Tpol

Tpol?

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Welcome to my Tpol.

Tpol stands for ‘Transitional presentation of learning’. In this post, I’m going to explain why I think I’m ready to move on to grade 9.

The Driving Question: Why do you feel you are ready to advance to the next grade level?

Also, because I have to include this, and I won’t remember it, here is the pol statement:

Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.

First I’m going to talk about my learning plan. Here is my learning plan:

Here is this core competencies part-

Under communication, I said I wanted to reach profile 4. I have done that. In collaborating, I believe I’ve reached profile 3. Over the year, my teamwork skills have strengthened, and I’m better at working collaboratively in groups.

In creative thinking, I said I wanted to be profile 3. I can do that. For the critical and reflective thinking, and all the personal and social ones, I still need to work on those, but I have made progress on them.

Let’s look at what I wanted to grow in for Humanities, Scimatics and Maker. 

I wanted to work on critiquing others people work. I have gotten a bit better at that. I can offer helpful feedback to my peers sometimes, but most of the time I don’t know what to say. I also wanted to grow in offering ideas to the group more. I don’t think I’ve made progress on this goal, but I haven’t gotten any worse at it, I still give ideas if I’m in a group, I just don’t go out of my way to do so. Presenting in front of larger groups. This hasn’t really changed, but I’m good at presenting in front of smaller groups, like at the Spring Exhibition, when only a few people would come up at a time. 

 

 

Now for the last part of my learning plan.

Disposition:  I find it hard to focus on school work now, and I get distracted easily, so I’m not really focused on my goals most of the time. I’m going to work on this. I am supportive of my classmates. I try to help out my peers whenever I can. 

Habits: I do check Showbie a couple times a day, and I always put assignments into Things, because if I don’t, I won’t  remember to do it. I’ve gotten a bit better at focusing on doing one assignment at a time, but I still need to work on it a bit more.  

Systems: I usually do all the steps in my system, except parts of step 3. I do work on whatever’s due soonest, but I don’t stay working on one thing and then I get distracted.  

Now

Enough of the learning plan. So here’s a couple questions I’m gonna answer.

What project did you struggle with? Why?

Not really a project, but the thing I struggled most with was DI. I got very stressed in the build up before the tournament, and I was really worried something would go wrong. It was also hard to keep the group together and focused when we were trying to practice improv. After performing the skit though, I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Over this year, I think I’ve gotten a lot better at presenting in front of people. I still get stressed, but it’s a lot better than it used to be. 

The logo I created for my DI group

What skills did you use and what skills do you need to continue to develop?

I have used many skills this year. Working collaboratively in groups, using my iPad for stuff, such as photography, drawing, etc. coding games, design and more. One thing I really want to work on is my ability to focus. I usually get distracted by something during class, and then I don’t get much work done, and then I have to do it at home, and then I don’t want to do it, and I have to finish the assignment the night before it’s due. I think I can work on this by, if I’m getting distracted, to take a break for a couple minutes to refocus, then get back to my work. And, if I have homework due, to try and get it all done as soon as I get home from school so I don’t leave it for too long and have to rush to finish it later.

Next, I’m going to show some of the work I’ve done. 

Maker

The thing I’m most proud of for Maker is my geek out blog posts. I thought I did a good job explaining aspects of Japanese culture and language. 

★Basics of the Japanese Writing System☆

Scimatics

Something I wish I could’ve done better in Scimatics is the comic cells project. I didn’t start working on it till it was a few nights before, and I kinda rushed parts of it and I could’ve added a lot more detail. 

Humanities

Another thing I’m proud of is how my new beginnings visual turned out. I thought the photo I took was nice, and the symbols I drew were good. 

 

Throughout the year, I’ve gotten way better at speaking in front of people (I don’t panic as much anymore, and I don’t burst into tears), I’m able to use my iPad to create various kinds of media and present and reflect on what I’ve learned. I also work well in groups. I know I have to work on  a couple things, but I believe I’m ready to go into grade 9.

That’s the end of my Tpol!

Thanks for listening!

