Spencer Laube

Hello there parents and teachers.   My name is Spencer Laube but you probably already know that. Today I will be showing you my learning over the year,  what I have enjoyed and hope you enjoy hearing about.  Basically, I’m going to explain why I feel I am ready to advance to grade 10.

There are 194 days in a school year for the average teen and I tried to make the best of all of those 194 days. I will be reflecting on 4 subjects over these 194 days. Lets start with Humanities. Humanities is a mix of Socials and English. So in Humanities I would have to say that one of my favourite projects this year  would have to be What Draws Us To Imaginary Worlds.

Matterhorn

I researched the topic and used a Disney ride called the Matterhorn as an example.  I then made a video to explain it.  I had a lot of fun doing this project because I love to make and edit movies.  I improved my planning, research and writing skills because I had to research the content and then write the script to be in line with the photos and video.  There are so many historical facts about this ride such as when it was made and why. I think this project showed the quality of my work and my work ethic.  My first draft was on time and I kept revising it to make it the best quality possible.  Now I have a better understanding of why imaginary worlds are so popular.   Feel free to go watch my video down below.

So that was the Humanities portion of this blog post and now we are going to move on to the Scimatics. Scimitacs is a mix of two classes, science and math. I will talk about the cell city project for science first and then the math monster project for math.

Cell city

The cell city was a project where you would create a city that would parts that would represent functions of a cell. So for example the nucleus of the cell (the brains) would be the mayors office and the city limits was the cell wall and the warehouse was the vacuole.  Since we can’t usually see cells, this helped me understand how a cell is structured and how it functions. I could visualize it better when I compared it to a city.

Overall I had a interesting time making this project because I thought that it was a hard one with all of the planning we had to do to lay it out and then a whole pile of colouring.  This took me a solid day to do and I am proud of this project because of the mark of 90% that got on it.  I think it is an example of my work ethic and quality of work.

Now let’s move on to math. I’d like to talk about the Math Monster project and the Game of Life.

Math Monster

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The math monster was also part of the Frankenstuffie project.  We could make a monster out of any kind of material. I ended up using lego to make this monster. This tied into math because after we made this monster we had to take measurements to figure out the area and perimeter of it. The math monster fits into Frankinstuffie project because the math monster had to play the bad guy or the antagonist in the story. Overall I had a great time making this character in my franked stuffy story. I liked this project a lot because it blended math and humanities which is one of the hardest subjects to blend.

Honourable mention should also go to the Game of Life.  I really enjoyed working out the budgets based on my job and adjusting my plan based on the surprise updates in life.  I learned to get a good education with a well-paid job, make good decisions and save for the unexpected.

Next is Maker time and the exciting Blue Sky project.

Blue Sky

Blue Sky is one of the most coveted projects of the year and I really had fun working on this year’s project.   So year, I was not alone since I partnered with Adam. This time Adam and I built a desk to help students focus on their homework and be more productive.  We researched all about different ways that help kids focus on the work at hand. For example things that help students focus is to have music playing (built in stereo and speakers), water and food (fridge), clean air (plant), timer to set short deadlines, good light (spot and diffused LED, foot bands on the chair and a standing section.   I think I showed teamwork skills and a good work ethic because we both cooperated and worked hard and worked well together.  We took responsibility for finishing the project ahead of time and made a great quality product.  

So on June 15 we plp had our big exhibition night.  Adam and I brought in our desk with its focus and productivity tools and we made sure there were labels and explanations for them.  The only thing I would do differently is that we thought the desk would fit into our van to bring it to the school but it didn’t quite fit so we had to be walked down almost a km.  We were part of the teen group at the exhibition. The night went smooth and Adam and I shared the talking and explaining everyone. Overall I had a great time at the plp exhibition night and I am looking forward to the one next year.

Conclusion

Overall through these last 194 days, I have learned about a lot of subjects like history, science and math. My knowledge of these topics has grown and I have grown in my reading and writing and math skills.  For areas of improvement, I think that would have to be my proofreading and attention to detail when I do things fast, especially longer writing.  I have also learned a lot about my self by doing interesting projects like People at My Table (example Branson, Einstein, Jobs) and I am what I eat.

I do think I have a good attitude and work ethic.  I did all my assignments even if it took me a long time. I was happy to do revisions if something needed improving that I didn’t realize.   Even though something may be hard, I want to do a good job.  I like school and the people at school and that makes learning more fun.   Another example of my good work ethic is my blogs. I have tried to keep up with all of my blogs and i really enjoy doing them. Here is a quote related to my blog from last week. “Spencer is the most on top of his blogs in plp 9” Mr Hughes.  I was really proud to hear that and it’s a good example to show how I’m ready for Grade 10.

Blue sky is one of the most coveted projects of the year and it personally it is one of my favourites. This is the second year I have had experience doing Blue Sky projects and it is fun.  So this time around I was not alone, I partnered with my friend Adam and we built a desk of sorts. It is a desk to help students focus on their homework or the task at hand.  We researched things that were recommended to help improve focus like nice music (stereo/speakers), food and water (fridge), good lighting (LED & spot), timer to set short deadlines, foot exercise bands and a standing section amongst others.

So on June 15 we plp had our big exhibition night. We call this the blue sky exhibition. Adam and I brought in our desk with notes that explained the focus tools and features for the desk.  Adam and I were part of the teen group at the exhibition. This means that anyone that has a project that appeals to there demographic would. The demographics were babys, teens, pets and seniors. We had to carry the desk down the road to the school because it didn’t fit in the van but once it was there, the night went smoothly.  Adam and I shared making the desk and then talking and explaining it to everyone.  People were impressed at the quality of the desk and the little features that make a difference.

