❤️Shrek and Juliet❤️

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   Hello and welcome back! It’s been what? A year (please laugh.) Anyways as it’s hardly two weeks into 2021, I’m beginning to realize 2020 put on a pair of sunglasses and disguised itself as a new year. With the storming of the US Capitol and Kim and Kanye breaking up within the first 6 days it’s very clear we’re in for one hell of a year. But all that aside, I’ve entered this year with a fresh, more optimistic mindset. Then again I said the same thing going into 2020 and look at how that went. But the ups and downs of my previous year and the resolutions I have going into the next are not today’s talking points. It’s been one week since returning to school after winter break and we’ve already studied almost half of Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet, as well as produced a co-hosted podcast discussing the topic as well as what makes a classic. I determined that a classic is a timeless something. I know, vague. But I will not apologize for that. A classic can be defined differently for everyone. As I said in the podcasts discussion, a classic can be anything that continues to hold its relevance year after year. It’s timeless and typically has a message that stays important enough for modern or younger audiences to understand. This is why Romeo and Juliet is such a good example of a classic. The story covers plenty of things I as a 15 year old can relate to. This and the fact that the storyline is easily adapted into new pieces of media allows for the story to stay relevant and well known.

Family Guy

   If you happen to have grown up anywhere from 1995-2010 chances are you see the movie Shrek as a cinematic masterpiece. Something I realized in studying Shakespeare is that the storyline from the movie is distinctly similar to that of Romeo and Juliet. Two wavering groups with a star crossed lovers theme. Another fantastic example is the 1978 musical, Grease. The movie stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton John and the themes are extremely similar to Romeo and Juliet. Travolta’s character is the complete opposite of Olivia’s and their two cliques are constantly at each other’s throats. These films weren’t directly based on or remakes of Romeo and Juliet, but the common themes suggest that because of its classic storyline, Romeo and Juliet is often associated with movies like these.

   In conclusion I personally think that observing the impacts Shakespeare’s writings have made on the film industry in a modern era is really fascinating. Seeing that the movies I’ve grown up loving are so similar to a play that before this week I didn’t really understand is really cool. 

📝The Secret Annex📝

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   Hello and welcome back to my blog! Before diving into today’s topic I’d like to take a moment to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and most of all, a VERY happy and LUCKY New Year. We could all really use it after 2020. In saying that and comparing the past year of my life to some of history’s other difficult times, I feel rather small. Over the past 5 weeks my class has been working towards the production of our second podcast episodes, the topic being World War 2 and the vessels being our individual themes. Now when we compare the year 2020 to anywhere from 1939-1945, I can’t really complain all that much. Yes, the global pandemic has wrecked havoc across the entire globe and my normal life was turned upside down, but at least I wasn’t being bombed. The causes and consequences of events like the Second World War or the Covid-19 Pandemic will be a part of our history for a very, very long time. Possibly one of the most important ways of remembering and understanding the atrocities of WW2 comes from memory, from the stories of those who witnessed it. The physical documentation of the war is astounding compared to any other historical event before it, but hearing people who experienced it firsthand speak about their lives is on a whole other level. 

Gigglekid / Pixabay

   Our driving question for this project asked us to try and use the stories of others to build an understanding of the causes and consequences of WW2. In doing so we completed many milestones, perhaps the most important to me was milestone 2. Research is never easy, if it is you should probably look a little deeper into your topic. My idea for my episode was to use a mystery or conspiracy from the war to bring a story to life. Instead I got lucky and landed an interview with a senior researcher at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. My interviewee, Gertjan Broek published an article in 2016 covering his theory on how the Frank family was discovered by the Nazi’s. As my main source of information, this interview was by far the most important piece of my research. One of the best things about this interview and my research overall, is how much I can clearly see my progress since last year. I’ve conducted 2 interviews so far in the 2020/21 school year and looking back at each one really gives me an idea of how far I’ve come from building my interview skills. In interviewing Gertjan Broek, I’ve gone very far in being a global collaborator.

bernswaelz / Pixabay

   In building my knowledge of the events, causes, and consequences of WW2 and the mystery of how Anne Frank and her family were discovered, I was able to transfer what I’d learned into a script and develop my 2nd podcast episode. At the time I’m writing this, podcasts aren’t as daunting as they were when I was making this episode. It’s not necessarily the technical side of things, but more the context. If you’ve read any of my blog posts from grade 8 and 9, you know that I have had trouble keeping things concise. In order to stay within a 10-20 minute run time for each episode, I’ve had to learn to rearrange information and cut the unnecessary stuff, even if I think everything is valuable. 

