Category: Humanities

English, Social Studies

What the Hell is a Triptych?

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The Renaissance was an important time period in history, and I’m here to reflect on what I learned the Renaissance project that we did in Humanities. Just a reminder of what we did in this project; created a triptych (a picture or relief carving on three panels, typically hinged together side by side and used as an altarpiece) includes —>, wrote a paragraph about either an innovator, an artistic accomplishment, an innovation, or a societal chance, triptych also included a photo of us (Memoji, Bitmoji, photo), and the most significant development that you chose from Renaissance era. First off, I’m going to show my triptych, then reflect on it, show off my specific paragraph, then reflect on that, then draw a conclusion. Now, time to show you what I did.

 

My Triptych

I put a lot of work into my triptych, and as you can see I chose some pretty unique things. For my innovator, I chose William Shakespeare because he directed and created many famous plays that affected lots of people. For an artistic accomplishment, I chose the Mona Lisa because personally I think that most people know this famous painting and this was a very significant item of choice. I chose the parachute as my significant invention because I wanted to challenge my self by proving a less significant invention to actually be just as significant. Lastly, I chose access to knowledge and education as my societal chance because I feel like those two things are key in a person’s successful life. I had a lot of fun making the triptych because the whole idea of the triptych to me was new and I thought it was really cool show things off in that sort of style.

 

The Paragraph

”The parachute; a safety invention that turned into so much more. What started out as a thought  is now something used by military specialists. I find that the parachute has been a very significant invention from the Renaissance era and this invention matters it me.

The original idea behind the creation was noble, and this idea is what sparked creativity in many others, and saved many lives. The idea that Garnerin thought of when he attempted to create this invention was to slow an individual’s fall when jumping from a high altitude. This was a good idea for lots of reasons. One of my favourite examples is as follows: (Scene: burning building upper floor) you could put on your parachute and jump out a window to safety without injuring yourself too much.

In 1783, Leonardo da Vinci and Fausto Veranzio invented the very first parachute, although a vague drawing idea for a parachute was discovered all the way back in the 1470s in Renaissance Italy.

The parachute was used for both military use, and for thrill, and that has continued to the present. The parachute may not be the most significant invention, but it sure is up there.”

My paragraph was inspired by the under-appreciated parachute. I think it was an important invention because:

One reason I find the parachute to be so significant is because with it, people experience the thrill of their lives that would not be possible to experience without this invention. What I mean by this is skydiving. It would not be possible to, without the parachute, experience such a thing. I mean, imagine tying to skydive with a hang-glider (P.S. that would not work out great). Another reason why the parachute is so important to me is because you can do so many cool things with it. One thing you can do is ride a bike off a cliff and survive! (https://youtu.be/raWeLOpo56A) Another thing you can do is go skydiving (really cool [definitely something I want to do in my lifetime]). (https://youtu.be/rTM8vXtdIUA) (https://youtu.be/j54R3P76aS4) Skiing is another cool thing you can do with parachutes, and it looks really beautiful (https://youtu.be/u6QUODOxvgw) My final reason on why the parachute has been such a significant invention is because it has helped people get from air to ground safely without injuring themselves. This has become especially useful in the army when they are doing covert missions and need to sneak behind enemy lines. It is extremely helpful in the military as well as just in the regular world. That’s just a few reasons why the parachute is important. It is extremely helpful in the military as well as just in the regular world. The parachute is unparalleled in the significance column in my opinion.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this project as a whole was a really enjoyable experience for me and a very pleasant project.

 

Thanks for Reading My Blog!

The End

Staying at Seycove: The Novella

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Hello and welcome to my Learning Advance themed blog post. The Learning Advance was something I didn’t attend and yet I still learned a lot in my week at Seycove.

 

The Learning Advance:

This was basically outdoor school but PLP themed. I heard that they did a lot of fun games but also did a lot of boring school work. The goal of the learning advance was to “advance” our learning by giving us some fresh air.

My Book:

My book was about what the week was like during the learning advance while I stayed at school. I shouldn’t spoil much about the book yet since you are about to read it but all that I will say is that it was a really chill and fun week.

