Category: Humanities

Revolutions and Machines

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Project Summary:

In this PLP project we did research on revolutions and read a book called “Animal Farm” that was based off of revolutions and we had to connect the examples in the book to real life. We wrote notes and questions about the book and discussed it in groups. After reading the book we had to make an infographic about Crane Brinton’s anatomy of a revolution in Animal Farm. Then, we were assigned into groups and we had to do research on a different revolution. After researching, we were required to make another infographic. This time it had to be about the French Revolution. The last part of the project required us to build a Rube Goldberg machine that had 10 different actions that represented the revolution. To finish it all off we had to present it at the winter exhibition.

‘’Animal Farm’’ and the Infographic

We had to read a book called ‘’Animal Farm’’ and we had to write up notes, questions, and relate it all to Crane Brinton’s four stages of a revolution in a Craft document which we then had to share with groups and try and improve it. Overall, ‘’Animal Farm’’ was a decent book because it wasn’t on a topic I was too interested in, but it was well written and had very good metaphors so it was the prefect introduction to this project.

What did it teach me?

It taught me a lot about revolutions and the structure of a revolution and I was able to carry the knowledge that I learnt about making infographics and apply it to my next one. The hardest part about the infographics was that we had to re-do them a lot and this process really helped me because now I know how to put together a good and informative infographic.

Craft notes documents:

We had to make a Craft document where we wrote our notes on the French Revolution and ‘’Animal Farm’’. I made two separate documents, one for ‘’Animal Farm’’ and one for the French Revolution. I organized them into separate folders such as ones for the French Revolution where I made a timeline, metaphors of the revolution, Crane Brinton’s four stages, notes and extra info, and my sources.

 

French Revolution Infographic

The second infographic that we had to make was of the French Revolution. This one was much easier to plan out but it had much more information. Me and the rest of my group struggled with this task but I would say that we managed to push past it and put forwards a solid infographic. I gathered research and compiled it into a Craft document which was very helpful. I also had to revise this infographic many times but it only made it better and it improved my understanding.

Crane Brinton’s four stages of a revolution in ‘’Animal Farm’’ and in the French Revolution

Incubation Stage:

The Incubation Stage of revolutions starts off with injustice and the government treating citizens unfairly. The intellectual reformers speak out against the people in power. The example from the book is: “The pigs did not actually work, but directed and supervised the others. With their superior knowledge it was natural that they should assume the leadership.” – (Orwell 33). This shows government injustice because the pigs don’t do anything and they took advantage of the animals hard work. An example from the French Revolution is: The population of France begins to rapidly grow, this results in less food being available and people become hungry and desperate for food.

Moderate Stage:

Moderate leaders lead revolutions in the early stages. They start out unrelated to violence and relatively peaceful, they aren’t dramatic and they mostly only protest using words. The example from the book is: Napoleon kicks out Snowball and makes up lies about him and since the animals will listen to him they believe him and Snowball is kicked out of Animal Farm.

Crisis Stage:

The violence dramatically increases and the radicals gain full control. They often “eliminate” the people that get in their way and the radicals often get rid of the previous leaders. One of the most notable parts of the crisis stage in Animal Farm is the Battle of the Cowshed. This is because the animals lost this battle and the windmill. An example from the French Revolution is: People begin to address their hardships to the government. In 1789, the Estates General who are a group of representatives from all three estates-was called together to discuss France’s financial crisis. 

Recovery Stage:

The terror and violence ends and the Radicals are kicked out and replaced with the Moderates. A government with similar policies as the old one returns but with new ideas and decisions based off what happened in the revolution. An example of the recovery stage in ‘’Animal Farm’’ is: Napoleon and Squealer now walk on their hind legs showing they have no regard for their seven commandments, they even carry whips and wear Mr. Jones’ clothes. An example from the French Revolution is: Napoleon comes to public prominence for his role in saving the convention in Paris from an assault. He is able to stable the country after the bloody revolution and begins marching into other countries such as Italy.

