We’re back once again for another mPOL! Over these past few months, the question “how are you going to advance as a learner by the end of the year?” has come up a lot. Clearly it’s not the end of the year, as it’s January, but we’re already (almost) halfway through the school year. But how much have I advanced in these past few months? How can I continue to advance? For this we’re going to look at things such as my teamwork skills, wanting to expand my knowledge of things taught in class, getting involved and my management skills.

Lets start with teamwork. I feel like probably everyone has heard me talk about how I want to improve my teamwork in about every single mPOL I’ve done. I feel like this year was definitely my time to shine, as we’ve done nothing but team projects. Starting with our Manhattan Project² , I was definitely a team player in that. My other two team members were Ethan and Sam, and all in all I think we all contributed a lot into that project, making it very strong. Though I wasn’t in the actual video, I did a lot more behind the scenes things. I did a lot of the research, I wrote most of the script, as well as I helped with filming, B-Roll and audio editing. That project was something I’m really proud of, and it shows what we’re capable of when we Think Interdependently.

In this term and term 1, I also found myself doing more research outside of class on certain topic we’re working on. I’ve been wanting to expand my knowledge of things said in class, so I’ll find myself reading articles and websites to get a better understanding. An example of this would be during our 50’s exhibition, I got very interested in McCarthyism and the blacklist and everything surrounding that. I did a lot more research on that as we were editing the script, which made it hard to break down everything I wanted to say into key points for our portion of the exhibition. Even in the unit we’re doing now on the Civil Rights Movement, I’ve got a list of movies I want to watch that would help me get more of a historical perspective, and I’ve also been reading the additional resources Hughes has put in Basecamp. Getting a better understanding of what I’m learning is helpful because when it comes time to do a project or voice my opinion during class, I can know what I’m talking about and have some more background information.

I’ve also found myself working towards getting more involved in class. To draw upon the exhibition again, I got assigned to script writing. It was fun while we had to write the script, seeing as I got to write about Hollywood and do all that research. But once the script was done and Willa took over editing, I didn’t have much to do. This forced me to have to go up to people working on things and asking ‘how can I help?’ Because I did this I got to make things like the end video, help paint doors for the street scene, and work on other decorations. Even when we were setting up in the gym, I was making sure that, once I finished one task, I could move onto another one easily. I’m hoping to grow on this in the future not just with Team work, but with my own personal work. When I’m done an assignment, I’ll find myself looking at it and going ‘what else can I do’. This is helping me make sure I don’t just go for what’s expected, but do a bit more to make my work stand out. This is something that I’m planning on doing in term 2 and 3.

My last point here is talking about my management skills. I’m always working to improve my management skills, mainly with time management but also organization and making sure I can manage the tasks given to me. A huge help with this has been time blocking, in while I block out things in my day such as each class, the time it takes to bus home, how much time I get flake infront of the TV before dinner, etc. This has been a huge help because I have more of schedule, and it’s good to know that ‘alright, if I start doing Task A at this time for X amount of time, Task B can happen at this time’. It gives me an excuse to tell myself to get off the couch and do my homework, which I often need reminding of.

Another big help with this has been Things, where I can keep all my calendar stuff together. It gives me reminders like ‘hand in worksheet tomorrow’ or ‘bring camera for photography’. It doesn’t just help manage my school life, though that’s what I mainly use it for, it also manages my personal life. I check things every Sunday and go through what I did and didn’t achieve, and write it down in my weekly review to see what I can improve upon in the next week. It has a checkbox system, so when you complete and assignment you can check it off. And let me tell you, there is nothing more relieving than checking off boxes in things.

How I plan to improve my management skills is to work harder to time block. My time blocks are very loose right now, so I need to make sure they’re a bit more strict so that I know when I can do what. I also need to work on taking breaks, and reminding myself that I can take breaks. When I have a large task, I tend to start dreading it because it’s so big and I don’t want to spend all that time on it. Breaking a large task up into smaller chunks helps it seem more manageable, and I’m working towards doing that. Think of it like the Goal Ladders from What Do I Really Want. One step at a time, and then I’ll reach the top in no time.

So I hope you all enjoyed attending (or reading) my mPOL! See you soon!

Read you later

Sincerely, Parker