When I am feeling anxious about a test, I can calm myself by getting some exercise to release stress, like doing parkour or going for a bike ride.
When I make mistakes, I don’t beat myself up. Instead, I remind myself that learning from mistakes is part of improving, whether it’s in school or activities like parkour. I take a moment to figure out what went wrong and focus on how I can do better next time.
Some of the things I do to stay mentally and physically healthy include staying active by doing parkour and making time for hobbies I enjoy, such as Lego and Robotics.
I can prevent some school-related stress by taking a break and doing something I really enjoy at school, like woodworking. Focusing on something else helps me reset and feel more in control of my day.
I demonstrated working with others to achieve a common goal during this Chemistry 12 lab. In this lab we were in groups of two and the first step was to prepare different concentrations of Pb(NO3)2 and KI by diluting with water. It was important for me and my partner to work together and communicate as I was measuring out different amounts of water and pouring it into different amounts of PB(NO3)2 and KI that my partner prepared. If we didn’t communicate effectively this lab would have been difficult to be precise and make sure we we had the correct amounts of water in each test tubes to get an accurate result. Next we had to mix the test tubes with KI and Pb(NO3)2 together to make a solution and see what ones precipitated (as shown in the photo). Again communication was important to ensure we mixed the right solutions together. The last step we had to do was heat the test tubes up until the precipitate was fully dissolved. This step also involved teamwork, as I would watch the thermometer, while my partner was seeing when the precipitate dissolved. Overall I had to work in a group of two people to achieve a common goal in for this lab.
What about the last concert/performance are you proud of? Why are proud of this?
I am proud of playing earth dance with no mistakes. I really enjoyed playing this song and it was one of my favorite songs we have played this year. At first when we got this song I found some parts a bit tricky and the transitions between instruments really fast. It helped that one the flute players switched to percussion and played the suspended cymbal.
If you could change or fix one thing about your performance, what would it be? What would you improve?
Halfway though Novena I had to adjust the tambourine stand as it was about to fall over. Even though it is barely noticeable in the recording, this could have been prevented If I just made sure everything was sturdy before we started the song.
Please write a few sentences to describe your performance at our concert.
I think I preformed very well in this year end concert. I stayed on tempo by watching the conductor as much as I could. I was able to setup and transition between percussion instruments faster than in previous concerts because I went on stage first to make sure I had enough time. In Fanfare and Festival my dynamics for in the crash cymbals were not all exactly the same as this is quite hard to do, though I don’t think it was that noticeable. Fortunately the second time we played that section I did fairly better.
In a few sentences, please describe how this past year has gone for you in band? How have you improved on your instrument and what would you like to continue to improve on?
This past year has gone pretty good. I have improved a lot on playing multiple percussion instruments at once and switching quickly between instruments. Since this year we had one less percussionist as compared to last year it was quite common for me to play multiple instruments in one song. I also have learned some theory from our teacher which I found interesting at times since we have never done that in band before. I would like to continue improving on the drums and working on snare drum rudiments.
A. In the past, Canada did not recognize Indigenous people, their land and their culture. Canada and the US tried to assimilate them by using residential schools to take their culture away from them, as talked about in the Code Talker. In the Round House, the main focus was on how land was taken away from the Indigenous people and how laws were biased towards the “white man”. Presently, we are more aware of the trauma that residential schools created for those that attended. We are also more aware of the rights of Native people in claiming their land. Canada is doing better today in trying to respecting Indigenous people by acknowledging the harm that was done, trying to negotiate land claims and have students learning more about Indigenous culture in schools. I think in the future Canada will have even more of an emphasize on Indigenous education and learning about their culture. Hopefully, Indigenous and Canadian will work together.
B. In the Round house I learned how justice is very hard to get in Indigenous communities. For example, the tribe was only allowed to prosecute someone if it was another Indigenous person that had committed a crime on tribal land; this jurisdictional issue results in problems of getting justice, like what happened to Linden Lark. Moreover, I learned many laws that are in effect, are still biased in favor of the “white man”. From the Code Talker I learned how important language is to Indigenous people and how it is very sacred to them. I also learned that the Navajos made a significant contribution to WW II.
