ADL Persuasion and Advertising Project

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My Advertisement

Persuasion and Advertising Learning Reflection

Which advertising techniques did you choose and how did you use those techniques to create your video?

The four advertising techniques I used in my video were bandwagon, glittering generalities, card stacking, and special offer. I used my first technique, bandwagon, from roughly 4 seconds to 5 seconds in my video, using the words “CANADA’S FAVOURITE FAST FOOD”. My advertisement is of McDonald’s fries, and they have a lot of competitors such as White Spot and Wendy’s, so by saying this phrase I’m trying to show that most of Canada prefers McDonald’s over other fast foods. Hopefully, this will make the person seeing this advertisement want to fit in with the rest of Canada and will buy the item I’m advertising. My second technique was glittering generalities, which appeared from 9 seconds to 12 seconds, and I used the words, “FLUFFY, CREAMY, GOLDEN” and “EXTRA LARGE”. I used these words because they’re all the things that make a fry perfect, and I’m sure other people would agree. I used this technique specifically to further enhance the viewer’s craving for fries, because I already showed photos, but now texts will make them want fries more. My third technique was card stacking, which was used from 16 seconds to 18 seconds, and I used the words “20% LESS FAT AND 15% LESS CALORIES”. I used these words because McDonald’s fries are notorious for being very unhealthy, so this way, viewers may be more inclined to buy it. Combining this with my other techniques, specifically glittering generalities, made my advertisement very effective because after I described the fries, viewers hopefully will already be interested, and then saying how they’re healthier will be perfect, making them want fries. My fourth, and final, technique was special offer, and it appeared from 26 seconds to 28 seconds. I used the words, “MAKE SURE TO GET YOURS NOW” and “OFFER ENDS JUNE 20TH” to capture attention to my advertisement. The first phrase implies that these new sized fries won’t be here forever, and then the second phrase says when they’ll leave. By doing so, viewers know when the deal ends, making them more inclined to buy fries earlier than later. For this advertisement, I didn’t add a price for the extra-large fries because I want them to go into McDonald’s, see the cheap price of the fries, and then when they see that, they may want to buy other items as they thought that the fries would be more expensive. If I were to make up a price for these fries, I would say they would be $2.99, so that the customer thinks they’re getting a deal with the .99 at the end.

Explain how and why you chose the colours, words, background, etc. that you used to make your advertisement.

The colours I chose for my texts in my advertisement were red and black. I chose red because McDonald’s signature colour is red, so it clashes with it, and I used black to make my texts pop out. Red by itself, made my texts match with the McDonald’s fry containers, so by adding black I not only got rid of that but made it more eye-catching. I used the font Helvectia World because it’s a simple font to read that is a bit thicker than other fonts, making it eye-catching. I chose specific words for my poster, such as creamy and fluffy, to describe the fries, enhancing the appeal to viewers, making them more inclined to buy it. My advertisement consists of 27 photos, but in most of them I had a picture of McDonald’s fries, trying to emphasize the product being sold. Another background I chose was 3 friends holding fries, which hopefully makes the viewer want to go buy these fries with their friends, resulting in more sales. Overall, I chose these specific texts, backgrounds, and colours because I thought that they would all blend with each other extremely well, which I think they did.

What do you think others who aren’t in your class should know about advertising?

Other people should definitely know that the most important part about advertising is to make sure it’s aesthetically pleasing. You can have an amazing choice of words, but it won’t really matter because the only way someone is even going to glance at your advertisement is if it looks good. This is why it’s important to make sure the design aspects of your advertisement flow, with the colors mashing together well and to make sure your texts are placed in the right area. The product your advertising in your poster should never be fully covered. For example, in my video about fries, the product I’m advertising, I made sure to enlarge the fries, taking up most of the background on each slide. This way, I had room to add a big enough, eye-catching text while not covering 100% of the fries. Overall, when making an advertisement, it’s extremely important to emphasize the product you’re selling, over your choice of words.

