ALEC POSTER PROJECT

1) The poster I chose for the "good" category was the braces motivation poster. I thought the idea of being motivated by braces for straight teeth was creative. The poster was clear and easy to understand. It introduced a new thought to motivation because usually people thing motivation as motivating each other. This poster showed that even things as simple or inconvenient, as some would say, can be motivating. To improve the project, I would suggest to put more information on it. The poster had a few main ideas and a couple examples, but it could have been better with a little more information and maybe ways motivation can affect others in positive and negative ways.
2) The poster I thought was better was the timeline of opportunity. I thought this poster was very original and creative. It showed opportunity throughout time and how it has helped our world. It was a great way to show different effects of opportunity and even some examples of outliers produced by this. To better integrate the service project with the class concept, I would suggest maybe providing some examples of the opportunities the makers of the poster have seen in their lives. I think by relating their subject to their own lives would help the viewer better understand the concept.
3) The poster I chose for the best project was the active listening poster. It was very informational, catchy, and had corresponding pictures. Even though it wasn't anything risky, it was clean and presented the information well. I think the makers of this project took a lot of time and planning and didn't just throw it together. One could tell that they knew a lot about their topic and effectively picked out the right things to present. It would be hard to improve this project but I think it would help if they had something that screamed "wow" and caught others' attention. I think a lot of people looked past this one because they were looking for something different and cool, even though that didn't matter in my book. If the poster was on a bright color or in a different shape, that might make people stop and want to see more rather than passing it by because it was just a 'normal poster'. Overall I think this 'normal' poster turned out to be a great asset to the hallway and a production of important information and unique ideas for the viewers.

Outliers

One person I think proves to be an outlier is John F. Kennedy. He was given opportunities and utilized them to bring him to success.
Kennedy, as most people know him, is popular because he was assassinated as president. This is however is not what he thought would be the outcome of taking opportunities to use towards success. He was born from a wealthy and politically prominent family who's legacy brought him towards, in the end, being elected president.
This person stood out to me because I knew he came from a strong background that provided him with many factors that contributed to his success. He is a true outlier because he took these without any apprehension and made them work in his life for the betterment of himself, his family, and overall America. I think he is an important representative of outliers because he did not chose to become successful and spend countless hardworking hours on studying and experiences solely for himself. Although he did not come from a harsh background in which he had to become successful on his own, he used that advantage to help others and lead a country. It takes a true outlier to be voted into a leadership position responsible of millions of people. This shows that other people saw his success and trusted in him for making the right decisions.
I chose to study Kennedy for my project because I think too many people just see him as the president who was shot and killed. I think its important for others to give credit to people who weren't born into a family or situation where they had troubles they had to work through to make it to where they are now. We all hear stories about them and i think Kennedy proves that an outlier can also be someone who simply takes advantage of what they are given.

Conflict Resolution

I thought today's discussion of conflict resolution was very interesting. I have never really thought that conflict could be positive in a work setting. It was also fun to see conflict take on a new personality through the skits. I think it's always easier to look at someone else's problems and dissect them rather than admitting our faults. That is interesting because as a professional or being in a professional setting means you have to be able to handle either scenario well. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about that statement in my life is when a conflict was turned into a bigger conflict by my boss. I was working at Target and I volunteered to drive back over winter break to pick up a few shifts to help out. One night I was scraping off my windows to leave for work and my car started rolling down the driveway into the streets because of the ice. After we solved that conflict by moving my car onto the street, my parents advised me not to drive the 50 miles to work because of the danger. I thought this was a reasonable absence-my safety was more important. When I called my manager to tell her I would not be able to make it into work, instead of being appreciative that I made an executive decision and that I did try to come, she made it into another conflict. She warned me that this was not excused, that I wasn't making a smart decision, and that this would count against me. I realize that this is a tough position for employers because they have to have so many people there to cover the shift, which was my responsibility, but in all it was clearly too dangerous to drive on the interstate solely to make it to work. Although she was probably just doing her job it ended up in an awkward relationship and ultimately a loss of an employee. I felt like she was trying to compete with me because she knew she was higher than me and she thought she was right. I however did not feel that this was the best way to solve the problem. When I returned to work she not only avoided the conflict that was never resolved but she avoided me, whether purposefully or not. Again, I feel the situation could have been handled better. The example I just gave really showed me that someday when I am a leader or a manager of some sort I will chose to pick my battles and the way I solve them with more thought for the other employees. My hopes are that sometime throughout everybody's lives they encounter a situation where their boss handles a situation in a way they thought was wrong or right. I think these experiences will lead people to an understanding and even goal perhaps of how they want to treat others and handle conflicts when they are put in that position.

Personality Type

I've always thought it was impossible to label a distinct personality type for people. We're all different- we have different ways of thinking, dealing with things, and managing ourselves-and that's just how it is. The Myers-Briggs type indicator opened a new perspective to my feelings. The test results stated I am a ESFJ. At first glance, it doesn't make much sense-so I have a preference in extroversion, sensing, feeling, and judging...so what? The more I read about the 'caregiver' the more I felt it described me. I love people, take responsibilities very seriously, and am not shy to name a few examples. I found it quite amusing that out of a few questions they could almost read me like a book. Durring our class discussion, I found that a lot of people had this same personality type. Although I honestly would never think most of those classmates were like me, it made me realize that I don't know them like I know myself and maybe we are alike. So what does this mean? Well, I think that the world could be a better place if they took this test and found themselves in their assessed personality type. I think people would be more accepting of others because they might be more open to believe that that's just how people are and although there are no good or bad types, everyone is different. I think it might open a world of better communication because if we knew what the others were we would know how to treat them and what their strengths/weaknesses are a little better than the clique' small talk. I think we would appreciate each other a little better knowing that we ourselves are comfortable in our type. I think it would be really cool to see this happen and see really how much of a change this could make in our world.

Arnold Kids

As a reflection on my current service project, I am currently working with students at Arnold Elementary in grades 1, 2, and 3. With the first graders, I work in a specific class room reviewing vocabulary words and helping them with phonics. In the second grade room I work with specific students on math skills, currently we are learning coins. I also work with the second and third graders doing math flash cards and practicing reading with short books. All in all I spend about 5 hours a week working with these kids with hopes of making a difference in their life.
The reason we chose Arnold Elementary was because it sounded like it had something in store for all of us. I love working with kids and I'm used to it, so I didn't think this experience would be like any different-but it is. Unlike the other times I've worked with kids, at a day care job, babysitting, or in my practicum-working at Arnold is voluntary. I am giving up my time to help these kids the best that I can and I think that is why this experience is so rewarding for me-because I feel I am doing a good thing. I also feel as I am truly there for a reason. Whether this is benefitting me or the students--I believe it goes both ways.
What I am hoping for the outcome of this project is to help the students be the best that they can. I believe I bring a different personality into the room and sometimes kids need that extra help to get them on the track they need to be on. I think the staff appreciates my help and they also know I am doing the best for the benefit of the learning experience at Arnold.