Hi Ms. Willimse, Mr. Hughes, Mom and Dad! Today you all know what the topic of this blog post is….. Mpols! Today we’re going to… reflect! I think so far this year has been pretty good! Of course there have been some lows, but that’s what we’re here to talk about!

     So let’s start with humanities! I feel like my work in humanities has really grown. You can see it even in my writing from my first blog post, all the way to this one today. Of course where there is success, there is also failure. I really felt like my weakest project so far this year was the explain everything worldview project (not the religion one). You may disagree, but here are my reasons. From the very beginning of the project I wasn’t really that interested or engaged, it wasn’t like the deep cove advertising project where I was so excited to do everything. I also put in the bare minimum, I didn’t try to go above and beyond for most of it. That’s what I think my biggest failing was, especially since to me PLP is really all about going above and beyond, that’s why I wanted to do this program. When I look back on this project I’m actually pretty disappointed in myself, I feel like I have a higher standard than that. I know if I could go back in time and redo the project I would put a lot more effort in. In this project I definitely found out that if you don’t put in the work, you’re not going to get an amazing final product. I know that this sounds like something I should already know, but if I’m being honest in elementary school it was pretty easy if you weren’t interested in a project, to put in 65% effort and still get a good grade. Now I almost never did this, but if I was feeling disengaged that’s what I’d do. I think that’s the approach I took with the worldview project. In the future if I encounter this problem again I will remember the lessons I took from this project, and try to put more effort in even when I am not completely excited about the project.

     Next I’m going to talk about Scimatics. I feel out of all my PLP classes, scimatics has been the least PLP focused. So far through the year, I have been much more engaged in science instead of math. I feel like this year the math has become more complex and time consuming and therefore (for me) more boring and frustrating. For me that has been really different than normal. In elementary school I always found math more interesting! This has also been really different for my learning experience. When it’s a science day, I’m always more excited. I come into class much more excited to learn. I always pay attention while Mr. Thomas is speaking and I’m always engaging and asking questions. In math not quite as much. I still always listen but I almost never ask questions in front of the entire class. I’m also slower in my work and although I do get my work done, I’m much more likely to goof off with my friends and procrastinate. This has taught me that I just have to accept that math can sometimes be time consuming and kinda boring, but you just need to get through it and get it done. That’ll allow me to have more time to do the the things I need and want to do, in school and out of school. 

     For our third subject of the day…. maker! Maker has been one of my favourite classes this year. I feel like I learned some really useful skills that I will use throughout life (for example how to take a good photo). In maker we had several different projects, but today we are talking about the Student blogging challenge. I feel like out of every project I’ve done in PLP so far this one just really showcases my learning. In just about every post, my writing improves, I become more descriptive, and actually become more insightful about what I’ve learned. There are so many examples of my learning. For instance my first ever reflection post, versus today’s reflection post, where I don’t think I’ve ever had such a insightful and in depth post. Or the writing from my first SBC post all the way to week ten post! Of course there are things I still need to improve on. My punctuation is far from perfect, and my spelling is quite interesting (autocorrect is my saviour), but the entire point of this presentation is opportunities for improvement! So in future I’m going to try and reread my posts before posting to catch errors in punctuation and spelling.

    For our final subject review we are talking about PGP. PGP has been a pretty good class. It has really helped me set goals inside of school and outside. The PGP diary has been going ok. I feel like that was the less useful part of our new PGP regime. I found it didn’t help me to review the past week, but I thought the goals for the rest of the week were good. I have also been not as successful in time blocking. I quite often time block entire afternoons and then find out 20 minutes later that my mom needs me to take my sister to band. I will continue to try and time block, and readjust my time blocks when something disrupts my schedule. I think PGP has really helped me understand how to set a goal and go for it, I’m going to continue setting goals with the skills I learned in PGP.

     Now that I have been through all my subjects, we are going to focus specifically on me! We are talking about my work habits and work ethic. I feel like I have a decent work ethic. I almost always put in hard work to whatever I do. There are some exceptions, but I personally think I put in effort and do well in most of my work. My work habits in my opinion, are not quite as good as my work ethic. I am quite the procrastinator sometimes. I have the most amazing ability to get sucked into the deep hole of YouTube click-bate. I also have a fairly strange problem in that when I dislike a subject, my effort in the subject goes down. Both of these things I really want to work on, and I know I can. This leads perfectly into my next paragraph…. Goals!

      Well as my last paragraph announced we are now talking about goals! I have two really important school related goals for the rest of this year. My first goal is to STOP PROCRASTINATING!! I need to stop myself from going on YouTube, because that’s my main form of procrastination. I am even okay with blocking the website completely. I know if I am able to stop myself from watching YouTube videos I will be able to get my work done much more efficiently and hand things in earlier. My second goal is to stop lowering my effort levels when I become disengaged. When I become disengaged in a subject I tend to lower my effort levels. For my goal I want to stay engaged even when I am not interested in the subject, so that my effort stays up. I know that if I achieve my goals my learning will be much more smooth. I will enjoy learning more, and it will be much easier!

      Over the course of this year in PLP I have learned so much. I have many new and useful skills that I know I will use in life. PLP has taught me so much, and I’m so excited to see what it will teach me next! Before I ask what are your questions…. I have a question for you, when I find myself not engaged in a subject what tips do you have for me to combat that?