Category: PGP

Surviving Year 3 of High School (tPols)

CameroonianLeave a comment

“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.”

This year is my third year in PLP, and the last year before it becomes the closing grades of high school. Throughout the semesters and four different blocks of PLP classes, I’ve had many opportunities to experiment and evolve as a learner, and using these opportunities has gotten me where I am today. From collaborating with groups and compromising, working through struggles, overcoming obstacles, learning new skills and building on old ones, to coming 1st at the Destination Imagination regional tournament, this school year has changed me as a person and as a learner (for the better).

I will now share with you how I’ve grown as a learner and examples of what makes me ready for the transition to grade 11.

 

Evidence of My Progress as a Learner

To the PLP teachers reading this, you already know about the new grading system in Showbie, but for anyone who’s reading this besides them, here’s a brief overview.

I used to showcase my outstanding marks at the start of each tPol section for each subject, but PLP recently did a rework of the grading system. While it used to be ☁️⛅️☀️🌈, it went under a few changes such as a simple 🤿🧗‍♂️🚂 as well as a ✅, before eventually transitioning to a 👻🔁🧗‍♂️👌⌛️, which is where we’re at now. Therefore, I will just be highlighting assignments that I’m proud of and think really showed effort.

 

Maker:

Seeing as there were only two Maker projects this year, and one of them was more of a program, Maker was quite straightforward this year. Despite having only two projects under its name, Maker was my favourite class this year, specifically the “Peas in a Pod(cast)!” project. Having the ability to do a podcast on whatever I choose was a great experience that let me explain a special interest of mine.

 

Proud of:

Episode 1 (Part 1) “The Name of the Game”

Episode 1 (Part 2) “The Name of the Game”

Episode 2 “Child’s Play”

Episode 3 “An Eventful Evening”

Episode 4 (Bonus Episode) “Bloopers? Bloopers!”

The podcast project as a whole was just so fun and interesting to do. I was able to freely choose a topic to talk about and settled on Pokémon GO, which I’m very passionate about. I feel that I went above and beyond in making extra episodes just for the fun of it, as well as putting lots of effort into the podcast cover art. I personally struggle with drawing and being satisfied with them, but I was very proud of how it turned out. Writing and drawing with Dysgraphia can be difficult, but I’ve developed ways to overcome and work around this disability. A strategy/tool I obtained to help with this is a special pencil grip that makes it more comfortable and easier to use. Along with the art, I also really enjoyed recording and editing the audio clips for the podcast episodes. It gave me a chance to further my technology skills and also introduced me to the world of podcasts. I learned that recording podcasts can be difficult, but asking for help when confused and trying again can lead to better results. With recording, it’s all about patience and perseverance, trial and error. So is life.

 

Destination Imagination. Three years at Seycove, two of them in the DI program. What a journey.

My time spent in DI over the past 3 years has been some of the most unique experiences of my life. I have gained and grown many essential skills in the process of creation and performance. When we were first introduced to it in Grade 8, I knew this was going to be something I would remember for the rest of my life when I look back on high school, and I was right. Destination Imagination helped me work on my collaboration with teammates as well as organization, time-allocation, and brainstorming. I also made sure to take charge during the process when the rest of my group was feeling unmotivated to make sure we stayed on our feet and productive. One could say I was trying to set an example.

Peace be with all the uncredited volunteers from the tournaments.

 

PGP:

Somewhat new to PLP this year or at least to me, PGP (also known as the Personal Growth Plan) is basically PLP-atized Careers. Both projects helped us look more at ourselves both inside the classroom and outside of it. We also delved more into our futures and goal setting. Two different projects, sandwiching the rest of the year. All about who we are and who we want to be, PGP really gets us thinking and is a truly spectacular opportunity to be gifted with.

 

Proud of:

Coming from the first of two PLP projects, the Personal Productivity System (PPS) Backlog Clearance was a great chance for us to both clear our mind, room and devices, AND actually doing schoolwork at the same time. I really enjoyed getting the chance to do this as my device personally was quite cluttered at the time (it still is). This assignment gave me the chance to organize myself so that I can be more productive and find things quicker, while also having the benefit of being nice to look at. I may or may not have hyper-fixated on it for too long, neglecting other parts of my academics for the time I was making progress with it. However, when I was finished it felt amazing to look at all the progress I made and how much of a difference between the two there was.

