Over the past few weeks in Maker, we have been reading a book called ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens’ by Sean Covey. The Renewal is part 3 of the book, and it only focuses on one habit, which you could argue is the most important of all. Habit 7 is Sharpen the Saw. 

Sharpening the Saw

Why is this habit so important? 

Before we dive into the deep stuff, lets cover the areas that are important to know. Sharpening the Saw means taking time to nourish and renew yourself. Sharpening the Saw is broken down into 4 main areas; body, mind, heart and soul. These categories make it easier to know what key areas you need to and can strengthen.

1. Physical – Sleep, exercise, nutrition, avoiding vaping and drug usage.
2.  Mental – Learning, school, reading 
3. Social/Emotional – Relationships, being social, being kind
4. Spiritual – Meditation, spending time in nature, looking back upon previously made goals, spending time doing a hobby you enjoy

Some of these are examples provided in Covey’s book, and some are not. Sharpening the Saw is not just making yourself feel better, it’s digging deeper and finding those actions and choices that make you feel better. 

Personal Example

In soccer right now, my team is heading into playoffs. We are playing well, training well and we want to win playoffs (if we win playoffs we head to nationals) but our only problem is we can’t score, and if you cant score, you can’t win games. We have 3 weeks until playoffs start and we need to turn it around.

With all that said about my team, I am not playing well right now. I just am not myself out there, I am playing scared and timid. I need to sharpen the saw to be ready for playoffs. Physically I need a lot more sleep, I should be getting 8-10 hours a night, but I’m not close to that at all. I should also be eating healthier and exercising more; because I want to be in top shape heading into playoffs. I think my mental health is going well, I like to read and/or bullet journal at night before bed and It helps slow don by brain for bed. Social and emotional is a tough category for me. Throughout the years, friends come and go, and new people are coming into my life. This is happening a lot right now which adds an extra load every day. And if you know grade 9 girls – they are dramatic, so I need to keep up! Lastly, spiritual, like I said I like to bullet journal at night which helps me get out my feelings, and also reflect back on the pages I have completed and review my goals and compare which step I am at each day. Writing down one positive win I have each day really helps me build some confidence for the next day.

Practicing soccer if I am not feeling well is like using a dull saw. It’s crucial that I’m tuned in and feeling full strength to perform at my best. I need to get going for playoffs, and these next few weeks are critical for me to sharpen my saw. 

YouTube Short

For our 3rd and final YouTube short, our groups were changed. This time around I was placed with Cece and Gemma. I thought that this short wasn’t as successful as our other 2, because our plan wasn’t as well organized and the filming was pretty rough cut. But we got it done!

Conclusion

At first, this book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey, was not my favourite. I found the spaces weird in the book, and it was hard to read. The farther along I got, the more I learned. Like lessons are not a thing I come across often, but this book was jam packed with them! It turned out to be worth it to read. Reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens has changed my worldview. It has taught me to look at the world from different perspectives than I normally would. Instead of looking out at the world in your eyes and putting yourself in other peoples shoes, I have learned to think of opportunities and what would effect each decision I make.

Thanks for reading keep your eyes peeled for my next post coming soon in Humanities!

The Public Victory

The Public Victory focuses on chapter 4,5, and 6; Think Win-Win, Seek first to understand, then to be understood, and Synergize. So far in the book, I have found the habits extremely helpful. Whenever I seem to second guess myself, or pause slightly before a decision, thinking of these habits help. That extra pause can decide the difference between success and failure. It is essential to try and plan ahead, try your best to have knowledge and reasons behind your decision.

Habit 4 : Think Win-Win

“Think Win-Win is an attitude toward life, a mental frame of mind that says I can win, and so can you. It’s not me or you, it’s both of us.” (Sean Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens) What Covey is telling us here, is that you can’t just be dismissive of other people and have what you want all the time. I think what this means is that we all need to have the attitude and mental capability to keep up, and make sure all the boxes are being ticked. We need to be open to other peoples ideas, and make sure everyone feels heard, including you. Thinking Win-Win is the foundation for getting along with other people. 

