2023 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.

As this being my first year of High school and PLP I have overcome so many new obstacles I never thought I would have even encountered. Since the Becoming a PLP Learner post to our last project, the 2023 Spring Exhibition, I have not stopped learning.

Let’s start off by reviewing my learning plan that I created during the first week of PLP, then we will begin to reflect my growth this year, leading to the driving question; Why do you feel you are ready to advance to the next grade level?

 

 

Humanities 📝

 When I first made my learning plan I set my humanities goal as Accomplished ☀️, but then mid-late way through semester 1, after we had finished the Middle Ages project Ms. Madsen (my humanities teacher at the time) suggested I adjust my humanities goal to an exceeding 🌈. That made me proud, however I was jinxed because ever since I adjusted my goal to the rainbow I stopped getting rainbows and was consistently receiving sunshines. Despite the sudden change of marks I am still happy with most of my work. 

However my least proud humanities work this year has to be the Consequences of Colonization project. For my humanities learning plan goal I mentioned that even if I am not the most interested/inspired by an assignment I still should push through, as I tend to lose focus and effort if I am not completely invested. During the Consequences of Colonization project I definitely did minimal effort, and failed my learning plan goal. 

I did make up for my lack of efforts with the Trip to Oregon work we were assigned. I am very proud to say that during our Oregon trip I stayed on track and used my time very wisely to remain timely with my Oregon Journal. This me made me very happy 😊.

 

 

 How I stayed organized with my Oregon journal:

  • Filled out pages on the bus while travelling from place to place (even if it was a 5 minute drive I made the most of it)
  • Didn’t allow myself to procrastinate 

during the consequences of colonization I defiantly did not stay as organized.

    Maker 💻

 Maker was just during the 1st semester and was fairly easy. I finished almost every maker assignment with rainbows and we learned how to use our iPads in different ways. I grew so much new knowledge and learned awesome techniques that I can use to improve my work. To help showcase my maker learning we made a project: Making Interesting Images.  This project was fun to put together and really helped organize my maker learning. Overall I am happy with how I did in maker. One of my maker learning plan goals was to learn how to use more tools and techniques with my iPad and I did just that.

 

Science 🧬 

Science first began in semester 2 and was filled with many fun projects! The class learned all about how our immune system (Small But Mighty), how different environments and factors can affect atoms (Mind Over Matter), and our latest project about continental drift (Journey to the Centre of the Earth). Within each project we had the opportunity to do fun experiments making the class very interesting. The project I struggled the most with in science was definitely keystone three of Mind Over Matter. Everyone was asked to use Scratch (a website that helps you code your own video game) to create their own video game based on what we have learned from the Mind Over Matter project project. Making the video game was very tough for me and it took me a while to get the hang of coding my own game. In the end I did make it through and I created an atom themed trivia game. Now I kinda know how to code!

Small but Mighty poster (by Annie and me)

To answer the driving question, yes I am ready for grade 9. This past year I have reached many of my goals but most of all I have failed! within each subject I have failed multiple which has only made me a more persistent and successful learner. I am excited for what grade 9 will bring me!

 

 

 

2023 Spring Exhibition

For the past month we have been working on our last project of the year, “Medium is the Message.” At the end of the project we  each created an advertisement for a specific business that groups of people were assigned to. Each group interviewed which ever business they were advertising for and asked questions to help create an ad most true to the business. Before creating our ads, we learned the different techniques, appeals, and detail that goes in even some of the most basic ads. For example, many of Ikea’s ads may look simple, but in reality they use certain techniques to help lure in cosumers. We even learned how different colours can give off different emotions or vibes, hospital walls tend to be coloured blue or green as the colours tend to calm and relax people. We took all these new found factors into consideration and made our ads.

My final ad

All my ad drafts and critiques

Ikea ad example

We then showcased the process while making our ad, and our final ad drafts in the 2023 spring exhibition. The spring exhibition was much like the winter exhibition except the spring exhibition came with some improvements, and new roadblocks to learn from.

The spring exhibition had a smoother set up time than the winter exhibition, interactive activities and presentations to entertain the crowd, many snacks, the grade 8s project booths looked great, and there was a steady flow of visitors. The winter exhibition was much more chaotic, and the crowds were very patchy. There was either absolutely no at your booth, or it was packed making it difficult to get through the exhibition. For the spring exhibition there were stamps and maps given out for each room you visited making the flow much more steady and enjoyable for the visitors and students.

