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“Have a Nice Life” – DI Regionals

“Have a Nice Life” – DI Regionals

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Welcome back to another destination imagination blog post! Yes, its that time of the year again. For the past couple of months, we’ve been working hard to solve this year’s DI challenges. My group (the Kabobz) chose the fine arts challenge.

This year’s fine arts challenge is called Game On. For this challenge, we had to create and present a story that integrates the research of a team-selected game. Our team chose, the game of life. We also needed to create a game gizmo that caused an action or event to occur. For this, we created a hat with a spinning top, designed to look like the spinner used in the game. At the beginning of the performance, everything we used in the solution of the challenge needed to be held in a container that then goes through a transformation and of course just as the years before, we needed to have two team choice elements.

This year’s DI challenges were extra difficult and they were by far the most challenging ones I’ve ever faced. My group, The Kabobz, included Kai, Lucas, Adlih, Marshall, and Luca. I was a little nervous to work with them because I knew they were all really close friends but they turned out to be a nice group to work with.

To come up with our solution we used a lot of different brainstorming techniques. We started by writing down any minor or major ideas we had on pieces of paper and then we grouped and sorted them. Our team came up with the idea to use the game of life as our game. We chose the 2007 edition of the game.

For the story, we decided to write about two kids who get sucked into the game of life (Jumanji style) and are forced to play out an idealistic life the Banker (game master) wants them too. The moral of our story is that being the richest by the end of the game (retirement) doesn’t make you a winner, it’s being happy that does.

This is the provincial script because we don’t have the other one

The creation of the props, game gizmo and container was divided between the group. I created the container and Adlih helped me paint it. Luca built our game gizmo and it turned out really good. Hats off to Luca for that one (pun intended).

I lost all my process photos and I’m very sad about that.

Team choice elements have always been the most difficult part of a challenge for me. I must admit that these have always been the downfall of my performances. I don’t like that they are called “team choice elements” because it always ends up being “one person in the group’s strength element”. Our team choice elements for this challenge were pretty weak. Lucas made music for the performance, which was fantastic, but on show day you couldn’t hear it. Our second team choice element was just a stick, to say the most actually… It was bad. We have already started making improvements to these parts of our challenge and they will be much better for the provincial tournament.

Here is a burndown chart of one of our team choice elements

After we had performed our solution my group felt like it had gone really well. It seemed to have gone better then we felt it would before. However, when we got our scores it wasn’t as good as we thought. It wasn’t the worst but it really wasn’t great. They gave us zero on one of our team choice elements, which was fair but at the same time, we should have gotten at least some points for having it.

Looking back on the whole thing (the tournament and the process) there are many things we need to improve. I’m very confident we will come up with better team choice elements for the next tournament. This is our last year of DI and I indent to go out with a bang.

As always, thanks for checking in, I’m still in school.

Jessie

Cell Phone Plan Project

Cell Phone Plan Project

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Our latest project in math class had us graph phone plans linearly to find out which plan would be better. We used data overages as our measurement. We used algebra to find the slope of those equations. The outcomes are pretty subjective because it depends on what you as the buyer is going to use.

My partner and I decided to compare Telus and Freedom and Rogers and Freedom. The reason for this is because Rogers and Telus have the same slope (overage charges for data) of 10$ per 100mb. That would result in them being parallel lines. Here is our keynote comparing the companies.

This project was a pretty easy one to understand. We had some troubles figuring out what to graph but in the end, it all worked out. I think I’m a lot better at math than science, I guess I just understand numbers more. I like algebra a lot, again, probably because I’m pretty good at it.

Understanding and Solving

We did a good job explaining the slope and Y-intercept in a way that was meaningful. I think this showed in our presentation and in the keynote. We could have zoomed the graphs in a bit more just to make it more clear.

Connecting and Reflecting

We could have done a bit better on this competency by showing the potential savings of each plan. We did do a good job of showing which plan would be better for that person. For example, if you are going to use over 500mb of data than Rogers probably isn’t the plan for you, and Freedom would be the better choice.

