Nobody’s Morning Meeting and Sharing Time – D47

Today’s morning meeting was a little awkward because nobody was facilitating it. Nevertheless, we took the time to make some announcements and talk about the ways we can help the people that are often missing or getting late. After that and until the end of Agora, we followed yesterday’s sharing activity in order to know each other better. We had a very good bonding time, in which we could get to know each other a little more. There were some emotional moments when Carmen told us how she felt living with her aunt and missing her family, since they don’t live in the city. Another emotional moment was when Pablito shared with us how he became, after being very religious, a nonreligious person, and the causes of that.

Solving doubts about programming – D46

Kyle arrived at the MPC after we ended our debriefing for replacing yesterday’s class. Only some of us stayed (Isa, Javier P., Carmen, Pablito, Marce, Lore, Chacho, and I) and discussed our apps. With Isa, we decided to work on her idea about making an app that chooses the random person that would demonstrate Euclid’s Proposition, instead of our original idea of a sketchpad for making the Propositions. With some of Kyle’s help, we finished our algorithm and it worked very well, so the next step is to build it on a web surface (Sinatra would be). By the way, the app would be called "Euclid's Sorting Hat" (with reference to Euclid and Harry Potter's Sorting Hat).

Euclid's Sorting Hat's Algorithm

After that, Carmen asked me for some help for her recording of Proposition 13, so I helped her and stood for almost two more hours. Sometimes I’m impressed about how good I am…

Steven Pinker’s video and Debriefing – D46

After lunch, we watched Steven Pinker: Linguistics as a Window to Understanding the Brain. I must say that a lecture about words, rules, and interfaces does not sound so appealing, but it was a great complement for our reading on his book, Words and Rules. As a matter of fact, the video was entertaining and funny. Instead of writing particular facts, Bert suggested us to take our notes as questions, and so I did that. It was a good call.

Later, we debriefed the Pinker’s lecture, which there is not so much to mention except our increasing interest on this topic. Then we debriefed the day, and mainly talked about logistics regarding Euclid’s classes and the Thanksgiving lunch. Clap, clap, clap; the day ended. 

Euclid’s Propositions (7 – 10) – D46

At 9:30 we circled up to demonstrate this week’s propositions. I was in charge of taking out the papers to chose who was presenting and the first one was Majo for Proposition 7. At first, I thought she was doing it good, but then we realized she wasn’t really prepared and we she stood in front for an hour trying to understand the proposition until she kind-of got it. I assume it was terrible for her, I mean it also happened to me but only for 5 minutes or so not an hour. The good thing was that she realized she needed more preparation and to make a better effort in understanding Euclid. She agreed to start Euclid again from Proposition 1. Then Kata volunteered to make Proposition 7. Javier T. did number 8, Isa did number 9, and Mabe did number 10 (which she wasn’t prepared to do it). There was a lot of feedback, especially in Kata’s and Mabe’s presentations. Isa and Javier did a good job. 

The Morning Meeting was an Illusion (guided by Javier T.) – D46

For today’s morning meeting, Javier Tabush showed us some pictures that could be seen as in 3D. He told us that he used to do this because his grandmother gave him books about this and he practiced a lot. It was cool, but many of us couldn’t see the hidden 3D images in the pictures he showed us. It reminded me of a similar exercise I saw on 9gag, which was very cool so I found it and posted it on MPC at UFM. Follow this link if you want to try it. 

During Agora, we decided to know each other more, so we circled up and everyone told, in 30 seconds, something important about them. Most of us told the basic stuff and some fun facts. I told them something like this; “I was born in January 10^th, 1992 in Guatemala. I’m the youngest of two brothers and one sister. I studied at Colegio Internacional Montessori. I have practiced karate and I’m a black belt on it; also I used to love to cook but now not so much. I’m used to be more afraid of aliens so for me, E.T. was a nightmare (laughs). Also, my grandmother was from Lebanon (Javier Tabush’s family is also from Lebanon).” It was a very enriching experience.

Later, we had individual work, time I dedicated to read “Words and Rules” with Isa.

Debriefing, now more calmly – D45

The debriefing was very good. It was a nice way to end our stressful day and to gain more energy for tomorrow. We clarified many topics that were wandering and needed to be addressed, and everyone committed to refocus and behave according to our standards. One of the things I liked the most was Isa’s letter regarding the troubles we’ve been having as a group, the reasons she believed to be the causes of these behaviors (which I agreed with, mainly frustration and having too many things on our plate (which is also our fault)), and some recommendations to improve on this. I don’t want to get into too many details, but I can tell you that it was a very productive debriefing. One thing I apologized with was my reaction towards Pablito earlier today, because I was a little angry that everyone wasn’t listening (they were hearing but not listening) and somehow he interrupted me (not precisely when I was speaking but after I asked a question) so I just said to him “No cerote”. I didn’t notice it until someone told me I said that, so I apologized immediately with him and then after in debriefing. Seeing it in retrospective, it’s kind of funny though haha. In conclusion, a very nice way to end up the day. We even ended the debriefing at 7:15 p.m. Carla and Helmuth joined us for this part of the day.

Singing? Individual Work and more Individual Work – D45

For performing arts, we started to work formally on the madrigal “Let us sing with one accord”, so each one of us got their melody to start practicing their rhythm and singing. It was mostly an individual work since we didn’t practice as a group, but it was fine that way.

After that we had individual work (which I didn’t use properly. Well, I did some Euclid) until 4:30 p.m. Then, Kyle notified us that he wasn’t coming today and that caused a bit of trouble. We got into a circle and tried to decide what we were going to do. Some said more individual work, some said group work for programming. It was kind of a dilemma and you could easily tell that most of us are very frustrated of how things are going. We had a small debrief and realize we are not behaving according to our standards, especially when Bert is not with us. What is it? Are we still in a need for some authority? Unfortunately, I think that is happening. We are not yet truly self-governed. Our learning curve has slowed down a lot, and I’m afraid of that getting worse. In conclusion, everybody did what we wanted (mostly individual work) and Kyle is coming tomorrow to replace the class. Of course, some said they couldn’t stay after 3 p.m. so only some of us are staying tomorrow.