Hello and welcome back to my blog. Today’s project is one that we’ve been working on since February, making it one of our longest running PLP projects to date. Believe In Good is the name of our Maker project and it had a few stages. In this post I’ll walk you through the different components of this project and how they all benefitted towards my learning and growth as a learner.
This project focused on a book called 7 Habits For Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey. The habits in question are as listed:
- Be Proactive
- Begin With the End In Mind
- Put First Things First
- Think Win-Win
- Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood
- Synergize
- Sharpen the Saw
But what do all these things mean?
Habit 1 – Be Proactive:
The first habit is Be Proactive. This mean actively taking responsibility initiative, and ownership for your life and the way you live it. For example, this could mean planning ahead for when you have to do homework, or making sure you aren’t spending your time irresponsibly.
Habit 2 – Begin With the End In Mind:
Beginning with the end in mind means having a clear vision of how you plan on getting from Point A, to Point B. This can include not starting too many projects at once, starting with the intent to finish, looking at the big picture, and having a specific purpose in mind to guide your actions. This habit will help you achieve your goals faster and more effectively.
Habit 3 – Put First Things First:
This habit is all about spending your time on the things that mean the most. When you’re on your deathbed and you reflect on your life, you aren’t going to say, “Man, I wish I spent more time scrolling through tiktok, or writing useless emails.” Habit 2 focuses on making sure you live a life doing the things that allow you to live happily. If you prioritize things that are the most meaningful, you’ll live a fulfilled life.
Habit 4 – Think Win-Win:
A common belief is that for you to win, someone else has to lose. This isn’t true at all. Thinking win-win focuses on an abundance mindset, meaning everyone can benefit from whatever situation it is. For example, if you buy a book for 20$, you gain the insight and knowledge from the book, and the author gets 20$.
Habit 5 – Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood:
This habit is the key to being an effective communicator and maintaining healthy relationships with family, friends, significant others, colleagues, and anyone else in your life. A lot of the time, we listen, but don’t actually hear what the person is trying to say. Making sure that the person you’re communicating with knows that you’re actually hearing what they have to say makes all the difference in teamwork and being a good communicator.
Habit 6 – Synergize:
This habit builds on Habit 5, and takes it further with the teamwork aspect. Synergize is all about realizing that everyone is unique and can bring something different to the table and should be appreciated for their own way of seeing the world. If you play on each other’s strengths to be more effective, it leads to great teamwork.
Habit 7 – Sharpen the Saw:
Habit 7 focuses on renewal so you can continue to do the other habits effectively. If you can do things to take care of your mental, physical, social/emotional, and spiritual health, you can be the best version of you.
Habits 1,2, and 3 are categorized as the Private Victory, meaning they focus on self improvement.
Habits 4,5, and 6 are called the Public Victory which helps you maintain relationships, have effective teamwork, and listen to others.
Habit 7 focus on renewal as I mentioned before.
I truly believe this book can really help and turn lives around. It focuses on absolutely vital aspects of being a good person and teaches great lessons through the habits and different stories it told. I do have a critique however. The 7 Habits continually states that you have to have a set goal in life to work towards. I think it’s perfectly fine to not have any idea what you want to do yet or change your idea of what you want to do at any point in your life. I did like the message about the Personal Mission Statement and how you should stay true to your morals.
Assessment choice boards
Thought this project we completed different personal choice assessment boards to show our understanding of each part of the book and workbook. Here are the different options we could choose from:
(Photo of the choices)
Here is my first choice board, from the theme paradigms and principles:
I chose to add songs from different artist’s perspectives so you can really understand their point of view.
Moving to the private victory assessement choice board, I decided to create a keynote presentation. The focus was on some the things I spend my time on that are most important in my life. I included school, sewing/crocheting, and art. I created three collages for the slides.
In the public victory choice board, I decided to do a partnered activity. My friend Ines and I recorded a skit where we collaborated to make the best dance routine ever.
For my renewal choice board, I made a drawing of the four different parts that are essential to renew yourself.
The final product
Our end goal of this project was to make three different choice boards, one for each category. One kinaesthetic, one audio, and one visual. They had to represent several of the different habits in one, along with a competency.
For the first one, I focused on audio and communication. The habits I chose were 1 and 2. I made two different playlists. One focuses on what it means to be proactive and have the end in mind, while the other shows what being recklessly reactive looks like. Here are the playlists:
In my second choice board, I switched the focus to personal and social, habit 5(first seek to understand then be understood,) and habit 7 (sharpen the saw.) The category I chose was visual so I decided to make a drawing. The drawing depicts someone talking to a therapist. This represents a few things. It shows people seeking to understand, then be understood and also self renewal for mental health.
For my last choice board I had to make a kinaesthetic model. I chose to make this out of Lego. The Lego shows different little people working together to construct a small building. This represents Habit 6 (synergize) and Habit 4(think win -win). This shows how people can work together to build something and even if the final creation doesn’t work you get the experience of working with the people.
That’s it for today’s blog post! I plan to use this project forth in my learning by making sure to specifically focus on Habit 1, being proactive, because I find that that’s a Habit I can struggle with. I think the 7 Habits are definitely something that can change your life so if you haven’t read the book I would recommend!
Sincerely,
Me
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