Ā Ā Ā Ā Well, as the most wonderful time of year has gone by with a flash, it is time for all PLP students to participate in the annual mPOLās. Myself, being fresh out of elementary school, have never experienced an mPOL ( previously called SLCās; Student Lead Conference ) so Iām bound to be at least a little nervous. Now, you may be asking yourself, what is an mPOL? Simple, like previously mentioned the mPOLās were called student lead conferences meaning a parent/teacher conference lead by the student in question. So why did our teachers change the name? A student lead conference is a presentation of learning focusing on the learning done prior to the conference itself. The mPOLās ( mid year presentations of learning ) focus on how weāre going to improve based on what weāve learned prior to the presentation. On Thursday this week, my parents and teachers will sit down and watch me present the good and the bad from all of my learning in the beginning of the school year. ( wish me luck )
SCIMATICS:
Ā Ā Ā Throughout the past semester, weāve gone through so many different topics in science and math. We started off learning about tectonic plates and had multiple different assignments to help engage and teach us the basics of geology. During this overall lesson we focused on tectonic boundaries ( transform, divergent, convergent ), rift valleys, erosion, and the effects these and more all have on the earth. To finish of the lesson we did a project on the topic. The assignment was focused on the idea of having everyday people understand tectonics, so we made childrenās books. Honestly the assignment was a bit challenging for me as I wouldnāt necessarily know how to make the materials understandable from a childās perspective. That project was one that definitely would have benefited from revision more than others.
ponce_photography / Pixabay
Ā Ā Ā Math is one of those subjects that is all about repetition and revision. We learn how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide continuously. This past semester weāve focused on integers, pythagoras, fractions, and order of operations. We havenāt done any math projects or big assignments to write home about but we have learned and relearned these skills with increasing difficulty. Iāve never been a mathematical genius, but Iāve never been bad at math. My understanding and way of learning is all about observation and interaction. Therefore I admittedly have trouble sometimes. In Scimatics I really hope I can progress further by the end of the year so they Iām prepared for grade 9 and so that I gain better habits for science and math class in general. If I really want that ( which I do ) this has helped me reflect on my work habit that I need to leave behind.
200degrees / Pixabay
MAKER:
Ā Ā Ā Maker is no doubt one of my favourite subjects. So in writing this I found lots of little details that need improvement. In the first few months of school we have gone through so much with maker. We started off with getting familiar with the different parts of our iPads. We worked with superimpose, iWork, photos, sketches pro, everything google, and many more. For me, not all of it was new, making things much easier and giving me the sense that I had a head start. We moved through multiple āassignmentsā involving those aspects and mastering them. Now I look around the classroom and see at least four people superimposing something for fun. We soon moved on to the advertising project which involved lots of visual aspects. As soon as we got t the making of our ads, the tools learned in maker came in handy, so when we visited Pound & Grain our advertisements were pretty great. The same goes for Oregon. Speaking of Oregon, we did another project that Iām somewhat proud of. Or Oregon books were so fun to create and had so many options as to how we could make it. That was something I would put under the maker section of the trip. Read mine here!
Ā Ā Ā Moving on to the Student Blogging Challenge! SBC was an interesting venture that I can say Iām excited for next year. The Challenge was 10 weeks long and involved lots of work that sometimes didnāt even feel like work. This was the part of maker that would have really benefited from more focus, effort, and work ethic. Although sometimes I failed to get an SCB post up and handed in by the due dates. That is something I want to shake in every subject. It has a serious strain on my learning and although it doesnāt happen often, I hope that by the end of the year it doesnāt happen at all. You could say that is it a goal that I am going to complete no matter what!
HUMANITIES:
Ā Ā Ā Humanities is by far the busiest subject as we have done more than I can keep track of in the past little while. We started off with the year with our project on advertising which was successful in moderation. The three main factors of my progress as a learner include our first project previously mentioned as the advertising project. Second being our lesson on worldview leading up to the winter exhibition and finally the winter exhibition which combined my knowledge on the two previously Ā mentioned topics.
