There are many theories and reasons why World War One started off, in this post I’ll share my thoughts and theories on how World War One started and what lead up to the event. I believe World War One started because of the desire for strength and power in the nations, they also had the arms race Which they had to enter into to build their empires. I believe the war started way before the first shot was fired.

From 1841 to 1914 countrys across the world were trying to expand their empires, to help do this they would need the best military to expand their empire. Technology advanced new inventions in guns, ships, chemicals and tanks fed the aggression from countries. Nations across the world invested tins of money into funding the creation of these projects to advance their military’s, so they could grow upon and protect their territories. This along with extreme nationalism created an explsive environment in Europe.

Kaiser Wilhelm said in a speech: “We have conquered for ourselves a place in the sun. It will now be my task to see to it that this place in the sun shall remain our undisputed possession, in order that the sun’s rays may fall fruitfully upon our activity and trade in foreign parts… The more Germans go out upon the waters, whether it be in journeys across the ocean, or in the service of the battle flag, so much the better it will be for us.”

This quote shows the extreme nationalist held by the German chancellor in 1901.

To support our thesis we had to create a visual to go along with it, we could get in to groups or create one on our own. I grouped up and together my group created a short comic and a video on the events leading up to World War One:

After presenting our video to the class we peer edited and gave each other feedback, our feed back was mostly positive. At some points the audio was a little quiet and that at sometimes there was background noise during the script part. In this project I learned a lot about World War One and the events leading up to it, I learned a lot more about the development of technology. This Project was very fun as we had a lot of time and freedom to complete it, we also had full creative control so we could do whatever we want as long as it was historically acurate and showed our learning.

This summer was probably the best summer I’ve had so far, I saw my friends nearly everyday, I went to so many concerts, I made new friends and stayed up late every night. Had many many “sleepovers” and mainly walked around all night with my friends listening to music on our speakers until the sun came up and then went to sleep all day and did the same the next night. So obviously going back to school wouldn’t make me happy and I can garuntee that almost everybody hates the idea. The first week of school went unexpectedly great as we had a trip planned with in the first few days, we had a retreat planned to camp capilano but until the day of we had almost no idea as of what we were going to be doing.

We left for camp capilano mid day and we had a quick little stop at the Capilano dam before walking over to the camp site. When we arrived at the dam we were assigned our first of three assignments on the trip. The assignment was to create a video intro for a reality tv show but there could be no actual audio, the  only audio that there could be was music. We had to introduce 10 characters in groups of 5 and each charecter had to have and show a different personality, look different from one another, and each introduction for the character was around 3-6 seconds so it was a little tricky to do this. Last year in grade 9 we focused more on filmmaking and how to tell stories so we all knew and have used some of these skills from last year, but this year in grade 10 were focusing more on podcasts and only using audio to create a well thought out story.

We were put into groups by the choice of candy we chose, so if you chose a Kit-Kat you would all be in one group, but when everyone decided there candy we didn’t know this. I guess me and my friends are more similar than we think as I was in a group with Kyle, Simon, Lucas, and Aiden. We only had an hour to film, edit, and review the video that we had created, we quickly got to work to create 10 characters and figure out what sort of  show our characters would be in. In the end we created the video and decided that our tv show would be a little like big brother and the real house wives in one, at the end we kinda lost track of time and when an hour was up we still had to name all thee characters and Aiden wa style one naming them. Later when we got to the cabin we all had to watch what each group had produced. Below is my groups video the name of the show is, The capilano trailer park boys.

Later on when we arrived at camp and had viewed each other’s videos we were given a second assignment, our task for this assignment was to get in the same group and retell that same video assignment story but this time only using audio. Each of the 10 characters has to have a hobby or something that makes them unique and identifiable. My group decided to keep the same theme but entirely change the characters, our story line changed as well, we decided to record like it was a previous episode of the show. It began with “last time on house of ten”, we recorded it so that there was a charecter walking through the house of guys and introducing them all. It wa Avery funny to record as we all had great ideas and it wa s just very entertaining to make. I also found this assignment much easier to make them the first as we did t need to worry about visuals and mainly had to focus on the characters and making it entertaining.

