My Learning Portfolio!

Driving question-Why do you feel your are ready to advance to the next grade level?

Introduction to my Tpol! 💐

While I think about how much I have grown and learned in the last semester and year, I am so overjoyed with how far I have come. Being a student in PLP I’ve had a lot of ups, and downs. It’s so crazy how fast this year has gone by (which I’m so happy about). I’m going to go in more detail of how this semester has gone for me and how I will be learning from this years mistakes and applying what I have learned into next year. I have taken the feedback I’ve gotten from my teachers in my last Mpol and applied that into Semester 2 in Humanities and Science, and expanded my learning boundaries throughout this whole semester through those two classes. 

Spring exhibition 🪻

For our spring exhibition our last unit was all about learning about ads, and even creating our own. Before the grade 8s went to Oregon we were assigned too a business group too talk to the business and get more information of how they’d like us to create an ad. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to go on the Oregon trip, but my peers in my group were able to gather great information to help me kickstart my ad. Next we had to create the actual ads to be used in the spring exhibition as our group projects! My business group had been assigned Hatfield Marine  science centre. This is how the actual exhibition went! I think it went really well and I think I presented my LAUNCH portfolio really well as well! Overall I was really proud of the work, and my groups work we had all presented. 

https://www.blog44.ca/signed/2023/06/20/pathways-our-spring-exhibition-2023💐/

Science Reflecting🧫

This semester in science has gone amazing!I have always love science and I knew I was confident in myself for grade 8 Science and it was so much fun! I loved how Mrs. Kadi presented the learning to us in such creative ways. My favourite project we had done was really hard to decide(as I literally loved every single one) but if I were to choose i’d say my favourite project was the gummy bear diffusion. I really enjoyed experimenting with different liquids and gummy bears and how they’d react to each other. Another super fun project to learn about was my Immune system characters, because it’s something totally different I’ve never really learned about before. Overall I’m so happy with the grade I got and i’m really proud of the work I had applied this semester in Science! https://www.blog44.ca/signed/2023/05/02/blog-post-bacteria-and-vaccines/

Humanity’s Reflection📜

 For the first semester of humanity’s, I just dreaded it. I dreaded going to every single class of it and I just wanted it over. I had no faith in myself at all and I gave myself a negative mindset the whole way through. As Semester two started I tried giving myself more hope and to push through and apply the best work I possibly can. I was happier with the work I created but I definitely feel like I could’ve tried harder. My favourite project would definitely be our latest project being the Medium is the Message. I knew this project would be really fun as it tied into the spring exhibition. Because I wasn’t able to go on the trip I had more time to get as much information as I can, and leave humanity’s on a great note. I may not have started off liking Humanity’s, but it’s definitely grown on me!(a bit)

Weaknesses and setbacks I had faced🌊

Okay let’s talk about some of the weaknesses I’ve faced this semester. From the first semester I had talked about how I’m a perfectionist and it’s hard for me too hand in a keystone without revising my self 5 times, which I think I still need to improve. Another  weakness I think is  that whenever I finish my work I alway’s forget to hand it in after it’s done. After finishing some projects I’m so relieved I just forget to hand it in. A setback I had faced Throughout mainly the end of this semester was that I was away for a lot of class. From hockey to field hockey I am always away for games and tournaments almost every single week, even having to miss the Oregon trip cause of my hockey. It has set me back from some of my work as well, and I’m still trying my best to balance out my busy schedule with the sports I have every day.

How I will overcome these problems🫧

As it is pretty hard for me to balance out my sports schedule fitting in with school, I will try my best too strategize the time I do have by setting reminders for myself to work on the work I do have. I will also set reminders for myself to always HAND IN MY WORK AFTER ITS DONE. I’m still trying my best too work on how I’m a perfectionist as well and remember that it’s ok to just leave it. I’m also going to try my best to ask for more help and not procrastinate and wait til the last second if I do need help in something.

Strengths and what I’m proud of🌈

With all the struggles I’ve been through this year, I’m really proud of a lot of the work I’ve done especially some of it being in humanity’s. A big surprise to me is that humanity’s isn’t as bad as it was last semester. I hadn’t yet brought this project up but I would say it was also one of my favorites in science was making our video games. Hearing we had to create video games and code I knew that this was gonna be bad. But it really wasn’t, and I enjoyed trying to things out of the box.

