Tpols (Transitional Presentations of Learning) are a great way to reflect on your work and yourself as a learner throughout the year. I noticed this year was different as I came to the realization that high school was soon coming to an end, which concerned me because I see myself as a proactive and organized person. Feeling a bit behind on preparing for post-secondary, I created a new perspective and followed it for success throughout my grade 11 year. Today I’ll talk about what was going through my mind, what some some of the habits and behaviours I picked up and practiced, where I pushed myself to grow, and some areas of growth that I learned throughout the year.

Declaration of Learning

Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.

  • • •

 

 

What’s going on?

Realization and planning

Although it should have come earlier, the moment I realized post-secondary was only less than 2 years away struck me at the Post Secondary Information night. This thought put me in shock and it began stressing me out because unless I started planning right away it was all going to collapse on myself later on. This concerning thought that a new stage in my life is about to emerge continues to live in my mind but at a much more comfortable level thanks to some habits and practices that I have learned from PLP but also from my own experiences in the past.

It occurred to me that I hadn’t sat down and really thought about what I want to invest my post-secondary life in. Did I want to travel first? Or dive right in? I found that things like those questions didn’t really matter at the time which is where I’d like to introduce a very simple but effective habit from Sean Covey’s Atomic Habits, “Put First Things First”. I had a strong idea of what direction I wanted to go in but wasn’t totally sure exactly what field I wanted to land in. What I realized is that the most important thing I could prepare myself for at that time was choosing my course outline for the following year. I researched the acceptance requirements of many universities and compared it to what I had going on already. I dug my way out of holes I foolishly put myself in the past and created an outline that would benefit my post-secondary needs. Of course this all seems to be something everyone should do, this is exactly where I began seeing my work through a new perspective. I decided that if I wanted to fully prepare myself for what was coming, I had to begin treating my work as if my future depended on it.

Focus on Quality Work

My new main focus towards completing work was “How can I become a sophisticated student” and the way I focused my progress is by doing my best to connect different topics and ideas when finishing work. I found that this new goal tied in really well with my ability to create quality work because I was checking all the boxes in regards to my standards. I am very proud of my final product for Fear Factor because I spent hours of work into it and felt very satisfied with the final result because of my literary work, planning process, execution and design of my e-book and can confidently say that I would use this piece of work to represent me as a student if I had to. When midterms released I was really curious to see what I had to do differently to reach the goal of being a sophisticated student considering all the work I was putting into my classes. After having a few conversations with my teachers, we came to the conclusion that the only thing keeping me from reaching that goal was my level of participation in group
discussions, sharing my thoughts, and being more engaged in class discussions as a whole. With that said, I have created a set of goals for me to hit next year. (right)

 

 

 

View my planning work for my e-book FEEDING FEAR in the image/document below ⬇️

  • • •

Success and where it came from

I would say I’m satisfied and proud of almost all my  final products this year because I have set a certain bar for myself to reach for every project. I feel confident that my style/level of work has become a normal aspect of myself and that I can count on myself to provide such level of work. I’ve noticed that when I know exactly what I’m talking about, I can create a product that stands from the rest of the group.

I’d like to highlight my “The Great Debaters” project because I believe it has the best example of the building of my success. This project included a final product of a 12-ish minute debate supporting the affirmative or negative of a topic. I chose to debate the negative on “Nuclear power is a viable source of energy” because I believed in my debating skills and  provided strong arguments to support my side. The first connection I made to my success was the situation I was put in. Due to an early family trip, my schedule was modified so that I would complete the project before I left which meant I was always ahead of the class.

This helped in the sense that I didn’t have the option to rely on my friends to explain what I was to do and I felt more in control since I was going through the project on my own. Although this was a one time thing, it taught me that I am more successful when I am focused on myself and myself only rather than looking for suggestions or support from my peers. I found that I was typically on the “hotter take” side of the debate which I interpreted as a challenge to push myself to win this already one-sided debate. I spent hours doing research, reading first hand accounts, and composing a formally written argument. This project exposed me to a new area of public speaking where confidence was basically the key to success and led me to take Spoken Language, a public speaking course which I strongly believe will benefit me down the road.

