I had a lot of stuff at Loon Lake to make it feel like home, my books, my music, my friends and *sigh* my sister. Yes we travelled with the grade 8’s and 16 of my classmates to Loon Lake.
Loon Lake?
Loon Lake is a short 2 and half hour drive away and well I mean it’s not as far as Alberta. We were told we would be going to Loon lake in the beginning of November and all we were really told was that the food was an amazing and well honestly that was the most hyped up thing but it was a very unique experience.
PLP comes to Loon Lake to do a program called “Pinnacle Pursuits” where we have all the volunteers help with activities during the days and then we talk with the guy that started it all.. Jono. Something Pinnacle Pursuits like to focus on is joining everyone together and even though most of us are pretty close we still have little groups and cliques among us. Our goal this trip was to stop that and to all be one big class. I had hoped that this would be achieved and my goal for this week was to try new things with new people, starting a conversation with someone I may not have or sitting somewhere else instead of my usual friends.
VMV Connections:
My mission on my VMV (vision, mission, values) was never stop learning and to grow into the nest version of myself and I felt that this trip was a great way to act on it. The whole point of our Jono sessions were to better ourselves and to goal set which was another big point on my VMV.
Agency
agency: I feel I used my student agency on this field study by taking ownership and responsibility for my own action as we were on a PLP trip where we are representing the school. Leading to the main thing in agency which I felt was goal setting, I was constantly setting goals for myself and acting on them and I am carrying that out now even when not on the trip setting goals and expectations.
Critical Thinking
Critical Thinking: In my life I never realized how much I use my head to make decisions and how much I think things through when doing anything. On our Loon Lake retreat during a Jono talk we did an exercise where the was a head poster on a wall, a heart and a gut poster (like the body parts). The exercise was that he would say various situations (a lot of which had to do with DI) and we would walk over to whichever one we would use to make our decision. For example “Your group member is being bullied by another one of your group members what do you do?” I would walk over to gut because what am I feeling in my gut to make this choice. During almost all of the situations I stayed at head, even when he said walk in a pattern of what you would go to then walk to what your would do next I still stayed at head and that might be because I am an overt hiker and tend to put to much thought into things but I found that very interesting.
Engagement
engagement: I struggle sometimes to engage in group discussions of activities unless of course it’s a competition (and as I have learned from this trip I am highly competitive). I really started to come out of my shell in group activities and later on a few discussions that we would have. I feel I mainly felt this in the trustfall exercise we partook in and I will explain more about that below.
Trustfalling
Everyone’s heard of trustfalling but have you heard of claiming on to a chair to get onto a table to get on another chair that’s on the table and fall into your classmates arms? Well ya I hadn’t either until we did it in a Jono session.
At the start of the session we were doing some partner trustfalls but as the class went on it turned into much more after being explained what we were doing I decided to do something that was waaay out of my usual comfort zone and that was going first. I don’t know what possessed me to decide to go first but it for sure was fun. Because I was going first I didn’t know what it would be like to do the fall and when I started to climb up I felt a million nerves rushing through my body and when I fell all I felt after was adrenaline. I am glad I went first I tried something new and engaged with my class in a way I definitely wouldn’t have before. I definitely trusted my classmates and I also felt great knowing they trusted me too.
Tightrope
Walking on a rope that is digging into your feet while being supported by 2 classmates is not for the weak.
This was later on in the week and I must have felt pretty brave again and wanted to show I was dedicated to proving my engagement and went first again. This was not as a scary if I am being honest and it just hurt more on my feet. We all had to pull the rope very tight and be a unit and group to work together to help.
We talked about these points in our mini very last minute exhibition and those points were:
TRUST
UNITY
EMPATHY
Our Learning Evidence
This was a poster I made showing things I like to do and it supposed to be a montage of about 30 things and well I drew 5 because I didn’t have time to worm on it and instead I wrote our big poster but people were still kind enough to leave a message on my board :).
This was our duotang (which I haven’t used in forever) that we kept all our workbook stuff in and our goal setting. We did various activities with these an documented the aftermath down to keep progress.
Reflection On Trip:
DQ 🏎️ Question/Answer:
How did this field study change you as a learner and as a community member?
I feel this trip really helped me realize what its like to be apart of a bigger team and community and that the connections and special bonds made on this trip will carry on through future projects that we will work on together. I also feel I can trust that group of people more easily than before like if you had told me before that trip that I would be falling into a bunch of there arms and my life depended on them kinda I would NOT believe you. Overall I feel this trip forever changed me as a member of this PLP class and I can’t wait to see what we do with what we learned.
Thank you so much for reading! Stay posted for my next post! 💕
Seems like “pre-posts” are going to become a regular thing now.. yay.
These Pre-Post posts are kind of a way to set goals for ourselves during the project. It is where we forecast our ideas for the rest of this project.
DQ 🏎️:
How can improving by just 1% each day help me take responsibility for my learning, strengthen my habits, and create balance and purpose in my future career and life?