 

Of course there were additional roadblocks that came along with the spring exhibition that the winter exhibition may have not had as much of. All of the grade 8s were in one room making the booths more cramped which made the presentations a little more uncomfortable for us students. Because there was more food in this exhibition, food was also being stolen by fellow students (which is honestly understandable considering we had  yummy treats laid out) but this did create a slight inconvenience. The clean up after the exhibition was also very chaotic which was tough since everyone was very tired and cranky, but we were done in no time. 

Despite the improvement of the spring exhibition, next time I would help encourage more communication within my ad group as our group was a little disorganized and lacked communication. But in the end I think everything went well!

Trip to Oregon!

This May our class had the opportunity to spend a week learning Oregon! Everyday of trip we had fun learning new things. We started off our trip stopping at Cabela’s in Washington, which was one of my biggest cultural shocks of the trip. There were 100s of accessible guns along the stores wall which was very new to me as a Canadian. My top two favourite parts of the trip was when I was able to hold a shotgun in Fort Stevans, and when the class scavenged through the tide pools at Yaquina beach I learned many new sea animals. My personal favourite animal  beating the gumboot chiton, also known as “wandering meatloaf.”

Not only did I learn how to hold a gun and more animals, but I also learned a smaller things. I learned how to survive without wifi, how to tolerate the noisy bus rides, how to have the most effective time management skills, and that packing lightly is very important. 

During the trip I made a journal so I could record everything on the trip. 

 

Read my book below to see pictures and fun details throughout each day at Oregon!

 

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Consequences of Colonization

This month long project we learned all about colonization, the consequences of colonization, and how colonization affected everyone involved. 

We began our project learning about different worldviews, and how to interpret different scenes. Learning about the above introduced us to our first keystone. For our first keystone we were asked to chose an art piece drawn by C.W. Jeffrey’s, a European artist who drew many images from when Europeans were colonizing the First Nations land, which is now known as Canada. After choosing an art piece, we were asked to re interpret the image into a more indigenous perspective, rather than a more European perspective. 

I chose one of his images called:  “Cartier’s Company Pray For Relief From Sickness”

Re interpreted image

Original image

The original painting shows the Europeans on the indigenous land, kneeling before the indigenous and begging for medicine to cure their scurvy. My re interpreted image shows how I think the indigenous would have seen the situation. I made small adjustments to the art work making the end image a more indigenous perspective.

Answers to driving questions-

Keystone 1: what changed about European powers worldview?

In the beginning, I thing the Europeans saw what now is Canada as just another piece of land for the king, but in reality was much more. After they began to settle more they realized Canada    Was exceeding their expectations. The Europeans saw a new way for happiness, new beautiful land, different resources, and of course gold, glory, and god. But of course this was not the case for the First Nations. 

Keystone 2: what were the consequences of European powers’ change in worldview at the time?

At the start, the Europeans and First Nations made treaties with each other to set boundaries, but the Europeans took advantage of their power and betrayed the agreements. The betrayal cause many long wars between them causing many deaths of both parties. Europeans also brought foreign diseases to the indigenous causing even more deaths. 

Keystone 3: what are the consequences of colonization today?

Because of the European colonization, North America went from being majority indigenous land, to majorly European land. But the colonization didn’t only affect our geography, but also the language, religion culture, and decrease of indigenous languages being spoken today. 

Finish line: what did European settlement mean for all involved?

When Europeans first discovered New France, there were very few cons. New France meant more resources, a chance to start over, more land to expand, and less laws to restrict them. For the indigenous, it was quite the opposite. The indigenous were dying from foreign diseases, their land was taken, they were used as slaves, and the traumatic list goes on. Treaties between Europeans and Indigenous were broken, wars began, and the Europeans resistance simply caused more death and less rights for the indigenous. Because of Europeans persistence now majority of our map (including North America) has been colonized by Europeans. The European colonization continues to affect us today with language, culture, religion, and the decrease of indigenous languages being used today. Overall, European settlement meant progress and possibility for some, while for others it meant generational trauma.

To top off our project we each made an AR video to sum up everything we have learned! 

(The video will be posted to my YouTube channel in the future)

Mind Over Matter!

Our second project (Mind over Matter) of this semester was another hit! The project was divided into three different keystones which were all about different states of matter and in the end we even made a video game! 

🧱 Keystone 1: Who am I?

The first keystone of our projects objective was to practice using different units and identifying quantitative versus qualitative observations.

 

This first keystone was great preparation for the next keystone!

🧱Keystone 2: Gummy Bear Diffusion

This was my favourite keystone of the project. We were asked to make an experiment (in partners) to answer the driving question: does the composition of the gummy bear change the time or way of diffusion? So me and my partner decided to leave 3 different gummy bears  (sour patch kid gummy, regular Haribo gummy, and low sugar gummy) in 3 separate Luke warm water filled beakers.

