Inside The Mind Of Gabi

Wake Up And See The World

Category: SLC’s (page 1 of 2)

Grade 12 Couldn’t Feel Any Closer…

For me, talking, or even thinking, about Grade 12 has been a sort of taboo topic for as long as I can remember. It’s the big leagues, the scary part of high school where you actually have to think hard about the rest of your life. I used to look at my last year of high school as the worst part, but as the dreaded year looms over my head, I’ve come to the realization that it’s not as bad as I’ve pictured it for my whole life.

And this is convenient, as we have come to the time of the year where we usually complete our SLC’s. But Willemse and Hughes shifted things up a bit, and instead of a Student Led Conference, we are presenting a TPOL aka our Transitional Presentation of Learning. It’s pretty much the same format, where we speak to our parents and teachers and tell them about the best pieces of work from the year, how we have grown and improved in certain areas, and a goal or two we have. The main difference is that we also have to explain what skills and improvements we have developed that demonstrate, that as a learner, we are prepared to be a Grade 12.

I know that being a part of PLP for three years has really helped me come to this realization that I am more prepared for the shift than I’ve thought in the past. When I heard that the main goal of the TPOL was to show that I’m ready for grade 12, I had to ask myself “Gabi, what makes you sure that you are ready for your last year of high school?”, and my first answer was “Well, you passed all your courses, and you’re pretty organized and smart,”. But as soon as I thought more about it, I knew that I’ve gained so many important skills through PLP that will help me in my future of academics and beyond. With all of the amazing opportunities and experiences that I’ve come across in the last 4 years, I have been exposed to real life, and I can confidently say that I am ready to jump head-first into my senior year.


The Performance Learning Program has taught me that growth is one of the most important parts of learning and improving. If you can see a drastic change (a good change) in someone’’s approach to learning, it shows that they take a great pride in what they do, and care enough to strive to make everything they do even better than the thing before. So with this in mind, I can say that I have demonstrated a growth in my approach to my own learning. I have become someone who is ready and willing to face challenges, regardless of the difficulty, head on! Before joining the program, I never really considered myself one to jump at the opportunity for a challenge or hard task. Through my hard work and growing self-confidence, I have been able to open up to a wider variety of new things and ask myself “Well, why don’t you try it? What’s the worst that could happen?”. I find that I am also able to bounce back from a task that didn’t go the way I first planned, and end up with a final product that is 110% better, an example being our recent Southwest Video Essay. I had trouble getting an idea started, and ended up having a difficult time. But once I got back on my feet with a new and improved idea, I worked extremely hard to complete the task with a fantastic end product, which ended up turning out great!

Miss Atomic Who?!

With all of the good things that have come about in my learning this year, there are always bound to be the few that I need to work on and improve. In this case, I would love to work on stepping up as a leader in class and around my community. I have always been a shy-ish person who is ok being out of the limelight, but I think if I want to excel further, I need to be able to be courageous enough to lead, whether it’s in a group project, or a volunteer position. This quality could very well play a role in my future, and it would benefit me to have mastered it as soon as possible. An example from earlier in the year where I think I should have stepped up as more of a leader, is during the Macbeth Project. Even though most of the management for the project (other kids in my class trying to run it all) was falling apart and I’m not sure I could’ve done much in the end, I wish I would have put my hand up for a leader of a management group or stepped up earlier. Somewhere inside me, I think I am a leader at heart, but I feel nervous to show it, because it may not be what people expect of me. Once I overcome this, I can show that I am a leader, and that I am as able as anyone!

It’s A Macbeth War Zone Over Here!