FYIs:

A few things I want to let the reader know about:

– I didn’t go on the PLP trip to Loon Lake

– I worked in the library

– Originally the link wasn’t working so that’s why there may be some improv sections in it where I did my best from what I had that day

 

“At Seycove” Learning Experience:

Extra Detail:

One other thing that I was able to do while I was at the absent week was make word art for both my Destination Imagination group (top) and the group that the remaining PLP created (The Remainers [bottom]).

 

Conclusion:

Overall, the Learning Advance was a really cool idea and I would have really enjoyed going. I heard from friends that it was a unique experience for them. From the sound of it, this experience is a new way to learn and an effective one at that. I think that in the week that I stayed at school was a perfect time for growth as a learner. I learned a lot of new skills while the trip was happening and I’m sure my classmates did too. In the future, I plan to work on my collaboration skills so that I can work better with my tea

Halfway Through Surviving Year 1 of High School (mPols)

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Welcome to my presentation!

Today, I will be talking about every subject so far this year and highlighting the most fun projects I did in each subject.

Humanities:

The Medium is the Message AKA Creating Ads:

For the first project, we were assigned a local business and were tasked with creating an ad for them.  Me and my group were assigned a local real estate agent (Patricia Houlihan). We went through multiple stages before achieving a final design that both the business and our group liked. At the start, we were just creating our own personal ones that we thought the business would like. Then, we combined ideas with our group members to make a rough draft group ad.  We all got a turn to get a group interview with David Hepburn, an ad creator agency. We ended up choosing Ruby’s comic book theme and Makai’s mountain background. In the end, this project was a pretty fun startup to a first year of high school.

The Outsiders:

For this project, we read a classic novel both at school and at home, and partook in book discussions every 2-3 chapters. Near the end of the project, we got assigned a scene from the book and started practicing making that scene into a tableau (a group of models or motionless figures representing a scene from a story or from
history) to perform at the winter exhibition. We were then supposed to transpose the scene into what it might look like in 2021. Me and my group got the Darry slapping Ponyboy scene. We had a lot of fun practicing the tableau. This was a fun project and I gotta say that this was the highlight project of Humanities so far.

Working with Words AKA Poems

For the latest project, we were charged with creating multiple different types of poems over the course of a few weeks and then told to make it into and eBook. It was supposed to be centred around our worldview personally. Not only were there poems in the eBook, but also complementary text (e.g. photos, videos, or drawings that complement the poem) and meaning statements (audio recordings telling the reader, in relation to the driving question [How might I construct text that shows who I am right now?], the meaning behind the poem). At the end of the project, as a presentation of our learning, relatives and friends were invited to watch a live stream of the “Coffee House Performance”, where we would show off the poems that we created in class that same day to show them how neat poems can be. Overall, Humanities has been a really fun subject and I can’t wait to do it again next semester.

 

Scimatics:

Fractions of your Time:

This was the probably the easiest Scimatics project so far. We were told to track our screen time and make note of the different devices and subjects on that respective device. We then made a graph/diagram showing the different types. Even though I could easily understand all the data, others had a hard time figuring it out, probably due to them not being the ones recording the info. Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable starter project to begin the school year with, with easy to follow instructions that most new grade 8s could probably understand.

Tectonic Chances:

We started off by learning more about tectonic plates, mid-ocean ridges, and other things to do with plate tectonics. We then started brainstorming how we could incorporate these vocabulary words into the board game or card game that we’d be creating for it. Me and my partner ended up making a tectonic plate quiz game. We were supposed to include chance in it but I ended up forgetting.

Laser Laws:

Laser Laws has to be the best project in Scimatics so far. It was really cool to experiment with the different angles of lasers and how it could make a cool shape with the right measurements. My group members and I made our laser display space themed, with a funny spaceman reaching out, and our battery pack hidden inside a NASA spaceship. I thought that was pretty clever. One problem that appeared near the end was the fact that our battery pack was dying! This was a BIG problem because we couldn’t remove the batteries from the spaceship without knocking the laser and messing up the trajectory. Luckily, a classmate was able to give us a second battery pack, which I quickly thought to us to just move the wires and connect it to that instead of moving the first battery pack. It didn’t look as good but at least it worked! After that, with the help of no lights and spray smoke, we had one of th most powerful lasers in the room! This was definitely my favourite project so far in Scimatics.

