Hello parents, teachers and potential blog viewers and welcome to my blog. Today we are doing something special, my grade 11 tPOL or transitional presentation of learning. As I reflect on this turbulent and important year of learning I have really thought about what I accomplished as a PLP learner. Surprisingly as I reflect on the year I realize that I have actually learned and accomplished a couple of things. Now for the next couple minutes I’m going to show you what I accomplished and what I wish I had put a bit more energy and time into. 

Flashing back in time I want to bring everyone here back to September, school is starting back up and I am still in summer mode. The PLP teachers spare no time and throw us into the very first project about the Canadian national election called “think you can do better”. Of course we were also introduced to the best new way to keep track of our work, Zettlekasten. As I leisurely strolled into the school year my legs were swept out from under me. I was completely and totally unprepared for grade 11 and it showed. I disregarded zettlekasten and called it useless not realizing how much it could help me. It was like I just threw my parachute out of the plane I had to jump out of and as I had to jump the workload hit me like I hit the ground. I really struggled to get through the first project as I struggled with procrastination and remaining focused in class. I was behind on my work and what ever I handed was lacking in depth and sophistication. However I learned from my experience and I tried my best to catch up and move on. Through some struggle and commitment and guidance from my teachers I was able to catch up.

I was not happy with my work In the first project and so I went into the second project (the Manhattan project, project) motivated and ready. Through a bit of motivation from class mates and teachers I started to realize that craft and my zettles were actually useful. In the Manhattan project, project I started to make a change to my mindset. I started taking an open mind into more assignments and really though about what I want to get out of the courses that I’m taking. This shift in my mindset proved right as I started to see better results in my work ethic and in my work. This growth in mindset and learning just across one project all came to a head for the winter exhibition. As I went into create my exhibition art piece I really tried to think about everything I learned in the project to create something truly memorable. Looking back I am so happy to say that it worked, I created an interesting art piece that I was genuinely proud of and that everyone seemed to also enjoy. This sentiment was proven through my art piece being kept displayed in the library for everyone to see. Seeing my art kept up on display helped prove to myself that I had grown as a learner just across half a year and that I was able to create final products that I could truly be proud of.

This motivation carried through to the most interesting and polarizing project of the year, “Hide your fires”. This project is my strongest evidence for the increase and growth in my work ethic, learning and habits. As the project started off we did our basic launch and building knowledge sections of this project. That is where one of the most unexpected twists of the years hit me. I was casted as the lead role (Macbeth) in our 1950’s film adaptation of Macbeth. This casting really tested my commitment to the completion of the project. I was needed to film after school on multiple occasions and I had to stay late to make sure everything got cleaned up. While it was hard work and I did have to put a lot of effort in, I believe that in the end the commitment I made was worth it. The fact that I was able to stay after school and commit to learning lines really helped me understand how good my work could be if I just tried my hardest and fully committed.

This year of PLP learning was truly a good one and I am so glad that I can look back on my learning and see a noticeable progression of quality. From a very slow start that caused a lot of stress which was definitely worsened by constant procrastination to being able to help create a 15 minute long film and present through two separate exhibitions with art pieces that I am very proud of. I think that if I were to continue to put my highest level of effort into every thing I do in school from my zettles to my time management I will be able to do very well next year. This year just I was able to prove to myself that I could put in 100% effort into a project but my issue is I need to be that committed to everything I do. To work on being able to put in 100% effort I will increase my proactivity so I will be prepared to put my all into every single project. I hope that I will be able to take the lessons I learned this year as a learner and transfer them over to my learning next year.

Thank you very much for reading this blog post on my reflection and growth as a PLP learner. I hope you have a good day and I hope you learned something.