Welcome to the second maker project of the year.

This is this is my recap of the Believe in Good project. The driving question for this project is: How Can I Be My Most Effective Self?

I will answer this question at the bottom of my post.  For this project we had to create three different representations of the core competencies through the seven habits, as well as a blog post and four different choice boards.

This is how I created my representations.

I think that if I were to do it again then I would spend more time refining my choice boards.

I think that the choice boards represent my learning appropriately and I am very proud of how it turned out.

Here are the steps that I took during this project.

The first thing we did during this project was learned about the Set-Up. During this we learned about Stephen Covey and his book, ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. Here are the seven habits.

  1. Be Proactive
  2. Begin With The End In Mind
  3. Put First Things First
  4. Think Win-Win
  5. Seek To Understand Before You Are Understood
  6. Synergize
  7. Sharpen The Saw

We didn’t go into depth about any of the habits, but we did learn about paradigms. Paradigms are similar to worldview(you can read about a project where we focused on worldview here). A paradigm is a standard, perspective, or set of ideas. A paradigm is a way of looking at something. It differs your actions from other peoples because you have different paradigms. After learning about paradigms, we were assigned to do three things. The first thing was to read the Set-Up portion of the book. The second was to do a workbook based off of the things we learned in the book. The third was to do a choice board that represented what we learned in this section. These are the things we could choose from, as well as coming up with our own.

This is my choice board.

Here is the playlist I made, along with the added note explaining it.

This is the playlist I made for the choice board. All of these songs are about suicide, or contemplating suicide. This shows people paradigms about the world and how their incomplete paradigms can lead them to make bad decisions. The connects to me because there are incomplete paradigms that I may have the can lead me to make bad decisions(These do not include suicide).

The next thing we did is we learned about the private victory. The private victory is the first three habits. It is called the private victory because it is three habits focused are YOU. You can only move on to your relationships with everything else once you have mastered your relationship with yourself. Here is a more in depth look at each of the three habits in the private victory.

  1. Be Proactive

This habit is all about taking responsibility for your life. This means recognizing that you are responsible for the events in your life. Proactive people don’t blame other things for their conditions, circumstances, or behaviour. 

  1. Begin With The End In Mind

This habit is about starting anything in life with a clear vision of the final product or result.  This is based on the idea that everything is created twice. Once mentally, and once physically. When learning about this habit, we created a table that we populated with role models to us. We also came up with a personal mission statement. Here is my table, mission statement, and explanation.

Mom & Dad – I put my parents on here because they raised me and made me who I am today. They also continue to support me and I admire the things that they have done for me.

Rick Riordan- Rick Riordan wrote the Percy Jackson books. These series are some of my favourite books ever and they have shaped who I am as a person. The lessons that he taught in his books are some that I have taken to heart. Rick Riordan, along with many other authors have influenced how my I write anything from blog posts to song lyrics. 

Tim McIlrath & Olivia Rodrigo – Tim McIlrath is the lead singer of Rise Against, one of my favourite bands. He and Olivia Rodrigo create music that is some of the most comforting music that I know. Their separate music has been a big influence on who I am as a musician and a person.

Brooke – Brooke is a very empathetic person that manages to comfort anyone around her. That trait is something I want to be better at because of how much it has meant to me. 

Charlie Puth, Dave Grohl, Chester Bennington & Neil Peart – These people are all incredible musicians who create incredible music. I would like to be able to take aspects of these musicians and apply them to my own music. 

  1. Put First Things First

This habit is about prioritization. This is organizing the things in your life and planning ahead to accomplish everything you want to accomplish. During this habit we looked at a graphic. The graphic can be seen below.

In quadrant four we have people who ignore everything, and focus on unimportant and in-urgent things. These include video games for extended periods of time, social media with no intent or purpose, Netflix or YouTube, and other things like that. Now while these may be good for blowing off steam and relaxation, an excessive amount of these is unnecessary and unhelpful. In quadrant three, we have the people that prioritize unimportant but urgent things. These are things that don’t matter as much but have a time attached to them that gives them a sense of importance. A lot of people get caught up here because of the simulated importance that stems from the urgency. Next we have quadrant two. This is the quadrant where you most want to be. It way seem counter intuitive, but the reasoning why is sound. The reason you want to be here instead of quadrant one is because of the stress that constantly being in quadrant one brings. An example of being in quadrant two that applies to me is doing my work as soon as it is assigned, instead of doing something else first, and then getting stressed later trying to finish it in time. An example of being in quadrant one that applies to me is doing my work the night before it is due instead of doing it as soon as it was assigned. In my opinion, this is one of the most important habits, and the one that I struggle with the most. 

