Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! It is that time of year again where I reflect on my learning so far. In PLP we call this MPOLs, which stands or Middle Presentation Of Learning. In this blog I will be answering the two MPOL questions which are “How have i demonstrated growth as a learner so far this year?” And “how can I shaper my learning plan to ensure I will reach my learning targets by the end of the school year?”. As well as my goals moving forward. Before I get started I must do the POL Declaration.
POL Declaration
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.
How Can I Sharpen My Learning Plan To Ensure I Will Reach My Learning Targets By The End Of The School Year?
As usual we started the year off by creating Learning Plans that help us set goals and look to where we can improve and where we are strong. This year rather then looking at subjects we looked at different success behaviours. Through this I found that I have many strengths in terms of Agency but I also have a few areas of growth in Agency as well in terms of seeking help through teachers. To answer the question “how can I shaper my learning plan to ensure I will reach my learning targets by the end of the school year?”. I think one way I can sharpen my learning plan is by looking at it again and seeing what I have improved on and setting new goals in a notes app or in things. I can also sharpen my learning plan by using it as a goal setting journal to look at and remind myself of how I can grow.
How Have I Demonstrated Growth As A Learner So Far?
Humanities
Humanities was a very interesting course where I learned all about The CPR, Revolutions, Louis Riel, frankenstuffies, and now Nationalism. Our first project, Rocky Mountain High (Canadian Pacific Railroad) was probably my favourite because we got to go to Alberta and to all the places we learned about in class. Our Revolutions project was super fun because we had to do a lot of research on out chosen revolution and become experts. We then had to make rude Goldberg machines to tell the story of the revolution which we then presented at the winter exhibition. The Louis Riel project was also interesting because he was such a controversial character and there were many stories from different sides which we researched. I think a way I grew in humanities was improving my writing and getting better with collaborative work. An example of me improving my writing was through the Louis Riel Paragraph where we talked a lot about paragraph structure and improving our word choice. An example of my growth in terms of collaborative work is our revolutions project where we were put in groups where our final product was something we all made together unlike our previous exhibitions where we made our own pieces. I think it was stressful because the machine was all of our work and we had to make it and combine all of our ideas. But at the same time it was not as stressful because there were multiple people and we were able to create a bigger and more inpressive final product then if we were to have our own. I played a important part because I was the project manager which meant a lot of collaborating and I think I as well as the rest of my group all improved on collaboration.
Here is my Louis Riel Paragraph:
Here is our machine:
Maker
Maker was a very fun course this year where we focused mainly on videography. I had a lot of fun with this because I love photography so it was interesting to learn all about videography. In maker we did Thriller Videos, Story Videos on our Alberta trip, A documentary about making our machines for revolutions, and our latest project Destination Imagination. A way I grew in maker was definitely making my movies look more professional and video planning skills. For making my videos look more professional I learned a lot more about all the different shots and how the way you angle the camera can reflect the mood. I think a good example of where I demonstrate this is in my RUN thriller video I made with my group. In the RUN video it starts off with a wide shot so you see the surroundings which are a big forest and someone running. In the RUN video near the end it shows a close up where the charachter looks scared and it also has a POV scene of the camera looking frantically around. This reflects the tone as a thriller or there is something to be scared of that the character it trying to hide from. Another way I learned how to make my videos look more professional is I learned a lot more about IMovie. I was able to apply that in videos such as my Rocky Mountain High Investigative video. I had to cut out a lot of excess talk to keep it on the time limit but I had to make sure it sounded natural. As for video planning in the Thriller unit we had to replicate the original RUN video and we had to make it as close to the original. This meant a lot of planning and trying to get the exact timings to line up our video with the OG. Another video in the thriller project that needed a lot of planning is the videos we got to make on our own. Where we had to make it a thriller but we made or own plot, charachters, and story boards. I was in a group of 4 with my friends and so we worked together and divided up the tasks. Most of our classes were spent preparing to film and I think I learned a lot more about what goes into preparing a good movie.
Here is the RUN video:
Here is my Rocky Mountain Investigative Video:
Here is my Thriller Video: YOUR NEXT
Science
Science was a very challenging but fun course this semester. We talked all about Mitosis and Meiosis, Electricity, Chemistry, ecosystems and food webs. A way I grew in science was elevating my note taking skills, we had so many new things to cover and we took a lot of notes. More specifically when learning all about the different types of Mitosis and Meiosis we took many notes. Another project that shows my note taking in science was the Elements and Compounds project where I took notes and did research on my element of choice: Arsenic.
Here is one of the notes pages:
Here is my arsenic presentation:
DI
DI was a very stressful project that involved a lot of collaboration, problem-solving, and time management. I think I grew a lot as a learner for DI because it was such a big project which we did with grade tens. One way I grew in DI was problem-solving, an example of this is when my group had so many ideas and we had to chose between them for our solution to the challenge. There is also the more obvious examples of instant challenges where we had to work together under pressure of time to use the materials we were given to find a solution to the task. Overall my group got 3rd place a nationals and 1st place for instant challenge and main challenge at provincials, even with two team member who were unable to make it.
Goals Looking Forward
I have three main goals looking forward Homework Time-Management, Set new goals using my learning plan and continue to visit the learning plan more often, and continue to try my best in class and in my work.
Conclusion
Overall I think PLP this far has been very challenging and rewarding. I had a lot of fun in all my projects and I am looking forward to what the rest of the year will look like. As always thank you so much for reading my blog I hope you enjoyed. Stay tuned and as alway have a great rest of your day.