TPOLs 2019

TPOLs!! We’ve done them since grade eight so you can probably expect what they are going to be about. The usual course: I did this piece of work, didn’t understand it but then after the project my understanding grew. But this year I decided to change it up, instead of doing the usual: this is the work I’m proud of, this is the work that shows my improvement etc. I decided to review this entire year and see if my skills that I’ve done continually progressed from start to the finish of grade 11. I then set progressive goals for each of the aspects of my learning.

This year was very different than previous PLP years as we only had 2 classes in PLP in comparison to having 5 PLP classes. Having only two classes taught by PLP teachers and the rest taught by mainstream teachers made our workload pretty heavy with trying to manage the growing expectations to continually succeed in the program (which is a good thing) with the weekly tests in various other subjects. On top of having a heavy case load, I also play high level basketball which takes up most of my time after school and on weekends. Looking back on this year was probably the most physically and academically challenging year to handle so far in high school. 

Throughout this year we have been doing a course called PGP (personal growth plan) which has really helped me understand the right steps to take to balance my busy schedule. This course has really helped improve my organizational skills and I’m going to show you how. Using my TPOL from previous years and comparing the skills and tools I’ve learned throughout this year. 

Productivity, Goal Settings and Habits=A Successful Student

If you can probably already guess, in previous years my goal was always to develop my time management skills within my busy schedule however I never really set out a plan for myself of how to achieve this goal. Sure I might have said I wanted to plan my schedule ahead of time but I never outlined the ‘How’ and that’s what PGP helped me with this year. We learned how to set goals, plan ahead, time block and prepare for the future. Throughout the year we used multiple sources including the books “7 Habits of a Highly Effective Teen” and “What Do You Really Want”. At first I thought learning about all this was a little overkill as explained in my previous MPOL however I grew to like the course. The aspects that really changed time management for me were the time blocking, planning for the future and goal setting as it will help me for my entire life. This year there were glimpses of great use of the skills but I still haven’t fully incorporated them into every aspect of my life. 

An example of applying these skills I’ve learned into my school schedule is my time blocking during these last couple of weeks of school in comparison to the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the year I procrastinated a lot more leaving studying for tests and projects and assignments until the last minute. After learning about time blocking, I’ve gradually started to incorporate it into my life and just in the last couple of weeks which were filled with exams and final projects, I’ve taken these skills to heart. This left me time everyday leading up to projects and tests to study and prepare. I’ve even created a new rule for myself that I have to start studying for a test at least 4 days in advance. Even in the short amount of time, setting out this amount of time has made an improvement on my performance in tests and exams.

Even though I haven’t fully applied these skills into my life, from what I have done I can definitely tell you that it makes a difference. I’m less stressed and overwhelmed and I feel in control of my schedule. My goal by the end of the summer is to fully organize and plan my schedule using the skills I’ve learned so by grade 12 I’m fully ready to start the year.  To do this I will continue to use the bullet journal I created for my final PGP project.

Another type of work I decided to compare was my writing skills and development throughout the year. Writing has always been something I’ve struggled with especially in class under a time limit. Following winter break we focused primary on these writing skills: starting with paragraphs and later moving on to narrative and research in class essays. This was a really hard unit for me, however it definitely made me have a greater appreciation for writing and helped improve my own writing skills. One of the first writing prompts we had was writing a whale song, which seemed very random however this wasn’t the most random of the writing prompts. Everyday we had a different writing prompting in which we would have to spend around 20 mins writing about that prompt. Although at first I didn’t enjoy these writing prompts, the longer we did them the more time I wanted to spend writing them. Specifically, we had one writing assignment which was based around writing a paragraph about an item that had family relevance in Ondaatje’s style of writing. This was one of the most difficult writing prompts and took me the longest to write but it was the one I was most proud of.

My writing definitely improved throughout this writing unit and prepared (partially) for my historical research essays on the Cold War. This essay was one of the most difficult things I had to write about as I challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone and tackle a topic with a driving question that there wasn’t really a whole lot of evidence about. My essay topic was about how having both Russia and the USA with the right to veto in the UN, was the leading cause for the length of the Cold War. This essay took me a long time to write as I wanted to really show my depth and understanding of this topic in an interesting essay. Although I struggled with writing this essay, I think the preparation we did leading up to this essay really helped me prepare for this essay. When looking back on my writing, the two pieces I directly compared were my two research essays. Although these essays weren’t far apart from each other, I definitely see an improvement in my writing. In my second research essay, I was able to express my own opinion towards the topic using primary sources to back up my point. I also used multiple different points to back up my thesis instead of just the standard 3 points to back up the thesis. I feel like this really helped me in getting my point across as I didn’t have to conform to the typical essay format. 

Even though I think my writing has improved throughout this year there is still a lot I want to do to develop and enhance my writing skills. The only way to do so is to practice wiring and read more. So my goal over the summer is to write at least two learning portfolio posts on different things I did and to read at least two books throughout the summer. This will hopefully help me take the next step in improving my writing to better prepare myself for grade 12.

This year hasn’t really been focused on one individual skill which I’ve enjoyed because I’ve been able to do a variety of different projects, from videos to essays to class projects. One of the projects that I thought showed a diversification of my different skills was my We Shall Overcome Project. This was a partner video project we did based on an individual who changed a system. The reason why this is one of the projects that I am the most proud of is not necessarily the final product but the process in which I took to get there. I decided that my video project needed another aspect to it on top of just creating a video so I decided to try and get an interview with someone from the Hockey Hall of Fame. At first I didn’t think I was going to get a response back but then I received an email back from Kelly Masse, the Director of Corporate and Media Relations. From there I planned a time, created questions and interviewed her over the phone. This was a really great experience for a project and really helped me take my learning to the next step. It also allowed me to reach outside of my comfort zone and into a real world experience. This is the final video that we created will the interview within it.

My goal in the future is to apply these skills I’ve learned of putting myself outside my comfort zone into every project to add an extra aspect to every project. This will help me grasp a deeper understanding for the topic and shoot for exceptional work.

This year has been a difficult year with a lot of ups and downs. I’ve faced many challenges both in and out of school. I’ve felt like I’ve been able to embrace this challenge and take the next step to succeed in all the work I do. I will apply these skills I’ve learned to the future to help me continually improve and succeed both in and outside of school.