ALEKS Progress
Daily Progress 12/21/16
So today, since it was winter break, I decided to sit down and finish ALEKS once and for all. I only had 4 topics left, yet I might as well have done 20. Just like all the hard topics that I encounter, I usually leave them for last, so I can get on with the other topics and move on. These were the toughest topics in the Algebra 2 course, and I took 5 hours and 20 minutes on them. Surprisingly, that was actually an improvement, because I usually take 5-9 hours on hard topics like these. I was very driven today, because all I could think of was math and how I would finish it. However, I wasn't motivated in the beginning of the day, but through encouragements from my close friend, I was able to focus and keep working. The first few hours were horrible. I couldn't focus and kept getting distracted by everything. But slowly, I started to understand and before I knew it, I was in concentration mode the whole day. My head was filled with nothing but the determination to finish, and nothing, even entertainment, crossed my mind the whole time I was in my focus zone. I don't know what triggers that determination, but it only shows up when I'm patient enough to learn the topics or when I'm competing with someone who is serious. All in all, I finally finished ALEKS! Here is a picture of my completed pie and my certificate!
Daily Progress 12/20/16
This is Honors Accelerated Common Core Algebra 1 class, and we have worked on multiple things this year. Since this class is very fast paced and there is constant work, we use quite a few websites and resources in our classroom. An example is Edmodo, where our teach posts homework for us at a daily basis and Edpuzzle, where our teacher posts math videos. Our math class is a bit different from every other standard math class because we do the learning at home and the work at school. For instance, if our teacher wanted to teach us something, he would record a video for us and make us watch it for homework. Then, we would return the next day and work on what we just learned. We also do a lot of CPM work, which are the common core books. Our teacher assigns us specific chapters to do each day, and he stamps our work if we report the correct answers. In addition, we also use ALEKS, a math program that lets us learn any course we want online. For example, I finished my Algebra 1 course a few months back, so I moved on to 8th-grade common core, and then to Algebra 2, which I am 99% finished with. The pie below is for my Algebra 2 course. The certificate below is for my Algebra 1 course.
Daily Progress 2/6/17
So after taking a break from ALEKS, my teacher recommended me to take geometry again to prepare for ninth grade. To be honest, I already took geometry last year, but I forgot most of it, so here I am now. I never thought I'd be sitting down and doing more math. Every time I finished a math course, I always promised to stop and just relax, but I somehow always end up doing more math. The exact same thing happened last year, where I promised myself not to do any math in the last month, but the extra credit just tempted me so much, I ended up doing more ALEKS during the last few weeks of school too. Anyways, after taking the initial knowledge check, I got 77% of the pie finished. It wasn't that bad, but I probably won't be able to work on it that much since I joined the Azteca Program.
Daily Progress 2/21/17
Daily Progress 3/6/17
Daily Progress 4/3/17
Daily Progress 4/12/17
Since it was Spring Break, I decided to sit down for 2 days straight and work on ALEKS continuously. Ever since joining Esperanza Azteca this semester, I've been slacking off in ALEKS, so I'm planning to catch up this week. Originally, my goal was to finish ALEKS for good and never work on it again, but I decided to do as much as I could in 2 days instead and to just take it easy afterward so I won't end up spending my whole break on ALEKS. So here I am 92% finished after the 2-day ALEKS marathon. If I don't finish ALEKS before the grades are due, then at least I'll have an extra 92% on my ALEKS grade if not 100%. I'm pretty frustrated that it's not going to be 200%, but if I'm going to lose my spring break over ALEKS, than I'd rather have 192%.