Review of Capstone Class

Here are some important skills that students must have in order to be successful in this capstone course.
1. Use your time well.
2. Stay focused.
3. Pick a topic that truly interests you.
4. Find more sources for your paper than needed.
5. Revise over and over again.
6. Be a strong speaker.
7. Take control of your own work.
8. Be organized.
9. Use all the personal connections you have, you never know where it will take you.
10. Use different aspects of your life and see how it can help you in your research or project itself.

Some highlights of this class was that I got to research a topic I loved.  I really enjoyed learning about the psychology of recovery and learning more about PT.  I liked that I got to work on my own and it was a slightly more independent class than previous classes I have had.  Also, during capstone night, it was very intriguing to listen to other people's topics.  Oh, and I thought this blog was kinda fun to keep up throughout the semester.

Some negatives about this class was that personally for me, the class was a little slow.  I used to take Accelerated English since seventh grade, and this year I dropped down to 21st Century Texts and Capstone.  This was quite a jump from accelerated to a standards class.  I think it was still a valuable course to take, but I felt a little restricted with the pace I had to follow.  Also, I did not like the little assignments we had every other day that had very little to do with what our project was and kept us from immersing ourselves in our topic.  Finally, I was not a big fan of this being considered an independent class, when I believe it is not.  We had check points on each of our sections; if it was truly independent, we would be told when the final due and be expected to have it done.  But hey, I'm done with this class now, and I am happy with my final product.

Capstone Debriefing

I thought my capstone presentation went very well last night.  It was interesting to listen to the other topics.  I was in a room with other people with a topic related to psychology.  It was cool to hear new information about birth order and psychology, and the effects of loneliness.  Overall, it was a cool night of listening.  

One critique about the night was the timing of the program.  I thought that we were required to be at school much longer than needed.  My group took about 30-45 minutes to present, but we were at the high school for about an hour and a half. 

I thought presenting to strangers was no different than presenting in class.  Though, I don't know many people well in my capstone class.  My community reviewer was very enthusiastic and made it easy to present as well.  I thought my in class presentation was slightly better because I used a smart board to show my PowerPoint.  It was alright on a smaller screen (my laptop) and was just a little weird clicking the slides.  Also, it was less awkward because I was in front of an audience during class verses of in front of two of my peers and an adult.  I find this more awkward because I would rather speak in front of a large group than a smaller one, where I am talking more to a collective group than a few specific people.  My parents used to make me do all the presentations for school in front of them the night before, and that was always more nerve racking than the real thing.   But overall it was a nice night, and I learned a lot.