If anything, this year has really, truly, concretely taught me how to implement the skills I have cultivated through reflection over my 3 years with PLP. To quote my conclusion from the “Playlist of my Life” project: “being able to strongly support our choices of interpretation not only with just music is the core learning of Humanities class.” The skills and tools to do this is what PLP implicitly and explicitly provides. I believed that when I said, and I still believe it now. To me, the learning plan core competence levels exist as an extension of this core learning.
So how have I demonstrated these skills? As I alluded to earlier, I think the implicit demonstration of learning is through projects and their final products, and explicitly through my learning plan and these blog posts. On a more personal note, a common theme throughout the year for me has been learning how to make the implicit self, explicit. I think this has shown up a lot throughout my school work this year, perhaps a bit too much so.
Let’s look through the work I’ve done over the course of this year.
My heart was really into this project, I really do think my group and I made a killer final product in this project. Looking back on it 4 months later, I still think that our points were thought out well, and there are very few things I did that I would change.
On the other hand, as per personal standard I fell short in the stepping stones, not due to lack of effort this time, but due to a lack of direction. I felt that I didn’t really know where to go with my Zettlekatsen. I should’ve, the tools were there for me, I just started building the wrong thing. I don’t think that means I’m necessarily a bad builder, though.
Lastly, my blog posts have been quite lackluster on this project.
What did I really truly learn? Democracy is inefficient and this project is a prime example on why. Of course I’m being facetious, but it would be wrong for me to say that this project did not teach anything about my current political beliefs and how I can back them up strongly.
This project most clearly demonstrates my creative thinking and collaboration competencies
‘ “Manhattan Project” Project’
“This project was presented at the winter exhibition. During the exhibition, we stood beside our art projects and talked about it with guests. I hated that. It felt like the audience were to be walked through the art and told what to think, because that’s what the majority of other students presenting were doing. I really didn’t like doing that, I much preferred to just ask what the viewer thought about it, and I had some great conversations with guests as a result of asking stuff like that. I was not trying to be an authoritarian voice that told you what my art project meant, instead, I wanted to try and be on equal terms with the viewer, discussing our interpretations as equals. For example: I had one really great conversation with a gentleman who claimed that the art portrayed how many different ways we could have ended the war, and how furthermore that was kind of bull crap to suggest since we can’t change the past. I agreed. That claim sparked a more in depth conversation on meta ethics, and how exactly we should determine the judgement of others and oneself. That was my favorite part of the entire exhibition. Seeing my art spark a conversation that I can take part in. That is when I really displayed my learning the most. That is when I feel human.”
This project most clearly demonstrated how my “creative thinking” and “communicating” competency, the subsequent blog post that is linked is what I believe to be one of my best demonstrations of my “Positive Personal and Cultural Identity” competency.
I’m not usually one to genuinely be proud of my work outside of these blogs, but I think the final product of this project might be the best writing I’ve ever done, period. There’s nothing else I want to say about this project. I think my work on this project can speak for itself on how it demonstrates all of my learning plan competencies save for “collaborating”.
What Can I Do Better?
“The most obvious, ubiquitous, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.” – David Foster Wallace.
When I reflect, that is to say, attempt to look and talk about myself, or my work, or my lack thereof, my strengths, or my weaknesses, or me, or I, or whatever. I often return to the same key issues when talking about my weaknesses in particular. My work habits are bad, my sleep schedule is bad, and my means of finding motivation are bad. Every time, I try to come up with some new clever spin on how I can best solve these issues. In my learning plan, I outlined reading and other habits I want to work on cultivating to help this. For the most part, I’ve been doing a good job on this. I’m by no means the perfect learner, but for maybe the first time in high school I feel, academically speaking, healthy.
I also said I wanted to take advantage of feedback from my teachers, this is what I have primarily not been doing enough of. I haven’t been seeking, nor listening to that which I receive. This is what I think to be what I need to work on as we proceed through the rest of this year.
But as I look at my current grade, and I look back to the quote, I wonder: what am I not seeing?