We are the bean Town Buddies, a fanstastic DI group filled with awesome people such as Aidan Mallie, Lucas Mcgee, Daniel Boglari, Susan E, and Francis Rawlings.

The past few months with Destination Imagination have been chaotic but beneficial, as I developed skills in communication, collaboration, problem solving, and time management. Despite experiencing stress, frustration, and anxiety, I found the experience valuable in expanding my knowledge and life skills. We were under a huge time crunch, so it made it very stressful. There are 4 sections that you could work in, however I did the “Going the Distance” challenge. Our main goal was to make a machine that could launch a bean bag 2 different ways with dimensions under 20″ by 20″. Along side that, you have to have a story including the machine in it. Ours was a wacky story, it included a horse, an evil tech-man, 2 friends and a person without a phone.

This project has brought me to face my fears and do stuff I’ve never done before. At one point I though we were never going to finish and we ended getting it done last second. I also worked with people ive never met which was weird at first until I got to know them. This project was different than the others because I thought I had so much time, but it started getting closer and closer by the minute making me realize how little time I had and started working on it.

During our presentation on the day, we were not fully prepared because I was the only person that knew there lines. However it all went smoothly even though we were improvising. I wish my group came to more tutorial times because that is the only time we had to work on it and none of my group showed up to it.

Regarding no one showing up, I need to work on my communication. We had been contacting each other through our iPads, and since we don’t take our iPads anywhere but school, we cant communicate very well. We can fix this by adding our phone numbers to our group chat. That way we can be more responsive and have accurate feedback on what happening.

I think DI is a very fun project. The reason I say is and not was is because its still going, right after spring break we will have to go straight back to preparing because we are hosting the Nationals right here in seycove. So far, I have learned so much from DI and look forward to whats to come.

When we first started this project I had no idea what crazy things Jeremy Murphy was going to get into.

This semester we built a “frankenstuffie”. A frankenstuffie is created by sewing together multiple stuffed animals to make a hideous creature. For example, mine started as a meerkat, a dog, and a dragon.  For short, he is a Drameerdog, pronounced “Dur-meer-dog”, but I call him Jeremy Murphy. In addition to making the stuffy, we had to create a story and a video representing the life of our frankenstuffie. The life of Jeremy is very complicated. To make a long story short, he was made in a Norwegian lab, then sent to America because he stole from a store. In America he stole the world’s biggest diamond. When he didn’t get caught he decided to spy on Norway for designing him as such an oddball, and he ended up bombing their headquarters so no more frankenstuffies could be made.

I also learned how to sew during this project, which is a good life skill I didn’t have. We used basic sewing techniques to sew the different body parts of the animals together to make our frankenstuffie.

During the design of the story we learned story structure. I found this helpful because I didn’t know what story structure was before. To help understand what story structure is, we watched some Pixar Shorts and had to name both the structure of the story as well as the theme.

MY FULL VIDEO:

RPReplay_Final1710460655

There are four steps to creating a successful frankenstuffie and story. Number one, create your character, for me I saw a meerkat body. When I was looking for different attachments for it, I found a dog’s head that fit it perfectly, so I decided to use that. And since you need three different animals, I decided to add a dragon’s tail. The next step in creating a successful frankenstuffie is building your plot. This includes thinking about how he was made, who his family is, what he likes and so on. For mine, he was built in a Norwegian lab, and didn’t have any family and he liked being a thief. Then he set out on a mission, and so on. You also need to design a theme. Guess mine at the end!

However before I actually started to write my story, we had to make a hero’s journey, and select one of the journeys to make a full story. There are 7 parts of a hero’s journey. I chose “Tests allies’ Enemies Part 2”. I chose this because he had to either meet a bad guy or have something bad happen to him. Something bad happened to Jeremy when he forgot the diamond. 

