This is the question Iβll be answering throughout this post.
Damn, thatβs the word that comes to mind when we talk about the past year of my schooling. Grade 8 has been quite the journey to say the least, but bizarrely it seems to have gone by so fast. I can still remember everything we did, from the once in a lifetime Oregon trip to the little things like the blogging challenge; each and every one of these projects have shaped me into the boy I am today. Without a doubt, grade 8 has been the most stressful, tiring, and impactful year in my learning career and I just have my teachers and myself to thank. So letβs take a trip down memory lane, and see what my grade 8 year was all about.Β
Growth Since My MPOL
When we look back to January and talk about my MPOL, the learning goal of mine was to manage my school work with everyday life and not leave everything until the last minute. I wonβt go too in depth about this because I spoke about it in my MPOL, but as the year went on, I saw change in the way Iβd tackle assignments. Since it was my first year in PLP I wanted to start strong and hopefully carry on that way, but my in class habits started to get worse making my finished products not as good due to not having enough time. This is still a goal that needs a lot of improvement and will really help with my success later on.
My Time To Shine
Having and older brother in PLP gives me a good idea of what we will be doing throughout the year, but it also brings stories about dreaded Destination Imagination tournament. After hearing what he had to say about DI and watching him make a fool out of himself, I really thought it wasnβt going to be for me, and after participating in it, that assumption was correct. As much as I didnβt want to enjoy the tournament, there was a part of me that just couldnβt stop myself from liking it; maybe it was the process of building or the feeling you get when everyone is clapping for you when you are finished, or even the satisfaction of everything coming together. I talked deeply about it in my DI post but there is something I want to briefly go over again. In this whole Destination Imagination journey I felt that it was my time to show my capabilities as a group worker and let my leadership trait come to play. This was my first proper opportunity to show how I work in a group environment and I think that this is one of the main reasons I am ready for the next grade level.
Not All Things Are For Me
Alongside all the good work Iβve done this year, I want to discuss some things that weren’t for me or things that I struggled with. I mean whatβs a reflection without any negativity. As I mentioned in my MPOL, a project that really made me work was our advertising unit in humanities. Now that Iβve completed every project in grade 8, I will still say that was what I struggled with the most. I donβt want to say the same thing as my MPOL but being the first project in high school probably had a large impact on why it was so tough. If we go on to talking about a project that wasnβt for me, Chemistry Coding fits right in there. As much as I wanted to enjoy it, I just couldnβt wrap my head around any of the chemistry information that I was taught and when it got to the coding part, I didnβt even know where to start. Since I did enjoy or even know what was really going on, I couldnβt create the best possible work that I always strive for.
My Best Work
To bring the reflection to an end, it is time for acknowledging my best work. Something I wanted to bring into my high school experience from elementary was my willingness to go beyond expectations, and I think I can say that I for sure did that. Although there were many pieces of work that I thought were great quality, nothing really tells me my growth as a learner like this one. For most of my work I tend to focus on the destination and not the process, but for our Witness To History unit it is the opposite. Although the final product didnβt turn out the way I envisioned, the learning process and how I persevered in telling the story really stood out to me and Iβm glad that Ms. Willemse enjoyed it as much as I did. The amount of times where I had to reevaluate my ideas and push through with the same concept although it was tough to tell a story really brought out the determination I didnβt know I had.
Why I Am Ready For Next Year
Now on to the most important part, why am I ready for next year? I most definitely feel like I am ready to go to grade 9 because of how Iβve continued to learn in different ways, applied my traits into the work I do, and grow not only as a learner but as a person. In the coming years, I plan to build on the strengths that I already have, and bring out the ones that I didnβt know I had.
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