Communicating and Representing

In our presentation, we talked about how to find the right plan for you. We made sure to find the cheapest plan for the user’s needs and I think that really showed in the presentation.

Reasoning and Modelling

Our keynote included informational graphs that showed each linear equation and what each plan would offer. We also included solving algebraically as it is a method we learned in class to speed up the math portion. Solving algebraically is a lot quicker than solving with a table of values.

This project was short and sweet but I really learned a lot. It was low stress for such an informational unit and I really enjoyed that. I think this project helped me see again just how much I enjoy math. It gives me a good sense of pride when I know I’ve learned something and have represented it well.

As always, thanks for checking in, I’m still in school!

Jessie

 

The Dead Sea

The Dead Sea

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Welcome to a mini post! Why is it a mini post? Because we did a mini project in math. Our task was to create a project that showed the rate of change of a body of water. We used linear equations to show this. My partner and I created an infographic to show at the beginning of the project while we explained the math.

So as you can see, we have the linear equation above, along with the graph. Next, we showed the class our video we made.

I hope you liked that video. We got a pretty good reaction from my class. It had good humour and personalization.

During this project, I improved on a lot of the core competencies.

Model with mathematics in situational contexts; For this core competency, we chose a real-world issue to look at. We had to choose a body of water and map out the rate of change.

Develope, demonstate, and apply mathematical understanding through play, story, inquiry, and problem solving; After we did the math component of our project we created a scripted story to add to the project.

Represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial and symbolic forms; We took what we learned in math and represented it in a way that was visual but still showed all the data and information.

Connect mathematical concepts with each other, other areas and personal interests; We decided to make an animation because that was a personal interest of ours and we created a funny but informational script that also showed off our personality.

Even though this project was pretty easy, I still learned a lot. Linear equations are fairly simple to understand and I think that’s what made this project easy to personalize. This was a fun project to end school before the break!

As always, thanks for checking in, I’m still in school.

-Jessie

Very Reactive

Very Reactive

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Welcome back! Today I’ve got a new and exciting post for you today but fair warning, be nice because it’s very reactive.

For this unit in science, did chemistry and it has been a really fun experience. This project was different from our usual projects. For this one, we had to present live to another class. It wasn’t so bad because we were in groups. For me, however, I was with a partner because there weren’t enough kids in our class to make enough groups of three.

So my partner, Daniel and I chose a simple reaction to base our presentation on in order to have a fair workload. We chose Synthesis as our reaction type. For our presentation, we created a keynote with a short video explaining synthesis at the beginning.

We also conducted a live experiment. For that, we reacted magnesium strips with the oxygen in the air by heating it up with some fire.

This project was an amazing learning experience. I felt that my partner and I met the criteria if not exceeded it. I had a very good understanding of the reaction by the end of the project and we presented our finding very well. We did a good job planning and conducting our presentation, we stuck to our topic as to not overlap with other groups but we also had some ideas and thoughts that allowed for a nice flow into other groups projects. For example, we mention CO2 and how it negatively affects our environment along with conducting an experiment that also classified as a combustion reaction. This led right into the next groups topic about combustion and global warming. We also did a good job processing and analyzing data and information because we identified the patterns of how cars fitted with catalytic converters positively affect the world versus cars without.

Overall I think this project went extremely well. We did a good job reaching the criteria and using the core competencies I highlighted and im very proud. As always, thanks for checking in, I’m still in school.

Jessie

 

 

 

WW2 Podcast

WW2 Podcast

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Hello, welcome back. I hope your day has been treating you well. If you live around my area, I hope you enjoy the snow. Today is a snow day, so I don’t have to go to school. I figured today would be a relaxing day to write a blog post about our latest project. So grab a cup of coffee or tea, relax and enjoy this blog post.

