Journal Entry, Reflection for trimester 3

In this trimester, I have realized I generally need to improve a lot of things in order to succeed in my IB experience as a student. Starting off with participating in class, I do participate in most of my classes. I barely participate in TOK and BIO. I realized I struggle with public speaking and expressing myself and my ideas because I’m scared that whatever I will say might be wrong. 

To improve this area I will go over my notes in BIO and watch youtube videos to gain more knowledge on the subject and therefore I can participate more in class. I will also take tutoring after school and make sure to ask the teacher to clear up some questions. In TOK I will go over important vocabulary and express my arguments and opinions in order to persevere and create a positive effect on my confidence. 

The second thing I definitely need to work on is motivation and time management. I have consistently figured out my motivation for school has brought me down emotionally and physically. I’ve been very tired because of school and work but every single day I have tried to come up with a solution to relieve my stress and anxiety through dancing at Elevate. I have seen an improvement in letting go of everything and really focus on the things I need to get done. Even though it takes me a while to do things like homework, I get it done and I feel good with myself. 

Additionally, I have been struggling with studying for exams. With this I can see my results in business tests. Even though it’s probably my favorite subject and I try really hard to be on task and understand key concepts of the content, in the test I tend to get a lot of anxiety. Which makes my mind go completely blank and makes me scared that what I’m doing is wrong. To improve this area I will study every night all I need to know for future exams and really put in practice the breathing techniques that Ms. Amy taught us in class. 

Although all these areas that I need to improve are essential for my school priorities, there are many more things that I need to improve. For example setting priorities, reading skills, annotation skills because I tend to write a lot and what I need to focus on is the most important things in a text. I need to work on commitment, balance, and analysis skills because these are not only important in school but it’s very crucial in my daily life experience. As an IB student I try to demonstrate myself that I can do things if I encourage myself to become a risk taker in order to gain more knowledge. I try to apply all the IB profiles into my academic life and social life. So far, I have become a little bit satisfied with the way I am balancing my life and I know that if I keep doing this until the end, I will become a significant person and a successful student.