This week has definitely tested my attempt to become a more disciplined student. My goal for the week was to, as usual, complete all of the assignments for this week. Unfortunately, I was unable to accomplish this. I honestly believe that had I not started my job this week, I would have completed all of the assignments. I was given 39 hours to work during my first week on the job. Plus, the air conditioner is still not working in our apartment and I find it nearly impossible to concentrate in this heat. I do hope that the quality of my work has not slipped this week. Anyway, enough excuses. It’s time for me to reflect upon the work that I actually did accomplish this week.

I began this week by revising my essential question and foundation questions. I didn’t really alter them that much. I had already revised my essential question last week. As for the foundation questions, I had put a lot of thought into forming them to begin with, so I didn’t have to make many adjustments. I basically put them into a more logical order so that information would better flow. I wanted each foundation question to build on the previous one, eventually leading me to the final foundation question, which will answer my essential question. After accomplishing this task, I read over the articles about developing a search strategy. These articles were actually linked to one of the articles that we read last week. I actually read these articles last week, but decided to read them again this week to refresh my memory. Next, I read several articles concerning evaluation of resources. Before reading these articles, I must admit I trusted a majority of the information that I found on the internet. Unless an article or web site was obviously biased, I felt there was no reason to doubt the information. However, now I understand just how easy it is for anyone to publish information on the internet. I am so glad that I now know how to evaluate my resources. I’ll definitely use this information for every resource that I use from now on. After learning about evaluating resources, I evaluated the article “Sign Language Communication With Elephants.” Had I not known how to evaluate an article, I never would have known that this article came from a biased organization. I probably would have suspected it due to the information that was given (or not given), but I wouldn’t have been able to be for sure. Next, I evaluated an article that I plan to use for my MRP. This article was titled, “Chronic Otitis Media - Speech/Language Disorders Learning Disabilities: Is There A Link?” I probably wouldn’t have even questioned this article at all had I not read the articles concerning evaluation of resources. Since the author was stated as being a doctor, I would have just trusted that he was an expert on the topic. While I did find information confirming that the author is in fact a doctor and an author of various articles concerning child development, I was able to find him to be a reliable source. However, I realize that anyone could publish an article and claim to be a doctor. It’s not hard to type the letters “M.D.” after your name. Because of this, it is important to investigate the authors credentials if there is reason to suspect that they are false. I feel much more comfortable now with using this as a resource for my project.

I had to leave early from the moo this week. I did get to stay long enough for the brainstorming on Matt’s essential question for the MRP. This brainstorming helped me in understanding just what the MRP is all about. While I had read the MRP description a couple of times, I didn’t really understand it until now. I’ve never done a project in which I had to incorporate different “voices.” The only voice that I’ve ever had to express is my own. I feel that this will be an excellent learning experience. Not only are we learning about our topics, we are also learning about it from different perspectives, how it affects different people associated with the topic. I also went back and read the transcript about the poems. This should help a lot because I really didn’t know what you were asking for.

Overall, I feel that I accomplished quite a bit this week, considering I wasn’t home very much. I will definitely concentrate on getting caught up in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully by next Sunday I will be back on schedule. Well, that’s enough from me for one week. I don’t have any question this week. If I think of any I’ll let you know. Have a great week!