If there were to be one thing I could go back and change from this year in PLP 11, I would like to go back about a week to the Debate Battle Dome, pretty much for the fact that I wish I spoke up more. In my defence (against myself), the competition was intense and crazy, and getting any words in was a challenge, but even so, I think I should have tried harder. My group and I prepared as much as we possibly could, and yet, there seemed to be a shortage of words on my end, and an endless supply for Matt. S, one of my group members. It felt like there was nothing in my brain, and I think this was due to me hyping myself up with all the things that I could think of that could possibly have gone wrong. For a glimpse into my head while I was mentally prepping myself, thoughts like these were running through my brain: “People could laugh at what I say, I could pass out at the podium, I might be shaking so hard that I end up speaking gibberish”. Yeah it was pretty bad. Because of these negative ideas, I was repulsed to imagine myself speaking at the mic for more than 5 seconds, yet I achieved at least 30 seconds. My point is that I was disappointed afterwards, by the fact that I was coming up with great things to say, as soon as it was all over. I knew I had the confidence in me, but negativity and the scaredy-cat in me won over. I want to change this, so that in the future I can stand up in front of 20, 50, 100 people and express my ideas and arguments. PLP has given me so many public speaking opportunities and I have softened the scared Gabi inside, but I understand that instead of beating myself down, I have to think positively and supportively of myself, in order to break whatever doubts I have.

Be It Resolved That Debates Are… Too Intense!

Recognizing my strengths and areas of improvement are huge steps to taking ownership of my learning and attitude towards my future decisions about my life. If I know what I excel at and what I need to do in order to be a better version of “Gabi”, I can work towards success. PLP has given me the opportunity to learn better than I have in my whole life, and to be honest, I’m not really scared or nervous to be transitioning on into Grade 12. I have confidence, a strong head on my shoulders, and the ability to think critically and creatively. Though I may not know the path I will take, I’ll know who I am, and that is the most important thing.

S L C … IT’S EASY AS 1 2 3!

Well, as you can probably tell from the title of this post, it’s that Student Led Conference time of year… Although it’s supposed to be a Springtime SLC, and the only thing that I’ve been seeing lately is snow. 🙁

This isn’t exactly what I see when I look outside, but it’s close enough!

Anyways, this post is all about providing examples of my work up here on my blog, that I think best demonstrate and highlight my growth as a PLP learner, so far this year. I also have set myself a couple of goals that I will be putting into place for the rest of the school year.

 

What Am I Most Proud Of?

So far this year in PLP, there have been quite a few pieces of work that I am very proud of, but in this case, the pieces of work that I was the most happy with were my Soldier Research Letters, from World War One and Two. These were by far my favourite blog posts we’ve done this year, not just because I was able to use by imagination through my writing, but because they became more than just writing projects.

A Soldier’s Perspective

Not Just Any Soldier’s Perspective

When I began my second soldier research, I remembered that my own great, great-uncle served for Canada in Italy in WWII. When I finished this letter, I was extremely proud of what I had written about a day in his life at war, and I had many relatives compliment me on my historical perspective and writing skills. I had no idea that my writing would be able to touch the lives of people around me. I never figured that my words could catch peoples attention in a way that helped them connect with their past, present, and maybe even future. And because of this, these letters that I merely wrote to get a good mark, actually became so much more.

 

How Have I Grown As A Learner?

The first group movie that I made, like ever, was my California Ethics Debate Documentary video, which I would nowadays describe as scrambled and quite unappealing to watch. It was extremely rushed, and not amazingly planned out. All I remember about the making of it, was Anatolia and I filming each other in front of my back lawn, with terrible audio and lighting, our group members doing the same in the most random locations. Lets just say, the movie wasn’t my most amazing PLP moment.

Ethics Videos And Group Crises

I consider the Hanford video from the beginning of this year, to be a huge step up. This time around, our group worked efficiently and communicated well on our theme and topic for the movie. We used a variety of different shots: Ourselves speaking in front of a green screen, with pictures and videos to break up our clips. Our Hanford video turned out great, through many rounds of critique and feedback. Lets just say, that I now know what makes for an engaging and interesting video project!

Silence Means Security When It Comes To The Manhattan Project

 

My Growth Mindset?

