Yup. It’s that time of year again. The dreaded Midterm Presentation of Learning or in short, it’s MPOL Time! So what is an MPOL you may ask? Well, like I mentioned earlier, it stands for Midterm Presentation of Learning. This is where I have to take the time to write a super long detailed post to explain my learning so far in the year and what I’d like to improve on moving into the second half of grade 9. At the end of the school year, I have to go through this all over again and write something called a TPOL which is my Transitional Presentation of Learning. Anyways, here goes nothing as I publicly share my midterm journey through grade 9. Here’s my MPOL 2.0.
Ok, to kick things off, let’s take a quick and rather embarrassing look at some of last year’s work. This is just a small glimpse to show how much I’ve grown as both a person and learner. Below, you might remember me referring to this chart as the River Cycle or “My Happy River Life”. Basically, I thought of my life as a River. Everyone’s River might look different. For example, I pictured mine to be filled with unlimited sunshine, rainbows and happiness because I like to be joyful. Although everyone’s River may look slightly different, every River has the same skeleton form. There are rocks, and waves and waterfalls, but each river also has beauty and light and love.
Below are a few other projects from various parts of last year.
Religion Infographic
Oregon Ad
So now you’ve seen a few of my projects from last year and know my theme I lived by. So this year, I challenged myself to find a new theme. One that still shared my values but also motivated me and represented who I am. So this year’s inspirational quote I made for myself is “choose joy and smile often. Trust in Jesus and he’ll guide you.” I believe this is really the only saying I need in life. And for those of my friends out there who are constantly asking me, “Kiera, how can you be so smiley all the time?” Or things like, “Kiera, life isn’t all happiness and rainbows!” And yes, I know it isn’t. In fact, there are many imperfections in my life. I can give you an example right now. When my brother was born, I wanted more than anything to get rid of him. You see, I really wanted a sister and the fact that Cameron came out as a boy really disappointed me. This may not seem like a big deal now, but believe me, to three year old Kiera, it was.
Im sure we’ve all had something in our lives that well, wasn’t the most positive of experiences. Last year, my MPOL revolved around my happy river life and the question of “how can I take my failures and work hard to learn from them so that I can recognize them as just another opportunity to improve and try again?” This was something I still work on even this year and since, I never really answered this question from last year, I plan to show you how I’ve worked at this sentence this year as well as what I’d like to focus on moving forward into the sencond half of grade nine.
Let’s begin with my personal favourite subject, English or in this case Humanities. We started the year off learning about land, culture and the identity of different areas and people. All this information helped us learn the answer to our driving question: How Does Land Impact Identity? This unit also included our amazing field study to Alberta where we got to experience the different landscapes and types of people. Besides the fact that I was “exposed” to much more than I was used to (couch couch, Burning Man), I really was amazed by the creativity and thought that was shown at Beakerhead. People really shared their passion and interests through these amazing inventions, sculptures or works of art that were on display. 
Honestly, when I was younger, I would never have appreciated any of Beakerhead and would have thought some of these people were crazy for even thinking of attempting something so strange such as painting with bacteria. I mean, I always learned that bacteria was nasty and gross, but seeing people turn something like bacteria into works of art, was very inspiring and reminded me of how I could express myself in class and at home without worrying what others might think. It also reminded me of why I dance, to express myself! Going back to earlier this year, I was scared of what a certain friend thought of me. And although we were such close friends, I never wanted to share a specific side of me in fear of what she might think. It was the same for class last year. I hated asking questions in the middle of class because I had the fear of people judging me for what I had to say. But seeing so many people at Beakerhead who were so enthusiastic about the science and logic they learned from their creations really inspired me and I think that’s the main thing I took away from that trip. So, with this newfound skill and knowledge, I can’t wait to take on D.I. Hopefully, my creative side will come through!
On the more educational side of the Alberta trip comes our Maker Video skills. This unit was probably one of my favourite units so far in PLP. Last year, we focused much on still images. We showed our knowledge of these still images in the form of ads, posters and infographics and it was about time we learned to make them move. Now, anyone can make a video. I mean really. You just video tape a bunch of scenes and shove them all together into one longer video. But, to make a good interesting film is quite difficult and capturing the eye of the audience is key. 
