Final Journal Update

So this year we do journals everyday for the first couple of minutes of class to practice writing skills. They range from questions about life situations or short fictional story write ups. I've been very consistent with these up until this semester when I started doing them on sheets of paper instead of a notebook and placing them in the bin every week. I know it looks like I haven't done any work but you can take my word that they have been done but can't be found. If you look back at all the work done throughout the year, I've gotten my work done, on time, with quality. Sorry for the inconvenience of all the missing journals but I know for a fact that I got them done because there's no way I just sat in class not doing anything all semester because my work can show I'm not that kind of student.

Masterpiece Showcase Essay

It's been a long year but a good learning experience. I've been in this class for two years and it has really changed how I've learned. I took this class for my writing to get better and I feel like it really has made a change for me. I have more of a creative writing process now and my thoughts seem to flow better. It's been a great time learning to collaborate with others and finding what I want to do as a career and I'm not going to be putting that to action after high school.

I feel that the students in this class at first were shy about the whole idea of working together away from a structured class. It took a bit of time but it felt like we all had to honor the idea that we were going to trust that everyone was going to do what they said would be done. Although sometimes that didn't work out, at one point or another we all came through and especially on our master piece projects.

This masterpiece project finally helped me pin point what I wanted to do in life and that was be an athletic engineer. At first it was tough because I wanted to be an electrical engineer but knew so little about it and also wanted to be a physical therapist so I was really in a tough spot. Now I know what I want and I'm ready to pursue it by taking classes in my next steps in school that really start to direct me that way. I'm not sure if my career choice would require me to take design courses to but I will continue my research on that. 

I know some of the funniest moments for me were the exchanges between Preston and the students when it came to a debate. I think the way things were said was just funny to me because it almost seemed like sophisticated smack talking.

The common point I saw in the presentations was that they didn't even seem like careers the was the presenters talked about them but more like hobbies. I'm sure that was the point of this masterpiece but you could here it in a persons voice and their presentation when they really felt it was no work at all. For instance, Ricky Cortez gave his presentation on welding. He seemed like he could go on forever talking about his career and the things he made in his garage just like how Chance Miranda talks about baseball ending for him and how he wants a career in baseball even if it's not as a player. It just goes on on how each presentation made the person happy talking about it like Carlos explaining the life style and determination it takes to be a boxer, and the architecture group wanting to find the most comfortable, fun, relaxing classroom setting possible. Each of these presenters went above and beyond because when they were told time was up, they were upset because they wanted more out of it.

I wouldn't say I'm a hero but I can say I'm proud of myself for digging into my career path deeper then I thought I would in high school. Thanks to Preston, I found what I truly wanted to do. I have still yet to find a mentor in my field so I learned everything on my own but in the future I want to reach out to a professional in my field.

Masterpiece plans

So my masterpiece focuses on technology in the field of sports and other physical activity and how it helps. For my presentation I'm going to get equipment in the world of sports that protect us, heal us, and develop us. With the equipment I plan to explain how the technology was created, what it is used for, and when and where to apply it. These device are going to be things I've used personally and that other athletes will be familiar with as well because they've used them at some point.

Beginnings 2

So I've really liking this creative writing stuff we are doing in class. I feel like these short intros have a burst of unlimited creativity and I think this is what I'm very good at with writing. I feel I need someone or something to spark the idea and from there I can write a full story. Creative writing is more my style versus just facts and pursausive writing.

Masterpiece interviews

Xavier Navarro

1. I am working on making my own street wear clothing brand and getting my ideas out to the world. 

2. I'm doing it because I am really into the street wear culture and I need money to buy everything I like and eventually collaborate and make stuff I like with the brands that I love.

3. My work is significant because people are walking billboards and they will help me get my ideas out there and let other people see what's in my head 

4. The work will help me meet new people and connect with everyone in the world

5. It surprises me how many people like what I like and how many people want to help me get far in this business 

6. To successfully finish my project I will need to have a finished product ready to sell and ready to wear 

7. I've learned to just follow what you like and you can make an impact by just putting stuff out there 

Summer Morgan 

1. Im working on putting all of my research and ideas together into one final masterpiece project 

2. Im working on this because its times to put that work that i have completed over the course of the semester into the actual real masterpiece 

3. The significance of this project in my life/future career is that it has helped me realize what i want to do and what i need to do in order to be successful

4. This work is helping me outside of school because it has helped create a balance in my life

5. Not anything in particular has necessarily surprised me in my work so far

6. I think that i need a more clear idea of how my masterpiece and how i want it to turn out to be successful in my presentation 

7. I have learned that with too much work or too much fun, you will never feel totally content with your life, it requires a balance 

Tiana mcmann

1. I am working on a masterpiece project of traveling, mixed with adventuring, also mixed with "doing cool things". With all this I will create an amazing video full of awesome things I have done.

2. I want to experience as much as a can that life has to offer and really live life to the fullest. 

3. In life, I can take so much from these experiences. Traveling and trying new things is such an enlightening experience that I can carry on forever.