Maker:

Becoming a PLP Learner:

Introducing us at the start of the year to PLP, we have this project. The end goal of this project was to show what you learned so far and prove that you were worthy of the title PLP learner. We learned a lot of cool techniques to making things and used a lot of fun apps. We also learned a lot more about ourself and the world through this first project. At the end of the day, everything went great and we learned a lot.

Constructing Creative Communication:

This project had 2 parts. We were split up into 2 groups: Herzog and Carr. Two famous people with two different talents. Carr people would practice drawing and learn new tips and tricks. The Herzog people practiced their photography skills and worked on new angles and approaches to photo taking. Half way through, once you were finished with that topic, you would switch to the other group. Overall, we learned a lot of things about both subjects and learned some really neat techniques that will definitely come in handy in the future. Personally, I liked Herzog the best, because I want to be a professional photographer, even though i already knew most of the tactics they were teaching us. This was my favourite subject for Maker.

Geek Out Blog Challenge:

This project was a fun and easygoing one. We got to choose a topic that we are really interested in, write blogs about it, and then let people read it online. I chose to write my blog on music; for example, the songs I like to listen to or play on instruments, my musical history, and much more. This was a pretty open project where you could just ramble on about your interests without hesitation.

Destination Imagination:

This is an ongoing program that I can’t spoil much about. All I can tell you is that we are each assigned a challenge and compete by creating inventions, making stories, and then doing an unknown instant challenge. At the end, I’ll definitely do a blog post detailing everything, but until then, adios!

Thanks for Reading!

Poems, Poems, Stop Making us do Poems

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A fun topic to end off the first semester: poetry. There are many forms of poetry. It’s a cool subject to learn about. I find poetry as a way of letting out emotions, feelings, and opinions.

My favourite poem that I created was my self-portrait poem. Here it is:

Who am I?

This is the poem where I explain.

Draw you a picture of myself out of words.

I like green.

It is a clean colour.

It shows new life.

I like cats.

They are very fluffy and adorable.

I love my family.

They are with me every step of the way.

They have shaped my worldview greatly.

I like showing memes to people.

I like this because I also like to make people laugh.

I like making people happy.

I like poems.

They are a way of letting out emotions and feelings through words.

I find poems as a sort of coping method for some people.

I dislike war.

War is a terrible thing that uses violence as the solution to a problem.

I hate racism.

Racism is a terrible thing.

I like experiments.

There are so many things to learn.

A baking Soda volcano, a non-Newtonian fluid, or anything else your mind can come up with.

I like school.

School helped me make all of this.

 

Now for my eBook:

Songs That I Like To Play On The Ukulele

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Hello again! This is the second to last school assigned issue of Geek Out, although I will probably be posting more that aren’t school assigned. In this issue, I’ll discuss my favourite songs to play on my ukulele.

 

Here we go:

First off, we have Stay With Me by: Sam Smith. This was the first song I ever learned on the ukulele. We learned it in the music room at Dorothy Lynas (all credit goes to Mr. Drew [the music teacher], thanks so much). This is a really easy song to learn with a really easy to follow chord base. Great for beginners!

 

Stand by Me By: Ben E. King is another great song that only adds one extra chord to the mix. Would recommend to play.

Riptide by: Vance Joy is a fun and easy song to play with only 3 chords needed. If you are looking for a fun time, this is the song for you.

 

Hey, Soul Sister by: Train is a somewhat complicated song to learn at first but it gets easier as you practice. Plus it’s a really great song to sing to with friends. Campfire song worthy for sure.

 

Somewhere Over The Rainbow by: Israel Kamakawiwo’ole is an enjoyable song to play and sing if you know the right chords, which are easy to learn. This song is one of the best songs to play on the ukulele by far.