Once we finished our entire story it was time to start our video. I made my video using Keynote, so it was all animations and no real world stuff. I started my video off with Jeremy Murphy leaving the lab where he was fabricated. My first slide wasn’t very good because I didn’t know how to use Keynote, however when I played around with it and learned how to use it better. When I ended he blew up the place where he was made, and my skills in this were a lot better. I have learned so many Keynote techniques, and I feel much more confident with it.

Overall, I think this project was fun and full of good learning. If I was to do this again, I would skip the writing learning and go straight to the writing so I could improve my first draft. I feel like I do better when I try first and then learn from what I do wrong.

Here is a link to my padlet, you can comment what you think my theme is! https://padlet.com/sebastianh22/jeremy-murphy-ymxy9mqt0nbxt2yu

For the last project of the semester we were focusing on Louis Riel. We were learning about him and how he was helping the métis from losing their land to the Canadians. The first part of the project we had to learn how to make small words into big words, for example, good, could be great. So we learned how to make proper sentences and not run on sentences. After that we watched a few videos about Louis Riel, one of them being the Heritage Minutes video of this last few words before death. A few things he loved were the Métis and his god. 

After we learned about Louis Riel, we moved on to our first draft of writing. We had to write about the portrayals of Louis Riel, and what happened during his lifespan. My first draft had many improvements to be made, however my next draft was almost perfect. I had around 6 revisions for 3 paragraphs. Which in my opinion is not a lot for the second draft, meaning I was ahead of a lot of the class. 

My final draft was a success I wrote everything according to the criteria. Here is my final draft:                                   

                                        Louis Riel: Hero or Rebel?

Louis Riel has been portrayed in many ways, many Métis thought he was a hero, others, a government official, but to most people a mad man. Louis Riel was a hero to many Métis, by fighting and leading at Red River Rebellion, (1869-1870). The Canadians were raiding the Métis land and Riel was trying to defend it without the use of violence. He was slightly successful, he fled to Fort Gary (Winnipeg), however the Canadians now wanted to capture him. This made the British happy, because they viewed him as a criminal. The british were cheering on the Canadians to capture Louis Riel.

There has been many things made for Louis Riel, however the statues is what the majority of the public focus on. Some statues make him look strong,  but a handful of them made Riel look terrible.  Lemay and Gaboury’s statue made him look like he was trapped in a “cage” and was naked, showing him as weak. Joyal’s Louis Riel statue, more recently sculpted (1996) made Louis Riel look tall, he was holding the Métis bill of rights which made him look powerful and even intelligent. These statues have been very controversial. There was so much controversy, that the british thought of the Métis as invaders.

Since Thomas Scott, a Irish Protestant, who moved to the Canadians party, was rebelling against the Métis government, he was executed by a firing team. Once Louis Riel surrendered himself he was hung for the murder of Thomas Scott. Although he was a criminal for killing Thomas Scott the Métis really liked Louis Riel for helping the Métis keep their land. Overall, portrayals of Louis Riel have changed, because people are now realizing how much more good than bad he has done. Everyone has their own perception of Louis Riel. The Métis don’t like the fact that Louis Riel killed Thomas Scott, however, he was just adhere to what he cared about the most, the Métis people, his God, and himself.

Overall, this was a great finish too my semester, considering I have not done english that semester. I liked the fact that we actually got to learn how to write before we actually had to finish our paragraphs. I think this was a well paced project considering I didn’t feel stressed. If I had the chance I would do this project or something like it again.

This past month we have been working tirelessly to finish a project representing a revolution.

