1. The Capstone project is a unique and demanding challenge. In the process of completing it, what did you learn about your subject? What did you learn about your skill set? What did you learn about yourself? During my project I knew that I wasn't going to be perfect right out the gate, so I did research things that I thought would be useful, but during my project I was somewhat surprised by how much I already knew. This caused me to challenge myself a bit further because after a certain point I no longer found the need to search up things for my project, as I was able to work everything out in my head already. One thing I learnt pretty early on is how long it takes to make something by hand. At the beginning of this project I thought I would be able to Finnish making the tray within around a month, but once I actually got started I realized that I'd either need to dedicate more time to the project or I'd have to extend my timeline that I planned out for this project. I also learnt that I would like to continue doing these types of woodworking projects because I found it really rewarding in the end to have the final product, and I also had fun along the way. 2. How is your project relevant to you? How is it relevant to the school? How is it relevant to the community? This project is relevant to me because a few months ago I made the decision to go into the Youth Train In Trades program for carpentry, although I didn't have much experience in the subject, I really wanted to learn about the subject. Earlier when I was deciding what I was going to do for my Capstone project, I made the decision to make a woodworking project, because I wanted to find out if I was any good at it and I wanted to know if I actually enjoyed it like I thought I would. My project is relevant to the school because the school has helped me get into the Youth Train In Trades program. I believe this would make my project relevant because it shows the school board the type of work and abilities they've invested in. This project is also relevant to the school because it is one of the deciding factors in whether I can graduate or not. Lastly after I graduate, the school can use my project as an example to future graduates from REMSS if they felt the need to. Finally this project is relevant to the community because I can always refer back to this project as where I started off at. If I'm doing a carpentry job and that question comes up, I have this entire project to show how I've progressed. This project has enabled me to really commit to carpentry as a future career choice, so through being a carpenter, I will be helping the community. 3. What impact did your Capstone have on you? My Capstone has shown me that I do really like woodworking, and if I don't end up doing it as a job, I'd still be doing it as a hobby. Through this project, I've been able to broaden my skillset and my potential job opportunities as I now have more knowledge about the subject as I did before this project. I did take this project really seriously which made me realize how much more effort I've been putting into my schoolwork in general, compared to previous years. I think getting my Capstone done along with getting everything else done from my other classes with the idea of graduating in mind has made me become way more involved with my overall work. 4. What aspects of your project are you most proud of? I am proud of how I was able to solve problems that came up throughout the process of making the tray. At one point in my project I had drilled three holes into each side on the two base pieces, only after I drilled those holes I realized I had messed up my placement of the drill. At first I tried to file down the holes but that took up a lot of time for little to no results. After a day of thinking about a solution, I figured that I could just drill through a scrap piece of wood and use that as a guide for the drill. For more information about this correction refer back to my "Correcting Mistakes" post in my "Evidence & Artifacts" page. 5. What was a difficulty you encountered while researching your Capstone project? How were you able to overcome those obstacles? There are two difficulties I encountered. At first I found it difficult to know if what I was doing was right. I wasn't going off of anyones design or anything and I found it somewhat difficult to figure out how I was going to turn two planks of wood into a tray with sides and hexagonal corner pieces. As I went along with my project however, I became more confident within the way I was making everything and putting everything together. The other difficulty I faced was time. I still had other classes work to maintain and I had to set those assignments at more of a priority to my Capstone project. This made it harder to find time to work on my Capstone project for longer durations of time and I often found myself working on my project on weekends. If I wasn't away during winter break I probably would have finished my project before school started back up again, but I did make use of the extra week of time we had off due to the pandemic. 6. What is the one thing you would have changed about your project if you could? I like how I did my project and I don't think I would want to change anything about the process because the way I did it let me learn things I wouldn't have learnt if I did it any other way. If I already knew what I knew now before starting my project, I would have wanted to use power tools. Not only are they faster than doing everything by hand, they also help with keeping everything to the calculations, and it's harder to mess up angles while using power tools. 7. What advice would you offer to future Capstone students to help them with their Capstone journey?
I would suggest future Capstone students to choose a project that won't be easy, but won't be impossible. I'd also say to get started on the project early since anything could happen within the time of receiving the project to the presentation of the project. Basically, it's better to have extra time than no time at all. As well as that, I think a Capstone project should be challenging in the way that it helps to get you to learn new things and to become better at problem solving. Also, it should be something that you're generally interested in or else you won't have any motivation to do the project.