Overall I had a great time at the plp exhibition night and I am looking forward to the next one next year.

So today, June 13 2017, we as a seycove plp cohort got a 3D printer and I, Spencer Laube got to use it first so I made a GoPro mount for my GoPro. The reason why I made this is because it was fun to do.  Also  the real case for a GoPro is 65 dollars and if I can get it for free and I think everyone would. Here is a picture of the case.

Update June 17 2017:  It is my birthday and I went biking with the case and the go pro. I crashed and broke the case and cracked my helmet. It is okay.  I just know that it isn’t strong enough to take big impacts.

 

This assignment was to create a presentation that would explain what things you carry wth you on a regular basis. The twist to the project was that the things you carry didn’t have to be physical. They could also be mental. For example I chose my experiences because I carry them with me wherever I go because they make me a better person and it helps me to have different skills in life.

In total there are 10 things that I carry with me.  There are 3 that are physical and there are 7 that are mental. I will start with the physical things. I used a different type of presentation because in the beginning I had my title get pushed to the top and stay there and at the end it dropped back in place. It was fun to learn how to use magic move. I carry my iPhone with me because I use it everyday whether it is for calling people or to occupy myself.  I use it a lot. The second thing that I carry with me is something that really carries me.  It is my bike. I love to ride my bike whether it be to a place or ride it where it is supposed to be ridden which is down the mountain. Anonther reason why I like to ride my bike is because I don’t really like to walk. Another thing that I carry is money. I carry money with me because it is what the world runs on and money is a sign of success for me. So that is all of the physical things that I carry with me. Now we will move on to the mental things. Like I said the biggest mental thing that I carry with me is my experience because they make me a better person and it helps me with different skills in life. Another thing is my family. I chose my family because I love them and they love me so I can carry them with me where ever I go. One other thing is my learning. This is what most kids do 5 out of the 7 days of the week at school and it is what most students spend the first 24 years of their life doing. Another thing that I carry with me is my energy. This is how everyone observes me and how I spend my day. Another one of the things that I value a lot is all of the sports I play. I give the sports I play a lot of credit for the person that I am today. I believe sports has helped me in all areas of my life. I carry my attitude with me because it is how I live my day and I would be a different person without it.  Finally I carry my friends with me because they are the people that I have a lot of great memories with. I hope you have enjoyed me talk about the things that I carry with me on a regular basis.

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As well as making an iMovie I will be talking about some other things i did in this section in health and career.

To start I had to make this timeline of my life from the day I was born to the day I made it. I used different events in my life that made a big impact in my life for example the day I was born, first day in school, broke my wrist, and first time riding a bike.

Another thing that we did as part of this project is that we had to write 100- 150 words that that describe what we think is a gift in terms of a gift in a sport. So this guy said that a gift wasn’t something that you were born with you but that you have to work for it and I totally agree. It goes from what you are good at it to a talent to a gift. You have to earn things in life and gifts are just the same no different.

Lastly My Fairy Tale iMovie. This was one of the funniest iMovies I have made this year. I got to use some of the older photos that I had and I got to use all different kinds of technology to make this video. Some of the requirements were that you had to show who will you be, what will you be doing in your future and
how your past lead you to this future. I tried to show these things in the best way I could and I hope you like to. Feel free to watch it and enjoy.

 

So the infamous Frankenstuffie project is here. This is one of the biggest projects this year in my opinion. It started off like any other project that we have done this year because it starts with a story board. So we did that and then we got those put through the ringer not once but twice. After we got those approved we went on to the  epistolary story where we made them in chapters where they would be put through the ringer as well not once but twice. The whole point of this project was to show how the animal that we chose would adapt to its environment. For me the animal didn’t adapt to his usual environment but the environment that he put himself into and pursued change. I felt like I had one of the more unique stories in the class because my story was completely under water.

My Frankenstuffie was an orca whale who befriended a group of seals and then adapted to become a vegetarian so they would hang out with him and not be afraid that he would eat them.  The other adaptation was when he gained a set of wings get more speed and power to save his seal friends from the fishing boat nets. It was a touching storyline.

We ended up making 8 chapters in the story ranging from 2,300 words to 5000 words. So once those were done then it was time to move on to the actual part of these movies where it was time to make them. We made a lot of revisions and edits to all parts of this project. I had to re-record the vocals a lot to make it consistent. Don’t get me wrong. It may have taken a long time and a lot of effort but it made them a lot better and it was the good way to do it. So we put the movie edits into the ringer and they came out pretty good as we went on and on.

Hope you enjoy these movies because I enjoyed making them.

https://youtu.be/b93uL2PiiQ0

This is one of the drafts that I made

 

In this project we had to create an image of yourself that would be made up of totally food. It had to be made up of different foods that you eat on a day to day basis. For me my food for the day looks like a bagel, a lot of fruit, steak or some sort of meat, vegetables, pasta, a lot of water, and some chocolate milk or a protein shake. I thought that this was an interesting idea for a school assignment and it was cool. Some of the problems I encountered was that the app I wanted to use didn’t work but then I fix it and it came out pretty good.

What I eat isn’t the only  part of the criteria for this blog post. The other one was to watch a TED-talk about this guy who tried to become the healthiest person that he could be. He started by going for his mind first and he read the Encyclopaedia Brittanica to get a lot of knowledge. Then he went for his religion and became a Jewish preacher and went hard on that subject for a year and lastly he went for his body and he went to every doctor he could find and he asked them about the healthiest way I could live. They told him different things and then he lived like this for a year. He told everyone that this was actually a bad idea because it made him have no social life and the doctors said that socializing is the best thing for you. He was so caught up in staying healthy that he neglected his social life. If you would like to watch it, the link is below.