Metaphor Machine 

The metaphor machine was like the icing on the cake of this project. I brought in a very large piece of wood and we went straight into building, we had the smart idea to plot out a plan and go from there.

Click to watch the video of our Rube Goldberg

The criteria was that we had to have 10 different actions on the revolution machine that happened in the real revolution and we had to categorize it into Crane Brinton’s four stages. We started off by doing the top, which was the incubation stage. We had two actions for this one which was the downwards economy spiral and the poor (dominos) getting knocked over by the marble (economy). This part was very important to me because it would be what I had to showcase and talk about at the exhibition. Our building plan:

The Winter Exhibition 

At last, the big day had arrived. There was excitement in the air as we carried our massive clunking machine into the PLP big room. We set up our food for our audience and began to present to the parents, friends, and family members of PLP. It was a long and tiring night but we managed to get through it. Our machine worked almost every single time and it was very rewarding.

Driving Question with Answer:

🏎️ What Factors Precipitate ‘Revolution’ and How Have They Shaped the Modern World?

In order to provide answer to this driving question, we had to define ONE key term, REVOLUTION. My definition of revolution is a forceful overthrow of a government or a ruler. This is often sparked by controversial decisions or poor living conditions. Revolution has shaped the modern world by laying out the groundwork and paving a road for innovation and new ideas. Modern ideas and ways of living have also come from revolutions. Leaders also look back at what the other leaders did wrong and how they can avoid a revolution by trying to not repeat the same mistakes as they did.

Thank you for reading this blog post, and be sure to read the next one!  

The Wilderness Must be Explored! 🌲

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Driving Question 🏎️:

The driving question for this project was “how does language inspire adventure?” We would showcase this by making adverts that advertised Oregon. This project was by far the biggest one all year. We went to Oregon, had an exhibition, and revised our work until it was perfect. This project was very diverse because we worked in groups by ourselves, and I learned the most this project then any other one, not just about ads, but about myself and my worldview when it comes to advertising. Language inspires adventure because text and convincing ads and make someone want to go on an adventure.language inspires adventure because you have to communicate and talk about where you’re going to go. It could inspire adventure because you could read about the place you want to adventure to in a book. Language also inspires adventure because you need language to communicate with the new people you meet along your adventures. When your all done your adventure, your still not completely finished, you have to write about it and tell it to others, adventure never ends. It can inspire us because if you hear a very inspiring speaker talk about adventures then your going to want to do it too.

My Definition of Adventure:

We all had to define adventure in our own words and what it meant to us, this is my definition of adventure: To me, I think that adventure means stepping outside of your comfort zone, wether that be going for a walk in the park, or traversing a cliff on skis. It can be different for every person. It can also mean doing something you’ve never done before or going some place new. For it to be an adventure, you can’t have already done it. It has to be a completely new, fun, adrenaline pumping, activity. An example of an adventure that I’ve been on is backcountry mountain biking. Which is where you have your stuff in a bag, and you go mountain biking. Another example of an adventure is when I ran almost 20 km. I had never even thought about running that far, but I set my mind to it and did it. Anything can really be an adventure though, like trying new things, going to new places and meeting new people.

How I Used Media and Language to Inspire Others

We learnt about how ads influenced people to buy products and how to make an ad have a feeling to make the consumer want to buy it. We practiced with ads that we made of quarry rock. We revisioned them multiple times and learnt how to take critique and use it to improve our ads.

So How Does Language Inspire Us?

We learnt about our demographics and how where we live and what’s around us influences what we want to buy. We also explored different advertising techniques and how companies use those to make their audience buy their products.

Oregon Trip Book

When we went to Oregon we had books on book creator that we had to fill out and put in everything that we did and saw. We filled it out with the museums we went to, and we had to answer the questions in the book.

