Monthly Archives: May 2025

In the Name of the Nation 🇨🇦📜🎥

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What is going on in this picture, and why do have a moustache on…? This probably is a little confusing, but in this blog post I will run through the whole project!

Project overview

As a class, we started learning about nationalism, and the consequences of nationalism. Then we started learning about confederation. The final product is a 5-7 minute persuasive video, promoting a province or territory to either join Canadian confederation, or remain sovereign.

 

What does nationalism mean?

 

Nationalism is love and devotion to one’s country above all other’s. It uses a “us vs them” mindset, which isn’t always a good thing. We watched a few videos about nationalism, which helped me gain a better understanding of the concept.

We also compared it to patriotism. (As you can see in the Venn diagram above.) Patriotism is when you are devoted and loyal to your country, while still being respectful of the laws and ways of other countries.Nationalism and Patriotism can often be confused with each other, and many people don’t know the difference.

Now that we had learned about nationalism, we could gain a better understanding moving on through this project.

 

Canadian Confederation

Before this project, I had no clue how Canada came to be a country. I didn’t know that some provinces were hesitant to join, and I didn’t know about all the different factors that went into confederation.

Now it was time to get our groups for the final video! I was with

Siena

Oliver

As a group, we wrote down the top three places that we wanted to make our video on. Turns out, we didn’t even get one on our list. That’s ok though, because we got to focus on the confederation of Manitoba. There are so many interesting things in the story of Manitoba. For example, the Red river rebellion, and some executions.

We decided to do a debate style video from the point of view of Louis Riel. He is trying to convince the people of Manitoba to not join confederation and remain sovereign. But before we could start filming anything, we had to make a script and storyboard.

Script

Everyone is the group took the lead on different things, and Siena took the lead on the script. We had to make sure that we included real events, and made it mostly accurate. We met with Mr. Harris to look over the script, and he gave us some good suggestions on interesting things we could add, like executions. I am glad we acted on that feedback, because it added so much more action to our video. We also made sure to include some humour!

 

Storyboard

 

I took the lead in drawing all the drawings for our storyboard, while Oliver did the writing. Looking back at the storyboard, the shots we got are pretty accurate to this! Making this storyboard gave us a good idea of what lines we would say in each scene.

 

Filming and editing

I learned that putting on a moustache every day for a couple weeks is not fun… As a group, we decided what days we would film! This is the part of the project where the stress started. I don’t think we realized the urgency of filming, and we soon started locking in.  We actually got a lot done in the final stretch of filming. There were moments where we would have laugh attacks and couldn’t pull it together, but we pulled it together in the end!

We tried to film with lots of different angles, so that the video came together nicely. I took charge on editing, and I added music to enhance the quality and dramatic effects. Here is the final video. Enjoy!

 

I think that this group was very good. I really enjoyed working with them because we all had different skills and personalities that we brought to the table! For example, I wasn’t embarrassed to dress as a man and I can memorize lines,  Oliver was good at remembering lines and acting, and Siena was a really good at directing and filming. Having a good balanced group like this is important to make a successful video. And I think we did it!

 

How has nationalism’s influence shaped the global structure? Moreover, how has nationalism impacted the establishment of Canada as a nation?

Nationalism can be a force that brings people together. However, it can also can also lead to conflict and tension within countries. In Canada, nationalism has shaped a lot of the country. Whether it is politically, culturally, or socially. Canada is an independent country, and nationalism has played a part in that.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project. Filming with my group was super fun, and I learned so much about how Canada even became a country in the first place.

 

Thank you for reading!

Post 3- The Renewal

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After reading the last part of Sean Covey’s 7 habits of highly effective teens, I realized that the last habit is so important. Habit 7 is Sharpen the Saw. The book describes it as renewing yourself. There are 4 areas under sharpening the saw.

Body: Care for your body. Get outside, get exercise, eat healthy.

Brain: Sharpen your mind. Read a book, travel, watch a documentary.

Heart: Care for your heart and wellbeing. Be kind to people, laugh with friends, apologize, be honest.

Soul: Feed your soul. Help others, journal, listen to music, practice a religion, hanging out with friends that understand you.

 

All four categories are so important in order to keep going, and being the best version of yourself. There was an analogy in the book that helped me understand well. You are cutting down a tree, and working so hard. You have been going nonstop and making slow progress. If you just took 15 minutes to stop and sharpen your saw, you could get your energy back and you’ll have a brand new sharpened saw to get the job done quicker.

 

How can I relate?

I can think of lots of times where I needed to step back and take time for myself. This year in particular has been different. Whether it a disagreement with a friend, or lots of school work built up, or an injury. Sometimes all those things can pile up and it can cause a lot of stress. It is times like those where I have to take a break and do something to sharpen the saw. Some things that I like to do to sharpen the saw are hanging gout with friends, getting outside, playing a sport, watching a movie, or reading a book.