So thats it, this project is finally done. It has been along time in the making. The only part of this project I didn’t like was that I didn’t get to go on the trip but it was ok because I had a great time with my bros Sam and Sjmond. While they were away we had to research and make a video about what draws us to imaginary worlds. We would use a Disney ride as an example for this video. This meant researching the topic, preparing a storyboard and script, finding videos and recording.  My ride was the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn is a very fast and fun ride meant to give you the experience of riding down the real Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland on a bobsled. Imaginary worlds appeal to any age group and give people a chance to have fun and get away from the stress of the real world. Overall I think this is a great project to do. I improved my research, planning, recording and editing skills.  It really taught me about what draws us to imaginary worlds. Feel free to go watch my final draft and leave a comment in the comment discription below.

In Science 9 we had to do an experiment that extracted DNA from a strawberry and see what it looked like.   My partner was Adam. First we started off by placing the strawberry in a plastic bag, then added 5 ml of dish soap,  2.5 ml of salt and 25 ml of water to the plastic bag. We pounded the mix together and poured it into a test tube until it hit halfway. We added 10 ml of ice cold ethanol till it hit 3/4 full.

Then we watched the solution until we saw strands form and clump together and become bigger.  This white film had strands of DNA. We put those stands on a slide and looked at it under a microscope.  Under the microscope it looked a satellite photo of a white beach with spider webs on it.  The webs were the strands of DNA.

This process worked because the soap dissolved the cell membrane and the salt broke up the protein chains to help release the DNA.  The DNA didn’t dissolve in the cold alcohol so you could see it better.  I think it would be fun to do this experiment with other foods to see how DNA looks different in other organisms.

We also had to make a DNA model out of materials that a 6 year old would use to make arts and crafts. We had beads, pipe cleaners, macaroni and other arts and craft materials.  We used the pipe cleaners and straws to be the make the strands and used the beads and macaroni to be the cells in the DNA.

By building this model and doing the experiment, I have a better idea about cells and DNA that I didn’t know  made up food and other organisms in the world.  It helped put it in perspective since we don’t usually see the cells.

So this is another blog post about my amazing experience at the Destination Imagination provincial tournament. 6:22 am, I woke up too early for DI. 6:40am we headed to Destination Imagination with all of our props. 8:00 am, we arive at the high school in Surrey British Columbia.

Destination Imagination, or DI for short, is a tournament where teams from different schools compete against each other and try to finish set challenges. This year my team chose the engineering challenge. This was a task to create a structure that would have to be under 25 grams, be made of balsa wood and hold as much weight as possible. Then we had to create a story that would go along with this and it had to be on a international issue.

We prepared by planning the performance aspect of this project first and put more focus into the structure later. We started by brainstorming about what the topic should be and we came up with global warming. We thought this would be a great topic because this is a big issue for the whole world with the polar ice caps melting. Then we included different nations and at the end had them agree on how they could fix this issue. They worked together to build a rocket (the structure) to explore living on another planet.  We used a projector to show a picture of the inside of the rocket and played the sound and countdown for the rocket lifting off.

My group consisted of Lucas, Adam, Sam, Michael and myself. When it came time to present our story as well as our structure we had little bumps like the background falling over and not having enough time for the structure testing. We ended up putting 90 pounds on our structure and doing very well compared to our last presentation in terms of presenting and making the structure work. Even though we had a much better presentation compared to last time we still ended up placing lower than I hoped.

I learned a lot of different things from problem solving, thinking on your feet, engineering, script writing and presenting. I even learned about double checking important facts because we weighed the structure with more than one scale the second time around.

I believe that this is a great challenge for kids to undertake outside of school if they would like to try it.

Here are some photos

 

 

In plp we were given an assignment to make a list of our role models who would sit at our board room table. Here are the people that I chose.

BRETT RHEEDER

Brett Rheeder was born on February 16 1993 in Mount Albert Ontario Canada. He is one of the world’s best free ride/slopestyle mountain bikers. Brett won the XGames in 2013 and the Red Bull Joyride in 2016. In 2012 Brett sustained a possible career-ending injury. Brett broke his back and people thought he could not make a comeback. He worked hard through the pain and got back to the highest level and is a constant finisher on the podium. This is why he is one of my role models. He proved people wrong and made a huge, successful comeback. He overcame the odds.

STEVE JOBS

Steve Jobs was born on February 24 1955 in San Francisco California. Steve graduated from Homestead high school. He went to college to learn but he didn’t get a diploma. Jobs partnered with Steve Wozniak and they started Apple Computer in Steve’s garage. They funded the business by selling their van and calculator. From running a business in a garage to being the cofounder and CEO’s of one of the biggest companies in history, Steve had an amazing climb up the ladder of success. He made computers user-friendly and available to all consumers. Steve is one of my mentors because he didn’t complain that he didn’t have any money to start Apple but he just powered through and did what he needed to do to achieve his goals.

JIMMY BUTLER

Jimmy Butler was born on September 14 1989 in Houston Texas. When he was 13 his mom abandoned him and Jimmy was left to live on the streets but instead of turning to crime and drugs Jimmy turned to basketball. Everyday after school Jimmy would go to the gym to practice the sport he loved. When Jimmy went to college he was not an all-star he was a bench rider. When he got drafted to the NBA, he was the 78th overall pick. When people told him to give up he kept going. Now Jimmy is a NBA starter and an Allstar. Jimmy is my mentor because he never gave up even when everyone told him to and even when there was no one there for him. He still pulled it together and made his dream a reality.

