It’s that time of the year again when we have student lead conferences, these are used for us to exhibit our work to our teachers and parents. So welcome this is my learning portfolio of the work I’m proud of.
The first part is the work that I’m most proud of. This would have to be my Destination Imagination project. I am proud of this work because I put a lot of effort and work on it and I think it shows in the final product. Also though my group didn’t always agree and we had a few speed bumps along the way we were able to pull it off. And though we do have things we need to improve upon for Provincials overall the storyline and ideas behind were good and I think showed.
Next up is my growth as a learner. This has improved I think and has shown through, my example is between our videos for Seattle and Florida. The first video is the one that we did in groups and mine was based on Dale Chihuly the world renowned glass blower. This was a good video but it still had cracks in between it.
From then in Seattle and going to Orlando we have done a few videos in between and one of them was the one we did in Florida. This was about what draws us to imaginary worlds and I showcased Cinderellas Castle in my video. I think this has improved in quality and getting the right information into it. And not only was the video better but between these two trips I feel that I grew as a person in the sense that I have now learnt to be more independent and having to plan every step of the way other whys it all crumbles around you.
And then last but not least my growth mindset. This would have to be the essay we did on what draws us to Imaginary worlds? Because I have always thought that writing wasn’t interesting and that it wasn’t worth it because I am a terrible writer but as I was learning about the essay structure and arguments you can make during writing I saw that it was actually quite interesting. And that though I may not be an amazing writer I can still always improve upon it.
That last point about becoming a better writer ties into my three goals for the rest of the year. That is one of them to become a stronger writer and I am going to do that by putting a little extra time into it look it over and get other people’s feedback. My next goal is to continue to learn and keep a group together like in DI. And finally my last goal is to put more effort into my blog and keep it up to date rather then just go in waves of posts. I will achieve that by looking for ways to add posts and get other peoples help on what to improve on and maybe even change the style.
so that was my SLC’s thank you for reading or listening to this presentation and I will be seeing you soon!
Have you ever seen the advertisement from apple made in 1977? It basically is about people who have gone outside the box. But why does this matter?
Well in class we were looking at people who changed the world and more specifically people in Seattle since we were doing a field study down there. We researched what makes people different and want to do such amazing things. We then were put into groups and assigned a person from Seattle that we had to create a video about. I really loved learning about Dale Chihuly the person that we got. He is a world renowned glass blower who has gone through so much tribulations in his life. We researched everything about him from his family to his career and how it got started. But that is all said and showed in our video that we made in Seattle.
I hope you enjoyed learning about Dale Chihuly as much as I did
Last year around this time we were doing DI. This is a competition where you are assigned or choose a challenge that you then have to solve. Though you can’t have any help or use any ideas that anyone else contributed this can be tricky in finding ideas that are interesting and you can use in your presentation. The last time we did this I was in the engineering challenge where you have to create a structure under a certain weight. This year though I was in the fine arts section where we had to create a vanishing act based around a colour.
In my group was Mimi, Sofia, James and Ryan. We based our story that yellow had been stolen by blue because of Egyptian beliefs and blue wanted to be the most important primary color. In order to do this we were each a color and I was rainbow the investigator looking for him and interegating blue in the process. And as for our vanishing act we got a piece of white paper that we wrote Egyptian hieroglyphics and that we stained with coffee. We then put words saying that yellow was located near the great sphinx on the back of this then shined a light through it and the audience saw this and then it vanished.
And since this is a competion we found out that day that there were only two teams competent in this category and we were one of them. So this added an extra stress. But even though we didn’t win just because the judges didn’t think that it was a vanishing act and a few other details our group still did very good all things considered. And dont worry we get to fix all our mistakes since we are going to the provincial competion in a month!
If you have seen my previous blog posts and know what PLP is you would know that its technology and project based. But recently with Mr. Featherstone in English/humanities we went the more traditional of writing and looking at essays. And since we were looking at fantasy and what draws us to imaginary worlds why not incorporate that into it? So our final essay was about Alice in wonderland and overall what draws us to imaginary worlds. Though we didn’t just jump in we started off with reading alice in wonderland as well as look at certain types of arguments that you can use. Next we looked at the essay structure and how you need a thesis and to have valuable points while not putting in your own opinion. This was all to create the final product of an essay that made sense and had a good structure. Though we had some tries before and tested out how things do and most importantly dont make sense.
So here is my final product:
What draws us to Imaginary worlds?
Isobel DeVille
Jan 27 2017
Block 7
Imagining a new world where anything can happen is one of the most amazing things and Lewis Carroll portrays that perfectly in his book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But why do people love it so much, what draws them in? It could be there is something for everyone, a good vs evil story and to escape our world for a better one.