   Milestone 3 challenged us to respond to text in new and creative ways. Our task was to read or listen to a piece of text, analyze it, and share our thoughts and ideas in a class discussion. In each discussion I felt that I contributed and took a lot away from hearing everybody’s differing opinions. Not only did we share our ideas, we also discussed the Three Act Structure, a form of storytelling that we’ve been newly introduced to. With each story analyzed we’d decide what the Three Act Structure would look like. Learning to do so has added to my arsenal of storytelling methods and tricks and is already contributing to my understanding of text in the current project we’re working on. 

John Ivan Anderson – Milestone 3: Story 1

   In conclusion, my understanding of what caused WW2, as well as the short term and long term consequences post war, has been developed and reached a new level where I feel knowledgeable enough to share my thoughts and opinions. In my podcast episode I think I did a great job at exhibiting all of my ideas, as well as everything I learned from Gertjan Broek. 

Ciara

🇨🇦The Greatest Canadian🇨🇦

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Hello and welcome back to my learning portfolio! For the past five weeks my class has been working towards an answer to a brand new driving question. “Who is the GREATEST Canadian?” Reality is, almost every one of my peers had an answer differing from the next. You see the real challenge with this question, was relating it back to our podcast topics. Everybody’s podcast has its own topic, one that heavily relays on personal interests and how we’ve chosen to display our personalities through our ongoing podcast channel. Choosing a Canadian and deeming them great was already daunting enough, throw in my topic of conspiracy and mystery and the difficulty is amped.

   Terry fox. Easily one of Canada, and the world’s greatest. To launch into this project, we watched a short film on Terry Fox. In 2004, CBC released episodes discussing the top 10 greatest Canadians. In watching the first episode, we did our first note taking activity. Comprehending text is one of the three competencies we’ve been focused on during this project. As it is text, it falls under the English 10 category. Taking into consideration our many steppingstones throughout the project, most of which fell under the category of note taking and being able to understand and process the information being given to us. A couple of really good examples of my ability to comprehend text come from our creating Canada lectures in which we covered topics like globalization, international involvement, and how trends shape the identity of our nation. Another fantastic example are the texts given near the end of the project, ones where we discuss what its like to be “Not American.” The page comes from a textbook and the poem within said text comes from a beer commercial from the early 2000’s. We went over the meanings behind the poem and had a class discussion debating whether or not we feel as Canadians, that being “not American,” is something we pride ourselves on. In the end, the commercial itself was meant for Canadians to be proud of our non American way of life, but some of us felt it wouldn’t have the same effects in present day.

   Canada is a nation filled with greats. You’ve got your Gretzky’s, your Trudeau’s, your Terry’s, and many, many more. So what do they all have in common? Historical significance. Funny how our ability to recognize historical significance happens to be our Social Studies 10 competency for this project. What a coincidence am I right. For the past five weeks we’ve learned what is necessary for a person to be deemed historically significant. If you think they’d just have to be well liked and have had an impact on a group of people. You’d be wrong. There are plenty of people who have been deemed historically significant and also happen to be horrible, horrible people. Take a look in any history book. The people who started wars, invaded countries, became dictators, they’re all historically significant individuals. So how exactly is a person or event deemed historically significant? There are five pillars. Importance, a rather self explanatory start. Profundity, meaning how deeply the impacts they made were felt. Quantity, the number of people they reached and affected. Durability, how long lasting their impact was. And finally, their overall relevance. I think I did a really good job in this area. I managed to convince my peers that my chosen great Canadian is really great!