 

I Don’t Know My Name by Grace Wanderwall. This is by far my favourite song to play on the ukulele. It’s such a fun song to jam out to and great to play for friends and with friends. This is by far my most practiced song of all after my music teacher (Jorden [thanks!]) told me about it.

The Choir Performance of December

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The Seycove choir performance was a big step in my musical career. I practiced and practiced until I finally got all the words right and mastered the key. That is why I chose to outline this photo.

Stage 1: Outlining

For the first step, I spent my time carefully tracing the outline of the photo that matched the picture behind it (thank god for layers ?). The only problem I ran into was tracing the other person’s (Dara’s) feet, since they were blocked by the person sitting in front of the camera. That is why they may look wonky and disproportionate.

Step 2: Details

(Photo above depicts the outline comparison that I used, photo below depicts the side-by-side technique I used to get the right colours [more on that at the end of step] for filling the logo in)

I noticed that my drawing was looking a bit plain, so I decided to add some more details from the photo to make it look more interesting. This is also where I first decided to start colouring. As you can see below, I used a side-by-side comparison to eye drop the right colours I needed. I did this by grabbing the shirt from my closet and taking a photo of it in-app (Sketches Pro).

 

 

Step 3: Colouring

This was by far the most fun AND challenging part of the step-by-step process because the fill tool disliked me a lot. I had to change the outline to a different colour as to not confuse the fill tool. I used the same technique as in step 2 to get the colours right. Another reason that this was hard was because some of the smaller details, like the eyebrows and inner ear were to close to the outline, so every time I tried to change the inner details, it would change the outline too. I eventually just drew in the colours I wanted instead. I also had trouble with the smaller areas because they were so small that they would just merge with the outline and not fill the whole thing.

Step 4: Finish Up

This step is where you complete the piece and edit anything for last minute changes.

Step 5: Admire

Self Explanatory.

My Third Music Recording

The Seven Best Songs

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Hello, and welcome back to my blog! In this post I will be talking about the 7 best songs (in my opinion)(as of right now) and I will include an audio clip of the best part of the song (again, in my opinion). You may have heard of famous singing groups doing lists of their top songs made by them, so this is my list of 7 songs made by other artists that I like. Here we go!

7. Fairytale by: Livingston

6. She Knows (feat. Amber Coffman & Cults) by: J. Cole, Cults, Amber Coffman

5. Mama Said by: Lukas Graham

4. Alien Blues by: Vundabar

3. Fed Up by: Ghostmane

2. Seven Nation Army- The Glitch Mob Remix by: The White Stripes, The Glitch Mob

1. The Lone Slim Shady by: Deez Memes (Original Songs: Lone Digger by: Caravan Palace and The Real Slim Shady by: Eminem)

 

Thank you for listening to and reading my second blog post. I hope you enjoyed!

My Second Music Recording

Warning: May be cringiest thing ever layed eyes upon by another human being

Music: Why it Matters to Me

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I was a fan of singing since I could first speak, and now I want to share that interest with others. On this part of my blog, I will talk about my musical history, favourite songs both to sing, listen to, and to play (on instruments), and some vocal techniques. At the end of each blog, I will share a video recording of me singing and/or playing a song. 

Today, I’m talking about my favourite songs to sing, and why I’m so passionate about singing. Some of my favourite songs to sing are:

Faded by: Alan Walker is a great chill song to practice and listen to as the lyrics are slightly repetitive and easy to memorize.
Candy Cane Lane by: Sia is a new Christmas song that has caught the eye of many and is also a pretty catchy song to jazz up your merry little Christmas.
House of Memories by: Panic! at the Disco is a very catchy song with an upbeat rhythm that keeps your head bopping the whole time.
Pompeii by Bastille is a song that gives off a reflective tone.

Now I’m going to talk about why I’m so passionate about singing. 

I find singing as a way of expressing feelings through vocalization without actually saying how you feel. I find it to be a way of silent release of energy that helps you relax and push away other thoughts. That is why I joined choir. A whole room full of focused and projected energy in perfect harmony. I’m really passionate about singing because there is just no better feeling than hearing a vocalist sing just the right notes to go along with the song and match the notes. That is why I have chosen music to be my “Geek Out” topic.

