Do you like poetry? At first I wasn’t sure I did, but this project might have changed my mind. Read on!

At first, when I heard that we were doing a project on poetry, I wasn’t very happy, or excited. I have never enjoyed poetry, because I find it hard to write about most things, especially myself. 

Favourite Part

My favourite part of this project was the About Me video and poetry in my poetry book. I enjoyed making it because it was a good starting point that helped me with the rest of this project. Another amazing help was the very first project we did in grade 8! This was because we learned all about our worldview, which we needed to write the poems. My MindNode helped me as well because I had brainstormed about the 7 pieces of worldview.

Hardest

My least favourite part of this project was writing the found poem. I found it difficult to find the right book to use, and then choosing words out of it. Despite my struggles, all the poems were pretty fun to create.

Easiest

In this project, the easiest poem for me to write would probably be my sound poem. I had to connect and base all my poems off of my worldview. Our first project this year was learning all about our worldview, so I knew a lot about it coming into this project.

Driving Question

Our driving question for this project was “How might I write poetry that I enjoy and shows who I am?” this project was not my favourite, but I fought through it to write what I think are lucid poems. All of the poems we wrote are connected in some way to our worldview. My worldview is how I see the world, my beliefs, knowledge, values etc. At first I found it hard to express myself through my poetry, but throughout the project, I became more motivated to spending time to make my poems the best they could be, rather than just being good enough. The farther we got into the project, the more I enjoyed it. 

So what poems did we write?

Here are the poems that we wrote:

– Simile Poem

– Extended Metaphor Poem

– Sound Poem

– Haikus

– Found Poem

– Experience Poem

– Imagery Poem

– Self Portrait Poem

For all of these poems we created a document in pages for the terms. For each term we wrote what it meant, and an example. 

Reflection

Throughout this project, I feel like I became more aware of my surroundings and what is happening around me. I am very proud of how much I have grown and learned with this project. Although poetry still wouldn’t be my first choice, I enjoy it a lot more than I did before we started this project. This has helped me in lots of ways, but mainly focusing on things that I wouldn’t normally pay attention too. 

Thanks for reading and keep your eyes peeled for my next post!

Through group work, hard work, and lots of tears we have come to an end with our stressful exhibition.

Do you want to know why the lead up to this exhibition was so demanding? Read on to find out!

Exhibition

As we are grade 8s this year, we just had our very first exhibition. An exhibition is when the PLP students present to our parents, relatives, and the public. This year the grade 8s were split into 5 groups, and we were presenting a set of 3 tableaus. The three tableaus were based on medieval, Renaissance, and contemporary times. A tableau is a group of stationary figures representing a scene.

Medieval Tableau

The first tableau we presented was medieval. This was our planning for the medieval tableau. We have planned out everything from the drawing, to who’s playing each part. Once this drawing was done, we could start making props, and writing the script. Each tableau had to consist of 7 aspects of worldview; geography, time, values, beliefs, economy, and knowledge. For geography we did a horse, which represented how people used to travel. They could explore new places, and know where they are so it could be recorded on a map. Time was shown through a sundial we created. A sundial was the main use of telling time in the medieval times. For society, we did knights because they were a key part of the kingdom, doing their part to protect everyone. We chose a king for values because the people of the kingdom valued the king to lead them well. The king lead them into battles, and made big decisions for them. For beliefs, we did a cross the king is holding. The people in medieval times were Christian’s, and believed a lot in that. Knowledge is shown through a map that the king is holding because they relied on maps for where they were traveling to. The last one is is economy, and we have shown that through the expensive fabrics that the king is wearing.

