Tag Archives: #PLP

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2025 Destination Imagintion!

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Categories: D.I, Tags: , , , , ,

 

Disclaimer

This blog post will consisted of reflections on both the regional tournament and the provincial tournament. However the sections on my provincial tournament will come later on, since it hasn’t happened yet. Now back to the post!

Intro/explanation

Destination Imagination (D.I) is a creative challenge where teams develop solutions to present at a tournament. Challenges inspire students to explore passions, develop talents, and gain new skills. The categories include Technical, Scientific, Fine Arts, Improvisational, Engineering, Service Learning, and Early Learning. While each challenge has a specific educational focus, they are all designed to be diverse, incorporating elements from other fields, for example, the Fine Arts Challenge includes a technical aspect, and the Engineering Challenge features an artistic or storytelling component. Over the course of around 1-2 months we prepare for the tournament inside and (mostly) outside of school. It’s a unique and exiting experience that we are given! Now that that’s out of the way, lets talk about MY challenge. 

 

My Category/Challenge 

I have the scientific challenge “worlds beyond” which was great since it was in my top 2 favourites! 

Rules/criteria 

The description of this category is as follows:

Your team will tell a story about a character who figures out they are not alone on a planet. Show off your science fiction skills with some out-of-this-world technobabble. What will happen when you go beyond the stars?

Criteria:

  • Include technobabble in the story.
  • Design and build a device and/or effect that demonstrates what the technobabble describes.
  • Include a scientific demonstration that shows the science behind why a specific phenomenon of the planet happens and/or exists.
  • Create and present two Team Choice Elements that show off the team’s interests, skills, areas of strength, and talents.”

 

Evidence of learning and how I hope to improve

For the next tournament I hope to come more prepared. I can do this by collaborating and working further with my teammates, and making sure everyone is on the same track. I have some free time on spring break which I can utilize. Something that happened last year is no one (including me) worked on D.I over spring break. This made the week before provincials more stressful than it needed to be and I don’t want that to happen again!

 Now my evidence of learning section will be pretty vague since D.I isn’t over, but it is there!

Creating collaborative note and draft documents for D.I was a huge part of the process and something I found helpful. This included roles for people, things that needed to get done, the script, or general ideas for anything to do with D.I. 

Another thing my group and I worked really hard on is props. This is a tricky part to talk about since some of the props I’m really proud of, and some need some work. I think spring break is a good time to work on some props, as it can be done individually.

New skills I’ve built compared to grade 8 D.I

I feel I’ve grown a lot compared to last years D.I. Now that I’ve had more experience with it I know what to expect. I’ve become much more confident that everything is going to turn out okay, and not stressing out every 5 seconds, which has made my day to day life stress much better. Additionally, I’ve given a large effort to make sure everyone stays on task. Lastly, I’ve become better at problem solving. Before when something didn’t go as planned I didn’t have a plan b, and just freaked out. This year I’ve learned to problem solve and adapt to situations that aren’t always in our favour.

How we created the story

Getting a idea for the story was the easy part, but putting it all together was the harder part. Everyone in my group obviously has different schedules, so to get a time to collaborate and work at the same time was challenging. However, even though the circumstances were not in our favour we decided to be a (bit) more creative by FaceTiming late in the afternoon,therefore  problem solving and making it work even under the unfortunate circumstances.

Conclusion (for now)

This first D.I tournament was such an experience and I can’t wait to see what happens for provincials! Thanks for listening so far, stay tuned for the provincial post add-on!

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My 2025 M-pol

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Categories: m-pol/t-pol, Tags: , , ,

Intro

POL Declaration

“Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.”

  How I am on track with my Vision Mission and Values?

 

 

 

Agency: Resilience & persistence 

 

Running a Remake

One of my vision mission and values this year was showing resilience and persistence when met with challenges and setbacks from the agency section. A good example of this is the “running a remake” project in maker. There was a bit of a mix up with the groups which made the project harder. To put it simply, we needed to recreate a scary short film! Once our first draft was done two of our group members were unavailable to be present in the making of the final draft. Therefore I had to complete the video with only one other group member. However I persisted, and made it work! There was another group filming nearby us, so I utilized this, and we decided to help each other film, problem solving!

This is my final video I made with my group member:

https://youtu.be/NeAOnONEWD4?si=CYPe1n0LmIr5H8dN

 

Self regulation: Managing distractions

In the humanities “Frankenstuffies” project my positive time management skills definitely paid off! When people talk about managing distractions the first thing that comes to my mind was staying focused in class. Of course, that is a big part of it, and is something I’m already pretty good at. However I’ve improved managing distractions at home now too. Sometimes I find it hard to do work once I get home, because all I want to do is chill out! I’ve learned that if I can get homework out of the way as soon as I get home, instead of getting distracted by my phone or some other thing I want to engage in, it makes school work a lot more manageable! Using my time wisely in class and using the tactic I just talked about outside of school has helped me finish my frankenstuffy video quicker, and with less stress! 

