Wishing & Personal Connection

It's almost over! I wasn't sure how I would get here, but here I am. I am honestly relieved and proud of myself. I've accomplished something.

I'm amazed that all my feelings in this project coorelated with Carol Kuhlthau's Information Search Project. This model knew exactly what I was going through, with all its ups and downs!

The Ups:
Finding a topic that interested me was not a problem. I felt like I was an investigator, trying to find the answers to my own personal questions. I'm also proud of my final product. It may be a bit amateur, but I was able to find out how to set a webpage and added the graphics and pictures myself. (I am not the most tech savvy person out there- so this was a big deal for me!) I also feel like I was very honest in this entire process. Journaling helped me become honest and organized, making the process go by a little bit easier.

The Downs:
I wasn't able to do everything that I wanted to do. For instance, I would have loved to caught up with my friend Noor, who knows everything about fashion. A few days before this project was due I found a "Plan B" (my friend Kelly Kendall) so in the end it worked out. I should have been a bit more organized with scheduling. Also, if I had more time, I would have checked out more books, looked at more electronic databses, and asked for some technology help with my website. But I can always do better next time. And lastly, I found it hard to stay focus on what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to research about Fashion- but it was hard to narrow the idea down. I could have gotten a lot more resources or information had I limited my topic early on instead of keeping it so broad.

If I had to do things differently:
Hmmmm....well, if I had more time, I would have "fancied up" my blog a bit. Perhaps added more pictures, tables, or weblinks to things I read or seen. There were times when I felt a bit hurried, so I may not have explained things as much as I should have. I might have taken more time to connect things together more. But honestly, I am pleased with how this project evolved.

Relating my experience to a young adult:
The blog experience was an entirely new experience for me. I was nervous but ready to do it. I think younger people need to get excited about doing something. If you tell young adults that blogs are "the new cool thing" they might be more willing to do it than someone who is my age. So though I was nervous about this research process like a young adult would be, I had a strong internal determination to do it. Younger people might need extra reassurance from their teachers or parents.

Finding a topic was pretty easy for me. I was able to list four ideas down that I'm interested in and then narrowed it down to one topic. I think with young adults the hardest part for them is starting to think of what they want to write about (watching). Sometimes they need examples of possible topics to get them going.

Like young adults, I wasn't afraid to write my feelings down. If I was frustrated, I would say so. If I felt positive, I would say that too. Yet, I kept on going. In the webbing and wiggling stages, it may be easier for students to just give up or slack off. Yet, I was looking at the finish line the entire time--for some students, they may not see the light at the end of the tunnel if something in their research process goes wrong.

Unlike young adults, I knew how much of a time commitment this was going to take. I tried my best to start early. If my younger self was given this task, I don't think she (me) would have put any effort until the very end. Fortunately, I learned through experience that procrastinating is not always the best way to go!

Personal Connection:

This is the first time I have ever done a research project electronically. At first, I was surprised that there was no set criteria. I couldn't believe that I could write whatever I wanted. There's a sort of freedom to that, which I was nervous about initially. What if I did something wrong? Or what if what I did was not like anyone else's in the class? But once I realized there was no "wrong" or "right" way to go, I felt excited.

As I mentioned before, I was extremely nervous about the blog process. I wasn't sure what I was going to say and was even a bit scared that I may write something embarassing. But once I started to write my feelings the rest came along easy. I used the 8 W's as a starting point and went from there. I admit that there were days when I just didn't feel like saying anything--for instance in the Wiggling and Webbing stages. It was hard to get over that "hump" because my drive was dwindling. But once I got over that, the project started to feel new again.

I feel like I could take ownership in this project because the blog entries made it so personal. I took something I was interested in (fashion) and made it mine. And isn't that what independent learning is all about?

So drumroll please......

My final project:

http://www.geocities.com/mandy_kudmani/photopagelace.html

I hope you enjoy!

Waving

It seems like every day this week I woke up to a different idea of how I am going to "present" my final project. I won't unveil now what it's going to be (so that you, blog reader, can be in suspsense-- and also for fear that I might scrap my idea last minute and start with something else!). It is definitely going to have lots of pictures. I'm a visual learner, so pictures to me are more effective. I love a good photo op!

Thank you to all who read and commented on my blog! I'm still debating whether or not I want to share my blog address and final product to friends and family outside of the class. I've talked about this project a lot to my friends, but no one has yet been so intrigued that they inquired about reading this. Maybe if I promise some goofy pictures of myself more people will be willing to read my blog and see my final project. Hmmm....


A picture of myself puckering up to the camera on Valentine's Day. See how effective that is? So fun. :)

Wrapping

Not once has my topic felt like tedious or boring. I even convinced myself to watch some reruns of “Project Runway”, reasoning that it was all part of this assignment. It wasn’t until a few days ago when I realized hmmm….how was I going to present what I learned? What is this all about?

Taking a break from the traditional paper is relieving. I forgot what learning should be about. It should be creative, innovating, and fun. Why have I for so many years been restricted to term papers? What are some ways to stimulate students?

