Honors Independent Study
V.S.
The Morality of the 35th and 37th Presidents of the United States
Project Reflection:

The assignment for this project was to pick a topic or issue that has or is happening and deduce what is the morality of that topic or issue. To do this I had to research multiple sources that were about my topic and that all had different points of views on my topic. The topic that I originally was going to do was to compare the moral theories of Reagan, Clinton, Romney and Obama; from there I was going to see the similarities of the four men and then try to determined what makes a good President. I wanted to dew this project idea because in class when me did the moral theories and Kohlberg testing I found that really interesting and I wanted to see if I could find a correlation between moral theories and grate Presidents. Yet dew to insufficient evidence I had to abandoned that idea and find myself a new one. The next project that I came up with, with much help form my teacher and the project that was my final project was; to compare the moralities of John K. Kennedy (JFK) and Richard Nixon (Nixon) and see which of these two Presidents was more moral then the other. I came up with the second project because I wanted to stay with the I ideas of moral theories still and senses JFK and Nixon both under went moral test situations as Presidents I thought if would make sense to compare these two men.
There where two difficult parts of this project for me, one finding enough evidence to try to help me clarify and answer my research questions and the other is having to start a new and different project three week from exhibition. I have learned from those two experiences though and I now know how to cope with those experiences. What I learned from the research gathering problem was if you cannot find any evidence to answer you research questions it could me you project is near physically impossible or you not looking deep of hard enough for me it was the latter. Looking back onto this project and mainly the three weeks till the exhibition I have released that I can get good work down as long as a do not procrastinate as I did before the sudden project change and I know that I need to stop procrastinating so I can produce higher quality work and lower my stress levels. Because we did this project and the experience that I had with this project I would confidently say I do feel better prepared for Senior project because I now know that procrastinating leads to stress and not quality work also that when choosing a project aim for a topic that is not too narrow or broad or lacking in evidence.
If I had the possibility to go back in time I would slap myself in the face for thinking that I could have done my first project idea. I wish I could have change my project that I did because I did not feel connected to that project at all and I wish I did a project that I could have felt more connected too. As for the project that did do I wish I could have made the project more artsy and not an essay. I would have also like to have added a little more evidence into my final project.
There is only three things that I would like to say to the Honors Students that will do this next are:
- One: Choses a topic that can interest you for four months. Other wise you will be slapping your self mentally for ever chose that project idea.
- Two: Choses a topic that is not is not narrow or broad and that has sufficient evidence. If this is not followed you could do what I had to do and change my whole project at the last minute which is not fun.
- Three: DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! If you do this your life will be miserable for the month before exhibition; create a schedule and stick with that schedule.
Fallow these three things and your Honors independent study will be fine.
Ashley, I have to say that I very much enjoyed the concept of the project, but I would not recommend doing this project first semester, also by doing it second semester you would allow the students to have a few more topics to think about when choosing a project. Second do two week check ends with the honors kids and pull the plug on a project that you think is destined to fail. Lastly give the honors students time to work in class at lest once a week one to give them time to stick to their schedule and two to see were they are at in their individual studies.
Second Semester Honor Book Club
Second semester Humanities Honors were structurally different from first semester. In first semester Honors we, the students, had and independent study project where we created a theists that we researched and then did a project for. This semester was more of a book club; we read three books, The Great Gatsby, Half the Sky and Fahrenheit 451. For each book we read there was a project produced and a seminar on the book done. We only had to do a project for two books. The two books I did a project for where, The Great Gatsby and Half the Sky. I chose to do a project on The Great Gatsby because I thought I could write a great litany analysis of the book and the social hierarchy. I chose to do Half the Sky for my other project, because I was inspired by the suffering of the women and how they liberated themselves. I wanted to convey that through art.
The book that had the most profound impact on me was, Half the Sky. Half to Sky, is about woman suffrage around the world. The book talks about how women have been raped, cheated and smuggled across the world with little to no recognition from the media. However, this book also talks about how women are liberating and freeing themselves from the oppressive bonds that been set upon them by men and their own culture. This book to me, popped my bubble on how I perceive the world; before this book I had a thanks idea, how women were treated. I knew women were not treated fairly by no idea it was to the extent that this book talked about. I learned from this book that women are trying to free themselves. I learned that there are organizations out there I can give money to, to help women overcome oppression. Is not hard to forget in America but not all people in the world live as prosperous as we do. This book popped my notions of the world, and taught me that women in the world need help overcoming their oppressors.
Honors, in schools are considered to be more rigorous than a normal class; coming into 11th grade Humanities I was fully aware that honors Humanities were going to be rigorous and time consuming. I was not aware though of the fact that I was no where near prepared enough to do Honors Humanities. Since I am dyslexic I do have trouble reading and writing, both were prevalent in Honors. By tasking Honors Humanities I have gained more self confidence in my reading skills, by keeping up with the class and honors in reading loads. I have grown academically by taking honors in my reading speed. The habit of the heart and mind that I used most throughout this semester of honors was perseverance. I struggled sometimes completing work on time and finishing readings on time. So with a little help from Lana Del Ray I persevered through those tough times and got my work done.
