GAZING AT THE STARS
The telescope project was a three week study into telescopes and how they work. Partnerships were required to build one of three different types of telescopes, the Keplerian, Galilean, and Newtonian telescopes. I was one of the four team leaders in my class chosen to help keep the partnerships on the right track. Although I did not build a telescope, I worked on a parabolic mirror with the other team leaders in a telescope workshop.
I really enjoyed the telescope workshop experience, it was very exciting to meet someone who had been making telescopes by hand for so many years. When I first went into Peter DeBean, the instructor's garage, I was very surprised to see that there was a mess of many different tools and materials. It was in no way super scientific or fancy, it was just how I liked it, a workshop. In the garage, I worked on grinding and polishing a circular piece of glass so that it would become a parabolic mirror. We would later use the mirror to make a Newtonian telescope. Going into the workshop, I believed it wasn't going to be a large amount of work. What I did not know until about thirty minutes into the first day was, however, that the work was extremely tedious work.
As a team leader, I was required to do extra work like going to at least one telescope workshop on a Saturday (in which I went three times) and to do write-ups based on my groups' progress. I also had to check daily to do lists that my groups made. Sadly, the team leaders did not get to make their own telescopes, but they did get to make something super cool. A handmade parabolic mirror, which was incredibly tedious work.
This project was my first time where I was actually in "charge" or leading a group of people. It was a very big learning experience for me because I got to learn how to collaborate with multiple people at once. At first, I was nervous because I didn't want to come off as bossy. But what I realized soon was that I was picked not to be a boss, but to be someone who could help guide my groups through the right steps. I learned a few tricks with patience, that's for sure. The first class period was a mess of questions that I had to answer for my groups, that tested my patience a lot.
Although I had multiple jobs for exhibition, my two main jobs were the creation of the telescope dark room and the presentation of the "Gazing at the Stars" planetarium. I believe I performed my jobs well, I worked hard on the planning of the dark room but left a lot of the remaining work to the other two team leaders working with me so that I could work on other jobs. On the night of the exhibition, I presented the planetarium to two groups of people and to the director of the school, which was incredible. I accomplished my goals for the presentations and surpassed my expectations for how well I was going to speak. This was my first exhibition in High Tech High International where I had to speak to people about the projects we were working on, I handled this experience well because I was never off task in the preparation and did an exceptional job during the exhibition itself. I learned ways to keep myself calm while speaking to groups of people I don't know.
I really enjoyed the telescope workshop experience, it was very exciting to meet someone who had been making telescopes by hand for so many years. When I first went into Peter DeBean, the instructor's garage, I was very surprised to see that there was a mess of many different tools and materials. It was in no way super scientific or fancy, it was just how I liked it, a workshop. In the garage, I worked on grinding and polishing a circular piece of glass so that it would become a parabolic mirror. We would later use the mirror to make a Newtonian telescope. Going into the workshop, I believed it wasn't going to be a large amount of work. What I did not know until about thirty minutes into the first day was, however, that the work was extremely tedious work.
As a team leader, I was required to do extra work like going to at least one telescope workshop on a Saturday (in which I went three times) and to do write-ups based on my groups' progress. I also had to check daily to do lists that my groups made. Sadly, the team leaders did not get to make their own telescopes, but they did get to make something super cool. A handmade parabolic mirror, which was incredibly tedious work.
This project was my first time where I was actually in "charge" or leading a group of people. It was a very big learning experience for me because I got to learn how to collaborate with multiple people at once. At first, I was nervous because I didn't want to come off as bossy. But what I realized soon was that I was picked not to be a boss, but to be someone who could help guide my groups through the right steps. I learned a few tricks with patience, that's for sure. The first class period was a mess of questions that I had to answer for my groups, that tested my patience a lot.
Although I had multiple jobs for exhibition, my two main jobs were the creation of the telescope dark room and the presentation of the "Gazing at the Stars" planetarium. I believe I performed my jobs well, I worked hard on the planning of the dark room but left a lot of the remaining work to the other two team leaders working with me so that I could work on other jobs. On the night of the exhibition, I presented the planetarium to two groups of people and to the director of the school, which was incredible. I accomplished my goals for the presentations and surpassed my expectations for how well I was going to speak. This was my first exhibition in High Tech High International where I had to speak to people about the projects we were working on, I handled this experience well because I was never off task in the preparation and did an exceptional job during the exhibition itself. I learned ways to keep myself calm while speaking to groups of people I don't know.