When I revisited the Indiana Academic Standards, one stuck out in my mind:

3.5.2 Write descriptive pieces about people, places, things, or experiences that:
• develop a unified main idea.
• use details to support the main idea.

Wasn’t this what I have been trying to do? At the beginning of this assignment I was remembering fondly my trips to New York City. This past month I have been reflecting; trying to capture my brief encounters with New York City, fashion, and its people.

I hope that I can one day advocate independent learning. In Standard 4, it states that “the
student who is an independent learner is information literate and pursues information related to personal interests” (all indicators). John Barrell, in his book for Teaching for Thoughtfulness, suggests that “ideas within a curriculum must be robust, have significance to cultural values and society, meet student interests and needs, and offer the potential for continuity (vertical through the grades) and transfer” (Stripling 19). Educators should present essential ideas and students should be proactive in “investigating” these ideas more in depth. It’s important for educators to demonstrate that learning doesn’t stop when the school bell rings. It’s continuous. It can be personal, creative, and fun.

I could apply the above standard to a classroom of 3rd graders and encourage them to mimic a project like this one. I would present some essential ideas, for instance, a favorite vacation, their favorite person, an experience that may have changed their life. I would emphasize that whatever idea they had in mind should be personal and should be what they would enjoy learning about. In a journal, I would have them write adjectives, supporting their main piece. I would then encourage them to draw a painting or to take photographs that tell a story of their experience. Hopefully, their imagination will run wild!

I’ve been thinking all week on how I’m going to effectively display my project. Whatever I do, it’s going to be personal. And I’m going to have fun doing it :)

Project Runway: The best fashion show ever.

Wiggling to Weaving

This past weekend I was completely overwhelmed with the amount of materials I found. After selecting a few books at my public library and at IUPUI, as well as searching through some databases, I was over my head with fashion articles and books. I felt rushed trying to read everything all at once. I was typing word-for-word statements from resources into a Word document. Like this:

Halfway through one particular book I freaked out! I realized that transcribing every word that I was reading was not a good way to go. It reminded me of the article we read for this class a couple of weeks ago by Virginia Rankin: "Pre-Search: Intellectual Access to Information". Rankin, a teacher-librarian from Seattle, taught some 8th graders not be overwhelmed with research. The important thing, she notes, is not to read every word, but to read captions, bold face titles, and captions. After re-reading her tips, I took one loose leaf paper and wrote key ideas and terms that I found interesting in my resources. I only looked at chapters that I thought would be relevant to my project. For instance, in one of my books, Fashion: An Introduction by Joanne Finkelstein, I wrote down terms such as haute couture, consumer revolution, social inequality, and fashion in the city. Each term had a page number next to it so that if I wanted to reread an idea again I could. This process might not have worked for everyone, but it certainly worked for me. By limiting myself to one page of loose leaf paper, I was less likely to write every word down. It was important to write just the key ideas so that I can tie them all together later.

There was another obstacle that was in the way this past weekend: I haven't been able to communiate with my friend Noor. I've emailed and called--where was she? I found out later that New York Fashion Week was not too long ago--maybe she's too wiped out to check her messages. I could have dwelled on this, but I realized that it's better to formulate a Plan B (or even a Plan C!) when things don't work out. I could do this project without Noor. I'll just have to find another way.

Noor, if you are reading this I'm sorry- I still think you are my go-to girl for fashion expertise. To prove it, I'm going to end this post with my favorite picture of you drinking coffee at a New York cafe.

So New York!

Favorite Websites

For all those who want to read more about fashion, please look below for some of my favorite websites:

Informat.com: "one-stop resource" for answers and contacts organized by category. Each category is a comprehensive collection of related fashion industry definitions, key players, trade events, hot topics, market research, and directions.

Apparelsearch.com: "one of the largest and fastest growing online directories for the Apparel Industry and Fashion Industry". The site is pretty easy to navigate.

Fashion.net: "the guide to all things chic". The pictures in this site are amazing--but do people really wear that? Check it out!

Women's Wear Daily (wwd.com): The daily newspaper for the fashion industry.

Modernights.com: Biographies of Italian fashion designers...because I'm always curious to know where these people grew up and how they got their start.

Blogs.outzonetv.com/daniel: A blog from my favorite designer in the whole world: Daniel Vosovic! Okay, so he isn't "famous" yet. I loved watching him in the second season of Project Runway (on Bravo TV). His blogs are funny too. What a talent! I would love to meet this creative, fun-loving genius.

California Pictures

I thought I would share my pictures from my last weekend getaway. Unfortunately, I didn't see any celebrities--only famous street signs. Enjoy!

in a rut

I've been having a difficult time progressing with this project. I feel like I'm in a rut. It's been harder than I thought to try to fit everything together- and I don't have as much time as I thought!
I've reviewed some books at my local public library (mentioned in previous post) but few really really inspired me. I think I am going to have to look through some electronic databases-- maybe I can search "fashion and attitude" and find some articles that really speak to me. Otherwise, I have a vague topic with no substance.
I am definitely stuck in Carol Kuhlthau Exploring Information stage: I feel doubt, confused, uncertain. I hope (soon!) that I can make some progress so that I can feel confident and optimistic again with this assignment. I suppose I better start now...