It is now that time of year again where we have to reflect on this past school year. A lot has happened this year and of course that means that I have to think about what were the best, and worst parts of my year. We were given a driving question this year,” Why do you feel you are ready to advance to the next grade level?”. As well as trying answer that question we have to do this to complete our TPOL:Reflect on your growth as learner in Humanities, Science, Math, and Maker , reflect on work ethic, work habits, and areas for improvement, and lastly provide strong evidence (using examples from your learning portfolio) of revision, teamwork, responsibility, and production of high quality work as a
PLP learner.
I believe that this year I have grown a fair amount compared to last year. The reason why I say that is becuase the quality of my first drafts have improved since last year. I noticed this as I have been spending more time on my first drafts than I would normally, and I would put more effort into them aswell. This was shown very prominently in the video I sent to High Tech High. That was probably one of my best examples of a good quality first draft. Another example would be the book review I wrote on Unbroken. I feel that I did a very good job of creating an authentic book review on my first draft.
Now onto what has showed my teamwork skills. I believe that I showed my best teamwork in the renewable energy project I did. The project that we did involved a lot of teamwork as each member of our group relied on each other to get a part of it done. As a group we divided up the work to each person based on there skills and abilities. The end product of that project showed that we worked well together, and I say that because I am proud of our outcome.
Throughout this whole school year a lot has happened. I have produced a lot of good work and a fair amount that was not very good, but I believe that overall the most beneficial part of the year for me was the California Field Trip. That field trip was one of the most eye opening expierences for me. It had so much interesting information from how Silicon Valley was turned into the innovation capital of the world, all the way to the culture and history of San Francisco. That whole trip my jaw was hitting the floor. Even after that trip I was still surprised with how much I had learned, as it was probably the best field trip I have ever been on by far.
Even though I have grown as a learner and have created more consistently quality work throughout this year, I still have a lot to work on. I feel that my focus level is still quite low and I need to become more engaged in class and outside of class. I feel that that is the main thing that I need to work on. To improve my quality of work I am going to try to do my best work on the first draft like I have done on a couple of assignments and projects, and those projects generally have been some of my best examples of work. I am looking to do that in this coming up Blue Sky Exhibiton as I am very excited to complete my project as I am very interested in it and I believe it could possibly be one of my best examples of my best work. I think that to actaully create my best work I have to be passionate about what I am learning about.
To sum everything up this year I think that I have improved on many fronts that has resulted in overall better quality work but, I have not done very well when it comes to staying on track. I have lost focus many times throughout the year but I believe that I have been a lot more focused this past term. I am looking to continue staying focused in class next year, as I believe that with me being more focused I have produced better quality work. With that growth that I have been doing over this past year I believe that I am ready to go into the next grade level and grow some more.