This is the choice board that I did for the Private Victory.

Little Timmy is always late for class. He always wakes up late and then rushes to school. He never pays attention in class and is constantly behind. Timmy normally procrastinates his school until the very last minute, and his presentations are always incomplete and improvised. One day when Little Timmy is running to school, late as usual, he overhears a dad talking to his kid. The dad is telling the kid about ‘The Seven Habits’. Timmy only hears a little bit of the conversation. He hears the dad tell the kid about three things. Being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, and putting first things first. Later when Timmy is in class, not paying attention as usual, he googles ‘The Seven Habits’. He looks at some examples of each of the three habits he heard about. Setting alarms so one can get to school on time, starting projects with an idea of the final product and doing schoolwork before other useless things. Little Timmy does all of these things and suddenly he is a lot more happy and is doing much better in school. The End.

The next thing we did was looked at the Public Victory. The Public Victory is like the Private Victory but the habits are focused around other people and how you interact with other people. The habits in this section are habits 4, 5, and 6. Here is a better overview of these three habits.

  1. Think Win-Win

This habit is fairly self explanatory. It is all about trying to make scenarios where both parties involved gain something. If I win two candy bars from a competition, I would give one to someone else and then have one for myself. This way, we both win because we both get candy bars. It is this way of thinking that allows you to be a likeable person that people can work with easily.

  1. First Seek To Understand Before You Are Understood.

This habit is all about listening to other peoples ideas and opinions before you shut them down and convince them that your opinion is superior or right. This allows different opinions or ideas to be created that benefit both parties batter than any that either one of them could have come up with on their own.

6.   Synergize 

This habit is all about working together with other people. It is based around the idea that the hole is greater than the sum of its parts, or 1+1=3. This means that a single person will never create something as good as two people working together could create. This feeds off of the previous habits as well. No two people could synergize properly if they don’t do habits 4 and 5. Additionally, no one could do habits 4 and 5 properly if they don’t do habits 1, 2, and 3. This is a central idea in the seven habits. That all of the habits feed off of and into each other to create a final product that only works if someone actively practices all seven habits.

Here is my choice board for the Public Victory.

The next thing we looked at is renewal. If you can do basic math, then you would know that there is only one habit remaining. That habit is sharpen the saw. Sharpen the saw is the idea that you cannot complete any of the previous six habits if you do not constantly and consistently renew yourself. This means that you have to do an activity such as sleep or something that you enjoy that let’s you relax to be able to do all of the other habits. This is fundamental in the completion of the Habits and really everything in your life. If you are not renewed and rejuvenated then you cannot do anything that you wish to do or accomplish anything that you wish to accomplish. This is why sleep is important or blowing off steam is important and other things along those lines. In the end these habits are meant to make you an effective person. That is why they are called the seven habits of highly effective person.

Renewal Choice Board

This activity is a renewal for me for many reasons. One of them is that when I am playing music, I’m not thinking about anything else. This is a great way to take my mind off of things and release stress. Another is that playing music is a relaxing experience that calms me down. This lets me slow down from the normal craziness of my days. The final reason is that music always connects with me personally and I can make the music do whatever I want it to do to suit the things that I want it to suit. If I want it to be energetic, I can do that. If I want it to be sad, I can do that. It is very shapable, so I can always turn to music to help me out. It is sometimes like a imaginary punching bag. That is why music is a renewal to me.

The next thing we did in this project was create our final product. This final product is three new choice boards. These choice boards had to be of three different things. Those three things were audio, visual, and kinaesthetic. They also had to be connected to the core competencies. This is what the planning sheet we used looked like.

Here are my three choice boards.

Audio

Here is the poem if you want to read instead of listen.

All this noise

All around us

All this talking

Do we ever stop to listen?

Do we ever stop to hear what people are saying?

Or do we just

Shut them down?

Pretend to listen

And deny ideas

Before we get a chance to hear them

All ideas that aren’t ours

Any ideas that don’t give us everything

The ideas where we don’t come out solely on top

Is it so dangerous to just

Listen?

Is it so scary?

Is it so scary to let everyone gain something?