I hope you enjoyed reading my introduction to “Geek Out”

My First Music Recording:

Lights, Camera, Tableau! (Part Drama)

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I learned a lot in humanities, and one of the most fun subjects has to be the outsiders. I found it interesting how they told us to transfer the scene into 2021 because this was a new idea that I had never heard of before. I feel like I made sure to stay on top of everything during the tableau. I also made sure to show as much emotion and action as possible.

Something that I would probably change from the tableau presentation is the change midway through the performance of the positioning of Charlie and me. I would have liked to have figured out before it started where people would go for good. Then we could have practiced more and synced everything better.

After reading The Outsiders, I realized that kids that lived in a different neighborhood may have grown up with a new personality than if they had grown up in another community. I revealed this to myself because the Greasers lived in a poorer neighborhood than the Socs. This lifestyle made them act tougher and grow up with less support.

 

The Medium is the Message Summative Blog

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  • This was my first draft ad. I basically had no idea what I was doing when we first started the project back on September 13. This draft had way too much text on it and was very visually unappealing.
  • For this draft, I took away a lot of the text and gave it a Deep Cove background so that the ad would feel more local.
  • For this draft, I added Patricia’s name to the image. I also went down to Deep Cove and took some photos, which I put into the background of my ad.
  • In this version of the individual ad, I changed the colours so that they were complimentary, which made the ad pop. I also added a bit more text information, including contact info.
  • For my final draft, I fixed the typo in Patricia’s name and took out some of the extra contact info. I also cropped it so that there wasn’t any extra white bits on the edges.

How does what we hear, read, and see influence us? This is the question that was asked to us in Humanities. To help us discover the answer to this question, the PLP teachers assigned us groups to work in together and gave us a business that we were required to make an ad for. As you can see above, this is the individual path that I took to create my ad.

The big idea of this project is:

– Building understanding of media and messaging

– Understanding the influences on us when we think about what we hear, read, and see

– To bring that understanding to the driving question and be able to answer the question for ourselves to help us be better educated citizens!

This is the part where I’m supposed to share two pieces of evidence of my learning, and that’s exactly what I plan on doing.

Evidence #1: The group ad. We built this off of the individual ads. In our group, we based our ad off of Ruby’s ad, which depicted Patricia Houlihan (our business) as a superhero. We made lots of drafts and put a lot of time and effort into this project. The final draft took a long time to perfect and I think it came a long way from the original. I think this is worthy of being a piece of my evidence of learning because it shows how I helped my team create this stunning final ad.  It also shows how we improved through revision and reflection.

Evidence #2: The Design Principles Workbook. This was (in my mind) a large project, and I took a lot more time than I probably should have working on this. I acted like a perfectionist, making sure every detail was just right, when in reality, it never could. I think this is worthy of being considered evidence of my learning because it shows how I put lots of effort into this assignment.

Some of my strengths from these assignments were that I stayed social with my team and coordinated our efforts. The downside to this was that I distracted my teammates when we were working. Another strength of mine during these projects was that I was reliable. I made sure that we got the activities done on time. One thing that I still need to work on during homework is my time management. That brings me to my next stretch, I need to stop being distracted. I can be easily distracted by my peers and friends, and I need to focus on focusing. This brings me to Strength/Stretch #3: I am somewhat flexible. I am only human, so I am sometimes flexible when it comes to a change of plans, relocation, surprise assignments, and so on and so forth.

In conclusion, I think the answer to the driving question (above) is that it influences us by informing us on life, which then shapes our personality and gives us unique characteristics. For example, John Dewey was a psychologist, an American philosopher, and an educational reformer whose ideas were influential in social reform and education. People heard what he had to say and this influenced them to make change and act differently. That is my answer.

If you liked this blog, you might like my teammates blogs as well. Go check them out:

Makai

Keaton

Callum

Ruby

Frankie

Other Posts:

My Teamwork Contract

All About Me

The Great Cameroonian

Random Slideshow for School