This last Thursday was the PLP spring exhibition, “💥Impact!”, where we as PLP learners showed our work from throughout the last year to our family and community members. I was put in a group of 9 grade 9’s and we were tasked with the annex AKA the technology room. Our question that drove our room “How do we use technology to deepen our learning?” After several different drafts and a lot of revisions we decided that this is our answer

“We’ve used technology in all of our projects from making videos to keynote presentation. Technology allows us to present our understandings and learnings in different ways to reflect on a multitude of different projects such as our documentaries, animations, and medium is the message and overall enhance our learning for the better.”

Our first step in creating our exhibition room that shows our work in a way to answer the question was to brainstorm. We brainstormed what work we did that deepen our learning through the use of technology. We knew we had to include the maker documentaries and we also decided to show our vibrant videos and show our knowledge about how to use our apps.

Next we had to come up with food, costumes and an interactive activity. For food we decided to do something that in hindsight probably was too complicated to do. We created app cookies, what we didn’t think about at the time is that we would have to make 100 cookies!!!!!!!!!!!!

We ended up having four group members each make 25 and one group member decorate all the cookies with the help from her friends. The interactive station plan was for it to be a green screen and action movie area where you can try out some of the editing techniques we learned and applied to the vibrant videos. 

Now it was time for us to come up with a room layout. In the drawing we had to include where everyone was standing including all the grade 9 and all 10 of the grade 8 that were showing there work in our room as well. This took many different drafts and tested my teamwork and patience skills, but in the end we created a detailed map. 

The exhibition

The two hours before the exhibition was chaotic as my room realized that we have a lot of extra space in our room, that the projector we brought doesn’t work and that the drinks taste terrible.  At 5:30 the chaos ended and people starting entering our room it. On my break I was able to look at how other rooms how they answered the driving questions. I especially liked the beyond the classroom interactive station.

My room quickly ran out of cookies (my sister ate like four) and drinks. My station worked well and a lot of people liked being hit by a car😁 in the action movie app. 

Below there are some video my friends created about the exhibition.

I can predict the future.  Through this project, we have answered the driving question; “ How can we predict our finances for the future?”  To answer this question,  we were going to sell a product or service, using linear equations and graphs, and calculate our earnings for a year.

The first milestone was to choose a product or service to sell.  I handed in three options of something I was interested in selling:  cookies, bracelets and babysitting.  Out of the three choices, I decided to  babysit.  I then created a spreadsheet that showed my expenses, time, start-up costs and effect on the environment for one five-hour babysitting job.

Using the spreadsheet and the knowledge I gained through the workbooks, I created a linear equation that would predict my earnings for any amount of time.  Using that equation, I was able to use the Desmos website to graph my earnings for not only the next year but also how much I would make in a day, week, month and in my life.  I found out that I would make more if I did a minimum wage job or was a part time teacher.

I then put all this knowledge together into an animated keynote video.  At the end of the video, I compared my job to other jobs as well as to the cost of living and the effect on the environment to see if it would be worth my time.

Curricular Competencies

Understanding and solving:  Apply multiple strategies to solve problems in both abstract and contextualized situations.  

In my spreadsheet, I accounted for all of the time, materials and equipment, and included that in my overall cost.  I also calculated the effect of the environment from the exhaust from the car that I used to get to the babysitting site.  I believe I showed an accomplished and detailed documentation showing my understanding of this curricular competency.

Communicating and Representing:  Represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial and 

symbolic form.

I believe I showed an understanding of this curricular competency.  I made a linear equation that properly determines my profit for various amounts of time.  Then using this equation I was able to create seven graphs that showed those earnings over time.  In my final video, these graphs were labeled and explained in a logical way.

Connecting and Reflecting:  Connect mathematical concepts to each other and to other areas

and personal interests.

I was able to connect mathematical concepts to a business that is of personal interest to me.  I compared my business to a minimum wage job and to my mother’s part time teaching position.

I also considered the cost of living and the value of my time, along with the sustainability on the environment to decide whether the job is worth it.  In the end, I decided that I would not be able to live in Vancouver with the amount I earned and it would be better to think about another possible career.  The only thing I would have done differently is consider different levels of jobs.

Why I KNOW I am Ready to Transition to Grade 10

To me this year was like finishing a good book. A good book requires a lot of time and a lot of thought. It is full of different characters, perspectives and experiences. But then comes the time when you come to the final chapter. You can look back and see how everything has changed form the start. This TPOL marks the end of Grade 9. It is bittersweet; there were things I loved and grew in and things that I think should have been written differently.

What I loved

I loved showing my personality more in the poem project and the Vibrant videos.

Through the poems project, I was able to show the things that shape my world view like my family, my move to BC, and my experiences with friends. In the first Vibrant Video, I showed my Iove of reading in an exaggerated and funny way. Another part of Grade 9 I really enjoyed was the revolutions on trial project. I did not know anything about Revolutions. From Nation X to the Mock trial, I feel like I learned the content better in these creative ways. To this day I can tell you a lot of facts about the Haitian Revolution.

Where I grew

Looking back on my learning plan, I see my growth throughout the year in my core competency profiles. For example, in the Communication Core Competency, I grew in my communicating. At the beginning of the year I was in profile two: “in familiar settings I communicate with peers and adults.” At the end of this year, I demonstrate a strong profile four and even some of profile five. I can “communicate clearly and purposefully using a variety of forms appropriately.”

