Monthly Archives: April 2019

The Canadian Experience

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Canada. The wonderful, magical cold land of maple syrup and nice people. The thing is, stereo types aren’t very accurate. Although Canada is diverse, throughout history, and to this day, we haven’t always been very accepting of minority groups. In this project, we learned all about different minority groups, focusing on the Chinese minority in Canada in class, and separate minorities for our project. I’ll get to the main project later. First, we’ll talk about Chinese people in Canada, and specifically in Vancouver.

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, there were a lot of Chinese immigrants. The thing was, they didn’t want Chinese immigrants. So they enforced the head tax, where Chinese immigrants had to pay $50, to $100, to finally $500 to come into Canada. Once here, they were limited in location. In Vancouver, the Chinese could only live in Chinatown. It’s horrible to think about how hard these people worked to get to Canada, only to be forced to live in certain areas, experiencing Canada completely differently than any white person would’ve.

To deepen our knowledge of Chinese history, and Chinatown, we started reading a book called Jade Peony by Wayson Choy. The book focused around a Chinese family living in Vancouver’s Chinatown. There were three parts to the story, each told from one of the children’s perspectives. It was a very interesting book, and it was interesting to see the different perspective of someone, even though born in Canada, who was living a completely different life than, well, my grandpa. He grew up in Vancouver around the same time. The lifestyle differences were really crazy, and yet, childhood was still similar. Children playing soldiers, reading comics, the idealized childhood experience. 

Since we were learning all about Chinatown, our teachers thought it would be a great idea to take us to Chinatown. While there, we took a tour with the amazing Judy Lam Maxwell. We got to go into a bunch of really cool historical building, learn about Chinatown’s history, and talk to someone who grew up in Chinatown. While there, we made a podcast. Take a listen!

This podcast was different from others we have done in the past. The goal was to record sounds while on location. I found this very difficult. It was hard to know when to record, and when to be looking around, experiencing Chinatown. Overall, I learned a lot from this experience. The biggest this was probably to record as much as possible. Then, when it comes time to edit, you have a lot more to work with. 

Throughout this project, we’d been focusing on perspectives. To finalize the perspective piece, we had to write a positionality paper. It was basically an in-class essay where we explored how our positions impact our experiences with literature. 

I thought it was a really cool topic, and I had a good time writing it. Probably the most challenging part about it was the tone. It was a formal essay, but because it was kinda personal, we were also writing in the first person, using I. We’ve never done it before, so that was probably my biggest challenge. 

Now, finally, we can get to the project of the unit. As we do in PLP 10, it was a podcast. In groups of three or four, we had to research a minority group in Canada to see how they experienced Canada differently. Our minority group was the LGBTQ+ community. Since that is very broad, we decided to focus on three identities within the LGBTQ+ community, those being Pansexual, Bisexual, and Asexual. We wanted to focus on these groups because along with discrimination outside the LGGBTQ+ community, there is also a lot of discrimination towards these groups inside of the LGBTQ+ community. 

For our podcast, we had the pleasure of interviewing Yvette Narlock, an openly queer person at Seycove. It was an amazing experience, and I learned so much. Our podcast is so much better because of her.

This was a really cool experience. Along with learning a bunch about the LGBTQ+ community, the Chinese community, and minorities in Canada, I also got to work on my podcasting skills. I’m still not amazing at podcasting, and this was far from perfect, but I think it went really well. For the future, I will be really aware of audio levels. Other than that, I’m really proud of our work!

The Future Is Friendly Except It’s Not

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Ever since we were little, people have been asking us what we want to be when we grow up. It’s the big question. Now that we’re in high school, we do have to start thinking about this seriously. One way we have been doing this is by using the tool MyBluePrint. MyBluePrint has a lot of surveys to help you understand yourself. It has really helped me understand who I am, how I learn, and has helped narrow down what I want to do after high school.

There were five ‘Who Am I?’ surveys to take. Although I do not think al of it was 100% accurate, it gave me a pretty good look at myself. The first one was…

Learning Styles

The learning styles survey was very interesting to me. I already knew that I learned better by doing, that is why I joined PLP. It was the other results that surprised me. I would probably say I’m more equal in visual and auditory learning. Overall, this survey was very useful because in the future, I will know how to better my learning. If I can continue to learn in a hands-on environment, I will learn more in the long run. This can also help with jobs in the future. By knowing this, I can choose a job where it is primarily hands-on, and have a better experience over all.