Though it may have been created for women so they could have a cute little story it has grown so much since then. Just as Lewis Carroll points out in Alice in wonderland “Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood”. But that quote also shows that its for all ages not just young children. Though people still seem to think its one genre of unicorns and rainbows but in reality it isn’t. There are steampunk stories, urban, comics, dark and much more. Fantasy can draw you in because it can give you exactly what you want in a way that other genres cant. It gives us the ability to picture ourselves in another persons shoes.
That last point ties into the Good vs Evil spectrum because we most likely can relate to it. Though it may be exaggerated in stories, we still see that we are similar or want to be like this hero. This quote I think shows what I mean “Get up!’ said the Queen, in a shrill, loud voice, and the three gardeners instantly jumped up, and began bowing to the King, the Queen, the royal children, and everybody else.”. Because if we are facing a bully at school or having trouble at home you can then be the hero. Since heroes struggle and go through tough times just like us therefor we can rise up above and win the battle. That the heroes show the struggle in plain daylight and that can relieve us from that stress and take it out on them. And its been like this for ever the hero comes and saves the day and repeats it forever so it gives us hope. Hope that things will get better and that we will find our way.
Finally it is to escape from this world and into another. A world where anything is possible and we have the possibilities of the everything and beyond. Which gives us immense possibilities whether it is flying or just having a friend. Also we can read or watch fantasy and it will help us from day to day. The reason for that is we can have similar but maybe not so extravagant encounters and think ” they did that so why not I do this?” And the final point is that anything can happen in somewhere you don’t know that you have the curiosity to explore. “Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field”
We can do anything if we set our mind to it and allow our selves to wonder what is beyond those so called “doors”.
Overall whether it is looking for something to do or imagining a world where everything is better it all comes back to fantasy. Where we can fly and dance with unicorns or we can live in a dark world where things just don’t seem to work until you have one key. Really fantasy is an important part of life that helps us from day to day to solve problems and help ourselves. Plus its also just fun, fun to live in a world where anything is possible. And as Alice says “So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all would change to dull reality”.
If you have seen my previous post on Florida you world know I have just recently been to Disney world but more specifically magic kingdom. Now you might be wondering why this has any importance but one of the main reasons we went to Orlando was to answer the question What draws us to imaginary worlds? In order to answer this we were each assigned a attraction that we had to research and then create a video since we are also looking at cinematography. So for my attraction I chose Cinderellas castle, the main castle that is there logo and when you walk in right away it’s what you see. So here is my first draft of the video enjoy!
In PLP you go on one big trip a year and this year the grade nines went to Orlando Florida this was an amazing jam packed trip. This was from the 3 to the 12 and we went everywhere from Disney world to NASA we even surfed! So the first after after arriving we went to Disney World to the magic kingdom. I loved it there because it truly is the happiest place on earth. Also at magic kingdom is where my video on what draws us to imaginary worlds and my attraction was Cinderellas castle. Other then magic kingdom we also went to the two other parks Epcot and animal kingdom, I loved all of them but magic kingdom was my favorite just since it is a classic.
The following day we went to universal studios and had so much fun there since the rides are huge. I even faced my fear and went on rip ride roller coaster a huge roller coaster that does a loop! I loved this so much I went twice.
Then we went to Merritt island and saw some alligators and beautiful birds. We even got to go on an airboat ride to see lots of gators. Then after seeing the alligators the next day we went surfing. I had surfed previously and had amazing times and this wasn’t any difference. I got up on the board and they were great beginner waves so fairly small. That afternoon we got to go to a space training class type thing that taught us how the flights work and the training needed. When we were there we got to do a simulator of a flight and we all had specific jobs so I was a scientist on the shuttle and got to do real experiments!
After astronaut training we then went to the NASA visitor center where the real Atlantis was and we got to see. As well at the Kennedy space center was a behind the scene type tour that we could decide to go on. I signed up for that because its a once in a lifetime opportunity and I’m glad I did. On the tour we got to see the assembly building (fun fact it’s the 5th largest building in the world) as well as a real issuing control flight room.
After NASA the following days until we left we’re at Disney Epcot and animal kingdom. At Epcot is the world showcase this was really fun and interesting to see since lots of the places they show I would love to travel sometime. After that we were then at animal kingdom where there are real animals such as giraffes, monkeys and lions. I liked it there but I just don’t agree with the animals being in captivity even though they do have lots of space.
Overall this was a great experience and I loved everything about the trip! So until the bye for now!
