Hello and welcome to my TPOL or transitional presentation of learning to cap off the 2021/22 school year. The big question this presentation is supposed to ask is why I am ready to move on to the next grade level, and I’m here to display just how my learning has been forwarded this year. But first, I must start with the TPOL initiation speech.
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 first topic which I would like to discuss in this presentation is my MPOL, which can be found here. In this presentation I used the Manhattan Project Project as an example of my progress as a learner. One of the important elements of that project was the Socratic seminar, a format of in class discussion (not debate) to build on an idea. This is usually unmoderated, and you speak as you please. During the Hiroshima project I was able to participate in the seminars and be accomplished in the task, but recently in our latest project we were reintroduced to the format and I can see my improvement. In the Cray Cray Yay Yay project during the seminar related to the film Gandhi I was far more effective and able to speak on several occasions during the seminar, which is usually very difficult as I’m very skilled at getting interrupted when trying to speak.
Also relevant when comparing these two projects and my performance during them is my final product to present at an exhibition. In my Manhattan Project piece I was able to convey and idea both literally and metaphorically but not harness relevant personal interests and as much of a creative element as the Spring Exhibition allowed me to, mind you the former was under the confines of conceptual art. There was also a measurably difference response from my audience between the two exhibitions whereas in the first one my piece felt almost glossed over but this time it seemed heavily appreciated.
This nicely brings me into my main achievement I would like to put forward in this presentation, my work for the Spring Exhibition. My post for that can be viewed here. As I mentioned before, I believe it to be my strongest learning this year. I think that my portrait for this project represents this. This portrait showcased my ability to evaluate community, evaluate meanings of text, explore the effects of individual impact, convey ideas to others as well as collaboration in a group to display several portraits in a cohesive and logical way.
To start, in developing it I explored my community as well as its roots and history to find significant influence and impact which radiated enough to affect me to this day. In this exploration as well as the viewing of relevant texts in class I was able to derive meaning and evaluate psychological characteristics of those who make the biggest impacts on the world and their community.
My next point is where the metaphorical meaning of my portrait comes in, evaluating impact and portraying that to others. I think my portrait was a perfect display of this in that it was simple enough that it could be easily understood, but had a solid foundational meaning behind it. That being that change is permeative within the community below our feet or you could say over our head in that we do not appreciate the contributions of certain individuals to our communities and how drastically their impact has affected everyone around us. When displaying my portrait I would say that “You always see the bridge but not who’s behind it” to play with this meaning a little.
But this isn’t the only project which displayed my ability to communicate whether it be as a group or to communicate ideas to others. In relation to the former, since the start of the year I think I have been displaying this like with my Think You Could Do Better project and video, which I could effectively combine my background knowledge with to further my team’s work.
As for communicating ideas to others, I think that my Sounds of Poetry project is a good example as it focused on the ability to portray your interpretations of music in both writing and verbally. Looking at this can also show my improvement later this year too though, as my writing later on and especially with my Spring Exhibition stuff which felt more direct to the point and put together.
Another important skill is note taking, and I think I have greatly improved on this. Linked here is my notes for the viewing of Gandhi, which I would like to use as an example of my note taking.
Returning to the main idea of the TPOL, I think that these examples have clearly shows my understanding of a diverse range of subject related skills and competencies which can be put forward to furthering my learning in the future. This also all relates well to my learning plan goals of thinking outside the box, communicating purposefully, using my strengths among others mentioned in my learning plan for the year.