If you’ve watched my “about me” video, you would have heard some of this already. I came into AP Bio expecting nothing less than my amazing experience in Honors Bio freshman year. Needless to say, I was not disappointed!
I had so much fun bonding with my fellow teammates who have become like family. I got to know all of the seniors so well (even if it took a little force on your part.) I knew that regardless of the partner I received for any project, that they would for sure do their part to succeed. Looking back on all those videos I created from freshman year up to now, the conciseness and visuals have dramatically improved. So much content was covered, and after creating those concept maps, I realized just how much our class learned. Learning in this class is not necessarily easy, per se, but the experience is so worth it!
Though I still need to work on lessening the number of assignments turned in late, and balancing academics and sleep, I think that I am slowly getting there. Many challenges were faced, and with the support of the class, I was able to solve my problems. Mostly, these challenges were little problems that I knew if were not addressed, would definitely build up. During projects, creating a video, and having the assignment almost finalized before realizing a couple topics were not addressed was a common problem. One specific event occurred during the meiosis stop-motion. Emma and I decided to not record the spindles, because moving the string, or redrawing the spindles between every frame would take much too long. Before we left class, I told Emma that I would figure out how to add the spindles to the frame. I went through so many different applications on the iPad, phone, and laptop, and spent so long fiddling with each one. I became more panicked when the applications did not work. Finally, with advice from my father, I calmed down and went back to where I started. I looked back at the very first application that I used and realized that I could draw spindles straight onto the frame (as long as I bought the premium version for $4.99)! I felt so relieved after I made that discovery, and after Emma beautifully edited the video, I determined that this stop-motion was one of the most elegant stop-motion videos that I had ever made. I was pretty much proud of all big projects that were done for this class.
The final Semester 1 Voicethread is (I think) probably one of my greatest achievements. I see this project as a cumulation of all the hard work and all the learning experiences that occurred during this semester. From the Breakthrough Challenge, I learned about the importance of leveling out the volume of the multiple voices and applied that knowledge when editing the voices of our interviewee with Kaitlyn. From all the stop-motion videos created, I learned about the importance of movement and made sure that the visuals flowed in the voice thread. In addition, I internalized a good speaking tone, speed, and volume, so that audience engagement will be maximized.
Creating a Digital Portfolio was a new but awesome experience. Being able to display all the work that I am so proud of in a public domain is kind of like the final, no stress, step to complete an assignment. All the work is editable (except a tweet, that is) so all mistakes can be corrected once pointed out by my Formal Commentator, or a friend that follows my blog. Having a Digital Portfolio was also extremely convenient if I wanted to show my family or friends a project or video that just happened to contribute to dinner-time discussions.
Overall I am extremely proud of all that my teammates and I have achieved this semester, and I am excited about this new beginning!
Works Cited
the rachel blog 
Rachel, I am so proud that you are able to look back the last semester and identify what is good and bad you have learnt from the whole process. Most importantly, you only panicked once for the entire semester, which shows that you have learnt from past mistakes. You provided 3 examples of your learning process, which makes your blog a very interesting read. However, paragraph 3 seems to be a bit long and winded as it tries to touch on multiple topics. Some improvement can be applied here.
LikeLike