Week 2.7 Sign Language

   Well so much for genius hour. When I compare my progress to Brianna's it's like comparing a supermodel to My 600 lb Life. It's not good. I did not expect to have so much trouble remembering all the signs. When I asked Brianna how she was so much farther along than Brooke and I, she said she simply practiced. She told me that she works on her signs outside of class and simply remembers them by repeating them over and over again. I realized it is not only a case of remembering the signs, but also motivation. She wants to be a speech pathologist. I do not. I understand that knowing languages can get you far in life, but I would have to have more motivation and time in order to learn sign language comprehensively. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate and respect sign language, but I do not think I will continue to learn it after this genius hour is done. For now I would really rather practice my Spanish and focus on one language at a time. Perhaps in the future I will see where life takes me and go from there. I can't quite call it good yet though, because we still have TED Talks. 

   Brooke and I have discussed what we wanted to do for our TED Talks and we plan to find a song and sign that song. With our very limited knowledge of sign language it is going to be very repetitive and probably pretty short but that is all we can do for the time being. I am going to apologize in advance for this presentation. However, talking with other students it seems that this genius hour collectively did not go as well as the first. The only success story seems to be Channing's, because her dog is amazing. I guess the plan for next week is to finalize the song we are picking and actually prepare our genius hour. I hope I have better luck focusing next week. I was thinking that doing a partner project would make me more accountable but if that was the case then I picked the wrong person. Brooke can do anything she puts her mind to but we both have slacked off when it comes to our genius hours. This does not bode well for our TED Talks, but hopefully we can pick it up by then. I want to end on a high note. Here's to next week! 

https://www.lifeprint.com/   This is the link to American Sign Language University, a website that I have found incredibly helpful. 

Week 2.6 Sign Language

This week has been rough. Looking back at my planner, I am not even close to where I thought I would be at this point in time. Brooke and I worked on reviewing our greetings and we also learned family terms. We decided it would be best to start working with Brianna since teamwork makes the dream work and she is actually motivated. This has turned out to be very beneficial and I have found that we are learning more terms faster. It also helps to have another person holding you responsible because Brooke and I are both skilled in the art of procrastination. I am still struggling with remembering the words. I figured out that I am not a hands on learner. I need to speak to Brooke and figure out a plan for our final presentation. For now I plan to keep trying and make as much progress as I can. On the bright side, I found a new website that has helped me a lot. I'll include a link at the end.

https://www.lifeprint.com/