Core Competency Reflection

Examples of where I communicated clearly and purposefully on this project can be seen in my texts. I communicated clearly the glittering generalities technique from 9 seconds to 13 seconds, where I described fries as creamy, fluffy, and golden, to emphasize how tasty McDonald’s fries can be. I then added the words “EXTRA LARGE”, to indicate that McDonald’s is coming out with a new size, hopefully making the person watching my advertisement crave fries. I know I communicated clearly because in the example I was given, adjectives were used to describe a McDonald’s mocha, and I did the same except for fries. I also communicated clearly from 25 seconds to 28 seconds where I used the special offer technique, and used the words “MAKE SURE TO GET YOURS NOW” and “OFFER ENDS JUNE 20TH”. By doing this, I’m expressing that these new extra-large fries are at McDonald’s for a limited time only and that they have to get them fast. I know I communicated clearly because in the given example, there’s a text saying, “ONE DAY ONLY”, which indicates that a sale is limited, which is exactly what I did in my advertisement.

Some skills I have developed to make my creative activities better are attention to detail, designing skills, and understanding how to effectively make an ad. I learned that every detail matters when making an advertisement, and even the smallest mistake can make the reader not buy your product. This is why I proofread all of my words and made sure that when I AI-generated my advertisement, everything looked normal or close to normal. The last thing I learned is to make my words concise, and to make my video visually attracting. This means to make sure everything mashes together, even the small details. Too many words can also feel uninteresting, so I made sure not to write more than 10 words in each text. Overall, this advertisement assignment has helped me improve a variety of skills, ranging from design techniques to writing skills.

Geography Town Assignment

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Niagara FallsDownload

Core Competencies

I asked and responded to questions to be an active and supportive listener.

I analyzed evidence from the research I did and made judgements.

I considered more than one way to proceed in an investigation.

I can understand and share information about a topic of interest in a clear, organized way. I showed this throughout my entire project, where I presented two points about the climate, physical features, and vegetation in Niagara Falls, then I clearly wrote about the economic benefit for each one.

I can deliberately learn about things that interest me, and new ideas pop into my head. Everything I learned during this project was new, and as I kept learning, ideas began to pop into my head such as how the economic benefit of warm summers in Niagara Falls, for example, makes money for one thing which then makes money for another, and then another.

I can analyze evidence to make judgements. When I had to figure out the geography behind a vegetation, climate, or physical feature of Niagara Falls, I would analyze the result of it and see how that can help the economy of Niagara Falls. For example, since there are 70 species of trees in Niagara Falls, at least one of them can make maple syrup, which companies can sell for money.

I can reflect on my thinking. For this project, I wrote down notes on a piece of paper that I was going to copy exactly onto my project, and I did just that. After doing so, I thought to myself, “how can I add onto what I already wrote?”, so for each slide I decided to try and think about how the economic benefit of a vegetation, physical feature, or climate can actually give a benefit to something or someone else.

My Goal:

I can ask open-ended questions to gather information. I chose to pick this as my goal, because whenever I ask myself a question, it can usually be answered quite simply. I plan to start thinking of open-ended questions by taking a few extra minutes to think of a question, rather than just taking a few seconds to think of a basic question.

Curricular Competencies

I understood, identified, and explained the reasons for the physical process that formed and shaped the area of the town I chose.

I understood, identified, and explained how those climate characteristics created economic opportunities either directly or indirectly.

I understood, identified, and explained the reasons for the vegetation that grows in the areas of the town I chose.

ADL Social Studies – Ethical Justice

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Recording-20250310_182735.webm

Is Violence Justified During a Revolution?

A) How did the use of AI assist you in developing this project?

I used AI in developing my project by asking it questions whenever I was confused or curious about something. For example, in my script I mentioned research done by Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephen, which is statistical evidence that supports my position on why violence shouldn’t be justified during a revolution. I found that AI also assisted me in finding information about successful non-violent revolutions and to help support my claim. In my scripts, I mentioned the Velvet Revolution, the Russian Revolution, and Gandhi’s actions that led to India’s independence, all of which I researched using Perplexity or Copilot. Both of these websites would usually send me links to get further information, so I would go on the link and do just that. Overall, AI was very helpful when I was developing my project, as it consistently provided detailed and relevant information to any questions I had.

B) How did you ensure that the work you created was your own rather than just a product of AI?

Every time I used AI for this project, I always made sure to rephrase what it said, or just completely change the sentence. For example, if I asked Perplexity.AI about Charles I, I would re-write what it gave me completely, and the only similarity between my writing and the A.I’s is the topic. I made sure my sentence is phrased differently than what Perplexity wrote, by reading both of our paragraphs, and comparing differences and similarities. If I happened to write a sentence that was extremely similar to whatever the AI wrote, then I’ll try and rephrase that one sentence to make sure it’s different and that I’m not plagiarizing in the slightest way.

