and practicing the dance. We made changes and chose which portion of the song we would be using. Our goals were to solidify the choreography to make it official so we could practice on our own. We also wanted to be more confident. We were pretty successful in achieving these goals, because after practice, I was able to review on my own through out the week using the video we filmed. As a result I was much more confident and able to contribute to the group more. Some difficulties we ran into were me lack of knowledge and ability to contribute, but to solve this, the group was really helpful in helping me catch up, so I was much more able to contribute the next time we met. To improve, I would study up more on our dance so we can perfect it and be ready for the performance. 

November 9, 2014 and November 16, 2014

Today we made a couple changes to the dance. We debated on how to change it the best way to make it the most natural looking and fit together. Then we practiced it several times to make it perfect while adding in edits here and there. Our goals were to finalize and solidify our performance, and we did that exactly. Some difficulties we ran into were our lack of agreement on what we agreed on during the prior meeting. We slowly realized that as we finalized our piece it didn't matter what had been said before so our new ideas were better. To improve this if i ever did it again I would make sure I studied up so i can contribute better to brainstorming. I would also practice more so it could be more professional on my part. Overall this was a very enriching, cultural and fun experience that I would do again in a heart beat. 

Total Hours: 9.5- Creativity 

Forensics

October 16th, 2014, and October 23, 2014

This is the first of many forensics posts. In these last two meetings, I brainstormed for my speech, created an outline, and gave others constructive criticism about theirs, along with receiving feedback on mine. Next time, to Improve, I would like to become more solid on memorization and time management.

December 1, and States

During this activity I The CAS element here is Creativity as I create a new speech performance. The learning objectives are 1, 2, 4, 5, possibly 6, 7 and 8. I Increase my strength in public speaking and awareness for areas of growth by seeing what I need to do to be more successful. I undertake new challenges by doing a new type of speech, sales. I work collaboratively with others on the team by getting feedback and aiding others in their piece. I show perseverance and commitment by committing long term to many meetings. I show interest in issues of global importance when talking about a speech that could involve a current issue or events. I considered issues of ethical implications by being helpful and constructive to others along with writing about issues of importance. I develop new speaking and writing skills as I progress in my speech. My goals for these two meetings were to finish up my speech and perform it well. I was successful in achieving my goals because I completed was well practiced and competed t states (and semi-finaled). I learned that I need to focus to complete tasks and that I need to work quickly. I learned that others are good at helping out. Ms. Morgan helped me think about my learning by setting me on a path of what I need to do and also by helping me think critically about my work. This activity could benefit others by helping them step outside their comfort zone and also by receiving feedback on what they can do to improve. Next time to improve, I would try to be more productive and creative in expressing m ideas. I can apply what I learned to other life situations like school and work. I can use my new writing skills to succeed in projects at school and also in my future to write effective papers.

Total hours: 9