Research Entry #6 (11-12-13)

Friday November 8th I spent about an hour looking over corrections on my literature review and other works.  I then spent another hour scanning over sample works on Chapter 4 and planning my attack.  Sunday November 10th I looked over samples again for a while and then spent literally the entire rest of my day planning for my return to school.  I wanted to make sure my lessons for this week are extra special since I know I'm being observed this week.  Monday November 11th I had my first Blackboard Collaborate session with Amy.  It took me 4 tries to get in.  Luckily I was attempting to login about 20 minutes before my session just to be safe.

I'm enjoying the way that our research paper is broken into parts.  It's definitely a huge help to procrastinators.  Most times I don't mean to procrastinate, I just get caught up doing other things and I put off my grad work and end up shooting myself in the foot.

Speaking of procrastinating, I may need to use my freebie late assignment for the Chapter 4 section of our paper.  It's not that it's difficult or anything, but I didn't realize until this weekend that I have progress testing this week in order to maintain my rank of 5th degree black belt.  I am required to test twice per year in order to maintain my rank and make strides to my next degree.  I planned on writing my paper last night, but I got caught up preparing for part 1 of my progress test.  The test itself was from 8-9:30 and was very exhausting.  I was pretty tired in school today.  Right now I just want to go to sleep.

Research Entry #5 (10-23-13)

Where to begin...

Monday October 14th:  I spent about an hour and a half reading over the class text and researching journal articles.

Saturday October 19th:  I sat down to do research, but I just couldn't bring myself to do anything since I knew I would be spending all day Sunday working on my research and paper.  I quit before I began.

Sunday October 20th:  I went to church, and then I literally spent the entire day working on finding articles, making notes about the articles, reviewing APA format, and reading sample papers.  I spent approximately 9 hours doing these things, and all I wrote on my paper was a heading.

Monday October 21st:  I spent another 4 hours doing research after school.  I still did not type anything but the heading.

Wednesday October 23rd:  I spent 8 hours writing my paper and compiling my resources.

Research Entry # 4 (10-14-13)

This past week on Monday (10-7-13) I spent about a half hour deciding which article I was going to review.  When I finally chose my article I spent close to an hour analyzing the article and comparing it to others.  I tried my best to understand the statistics within the article and I looked up vocabulary that I did not understand in our class textbook. 

On Wednesday after school I sat down to write my article review.  It took me about 2 hours from start to finish.  When I was done I had over 2 pages, so I had to shorten my paper for submission.

On Sunday (10-13-13) when I woke up I looked into the lit review before going to church.  Later that evening I spent about an hour reviewing the lit review PowerPoint and some examples. 

I am really liking the way our class assignments are broken up into parts, and I'm especially thankful to Andrew for sending out a Google calendar with due dates :-)

Research Entry #3 10-6-13

So I'm very glad that I spent so much time looking for resources last week, because I think that this is the first time ever that I didn't have to make revisions on a submitted paper.  I was actually so excited about it that I took a picture of Amy's comments and sent it to my uncle who is also a teacher currently in graduate school.

This week on Wednesday I took the day off of school for family reasons, but I was able to spend some time in the morning and early afternoon working on my needs analysis materials.  I developed a student survey and a pre-test.  It took me about 2 hours to design the survey and pre-test, and about an hour or so to scan over sample papers and reread some of my own work from IDD.

I'm feeling a little less overwhelmed now that we've completed a couple of things.  I'm still really nervous for April though.  I hope I can get everything done early, because April is a big month for me.  Let's just say the Wright's aren't the only ones with a little one on the way :-)  My wife is due April 5th!!   We're so excited!!

Research Entry #2 9/30/13

Yesterday (9/29/13) I spent about 6 hours (straight!) researching information to add sources to my topic paper.  I then edited my paper and added sources which took another hour.  I enjoyed most of the research.  I found a lot of interesting information about game based learning (GBL) that made me really wish that I was a video game designer as a part time job.  Apparently it would be very helpful in my math class.  Too bad that I am not a video game designer, so I can not really use most of what I found unless I find games already designed to supplement my lessons.

I also found a lot of information about the PARCC test that my students will be taking next year.

So far I am enjoying the research, but I hate writing papers. 

Also, today I spent all of my prep, part of my lunch, and the last hour and 15 minutes revamping my paper for submission because I didn't feel like it was good enough.  It's like my martial arts instructor says, "The biggest room in the world is room for improvement."

Here we go!!! Research entry #1 9/23/13

This week has been CRAZY to say the least.  I ended up starting a little late with developing my topic.  It seemed like a monumental task for only being worth 2 points, haha.  I spent HOURS thinking about what topic I was going to choose.  I love martial arts and I love math, so I was torn.  After careful consideration, and some help (Thanks Amy!) I finally chose my topic.

My wife and I had a big house party on Saturday, so I was unable to get anything done that day.  On Sunday I spent about 3-4 hours reading sample products and our textbook.  It took me a little while to muster up the motivation necessary to finally sit down and write the paper.  I always dread tasks like this before I start them, but once I start I usually can't stop until I'm finished.   Once I started writing, it took me about an hour and a half to complete the paper.

I'm looking forward to an action packed but rewarding semester.