C) Did you agree with the position you had to argue? Why or why not?

I do not agree with the position I argued, which was why violence shouldn’t be justified during a revolution, because I believe that violence in a revolution is done for the greater good and almost always has a positive outcome. In my opinion, non-violent revolutions don’t work and have almost no effect, and the people the revolutionaries are fighting against, think of them as a joke. There is so much evidence of this in what I learned so far in Social Studies 9, such as when parliament kept trying to be nice and peaceful to Charles I, by never using violence against him, but their ideas never followed through as Charles ignored them. They only managed to ever speak their voice when they used violence against Charles, which only raised my opinion that violence should be justified during revolutions. Even when I searched up on Safari or Perplexity on why violence shouldn’t be justified during a revolution, I found numerous sources saying why violence should be justified, and I can confidently say that there are more sources on the internet that say why violence should be justified during a revolution rather than saying why violence shouldn’t be justified during a revolution.

Core Competency Reflection

Examples of where I communicated clearly and purposefully can be seen in my first paragraph on why violence shouldn’t be justified during revolutions, where my topic sentence was, “during a revolution, innocent civilians who have done nothing wrong and aren’t participating in the revolution, are killed”. In my reasoning, I mentioned how 30,000 innocent civilians were killed during the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution, which clearly and purposefully supports my topic sentence. In that paragraph, I mentioned how the people in charge of accusing and killing these innocent civilians got corrupted or forgot the difference between right and wrong. I know that I communicated purposefully because it strongly defends my topic sentence, as I not only mentioned how many innocent people died during the Reign of Terror, but also the negative effect it had on Maximilien and his mindset.

I use evidence to make judgements or decisions as demonstrated in this sentence; research done by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephen found that nonviolent protests are twice as successful as violent ones, 53% versus 26%. My topic sentence for this argument was Non-violent revolutions can teach people lessons just as good, or even better, than violent revolutions. Firstly, I found this evidence by searching up statistical evidence on why violence shouldn’t be justified during revolution, then did some online research and crossed referenced that, to make sure it was true. I then used my judgement and decision-making skills to see how this evidence supports my topic sentence. In the rest of that paragraph, I mentioned an example to support my evidence and said why non-violent protests are more successful than violent protests. This is just one portion of my argument where I used evidence to make decisions to support why violence shouldn’t be justified during revolutions, as I used this technique in almost all of my paragraphs.

Work Cited

Wilkinson, B “National Assembly”. Social Studies 9, Centennial Secondary, February 2025, Course Handout.

Wilkinson, B “Reign of Terror”. Social Studies 9, Centennial Secondary, February 2025, Course Handout.

Wilkinson, B “The English Civil War and Trial of Charles I”. Social Studies 9, Centennial Secondary, February 2025, Course Handout. 

Wilkinson, B “The French Revolution History Channel Video Questions”. Social Studies 9, Centennial Secondary, February 2025, Course Handout. 

Wilkinson, B “Post Charles Rulers & the Development of Modern Government”. Social Studies 9, Centennial Secondary, February 2025, Course Handout. 

Wilkinson, B “Abuses on the Third Estate”. Social Studies 9, Centennial Secondary, February 2025, Lecture.

Wilkinson, B “National Assembly and the Estates”. Social Studies 9, Centennial Secondary, February 2025, Lecture.

Your Powerful, Changeable Mindset. https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2021/09/mindsets-clearing-lens-life. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025. 

“Microsoft Copilot: Your AI Companion.” Microsoft Copilot: Your AI Companion, https://copilot.microsoft.com. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025. 

Martin Luther King I Have a Dream Speech – American Rhetoric. https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm. Accessed 27 Feb. 2025. 

“How Mahatma Gandhi Changed the Face of Political Protest.” Culture, 5 Mar. 2025, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/mahatma-gandhi-changed-political-protest. 

Velvet Revolution | Definition, History, & Facts | Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Velvet-Revolution. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025. 

France – Revolution, Empire, Napoleon | Britannica. 6 Mar. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/place/France/The-Napoleonic-era. 

“Why Civil Resistance Works.” Erica Chenoweth, 12 July 2011, https://www.ericachenoweth.com/research/wcrw. 

