Reflection...

Reflecting on this personal inquiry process, the emotion I feel most strongly is relief. I'm so happy to (finally) be finished with my project. I also feel a true sense of satisfaction in what I created. I am excited about my findings, and I cannot wait to take my family to visit the places I researched. I also feel pleased in the new knowledge I have about the history of the city of Chicago. It is a very satisfying experience to want to know something, to seek out information, and then to gain a greater understanding of that topic. It really does make you feel like a better person for knowing it.

On the other hand, relief and satisfaction are not the only feelings I have towards being done with the project. When I finally made myself stop working on it, and finally said, "Ok, this is done," there was definitely a sense of loss. Maybe it is a loss of what it could be if I could just keep working on it. Maybe it is the losing of a connection you have made with the topic itself. I did feel this way, but now I am over it! :)

A secondary emotion that I have felt on completion of this project is a nagging sense of anxiety. Is this going to be "ok"? How will my professor judge what I have done? Have I left anything out? I'm sure that most students experience this feeling on a regular basis. I guess that a part of the inquiry process is taking that leap of faith, putting your "stuff" out there, and being able to let go of the control of your project.

After going through this process, I really have a better understanding of how my students feel. It was very good for me to experience this, and then to try to examine my feelings throughout the whole process. I think that my experience was like a child's might be in the fact that I went through all of Kuhlthau's range of emotions, just as she said I would. I know now that those emotions are real, and I know that kids feel those emotions just like adults do. I'm not sure that age makes that much of a difference on how a person deals with those emotions. As an adult, I should be able to handle the difficult emotions more easily than a young person would, but that's not always the case. I think that most young kids have a strong belief in themselves, their findings, and their work. I think that as we age we sometimes lose this belief, and then we start second-guessing ourselves more than we should. I see this confidence and belief in my young daughter, and it inspires me to be more like her in that way.

The pathfinder on Chicago for families that I created can be found at https://oncourse.iu.edu/access/content/user/hlbontra/Chicago%20product.doc.