mPOL 2023
It’s time again for my midterm presentation of learning. In this post, I am going to detail my experience with PLP 10 so far. I will discuss my strengths, weaknesses, highlights, FAILs, and more.
Coming in from the summer, I was motivated. I had a very good year for learning last year, and I wanted to keep my momentum going. In my Learning Plan, I laid out a very optimistic and ambitious list of goals for this year. I expected myself to go above and beyond in Humanities and Maker. I strived to achieve a level 4-5 in all of the Core Competencies. I feel like I am on a good track so far. Most of the work we have done so far feels like a continuation of PLP 9.
Despite my goals of success, there were a few moments in this year that were a FAIL. One example that comes to mind was the spaghetti tower challenge at Loon Lake. We were put in groups of 5 and challenged to build a tower as tall as possible using a few materials like spaghetti noodles, tape, string, and more. At the end of the time limit, our groups tower stood at a whopping 0 centimetres tall. We had a few pieces we were going to attach together, but we had run out of time. The root cause of our tower being incomplete was me. I was not keeping track of time, I was not always focused and on task, and I was unable to follow through with the plan we made as a team. I dealt with this by taking full responsibility for our issues. I told my team that it was all my fault, and I owned my mistake. To be honest, I am glad it happened when it did, because this challenge was a lot like a DI Instant Challenge. If it happened during an Instant Challenge, I would be facing more serious consequences. I am glad I learned from my mistakes and had a First Attempt In Learning.
To contrast my First Attempt In Learning, the project we did that I was most proud of was the Ology of Apology project and the Winter Exhibition. I felt like I learned a lot of important things and I was proud of the work I created. The timeline of transgression I created was very detailed, and I spent a lot of time on the design. I feel my written pieces for this project were also very strong and sent a clear and direct message. The memorial piece my group made was excellent and held a great representation of the story of the Komogata Maru. It was a very unique experience at the exhibition because at the start of the project, I knew nothing about the topic, but when I was presenting, I realized no one else knew anything about the Komogata Maru. One thing I would do differently however, would be to be more involved with the construction of our memorial. I feel like I did quite a bit less work on our memorial than my other group members, and while the end product came out great, I think if I contributed more, it could have been even better.
One time that I really pushed myself this year was at Loon Lake. Specifically, the high ropes course. On our first day at Loon Lake, the Pinnacle Pursuits leader Jono took us to the high ropes course. Since it was dark, cold, and we had no experience, he took us to the low ropes course, it was just one large rope, about 2 or 3 feet off the ground, with a hanging rope above for us to hold on to. We took turns walking across the rope, but before we went across, we all made a realistic goal, and a crazy goal. My realistic goal was to go halfway, and my crazy goal was to go all the way. When I went across, I went about 80% of the way, so I was pretty confident in my ability. On the third day, we went back to the high ropes course in the morning, since it was bright, I could clearly see the full scale of the course. I saw huge wooden poles 30 metres tall, spanning a huge area, and I felt intimidated. They told us we would wear harnesses as we went across. It helped me feel a little bit better, but didn’t change much. Then, Jono told us to make a goal for the day, and we would all take turns saying ours out loud. I said my goal was to try any new activities today, even if it was scary, and many people shared similar goals. Later that day, we came back to the course to do the activity. The first thing that helped me was learning that we were only doing 1 section of the course, which seemed much more within my abilities. The second thing that helped me was doing another “hanging from a harness” activity. After doing the other activity, I got much more confident in my ability and was excited to do the actual course. When my turn came, I climbed up the ladder and began to walk across. I noticed it was a lot easier than i thought so I went faster and faster, by about halfway through, I was basically running. I finished the course in probably less than 1 minute. I think this story shows how I grew as a learner and a person in a short amount of time, and how I can be pushed out of my comfort zone.
I think the project I had the most fun with was our Romeo and Juliet project. Our group made a modern adaptation of the play, and I really enjoyed it. The beginning part where we were reading the play wasn’t too bad, and I enjoyed 2/3rds of the film adaptations I watched, but making the video was really fun. During the whole film making process, including writing, filming, acting, and editing, I enjoyed it. Our video wasn’t the best in terms of technique, but I think it really shows my sense of personality, and plus, I do think it represents the themes of Romeo and Juliet in an engaging, entertaining way.
My main goal for the rest of the year is to stay on track, keep my momentum, and keep moving forward. I feel like I am in a good place right now in terms of PLP, and I want to keep it going until the end of the year. I know what it is like to lose motivation and give up on an important goal, but I know it is extremely important for me to never give up. This is probably going to be a difficult goal, but I plan on putting in 100% of my effort.
This concludes my 2023 Midyear Presentation of Learning. Thank you for reading this post.