My First Year

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My Grade 9 Year

Three words that describe my year are educational, challenging, and rewarding. My school year was very educational because I’ve learned so many new things in each one of my classes. In my English class, I improved on my writing skills and learned how to properly use grammar. In my French class, I learned at least 200 new words and how to pronounce them, and how to understand others when they speak French. The class I learned the most in was my science class, where I learned about circuits, the periodic table, mitosis, parts of the cell and how they function, and much more. Since this semester just started, I haven’t learned much yet, but I have covered the English Revolution, the French Revolution, genetics, and polynomials. My year was challenging because of all of the assignments, tests, and projects I had. Some of my assignments were especially difficult, such as an English assignment where I had to write multiple paragraphs about The Hunger Games, which was the book my class read. My most challenging test was my science final, which had sixty-eight questions and required studying numerous topics. The most challenging project for me was a mitosis project, where I had to draw and write the steps of mitosis. It was challenging since most of the project was drawing, and I’m not the best at it. The third word I chose to describe my year was rewarding, since I would work hard on all of my test and assignments, to get a good grade on each one. The assignments where I did my best work were my English assessment, my science lab on the scientific method, and an assignment where I wrote one hundred words in French. I got an extending or proficient/extending on all of these, which made my hard work very rewarding. My strengths are managing my time well, putting effort and thought into all of my test and assignments, and helping others with their work, especially in math. I try hard on all of my assignments, and I help my friends with their math assignments if they don’t understand something. Currently, my main stretch is in Social Studies, where I struggle to write good explanations on my tests. I’ve had two tests so far, and they have both included a paragraph portion, where I found it hard to answer those questions because I sometimes forgot key details about what I learned. So far, this year has been very successful, and I plan to continue my hard work and effort, and to also turn my stretch into a strength by studying more for my future social studies tests and quizzes.

A Useful Education Website

https://zbib.org

I chose to share the website ZoteroBib, since I have used it in every assignment or project where I’ve had to cite sources, and it has supported my learning. This year, I used a variety of websites, but I mainly only used them once. This is why my favorite website is ZoteroBib, since it’s helped me with many assignments and projects, and has made them look neater and more organized. It’s really helpful, since whenever I put in a website to cite, it usually fills out all the information for me, such as the date it was posted, the title, and the URL. The only thing I have to manually fill out is the author’s name, but that only takes me thirty seconds max, so ZoteroBib saves me at least a couple of minutes per website. I used ZoteroBib the most when I had a P.E project about mental health, and I listed about seven websites. It only took me five minutes to cite them though, as opposed to the twenty or more minutes it would take me if I didn’t use ZoteroBib. Overall, ZoteroBib has been extremely helpful, and I know I will continue to use this website for the rest of my high school career.

A Useful Education Video

I chose to share a video about dihybrid crosses, because it was extremely useful and taught me everything I needed to know. In my science class this semester, my teacher had an extension sheet about dihybrid crosses, and she told us to watch this video in order to learn it, so I did. It turned out that this video was incredibly helpful, and I was able to learn how to do dihybrid crosses in only five minutes, since the Amoeba Sisters explained it extremely well. They made the letters different colors, so I didn’t get confused, and they explained everything in simple terms. I think I understood how to do this really fast, since in the video, they used an interesting example of a dihybrid cross, which was the trait of having hair or being bald and the trait of liking to sit in sinks or not liking to sit in sinks. This kept me entertained throughout the video, as I never knew that cats liked to sit in sinks since I always thought they despised water. Overall, this video really helped me learn about dihybrid crosses and was the reason I got all the questions on my worksheet right.

A Useful Education Image

I chose to share an image of a periodic table, since it’s the most valuable sheet I was ever given in science. The periodic table helped me so much in my chemistry unit in my science 9 class, since I would use it on a daily basis. I was first given a periodic table near the beginning of last semester, and at first, I was confused on how the periodic table worked. I didn’t know why they were organized in a certain way, why the colors were different, or what each section of the periodic table represented. Slowly, I learned about the periodic table day by day, and it went from something I was learning about, to something that helped me with my learning. I would use my periodic table daily during my chemistry unit, and I was beginning to remember where each element was. It helped me with all my assignments, and saved me from having to memorize the elements, where they are on the periodic table, and their atomic mass. Without my periodic table, I don’t think I could’ve passed my chemistry unit test, let alone my science final, and I plan to use this periodic table in my science 10 class this semester, and likely for the rest of my high school and maybe university career.

