“Thank you for coming to my presentation on learning. I am an expert in my own learning. I am responsible and accountable for my learning. You can expect me to give honest and precise 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.”
At the start of the year, I set my goal of 97% in PLP. Yes, it was a very high, ambitious, and perhaps ridiculous goal. At the start of the year, my desire to achieve the seemingly impossible drives me to set a lofty goal for myself. Looking back, the drive from my dream was a notable contributing factor to my success; however, it wasn’t enough to bring me to 97%. In this blog post, I will share my growth/ failure throughout this year to summarize my learning in Grade 11.
My Goals and Intentions
To me, a goal is a challenging, complex objective for individuals to achieve. Many people believe setting 97% as a goal is setting yourself up for failure, and they may be partially correct. I know my overall strengths are in the schematic fields, and setting a ridiculously high goal in your unfamiliar, weak subject areas may not be realistic. I have such lofty goals and expectations of myself because I want to say my Grade 11 year is fulfilling confidently. I would rather fail high than succeed low.
How have I grown?
How have experiences in PLP 11 made me a better person?
First and most importantly, how do I know I have become a better person than last year’s me? Throughout the year, many of my core beliefs are different than before. For example, in the Manhattan project^2, I questioned one’s responsibilities to its society; in Macbeth, I asked what true virtues are; in the Hope project, I started to examine how we can strengthen ourselves with resiliency. I have developed a more mature, dynamic worldview through those curiosity-inspired thoughts and investigations. It is those curiosities behind each learning journey that nurtures my development in the core competencies, such as critical thinking.
How can I develop my full potential for Grade 12?
Have I worked and lived the best version of myself in Grade 11?
Before
After
Take a look at the screenshots from the Coldest War project. I don’t specialize in art in any way, nor do I consider myself to be an artistic person. But there I was, trying to make every stroke of the comic perfect. It may not mean that my comic has the most content or historical accuracy, but it represents my effort to reach my goal. Similarly, I try to refine cuts to the seconds when making the Hope project video.
Setting grades aside, I could’ve done more and refined more for many PLP projects. Throughout my PLP year, I put in around 80-90% of my effort, which I believe can be improved. Not until I reflected on my progress this year I realized that every project has a trend: the final product, whether a presentation, model, or comic, is always about 60-70% compared to perfection in my mind. Often, it is my execution that lets the plan down. I either underestimate the tasks, since constructing in my mind is so easy, or procrastinate and be indecisive. Looking back, I am often overwhelmed and terrified by the final product and ignore the steps to achieve success.
Knowing that I didn’t reach my goal, something must change next year for me to match 97%. To develop my full potential, I must divide and conquer individual tasks and set a clear timeline for each stage. Specifically, setting the alarm or having the timer beside me will increase efficiency. Although it may seem like no significant changes, I believe it is within the minor improvements, one after another, that will eventually bring considerable changes.
Thank You
After all, I want to note that my peers and mentors have given me a tremendous amount of support, and the reason why I stayed in PLP wasn’t just because of the challenging, exciting projects but also because of the overall friendly and supportive environment