My frankenstuffy and his beautiful wife👇   

          

The final video               

https://youtu.be/-5RqGAumXZM?feature=shared

 

Something in my VMV I can work on

Okay, so I’ve talked a lot about things in my VMV that I’m improving at, but not what I can work on! Something I really want to start prioritizing is my sleep, which falls under the self regulation category. Some days I do really great and I’m asleep at 10:30, other days.. not so much💀 A bad habit I’ve noticed I do quite frequently is trying to finish or start random things RIGHT before bed. This varies from re-organizing my room, cleaning a fish tank or organizing random things. This might seem like reasonable things to be doing, however when your room is on the top floor and your loud… people may say otherwise (the fam) I’ve started to find ways to improve and have landed on a conclusion. Setting aside all screens 30 minuets before bed is insanely helpful and I’ve been getting great sleeps the past few days I’ve started doing this. These 30 minutes I set electronics aside I’ve started the habit of reading, to wind down.

 

 

 

 How have I shown growth as a learner this year?

 

Independence 

When I say independence is something I’ve grown on this year, I don’t mean getting work done on time or something. What I mean is, for pretty much all of my life, in general or academic wise, I wasn’t very confident. Overtime thats gotten a lot better, however I’ve grown to notice, (so have my teachers) that even when I know what I’m doing in certain assignments, I don’t have much confidence in myself. It’s like I wanted reassurance on what assignments I had completed, even though what I did was very much okay. This is something I’ve greatly improved on this year. Instead of constantly seeking approval, I’ve started trusting my own judgment much more, and If I did have questions, I would ask a peer before a teacher. I think there is still room for growth, but this is still something I’m really proud of myself for improving at.

Conclusion

“In conclusion, I am committed to building upon these strengths and addressing areas for improvement, ensuring that I remain proactive and continue to reflective on my educational journey. Thank you for being part of this process and for supporting my growth as a learner.”

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Frankenstuffies The Rise of Change!

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Categories: Humanities, Tags: , , , ,

 

Intro

Another blog post….😃 lots has happened, for example this frankenstuffy project! This Frankenstuffy project was so much fun, from making and designing a stuffy (abomination) of my choice, to creating a story and learning all about the Industrial Revolution. The final product of this project was a video about my stuffy, the time and area he lives in, and how he deals with it. However, even with all the fun aspects of sewing stuffies and whatnot, this project is based off of the Industrial Revolution, so of course we did some research!

 

Learning about the Industrial Revolution:

I don’t want this blog post to be a step by step of what we did, so these are in my opinion, some good key points of the research we did. 

 

Urbanization game

At the very start of this project we did an urbanization game. We started off with a grid background, (this is all digital of course) and for a few days straight we had 5-15 minutes to draw parts of a town. Even though this was done in groups, It was very stressful for me. The whole purpose of this exercise was to see how urbanization worked. So, if we added 50 houses, we took away some trees to account for this. My groups final product is down below! 

 

Note taking and collaboration with classmates

There was lots of great information I learned before creating my frankenstuffy. As a class, we watched informative videos while taking notes, or came together as a group to discuss what we learned.   

 

 

 

Creating my frankenstuffy

OKAY MY FAVOURITE PART!!!! I was able to use my creative, artistic wonderful, beautiful, gorgtastic skills to create none other than Peter Malarky! He is the main character of my story, with a well thought out background, history and lifestyle. He is a brave sole and I treasured the moments I had while making him.

 

This is a time lapse of me creating the one and ONLY Peter Malarky

For some darn reason it will only put a link in, not a video!!!   

IMG_0693

 

Character resume and Storyline

Before any filming could happen Peter needed a backstory and character traits! I created a large pamphlet about Peter, and any facts you may need to know about him. Additionally, after I few drafts I finished the storyline and chose a few important sections to include for the video. There was so much I didn’t include in the final draft, so I’ll show a bit of the ideas I had. 

 

Final video draft/overview

 

 

 

The final product of my video

I’me not sure why, but for some reason, the final video was really easy for me. We had so much class time to do it and i worked a few times after school, so it got done fairly quick! The idea for creating the video was, either get a photo of your frankenstuffy and animate it in certain backgrounds, OR attach string to your stuffy and move it around in front of a provided green screen. (There’s also the option to do both which is what I did) here is my final video!

 

  

 

 

 

 

My response to the driving question 

The driving question for this project was “How can we, as writers, weave historical details into our creative storytelling to convey a clear and impactful message?”

 Weaving historical details into creative storytelling in my opinion, is about making your work still have important relevant information, while also making it an engaging story so a clear message can be conveyed. For example, You do your research, look into what life was like in the Industrial Revolution and pick out relevant facts that help your characters and plot, not just random dates or events. By mixing genuine historical information whilst still making it an engaging story, you can make your message clear and impactful. For example, characters in my video open up an apothecary shop, using this opportunity I added information about time relevant things they would sell in their shop such as valerian root and Teatree.

 

 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, I learned a lot throughout this project, from learning about urbanization and the Industrial Revolution, to designing and bringing Peter Malarky to life. I showcased my time management skills and had loads of fun! Thanks for reading my blog and stay tuned for more.🫶

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Vive Les Machines À Métaphores❄️ Winter Exhibition ❄️

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Categories: Humanities, Uncategorized, Winter exhibition, Tags: , , , , ,

 

Intro

Welcome back! It’s been so long, but I’m here to talk about the Winter Exhibition, what led up to it and the “Vive Les Machines À Métaphores” project as a whole! In this project we learned that factors precipitate revolution and that  they have shaped the modern world view. There was so much that went into all of this, starting off with the book Animal Farm, by James Orwell. Let’s get into it!

Reading Animal Farm

Animal Farm is a representation of the Russian Revolution, and since later on we would be making metaphor machines BASED off of revolutions this was a very informative book to read and gave me a lot of perspective on revolutions.