An Inspirational Quote

I decided to share this quote because it is a motivational quote that inspires others to be successful in life, whether in sports, academics, or personal aspirations. This quote has motivated me to not give up on my dreams, even when they seem impossible, since it reminds me that persistence leads to success. In my opinion, this quote reminds me that every dream or goal I have in life is possible. Walt Disney, who said this, started with only a dream and a mouse, and he became a world-renowned producer and director. I can relate to this quote because my goal is to study biology in university, which will be quite challenging, so this quote has motivated me to maneuver through any obstacles I face to reach that goal. Overall, this quote has made me more determined to reach every goal I have, and it’s taught me everything is possible and that it just takes a lot of hard work.

An Educational App

An educational app I’ve been using throughout the year, and still use now, is Duolingo. Duolingo wasn’t directly related to my learning in French this year, but it was something I did on the side to help improve and strengthen my French speaking and writing skills. I’ve been using Duolingo since late November, and I’m currently at a 78-day streak. I use Duolingo daily, and I try to do at least twice a day, once in the morning, and once at night. It’s helped me remember all my French words I learned this year, and some extra words, such as chien, which means dog, salade, which means salad, au revoir, which means goodbye, and much more. Duolingo has allowed me greatly to practice my French speaking skills, and I think this is what makes me remember how to pronounce a lot of French words and is why I haven’t forgotten a single word in French, despite my French class ending a month ago. Overall, I believe that if I continue to use Duolingo for the rest of my high school career and practice daily, then I won’t forget any French words I learn, and I will be able to get high marks in French 10, 11, and 12.

Useful Organizational Methods

An organizational method I used this year to stay organized with my assignments is writing a list of all of the work I have to do. For example, every Sunday, I’ll write down every homework assignment I have due that week on my whiteboard, ranked from highest to lowest in priority, and if I have a test, I’ll write down the day I’m taking it. As the week goes by, I’ll erase homework assignments that I’ve finished and handed in and write down assignments I’ve gotten that week. This helps me make sure all my assignments and projects are handed in on time, and that I study for all of my tests and quizzes. Another organizational method I use is putting work into my binder the second I get it. At the beginning of the year, I would stuff all my assignments I got into a pouch in my backpack, even though I had a perfectly good binder to use. This caused my work to become crumpled, and I often struggled to find what I needed. Now that I put my papers in my binder, all my work is in good condition, and it only takes me a couple second to take out my binder and find my work when I’m in class. Overall, these two organizational methods have helped all my work stay neat and tidy, helped me hand in all my assignments on time, and helped me know the days I have a test or a quiz. This is why I decided to share these methods because in my opinion, they are the two most useful ways to stay organized with your work and assignments.

Works Cited

ZoteroBib: Fast, Free Bibliography Generator – MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard Citations. https://zbib.org/. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.

“Home.” SCIENCE WITH THE AMOEBA SISTERS, https://www.amoebasisters.com/. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.

Periodic Table | Definition, Elements, Groups, Charges, Trends, & Facts | Britannica. 9 Feb. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/science/periodic-table.

“TOP 25 QUOTES BY WALT DISNEY (of 395).” A-Z Quotes, https://www.azquotes.com/author/4000-Walt_Disney. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.

Walt Disney Quote: “If You Can Dream It, You Can Do It. Always Remember That This Whole Thing Was Started with a Dream and a Mouse.” https://quotefancy.com/quote/930206/Walt-Disney-If-you-can-dream-it-you-can-do-it-Always-remember-that-this-whole-thing-was. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.

“Learn a Language for Free.” Duolingo, https://www.duolingo.com/. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.

“Learn a Language for Free.” Duolingo, https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/fr/en/Learn-French. Accessed 1 Mar. 2025.

Wong, Daniel. “How to Get Organized for School: 30 Simple Tips for Students.” Daniel Wong, 10 Apr. 2017, https://www.daniel-wong.com/2017/04/10/students-get-organised-for-school/.

OTR/L, Colleen Beck. “42 Ways to Help Students Stay Organized at School.” The OT Toolbox, 9 Apr. 2024, https://www.theottoolbox.com/organization-tips-for-students-organize-kids-school-work/.