 

The PLP Spring exhibition! I think this is the first time I’ve mentioned one in a tPol post, but boy is it worth it. Sprouting from the second Careers project which closed off the year exquisitely, the 2024 PLP Spring Exhibition was an amazing experience with a variety of different exhibits to see, centred around the theme of a comic-con of sorts. My final exhibit hinged on the question “What is your superpower?” which I answered as me being musically adept. My table focused on my musical accomplishments and the journey I took to get there, from my multitude choir awards to a 10 minute long video showcasing my journey and experiences with choirs and music alike. I really enjoyed the process of getting to that point (even if I was cutting it close time-wise), and I can say that I am extremely satisfied with my final products (the video + a sheet describing my music goals and aspirations as well as experience).

Stay tuned for the Spring Exhibition blog post!

 

Humanities:

As Humanities is a year-long class, there was many experiences and assignments that I was a part of. With all those different aspects of PLP coming into play, I learned many new skills and techniques for writing, working, using iPads to the full potential, and much more. I had a hard time narrowing down the assignments that I thought best showed who I have become and reflects the success behaviours of PLP learners, but with looking at it through the lens of what I’m proud of and what I put a lot of effort into, I was able to narrow it down to 3. This year, I’ve strived to be the best learner I can be with the opportunities presented to me. My favourite project was without a doubt “Ology of Apology.” Gotta love the nationalism in BC’s curriculum.

 

Proud of:

As part of the “Who Are You Gonna Be?” project, we got to choose a book to read and make notes on. I felt that I went above and beyond with the effort I put in, as I made multiple different sections for multiple different topics and take aways from the book. This assignment helped me further my writing as I usually struggle with that, along with using deeper and reflective thinking while reading. I used to do this back in “Battle of the Books” in elementary school as well, where we were expected to be extremely reflective and I held that standard.

 

This final product of an assignment was a struggle I overcame. If I haven’t already mentioned, I usually struggle with writing and getting my thoughts onto a page (which makes this tPol post all the harder). During the course of the project that this assignment originated from, there was a lot of writing involved, but I persevered, asked for help, and demonstrated growth as a learner. I used some strategies I’d picked up along the way to help me get words onto the page.

 

Choir is a major passion for me, and nothing gets me more interested than hearing and learning others’ musical stories. Carrie Tennant is the conductor of the Vancouver Youth Choir (VYC for short). Just like mentioned in my last post (see above), I struggle with writing, but I find that I’m way more motivated to write and generally interact (be productive) when the topic is centred around an interest of mine. I’ve learned this after years of going through the school system.

 

Stretches and My Strategies to Deal with Them

Driving Question

How can you showcase evidence to demonstrate that PLP Success Behaviours have prepared you to advance to the next grade?

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

Into The Dragon’s Den

CameroonianLeave a comment

The Project Path

Hello and welcome to my latest blog post, all about me! This project was called “Back ⬅️ to the Future”. One of the things we did in it was watch a movie. Can you guess what it was? If you guessed Back to the Future, you’d be wrong; it was the movie Dead Poets Society. Anyways, some of the other stuff we did was have practice presentations, complete online forums, and record a video of a fake one minute interview. All of the activities and assignments revolved around ourselves, and discovering more about ourselves along with our habits and what is a good fit for us.

I’ve talked for short enough, so without further ado, let’s get into the post!

 

My Learning Adventure

As this project was all about ourselves, there wasn’t much research to be done. A lot of it was self-discovery through a variety of resources. One of the things we did was a couple of online quizzes across a variety of educational websites, such as learning what soft skills and hard skills are, WorkBC work preferences abilities and interests quizzes, MyBlueprint Who Am I survey, and others. We counselled with the teacher about what we learned, before reflecting and writing about it. I was surprised to learn that a lot of the jobs I’d be good for are assistant jobs, and that a lot of the things were talking-related. I found this interesting since I usually struggle with speaking one-on-one, yet realized this was actually quite realistic after speaking fluently during my end-of-project interview.

 

The Skills

Skills? I don’t think we did anything on skills. The project had nothing to do with our personal skills, what we’re good at, who we want to be, or anything of the sort. Right?

Naturally, I’m kidding. The project was basically just this section of my posts, but stretched out. I learned a lot more about myself, and furthered my skill of self-reflection. Public speaking was also a big part of “Back to the Future”, as we had to do multiple interviews, both practice and professional, with peers and parents alike. Public speaking is a key part of quite a few jobs as well as everyday life, and the fact that I got a chance to further this essential skill is great. I also worked on a few other more personal skills like eye contact, writing, more writing, patience, and listening. I learned from the dragons a lot about my strengths and weaknesses in presenting, and it was a new experience for certain. During the 15 minutes, I got to experience what it’s like to have a job interview, which is great since I’ll be looking for a job soon (real-world connection). The interview also gave me the chance to test patience (waiting outside the room past start time) and work through silence/be comfortable with it. I also processed the feedback and used it. Some of the feedback was: “make your resume one page (references can be moved to 1st page), don’t have address, website is good, interview really showed your personality, title (musical enthusiast) should be changed depending on what job you’re looking to be hired for.” This was all really specific and helpful because it’s relevant not just for improving now, but in the future. The resume stuff is really handy because whatever I can do to improve my resume increases my chances of getting hired, which is one of my goals.

