The mun
The Model United Nations project was a project based on giving students an understanding of political issues in the world today. Each student was assigned a country. A student was expected to study the issue from the stand point of the country that they were assigned. All students were assigned a country except for two students who were assigned to be the Chairs of the conference. The Chairs were assigned to study the same issues, except from an unbiased standpoint. The goal of this project was to teach students to understand issues from different angles, because there is always two sides to a coin.
Project Reflection
- What would you tell another student if they asked why the MUN project was important?
- Think of this project overall- which habit of mind were you most proud of using during the conference?
- What was the greatest challenge you faced in the project and how did you work through it?
- What was the most interesting speech, resolution, amendment, or comment by one of the delegates?
After completing this project, if another student asked me why the MUN is an important project, I would tell them that Critical Thinking is one of the more important skills to have as an AHS student, and that there isn’t a better way to learn how to think critically than through this project. Because the issue that we were studying was so complicated and there was never an absolute statistic or number, or an absolute answer to a question. Many reliable sources contradict each other. So, as a researcher, you had to know which sources to trust and how to find the most reliable information. As a chair, I had to write an issue brief for both the North Korean Nuclear issue and the Palestinian Right of Return issue. The Right of Return is extremely complicated and confusing to say the least, and I had to study and learn it without guidance from my teacher. It was very challenging and it taught me to find reliable sources.
I thought that Perspective was probably the most important Habit of Heart and Mind that I used during the conference. As a Chair, I had to go into the conference with an unbiased mindset to ensure fairness during the conference. I feel like I did do a good job showing relative unbiased action during the conference. Claire and I tried to call on Delegates an equal amount of times, allowing everyone the chance to speak as much as anyone else. There were times when major contributors to the conference would hold up their placards, but we would wait until a less outspoken Delegate raised their placard.
The greatest challenge I faced during this project was the ability to work independently and still complete my work. There were times when I felt like goofing off instead of working, and because I wasn’t being supervised intently, I could have done so. But I had to push myself to complete my workload and be responsible because no one else would be there to make sure that my work was done. This helped me become a more responsible student. It also showed my ability to be self-driven and it proved that I was mature enough to handle the freedom that was given to me.
Toree McKinney, who is normally a very reserved and quiet student during school gave, what I believe to be, one of the best speeches at the entire conference. She was proud, outgoing, and confident at the podium. She also had a concise, powerful speech that reflected on the horrors that were the Palestinian refugee camps that are spread throughout the Middle East. She made a convincing argument and impressed and shocked the entire audience of people that knew she was normally a quiet student. Bravo to Toree.