You may have seen my MPOL post which is a mid year presentation of learning, well now its time to do another post to show how else I’ve grown throughout the year.

In this 7 minute presentation I will be telling you about, how I’ve grown as a learner, projects I feel show my strengths, projects that I could improve on, how I’ve shown leadership and good group work, and things I’m still improving on.

Growth as a Learner

Throughout this past year I’ve been in grade eight I have definitely grown as a learner in a few different ways. First off I used to be very uncomfortable presenting my work in front of a group of people. Like from when we first went to Oregon and talked to Highlife adventures about our advertisements I didn’t really go in detail and avoided lots of talking. But recently I have definitely started to get more comfortable as of blue sky I began going in detail and really explained what I did and why I did it making it more successful and enjoyable for the audience as well as myself.

Another example of how I have grown as a learner is revision and taking critique. At the beginning of the year I was just learning how to take the critique to then revise my projects, but now I am much more comfortable listening to critique and actually thinking about it to then use it to improve my project. I feel this has shown again in my blue sky as in each prototype your can really tell the improvements.

Work I am Proud of

Humanities

I have completed many projects, some of which I am very proud of, and some that could use some improvements. I will start of with projects that I am proud of. First project I feel shows some of my best work is our recently completed Colonizing in a Tempest. I really enjoyed the creative elements of this project which is why I feel like it was a success. I became very engaged in this project, and I feel although there were some rough patches within our group it turned out very good, especially due to our random Acadian that showed up in every act:) At first Gabby, Sam, Aedan and I had trouble figuring out how to connect our act to New France but after a few try’s we went from not quite fire✨ to straight fire🔥 I think overall my group enjoyed performing and we had a fun time! Our backgrounds turned out just like we wanted, and our performance and narration went smoothly.

Scimathics

This was our end of year project in our scimathics class which I actually am quite proud of. In the Wavy Gravy Earthquake project we were put into groups, mine was with Lucy, Grace, and Ben, and we are given a place with high seismic activity, my groups area being Nepal. In this project we had to build a playground that can withstand earthquakes in your area. We are also to make a 3D model using FormIt to show our playground. In my group there were some struggles along the way but in the end we came together and made a pretty cool playground. Since I was not very good at using FormIt and would have lots of trouble creating a good model I was in charge of calculating the labour and material costs chart in excel. I had doubts at first but I sat down and I completed the chart, leaving time in class to fix it. This was a success because I didn’t feel stressed about changing the cost chart 2 minutes before the presentation and I knew it had been done correctly as I double checked, and triple checked my calculations. In some other units I didn’t really understand what to do, I definitely enjoyed this unit more because I let myself understand what to do better then before. I did this by taking in the information and if I didn’t get it I’d ask more questions and take the time to learn about the topic instead of getting frustrated.

Maker

For maker there is two projects which I am proud of, being both of the exhibitions. Starting off with Star Wars. This being my first exhibition I was understandably nervous, but I was also excited as I had chosen a topic I really had interest in which was what made this project better and more fun. If I had decided on something I had no interest in it would first of all cause more procrastination as I wouldn’t have an interest in doing any research etc. And second when telling people what my project is I would lack enthusiasm be making my presentation boring to listen to. But since I did have an interest in my chosen topic I started research right away and began brainstorming my setup and what I would make. I spent a long time making my displayed model, and the two poster boards, I also didn’t really plan out what I would say but when people came up to ask me what I did I knew exactly what to tell them.

As for Blue Sky I also decided on a topic both me and my client would have interest in. This had a similar outcome as it was successful, my presentation again went well and I spent time making each prototype improved from the over for a good reason.

Work I Could Improve

Humanities

In Humanities there has definitely been some work that looking back could have turned out better. For example the renaissance project. Now this project there were parts where I did good, and parts where I could’ve done better. Starting off the renaissance was super interesting to learn about, but the triptych is where I was lacking. It was a little difficult to think of what pictures I was going to add especially with such a big idea in the middle. I wasn’t super engaged and I started to lack ideas. In the end I kind of gave up and after getting the critique we were supposed to create a second draft, but I didn’t complete this for the post so I just end posted it with no second draft. I figured I could create it later but later became 1 week, then 2 weeks, etc. In the end I never ended up making a second draft which meant I haven’t put enough effort into this projects which I will avoid in the future.

Scimathics

Light and reflection. This was a very interesting unit and I definitely learned a lot but it was also very confusing and I got lost at times, making me discouraged. We did a lab which I understood pretty well, but once we got to the worksheets I was totally lost. I didn’t understand if the light was virtual, or real and why, or why the light came out the back of the mirror, or even how you knew if it was erect or not. This was definitely just not my strong unit overall and I feel I could’ve just asked for more help and tried a little harder to learn more.

Maker

In maker there have been some large projects, and then some small. This one is on the smaller side as we had little time and it was just preparing us for a larger project. But I still feel some more work and effort could’ve been brought to our L.A.U.N.C.H. project. I feel as though my group could’ve made better use of the materials given if done again. This wasn’t a major project but we could’ve done a little better in my opinion.

Group Work and Leadership

This year has been filled with group projects, and some have worked out really well, while others there were some issues. Some groups I’ve been in there was trouble splitting up the work load, others people disagree and we didn’t end up getting much done, etc. In groups I feel as though I do my fair share of work and try to stay on task. And as for leadership during the infographic project I feel as though after our first draft which was definitely lacking I helped bring the group back on task and we were then able to better work together as we communicated more, making the final draft significantly better.

Continue Improving 

I am still and will always be able to grow as a learner. There are some specifics that I want to focus and improve on, like presentations. I will continuasly strive to be a better presenter as I am still not the best, I tend to stutter as I get pretty nervous, but this year alone I 100% see an improvement. I also want to try procrastinate less, which throughout the year I have been getting better at. And in the end I just want to be able to be proud of the work I hand in, and continue to try and improve.

Overall this year I have learned a lot and I can’t wait to continue to grow as a learner next year!

– Paisley