Defining my greatest Canadian’s historical significance

  I’m really hitting hot with this transition aren’t I. That probably sounds a little weird without an context. Podcasting is still a very new area for me but knowing the production terms certainly helps. Once we had selected our greatest Canadian candidate, established their historical significance, and finalized our scripts, it was time to start the production of our episodes. In my recent summative post on our last project, I discuss the topic I chose for my podcast. Conspiracy and mystery! Thrown in a little murder and a hugely successful Canadian judge, the man who happened to bring forensic DNA typing onto count for the first time, and you have my episode. If only it were that simple. When building a podcast episode there are a million factors to consider. Is my bed to loud, are my transition’s hitting more cold than hot, did I just hear a butt cut? So. Much. Stress. Point is, when I was past the recording and interviewing stages and moving into the editing and mixing, things got difficult. Thank god I can be an empowered learner and use technology to my advantage. You see what I did there. Being an empowered learner is our Maker 10 competency. Challenging ourselves by using techniques we may be unfamiliar with or trying a new style of editing allowed for the empowered learner in me to shine. I’ve never been a GarageBand Guru and I’ve always had a lot of difficulty with the app. Learning to podcast is opening up the possibility for different form of media to be used in the future, something I’m always thinking about in PLP.

   All in all, my podcast episode (click here to listen) turned out pretty great and I’m really proud of what I created. As I reflect, there are of course things I’d love to change but that’s not the point of reflection. The point is to see where I left off and remember what I can do better next time. That works great this year especially because our podcasts are a year long project. Stay tuned for my next episode and summative posts which should premiere just before Christmas!

Thank you for coming to this Ted Talk

C

Weekly Reflection: IV

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Joe won. 

Thank you for coming to this Ted Talk!

   Just kidding. Welcome to week four of my formative posts. Incase you didn’t get the memo, there is something I’m eager to discuss. Joe Biden won the American election, beating Donald Trump and becoming the 46th president-elect of the United States. After what was like an eternity of waiting for the winner to be called, Joe won the electoral college votes on Saturday and he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris made speeches later that evening. Watching their speeches, especially Kamala’s live was like watching the end of a movie, a really happy movie. While the election has been called, Nevada still hasn’t finished counting votes which has become the meme of the week of course second to Anderson Cooper calling Trump an obese turtle. More on Kamala’s speech is definitely necessary as she made history in becoming the first female, South Asian, and black Vice President. Her speech was undeniably one of the most inspiring things to ever come out of an American election, especially in the past 4 years. Okay I should probably move on to another topic before I get to political but I will mention that watching the outpour of support and rejoice coming out of American citizens is amazing and this election is definitely a cause for celebration.

Free-Photos / Pixabay

   For the past week I’ve been working towards my final product being complete and audience ready. Like all things PLP, this has come with much difficulty, especially in the technical area. I swear if GarageBand crashes on me again I’m going to mentally combust. On a lighter note, my content and overall recording has been great so far and I’ll be starting my revisions soon! As the end of this project nears I become more anxious about my final product, which isn’t beneficial in the area of concentration but is only natural. All I can do is work hard to get my episode to the point where I’m proud of the content I’ve created.

   Overall this week has been eventful to say the least. Exhausting is a good word to describe it. With everything else, our community has put forward some new COVID restrictions for the next two weeks as cases have recently spiked. While this does make me a little sad, it’s much better than the alternative of gong back into a full lockdown like last spring. Hopefully the plan goes well and our numbers drop soon.

louspics / Pixabay

Thank you for coming to this Ted Talk! 

C

Weekly Reflection: III

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  Welcome back one and all! Today is the first of November and the past week has been insane! First off, Merry Christmas. I know it’s only November and we’ve still got a while to go but the second Halloween is over I have nothing but Christmas to look forward to as thanksgiving is in OCTOBER! I guess I should say happy Halloween to wrap up spooky season before I start blasting Christmas carols. Anyway now that the holiday craze is out of the way and I’m coming off my sugar high, lets dive in to the past week and what we’re looking forward to in the next one.