Ahh, the good old Growth Mindset. Without it, PLP wouldn’t be PLP, and at the Winter Blue Sky Exhibition, there was plenty of Growth Mindset to go around. When this project was introduced, I immediately shied away from the idea of having to act out historical events in front of people, and was dreading how much work was going to be involved. I’m not going to lie, I really didn’t have any faith that it would actually turn out alright. Looking back, our group actually got started on our ideas fairly quickly and came up with a solid plan, but unfortunately decided to leave our making until the very last moment. Because of this, our big and glorious plans for our exhibit, became smaller and less glamorous. I think this took away a little bit of shine and sparkle from our immersive experience. I think we also could have made our script reflect more history in what we presented, and we could have worked harder at including the audience in our presentation. But when it came to the real thing,  It all went smoothly and all the connections were clean, and I could finally breath again and actually admit to loving the project!

Welcome To Canada: An Immersive Experience

 

So, What Are My Goals?

1) I will organize and thoroughly prepare myself at the beginning of a project or an assignment, to give myself a good base to work up from.

2) I will try and give my blog a unique voice that will make it different than a generic Wikipedia article.

3) I will create a schedule for academic and non-academic activities, to better manage my time and stress levels.

 

 

 

June SLC: Rainy Blue Skies and Not-So-Little Little Big Stories

Well, it’s the end of the year and you know what that means… Time for another Student Led Conference! In this post I will be sharing the work that I am most proud of, the work that I can improve on, and how I have displayed growth through my learning.

Touching Bases

So during the year, there were quite a few different projects and pieces of work that I think displayed great amounts of effort and growth. But, for this last part of the year, I think my Blue Sky Design Project was a good example of performance work. Overall, I really think I displayed growth through the development of my ideas and my design process. I revised my idea multiple times to get my product to a good standard and came out with a project that I was proud to share with the world. 

The Blue Sky Project Where It Rained

When I think of my Civil Rights Little Big story, I think that it was a good project that I am proud of, but one that could definitely be improved on. Even though it was full of good information, my Little Big Story was jam-packed with 60 years worth of info from the Civil Rights Movement, and could’ve been done earlier if it weren’t for the fact that I procrastinated.

The NOT-SO-LITTLE Little Big Story

Overall, this year has been a crazy roller coaster ride, from me being super proud of fully completed work, to me practically pretending that some projects didn’t really exist until the night before it was due.  Since my last SLC, there are a few things that have changed, and some things that have stayed consistent. During the year, there are a few things that I have been working hard on to improve my attitude towards my work and learning.

 

I think through all the rough patches in my learning I think I have continued to maintain a Growth Mindset, and the ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I knew that I didn’t want to continue to feel hate towards my work, and I knew I had to change my mindset in order for the situation to change. And I think I succeeded, in that I feel much better about the work that I produce.

 

During the year I have been working hard to be able to recognize where I can improve and grow as a learner with my work. Sometimes it is hard for me to accept critique and feedback, whether it’s good or bad, but I have been reminding myself that it is alright to make mistakes because it’s all part of the learning process and it makes you a stronger person when you are able to bounce back with new and brighter ideas.

SLC: The Starting Line-up

So, that’s all folks, I hope you enjoyed my SLC, and I am looking forward to improving in the year to come!

SLC: The Starting Line-up

Holy moly… The school year had moved so quickly! It seems like yesterday that we stepped into class for the first time in grade ten, and we were greeted with a “get ready, we are writing essays today” from Ms Willemse. Oh the good memories…

Anyways, it’s time for another Student Led Conference! I’m going to be leading you through some work that I am most proud of, the work that showed the most growth, and the work where I displayed a growth mindset.

The first post is based on my work that I’m proud of…

I’m The Proudest Of My Poetry…!

The second is the work that shows my growth as a learner…

New & Improved Writing Skills: SLC Special

And last but not least, this next post reflects on how I have demonstrated my growth mindset as a PLP learner.

IN A GALAXY CLOSE CLOSE BY

Thank you so, so much for stopping by my SLC, I’ll probably see you when I present my next one!

