Hello readers of Blog Site, It is Tuesday January 3rd, my first day back at school from winter break. On October 31st, we began one of the longest projects I’ve ever done in PLP. “Ology of Apology”.

This project was great. A little bit of Social Studies with a pinch of Language Arts.

Driving question: How can we keep apologies for past wrongs alive so they are remembered – and not repeated – today?

First introduction to the project was to watch a series of apologies from political all figures about past wrongdoings and rating their effectiveness and impact.

3 historic events, notorious for racism and violence  were introduced to the entire class the Komagata Maru, Chinese Head Tax, and Japanese Internment. The entire class studied them in a quick write (taking quick notes about all of them).

The entire class was split into 3 different groups, each researching the respective events. I ended up in the Komagata Maru Group. Out of all 3 of the events, I probably knew the least about the Komagata Maru, but it was ok, because the next couple classes would be devoted to finding pieces of evidence from your respective event to show for the event and create a timeline of events while telling its story.

 

(Example of primary source chart)

After we had our sources and their “Historical Context” we set off on Keystone 1 which was to create a slideshow about our event also telling the story while being interactive with an audience. This means we had to code it with buttons to advance a slide/return and a menu to map out slides. I put a lot of effort into this keystone and received an extending which I am quite proud of. Check it out here:

(Click on the photo)

After I created this work of art, I worked on another work of art. I wrote up an apology and justified why my event was bad.

Then the winter exhibition rolled around and I had no idea what was going on. The entire class was separated into groups of 3 and were tasked with creating a physical monument that represented a theme that our events aligned with. Unlucky for our group we had to align a theme with all 3 of our events. We chose the theme of imperialism because all of our events involved military force.

Our Monument was simple. A sidewalk puddle with sinking toy boats. Easier said than done I realized. After dropping $30 on supplies, me and my group got to work. After lots of painting, gluing, and building, we made a big mess, and a kick ass monument:

I was really especially proud with the small details like the moss on the sidewalk, and the little cracks that add depth and “texture” and the little coloured dots, supposed to be the little pebbles that make up the sidewalks. If you would like to learn about the meaning of this great monument refer here.

So before we knew it, the winter exhibition rolled around and we prepped for presenting the same monument with the same words on repeat over and over again. Yes, it was gruelling, and standing up for 3 hours isn’t really my cup of tea, but I was really proud of my overall final project and learning throughout this project and my exhibition final project is evidence of such learning.

The winter exhibition of learning was a resounding success, with all the students, teachers, and community members all in attendance to celebrate the hard work and dedication that went into creating such a meaningful and informative displays. The exhibition provided an opportunity for students to showcase their understanding of a wide range of subjects, and it was clear that their efforts paid off as they were able to effectively communicate their knowledge and insights to their audience. The exhibition not only strengthened students’ understanding of the material, but it also fostered a sense of pride in their work and their ability to share it with others. Overall, the exhibition was a great success and a testament to the dedication and effort put in by all involved.