Mon Pays Francophone – Presentation

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Artifacts

Core Competency Reflection

My strategies for collecting relevant information for specific tasks include checking multiple sources and cross-checking the information I get to make sure it’s correct. For each of my slides, I checked at least three reliable and trustworthy websites to get my information, which is why each slide had a lot of it. I also made sure to think of what I wanted to talk about on each of my slides before writing, so my words could stay organized. The two main websites I used to gather my information were Wikipedia and Britannica, but I also used other websites.

Examples of where I communicate clearly and purposefully can be found in my slide about my country’s flag, which I have a picture of above. Each sentence describes what each color or symbol of the flag represents, and I made sure to press enter before explaining something new about the flag to make my slide look more like bullet points rather than a long paragraph. I made sure to describe my flag by the order it went in also. For example, the first color of the flag was blue, so I said what it means first. I also think I communicated clearly and purposefully in my slide about the military because I only had one sentence that described the basic facts about my country’s military. I made sure to add colorful pictures as well to try and get my audience’s attention.

A goal I have for myself going forward is to try and write more concisely. I tend to write a lot for every project I do since I like to gather information and write, but I always make my projects too long. I’ve been doing this for a couple of years as well, so I really want to try and fix it. I want to work on this goal since sometimes when I write a lot of words people don’t want to read it because it will take them too long, and they will get bored. I want people to be able to be interested in what I write, so I want to try and tell them that same information but, in less words, and in a more fun way. I can achieve this goal by getting rid of unnecessary words when I’m doing projects, and by trying to make everything in bullet points. I can also try and only write about a few facts about a topic and elaborate on those rather than writing a lot of facts but barely elaborating on them. Another strategy I can use is merging sentences by using commas, which will help me shorten the length of my sentences. Overall, I think If I use these strategies, I will successfully be able to concise my writing.

ADL Persuasion and Advertising Project

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My Advertisement

Persuasion and Advertising Learning Reflection

Which advertising techniques did you choose and how did you use those techniques to create your poster?

I used two different advertising techniques to create my advertisement, the first one being card stacking. The phrase I used was ” WITH 30% LESS FAT”, and I tried to make it subtle by adding it in my title, which blended them together effectively. I did this so it would be like a hook hopefully intriguing people to read the rest of my advertisement. I think this was a good hook because many people enjoy fast food, such as the fries in my add, so less fat would potentially make them crave it and want to buy it. If this worked, then people would hopefully go on to examine my advertisement and see my second advertising technique. This technique was special offer, and my text was, “$2.99 FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY. OFFER ENDS DECEMBER 10TH”. I put this at the bottom of my poster and made it smaller than my other text since I feel like it’s a subtle hint that’s basically telling the readers to go buy the fries, since there’s a great deal going on. The smaller text is what gives this hint, since I think that it’s what pushes the readers to buy the fries earlier rather than later. I put the text at the end for the same reason, and so people know it’s the conclusion of my poster. Overall, I think that these techniques mash together really well and that their placement is a big part on how I created my advertisement.

Explain how and why you chose the colors, words, background, etc. that you used to make your advertisement.

I chose my title to be red, so it clashes well with the color of the McDonald’s cup. I think this makes the title pop out, along with the large and thick font I chose for it. My other text is white, since I was playing around with the colors of my sentences, and it was the color that popped out the most. White also adds some neutrality to my poster, so everything isn’t too colorful and too powerful, overwhelming the eyes. I chose specific words for my poster, such as limited and offer, so it subtly tells the reader to buy the extra-large fries before they’re gone. I chose a sunset in my background to hopefully give the readers a visual representation of what would happen if they bought the fries. They could’ve had a long day at work, so maybe they’ll picture themselves looking at that same sunset with some delicious extra-large fries in their hand. I specifically chose the sunset instead of a blue sky though because I personally think they’re prettier. Overall, I chose the specific items in my advertisement since I think they blend together really well, and that it helps add some attractiveness to my poster.

What do you think others who aren’t in your class should know about advertising?

Other people should definitely know that the most important part about advertising is to make sure it’s aesthetically pleasing. You can have an amazing choice of words, but it won’t really matter because the only way someone is even going to glance at your poster is if it looks good. This is why it’s important to make sure the design aspects of your poster flow, with the colors mashing together well and to make sure your texts are placed in the right area. The product your advertising in your poster should never be fully covered. For example, in my poster, my title had a bit of overlap with my photo of the fries, and I didn’t really want that to happen, but I realized that it was fine since the majority of my fries were visible. Overall, when making an advertisement, it’s extremely important to emphasize the product you’re selling over your choice of words.

