I will continue to collaborate with others and branch out of my comfort level to speak and connect with others in my classes. Grade 11 is an important year and if I make connections I will succeed in my assignments and group work.
I will continue to communicate with my teachers, classmates, and parents to share my needs. I will do this to ensure I have a solid understanding of assignments and group projects. I can ask my parents if I need help.
This image was taken during the squid direction lab. It shows a squid that has had its mantle cut open to showcase its organs like its ink sac, heart, and ovaries.
Communication
I can ask and respond to questions to be an active, supportive listener. During the squid dissection lab, I showcased this skill by asking both my table group member and the teacher to make sure I had a clear idea of what the next steps looked like. I made sure I communicated clearly so I could get a solid answer and knew exactly what to do next. In addition to asking questions, I was also an active listener and I gave my full attention to the images on the board to help me with my direction. With these two aspects, I was able to not only help myself but also assist my peers around me.
Critical/ Reflective Thinking
I can analyze evidence to make judgements. After cutting open the mantle of the squid in the squid direction lab, I was able to see its internal organs including its reproductive system. On my squid, I saw a large mass of yellow, jello-like material that I was later told was only found in a female squid. This mass was its ovaries and eggs. After analyzing this evidence, I was able to figure out the gender of the squid of my table group members.
Personal Awareness/ Responsibility
I can demonstrate respectful, inclusive behaviour. I was able to demonstrate this during the squid dissection lab as I was respectful and kept my workplace tidy. I was able to adiquitly clean up my station afterward and place place my utensils in the correct bin for sterilization. After the dissection, we made the squid into calamari and I was able to be inclusive by only taking small pieces of the food so there was enough for everyone.
I can get new ideas in areas in which I have an interest and build my skills to make them work.
Throughout this course, I took my interest in the outdoors and nature and applied it to many of my projects. With my interest in these areas, I applied them to my shadowbox, micro paintings, cross-stitch, and ornament projects. I was able to take my interest and display them in various ways, showing different landscapes, and animals. I specifically was able to show my interests and transform them into an ornament by taking my experience of climbing to Elfin Lakes into consideration. This experience helped me further understand the bond I have with nature, and I will continue to incorporate my interest in nature into my work in the future
What went well? What are you proud of?
I believe many aspects of my slam poem when well. My presentation went well as I was loud and spoke clearly with hopefully some emotion in my words. What I was most proud of was my ability to remember and memorize my poem along with using hand gestures. I did this so I could make a more impactful presentation for my class.
What could have been better?
My poem went very well and that I would only change a few points. I wish I could have used more emotions in the way I spoke my poem so it could be more engaging and interesting for the listener. That is the only part I lacked in while presenting my poem.
What will you do differently next time?
I will change a few aspects of my poem next time. After listening to my peers’ poems, I was able to realize the amount of imagery and figurative language they put into their poems that caught the eye of the listener. So, I wish I could have put more figurative language in my poem to make it more interesting and eye-catching.
Which core competencies did you use in the poem creation and presentation process?
While drafting my poem I used the core competency of creative thinking. I used this competency when authoring my poem while brainstorming lines and making my words flow better. I also used this competency when thinking of creative ways, I would use my hands in my poems presentation to add depth and expression to my words.
This group photo was taken during our first overnight trip to Golden Ears Park
Examples of where I communicate clearly and purposefully can be seen in group projects. I know how to gather information, respectfully listen, and share ideas connected to a topic. An example is the earthquake/ volcano broadcast video where I was placed in a group with two others. We were able to gather information individually then communicate clearly to share information and eventually design and build a presentation.
Some of the things I do to stay mentally and physically healthy include regularly hiking with ES and participating in extracurricular sports and activities. With ES we were doing at least 1 hike or walk a week and I am involved in a soccer team that practices 2 times a week with 1 day of games, in addition to a volleyball team which also practices 2 times a week with up to 2 days of games.
My support network is helpful to me because they are always there to help me with homework and they are always available to talk to. I also would like to call my classmates my support group as we can bounce ideas off of each other, inspire each other, and always communicate and talk with each other. Without my support group, I would not be able to excel in school.
For the Hunger Games Advertisement Project, we were instructed to create a project that could benefit either the Capitol or the tributes of the games. We had to create an advertisement using multiple persuasive tactics.
It is very important to remember who benefits from an advertisement when you view an advertisement. It is so important because you need to remember who your audience is and what persuasive tactics would be more beneficial to your product. An example of this is using Snob Appeal and Special Offers. People who would be attracted to Snob Appeal might not want to purchase the product if it goes to a discounted price.
Logical appeal is effective in persuading someone or an audience. Logical appeal is usually backed with facts, statistics, or reasoning that can help the viewer further trust or believe that this product is safe or beneficial to use.
In addition to logical appeal, Card stacking is another effective advertisement strategy. Card stacking is when you only say the good points of your product and only explain the bad points of your competitor’s product. This is a good strategy because it makes your product look great even though it could have bad parts.
One of the ways I ensured my group was clear on what we were doing was to make a plan on what we wanted our commercial to cover. On a blank piece of paper, my partner and I planned what would go on each slide from what colours we were wanting to use to what advertising strategies we were going to apply. This kept our commercial simple and easy to create.
