June 22

tpol

Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.  

The 2nd semester was honestly a decent semester for me, I did some pretty good projects and here are the things I am proud of this year:

I’ll start with my “lies and incongruincies” project for humanities where I decided to do a project on Quebecs FLQ. Since I would be away in Norway and wouldn’t have that much time to do schoolwork I thought this was a good topic for me to pick, since  I already know a lot about the topic. We had to write 3 different paragraphs for this, one about the history, a contemporary issue, and a civil issue. I had to do little to no research and only time I would look at an article online would to be to factcheck what I had wrote. The final product for this project was a collage and here is mine:

I was also quite pleased with my podcast, here is a link to my podcast blog post

In PGP we read the inspirational novel, “atomic habits”. Reading this piece of literature was really quite groundbreaking and this mind blowing book honestly changed my life. This fantastic story helped me find new ways to become more productive and overall helped me become a better person. I am very thankful we were given the opprotunity to read this uplifting novel

I am ready to advance to the next grade level because I have shown growth as a learner and proven myself to be a competent and capable individual 

June 20

Situational Awareness 😱

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog. For our last project in maker we have been working on a podcast series so in this post I will be talking about that.

First we had to pick a topic and make a “vision board” for it. We were allowed to pick a topic we were passionate about and that definitely made this project a lot easier. The topic I chose to do my podcast on was hockey, more specifically Jr hockey. I wanted to highlight different leagues, talk about different levels/teams, drawing from my experiences and my friends experiences.  

My vision board

After this it was pretty much right into planning, so for me this looked like finding people to interview for my podcast and what questions to ask them. This was also coming up with a name and designing cover art. The name I decided on for my podcast is “Situational Awareness”, the name comes from a game my coach played with us last season where he’d throw some sticks onto the ground then ask what number it is between 1 and 5 and saying to pay close attention to the sticks, but he would be holding the number on his hand, so you would need to be situationally aware to get the correct number.  Then for my cover art I made it look like the jersey for the Barrhead Bombers Jr A hockey club, a Jr A team I was given the chance to play for as an underage player in Jr A. My time with the Jr A Barrhead Bombers was short but I really enjoyed playing at the Jr A level and the Jr A experience.

Here is my cover art, as you can see it looks like the Jr A Barrhead Bombers jersey, just with my podcast name and not their logo. The blood stains on the jersey represent the violence and fighting on and off the ice in Jr A hockey, which you can learn more about on my podcast.

Overall, i thought this was a really fun project. There were a lot of challenges to overcome such as getting people to interview, finding time to record while i was in Europe, translating questions and answers, and a lot of recording issues. Throughout this project I learned a lot about different hockey leagues across the world, patience, and even a little russian while recording an episode about the MHL in Kazakhstan.

Episodes for my podcast:

MHL – Vlad Shtenko, goalie for Kyran Karanganda ✅

CAJHL – Ben Yerxa, centre for Barrhead Bombers

PJHL – Justin Collusi, defenseman for Richmond Sockeyes

GMHL – Noah Mayer, defenseman for Edson Eagles

USPHL – Noah Mayer, defenseman for Rogue Valley Royals

April 4

atomic habits/pbt

For PGP, I have just finished reading “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. Personally, I dislike reading and thought this book would be terrible, but it actually wasn’t. While it did drag on in parts, this book was pretty interesting, and I learned a lot from it. For example, sitting down and getting schoolwork done while staying focused on the task at hand has always been a struggle for me. I would sit down and get my iPad out, but within seconds, I would be distracted by something. While reading the book, I learned that just sitting and doing my schoolwork won’t always work because of the systems behind it. My desk is filthy and covered with papers, cans, dishes, elastic bands, etc. There is barely any room to put my iPad on my desk, and there are distractions everywhere. So instead of just throwing all my garbage on my desk, I would take the time to walk to a garbage can and throw it out before it piles up on my desk. Same with dishes, instead of stacking them on my desk, I’d put them right by my door, so I’d remember to take them to the kitchen when I’d leave my room. After a while, my desk started to look a little better, and I’ve gotten a lot more done. I can say that I am writing this from a (somewhat) clean desk!