4. Outside of school, I know I will be a much happier person and much more well rounded! I will be able to engage in many conversations and provide input based on my personal encounters.

5. I haven't really been surprised yet, but I will await the day!

6. I need my GoPro camera to come in the mail already so I can start filming all these cool things I do. With that camera filming my awesome times, I will make one amazing video full of highlights to present how I have made my project come alive.

7. I have truly learned that life is short and that we really need to take advantage of life's opportunities. Talk to new people because you never know where that conversation may lead. Mine led me to a trip to Italy, and now to Belgium. 

Design

Our discussion showed me that the possibilities for our project are endless. I've been having a hard time trying to decide how I should go about presenting my idea and after talking to a couple people I think I got a pretty good idea of what to do. I'm planning on bringing in a couple pieces of physical therapy equipment and just giving a run down on what they do, how the design is effective for that purpose, and how it is used.

Resource of the day: What to look for in sprinter spikes

For the last 8 years I've been running track and field as a sprinter and occasionally a jumper. One of the most important aspects of equipment in track is your running spikes. So as a sprinter, I look for certain qualities in each spike because it's important to make sure what ever you're wearing is best suited for you when in a full sprint. There are many different designs and shapes of track spikes that are for different event types, foot shapes, etc. Sprinter spikes all have a very curved plastic plate on the bottom with removable metal spikes that force the sprinter to run on there toes. In the years I've done track I've found Adidas and Asics to be the best fitting brands for me but there are other brands out there like Nike and Puma that have different designs. They are wider fits for me and have some of the lightest spikes out there. In my opinion, the Adidas Sprintstar 4's and the Asics Japan lite-ning 4's are among the best track spikes you can possibly get due to the amazing quality you get for such a low price. If you are new to buying tack spikes here's a good link to get you started on what to look for.

http://www.holabirdsports.com/blog/what-to-look-for-in-track-spikes-field-shoes/

LAQ: The Blindside: Evolution of a Gameby Michael Lewis

1) This story is a true story about an African American teenager named Michael Oher. He struggled in everything in life from his family situation to school. He was finally taken in by a man in the community that saw his athletic ability. After being placed in high school and being taken in by a white family, he began playing football and was quickly noticed by everyone around the country. The story shows that anyone can become successful with support from others.

2) This story was written by Lewis in different ways. Part of it was to tell the amazing story of a teen that was saved by the community, other parts questions if this chance would have happened if Michael wasn't as athletically gifted, and how the way Oher played the offensive line revolutionized the game of football that would later be know as protecting the quarterback's "blindside".

3) Once again, this is another novel that has been produced as a movie as well as a novel. I'm into the sports novels because they are much more appealing to me than anything else and watching the movie made me want to read the book as well. What's appealing is that in a way, it relates to our course. These people saw potential and gave Oher the chance to make something for himself and mentored him along the way.

4) I find this book realistic because you heard of things like this happening all the time where there's a kid that has a hard life but is very talented and all they need is for someone to come help them. I know of two situations where this is true and the kids are very talented athletes and have people helping them out and watching out for them. One of them is someone I watch out for because it became more of a brotherly thing that developed when we became teammates.


1) In this case, it is true that the author does make the characters as he believes fit when he observes the story. Because it wasn't a first had account and if it wasn't first had, that's how stories normally get there own twists to them. What you really do pull from this is the question of what happens for kids like Michael is really fare. It's more in the fact of will people give this chance to someone who isn't gifted in someway? Because the stories of these kids getting support usually happen when people see that they are gifted in some way.

2) There's the main protagonist, Michael Oher, who is considered to be a freak of nature. He is a giant compared to everyone else and is partly the main reason he was noticed for the potential he could become. Coming from a hard life, he doesn't really know much about life other than what he has learned from living on the streets.
Then there's Oher's adoptive mom Leigh Anne Tuohy. She has two children and her family is wealthy. She invests a lot of time into Michael to help him realize his potential. She supports Michael as her own but doesn't just hand things over to help him realize that you need to work for success.

3) Like I said before, the story reminds me of our course we take now. People assume the worst about people and don't give chances because of this. Although everyone saw Michael's potential in football because of his size, people looked past him because he was a homeless African American teen that teachers thought couldn't be taught. It wasn't till one of his teachers realized that Michael learn much better verbally than written. It just goes to show to reach people, there's always a different way to go about it and not to judge people by appearances or stereotypes.

S'wonderful

Well it may sound stupid but the powder puff game is next week and we are so excited for it. Me am other friends from the football team are coaching again and we get really competitive and serious. It's so much fun to just step back from being a player to actually trying to teach someone what to do because you can see the best of both worlds. The coaches and players are having a great time and we plan on beating the juniors pretty badly next Friday night.

Resource of the day: When should you stretch?