Core Competency Reflection

Examples of where I communicated clearly and purposefully on this project can be seen in my texts. I think both of my texts clearly showed what type of advertising techniques I used. In my title, I mentioned how the fries were 30% less fat, which is the card stacking technique. I know this was clearly shown because in the example about card stacking, the advertisement says “40% less fat”. This helps me know that my technique is correct. In my second advertisement technique, which was special offer, I mentioned that the extra-large fries were only $2.99 for a limited time only. Instead of mentioning the original price, I said the word limited which implies that the fries have gone on sale. I also mentioned that the offer ends on December 10th, which hopefully pushes people to buy the extra-large fries.

Some skills I have developed to make my creative activities better are attention to detail, designing skills, and understanding how to effectively make an ad. I learned that every detail matters when making an advertisement, and even the smallest mistake can make the reader not buy your product. This is why I proofread all of my words and made sure that when I AI-generated my advertisement, everything looked normal or close to normal. The last thing I learned is to make my words concise, and to make my poster visually attracting. This means to make sure everything mashes together, even the small details. Too many words can also feel uninteresting, so I made sure not to write more than 10 words in each text. Overall, this advertisement assignment has helped me improve a variety of skills, ranging from design techniques to my writing skills.

Learning the Scientific Method: Self Assessment

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Curricular Response

The Golf Tower Challenge helped me improve my understanding of the scientific method process when I realized that my tower wasn’t holding up and kept falling. To fix this problem, I made 4 small cylinder and taped them against my main tower to prevent it from falling, and it worked. This helped me understand the scientific method because I used inductive learning to identify the problem, which was my tower wasn’t staying up. So, I came up with an idea, to add supports, and I tested it out, which is deductive learning. It worked, so my idea was correct. The Ball Launcher Challenge helped me improve my understanding of the scientific method process when my ball launcher, a slingshot, wasn’t shooting the aluminum ball very far. Originally, I had 2 rubber bands used for power to shoot the aluminum ball, but then me and my group members thought that more rubber bands, meant more power. This when is we decided we should use 4 rubber bands instead of 2. This was inductive learning since we observed that our ball wasn’t getting enough power. We then added the extra rubber bands and shot our aluminum ball. This time, it was shot almost twice as far, so our idea worked. This was deductive learning, since we tested our idea. Overall, both of these labs helped me understand the scientific method process way better.

Core Competency Self Assessment and Creative Thinking

The scientific method lab I am most proud of is the Ball Launcher Lab, mainly because my group came in first place, and we were able to land our aluminum ball from the ball launcher into the ball receiver from over 600cm away. I also feel like my devices for this lab were creative, unlike my Newspaper Tower Challenge where I wasn’t as creative. The Ball Launcher Challenge also helped me understand the scientific method process more than the Newspaper Challenge lab, which I’m proud of. The last reason I’m proud of the ball launcher lab is because there weren’t any big errors, and if there was a problem, then my group and I knew how to fix it. Overall, I enjoyed both labs, but I’m prouder of my work on the Ball Launcher Lab rather than the Newspaper Tower Lab.

During the Ball Launcher Challenge, I realized that when the aluminum ball was shot, it was always curving to the right or to the left and wasn’t going straight. To fix this problem, my group and I did 3 things. The first thing we did was get brand new rubber bands, since this could have been why the slingshot wasn’t working properly. The second thing we did was use as much power as we could, which meant stretching the rubber bands as much as we can. We figured this would help the aluminum ball go straight. We also made sure that the rubber bands were straight and weren’t being pulled to the right or left. Doing all these things helped us fix the problem, and the aluminum ball started going straight. On the Newspaper Tower Challenge, me and my partner’s tower kept tilting, which meant our tower didn’t have enough support. So, to fix this problem, we added 4 small cylindrical supports, about 10cm in height, and 1 tall support, about 30cm in height. This mainly fixed the problem, but then our tower kept slowly tilting to the right or the left, so when it did, me and my partner just gave it a little tap to try and balance it. Eventually, our tower balanced, and we were able to measure how tall it was, and it was 5’5.

