Template for a Class Portfolio

Introduction

In CODES 120, I have learned to discuss problems and examine their aspects in more detail, identify wicked problems, and learn how to approach them. One of the things that I enjoyed was our class discussion, which used the Miro board and added topics related to the conversation with other ideas. At first, I had difficulty learning to do my research, choosing good websites, and citing them. I have exceeded my goal number 4 as I interacted with my group activities and participated in the miro board. I hope to develop skills that will help me research and cite the web.

Now that the first semester has ended, I am very thankful for the opportunities and challenges that have come with this amazing research team. This half of the semester, I worked in groups. It was interesting and fun to work with others who also saw the importance of youth education in water. During our research, I looked into the driver of youth education and, finally, the board concept of how many factors we use to help impact youth education. I have grown and gained so much knowledge from our community partners and research all semester. I can’t wait for what’s coming next semester.

Goal 1 (20%)

 I will pursue knowledge and go beyond my classroom education to learn outside school and experience different places and perspectives.

For this half of the semester, we visited the sites of JJKFan and Heartlands Conservative from CODES. Being able to visit those sites helped me better understand their goals and see their facilities. Seeing JJKFan in person, I realized that it was much bigger than I imagined and how fast they were expanding to grow and build new facilities that would offer resources to the community of East St. Louis. The same thing goes for Heartland Conservatives. Still, a little bit differently, their facility is smaller. Still, they work more outside with nature, saving and restoring land. I learned from both that money is a struggle and that they work extremely hard to get donations to help the communities and nature.

For the second half of the semester, I did research as we concentrated on youth education; I looked into different aspects of it and how they relate to our main point. I saw that locations and government play a big part in how we work to seek solutions or progress. I learned from our FaceTime with our community partners and group discussions that we both strive to find fun interactive activities helpful for water education.

Goal 2 (20%)

 I will use my resources to provide supporting material to support my central message and give a clear idea.

To write my sources analysis, I read the resources provided to me and the information from the chapters in the book Sustainable Word. I also used education websites to write my MC. The two sources that I used were National Geographic and BBS news articles about climate change. I recently learned about the school’s library resources, which I will use for my MC 2 group project about youth education. I hope that, for the other half of the semester, I will build more skills in supporting my information and learn to cite websites better.

As for the second half of the semester, I have done some specific research on the importance of water education in younger generations and how it has a long-lasting impact on future problem-solving skills for the better.  While researching, I make sure only to use educational websites from the government and water organizations that also see the importance of teaching from a young age. By using a reliable website, I could be accurate in explaining the impact it can have with background information to support my claim.

Goal 3 (30%)

I will evaluate problem-solving using different approaches when identifying them and developing new problem-solving skills.

I have used different approaches to identify a problem. From my source analysis, I learned to determine whether it was a wicked problem or a tame problem and whether it has a solution or not from our “sustainable word book.” The six characteristics determining if it’s a wicked problem are vague problem definition, understanding solution, no endpoint, irreversible, unique, and urgent. I hope to take what I’ve learned in the first half of the semester to help me better identify and understand the problem.

In the second half of the semester, I worked on a project researching the importance of youth education. One of my parts was to make a board explaining the support of different aspects that affect the outcome of how it impacts the life of kids if they don’t have support from parents, schools, etc. During my research, I learned that we can’t just see and fix a problem. My group’s goal is to influence schools to add water infrastructure as an education course that all students should take during some time in elementary. We still have a long way to go, but we have set a plan for the future. 

Goal 4 (20%)

 I will participate with my peers and teachers, interact with my group, and never let anybody feel excluded or isolated. I will invite them to join the group or discuss developing new interactive skills to talk with my classmates.  

I have participated in our class discussion about JJKFan and Heartland’s goals and the challenges they are going through. I have communicated with the people in my group to meet to work on our assignments outside of class. That includes the Miro board, where we brainstorm as a class. I hope that, in the next half of the semester, I will develop more skills to lead a discussion on a topic by myself.

For most of the end of the first semester, I worked in a group surrounded by the same four. Most of us were friends, not just classmates. We were able to work together and collaborate on the presentation, with the overall goal of showing the importance of youth education. We communicated with each other and even planned time for meetings outside of school to review and coordinate the assignment. I exceeded this goal by working with people, and my group discussed and planned together. By the end of this semester, I had developed skills in discussing parts of a problem that we could use to support and make a change. 

Goal 5 (10%)

 I will use formal and educational communication, proper grammar, and clarity.

I have used communication and many different aspects of class. First was my source analysis with Sonia, where we discussed wicked problems from our sustainable world book. We used proper grammar that went with understanding and identifying a problem. I talked clearly about my topic and knowledge of the chapter. I hope to develop more skillful words in my grammar when writing about a specific topic.

For the second part of the semester, I used education communication when working on my group project about youth education and my presentation. This semester, doing the public presentation was one of the hardest things. I was challenged and very nervous, even though I knew everything I wanted to discuss. I want to overcome public presentation so that it looks effortless.