ALBERT ENSTEIN

Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Ulm German. He was a theoretical physicist who developed scientific theories and won the Nobel Prize for Physics. When Albert was a child he was told that he was too dumb for school and that he was not going to do well in life. Little did they know that Albert was smart in a different way. Albert was turned away until someone saw his gift and they hailed him to be a real genius. This is why he is my mentor. He was told he was too dumb and he kept pushing and pushing until someone saw it too. He never gave up.

RICHARD BRANSON

Richard Branson was born on July 18 1950 in Blackheath, London England. When Richard was a kid he suffered in school form dyslexia and teachers told him that he was not smart enough to succeed. His mother always did though and when Branson was 16 he dropped school and started his own business. Now Richard owns Virgin Group and is worth over 5.2 billion dollars. I chose Richard Branson because he never let the haters get to him and he just kept moving forward and that determination got him to a nice place. He used his learning style to his advantage and developed a strong work ethic to make him successful.

As PLP students we were given an assignment to make a video for this contest called Here’s my Canada. This contest is for Canada’s150th birthday. We had to make a video that would be 30 secs long that would explain what Canada means to us. I originally decided to make my video about pride and the history of great things Canada has done to help people in Canada as well as countries outside of Canada. After reviewing my first draft, I decided to make it more personal and use clips that I took on my trip across Canada this summer as well as mountain biking, cliff jumping and being outdoors. I used Explain Everything as well as iMovie to make this video. I Ised multiple different camera angles to make the view more interested. I decided to make this a video because I thought it would give it a different feel to the video after looking at a lot of the submissions. Feel free to check out the video below.

Here is my first draft. You can tell that it isn’t very close to the final because I decided to go in a different direction.

https://youtu.be/sx_-voq30BE

Our assignment was to build a monster that would play a key role in a movie that we were making for Humanities and to learn about geometry. To start I made a draft of my monster.  Then I thought what material could I use to make this monster. I was thinking  about Styrofoam but I didn’t end up going ahead with that idea because it didn’t stick in the places I wanted it to. I ended up building the monster out of Lego because it stuck together better. The monster included a head, torso, 2 arms, 2 legs, and some skis. When I was done building the math part came into play and it was time to figure out what the surface area and volume of the monster would be. Next we are going to make a movie with the monster and have a hero that will take the monster down. I learned how to calculate the surface area and volume of an object and who to use different materials to make things.

Here is a picture

 

 

Here are some highlights from my portfolio of the learning I have done so far in Grade 9

EXAMPLE OF WORK FROM FIELD SCHOOL – THE PAUL ALLEN PROJECT 

Paul Allen Blog

We were given a person to research who had a crazy idea and we were asked to study Paul Allen. I enjoyed this group project for the Seattle trip because I like to film and edit. I improved my editing skills and tried some new techniques. For example, I was really proud of how I worked hard to line up the action movements of the drone footage with the beats of the music that accompanied the video.  I think it made the video more professional and kept the viewers’ attention. Here is a clip from the video. If I could make this project even better, I would have interviewed Paul Allen and included this in the video.

 

 

EXAMPLE OF CLASSROOM LEARNING – SCRIPTWRITING, VISUALS AND VOICEOVERS  

Matterhorn

I think that I have made a huge jump in the quality and productivity of my scriptwriting and voiceovers this year.  For example, when I did the Industrial Revolution Railroad project, I must have tried over twenty times to make the voiceover sound good and match the visuals in Explain Everything.  I kept practising and slowly improved,  Next, I worked hard on my Frank Sinatra Explain Everything project and created more eye-catching visuals accompanied by a longer script and more fluent voiceover. Then for the Fantasy video, I improved my video editing skills and the quality of my script and voiceover.  I think it helps that I can hear myself speak when I work on these projects and I can keep evaluating, editing and improving this work. Here is a clip.

 

DESTINATION IMAGINATION – GROWTH MINDSET

Destination Imagination Blog

I believe that I showed a growth mindset this year because I felt much more comfortable performing in front of an audience.  Last year I was nervous to perform but this year I was as cool as an ice cube. This year there was a problem right before we performed because the weight-bearing structure was too heavy and we had to rush to strip it to 24.99 grams to meet the weight requirement of 25 grams. Unfortunately, this weakened the structure but we kept our cool and our group performed the presentation the way we rehearsed and it went very well. Overall, the project was a great experience in teamwork, creativity, scriptwriting, planning and implementation.  I’m looking forward to Provincials and doing even better with a stronger structure.

We were given a task to create an inquiry question about Harry Potter. My question was ” Can I create a Facebook page for Hogwarts school to promote the school like a business?”

I designed a page that showed why it’s a good school to attend and information about it. It has photos of the school and students, a tour, the houses you could be in and some classes you could take like Potions.  The main thing is the sign up button. It takes you to a survey to complete to tell you which Hogwarts house you would attend.  I had to do a lot of research about Harry Potter because I knew only a little bit about the books. I watched about 5 movies I had not seen before and did research on the internet.

When I started this project I thought that it was going to be easy but I was wrong. I thought that I was just going to create a page and a survey to do but it was a lot more work than that. I had some difficult times building this Facebook page. For example, the link for signing up was not working at first and trying to find hidden features.

For the exhibition I had a poster board that shows the qr code that takes you to the Facebook page as well as all the houses and a description of the Facebook page. I also had my MacBook open to my Facebook page so that people could scroll through it. I had a separate paper that showed people the results of the survey.

I had a lot of people take the survey and many said they loved it. I had them sign up to which house they where assigned after the survey.  The majority of the people were part of the Ravenclaw House with Hufflepuff coming in second with Slytherin and Gryffindor tied for third.