I showed that I valued feedback from others in my group by listening to their opinions. There were many different times when I was confused about what I wanted the commercial to look like, but luckily my partner was able to give me her opinion and I was able to apply her thoughts to the commercial. Without my partner’s contributions, the commercial would not have been as good as it is.
I knew my group was working well together when I heard us complementing each other’s work. There were many times when my partner and I said encouraging comments to each other after working on a part of the advertisement. I never want myself or a group partner to feel unappreciated while doing a group project so encouraging words are always needed.
One strategy or activity that stimulated my imagination on this project was watching other commercials/infomercials. By watching the commercials my partner and I were able to gain inspiration that we could then apply to our advertisement.
I have had a great school year. I liked advisory, the soccer and volleyball teams, and creating new friends. The photo I included is of my team and I (the grade 9 centennial volleyball team) after we won a game at Riverside Secondary.
| Goals | Action Plans |
| Have fun in ES academy | I will talk to new people and create lasting memories |
| Keep up my grades | I will continue to keep my grades up by doing all my homework and asking questions when I don’t understand something |
| Make new friends | I will achieve this goal by talking to people I have never met and making new connections in my classes |
I learned a lot of important information while doing the research for my project. One thing I learned was, with the creation of new products or services other, older or less developed services can be impacted and become obsolete. For example, the product I chose was compass cards. I learned that when compass cards were introduced, they took away the honor system on SkyTrains and made it less popular for commuters to carry around coins. One other thing I learned was that consumers must like the idea of compass cards because they are still being used by people who take transit. Lastly, I learned that when something new is created, more doors or opportunities open. An example of this would be the creation of the new forms of compass cards. The basic credit card size card developed into the wrist bands, which then turned in to the mini train key chains, then these can develop in to more advanced items.
During this assignment and presentation I exercised multiple competencies. I showed my communication skills when I understood and could share information about compass cards in a clear, and organized PowerPoint. I even showed my collaboration skills when I encouraged by friends to share their voices and presentation in front of the class when they were nervous.
My Golf Tower Challenge:
My Egg Drop Challenge:
After completing my two labs, I now understand the scientific method. Before these projects, I had never made observations, or written hypotheses, or even conclusions based on data I found. Since creating my two successful labs, I am now able to identify problems, create a hypothesis, conduct an experiment, and write a conclusion. The unit on scientific method had helped me understand science more and it has given me a way of demonstrating my thinking and learning.
I am most proud of my egg drop lab. I am most proud of it because I have done the experiment a could times before throughout elementary and middle school and in all of them my egg did not survive. I am especially happy about this lab because it was the highest height I had done the experiment from. I also finally found a design of device that can protect an egg.
To overcome the many challenges I ran into during the two experiments I had a couple tactics. First, I would step away from the lab and observe what the issue was and how I could fix it. I would then explain to my partner how we could fix it all while listen to their ideas on how we could solve the issue. Lastly, I would come back to the lab and attempt to solve the issue based on my partner and I ideas. An example of when this happened was during the Golf Ball Tower Challenge. When we were trying to add more height, our tower started to lean and become less sturdy. My partner and I took a step away from the project and noticed that a support beam had become un-attached from the base. With a quick fix , we were back to adding height to our tower.
I had a great time during both of these labs and during the scientific method unit. I learned how to properly exercise labs. I learned how to write hypothesis’ correctly using “If” and “Then” statements, to writing conclusions and stating if my hypothesis was supported or not. I also learned and worked on using my observation skills. I learned about qualitative and quantitative qualities and deductible learning.
A) I demonstrated I could create new things when I I made both my golf ball tower and egg drop device. I was faced with the challenge of limited building supplies but I was able to incorporate the supplies in useful ways. For example, for the golf ball tower the teams were only given 10 sheets of news paper and 50 cm of tape. In addition, when making the egg drop device we were only given 1 sheet of news paper, 1 cardboard square, 1 foot of tape, 3 straws, and 1 sheet of paper. It was a challenge building both creations with such limited supplies, but it show cased I could create new things.
B) I demonstrated I could build on the ideas of others when, during the golf ball tower challenge I was looking about the lab and looking at others creations. Some of the towers were very tall, others were quite short, but there were all a lot around the height of my teams tower. We used the similar heighted towers as motivation to try to add just a little more height to our tower.
C) An example of setbacks and failures during the scientific method labs would be, for my group during the golf ball tower challenge. We observed that many of the other teams, with taller towers, were using a cone shaped method, which used a lot of paper. My tower had a very strong, triangular shaped base when the taller towers did not, but our based used up a lot of paper. If I ever do this lab again, I would try to conserve the amount paper I use for the base, and try to use that extra paper to give my tower more height.
I think the French Revolution is justifiable. I believe it is justifiable because their were thousands of people in the third estate that were struggling with being the only estate that needed to pay taxes, an increase in food prices, and having a corrupt king and queen that wasted the countries money on un-necessary items. France was also struggling from a long line of monarchies that abused their power on citizens and people wanted change; people wanted a democracy and for their voices to be heard. All of these reasons add up the the fact why I believe the French Revolution is justifiable.
I can analyze my own beliefs and consider views that do not fit with them. I collected all of my information sheets that we worked on in class and I did extra researching to further deepen my learning and understanding and opinions. I also listened to my teachers’, and classmates’ views and opinions on the French Revolution and took their ideas into consideration.