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/842874684

Overall to answer the driving question, yes I think I’m definitely ready to go into grade 9 knowing what I have accomplished and done in my first year as being a PLP student, I also think I’ve set myself boundaries and a more positive mindset while I’m doing the work I have been tasked! There are skills I had learned that at the start of the year I could have never even thought or believed myself ever doing, And becoming such a confident, collaborative learner is really cool!

Keystone 1-Perspective of colonization

For our first keystone everybody in class had to choose between 5 different groups of people(Missionaries, Wealthy people, poor people, indigenous people, and lastly fil de roie. My first choice I tried to get was Fil de Roie but I didn’t get it so my second choice was Indigenous people which I did end up getting! I’m glad now I had gotten indigenous people because I think there is a lot of really important information in how they were colonized and how it shapes Canada today. For the actual keystone itself, I had to answer 10 questions about I had to answer about Algonquin people, how they were affected, and how they lived. I learned a lot more about this group of people and I actually found this keystone really fun even though there was a lot of information I had too find for 10 full paragraph sentences.  

Keystone 2-Paragraph Outline

For keystone two, we had to create a paragraph outline with a main idea sentence, a quote, a summary, and 3 supporting points with 3 full boxes giving point form under each of the 3 points. The only full sentences I had to write for the paragraph outline were the supporting main idea senetence, the summary of the information, and the quote. So you would understand this was a pretty quick and easy keystone that didn’t really take a lot of effort to do. 

Keystone 3-Script

For our final script we had to work in our group with 1 person in each category(1 indigenous person, 1 missionarie, 1 fil de roie, 1 wealthy person, and 1 poor person). We had too work together to create a video representing each of our people/persons or our tribes/group of people, alongside answering two questions we made up, and lastly making an image for each of our things. To create each of our paragraphs for it we had to basically just summarize all of the information we have and just basically put it into a nutshell for our script and voice record ourselves. I really think our video turned out really well and the drawing I made was really well representative of what I was going for. 

Summary

Overall, i really loved how this whole project turned out and have learned a lot more about Algonquin people and indigenous people in general and really see how they had lived prior too being colonized, guring them being colonized, and after they were colonized. It was also really interesting and sad how too see how Europeans had spread such deadly diseases through there tribes and wiped out more than 90% of all indigenous people across Canada(as well as Algonquin’s). 

For this project our task was too create a journal type book as if it was an explorers called a travelogue. The person I decided too choose was christopher Columbus becuase we had already been learning about him and his journey prior to creating the books. A lot of other people had also chosen Christopher Columbus as there person to create there journal around. This project was really fun to do even though it took me a long time to finish my drawings. I really liked learning a lot more about how our world has been shaped and shaped so much because of these explorers!

The 3 keystones

Field journal swabbing the school

For our first keystone, our job was too find 1 or 2 surfaces we think would carry the most bacteria. I decided too choose the toilet seat and the door of the washroom stalls. We used a peatrie dish with agar jelly and swabbed the area and put it onto the dish. After a few days our bacteria grew bigger as it ate the agar jelly. My hopothysis was that I thought there would be more bacteria on the toilet seat than the stall handle. I was wrong, there was definelty more on the washroom stalls handle. It’s hard too see on the observation slide, but for observation 3 you can see the top area being the washroom stall handle having waayyy more bacteria. 

Summary

I think this was a really fun project and its something I’ve always wanted to try. I was really surprised when I saw that the Stall handle had more bacteria than the toilet seat. It was really interesting how we can see how bacteria grows and how it looks just from the naked eye, instead of seeing this bacteria under a microscope. 

My immune system characters!

At the start of this project when she was explaining it too us I honestly had no idea what i would draw to represent different immune system cells. She recommended making movie or TV charectors too represent each immune system cell, instead of just drawing each ones more accurate. After awhile of not being able to think of any characters that I think would represent them well I just decided too make them more accurate. After creating all of my little immune systems and giving a little more context for all of them, they were done!

Summary

In the end, I was super duper happy with the outcome of this keystone and i was really proud of each of the drawings I had created. I think they were really cute and cartoony but still was a cute way to show each immune system. We also had too give them names and little stories and I think I also made that really good. Overall, i was really stumped and confused at the start of this project but I was really proud of the outcome of this project overall. 

Vaccine source analysis

For our third keystone our job was too create a vaccine source analysis of different conspiracie theories of how vaccines can affect us. The three questions I chose were: do vaccines give us blood clots, do vaccines give us autism, and are there microchips in our vaccines. To make our posters we first had too find a template on canva, after finding one I than got my information and summarized everything I found. 