My group for the exhibition set up our station like the great hall for Hogwarts. We had fake candles hanging from the ceiling and we had Christmas lights because it was Christmas time. We also had to have a food element. My group chose a chocolate fountain with things to dip in it.

Over all I thought that the Harry Potter exhibition was a good one. There were a lot of great projects that I saw. The library looked like the real Hogwarts school and the students looked like real Hogwarts students.

 

 

Destination Imagination, or DI for short, is a tournament where teams from different schools compete against each other and try to finish set challenges. This year my team chose the engineering challenge. This was a task to create a structure that would have to be under 25 grams, be made of balsa wood and hold as much wood as possible. Then we would have to create a story that would go along with this and it had to be on a international issue.

We prepared by planning the performance aspect of this project first and put more focus into the structure later. We started by brainstorming about what the topic should be and we came up with global warming. We thought this would be a great topic because this is a big issue for the whole world with the polar ice caps melting. Then we included different nations and at the end had them agree on how they could fix this issue.  They worked together to build a rocket (the structure) to explore living on another planet.  This is what we chose to build for the structure:

.

We worked hard on our script, backdrops and projector slide show to prepare for the competition. We all worked well together and rehearsed so that we were well prepared.

The regional tournament was an good one.  The only problem was that when we weighed the structure before performing at DI it was heavier than when we weighed it before the tournament. So before we went on stage we had to shave down the balsa wood structure until it met the new scale weight.  Unfortunately this meant it wasn’t as strong and one section broke when the first weight went on it.  The good news was that we didn’t let that distract our performance and we didn’t get flustered.

We went there to learn and we know if we can address the structure issue, then we can do well at the Provincials.  I liked how we tied our structure into our story.

In Destination Imagination this year I learned a lot. Our group worked well together from the planning to the implementation stage.  I learned how to use my creativity to the best of my ability when we designed the props and projector scenes and how to make a good script that wows the audience. I was more comfortable performing this time in front of an audience,even when there was the structure problem.  We had lots of good feedback from the audience.  It was fun and I’m looking forward to Provincials!

The Game of Life is also known as GOL. We are going to call it that from now on. GOL is the absolute best math unit, at least I think so. I think the aspect of being older and having to deal with real life problems is the most useful math you can learn in school.

We started with getting a job and I got to be a pharmacist. I got paid $104,678 a year but the only downside was that I started with $65,043 in debt. The next thing was to consolidate my debt. I found that the hardest part of the whole unit but it taught me how to work with my debt. I hope that I will never have to do it in real life though.  My goal is to never be in debt. The next step was to pick a debt repayment plan and use that as the monthly budget. For the first year I rode a bike to work instead of driving and made some budget cuts but in the second year it was a different story.

In the second year I got married to Lucas which helped out my budget a lot. We shared most things surrounding the budgets. As a couple were able to purchase the biggest home as well as go on a lot of big vacations.

In year three I was given the ‘you had a baby card.’ It was a pleasant surprise to find out Lucas was pregnant. This put a damper on our spending sprees a little bit.

After that we had year during which I didn’t change my income or expenses very much.  It gave me an extra $8,000 dollars because of a holiday bonus but that was about it.

After all that I had a great time doing the math for this project and seeing how much to spend in different aspects of my life. I do really think this could help me down the road.  I learned how to budget and plan and the importance of having a good job with a good salary and to be careful not to spend too much.  This unit helped us realize how the different stages of life can cost a lot but if you plan ahead, it can work out.

On November 30, our PLP class went to Seattle Washington USA on a field trip to visit different places that were related to people who had crazy ideas. Then we made a movie about one of those people. My group researched and did a movie about Paul Allen. We visited the EMP and Microsoft. These were dramatically impacted by Paul Allen because Paul was a cofounder of Microsoft.

Paul was such an iconic figure because he was the business partner of the richest man in the world, Bill Gates, and they had big ideas.  Everyone thought they were idiots because they had the crazy idea to create a computer that you could have in your own home. This was such a crazy idea because years ago, a computer filled a big room and you would book time to work with it.  It would be like saying today everyone could have their own spaceship. But they proved everyone wrong and because of that Paul is  one of the richest men in the world. This allows him to buy what he wants to fulfil his childhood dreams. For example he owns the Seattle Seahawks as well as the Portland Trailblazers.

I really enjoyed this field study trip and improved my editing skills for the video.  One of my favourite parts of the video was when I figured out how to line up the beats of the music to the action of the drone footage of the Seattle space needle.  I think we made an informative and entertaining video. Please feel free to watch it and learn more about why we think Paul Allen was so crazy.

While most of my PLP 9 cohort went off to sunny Florida some of my friends and I stayed here in snowy Vancouver.  We had to research and make a video about what draws us to imaginary worlds. We would use a Disney ride as an example for this video. Even though I didn’t go on the trip I still got to participate in this activity. This meant researching the topic, preparing a storyboard and script, finding videos and recording.  My ride was the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn is a very fast and fun ride meant to give you the experience of riding down the real Matterhorn mountain in Switzerland on a bobsled. Imaginary worlds appeal to any age group and give people a chance to have fun and get away from the stress of the real world. Overall I think this is a great project to do. I improved my research, planning, recording and editing skills.  It really taught me about what draws us to imaginary worlds. Feel free to go watch my video down below.

In science we as grade 9’s did a lab that made something very cool. We soaked copper in chlorine. We kept washing it out and out and out till it was the right consistency at the bottom. Then we poured out the leftover liquid and scooped the contents. Then we took the wet sand-like substance and put it over a bunsen burner and it made a cool green flame. You can see the exsparement happen below.

Here is 2 videos of the lab

I enjoyed this lab I thought that it made a very awesome green effect. It helped me under stand more about the elements and what happens when you mix them together or in this case soaking.