In the first week of the project we found out what we were doing, we were doing Rube Goldberg machines based on ancient revolutions, and we were doing the Meiji Revolution. Our first task was to get familiar with our revolutions so we made an infographic. After that, we got straight into building our Rube Goldberg machines. The first part of our machine was where a car would knock over books, and that represented the naval warships of America forcing the Japanese to open their ports. After that, we made a pulley system representing the rise of the new emperor Meiji and the fall of the old emperor. Once we finished building the pulley, we moved on to the dominos, the dominos represented the wars and conflicts the Meiji went through. Once the dominos were done, we made a “wrecking ball” representing the government swinging into new ideas, The wrecking ball hits a green ball that goes to my part. My part was a lego old style Japanese temple, which the ball roles through, then falls into a modern building representing the modernization of Japan. After that there is a ramp that represents the struggles that Japan went through. Then, a ball would roll through it and hit a rock which would turn on a light, representing the new ideas of Japan.

Once the exhibition started, the first few times it didnt work, however it started getting more consistent. I was the one setting it up most times so I was getting tired near the end of the exhibition. I think overall this project was a huge success because I like building physical products and we got to do that for a month straight. This was my favourite part of PLP so far.

Documentary

For the past 3 weeks, I have been working on a horror/thriller film with some of my friends. It was hard to get started, however, we finished it right on time.

The film we made was called the dark, it was about a man who was scared of the dark, then he went to a therapist, the therapist recommended exposure therapy. Exposure therapy is when you have a phobia of something and have to go do it or see it. For this man, it was The dark. So he went down to his basement, looked around for a second, then saw something behind him in the mirror. When he looked around, he thought it was all in his head. So then he put some laundry in the machine while he was down there. When he went up, he heard loud and big footsteps, however, it was only his child back from school. So he made sure no monsters were following him up the stairs and then right there a loud scream in front of him grabbed him and pulled him down the stairs. Then he suddenly woke up in his bed panting, and then it zoomed out, and the monster was seen in the mirror. (Video Link at The Bottom Of Page)

We had 2 weeks to make The Dark. To start the process of making the film, we had to make a script and storyboard. We ended up doing that in 2 days, therefore staying on track. The next chunk of it was filming at Seycove. We got a whole bunch of movement shots, like walking indoors, the therapist giving advice, and many others. However, we decided to switch up the roles therefore making us redo the entire movie. With only one week remaining, we got straight to work at one of my group mates’ houses. There was a perfect basement, perfect office-type area, and almost perfect everything. So we started with the therapist scene (I was the therapist)
We made the area look cozy and office-like, and then we started filming, it took around 5 shots to get it good. After the therapist scene we filmed him going downstairs and “seeing something in the mirror” This shot went smoothly only taking 2 attempts. Then we went to the laundry machine to get the ding of when it started. Once he went upstairs, we filmed his son getting home from school, and then the monster appearing in front of him. That was all we could film for the day, however, that was most of the film. The following day we worked on sound and editing. Once we finished the clips we went back to the house to get him waking up in the bed scene. Once all of that was completed, it was a matter of editing, which went by smoothly.

Overall I really liked this project because it brought our inner imagination out, as we have been more guided by the teachers for the last few videos we made. I would do this project again if I had the chance.

Video Link To The Dark

This year we went to Loon Lake. Loon Lake is a place you take classes and do out door activities. When we first got there we got comfy and get set up for the night and then went to dinner. The food here was great. The first meal we had was garlic bread and lasagna. The next day we worked with Jono. Jono is the owner of Loon Lake, he was the person that taught us inside about many different things like, Emotional Intelligence, Leadership and much more. However, the first real activity we did was archery. I was pretty good at archery. There were 3 levels, one close, one medium, and one far. I did all of the, however the medium was my favourite. We found out our sleeping group a week , so we already knew where to go.

The next day we did another Jono session. After that we went to the climbing wall. I was last to go and almost made it to the top. After that, we went and did a scavenger hunt with puzzles. It was similar to the “amazing race”. We got last, however we had a very fun time. There was 7 puzzles, one of them involving water that was freezing cold.

When we had our sessions with Jono we learned tons. This trip changed my life in many ways. I learned that I am brave, which means I can do much more now. I also learned about thinking before you act. We learned that you think with your mind, feel with your hands, then think should I do this, with your heart. This strategy has helped me prevent conflicts with my friends, family, and others. I have also made good decisions in other places, like shopping and not spending as much money.