Summary

I didn’t love doing this project but it was still somewhat fun too do. I don’t think I tried very hard on this project when I think back when I definitely could’ve put way more effort into it and not have put such minimal effort into it. Next time I do a project like this or make a poster im definelty going to try my best too put more effort into it even if its a topic im not a big fan of. There was also some spelling mistakes I saw after submitting the project that I definelty should have saw before. 

Video game pitch reflection!

For this keystone we were told to create a video game on a coding platform(scratch being recommended). We then started brainstorming different ideas for what video games we may want to use as a reference and what we would want to have in it. For my game i decided to choose a type of catching game where you have to catch the protons and atoms and not get the electrons in the bucket. Some other ideas i was going to use was possibly making a type of obstacle game or maybe a true or false question game.

Process

The first thing I did was brainstorm game ideas and map out how i was going to create it. I then decided to narrow down my ideas and choose a pretty simple game idea of just making a bucket game. It would have been very difficult if I were to make the whole entire coding platform so i looked at some other games on scratch to get inspiration. I chose a reference game that looked like something I can create,  I then remixed the coding on it and put it into the start of my game. I took out some of the traits in the game and some coding blocks and made little images for each of the pieces such as a bucket, atom symbol, proton symbols, electron symbols, and lastly finding a background. I then removed the old code for each of the pieces than added my new ones in. It was pretty simple same with adding the background in as well. Lastly my game was done and it was to include the caption and instructions into it.

Weaknesses

I think at the start of this project I really didn’t have much hope in myself for creating and coding my own game, i had played scratch when I was younger a few times but I had never done anything like this before(such as making my own game) and I think I had a pretty negative mindset.

Strengths

After watching some tutorials on how to code on scratch i think I had gotten the hang of it and have gotten more hope in myself. I started finding code I can use for my game and even making my own pieces and parts for it. 

Summary

At the end of my game I was really proud of myself for actually doing this becuase I didn’t really have much hope in myself at all. I also really liked the outcome of the game and overall it was really a fun project even though i really doughted myself at the start and I now have gained another useful skill!(knowing how to somewhat code on a scratch)

My game !

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/842874684/

This is the final draft I have created for my triptych! To make it, the apps I had used include Procreate, SuperimposeX, Keynote, and google arts and culture. To make my triptych i started off by creating a rough draft of the whole sketch and plan where id want everything to be, next I found a portrait from google arts and culture that somewhat looked like me and cut an image of my face onto the portraits face and added an image of me in each panel, next i added all of my items into every panel, and lastly made final edits in the triptych.

Conclusion

I learned so many new skills while making my triptych and I loved experimenting with those different  techniques. It was also really interesting learning about how different innovations have evolved over time through history. For my next project some things I think I will do differently is tryout new superimposeX techniques that could also better benefit to make my project even better and also try and better plan ahead for my triptych. Overall, I really enjoyed making this project and learning about how different innovations have evolved over many years and how I was able to incorporate my skills into this project.

Mpol Blog post 2022

For my first PLP Mpol blog post I will be reflecting on our first semester of the year and the learning plan I had created for myself at the start of it. Im going to be talking about my learning plan and the goals that i had set myself at the start of the year, how I’ve grown as a PLP learner, how I’m going to overcome problems i face in further projects, my weaknesses and strengths, and how I’m going to further reach my learning plan goals by the end of the year. 

My Learning Plan

At the very beginning of the year everyone had to create our learning plans. Our learning plans represent our learning goals we set to strive and meet by the end of our semesters and end of the year.

The learning goal I had set for myself in Humanity’s was accomplished. I set accomplished for this subject because I feel like humanity’s and history isn’t a huge strength of mine and that this is something I might want to grow in and learn a lot more about. My favourite project we did in humanity’s was my slide show on the Middle Ages. I thought it was really interesting in how people lived and how we are affected today by the renaissance.

 For my maker project i chose extending as my learning goal. I chose extending because I believe this is a subject I’m strong in and I can take myself further in it. My favourite Maker project we had done was our pandora winter exhibition. I loved making my box representing pandora and ‘conflict between humans and nature’. I had a lot of fun presenting my work to the public and collaborating with other people in my group to create this really cool room theme.

How I’ve grown as a PLP learner in this semester

Since the start of the year I think I’ve grown a lot and learned so many new useful skills. One thing I feel that has really helped me grow are the blog posts I have created. I decided to choose my blog posts as a great example of a project reflection I do for all my bigger projects that really help me think hard about my strengths in a project I had held compared to some weaknesses I may have had. I also really enjoy the idea of blog posts because its something different I’ve never really done before and to reflect on my learning in a unique way is really interesting.