Each character in the book has specific people they were based off of, for example, Old Major represents Karl Marx, Snowball represents Leon Trotsky, Napoleon represents Joseph Stalin, Squealer represents propaganda, and Boxer is a representation for all the Russian labourers and workers. This information isn’t 100% important to the blog since I know not everyone reading this has read the book, nonetheless it’s still good to have!

Note Taking

While reading Animal Farm I made sure to make many notes, whether that was general observations from the book, or if I was making connections to the actual Russian Revolution (which comes in handy later on…)

There was a LOT of not just note talking in this book. Every few days, we would do chapter overviews with the class, and everyone including myself, made discussion questions to ensure everyone knew what was happening in the book.

In addition to this, I made sort of character cards for all of the important characters in the book as well as the roles they played.

My animal farm note taking: https://s.craft.me/OaMYkzVwMyUtO4

Cranes theory

The largest and most important part of this note taking was learning about cranes theory. This consisted of his definition of a revolution and all of the stages in one. A revolution is made up of four stages, incubation, moderate, crisis, and recovery. Learning all of these stages helped quite a lot when I made the infographic, which was an explanation/run through of the book and which parts fit into which stages of a revolution. (It’s mentioned more in depth later)

 

Animal Farm infographic:

This is my infographic of Animal Farm after a few revisions, and I’m quite proud of it!

 

 

 

 

Russian revolution

 

Choosing My Revolution

Everything I did for note taking in the Animal Farm project, including the infographic I’m going to be doing AGAIN! However, this time I would be researching a revolution! I needed to choose my top three out of 5 revolutions, and then I would be sorted into a  revolution group. My top three choices were Russian, French, and American. In the end I got the Russian Revolution! I was sorted with a few other people who would be my group members for the rest of the project.

 

Researching the Russian Revolution

Everyone in the class, no matter what group, individually researched their revolution before coming together with their group. To have a full understanding of the Russian revolution I made a timeline, overview, researched important people, and made notes on each stage of the revolution. Most, but not all of what I did was necessary, however I know my learning style and doing the amount of research and the way I did it helps me understand the project.

All of my research on the Russian revolution, timeline, cranes theory etc is here!

Link to all my research:  https://s.craft.me/Rxpob0aRoDRv0o

 

Russian Revolution infographic:

After researching our revolution, we were tasked with creating an infographic, similar to the one we made for Animal Farm. Once each group member completed their individual infographic, we combined our knowledge and design skills to create one final, refined version. The layout closely resembles my original design, so I decided to showcase this final infographic instead.

 

What is a metaphor machine/Rube Goldberg machine?

A metaphor machine and a Rube Goldberg machine are very similar.

A Rube Goldberg machine is a complicated machine or contraption designed to do a very simple task. It uses a chain reaction, where one step leads to another, like dominos falling or a ball rolling, to complete the job. For example, instead of flipping a switch directly, the machine might use a ball, a pulley, or something along the lines of that to make it happen. It’s named after Rube Goldberg, a cartoonist who drew funny, overly complex machines.

Now, a metaphor machine is the same thing, however each or most actions represent something. For example, since my machine was based off of the Russian Revolution, the actions were based off of certain events in that revolution. It’s a creative way to show an idea using actions or objects!

Action Script (planning the exhibition)

This was pretty early in the planning process, so lots has changed! My group and I made a planning document, consisting of ideas for each stage. Here it is!

Document: https://s.craft.me/mYVZkujWXv6Tbj

 

Teamwork Problems

Okay so…. I think the contributions leading up to the exhibition were pretty uneven.🥲 Throughout the project I felt I was doing most of the work. This isn’t directed at the whole group, and even so, everyone I worked with was WILLING to help, however I felt like most of the time I had to tell them exactly what to do for it to be done. Again this isn’t true all the time or for everyone, however some group members weren’t very good at giving larger contributions without support. Because of this I guess I felt the need to take the leadership role, or be more bossy? Honestly this wasn’t something I enjoyed doing, and keeping people on task and being bossy isn’t much fun. Looking back, a lot of work was done at later dates rather than earlier ones, and it caused a lot of stress leading up to the exhibition.

Some of this was bad luck, like one of our group members calling in sick day of, or another group member that was gone the first week and a half, or that we had no backboard for the first week, unlike or fellow class mates.😅 USUALLY, I’m very organized, but since I couldn’t count on EVERYONE it was a lot harder. Moral of the story, you need everyone to put in a 100% for it to go smoothly. Yapping about what sucked isn’t helpful though… and this is a reflective blog post so I should.. well.. reflect!

This experience taught me a lot about teamwork and the importance of balanced contributions. While I stepped up as a leader when needed, I realized how stressful it can be to take on too much. Next time, I’ll work on setting clearer expectations with the group early on and assigning tasks more effectively to ensure everyone is equally involved. I also learned that starting earlier and having a backup plan for unexpected challenges, like absences or missing materials, can help prevent last-minute stress.

