Tpol 2024

“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.”

 

As our year draws to a close, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the journey we’ve embarked upon. This past year has been, what I think, a true passage of personal and academic growth.

In this post, we’ll revisit the highs and lows, the challenges and triumphs, and the unforgettable moments that have defined my year. From essays to presentations to documentaries, each project has been a unique learning adventure.

So join me as I look back at the lessons learned, the bonds formed, and the incredible progress made over the past year. With this presentation, I hope to answer this driving question:

How can you showcase evidence demonstrating that PLP Success Behaviors have prepared you to advance to the next grade?

I will admit that in past years, the Tpol was probably my least favourite school “assignment,” but with age, of course, comes wisdom, and I’ve learned that the Tpol is not something to dread, but something to really appreciate instead.

I’ll divide this presentation into three sections: my evidence (learning and projects), Agency (accountability), and behaviours and habits. So without further ado, let’s get into the story of my learning.

EVIDENCE

At the beginning of the year, I set my expectations for my proficiency at 90%, with hopes for maybe 100% extending in certain areas, as I’m sure most people aspire to, but a proficient 90% was a solid goal for myself.

Reflecting back on my evidence of learning this year, I will admit there were highs and lows for sure, so let’s look at what really happened behind the scenes of all the projects I did this year.

Mightier Than the Sword

*Mightier Than the Sword* was a great launch to the school year. In essence, the project reflected on our years in high school, advising the grade 8s on what they should expect and how to navigate a new environment through a book that we would create.

Throughout this project, we worked on academic writing, a skill I had always struggled with. This skill would come in handy throughout the year.

How I showcased extending qualities:

A key part of being extending is thinking beyond the norm, not just doing it well, but going the extra mile. To show this, I wanted to put a personalized twist on my book that I’m sure at least a few people can relate to:

All be it, it’s not perfect, but it sets itself apart from other projects in quality and detail. This I am proud of.

Manhattan Project²

Our first group project of the year kicked off with the Manhattan Project.

During this project, we practiced communicating for purpose, audience, and message. Beginning with the historical significance of the Manhattan Project, supported by evidence, and ending with a deep textual analysis of an Oppenheimer speech. We created a collaborative published book in a group of 6, supporting the claims we made.

To say the least, group projects are not my favourite thing by a long shot. However, that’s a demon I’ll have to face figuratively. Fortunately, my group was great. Everyone pulled their weight and collaborated to create a pretty awesome final product.

How I showcased extending qualities:

For part of this project, I assumed the position of DRI, which was a pretty big responsibility. I made sure everyone was pulling their weight and completing assignments. My role was to make sure that the book looked great and was presentable to a public audience. I was also the one who designed the style and theme of the whole book to make it look like Oppenheimer’s journal that he would have kept throughout his time during the Manhattan Project, a unique and sophisticated way of presenting our claim.

The Great Debaters

This was the project that we presented at our winter exhibition. Much like the *Mightier Than the Sword* project, this was one I was very pleased to do because of what it entailed. Throughout elementary school, I participated in speech arts, so I’ve always had experience with public speaking to an extent. I soon realized that I had a lot to work on, but again, I really enjoyed improving on these life skills. I also spent a lot of time researching my debate topic, (which was why winter is not the best season), so a lot of time and care was put into meticulously crafting an argument.

How I showcased extending qualities:

I personally thought that my argument was really strong. Compared to some of the other debates I saw, and I mean absolutely no offence to my fellow classmates, just observations, I thought mine was particularly well structured compared to some of the others I saw. A lot of them rambled on to points that weren’t really relevant in supporting their argument. I also thought my speech itself was very good.

Who Cares Why Bother

Now I’m being 100% truthful when I say I didn’t enjoy this project very much. I’m not going to sugarcoat it and say I loved it because I didn’t. I’ve never been a huge fan of novel studies in general, but I thought that *Lord of the Flies* was a genuinely good book and I enjoyed reading it. When it came to the assessment of our depth of learning in this book, that’s where my grievances begin. I didn’t particularly agree with a seminar discussion of the book. Instead of proper evaluation, it was a first-to-get-to-the-point battle that made the first to talk often seem like they had a better understanding than others, which was obviously not the case.

Then came the group work situation. The issue with my group was that we had a hard time getting ideas flowing. It was sort of that awkward no one really knows what’s going on some kind of thing. Eventually, I couldn’t take it anymore and I tried to get some ideas of what our video might look like flowing. We sort of leapt a bit too headfirst into it all because we didn’t realize we were a bit off the criteria until we were almost finished. So we had to pivot and reshoot a lot. Then came our presentations where it was fair to say not everyone pulled their weight in that department. I had to pick up a lot of the slack in slide creation and presentation content. Then unfortunately one of our group members didn’t show up to the presentation, so I ended up presenting his slides.

Needless to say, it was not my best project and I was very upset with the grade I received. I didn’t believe that it was a proper representation of my learning, but that just motivated me to do my absolute best in my next project.

