Miranda's Portfolio

My first reflection

What was the challenging about forming the groups?

I think that it was not challenging for me to forms groups in 30 seconds because the teacher let us to choose groups, so we all chose to be with friends. In my group we have Scarlett, Anna, and Nicole.

What was challenging about choosing music?

Something that is challenging when we are choosing we were not able to do the vibrato, all people in our group can’t too. But we really want this song because it sounds really good. So, we decided to not do any vibratos and just play normally.

What music did you choose? Why?

We chose the piece ” Havana” The reason why we decided it is because, the sound of the music is not very calm and slow and it is also not very fast. We all think that it is just right for our level. We also chose this piece by researching for the no cello version. But there is no cello version, this is because some main parts are in cello and there is no cello in our group.

What are you looking forward to when learning the music?

Something that I am looking forward in this music is that I should be able to play all the accents in there. Also to play more louder, because if I am violin one for this piece then I should learn to play loud when it should be forte or is should be piano.

My Second Reflection

What did you accomplish today?

In this class we were playing our first choice piece Havana. But it is too hard, so we were finding another piece that we like, and also finding pieces without cello. The pieces that is easy and just right for us, and the ones that we like doesn’t have a viola part.

What was challenging about playing together?

The challenging thing is choosing music because, we were finding a piece that it without cello and without piano. But the pieces that we like includes cello. So we are finding a piece that is in 2-3 min and without piano or cello.

What will you work on next time?

I might find new pieces that involves the different instruments that we play, and make sure everyone gets a chance to play the melody. But our goal is that before next class I want to have a piece and start playing. For the piece that we are going to play, our whole team is researching new pieces.

My third reflection

How was your performance in the previous class?

Our performance turned out really well, but we didn’t make to play it together. But overall, it turns out as I expected. This is because our group didn’t practice that much because of choosing pieces. I am also very proud of this because all of us worked hard at home and practiced, because they know that when we are done choosing pieces there is only one class left so they all practiced it at home and told me.

What feedback did you acquire?

The feedback that we got is because of not playing together and the volume of each person. Some were playing loud and some were playing light. In today’s lesson we got a metronome from Anna, so we got the rhythm beat.

What was the goal you prioritized from your feedback?

Our group first prioritized the playing together like the rhythm and the beats. We all know that our beats and rhythm’s are all the same, but we just can’t play together, so this is why we first prioritize the playing together. We also set this feedback as our goal for today and adding up the volume sound that the other group said.

What did you do in rehearsal today?

In today’s class we were figuring how to make the volume the same and how to end the last note. Like when to end the last note. We also found a metronome so we just started playing with a random beat, and it turned about really good. Because all of us can catch the beat and play it correctly. From that we all can kind of know the speed that we are going to play.

Are you ready for your performance on Monday?

I am ready for the performance on Monday, because I practiced this piece a lot at home and I can follow the beat and the bowing.

My fourth reflection

How did your performance go today? Were you prepared?

Our performance went really well, but because of all of us is too nervous, we didn’t play as well as we expected. Our group came kind of prepared, most of our group came in prepared and ready to play, one of them didn’t practice a lot. I am really prepared and I practiced at home a lot when I have time.

If you were not prepared, what would’ve helped you become prepared?

If our group was not prepared we will practice and main parts and talk about what we need to do, like which person introduce and which person counts the beat. If I was not prepared, I will practice alone and taking the last few more minutes to practice for this performance. But our group is nearly prepared and ready to perform.

Do you feel the feedback from peers helpful? Why or why not?

I think that the feedback from my peers are really helpful because we can know the parts that we didn’t play well and fix it. The feedback from peers it also helpful because it helps our whole group to play better and get high scores.

How did you grow and how do you know?

The growth that was from 5th grade is that I can play a piece well and can memorize it. I also improved by playing the piece with all its techniques and following in our group.

What did I do?

In this assignment we were baking pancakes. We first decided what are we going to make between our 3 best choices. Then , we need to calculate from the U.S system to the metric system. After, we need to calculate the unit price and the cost per batch, which for me is a very hard part. Lastly, we are determining the sell price for out overall price. When we were making, Emma and I was with my moms supervise we made our first pancake. But it turned out not very good, and then we added more flour to make it more thicker to make it like fluffy. After a few tries, we became more skilled and making different shapes, or sometimes making a perfect circle.