Another example that will stay with me is the tumour twins, who are competition and comparison. You definitely cant think win-win if you are always focused on competing and comparing yourself to others. It’s very easy to get caught up in this, I have been myself, but then I reel myself back in and remind myself and others around me, each person is different, be yourself, and think win-win! 

One way I used win-win thinking was when I was negotiating with Charlie, my brother. He outgrew his skis and I really wanted them, they were the perfect size, beautiful colours and they were pretty new as well. Charlie just bought some new skis for himself and he wanted to sell his old ones. The price was $400, $200 out of my price range. So I got to work, trying day in day out to get him to change his price. After talking to him for a while and saying all the positive points I could think of in my head, I got him to lower the price by $100. So now we were $100 out of my price range. I knew I still couldn’t buy those, they were still too expensive, so I offered to do his chores until Christmas. That was a big offer, and we both knew it. I half regretted it the moment the words came out of my mouth, but I am so glad I worked all summer to make the money to pay Charlie.  

Habit 5 : Seek first to understand, then to be understood

“Before I can walk in another’s shoes, I must remove my own.” (Unknown) Seek first to understand, then to be understood means you need to listen first, talk second. My mom used to tell me that the some of the smartest people in the room speak last. This means you hear other peoples ideas, take them in and help form one big idea with everybody’s small ideas contributing. A good example is when I was applying for PLP, and I was creating my entry video. I researched about soccer and women in the sport with the inequality between men’s and women’s soccer. The men get paid an exceptional amount more, even though women are at the same level just a different gender. When I was looking into this, I saw that the leader of the meeting always always spoke last, because she took everything in and then when it was her turn she had a solution for some problems, and she had formulated an idea that sounded incredible to everyone in the room, but really it came down to her listening instead of talking the whole time.

Somewhere I used this habit was during the winter exhibition. I had a group of friends. Awesome, not awesome. It took some work to get on track, but at the same time we all knew each others learning style so it was quick to get going. I found a good coping method was listening to everyone else, then speaking last or 2nd last because then nobody would interrupt and it would really help our group come to a better solution. 

Empathy has a lot to do with this habit. Being in another persons shoes, and seeing the world and problems from another point of view.

Habit 6 : Synergize

Synergy is when two or more people work together to create a better solution than either could do alone. To create, and build synergy, you have to look for it. You need to see and realize each person is unique and should value who they are and their personality.

On my soccer team, each and every person has a unique strength that contributes to our overall skill as a team. When each person brings that skill they have we all bond together to have a successful team. The result we have as a team is much better than an one teammate could do alone. This is a very good example of Synergy, because 2 or more people are coming together to bring out a result better than 1 person could have done. 

What does taking the highway mean? It means to find a better solution than lose-win, win-lose, or lose-lose. An example Sean Covey used in his book was about geese! If the lead goose gets tired, it will rotate to the back and rest until its ready again, the geese in the back will honk encouragement to the front, if one gets sick or hurt, 2 other geese will accompany it to the ground and wait for it to either die or get better, then return with the pack. This is an incredible example of synergy, and taking the ‘high’ way. A group of geese working together flying through the sky to generate a better outcome than any goose could do alone. It’s not one or another’s way, but a better, ‘higher’ way. The ‘high’ way is finding the best solution.

YouTube Short 2

Tyler and I are together once again for Youtube Short number 2. This one is focused on habits 4,5, and 6 just like this post! I will post it shortly, stay tuned for football players, Julia and Tyler! 

Reflection

This time around I felt like I connected more with this chapter. These habits 4,5, and 6 have really opened my eyes about how I can move on forward with my life. Each one is valuable, and I hope that everyone out there has a chance to learn about them, because really, they are life changing!

On the project launch day, we were given an ebook called ‘The 7 habits of highly

effective teens.’ This book was tough to get into for me, but I really have adapted to it and have started to take in the information. Using Sean’s methods and working through the workbooks has really opened up my eyes to how my world could look like if I follow these habits.

Habit 1

The first habit is ‘Be Proactive’. Being a proactive means that you get things done, and you don’t wait for things to come your way. It means taking action BEFORE your problems occur, not after when it’s too late. A good example of being proactive is studying for a test well before it is going to happen instead of waiting for the night before. 