Fear Factor

I loved this project. I especially loved the field study that came along with it, but that’s a story for another time. I decided to take a documentary route to answer my driving questions. I’d always had a keen interest in filmmaking and had prior success with documentaries. Little did I realize it would probably be the most time-consuming project I’d ever done. Creating the documentary itself probably took 8 hours of pulling clips from YouTube and editing them all together.

How I showcased extending qualities:

I knew that I had created a very high-quality real-world documentary. I know I’m biased, but I actually believed it was done to the highest of my ability. When it comes to this sort of thing, I’m super meticulous about the details. Throughout all ten minutes, I made sure that it was consistent and professional. It also got a little under 400 views which I know isn’t grounds for assessment, but pretty cool.

Cat and Maus/Spring Exhibition

This project was quite a wild ride. On a serious topic, learning about the tragedies of the Holocaust and the power of storytelling was especially powerful. I put a lot of effort into making my writing assignments as academic as possible. A challenge for me, but well worth it. I know I sound like a bit of a broken record here, but I worked really hard on my essay. The exhibition turned out to

be a bit of an oddball with combining the BCFP project. Nevertheless, we balled.

How I showcased extending qualities:

Starting with my essay, I put a lot of work into researching mental conditions regarding trauma and real-world examples. For my exhibition, my partner Mateo and I created an immersive activation that really got viewers engaged. They would throw balls at targets as a metaphor for taking down systemic racism, connecting Colin Kaepernick and the Indian acts, taking it to a level unlike most other projects.

 Classroom/Study Habits

In my early years of high school, the classroom was always a struggle for me, and it took a toll on my learning. Since grade 10 and beyond, I’ve been trying to improve my dedication to learning in the classroom, so I’ll split it up into three sections: My Agency (accountability and responsibility for my learning), conduct and behaviour, and study habits.

Agency

I make a lot of comparisons to my past self, and I know that people say not to dwell on the past, but I like to compare and contrast what I was like and how that changed into who I am now. I must say that I feel like I’ve always been a pretty self-motivated learner. I don’t need help with ideas or instruction (not saying that there’s anything wrong with that). I’m very clear with creating goals and taking ownership of my learning and actions. Where my issues come from is accepting revisions. I’ve never been fond of revising work that I’ve put a ton of effort into. It’s hard for me to admit that maybe I could have done better in certain areas but fell short. What I need to realize is that it’s there to help me improve my work and be a better person. Even at these Tpols, I really don’t like learning the harsh reality that I need to improve.

Conduct and Behavior

I will not lie, in grades 8 and 9 I was a little bit of a pain in the rear. I would often act up in class and be very disruptive. It got in the way of my learning which, as I mentioned before, took an overall toll on my grades. This year, I watched myself when I started getting off task. I made sure I was respectful and inclusive toward my classmates. A good showcase of this would be during my multiple group projects where respectful collaboration was one of the most important parts. I understand that my biggest weakness in this area is getting carried away from the task at hand. I am easily susceptible to distraction from my peers. However, unlike previous years, I’ve learned how to focus on the task at hand when I catch myself getting off task. I feel like now I place a higher value on getting my work done and value my time more. In grade 11 especially, time is a valuable asset that’s usually taken for granted in younger years, which leads me to my third point.

Study Habits

If there’s a section that I really want to improve on for next year, it’s my study habits. In those self-reflection sheets, we filled out about something in the core competencies we wanted to improve on, I mentioned I wanted to improve on study habits. In school, your study habits are your best or worst friend. In grades 8, 9, and 10 proper organization and study habits didn’t really concern me very much. It was very much *”Why should I care about the process of studying or researching as long as my final product turns out okay?”* Now I realize that what’s the point of doing all of that if your process lacks depth. Let’s say, for example, you’re studying for a test. You can go over the content once and get most of the answers right and convince yourself you’re ready, or review and review to the best of your ability until you KNOW you’re ready. With the introduction of the Zettlekasten, my knowledge of organization was completely changed. I loved the idea of a second brain and it actually worked out really well for me during *Fear Factor*. Then once *Cat and Maus* came, I sort of forgot all about it. My main thing next year is to focus on my study habits to unlock my fullest potential.

 

This year has been a journey of my own personal and academic growth, guided by the PLP Success Behaviors. Through various projects, I believe I showcased resilience, collaboration, and critical thinking. Despite challenges, particularly in group dynamics, I learned valuable lessons in perseverance and effective teamwork. Improved study habits and self-motivation have further prepared me for my future schooling which will come particularly in handy in University. As I advance to the next grade, I carry forward these lessons and skills as well as some new goals to improve on better commitment and effective study habits, clearer communication in group work, and the conciseness to push myself away from distractions. I am confident to say that I’m ready to embrace new challenges with utmost confidence and dedication.

Thank you for coming to my Tpol.