So we've all heard that stretching is very important to do before any physical activity to avoid injury, but have you ever felt that stretching doesn't help right away? I've noticed that doing a bike ride or jogging for a little it gets me limber and afterwards, I feel like the stretching I do actually helps me. All people are different so find out what works best for you. Hears a source on when the best time is to stretch.

http://www.fitnessforlife.org/updates/updates/when-is-the-best-time-to-do-stretching-exercises-to-improve-flexibility

Preview of Upcoming Attractions

Well after talking with students in my class, I heard a wide variety on how to present our projects. Each idea works with some but not with everyones. Like hearing people say they would do a photo album or presentation seemed cool for them but I'm not sure thats best for my project.

Resource of the Day: What provides better support for ankle sprains?

In almost every sport, athletes experience side to side movement like in tennis, basketball, soccer, football, etc. To prevent this, the earliest methods of supporting ankles was through taping them very tightly so that it would restrict movement in the ankles. Now we actually have reusable tie on braces that are said to have better support than tape. From experience, I've always like tape better just because its easier to put my cleats on with and its more comfortable but the tape does loosen as the game goes on. Braces are a bit bulkier but they sure do provide a lot of support and they are always adjustable. Some people argue over what is better but studies have show the brace to be superior over tape.
http://www.oaph.com/patient-center/where-it-hurts/ankle-taping-or-ankle-braces-%e2%80%93-which-more-effective-prevention-injurie

Raising Digital Awareness

So I've been using this open source learning now for almost two years and now we are finally seeing something more valuable to it than before. I understand that it was an online binder for the world to see but I didn't feel like anyone really payed attention to my work. Then we started doing these "resources and I didn't really see the value because I felt as if they were just me telling people hey come check out what this guy said. Todays talk was probably the first time this resource stuff actually made sense because now I see that it's not just another assignment or hey look what I know, it's to find people like you with the same ideas that want to work together. So this blog is important for reaching out to those people that are interested in what I want to do. Have I been putting enough resources? No, I don't post them regularly but I see that it is how I'm going to get traffic into what I want to do. These tools like social media are made readily available for everyone and whats the limit to it? We should use these tools to be more productive with what we do but also not rely on them so much as the only means of getting out there. Being on a computer to reach out is good and all but it's always nice to know that person who has the same ideas for real.

My expert

In every athletic trainers room and sports rehab clinics across the country, you will see one piece of technology in common. The stimulus machine is used by athletic trainers and therapist all over to relieve pain in designated areas by this machine which puts an electrical current into the muscles of wherever it's attached. This method of treatment has been around for ages but the man credited with the modern invention of this device is Dr. C Norman Shealy.

Masterpiece test

So I'm on a path of exploring engineering medical equipment for athletes. When I think test, I think common memorization on a multiple choice test. Well that doesn't show much cause what if you guess on like half of your questions and get most of them right? I think a test would be understanding the different equipment out there right now and having a verbal explaination what each item is for. Then use what that equipment is made for in the best senario to show that you know when and where is the time to use it.

Resource of the day: Physical Therapy

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3362981/

So at the moment I'm dealing with a hamstring pull that is looking to keep me out of track for the next month. I started looking into different ways I could rehabilitate it so I can hopefully make a speedy recovery without losing much in my legs. This was a good source I found explaining what causes this injury and exercises you can do to recover from the injury.

Status on My Blog

So I know my research hasn't been posted and its not that I haven't done it, it's just that I don't record it to my blog. So I have so catch up to do with that but rest assure, my research will begin to be posted on my blog.

Entrepreneur

a) I would say that my questions are meant for an Entrepreneur. I tried not to ask basic questions but more about what choices they made in life or effects of others that inspired them to chase a dream. Because to me, it's not important where they're at now but what events in there life before then helped them to reach their goal.
b) I wouldn't consider myself an entrepreneur because to me, it still means someone who tries to do something completely new. Then again I want to better the technologies used in the athletic world so maybe that's something but I don't feel like I don't have what most entrepreneurs do.
c) I feel in schooling, no one even mentions entrepreneurship so most kids come into the world without a true drive to chase their passion. Then after highschool we see how entrepreneurs are glorified in society and we wonder what they did to get there when all it took was motivation, hard work, and the risk.

10 Questions

1) What did you do when you were younger that sparked your interest?
2) How did you begin your research?
3) In what ways did you reach out to build your network?
4) What was your drive to pursue your passion?
5) Did college help you develop your passion?
6) How did you ask for help when you needed it?
7) Did you have to overcome others who said you wouldn't succeed?
8) Who were your main supporters?
9) Was there more motivation when some said you couldn't do something or when the said you could?
10) How can I reach my potential?

Super 5

1)   Alan Turning- He is important to my field of engineering because he is the developer of binary architecture in computers (the things you see in computers that go like this 001011000010010)
this important because electrical engineering braches off into different other types of engineering. One of the most important branches being computer engineering.
2)   Nikola Tesla- said to be the greatest electrical engineer of all time for his inventions. ( fluorescent lighting, the Tesla coil, the induction motor, and 3-phase electricity)
3)   Alexander Bell- Invented the practical telephone which revolutionized communication between Americans and the rest of the world.
4)   Tim Berners Lee- the inventor of the world wide web
5)   Steve Jobs- revolutionized personal and portable computer technology.