We’ve had some hard tasks in PLP before, but I’m not sure that I say we’ve ever been given a harder directive in any project than in this one. Well after that buildup, you’re probably curious as to what in the world I’m talking about. The task in question was to capture Canadian identity in a moving vignette of sorts and dance. I don’t think I could tell you which one was harder.
This blog post is kind of about two different but related topics: Our project “Never the 51st state” which dived into the creation of modern Canada, highlighting events throughout the latter half of the 1900’s and gave a speech, and our PLP Spring Exhibition where we acted out scenes of important events in the creation of modern Canada, most from the previous project. So because of all that, I shall be breaking this blog up into two main sections.
Never the 51st State:
This part of our project had three main goals:
- Teach us about the relatively recent events that have shaped modern Canada
- Introduce us to a new note taking format
- Work on our public speaking skills
We started by learning our new note taking method, zettlekasten, which is the idea of having a super connected note system, using backlinks, tags, and ideas to create a web of ideas and connection in our thinking. At first thought I really liked the idea, as I felt it presented a very interesting solution for ease of deep thinking, but I found in practice (partly due to a lock of practice), it was very had to do in a way they that felt right, and I was unable to find a method that matched to original idea of the inventor who had all of his notes hand written in a filing cabinet. If you want to learn more about that or the idea interests you can click [here] to learn more about it.
We then moved on to learning the actual history part. I’m never the biggest history fan, but the significance of the events we were learning about in my life really struck home and I was interested to learn about them, even if not particularly excited (Partly because we had to do a lot of notes in a very short time, and I didn’t get everything out of it that I wanted too). Experimenting with the zettlekasten was interesting but I still feel if I want to have any success using it, I need to revamp my entire system, which I may do for the next school year.
Then we got into the public speaking aspect. I’ve found in the past that it’s pressure that usually get’s to me when giving a presentation rather than nerves. While they are related, I find that I don’t necessarily feel nervous, I sometimes just can’t think straight or speak like I did when practicing. After some public speaking practice with peers, we wrote our script, and while I got off on the wrong foot, kind of spiralling off onto the wrong focus (older history instead of what shaped modern Canadian identity), I feel that after the 6-or-so revision I did from various sources of feedback, I had a solid script. I felt my speech went well, other than a lack of eye contact and few small stutters, although I felt the same pressure, and I think I just needed to practice more to bring the stress down to useful levels.
Versions of my script:
We were also meant to have a sort of exhibition where us and guests could come in and talk to others with different lived life experiences surrounding Canada, but in the end we didn’t have enough people to run the event. I really should have asked my parents if they new anyone who could come thinking back on it, but I just assumed that there wouldn’t be anyone.
I learnt a lot about Canada and the later stages of our formation, how place shapes change, and a lot about myself and how I can approach problems with better decision making and realized I still need to develop my extended thinking whether that be though zettlekasten or another method. Overall, I discovered how sharing stories and gaining an outside perspective on the things that are normal to you can be eye-opening as well as helping shape your decisions and be more empathic and understanding towards others.
The PLP Spring Exhibition (The Story of Canada):
For our spring exhibition this year we were tasked with acting out scenes from the events we had just recently learned about in a unique way; instead of acting out a scene from start to finish, we were supposed to act as if we were actually the people from the time, and help our visitors live the experience. My group chose the creation of the new Canadian flag in 1965 which we were all excited to get as it was an interesting topic with what would be an engaging story if we told it right (no pressure).
If you’re curious about the story here was our summary: “In 1964, Canada’s Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson formed a committee to discuss and design an official Canadian flag. This move was considered controversial at the time, with many people not open to losing the Union Jack from the flag. Out of three main choices, the committee selected the flag we all know today created by George Stanley. Another popular flag design was made by John Ross Matheson, but Lester Pearson feared losing his minority government so ultimately turned down John’s design and then formed the committee.“, or if you want something more official, [here] is the page on the event from the Canadian Encyclopedia.
We then moved on to prop creation. A lot of stuff we could just bring from home, some stuff was made at school, and stuff had to be designed for purpose. My main contribution were bringing many of the props, making some tasty maple-leaf shaped sugar cookies (Unfortunately no photo 🙁 ), and designing a pulley system that could be mounted onto the basketball hoop at our location to act as a flagpole. This took six iterations of the course of just two days and was hard to 3-d print, but was very satisfying when it worked. I’ve put the 3-d model of the pulley connector below if you’re interested.
https://collaborate.shapr3d.com/v/dR32uB8OtqyCFWyB_ON9H

A drawing of our final plan.
Then the day rolled around and I as Lester B. Pearson invited guests to draw their own submissions for the new Canadian flag, handed out cookies, and raised the flag on the flagpole. I also participated in the group flash mob that we were made to do, and look I’m all for dancing, but doing it in a makeshift suit made of my band clothes and a white shirt while having a crowd of people watch me do it just isn’t my cup of tea. Overall I think it went really well and I was proud of my group. We could have known the significance behind more aspects of the flag, but that was my only personal critique.

Conclusion (you made it!):
I know that was a very lengthy post, but thanks for reading, whether you read the entire thing or just skimmed through. I think it probably one of my best put-together blog posts to date, and I’m happy with how it and the projects turned out! (and that I will probably never have to do another flash mob!)
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