- This year has allowed me to grow not only as a school student, but a global student. Ohana Institute has taught me about the world outside of the "Rosemary Bubble". I have learned a lot of content, but I think the more valuable lessons come from our experiences at this school. Learning how to work collaboratively will be a skill I will use my entire life and I believe Ohana has prepared me for the application of that skill in my future. Content wise the projects that stuck out the most to me were the Civil War project on Abraham Lincoln and both student choice projects. I have learned about a lot of different topic that I would not normally get to learn in a regular school environment and that has broadened my view on learning.
How do you know you learned it?
- On the trip to Costa Rica the content and life skills that Ohana has taught me had to be used to be successful on the trip. I have grown as a person and as a student here and I know that I could not have achieved the things that I did without learning the content and skills that I have. The true test to see if I have learned what I have said I learned will be when I must apply the skills and knowledge in real life.
What got in the way of your learning?
- I felt like there was a lot of non school related talking that distracted everyone in the school. It would not be so bad if the talking was not constant. I like how we get to socialize during school, but at some point the social aspect of out school definitely got in the way of learning. I also think that it is good to have fun, but sometimes I think there needs to be a little more structure in our schedule to keep from getting too distracted.
What helped your learning?
- The expert reviews of our projects really helped me with my projects. To know that someone who teaches the content for a profession is peer reviewing your work really helps to solidify the feeling that you know the correct information. The collaboration aspect of PBL really helped to learn as well.
How did you feel about PBL?
- I really like PBL, but I do feel like there is room for improvement. Things were a bit rocky at the beginning of the year, as expected, but they got better. I feel like I did cover all of the standards that I should have for American History. That is my only concern about PBL, not getting the content that we need to say we passed the course. I really love the personalization of PBL and how we incorporate our own interests into our work. It makes it much more enjoyable if you know you have personal interests involved in the project.
What was your favorite project?
- My favorite project was the Civil War project about Abraham Lincoln.
Why was it your favorite project?
- The Abraham Lincoln project was my favorite project because for awhile we were constantly changing how we were going to present. It went from just presenting out Prezi, to making a recorded video of us presenting the Prezi, to making a commercial about our project. I learned about something teachers never talk about. I can talk about about this topic with confidence and I get excited when the topic of Abraham Lincoln comes up. I am really happy that I can be so interested in a topic that I had never previously thought about.
How will you use what you learned this year to help you with next year?
- Since I am not going to be coming back to Ohana next year the skills that I have acquired this year will be used differently than what I had originally planed. The collaboration that we have done will be very beneficial to me. The technology skills that are demanded from this school, I hope, will put me ahead of most students. The intense researching that is required to do project work will be very helpful to me. I have learned so much from this school and I am sad to be leaving, but I know I will succeed in whatever I do. Especially since I have had an amazing two years at Ohana that have been filled with knowledge I could not get somewhere else.