 

We recorded our predictions and results, and had a lot of fun eating left o ear gummies!   

🧱Keystone 3: Video game!

After about 3 weeks of hard work, we made a video game to show what we have learned throughout this project. This was the toughest keystone for me. To make our video games we were required to CODE… I have never been the best at coding so I definitely struggled in the beginning. Luckily I pushed through and found a helpful tutorial to help guide me. In the end I made a true or false video game based on everything we have learned during this project, and now I know how to code!

Small But Mighty 🦠

From January till March, our Science class has done many assignments to conclude our first science project, Small But Mighty. This science project has been about learning different cells (specifically cells in our immune system), and their purposes and how they keep us healthy. The projects was split up between 4 smaller assignments. 

The first assignment was hands on, and was a great introduction for our learning of cells. We all had the opportunity to learn how to use a microscope, and got to look at bacteria that we interact with everyday. I decided to compare the different bacteria that grows on the toilet seat, vs bacteria on a toilet handle.  

Day of swabbing

5 days of bacterial growth

 

After a few weeks of learning the basics, we learned about different types of immune cells. To assure our understanding of the immune cells, everyone got to create character card based off of each immune cell. Each character card had to state their functions. All of my characters were based off of Mario Cart Characters.

*this was probably my favourite assignment from this project*

Our 3rd assignment was collaborative. We were asked to create a poster that would educate people away from specific medical myths. Annie and I chose to make a poster clearing the rumour that vaccines cause autism.

Our poster

The last task was to make another poster incorporating bacteria drawings drawn by younger kids from elementary. The posters goal was to be medically useful, while still being clear and understandable to a broad age range.

Overall, Small but Mighty was an extremely fun project to kick off our 2nd semester, and I am so excited for the rest of grade 8 science!

Travelogue Reflection

For the past week we our humanities class has been working on making a travelogue. We were asked to write a maximum 200 word travelogue, and create our stories into a short book with resting images. Our travelogues were based off of impactful explores and their accomplishments. I chose to write about John Cabot and is journey finding Newfoundland. The making of this project was fairly simple and quick, however, the research process took much more time and focus. While researching and beginning my story, I ran into many bumps. I often lost focus and drifted off task, dragging the quality of my work down. Quickly, I revised my work until it was something I was proud of. 

Putting aside my personal flaws, I learned so much from this project. I learned the reasoning of  exploration, and how our early discoveries have effected us today. If I were to do this rope next again, I would make sure to put in my 100% effort, and remain focused.

 

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2023 mPol

“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.”

This past semester had been a huge learning curve. For the past few months we have worked on multiple projects  such as Becoming a PLP Learner, Interesting Images, Geek Out, Crusades, Middle Ages, and Winter Exhibition. Within each project I have learned something new about myself, and how to communicate my work in so many different ways I had never imaged of. 

                                      First Blog Post: Making Interesting Images   

            

Interesting Images was a simple blog post showcasing different pictures we had taken using new techniques and tools that our iPad can provide to enhance our photography skills. If I were to re-write the blog post today, I would focus on adding more information and reflection to the blogpost, rather than simply doing the bare minimum. Luckily, this was my first blog post and had received and exceeding despite my faults. 

                                                 Second Blog Post: Geek Out!

My Geek Out blog post is probably my least favourite blog post… We all were asked to choose a topic that we could talk endlessly about, and chose to write about my cat, Mr. Bieber. The blog post did not seem interesting, and I never felt proud to post it. Next time I would change my topic to softball, something I think about and do all the time. However, with all the reflection given to this post, I learned so much about myself, and how to make quality future work. Ever since I published my Geek Out post I work on an assignment, I ask myself; would I be proud to show this to the world? Asking myself this question assures that my work has reached my standards, and is something I am confident to share. In the end, this blog post has helped me more in the long run, making myself not regret those mistakes.

                                       Third Blog Post: Middle Ages Reflection 

     Throughout the past semester, this has to be some of my proudest work. In November we took 2-3 weeks to create two Keynote presentations; Middle Ages, and the Crusades. This blog post was used to look back and reflect on the previous presentations. While writing the above blog post, I was excited to say that I was proud of my work, received positive feedback, and learned a new strategy to improve my work quality. 

After submitting the assignment my humanities teacher recommended I adjust my learning plan goal from an accomplished to an exceeding. This was my first project that required no revisions and made me very proud.  But of course, I didn’t receive this success without struggle. While writing the presentations, I got stuck at constant idea blocks about how and what I should write to answer the driving question. Luckily, I began to ask myself the following question each time I got stuck;  “if you were learning about *blank*, and read this work, would you understand and learn from *blank*?” 

After asking myself this question and making sure my writing applied, I felt much more confident and proud of my work. 