The third and final assignment was definitely the most challenging to make, we had to create a 4 min podcast with the whole centre topic being about identity. We could tell any story but it had to be real and obviously believable, and the story had to be approved by the teachers. We could also choose our own groups, we all grouped up and I ended up being with Robbie and Kyle which was great as we all work really well together. We quickly got to work as the assignment wa added the following morning at 10, it was actually pretty easy for us to come up with ideas as we are all very creative expesially Robbie. We decided using the story of Kyle’s daily hair routine as within our large friend group or the whole PLP class everyone finds kyles hair to be “funny” as he uses a lot of gel. The podcast would also be very original and funny, it didn’t take us long at all to write the script and we quickly got to recording. We recorded pretty fast and got into editing the whole podcast, this would be our first fully edited podcast we would have ever made and I don’t think it’s actually that bad, we had included interviews with many people and the audio quality is actually pretty good. Camp Capilano was a great learning experience for me, I learned how to podcast and tell an interesting gripping small story with just audio and it was lots of fun. It was a very short and quick trip but we achieved so much over such a short amount of time and I had so much fun, I’m actually very excited to create more podcasts and see what different stories I will be podcasting in the future. I’m also very excited for the other field study’s and hope that we will have more fun assignments like this as looking back it was so much fun.

Last year at the beginning of grade 9 one of our first mini assignments was to create a poster showing our face and a goal that we would have for the year, my goal was to read more books as it would increase my vocabulary and my knowledge about writing.

This year we’re doing something completely different, this year we have to chose three “Smart Goals”. A smart goal is a well thought out and planned goal, it shows each step and how you are going to achieve your goal. To show our goals we needed to record our voice talking about each goal and have a well thought out visual to go along with each goal. We had a topic for each goal but it was our choice to choose the goals, the first goal was to choose something about our work in school, second was for our attitude as a person and third was for our work outside of school. Below is the audio recording as well as the visuals that I made for this assignment.

Now I’ll talk more about my goals and why I chose the , my first goal is to be more organized with my school work.

My organization skills have never been very good, but being in PLP makes organizing a lot easier as we don’t use textbooks and mainly just use our iPads. My iPad is very unorganized and finding old assignments and projects to look back to has never been that easy, the textbooks for my classes outside of PLP have never been organized and losing homework is quite easy for me. So this year I’d like to have folders and organize all my homework and notes for every class so I can easily find them when I need them, and for as my PLP classes I’ll have different folders for each subject and have my notes better organized.

My second goal is about my attitude as a person. I chose to be more patient, sometimes I’ll rush a project or an assignment and won’t put my best effort in or I’ll take people’s criticism about my work negatively. I’d like to be more patient with others and their opinions as it has helped me before but I’d like to always take others opinions as suggestions and not become un impatient.

And my final goal is about my life outside of school. I chose to manage my time better as my life can get quite hectic at points, from balancing time with my friends and my homework, to finding time to spend with my family and also having to go to work and make money. Sometimes I’ll make bad choices like putting my friends over my school work when an assignment is due the next day and I’ll hand in my homework late which is never good, and sometimes I’ll be out with my friends all weekend and spend no time with my family. I’ll have to leave time for my school work and my job, my family and friends, and also leave time to relax.

One of the biggest final projects of PLP 9 was the Frankenstuffie project, this included almost all of our subjects like math, science, geography and ecology. At the beginning of this project we had to learn more about the geography of Canada and of the certain area that we would be given, we had to know what the terrain would be like, what animals would love there, what resources would grow there. We then had to create a monster/villain that would challenge the main character, we made the monsters in math class and also had to fin the measurements of our creature. We then had to write the overall story and include specific words in the storythat would make it sound more “scientific”. After completing the story we had to create the main character in a physical form, we had to cut up different stuffie to show a physical change in the animal. We then had to form this into a movie/video that would show the change if the animal and the human impact on its region, the villain would have to affect the animal or area and we would have to show how the animal adapts to the change and either overcomes the villain or how it fails. Below is my video, it took awhile to make as I used so many different resources, I hope you enjoy my video!

In PLP we have started a new mini unit on Education and Careers, the main point was to get us to think about our futures and maybe what we’ll possibly be doing career wise. The overall project of this mini unit was to create a “fairytale” of our past and future, we also had to do some career quizzes to see what possible future jobs we could be good at. We then had to make a time line of all the important things in our lives to reflect what steps lead to this. On this timeline we had to show what the most important parts of our past were and then what we predict would happen in the future, like what job you could have or what you’ll be doing. Below will be the video that I created for this project, Im still not really sure what I would like to do in the future but I put some ideas into the video that I enjoy.