 

 

 

 

 

Making the Ads

When we got home from Oregon, we had to create ads in our groups that we were assigned. I was in a group with my classmates, Cole, Elsa, Eloise, Siena, and me. We had to all create ads and then present them at the exhibition. We were experimenting with different fonts and photos on Canva and then we came to a decision on which ones we liked best. We chose my ad to be the big one in the center and then we had the other four ones around it.

The Spring Exhibition

We decided to make a zip line since our groups category was escape and excitement and we went to a zip line on our trip so we based everything off excitement even our ads. The zip line was set up so there was a bucket at the top of the set of stairs and we had water balloons at the bottom and people would get asked trivia questions about our presentation when it was done and if they got it right then they would get to throw a water balloon at us.

Collaboration

We talked about why collaboration was important and this is what I said: There are may different ways to collaborate, whether that be in a group of many people or just two. In my opinion the most important elements of collaboration are speaking to everyone and including all group members. This is important because if you don’t include others, then you won’t get to hear their ideas and thoughts so your group won’t be as strong. Another important element of collaboration is clearly expressing thoughts and ideas. This is because if you don’t say what you mean, then your point won’t come across clearly and your ideas won’t be heard. Working together and participating is definitely one of the most important ones. This is because if one person doesn’t participate, that can really impact the group and can knock it off balance. If everyone does their part, then the group can run like a well oiled machine. 

What Does Campaign Mean?

To me I think that campaign means an action to complete a goal or obstacle. It can be anything,  like raising awareness about climate change or advocating for rights. It can also be an advertisement that sells you a product or experience. In my opinion, a good campaign is something that is meaningful and you don’t just participate in it for money or status. I’ve been apart of multiple campaigns and advocated for things. I think campaigns are very important for raising awareness about something and they can be really affective when it comes to to raising money. In other words, you corral a whole bunch of people with a common goal tho complete a task or tackle a problem or do something. 

 

Echos of Colonization

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Driving Question 🏎️: What were the consequences of colonization?

To figure that out we had to research colonization, and the affect’s of it, and we had to present it to grade 11s in a keynote presentation in groups. This all sounds very complicated, so allow me to explain.

Worldview 🌎

 

Worldview would be very important for this project especially even though we use it for every project, this one would be extra important to apply worldview to it because we had to see in two different perspectives and make assumptions as estimates based on research. We had to see in the worldview of the Indigenous peoples in Canada and the Europeans, that would require worldview because there are two different worldviews.

Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Inuit, Métis, and First Nations (three groups) Métis people are of mixed European and indigenous ancestry. First Nations people were the original inhabitants of the land. Indigenous territories were NOT static. The Haudenosaunee allied with the Dutch and the English. They fought against the French in the Iroquois War.The Six Nations consist of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora. Haudenosaunee means “people of the longhouse,”

A map showing indigenous peoples in North America

Craft

We used “craft” in this project more than you would even imagine. We had to take so many notes about colonization and it definitely made note take much much easier and even made it fun (kind of).

Affects of Colonization

Colonization had many impacts on Indigenous peoples and the environment. Generational trauma from residential schools. Environmental degradation occurred due to hunting and deforestation. Multiple Indigenous communities wiped out completely. Racism and injustices towards Indigenous people.

Keynote

We had to do research and out it into our keynote that had to be 10-15 slides long that included a bibliography and a title slide. This was difficult because one of our group members didn’t contribute to the Keynote very much, so we had to do more work. We had to review it, change it, and make it better. We included stories about colonization like the Iroquois war, how colonization impacts us today, and about New France.

Presenting to Grade 11s

Presenting to the grade 11s was pretty nerve wracking and scary at first, but then I got used to it and it went smoothly. We got some feedback from them, and they said that we could’ve talked slower and maybe added a quiz at the end like some other groups did, but everything else went well!

Individual Keynote

The grade 11s said that we should make individual keynotes to demonstrate our knowledge further so we had to make a 2 slide keynote with 3 words on each one. The point of it was to elaborate on the words and explain the main consequences of colonization.

