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This is the third year that we have student lead conferences, or SLCs. Last year the name changed to TPOL (transitional presentation of learning,) and this year the name of the earlier one was changes to MPOL (Midyear Presentation of Learning.) Also the format has changed. Before we would share 3 things, one that would e are proud of, one that shows growth mindset, ne one that needs work. This is different. We are showing how we need to grow as a learner and how we plan to do this. We were told to use examples to show what we need to work on, and they could be good or bad examples. And finally we made questions to ask our audience: our parents and teachers, about our development as a learner.
So to begin let’s talk about what I need to work on. Every year since I started PLP in grade 8, in all of my SLCs and meeting with my parents, there is always a common concern from my teacher and parents. Attitude. My whole life I have been very loud and expressive, I am naturally an extrovert and a leader, so when my attitude is not good, the whole class is affected. Last year and this year the main problem with my attitude is my negativity. This spans from my language, to how much I apply myself to my projects. I have made steps to change this, this year and the end of last year, I started using my infectious and loud attitude to make my projects unique and strong. I also have started using my leadership for the greater good.
My leadership is something that I have have started using more and more, this is a way I want to continue to progress as a learner. A good example of how I have used this in the past is Destination Imagination last year. You can read my post about that here.
That is an old post, but it is the most recent DI post that I have. I have also brought my strength of leadership to my DI group this year. My group chose the most multi-layered and complicated challenge this year. In the beginning we disappointed our teachers very quickly due to the fact we didn’t know what an event depictor was (one of the most important parts of our story,) and since then I have tried to step up as a leader to make my group work better together, and cooperate well. So far I think this is working, as my group has a very strong plan to follow even before California.
The complete other end of the spectrum is my experience in the solar panel trigonometry project. In this project we were to make scale model of a house and a solar panel, with the measurements and angles depending on where in the world the house was. The post is below.
The problem was this project was that I took a house that I had already made in the past, and used that. I had done all the math I had to, the solar panel was scale to the house and the angles were right for where the house was in the world. I didn’t understand the project at first, so what I did was I tried to take the easy way without putting in more effort. If I were to change this I would have tried to maintain a more positive attitude and used all of my skills to make a more impressive project that I am more experienced proud of.
So that is both sides of the problem. That is what’s wrong and what I have started to do to turn this problem around. But how can I grow? I need to always put the same amount of enthusiasm and effort into everything, because I have seen what I put in, I get out.
I have a test of this attitude I need to work on in a little over a week. In 8 days we will leave for our biggest field school this year, and I know this will be long, hard, and jam packed full of activities. This year I need to turn around my last impression that o made when we were in Florida. Last year around this time we went to Florida and made a huge video project, you can read about that here.
When I was there I lost interest in the learning and I took it as a vacation, and stopped trying to learn from the opportunities we were given. We have been told over the past momth how we will have to soak up everything when we’re there and ask the right questions to get the most out of this trip. So this next week I need to start bringing that attitude and motivation that I have brought out in surges over the past few months, and I know that I am ready for this. Ever since my TPOL, when the problems on the last trip were talked about I have been thinking and planning how I want to make this trip the best amd most productive I can.