A personal example of a time where I needed to sharpen the saw, is a knee injury that has been ongoing all year. It is finally getting better, but in the middle of the year it was so painful. I never wanted to stop playing soccer or skiing. I just let it get worse and worse. I would play soccer with it hurting, but I kept going because I love playing. It was the same with skiing. If all my friends were going, I just wanted to join in. I should have stepped down to give it a break. It got to the point where I had to sit out on all sports even PE! I sat out for two weeks, but it turned into a few months where the injury kept dragging on. Not playing sports was a good thing, to help it heal. But at the same time it was effecting my mood because I need to get exercise. I tried finding other ways I could exercise. I started swimming laps a little bit, and I still went to soccer practice and worked on juggling and stretching.

Something I learned from that experience was that sometimes you need to stop and sharpen the saw before things get worse. I am glad that I gave it a rest, and now It doesn’t bother me nearly as much.

 

YouTube short #3

In my last two posts, you can see that I made a YouTube short demonstrating all of the seven habits. This short is just about Sharpening the Saw. We got new randomized groups. I was with Maya and Ian. Ian wasn’t there for that class where we filmed, so Maya and I filmed everything. We let him do the outro because that was the only part we hadn’t filmed yet. I worked really well with maya and we did not get distracted. I enjoyed working with her. Here is our YouTube short:

 

What did I learn from “7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”?

To be honest, I didn’t really enjoy reading this book. I found it hard to read because there were weird spaces between lines. I think that it might be a little dated, because the way that the author tries to connect with teenagers isn’t super accurate. Even though it wasn’t my favourite, I did learn a lot. I think each habit he talks about is very important to living a successful, healthy, effective lifestyle. The last part of the book was the one that stood out the most to me, because I relate to it. Overall, the book had good lessons.

It is hard to immediately be amazing at each habit, and it will take lots of practice, whether it is Be Proactive, Begin with the End in Mind, Put First things First, Think Win-Win, Seek first to Understand then to be Understood, Synergize, or Sharpen the Saw, there are always times in life when these habits need to be used. Reading the book has taught me about the importance of each habit, and how I can use them in my life.

 

Thank you for reading!

 

Post 2: The Public Victory

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This post is the second out of three posts I will be doing about The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. I will talk about habits 4, 5, and 6. (Think win-win, Seek first to understand, then to be understood, and Synergize.)

 

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Thinking win-win is an essential skill to being able to work together. In the book, Sean Covey talks a lot about having a Win-win mindset. Having a win-win mindset means to think of ways where two or multiple people in a situation could win. For example, if you and your friend each had a popsicle. You open up the packet and realize that you both don’t like the colour you got. It would be a win-win if you switched popsicles. There are definitely many more difficult situations to be in where a win-win mindset would be hard to use, but that was just a simple example.

Sean Covey mentions some other ways of thinking that aren’t always good. A win-lose mindset means that one group or person gains or wins, while the other gets nothing. Win-lose is competitive, and doesn’t always work out in the long run. Thinking win-lose is ok in sports. For example, when I play soccer, I get competitive and only one team can win.

Another is lose-lose. That is pretty self explanatory. You both lose, and nobody wins!

An analogy that stuck with me in this habit was the “Tumour twins”. the tumour twins are Competing and Comparing. You can’t think win-win if you are always competing and comparing. It shouldn’t be a competitive thing to think win-win. Comparing with other people isn’t a good habit to get into and it does not help you think win-win. It can be so easy to compete and compare, especially as a teenager, but I am working on thinking win-win!

 

Habit 5: Seek first to Understand, Then to be Understood

This habit is built off of listening. You have to have really good listening skills in order to be able to do this habit well. Seek first to understand, then to be understood means to listen to somebody to get a better understanding before you help them understand where you’re coming from. I feel like I can connect to this habit well.  If I am disagreeing with somebody, I always feel like I have to understand where they are coming from. It can be really hard to sort things out if you can’t listen. 👂

In the book, there are some ways of listening that aren’t helpful. I read about word listening, which means you only listen to the words being spoken, and you don’t read into the social cues or body language the person is using.

Another poor listening style is selective listening. That means you only hear certain parts, or you choose the parts you want to act on. You may listen to the parts that interest you, or relate to you, then ignore the rest.

 

Habit 6: Synergize

To synergize means to work together with people, and combine your talents and interests to create something better. It is always good to get more people’s  perspectives and views on things, and that can help you expand on your own ideas and thoughts. If you look around, you can see synergy everywhere. You can see it in nature, in people, in cities, in sports, and in so many other places. If people couldn’t synergize (work together), the world would not be the same. I try and synergize as much as as I can. When I get a new group for a project, depending on the project, I ask my group members what their skills are. Combining everyone’s interests and skills is the best way to work as a group, and be successful!