In PLP socials we have been learning about the history of our great country Canada, all the way from New France to the creation of the CPR(Canadian Pacific Railway). In this blogpost I will be explaining to be what I think the most important part of Canada’s history was, a part that defines us as a country and shows a huge part of our history. This is a very hard question for me to answer as there are so many incredible parts to Canada’s history that we Canadians should be proud of, these past couple weeks/months we have been learning about the CPR and general history of Canada’s history. So what part of Canada’s history do I think is the most important, which part defines us as a country and makes me proud to be a Canadian, I personally think the most important part of Canada’s history is the CPR or Canadian Pacific Railway.

Hello and welcome to my tpol blog post, in this post I will be talking about why I feel I am ready to advance to the next grade level. I have learned many new different skills this year that I will use for the rest of my life. Before joining PLP in grade 9 I had never known how many different and incredible things the well known I pad device could really do, before I would use this piece of technology as a form of entertainment but now I know how to fully use the potential of this device. I’ve learned how to edit videos, script, direct, collaborate, share, plan, manage, and various helpful apps. This incredible tool helps me organize easier and plan things much faster, it allows me to use technology whenever I need it and However I need to use it.

My learning:

In humanities this year we have done plenty of fun, exciting, stressful, time consuming, varied projects that tested many of the skills I used and helped me learn new skills. A few examples of the projects that I have done that I’m proud of are “DI” and our “crazy person” Seattle video. Each of these projects have tested my skills and have made me an even better student. DI was a major thing for me as I had never really had a big team project like that in that level, I learned MANY skills from DI like to always glisten to everyone’s ideas, always be creative, and accept the thought of revision and perfecting your work to put out you best piece of work. DI also showed me what real teamwork is like and that to succeed everyone has to give their everything. On the other hand the “crazy person” project video is something im very proud of, I basically filmed the whole video and pulled our group together as my two other classmates in my group weren’t getting along that well so I pulled us together so our team would work more efficiently and productively. The video explains how somebody went above and beyond, it shows what they did with their life and how they were almost “crazy” for always pushing for the best. For our person we chose Kurt Cobain the lead singer from the Seattle band nirvana, we chose him as he was actually a little crazy but also because he worked so hard for his dream and it almost made him go a little mad. In each of these projects revision was the key to success, always improving and adding to your work succeeds the quality and makes it way better, this year I’ve become accustomed to revision and it really helps me become better.

Destination Imagination

Crazy person

2. Maker time has really helped me this year with coming out of my comfort zone with presentations being a massive part of the projects. At the start of PLP I was never the one who would love presentations, I did know quite a few of the kids in PLP but some I didn’t. I was scared to share my opinions with people I didn’t know but that soon changed, I am know more confident to show my work to others as they could give me critique and help me further my learning, I’m now more out going but I still have space to improve in the future. This block has really been a big part of my learning and testing of my skills and has thought me so much with the projects like Blue Sky, and the things I carry project.

Blue Sky

Things I carry

3. Math and science have never been my strongest subject, I feel that you have to truly understand the concepts to succeed. This block has pushed me to expand my learning and I’ve honestly learned so much important information in these classes this year. I feel that the beginning of the year for scimathics was a lot easier than the end year section, at the beginning most of the projects covered the whole unit and we did all our homework on the iPads. At the end of the year we mostly get worksheets and tests, I find that sometimes I do loose the worksheets and I definitely need to work on my organization skills and knowing where they are at all times. I do find myself struggling with tests, I’m not sure is it’s the pressure or what but I find myself struggling. For me studying defiantly helps with getting a higher score and doing better in these classes.we have had mini projects in these classes such as the cell city projects which helped me visualize and research into and help me with my drawing skills.

Cell city project at bottom of page
This year I’ve had a real struggle with time management with homework and friends, I do admit to going out with friends while I have homework and this needs to change as at some points in the year I have had overdue or incomplete homework and no one ever wants that.This really has to change as I hate seeing that little red mark on showbie showing that my work is late and next year I would have to change this. It’s my goal for this to change and I think it’s easily possible I just need to put school work in front of free time, so if I get my homework in on time I’ll have more free time on the weekend.

A big part of PLP will always be “revision required”, by the end of the year I don’t even really think of revision I just do it. You always want to hand in your best work and having multiple drafts showing your improvement is just a big part of the projects, I really like improving my work and projects so that I know I have the best possible work I could. I’ve learned to accept revision as I use it almost every week, during DI me and my group definitely used this skill a lot as we wanted to have the best possible work we could.