What did we learn?

In this project, I learned how to calculate 1 batch, serving cost, unit price, and sell price. From first that I don’t know anything, and from now knowing how to calculate. Something that I also learn is that how to bake pancakes, because this is my first time baking, and it turns out really good. So, I have more confidence to make more for next year, if we have it.

What worked?

Something that worked was that we decided the what we are going to make very quick so that we can work on the next step. Something that also worked was how we collaborated when we sell, like I was adding toppings and she was recording money. We have different jobs for all different things.

What did not work?

Something that did not work was the first time when we bake pancakes. This part it didn’t really went very well, but for the rest it went perfectly well. Something that also did not work was the part when we are calculating for the unit price and the cost per batch. I can improve more on building more confidence to ask people to come and buy it, and not scared if I did to much it won’t we sold. At the first time I thought that this won’t be sold a lot so we only make a little of them. When we are selling the pancakes I found that this is not enough, because everyone is coming to our booth.

Personal Relevance.

These learning will help me achieve my goal by knowing what to do next time when I sell stuff which might not be in school. This learning will also help me by knowing the steps to calculate what real cost, like how much do I really earn by the ones for total earned.

Rose- Something that I did well on is that I played the beat correctly, and also I can play the whole piece without any mistakes. I also played on my best effort to make the whole violin 2 part louder. We also did really well on transitioning to another piece without any sound, the sound came from moving chairs and walking with dresses. The third thing that I did really well on is that when both grade 6 and 7 are going on for the last piece and we all didn’t have any sound. When we are rehearsing for this piece the sound of chit chatting is very loud, and we are on stage there is no sound.

Bud- A part where I need to improve is that for where falcons fly I think that I am too into it, and caused me to play wrong some notes. But this is not all of them, for the rest of the piece I played very well, like I put my best effort into this piece because Thunder snow and Where falcons fly is my favorite piece so I practiced it a lot and tried my best.

Thorn- Something that was difficult is that the time when we have to switch to the back of violin 1 and then switch back. Because of my dress is too long, so I must need to hold up my dress and also needs to hold my violin. It is very hard for me to do so. I hope that when in the spring concert it will be bigger. I also hope that the space for us to get for the whole middle school, like winter with you, that part is very hard for me to get all the things and set up. This is because all 6th and 7th grades are all coming up, it will be very squishy. Another thing that it is difficult for me is that the first time it took me a long time to practice all the pieces and it is very hard.

What did you learn?

I learned how to control the ball the controlling the way the ball goes. In this Unit, I also learned how to defense, and shooting.

What helped?

Something that helped me was to dribble the ball easily, and also my partner helped me and teach me how to shoot and controlling the ball.

What is something you are proud of?

I am proud of the games that we played and collaborating with each other, being inclusive. I am also proud of my dribbling and I improved a lot.

What is something you can work on?

I think that I should focus more on defense and shooting. The rest are all good to me.

My goal for next year is to improve my defense and shooting of the ball.

What did I do?

We worked on building a safe and strong egg car using paper and a 1 meter tape. Our Egg car looked like this:

My partner and I made the long crumple zone, and made a box adding on a seatbelt for the egg to not let it fly forward.

What did I learn?

I learned about Newton’s laws that I can use it on the Egg car. For example, I used a seatbelt to show Newton’s first Law, and we used all the small pieces to make the crumple zone. But after all we forgot to measure the length so it is too long. Newton’s first law is the law of Inertia: An object stays at rest it tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon a unbalanced force. Newton’s third Law is the Law of action reaction, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

What worked?

Something that worked well was we protected the Egg very well and we used all of our tape and paper to make this and nothing fell out when we are testing. The testing part when we first tested went not very good because it was stuck on the track, like it can’ t go down, and after we made seatbelts and crumple zone.

What did not work?

Something that didn’t work well was that we forgot to measure the length, so it is way over, but we measured the width to make sure. The first time we tested it also didn’t go as we expected, it was stuck on the track and not moving. I think that I should make the crumple zone a bit bigger not longer.

Personal Relevance

I now know that the egg car helps me learn a lot, it reminds me of whenever I am on a car I need to wear my seatbelt. It can also help me learn about the safety of cars, how to keep myself safe.。