For the final idea, I’ll be answering the driving question, “How do the choices we make set our future path?” I think based on what we learned, we have to make the choice of who we are. Whether that is a Leader, a follower, or a bystander. I think I am a follower at this stage in my life but I would like to be a leader in the near future.

When I received the invitation to visit my mums work, a mixture of curiosity and excitement surged through me.

Every year grade 9s across Canada participate in an event called take your kids to work day. Yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like, your parents take you to their work. My mum works at BC Centre for Ability where they help children from 1-5 years of age with disabilities. They help them with things like walking, talking, climbing stairs, and other skills.

While I was there, I saw the room where my mum works with the children, (the children thought I was awesome). I learned about how if a child’s feet are spread wider, it means their balance skills are not as strong.

While we were there, I was filming a video of the day in a life of my mums work. I was showcasing how my mum works and what her office looks like. I even got to interview a nice mum of the child she was helping! (You can watch the video, the link is at the bottom of this post.)

Overall I think this job would suit me well. I found the kids funny, and the desk work didn’t look too difficult. My mums coworkers were super nice. I think this could be a possibility for my career. Thank you for reading my blog post.

Youtube Video:

Every year in PLP we go on a field school. This year’s was very different, once I stepped on that bus, there was no going back. 55km of hiking later, I’ve arrived home.

This year we went to the Rocky Mountains. We had to answer our driving question, How has the geography of the West shaped who we are? We have been thinking about that question for a while, and even interviewed people to ask their opinions on it. We made up our own questions and made an “investigative video” based on what we learned from the strangers. (You can see it in my multi touch book!)

The 5 themes that we were learning about are, Location, Place, Human-environment interaction, Movement, and Region.

I learned that in the Rocky Mountains, they have bridges that go over highways so animals can safely walk across it! ⬇️ (Human Environment Interaction)

Another cool thing I learned is that the Rocky Mountains have many near-extinct animals that they take care of, for example, snails! They love to live in natural hot springs (sulpher). We ended up going to the hot springs and seeing them! (Region)⬇️This is the hot springs in the cave. There are snails in here but they are really hard to spot. This place is very cool to tourists but even cooler to anyone that knows about it. Way back when, there were two men, gold mining. However, they didn’t find gold, the men found a hole that smelled weird so they dug down and found this cool, natural hot spring. They thought it was super cool so they made it their business. Every day many people would come by to take a dip in the water for a small charge. However, they closed down in 1992.

To wrap this trip up, we went on loads of hikes, went to tons and tons of national parks, and even saw a bear! If I were to rate this trip on a scale from 1-10, I would have given it an 8, if there was a little less hiking I would have liked it more.

Here is a link to my multi-touch book, it includes an in-depth reflection on this trip. ⬇️

Have you ever been to Alberta? I have, thats what this blog will be based on. We had 4 video we had to make. The first one I will talk about will be the silent video.

The silent video was on the location of 3 valley gap. It has a ghost town, with many maniquins that helped us with our videos. My video was based on a murder. It was called conviction, and of course you could not talk because its a silent video. We also had to over exaterate our actions to make is more understanding for the veiwers that dont know whats going on.

The next video was based on a tiktok trend of your choice. I did a not so famous one where you encorporate the sound from cocomelon “are we there yet? Not yet!” And then after it said not yet it said yes and showed a whole bunch of photos from our trip. We had to plan the locations for our tiktok so we could get the footage before we had to leave.

The third video was an at home video. We did things that inspire me. I started off by showing my bike, because I love biking and I always had. Biking inspires me because my dad tought me when I was 2. Now im better than himand teaching him! After the biking portion I showcased my scooter. Then I showed my favorite skate park, Seylynn. I love it because there is a really good bowl to jump out of. After that I showcased my tricks ive landed.