How the exhibition went

The 2-3 hours before the exhibition were VERY VERY VERY CAPITOL V, STRESSFUL. This ALSO includes the whole day leading up to it! It was stressful for all the reasons I said before of course, but 2 very important actions of our machine were left to the last second, and the mechanics for them were not planned to the best of our abilities. That day, every chance we got, including lunch, one group member and I as well as a wonderful friend, worked on it. The last 2-3 hours of prep time were very stressful. Thankfully, the machine worked in the end, but unexpected changes were being done last minute, and well, it wasn’t as perfect as I strived it to be. I’m really proud of myself for problem solving in the end though, despite everything. The actual exhibition was great to my surprise! Not because it was perfect, we didn’t always get good runs but we knew what we were talking about and were confident explaining our machine to the audience. In short, we had fun! We served root beer (representing beer) and pretzels, which represents the food Czar Nicolas 2nd served at his coronation. At the very end we all felt relieved, and happy after the stress, and now we had the night to rest! Here are videos and photos from the day of! (Some of these are preparation videos)

 

Trial run video:

IMG_1023

 

 

5 seconds after everyone finished presenting….

 

IMG_8506 IMG_8506 IMG_1047

 

My response to the driving question

The driving questions for this project was “What Factors Precipitate ‘Revolution’ and How Have They Shaped the Modern World?” Revolutions happen when people become discouraged by existing conditions, for example poor working conditions or food shortages. When their basic needs or rights aren’t met, people push for change!

For example, the Russian Revolution got rid of a strict monarchy that had been ruling forever, and replaced it with communism. This changed how politics and economies worked, not just in Russia, but all over the world.

Conclusion

The “Vive Les Machines À Métaphores” project was a challenging but rewarding experience that taught me so much about revolutions and their impact on the world. From reading Animal Farm to researching the Russian Revolution and building a metaphor machine, I learned so much! Despite the teamwork challenges and last-minute stress, I’m proud of what my group and I accomplished, and the Winter Exhibition itself turned out to be a success.

This project gave me valuable lessons in collaboration, leadership, and problem-solving under pressure. Looking back, I can see how much I’ve grown from this experience, and I’m excited to carry these lessons into future projects. Thank you for reading my blog you absolute diva💜 I hope you enjoyed it, and stay posted to see what happens next😨

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Run Short Scary Film!👻

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Categories: Maker, Tags: , , ,

 

Intro

For this project we were given access to a short film video that we needed to replicate. The film depicted a guy going on a jog when suddenly someone started following him! Keep on reading if you want to know more!

 

Planning

There were many steps to completing this project. First we rewatched our reference film about a dozen times to get a good understanding of what was going on and the different shots we needed to know. Since a large part of this project was learning how film and captivate an audience, a story board was necessary to know each exact scene, and how the video would play out. However even though to story board was only around 25 clips, (much less than many official movies) its a SILENT film, so the story board was only working off of angle shots, not what people were saying. Anyways, this is what I made! (It’s just a sketch to get a general idea, which is why it’s not perfect.)

 Story board: 

 

 

1st Draft Errors

Since everything were doing here is a group project it made things a bit easier. However, a big problem on the first draft was the scenery. Since my group chose a filming area too late, we got a bad location, making the scenery not match up with the original reference. Aside from this, the filming wasn’t as good as it good have been, and it was all very rushed since we were on a time limit. It’s good to note that this was the first time we did this though, (with not much notice) and overall we didn’t do too bad!

 

Final Draft & Problem Solving

Let me just say that the second, and final draft turned out much much better! Not only did the filming line up very well with the original reference, but the scenery was great! This is not to say that it went perfect though… 

Problem Solving 

Group members:

My group consists of four people, but only two of us were present for the final draft. This meant my friend and I had to problem-solve on our own. In our “Run” film, there are three different characters, not including the cameraman. To make it work, we took on all the roles ourselves. However, things got tricky when a scene required both of us to be in the same shot—there was no one to operate the camera! Luckily, since we had helped out another group earlier, they returned the favour by stepping in as our cameraman, saving the day!🤳

 

Audio:

The only significant challenge we encountered was the audio. I assumed we could use the sound from our reference video, so I didn’t put much effort into making our clips sound clean, thinking I could just overlay the other audio later. That assumption turned out to be wrong…😬 Since I misinterpreted the criteria, we had to fix the audio. Fortunately, my teacher was understanding and gave us time to make adjustments. Instead of redoing everything, we created external audio, like running noises, to match the scenes.

 

Final product

Why would I tell you this if you can’t even see the video you might ask? Well you can! If your interested in seeing my video, click this link to my YouTube channel!

 https://youtu.be/NeAOnONEWD4?si=CYPe1n0LmIr5H8dN

 

Answer to the driving question

The driving question for this project was, “how might we learn video skills by recreating a short film?

When we recreating the short film it taught us many things! For example, it gave us a good opportunity to improve our video skills by giving hands-on experience with every step of the filmmaking process.  From analyzing the original film to breaking down its shots, (like the storyboard) you learn about camera angles, and storytelling techniques. Depending on how  “professional” your film is, (if it’s for a school project like us, or your aiming to make money off of it) filming scenes helps you practice using equipment like cameras, tripods, and lighting. while editing teaches you how to piece everything together to match the original. Working in a group also builds teamwork and problem-solving skills, making the process both educational and collaborative.

 

 

Group members blogs:

Carmynk@seycove.ca

 finnleyl@seycove.ca

Keiral@seycove.ca

Conclusion 

After all the challenges and fixes, I’m really happy with how our short film turned out! From handling missing group members to fixing unexpected audio issues, it was a great learning experience. It wasn’t perfect, but we made it work and learned so much along the way. Thank you for listening, and stay tuned for more blog posts!