Also, one last thing-

Here’s a picture of my dog, Ty 

Scimatics

Feebee is the best

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This project was called ‘Comic Cells’. We had to create a comic book about a disease of our choosing and cells.

The driving question was: how do diseases and cells interact? 

The first thing we did was make a mindnode. Like we do for every other project. Here is mine- 

After we did that, we chose a disease to do our comic about. I chose the bubonic plague. 

We then had to create a wanted poster for our disease. Here’s mine-

The flowers don’t have anything to with the plague, but I think they look nice. 

Next, we did some Khan Academy quizzes, to test our knowledge of cells.

And now, 

The moment you’ve all been waiting for…

My comic!

Feebee the Flea and the Bubonic Plague

The greatest comic featuring a flea who wishes to destroy humanity by infecting people with a bacterium called Yersinia Pestis (the bacteria that causes the plague) you will ever read!

The curricular competencies

Questioning and predicting: Demonstrate a sustained curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest  – All class time is used for learning and creating a comic book story about cellular processes and/or diseases.

I could’ve used my class time a lot better,  I got distracted a lot and I didn’t get a lot done in class. But I got it done, and it was cells and a disease, so I got that part right. 

Scientific communication: communicate ideas, findings, and solutions to problems using scientific language, representations, and digital technologies – Correct vocabulary and accurate diagrams are used. At least 10 interesting science vocabulary words are included in the story.

I used the correct vocabulary. Accurate diagrams were used, but I didn’t really go into detail about how the bacteria interacted with the cells. I did include interesting science vocabulary words. I don’t think I had 10 though, but I did have some. 

Evaluating: Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of evidence – Cell/bacteria/virus characters interact in a scientific way. Symptoms and logical outcomes of the chosen disease/cellular/ body process are integrated into the story.

The cells and bacteria did interact in a scientific way, though I could’ve added more detail in my drawings to show that. I did include symptoms of the plague in my story. The last few pages were just Dave getting worse and worse due to having the bubonic plague. My drawing skills aren’t the best, but I do think I showed that well. 

So that’s my final Scimatics post for this year!

I hope you enjoyed reading all of my posts throughout the year

Have a good day.

Exhibitions

Spring Exhibition

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Hello

Welcome back to my amazing blog

Today, I’ll be talking about…

(Drumroll please)

The PLP Spring Exhibition!

For this exhibition, we were divided into groups, with the gr. 9s (the 10, 11, 12s were doing something else).

My group consisted of:

Grade 8s – Brooke, Ruby, Kadin, Silas, Jasper, Ronan, Seth, and Max

Grade 9s – Teva, Makenna, Sabrina, Claire, Mateo, Sylas, Gwen, Luca, and Dylan

We were assigned a theme that we had to do, all relating to PLP. Ours was PBL (Project based learning), and the driving question we answered was ‘How do we learn?’.

In PLP, we follow the project pathway. Here it is-

Here is a map of our room:

Everyone was assigned a certain part of the project pathway. Brooke and I (also Teva but they were doing the gr. 9 part of this so I don’t really know what was happening so I won’t try and explain it) were doing Present and Reflect. We decided that we would each put together a keynote presentation with clips from our blog posts, and explain what we learned. 

All members of our group helped with setting up the room for the exhibition. Here are some photos:

Now, you’d think that since we were present and reflect, which is the final step in a project, where you showcase your learning and final product, that Brooke and I would’ve gotten a fair bit of attention from people walking through our room. 

No.

We didn’t.

About 50% of people just walked past us.

Brooke and I didn’t have a table or display so we were just standing holding our iPads.  

Our station was right next to the exit door and I think people thought we were just the people who stood by the door and said ‘bye’.

The other stations had documentaries playing, were handing out gummys, did a drawing critique activity, and more. (Look at my teammates blogs to see what they did)

We didn’t have that kind of stuff, but we still did talk to a lot of people. I think I could’ve done a better at trying to draw people in to see our presentations, but talking to random people I don’t know isn’t my strong suit and I get pretty stressed. But, I tried, and compared to the beginning of the year, I’m a lot better at stuff like this, and I don’t get as stressed. 