I feel that by improving by just 1% each day might not seem like much, but over time those small steps can lead to big changes. By focusing on small improvements I am able to take more responsibility for my learning because I am making an effort to get a little better every day instead of waiting for someone else to push me. It helps me build stronger habits since I am training myself to stay consistent even when progress feels slow. Working this way also creates balance in my life because I am not overwhelming myself with huge goals all at once. I am learning to grow gradually and stay focused. In the future, this mindset can give me more purpose in my career and personal life because it reminds me that real success and happiness come from steady effort, patience, and small positive choices made over time.
Launch 🚀
This project we have just launched is called Atomic Habits meaning small (atomic) habits. We are reading a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear and so far it’s pretty good!
We have so far read the introduction and the first few chapters but other than that we have been doing some other launch activities as well. We worked on reflecting on our current habits and making a mind map of our good habits and bad habits.
I know it looks like a lot but honestly I was just in the zone and kept writing my different kind of habits down. I also wrote a reflection about it highlighting my habits holding me down and the habits lifting me up.
Learning Intention
Agency
I am going to use my student agency throughout this project by demonstrating my goal setting and following through on these personal goals I am setting. I will take initiative by starting tasks without needing reminders and seeking out resources when I’m stuck.
Balance
Balance is something I want to work on in this project but it is also something I want to work on in my home life. I am a very busy person with sports and school that sometimes I find it hard to balance my life out with when to do homework and when to train. I hope during this project I can balance out my workload and get things done.
Communication
I want to be able to communicate with my peers and teachers throughout this project by asking questions and staying curious. I can ask questions when I need help or when I have questions about the topic.
I want to work on these intentions because I feel it will help improve me as a learner for the current project and for later projects. Agency, balance and communication will help elevate my learning for this year because even though they can be used in school learning they can also all be used in the real world.
Ideas I want to Explore..
Two things I want to explore more in this project are how to stay motivated when working toward long-term goals and how to make new habits actually stick. I want to understand what helps people stay consistent even when progress feels slow or difficult. I am also interested in learning how small actions can turn into lasting habits that really improve my daily life. By exploring these ideas, I hope to find ways to set goals that are realistic and meaningful while also learning how to keep myself focused and positive as I work toward becoming a better version of myself.
How Does This Connect Back To My VMV?
I feel like this project connects a lot to my success behaviours in my VMV because in the “Agency” section I talk about wanting to set more goals for myself as a learner. This project is all about goal setting and creating new habits in and out of school which really ties into that. I think it will help me figure out how to break bigger goals into smaller steps and take more responsibility for my own learning. It also connects to my mission in my VMV where I said I want to grow and improve as a student and as a person. Making new habits is not just about school it is about improving my routines, staying consistent, and making positive changes that stick. This project will give me a chance to think about what habits I already have, what I want to work on, and how I can use small daily actions to get better over time. By focusing on habits I feel like I am actually taking steps to become more responsible, balanced, and focused in my life.
Conclusion:
Overall, I am really excited about this project because it gives me a chance to focus on improving myself little by little each day. Thinking about my habits, setting goals, and working on balance, agency, and communication feels like a practical way to grow as a student and as a person. I know that building new habits and staying consistent will take effort, but I also see how even small changes can make a big difference over time. This project is not just about school; it is about learning skills that I can carry with me into the future, in my career, personal life, and everyday routines. I am looking forward to discovering more about myself, exploring new ways to stay motivated, and seeing how small daily improvements can really add up to meaningful growth.
Thanks so much for reading! Stay posted for my next post! 👍
How has it already been half the year!? It’s insane how much we have done in what feels like such a short time!
mPOL
What does mPOL stand for? Well it stands for the Midterm Presentation Of Learning. So basically we recap the important things that affected our learning this year and some exciting things we did. So read further to see what I’ve learned!
POL Declaration:
(Introductions) 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.
Where Do I Start?!
So much has happened this year I don’t even know where to start! Im in a new grade, have new friends and more new things I have learned! So because of that let’s do the logical thing and start at the beginning. So lets go back to September…
WOOOOWWW THIS WAS MY FAVOURITE PART OF MY YEAR FOR SURE!!!!!! Because I didn’t go to Oregon last year this was my first field study and wow it was amazing. For this being my first filed study I feel I worked on being more independent without my parents and it was great for me to spend time with my classmates to get to know each other more.
From the long bus rides to the long hikes and the absolute most fun time I’ve had with my class ever! Not only did I have fun on this trip getting to know others that I may not talk to all the time or the fact I DEFINITELY got in all my steps on those hikes. We actually had to make an interview video where we talk to around 20 random people at any of our free time and interview them on the 10 essentials on life. This really helped me work on my:
Talking skills
Presenting skills
My confidence
Editing skills
And more!
Alberta Pt 2
Now that’s not the only thing we worked on in Alberta we also made 2 other videos that also helped me work on my editing skills and on one of the my idea creating skills and acting skills! I had so much fun filming these with my friends.
This was our silent video that focused a lot on or acting and how we portrayed ourselves to tell a clear story to our audience even though their is no sound (music doesn’t count).
