I’ve come a long way; looking back to grade eight I wouldn’t have ever thought I’d be where I am today, but I’ve also grown significantly from just a few months ago. With that being said, let’s follow the journey of my growth throughout my grade 10 year. 

Back in September I created a learning plan that I’d hope to have achieved by the end of the year, and in my mPOL I recognized that I wasn’t producing work of high enough quality and showing the habits required to meet this goal of 95%. However, to put it simply, I believe that the growth I’ve shown from then to now to my teachers, peers, and myself, is deserving of that grade I had initially set. But like I said, the 95 is just a number and what I was striving for was work that I could genuinely feel proud of and look back on with a smile on my face. To get to that point I had accepted my weaknesses and created some goals to work towards, and I can confidently say, I am a large step closer to meeting them than I was five months ago. 

In the words of myself, I said I wanted to be more “Logany”, meaning adding my own opinion, ideas, and identity into my work. Usually when I make goals for myself I rarely follow through with them, but this concept of showing who I am stuck with me throughout the whole second semester. Every project I completed, I’d find something that I had a true interest in and relate it to the bigger topic, I did this with our podcasts, exhibition, destination imagination, and even classes outside of PLP. But the piece of evidence that I think best shows this growth is my work with Believe in Good, I was killing two birds with one stone, I produced high quality work I was proud of while at the same time learning how to be my most effective self. PLP is based on project based learning and working with the people around you, but something about taking time to focus on myself and understand who I am before others do is what I think has been most beneficial to my growth this year. If you’ve come across this blog before you’d know reading isn’t my forte, but this book was one that I was able to read without on my own time without having the feeling of being forced to read it. Next year will be a similar story with Atomic Habits, I find this idea of self development to be one of the best ways for me to get the most out of my experience. That’s one of the reasons I feel ready to move onto grade 11, I believe this year I’ve created a solid base to build on, and next year I will be able to show you my progression.

Becoming My Most Effective Self

Although I’ve produced work up to my own standards, the best way I learn is by recognizing where I need to improve, and there is no doubt that there is a lot of room for improvement. Not necessarily the quality of work but just some of my habits, I sound like a broken record at this point but there are still times where I can’t find the motivation to get things done. Every year I come across the same problem, there is a project I don’t enjoy therefore leading to me putting it at the bottom of my list of priorities. This goes back to that goal of finding something that interests me and connecting it to the bigger topic. If I can manage to get myself to complete this work when it’s assigned, I will go from being a great learner to an even better one. Despite my lack of progression with procrastination, many of my other traits have seen great development. From building on my teamwork to my quality of writing and speaking, I’m in a spot I didn’t think was possible and I’ve applied these skills outside of PLP as well, and in the coming years those traits will be even better. 

Our trip to Loon Lake was also a crucial component of this journey of growth. I set another goal for myself, one that I believe is actually important to me and can take me that step higher. This goal was to get out of my comfort zone, I’ve realized when I’m out of my comfort zone I produce the best work, it pushes me to think differently than I normally would. What I’m proud of the most was my ability to follow through with this goal, the whole trip I’d be thinking about this idea of pushing past where I’m comfortable, and personally I noticed quite a big change in just the four days and I know and am thankful that my teachers noticed it as well. On this trip what really stuck with me was this new idea of what “being ready” actually means. The traits of readiness include those of confidence, flexibility, independence, and the ability to accept change. I believe this year especially, I’ve grown in all those characteristics and is why I am ready to move on to the next grade. 

Focusing On Myself

This story of growth is really why I think I’m ready for grade 11, this year I’ve understood myself, I have truly figured out what contributes to my success and failures and I’ve understood how I can use what I know now, and continue to grow next year. To finish off I want to ask you a question, I’ve recognized where I think I excel and where I need improvement, but I want to know if you agree with me and can add anything. So my question for you is: