Monday, April 17, 2006
Communication is key
Hi Bloggers. I want to apologize for the hiatus in my postings. My responsibilities have been catching up with me--with everything from planning and exeduting our project, restructuring our final paper, and gearing up for our Power Point presentation.
I confidently say that the biggest lesson our group has learned in the past week is the importance of effective communication. While we have maintained our focus throughout the project, it was not until we handed in a draft of our paper to our professor, Diane, that we learned that we needed to expand our paper. We had submitted an incomplete draft of the paper (we still had sections to finish) that amounted to 30 pages. Diane, however, was expecting a paper that was around 60 pages. We were quite surprised; we had always been on top of our deadlines, our requirements, and committments. Naturally, we were overwhelmed---how were we going to regain focus and essentially double the content of our paper? When Diane and I spoke on the phone, she assured me that everything would be alright and that she would be there to encourage and support us in the process. She was very understanding and quick to offer us suggestions, yet I was still alarmed by the task that lay ahead.
Incidentally, I was home on Long Island for the Jewish holiday of Passover when Diane informed me of our predicament. This was even the more frustrating because my fellow environmental stewards and I could not reconvene that night to discuss the issue. It was not until tonight that we were able to regroup and rework our paper. Our meeting ended just 10 minutes ago, and I think that we have established a firmer structure for our paper that will allow us to expand, while having our individual voices be heard in the paper. We forsee seven major sections to our paper:
-Environmental Issues
-Pedagogy and the Educational Process
-Context: Multi-dimensional Environments
-Content: The Realization of Environmentalism
-Lesson Plans
-Projections for the Future
-Reflections on the Project
The last three sections will be collaborative; they involve our action and experience as a group. As per the first four sections, we have each decided to take one. Each of us has chosen the area that speaks the most to us---OUR PASSION. Amanda is discussing Environmental Issues, Melissa is describing the context of our project, and Suzanne is tackling content. I have chosen to give an overview of our educational methodology in the classroom and how this relates to pedagogical theory in general. We feel that with this new structure in place we can submit a strong paper that reflects the ideals and knowledge that have produced--and have been produced--by our project.
Having seen the importance of effective communication, we plan to meet with Diane within the next day to have this new plan approved. We are very excited as we enter this last phase of our Environmental Stewardship Project. The seeds have been planted; the flowers need only bloom.
I confidently say that the biggest lesson our group has learned in the past week is the importance of effective communication. While we have maintained our focus throughout the project, it was not until we handed in a draft of our paper to our professor, Diane, that we learned that we needed to expand our paper. We had submitted an incomplete draft of the paper (we still had sections to finish) that amounted to 30 pages. Diane, however, was expecting a paper that was around 60 pages. We were quite surprised; we had always been on top of our deadlines, our requirements, and committments. Naturally, we were overwhelmed---how were we going to regain focus and essentially double the content of our paper? When Diane and I spoke on the phone, she assured me that everything would be alright and that she would be there to encourage and support us in the process. She was very understanding and quick to offer us suggestions, yet I was still alarmed by the task that lay ahead.
Incidentally, I was home on Long Island for the Jewish holiday of Passover when Diane informed me of our predicament. This was even the more frustrating because my fellow environmental stewards and I could not reconvene that night to discuss the issue. It was not until tonight that we were able to regroup and rework our paper. Our meeting ended just 10 minutes ago, and I think that we have established a firmer structure for our paper that will allow us to expand, while having our individual voices be heard in the paper. We forsee seven major sections to our paper:
-Environmental Issues
-Pedagogy and the Educational Process
-Context: Multi-dimensional Environments
-Content: The Realization of Environmentalism
-Lesson Plans
-Projections for the Future
-Reflections on the Project
The last three sections will be collaborative; they involve our action and experience as a group. As per the first four sections, we have each decided to take one. Each of us has chosen the area that speaks the most to us---OUR PASSION. Amanda is discussing Environmental Issues, Melissa is describing the context of our project, and Suzanne is tackling content. I have chosen to give an overview of our educational methodology in the classroom and how this relates to pedagogical theory in general. We feel that with this new structure in place we can submit a strong paper that reflects the ideals and knowledge that have produced--and have been produced--by our project.
Having seen the importance of effective communication, we plan to meet with Diane within the next day to have this new plan approved. We are very excited as we enter this last phase of our Environmental Stewardship Project. The seeds have been planted; the flowers need only bloom.
posted by Justin Rosen at 9:14 PM
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