Contemporary Tableau

The contemporary tableau was the hardest for me. I have no idea why because we are living in contemporary times at the moment. Just like the other 2 tableaus, we had to use all 7 aspects of worldview. Our voting booth is displayed to show society because these days we have the opportunity to vote for whoever we like. Our voting booth also shows values, because back in the medieval and Renaissance times, women were not allowed to vote, but nowadays we are. Geography is shown through the food truck as the truck can move places to serve its food. Sven is representing beliefs because he believes that he would be the best choice for someone to vote for him. During elections, you see the people who are running have signs on the side of the road, in peoples lawns, or even people holding them! Time is displayed with the clock,because clocks are how people tell time today. Economy would be shown through Ella. She is ordering food from the food truck on her phone, because lots of people do that these days. For knowledge, we also display it with the voting booth. People need to use their knowledge for who would be the best pick to vote for. Here is the photo from the exhibition.
Renaissance Tableau

Renaissance Tableau

For the Renaissance tableau, we had to incorporate the same 7 aspects of worldview. Forgeography, we reused the horse from the medieval scene, because it represent how people travelled. For time, we made a clock, because in the renaissance times people had thought of clocks, although the clocks told time by striking bells. We reintroduced the king into Renaissance times as well, because the king ruled the land, and they were valued by its people. The king would also hold a lot of power in the monarchy. We showed values through a food wagon because people valued food, but the wealthier people in the society were able to purchase more food. The wagon filled with food would be brought a long when they were travelling, pulled behind a horse. For beliefs, we made a bible that represents how many people were Christian, and a cross that the king was once again holding. The wagon would also show economy because wealthier people would be able to believe in more things. Lastly, we showcased knowledge as a painter because painting would require a vast and knowledgeable mind.

Renaissance Artwork

We started off by making our renaissance art chart and photo. This art chart took a long time, but it was worth it because it payed off. The Renaissance photo we made was created in Superimpose just like the medieval one I did. This photo took lots of work as we had to add each photo from our Renaissance art chart. The art chart I found was harder than when we did the medieval one, because it was harder to find the photos to include in it. However, I got it done,and it turned out well. I think next time I could work on making it less crowded because it looks as if everything is just smooshed into my artwork.

Renaissance Paragraph

Once we had completed this part of the project we wrote a paragraph to describe it. We focused on our topic sentences, and improving our writing from the medieval paragraph we wrote. My feedback on my medieval paragraph was describing my topic sentence in more detail, and I think I have achieved this in my second paragraph.

Power Play Post

We recently completed our Power Play project that focused more on the medieval side of things. The Power Play project has linked and helped us in this recent project because we learned many new things to help us with understanding this project. The many assignments we did helped us prepare for the learning ahead with this project. Here are some examples of things that helped me.

This was the Haudenosaunee project we did. I had trouble with this, which is why I was successful. I got a revision, because it didn’t clearly show my learning. I will not add the explanations I had to the pictures, because they are too long, but I will explain how it helped.

Revisions are probably the best thing that can happen. Of course you don’t want to get them all the time, but once and a while is good. When I got this revision, I was upset because I didn’t understand why. I reread the assignment, the criteria, the document, and I still couldn’t find anything wrong about it. I really wanted to get a check on this, so I just started all over again. Once I had read it multiple times, I really had an idea of how this could improve. I added way more detail, and then rewrote my explanation. This taught me if you put lots of work in, it will pay off, and you will be grateful.

Triptych

As a part in our preparation for the tableaus and exhibition, we had to create a triptych. A triptych is a three panelled piece of art that shows three different things. Usually, there is something similar that carries out in all of them.

Snack

In the exhibition, we were required to have some sort of snack for the audience. We decided to have cookies. My mom volunteered to make 100 cookies. I am very thankful that she did this, as it helped our group tremendously. Carmyn nicknamed them ‘snowballs’ which worked.

Conclusion

This was the most stressful project yet. We completed assignments, made props, wrote scripts, and worked super hard. I thought that every single minute we put into this exhibition payed off. I am super proud of what my group and I have accomplished. Thanks to everyone who have helped us make the exhibition possible.

Keep your eyes open for the next post! Thanks for reading!