Also here is a picture of me hiding behind a door:

Brooke and I dubbed this the ‘panic corner’

And picture of Brooke and I:

So that’s my post on the Spring Exhibition of 2022!

I hope you enjoyed reading this!

Goodbye

Humanities

🦫New France🇨🇦

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This is the final humanities project of the year. Let’s hope I can make a nice blog post for it. 

This project was called ‘New Beginnings’. It was about New France. 

The driving question was ‘ what did the establishment of New France mean for all people involved? 

First thing we did was an advertising challenge. We got into small groups, and were told to make an ad for Seycove Secondary. Here is my group’s final ad- The final product for this project was going to be an advertisement, but we didn’t end up doing that.

To learn more about New France, we watched a video called ‘The Story of Us’. Here it is if you want to watch it-

Instead of making an ad, we ended up having to create two visuals. Before we began to create these visuals, we had to choose a topic for our visuals. Here are the topics we were allowed to choose from:

  • The fur trade & the economy
  • Indigenous alliances
  • Filles du roi
  • The construction of New France
  • Cour de bois
  • Surviving New France
  • Missionaries & the role of the Church
  • Seigneuries & land ownership

I chose Filles du Roi, or ‘the king’s daughters’. Here are my research notes:

We then went on a photo walk. Here are the photos I took:

After that, using the photos that we took, we had to make an image that would  ‘symbolically represent’ our chosen topic. 

So, this is what I came up with-

Wonderful colour choices right?

I revised that monstrosity into this-

Next thing we did was a fur trade simulation. We got into four different groups, the Ouendat and Haudenosaunee first nations, and the Hudson’s Bay and North West trading companies. I was part of the Haudenosaunee group. We had to fill out a question sheet before we started the simulation. Here is mine-

 Each group was supposed to trade with other groups to obtain other goods. It was… very chaotic. After the trade simulation, we had to answer some questions to reflect on it. 

I’m sure you’ve been wondering what the image at the very top of this post is.

That is my finished visuals.

After creating our visuals, we then had to explain what they meant-

In the first image, which is supposed to be the more positive side of a Filles du Roi’s life, shows two rings. I included these because one of the main aspects of life as a Filles du Roi, is moving to New France and getting married. The Filles du Roi were allowed to pick out who they wanted to marry, instead of being forced to marry some random man. 

The next symbol I added was a house. This was because when the Filles du Roi arrived in New France, they were sent to live with families until they married. 

The final symbol in the first image, is money. The king payed the Filles du Roi travel expenses to go to New France, and they were given 50 – 100 livres for personal use. 

On the last image, I added a snowflake, because it got very cold during winter. I also put in a pan, because one of the roles of a Filles du Roi was to cook meals for their family. The sewing needle and thread showed that the Filles du Roi also had to sew clothing for their family. 

The last thing I’ve added is a bunch of babies. The Filles du Roi were expected to have many children to populate New France.

Anyway, I think that’s all I have I have to write about

So

Goodbye

Thanks for reading

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and all my previous humanities project blogs!

Scimatics

I cant think right now and henceforth will not come up with a better title for this post

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For this scimatics project, we had to choose an object, and using a program called Tinkercad, create a model of the chosen object, but optimize it for maximum surface area or max volume. 

My partner for this project was Susan. We chose to make a house with maximum surface area  Here is our house:

We had to have 10 different shapes.

These are the shapes we used:

  • Cylinder
  • Triangular prism
  • Rectangular prism
  • Cube
  • Hexagonal prism
  • Octahedron
  • Cone
  • Dodecahedron 
  • Pentagonal prism
  • Sphere

Once we had put together our house, I found all the formulas for calculating the surface area and volume of each shape. Here they are:

Here are my final calculations:

The Curricular Competencies 

Applying and innovating: Contribute to care for self, others, community, and world through personal or collaborative approaches.

-All class time is used efficiently for learning without distractions.

I think I could have focused more, and got more work done in class. If I did that, I wouldn’t have had to finish the work at home. Near the end of the project though, I was a bit more focused, and got more work done in class. 