Over the past few months, I’m sure I’ve created at least 10 videos including the multiple drafts and shorter minor films we created. The process of creating a good video is fairly long. There are many things to take into account such as a storyboard, theme, setting, characters and more which usually are written out ahead of time before even thinking about filming a scene. This past Maker Video unit has taught me so much about videos and the importance of some aspects such as sound, music, camera angles and more. I’ve also learned some pretty cool tips and tricks on apps including iMovie along the way! Below, I’ve attached both my Alberta Identity Video, my Ghost town movie and even my PLP application video from before I even joined PLP! You can really tell how much I’ve learnt about the process of video creation based on the work that I’ve provided below. Keep in mind when watching that I had no idea how to use iMovie before entering PLP and had no clue how to trip or add anything extra to the video.
https://youtu.be/MPxmLIhNsAI
The valuable lesson I learned from this video unit, and although it may sound a tad cliche at the moment, this saying does apply to many of my life situations and is one of my center values. This cheesy saying is “look at things through a different perspective.” Just like in photography or in videography, when you look at a certain situation through a different perspective, your idea of the scenario will likely change. There’s good to everything and even though every day may not be a good day. There is good in every day. Just some days, you might have to look a little harder.
The next PLP subject I’ll be covering is Scimatix. Now, in my past MPOL/TPOLs I haven’t talked much about this subject. So, let’s begin by diving straight to the recent event of the Winter Exhibition 2018. This not only was a blast of a night but also had great learning opportunities as well! I got the chance to work with some people that I haven’t worked much with in the past, and, along the way, learned some rather interesting things about them.
So for this year’s exhibition, we were grouped into small groups to create a story featuring chemicals, hence the name, Chemical Stories. Obviously, this unit was centred around chemistry and all the elements that go with it. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Scimatix was always my weakest point and I had to work extra hard to keep up with everyone else. And if anyone ever asked me what my greatest fear was, it was failing. 
Whether it was not making a sports team or not landing a role at an audition or simply failing a math test, I HATED the thought of failing. So, like I talked about last year, Chemistry was definitely a bumpy waterfall ride for me. I, for the first time ever, failed a test. Yes I said it. I failed. Not only did this damage my ego and confidence, but I thought that everyone in the class would then see me as a failure. But what can you do? Honestly, at the time, it felt like I couldn’t do anything. However, I remembered what I wrote in my Selfie Project last year and realized that failing a test wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, it wasn’t even what was most important. It was what I learned from it that mattered. And then what? I would persevere and try again! Knowing that my friends and parents would still be proud of me no matter what really helped me get through it. I tried again. I studied the formulas and elements I needed to know for the exhibition and got through it. At the end, I was left with an amazing result. The exhibition was a success and it was definitely an experience to remember.
The final subject to cover is PGP. Now this was a new river ride for me because I’d never taken this course before. I wasn’t sure what to expect or what this course even was. We were each given a small notebook we call our “Goal Tracker”. This is a safe little place for us to write down private ideas and steps to reach our goal and record the process as we journey to achieve it. We also had to do something called a weekly review. This was where we could write anything to summarize the week. For me, I wrote one positive thing that happened such as an accomplishment or simply seeing the sun peek through my window when I woke up (because, honestly, how often does that actually happen in Vancouver?) or as big as becoming an ambassador for a brand. Every week, we achieve our own little goals. So why not write it down and celebrate? I also wrote down one negative thing that happened. Perhaps it was my friend being sick, or having Scimatix first block or having a dentist appointment that week. Whatever it was, I wrote it down. So the final thing I’ll be sharing with you today is my dream board. This is a collage of things that are important to me and in the corner, you may notice a small silhouette of a happy couple. Now, although I may be known as the “little sister” or the “five year old”, I still have big dreams too. And one day, I hope to find love, just like my parents did and their parents before them. I see happy couples all the time, and I hope for that to be me one day…
So, to wrap things up, I want to end this with a questions. “How can I make the most of every experience? How can I learn from them to make things better next time?” So that next time I take a test or do a project such as DI, how can I improve from last time based on my past experiences? And lastly, when my friends ask me, “Kiera, why are you always smiling?” My answer is “Choose Joy and Smile Often, Trust in Jesus, and he will guide you.”
Thank You!