 

Our Youtube Short

Once again, I was with Gemma and Carmyn. Once we put our minds to it, we can get filming done quickly and efficiently. All of the groups got mixed up, so next short I make I will be in a different group. Here is the YouTube Short we made showing habits 4, 5, and 6.

Conclusion

I can relate to all of these new habits I learned about, and I am going to work on them throughout my whole life. There will always be work to do with learning to use the seven habits, but the most I can do right now is try to practice them in my every day life. There will be one more part to this trilogy of posts, stay tuned for the last one!

 

ChemHistory! ⚛️

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What is this blue salt shaker, and what does it have to do with chemistry?? This probably looks a little bit confusing, but once I break the project down it will all make sense!

 

Learning about Elements and Compounds!

We started by getting familiar with the periodic table of elements, and what it all means. Then we moved on to ionic compounds, and polyatmoic compounds. It took me a little while to grasp the concept, but I started to understand pretty quick. Here is a photo of some of my ionic compound notes:

We also learned about Covalent compounds. A covalent compound is a compound that is made from two non-metals. I learned so much about how to figure out different kinds of compounds. We also had a test on polyatmoic ions. I did pretty well, except i made a couple small mistakes with the charge of the atom. It for sure confusing in the beginning, but the more that I practiced, the more I understood. I also realized that I needed to ask for some help in the beginning and that is ok to do!

Labs and activities we did

We some really cool activities during this project, that helped build a stronger understanding on the concept.

 

Ionic compound scavenger hunt

For this little project, we got into groups of three and started to make a scavenger hunt! The clues were about ionic compounds. For example “where do you go to get H2O during pe class” and then that clue would lead you to the water fountain. This was a quick but fun activity.

 

Compound and flame lab

This is pretty self explanatory… we got to use the Bunsen burners to make a flame. Then we dipped a rod into different compounds and then stuck them into the flame. It was so cool to see the different colours that the flame turned. I found this lab really interesting because I love testing out different things. This was my idea of a good lab!

 

Ionic compound mixture lab

This was the other lab we did, and I thought this one was also super interesting. We put a couple drops of an ionic compound onto a glass slab and then we combined it with another drop of a different compound. Each time, it turned a different colour or texture! On of them turned really shiny, while others turned milky or swirled into another colour.

 

Element art

To complete the whole unit, we moved onto our cyanotype art. Cyanotype is a liquid used for art that develops once it hits sunlight. You have to apply it in a dark room, then let it air dry, then put it out in the sun with a  print on top. As a class, we experimented with cyanotype to see if it would work well. We collected plants and flowers to print. It worked!

Now that we knew that it worked, we moved on to our real art peice. For my element of choice, I chose sodium chloride (which is actually an ionic compound). I started research on the significance of my compound, the history behind it, how it is used daily, and why it is so important. I wrote a paragraph explaining all those things, and then I got it printed out. Here is my paragraph:

 

“Don’t Be So Salty!”

I’m sure we all know what salt is. But there’s more to it then just for putting on food! Sodium chloride actually has a large historical and modern day significance! Sodium Chloride (or salt) is an essential compound for so many reasons. Salt has been used as currency in many cultures and historical periods. Currency is just the beginning! Salt is used every day all around the world. I use salt all the time for cooking and baking. It’s great for preserving food. Salt is an essential electrolyte to help your body function. It is also used a lot for medical purposes. It can be used to help with coughs, wound cleaning, and even melting icy sidewalks. I didn’t know how important sodium chloride really is, but now I realize the significance, and what an effect it has in history and today!

 

Creating and presenting my art!

Once I finished the writing and research part, it was time for the fun part! The actual art peice. I thought that this would be super easy, but I actually struggled a lot with picking what shape to cut out. In the end, I narrowed it down to a salt shaker. I am not sure why, but I thought it would be the best option. For our prints, we used foam. I soon found out that foam is hard to cut, especially small details. Using a scalpel was definitely the right way to do it!

Here is my finished art in the little art gallery our class set up.

 

 

The art gallery was a really cool way to display and share the artwork our class made, and there were lots of people coming around to all the stations. I explained the driving question to lots of people, and I explained why I chose to do sodium chloride. Speaking of the driving question, here is my answer to it:

 

What impacts do elements and compound have on history and modern day society?

This is a very big driving question, because there are so many elements and compounds, and they all have so many uses! For example, I chose to focus on sodium chloride. I had no idea how many things it is used for, and why it is so important. Once I started researching, I found out just how significant it is, and how it is essential for your body to function!

I don’t think anybody realizes, but there are elements everywhere we look, and they all shape the world and our society. Obviously, I can’t talk about every single element on the periodic table, But now I have a greater understanding on how each element has an important role in the world.

I really enjoyed doing this project, because I learned so much about how to make ionic compounds, and everything around that concept. I also love doing art, so the cyanotype art was probably my favourite part!

 

Thank you for reading!