Reasoning and Analyzing: Model mathematics in contextualized experiences

-A 3D object is designed using TinkerCad or other design software. The design is optimized for either maximum volume or maximum surface area. The design should include at least 10 basic 3D shapes (A model should also be built cooperatively for groups of 2 or 3)

I did design a 3D object in Tinkercad. I could have made it look a bit nicer and not like I just threw a bunch of shapes together, but it still had more surface area than volume, which we designed it for. It also had 10 different shapes. 

Communicating and Representing: Explain and justify mathematical ideas and decisions

-The surface area and volume are measured, calculated, and compared for efficiency. These factors are explained in detail in a keynote presentation to the class.

I did measure all the shapes, calculate the surface area and volume for each, and made a ratio to compare them. Susan and I put the keynote presentation together, and I think the layout was nice and we had all the necessary information. The only problem was that the ratio was backwards in the presentation.  

 

Thanks for reading my latest post for scimatics!

Have a good day

Destination Imagination

Final Destination (Imagination)

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What is Destination Imagination?

Destination Imagination (a.k.a DI)  is where groups of students work to complete a challenge. The teams then present their solution for their challenge in a tournament. There were 4 challenges that we could do this year: Daring Escape: Technical, Festival Frenzy: Improvisational, Tricky Tales: Fine Art, and Up Close: Scientific. 

My group’s challenge-

The challenge my group got was Festival Frenzy, which was the improv challenge (My group members were: Kira, Caitlin, Cameron, Magnus, Ronan). For the improv challenge, what we had to do was do a five minute improv skit, including: a randomly chosen goal, fork in the road, and festival. The skit had to have 2 acts, with an up to 30 second intermission. During the intermission, we were given the fork in the road, which was two options ( such as- take tuba lessons OR meet a long lost cousin. Or something random like that) that we would have to choose between, and incorporate it in the second act of the skit. The festival would be one from a list of festivals we were supposed to research. Another part of this challenge was the box set. The box set is a set of up to 10 cardboard boxes that can be used as props during the skit. 

Here is my group-

What we did to prepare for our challenge

There were a few things we had to do to prepare for the tournament:

First was festival research, our skit had to be set at one of these festivals, so we had to research them.

Since we’re Middle level, we had to pick 8 festivals from the list of 16 we were given. Here are the ones we chose:

Argentine Tango Festival

Abu Simbel Sun Festival

Timpanogos Storytelling Festival

Chinese Lantern Festival

Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling Festival

Marrakech Popular Arts Festival

Floriade

Winterlude

We each chose a couple and researched them over Winter break. Later on, we printed all are research and put it all in a binder so we could easily access it.  

Another thing we had to do is, of course, practice improv. One of our teachers gave us paper with the festivals, sample goals and forks in the road printed on them, so we could practice performing our skit. 

What we did in our challenge

I was supposed to include a video of our performance, but I do not have one, so I’m going to tell you a quick summary of what happened:

Festival- Marrakech Popular Arts Festival

Goal- Make soup

Fork in the Road- summon a genie from a lamp OR (I forget what the other option was)

The story that we came up was that at the festival, there was an art contest, and Cameron forgot to bring an art piece. So, he decided to make a pot of soup and present that. I, who was also participating in the contest, was mad that Cam was entering the contest with a mere pot of soup. Randomly, Caitlin the merchant was selling magic lamps that had genies in them that could grant wishes. I borrowed $50,000 (I think, I don’t remember exactly) from Ronan to pay for one, and I wished to sabotage Cam and his soup. It didn’t really work, and he won anyways, and I was mad.  

During the planning time, we worked pretty well together, and we didn’t speak over each other, and we listened to everyone’s ideas. This was the best our group had ever worked together. I think our story was pretty good, and we incorporated our box set nicely.  

What I learned from DI 

I learned that it’s important to listen and respect your group members ideas, and that with out that, no one will enjoy it, and it’ll just be a terrible experience overall. I also learned that it’s important that everyone in the group does their share of work, on time, so that one person isn’t working on it by themselves. Another thing I learned that arguing will get you nowhere, and for the most part, it’s just another way to waste time. If you’re group’s disagreeing, it’s better to talk it through and figure it out that way instead of going back and forth arguing till someone gives up. 

