Reflecting on My First Year

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My Grade 9 Year

This year I enjoyed making new friends and learning new things. Not only is the learning and work different in high school, but the people are too. I’ve been able to find a lot of nice supportive friends, expand my knowledge, and find new interests. One challenge I overcame was not getting help in class when I needed it. At the start of the year, I was nervous about asking and I wasn’t able to following along in some classes because it went by fast. Now, I am able to confidently ask for help and I have gotten better at taking notes and following what the teacher is saying.

My Favourite Website

https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html

Wordle is a website where you have to guess a five letter word with only six guesses, and a new word to guess everyday. I like to play this in the morning to wake up my brain and to give me a fun challenge that makes me think. When the word is guessed correctly, it shows you the definition of it. It’s cool to learn about new words and use them in conversations.

My Favourite Video

This video was one of my favorite videos that were shown in socials because it taught me a lot and helped me learn more about chimney sweepers and other jobs during the revolution. Not only was it very informational, but it was also entertaining to watch and wasn’t confusing. The video had a good way of explaining things especially with the visuals and stories. I was able to take down a lot of notes and use it on the test we had. Overall, I thought this video was very interesting and I really liked it.

My Favourite Image

This image shows the mouse trap car I made in power tech. This was the one of the first projects we did and it was successful. This project has taught me a lot including how to use new machines, and how to make a car work. I am proud of this and it has helped me in this semester.

My Favourite Quote

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

– Nelson Mandela

This quote relates back to how I felt at the start of the year. When I came here, I didn’t have any friends and I didn’t know anyone and I thought it was going to be impossible to make new ones. I also thought the work was going to be very difficult and thought I was going to fail all my classes. Now that I have good grades and good friends, I realize it only ever seemed impossible before.

Works Cited

The New York Times. (2023). Wordle – a daily word game. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle

What It Was Like to Be a Chimney Sweeper In the Victorian Era. www.youtube.com, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohzFHI3PIW4

Hunger Games Mutation Project

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My creation

Core Competency reflection

I listened to my group by letting them share their idea and I responded to them by saying something about their idea or adding onto it. My group set up a goal and it was to come up with an original mutation. We worked together to achieve this goal by brainstorming a lot together and drawing our ideas down instead of just talking about it. I showed a sense of accomplishment and joy when I complimented someone in my group and told them they had a really good idea. I demonstrated respectful behaviour by listening to everyones ideas. I also demonstrated inclusive behaviour by encouraging everyone to share and including their ideas in the group.

Advertisement Persuasion Project

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My Advertisement

Persuasion and Advertisement Technique

Persuasion Advertisement Unit Reflection

It is always important to remember who benefits from the advertisement when you view an ad because the money may be going to a bad cause or people using that money for bad things. Ethical is a good form of persuasion because a lot of people have celebrities as someone that they look up to. If a certain celebrity that a lot of people like is advertising something and they say they use it, those people who like them would want to buy the product as well because if they use it, it must be good. A good persuasion technique would be special offer. People love sales and special deals like buy 1 get one free, or get less calories and fat but better taste. It draws a lot of people in because it’s always a good deal when you’re spending less money or something has less calories and fat but, they never give you a starting calorie number or starting fat number so you never know how many calories and fat you’re actually consuming.

Core Competency Reflection

When there was disagreement within the group, I found it helpful to discuss our ideas that the other person didn’t like and try to combine the ideas or change them a bit to something we both agreed on. I showed others that I truly valued their contributions by using their ideas in the project and combing our ideas together to make the project work. I invited my partner to share their thoughts and add to the project so they would participate. One activity that stimulated my imagination on this project was creating our own ad and being able to come up with our own product. I thought it was very fun because it also had to be set in the hunger games so being able to come up with something for the people was interesting and exciting to do.

PHE 9 AH Reflection

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My Feeling Emoji

I always feel 🥱 before P.E. because I am always tired.