Ā Ā Ā Ā Advertising seems like a simple task right? Wrong. Advertising is insanely difficult if you have no idea what youāre doing. Although it was my first project of the year and in PLP I think I did pretty well. When an opportunity for using the correct vocabulary or terminology used for advertising came along I took my chances. When working with apps such as superimpose, Canva, iWork, sketches pro, photos, and Snapseed, I did a good, if not great job at utilizing those tools. Finally My favourite part, field studies! When doing the Deep Cove advertisement project we ventured to a couple of destinations, one of which was probably one of my favourite field studies of the first semester. We started off with a pitch, when we visited Deep Water Micro Eatery for our interview we hadnāt traveled far so I would not classify it as a field study. Although we did gather all the needed information. The other trip, Pound & Grain was so engaging and fun. We learned so much from professionals which really paid off. On the Oregon side of things, our Marine Discovery Tours interview didnāt go as well as weād planned.
Ā Ā
Ā Ā Ā The next project that is a huge factor of how Iāve progressed and learned from mistakes is my worldview project. This project was a train wreck to start. I wasnāt engaged or open to expanding my knowledge of the topic. Now that I look back on it, through my reflection post and the work I did, I realize that I was way below my standards. I really hope that the next time I am presented with a topic that Iām uninterested in, I give it a chance. The amount of procrastination and disorganization had a toll on my understanding and my personal life. I put myself in the position that no one ever wants to be in but I still made it through and got a thumbs up on my Explain Everything. Iām not entirely disappointed with this experience. It allowed for me to take a minute to look at how I was handling work and balancing it with everything else which has resulted in a better lifestyle and attitude!
Ā Ā Ā The final project of the term was our religious worldview project and presentation at The Winter Exhibition! After picking up my work ethic, we started our project that was to be featured at the exhibition. The basis of the project was the seven aspects of worldview and our understanding of them. For this project I did a great job. On the last day before winter break, the day after the exhibition we did an open evaluation. Most of my peers gave themselves Bās on the project. I gave myself an A. My teachers might disagree but the work done for the exhibition was in fact well done. I used skills Iād learned from the previously had PGP meeting to get the work done. I am proud of myself for how well this project turned out. Not just that but the growth that it had to get there. The only struggle with the lesson was teamwork. In elementary school I would say; ā ever wonder why Batman works alone?,ā when faced with a group project. Now I get excited to work with people I am still getting to know.
PGP: PERSONAL GROWTH PLAN:
Ā Ā Ā PGP is confusing. I mean that in the best of ways. But it is still confusing. My first introduction to the subject was vague and until the first meeting I didnāt understand its purpose. Now I use the things taught to me through PGP daily. Weather that means time blocking, weekly reviews, or jotting down ideas just in case something grows from it. It is now one of the most engaging subjects in PLP.
Ā Ā Ā To better focus on my growth through PGP Iām going to be talking about the most recent meeting weāve had and all that it covers. in the meeting we talked about a book called āWhat Do You Really Want?ā The book was written for the purpose of helping teens achieve small and large goals throughout their years as a high school student/young adult. Every student in PLP was assigned a project in which we read the book and completed the forms that went along with it. The forms helped us to express our hopes and dreams without any disagreement or disapproval from the social world. We only had to hand in four of these forms, the rest were kept personal. Along with that we did a weekly review. That basically consisted of organizing our schedules, reviewing our weeks as they went by, and cleaning up our notifications so that we can stay on track. The final component of the What Do You Really Want project was the dream board! For this we had the option to make it digitally or physically using either our iPads or photos, magazines, newspaper, and small representative objects. I chose digital. The entire focus of the project really paid off. I have started to take homework time more seriously, keep up to date in my Things, and set goals for even the smallest things!
Ā Ā Ā Writing this may have taken more than a crazy amount of time, but it has helped me to reflect in a thorough manner. On a final note, before the Winter Exhibition our class was assigned a personal goal selfie. We each selected a nice photo of ourselves and paired it up with a goal for school. Below is mine!
By the end of this school year I hope to have achieved my current goal! ( as seen above ) I am striving for improvement in every subject, project, and lesson done in the last five months. To do so I am using the tools given to me in my PGP course to the best of their ability. I am constantly reminding myself of my goal. I am always improving and that means that even if Iāve had serious improvement by June, I will extend this goal alongside others in order to keep a steady and growing mind!
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