In my 10th Grade year, we did many projects in all of our classes. In some projects, we did presentations. In other projects, we made products. In other projects, we scripted performances. Yet, throughout all of the projects we did, there were two major consistencies: we showed what we learned through the project, and we grew in some way through the projects. These were very important parts of the project: to show that we grew as students, and that we grew as people. As we get closer to college, careers, and our futures in general, it is important that we start to develop skills needed to survive as a contributing member to society. Throughout the year, I think I grew in many skills and qualities to help develop me into a contributing member to society. More specifically, I think I grew in skills that guided me towards my possible future career: Orthodontia. My 10th Grade year prepared me for a future in Orthodontia by helping me grow in Collaboration, Preparation and Flexibility.

The project that helped develop my Collaboration skill was the Chinese Comic Book Project. The Chinese Comic Book Project was a project we did in Chinese class and History class. In the Chinese Comic Book Project, we worked in groups to write comic books using knowledge learned from U.S. History and Chinese learned from Chinese class. The comic itself had to be about one of the events we learned in World History over Chinese History before, during, and after Mao’s leadership in China. The project required us to translate our comic’s introduction and title into English and Chinese, include 10 pictures (either by drawing them or by finding them on the Internet) and hand-draw our character’s portrait. We also had to include at least 4 narration boxes, include at least 12 pieces of dialogue, explain at least two historical figures or groups, keep historical accuracy, and keep an accurate perspective of our main character. In the project, we found trustable sources of information, formed a script, made or found pictures, put text into comics, and arranged everything into an aesthetic order. Throughout the process, we got critiques from our Chinese and History teachers.

In this project, I grew in Collaboration because I coordinated with my partner to solve problems and get work done easily. The artifact I have to show my growth is the Third Draft of the Comic. We had many things to do in a short time span (about two weeks), so working together was critical in doing well in the project. I worked as the illustrator in our group: I made all of the illustrations using an online program called Gimp. My partner was the main writer and translator of our group. By assigning roles and forming responsibilities early, we got most of our work done quickly and efficiently. Although we worked independently at times, we mostly coordinated the placement of text and pictures into our comic together. As a result, we only had to make about four drafts of the comic over the span of the project. However, the main strength we had in Collaboration during the project was problem solving. For example, we learned on our second draft that we had to translate our entire introduction into Chinese, when previously we thought we only had to translate the character’s name, age, and a few other phrases. Once we realized we did not have everything, we went straight to solving the problem. I held the responsibility of finding the translations of the introductory phrases again, along with trying to think of their placement, while my partner held the responsibility to arrange the boxes so that we had enough space to put the English and Chinese into the boxes. However, we worked together rather than independently: we coordinated our jobs just as we coordinated the placement of the boxes. In doing so, we planned where the text went together. As seen in the Third Draft, most of the phrases in Chinese were in a subtitle beneath the portrait of the main character. We decided that the phrases at the bottom did not belong as well in the text of the main character. The phrases mainly referred to phrases like hair color, or other physical characteristics. Therefore, we decided to put the phrases in a subtitle so that they could we could still include them, but not in the way of the plot. We also planned how the boxes formed. As seen in the Third Draft, the text bubble layers above the picture, while both the portrait picture’s box and the second picture’s box look smaller than they should be. We found that the text bubble could not stay inside the box, even if we made the box bigger. In addition, we found that trying to make the portrait picture bigger than the second picture would mess up all of the other boxes. Therefore, we decided to layer the text box above the second picture in order to include all necessary information.

 

By coordinating together, we got the problem solved in about half of an hour, and then moved quickly back to our work. My Third Draft of the Comic demonstrates my growth in the skill of Collaboration because my partner and I got our work done quickly and solved our problems quickly by working together. More specifically, my partner and I saved time by working together effectively, solving a problem in a quite short amount of time. Collaboration is important in a career in Orthodontia because Orthodontists need to work with Orthodontist Assistants and other staff in order to treat patients effectively.

The project that helped develop my Preparation skill was the Globalization Letter Project. The Globalization Letter Project was a project we did in History and Language Arts class. In the Globalization Letter Project, we wrote letters over an issue that affected modern society. The issues that people talked about varied from child labor, to climate change, to countries’ relationships. In the Globalization Letter Project, we learned professional vocabulary to use for our audiences in History class, and we learned grammar concepts to help us write professionally in Language Arts class. The project required us to include all the necessary letter addresses, include transition words (like “While”, “Although”, “Therefore”, etc.), integrate quotes and research, and write correct and consistent A.P.A. citations (both reference and in-text). As always, we had to have correct spelling and grammar, especially for grammar concepts that we went over in class, like colons or semi-colons. In addition, our letters had to address a global problem to a relevant audience, include a thesis, include a counter-argument and rebuttal, include a solution to the problem, include detailed evidence, remain polite and professional, and use at least three Globalization vocabulary words we learned in History class.