The opposite of being proactive is being reactive. Having a reactive mindset means you  wait for problems to come about before you give attention to them, and reacting to things, and situations as they happen, in the moment. 

Habit 2

Habit number two is ‘Begin with the end in mind’. To begin with the end in mind can mean multiple things. If you begin with a clear vision of what you want your outcome to look like, it’s easier to make steps for yourself to get there. For example, if you want to become a lawyer as your full time job after university, you need to pay attention today, such as taking specific classes and getting good grades. You need to pay attention to things every day to make sure you are on track for the end goal you want to get to. 

Habit 3

The third habit is ‘Put first things first.’ This is mostly self explanatory, although you can really go into depth with this one. Prioritizing the most important things in your life, and then do them first! Making time for more important things is something everyone should get into a habit of, because stress can be saved over so many things due to this. If you struggle with time management, then you should use this habit every day. 

Here’s an example: One night you have a ton of homework. Instead of getting right to work, you get distracted and end up not getting everything done. What could have changed? 

I think that getting the most important things done first is an important skill to develop, because the farther and deeper you get into school the more work you get. So, by doing work first and fun second, you manage your time better, bus you also save that extra stress!

Paradigms

Looking through glasses at the world can show your worldview. You have a different perspective on the world than other people because each person is unique.

In Sean Coveys words, ‘it’s the way you see yourself, other people, and the world.’ When you were younger did you learn about everyone’s buckets? Filling them, and dipping from them? Essentially, everyone has their own buckets, and when you bully or hurt someone you dip from their bucket. If you are kind to a friend, a stranger, a teacher, you add to their bucket and lift their mood. 

If your paradigm is, ‘I’m not good at soccer,’ you might not try as hard at practice. If your paradigm is ‘people are always looking to find a way to bully me,’ you may end up with a angry or defensive personality. A paradigm shapes how you think, act and feel. Like looking through glasses, or having a worldview. That’s exactly it!

Being Principled Centred

This is one part of sections 1-3 that really spoke to me. Being principle centred means that you are acting on some baseline values that never change. To me, a few of those values are; respect, kindness, honestly, trust, and perseverance. These values I have for myself and others will never change because this is what I believe a person should have and value as well. Sean Covey believes being principle centred in better than being friends centred, family centred, or sports centred, because you are well rounded, and your principles never change, where as your friends, or sports could change as you go. I agree with Covey on this, being principle centred is the best way to be.

Habits Short #1

For this short, we got to choose our groups! I am with tyler for this project. This video is one of 3 shorts we are going to create over the next few weeks. Here it is!

Conclusion

In this first post I have recapped the first 3 habits. I have also spoken about paradigms and their importance. These habits are an important thing to add into my daily life, and I have been trying to do so. This book can be life changing if you use it in the right way. I have 2 more posts coming to talk about the coming parts of the book. Thanks for reading!

This time around, we were at provincials! In my group I had Esther, James, Quin, and Gemma! Throughout this post, I will be talking about my journey throughout DI this year. Enjoy!

Creative Process

The biggest hardship our group faced was that two of our members were in Edmonton for a bad and choir trip! This was a problem and we all knew it. Those two members built the machine, therefore they were the only ones who could run it. After a few tries, Esther got the hang of it, and so we then had to shift our story and characters to fit with our new roles within the team. Running our story with three people was quite a change, and not an easy one. We developed scenes we could perform with only three people, and practiced a LOT before our performance. 

And then, right before we were going into the room to perform, one of the worst things that could’ve gone wrong, went wrong. Our machine broke! A soccer ball was kicked right into our machine (it had been placed on the ground briefly while we set up our props for practicing). This was really quite frustrating because we spent so long trying to perfect our performance, actions, and the machine carrying the weights across the cord.

Story Finding

Our challenge was called the High-Wire Act Engineering challenge. We had to create a transporter that could carry weights across a tournament provided cord. We also had to make a story and present it in the style of contemporary circus and show off a daring display. 

Finding and creating our story all started with our love for the Greatest Showman. Read my regionals blog post here to find more out about it. 

Skills and Reflection

This year was quite different than last year. I felt as though my group was way more organized and on time with our tasks. Say one night I said I would finish making a backdrop. I had it done for the next day. Every member of my group was accountable for their own learning, which is what made this year so great. 