Adios Amigos

New & Improved Writing Skills: SLC Special

Hey y’all! I’m back at it again with a new post for my recent SLC (Student Led Conference)! In this one, I am looking at some work that shows my growth as a learner; something that I have improved or worked really hard on. I have decided that my writing skills have gotten extremely better since the beginning of the year. Writing is something that I feel I have always had a natural ability for. But even though it comes easily, doesn’t mean I didn’t have room to improve.

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When we first started writing essays this year, we began with an expository essay. When I handed it in, I thought it was a decent piece of writing, and when I got my mark back, an 85, I knew in my mind that I could improve.

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As we wrote essay after essay, I could literally feel my writing skills expanding and getting better. The practice and feedback that I was receiving for pieces such as my synthesis and literary analysis essays, as well as our novel study writing prompts, were giving me room and confidence to take risks and step out of my comfort zone with my writing.

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When it was announced that we would be writing one of our last essays before the English Exam, The narrative essay, I was prepared to try my hardest and do my best. For me, this essay was the easiest to write out of the billion essays that we wrote this year. Telling my story just came so naturally and I worked very hard to build up emotion and feeling into my words.

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Even if there isn’t much left to work or improve on, I strive to work on and improve on it, and not only in my writing, but in all aspects of my learning. PLP has taught me this; that even when you can’t do any better, attempt it, work at it, and succeed at it.

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I’m The Proudest Of My Poetry…!

Poetry.
What some might consider a boring unit in English class, I believed the same, until I actually dove deep into it. A while ago, in class, when we were told we would be performing a “reader’s theatre” in front of the whole class, I was so excited. Within my group we came up with the main theme of death, and found multiple poems that we would recite.

My two were “If I Should Die” by Emily Dickinson , and “Death Is Nothing At All” by Henry Scott-Holland. While preparing for the presentation, I really worked on memorization, so that I could also focus on portraying characters who were grieving or buried with sorrow.

As a group we came together to create a Keynote to go along with our performance. Here are my two slides:

 

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On the day, my group and I did an awesome job, from setting up the scene, to getting all the words right. I was very happy with my performance and I managed to stay in character, which was one of my main goals.

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Overall, I really had fun with this project, and I loved how even though it had boundaries, we could choose a theme that gave a message and emotion across to our listeners.

And so, in the end, most might think of poetry, and categorize it among rainy days, and throwing up. But now, when I hear the word, I think of it to be a misunderstood, and enticing topic

That’s A Wrap: SLC Overview

Overall, I have progressed immensely as a learner through the year in Flight class. Confidence has always been a struggle for me at school, as you’ve probably heard many times. But I never really was a confident learner, and I think this year I’ve blossomed and have become a student who is able to be a leader and a follower. Another skill I have acquired is my ability to think with an innovative and critical mind to get a deep answer or thought. This has helped me greatly during the year with a lot of work that we have done.

During this year, I have also improved on my movie making skills. In the beginning, I wasn’t really sure how to use iMovie correctly, or what factors created a gripping story within a movie. So when I made my Frankenstuffie movie, even though I got a great mark, I still think there was room for improvement.

But a couple of weeks ago, we created our Blue Sky Projects, and I made an iMovie for the exhibition. I believe that it told a story and it hooked people in because they wanted to know what different people had to say. I incorporated many forms of media, like music, video, photos, and text, and these factors really complimented the interviews, and connected to the mood of the video.

This year, there have been so many amazing projects that we have done, from our first ever explain everything, to Our Cray Cray Yay Yay Seattle Videos, that it was just impossible for me to pick one project that I was most proud of. So I chose my Blue Sky Project, and The Metaphor Machine Project.

My Blue Sky project was based around the idea of recycling in and around my community. I learned how to create a really thoughtful question and use an open mind to get a whole new view on the topic. There are many reasons why I am proud of this project, but I think the main one is because it shows how much I have developed my skills as a learner and created something that I am really happy with, without any drastic help from anyone.

