Halló
Every year, PLP hosts 2 exhibitions: Winter (which I missed) and Spring). Last year was an awkward one because my job was to move the crowd along the outdoor exhibition so I really didn’t know what this years was going to look like.
Our jobs as the grade 8s and 9s were to kind of present how PLP works and then lead up to the main stage that the grade 10, 11, and 12s were presenting in the gym about important people who made an impact or difference to our community. No pressure.
I found that we kind of eased into working towards the exhibition because we were working on a humanities project about the Gold Rush in BC, but the exhibition eventually completely took over.
I was placed in the PBL (Project Based Learning) pathway group with Sylas, Makenna, Sabrina, Teva, Claire, and Dylan (who didn’t contribute anything) and a couple grade 8s. The room we were assigned to present in was the PLP room (a.k.a. the “fishbowl”) which was probably best because we needed a lot of space to present and keep the audience flowing through the stations.
We started working by creating a pitch form to our teachers that explained what we were going to show and build. Our driving question was “How do we learn” We had 1 station for each one of the stages that we go through when working in a project so already we had a visualization of what our room was going to somewhat look like.
We then moved on to the planning documents that explained in detail what the audience would see, hear, eat, and interact with.
We divided the work that needed to be done into 4 sections:
- What examples will you provide to tell your story? 👀
- Present our story boards,
- screenplays,
- and Final films
- Grade 8 work they would like to present
- What food will you provide? 👄
- Marshmallows + toothpicks to build and represent Building Knowledge
- Brain Candies were handed out as prizes at the interactive station of Develop and Critique
- What will the audience hear? 👂🏻
- playlist which will be playing music with lyrics about failing, learning from mistakes, learning in general, school, and school on loop which will support the project path booths
- Our documentaries were presented in “sound boxes” so that the sound could be heard and the outside music couldn’t be heard.
- What interactive experience will your offer for your audience? ✋🏼
Booth 1: Launch
- Audience will brainstorm what they know about how we learn in PLP on a whiteboard
- Audience will ask questions about we learn in PLP through sticky notes
- Audience will see someone learning to film an interview (1 PLP teacher teaching, 1 student listening)
Booth 2: Building Knowledge
- Audience sees 2 students attempting to film an interview
- Audience sees slideshow of our first interview videos
- PLP student at booth will hand out marshmallows and tooth picks to build with – representing building knowledge
Booth 3: Develop and Critique
- Audience draws a picture then picks someone else’s drawing to critique (Kind, Specific, and Helpful). The PLP student at the booth will give brain candies as a prize for teh person who gives the most kind, Helpful, and Specific feedback
- Audience sees 1 Student is at their iPad making mistakes and getting frustrated while editing their final film, but then continues to learn
Booth 4: Present and Reflect
- Audience sees 1 student at their iPad writing their “First
- Film” blog post
- Audience sees final videos on 1 iPad
- Audience sees 2 students celebrating finishing the project
This part was a little difficult because we needed to pretty much Dumb-it-Down for the grade 8s which took up a lot of our time. Once our group was on the same page as the grade 8s we started to build.
The rest of this journey was rather simple. We had been approved to begin building our stations and decorations. As a group we all worked together to draw, paint, cut, tape, and prepare for the exhibition. Almost every class, we set a couple things for people to bring to our next class and since I was in charge of the Building Knowledge station I brought the marshmallows and toothpicks.
Pretty quickly, the exhibition began to creep closer and closer until the day came. We came to school at 9:15 in the morning and left at 8 pm because we were all setting up our rooms and the gym. The exhibition started at 5:30 and within half an hour, I had about 15 kids come to my station to build with the Marshmallows and toothpicks. You could say I had the best attraction.
The rest of the night moved by rather smoothly. I stood at my station talking about the experience in Building Knowledge and also got a chance to take a break and check out the rest of the exhibition.
In the end I had a pretty decent night. It was a huge improvement than last year because this year the exhibition was only 2 hours long, not during summer break, and I had a much better role. I thought it was a creative way to present our documentaries and all the senior grades work. I’d like to thank my teachers, Ms. Willemse, Ms. Maxwell, Mr. Hughes, and Mr. Harris for all the time and effort they put into this exhibition.
To end the year, I will be attending my first proper PLP banquet. From what I’ve heard, there will be food, entertainment, and a Spike Ball tournament, and an award ceremony so I think this will be a great way to conclude my Grade 9 year.
👋