This is my 2023 mPol, and I will be going over all my growth as a learner this semester. I have divided my post into different categories for your convenience, so enjoy!

PGP – Personal Growth Plan

I will be covering all the Core Competencies in my PGP. My strengths before I started PLP were Creative Thinking, Critical and Reflective Thinking, and Positive Personal and Cultural Identity. I will be talking about what those skills are now, and where I am doing well.

- Critical Thinking

Strengths – I was really good at thinking outside the box, and coming up with unique ideas, or building creative things. I have done lots of things through school that have helped me grow in Critical Thinking.

Places for Improvement – Being more independent and finding the answers to my questions myself would build upon my problem solving skills. Finding more information from sources, and increasing my learning, or information in my projects is an area I need to work on.

- Communicating

Strengths – When I came into PLP I was a pretty good team member that communicates with their team. I was able to get others and my own thoughts and ideas into the group idea or conversation.

Places for Improvement – Talk over goals, stepping stones, and other key things in a group project would be an area I could improve on. Listening to others ideas and getting everyone’s perspectives, would be a big area I could improve on while in a group.

- Creative Thinking

Strengths - I can come up with ideas for projects and add my own spin on the work, and think outside the box with what to add to my project once I get started.

Places for Improvement – Being given project outline and start working on it without a prompt or example would help me create more unique ideas and thoughts.

- Critical and Reflective Thinking

Strengths – When I finish my project I can go through it myself and critique it to some extent. When I think back to projects I think of what I did wrong, and what I can do better on the next assignment.

Places for Improvement – Often when I finish a project I go over what to change for the next one, but I don’t often think about what to do the same and replicate.

- Personal Awareness and Responsibility

Strengths – I am often aware of what my role/job is in the group, and completing my designated task. Most of the time I can figure out what is happening around me and what to do.

Places for Improvements – Getting my task done on time and not postponing it is something I feel I can improve in a lot because this causes negative effects later on in the project or other projects.

- Positive Personal and Cultural Identity

Strengths – I am able to figure out my identity, and what I should do in situations.

Places for Improvement – Some places for improvement would be by figuring out who I am, and who I want to be sooner, in certain situations.

- Social Awareness and Responsibility

Strengths – I can figure out what each person in a group needs to work on, and how much they can handle. I don’t overwork my teammates, friends, or classmates.

Places for Improvement – Figuring out "who" I'm working with, and what their strengths are, can improve my group project skills.

Humanities

Humanities is one of the subjects that surprised me. Formerly, in Elementary School, I didn’t do well in English, and I did ok in Socials, yet I did pretty good in Humanities. I was able to go above what I thought I would be able to do this semester.

Goals

In Humanities my goal was to get "accomplished" on my projects, and throughout the year I have been able to achieve this and go above. Moving forward in PLP I am aiming for "extending" in Humanities. Since my start in PLP, I have been achieving higher and higher with each project.

If we look back to my first project "Outsiders Project", I was getting a lot of revisions, with an  "accomplished".

Since then I have been able to achieve higher in my projects, and get less revisions on my work. During my Middle Ages project I received less revisions, and also got an "extending".

On Keystone 3 I was able to get an "extending", which is higher then what I aimed for, and got it without revisions. This proves that I am achieving my goals, and reaching above them.

 

Growth

Throughout this term I have been able to achieve many of my goals, and make new ones. A good example of my growth is I have been adding more context into my writing, and into my blog posts. By comparing my first and my latest posts you can see the improvement. Even though I have improved in adding more detail it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t continue to work on that skill. I can still add much more detail to my posts, along with structure to my writing.

 

New

 

Old

Work

Outsiders Project

  • This is my groups first book cover, but it didn’t cover the things we wanted.

Middle Ages Project

  • One of my slides about The Crusades.

 

Maker

Maker is PLP’s ADST or Advanced Design Skills and Technology class, and we do iPad skills, extra learning, and teamwork in it. Maker is one of my favourite PLP courses so far, and the skills I have learned have helped me in, and outside of school.

Goals

My goal for Maker is to get an "accomplished", and improve my time blocking skills. Throughout this year I have been able to get "accomplished" on my projects, and I have gone above that and gotten "extending" on a few assignments.

On different projects throughout the semester I have received different grades depending on what the assignment was. On my Memoji I got an extending, while on Making Interesting Images I got an accomplished.  

For Maker my grade varies a lot based on the project we are making at the time. I would like to start to get an extending next year in Maker, and start adding more detail and effort into my work.

Growth

Over this semester of PLP Maker I have improved in lots of places for growth I had in the beginning of the year.

One big thing I wanted to improve on is using my time more effectively in class, flex time, and at home. I have improved on using time more effectively at school, and flex time, but it doesn’t mean that I am the best at it. I still have room for improvement in using time more effectively.

Work

Making Interesting Images

  • This photo is a good example of foreground and background.

Laptop MeMoji

Conclusion

Through this semester, I have improved my skills in lots of places like increasing length of my writing, adding more work or effort into my projects, gathering evidence from different sources on the internet, and more. Just because I improved in those areas, doesn’t mean I am the best at them, so I can’t wait to see what new skills I learn, or the skills I will build upon.

 

– Nate