By far, this has been the most time-consuming week. As usual, my goal for the week was to complete all of this week’s assignments. This week definitely tested me as to how I am trying to become a more disciplined student, but I am happy to say that I have passed the test with flying colors. I got all of my assignments done! Horray for me! I am very proud of myself. While this was no simple task, the assignments were helpful in preparing for my MRP.

I am definitely happy to have finally chosen a topic for my MRP. My essential question is, “How is normal language development affected by Chronic Otitis Media?” I started off this week by subscribing to a professional mailing list that I could use as a source of information for my MRP. At first, I did not think that this would be a difficult task. However, I had a difficult time finding a list that would be beneficial. I finally found one that would satisfy the purpose. If the list that I chose does not help, I will just search for another one. Next, I learned many different ways for searching the WWW. I was amazed at how much information was available to me that I was unaware of before. I first conducted a search for my name, and then conducted a search for information regarding my MRP topic. After completing this, I developed a prompt from the article about professional development. I decided to focus my prompt on the ways reflection can be used as a tool for developing professionally. I was actually surprised at how many benefits I could come up with for personal reflection. I have also been surprised over the past year of how useful reflection has been to me. It took me a while to appreciate it, but I realize now just how beneficial it really is to learning. I really enjoyed the assignment about learning highlights. I like to recall the events in my past that made a mark and played a part in making me the person that I am today. Also, thinking about what causes grief in learning helps me to focus on what to avoid in order to learn the best. For example, I learned that deadlines cause me grief. However, I have been working towards becoming a more disciplined student and not procrastinating, which has made deadlines less stressful. I also created my own webliography. I must admit, at first, when trying to enter the HTML codes with Frances, I had no idea what I was doing. We thought that we were entering the codes correctly, but the links weren’t coming up. However, Jennifer helped us to realize that we had been doing it correctly the whole time, we just had to post the blog before the links would appear. I guess we just got a little bit ahead of ourselves. In any case, I am so glad that I know how to do this now. I feel like a computer genius (of course this is a huge exaggeration on my part). Lastly, I developed some foundation questions for my essential question. It actually took me a while to develop these questions. I wanted to develop them in a way in which each one would lead me closer to answering my essential question. I feel that I accomplished this.

At the moo this week, we used our group time to work on our essential questions. My group was extremely helpful. They helped me to realize that since language development is my main interest, I should reword my essential question to focus more on language development rather than Chronic Otitis Media. My original question was “How does Chronic Otitis Media affect normal language development?” My revised essential question is “How is normal language development affected by Chronic Otitis Media?” While both of these questions ask essentially the same thing, my revised question puts the focus on language development, which is my main area of concern. I feel much more confident in my essential question now that I have had imput from my peers. I also enjoyed helping them in the process of developing their essential questions. I’m looking forward to reading the results of everyone’s MRPs.

While this week has been time-consuming, it has also been rewarding. I am so glad that we are working on some of the things that are going to be included in our MRPs. This way, we can gradually complete our MRP instead of doing it all at one time. This should help me to control the stress that comes with completing such a project. I’m looking forward to seeing all of my hard work come together. I feel that it will be fulfilling to complete such an elaborate project. As long as I keep on top of things, as I have been doing, everything should come together nicely, and hopefully I’ll even be able to keep my sanity!

Surprisingly, I have no questions at the moment, but don't worry. If I think of any questions, you can be sure that I will ask!