Meeting with Mr Moore on the 13th of February

During Monday's meeting Mr Moore gave me my grades for the Preliminary and I was quite happy with them. I received an overall 18 out of 24, which I will definitely be working to improve. One fault with my project was that I did not speak about how I used my research and sources to create my final product. I remedied this today and we also spoke about cutting down the word count of my project to around 3500-3600. Mr Moore thought that I should cut words from the Goal and the Selection of Sources, so during my free period today I looked through those sections to see what I could remove. While looking through I realised that I disagreed with him because I found all of the information in those sections relevant. I then looked over the whole report and found that I was being repetitive in the Achieving the Goal section and in the Reflection on Learning. 


Due to this, I decided to cut from these sections. I know that this is going against his advice, but I really think that cutting from the later sections where I found repetitions will make my report better. In any case, I have cut out a lot of words and my new word count is 3575 words, which is very close to the limit of 3500. I will see if I can cut more, but I think that there is a little bit of leeway. 


Mr Moore also advised me to  mention Community and Service in my Reflection on Learning, and I followed his advice. I feel that it improved my report as it meant that there was a link between the beginning and the end. He also told me that I needed to improve my bibliography format, which I spent time doing yesterday on EasyBib. 


Overall, I think that this new round of editing has greatly improved my report and I am looking forward to receiving more constructive criticisms from Mr Moore after the break.


During the break I will be getting more people to read through my report and give suggestions. I will also be preparing the materials for the Final Exhibition and I will be printing out entries from this blog to represent my process journal.

Finished with Report!!!

I have finished my report three days ahead of schedule and I sent it to Mr Moore. Now we have three weeks for editing and putting the final touches on my project.

Feed-back from Preliminary

The teachers who graded me in the preliminary advised me to footnote my sources and talk about the research I did in order to get better grades in Criteria C and D. They also thought that I should mention my AoI, Community and Service, in the Reflection on Learning section.


This feedback was incredibly helpful and I followed their advice and changed my report. They praised the fact that my project was pretty much finished and found it interesting that my project could have a legacy.


I will be writing more about their feedback after my full meeting with Mr Moore to discuss improvements to my project.


All in all, I hope to finish the report by Monday and then spend time checking over it with Mr Moore. I want to get as many people as possible to proofread it, probably during the break.

Preparing for the Preliminary

Tomorrow is the Preliminary Assessment of the Personal Project and I will be taking;

- My nearly completed report, all I have left to finish is the final paragraphs of the Reflection on Learning Section.
- All of the tests I created, both blank and with the students' answers.
- 10 entries from this blog, which I chose last week with Mr Moore.

Once the Preliminary is over, I simply have to format my report and write the last few paragraphs. Mr Moore and I will then begin editing and tweaking it to make it perfect. My personal deadline for the completed report is Monday the 13th of February.

Meeting with Mr Moore on the 18th of January

During PSE today I met with Mr Moore and we decided on my grade for criterion E. This criterion is for Achieving the Goal, and is set by the student and their supervisor. It is out of four, and we both decided that a four would be the appropriate provisional grade for me.


Our reasoning behind this is that I met all four of my specifications and therefore achieved my goal. Moreover, I was able to do it within the time frame I had set out at the beginning of the Personal Project and I managed to keep to all of my deadlines.


I was very committed to the project and Mr Moore was fully satisfied with my work and dedication to my project. Meeting all of the specifications signifies that my goal was fulfilled, meaning that I deserve the top grade for this criterion.

Note on Meetings with my Supervisor, Mr Moore

In this blog, which is my process journal, I have recorded all of the scheduled meetings that I have had with Mr M00re. However, we have had many other small meetings that are not recorded. Often these meetings were simply times when I just asked him one question. 


I wished to clarify this because I felt that it should be on record somewhere that not all of our meetings were written about in this blog.


Moreover, I have been meeting with all of the USAD students and with Mr Moore every Thursday at lunchtime in a USAD meeting.

Meeting with Mr Moore on the 16th of January

During my meeting with Mr Moore yesterday I received feedback on the report draft that I submitted to him earlier in the day. So far, two main sections are finished, as we had agreed last week, and I will finish the Application of Information section by Thursday. 


The feedback I received was positive, and there were only one or two small changes that could be made. Overall, Mr Moore was pleased with the tone of my writing and the information that I chose to include.