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🌊My “Take Your Kid to Work Day” Experience!🌊

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Categories: Uncategorized, Tags: , , ,

 

Intro

Everyone in my grade had the day off to visit and learn about their parents work, for “Take Your Kid to Work Day” or TYKTWD! However, my two friends and I aren’t interested in what our parents do (they work from home) so we decided to do something else! Read more to find out…

Where I Went

Like I mentioned before, I didn’t watch my mom work from home because that’s low key boring.. I went to the Seymour Salmon Hatchery, and worked as a volunteer, shadowing one of the workers! This was especially interesting for me, since I love marine biology. Therefore, this experience gave me an opportunity to see AND try a different areas of marine biology, that I haven’t thought about before! 🐟

My Favourite Parts

Honestly, every part of my day was interesting, new, and fun! I really enjoyed population counting which was when we put on waiters and did a salmon check throughout the creeks and rivers. I was in change of note taking, and checking off the different sections. For example, I would take certain notes if the salmon was wild or hatchery, (we could tell by the clipped fins) or the gender. In addition to this, I LOVED getting the salmon from out of the tubs with nets, to see if they were ready to spawn. I was pretty bomb at this. 

   

   

  

 

 

 

Something I learned!

I’m passionate about fish and marine biology, but I knew almost nothing about salmon hatcheries before this experience… so everything was a learning experience! I got to see the entire process of fertilizing salmon eggs firsthand. We began by selecting adult salmon ready to spawn, then gave them a hard knock on the head to stun them. One of the workers the cut the main artery and we let it sit in a bin too bleed out. Later, I had the role of holding them head-up over a clean bin, while my friend Emilia carefully made a large cut to release the eggs. After that, we mixed in the male’s milt for fertilization, soaked the eggs in a safe cleaning solution, and finally placed them into incubation. Working and learning at this salmon hatchery had so many fascinating aspects that made it very unique and engaging. My day was packed with new interesting things, hands-on learning, and overall I thoroughly enjoyed every moment!

  Retrieving the Salmon From the Bleeding Process:

 

 

 

Extracting the Eggs:

 

Mixing the Milt with the Eggs:

 

Using the Cleaning Solution:

How This Helped

The purpose of “Take Your Kid to Work Day” (TYKTWD) was to help us see if a certain workplace matched our interests and to get a sense of how different work environments operate. Visiting the salmon hatchery did exactly that! I was already excited about it because I’m interested in exploring various areas of marine biology. Having several fish at home, I’ve always been fascinated by aquatic life, and this experience deepened that interest even more.🌊 

 

 

Youtube Video:

By the end of my experience I made a short video sharing my experience with the public! If your interested in checking it out, click on the link below.

Link: https://youtu.be/9eoiar9mKKQ

 

 

 

Email

Later on, I sent a thank you email to Megan, the person I was shadowing on TYKTWD. This is the Email I sent.

 

Conclusion 

Overall, my “Take Your Kid to Work Day” at the salmon hatchery was an unforgettable experience! Not only did I get to learn more about marine biology and see a different side of it, but I also got to experience hands-on work. Each part of the day was exciting, and gave me a real glimpse into the world of marine biology and the important work done at hatcheries. Thank you for reading about my experience, and stay tuned for future posts!

 

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The Wilderness Must Be Explored

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Categories: Humanities, Tags: , , , ,

The Wilderness Must Be Explored!

 

Introduction 

Wow, it has been quite a year! So much has happened and school is almost over. Let me tell you about the project “the wilderness must be explored.” 

 

The Oregon Trip

So much happened on the Oregon trip and I had so many new experiences! For example, I learned how language inspires adventure, which I’ll talk more about later. I also gained a better understanding of what a PLP field study is really like. A highlight of my Oregon trip was weirdly the car drive! My friends and I had a sleep train and it was pretty funny and oddly comfortable.

 

 

My Adventure Book

On the field study we went to many new places and had lots of new experiences! To document all of our things down we put it in an adventure book. Even though at times the work became a lot, I ended up pushing through and having a lot of fun! I even created my own theme, to make the adventure book  more “me.” If you would like to check out my adventure book, I’ll put the link below!

 

My Individual Ad

Before the spring exhibition came along, everyone needed to create an individual ad. after many revisions I finally came up with this final draft! This is my Oregon ad I have created. In addition to making Oregon ads, my group and I chose a slogan. Our slogan was “No challenge, no change.”

 

The Spring Exhibition!

 

The Layout

since my group is number 5, we got lots of space to showcase our work, which I’m very happy about!

 

 

Our Food🌳

This is the food we made for our project! Since my group is Challenge and Growth we decided to make some growth themed plants. The brownie bites were the soil, and the cake pops were trees!

 

 

 

How it Went

The spring exhibition wasn’t amazing but it wasn’t good either. Before people started arriving it was a bit stressful making sure that everything was going to be set up on time. However, once people started arriving I would say our performance was quite good. Everyone was interested in what we had to say, and of course who doesn’t love food? Although, as the hours went by, my group as well as many others got quite tired.🥲 I was trying my best to make sure everyone stayed on task but near the end it got pretty hard! Overall I would say we did well, my group and I stayed on task as much as possible for grade 8’s. The spring exhibition was overall a great learning experience and I had a lot of fun!

 

 

My Group Members Blogs:

Make sure to check out my group members blogs as well!

