At the start of the year before school even started I knew I wanted to achieve immense growth as a learner this year. A summer of hard work towards my basketball dreams was coming to an end but I knew the lessons I learned of determination and self perseverance weren’t going to end in September. I knew I would have to make adaptations to my schedule although I didn’t quite realize the scale they would be. I started this year with spark of interest and that spark has lit the fire of not only immense knowledge, but a fire of bright passion towards my every day endeavours.
When the time came to complete a learning plan, I knew I was going to set high expectations. From the previous summer, I had learned what I am capable of I can overcome the barriers my mind places on my actions so that sense of accomplishment and drive carried over to this new year of learning. After other PLP years filled with struggle and “getting through” projects, I had finally realized the importance that improvement and growth plays in my life. I started this year with a goal of 95% in all of my classes.
For me the question wasn’t if I was going to be able work to that level, but if that spark of inspiration and passion could touch my work through the entire year. As I said before, my basketball schedule would face dramatic changes once the school year started and after many frosting weeks of dissatisfaction, I decided to except the fact that I would not be able to maintain my routine. Once I excepted that fact, I was able to think about how much I can grow this year as a learner. After realizing the importance a day makes in becoming a better basketball player, I was able to take that same sense of patience and larger-picture-thinking and apply it to the learning I completed this year.
My learning goal may be to reach 95%, but the goal I really had set out for myself this year was to make my work something I could be proud of for the rest of my life. I know you probably think that that would everyone’s goal but to be honest, most of us are just tying to get done with our homework to join our friends in fortnight. Once I was able to take that step back and really think about what I wanted to get out of each project, the work that followed could speak for itself.
The first example of this was in our “think you can do better” project where we discovered what it would be like to form a Political party in Canada. This had been something that I had been interested in for a long time so when I was able do this in a school class, I knew I was going to squeeze out every bit of learning I could. In the election reflection blog post, my passion for the environment was able to connect to the topic we were studying. This is the first time I was able to answer questions I had through research. As I mentioned in my post, doing extra work early on sets you up for a more meaningful end result. After forming a party with my group, and creating a platform with my real life values, I realized that the work that I do in school can contribute to real world endeavours.
I carried these values of connecting passion and interest, to my next project where we learned how people have made up for past wrongs in our unit called “The Ology of Apology” . I have always had a liking of history, but at face value history can just be textbook pages on World War One. In this project I realized the importance of making things personal and connecting what your learning to my own personal interests. Using the Zettlekasten method to its full advantage, I was able to take the knowladge I learned on field study’s as well as in the classroom and make connections not only within the project, but to the philosophies and observations on how life works. I know it probably sounds silly to think that a kid in grade ten is making discoveries about how the world works, but its true.
I think the largest growth I have had this year through the three projects this year, is finding that deeper meaning to what I learn on the daily. As a stated in my ology of apology project blog post its human nature to what to understand everything, and using the resources I am lucky enough to have such as PLP or my zettlekasten, I believe I will be able to accomplish a deeper learning than I thought possible. In past years I felt that my creativity and passion towards work declined as the year went on, but this year I feel confident, that if I can find at least one thing that I am passionate about learning in each project, the learnig will be somthing that I can take with me everywhere.
A perfect example of this is the most recent Romeo and Juliet project. I had no interest on learning about Romeo and Juliet, but I knew that there was something meaningful I could leave the project with. I decided I make a list of questions I wanted to answer with my work in this project such a how Romeo and Juliet’s story could help me understand humanity a little more. Keeping this question in mind, I was able focus all that I learned to this one topic. By the end I was not only able to answer this question, but I had a tapestry of ideas and meaningful thoughts that I will carry throughout my life.