C. I think it is very important to read novels from a variety of cultures including Indigenous authors. This gives students different views of the world as opposed to their own. It also helps helps you understand Indigenous culture and history from their point of view, and may help in understanding current issues. In addition, Indigenous authors can be a great role model for younger Indigenous people.
D. I would recommend the Code Talker to anyone who is interested in history, especially World War II. I would only recommend The Round House to someone who really likes books about justice and how it affects Indigenous communities. Overall I do not recommend The Round House because there are many elaborate side stories from other characters that are distracting and make the novel confusing as the narrative for each story is threaded throughout.
Core Competency Reflection
An example of where I took a significant risk in my thinking or the expected process was when I chose to come up with my own idea for the personal connection piece rather than using an suggested idea. I built a wooden scale which clearly demonstrated how different things in the books balanced with each other or out weighed each other.
This is how I select images and words to create impact for different audiences: Because I knew we were presenting to ELL students, I tried to embed images into my presentation that they could easily understand, as they may have not understood all the words on the slides. I also showed this in my personal connection piece, where I used images of my scale in the PowerPoint to give a visual to the students I was presenting to about how ideas in the books balance each other.
I enjoyed designing this duplex in Autodesk Revit for Drafting and Design 12. I first researched some different styles of houses and floor plans to get some inspiration for my project and to decide what styles I liked and what styles I did not like as much. The next step was for me to take those ideas and come up with a floor plan that made sense for a duplex. Once I had the floorplan drawn in Revit, I had to make the roof. I found this step quite tricky to get the roof to the shape I wanted, as I did not want just a basic roof. I had to watch some additional tutorial videos to learn how to do a more complex roof by extrusion. Another challenge was adding millwork, fixtures, appliances, and furniture to the inside of my house. This was challenging because, unlike in Chief Architect, for Revit you have to download all the furniture and cabinets from the internet. This made it tricky to find Revit families that looked good beside each other, and it took a long time to have to download everything that I wanted to put in my house. Overall, I enjoyed this project, though I wish we had a bit more time on this project because I found it to be a bit of a time crunch.
I can build the skills it takes to make a project work even if it takes a few tries
I can build the skills I need to make Ideas work, and usually succeed, even if it takes a few tries
I can experiment with different ways of doing things
In the Mini Lab on Friction I was able to demonstrate collaborating and communicating skills. In this lab we had to work together in a group of two to measure the force of friction on two different surfaces and use those measurements to calculate the coefficient of μ. We worked together to gather the data, one of us would measure how many newtons of force and the other person would record on to a sheet of paper. We also had to collaborate when writing in the lab. We worked together to do the calculations and then split up the other work between us. I also showed communication skills in this Lab, as it is important to clearly present your data and your results.
I use evidence to make judgements or decisions as demonstrated in this chemistry 11 titration lab.
In this lab we had to do a titration using HCl and NaOH. I found this lab more challenging than some of the other labs. This was because the goal was to have the solution in the Erlenmeyer flask change to a light pale pink, but you had to be very precise and if you added one too many drops the solution would turn a darker pink, leading to an inaccurate result. In this lab I demonstrated that I can make decisions and judgements based on evidence.
I really enjoyed doing the house project, though, it was challenging to come up with a floor plan that met all the client’s specifications. Another challenging part was designing the roof to make it work without having any gaps, yet still making it aesthetically pleasing and modern. I think the finished project turned out really good and the house has some unique features in it. If I had to do this project again, I would probably rearrange a couple of rooms to make the floor plan a bit more efficient.
Core Competency
I build on others’ ideas and add new ideas of my own or combine other people’s ideas in new ways to create new things or solve straight forward problems (Thinking)
I can build the skills I need to make Ideas work, and usually succeed, even if it takes a few tries (Thinking)
I can experiment with different ways of doing things (Thinking)
Drafting and design was one of my best courses this year. I designed a cabinet in fusion 360 and I made a house in chief architect (as shown in the photo below)
Woodworking was another course that went really well. I made three main projects; a cutting board, jewelry box, and a foot stool. I also did a bonus napkin holder project.