Blog44/Emiliaw@seycove.ca

Blog44/robinc@seycove.ca 

Blog44/Carmynk@seycove.ca 

Blog44/Oliverf@seycove.ca 

Blog44/Sawerl@swycove.ca 

 

 

How Does Language Inspire Adventure?

Languages inspires adventure in many difference ways. For example, it allows us to share stories, understand many different perspectives and connect with our peers. Whether it’s through books, conversations or travel, language encourages your curiosity and desire to explore.

 

Conclusion 

In conclusion, the Oregon trip and the spring exhibition were filled with adventure and learning. The Oregon trip showed me how language inspires exploration. Creating an adventure book and an ad taught me the importance of embracing challenges. Language drives peoples curiosity and helps us to explore the wilderness and all it offers. Overall this was a very fun project and I’m exited for future projects!

it’s officially the last week of school till summer!☀️ I most likely wont be posting till after September, so stayed tuned and have a great summer break!🕶️⛱️

 

 

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My T-POL!!!

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Categories: Humanities, Uncategorized, Tags: , , ,

T-pol

Introduction 

“Wow, It has been quite a year! I’ve learned many new things, some I enjoyed, some I didn’t. Although this year is coming to an end I’m exited to share my experiences with my friends and family later on. This is my T-pol, transitional presentation of learning, lets get started.  

Declaration of Learning (basically a cult speech) 

“Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.

My growth as a learner:

The first thing I’m going to be talking about in this section is humanities.

Humanities

Reflecting on my humanities class, I’ve experienced significant growth as a learner. The example I want to use for this this is the Oregon trip.  

The Oregon trip

Even though it was a very fun experience we had many things planned throughout the day. This isn’t to say thats a bad thing, however it was a lot! Our learning and trips needed to be documented on the adventure book and since we did so many things on the Oregon trip, the work piled up pretty fast! Iv’e always been good at time management but usually getting assignments done meant not taking my mental health into consideration. Through the Oregon field study I am proud to say I’ve overcome this! I had a great time and still got all of my worked done. None of it was rushed and I’m proud of the overall aesthetic and outcome. Of course, like anything, not all of the fun things were in the same spot, therefor lots of driving was happening!🚍 this is when I got most of my work done. On top of that, I still ended up sparing times for chats with friends, movies and naps on the car rides, so i’m pretty proud of myself! You should also know I NEVER nap so this is a big deal for me.

 

My Adventure Book:

https://read.bookcreator.com/649bnmuNfzYQ7EX98xwuds4pfFF3/x79my59MTKuSidyMpOYtYg

 

When we got back from the Oregon trip almost everyone had a revision, including me! That doesn’t mean we did a bad job though, there were just small details that could have been added. I have revised my Adventure Book based off of the feedback I received, and I’m waiting for a mark from my teacher! I was and still am extent, a person that doesn’t like revision and just enjoys getting things over with even if the grade isn’t the best. However, not just in the Oregon trip but being in PLP as a whole had helped me grow on that. I’m going to continue to work on accepting feedback And knowing that I won’t always get things perfect on the first try, because everyone learns by making mistakes! 

Science

I really enjoyed PLP 8 science throughout the entirety of this school year! There weren’t really any downs with science, and overall, I learned quite a lot! For example, in the project “Small but Mighty,” I gained a greater understanding of cell biology. I discovered how cells function and interact within living organisms, which was fascinating. The Small but Mighty project had a few assignments within it, but the one I would like to talk about revolved around collecting samples of places in the school I thought would carry germs. I collected samples from two water fountains in the school, both in completely different areas, to examine the difference in quantities of the bacteria.

 This project helped me appreciate the complexity of life at the microscopic level and how dirty the school actually is. Once my field journal was done (this is where I was writing my observations) I got some feedback and was able to accept it and revise based on the feedback I got! Like I said before, I think I’ve gotten better at receiving feedback and moving forward with the new knowledge gained.

 

Feedback Voice Note :

RPReplay_Final1718415501

In addition to becoming better at receiving feedback, I continue to build  upon my strong work ethics in completing assignments on time and using my time wisely without overworking myself. For example, when we had the in between car rides on the Oregon field study, I used that time to get my assignments done or at least get a manageable start on them. By taking advantage of this time, I was able to maintain a balance between my academic responsibilities while still enjoying the experience to the fullest of my abilities. Time management is a critical skill that will be very important as I move forward. This trip helped me gain a greater understanding and value of using the available moments I’ve been given wisely.

An area for improvement 

I’m writing about my area of improvement in this science section, but if I’m being honest it’s relevant in all my classes. Self doubt is something I’ve been trying to work on the past few months and is something I’m going to try and focus on next year. This topic is going to come up later since it’s a part of my everyday life. Even when I know I know the answer, I still don’t trust my judgement that I am correct. This has also been brought up by my peers and teachers. In the future I’m going to try and work on trusting my gut and knowing when I need to ask for help or when I can just believe in myself.

My Self Assessment For The Success Behaviours 

#1 Accepting Feedback

I’ve always been okay at accepting feedback. Not amazing, not horrible, just neutral. However, since a large part of PLP revolves around revision, i’ve gotten quite good at it! At the start of this year I DESPISED revision of any sort! I would have preferred to just get it done and over with even if the grade wasn’t very good. As this year has continued I realize how important revision actually is. I’ve handed things in before thinking they’re at the best of my abilities and gotten so much helpful feedback that I wouldn’t of noticed otherwise. In my previous school years the only feedback I would receive would be given after the grade was handed out, so there wasn’t much I could do about the outcome. I am proud to say, thanks to PLP, I’ve become an expert at accepting feedback. (not to say I’m perfect, because if I’ve learnt anything, its that theres always room for improvement. 

