At Seycove Secondary School, I am enrolled in a program called the Performance Learning Program, where I am part of a cohort of 25 kids my age, and our learning foundations are structured around inquiry and project based learning. It incorporates English and Social Studies into two classes, which creates the perfect mix of both to keep me engaged and wanting to learn.
Since Grade 10, we have been doing a huge amount of essay writing, which has carried on into this year, and honestly, I think my brain has blown a fuse or something. At the beginning of this school year, in September, my writing was a bit rusty, and I was stressed out about how I was going to get my ideas from my mind to the page. But after completing a few practice essays, and going through different ways that I could structure my ideas, I was relieved when it all came back to me. Later in my Grade 11 year, I am looking forward to strengthening my writing skills and continuing to build my confidence.
An interesting project that I completed with the same class, was in the form of a learning exhibition, where the community is invited to see what we have learned and how it has impacted us. For us Grade 11’s, our projects were centred around how Canadian Identity emerged during the time of World War One. We created an immersive experience, and transformed ourselves into characters of the time period between the late 1800’s to the 1930’s, transforming our gym into a lifelike set in the process. This style of learning impacts me so much more than a regular “research and show your work” project because on top of all the research we do, we have to really immerse ourselves into the history and look at it with a historical perspective. Because of this, I know that what I do in school today, will stay with me during my future, and I am very excited to continue to learn in new and interesting ways that prepare me for Grade 12 and beyond.