Thinking back to the beginning of the year and the aspirations I had to do great work, I really didn’t realize what I could really accomplish. Some key points of learning that I want to carry on throughout high school are:
- to take notes on my learning
- search for a deeper meaning of real world connection to all that I learn
- find ways to connect each unit or topic to a passion that I have
- understand the ups and downs of creativity
- Don’t just connect learning to school
- Understand that all experiences have learning opportunities
- Ask more questions
Reflecting back to my learning plan I made at the beginning of the year, I believe I am on the right track to achieving the goals I set out for myself. Although I am proud and grateful for the learning I have achieved so far, there is still some habits that I need to sharpen in order to achieve the highest level of success. The habits I need to strengthen are:
- making my writing more concise
- Asking the teachers for suggestions on how I can improve
- Making sure I spend that extra bit of time planning my posts
As I head into maker, I plan to carry with me the strong habits and work ethics I have formed as well as to always look for ways I can improve. In terms of sharpening my learning plan, only one thing comes to mind.
In these past three projects the final product has always been a group effort. I know in life, collaboration is going to be a key skill, but my question is how I can allow my group to equally contribute if their idea of good work is lower than my standard.
In the year to come I hope to learn the answer to that question as well as the many others I have about the world that I live in. I hope to use the methods of leaning from PLP to all my classes in school and I hope find ways to enjoy all the learning I complete for the rest of my learning journey.
Hi Ryder,
Your blog post attests to a real affinity for learning. I think this is admirable, especially these days with all the high tech games and social media, which, of course, can be fun and worthwhile, but also can become a distraction at times.
For sure, there’s so much innovation and new information and new perspectives continually being added to the learning landscape. It’s apparent that a kind of cultural evolution is happening and this evolution is being accelerated by science and emerging technologies.
Vast potentiality which has been waiting patiently for decades – and even centuries – is here now in actuality. It’s difficult even to imagine how people would have reacted to smart phones or a zoom meeting just a hundred years ago (let alone a thousand!), but, amazingly, the potential existed there, in the past, all along. So much has changed and so much is the same too.
So, I think that learning is one important way to strive to make sense of our changing world and, in so doing, can inform some of the choices we make. And, then, the choices we individually and collectively make allow for different ways of creating meaning and happiness. So, I think that learning is integral to realizing purpose and meaning. I’d be interested to hear some of the reasons why you find learning to be so valuable…
And, sort of paradoxically, I’d say that learning can sometimes even mean forgetting (figuratively speaking) what has been learned before when it no longer serves… like, you know, how the saying goes: emptying some of the tea in the teacup in order that some new and, perhaps, more illuminating way of understanding might take its place…
Also, I like how you write creatively with metaphorical language; for instance, as you wrote “frosting weeks of dissatisfaction” or “tapestry of ideas” or “learning journey.” I think this is a very intelligent way both to be expressive and to frame insights.
You wrote that “the work that I do in school can contribute to real world endeavours.” So true and I agree that school academics aren’t isolated or separate from what goes on in daily life, e.g., politics or ecological issues. And, not only that, as I expect you know, learning is congruous and continuous with the knowledge and wisdom of history past, while, at the same time, connects to our future world as well…
You mentioned, too, about “making discoveries about how the world works.” This is cool. I think that this process of discovering how the world works just flows on and on like a river through time…and it’s great to ride this current, continually asking new questions and seeking new answers.
I’m realizing, too, that it’s also good sometimes to pause learning and just relax… to enjoy life as though there’s nothing more to learn at all… or, sometimes, just to puzzle over the mystery!
Well, nice blog post and good to hear that school is proving to be meaningful and encouraging.
Hi,
Thank you for taking the time to read this post! As always, I am so fulfilled when I receive feedback on my learning. Learning truly is a gift, but like you said, learning has kind of a paradoxical effect. On one hand you can just love encountering learning experiences, and on the other you can feel overwhelmed by how much you do not know. For this year that was especially hard: always knowing that I could be learning more and maybe that learning could help the world in some way. I have began to realize though, learning is kinda of like childhood memories. You have a lot of good memories where you were in the moment and not worrying about something else but you also have memories that you barely remember at all. I find this to be kind of the same way with learning. If you are tying to learn everything, than you miss out on learning how to learn. I don’t know if you know what I mean, but what I’m basically saying, is that sometimes just living is the best learning you can do. This relates to your last point, because every thought that we have is just a perception of reality, so giving your brain a new way of looking at the world will actually completely change how you look at life and at learning. This is the main part of growth I think: to build knowledge than change how you look at that knowledge or understanding.
Thanks again for taking the time to read my reflections,
Ryder