For one person to win

It doesn’t mean the other person has to lose.

Visual

This is a collage I made on two of the seven habits, and how they relate to the personal and social core competency. The two habits I based this on are habits 6 and 7. Synergize, and Sharpen the Saw. In this collage there are images that revolve around these two habits. On the top, we have images that correlate to working together to creating something better than one singular person could have ever created. The images on the bottom correlate to how I recharge and sharpen the saw. I put these two habits together because they work in conjugation. One cannot work well with others if they are not at their best. I put these under the personal and social core competencies because I think that these two habits are the most important in those two categories. Synergize is the most important habit that relates to social, and sharpen the saw is the most important habit relating to personal. 

Kinaesthetic

This is a sculpture I made using things around my house. These things represent different things and those different things relate back to the three habits in the private victory. First, let’s go over every item and how it connects to each habit.

Guitar/Sheet Music – This represents something that I spend my time doing. I spend my time enjoying or making music. I also spend time with my friends and family enjoying or making music. This applies to put first things first, because music is important to me. Because of this, I can organize the time i spend on it based on its importance in my life. This relates to begin with the end in mind because whenever I am writing or performing music, I have an idea of where I want the song or the story to go. This also relates to be proactive because I am taking something I can control (in this case music) and using it, instead of complaining or blaming something on external sources.

A book – This represents something that I spend my time doing. I spend my time reading books or other things. This applies to put first things first, because of how important reading is to me. Because of this, I can organize the time I spend on it based on its importance in my life. This relates to be proactive because I am taking something I can control (in this case reading) and using it, instead of complaining or blaming something on external sources.

Climbing Shoe – This represents something that I spend my time doing. I spend my time climbing. I also spend time with my friends and family climbing. This applies to put first things first, because climbing is important to me. Because of this, I can organize the time I spend on it based on its importance in my life. This relates to begin with the end in mind because whenever I am climbing, I have an idea of what I need to do and where I need to go to complete the climb. 

iPad – This represents something that I spend my time doing. I spend my time on my iPad. Wether that is school or something else productive, or games or YouTube, I spend time on my iPad. This applies to put first things first, because school is important to me. Because of this, I can organize the time I spend on it based on its importance in my life. This relates to begin with the end in mind because whenever I am doing an assignment, I have an idea of what I want final product to look like. This also relates to be proactive because I am taking something I can control (in this case my grades) and working towards making them better, instead of complaining or blaming something on external sources.

Dog Collar/TV Remote – This represents something that I spend my time doing. I spend my time with my family. Wether that is walking the dog or watching a family TV show, I spend time with my family. This applies to put first things first, because family is important to me. Because of this, I can organize the time I spend on it based on its importance in my life. 

Game Controller – This represents something that I spend my time doing. I spend my time playing games or spending time with my friends. This applies to put first things first, because friends are important to me. Because of this, I can organize the time I spend on it based on its importance in my life. 

Now for the curricular competencies.

Empowered Learner: How might I use technology to construct knowledge?

In this project we use technology to construct knowledge in many ways. First of all we gained access through our iPads to the book and the workbooks that we have done throughout the course of this project. I think that I have structured my knowledge using technology many ways during this project. I think that the two most prominent ways that I have done this is from the book that we read and the lessons we got from the teachers using the craft documents. These educated me on the seven habits and now I know what they are, and how I can apply them to my life. 

 

Creative Communicator: How might I use technology to create and communicate?

During this project I created all of my choice boards using technology and the choice board were my way of communicating my learning to an audience. I think that here choice boards are a good representation of my ability to create and communicate using technology. Sure, I could have done a couple of things better, but I think that overall, I did well using this competency this project. 

Going on this journey through the seven habits during a school project was a new experience to me but I recommend it for anybody. This lesson and book have really changed my perspective on a lot of things. This has changed who I am as a person and I hope that coming out of this I can be a more effective person.

As the answer to the driving question, there are at any ways to be my most effective self. In the context of this project, I think that the answer is pretty obvious. By following the seven habits. The seven habits are called the seven habits of highly effective people. So I can be my most effective self by following the seven habits of highly effective people.

I learned a lot about myself over the course of this project, and what I can do to become a better and more effective person. This wasn’t one of my favourite projects, but I think that it is one of the most important ones we’ve done in the greater scope of real life.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and listen to me ramble.

Have a great day.

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