My Learning Portfolio

Welcome to another blog post and the driving question for this project was: How do we convince young people that they should vote? To demonstrate our learning, we had a group project involving four people where we made a video about the Canadian Government structure.

Lord of the Flies

The first task we did in this project, was read the classic book, Lord of the Flies. Since it is such a thoughtful and in depth book, there was a lot to talk about in class discussions. This book was great to kickoff a unit about politics because it has so many metaphors and similarities with the real world of politics.

Political Issues for Young People

The next step we took in this unit was to look at some political issues that affect us young people. We looked into which Canadian political parties favoured our certain opinions and ideals and got us thinking about which party we would want to vote for.

Canadian Government 101

For the main part of this project, we were assigned, in groups, to make an informative video about the Canadian government structure. My group’s video was mostly a live action with each of us playing different parts, showing the behind the scenes of voting, and the stages of the election. After we put our video together, the next stage of the project was to make a presentation in which we made a highly engaging introduction that I wrote, an informative part for structure in the middle, and a trivial kahoot quiz.

government vid 3

Overall, this was a really good project, and if more young people saw my group’s presentation, I would like to think that it would definitely encourage them to vote when they come of age. Completing this project and learning this unit gave me a lot of new, different perspectives, and broadened my knowledge of Canadian politics and government structure.

Who cares and why bother? My answer to this question is simply because young people are so clearly affected by many political issues that could possibly be fixed or changed, depending on who they, alongside many other likeminded individuals vote for. Voting is so important for young people because, after all, it is how we get our voices and opinions heard in this very busy and loud world.

Hello and welcome back to another blog post. The project we did this time was called “The Great Debaters” where we picked a topic that interested us, and debated someone on it. This was very fun project to do because I got to debate my friend Declan on the topic, “Be it resolved that money can buy happiness.” I argued the affirmative and Declan argued the negative.

You can watch the full debate here ⬇️

Driving Question: How can we use a formal debate to convince an audience we’re right?

The Best Mountain Ever

The first assignment within this project was convincing paragraph with the prompt of: “The best ____ ever” I chose to write about Whistler being the best mountain ever. We worked on this assignment for a few weeks working on proper paragraph structure, adding things that evoked ethos and pathos, and making the piece as convincing as possible.

Research Page

The next part of this project was to produce a research page. It was to consist of a few reliable sources that we could get information from for our debates. I came across a few articles with important studies and a very good informative Youtube video. The purpose of this research page was to make sure we were getting real facts and studies through trustable sources.

Final Draft

The next stage of this project was to finalize your speeches. I wrote my opening statements, potential rebuttal points, and final remarks. After a couple weeks of perfecting and getting feedback on my work, it was time to start practicing the oral part of this project. As the exhibition day got closer, I kept on reviewing and practicing delivering my debate. When the day itself came, I did my best against my opponent, but fell short in at the very end.

Answer to the Driving Question:

In conclusion, you can use a formal debate to convince an audience you’re right by researching a topic very thoroughly, being prepared to listen to your opponent and critically think about a subject, and lastly, being confident enough in yourself and  your reasoning.

Welcome to my first official blog post. As a new PLP student, there couldn’t have been a warmer welcome than 9 long days in New Mexico. Overall, this project has been an excellent experience that I will definitely never forget. From getting to stand on the test site of the first nuclear bomb, to venturing hundreds of feet down the largest cavern in America, this PLP project could be defined as a life changing expedition for my fellow classmates, teachers and I, but at the same time a legendary, top-notch learning experience that not many other students will ever get to go through when learning about the cold war. My group for this project included: Carter, Hannah, Colton, Faith, Makenna, and myself. I am very grateful for this group because everyone did their job to the best of their ability.

Atomic Journal

At the beginning of this project, we learned about historical significance and were given an assignment of where we were to pick a meaningful event and argue why it was historically significant. For mine, I chose World War 2.

C-E-R

When I handed this assignment in the first time, it needed a lot of restructuring and edits. I made the corrections, though, and moved on from the assignment.

The next part of this project for me was going on the New Mexico field study. Getting to see the trinity site and all the museums was so fun and such a great experience to have lived. There were so many great parts about this trip but the highlights definitely would have to include Carlsbad Cavern, White Sands, and Sandia Peak. I think that getting to go to New Mexico for this project really brought it to life and gave us more learning opportunities.

Once we got back from New Mexico, our group started to really work steadily on our book. Our theme is “Oppenheimer’s Notebook” and the chapter I completed was on the creation of  Los Alamos.

My Chapter

After we finished your book, we did a group reflection. The assignment was to make a pie chart to do with the participation of our group members. We also wrote a reflection after. It didn’t take me too long to finish the assignment and was an informative overlook of our participation.

After that, we had another assignment but this time was an essay reflecting on Oppenheimer’s speech he gave to other scientists in 1945 after the drop of the atomic bombs. I think I am capable of better work, but I am continuing to make edits on it.

Oppenheimers Speech

The last assignment we had to do under this project was read an essay called “The Road to Berlin” and answer some questions on it. I read it aloud with several of my peers and answered the questions. The essay was very deep and could definitely be part of a book by the way it sounds.

Road to Berlin

This was definitely the best possible start I could have to PLP because the project was so interesting and getting to go to New Mexico made it even better!