This years grade 10 Loon Lake field study was centered around removing the cliques in our group and becoming one whole learning team. We did this by participating in activities that helped us gain trust within the group, and emphasizing with one another so we could create an open learning environment. I hoped to improve my communication within our group, get to know my peers better, and discover my values and what was important to me. PLP does field studies because it gives us an opportunity to expand our learning and gain new experiences or perspectives.

Revisiting my VMV in relation to our field study:

The communication section related to my field study because I said that this year I will wanted to work on articulating my ideas and collaborating with my peers that may have different learning strategies. I did this by speaking out in class and contributing to group conversations.

I wanted to improve on communication by working with new people and expressing my thoughts clearly. I decided I would do this by sitting with new people at lunch and talking to different classmates that I wouldn’t normally talk to on the hike.

The field study changed my way of thinking because on my VMV I said that I would work on collaboration with my peers by setting a shared goal. But I realized everyone has different values that might not align with each other. I fixed my way of thinking by supporting my classmate’s personal goals which I said I would do in the community section of my VMV. An example of this was on the trust fall where some people were terrified of heights and others would have no problem. I demonstrated my learning by supporting those who were more scared and reluctant to do it.

Something that we did that was meaningful was:

During a session with Jono, I learnt how to apply my values to everyday scenarios and how my values influence my judgement or decisions. We would get a scenario described to us and then we would go to one of three sections depending on what you would make the final decision with: head (logic based decision), heart (feeling based decision), gut (instinct based decision). It was interesting to see who chose what and it was fun explaining why you went to each section. I learnt that I often react to scenarios and make decisions based on my feelings and past experiences. The session helped with my decision making and it helped me apply my values to everyday life.

Evidence that showcases my learning:

I want to try out new things and put myself in situations that I’m not comfortable in because I feel like I grow the most when I have difficulties with an activity. This relates to a quote that Jono talked about many times. He said that comfort kills. This means that if you’re always inside your comfort zone, you never get the chance to learn and try new things.

My poster relates to my values and goals because I put down things like me scoring a goal. Something I said in my journal that I loved was scoring. It’s one of my favourite feelings and it reflects on who I am as a person because I measure success off of what my end product is as a result of hard work and dedication.

This is my journal. I was able to discover my values and identify what matters to me the most. I realized that I was good at having initiative, self confidence, group awareness and leadership but struggled with accurate self assessment, empathy, self control, and developing others. The two main traits that I wanted to improve was my empathy because it would help strengthen bonds within our group. The other trait I wanted to build on was developing others. This is because if I was able to bring up others in my group, I could help create a more supportive and engaging learning environment. I was able to demonstrate these traits by encouraging my peers to participate in the trust fall and by listening and sympathizing with people who opened up and shared something close to them.

Reflecting on my learning signals:

I showed strength in the self regulation category. One of my goals was to stay on task and not carry conversations into group discussions that would distract me. I was able to hold myself accountable and give myself reminders to stay on track. In my VMV, I said that I wanted to stay on task without getting distracted by my peers. I think I did a good job of sticking with that statement and creating a goal around it.

I struggled at collaboration at first. It felt strange being so close to people that I never normally would’ve talked to but over the trip I felt increasingly more comfortable around them. Next time, I will go straight into the activities without having to take a while to warm up to the people around me. This will help me get outside of my comfort zone.

My goal for the next 5 days at Seycove:

I want to apply the skills that I obtained during my time at Loon Lake and then use them to talk to one person that I normally don’t interact with everyday. This will bring our learning group together and I might get to know something new about one of my classmates. It relates to my values because I wanted to communicate with my peers and I value empathy. For example, if someone is having a hard day, I’ll go and cheer them up because it resonates with me and feels like the right thing to do. I’ll measure my progress by setting a reminder everyday on Things that tells me to talk with a new person.

How did Loon Lake change me as a person and a community member?

Loon Lake opened me up as a person. I feel that I’m more vocal, and a leader in our group because of my GRIT and willingness to speak up in class discussions. I feel like a more empathetic person who is able to see what other people are going through and sympathize with them. 

I am extremely grateful for this opportunity that I had and I am glad that I was able to get the most out of it as possible.