Even though I got really stressed out before the tournament, after performing the skit, I realized that it wasn’t that big of a deal, and everything turned out fine. 

One last thing I have to add is this thing we did in class afterwards, which has what we thought we did good, bad, and what needs improvement-

Concerning the title of this post-

I decided to call this post what it is because, while I was out walking my dog, I remembered this one movie I watched called Final Destination. And I thought- hey look a title for the blog post we’ll have to do. Final Destination is a great movie, and I highly recommend it. (The original, not the remake)

Thanks for reading!

Scimatics

Teleport Barry- Hivemind

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In this project, we used this site called Scratch to program a game or simulator that would show particle movement, states of matter, and atomic models.  

First thing we did, which we always do in Scimatics at the beginning of a project, was make a Mindnode-

 

Also I should show you the game I made before you get confused:

Blondie’s Game 

 

Here is core competencies stuff:

Questioning and predicting: Demonstrate a sustained curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest – All class time is used efficiently for learning without distractions 

Ok, I must admit, I have a hard time focusing in class, and I got distracted. But, it was not for nothing. While I was supposed to be learning how to code and actually start making my game, I wasted almost an entire class working on the most amazing game I will ever make. 

It is called…

Teleport Barry- Hivemind 

 I don’t really know how to code, and the controls are messed up, and nothing happens if you finish the game, but it is still the most amazing thing I’ve made. 

Here it is:

Teleport Barry- Hivemind

 

Following the completion of my actual game that we’re supposed to make, I created the sequel to Teleport Barry- Hivemind.

It’s called…

Teleport Harry- Bivemind 

In this one, I figured out how to code the controls and make it so the timer didn’t reset and people could finish the game in less than 1 second. 

Here is the Bivemind:

Teleport Harry- Bivemind

Scientific communication: communicate ideas, findings, and solutions to problems using scientific language, representations, and digital technologies – Several different atoms/ molecules, different states of matter, and particle motion are represented in the finished product. A historical model of the atom is chosen and implemented

I think I did pretty well in this core competency. In my game, I included three different models of atoms that I made myself, one for each level that I made. I also showed different states of matter, by pressing the fire or snowflake the temperature would change and the particles would   Move around more, and faster. Here are the atomic models I made for this: 

  • Iron

Reasoning and analyzing: Use logic and patterns (including coding) to solve puzzles and play games – An interactive Scratch coded matter simulator or game is created with logical conditions and functional user controls

I did do this. I made game with functional controls. It was a simple game, but it still did what it was supposed to. It had logical conditions, you press fire, temperature go’s up, snowflake, temperature down. Once the temperature hit a certain point, the level would switch to the next round and you could continue. 

Overall, I’m proud of the game I made. I think if I were to do this again I would work on it more during class and not try and finish it the night before its due, and I would also figure out how to make the particles move back and forth instead of spinning around. 

Anyways, thank for reading!

Have a good day!

Humanities

Determining Historical Significance in the Renaissance

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Today’s post will be about the Renaissance.

 In this project, we learned how to determine historical significance. This is how important it was at the time and how it affects the world today. The final goal for this project was to create a triptych and write a paragraph about an art piece, invention, person or societal change which we thought was the most historically significant thing in the Renaissance.

We couldn’t just magically write an amazing paragraph without doing any research, we had to fill out NAME charts. NAME stands for Novelty, Applicability, Memory, and Effects. We were given this list:

And were told to pick one from each column, and complete a NAME chart for it. The ones I chose were: The School of Athens, adding machines, and the rise of music (this is a big topic so I just did instruments in the Renaissance). The individual that I ended up choosing (Blaise pascal) was not on the list, so I had to ask a teacher. Here are my four NAME charts:

  • Adding Machines

For the paragraph, I chose Blaise Pascal. Pascal was a mathematician and philosopher. He invented the calculator, the roulette wheel, and did a lot of stuff with math probability theory. Below, is my final paragraph:   

Before we could make our triptych (which had to include: an innovator, an innovation, an artistic accomplishment, a societal change, and a picture of yourself in the middle), we first had to learn how to use an app called Super Impose X. Using this, you could mask, blend, and layer images.

