Hey it’s Simon here I wanted to tell you a little bit about my grade 9 year and how things of been going in PLP, I thought I would start with my most proud moment the winter exhibition. I wanted to work on a project to help people understand the special effects in movies today. I waned the audience to see how special effects are used to make it look like people could walk through walls as we often see in movies such as Harry Potter. How I did it. I constructed a small box and used green painting tape to completely cover it. By using a special app on my iPad I was able to show the effects of a brick wall, of a full brick wall, when actually there was a hole in the side of the box. I then used a person made of clay which I moved in and out of the wall through the hole. To the audience it looked like he was going directly through a solid wall. I was most proud of this example because it was pretty complicated. I was able to successful present the same effect that can be seen in many movies today by simply using a simple box, tape an app on my iPad and a clay person.

So my next example is about how I have grown as a learner in grade 9. This example is about two essays I wrote as part of humanities. One essay on fantasy versus another I wrote on a revolution. I’ve never been a really strong writer. In fact, every one of my report cards reflected on the fact I had a weak written output as my teachers would tell my parents. In October I was asked to complete a short essay on the revolution. Rather than spend too much time preparing, I completed the essay the night before it was due. In true Simon fashion using only a quick Internet search to complete my research on the topic. You can see this essay did not turn out to be too long and had a number of errors.

Fast forward. January 2017, we were assigned to write an essay about fantasy and imagination. I started working on the essay and number of days ahead of the due date referring to the essay outline and bouncing ideas off my mom. I came up with three different ideas that show how our draw to the imaginary worlds makes the idea of fantasy so captivating to others.

As part of brainstorming ideas, I needed to ensure I had supporting details to make my essay more detailed. I developed a thesis statement and had to ensure my closing paragraph supported what I was saying. Finished.

The good news; this essay ended up being the longest essay I have written from grade one through to grade 9.

The bad news; I didn’t follow the rubric for the marking of the essay well enough to make sure I covered every point off that was expected. I assumed I knew what I needed did but I didn’t in the end. I also did not re-read my essay and correct the mistakes which many were quite obvious. If I has, I could have corrected the minor mistakes and made sure that it met the requirements of the grading exercise.

So, if I was to write this essay again today what would be my opportunities; I now feel like I can write a good essay. If I was to have to do it again and would ensure to re-read and follow the rubric instructions. I understand now by brainstorming key ideas with supporting facts I would be able to build an essay long enough and build a supporting opening and closing statement and I believe that I would be successful in getting a good grade.

My final example is going to give you an idea of how I’ve grown in grade 9. This is my growth mindset. Destination imagination. During this event, there was an aspect called instant challenges. This required people to be open to other people’s ideas and take an opportunity to gather different points of view. We had to train ourselves not to say “no” but encourage a different approach to consider in solving the problem, to be open to other peoples ideas and not always think our ideas were the only ones that were right. In this example my team finished first. For me it seem natural because I love to think about all the different ways to solve problems and hearing other peoples ideas make that even more fun.

3-Goals

For the balance of my grade 9 year. What am I going to focus on, what will be my three goals to finish off this year successfully;
1. Essay writing skills
Read and understand the rubric marking grid
Once the essay is complete review it for grammatical spelling and capitalization errors
2. Homework; be more committed to the homework assignments.
Put reminders on my phone
Do you homework the day it is assigned
3. Organization; keeping my binder organized.
Put papers in binder during class
Make sure my binder is organized every night