- It is not often that I feel ecstatic about a project as it is being introduced yet in this one, our last project of our grade eleven year, I did something meaningful, driven by an initial care that carried me through. I keep thinking the same thing. “That was incredible!” It is what continues to replay and yes, I think with exclamation as well. That was the truth of this project though; it was like the exclamation mark at the end of this year’s sentence.
How might we transform education systems to create engaged and informed citizens?
The driving question of this project seemed challenging but it was the right one… the perfect one to ask, and here is why. The PLP class that I have learnt alongside since grade eight is now a grade eleven class. We know how to push through dilemmas and debate complex topics, and if there is one thing for sure, we have an opinion about school. This being the case, the project was a spark that lit a flame in our minds, brighter than anything all year. This was incredible to be a part of because I too, someone who thinks a lot about big stuff, was able to realize that I can change, impact, and affect the community around me, something that has a much farther effect than I had initially thought.
When I took part in initial brainstorming for my artifact and my answer to the question above, I had unknowingly based my ideas quite tightly around this idea of learning impacting engagement in society. As I reflected on in my TPOL, I often felt held back when it came to feeling confident in my ideas, however from the start of this project, I found myself overflowing with inspiration and thoughts, and connections to previous learning I had done. I was excited for the coming of every class as I was releasing my creativity and passion through a culmination of the interconnection of my learning to my identity.
During the year I had taken on the leadership role in our school’s green club on creating a native species pollinator garden. This had been a project I wanted to do for quite a long time which had been inspired by my passion for learning about nature and how I can help our environment. This was a really fun project that got everyone excited to come to the meetings every Friday. It was seeming like it would not be implanted until next year until a grant came up from the company that we had received money from for depositing our school’s recycling bottles. Realizing that the date was within the week, I got the teachers on board and we pushed to get the flowers in the ground within the week. Even then with all that was going on in school, we began to lose sight of the deadline but I knew that we at least had to try so I made sure everything was planned out, and I scheduled a day to plant. One lunch, our club went outside and planted the flowers we had purchased only days before from the native plant nursery within the community. It was so fun to run this and to see it through as this was the first time where I was able to take the passion learning and care I have for the planet and make a rippling change within our community. However as I wrote the grant, I began to realize the unmistakable similarity in what took place in this initiative and the question we were posed with at the start of this project.
It was this idea, this passion that lead the way to the unforgettable experience in this exhibition. I realized that what schools need to have informed and engaged citizens is not just one thing, but a holistic addition to the system that would touch all aspects of our time in and our perception of school. My original idea did this through a restructuring of the curriculum and implementing a new way to learn. It felt strong but it couldn’t be applied, not with the time we had. I wasn’t my potential for this project but the idea still had potential. I knew that it would be part of of the solution. I wanted to make something worth fighting for, something that continuous effort could bring to fruit. The initiative with the green club had seemed impossible but it had happened. It was a dream and it was achieved. Why could that not be the same with this project? I decided that incorporating the experience of the native plant pollinator garden would be the path I wanted to take.
Starting as a place where students can connect to nature, it began to take new forms. I brainstormed the Community value, the support it will give to students and their well-being, the impact it can make towards our school district’s goals in sustainability, and of course, the complex understanding that garden-based learning has to offer. Suddenly the opportunity I had dealt with at the beginning of the project began to rapidly fill with an impactful system that could be implemented.
At the exhibition I presented a lot of artifacts, staying true to the interdisciplinary approach of GBL. I made presentations that laid out my ideas, journals that mimicked what incorporation of GBL may look like in the classroom, a mind map which organized my ideas and presentation, and my favourite addition: a bag of soil, snow pea seeds, and compost isle pots so that people could bring a plant home to grow and reflect on what carrying for plants makes them think about learning. It was incredible to have all of these ideas come to life in the exhibition through my presentations. Every time I presented, although I thought I would lose my voice multiple times, I was able to share my ideas more and more clearly. I enjoyed every presentation, and unlike other exhibitions when the night came to an end, I wanted more and more people to come to my station.
An incredible thing happened in this project. It was something that happens rarely in school but is something that shows when it does. As I reflect on my growth in this project, I can help but realize what role the learning I had achieved throughout the year had affected my decisions in this project. Whether it be my understanding gained from our Cold War project impacting what action towards fear means or the last project where I learned the importance of pushing to continue revising even when the goal you are looking for seems so far away or even the first project of this year where I learned the importance of interpersonal effort towards the betterment of a cause. All of this, all of what I thought would end when I handed in my final reflection, has carried through to this project and has shaped how I view the world to make this answer to the problems our school system faces today.
In this project I was able to explore what I can do with my voice and action. I blossomed this project, I really brought myself out, or maybe I brought my learning out, blossoming as a complex understanding, pollinating future action for years to come.