Here’s mine:

 

Throughout this project, I’ve learned how to determine historical significance, how to use Super Impose X to create a triptych, and how to fill out a NAME chart. I’m happy with how my paragraph turned out, but I think I should’ve spent more time on my triptych. 

I can’t think of anything else to say, so-

Thanks for reading!

PLP Trips

LOON LAKE

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A week or two ago (I forget), the PLP 8 and 9s went on a trip to Loon Lake. The PLP teachers refused to call it a ‘retreat’, and chose to call it a learning ‘advance’. 

Here is my beautiful ebook that I made:

On Monday February 14,  we set off on our adventure. We loaded all the luggage onto the bus, then got ourselves onto other busses, and began the hour-ish long drive. Daniel, Charlie, and I were playing a card game for most of the ride. 

When we finally arrived, we did a scavenger hunt, and we got to explore the property.

Skip a day or two ahead and we’re doing laser tag and battle archery with the gr. 9s. 

Laser tag was okay, but we got annihilated by the 9s. It was also hard to get some one out. 

But battle archery… That was the best. There were two teams. The arrows had soft foam or something at the end so it didn’t hurt that much if you got hit by it. The object of the game was to either get everyone out on the opposite team, or knock these targets out of the target thing that was set up on the other side. It looked sorta like this:

The white circles could pop out if you shot an arrow at them. 

Battle archery was one of my favourite activities.

 I put a lot more stuff in the ebook, so I won’t put that much more here.

I thought going to Loon Lake was really fun, and I got to get to know my friends a lot better. I wish it was longer, because when I went home, I was kinda sad because I so used to being around everyone.

Maker

Another post about Japan! Jk- it’s not

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A wonderful logo that I drew for my team name

Yeah, sorry, this isn’t a post about Japan. It would’ve been, but my teachers decided we should do a post about ‘Destination Imagination’ (more on that later) so we could show the blogging skills that we have obtained so far. I would have liked to do another Japan post, but I have to do this. Later, though, I think I will write a few more posts on Japan, even though the blogging challenge will be over, because there’s so much stuff I haven’t talked about. 

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Destination Imagination, a.k.a DI. 

DI is a competition where groups of students work to complete a challenge. The teams then present their solution in a tournament. There were 4 challenges that we could do: Daring Escape: Technical, Festival Frenzy: Improvisational, Tricky Tales: Fine Art, and Up Close: Scientific. 

My group (Caitlin, Kira, Cameron, Ronan, and Magnus) got Festival Frenzy: Improvisational. What we have to do is do a five minute improv skit, including: a goal for the character, a fork in the road, and two acts, with an intermission. The skit should be set at one of the following festivals:

Abu Simbel Sun Festival

Buenos Aires Tango Festival

Chinese Lantern Festival (Shangyuan Festival)

Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling Festival 

Floriade 

Garifuna Settlement Day 

Hermanus Whale Festival 

Kwita Izina 

La Tomatina

Marrakech Popular Arts Festival

Pushkar Camel Fair 

Songkran Festival 

Timpanogos Storytelling Festival 

White Night Festival

Winterlude

Yap Day Festival

Out of these 16 festivals, we had to chose 8. Everyone had to do some research on the festival they were given. 

The festival, fork in the road, and goal will be randomly chosen before we perform the skit. 

Another thing we have for this challenge is a box set. This includes 10 cardboard boxes that we have to get. During the skit, we can use these boxes as props to help us.  

We also got to chose what our group name would be. It took a while to find one, because my group kept arguing and couldn’t decide what it should be. Later, I came up with a name that everyone agreed on, and now we are The Indecisive Improve Troupe. 

The reasons I thought this was a good name are as follows: 

– Indecisive: My group is very indecisive when it comes to picking a team name

– Improv: We are doing the improv challenge

– Troupe: Troupe sounds cool. Also, it’s like the Phantom Troupe from Hunter x Hunter (An anime that I watch)

Anyway, I think that’s all I’m going to write about this.

Thanks for reading!

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