In grade 8, we were so stressed the whole time, from the day one right until the night before. We could’ve think of a story, or a song, or anything really! 

I’ve grown so much from last year, it blows my mind to think about! I have expanded my way of growing and learning by practicing a few things to keep me on track and focused while working. The first thing our group did was try to get to know each other and make sure we knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses so we could navigate them all together.  

Although we came second in this tournament, I felt as though I learned more this time around rather than when we came first and won the whole thing. I learned to keep an open mindset about things such as when our machine didn’t work. Instead of saying ‘our transporter didn’t work, we are so doomed, we are never coming first now…’ I kept an open mindset and said ‘that’s really too bad our transporter didn’t work this time around, I’m sure we’ll get it next time! Great job guys we put a lot of effort into this and it really payed off in a positive way.’ The difference between these can make a big difference in how I feel, and the impact I make on others.

Instant challenge

I can’t reveal certain details from my instant challenge, but I can say that I do not think it went well at all! We were all over the place, and NOT working together. I expect better of us, and we need to change for next time.

Conclusion

Overall, I think that we did a solid job working as a team, figuring out how each other works, and adapting to take in all ideas, and having an open mindset about what’s to come and what has happened. Thank you to the teachers for supporting us along this journey of DI, and thank you to all my team members for putting in effort and wanting to win! 

How might I tell a story about who I am and where I’m going?

I believe a story can be told in so many different ways. They can be conveyed by speaking, dancing, artwork, singing, and really any way you want. This is what is special about you, no person has the same story, you are one of a kind. 

In this project we explored the importance of organizing your life. With so much going on, it is hard to stay accountable and focused, but this project has focused me on setting goals and using organizations tools. 

What do you really want?

This was the name of the book we read. To make sure everyone was taking in information, our teacher asked us to complete the activities within the book while reading it. I chose to do the activities in my bullet journal. I have been bullet journaling for a long time, and it really helps me express my thoughts onto paper, while doing it in a fun and creative way. The book really got through to me because I sometimes struggle with what I want to achieve in life. It made me see that making goals, short term and long term help, and they help with what you want to achieve in the long run.

What is a SMART goal?

A Savvy, Measurable, Active, Reachable, Timed goal is a SMART goal. This is a great way to help set and achieve goals. An example of a non smart goal is “I want to improve.” This is not specific and it doesn’t follow any of the criteria of setting a SMART goal. An example of a SMART goal is “I want to improve at shooting in soccer, because now that the goalies are better my shots need to be low and hard. To show my improvement I want to score a goal in a bottom corner by the end of the month.” This goal follows all the SMART steps. When goals are this specific, they are easier to track and make for yourself.

Staying Organized

In addition to reading this book, we learned in depth about the apps Things, and Calendar. I have been using Things since the beginning of grade 8 and it has kept me on track and made sure I don’t hand in any assignments late. We learned to start time blocking in calendar. It tells you when events start and end, and you can even categorize them by colour and name! Once these 2 skills were set it was time to be set free, although for them to work you need to keep up with adding things to your calendar and assignments to Things. 

Final Video

The driving question for us to answer was ‘how might I tell a story about who I am and where I’m going?’ 

In the video, we included keynote animations which we had created beforehand. This was fun because in the video the pictures moved, and I thought it was fun to create them. We also included some goals we made and our plan to achieve them in the future. Although my final career decision hasn’t been made, I want to become a lawyer of some sorts. If I set myself up for success then I should give myself choices in the future, which is incredibly important.

Conclusion

Staying organized comes in many shapes and forms. You can be a messy person but have a base organizational person. You can also be a neat person and input events and scheduling right away! Do whatever works for you, but remember to stay on track and focus on the end destination, the final place you want to get to.

As my future is incredibly important to me, I want to set myself up the best I can. That starts now. This project has walked me through goals, organizational systems and really learning about who I am and where I’m going. These things all matter but the second I’m not organized it gets thrown away. So, I need to keep up with the systems I’ve put in place, and keep on track.

Thanks for reading!

