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.
Welcome back to another one of my T-POLs. This year has been jam-packed with exciting and new opportunities for me, and in this presentation, I’ll be sharing some of them with you. Since my M-POL was only a few months ago, I will be repeating a couple of things I’ve said there and touching back on some of the experiences, good and bad, I’ve had earlier this year. This time around, I’m going to try to make my presentation a bit shorter, as last time I ended up speaking for 15 minutes compared to the 7 I was supposed to speak for. So without further ado, here are my 2024 T-POLs.
Engagement
This year, I’ve struggled significantly with learning engagement, which has slowed my progress. Most of my assignments have been at a proficient level, with only occasional assignments exceeding expectations. I realize this is due to my lack of effort, as I’ve been more focused on just getting by rather than truly trying and getting the most out of every opportunity. This issue has been a major challenge for me and one that I know I have to solve largely on my own. Understanding and overcoming this struggle remains a work in progress, and it will be a primary goal for me next year, as I know I can’t fix this problem overnight.
WWI
In our final PLP unit, we learned all about WWI and Canada’s impact on it, with our sights set on making a comic that would tell our story about WWI in an effective and helpful way. First though, we had to learn how to make a comic that could be clearly understood and enjoyable to read. Even though I really like comic books, it helped a lot that Mr. Harris is a comic book fanatic and shared with us his love for comics, both stories and layouts. For my story, I chose Wop May, a Canadian flying ace. He has been thought of by many to be the greatest pilot Canada has ever produced. He was in the last ever dogfight with the Red Baron, the greatest pilot to ever fly in either World War. I really liked him and his story because it was unique to other pilots and very heroic. In the middle of this project, I unexpectedly ran into quite a big problem. I broke my finger, so I was barely able to draw any of the sketches, as that required me to hold a pencil, which proved to be very, very hard. I figured a way around this by asking my friends and brothers for help, as well as drawing with my left hand. This ended up giving my comic a unique look to it while still telling the story I wanted to.
Loon Lake
One really big thing that we did this year was Loon Lake. At Loon Lake, we learned that our decisions can affect others around us in good and bad ways. These choices also shape our future. Even quick decisions can change someone’s life now and later. We focused on making positive decisions that would affect us in a way we would want to be affected in the future. This made a positive impact on me and I try to keep this in mind throughout my day.
This year our T-POLs are laid out a little bit differently. We were given a form to fill out with different categories, such as agency, self-regulation, preparation, and more. We were given prompts and had to check ourselves off in which we thought we were achieving either consistently, sometimes, or rarely. I think this was actually kind of cool because it gave me a perspective into how other people might look at my learning. Once we filled out the boxes, we were told to pick one in the agency category and two others in anything else. These
approaches to learning would have to be included in our T-POL, so this is what the next section of my T-POL will be.
Balance
Building off my last M-POL when I spoke about balance and how it is a struggle for me, this area became even more of a focus as I have missed a lot of school over the past few months due to sports because I was on the golf team and the track team. These sports meant I missed a lot of afternoons and full days of school. The challenge was making sure I got my work done to an adequate level. This was especially hard in subjects that I am not super interested in. I know that school comes before sports, but it is hard when I am not motivated.
Asking for Help
Something else that I have done that has helped me this year compared to last year is asking for support when it is necessary. What this means is I can acknowledge when I’m not doing an assignment to the level that it should be completed to and need help and where I can get help from. Most of the time help comes from my teachers, but it can also come from my family and my peers. This has been a very big step for me this year and I think it has shown in my work in a positive way.
Technology
The last thing I’m going to be talking about is my technology use. As you know, PLP is a program that is almost completely online, which means it is awfully easy to get distracted and play games or watch a show. Of course, we are not supposed to do this, but as I said, it is incredibly tempting and easy. This year I’ve done a great job of not doing that compared to last year because I have acknowledged that work is harder this year and it needs more attention than it did last year. I have no games on my iPad, and I think this has helped my work tremendously. It helps me stay on task, which is great as I understand what my teachers want of me more than some of my peers do.
Overall, I think that I am ready to move on to grade 10 not only because of my growth this year but also because of how I’ve acknowledged my struggles and learned how to support myself through these problems. Even in grade 8, I would’ve never been able to tell myself I’m struggling with this project and need help, though this year I can guarantee I’ve said that more than a few times. I also think that my grades have reflected my growth as a learner compared to last year. Through my projects, I have collected more than a couple of extending, with my lowest grade being proficient. I’ve had a really fun year and got to know some really awesome people, and I’m very excited for grade 10. I will continue to grow as a learner and learn more strategies to help me become a 100% exceeding student. I have learned that balancing sports and academics is harder than I once thought, but this balance is actually key to me being successful in both areas of my life.