Final Letter

Dear Mr. Igoe,
     I chose to do my senior english project on yoga because I have known a lot of people who practice yoga. Before attending Lawrence Academy yoga was not in any way a part of my life but after coming to LA my mom started practicing, I took a few classes at my local gym and I even did yoga as my sport sophomore year. I knew about yoga as an exercise in general but I become curious with the roots of yoga and the benefits while I was taking classes. So although yoga was not the first idea to pop into my mind when brainstorming topics, as soon as I landed upon it, my curiosity was sparked. I was also curious about yoga because as of late, it has become a big part of society with more and more people realizing miraculous facts about it so part of me also wanted to see why people were suddenly so fascinated with it.
     This project resonates with me because I am not a very good athlete and that's always been a little discouraging for me but I really like that I have found an activity where you are getting exercise that I have enjoyed so much and I've not been terrible at it. I think it also resonates with me because sports for students will end at some point but I can continue with yoga throughout my whole life and I find that fascinating. I've seen people still practice yoga when they're in their 70s and they seem as healthy as can be so part of me hopes that will be me in the far future. Lastly, my mom is really into dieting and exercise and even though I don't practice yoga often, I feel like when I do yoga, my mom can be happy with the exercise choices I make.
     I had a lot of success in getting people to participate in my project which falls into the organization, speaking and listening skills. When I asked people to perform for my video, most of the time they wanted to without hesitations. I also had success with directions being followed for my videos. My speaking must have been clear because most times they could follow directions and get the task done the first time. I also listened well to what the people thought they could and could not do as far as yoga stretches. The video overall was a large success of mine. I fell short when it came to writing. I thought my book would make up for my lack of writing and I was even excited to do so but the size of my book was so small that I really could not fit much writing in. I needed to make room for the demonstrations and the reviews in my book so the writing came second and it did not turn out as well as it could have. Looking back, I really wish I had more time to write either poems or short stories because I really could have had a lot of fun with that because that is something I love to do! I improved under the skill of thinking because in the beginning of this project I had one set task in mind and I thought I knew all the steps I needed to take in order to get there but as one can tell from looking at my calendar, a lot has been different. I have had to problem solve for things that didn't work and reschedule plans that fell through. My end piece is not at all what I originally planned for it to be but it shows that my thinking skill has developed because I have worked through the hard parts.
     I don't think there's anything more to really continue with as far as this project goes. I would like to be able to convince people to try yoga and tell them why it would be good for them in general and there is always a reason it would be good for anyone. If I have more questions about yoga and the benefits and about the 'whys' then I will continue with small doses of research but as far as solid plans, I want to take a yoga class once a week at college just because I know now what it can do for me and all the special advantages people can have from doing it. So I plan on continuing with practicing yoga for hopefully a long time.
     My favorite part of this terms work was definitely making the videos. As I said earlier, it turned out to be a very enjoyable and easy experience. People took directions easily and I could give them easily. I also liked using my creative mind to put the video together and explore all different aspects of iMovie. I had fun with it and I think it turned out nice. I can't wait to share it at capstone night. I've always had an interest in creating video and putting it together so I am very happy I chose to incorporate a video part into this project.
     My least favorite part of this term was the reading. I am sad to say that I did not finish all of the book but I tried so hard. It's not that the book wasn't interesting, because it certainly was but for some reason I always felt like reading was last on my list and I could never get around to doing it, which stressed me out immensely. I might read the book in the future when I have enough time simply because I am curious about what it has to say. It says it is the first unbiased book on yoga so even that just captures my attention.
     What I would tell students for next year is to have fun with the project and don't feel like they need to do a paper or things they don't like to do because it will not be fun for them. I would tell them to be lenient with their schedule because most likely it will change and a big freak out regarding change of plans is not necessary. I also would tell them to set appropriate goals for themselves, not goals that they think their teacher or other students would want them to set because if they can not complete the goals, it is not in their control.
     The most important truth I've learned about my working process is I work much better if I have an idea or an outline of what I'm doing rather then a 'whatever comes to my mind' approach. I tend to approach goals in the wrong manner and it stresses me out to the point where sometimes I can't accomplish them. So I've learned that to set goals, I need to focus on what I am capable of rather than what I think the teacher wants from me. I've learned that going astray from my schedule can sometimes work best for me because that way I don't have to be tied down to one idea that I may not actually want to do.
     The most important truth I've learned about myself is that even if I have doubts about my ideas, I can always come thru and end up enjoying the topic if I let myself. I can pick things within the topic that speak to me and interest me. At first I didn't know what I could do as far as yoga went but I knew I wanted to do it and I finally let myself think of ways in which I can get benefits from the project. I need to accept my gut and go with what I have!
Sincerely, Hannah Cunningham

Blog Failure

I didn't update my blog this week because I hate to admit it but I really didn't do anything with my English project. I am all done with it and now I'm just waiting to present and to write the final letter.

