This is a reflection blog post about the first Maker project, “becoming a PLP Learner”. 

This is the introduction project to Performance Learning Program (PLP). Throughout the project we learned about key pieces of PLP, such as curricular competencies, learning processes, driving questions and how to use the apps needed. I will explain this in the post below.

Curricular Competencies

The curricular competencies are the ways/strategies of the learning process. It includes 7 steps, each with their own purpose. The main ones we focused on are the Learning Competencies, Launch, Building Knowledge, Develop & Critique and Present & Reflect. These steps teach us what the project is, what we need to know, how to improve the presentation, showing off the presentation and the results of the project and lastly, reflection post.

Those learning steps apply for my work as individual PLP learner and also to my work as a part of a group of PLP learners. I think you can’t be one without the other, both are very important.

Working as a PLP team member

To apply the theory in practice, we have done a number of challenges and team activities.

The team work reflection activities encouraged us to work together utilizing our best skills, we had time restrictions and we didn’t have much time to think, we had to act.

A great example is the Spaghetti Tower Challenge, which was one of the last activities during the project. We had 15 pieces of uncooked spaghetti and 5 mailing labels with which we had to create the tallest tower possible. We had 2 minutes to brainstorm and 4 minutes to build. We were marked for the tallest tower, creativity, team work.

On the first try we were very ambitious with a very large creative tower, which unfortunately turned out not to be the most stable construction possible. However it was very tall before it fell.

In the second try (and this was the only challenge we actually had two tries with), we were thinking back on what happened last time and what can learned from that experience. We also used what we learned observing other groups – as most of the towers aiming for the height fell apart – and decided to focus on stability rather than on height. Once the countdown was almost over, we still did not have any tower standing. The last moment creation was successful tower, which even it was 1cm smaller than the tower of the winning group, was still pretty awesome and we as a whole group were very proud of our result.

The big Exhibition!

The final step of this project was the Exhibition. The goal was to present the results of our learning steps and receive critique. Each of us prepared a slideshow with examples of our individual projects. Everyone’s parents came and we presented our keynote presentations (video below) to a few people. We had to dress up and set up our tables around a central theme. My group and I were mafiosi.

The job of the parents was to write what they liked, wanted to know more about, and what they would want you to change. These are the critique pages I got:

Driving question of becoming a PLP learner

Driving question: How do I help and strengthen the PLP learning team?

The driving question is a very big part of our projects. It is mentioned at the start of the project, and at the end we try to answer it.

Answer to the driving question

While improving myself as PLP learner, I strengthen the PLP learning team by being there for people who need help. I am supportive of my team and love helping others. I can explain things very well, I give great critique, I can come up with new ideas, and I always bring positivity to the team.

Thank you for reading.