Thank you for coming to listen about my learning. I am an expert on my own learning. I am responsible for my learning and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will be discussing my strengths and opportunity’s for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.
Humanities:
-Rocky Mountain High
-Metaphor Machines/ Winter Exhibition
-Let’s Get Riel!
-Rise of the Frankenstuffies
Maker:
-Thrill Us!
-Rube Goldberg Documentary
-Story Finding in the Rockies
-Destination Imagination
Science:
-Handle with Care!
-ChemHISTORY!
-Sparks Fly!
-Seeing Double!
Learning Plan:
My main goal I put on my learning plan that I wanted to improve on and achieve was to set goals. What I mean by goals is to set little goals that lead up to a big one. As an example when I had to read ten chapters per week from the Leviathan book, the Rise of the Frankenstuffies project. Before I started reading the book as a class, I added to Things of when I needed the chapters to be read by. After the class almost everyday I wrote in Things, of how many more chapters I needed to read before the deadline. I think after getting better at this and knowing how to use it, has helped me quickly write down what I need to get done. The features it has is when the deadline is, when I’m going to work on it, and the overall organization of how it works. The learning plan guided the way for me to understand how I was going to set the goals.
What I have done well with:
Throughout this year I’ve learned a lot about how different words and the way you write can help me improve as a learner. I have learned the importance of it and many new strategies about it all. During the Frankenstuffies project before writing the story I learned the difference between a compound and a complex sentence. Along with finding synonyms for different words and breaking down the meanings of what they mean. Like from the Louis Riel project helped me when writing my story and in general.
For the rest of grade 9 I would like to work on:
-Setting realistic goals that are easy to achieve
-Time management, it’s been something I want to improve on since grade 8
-Grammar
-Habits, I find having a deadline helps me get my work done, because I want to do it and get it over with, but if its due later then I’m not so motivated and leave it to the last minute
My main goal I set for throughout this year was to create realistic goals. At the beginning of the year I did well with sticking to this and creating simple and easy goals. Things the app, helped me a lot with this. Ever since putting it as a widget on my home screen to remind me. As it got later in the year, after winter break I didn’t write down the goals and reminders.
Along with that I want to work on managing my time. From the beginning or grade eight and even nine I have definitely improved on my time management. I have done this by writing down when I was going to work on the task. I have even found having the exact times I was going to start and work on it, when to take a break and do another task has helped me improve my timing. Doing the simple tasks has helped me a lot, but there is always room to improve!
Least/ most proud of:
The project I’m least proud of but also proud of a lot was the Frankenstuffies project. I wasn’t so happy about how I handled and started the video/ short story. I wish I planned it out better. I could have used MindNode or just typed out what I was going to do and how. Next time instead of going straight into it and not knowing what to do first, took up a lot of time. I have learned a lot from this experience and now know how to fix this for next time. Although having this happen will help me in the future from learning from my mistakes. I also liked this project because I learned so much more about writing and the impact it has. Learning how to write a strong sentence will help me. Along with practicing using a variety of apps and getting to know them will and have helped.
Maker:
The first project in Maker was Thrill Us. For the one week challenge video I learned a lot about working with group members, coordination and finding the importance of team work. When learning all about film making I realized how important it is and the difference it makes to a video when the sound, lighting and camera angles make such a difference.
After learning more about the 3C’s we then had to create a 2 minute thriller video called You’re Next. I’m very proud of this project and loved making it. I learned a lot more about videography like how important it is for your video to be eye catching. By doing this and making the video more scary and suspenseful. Having the camera lower down looking up at the scary object helped create the creepiness. I worked on storyboarding, character charts, and combining ideas with my group. Overall just practicing how to film helped get the You’re Next video on YouTube to have 1300 views. This project was the most memorable because of the funny acting by Sunny and having fun in the process.
Story Finding in the Rockies was so much fun because of how much I love photography and videography. Editing was a big part of it, I learned editing is equally as important as photography and videography, maybe even more. Along with that in Alberta when I had to ask people a couple question to be in my video. I had to get out of my comfort zone to make the video happen. I learned even more to be uncomfortable in unfamiliar situations.
Destination Imagination was a big project that I learned many skills from. Working with people I didn’t know and understanding everyone’s ideas. I learned how to be more confident in myself, memorization, and working in a group. Looking back my group has taught me to see their different perspectives and incorporating many ideas into one. For the instant challenges for both Regionals and Provincials, I had to work under pressure and learned different problem solving skills. Time management, being creative, communication and critical thinking. For critical thinking I had to analyze and critique at any point, developed and design, and question and investigate.
In Maker, I understood my teamwork skills and the importance of coordination in filmmaking. I worked on collaboration, while also learning the importance of editing, stepping out of my comfort zone, and learning more about critical thinking and problem-solving skills under pressure. These projects gave me a better understanding of creativity, and communication.
Science:
The Handle with Care project taught me the importance of writing a well structured script and managing my time properly when working in a group. It showed me that having a clear plan and structure for what we’re doing makes everything easier. As an example when everyone had an idea of the script and what to say, we got almost all the filming done in one class.
The ChemHISTORY project I found the most challenging for me because of having to convert the the names from the periodic table and finding the right formula. I learned about ionic compounds, ionic compounds with transition metals, with polyatomic ions and covalent compounds. I think I found this the most challenging for me because of remember what formula to use for each area and also I’m not good at memorizing things. I need a lot of practice to understand and memorize certain things. Apart of this project was also learning about an element or compound of my choice. I chose radium because it interested me the most. I leaned how to shorten a big amount of important information to an easy to understand two paragraphs.
In science this year it taught me the importance of planning and time management in group work and in general. Making tasks easier with a clear structure. The ChemHISTORY project was challenging at some parts. However, it helped me learn about different compounds and elements, like radium, and taught me how to simplify a lot of information.
Humanities:
The Metaphor Machines project was a lot of team work. I first learned about Crane Briton’s theory, I made an infographic and read the Animal Farm book. When reading the Animal Farm book I think I did well with writing a summary for each chapter, so I could look back on them. Along with creating well structured questions and highlighting the important parts in the book. For the actual metaphor machine it took a lot of planning and learning to work with different people I didn’t know so well. In the end, that project taught me how to work with different types of learners, looking at everyone’s opinions, and giving the right feedback to make the machine work well. Assigning the rolls really helped out to get the machine ready for the Winter Exhibition.
I found the Let’s Get Riel project an important one, especially for me. Since my grammar isn’t the best, this project helped me improve on my grammar. Along with how to only write about the key parts throughout history, and finding the proper information needed. It also taught me how to search for the right information effectively.
Rise of the Frankenstuffies was a fun project, but out of all of the projects I have done this year, I think I could have planned my work out better. When looking back I have realized how I could have managed my time better. I wish I would have kept the same habits I had when reading the Animal Farm book. I still created the summary’s, but they were very long, and not a great summary. There was no theme, I just wrote down parts from the book that I thought would be important information to look over before the quizzes. In The Leviathan book I found it easier for me to highlight parts I wanted to put in the summary along with other things that didn’t need to, but I found interesting.
Humanities so far this year has helped me grow on my grammar skills, focus on the main parts in history when needed to write about it in a certain amount of words. Also I improved on my ability to search for the proper information and not using the propaganda information. The importance of better time management and planning, reflecting on my habits from other projects to improve on.
Overall for the rest of the school year I will continue to set realistic and straightforward goals to get my work done. Also looking deeper to find things that I need to work on to help me in the future.
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