This was our “trend” video that we make with our friends and we can do whatever we would like. Here I did this trend with my friend Maya that I got a lot closer with because of this trip! So many memories from here…
I really loved this project because it shows the change that can happen when you put in 30 minutes into a recreation of a movie or 1 week into a recreation of a movie. For me and my group at the beginning I think we did well with the little time that we had. I did though take on a lot of the workload for mostly the entire video making progress.
Our second video that we made was supposed to take a lot more care and time into making it. We were meant to make our own sound effects and make sure it was EXACTLY alike. I was really happy with what our group did and I feel that this project really helped me work on my delegation skills of not taking on all the workload and working together as a group to make a great end product.
For winter exhibition we were tasked with making a Rube Goldberg machine based on the revolution that was assigned to our group. My group was assigned to the American revolution. We made an amazing machine that worked! (For the most part). Something with the winter exhibition was that I wasn’t there.. again.. BUT ITS OK. This was a stressful but fun project because the stress of making the machine work was insane but it was rewarding in the end. This project really helped me build my teamwork skills and my communication and collaboration skills.
For this project we had to make a real life electronic game! We had a lot of components to learn before we made our final game and we were getting started by learning about electricity and where it came from! We made lots of things to show evidence of our learning one of which was another infographic!
And our final evidence of learning and what it was all leading up too.. THE FINAL GAME!!! I really enjoyed this project and I now have the understanding of where electricity comes from, how to use it and how to make it do what we want it too!
Inside of game
Outside (I don’t know why I chose Homer Simpson, honestly I think its because its one of the few things I can draw)
Things I Feel I Show A Great Understanding In ✅
Something I feel that I have demonstrated a great understanding in is maker by working on my editing skills and slowly getting better at those skills and using them in my videos that I have made. And in humanities by actively participating in group discussions and going beyond the expectation with my work. I have also shown a great understanding by doing the expected amount of work or sometimes even more! I am able to complete work by the expected due date.
Things I Need To Work On 🔄
Something I have noticed that I really need to work on my is letting other peoples voices be heard in group projects. Especially when we are collaborating as a group. I feel that over the year I have gotten better at this especially in situations where everyone is talking and sharing ideas, I only ever want to do it my way.
When I did my mPOL and tPOL last year I made a list of things that I can do to help me improve. I have been doing lots of these things and it been working really well here is what I have been doing and what I can continue doing.
Things I Can Do To Help Me Improve ⚙️
– Go into tutorial when I have questions about an assignment
– Use time blocking tools like calendar and things
– Ask my peers and teachers questions
– Challenging myself to go above and beyond the expectations
VMV PrePOLs
At the beginning of the year we did a PrePOL meeting with just our parents. We talked about something called our vision, mission and values. A lot of what I had talked about then was what I had talked in my other two POLs. My main focus was taking feedback and seeing it in a good way and incorporating that into my work and making it better.
These are the 3 things I wanted to focus on in my VMV:
Agency: Accepting Feedback: I want to do this because it relates back to my vision which is accepting feedback and putting into my work. Resilience: Having resilience against challenges that may be presented to me during projects. Goals and Self Assessment:Setting goals for myself with my work and then also being able to self assess myself honestly.
Self Regulation: Goals and Self Assessment: Setting goals for myself with my work and then also being able to self assess myself honestly. Self care: For myself and making sure I am tracking time out of my day to take care of myself Seeking help: From my teachers and from my peers when I need it
Communication and Collaboration: With peers: I will ask for help from my peers when I need it and collaborating with my peers during group projects With teachers: Asking for help from my teachers when I don’t understand something With Technology:I will collaborate with my technology responsibly
How Will I Achieve My Goals By The End Of The Year? 💭
To make sure I can complete my goals I will look over my goals often and will make sure that I am motivated to complete them all. I will also try to go beyond the expected amount more often (as one of my goals say) and why I am doing this is too get a better mark and prove that I am willing to do more.
How Can I Push Myself Out Of My Comfort Zone To Take More Risks In My Learning?
A way I feel I can step out of my comfort zone to take more risks in my learning could be seeking constructive feedback. Even though it can be hard and maybe uncomfortable at first I should try to find more constructive feedback from my peers and teachers. I also want to be more creative with my assignments and sometimes going outside the designated lines set by the rubric.
How Have I Shown That I Have Grown From The Learner I Used To Be?
To show that I have grown as a learner and as a person is that I have proven to be a participating learner in a learning environment during collaboration. I ask questions and show that I want to know more. As a person as well I have been showing that I can use my learning equipment such as my iPad and my Apple Pencil. I have been working on balancing my sports and school and my life on a nice little seesaw and trying to keep it balanced all the time is difficult but I have been working on it. I am a much much better public and group speaker because of what we have worked on such as Alberta when we approached strangers to talk. Another thing I grew as a person was making newer stronger friendships and finding new people that I bond with.
I really love the way we learn in PLP and I can’t wait to keep continuing learning this way. I really know that PLP is my learning style! This is so much different than the other way I used to learn which was paper and pencil but PLP really has helped me discover more about myself and how I love to learn!
Thank you for listening to my presentation of learning!
Thank you so much for reading! Stay posted for my next post! 👍