 

My Work

Resume, Cover Letter, and Interview Cue Cards

 

Adjectives

“- quiet: you’re able to stick to your own task and not distract those around you.

– spontaneous: free to do things on the spot as needed.

– curious: ponder about things and dive deeper into topics that interest you or you’re confused about.

– friendly: make connections in the workplace, great for collaborative projects or just workplace interactions.

– helpful: quite literally helpful, aiding those around you when needed, adding feedback, and it all comes around.”

 

Launch Video

 

Career Quizzes

Driving Question and Answer

“How do you set yourself up to become the person you wanna be?”

This project was an eye-opener into oneself for sure, and the question that fueled it is very important and relevant in everything we do.

What this question and the project behind it means to me is all about looking towards the future and thinking what steps you can take to drive yourself towards that in the now. I learned new ways of managing and implementing this throughout PGP this year, and especially in this project. One of the things I took specific note of that worked for me is creating a resume early on, and adding as you put new achievements under your belt, along with experiences that you gain. A resume is essential for getting job placements and advancing, and having a strong one only helps you more. Another thing I found useful was learning and identifying your skills and passions. Understanding yourself means understanding what you’re well-suited for, and mixing skill and passion together gives you a job you’ll love, and be good at! A third and final thing I found helpful and that I plan on implementing much more often is goal setting. Knowing how to set a reasonable and helpful goal is crucial for progressing in life, managing yourself and the things around you, and just getting things done!

There’s many more things that can aid you on your journey through life, and putting those into play gives you the chance to do great things, things that are meant for you.

Starting Year 3 of High School

CameroonianLeave a comment
[Definition of a PrePol = tPol but at the start of the next year and covering the exact same things you said in last year’s tPol]

The Project Path

It’s a presentation, it’s a PrePol, it’s a final reflective blog post! (even though it’s only halfway through semester 1)

Welcome to the first PGP post, where I’ll be talking about competencies, learning strategies, what worked for me, what didn’t, and much more! From taking up Maker and personal time, to taking stress away from (or adding stress to) the minds of students, this post is all about the journey through PGP. In this post, we’ll go over the driving question and my answer, evidence of the organization tactics, why the personal documentation system was such a bad idea for me, and proof of my work.

I hope you have a good time reading this! Now, let’s move onto the post.

 

My Learning Adventure

As this project was mostly centred around strategies, different apps, and different ways to organize yourself, there wasn’t much research to be done or facts to be learned. One thing near the start of the unit, however, was a video about the effects of happiness. I won’t go into too much detail here (see “Craft Notes and 421 on Happiness video with Why Comment” in “My Work” section), but it was basically about the benefits of happiness, how to trick your mind into happiness, the negatives of the world, and the norm vs the average.

 

The Skills

So many strategies provided, all for the end goal of creating a less stressed, more organized you. Which worked, and which didn’t? That’s what I’m here to cover.

Some of the strategies that we were given to try did not work for me. It was either too much commitment, too much to remember, or just didn’t connect with me. One example could be the Daily Reflection Journal, in which I felt like it was more of a commitment than an opportunity to reflect on the day and release my thoughts (which is what I assume the intention was). The major thing that didn’t work with me, for the same reason as the Daily Reflection Journal, was the Personal Documentation System. It was way too much writing for me, even though it had been my own idea. I should’ve considered my strengths more and realized that writing is not my strong suit. In hindsight, perhaps doing daily drawings would’ve been better for me. I ended up barely getting through three days/assignments worth of tracking before eventually falling behind and losing track completely. This strategy that I myself came up with did not work for me, and rather hindered me and caused more stress.

On the other side of the coin, we have the things that did work for me. The original pitch for the final PrePol took a while to come up with, but when I finally settled on an idea, I couldn’t wait to see how it would turn out. Unfortunately, as I didn’t have enough time to create and execute the idea, it’s been left as an idea for the future. The creative writing pieces of the Daily Reflection Journal were quite thought-provoking, and depending on the topic and time given, I felt like I was able to clear my mind to some extent. Clearing out my photos was a huge weight off my mind as well, and though it did end up taking quite a bit of time, I found it 100% worth it after the fact. Buckets were also a big bonus for me, because when I took the time to use it, it felt very rewarding to check off big goals, or even smaller ones.