I showed this through my Scimatics video when I used Keynote where I put together all the learning I showed in the milestones into the video. TinkerCad models, voiceover, and animations were all ways I communicated my understanding of the project.

I have also grown in the Thinking Core Competency. At the beginning of the year, my critical and reflective thinking profile was at profile two, but now, looking back at my work, I believe I am at a profile 4: “I can gather and combine new evidence with what I already know to develop reasoned conclusions, judgments, or plans”.

One way I showed this was through my Documentary for Maker. Researching games, their benefits, and interviewing Ms. Brady, I gathered evidence, made a plan, and created a documentary that clearly communicated my message. My video skills and storytelling skills also show growth. I am particularly proud of my editing in that Documentary.

Part of the Personal and Social Core Competency is personal awareness and responsibility. This is the part of the Personal and Social Core Competency that I think I grew in the most this year. At the beginning of the year, I would describe myself at profile three but now I am at profile five. I “recognize my value and advocate for my rights. I take responsibility for my choices, actions and achievements.” I showed this growth in multiple projects, but the one I am going to highlight is DI. I planned out when our group would meet, how we would meet the deadlines, and made sure I contributed using my strengths. I knew I didn’t want to write the whole script so I built the hydraulics in the mysterious object. When a group member dropped out, I helped to alter our story to adapt. 

Like a good book, there has been great character development through these projects I mentioned as well as through the the Loon Lake trip. I learned I do NOT function well without caffeine in the morning and that sitting on the ground in a basement for two hours is NOT something I enjoy. But I learned that I am very good at battle archery, that my class CAN work together through the scavenger hunt and ropes ferry, and that fans were a hot commodity. Joselyn is also really afraid of being hit by a battle archery arrow. This year, I have improved in managing and using my time well with going to LAC to not asking for extensions the day the assignment is due. The Things app has been really helpful with keeping track of what I have to do and I will continue to use that in Grade 10.

Coming to the end of a story, you also notice the things you wish had been different. I really struggle to talk to my teachers. This has always been the case for me and even though I am getting better at it, I wish I improved more. I could have had a less stressful year if I had communicated better or sooner. I think making efforts to talk to my teachers about non-school related subjects would help me feel more comfortable to communicate with them when I am stressed. Something else I really wish could be written differently is team work and peer critique. I know the importance of team work but I found my teams this year very challenging. For example, in my last exhibition, my group was full of students who would not contribute or follow through on a plan. Often times, in team work situations others do not follow instructions, which I find disrespectful to the teachers and other learners. Other students tell me not to worry about deadlines and this creates a problem for me that I have not been able to solve yet. Next year, if I were writing the story, I would have more projects where I could pick my partners. 

Finishing this book, I look forward to the next one in the series. I predict the main character will have many more struggles and problems like deadlines and too many blog posts. But there will also be adventures and growth and hopefully a field school that includes caffeine.

In my ten years in school, I have never heard my teacher say that we are going to watch a film every day in class … for weeks. To prepare for our final maker project, we watched a “doc a day”. All of these documentaries were to help us learn story telling and filming techniques so we could implement them in our own documentaries. The driving question for this project was “how can I engage and entertain an audience using my video and story telling skills?”

Our assignment was to create a 3-5 minute documentary on a topic that is meaningful to us and fulfills all the criteria that our class set out. The first challenge I face was coming up with a topic that was both meaningful to me and would have a message. Out of all of my ideas, my best two were:` social media affecting kids my age and the value of strategy games. In the end, I chose to make my documentary about strategy games because I could personalize it more.

The next thing we had to accomplish was to create a treatment and a logline. I found it difficult to say my idea in one sentence for the log line and I found that throughout the project as my vision of my documentary became more clear, I had to change and alter my logline to fit it. 

After this step, we wrote a screenplay and story board. I found the screenplay particularly challenging because it was the first time I had to fill in the details of what my documentary was going to look, and sound like. The storyboard was easy because I took what I wrote in the screen play and created a visual representation of what each shot was going to look like. 

The next step was getting the interviews and filming. Because my documentary was about strategy with a special look at the benefits of chess, I wanted to interview a person who had been playing chess for most of their life. I Could come to the Chess Club one day and interview the seniors who play there. Even though she responded, the times did not work out at all so I interviewed Ms. Brady who runs the chess club here at Seycove. I was very concerned with how I was going to film everything. I needed shots of people playing specific strategy board and card games. I ended up inviting over my friend and her sisters for a game night after school. My younger sister played games with them while I took shots from different angles. To get the credits video section I played a chess match against Gwen while taking a time-lapse video. In case you were wondering … I won!

The peer critique process was not effective except for the voluntary one I did with Teva. We exchanged iPads on our own time and watched each other’s documentaries and gave kind, helpful and specific feedback. 

I am proud of some of my editing choices. For example, I worked hard on the interview. My first draft showed the questions written on the screen paired with Ms. Brady’s answers. The interview was 2 minutes long. I decided to take away the questions on the screen and make it seem more like I was having a conversation with Ms. Brady. With every question, the screen would change to show part of a chess game being played. The overall effect was a more interesting and effective interview. 

While this project was not focused on one of the core competencies, I believe I grew in my communicating core competency when throughout this project I learned how to communicate new knowledge through the form of a documentary. I also showed growth when I had to email a person I did not know for an interview which is not something I would normally do. I really enjoyed talking to Ms. Brady because I could see more of what she enjoys to do. 

Below you will see my final film called Your Turn.