Our goal for this project is to create a super hero that is made up  of an element that we choose as a group. Then we have to design and create an IMovie trailer for that super hero.

For our super hero element, my group has chosen hydrogen because it is very light which means that he or she can fly and it is flammable so he or she can be set on fire. I wish that my group could function a little better because most of us are but there is one person that is not and it is hard to get work done when that person is dragging the group down.

I think that this is a good project and I am having fun doing it. I really like to film and make movies so the trailer will be fun. I like how Ms Pye mixed super heros with Science. It is a good combination for people that likes super heroes.

We were given a task to build a Rube Goldberg machine that incorporates a steam punk element and has a lot of metaphors for the revolution that we had chosen. First we started with research on the revolution that we chose. My team researched the American Revolution. We started off by doing a lot of research on what happened, why it happened and the factors that led to the revolution occurring. Here is a website that explains the American Revolution. Here is a picture of the time line we made of the american revolution.

I thought that my group shared the workload well.  We shared how much each person worked on each part of the machine. By the time we had to create the movie, my primary job was to get all the voices and edit the movie and make sure it met all of the requirements. I also had to make sure that it all made sense and that there was nothing that was not suppose to be there. We had a lot of challenges when making this project. Some examples are trying to get pipe cut to put a marble through it and trying to make an elevator for marbles.

Here is a short movie of all the work we did on the Metaphor Machine.

In this project I learned a lot about the American Revolution and how it shaped who America is today.  I also learned about metaphors and how they can be a symbol  for a place, idea, event or person such as putting the teapot on the machine representing the Boston Tea Party. I also gained more knowledge about working in a group.

Here is the final metaphor Machine video

https://youtu.be/YqWzKFaz8Xs

On Wednesday November 2 it was ‘Take Our Kids To Work’ day.  I went with my dad. He works for Vancouver Coastal Health.  He is the Manager, Home and Community Care, Palliative Care and Hospice for  the North Shore. I love think that it was a cool experience to have when you need to start to think about what you want to do for a career.

I liked that you get to meet all kinds of interesting people that you get to work with. I was surprised by how much my dad manages and the number of people in his areas like nurses and supervisors and physiotherapists.   I didn’t like all the e-mails he has to answer.  I wouldn’t want to do that all the time.

We went to his three offices. One of them was at the hospital where I got to meet a lot of cool doctors and I got to go into the ICU ( Intensive Care Unit ).  I interviewed people in three different jobs.  One was a Program Leader, one was an Environmental Health Officer and one was a Physician.  I would love to work as a doctor and help people get better so I’ll tell you more about that interview.

I think that the job shadow did impact my career choice because I used to think that I would be ok with being a manager. But now I do not want to. Before I didn’t want to be a doctor but now I do.   I talked to Dr.Shaw and she said something very interesting.  “You don’t have to be the person with the highest IQ but you have to be that person who will work very hard and study a lot.” I asked Dr Shaw some of the questions from the sheet and she gave some interesting things to think about if I want to become a doctor.

Question 1: What are the essential skills necessary to perform your job?

“You have to be prepared to work hard and  have a lot commitment and application.”

Questions 2: What are some of the duties performed in during a typical day?

“You will have to see assigned patients. Constantly adjust and plan for your day.”

Question 3: What are the academic qualifications for your position?

“You will need a Undergraduate degree’ medical degree than a specialty degree and than you will have to pass university exam.”

Question 4: What are employement prospects in your field?

” Employment prospects are good with doctors wanting to work less hours.”

Overall I think that this is a good experience to have when you are in grade 9. It shows you what a day would be like in a certain job and it could change your mind on your career goal.

 

The goal of the assignment was to work in a team to create a dream house with everything you want in it. We had to do some research for what we wanted our house to look like.  We used a website called floor planner. It works very well. After that we had to determine what the scale was that we were going to use, we used square feet.  We had some requirements that we had to follow. One of those was that the kitchen had to be up to code with the government standards.

We made some blue prints of the house. After I got some ideas for the house we started to build it. Some of these ideas included the pool, basketball court, and tennis court on the roof. Then we had to find out how many square feet was in the house and how much it was worth in different places throughout different neighbourhoods. My group was me, Sam, Robbie and Ethan. We made a 3d model of the house in Minecraft. We had a nice pool with a see-though floor and we had a tennis and basketball court and helipad on the roof of our house. I like that me and Sam had a hot tub in our room. We were going for the modern style house and I think that we made that happen. I really enjoyed this project. I thought it showed how creative we can be. I think that this was a great project and would do it again.

Here is the layout

We were given a task. That task was to create a machine that would explain three things. One was Crane Briton’s theory of revolution. here is my blog post about Crane Briton’s  theory of revolution. Another was to show a revolution you where given (my group was given the American revolution). The third one was to show the key points of the revolution in your machine. The machine is a metaphor that represents the revolution and change and it will have simple circuits.  By end of this project I think that the machine that my group builds is going to show all of those things.

After my team researched about the American Revolution, the major events were put on a timeline. A major event that stood out for us was the Boston Tea Party. The American colonists poured the tea into the harbour because they were sick of the taxes. I thought it was interesting when the British navy moved up to Halifax so it touched on what is now Canada. Below is the timeline:

Here is a link to some more information on the American Revolution

Making the machine would be very hard if you or some people in your group didn’t have the right tools or the right experience. It took a lot of sawing and drilling and screwing things. We used wood glue to hold the wood pieces together and we used screws to put everything onto the base of the machine.

We made sure share the work evenly throughout the group. My role in the group was to build the machine (sawing, drilling, putting things onto the machine). I was also assigned to help make the circuit work to pull the marble up.