This year I’ve learned so many important skills, I feel that this year has been my best year of school. This program is apart of my life and it’s just so incredible, I love the freedom we have with projects and just this program makes learning so much fun. All of the teachers are

Skills, Knowledge, Abilities

willing to help you at anytime and they all want you to succeed. The skills I’ve learned this year will be with me for the rest of my life and I find myself now using them every single day, I can’t wait to see what next year holds for me and I’m so excited for grade 10.

On Thursday June 15th PLP held the second and final Blue Sky presentation of 2017, the presentation area was divided into four sections. Toddlers, Tweens, Pets, Seniors and the grade elevens debate area. The grade eights and nines where given the task of finding their own inquiry question, we where given a couple age groups to work within as we couldn’t solve any problems within the “teenager” and “parent/adult” age groups. We had a couple days to brainstorm ideas and thoughts towards what we actually wanted to solve and make, personally it was very hard for me to find a question to solve. I knew I wanted to somehow help my grandparents but I just didn’t know how, my grandparents where on a trip in Argentina and calling them was pretty hard so I was left with researching online. I was interested in making some form of organizer for an elderly person with dementia but didn’t know where to start so I looked in another direction.

Elderly people with shaky hands usually will have a problem with taking their medicine, due to they’re shaky hands they’ll spill the medicine by knocking over the bottle or they won’t be able to get the correct amount of medication and take too much or little. I wanted to create something that would help with keeping type bottle in one place and also help stabilize they elderly hands to help with the dosage problem. I then decided to start planning what my project would look like by designing my first draft, I wanted to keep the design simple and easy to use for the elder but still look clean and nice. Designing the product wasn’t to hard but going out and buying my supplies was quite the challenge, I wasn’t sure what materials to get and what would work so my three drafts are quite different. My first draft is pretty similar to the last and the second draft is my least favourite, to me it looks very ugly and unimpractical but each draft served a purpose, to get closer to the end goal and solve the problem. My final draft still doesn’t look incredible but it works very well and I am proud of what I have accomplished.

Also at blue sky we had our projects divided into groups, my group was the seniors and we had to create a theme to our area. We decided on Tim Hortons as seniors usually like eating there, we bought Tim bits and doughnuts for food that people could have after watching our projects. This was my second time doing blue sky and I can say that I am much better at public presenting and overall talking to people, about a week earlier I had my things i carry presentation and that definitely helped me a lot with presenting projects. I learned a lot about how to talk to an audience and how to make a presentation better flowing/more interesting to watch, my second time at blue sky was a lot more natural and I knew what it was going to be like. My first blue sky was very different to me as a didn’t really know what it was going to be like, I still did very well the first time but I can see how I’ve improved over the year. Blue sky is a great way to show of your problem solving skills and is a really fun way to create something that you actually want to create, I really liked showing off my hard work. This year it felt like less people came to see my presentation but the people that did come and watch stayed a lot longer and actually asked questions about my project, they seemed way more engaged and it was really nice to know that they where interested in my ideas. Next year I hope to have an even better experience with Blue sky and have and even better project, I also hope to improve my presentation skills further so that I can do even better.

We also had our Science projects displayed in the hallway near our projects, the idea of this project was that we were learning about the cell and all the parts of the cell. We wanted to display this on a poster somehow so we decided to present it like a city, all the parts of the cell act like a part in a city and this poster shows that as a project

Recently in Health and career we had a project that would show the ten things we carry with us every day wether they are physical or mental we had to show each thing and create a Keynote showing everything we carry and showing off our keynote skills.

The first thing I did was was watch a few videos on how keynote works as I had never used it before, once you learn how it works it’s actually really easy to use, it’s a great app for presentations and I can’t wait to use it again as there are so many different features and cool things you can do. We were required to use a few features like magic move, object transition, cropping, etc… which were quite easy to use. After that I decided to brainstorm some ideas as of what I carry, this step wasn’t too hard as I already know what I carry physically and for the mental things I chose skills that I have or bits of information I’ve learned. To make my presentation more interesting and lively I decided too add some humour into it as it’s one of the things i carry with me, I also decided to mostly use photos that I’ve taken not ones from google as the presentation is about me so I wanted to use pictures I’ve taken. The physical things that I carry with me are my phone, camera, friends, humour, and my earbuds, the mental things I chose were memories, dreams, ideas, my positive attitude/feeling, and the advice from my parents. Each of these things helps me get through my day and without them I wouldn’t function the same.

This project was very fun and overall actually very fun, I loved creating my keynote and loved watching all my friends presentation. It’s a great way to learn more about your classmates and it thought me a lot on how to use keynote, which I will definitely be using again and can’t wait to improve my keynote skills.

whos in control