Student Led Conferences (SLC) are a very interactive way to share my learning with others. My first step was to answer the leading questions that helped me organize my thoughts. This gave me an opportunity to reflect on my learning. The blog posts allowed me to have a foundation to write my script. It forced me to look back on the work that I have completed in the past term. They will also be useful during the SLC to guide me through my presentation.
I hope to improve my presentation skills through practice and review.

My portfolio consists of my blogs and pictures that help explain my overall learning and goals.

Goal setting is key to a great learning experience and outcome. For the second term I have many goals that I wish to accomplish. In humanities I thrive to be able to get every single piece of work done on time. This is not an easy goal and will take some effort to accomplish, but I believe that if I set my mind to it, then I can do it. Also planning ahead when exactly I have time to do my work will be a big help.

During my first term of science I did not do my best. I found some aspects of the subject confusing and I did not do anything to help myself. My goal for science for term two is to put the effort into talking to a peer, adult, or teacher to ask for some clarification and maybe a little help. Also I can try and make the extra time to go and get some help to make sure my work is at its top standard.

A personal goal of mine for term two is to be able to be calm and relaxed when there is a project that needs to be presented to a small group or class. This can be accomplished by be well prepared by practicing exactly what I am going to say so that I won’t get worried about mixing up my words or stuttering while I’m presenting. Also if I forget about the people who will be watching my presentation and just pretend it is just me alone, then it would be much easier to speak clearly and fluidly.

Through term one, science was not my strongest course, but I always knew that I needed to try my best. I feel like my best work was my genetic mutation project that we did at the beginning of the year. Before we started this project we did a unit all on genetic mutations and how they can effect and organism. Once we had learned about that, we then chose a genetic mutation of our choice to look more into and later on create a project all about this mutation. Before starting my project I first decided what format I wanted to choose for this project, I chose explain everything. Then I researched facts as well as pictured to fit into my presentation. After that I put it all together in paragraphs and created my presentation.

I did have some troubles throughout the project. For example, I found it challenging to find pictures that fit in nicely with what I was talking about. It took a lot of my time to find picturyes for this particular topic. Also when doing a project I always find it challenging to start it because it takes some time for me to create an idea of what it can do. I found it quite easy to find and write down facts about my topic and I think that researching would be considered one of my strengths when it comes to science projects.

Quizzes have always been a weakness of mine. I find it difficult to try and remember all that we have learned in the last unit and then spit it all out in one hour. For me, I much prefer to show my learning with projects because I think that it showcases my learning better. I would definitely say that doing projects is one of my strengths when it comes to science. For the remainder of the year I have set a goal to be able to openly talk about what we have learned in the last unit without having a problem.

One of the pieces of work that I am most proud of this year is my essay about Mt.Everest. This one piece of work is the one that I spent my most time and effort on working to make sure it was well written. I spent quite a fair amount of time planning out what points I could use in my essay as well as brainstorming supporting details to go with the points that I had chosen to use in my essay. Also I spent some time finding quotes from websites and Into Thin Air that supported and flowed with my topic for each paragraph. Finding and deciding which quotes were suitable to go in my essay was challenging. It took some time to find the right quotes that fit in nicely with the contents off my essay. I did two drafts of this essay to get it where it is now. During the process of writing this essay, my strengths were creating supporting details that helped to explain my topic. For future projects I will make sure to create a timetable so I know when I need to have completed certain steps for my projects or work.
Overall throughout humanities in term one I had quite a few bumps in the road. There were those times when I had a challenging time completing some guided notes at the beginning of the year. Also I had trouble when coming up with ideas for a story line for my Frankenstuffie creative writing. I always seem to have a problem when first coming up with an idea. It takes longer then it needs, but I know that once I have the idea, everything else comes easily. But even with all of the challenges that came my way in term one, I can’t forget my strengths. I had a strong point in writing essays. Although I may not have gotten the best mark in some of them, I know that if I had put just the little bit more effort I could have had a much better outcome.

Throughout all of term one I was content on trying my hardest for all of my work and putting in that extra effort to make everything well done. This was more challenging then I thought it would be. With the extra activities outside of school that I was doing, it took my focus off of my school work. There for I did not put my full effort into my most of my work. My study habits were also not the best for term one. I know that for term two I need to schedule everything so that I know when and where I am able to do my work, as well as putting my full effort into all of my work.

Everybody has there own strengths when it comes to learning wether they know them or not. For me, I feel like I am a strong writer. When I put all my effort into writing a story, essay, or other writing piece, I can really do well and succeed. Challenges come with everything in life, much like my ability to learn comes with some challenges of its own. I find it challenging to fix my work to make it better when I don’t get any feedback. Also if I don’t not understand something the first time, I find it challenging to keep my focus and try to understand what I am being taught.

My academic performance can always be taken to the next level. There is always something that could be done better. I can accomplish this by creating a better study habit for myself so that I am able to get all of my work completed and handed in on time. Also I can make the extra effort to go and ask for help right away when I don’t understand something, rather then leaving it to the last minute.

When I am in a small group I find it easy to talk and input my ideas, but when there is a lot of people, I get shy and tend to keep my ideas to myself. During group work or projects one of my strengths is to make sure everyone is on task as well as inputing my ideas right away. Although when there is a large group of people, like in front of the class, I find it challenging to get my ideas out there because my shyness takes over and prevents me from speaking up. I believe that this can possibly be fixed over time with lots of practice speaking in front of large groups.

This year alone I already feel like I have grown in the classroom as a young adult. I feel this year I have taken on the responsibility of making sure I get my work done without anyone reminding or hassling me. This has been a challenge, but I feel as if I have grown from this learning experience. Without a few challenges here and there, I don’t think I would learn and develop as much as I have now. At the time the challenges may be tough and make you want to give up, much like I went through, they really helped to shape who I am today.