In this project, I grew in Preparation because I did not have to do as much work for making a counter-argument, introduction and conclusion by working ahead. The artifact I have to show my growth is my First Draft of my Letter. For our first draft, we only needed to write our thesis statement, our topic sentences and our body paragraphs (not including our counter-argument and solution paragraphs). Although our teachers helped us the week after Spring Break with writing our introductions, conclusions and counter-arguments, we did not need to write anything else except the thesis, topic sentences, and body paragraphs. However, I wrote in advance all of the letter’s requirements: the body paragraphs, the counter-argument, the introduction, the conclusion, even the letter address. When I wrote the additional information, I made sure to write in detail. For example, in my first draft’s introduction, I explained who I was, how I had heard of the project, and why I was addressing my audience. In my first draft’s conclusion, I tried convince my audience of the urgency of the problem. Anyway, when we actually learned how to write the introduction, counter-argument, and conclusion, I did less work. Although I had to change much of what I wrote, since I already wrote all of the parts to my letter, I was able to spend less time needing to add parts to my letter. This is why I grew in Preparation through this project. Since I wrote parts of my letter before they were due, I spent less time actually adding anything to my letter. Rather than add new text to my letter, I only needed to change parts of the letter that I had already written.

 

As a result, I did not have to spend any time doing my letter for homework, and I got all of the parts to my letter done on time. My First Draft of my Letter demonstrates my growth in Preparation because I spent my time better through my endeavor by working ahead, so I had no problems or time wasting in my project. Preparation is important for a career in Orthodontia because Orthodontists need to set up everything in advance (to work ahead) in order to have their treatment work effectively.

The project that helped develop my Flexibility skill was the Cancer P.S.A. Project. The Cancer Video Project was a project we did in Language Arts class, Biology class, and Wellness and Fitness class. The Cancer P.S.A. Project itself was a follow-up project to another project called the Cancer Letter Project, where we wrote letters to a specific audience about a specific type of cancer. In the Cancer Video Project, we worked in groups to make a P.S.A. warning a specific vulnerable audience about a specific type of cancer. In all three of the classes, we researched the responsibilities of the roles that we chose, received feedback on our scripts, practiced our performances, and talked with professionals. The project required us to include a hook to our video, include relevant information, include a call to action (an encouragement for the audience to do a specific thing), and include the next steps towards solving the problem. In addition, the project required us to have accurate content, have our video be less than a minute long (but longer than half-of-a-minute), have a specific audience who would benefit from the message of the P.S.A., and have good quality in our P.S.A.

In this project, I grew in Flexibility because I had to help change the location of our video shootings. The artifact to show my growth is the Final P.S.A. In our group, we had six people. Since we only had six people, we had to split up roles. I chose to be both the Assistant Director, and the Scriptwriter. As the A.D. and Scriptwriter, I wrote the script, making sure that all of the needed information and shots were in the script, and I helped in the actual recording of the video. At first, the project went well for our group. We finished our script early, we completed most of our notes, and we generally remained efficient. However, things became slightly more complicated as we continued into the project. Our script was short and mostly text-based, so there was only one actual line in the video, and we recorded the line: we did not perform it. Rather, the problem we came across was finding a place to shoot our video. We meant for our location to look similar to a doctor’s office, but all of the appropriate spaces we found had some flaw in them. For example, one space looked like the office door at a doctor’s office, but the space had varied natural lighting and a school announcement board that we could not take down. As we searched for a space to record, we lost time searching for the perfect space. Therefore, we decided we had to stop searching for the space; rather, we had to manipulate whatever space was available. In the spaces that we had, we chose one of the cafeteria doors to act as the door for our doctor’s office. Although the space was too small and under-lit, we used different camera angles and lights to make the location more like a doctor’s office, rather than a cafeteria. As seen in the Final P.S.A., the beginning scene shows the door swinging towards the camera, but not the doctor or the room behind the doctor as well. We used these strategies of camera angles to show the main scene without revealing too much of the location. Another example of flawed spaces was the waiting room area. We had already found a waiting room area that had controlled lighting and a waiting-room-like look, but the room itself was too small. Therefore, we used another space that was larger, but manipulated the environment to make it look smaller. We huddled the props together and kept a close camera angle to make the room appear smaller, along with using controlled lighting. As seen in the Final P.S.A., the second scene shows the two people waiting in the waiting room with space between the three chairs and shadows underneath the chairs.

 

By huddling the chairs and positioning the lights, we made the chairs appear evenly spaced from each other, but we also made the room appear small. The Final P.S.A. demonstrates my growth in Flexibility because I helped in manipulating the scenes we had so that we benefited from them. Rather than give up or start anew, we acted flexibly in our settings, controlling them to the best of our ability so that we could benefit from them the most. Flexibility is important for a career in Orthodontia because Orthodontists must have the skill to manipulate plans in patients’ treatment when they divert from their original treatment, so that they can salvage the treatment into having good results.

By growing in Collaboration, Preparation and Flexibility, I have better prepared for a future career in Orthodontia. Through the Chinese Comic Book Project, I grew in collaborating. Through the Globalization Letter Project, I succeeded by preparing. Through the Cancer Video Project, I became more flexible. Now, I am both more interested, and better suited, for a career in Orthodontia.