For PGP class, we also did this thing called positive brain training or PBT. Since early February, I have been practicing the different PBT methods we were taught: journaling, exercise, meditation, conscious acts of kindness, and three gratitudes. My personal favorite was journaling. It felt like a safe place where I could just get all my thoughts out and write about whatever I was thinking about without being judged.

Overall, I enjoyed “Atomic Habits” and would recommend it. I also enjoyed most of the PBT and feel that I am a better person.

March 8

loon lake

Before unpacking, we participated in an introductory activity to mentally and physically warm up. Our Pinnacle Pursuits workshop instructor and guide, Jono, introduced himself and described the plans for the upcoming days. It became clear that we needed a different mindset going into this experience. Following this introduction, we completed a low ropes course that required the whole team to move from one end of the clearing to the other, highlighting the importance of communication and teamwork.

Later in the week, we did trust falls, starting inside on the ground and eventually moving outside and up onto a makeshift platform. This exercise required focus and communication, and the risk involved ensured that the group was engaged and worked together to ensure everything went smoothly.

Lastly, we completed the high ropes course, which was similar to the low ropes course but at a higher level and a “one at a time” situation. The team aspect was still present as those on the ground helped guide and support those on the ropes. Additionally, we participated in workbook and social exercises that allowed for self-reflection and helped us identify our strengths and passions.

I personally thought the workbook activities were dull and lame but the outdoor stuff was sick, my favourite being the high hopes course.

overall this loon lake trip was way better than the one last year and I am now much closer to some of my classmates

February 13

Mpol

So far, this year has been rather strange. I started off pretty happy with my gold rush story. Despite my hatred for history, I almost enjoyed learning about it and wrote a decent story  about a character who was in search of gold during the Cariboo gold rush in BC after fleeing Siberia

Later on, we started a project called “Ology of Apology” where we learned about the Chinese head tax and Japanese internment

However, for the start of this project my hockey team went away to Grande Prairie, Alberta for a week. This was probably the worst place I’ve ever been to. To add to the misery of being in grande prairie, there was a flu-like disease going around Alberta and everyone on our team got deathly ill. We’re not sure what we all got, so let’s call it “Grande Prairie Disease”.

Our bus ride home took 2 days and I ended up being absent from school for over a week. After nearly dying i returned to school but was already over a week behind on my work and it was difficult to catch up on everything, especially with being sick.

The next project was Shakespeare, which was boring. We watched two movie adaptations about Romeo and Juliet, read the play and connected them. Later, we were put into groups and had to recreate one of the scenes. My group got the big fight scene so we recreated it with gang violence. The violence was awe some but the actual Romeo and Juliet play was my 2nd least favourite thing ever (grande prairie #1). Romeo and Juliet gang video: https://youtu.be/uHAWzAJvNWY

In conclusion, this year so far has been filled with strange events and going to strange towns, but I still need to focus on school and work on finding time to do my work outside of hockey and balance school and life more. And, I will never go to Grande Prairie again.

June 20

Tpol

Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.

The driving question for this presentation is “why do you feel you are ready to advance to the next grade level”. I will answer this question throughout the presentation.

Humanities: 

In the humanities course this year I was pleased with my Case For A Nation project. During the project there was an assignment that we had to write about a current event and present it to a group. I wrote about the riots in Kazakhstan. I really enjoyed writing about a topic I was interested in so I worked very hard on the assignment. Instead of using google, I talked to people from Kazakhstan and was able to get my information from people who are affected by the topic. I was also happy with the final product in that project. We had to make an image about a certain topic that connects to Canadian history. My topic was the Métis bill of rights, a topic I am not so interested in. Despite not being to thrilled with the topic, I did lots of research and pushed through the project to have an accomplished final product.

Maker:

For the maker course, I feel I did a great job on my documentary! The topic I chose for my doc was Roscoe Pito, a very successful race horse in BC. I professionally reached out to schedule my interview and was able to complete it successfully. Despite being absent for the majority of the previous project, Vibrant Video, which was on learning different video shooting skills, I was able to take some incredible shots and successfully add all the requirements to the documentary.

