What do you love?

We all have things that we do because we love it, things we do out of habit, things we do out of obligation. What we want to do is get into what you really do enjoy, with the ultimate goal of finding related study areas.

Slide 1: Week 2 Assignment – What do you love?

Okay, so we all have things that we do because we love it, things we do out of habit, things we do out of obligation. What we want to do is get into what you really do enjoy, with the ultimate goal of finding related study areas. 

So you have your list from the first week, the Week in a Life, where you then circled the things you enjoy, and you rated it. We're going to go a little bit deeper into this, because there are some things we do that might be seasonal, or the interest that just didn't get captured on just A Week in the Life. 

So there might be some overlap here, and that's fine. We're going to go through all the things you do throughout the year. What we want to do though, is look at like the last few years of your life, and think about clubs or groups you've been in. They don't have to be with the school. They could be, you know, with your church or with a community group. Sports, again, doesn't have to be with the school. Volunteer work, do you have a job? All of the things you do. 

Now, this “Other” category is really important as well. Because sometimes we have a passion that just doesn't have a real outlet or regular time allocated to it. There's really no right or wrong answer here, it's just about your interests. Maybe, you know, you're not on any sports teams. But you and your friends like to go play Ultimate Frisbee, you know, whenever you can. Put that in here. You can put it on Sports or Other. Whatever. There are sometimes answers I've seen like maps, or sports statistics, or Magic: The Gathering, current events, musical theater, Instagram. Whatever your interests are. Again, it does not have to be structured. Whatever you you know. You know, these aren't the hidden interests. These are your actual interests. Put them on here. This is going to be really important. 

So then, what you're going to do with this, same thing you did, Week in a Life, list the circled activities, rank them from 1 to 5. And then what you're going to do, is you're going to make a master list from your Week in the Life exercise, and this one, anything that was ranked from 1 to 3, because these are your top. These are the top interests and activities. Not just like a — you know, a 5 is like, “Oh yeah, I enjoy it.” But 1 to 3 is going to be more related to your passion. So make a list of anything that was ranked 1 to 3 from this list, and from the Week in the Life. 

Slide 2: Week 2 Assignment – Academic Interests

So then we're also going to, this week, start looking at academic interests. We want to look at what your favorite classes have been, and what your least favorite classes have been. But we want to look at why it was your favorite, or why it was your least favorite, and we're going to do it beyond just the surface level. You know, maybe you generally don't like science classes, but you really liked the unit on genetics. Maybe you like math, because there's always a correct answer. Maybe a global conflicts class piqued your interest in current events. Really take some time to think about what you liked about the content. And then go on, also to think about the other aspects that made you like it or made you dislike a course. You know, was it an uninspiring teacher? Or was it because the subject was especially difficult, which led you to feeling defeated? Maybe you like group work, and there was a lot of it in that class. Maybe you hate group work and there was a lot of it in this class. Was there a lot of reading, and you enjoy that, or you don't enjoy that? Or writing papers, or the use of technology? 

Right now, just think about your likes and your dislikes. Don't worry about whether these different areas are aligned with your strengths, or what you see as your kind of overall study interest. We're going to get into that in the next step. 

So, we will take this information on to the next step, and we will then start to identify related study areas.