My Progression
This past year has been what I imagine to be a pretty important and defining year in terms of who I am as a student. There were many times where I learned what my weaknesses are, although there were also the times where I learned why strengths. Personally, I think it’s most important to find your strengths as oppose to your weaknesses, especially in PLP. I say this because through my experiences in the program, I have come to realize that when I focus on doing something in a way I feel I am relatively strong at, I tend to yield better results. If I try to push myself to better myself in areas I am comfortable in, I can improve myself much more efficiently. Honestly, I would rather be excellent in a few areas, than good in all of them, and that’s the sort of mentality I think I’ll take going forward. Now, that’s not to say that I will only try hard in areas I’m not as comfortable in, that would be stupid, I wouldn’t be learning then. My point is that I want to always find an element within a project I am familiar with, and use that element to better myself in other areas. It may sound stupid but trust me I’ve got it all figured it.
This whole concept stems from the work I have completed this year. Although I did pretty well, I feel like if I focus on the steps to getting towards a finished product rather than the finished product itself, I can really propel myself forward in to the coming years. There were a couple times this year when I really cut myself loose from what I’m good at and tried something completely knew. This would’ve been ok if I had a plan. In the future I’ll still be trying new things and experimenting with my learning, but I need to do it smartly, and that’s what this year has taught me the most.
If we look back at my MPOL, I talked mostly about the unsatisfactory result of the Frankenstuffy project, and honestly, that project is still at the forefront of my mind when I look back at the whole year. Whether it’s because I failed, or because I didn’t like it, or both, it really is one of those projects that I see as definitive in terms of my learning. It taught me a lot about finding the right balance between experimental and comfortable learning. To be honest, most of the time I am successful at school, and it hits me pretty hard when I let myself down like that. I’m glad I hold myself to such a high standard though, I think it’s the reason behind my general academic success. By now, my teachers know that I hate handing work in that’s not exceptional, and I understand that I sound like a suck-up when I say that, but it really is true. Because PLP is so project driven and we present our work, to hand something in that isn’t my full capability is a pretty big deal. Anyways, I’m getting off track here, the point is, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past year, it’s that there’s a way to learn experimentally, practically.
All this doesn’t mean that I didn’t do anything I’m proud of this year, because there have been plenty projects that I feel like I did well. Hands down the number one assignment I am proud of from this year is the Ottawa Book. I kind of figured I would have a good book because I really enjoyed making the book in grade 8 when we went to Oregon, and I knew that my Oregon Book was some of my best work from grade 8. I went in to making the book with a lot of confidence because I love the whole graphic design and video elements that are displayed in the books. Throughout the whole trip I was snapping photos and taking video, I loved everything. The best thing about PLP is when we are all having a great time, but we are also doing work that’s fun, and that’s why the field studies are so great. My book showcases a lot of my skills; writing, photography, videography, graphic design, etc. It was a great way to interpret my time on the trip. I was constantly updating my book and gathering the pieces I needed to create something I was proud of. I remember working on the plane for like 2 hours straight just editing and formatting photos and video in to my book because I love that kind of thing so much. Making the book was definitely one of the highlights of my year.
My work ethic, especially in the past five months hasn’t really been steadily at the level I would like. There are times when I get an urge to get work done but lately I have been so busy that because I don’t plan my work that much, I have been procrastinating. It’s a pretty hard problem to fix because sometimes there simply isn’t enough time, but once my life starts getting a little difficult to manage with school, I need to create some sort of plan. To do this I can talk to my peers that I think do this well, such as Luca J. and Marshall. Other than that, I am pretty confident in my work ethic, I feel as though I almost always am putting in as much effort as possible to meet the high expectations of my teachers but most importantly myself.
All throughout the year I have felt pretty comfortable in math and science and I think my grades reflect that. Just because I was relatively comfortable doesn’t mean that I didn’t try hard. I was always trying to make my projects personalized and engaging to differentiate myself from my classmates. Overall, I think my best projects from this year were the two most recent ones, the Cloning project and the Correlation Vs. Causation project. I feel like I collaborated well in both of them and I produced original, though-out content that shows my level of effort and understanding towards the topic.
Humanities, although being the most difficult of subjects at times, was a subject that I definitely feel like I produced work of a very high caliber. I always try my best to set a standard for the people around me because like many people, I want to be the best. I think that ideology is really emulated by my WW1 Comic Strip. All throughout the creation process I was confident and stable, and I know I did well because people came to me for help. I don’t mean this in a cocky way at all, I really just am proud of myself when it comes to this project. I was able to create a piece of work that consists of accurate information, storyline, and visuals in perfect time whilst confident in myself.
I feel like Maker went really well these past few months. Me and my group worked really hard at DI, and my Blue Sky went super well. I wish we got better results at DI that reflected on all the effort we put in to it, but it’s alright, we did well enough and we know it’s not just the final scores that matter.
Transitioning from a project like DI to Blue Sky there’s a lot of differences. Blue Sky is individual which makes a nice switch up from all the group work we do. I like how we get to cap off the year with an open-ended individual project like Blue Sky because it allows us to have a little fun with it. I enjoyed Blue Sky this year just as I did last year. Getting to create a product that solves one of my problems was really cool. I definitely think the actual exhibition went way better than I was expecting. I got a lot of negativity towards my product with people telling me it was already a thing. This kinda bummed me down and I wasn’t sure how the reception would be at the Exhibition. As it turns out though, the reception was great. I had plenty of people telling me they experienced the problem and how there was no solution on the market. One lady even told me she wanted to buy one! After the exhibition I was definitely much more confident with the work I put in to Blue Sky.
Well, that’s about it really, grade 9’s already done, I can’t believe Calgary was 9 months ago! I really did have a great time progressing as a student and there’s a lot I’m going to take with me in to Grade 10 and beyond. I’m ready for next year and I can’t wait to see what it entails.
danielw • June 17, 2018