Moving forward, I’ll definitely be keeping the homework trackers, checklists, & to-do lists to keep track of my day-to-day life. I already use tables and recording docs to keep track of things such as Spotify songs or shows I’m watching, so I believe this will be useful for how my brain works.

 

My Work

Benchmark Pitch Check In

“I’ll document my learning on Numbers. I will mark my stress levels every single day of the week. I will also write down the corresponding assignments of each day. I’ll look for patterns in this to see if certain activities from that day were harder than others to identify my strengths and weaknesses. I will also keep track of days when I handed in assignments late or didn’t meet the guidelines first time around (if applicable). I’ll write down how I felt I did on each assignment (i.e. keystones, in-class activities, normal Showbie assignments, etc.). I’ll write down things I think looking back I could’ve done better.”

“On Wednesdays and Fridays, I will document all these things at lunch (since PLP will be done for the day) and on the other weekdays, I will document after school (since I have lunch activities those days).”

“This will work for me because I’m constantly journaling and keeping track of things so I’ll be able to get into the habit quickly. The fact that I’ll be recording every day MAY get a bit overbearing, but I think it’ll work best for me as the day will still be fresh in my mind.”

 

Benchmark Pitch Final PrePol

“To answer the driving question, I will use an ad format video to “pitch and showcase” the different learning strategies and systems to balance and organize my life. Then when it comes to the person interview “what did you think of this product”, I’ll talk about my experiences with the different systems and which I preferred and will carry on. I’ll also talk about different support things of my learning plan as related products. This reflects my personality as well because I love acting and also have a low attention span, just like a flashy ad. I will play this at the end of the Pre-Pol.” – ShamWoW

 

Positive Brain Training Daily Reflection

Week 1

“Week 1 Reflection: This first week was very well-planned for an introduction, and I enjoyed participating in each and every activity. My favourite was the daily journal. It let me express my thoughts.”

 

Week 2

“Week 2 Reflection: This second week was a bit more unique. I found that the daily notes gave me a bit of time to think, and really look back at what I was happy about, unhappy about, and all things in between. Thursday was my favourite note day, same as last week. Seems like I have a passion for journaling. Next week, I’ll focus on keeping my attention glued to class and the activity, as that was the only problem I noticed at all.”

 

Week 3

“Week 3 Reflection: The third week was a bit lacking in motivation. My mind had been drained of proper words in previous weeks, so I had short, terrible answers in some. This next week, I will work to maximum effort to make up for this failure of a week.”

 

PPS: Cleared Backlog

Physical Capture

“Physical Capture: In the future, I will do cleanups of my room and house every two weeks, to make sure I’m not getting lost in the clutter or being too disorganized. This has worked for me in the past as I’ve done monthly “room purges” and cleared out my room significantly. (That’s the reason my room looks so tidy already in the first photo, it’s shortly after a large clean-up)”

 

Digital Capture

“Digital Capture: In the future, I will do monthly cleanses of my iPad and phone, to make sure that I can have the easiest and most organized learning experience. This is the first time I’ve ever done this, but after doing this for the first time, I’m already feeling a large weight off my shoulders. This is great for me.”

 

Mental Capture

“Mental Capture: This was an exercise I needed. At first, it was slow, but it began to flow after a while. In the future, I’ll do this every two weeks (same day as room clean). The thoughts running through my head will be put onto paper, making my mind clearer. Who knows, maybe I’ll do some of the meditation we’re doing for keystone 2.”

 

Backlog Clearance Schedule

 

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Quadrants and Next Steps

 

Final Norms Poster

 

Craft Notes and 421 on Happiness video with Why Comment

 

PPS: Intro and Tools Evidence

Before

 

After

 

Buckets

 

Personal Documentation System

Driving Question and Answer

What strategies can I use to maintain balance in my life and support my own well-being?

Learning with ADHD and Autism, or even just focusing can be difficult for me. Often, I need to put different strategies in place just to help me out with day-to-day things like completing homework or even interacting with other people. This project offered me new things I hadn’t considered before.

Based on what I’ve experienced and tried, constant “Things” management, creative writing journal-wise (on my own schedule), backlog clearance of clutter on iPad and iPhone (when I have the time), marking important events on the calendar, and making guides for myself on different things (such as blogs). After trying out the strategies, these were the ones that best worked for me with who I am.

Overall, strategies that are centred around checklists and to-dos seem to work better for me as a learner. These help me keep a straight mind and organize my thoughts in a way that works for my ADHD and Autism.