What Were the Consequences of Colonization?

The consequences of colonization are relevant to today and have been relevant since hundreds of years ago. It impacts the environment, the mental health of indigenous people today, how the government works, the people that live in Canada, and racism and discrimination against indigenous peoples. The consequences of colonization are very relevant to today and even though we don’t think about it, almost everyone living in Canada wouldn’t be here if not for colonization. There are many perspectives on how colonization turned out, for a lot of people it’s a good thing that colonization existed, but for many indigenous people, it had a negative impact on their lives because they were killed, displaced, and discriminated against. 

Presenting to the grade 11s

Conclusion

In conclusion I learnt a lot about colonization and how it not just impacts me, but the millions of indigenous people and all the people in Canada. I also learnt much much more about colonization and New France.

Power Play During the Medieval Times

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Introduction

Our driving question was “Can we learn from the past and why does that matter to us today?” Yes we can, but it goes much deeper than just that. How? We read ‘The Book of the Lion,’ put ourselves into medieval art, and did a LOT of reflecting. So sit back and relax while I explain what happened.

The Book of the Lion 

The Book of the Lion wasn’t the greatest book I’ve ever read. It was about a boy named Edmund living during the crusades. We had to connect our lives to life during the crusades, which might sound hard but it wasn’t as difficult as I expected. We did this by doing rly sheets, which we also did in “It’s the End of the World as we Know it.”

Role sheet reflection:

Something that I could’ve done better is taking my time on the drawings and creating drafts. Another thing that I could’ve done is doing it before the last day and not having not rush it. That way my work could’ve been more insightful and more proficient. I also didn’t have two questions. I forgot to add another one because I was in such a rush to finish it. If I set goals and an earlier date to do it by, I would more time to make it better and it would be my best work, but since I rushed it, It wasn’t very good, ad I wasn’t proud of it. Next time, I will make sure to take my time and to set a reminder on things (I already did this but I didn’t have a widget so I wasn’t able to visually see it.)

Artwork Explanation 🗣️

We can learn from our past by learning about our worldview, I realized how similar my life was to the medieval times. There are a lot of things that we can learn from it by fixing our mistakes and learning from them. 

Time

The reason why I put a clock on the art is because time was very important in the Middle Ages and people treated it with great respect. This is because people in the Middle Ages made whole buildings that told the time. I also really depend on time because I like to be on time for school and activities like soccer. It connects to my worldview because if I’m late for school or soccer, then my teachers and coaches won’t be happy with me, and one of my worldviews is to be a good soccer player and student. But if I’m late then I won’t be a good student or soccer player. In the Middle Ages, time was important because they needed to know when they needed to harvest their crops so they could have something to eat and so that they could make money and a profit.

Society

For the society aspect of worldview I drew a crown because in the Middle Ages, they used a monarchy system and they didn’t have much of a say. That shows a lot about the societies in the Middle Ages because everyone did there own, because if they stood up, the king said that they wouldn’t go to heaven, so what people did, was that they just did what they were supposed to do and then they would get to go to a better place after they died. They didn’t work very well as a group because they didn’t think that it was worth it. Unless it was in the crusades because if they all believed in the same thing, then they would all work towards a goal. That relates to today because people today will all work towards a goal if they all believe in the same thing.

Beliefs

For beliefs I drew a church, I did this because it was a very large religion at the time and it still is today. I also did it because a huge part of the crusades was influenced by religion and fighting over Jerusalem. It was also relates to today because there are currently wars in the same place as in the crusades and they are partly influenced by religion, but not as much as in the crusades. Religion was also a big part of why people did things and it influenced the way they acted towards each other.

The reason why I chose this piece of art is because it shows a king and at the time, everything happened because of the king including their beliefs, jobs, and life. The worldview that was shared by many people in the Middle Ages, isn’t that different to mine today. And through this project I learnt that even though things may look extremely different, you can still find a way to connect to it.