                                  Fourth Blog Post: My First Winter Exhibition ❄️

The winter exhibition was a rough ride for me. I ran into multiple bumps dragging me slightly behind. While brainstorming ideas for our Pandora’s box, I went through many different ideas which ended up taking more time than expected. Before coming up with a final idea, most were either un realistic for the timeline, or was something I wouldn’t feel necessarily proud of. Until, I came to a consensus. My confirmed idea was physically appealing, and was on theme, however, I was not the proudest. After completing my box, I felt I could have answered the driving question with deeper thought and meaning, but it was already too late. 

On the other hand, I am proud of the honesty that my blog post stated. I had an honest reflection, and have learned from my mistakes. For my next exhibition I will remind myself of the driving question, and make sure that my work has met the goal. Considering this was my first ever exhibition, I think everything went fairly smoothly and am looking forward for the next!

Overall Reflection 🔄

Despite the many different bumps I experienced during each project, there was one constant problem I went through with each assignment. With having a new and busy calendar this year, I have been procrastinating and using poor time management skills. I have left all four blog posts to the last minute, only creating more stress on my shoulders and possibly bringing down the quality in my work. 

This semester I plan on changing my work ethic from procrastination to being organized, timely, and obviously no longer procrastinating. 

Beginning steps to take; 

  • No making excuses for myself
  • Plan time zones, and goals to complete homework
  • Continue to use Things and Calendar to help organize activity and homework

I’m excited to make these changes for the better of my learning!

Awesome Renaissance Innovations!

My triptych

While making the triptych I only used two apps, SuperimposeX, and Pages. SuperimposeX was a big life saver for me. The App is extremely simple to use once you get the hand of it, and was extremely helpful while putting together my triptych. I used SuperimposeX for almost everything such as, photo shopping images, adding filters,  and more. After finally finishing each panel of my Triptych, I laid each panel out on Pages to begin putting each panel together into my final triptych. Pages and SuperimoseX made building my triptych a smooth and fun adventure with little trouble.

Though I did find the building of my triptych fairly easy and fun, I did have a challenge while coming up with a thesis and historical explanation. I used Craft to take notes dedicated to the Renaissance which did make this process easier, however, I had a hard time concluding all the information into one explanation. I ended up finishing my historical explanation slightly overdue, and was second guessing myself and my work. In the end I did receive feedback and began to make my work something to be proud of, and in the end I am happy with the finishing product. 

Overall, during this project I grew confident with my SuperimposeX skills, and I overcame bumps within the project. After overcoming the challenges I faced during the historical explanation,  I look forward to pushing through my next project and learning even more!

Left Panel 

New ideas in the Renaissance created medical deveplment, clocks, telescopes/lenses, the printing press, and the initial idea of critical thinking. Printing press’s allowed for quick and affective communication throughout the world, complex sketches by Leonardo da Vinci creating a better understanding of the anatomy, lenses growing into tele/micro scopes – allowing us to closer study biology and astronomy, and accurate clocks that we use to this day.  But the biggest idea of all, critical thinking. Critical thinking began the idea of using personal judgement and evaluation to use realistic thinking for our benefit. All of the above created a significantly more functional and modern world.

Centre Panel

After years of developing renaissance innovations, modern days have grown efficient, simple and affective ways of communicating. With a touch of a button we can use iPhones, computers, laptops, iPads, and etc to connect with anyone around the globe. We’ve gone from traditional clocks – digital clocks, classical art – minimalist art, new sketches of the anatomy – digital 3D models, learning about critical thinking – using critical thinking in our everyday lives and education,  and the list goes on….  Our world has changed in ways we never could have imaged of, for the better.

Right Panel

With lack of support and resources, sundials and scribes are just the begging of ground breaking ideas. Tired scribes handwriting each copy, un reliable sundials telling our time , and un developed art decorating our walls was what our world looked like before the Renaissance. Society lacked efficiency and modern intelligence, and critical thinking however, without these early thoughts, we would not live in the world we have today.

Overall 

In the end, the innovators of the lense, printing, and etc, of course made world changing innovations, but they also sparked critical thinking. Critical thinking was a huge variable in each panel. As shown in the right panel critical thinking was yet to be used resulting in a less functional world. Meanwhile once critical thinking was used everyday, our world evolved significantly.  The real ground breaking idea was critical thinking.

My Book

Hey blog!

Over the past few weeks our PLP class have been working on our Sketches Pro skills. We experimented with many different tools and techniques to develop our drawing knowledge! After we learned all about the app, we each made a personal sketchbook to showcase and reflect our drawing growth from beginning to end.

Click below to read my fun book ⬇️ !