Organization

A big goal for me today was to organize all of my ideas and to plan for what my presentation will look like. On Friday I am going to tell the class to be prepared to take a yoga class, which means instructing them to bring the right clothes. Then on Tuesday during G Block I will gather up the yoga matts- about 15, and my iPod player along with my iPod which will play music. I have instructions I will print out so I can go by those when I teach the class. I would try doing it without the instructions but since I've never taught a class before, I think it will be a good thing to have. This weekend I will practice the routine so I know exactly how it feels and exactly how it should look like. After the class, which should be about 8 mins, I will ask questions about how they feel and I'll ask their ideas on the interview questions I have. Then I will go into explaining my book and lastly, I'll answer questions which should take up all the time I have. Because I have thought thoroughly on this, I feel more relaxed on what will happen. I just need to make sure everything gets done as I say it will. In class I looked through all materials I had and made note of the most important. I also flipped through my homemade yoga book to decide what is important to mention and what is not important to mention. At home I worked for an hour on a lot of the organization pieces I talked about. Unfortunately I'm not entirely sure where my book, "The Science of Yoga is' but I'm trying to find that and if I find that I will read some more of it within the next couple days. I am excited to witness the presentations of everyone else's projects to possibly get ideas on what works and what doesn't. I've realized I've mapped out a good timeline because everything has worked as I originally plan. I ran into difficulties along the way but I'm happy with the point I'm at now. I also need to write the final letter.

Got my book!

Yesterday I came home and opened my front door and there was my book, all packaged up. I couldn't believe it had gotten here so early, It was just last Tuesday when I ordered it. At first I was excited but then I was angry because I realized I could have payed less money for a slower shipping method but it doesn't matter now, at least my book is here. I immediately opened it up and flipped through it, awing at the nice quality. The pictures that it said would be too blurry on line ended up coming out right so I was happy I stuck with my decision to keep them. Also I was worried when I was making the book about the size and the quality of the paper but I couldn't be happier with the size and quality of paper I ended up choosing. Now I have to decide if I want my final presentation to include either a reading of the book or me summarizing it because I do want to tell about everything in there but I also do want to talk in depth. It feels good knowing I have the book in my hands and that I don't have to worry about the book getting to me late. This week I will definitely focus on reading Broad's book and this should be easier for me because since I have nothing else in the way, I won't feel stressed out while reading it, like I normally do. I still need to figure out a few logistics for my presentation but that won't take long and I have a week and two days to figure it out. Part of me wishes I was presenting this Tuesday so I could get it finished and then focus on all my other projects but not only was my name drawn almost last, but I had to go last because I didn't think my book would be done.

Finished?

I didn't really do much in class today and I think that is because I really do not have a lot left to do. I've finished this project a lot earlier than expected and now it's all about putting the final touches on, getting my book and preparing for my presentation. I'm surprised at myself that I've gotten what I wanted to get accomplished, accomplished. I will continue to read my book and blog about what I find and also about how I will prepare my presentation but, aside from that I've completed most everything. I think I've gotten it done so early because we were told in the beginning that we'd be presenting next week and so I planned around that. Also, I have many other projects in classes and so I worked hard to come close to finishing this one so I can work on the others. Maybe I should have spaced my time out a bit more and made it so I finished everything the day before the presentation but whenever I do that, it gets me so stressed out so I am happy I did this instead.

Ordered my book!

I ended up ordering my book yesterday morning instead of monday night as I had originally planned. It says it will be here by next Wednesday, meaning I can't do present my project until either Thursday or Friday. If my book does not get here by Wednesday then on Wednesday night I will have to plan something else to do, other than just the yoga class. I should probably start thinking about what I can do now so I am prepared if the book doesn't come. The only part I'm a little bummed about is I guess I ordered it too late so we had to pay a lot of extra money to get the book here within a week, I was very surprised it would cost as much as it did. What I planned to do today for homework and ended up doing was spending 30 minutes to 1 hour reading my book. I worked well because I knew I had a lot of time to do this because I have to stay on campus late tonight for one acts. I hope that I can really focus on finishing my book this week and this weekend so that I do not feel as though anything is left uncompleted. I should still refresh and revise my plan to teach the yoga class and write down what I might need to this, such as matts and music. I also need to forewarn the class to come dressed appropriately. And for the capstone night, I will have my video playing and my book on display. I've realized that even when I think things are going really well, something can always become screwed up. For example, I thought I'd be in good shape for getting my book this weekend but I didn't realize how long it might take to get the book to me. I really hope it arrives in time.

Relief!

I am very relieved because like I said in my blog yesterday, I worked every free time I got today to complete my book. I picked it up this morning during my free block and I finished up until the statistics page and then in English class I finished writing the whole book and even had time to have Mr. Igoe edit it. Then for homework I just applied all of Mr. Igoe's edits to my book and it is in the right condition to be sent off and had published. I will wait until I get home at 10 tonight to do that so I hope I don't forget because it's important to have my book to me by next week but since I finished it three days earlier than I thought I would, I think I am in good shape. Everything looks the way I want it to look and it seems that the book is a mélange of all the things I have done this term under my project. I may have left a few of the things I researched out but overall if someone were to read my book they can easily understand the general idea of my project with some detail. I can't wait until I have the final product in my hands and up until that point I think I will be nervous that it might not get to me in time. For the next week or so I will research more about yoga so that I can answer any and all questions people throw at me. Everything has come together nicely and I've finished my book in the right amount of time.