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Core Competencies I've used throughout the process of my Capstone Project:
Personal Awareness & Responsibility I am personally responsible, self motivated, and can advocate for myself:
Social Responsibility I am aware of my community and environment and work independently and collaboratively:
Critical Thinking I can analyze and critique my work and my learning:
Creative Thinking I can use the environment around me, including others, and my unconscious mind to generate new ideas:
Communication I can engage in deep and meaningful inquiry for a variety of purposes and audiences:
Personal & Cultural Identity I understand what is important to me:
a) What are your Capstone goals between now and December 1st? My Capstone goals between now and December are measuring and cutting out all the pieces of wood I will need, as well as constructing the serving tray. Hopefully I will be able to start putting together the tray by around December time. b) Which specific elements of your project will you accomplish before the end of the month? I will have all the pieces cut out and all the corner joints figured out, I have a better idea now of what the joints will look like now. I want to learn how to use the Dremel on a scrap piece of wood, so I know how I can use it and so I won’t ruin my actual project. Lastly, I’d like to start putting together the videos I’ve already filmed for the project as I will be showing my progress through a 5–10-minute YouTube video. c) How will you accomplish your goals and stay on task? I’m planning on working on my project as much as I can in the evenings when I get back home from school. I do have a video project that’s due on December 1st, so that will take more priority, but on the days when I don’t have to film after school, I will be working on my Capstone. I’m pretty good at staying on task once I start something, so I will make sure to get myself to work on my Capstone during my free time instead of playing a videogame or watching a movie. d) How often and how will you provide evidence of your progress and learning during this time?
I will be updating my website with new blog posts, and I will be filming each time I work on the project. At the moment, I still need to update my website with a new blog post, so I will be doing that once I get home (So I can include an image). If I am having trouble with a specific thing about the project and I search online for an answer, I will also provide that source of my learning within a blog post and in my final presentation. Which people in my life can I look to for help with my Capstone project? How can each of these people help me as I work through my research and the creation of my project? For my Capstone, I can ask help from my parents. They could help me go buy the wood needed for my project, and they can give insight in the building process. I could ask help from my friends who are taking woodworking classes, so I can discuss with them on what they would do and how they would make this project. I could ask help from Mr. Main about the project in general. What are three specific sources of information you plan to rely on to conduct your research? Why have you chosen them as sources of information and what are their pros / cons? I will be making use of SketchUp to be able to plan out the structure and the joints I will be creating for the serving tray. Some pros of using SketchUp is I will have a 3D model of what I will be making which is good for visualizing what I will be doing, and I can use it to get a better understanding of how things will fit together without having to spend a lot of time on drawing out my plans. Cons is that I don't really know how to use SketchUp very well, so I will need to learn how to work with the program better. https://www.youtube.com/c/3x3CustomTamar is a YouTube channel about woodworking. I find watching some of her videos helpful, for example the videos about making different wood joints. Cons is that she can't answer all of my questions just by me watching her videos Lastly, The Home Depot website is very helpful because I will most likely only be going to The Home Depot for my materials and supplies, so having a good idea of what's available will help me make my decisions. Some cons are, online stores usually have products that the real life stores don't have, and sometimes the prices are different on the website vs. in the store. How is your Capstone project coming along so far? (Detail your progress, your successes / struggles, and most importantly, be honest in your assessment of where you are at.)
I have almost all of my plans done for the dimensions of the serving tray. I have also figured out how much wood I will be needing. Right now I will have to create a new SketchUp page showing how I will make the joints come together, but first I will need to find a better way on how to use SketchUp. I haven't had any time to go out to the store yet, but hopefully I'm able to go to the store once I have all of my plans laid out. My proposal draft has helped me work through what exactly I will be doing and how I will be doing it. I also think making my proposal draft helped solidify my initial idea, and it helped me work through some deciding factors, like how it will look like. I plan on dedicating a day out of the week to work on my project. This day will most likely be a Saturday or Sunday as I'll be able to dedicate more time and I'll be more flexible time wise. One big obstacle I will need to overcome is finding the time to be able to work on my Capstone project. I will need to dedicate more time during the week on my other school work.
So far I've accomplished refining my capstone project idea. I've created a Sketchup 3D model of the serving tray I will be making. I've also finished my Capstone proposal draft. I have learnt what exactly I will need and what I will be doing. I now also have a better idea of what I will be creating, and how I will be creating it. Now, I will have to go out and buy all of the wood I will need, learn how to use some of the tools I will be using and practice making joints. Once I'm done doing that, I will start to make my serving tray.
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