The next survey was…

Personality

This survey was probably one of the most interesting surveys. I’ve seen all over the internet how this specific survey has applied to a bunch of people. It was cool to see what I was, for this survey. As I mentioned before, this might not be 100% accurate, but I thought this was pretty close.

This was really interesting to me. I really thought all of these applied really well. The architect likes to work alone, or in small groups. They also don’t like creative constraints, and tend to jump headfirst into a task. They also are more fair when making decisions, rather than about how people will feel. Knowing how I fit in with others in this personality perspective will help me with projects, in school and outside of it.

Interests

This one is pretty much a repeat of the learning styles, not in its purpose, but in its results. The Contractor interest type helps gear you towards your career,  rather than talk about your learning type. The contractor interest type works hands on, again. They don’t like to work with people, and tend to follow their head. This interest type also leads towards a science-based career, which is something I was considering before all of these surveys anyways.

Knowledge

Knowledge was one of the more surprising surveys. I wasn’t surprised by the results, just the magnitude of them.

Science was the top subject area. As I said, this wasn’t surprising. The thing that was surprising was that I got Science for 100%. As I mentioned before, I was considering a science career beforehand. This survey only cemented my ideas. The other two, languages and language arts, weren’t very surprising either. French comes very easily to me, and language arts is one of my better subjects as well. What I did find surprising was that math, which is probably my best subject after science, wasn’t on there. I don’t know if I would consider math as a career, but it was always an option.

Finally, a most controversial survey (in my mind)…

Motivations

This one was weird. I didn’t like having these pointed out to me, but looking at them honestly, I think they’re pretty accurate. I like to see how the stuff I do adds up. Setting goals helps motivate me towards the end product. Knowing this can help me choose a career where there are goals for me to reach.

Now, back to actual real life stuff. On MyBluePrint, there is an option where you can plan out your high school courses. This was really helpful to me because for most universities, you have to take certain courses to get in. Being able to plan the next two years out makes my life a whole lot easier.

There is also a thing where you can plan for after high school. It gives you lots of options into careers you can go into. For our assignment, we had to choose one from each category; University and College, Apprenticeship, and Workforce. It was cool to look at all of my options!

Workforce

I chose this because as it is probably not something I would actually do, it could be an option. It integrates science and hands on work in the forest, which makes a difference. One of the drawbacks is that it is very socially oriented, working with people all day long. That just seems draining to me. Now, we can move onto another section, which I would be more interested in.

Apprenticeship

Both of these positions are very similar. I have an interest in planes and engineering, so these could be interesting careers. They are not extremely Science-based, but it still has some compatibility. The both would be mostly independent work, with some teamwork, not as bad as the Forest and Conservation Worker. If it were to go into an apprenticeship, these could be very interesting!

University and College

This is probably the most plausible course for me. Ever since I was little, I wanted to go to university. I just didn’t know what to do once I got there. Now, I know I want to do something science related. While that narrows it down somewhat, there are still many different sciences I might be interested in. This would be more expensive in the short term, but long term I should be able to earn more.

There are so many options for my future. Honesty, I don’t know what I want to do. I still have a bit of time, though. Hopefully it won’t go by to quickly!

All of The Lakes

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In this past project, we’ve been looking at linear equations, and how to predict things with them, specifically water levels. Emily and I decided to look at the Great Lakes, and see how they were changing. 

One of the Lakes with the most amount of change was probably Lake Superior, with 0.0583 cm increase each month, when they were taking this data. With that number, we were able to create a graph to show how the water was, and would be, increasing. 

In this project, we used a lot of different curricular competencies, one of the, being…

Model with mathematics in situational contexts.

I used this curricular competency when we were taking the concept of the linear equations, and applying them to a real scenario. Using this real-time data, were were able to create graphical models of what would happen overtime, and the adverse effects this would cause. 

Another curricular competency I used was…

Explore, analyze, and apply mathematical ideas using reason, technology, and other tools.

To make these graphs, we used a tool called Desmos, an app on our iPads. Once we had the equation, it was easy to just input it into the application, and graph it. This visualization in real time made it so you could actually, in real time, see the adverse effects of the rise in water. 

Honestly, who knows?

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We have just finished a math project. The project lasted two weeks, on week on lessons, and one week of project time. I missed the entire first week, because I was at Outdoor School. So I really had to draw upon one curricular competency;

Think creatively and with curiosity and wonder when exploring problems.