SzaboJanos / Pixabay

   For that past couple of classes we’ve been tying up and loose ends with any of our lectures from last week. we’re also so so so close to the recording stages of our podcast episodes and I’m so excited for it. I quite like recording because it’s always different with every project. For this one I’m excited to experiment with things like ambient sounds and transitions that might fit my podcast structure. Above all else I’m excited to see where my script and interview go. I finally found an interviewee thanks to Ms. Willemse so it should are place in the next couple of days. For the next couple days as I begin to record I’m working on revising my script as it definitely needs some work. 

   On the less academic side of things, my other course for our first quarter is wrapping things up by starting the recording process for our album. My other course is band and we’ve been working on a bunch of new pieces, including tunes from the movie Aladdin and Christmas carols that’ll be ready in time for the holidays! 

JillWellington / Pixabay

   Another thing to, well not necessarily look forward to, but still keep an eye on is the upcoming American election. I’m eager to watch the election play out knowing that whoever wins the presidency will impact Canada. While Biden is favoured to win, there are quite a few swing states that I’m keeping an eye on. All I know for certain is that this election is beyond influential on the future of the United States and every American citizen. It’s interesting to watch the election play out because of the many, many people encouraging those eligible to vote, to do so. Celebrities such as Harry Styles and Gigi Hadid are using their platforms to encourage their fanbases to vote and take action to better the country. All in all, the election is in two days and watching it should be very interesting.

Thanks for coming to this weeks Ted Talk!

C

Weekly Reflection: II

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Hello and welcome back! Today is October 24th 2020. October 24th. You have no idea how odd it feels thinking that is already October. I guess that’s a very all around feeling considering our quarantine situations and the pandemic, which by the way is still raging so wear a mask and wash your hands! 

   Over the past week, since my first weekly reflection, our PLP Humanities project has picked up the pace. We’ve just completed our second project milestone and now we’re moving into the research stages. I’m frankly very excited nervous for this project because unlike some of our projects over the past couple of years, these are VERY public, so the results better be good. before I dive into the research for my podcast episode I had to choose a Canadian that I think falls under the category of, “Greatest Canadian.” I have selected a provincial court judge by the name of John J. Walsh. While I’m almost certain you haven’t heard of him, you may have heard of the man he put away way back in 1989. Allan Legere is one of the most well known Canadian murderers, which while unsettling, is a very interesting story. One that I’m so excited to share! My greatest Canadian candidate is the man responsible for putting him in jail, even after his escape. Okay I’m getting carried away. Stay tuned for the next couple of weeks as my podcast will be airing soon!

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice John Walsh was one of the first lawyers in Canada to introduce DNA evidence against an accused during the 1991 murder trial of serial killer, Allan Legere. (Andrew Robson)

   Let’s see what else has been happening. Today is also the British Columbia Provincial Election which is nowhere as hectic as the politics down south but is still really interesting to follow, especially since by the next election I’ll be old enough to vote. In writing this I’m realizing that I have not yet heard the results of the election but I’m feeling very strong vibes in favour of the NDP, which my dad has explained could be really historic if they do win. The NDP party hasn’t won a BC Provincial election since the 90’s so he’s definitely right.

Creator: Michael J.P. Hall
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Credit: Michael J.P. Hall

   Overall this week was a good one. We covered lots in class and had a couple of really interesting lectures on topics such as globalization and trends that shape our country’s identity. Remember to stay tuned for next weeks reflection and my podcast being released! 

Thanks for coming to this Ted Talk!

C

Weekly Reflection: I

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Hi, me again. I’ve had an EXHAUSTING week to say the least. And yet here I sit, writing a blog post that has me reliving it. Why? Over the next year and particularly the next 5 weeks, I’ll be completing a blog post per week. In each post I’ll recap my week and reflect on the learning done throughout. This is kind of similar to our SBC’s from the past two years, except these weekly posts depend a lot on self motivation. Anyways lets dive in!

