It hasn’t even been two weeks since we finished our last project and our PLP nine class is already nearly done our second one this year! As I said in my previous post, this year is quite different. COVID 19 still requires the school year to be structured on a quarter system and out of school restrictions are only getting larger. Its a hard time to live in but I found being able to go to school and have access to that social interaction has helped tremendously.
This is a “Formative Post”, which means I am reflecting on all that I have learned from the fifty percent of the project we have completed. Formative posts are helpful because they can really highlight the process of the project since it is still fresh on your mind. They are also a great way to jot-down all of what you learned in the first half, so you can focus on the second half in the final post.
Our second project for our 2020/21 school year was titled Storm The Bericades. The main focus of it was to learn all about revolutions and what their impact was on the world. All of the work in this project was lead by the driving question: HOW DO REVOLUTIONS TRANSFORM SOCIETIES? Since PLP is only two classes this year, each class consists of two different subjects and, due to the fact that we only have one project at a time, there are competency’s for all four subjects crammed into this one project. The competencies include:
ENGLISH
Designing Texts: Have I used writing and design processes to plan, develop, create, and refine engaging and meaningful texts considering purpose, audience, and message?
SOCIAL STUDIES
Establish Historical Significance: How do we make choices about what is worth remembering?
Analyze Cause and Consequence: Who or what influenced events to occur and what were the consequences of those events?
MAKER
Creative Communicator: How might I use technology to create and communicate?
Although we have only completed half of the project, the amount of work and learning I have done is worth reflecting.
Unlike others, this project consisted of a lot of launch and building knowledge work. It seemed like for ever, but, by day 8 we had finally left the launch phase. Although at the time launch seemed like a bit to much explaining and not enough working, as I think about what a gained from it, I realize that I probably wouldn’t have been able to complete the big milestones as well as I could when they came.
So far I have completed 2 gruelling milestones out our the six that are in this project. After building our knowledge about Crain Brittons theory of revolutions we were tasked with job to create a Rube Goldberg machine that would exhibit his theory using metaphors. To be honest with you, when I first was informed of what we had to do and the amount of time we had, I knew that this would be difficult. Hahaha, and boy was I right! Me and my group of four: Keenan, Sophia, and Jakob, found ourselves struggling only 20 minutes into the process. Our first task was to make a metaphor for each phase of the revolution, which came easy, but as soon as we had to start building, our brains turned into a thick ooze. We found out that the reason planning was so easy was because we didn’t really think about the rationality of each metaphor we would build. For example we thought we were going to be able to build a motorized conveyer to represent the fact that sometimes the revolution could repeat itself.
After spending nearly the entire day building, we found that our machine was short of a phase. Since our project had to be completed in such a small time frame, there was no time to catch up. Even after working the next morning before school, we still had to do the actual milestone. Although, I have to say I was very proud of our final product. It wasn’t pretty or smooth to say the least, but it did its job and did it well. Each metaphor was clearly shown and for the most part, what we made ended up to be quite similar to our original plan.
https://youtu.be/6t7FVhG_Ebo
The feeling of achievement only lasted for a short while when we realized that the second mod and video was going to be due just a couple days after that. With an un filmed video and tiered brains, we made a plan. Since we hadn’t filmed yet, we decided that we were going to do that during class and hope we could get the second mod done before the end of that day when it was due.
I, and I’m sure the rest of my group was feeling done with being always one step behind, so we decided to take action. By the end of class that day we had finally finished filming our video and well on our way to finishing our second mod. That night I started the editing process. Since we were very behind, I decided to take ownership of the video to make it the best I could, hoping to fully answer the competencies and show how I had extended my learning. In the video I added audio, edited and to extend my knowledge I created a mind map with my notes from a previous stepping stone. I found that this helped provide more information as well as make the video more aesthetically appealing. This is were I best showed my understanding of the “Understanding Text” Competency. Besides the mind map, I also orchestrated a track in GarageBand which I thought would help convey the information better. So far, I thought that the video was were I best showed the “Creative Communicator” competency. For our next video we plan to record strait into iMovie due to the fact that we couldn’t use the original audio since it was too hard to cut and fit into the correct spots.
https://youtu.be/4GyMliaswBQ
The second milestone was very different to the first. This milestone was led by the “Establishing Historical Significance” competency and was all about the American Revolution. Our task was to write a proper paragraph on the historical Significance of the American Revolution. For preparation, we learned about what questions to ask to determine if something is worth remembering as well as a few events that held historical significance and why they did. After that, we were asked to make our first mod to our Rube Goldberg machine. At the time we hadn’t finished our first machine, so I decided that I had enough information just to go strait ahead to the paragraph. As I was writing, I realized how much my notes helped and how much I actually learned from each lecture we were given. Although I was very happy with my end result, next time I would do this, I would try to keep the paragraph more precise. Even though it took me a few to many words, I believe that I gave a clear explanation to how the American Revolution was historically significant.
overall I would say that I am pretty worked, although I am very exited for all that I will learn in the upcoming milestones. Thank you for reading and make sure to stay tuned for my finishing post.
Hey Ryder,
interesting group project on the French Revolution and it inspired me to reflect on the notion of both causes and consequences of historical events as you outlined in your paragraph. Understanding not only what happens in history from an objective standpoint (like the date and time of some event, or who were the specific players that partook), but, also, in terms of what factors led to or contributed to some event taking place is both challenging and fascinating…
history is like undertaking a great detective investigation, gathering the most relevant evidence and noting the significant connections, recognizing the obvious, yet always searching for the obscure and hidden links… There seems to be so many ’causes’ for some circumstance or incident that can be identified, yet, on closer analysis, many of those ’causes’ are, at the same time, also the consequences of other ‘previous’ events..
so, where’s truly the distinction? where are lines drawn? so how does one really pinpoint exactly the chain of causes and effects that explain a particular historical outcome? it’s really like a river of events flowing constantly… riding the current of life and being the current at the same time…
like, I’m thinking about what you mentioned in your paragraph about France being economically unstable due to its apparently spending a lot of money in the American Revolution… I wonder how much the American Revolution influenced the French one? I just read that Benjamin Franklin (a pivotal player in America’s independence, as you may know, and considered a ‘Founding Father’ was like the ambassador to France between 1776-1785… this is interesting! What influence might Ben have had over there in France during these simmering years before the French Revolution? and to think, there were no phones!
history is amazing and how historians and others record what has happened is intriguing… like who gets to tell or retell the story of history? Whose perspective or point of view is providing the historical “facts” and can there be personal bias involved so as to paint a particular picture of history in order to serve one’s own, or some group’s, particular interests or values? Who becomes the authority – or who are the experts – on what really happened in the past (especially before media) and the reasons why?
so, I dig the pulley contraption on the Goldberg metaphor machine during the ‘moderate regime’ phase that lifts up after the ‘govt. official’ marble rolls down and the soldier is catapulted…kinda like Storming the Bastille, I suppose…
Also, I read your very excellent story about the soldier in New France and the Four Ton Mortar at the Fortress of Louisbourg…Thanks! : )
No, thank you! Its so awesome to here feedback on my posts. I thought that when you said that “historian’s point of view could be bias” to be very true and mind bending. I guess it kinda just is a good reminder to look at multiple sources of information :). I’m glad you liked my story about the four Tonne mortar! That definitely took a while to make and was pretty difficult to think of as well.