Student of the D.R.S.S.
Niels Sondergaard's
Portfolio
9TH GRADE PROJECTS PAGE
"The beginning of a long journey."
My 9th Grade Self
At the beginning of my 9th Grade year, I was a very different person. I was not very social, and I only really spoke to my friends. I tended to read and draw more than talk to others. For this reason, I did not usually speak as much in class discussions. I really liked drawing (especially science fiction and fantasy pieces), and I tended to read and play video games as other hobbies. More importantly, I had different habits as well. I often procrastinated rather than doing my work, I did not have as good time management skills to get projects done well on time, and I did not have enough Persistence to get through the new high school amount of work. The largest difference of myself at the beginning of the year and myself at the end of the year is that I was not prepared for the greater amount of high school work. But, through the experience of projects, assignments and units throughout the 9th Grade year, I believe I have changed from who I was then to who I am now today. I feel more social, less anxious to share my opinion, and I feel more confident in myself from the work I was able to accomplish in the small amounts of time that I had to complete them. After my process of struggling, growing, and excelling, I have changed as a person and have gotten closer to being a 10th Grader by being more prepared for future high school work.
What I Struggled In This Year
The endeavor that I struggled the most in this year was the Puzzle Cube Project. In this endeavor, we were supposed to create and design our own puzzle cubes using isometric paper to design our puzzle cube, an online program called Autodesk Inventor to digitally create our puzzle cubes, and wood-working skills to physically create our puzzle cubes. I struggled due to having poor time management skills. Press the button or click on the picture to read the full paragraph of my struggles.
Greatest Growth of the Year
The endeavor that I grew the most in this year was the Model Car Project. In this endeavor, we used most of the skills we learned in the Puzzle Cube Project to reverse engineer a toy car using the online program Autodesk Inventor. I grew mostly in time management skills and in Persistence. Press the button or click on the picture to read the full paragraph of my growth.
What I Excelled In This Year
The endeavor that I excelled the most in this year was the Quarter 2 Grammar Unit. In this endeavor, we learned characters, Pinyin and English translations of Chinese words relating to family and occupations, along with doing assignments and taking tests. I excelled due to my memorization strategies, which I was able to do by growing in time management skills with the Model Car Project. Press the button or click on the picture to read the full paragraph of my struggles.
Transistion to 10th Grade
Being at the end of the 9th Grade year, I believe that I am prepared for 10th Grade due to my growth from projects of this year, especially time management. Previously, as a 9th Grader, I was shy, soft-spoken, and kind of a slacker. But through the projects I experienced during the 9th Grade year, I am now confident in my opinion, in presenting in front of others (mostly), and in my time management skills especially. The process of my struggle, growth and excellence of projects help show my readiness. There is clear change of my time management skills when comparing my experiences from endeavors like the Puzzle Cube Project, the Model Car Project, and the Quarter 2 Grammar Unit. In the Puzzle Cube Project, I did not organize my time well, and my final product did not have as good craftsmanship as a result. But, I learned from the experience, and in the Model Car Project, I worked towards improving my time management skills and succeeded from my growth. The Quarter 2 Grammar Unit acted as further evidence of my growth in time management because of how I excelled in the project from organizing my time. Due to my time management skills, I am now prepared for high school work, and I now know how to adapt to getting increasingly larger and more difficult amounts of work, which will surely be a useful skill as I get to higher grades. I feel both physically ready and mentally ready to move onto 10th Grade. I also believe my growth in the quality Persistence (which I grew from a little bit of all of the projects as the year progressed) will also help me prepare for high school work in the future as the work starts to get longer and more difficult. Overall, in growing in time management and Persistence, but also by growing in various skills from the 9th Grade projects, I feel confident going into 10th Grade and I feel prepared for whatever is thrown at me. With 10th Grade approaching soon, I want to continue growing in my Persistence, time management skills, responsibility, independence, and all of the other skills and qualities to prepare for the rest of high school career, and for a future college education.
I don't mean to offend any teacher who was not included as being a good teacher who is a good teacher (so, all of my teachers).