Artwork Paragraph 

I chose three different aspects of worldview that relate to mine and the ones from the Middle Ages. The reason why I chose to do a clock is because the it shows all of the different aspects of a medieval worldview (at least one of a framers.) This is because a clock shows what time it is and it told the farmers the season and when they would have to harvest their crops. Without time, they would die of starvation because they wouldn’t know when to harvest their crops. I added a crown to represent society because in the Middle Ages, everyone was ruled by a king, and all of the orders throughout the kingdom, came from that one person. For the beliefs aspect of worldview, I drew a church. This is because in the Middle Ages, the majority of people were Christian, and religion was a main aspect of why the crusades even happened in the first place. These were my three aspects of worldview that I chose to represent and I think that they all relate to my current worldview. 

Artwork Choice Chart 

For the artwork choice chart, we had to take medieval art and say how it connected to our worldview.

Sketch and Tell ✏️

The Process 🔄

To make the medieval art I had to learn a lot of different things about the medieval times and Middle Ages to actually make it. We did this by doing the role sheets and reading the Book Of The Lion. We also got different perspectives by reading about the Haudenosaunee and their worldviews. I communicated this art to answer this driving question by choosing things in my art that represented the worldviews of people in the Middle Ages such as the flat earth for geography, the cross for beliefs, and an old clock for time. If I made one that represented my worldview, it would look different but also pretty similar. I answered the driving question because I saw that it was similar to my worldview today, and how it connected to back then. We can learn from it because we can reflect on what we did wrong and we can learn from our mistakes and we can know how to do something better. We had to work in groups. Cole, Sven, and I made a presentation about Genghis Kahn and we talked about his personality and his impact on the world today. We all collaborated and drew a statue representing all the different things that he did and his impact on the world today. We drew him making the first ever mongol language which were called “yams.”

Conclusion ✅

I think that the past is definitely relevant to today and through this project, it has really helped me realize how much of an impact it has on us. I will remember this project for being difficult and challenging but also for teaching me so much. I learnt so much about medieval times and worldview (which I didn’t think was possible after my last project.) from reading The Book Of The Lion, making artwork charts and inserting ourselves into medieval art, this was a very interesting and important project to do and overall, I really enjoyed it!

It’s the End of the World! *Wait.. Not Really*

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It’s the End of the World!!!

It’s the end of the world? Wait, no not really, we had to write a song, sing it, record a music video, and post it to our YouTube channels (which certainly felt like the end of the world). In our project, we made a song that was like“The End of the World as we Know it” and we had to tie it together to our worldviews by reading and comprehending the Outsiders and how their worldview in the book still relates to our worldview today. We did a lot of small assignments such as our MindNode, in which we connected different aspects of our worldview and we commented our beliefs on the certain aspect of worldview we also had to write lyrics for our song, and we devolved and reviewed the song until it was good enough and we liked it. The finished project was our video which you can watch here:

The Outsiders:

In this part of our project we read the book “The Outsiders” and we reflected on it by doing role sheets. We also talked in our groups and discussed about the different role sheets and then we assessed ourselves on how we think we did in our discussions. When we finished the book, we watched the movie. I recommend reading the book, but it really helped me connect to the driving question: How can a text help me understand myself as my worldview is changing? The text in the driving question was the Outsiders and why it helped me understand my own worldview was that it was about teenagers around my age, and they were very different from me, but some things still were the same.

The Ousiders by S.E. Hinton

Conclusion:

To end off this blog post, I felt like it was right to say how much this project taught me. If there is one thing that I have learnt from my first few months at PLP, it’s that when you finish a project, it’s not done. You take the knowledge that you learnt from it, and apply it to the projects to come. Worldview is a great example of that. In our other projects, we always refer to worldview, and this was a great way to start everything off, by doing a project on something that I will need until grade 12! Thank you for reading! And I’ll be sure to post again soon.