   This week has been hectic. We finished off our first project of the year and the results were fantastic! On Thursday we transitioned from our separated cohorts back to our full class which was honestly really refreshing. With the second wave of COVID beginning to hit Vancouver everything has been a little stressful which I find a little odd. I think that’s mostly because the first wave didn’t have me stressed at all. 

   On Thursday, along with our class transition, we started our next humanities project! Humanities happens to be my strength and my favourite subjects so I’m really stoked for this one. The project is called, “The Greatest Canadian,” and so far it’s looking pretty good. By Monday I’ll have chosen my greatest Canadian candidate and we’ll be on to milestone 2! Before I get ahead of myself let’s backtrack to what exactly we covered in class on Thursday and Friday. Who is he greatest Canadian? We have been introduced to this question and our challenge is to answer it with a podcast episode by the end of the next 5 weeks! Pretty cool if I do say so myself.

   Overall the week was a tiring one but we covered lots and I can’t wait to get even further into this project!

C

🎙Totally Awkward Random🎙

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   Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to another summative learning portfolio post! This post is monumental in the fact that it marks the end of our first project of our grade 10 year. Honestly you don’t know how weird that feels to say, grade 10, wow. It’s been quite the ride being here since I started high school in 2018 and honestly I still feel the way I did then. Confused as can be. Obviously I’ve learned a lot through my experiences and I’ve come a long way both academically and personally. But as it always seems to be, I’m still constantly asking myself, do you know who you are? Over the past couple years we’ve been asking ourselves questions like, how would you define your worldview, or how does where you are impact who you are? Now we’re at the grade 10 checkpoint and the questions we’ve answered in the past all sort of come together. Over the past 5 weeks we were challenged with the question, what does the term identity mean to you, and how can your represent a part of your identity through a podcast? Check out my milestone 2 post that answered the first part of that loaded question.

johnhain / Pixabay

   I’ve never been one to listen to podcasts in my free time. I much prefer TV or a book or even human interaction, until now. Our task for project podcast was to create a podcast plan and and trailer. We had to come up with an original idea or a podcast that we’ll be adding to for the entirety of grade 10. Of course, to tie in our understanding of identity, this had to be a topic with a twist that made it more you. I chose to create a podcast that covers conspiracy theory’s but isn’t somber or serious like most other conspiracy podcasts. Instead mine will be funny and upbeat because while some people might disagree, I can be funny and have a typically loud and arguably obnoxious personality.

   After we had our plans set and ready to go, we did some classic peer critique, something we’re very used to by now. My classmate, Angelo was my partner and I had the pleasure of critiquing his podcast plan, which by the way is totally awesome so go check it out once our first episodes air! The entire point of peer critique is to give and receive kind, helpful, and specific feedback so you can make improvements. At that point I was still very weary of my podcast idea and didn’t have a solid plan to pitch but as I started to talk about my ideas the rest sort of came to me. This is the reason I love peer critique. I always feel like the pressure has been lifted because I’m pitching to someone who is trying to figure it out just as much as I am so it a lot easier to go with the flow. 

   The making of a podcast is a feat I have yet to tackle but will soon. Making a trailer on the other hand was the task that I feel I did a really good job with. My trailer below is my final product, one I have yet to receive feedback on. I’m pretty proud of it mostly because the music I created in GarageBand slaps hard. For each of our trailers we had to create our own intro and ending music in GarageBand. Overall we’re pretty familiar with the software but here’s always so much more to learn. I also made the choice to have music playing behind my voice over. All these tiny decisions about music, context, wording, sound effects, naming, and recording are what made our trailers as good as they are. Everything comes together to show how well myself and my peers can use our technology to creatively and effectively communicate. Funnily enough that our only competency for this project was Creative Communication. What a coincidence!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(This is my podcast trailer, enjoy!)

“Totally Awkward Random”

   All in all this project was a success. I’m happy with the final product that I brought to the table and I’m very excited for our next project, which entails creating our first podcast episode. Wish me luck! 