In our machine metaphor, the teapot that is tipping over represents the colonists’ anger boiling over when they throw out the tea into the ocean.  There is a boat that moves down that represents the boat going to Halifax.  We are going to add a couple more.  We are making good progress on our project.

Here is a time lapse of our team working on the project:

I’ve recently finished a project to show three impacts that the railway had on Britain during the Industrial Revolution.  Here is some information on the Industrial Revolution:  Industrial revolution . The impacts are presented as a visual essay in Explain Everything.  Here is how I tackled the project:

I started by chosing the most interesting topics I could find and did some research on the causes and consequences. Then I made my first outline using the template we were given to show what the Explain Everything would look like and the content. Later I did some more in-depth research on my topics to find more facts and added more consequences. For example when I first looked into political impacts, I originally said that politicians could now travel more and reach people farther away.  Then I found some consequences of politicians travelling more.  It meant they could raise awareness of their cause like the unfair election rules.  In that case, they got support from across the country as they travelled by rail to make elections fairer and available to more people.  That is a big impact.  I updated the outline.

Here is the outline

First Draft:  Once I had my content I went into Creative Commons and found photos that matched my outline. Then I found pictures to make animations on the slides.  I updated my visual essay outline with information on the pictures and sources.  I started with a few tester slides for my first draft to see how to record the voiceover and animations.  I added titles to the slides to explain the content and made sure I had references in the Outline of my sources. It was harder to time the animations with my voice recording than I thought. I wasn’t happy with my first draft so I made some changes to create a Draft 2 before handing it in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td0zfMFb06U

Second Draft:  In my second draft, I added slides for a title, introduction and conclusion.  I changed some of the pictures to make them better.  An older looking print was okay to use because it fit with the Victorian era.  I updated the animations and the voice recordings. I practiced this many times to try and keep improving it.  I used app smashing.  In my conclusion I also related the introduction of the railway in Britain to the internet today.  I think they both have had a big impact.  When I was done the second draft I went to one of my fellow students for them to critique it. I got some very good feedback. Then I went and made some changes from the input I got from my classmate to start working on my third and final draft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVzgYUdeWuc

Third Draft:  The final revisions I made included adding more text to the slides to explain why it was important.  This reinforced what I said in the narration. I also made sure text in the slide showed up more so I put it on white background. I also re-recorded my narration for several slides to try and make it sound smoother.  As a double-check, I went back and confirmed that I had met and exceeded all the requirements 1)  beginning middle and end  2)  three different causes and consequences, 3) at least one voiceover (I had six), 4) animation on every slide and 5) used only Creative Commons.  I think it turned out pretty good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujGYRZ8I4aM

Fourth and Final Version

Below is my fourth and final draft of my Explain Everything.  I took my teacher’s feedback and made some changes.  I have fewer words because I have voice overs on each slide.  I added some more animation and better quality of recordings.   I now know more about using Explain Everything and how the railway impacted Britain during the Industrial Revolution.

https://youtu.be/gWZAoDktd8A

 

My question is how effective would walkers be in today’s military?  I compared it to a tank to help figure this out.

In Leviathan, walkers are a kind of Clanker machine used to travel and to fight on land or sometimes sea. They are based on Darwinist fabricated beasts and were invented to fight with them. Walkers are used by the military and by some civilians for travelling. I will describe some of the type of walkers that the Clankers use in Leviathan. I will also show the pros and cons and if walkers would be effective in the military.

Walker:

Walkers in Leviathan
One type of walker in Leviathan is The Herkules. It is an eight-legged walker and it moves pretty fast for a walker. Another one in the book is called The Stormwalker. It is a two legged walking machine and Alek drives it. Let’s focus on the Stormwalker.

Stormwalker:

Stormwalkers are war machines, used for light battles and scouting runs because they can run pretty fast. It takes a lot of training to drive one. They have dual machine guns that produce a lot of noise and smoke. The guns are operated through vision slits but they should have bullet proof glass to protect the shooters. They have to wear face masks. If the walker is knocked over it is hard to get it up again. They move around by using their two legs that are heavily protected by metal. The main body is large and bulky. There are fuel tanks mounted outside the main body above the legs. It is designed this way so that the crew don’t get killed if the fuel tanks explode. If they do explode then they will be without fuel. There are  a few places for the crew to look outside to see what is going on, including a hatch on top. The engine block is mounted on the back and the Stormwalker has a balance system to help it stay upright.

Another Stormwalker

Findings:  Effectiveness of a walker compared to a tank:
Tanks and armoured vehicles in general have most of the armour in the front. The side and rear armour is 1/3 or 1/4 the thickness of the front armour. Since the walker is not as long as a tank, it can have heavier armour on the sides. Smaller walkers require one or two men crews vs 4 or 5 crewmen in traditional tanks. Walkers require less manufacturing resources to build them. Tanks have the treads to help them move cross country and they work best in open country. They can shoot at their targets a mile away. Tanks are not as effective in built- up areas like in cities, forests and where there is rough terrain. That’s where the walkers have the advantage. They are very mobile and can move around obstacles and over rough ground easier. Also tanks usually have to stop when they are shooting but not the walkers. The treads of a tank are much weaker than the legs of the walker when it comes to direct fire.

Here is what the inside of a stormwalker looks like

Overall, I think the effectiveness of a walker in the military depends on the situation.  When comparing a walker to a tank, the location is important.  Tanks are good for flat open areas. Tanks work best in teams. Their role is to break through and destroy as much as possible. If it is not an open area and there a lot of trees or rocks or urban obstacles, a walker would be better. The smaller walkers are even more agile because they are lighter and can move faster. The world is becoming more populated and developed now so a walker is good for those areas.