I had a problem, obviously. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. Luckily, it was a parter project, so it wasn’t all up to me to figure out how to do everything on my own and do an entire project. Once we had the structure of the project, I devoted myself to trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

I used Khan Academy, my saviour for anything math or science. I had the project outline, and I knew what I was supposed to know. So I learned, listened, practiced, and figured it out all on my own. After that, the project made a lot more sense to me!

 

Hepatoerythopoetic Porphyria with Dr. A Ward At Provincials!

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Provincials. A time of excitement, anxiety, joy. The finally, of sorts. Anyone can go to regionals, or provincials. Globals is the dream for any aspiring team. Of course, PLP wins most of the stuff, and we don’t go to globals. But for the other teams, provincials is the gateway.

 

Most of provincials, for us, is the improvement aspect. From regionals, we had one big thing we wanted to work on: the Symptomatic. If you saw our regionals performance, or the video in my regionals post, you would know that it didn’t go all to smoothly. Fun times with chemicals. Anyways. That was where we focused most of our energies. That, and memorizing our lines. 

We worked really hard on improving, and I think our provincials score shows that. Our performance, although we had a couple bumps, went super well. We changed hour e order of a few things, just tons of little tweaks. I think we did fantastic!

Our Instant Challenge was another story. It was probably the worst one we’ve ever done. The teamwork was there, but communication and the actual completion of the instructions was, well, trash. If I could go back, I would yell at our team “PLAN. BE PREPARED. READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. DO IT AGAIN!”.

Overall, DI this year was a huge success. Coming first in both the regionals and the provincials was amazing. I am very proud of our team, and how we worked together. Extra props to Morgan as this was her first Destination Imagination ever! It was such a fun time, and I learned so much.

Destination Imagination is always a special time, and even more so at provincials. We’ve had all this time to prepare, and then critique, updates, and bam! Another performance. As it is not plausible for PLP to go to globals, this was our last DI tournament for this year, and probably ever, which is sad, but also fantastic. I’ve learned so much over these three years of DI, including communication skills, time management, and teamwork. I am grateful to have been able to do this amazing tournament, as these skills are a huge part of the workforce I intend to enter. Thanks Destination Imagination, it’s been one heck of a ride!

Hepatoerythropoetic Porphyria with Dr. A. Ward

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Destination Imagination, as much as we complain about it, is a huge stepping stone for us. The skills we have learned, and continue to learn, will be extremely beneficial in the long run. Group management, problem solving, and communication are just some of the skills we explore on this journey. So why not add Dora!

Our group was working on the scientific challenge, Medical Mystery. Basically, one or more person had to have a medical condition, and we had to diagnose it. We also had a bunch of other super specific criteria, which was really hard to work in. But eventually, we came up with the idea for a parody of Dora the Explorer, instead it being Flora the Physician (played by Maggie) with her trusty sidekick Socks (played by Tamara) who was suffering from Hepatoerythropoietic Porphyria (definition in presentation video). It was a long and arduous journey, which we are not yet finished. 

My roles in this were creating one of the team choice elements, and making the double vision. The double vision thing was basically that we had to show two or more different perspectives of the presentation at one time. We decided to make a map to demonstrate this. Then, with a pointer on the map (played by Morgan), Flora would be able to show where they were going. It was a bit difficult to figure this out. We had to paint the map, which went well, but then the paint started chipping and flaking. It took a lot of changing plans, and flexibility to fix this problem. Finally, on the day of the regional tournament, we decided to put clear tape over the whole thing, to make sure the paint stayed. And it worked! We used a lot of tape, but the appraisers loved it. I’m really proud of our troubleshooting abilities, and how we worked till the very last minute. 

My other role, as I mentioned before, was a team choice element. For this, we decided that we wanted ‘homemade looking’ medical badges, as Flora thinks she is a medical professional, but is not. So, seeing as I knew kind of how to hand embroider, that was up to me. They took a long time to make, hours actually, but I made three badges that I am very proud of. It really goes to show how the strange hobbies we all have can add to our solutions!

Although we went through some difficulties as a team, we came out on the other end. I worked with some people I’ve never worked with before, and it was interesting to see how each of us were so different. If I were to do this project again, I think I wouldn’t underestimate some people like I did this time. We also needed to make sure we were all on the same page, as that bit us in the end. But overall, we faired very well, and came in first place. I can’t wait for the provincial tournament!