This school year has been an absolute journey!

I feel like I have learned more about myself this year than any other past year to date. One example right off the bat would be working by myself versus working in a group. This year I learned that I work much harder independently than I do in a group. When I work by myself I know that I have to do one hundred percent of the work, so I put in the effort to make my work great. One example of this in my learning this year would be in comparing my Seattle “how crazy people change the world” video project to our latest science project titled open space.

My open space project wasn’t a solo one, but I was with one partner instead of three like the Seattle video. I found it much easier to split tasks and work together equally. On the other hand, I found it quite difficult for everyone to contribute a solid amount. Some people wanted to do most of the work and I found myself in the middle being confused. As you can see, that did not help our final product. I have realized that the less partners the better, at least for me.

Another thing I learned about myself this year is that it is good to get out of my comfort zone when it comes to group projects. I find it really hard to speak up when I am in a large group. Whether it be with deciding what our project will be, helping with prototypes, or just contributing in general. This is something that I will keep in mind for next year. 

Now, for this transitional presentation of learning I would really like to focus on what I have learned about myself and my learning style this year, so that I can improve on these things to have an academically strong year next year. As you know, Scimatics will no longer be a part of PLP next year, so I will have to adapt within the first few weeks of school next year to be effective in my learning. I will also be working on this with my tutor. 

One of the questions to choose from for this presentation that really stood out to me was “did your work this year meet your standards”. When it comes to most of my school work I almost never think it meets my standards. Mostly because of the fact that I always want to better, but the thing is that most of the time I don’t have the motivation to go the extra mile. This is definitely something I need to work on, motivation. I need help finding what motivates me so that I can do better. One of the things that I think will motivate me next year is the fact that grade 11 is the most academically important year of high school. I hope that this will be reality, but I definitely still need help in the motivation department.

 One thing that tires me out is all the blog posts. I know that it is a great way to show your learning and your perspective on a project or event, but I find it difficult to come up with new ideas. One thing I can do next year to make blog posts fun again would be to create a video edit or something else creative that I can incorporate into my blog posts. This way I can get the satisfaction for creating something while also making my blog posts shine.

One project that I am really proud of this year was my circle BC podcast. I felt like I got across the answer to the question with a number of interviews, sound bites, and clear speaking despite the ferry background noises. I felt like I did a really good job on the background music and editing as well. All of the music I created myself. I hope to create more stuff like this next year.

 

Our circle BC trip was one for the books. I find Deep Cove to be a bit of a bubble and going on this trip really helped me see the bigger picture of our province. All the good times with friends and teachers, eating, learning about First Nations culture and traditions, learning about our province and the places we visited, and getting sick! Just kidding about the sickness.

Now I would like to wrap up by giving a solid answer to the driving question for this presentation. I feel like I am ready to advance into the next grade level because I have learned things about myself and my learning style to set me up for academic success in the next grade. I am also confident that I will be motivated to go above and beyond because of the academic importance of grade 11. I will also be using the things I have learned in PGP this year like time sharpening my saw, looking at the man in the mirror, and time blocking to keep me organized. With all of these things in mind I know that I will be prepared for whatever comes my way in September.