He is also happy that I have not missed any of my deadlines throughout the time that he has been advising me on my project.

Alternates

The alternates will be picked soon, before next week, because we need to purchase plane tickets. As soon as the alternates have been picked, I will post the final list. Most of the alternates we will be taking will probably be Grade 9 students, so that they can have some experience of the competition before they join the team next year.


Postscript:
The alternates are;
     Luisa Runge
     Clark Skillman
     Hardy Hewson
     Dalton 

Meeting with Mr Moore on the 11th of January

In my meeting with Mr Moore, we discussed the preliminary assessment that is coming up, and so that we had to set deadlines for the different sections of my report. I am aiming for my report to be finished by the 8th of February, which is the day of the preliminary. 


The first deadline is going to be Monday, the 16th, and I will have to finish the Goal and the Selection of Sources. Furthermore, on Thursday the 19th, the Application of Information will be due. 


I have found example reports on Student Shared, and I will be looking over them tonight to see how I should structure my report. I also have the template that was sent to me by Ms Saleh to help me.


I will be rewriting the Goal section, as I was rushed when I did it in December, and I think that I could have done better. 

Meeting with Mr Moore on the 16th of December

During my meeting with Mr Moore today, we looked over the grades table and decided on the team that will be traveling to Albuquerque in April. 


The final team (in alphabetical order) is...


Sophie Bodanis (co-captain)
Edoardo Cimatti
Leyla Gumusdis (co-captain)
Lucas Hoffman
Abigail Jean-Baptiste
Darius Khosrowshahi
Caroline Nutter
Caitlin Pley
Samantha Rasin


Congratulations to everyone who got in to the team!!!


The alternate list will be made when school opens again in January.

Grades Table

I have translated the scores of each exam into scores out of 100, and made a table that shows the scores of each student. This means that each student will receive a final score out of 500. This table is posted below, and I asked Mr Moore to give me the candidate number of each student so that I could construct this table.

Candidate	Language & Literature	Essay	Interview	Speech	SuperQuiz	Total
1 (Leily)	0	17	62	62	0	141
2 (Caroline)	30	89	94	80	33	326
3 (Caitlin)	36	98	67	74	49	324
4 (Eddie)	26	83	70	62	34	275
5 (Abigail)	56	91	100	68	47	362
6 (Darius)	22	97	84	82	44	329
7 (Sophie)	34	96	88	-100-	36	354
8 (Lucas)	34	82	61	69	52	297
9 (Sammy)	28	91	53	66	32	270

Grading Essays

Last night, I graded nearly all of the essays, and I will finish the last three tonight. So far, most of the essays have scored highly, and I will post each students score here as soon as possible.

Draft of Personal Project Report

Over the weekend, I wrote the draft for my personal project report and handed it in to Mr Moore. I am hoping to get feedback before the end of the term.

Speech Schedule

Here is the final schedule for the speeches...

Tuesday:

Caitlin Pley - Period 5 (12:50 - 13:00)

Samantha Rasin - After School (15:35 - 15:45)

Thursday:

Darius Khosrowshahi - Break (10:40 - 10:50)

Edoardo Cimatti - Break (10:50 - 11:00)

Abigail Jean-Baptiste - Period 5 (12:50 - 13:00)

Lucas Hoffman - Period 5 (13:00 - 13:10)

Caroline Nutter - Period 5 (13:10 - 13:20)
Leily Radseresht - Period 5 (13:20 - 13:30)

They will all be in 2.06, which is Ms Saleh's office. Sophie will be present for as many speeches as possible.

Speech Schedule

I have created a schedule for the speeches this week that I have sent to Ms Saleh. If it works for her, then I will post it here. Sophie's schedule is incredibly complicated, meaning that she may not be able to make it to every speech, and so some speeches may have only one grader.

Interview Schedule

As it happens, many changes had to be made to the schedule for the interviews at the request of the students, and so I have posted here the full schedule with the actual times when the interviews took place.