Many different aspects of my learning have gotten better during the year. The one I think that I have improved on the most though, was my ability to be a leader in a group or in the class. I will be explaining this in more detail when I talk about my goal setting and achievements, but for now I want to talk about how this has helped me to grow as a learner.

In groups of about six or seven, we created Metaphor Machines, to display the events of an assigned revolution. My group was assigned the English Revolution, and personally, I believe we did an excellent job with ours. There were three key components to our full completed machine; a blueprint, an iMovie, and the actual machine itself. I was very proud of my group work for this project. I feel as though I communicated well with all of my group members, and I felt like a natural leader as the architect.

And even though, as you watch our iMovie, it might not be the best I have done this year, we really put a lot of energy, and effort into this project, and I think it was one of my best yet!

SLC Introduction

This series of blog posts is my Student Led Conference. A student led conference is a meeting, of sorts, between the student, the parents, and the teacher. The student presents some sort of portfolio or learning log that communicates and reflects their learning experiences.

In that, I will present to you four blog posts:

Humanities Overview

Science Overview

Overall Portfolio Reflection

My Goals for the Future

In the humanities and science sections, I will be sharing my accomplishments, and also how I think I’m doing. My portfolio reflection talks about my achievements and challenges as a learner during the first half of the year. And finally, I will tell you a few goals that I’ve set out for myself, so that I can continue to grow and improve.

Humanities Overview

During our term 1 in humanities, we created a few different projects, but the one I was most proud of was my Seattle video. On our trip to Seattle, we worked very hard to collect footage for our unit projects, based on the slogan: “Cray Cray Yay Yay”. We worked in groups to create short documentary movies, on the App iMovie, based on certain topics; my group focused on how the idea of MTV was “crazy”!
For me, it was well thought out and portrayed, and I expressed my knowledge of MTV in the movie.

Click below to check out my MTV blog post:

MTV Changed The World? Yeah Right

From this project, I learned a lot of cool information that I will keep with me for a long time. A lot of what we researched is part of our history that, for me, is as important as anything historical. For next time, I think that we should incorporate more interesting footage, and a bit less dialogue to make the movie more gripping.

Overall in humanities, I am eager to learn new things, I am engaged in class, and I partake in the interesting activities that we do. An example of this is when we were reading the book, “Leviathan”, and we worked in groups to discuss the book, after every section we read.

Here is one of my role/discussion sheets:

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But I also have some weaknesses when it comes to my learning in humanities class; I can get bored or off task if the topic we are studying is uninteresting for me. This can happen if we aren’t doing any discussions or any activities to go along with the work, to keep me “excited for what we are going to be doing next class”. This can also be a solution, and may help me to engage in topics that I am having trouble focussing in.

Science Overview

Science has been quite a successful class for me in term 1. I have worked hard to produce high quality work, and I am most proud of my Genetic Mutations project. This was our first big project in the class, and I decided to present it as a giant pamphlet. I was not yet fully comfortable with using my iPad as a way to create a project, and because of this I chose to portray to information the way I did. I did all the research on my genetic mutation (Galactosemia), then I put it into a pages document and shaped it into a first draft. I then edited it to make a second draft, and finally put the third and final copy onto the poster.

Here is a picture of my Genetic Mutations project:
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I learned a great deal of important information during this unit, that I could potentially use in my future. If I could redo the whole project I would definitely try and do it on my iPad, so I could come to grips with the “new device”, as we did this project at the beginning of the year, and put myself outside of my comfort zone. But other than that, I don’t think I would change anything else — The final product was a great achievement for me, that I am really proud of.

Overall in science, I am a very good listener in class, not only to my teacher, but also to my classmates and their thoughts and opinions in class. But I tend to be a bit quiet in science, and I tend to not include myself in class discussions, at times. As a result of this, I can sometimes become distracted from the work we are doing, and get off topic. One of my main academic goals in this class, that could help me overcome some of my weaknesses, is to include myself in the class activities, discussions etc.
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