DI Regionals Reflection

She’s nervous, but on the surface she looks calm and ready to drop lines, but she hopefully keeps not forgetting. What she wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud she opens her mouth, but the words somewhat come out she’s nervous, everybody’s watching now, the clocks run out, times up over, bloah!

-By The Real Sun Shady.

Welcome back to my blog, I have been hard at work alongside my team members for Destination Imagination 2024! This is something that is tiring, hard, stressful, and fun. It took me out of my comfort zone, and elevated my public speaking skills. My team members are Syd, Claire and Cam. Check out their blogs! Syd, Claire, Cam

First Thing’s First, What is DI?

DI stands for Destination Imagination. DI is “transforming education one challenge at a time!”

For the past few months the PLP 8’s, 9’s, and 10’s here at seycove have been working super duper hard. We were separated into four different categories: Engineering, Scientific, Technical and Fine Arts. I was put into the scientific group! Within these categories there are roughly 4-5 groups who are competing against each other. Each category had a different challenging assignment, for example, the scientific group had to make puppets for their performance.

Click this link to check out DI’s Website! Here

What did we do?

The scientific group had the challenge of building a technical puppet that moves, my group chose to move it with hydraulics. Our play had to include an artifact, a finding, an analysis, a puppet, two team choice elements, and a structured story.

Artifact: Our Artifact is a time capsule from the year 2020, which holds many memorable COVID-related items from that time including a mask, floor sign, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and a Scientist’s ID card.

Analysis: We chose typological analysis, which is the process of grouping and sorting things into specific categories.

Finding: Our finding is that Covid-19 changed the world. That is the message that is carried throughout the whole performance.

Puppet: Our story had to include a puppet. Here is our puppet:

(Sorry not sure why it is only uploading sideways)

Story:

It is currently 2080, and all diseases have been cured, attention has shifted away from them.. and they have slowly become an unknown. 3 high school kids that have to do garden work for volunteer hours, come across a time capsule from year 2020. Inside they discover a few un familiar things… they then use typological analysis to group and sort them into categories. They decide it has something to do with a cold/ pandemic of some sorts. In the time capsule they also find an ID card, and realize it is their science teacher. They go to ask him about the capsule and uncover many untold secrets about a virus called COVID-19. Through our performance the students learn all about how covid impacted and changed our world.

Video:

Check out our performance by clicking this link:

What were some strengths and challenges?

Strengths: 👍 Through out all of DI my group had many strengths! We worked really well together, which made DI a lot more fun. A few strengths that we displayed a lot are teamwork, working hard, listening, helping each other, respecting one another, and finally all putting equal amounts of work in!

Weaknesses: 👎 Alongside our strengths, we had expected weaknesses. Some weaknesses include time management, disagreeing, clarity, having last minute  decisions, and communication.

What do we want to work on?

Winning first in the regional tournament was something we were all super proud about.. but now the provincials awaits, and there are a few things we plan to change and work on. I have been told I am not aloud to spoil those though, so you will have to find out when I post about the provincials tournament in the future. I think there are some simple not so specific things that we can work on though, for example, our teamwork, our collaboration and generally our weaknesses.

What did I learn and how did I contribute?

I feel like everyone is going to say this, but I am saying it with a deep passion. I did not like DI in the start. I didn’t like that it was outside of our school time, I didn’t like that it was a lot of work, I didn’t like the idea of it that much either. But it is so crazy how close it brings you with your team members. I knew two of my team mates before DI, as they are in my class, but I didn’t know Cam. Even with Syd and Claire I got to know everyone so much more then before. I learnt how to be a good team mate, and how to put myself in situations that took me out of my comfort zone. I pushed myself more then ever, and I will use all of the skills I learnt from DI in my future. I learnt to become more of a leader, and was put in a position were I had to let people know what to do, which is something I was not used to. I think this was an incredibly valuable experience. I have many feelings for going into the provincial tournament such as nervous, excited, and dreading it all at once. Mainly excited but not looking forward to the crowds, stress and it gets pretty chaotic. 

How did we use our FAIL’S to get better? 😀

First Attempt In Learning. Throughout this project we chose to build upon our fails to become better. This included our dress rehearsals, meetings with our team manager, attempted run through’s, and instant challenges. We FAILed a bit more than once, and we could say “Fourth Attempt in Learning” I think that matches the DI mood more. I think DI is all about trying it all and not giving up even if you feel like it. Which is perfect for the PLP 9’s as one of our learning rules is to “try it all y’all!”

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That is a time lapse of us hard at work!!

Answering DQ:

How might we employ strategies to solve a challenge?

I’d say first things first, we would need to identify the challenge at hand. This could involve brainstorming and discussing with team members to fully understand the problem. Once the challenge is clear, we can then start developing potential solutions. This may involve breaking down the challenge into smaller, more manageable tasks, setting goals and deadlines, and dividing responsibilities within the team.

It is also important to consider different ideas from team members, to ensure everyone feels like they have had a say. Communication is key in this process, as it allows for collaboration and the sharing of ideas.

It is also essential to remain flexible and open to feedback throughout the process. And to also provide helpful, kind, and specific feedback.

Overall, employing strategies to solve a challenge requires teamwork, communication, creativity, and adaptability. By utilizing these strategies, teams can effectively tackle challenges and achieve their goals and success.