Reflecting on My Journey
Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog! Since this is my final week, I would like to reflect on my journey in today’s blog post.
I first took up this project because I had this experience where having high intrinsic motivation helped me perform with more confidence and less anxiety, so I wanted to know if that was a universal experience among students. I’m so happy that I got to explore that question and find that, at least in school students, higher intrinsic motivation is linked to lower performance anxiety. And even when my predictions weren’t proven right — like with college students — I still learned so much. I now understand the reality of being a college music major (or any major for that matter). Even when you’re passionate about something, doing it full-time can lead to burnout. This project helped me realize that, and it made me think more about the role I want music to play in my life in college.
Also, throughout this project, I have faced many challenges — from choosing my topic to getting survey responses — but I am so glad I stuck with it. I learned so much about outreach and how much persistence it takes, and I also learned a lot about data analysis. At first, I had no idea how to work with data, but now I know which techniques are best for different types of information and how to interpret results. It’s also made me realize that I love doing research related to people, and I want to do more research in the music education field similar to this.
I also want to thank everyone who helped me along the way. Thank you:
Mr. Stewart, for helping me throughout the whole process — from choosing a topic to getting survey responses — and making me love music enough to take on a project like this
Dr. Sawyer, for teaching me so much and helping me get so many survey responses
Ms. Bennett, for supporting me through every step of the process
Mr. Bushee, for letting me give out my survey at Tri-M meetings
And finally, every student who took my survey — this project wouldn’t have been possible without you!
Thank you all so much for following along on my journey! I hope you can come to my presentation on Thursday!
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