And just like that it’s Destination Imagination time again…

Challenge

This year I was assigned to the Engineering high wire act. I was in a group with Gemma, Esther,  James, and Quin. I thought we worked exceptionally well together, and our final performance was a success. 

Preparing

Within the weeks leading up to the tournament, our group had a ton of fun writing the script, getting costumes together, and rehearsing. 

We started off with our script, making it funny, relatable, and easy to follow. I think our script is one of the best things about our performance. We worked really hard on all of the pieces to our presentation, especially the props. They really add to the overall effect when the story comes together.

How We Created Our Story

Hire Wire Act

That was the name of our challenge this year, the engineering one. We were tasked to create a transporter that moves along the tournament provided cord to complete weight(s) transport. We also had to tell a story in the form of contemporary circus. A daring display, and an ensemble spectacle also had to be present in the performance. 

At the very start of our DI journey, we still had everything to do. One class, Gemma was singing a Greatest Showman song, and our story sparked from there. We re-watched parts of the Greatest Showman and crafted our script by taking existing parts as well as incorporating our own ideas into our take on the ‘Greatest Showman’

Our performance told the story of 2 young boys on the lookout for adventure. When they get in trouble and find themselves in an orphanage, they escape to create a circus!

After provincials I will give our story in more detail.

I was really proud of our group, especially because of the props we built, as I said before. I found our group worked well together, especially because everyone pitched in and brought something different to the group. This years DI went a lot smoother than last year because I had done it before and I felt more confident. 

Team Reflection

Our whole group thought our performance went well, and all that was left to do was continue our success into provincials! Our one thing we want to improve on is to not have a bunch of time left over after we present, because we were just waiting for our machine to finish its rounds after we finished. It was a bit awkward but not the end of the world!

Reflecting Back On Last Year

In grade 8, I felt our group wasn’t ready on DI day. We weren’t really prepared, and everything was quite last minute. This year, we had our lines memorized, props built and everything done on time. I’m really proud of our final product, and I hope we continue until provicials!

Thanks for reading, be ready for provincials coming soon!

Making our Run! Remake video was a hard but rewarding challenge. We went through many different stages, with trial and error. Overall I had a really fun time making this video with filming, editing, and working with my peers. We came to class one day, put into random 3-4 person groups and told to make an exact replica of this Run Horror Film. 

Driving Question

How might we learn video skills by recreating a short film?

Creating a short film is a lot of hard work because of all the small clips we need to film. I really found it challenging filming the 1-2 second clips, because they had to be incredibly accurate. I learned a lot filming this because it made me realize that I need to pay attention to the small details in the original and then use the same angles, time, speed, and costumes. This was a difficult assignment, but I think we did well to make an accurate recreation of the horror film.

This was a really challenging video to recreate because it needed to be the exact costumes, length of time and sound effects. We went through many different steps to finally finish our final video, but all our hard work paid off because I am proud of how it turned out. 

Film Day #1

The first draft video we made I was with Eloise, Samuel, and Ian. We went into the forest with a plan and excited to film. Our video did not turn out very close to the original, but thats okay, because we got a second chance a couple weeks later. I would add our first video on here, but I lost it when iMovie updated for some reason. I enjoyed working with my group, because I feel we collaborated well, and supported each other. 

Redo!

After watching all of our videos in class, our teacher announced we were to make a whole other version of this video, but this next video required a ton of planning. My next group I was assigned to was with Tyler and Siena. Siena and I were away in Phoenix for a soccer tournament on the designated film day, so we filmed on review and completion day the next week. I was very proud of this next video because we had the correct costumes, and we were prepared and ready to create a remake!!

Although this video took only one day to film, we spent a lot of time preparing for film day with making a screenplay and storyboard. 

Screenplay and Storyboard

A screenplay is a script of a movie that helps direct and have a plan when filming. We had to make a screenplay to help us create our plan of action. 

A storyboard shows the different scenes that we are going to be filming. We made a storyboard describing what happens in each clip of the video, with a drawing and a description of the clip in each box of the storyboard. 

Filming and Editing

I think our filming went very smoothly this time. Part of it was that we didn’t have a time constraint because we weren’t filming in class. I didn’t really help all that much with editing, because editing was mostly a one person job considering we weren’t together, and Tyler did an amazing job!

