MPOLS!!

It’s that time of the year again when we show our learning and present it to our parents and teachers, yep Student Lead Conferences. But this year they aren’t called SLCs or Tpols instead Mpols which I think stands for midterm pols but don’t trust me on this. As I’m in grade 10, this is my third year doing them so I’m not as nervous as I’ve been in the past. I feel more confident about reflecting on the work I’ve done and the ways I can improve.

Sins of the City Essay 
So far this year, I have been pretty proud of the work I’ve done not only for the quality of my final product but I’m proud of the process I’ve taken to get to the end result. One thing though that I don’t feel has represented my best work is the literary essay we wrote during our last unit called Sins of the City. This unit was based around the driving question “Through the emer- gence and growth of Vancouver, was the experience for everyone?” We had a big unit project where we were put into groups focusing on contemporary issues. My group focused on Aboriginal rights, to read more about our unit project click here. Our essay was based around Aboriginal rights. In this essay, we wrote about some of the issues and stereotypes First Nations face and a solution to these problems. We wrote this essay in letter format and sent it off to Brad Baker (District Administrator of Aboriginal Education).

this is my essay:

This essay I thought was a really cool idea as we got to apply our writing to real life and get in- volved in our community. The only problem for me is sometimes I have a hard time getting my ideas down in a short amount of time which was difficult for this essay as we wrote it in class over the span of two classes. Although this does seem like a lot of time I was only there for one of the classes so I felt very rushed to write down all my thoughts in this limited amount of time. I really struggled and was not proud of the product I had created as this wasn’t even close to my best work. After creating a second draft, I felt better about what I had written but I still felt like I could have done so much better and made it more interesting for the readers. Although I really think my writing has improved since grade 8, I definitely want to work on my creative and literary essay writing as it’s something I struggle with. There are some people who can just write their ideas down so easily and it translates so well. I would like to be one of these people.

Everyone Has a Story Podcasts 
Recently, another one of our projects was part of a unit in Maker called Everyone Has A Story. For this unit, we interviewed and created mini podcasts that were based off the format of StoryCorps. This was definitely a project where I could see my improvements throughout different drafts and my confidence improving with interviewing people. During the creation process of three mini podcasts, one thing I think I definitely improved upon was the interviewing itself: from asking questions that can’t just be answered with a yes or no, staying engaged throughout the entire interview and not interrupting the interviewee. This was especially relevant during my last couple of interviews in creating my final podcast as I was talking to strangers which I was super nervous about getting stuck or saying the wrong thing. However, with each interview I grew more confident and had more of a comfortable conversation instead of a stiff interview. Also, when editing the podcasts using Ferrite, which was a new app I’d never used before, each podcast I made the edits more precise and flow from one to the next. I definitely think my final product of the podcasts are good quality work although I know that I can always improve upon my final draft.

final draft of my third podcast:

Science and Math
In science and math class, something that I need to work on is finding ways to better under- stand the concepts we are learning whether that means asking for help from my teacher, family and friends or watching videos and researching about the concept.The reason I need to do this is because sometimes in class I don’t fully understand the certain parts in our unit which makes me frustrated as we are learning new things that I haven’t learned before.

The golden ratio is something we have learnt about in math class

Sometimes if I’m introduced to these concepts, it’s hard to grasp especially if we are learning them very quickly. As I mentioned before to solve these problems I face, one thing I’m definitely going to do is watch a couple of videos about what we are learning and take notes at the same time to make sure I understand in my own words what is being taught.

Work Habits and Mindset 
One of the biggest things I want to work on this year is how to take my learning to the next step by improving my work habits. Every year one of my goals is to improve my time manage- ment skills and not procrastinate. However, I usually don’t say how or what steps I’m going to take to reach these goals. So this year I am looking at it a little differently and focusing more on the mental part of why I might be procrastinating or not using the time I have effectively.

The reason I think that I have this work habit is not being lazy about a project or having a lot of sports after school limiting the amount of time I have to spend on this work, but instead it is my mindset (taking it all the way back to grade 8 with growth mindset and fixed mindset). I feel like I put my own ideas down and sometimes tell myself that it’s too hard or the work I create will not be as good as my classmates. Instead of having a fixed mindset about the work I can pro- duce, I should be more open minded and confident about how and what I can do in short amount of time especially when I have to balance homework with after school activities. So the next step for me is to actually take charge, not procrastinate and not tell myself that I won’t be able to complete something in this amount of time. Instead taking a leap to use my time efficiently and effectively to improve my time management skills and also the quality of work I produce.

Throughout this term I’ve learned a lot about not only who I am as a learner but also how I can improve my learning habits and reflect on my work. One thing that has been relevant through- out everything I’ve written about is confidence which I think is a crucial part of not only taking the next step in my learning but also has a lot to do with leadership and attitude towards my work. Although certain pieces of my work I’ve shared are not the best quality, they definitely show my growth as a learner and the improvements I will strive to make.

my question: What do you think is the first step I can take to improve my writing skills to become a better writer?