"Final Assessment !"

Doubt comes in at the window when inquiry is denied at the door.“- Benjamin Jowett

       It’s here; it flew as fast as a dove… Now let’s tally up the score to see. In the beginning of the year we were introduced to a class called Inquiry, the syllabus was straightforward, simple and right to the point; “This INQ section challenges students to immerse themselves in the college experience: juggle multiple tasks, be problem solvers, ask questions, take risks, grapple with difficulty, be creative, learn from failure, take ownership over their own learning, and apply abstract concepts to their actual everyday lives.” Now as I said before let’s tally up the points, maximum amount of points you can get? A hundred of course!

First one: Juggling multiple tasks, well let’s see in the Jurassic era, (by that I mean the beginning of the year) we talked about how much hours we should spend per class and we got a barrage of assignments handed out to us to cope with. Blogs, readings, videos to watch, even going around the campus to complete certain coursework, it wasn’t really a surprise to me as it was to a lot of people..So how’d I do? Well the first thing to say was that I had no idea what a blog was and I never expected myself doing blogs, but once we got our theme assignments for our blogs, I sat and thought about how I wanted to word what I wanted to say. That wasn’t quite enough for me just to do an assignment, I felt like I had to outdo myself and make myself standout from the other classmates in the class.  Now as I look back, it was absolutely worth trying out different ways to approach the blogs as for example making analogies, interesting titles, etc. Next up in the juggling multiple tasks was to watch videos; I’ve got to be honest, I struggled watching the videos in the beginning, since I was focused in the other tasks that I had to do from other classes and the responsibilities I had for this same class but as time moved on I started to figure out time to watch the average 20 minute videos. The best part of it was that the videos weren’t the typical drool-on-your-face videos, they were humorous and engaging. Lastly for juggling tasks were the campus safari, which to me were the most difficult out of all the errands we had to do for this class since I had a tight schedule with academics and athletics. The exhaustion of the dynamic duo only encouraged my laziness (Yes I’m going to call it laziness because at the end of the day through all the excuses it’s still laziness) to find the balance to afford getting everything done. Overall, in the juggling tasks category I’d give myself seven out ten.

Second: Be problem solvers. The class throughout the year definitely presented me various problems that I had to go out of my comfort zone to find a way to resolve. A chief point of this to me would be the midterm video project, for any other project I would have normally used anything and I do mean ANYTHING besides iMovie since I didn’t dare to put my face or voice in front of a class in high school. The point was that I wasn’t in high school anymore and I knew in the summer that going to college was going to extend and alter my comfort zone. Why not start now? I went on to use iMovie… Yippie! Oh wait… how the HECK do you use iMovie? I had no idea on how to use such a program neither did I know someone that was quote on quote an expert. As Jimmy Neutron (cartoon character in nickelodeon) once quoted “ think…think… THINK… EUREKA!” I did the same thing. The answer was simple and in plain sight but yet a lot of people ignore it and lose a enormous opportunity. The answer: The Internet, so easy to use and yet so commonly unused for knowledge on productive programs. I found tutorials, information, tricks and even more than I ever expected. Problem solving score? Eight out of ten.

Numero Tres! Asking questions! This one I totally used it for my complete advantage on the class. For almost everything we did in the class I had some kind of question. I know that sounds kind of unnecessary and bothersome but I wanted not only to be sure of what I was doing, but to also know the extend of how far I can go trying to outdo myself without overdoing it, if that makes any sense at all. Points? Ten of ten.

Fantastic number four! Take risks.. In my opinion this might have been the most important and personal one to me. All of my life I have been the student in the classroom who was too shy to express himself even though they had good points and unordinary ideas/comments. As I stated before I knew college was going to modify my personality including my fear of being embarrassed in front of the class, this class was the perfect place to start especially on my freshman year and first semester. I started right from the start taking risks just to comfort myself in the act of doing so; I began to make comments, started being more social, expressed ideas, and even stayed after class to talk to the professor. A few years ago… Actually scratch that, all of my life except till the start of the semester. In my belief, this one is tied back-to-back with the fifth element of Inquiry class, which is to grapple with difficulty. Out of all the categories in INQ this one to myself deserves a perfect ten.

“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.” –William Shedd

Six! My favorite number is to be creative.  Well first how do we define creativity? With a little help from a quote from Frank Barron! “ The creative person is both more primitive and more cultivated, more destructive, a lot madder and a lot more saner, than the average person” one of my own personal goals is to be original and out of the ordinary as I always disliked the fact that the vast majority of people only follow the same path that other people choose and most of them are awfully unoriginal. In this class particularly, the concept of creativity is tied in with almost every activity, therefore I got to say that the most of the examples that I gave before should determine how creative I have been throughout the semester but in the end I would give myself seven out of ten for creativity because I know I could have done better.

Lucky number seven is to learn from failure. What exactly was my failure this semester? I would have to say one of my failures was my midterm project though I got a solid B on it. The reason I say it was a failure is because in my view it didn’t stand out at all compared to other classmates in the class, but though it was a failure to me the lesson was learned on what to do and what not to do. I analyzed the project that other people had and what they didn’t have, and from that on I applied it to the next big assignment that was the final video project. Comparing the two assignments let’s you see the difference of the amount of detail and technological adjustments made in order to make the video stick out of the group. A ten of ten.

               To take ownership of your own learning is to have integrity and discipline, that’s number 8 on the list. Inquiry class this semester became a wake up call to many students including myself when it came down to finally realize that there’s no hand holding anymore and that the path is not always pointed out to us, we had to make our own and even motivate ourselves to keep going (which of course was a lesson in the class.) A certain memory about this class stirs when I think about this concept of being the owner of my academics and it was when it was when we were first set out to find out how much time we spent in each class to study their respective subjects, it turned out to be pretty straightforward with me as if I was taking a test to portray how much I know of the subject. I figured I’d be one of the students that spends an average amount of time in academics but to my surprise it showed how much free time was being wasted that could have been productive, since then I’ve manipulated almost every minute that was wasted. Points? ten out of ten.

“The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs.”  ~Joan Didion

Roman numeral IX is applying abstract concepts to their actually everyday use. Well for our class what have we learned? Well there’s time management, which now I use to balance my swimming, education, and personal life. Check.  There’s professionalism, I believe when it has come down to events, parties, and even swim meets I’ve tried to show up with appropriate clothing, I’ve resolved problems in an easy and understandable way with others, and lastly I’ve become adaptable to changes without repelling myself. All in all, the practice of using concepts learned in real life situation has improved my lifestyle. From this one I would give myself an eight.

So from nine categories which a total of ninety points I’ve come up with a summation of eighty points which is a B- right now…. But in the beginning I said there was an overall amount of hundred points, so where are the last ten points?

Well in my opinion I think the last ten points should come from you Professor Guarino by grading me how far I’ve come in this class and how well I’ve done in it. Thank you for this whole semester! You’ve taught me many things and personally I’ve think you’ve taught me how to be a college student.