Thursday the 8th:

Caroline Nutter - Period 1 (9:00 - 9:15) in Conway Street

Caitlin Pley - Period 1 (9:15 - 9:30) in Conway Street

Darius Khosrowshahi - Break (10:40 - 11:00) in Conway Street... You will be excused from the last ten minutes of Biology so that you have enough time

Leily Radseresht - After School (15:45 - 16:00) in Portland Place G.05

Lucas Hoffman - After School (16:00 - 16:15) in Portland Place G.05

Samantha Rasin - After School (16:15 - 16:30) in Portland Place G.05

Friday the 9th:

Edoardo Cimatti - After School (15:45 - 16:00) in Portland Place G.05

Abigail Jean-Baptiste - After School (16:00 - 16:15) in Portland Place G.05

Tuesday the 13th:

Sophie Bodanis - Period 5 (13:00 - 13:15) in Conway Street

Personal Project Specification

This is the specification for my Personal Project:


- A team of 9 people, including myself, must be selected through the entrance process I create, and there must be more than 8 students competing in order for an elimination process to be necessary.
- The tests I make must contribute to the selection process.
- Each student must sit one interview, one speech, one timed essay, and two multiple choice tests.
- The tests created must be based on the Resource Guides of the United States Academic Decathlon.


I think that this specification sets out everything that I want my project to accomplish and that I am well on my way to completing my goal.

Sophie is Absent

Unfortunately, Sophie is absent today because she is ill. This means that I have had to cancel her interview. I will be talking with her when she returns about setting another time, and I hope she gets well soon!


Postscript:
Edoardo is also not in school, and his interview will also be rescheduled.

Interview Schedule

Tuesday:
Sophie Bodanis - Break (10:40-11:00) in Conway Street... You will be excused from the first ten minutes of Spanish so that you have time to return to Portland Place
Edoardo Cimatti - Period 5 (13:00 - 13:15) in Conway Street

Thursday:
Caroline Nutter - Period 1 (9:00 - 9:15) in Conway Street
Caitlin Pley - Period 1 (9:15 - 9:30) in Conway Street
Darius Khosrowshahi - Break (10:40 - 11:00) in Conway Street... You will be excused from the last ten minutes of Biology so that you have enough time
Leily Radseresht - After School (15:45 - 16:00) in Portland Place G.05
Lucas Hoffman - After School (16:00 - 16:15) in Portland Place G.05

Friday:
Abigail Jean-Baptiste - After School (15:45 - 16:00) in Portland Place G.05
Samantha Rasin - After School (16:00 - 16:15) in Portland Place G.05

Talking with Mr Hemmens

I will be meeting Mr Hemmens afterschool today to talk about the USAD interviews. There are some minor changes that have to be made to the schedule, and some students will need to go to Conway Street for interviews. Two students, Darius and Sophie, need to go to Conway Street during break, and I have arranged for them to be allowed to miss ten minutes of class so that they can get there and back on time.


Sophie will miss the first ten minutes of Spanish, and Darius will miss the last ten minutes of Biology.


The final schedule will be posted tonight, though some rooms may not have been decided yet. The rooms will be added on as soon as possible.


Most likely the interviews at Portland Place will be in the Physics Lab, in room G.05. The interviews at Conway Street Campus may be held in Mr Hemmens' classroom. The students going to Conway should meet Mr Hemmens in the reception area.

Interviews

I have created a rough schedule for the interviews this week and sent it to Mr Hemmens to see if all of the times work for him. I will be meeting him at some point tomorrow to discuss how the interviews are graded and what he has to ask the students. 


Once we come up with a final schedule, I will post it here and send it to the students. Hopefully this will be accomplished by tomorrow night. Tomorrow I will also be making bookings for rooms for the interviews, and they may be taking place in the Science office where Mr Moore works. I will ask the other science teachers about this tomorrow.


The final schedule posted on here will also include the rooms in which the interviews will be taking place.

Fears of Cheating

When she gave me back the essays on Friday morning, Ms Joshi told me that she felt one of the essays was possibly of too high a standard for the student who was writing it, and feared that student number four may have cheated.


I asked Mr Moore who the student was, and he told me that number four was Edoardo. I do not think that he is guilty of cheating, and I will check this by a asking Ms Johnson, his English teacher, if I could possibly see any of the class work that he has done. I will also ask him if I may see some of the essays he has written and see if there are any large differences in quality. 


I highly doubt that he is guilty, but I understand that a claim such as this must be investigated.

Catch-Up Exams

Unfortunately, Leily was also unable to attend the timed essay on Thursday as she was ill. This means that Sophie and Leily both have to complete their essays. Sophie will be taking hers on Wednesday during Period 7, and Leily will be taking hers Thursday after school, from 4 to 5. Hopefully, these times will work for both of them and I will be able to mark the essays next week. So far, I have read through them and they all seem excellent.

