What We Talk About When We Talk About Guns Project
Reflection
What was your viewpoint regarding firearms, their uses and misuses, and legislation coming in to the project?
I have always had a very open viewpoint when it comes to controversial topics, especially guns. When I came into this project, I thought that we had a problem with guns as a country compared to other countries. This was because I tend to look at the facts and not the people, and I could see that we had a problem. I know that everyone has their own uses for guns, some use them for hunting, others play with them for a hobby. I try to be a peacemaker, and I know that death and destruction tends to follow these weapons.
In what ways was that viewpoint challenged by our class conversations, your research, and the exhibition?
I think that my viewpoint wasn’t necessarily challenged by this whole project, but maybe broadened. I definitely learned a few new things regarding firearms and how different people view them. When we were researching what percent of the population that was conservative owned guns, it was interesting to see the correlation between the two. I also found that my viewpoint didn’t change throughout this entire project. I thought that maybe by reading articles by gun owners, researching different events, and even looking at the benefit of guns would change how I see them, but I don’t think it did. If anything my view on viewpoint was deepened by the work I did for the exhibition, as I worked on the timeline. When I was painting the timeline and researching the events, it was crazy to see how many awful things guns have done to our country and how we have yet to do anything to stop it. I found it unbelievable to see how many shootings there are and how many people lost their lives because we, as a government, have failed to do anything.
What adversity did you face during this project and how did you overcome it/make your way through it?
I think that the only adversity that I faced during this project was simply coordinating with everyone else to make sure I was doing the right thing and not interfering with anything that was critical for exhibition. It was quite hard to be organized in my work when there was at least 15 more kids that I had to work around and coordinate with, especially since we were moving back and forth from the commons to the classroom. I think that the only thing that I did that made it easier to move through this challenge was to tell my group and my peers what I was doing and how they could help, instead of me waiting around and asking them. This way, if they needed something they would know where I was and what I was doing. By taking on these roles myself, I found that everything moved a little faster, as I wasn’t having to check in with my peers constantly.
In what ways did you contribute to your group and the class as a whole?
I feel that overall this project was pretty large and there were many ways to contribute to the class and my group. I found that something I contributed was my time, which I tried to make use of. How I see this as a contribution is that because I spent my time wisely and wasn’t goofing off during work periods or in the commons, I was getting a lot of stuff done that my group had failed to do yet. I feel like because I was devoted to my work, I was helping the entire class make exhibition that much easier to set up. While I’m sure that everyone spent quality time working on this project, I simply feel that it was my greatest contribution.
What can you point to in the exhibition that is yours (e.g. something you made, researched, etc.)
If the exhibition was still set up, there are multiple things that I could point out as mine, or something that I helped with. The main item would be the giant timeline that outlines all of the United States shootings since 1995 when compared to other countries. For the timeline I ended up researching the amount of shootings per year, the legislation towards guns in our country, the feuds that have started, and also the amount of people that own guns. Another thing that I could point out as something that I helped with would be the profile papers for the United States, as that was the main country that I focused on for this event. Overall, I definitely feel most proud of the timeline and would point that out first should I choose to show the exhibit to anyone.
I have always had a very open viewpoint when it comes to controversial topics, especially guns. When I came into this project, I thought that we had a problem with guns as a country compared to other countries. This was because I tend to look at the facts and not the people, and I could see that we had a problem. I know that everyone has their own uses for guns, some use them for hunting, others play with them for a hobby. I try to be a peacemaker, and I know that death and destruction tends to follow these weapons.
In what ways was that viewpoint challenged by our class conversations, your research, and the exhibition?
I think that my viewpoint wasn’t necessarily challenged by this whole project, but maybe broadened. I definitely learned a few new things regarding firearms and how different people view them. When we were researching what percent of the population that was conservative owned guns, it was interesting to see the correlation between the two. I also found that my viewpoint didn’t change throughout this entire project. I thought that maybe by reading articles by gun owners, researching different events, and even looking at the benefit of guns would change how I see them, but I don’t think it did. If anything my view on viewpoint was deepened by the work I did for the exhibition, as I worked on the timeline. When I was painting the timeline and researching the events, it was crazy to see how many awful things guns have done to our country and how we have yet to do anything to stop it. I found it unbelievable to see how many shootings there are and how many people lost their lives because we, as a government, have failed to do anything.
What adversity did you face during this project and how did you overcome it/make your way through it?
I think that the only adversity that I faced during this project was simply coordinating with everyone else to make sure I was doing the right thing and not interfering with anything that was critical for exhibition. It was quite hard to be organized in my work when there was at least 15 more kids that I had to work around and coordinate with, especially since we were moving back and forth from the commons to the classroom. I think that the only thing that I did that made it easier to move through this challenge was to tell my group and my peers what I was doing and how they could help, instead of me waiting around and asking them. This way, if they needed something they would know where I was and what I was doing. By taking on these roles myself, I found that everything moved a little faster, as I wasn’t having to check in with my peers constantly.
In what ways did you contribute to your group and the class as a whole?
I feel that overall this project was pretty large and there were many ways to contribute to the class and my group. I found that something I contributed was my time, which I tried to make use of. How I see this as a contribution is that because I spent my time wisely and wasn’t goofing off during work periods or in the commons, I was getting a lot of stuff done that my group had failed to do yet. I feel like because I was devoted to my work, I was helping the entire class make exhibition that much easier to set up. While I’m sure that everyone spent quality time working on this project, I simply feel that it was my greatest contribution.
What can you point to in the exhibition that is yours (e.g. something you made, researched, etc.)
If the exhibition was still set up, there are multiple things that I could point out as mine, or something that I helped with. The main item would be the giant timeline that outlines all of the United States shootings since 1995 when compared to other countries. For the timeline I ended up researching the amount of shootings per year, the legislation towards guns in our country, the feuds that have started, and also the amount of people that own guns. Another thing that I could point out as something that I helped with would be the profile papers for the United States, as that was the main country that I focused on for this event. Overall, I definitely feel most proud of the timeline and would point that out first should I choose to show the exhibit to anyone.