Thanks for coming to this Ted Talk

C

💳ID Please💳

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   Hello and welcome back! It’s been months but I’m active once again. My first blog post of Grade 10 has already arrived despite feeling like I’ve hardly settled into my new routine. Today’s topic is Identity. I’ve touched lightly on the subject and idea of identity in the past, but now we’re really getting into it. For the first couple week of the new year we’ve dove straight into defining identity. Our answers vary as everyone has their own interpretation of what identity means. The dictionary defines identity as, “the fact of being who or what a person or thing is.” My job in this post is to explain my understanding of identity.

   So what exactly is my idea of identity? Well when I think about my personal identity, one that is different that every other person on earth, reaching the deep stuff can be daunting. Sure, I am a soccer player, a student, a teenage girl, and so much more, but that’s just scraping the surface of my identity. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again and again, I’m only 15 and I still have so much to learn about myself. For me that means not necessarily having a clear idea of who I am. It’s different for everyone and that’s what makes the question, “Who am I,” so special. I could ask my younger brother who he is and theres a 99% chance he’d say he’s a soccer player or a Jedi but honestly that’s expected from him as he’s only 11. If I asked my dad the same question chances are he’d go on a whole journey from when he was a little kid in Ireland to when he chose to become a teacher instead of a lawyer all the way to now. Of course there is still a chance he’d say he’s a Jedi but never mind that. I think that since the older you get the more you learn about yourself, your answer to the question at hand can mature just as you have. 

 

   In the passing weeks we’ve read multiple excerpts from novels and such as the “House on Mango Street”. In this particular reading we read about a Latina girl who described her name, Esperanza. She described it in harsh detail and in the following assignments we had to analyze why she hated her name so much and why it caused such a toll on her. It was obvious that Esperanza’s name was a huge part of her identity and it got me thinking about how much of my identity surrounds my name. It’s a lot. For reference here’s my name story assignment where I had to re-write Esperanza’s story with my own name. In doing so I was reminded of my heritage and how much I take it for granted simply because it so normalized in my head. I swear I can count maybe three times in my entire life where a substitute teacher has pronounced my name correctly on the first try. But as I explained, that’s okay, I’m used to it and it’s part of me now.

Identity is who you are. It’s your race, ethnicity, culture, sexuality, beliefs, values, appearance, career, upbringing, worldview, location, name, age, and everything else that makes you, you. Stopping to try and define it can be hard but all in all in helps you to better understand yourself. Below is a gif I made to represent some of my identity. It doesn’t seem to need much explanation but I could go deeper. I won’t though, I’d like to keep some things to myself. 

My Gif!

Thank you for coming to this years first Ted Talk

Ciara 🙂

👏tPOL 2020👏

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   Aloha and welcome to my tPOL! As the summer approaches all I can think about is how much I want to be in the beautiful Hawaiian sun or basking in the Southern California heat. Unfortunately those dreams won’t come true for a while due to the massive pandemic currently striking humanity hard. On the brighter side of things, summer vacation is still summer vacation, even without the wonderful Kaanapali waves, the smell of Splash Mountain’s waters, and the most delicious thing in the world, the Dole Whip. Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, its time to get into what we’re all really here for. I’m here to explain why am I ready to transition to grade 10 and I am going to do it in a whole new format. In the past I’ve gone subject specific, project specific, and even habit specific. Now due to my having all the time in the world to reflect, I am doing this on a goal basis. 

Tumisu / Pixabay

   Going into grade 10 is a milestone in my eyes. It marks the halfway point in high school, as well as marking when things start to get difficult and perseverance, resilience, and determination are all key. As a kid, and into my early teen years I prided myself on how easily things came to me. I was always so proud of that fact that I was always breezing through school unproblematically. The number one thing that grade 9 has taught me was how wrong I was all those years. It took a hefty amount of failure and not meeting my self made standards to realize that I have a lot of problems to work out. My 2 goals going into the next grade apply to all subjects and my personal life. Up first is goal 1!