The Begining

So I know it has been a whole two words since the last paragraph. I’m sure you are dying to know what the topic of this unit is. Well, why didn’t you read the title!? Its WW2, and specifically a podcast about… The Legacy of WW2 in Canada!

Our driving question for this unit was;

“What is the Legacy of World War 2 in Canada?”

Our task was to create a podcast answering this question. I was so lucky to be able to interview a German veteran of WW2 and include his stories in my podcast. I am very proud to share with you now episode 16 of the PLP podcast.

Questions Lead to Answers

To start off this unit we did something called question formulating. This was where we walked around the class reading different notes about the war on it. The notes had topics like, how people felt about the war, women’s jobs during the war, the stuff going on in Germany and even notes on technology. From there we wrote down questions we had about those topics. This really got the thoughts flowing through our mind sparking our curiosity.

I’m not going to try and incorporate this into the text, I’m just gonna be straight forward. I think this is a good example of how I used the ISTE Habit of Mind, Questioning and Posing Problems. We started asking questions which led us to answers, which led us to questions and by the time we ran out of questions we had all the answers and we successfully answered our driving question.

The Memory Project

So if you read the title of the podcast you might have seen the name, Helmut Lemke. If you didn’t piece it together that was the veteran I interviewed. My teacher got our class in touch with five veterans through The Memory Project. It was so nice of them to get us in touch with these veterans. I feel so grateful we got to collaborate with these people who actually experienced the war. It so real to hear it from someone who was there.

I got to practice my interview skills which I haven’t done too much of in the past. Helmut came to our class which was super nice for those of us using his interview. We hooked up two microphones to capture the audio and let him talk away. He had a list of questions we had sent him ahead of time so the audio wasn’t interrupted by us asking questions. In the end, the audio turned out really nice! It was a really great experience. Helmut was so sweet, I wish we could have talked to him for the whole day.

Some Content

I don’t want to talk to heavy on content because the information I learned guided me to create the project im sharing with you but we did learn about some pretty cool things I want to share. Every class we tried to learn about a new turning point in the war. Each class we created mind maps on the videos we watched.

I really learned a lot from these videos and making these mind maps. At the end of this project, we created a response video with two other people. Here is the video I made with Tamara and Kai.

Making a Podcast

So the first I did was have an interview with Helmut. After that, I interpreted his interview using the things he said as a foundation for my script. This was one of the big ideas during this process, was interpreting the interview. This goes hand in hand with the English Curricular Competency; People understand both written and oral text differently depending on personal, social and cultural context. I believe that family is important and that is why I decided to focus my script on the section of Helmut’s interview where he talks about finding his mother. My value helped sway my decision and decide how I understood his words.

Garage Band

Making a podcast is something I have done with friends before for fun. However we usually just record ourselves having a conversation and it becomes a video of us talking. So when making this podcast for school I had to learn how to make it solely audio. This didn’t end up being too hard. We used garage band to record and import our audio. It was pretty easy to use, we had a lot of short lessons in class on different tips and tricks and it ended up being a pretty useful tool. It was super easy to edit the tracks and import the music and interview audio.

If you have listened to anyone else’s podcasts in my class you may have noticed the common music we have. That isn’t music ripped from the internet. That was made by our classmate, Emily Janzen. One of the mini assignments we did was create potential music for our podcast. In class, we listened to all of them anonymously and picked our favourite. That ended up being Emily, the one you hear throughout my podcast.

Reflection

I’m really proud of how this project turned out. The whole process went smoothly from writing to editing. I think I succeeded in interpreting the interview we had and incorporating it into my script. I would have liked to speak more in my podcast however everything Helmut said was gold and it was so difficult to cut down what he said. After multiple revisions, I think the final product was really great. Im really excited for Helmut and the Memory project to listen to my podcast and I hope you guys enjoyed it as well.

As always, thanks for checking in. I’m still in school.