Creative Element:
My creative element is a picture of the ideal war machine. I took the best parts of a walker and a tank and put them together. All the different angles stop the enemy from using radar on it. There are port holes on every side so the crew can see from every angle. There are guns on every side and one big missile launcher. It is smaller than a Stormwalker so it won’t tip over so easily. Scott Westerfeld might want to use it in his next book.

Here are some of the links that I used for research:

thortrains

board game geeks

cyklop walker

 

It’s time to dig deeper into Crane Brinton’s theory about revolutions.  The question I will be answering today is “Why has Crane Brinton’s theory of revolutions stood the test of time since it was written in the 1930’s?”  Back then things were a lot different.  There were no computers, internet or cell phones like today.  The revolutions he studied to come up with his theory were a long time ago.  What makes the theory useful today?

Brinton was a historian who wrote the book The Anatomy of Revolution in 1938. It examined four revolutions (English, American, French and Russian) in order to find the common pattern between them.  His theory compared a revolution to a disease with a high fever over four stages.   Stage 1 is incubation when there are some signs of concern and injustice.  Stage 2  is the moderate stage where moderate leaders try to make improvements.   Stage 3 is the crisis stage which is violent and radicals control the government.  Stage 4 is the recovery stage where the radicals are repressed and there is a slow return to quieter times.

https://youtu.be/7GagpR79KkQ

Easy to Understand:    Brinton’s theory continues to be relevant because he used a metaphor that is easy to understand by any generation. This makes it useful for teachers when teaching students about revolutions.  Revolutions can be long and complicated but this makes it clearer.

Applicable to Other Revolutions:    Students can apply the metaphor to analyze other revolutions (past and present), not just the four Brinton used to come up with his theory.  There have been revolutions since the 1930’s that can be analyzed using his theory.  Brinton also gave students insight on revolutions when he said simply “revolutions are born of hope”.

Explainable With Modern Technology:  Even though Briton’s theory is older, it can be used with modern technology and culture to help explain a revolution to a young generation.  For example, here is a video that I found by Jerome Lingo that applies Brinton’s theory to The Hunger Games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztDaSnAB6QQ 

Well-researched:   The theory has lasted a long time because it was well-researched and carefully put together.  Brinton was an expert in history and revolutions and he did a lot of work to back up his findings.  He even went out and did lectures about his theory before he published it to get feedback and make his book even better.   With feedback from audiences, he could check it was understandable.

Updated:    Another reason it has lasted is because Brinton kept the book up to date and he kept revising it so it was re-published every so often.  He added titles to the bibliography and included an important epilogue in the last edition. Brinton’s The Anatomy of Revolution became an evolving, updated book.

Not Just for Schools:    Brinton’s theory has proven useful over the years because it has not only been used in schools but in other areas like government and news reporting. For example, reporters have talked about it when looking at the revolution in Egypt.  In the 1960’s Crane Brinton gave the US government’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee a lesson in revolutions focusing on Vietnam.  US President Jimmy Carter was advised about the Iranian Revolution based on the principles of Mr Brinton’s theory. Brinton’s theory is used to help understand current revolutions and try to forecast what will happen next with them.

Still A Lot of Interest in Major Revolutions:   Brinton used four key revolutions that are still studied by students today and the general public are still very interested in them.  For example, the French Revolution has had impacts that lasted hundreds of years.   Every year thousands of people flock to the French Revolution historical sites in and around Paris.  Here is a slide show I put together that shows how the French Revolution fits into Brinton’s theory and it uses photos taken on my vacation to France.  This is another example of how Brinton’s theory can be combined with modern times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GagpR79KkQ&feature=youtube_gdata

Summary:   In summary, Brinton’s theory has stood the test of time because it was well researched, regularly updated and it stands up to scrutiny. It is easy for students to understand so they can learn about past and present revolutions. It is helpful in many areas like school, university, government and reporting.  It is a theory that can be explained using modern techniques to update it for today’s generation.   People today are still interested in learning about revolutions. Brinton’s theory is simple to use and understand and he put in a lot of work to pull it together and keep it useful.

Sources:

Keynote photos belong to S Laube

Slideplayer: Brinton photo source: http://slideplayer.com/slide/9030305/

For picture of White House   http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=13611

Culture Travel Guide:  http://www.culturaltravelguide.com/french-revolution-in-1789-historical-sites-paris-part-2

PBS:     http://www.pbs.org/marieantoinette/life/

A and E History:   http://www.history.com/topics/napoleon

The Five Stages of Egypt’s Revolution by C Holmes June 2012:  http://foreignpolicy.com/2012/06/15/the-five-stages-of-egypts-revolution/

Brinton Teaches Senators Lesson About Revolution – The Harvard Crimson February 20, 1968    http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1968/2/20/brinton-teaches-senators-lesson-about-revolution/

Amazon Book Reviews:   https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/0394700449/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_viewpnt_lft?k=The+Anatomy+of+Revolution&showViewpoints=1&pageNumber=1&filterByStar=positive

Like Success Quotes:    http://likesuccess.com/author/crane-brinton

Anatomy of a Classic:  Crane Brinton’s The Anatomy of Revolution  Matthew Beland Oct 2008 Paper  https://books.google.ca/books?id=-jUvsJVUBpsC&pg=PA184&lpg=PA184&dq=anatomy+of+a+revolution+brinton+still+referred+to&source=bl&ots=aoWB5D_myk&sig=_2R7JcdWB88jMWf4mYWPqnfmiXI&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=anatomy%20of%20a%20revolution%20brinton%20still%20referred%20to&f=false