We did an investigative video where we investigated our thesis and asked strangers questions that related to our thesis. I did 3 interviews.

Those were the four videos that we did for Alberta. I really liked this project and hope we do something similar again

Check out my other post with more info!

Alberta Field School: How The West Shaped Us

Sebastians TPOL of 2023
“Thank you for coming to my presentation of learning. I am the expert on my own learning. I am also responsible and accountable for my own learning. You can expect me to give an honest evaluation of my progress. We will discuss my strengths and opportunities for growth. Thank you in advance for listening and for offering feedback that I can use to improve as a learner.”

This Year has been my favorite year of school yet. I think PLP boosted my learning in ways that never happened before, like when I did something wrong in grade 7, I would not want to retry. However, when I joined PLP, I was excited to try again until I got it right. I think the way PLP gives small chunks of work at a time in the projects really works for me. I seem to be getting around 2 times the amount of work done because I don’t get overwhelmed by all of the work at once.

Recap

In the first semester, I did projects that didn’t spark much interest in me. I felt pretty bored with PLP, we had projects like, the avatar box, where you build a box based on your scene from Avatar, and the Consequences of Colonization, where you researched a lot, and we also had Blue eyed brutes in horns (Vikings research). I found all of these, not that fun. I think for next year the beginning will be fun because we will already have passed grade 8, and the beginning of grade 8 was like a test for us. But in grade 9, we already passed grade 8 so we can start doing fun projects right away.

The Bad Things about this year in PLP

I am least proud of my work in the first semester of school, which is understandable because I know more now and I am smarter. However, there is a project I dislike the most: The Outsiders Book. I disliked this one because it was really challenging for me because I’m a slow reader and we had to read it fast and take notes on it. So I fell really far behind and it got me stressed.

I found the revising part of PLP frustrating at first because I’ve never done anything like it. However, once the year went on I got more used to it and now I like it because my work is of higher quality. I also think its good to always know your first try is likely, not perfect so when I don’t get a revision I get very happy.

I feel like I failed at the avatar box project because I had the smallest box that didn’t represent much, but at the end of the project, I got a few additions to touch it up like adding some fake trees. I also think I failed at this one because I was not prepared for the exhibition.

The good things about this year

I feel like I did very well this year in things I didn’t do well last year, like being organized, chatting with people (inappropriate times) and focusing on the task at hand and working on it at appropriate times

I’ve seen in a few of my classmate’s works, they use animations to reveal words or pictures, and it brings a lot of life to their work so I want to try to do that next year. I’ve also seen a few of my classmates use Canva, however, I never really understood how Canva works, so I’m going to try to learn before grade 9. I think these are some good skills to learn

There is a skill I need to “learn” for next year. I need to learn who good people are to sit with, and not sit with people that play games all class and don’t focus. I have mostly learned this, however, we get put into random seating arrangements most days.

Experiences

One of our main projects is ad making. We went to Oregon for this to talk with our clients about how they wanted their ads developed. My ad was based on Kam Meng, the local Chinese restaurant. When me and my group mates were interviewing, we practiced, so it went smoothly. We got all the information we needed for the ad. So with that done, we enjoyed the Chinese food. Then we were moving home, it was a long drive but I watched a few movies then realized I was home.
In the end of the ad making journey, we had another exhibition; Pathways! Where we showcased our ads to the public and had them ask questions. We had to set up a stand with things related to your attraction, so we put up bamboo, piano, fortune cookies, bamboo extract (7 up), and bamboo crackers. This was definitely my favorite and best, project.

Driving Question

Why do I feel like I am ready to move on to grade 9? I feel I am ready because, since the beginning of the year, I have gotten way smarter, more mature, taller, and have learned different skills for being a grown-up.

Thank you for listening to my tPOL of 2023 I hope you enjoyed it. Now you can ask questions about my tPOL.