Marking Exams

Last night, I marked all of the multiple choice tests, and though none of the scores were very good, there was no one who stuck out as having done terribly, except Leily, and she got two zeroes for not attending. I have calculated the mean and range of the exam scores, and these are below.


SuperQuiz (out of 70)
Maximum - 36
Average - 25
Minimum - 0

Language & Literature (out of 50)

Maximum - 28

Average - 15

Minimum - 0

Exam Day 2 - Wednesday

Today, everyone took their multiple choice exams at the times mentioned in the schedule. Unfortunately, Leily did not share with me that she had piano lessons and could not make the usual exam times, meaning that she did not come to the exams. Had she mentioned it, I would have found a more suitable time, but she did not, and so I will have to talk to Mr Moore about her. Most likely, she will be getting zeroes in any exams she misses.


Besides that, everything is going well so far, and only the timed essays to be taken tomorrow are left.


Below are some photos of the students taking their multiple choice exams.

Caitlin taking the SuperQuiz

Sophie taking the Language and Literature Test

Exam Day 1 - Tuesday

Both Caitlyn and Abigail took their timed essays with the first set of prompts. I have not yet seen either of the essays yet, as if I did, I would know which two numbers the two of them were. I will receive the essays once everyone has done them, on Thursday.

Schedule for This Week's Exams

Here is an individual schedule for each person competing for a place in the team. There were many complications as a general time could not be found, and the schedule reflects these problems. These times were emailed and texted to everyone.  


Samantha Rasin:
Multiple Choice Exams from 2:30 to 3:45 in 1.03 on Wednesday
Essay from 3:45 to 4:45 in 1.03 on Thursday

Leily Radseresht:
Multiple Choice Exams from 13:45 to 2:30 in the Library and from 2:30 to 3:00 in 1.03 on Wednesday
Essay from 3:45 to 4:45 in 1.03 on Thursday

Sophie Bodanis:
Multiple Choice Exams from 13:45 to 2:30 in the Library and from 2:30 to 3:00 in 1.03 on Wednesday
Essay afterschool on Monday the 5th of December.

Abigail Jean-Baptiste:
Essay from 3:40 to 4:40 in 1.03 on Tuesday
Multiple Choice Exams from 13:45 to 2:30 in the Library and from 2:30 to 3:00 in 1.03 on Wednesday

Caroline Nutter:
Multiple Choice Exams from 12:15 to 13:00 and from 13:45 to 2:30 in the Library on Wednesday
Essay from 3:45 to 4:45 in 1.03 on Thursday

Caitlin Pley:
Essay from 2:40 to 3:40 in the Library on Tuesday
Multiple Choice Exams from 2:30 to 3:45 in 1.03 on Wednesday

Edoardo Cimatti:
Multiple Choice Exams from 2:30 to 3:45 in 1.03 on Wednesday
Essay from 3:45 to 4:45 in 1.03 on Thursday

Lucas Hoffman:
Multiple Choice Exams from 12:15 to 13:00 and from 13:45 to 2:30 in the Library on Wednesday
Essay from 3:45 to 4:45 in 1.03 on Thursday

Darius Khosrowshahi:
Multiple Choice Exams from 2:30 to 3:45 in 1.03 on Wednesday
Essay from 3:45 to 4:45 in 1.03 on Thursday

Language and Literature Test

I have finished writing the Language and Literature Test. It is shorter than the SuperQuiz test, most likely because the booklet is also much shorter. This means that the test will only require 30 minutes. I suppose I could have written more questions, but the girls who have to go to choir only have one hour and fifteen minutes to do the tests, so the fact that one of the tests is shorter means they will not have to miss maths or choir. I will be printing the exams out later today, and on Monday I will give them to Mr Moore for safekeeping. 

Revised To-Do List

1. Make interview and speech timetables.
2. Book rooms for the interviews and the speeches.
3. Make a final check on whether the newest exam times work for everyone.

Room Problems for Wednesday the 30th of November

Strangely, due to the staff meeting on Wednesday, my room booking for 1.03 seems to have been deleted. I spoke with Ms Joshi, and we are trying to find a fix. I will be trying to speak with Ms Moran tomorrow at school to see if it would be possible for me to book a regular room for the exams. I will post any room change on this blog.