Group Dynamics and Leadership

Even though we didn’t have too many group projects this year, I did feel like learned and grew as a learner from the Manhattan Project². This project required the class to work in groups to create an interactive ebook and that led me to learn a few things. Going into this project I was very dedicated to creating a visually appealing book that mimicked National Geographic’s design layout. I was put in a challenging group because I had a couple group mates that I have had trouble working with in the past. I became the group DRI/Leader and I did my best to describe how we were going to make our book and even made detailed explanatory instructions on how to design our book. As expected, certain group mates didn’t pull their weight and brought the rest off us down with them and had to start again in a smaller group. My takeaways from this project were simple but bold;

Overall these takeaways have shaped the way I participate in group projects and how I view single projects. I remember I used to say that I work best in groups but I think I can confidently say that although I can effectively work in a group, I thrive while working by myself as well because I don’t have to rely on anyone but myself create the quality of work I believe in.

Proof of potential

Lastly I want to mention my final product for both my BC First Peoples (BCFP) and  Cat and Maus projects because it is a prime example of what I plan to do with the majority of my work from now on. As the exhibition neared, we had to merge both of these projects and create a final product that would include our work and learning from both projects. With my partner Colton, we connected Colin Kaepernick’s story and activism to the legacy of the Indian Act and its impacts to bring awareness to Systemic Racism directed towards Indigenous peoples across Canada.

I was really satisfied with our final product because I believe that although Colin Kaepernick seems like a very distant topic to the haunting Indian Act, we managed to successfully merge the two projects together to demonstrate who Colin Kaepernick is and what he stands for today – as well as bringing light to racial injustices in Indigenous communities in Canada by connecting details of both topics and discussing them with guests at the PLP Exhibition 2024.

Check out some of the work gone into putting together our final product in the image/document below ⬇️

  • • •

Room for growth

I would consider this past year a success in general but in that success I found areas where I can further improve for next year. Generally I focus on what’s going well for me and stick to it but I discovered that I have a little trouble looking for areas to grow and improve because I feel like it takes away from the successful side of my workload. At the end of this year I’ve realized that its critical to understand where things went wrong because I have only so much time left to prove that I am a sophisticated student, even if I’m not there yet.

Learn from mistakes

Typically I’ve been somewhat slack with my work during the beginning of projects because I didn’t believe that they would have much of an impact on my mark. Although I’m generally right about that I noticed that it doesn’t put me in an ideal position when the time to lock in comes around. Back in the “Who Cares and Why Bother” project, as soon as I was told we were going to learn about the Canadian government I lost interest.

Although I thought I would be fine anyways, the end of the project came around quick and if it wasn’t for the group I was in, I would have been in a rougher situation. I Since then I’ve been invested in the project since day one and I’ve noticed that I’ve been more on top of my workload which allows me to focus on the task at hand and create the quality work I thrive for.

The value of feedback

Like I mentioned before, I had a few conversations with my teachers about what I needed to do to achieve that sophisticated grade. I’ve reached this grade before in the past but I didn’t seem to achieve it halfway through this semester so I was curious as to what I had to do ensure that I reached my goal by the end of the year. What I found out is that my work is fine, I just needed to share my thoughts, understanding, and knowledge in more ways.

Ways I could do this could be through being engaged in class discussions on a daily level, provide more thoughtful insight in group discussions, and show my understanding of concepts whenever possible like Mr. Hughes’ weekly notes. I thought this was a fairly achievable goal for myself and if I don’t end up reaching this goal this year, I know I will be able to next year.

  • • •

Answering the big question

How can you showcase evidence to demonstrate that PLP Success Behaviours have prepared you to advance to the next grade?

 

Implementing habits

I believe that my success as a student provides enough evidence through my work, however I can highlight my dedication to prioritizing important tasks and improving the quality of my work. The realization that post-secondary life is approaching fast has pushed me to adopt effective habits such as Sean Covey’s “Put First Things First.” This approach has helped me focus on essential goals like choosing the right courses for university acceptance.

Successful traits

My commitment to thorough research, planning, and execution is evident in projects like “Fear Factor,” where I dedicated hours to produce a high-quality literary work, “The Great Debaters,” where I independently prepared a compelling argument on nuclear power, and Manhattan Project²  where I demonstrated my ability to adapt to different situations to ensure success. These experiences have taught me the value of independence, adaptability, and consistent effort, significantly enhancing my academic performance.

 

Communicating and reaching out

Moreover, the value of having conversations with teachers about where you can grow as a student has become prominent within me as a student. In the event that it doesn’t pay off this year, I know I will put it to work to achieve success in the coming year.

By setting specific goals to connect ideas across projects, maintain high-quality work, and participate more in discussions, I am continually improving my skills and adapting to new challenges. These efforts and the lessons learned from both successes and areas for growth demonstrate my readiness to advance to the next grade, equipped with the habits and mindset needed for ongoing academic success.