#2 Resilience 

Resilience or persistence is something I try to have constantly. It’s something I’m monitoring myself on. When I’m faced with more significant challenges or setbacks I tend to get overwhelmed and instead of seeing what I could do to fix whatever problem is at hand, I struggle to see the big picture and my brain is just clouded with doubt. Moving forward I’m going to try and work on this by breaking down challenges into smaller, manageable steps. I’ll focus on what I can control and take one step at a time. By setting small, achievable goals, I can build confidence and reduce feelings of being overwhelmed. I’ll also remind myself to take breaks when needed and seek support from others when I feel stuck. This approach will help me stay clear-headed and continue moving forward, no matter what challenges arise. 

#3 Contributions 

Throughout this year, I have actively participated in discussions and activities, both in and out of the classroom. I consistently contribute ideas to group work and discussions, ensuring that my input helps to drive our projects forward. I engage with my peers, listen to their perspectives, and collaborate to develop creative solutions. For example, in the spring exhibition I tried to make sure everyone stayed on task not only at the exhibition but also leading up to it. This ensured that the exhibition ran smoothly and everyone’s stress was lowered, even if it was just by a little bit.  My involvement has enhanced my own learning experience as well as positively impacted the outcomes of our group efforts.

Something I Succeed In

Something I succeed in is organization.  At the start of September we were introduced in an app called “Things.” This has helped me tremendously with staying on task with my work in or outside of school. When my life outside of school is “well organized” its a lot easier for me to focus on school. This could mean simple things like having a clean room or having scheduled times to get my things done. For example, I clean my fish tanks every week on Saturday around 11AM. I don’t plan anything at that time because I know thats something that needs to get done every week. With this routine, I’m able to have a less stressful life overall and still leave room for fun, like hanging out with friends.

 

My Intentions for September/What I can Improve on

As you may have remembered, I mentioned earlier something I wanted to work on. In September, I intend to trust my own knowledge and abilities more fully in my schoolwork. I often doubt my answers and seek help even when I know I’m capable of solving the problem independently. To improve, I plan to remind myself that I have the necessary skills, recognize when I’m asking for help out of self-doubt, and regularly reflect on my progress. By focusing on these actions, I aim to reduce unnecessary dependency on others, demonstrate my true potential, and strengthen my self-confidence!

 

Conclusion

In reflecting on this past year, it’s clear how much I’ve grown both academically and personally. From mastering time management and revision in humanities, to developing a deeper understanding of science, I’ve gained valuable skills and knowledge. The Oregon trip and various projects have shown me the importance of balancing work with well-being, and how feedback can be a tool for growth rather than a setback.

In terms of my personal development, I’ve learned to better accept feedback, build resilience, and make meaningful contributions to my group projects. Moving forward, my goal is to trust my abilities more and rely less on seeking validation from others.

As I step into the next chapter of my learning journey, I’m excited to apply these lessons and continue growing. Thank you for taking the time to listen to my presentation and for your support throughout this year. I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead!

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Small But Mighty!

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Categories: Science, Tags: , , , , , , ,

Small But Mighty!

Intro

I know I haven’t posted on my blog for a while so I can’t wait to share what I did! 😙 (for all I know no one’s reading my blog and no one will see this but thats okay💀🫶) For this “small but mighty” project there were three main assignments. However, we weren’t just assigned 3 things and told to get it done, which I like. Instead, before assignments were introduced we learned some background knowledge surrounding the project or assignments as a whole. For example, getting a better understanding of germs before we dived into one of the assignments that surrounded that! This is something that I find quite helpful, and it contributes in making me succeed. the first assignment Im going to talk about surrounds the germs I mentioned earlier so let’s get started! (Before I ramble on to much)

The Three Assignments 

 1. Field Journal

 

I quite enjoyed making my field journal, it wasn’t my favourite though!(I’ll talk more about that later!) The first step of this assignment was to ask ourselves a scientific question about bacteria, involving a comparison between things in the school. I wondered if the water fountain on the main level of the school had more bacteria in comparison to the one upstairs, which is in a more secluded area! Throughout this assignment I learned how to conduct a well organized slide show of my progress observing the bacteria as well as learning how swab bacteria on a petri dish which is something i had never done before so it was pretty interesting!  

 
2. Character Cards

Now onto my FAVOURITE part!😏 

Below is the criteria for the character cards. 

This was a really fun assignment because for one, I could do lots of drawings AND make cute descriptions for them! I’ll show an example and time lapse of me drawing one as well as a picture of one of the other drawings! 🐱🧚🏼‍♀️

RPReplay_Final1717613785

3. Vaccine media campaign 

Lastly, the vaccine media campaign. The goal for this assignment was, with a partner, create 3 social media posts educating the public on the reality of vaccines! (These didn’t need to be posted on a real social media account though!) Eloise and I chose the talk about the myth of vaccines, specifically the covid vaccine, giving women infertility, which isn’t true! Here are our posts about that.  

The Driving Question

How does our Knowledge of Cell Biology Contribute to Public Health?