Goal #1.

Find ways to effectively work with/around my executive functioning issues.

(Specifically organization, concentration, and prioritizing)

   In the past year we’ve done god knows how many projects, some of which I felt I succeed in above others. On the other hand, there were multiple projects which I failed to complete or meet my personal standards. In writing this I took a microscopic look at each of the reasons that I failed to meet standards. I came out the other end recognizing for the first time in my life that I have some issues when it comes to executive functioning. I’ve always been disorganized and often have trouble prioritizing and balancing the academic and social aspects of school. 99% of the time the lack of organization and prioritize skills lead to my inability to concentrate for an extended period of time. Even in writing this I’ve gotten distracted a million times. Other examples could include our Confederation Commercial project in February. I got carried away trying to come out on top of every other group for personal reasons and failed to prioritize the project. It lead to a loss of focus and an overall lacking contribution to my group. I honestly believe that my contribution or lack thereof in Confederation Commercial lead to my B on my Term 2 report card.

mohamed_hassan / Pixabay

Another example of this is this year’s Destination Imagination. DI was absolutely hectic this year. I found that I was 10x more unorganized than usual and compared to my performance in DI last year, DIWhy Bridges was a flop. After our improvised online tournament in April, I reflected on how unfocused I was during the entire project. I was admittedly very petty and not really helpful with DI and obviously that was a huge problem. In my post I reflected that the reason for that was due to the challenge being so far outside my comfort zone that I felt very useless. This leads me into my second goal.

Goal #2.

Be more open minded/less rock brain when things don’t come easily. Move past the barriers when it comes to asking for and accepting help.

   I’ve heard from reliable sources that grade 10 is when high school starts to become more challenging. I’m always up for a good challenge but I have a feeling that next year will wear me down. In order to stop that I need to start asking for help instead of shutting down and giving up when things get hard and I can’t understand. I am a kinesthetic learner and that has been very challenging for me since I was little, especially in math and science. Math is the one subject that has more power over me than I have over it. I have always struggled and cracked under the pressure of not understanding mathematics as quickly or easily as my peers do. This year has been a great example of that. For every project that we did the minute that I didn’t understand something I would get stressed out and fall behind instead of getting help. While this didn’t happen during every project, it did when I was uncomfortable with the people I was with or expected to understand something that I was really confused over. Not understanding and not doing anything to fix that often lead to sidetracking and loss of focus. This is where I would start to be more social rather than concentrated in Scimatics, which is clearly an issue that needs fixing. Whether it’s a tutor I need, or just more confidence it’s my goal to have a flexible mindset going into grade 10.

terimakasih0 / Pixabay

   Now that we have my goals, I need to dive into how I’ll actually achieve them. In the past couple months we’ve been focusing on the 7 Habits and how we can apply them to our daily lives. Each and every habit has it’s place in my life but there are some that trump the others when it comes to my 2 big goals. Habits 1, 2, 3, and 7 are the first batch of habits that will help me get to where I need to be. Starting with myself, or have a private victory, is what I need in the beginning of grade 10 so that I can sustain it through my remaining years of school. In PGP I often deny that I need any of the information being given to me, but thankfully in the past few months I’ve begun to recognize that I was wrong. I need to be proactive and have a plan for where I want to be, as well as prioritize some things over others in order to bring myself to that level. 

  Over the course of grade 9 I have had triumphs and failures. Each taught me a lesson that was necessarily planned. Once the COVID-19 pandemic begun and we were all quarantined I had to step it up and work hard to improve my executive functioning skills or I wouldn’t have been able to get any work done. Remote learning has had its silver lining in forcing me to take initiative and get a handle of my own learning. I know for a fact that in term 3 alone my performance has improved so much compared to the rest of the year. I am determined to get to where I want to be so I can only better myself from there on out. My final words for this tPOL are a simple question. In the coming school year, I’m striving to do my part in overcoming all the challenges I just expressed, including my inability to ask for help. Next year what kind of support can I expect from you?

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk 

– Ciara