This year we learnt many new ideas, strategies and techniques that helped us more productive students and set us up for success in life. For our year end project for PGP we were tasked with making an artifact that we could put in a time machine and send back to our past self. We had create a compelling and convincing artifact that would give me an advantage in life.

I chose to have habit 1: be proactive the main topic because it was the most helpful part from all of PGP. When I first heard of this I instantly connected it to my life. In the past I would always react, go with the flow, wait until the last minute to do my homework and feel stressed. I wanted to change my mindset to “if I get this done now then I won’t get stressed later and have a sloppy and rushed assignment”. I felt like this was the most important and helpful habit for me as it really helped me be more productive in basketball and school. During one week rather than wasting my time watching YouTube or playing games, I instead chose to take a break by playing basketball then go right back to homework. I improved my shot technique drastically, I finished my homework quickly and I felt less stressed. I wish I could have learnt and applied this habit earlier in the year as I had some late assignments and I felt rushed and stressed with every assignment.

For my artifact I decided to make a brochure because I thought that writing and visuals would make a really good outcome. After I got approved I started working on the title page to have as much time as possible to finish and not feel so stressed. I started with the an earth I drew a while back to represent my worldview with PGP. I added a tree with a tire swing because I thought it nicely resembled me growing as a learner and having a good relationship with my friends and family. I drew the apple sign with vines because it represents iPads for PLP but I drew vines as it says that it fell from the tree, meaning that you have to forget bad habits. I drew a basketball, hoop, calculator and some gears signifying engineering. I then just added a item for productivity, goal setting and the 7 habits.

I started writing early with my tutor because I didn’t want to be late on our final PGP project. I first started with place holders for the topics I want to write about. This reminds me what I have to write and reduces the chance of forgetting. When I plan what I want to say before writing, I usually take less time to write. 

I had a homework plan to finish the Time Machine on time but I forgot to account for basketball tournaments and I fell behind. I quickly worked to finish everything with two days left. I wrote all of my information for the as fast as possible while still producing good quality work. The place holders really helped as I knew what I wanted to write and I didn’t need to stop thinking of what I am writing.

I created almost all of the pictures in my brochure in unique ways. I traced a Roman numeral watch to show how time was represented in the artifact. I used emojis to tell a story and to show of my emotions throughout the year. SuperimposeX was really useful for taking away the white background. Finally, I used previous photos that I made for assignments. I spent a lot of time on the look of brochure/ pictures and I am really happy how well my time Machine project turned out.

I learnt a lot during this year of PGP and I am really happy I learnt this information. I am now more proactive and I am accomplishing more stuff than I realized that I could do. I actually have benefited from PGP despite the extra hassle of school work. I have improved my basketball shot technique in a week and I have been shooting my best yet since then. I have done school work instead of YouTube many times now. I wish I had read Habit 1 at the start of the course because if I improved so much in the past month then what would happen if I had started at the beginning of the year.  Looking forward to keep up with this habit for my upcoming years in high school.