Our knowledge of cell biology is essential for public health because it helps us understand how diseases affect our bodies at the microscopic level. This understanding enables the development of effective treatments, vaccines, and diagnostic tools. For example, by studying how viruses like COVID-19 infect cells, scientists can create vaccines to prevent the disease. In addition to this, cell biology research can lead to new technologies for detecting diseases early, improving overall health outcomes.

Conclusion & What I Learned From This Project

The “Small But Mighty” project was a fascinating journey into the world of cell biology and its importance to public health. Through the field journal, I learned hands-on lab techniques and how to analyze bacterial samples. Creating the character cards allowed me to blend creativity with science, making the learning process enjoyable. The vaccine media campaign emphasized the power of accurate information in addressing health myths. This project showed me how a solid understanding of cell biology can lead to better health outcomes. I’m excited to apply these lessons in future projects and everyday life!

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Echos of Colonization!

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Categories: Humanities, Tags: , , ,

Echos of Colonization! 

 

Introduction 

Hello my little sunshine. 🌞I haven’t posted for a while because I have more interesting things to occupy myself with, so my bad. 😔 Although you probably don’t spend your time reading a children’s blog so it’s all good. For this project “Echoes of Colonization” we were put into groups, mine consisting of some phenomenal Homo sapiens, Eloise, Evelyn, Elsa and myself. Prior to starting a keynote presentation that would be presented to grade 11s, as a class we discussed and researched indigenous people, colonization and things that related to that. Once we had a good amount of knowledge to get started, we decided what topics we would each talk about in our presentation. My group and I chose to talk about gender roles and health within the indigenous communities.

 

Two things we talked about in the presentation

Unlike the other groups, mine had one extra person, therefore instead of presenting about one topic we talked about two. Elsa and I focussed on the health aspect of the presentation, whereas Eloise and Evelyn focused on the gender roles. Even though we each had certain aspects we wrote about, everyone had researched a bit about each others’ topic to get a better understanding of the project as a whole.

Health 

The health topics I focused on were the following:

  • Indigenous health pre colonization 

I mentioned the diverse diet, positive healing practices, spiritual beliefs and strong community relationships. Strong mental and physical well being.

  • The Haida indigenous group

For this slide I explained in further detail how this specific group was affected by colonization. These details include:

 

  • the Smallpox outbreaks

Talking about how it affected Haida Gwaii, and the losses they faced.

  • British colonizing Haida Gwaii
  • The challenges Haida faced and how their lives were impacted.
  • Haida belonging to one of two social groups (raven and eagle)  

marriage customs maintained balance between these groups.

Gender roles 

While this was not my main research topic, I’ll mention the highlights.

Past

  • European colonization introduced patriarchal structures 
  • Increased gender based violence against women because of colonial policies 
  • Indigenous gender diversity and non-binary identities were suppressed or erased under colonial rule.

Present

  • gender roles still uneven 
  • protest for gender equality
  • more freedom to choose your sexuality and gender

 

How the presentation went

My group and I, like my classmates, had a chance to present to two groups. I’m really happy that we got this chance because to be honest the first time we presented the keynote didn’t go very well. This is mostly because we had spent so much time working on the actual presentation and notes no one had much time to practice presenting. Therefore, when we got to present again, my group as well as myself did much better. We knew what to work on and conveniently unlike the other presentation, knew the grade 11’s we were presenting to!

Now for some reason the photo is SIDEWAYS AND I DONT’ KNOW HOW FIX IT. So I’m sorry about that.😔

 

The photo below is the feedback the grade 11’s gave us!

 

 

Some things I could work on

I find whenever I present in front of people I start talking very fast since I get lots of anxiety performing in front of others. To improve my presentation I’ll work on a few key areas. I can start by taking deep breaths before speaking to stay calm and centered. During the presentation, I’ll use pauses to gather my thoughts and allow the audience to process the information. I’ll focus on speaking clearly and articulating each word to slow down my pace. Lastly I can seek input from others which will also boost my confidence and presentation skills. Practicing these techniques regularly will help me speak confidently and effectively during presentations.

How I answered the driving question🏎️

For this project the driving question was “what were the consequences of colonization.” There are many consequences of colonization, some examples being loss of land, resources or people introducing new diseases. My group and I demonstrated our knowledge of the project and of the driving question throughout the presentation. In our

presentation, my group and I scampered into these topics,🤓👆 showcasing our understanding of the project’s driving question. For instance, our discussion of smallpox highlighted one of the significant side effects of colonization. Through both the presentation and extensive note-taking, I demonstrated a thorough grasp of the impacts of colonization.”

 

reflection on my individual keynote

For my individual keynote I believe I successfully demonstrated my understanding of consequences of colonization. I do agree with the feed back I got though, which was to look at the audience a bit more. It’s something that I’m going to try and work on in the future.

 

Success criteria 

This was the success criteria for the Echos of Colonization project! I believe my group and I did a good job over all!

Conclusion

In conclusion, I learned a lot in this project even though its not something I was ever passionate to learn about, I found myself-enjoying it! I’m exited to see what project I’ll be learning about next,(which I will definitely be posting about so stay tuned!)🫶

Shout out to my group partners, check their blog post out to!

Elsa❄️⛄️:http://www.blog44.ca/elsaw/

Evelyn:http://www.blog44.ca/evelyns/

Eloise:http://www.blog44.ca/eloiseg/

 

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