Hi everyone, and welcome back to my blog!
Today’s post will be about a project that I’ve just finished in Humanities.
This project is called “People and the Environment”, and the goal of this project was to write a letter about an environmental issue that is important to us. I chose to write about illegal dumping in the ocean, and how it is affecting marine life. I chose this topic because I live Waterfront, and I really care about sea creatures. I addressed this problem to BC minister of environment, George Heyman.
The driving question in this project was: “How do people and the environment affect each other?” They affect each other because they both share the same home, planet earth. For example, humans can negatively and positively affect the environment based on their choices. The environment can affect human’s behaviour, and their daily mood, and they can also pose as a threat against humans with diseases.
To demonstrate my learning, I will highlight the milestones/stepping stones that helped me answer the driving question.
The first activity I will be highlighting is “Guest Speaker: Megan Curren and Dennis Thomas.”
Megan Curren, an environmentalist and Dennis Thomas, a local buiseness owner, came to our school and answered questions we had about the environment, their buiseness, and their careers. I was one of the students chosen to ask them questions, the question I asked was: “Was it difficult to enforce the plastic straw ban? What steps did you take?” Her answer was: It was extremely difficult to convey the buiseness to use paper straws only. Her goal is to expand this regulation to a provincial and federal level.
This activity jump started my learning because it gave me information on the relationship between people and the environment.
The next activity I’ll be highlighting is one of the Commonlit’s we completed during this project, “Lee Sherman and the Toxic Louisiana bayou”. This piece followed the story of a man who worked for a company called PPG for many years. During his career, PPG would order him to illegally dump waste in the local bayou. The company’s actions gravely affected the local community.
This assignment helped me because this piece follows the same issue that my letter does. Furthermore, this piece helped me further understand the relationship between people and the environment. It told me that people are careless, and have zero respect for the environment.
This success criteria included in this assignment is “I can analyze how texts use literary devices to enhance both meaning and impact”. I demonstrated this criteria by doing well in my Commonlit assignments. However, something I could’ve done better was explaining my ideas.
The final milestone I’ll be highlighting is the letter. Writing this letter was no easy task and it took several drafts to complete.
The critique that I received from my teachers was that my letter was too vague and needed more explanation. They noted that I needed to further explain what products were being dumped, as well as who is dumping these products. I applied this feedback tot my next draft. I added more examples of who is dumping products, and I made my solution more specific.
The success criteria included in the letter was: “I can use writing and design processes to plan, develop, and create original, engaging, and meaningful texts for a variety of purposes and audiences.” Also, “I can reflect, assess, and refine texts to improve clarity, effectiveness, and impact for purpose, audience, and message.”
I demonstrated this criteria by researching, picking my audience, getting feedback from others, and revising my drafts. Looking back, I feel that I should’ve done more research for my letter, and I should’ve taken feedback better.
In conclusion, I enjoyed writing a letter because writing is one of my passions. Also, I found it interesting to study the environment because I feel very close with the environment. This project was definitely a challenge, but that made the final product more enjoyable. In all, I hope we can do another project regarding the environment in the near future.
Thanks for reading today’s blog!