Filming this video was extremely challenging because you had to run with the person in order for the filming to look good and accurate to the original video. It was hard running with the camera while trying to keep it steady. I enjoyed the editing part of this assignment, because with Tyler and Siena, with them both knowing what they were doing, it went very smoothly, and we finished efficiently. 

Conclusion

I enjoyed this project because I learned even more about filming techniques and editing throughout this assignment. I loved working together with both groups, and I really enjoyed the challenge of assignment, because it helped me zero in on my editing and filming skills. 

Thanks for reading! Be ready for my next post, Winter Exhibition is coming up quick!!

Take your kid to work day is an annual thing the grade 9’s do every year. This year was my year, so I got to experience many wonderful things within my dads company.

Driving Question

How does experiencing a workday shape our view of career choices?

For my workday experience I had the privilege of going to my dad’s work with another classmate, Madeline. My dad’s company is Xenon Pharmaceuticals, and he is the CEO. The goal of Xenon is to help patients with neural disorders, and developing innovative therapeutics to help these patients. I thoroughly enjoyed my day at his work, and all my dad’s colleagues worked so hard to make this day the best it could possibly be. There were 9 kids including me and we did everything from learning about brain tissues, learning about what the different jobs look like, and even doing science experiments. Xenon is in the process of creating a drug that will help patients, mostly with epilepsy. Epilepsy is a brain disorder that causes recurring, unprovoked seizures. Not all seizures are caused by epilepsy.

Co-Op Students

At Xenon, we got to meet 3 different Co-Op students, two that worked in the lab, and one that was looking at slides under a giant microscope. These students were really inspiring because they entered the Co-op program at UBC and tried around 50 times to get into a company that would take them, and didn’t rest until they had a job. They take an 8 month break from school, to come work in a real life job, where they have been studying and get to learn from the people who do it every day which is so interesting. I am really inspired to go into this program because I think it could really help me make a decision on which type of job I’d like to retire to. At the moment I am interested in going to law school, although I don’t know for sure. I think becoming a Co-op student could really help me with finding a job I would be happy and excited going to every day, and have the experience of working in a real life scenario.

Our Job

I knew this day was going to be no relaxing day without a job to do. Our assignment was to make a video about TYKTWD, and include an interview, what you did throughout the day, and different shots to include in the filming process. 

Video

For privacy reasons I can’t publish my video for the world to see, but I can definitely show some pictures!

This is my dad in the lab. He is the CEO of Xenon Pharmaceuticals.

This is Madeline and I, with our name tags ready for the day!

Thank You Letter

After we finished with TYKTWD, we wrote thank-you letters to the mentors we shadowed for the day, I wrote to my dad. This was mine:

Hi Dad,

Thank You for your time and energy for making “Take Your Kid to Work Day” possible. The interviews I acquired were very valuable, and my experience helped me understand what you do for your job, and what a normal day looks like for you. I appreciate the time you and your colleagues took to make my day fun while educating us. I learned so much from the day such as what each job looks like and the cool things that happen in the lab. I loved looking at the brain tissues and moving the computer around to see the tissues under the microscope. I learned a lot about the Co-op students and the time they have spent in the lab. It sounded like every one of them enjoyed it, and I hope to be involved in that program someday. In our Maker 9 project right now, our driving question is, “How does experiencing a workday shape our view of career choices?” We used storytelling and videography to show how experiencing a workday can shape our views of careers. I have sent you my Take Your Kid To Work Day video on iMessage, and please feel free to send feedback to help make my video the best it can be. Thank you again for your time and patience in allowing me to come to your place of work for the day!

Sincerely,

Julia

We learned how to send a proper letter, that was professional and sounded well put together. Although I only wrote to my dad, it was important to practice writing emails like this for the future.

Conclusion

Overall, this day was so rewarding and I am so glad and grateful I got to experience this. Thank you to everyone who made this possible it was truly amazing. Take your kid to work day shaped my view on career choices because I got to learn about the different jobs people do, and see what a real job looks like day to day. Thank you to everyone who made this day possible, I really appreciate everyone who made this day possible.

Thanks, 

Julia