The Newspaper Tower Challenge helped me understand the scientific method because of all the different ways you could’ve built your tower. I could’ve done, squares, triangles, cylinders, rectangles, and many more shapes, to build my tower to be able to hold a golf ball at the top. If I did the Newspaper Tower Lab multiple times, then I could’ve come up with a lot of hypotheses using the shapes I listed above. The Ball Launcher Challenge helped me understand the scientific method because of all the different kinds of ball launchers and receivers I could’ve built. It helped me identify all the types of ways I could’ve solved the problem, which was to shoot an aluminum ball from a ball launcher into a ball receiver. I could’ve built a catapult, and used a couple of pieces of paper, taped together, for my ball receiver. I also could’ve built a slingshot where the ball would be shot into a cup. There were just so many options, so it helped me understand all the ways I could’ve come up with a hypothesis to solve the problem.

I demonstrated that I can create new things when I have good teamwork with my group members. An example of this is during the Ball Launcher Challenge, when me and a member in my group built the ball receiver together. Our ball receiver was in the shape of a hockey net, and we used paper and pencils to make it. We were able to create it efficiently by doing 1 thing at a time. For example, I would hold 2 pencils together, and he would tape them together, and then we would switch. We would then tape those 4 pencils together to make a square and add 2 pencils on the back of it. When we were measuring what size our paper needed to be, my partner would hold the paper, and I would trace it. He would then cut the shape I traced. Lastly, he would hold the paper on the designated area of our ball receiver, and I would tape it to the pencils, so it stayed on. We would take turns repeating all these processes, and overall, our ball receiver was a success.

I demonstrated that I can build on the ideas of others when I understand the idea. My partner had the idea for the Newspaper Tower Challenge, so the first thing I had to do was understand his idea. I asked my partner to explain it to me, and then I asked a few questions. I learned that he wanted our cylinders to be thin, so I made thin cylinders. We then realized our tower was falling, so we both thought of the idea for supports. I suggested 4 supports and he suggested 2, so we started with 2 but we then needed 4. Me and my partner consistently built off of each other’s ideas, and overall, we had good teamwork.

When trying new things, I expect setbacks and failure and use them to develop my ideas. An example of this from the scientific method labs would be in the Newspaper Tower Lab. Me and my partner’s original idea was to have on support making the tower stay up. It was just one piece of newspaper, folded, and then we put our newspaper cylinders in between it. We tried doing this, and it worked when we had 1 cylinder up, but the second we put a 2nd cylinder above it, our tower kept falling. This is when we had to add 4 more supports, 1 on each side of the first cylinder. This helped us put up the 2nd and 3rd cylinder, but then when we tried to put up a 4th, it kept falling just like the 2nd one did. To fix this, me and my partner came up with an idea to add another cylinder as a support, that would connect to the 3rd cylinder and be about 30cm in height. It worked, and then we were able to successfully add the 4th and final cylinder on top. In my Ball Launcher Lab, me and my partners realized that our aluminum ball wasn’t being shot as far as it could be. It kept being shot around 350cm, but we knew we could add more power. So, instead of shooting the aluminum ball with 2 rubber bands, we decided to add another 2 to them. This helped the aluminum ball go way farther, and during our practice, we were able to get the aluminum ball to shoot from the ball launcher into the ball receiver from over 550cm away.

This is what my ball launcher and ball receiver looked like when it was finished.
This is when me and my group were planning the design of our ball launcher.
This was the size of me and my partner’s cylinders in the Newspaper Tower Lab.

This is me trying to balance my tower so it can stay up. This is also what it looked like when it was finished.

ADL: About Me

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About Me

One of my favorite activities to do is to play volleyball with my friends. My favorite subject is science, so I enjoy everything in my science class. I most enjoy learning about biology though, since I find it the most fascinating. Lastly, I like to watch shows and movies, mostly about crime or mystery, since it’s always interesting and intriguing.

My first goal for this year is to join 2 to 3 clubs. I want to stay in the clubs I join for the next 4 years of high school. My other goal is to get an A in my math and science class next semester, which I think will be pretty difficult.

The image above is a photo of a science lab I had at the beginning of my grade 9 year. My group and I had to create a slingshot which would shoot an aluminum ball into a net, from as far away as possible. The image shows how my group’s slingshot looked at the very beginning of the lab, with my avatar edited into it. I found this lab very enjoyable as I tried something new.