So, for our science class, we’ve been learning about the basic rules of lab safety.
Some of the things we learned about include where to find different things like safety goggles or fire blankets, and what to do in different scenarios in order to prevent someone getting hurt, or what to do if someone already has gotten hurt.
To show our learning for this unit, we split into groups of about three or four, and were asked to make videos demonstrating how to be safe in a few different scenarios.
We chose our video to show why you shouldn’t wear headphones, drink chemicals, or climb on the counters. It was a very fun video to put together (You can see me break character and start laughing a few times).
So, we’ve been learning a bit about the time directly preceding World War One, and why WWI happened. We were each asked to read four theses about what started WWI, and then write a blog post (and create a supporting visual) explaining what we think happened.
The two main alliances at the time of World War One were the Triple Alliance (Italy, Germany and Austria-Hungary), and the Triple Entente (Great Britain, France, and Russia). Due to technological progress, there was an arms race happening that built tensions across Europe. The railway gave people quick mobility. At this point, there was a lot of propoganda encouraging a war, and not much being done to prevent it. Eventually, a short war was proposed in 1914, and it ended up leading into World War One.
So, three days into the new school year, we took a class trip to Camp Capilano, a place I haven’t been for several years. Camp Capilano, which is about a twenty minute drive from our school, and where we stayed for one night, basically consists of two dorm rooms full of bunk beds, a kitchen, a common room, a dining room, and a pool, and is pretty much surrounded by forest except for the house of the people who own the place.
We went away both as a class bonding activity, and to give us a chance to do some assignments with audio, which we’ll be focusing on this year. (In grade eight we worked mostly with still image, and in grade nine we worked with video.)
That being said, the first thing we did was to split off into groups and make videos. Specifically, we had to make “reality tv intros” that introduced ten characters in 45 seconds or less.
Later on, we took the premises from our videos and created short audio clips with the same goal of introducing ten characters. This was a little more difficult, since each group only had about five people, so we had to find ways to make distinctions between the different characters we voiced.
Our main project for the trip, however, was to, with a partner, make a four-minute audio clip that told a story about identity.
It took a while to come up with a suitable idea, but we eventually settled on a story about Ruby, who I was working with, first writing off and then learning to like musical theatre.
Once we had our idea, we wrote a script, recorded the audio, and discovered that it was only two minutes long.
At this point we went about trying to make it longer by adding more details into the story, wrapping things up at the end, and eventually adding background music which also acted as an intro and outro to the podcast.
So, September is here, and school has started back up once again. One of the assignments we’re doing to kick off the year is each setting a few S.M.A.R.T. Goals in different areas of our lives.
The acronym S.M.A.R.T. stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant (also Rigorous, Realstic and Results-focused), and Timely (or Trackable). It’s used to help people set and achieve goals.
We each had to set three goals: one about school learning, one about out-of-school learning, and one about character growth. We also had to record these goals, and create a visual to go with each of them.
My first goal was to do with my in-school learning. This year, I would like to learn to utilize Explain Everything by researching how to use it, and using my own time to look at and learn to use the different features.
So, does that goal follow the acronym? I’d say yes.
Well, to start out, I’d say it’s pretty specific; saying I’d like to “learn to utilize Explain Everything” is kind of vague, but I followed it up with a specific explanation of how I’d like to achieve my goal.
I think it is measurable. We weren’t given a certain amount of time to aim to complete our goals in, but I’d like to improve my Explain Everything skills within the next two weeks. I’d like to research what can be done with Explain Everything, because I’m not totally sure, designate four specific things that I want to learn how to do, and go through and learn each of them.
The goal is attainable. I already have Explain Everything downloaded and know a little bit about how to use it, I just want to learn more, so it’s doable, and two weeks should be enough time. However, it’s not so much time that I would quickly lose focus from my goal.
The goal is relevant because Explain Everything is a tool that I use for school, but it’s also something I occasionally find frustrating or confusing, so it would be helpful to me to learn more about it.
Finally, the goal is timely. As I mentioned, two weeks is enough time to get it done, but not so much time that I’ll never get started, or that I’ll lose focus.
This was my visual for this goal:
My second goal was about out-of-school learning. I would like to learn how to dress, speak, and act more professionally.
I think this goal is pretty specific, but to make it a bit more so: I would like to break some habits I have such as overusing the word “like” where it isn’t needed, trailing off sentences, or sitting on tables, which I might not want to do in a professional setting, as well as learning to dress more professionally if needed.
This goal is measurable; there are specific habits I want to break and things I want to achieve, so although I might not be able to go, “I sat on one less table today than yesterday”, I know what I want to accomplish, and can take steps to accomplish those things.
I think this goal is attainable. Similarly to with my goal about Explain Everything, I’m not starting from scratch, but instead building off of prior knowledge and experience; I know how to act and dress somewhat professionally, I just have some things I want to do to improve so I can be more professional when needed.
There are many areas in my life where it’s helpful to me to be able to act professional every once in a while, but this goal is particularly relevant at the moment because I’m about to start my first job, so having a professional demeanour and style will be important.
While developing the ability to act professional when needed is something I’d like to work on as an ongoing thing, I’d like to
achieve this goal in the next fifteen days, or about half a month.
This was my visual for this goal:
My final goal, related to my own personal character growth, is that I would like to procrastinate less, and to help myself start to do this, the next four things I recognize myself procrastinating on, I’d like to make an effort sit down and get done.
This goal is specific; I want to identifty four things, from any area of my life, and accomplish them in a timely manner.
This goal is measurable. I have an amount of things I want to do, and I’ll have a clear idea whether or not I do them.
This goal is attainable; four things isn’t many, so as long as I know I have a goal, and I can recognize when I’m procrastinating, attaining this goal should be realistic.
This goal is pretty relevant, considering how often I procrastinate.
I didn’t allot myself a certain amount of time to accomplish this goal, because I don’t think it makes sense to put a time limit on “the next four times I notice I’m procrastinating”, but it is trackable.
This was my visual for this goal:
Here’s the recording, as well as the visuals, for all my goals (I apologize if I sound a bit nasal. I’ve been kind of sick.):