 

driving question:

I believe I am ready to advance to the next grade because I faced a lot of adversity during this school year and even though I am not yet to complete all of the assignments I missed while I was infected with the covid nineteen coronavirus but for the most part I was able to stay somewhat calm and have made lots of attempts to complete the work. I also learned a lot this year in the class room, and out of the class room.

June 20

Vibrant video

in April we completed a project called Vibrant Videos which I do not know much about as I was sick for the majority of the project. In this project I was supposed to learn different filming skills and how to add different special effects to videos. I was there for the first week and it was how to add voice overs and what not, then I got sick and when I returned about 2 weeks later you could imagine how shocked I was when people were putting car crashes over videos of them biking. this seemed like it would have been an awesome project and it was a shame to miss most of it.

March 11

Case For A Nation 🇨🇦🇰🇿

In PLP 9 we have just finished our recent project called “Case For A Nation”. In Case For A Nation we learned about Canadian history and iconic figures from the past.

We started this project talking about things that are important to Canadian culture and identity. Then we discussed nationalism and current events. We had to do a presentation on a current event and connect it to nationalism. I wrote about the 2022 Kazakh Unrest. I connected it to nationalism because the protests show that the Kazakhs have pride in who they are. Now rioting and burning stuff down isn’t necessarily the best way to get something you want but when the Kazakh government has been as corrupt as it was for so long it was probably the only way to do it. My question on the topic was “the citizens of Kazakhstan achieved what they wanted, but cities were damaged, hundreds were killed, and thousands arrested, so was it really successful?”.

After this we had debates about different statues of famous Canadian figures being torn down. Then it was time for the big part of the project. We picked a crucial event in Canadian history and had to make an image about it. I chose the Metis List Of Rights. I learned a lot about Louis Riel and Metis history over the course of the project such as how poorly the First Nations were treated and how crucial the List Of Rights was to the creation of Manitoba. I learned about Louis Riels “Red River Resistance” that lead to the signing of the Metis List of Rights. The final project, as i mentioned, was 3 images created by me and 2 other group members that we feel represent our topic. This is my image. It is a painting of the land of the red river colony, with a map, Louis riel, and the metis flag faided into the back. It also has the red river rebellion on the side

It will be posted here

March 7

Loon lake

Recently in PLP 8 and 9, we went on a trip to Loon Lake in maple ridge! It was a pretty big deal considering it would be both classes first felid study, even popular cartoon character carter pewterschmidt tweeted about this incredible event.

the bus ride there wasn’t too bad,, only took about an hour. When we arrived everyone was shocked with the beauty of the lake and the forest (no loons though). When we arrived we did a nature walk and I didn’t see one bird or a squirrel which i found rather odd because we are in the woods.

The food on the trip was super good and there was a decent variety of meals. The activities were really fun too. We did a big game of capture the flag, battle archery, laser tag, and building shelters in the forest. During shelter building, i went to grab a stick and about 45 more sticks fell on me, it hurt a lot and i thought i was going to die until about like 7 minutes later when i was ok. Overall it was a pretty fun trip!

Learning Advance 2022

February 3

Chemistry stories

Hello, welcome back to my blog. Today i will be talking about our latest scimatics project “chemistry stories”. We had to make an animation cartoon thing that included covalent and ionic bonding.

One of the first things we did in this project was an experiment. But before we could do the experiment we had to make an animation on the procedure to make sure we knew what we were doing and to make sure that we wouldn’t end up setting fire to the class room. 

IMG_4092 IMG_4074

The experiment was pretty cool and nobody ended up setting fire to the class.

 Processing and analyzing:

I showed this while working on milestone 4, the story board of our final animation. I didn’t show it in the storyboard but i ended up doing a wile e coyote and roadrunner theme. I had correct information and models of chlorine, magnesium and nitrogen that i really wished i had used in milestone 5 because it wasnjt so good.

 

After i made my story board i could move onto the final project. I wish i had spent more time in class to finish creating my final animation. Overall this project was kinda fun but would have been a lot better if i had paid attention the whole time.

 

final animation (average)

IMG_4074