Jessie

2019 mPols

2019 mPols

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The Its that time of the year again. It’s the mid-year presentations of learning (mPols) and let me tell you, three years of doing this twice a year, I’m a professional. This year I’m not so stressed about it. We’ve done so much work in the past five months I honestly can’t believe it. So I guess that means its time to reflect.

Humanities

Perks of Being a Wallflower 

I think I’m going to start off with what I’m the proudest of, and that would be in humanities. At the start of the year, we did a book project. If you’ve been keeping up with my blog you would know that I chose the book, Perks of Being a Wallflower. The project we had to complete after reading the book was a group video project.

The reason this is my most proud work is that I can proudly show it to people without cringing or having to leave the room. I genuinely want to show it to people and I love rewatching it. I think my group and I worked really well together. It was difficult at times to find days we were all available to film, but I made it work by creating a schedule of all the times we were available. It really came together in the end and I hope all of you have had a chance to see it. If not you should watch it because I am super proud of it.

Science 

How did I F.A.I.L this year?

The project I’m the least proud of was my DNA twins project. This was a partner project however everything I say is what I learned and how I failed. Throughout the project, I was never really understanding the learning we did. I struggled a lot trying to grasp the topic. I tried my best to teach myself more or re-read notes from class but I still never had the knowledge to properly create a project. So that’s what led to the video being a flop, in my opinion.

Math 

As the years go on, the math we are learning becomes more enjoyable for me. Maybe this is because we are starting to use fewer numbers! That’s why I really enjoy algebra, which I believe showed in my board game project. This project didn’t just meet my standards – it actually exceeded them! Not only did I have an amazing partner, shout out to Emily, but I also had a really good understanding of the topic before we started. I was pleased with the results of this project because I was able to demonstrate my learning by using the information acquired in a new context. Sometimes I find it difficult to create an interesting project when I don’t have enough prior knowledge.

That’s one of the things I find the most frustrating about PLP work. This happens mostly in math and science because it so content heavy. While Scimatics aims to follow the same inquiry-based model as other PLP classes, it sometimes fails in that we require more direct instruction of content. Without deep background knowledge, it is hard to know where to begin.

Maker 

This year in Maker we used a lot of skills and learned a lot of new ones. We practiced a bunch of different video skills like documenting a live event, recreating videos shot by shot and making music for videos. These projects really added to my tool belt of skills.

For the recreation video, we had to recreate a given video as perfect as possible. This was a group project and we made two videos. The projects taught us a lot of new skills and let us use the ones we already knew like camera angles, editing and music making. My group and I worked really well together and that always adds to the video. You can usually tell when a group didn’t want to work together.

Group Work

T his year has been a great year of group projects for me. Having worked with the same classmates for three years I’m comfortable working with every one of them. I’ve learned a lot about my classmate’s strengths along with my own. When it comes to group work I am a good leader. This was shown well in my Perks of Being a Wallflower project, I was a really good time manager and ideator and I was a good bridge of communication between Emily and Marshall. Organizing the exhibition this year was also a place I showed my leadership skills, I don’t have direct proof of that except that when reflecting in class some of my classmates said I was a good leader.

PGP

PGP or Personal Growth Plan has been going really well for me. Im still getting used to it but I am noticing a big change in my work habits. I’ve started time blocking and I’ve noticed how much time there is in a day to get work done. I can’t say I’ve been a perfect time blocker but I’m still getting used to it. I really do think it’s helping though. 

The Book

As most of you may know we are currently reading a book called What Do You Really Want? Its filled with exercises to help you develop and reach your goals. I thought the book was going to be boring and tedious but im actually enjoying it. I really like writing in my journal. It’s very a satisfying seeing a book fill up with words.

How can I get a more creative experience out of my highschool career?

In Conclusion

Well, I think that brings us to the end of my mid-year reflection. This year has been amazing so far, in ways I haven’t even mentioned and im looking forward to what’s next.

As always, thanks for checking in, I’m still in school.

Jessie

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