Well, we are in 2018 now. And, we are also pretty close to halfway through the school year. And guess what that means…
REFLECTION TIME!
And typically, in PLP we do that in the form of a special version of a parent-teacher-interview. Now, these meeting have gone by many names, always changing their identities… it’s so us students don’t realize what they really are…
But every year, in January and in June, we do a SLC, or tPol, and now we are doing mPols, Mid-year Presentations of Learning. And every year, we realize that these meetings are the same dreaded 15 minutes of our lives, just with a different face.
But, on with it.
In this presentation, I’m going to tell you about four topics.
1. The piece of work that I am most proud of so far
2. The new skills I’ve developed this year in PLP
3. What I have been struggling with
4. My top areas of improvement I need to work on
First off, I’ll tell you about the work that I’m most proud of so far, and that showed a lot of hard work. And that would be my Who am I Video. We made these videos about ourselves because we are going to be working one on one with another class in High Tech High, in Our California trip. We will send these videos out to their class, and so they can pick who they want to work with based on our personalities and interests.
We started out with broad instructions. A short, around 2 minute video that showcases ourselves and what we like to do, our families, etc.
When we first were introduced to this project, I was very interested, and excited, as I always like making videos. I had a good idea of what I wanted to do, as I have lots of video of me and my friends doing all sorts of outdoor activity.
And this was my first draft:
I was not very happy with this one, mainly because it wasn’t too exciting. And so we moved on to our second draft. I changed the style a little, but still wasn’t happy with the overall feel. And then when editing my final draft, I felt I knew exactly what I wanted. And so here is my final draft:
This one I LOVED. For this one, I made my script a lot shorter, so there was room for the videos to play, and you won’t hear me talking the entire time. I also found some way better music, and made it come in at an amazing time. I felt that everything worked exactly as I wanted for this draft. This draft had the feel and mood I wanted it to but couldn’t capture in my first two drafts. As you can see as well, my first draft is a lot less exciting than my final draft.
But the main reason I was most proud of this project was because of all the hard work I put into each draft, and I built up from each step, ultimately reaching my goal. This to me is a big accomplishment, and I’m very happy with the end product. I went from a boring version of me, to showcasing myself in a fun and exciting way that people will want to watch, and I would want them to watch. I spent probably 10 hours total, and showed lots of revision skills through these 3 drafts. And that’s why it’s the project I’m proudest of.
Next up are my New Skills that I think I’ve developed this year in PLP 10. The biggest one so far is:
Podcasting.
And this breaks down to multiple different skills. In PLP we have done multiple projects that involved podcasts, and it started all the way back in Camp Capilano, where we created our first podcasts ever. The skills I think I gained from this are:
– The ability to write scripts that are very informative, yet entertaining.
– Research facts and interesting information to use rather than photos and visuals, like I usually would when making a video.
– The ability to create in-depth questions that I can ask my interviewee that will make them give a detailed answer
– Learn how to conduct an interview that will give me the answers and stories I was looking for
Overall in the year so far, we have done a lot of podcasts. Our first major one was the WWI Soldier Podcasts.
I think that in this project, I was just starting to realize how podcasts work, and what I needed to do to make mine a lot better. But, I think that I applied these new skills the most in the Winter Exhibition podcasts.
This is mostly because that’s when we were introduced to these new skills. But I feel that I took a lot of time to really think about the questions I was asking, to give myself a good outcome. I also feel that my podcast editing of the interview was really strong from the beginning, as I made each one engaging and interesting. A technique I used was to edit out the question I was asking if the answer explained enough so that the listener could follow along. This really helps the flow of the podcast, as my voice would interrupt the story flow that the interviewee was sharing. It made the interview go from a choppy question-then-answer recording to a smooth story podcast, which was the goal.
So, that was the project that I felt demonstrated the new skills I’ve developed so far in PLP 10.
And that brings me to my next topic.
My Struggles… (deep sigh.)
My biggest struggle this year has been lack of interest in some of my projects. That has mostly effected my math and science class, as I am often uninterested, and I end up falling behind in the smaller assignments in class. But, luckily, I do find that by the time that the project comes around for the unit, I have learned enough of the material that I know how to create my project. I was quite happy with my trigonometry and ideal angles project, for how much I didn’t understand.
But, even though I managed to pull off the project at the last minute, I still need to work on keeping focused in class better so I can keep up in class. I will begin to focus more in class and ask questions when I need go, to help me get the right answers.
But the project that demonstrates my lack of time management and enthusiasm was the Vancouver Sins of the City project.
I was put into a group that I hadn’t really worked with before, and a topic I didn’t really enjoy learning about. For some reason labour rights in Vancouver just doesnt intrigue me at all. And so that how I felt for the whole project: unenthusiastic. Thankfully I had the sense to work hard when we needed it though, and so I did get a lot of work done, but it was always the day before something was due. I’m pretty certain that the only reason we actually had on interview in our podcast before the final draft was because our interviewee waltzed into our class the day before and spoke to our class about Workplace Safety as Youth…
None of us had taken the initiative on finding someone to interview, and to just our luck, we managed to find one, at the last minute. Anyways, my group and I didn’t spend too much time on each step of the project, but I am happy with what we produced, it’s better than I thought it would be at least.
I think the reason that I didn’t focus and work hard on this project was because I didnt have any motivation to work hard. I wasn’t interested in the topic, and that really made working on this project a drag for me, which slowed down our progress and creativity.
I think that I need to work on finding 1 thing per project that intrigues me so that I can enjoy a little bit of each project while working on it. This is because right now, the project is either boring, or not boring. I need to work on finding a middle ground.
And that leads right into my next topic, my goals for the rest of this year.
MY GOALS FOR THE REST OF PLP 10
For the second half of the year I hope to improve my skills as a PLP learner, and these are the ways I’m planning on doing so:
1. Work on time management by beginning assignments and projects when I have extra time, instead of other things. Write down all my assignments is order of priority so I have a visual image of what i need to do.
2. Find and integrate something that I like into each project so I have a stronger motivation to work on it, and do it well.
3. Find some way to go above and beyond in each project. Right now I feel that my work quality has plateaued, and I want to drive the quality back up to where it should be.
These goals will help me improve my work, and I hope to use them as much as I can.
To sum everything up, I feel that my proudest project this year was my Who Am I video, as it was fun and exciting for me to create. I would say that I have grown as a learner in my podcasting skills, developing many other skills that help in podcasting. I think my biggest struggle is keeping up in math and science, and also my Sins of the City project because of our bad time management. And I plan to work on focusing more in class, keeping track of my assignments more effectively, and adding in something of my own to each project I do, for the rest of my PLP years.
And now,
Finally, I will ask a question to you, my audience, to conclude my Mid-year Presentation of Learning…
“What is one thing I can do to become a better leader in my classroom?”
And as I let that sink in, that is all for today, and thank you for coming to my 2018 mPol.
See you,