How do I plan to overcome my future problems as a learner?

Something I think I personally need to work on is asking for further instructions from my teachers or peers if I’m ever confused or not fully understanding something. A project I think I could’ve better used that skill in was my Middle Ages keystone 3 presentation on the slides, I don’t think I had really fully understood all the information I was given which had gotten me a bit confused while making the slides because my notes just weren’t really making sense. I know for next time that its really important to ask any questions and find feedback or help if I’m ever that confused or lost in a project. A project I did use that skill in was ‘making interesting images’, While my class had started this project i was away for majority of the start of it even though i knew what i was doing but it wasn’t fully clear to me so I just got feedback on stuff i may have been doing wrong and what i had not yet added.

Conclusion

Overall, in this semester I’ve grown a lot as a student and gained new skills through maker, humanity’s, and my blog posts exploring new apps I’ve gotten to know better like keynote, Craft, Notability, Sketches pro, and so many more. I look forward for next semester and am exited to learn new skills. Thanks for reading!

Middle Ages Reflection

For this Project our main focus was “How did the quest for power impact people’s lives?” We had to create 3 different keystones about Middle Ages introduction, Middle Ages presentation, and a Crusades Presentation. The purpose of this assignment was to teach us more about the Middle Ages and crusades and reflect on what we have learned over the past few weeks through presentations. I thought it was really interesting how the Fudual system worked and how people had more power over others and how people lived in such harsh conditions.

 Process

 I started my process by learning most of my information in class through our teachers presentations. After we got our information I needed to start my slides, we started our rough drafts of the presentations. I thought of what slides ill need to make my presentation and added the addititional overview slides, than my informational slides (the 3 justice courts, The Fudual systems, Hierarchy’s, religion, and the driving question).

Challenges That I Had Faced

The biggest challenge I had faced while doing this project for me was trying to find images that werent copyright that didnt look unrealsitic and nothing like how I picture the renaissance. I also had to go back into every image I added into my presentation and give credits to each photo for the photographer. 

Strengths

Something I think I had done really well was gathering my information and writing a lot of my notes before starting my final draft of my presantation, when i usually dont write as many notes that I had which I think really helped having detailed information on my slides. I’m also really proud with the drawings I had created in procreate of what a manor would have looked like, an example of a village, and 3 drawings of torture devices which is something Ive never really done while making a presentation.

Weaknesses

While making these 3 keystones a weakness I had was definetly handing in stuff on time as I kepted looking over my notes and slides to make sure I had every single peace of information in them as I can. I also kepted overthinking a lot of it and making sure everything was perfect. Another weakness I think I faced while creating the keystones was taking peer feedback . I dont think I really changed a lot of the stuff people tryed giving me advice on  which would have definetly helped me a lot next time.

What I will do differenly next time

Something I will definetly be doing differently next time is taking the peer feedback i recieve and making those changes that could hsve benifited my presentations to make them the best they could possibly be. I feel like I also need to stay more productive while doing my work and stay more focused while making them. 

Conclusion

Overall, I feel like my project couldve had a better outcome if I had done some stuff differently but im still really proud of the work I had done and i’m happy I had made more notes cause it had definetly helped me alot in the end. This project was definetly something really different than what ive learned.

Driving question- How might I use a still image to create and communicate through technology?

 For the past weeks our maker class has been working on our photography skills. The driving question was, how might I use a still image to create and communicate through technology. creating and taking these new images, I’ve learned a lot more of what actually makes these images capturing and creative. When we were creating these images some things i reminded myself were what angle and perspective this image will be taken at(would it be a birds eye view, and worms eye view, a close up, or a further away shot), what will the colour contrasts be, and if i needed to add a darker or lighter contrast. Photos can express different feelings and emotions just as a still photo.

1- The first skill i chose that i think is the most useful is the drawing tool. I think having the ability to draw and make the image really creative is a great way to express how that image may feel to you. Ive used it many times and i think it could really bring a perspective and a story out of an image in lots of different ways.

2-The second skill i thought was really useful was creating silhouettes. I think this tool is really useful if you want a basic shape of dark image. To create a silhouette you have to use an image that is darker than the backgrounds contrast.

3. For the last skill that i thought was really useful was the worms eye view and the birds eye view. From the perspective of a worm the image would be looking up and the birds eye view would be looking down. I thought this was a really useful skill somebody can use in a lot of different ways to take creative images.