Health and Wellness Core Competency Reflection

When I need to boost my mood or refocus, sometimes I will take a quick break and clear my head so I am able to focus again. One of my preferred strategies for maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle is having a routine. Having a routine helps me stay healthy and not go off track. For example when I get home from school I always do my homework before anything else.

ADL – Collaboration and Solutions for Financial Literacy

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Data and Solutions

Table, graph, and calculations made using Excel.
Table, graph, and calculations made using Excel.
Table, graph, and calculations made using Excel.

Justification

The GIC option was the best solution for me because I prefer low risk and I was able to make enough money for a down payment. First, I deposited the $80,000 into a 3-year GIC. Second, I placed the $10,000 I made into a 1-year GIC, then I took the balance including interest earned and placed that in another 1-year GIC when the first term was finished. Some strengths with this option include a guaranteed interest return with no risk of losing money. Some weaknesses with this option include smaller interest rates and the money cannot be accessed before the 1 year and 3 years are up, depending on the option. Unlike the GIC option, there is a risk of losing money when using stocks and I didn’t make enough money to save for the down payment with stocks. 

Collaboration

Over the first two days, I worked with J, P, and J. I found working with these individuals very helpful because we all worked together as a team. We all contributed to the group by participating in group discussions and all being in charge of answering our own questions. I used another solution than the one me and my group talked about. My group and I talked about stocks. I didn’t use stocks because after doing the math, we lost too much money so we couldn’t afford the down payment. 

Core competency Reflection

  • I can ask and respond to questions to be an active, supportive listener. I demonstrated this by communicating a lot with my group and asking them questions if I didn’t understand something. I also listened to what my group had to say so I could add on to their ideas. 
  • I can work with others to achieve a goal. My group’s goal was to finish all the questions on the sheet we were given. Each person in our group would work on a different part of each question and then we would share our answers. 
  • I can demonstrate respectful, inclusive behavior. I demonstrated respectful and inclusive behavior by not turning down my group’s ideas and encouraging my group to share what they were thinking.  
  • I can form new ideas to create new things. If an idea of mine wasn’t working, I would communicate with my group and create new ideas that would work. I can also build on the ideas of others. I took some of my group’s ideas and added onto them or changed them up a little bit to experiment and try things out to see if they would work.

Core Competency Goals

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  • I plan to communicate when I need help with work more often – Some of my strengths include completing assignments and homework and handing in my work on time. I am able to complete work and hand it in on time if I am given enough class time to finish. When I have enough class time to complete it, I am able to hand it in on time or even earlier then the due date. Some of my stretches include asking for extra help or working in groups. Usually I prefer to work alone because it is less stressful, but I also prefer it because I am able to work on my own time so it is more likely to get completed. Asking for extra help is also a big stretch for me not only because I don’t know how to ask for help sometimes but it’s also because I need extra help in a different way and I don’t know how to ask for that. For example, during math if I need extra help, I would like the person that I asked for help, to take it slow step by step so I can understand it better.
  • I plan to notice when I feel heavy emotions and use strategies to help me feel better – When I am sad, angry or frustrated, I like listening to music to clear my head. Having a clear head helps me not think about what is bothering me and helps me be more productive and calm. Sometimes I cannot work on my assignments without listening to music. I really need a fresh mind to work on things so I am able to come up with ideas and I am able to not think about anything else in that moment so I don’t get distracted. Sometimes I just need to distract myself from the emotion I’m feeling so I am in a better mood so I will feel better about doing work.
  • I plan to take personal responsibility with my learning by accepting feedback – I appreciate feedback on most of my work and i prefer it comes in the form of little notes on my paper. If I am doing well, no feedback is okay. If I am doing not so well, I would like feedback on what I can do to improve my mark/grade. In P.E I do not hand papers in, so if I am not doing good maybe just a little chat on what I need to do better and what I can improve on is okay as well. I also appreciate feedback on big tests. Knowing where I went wrong on questions I got wrong can also help me get a better understanding of what I am learning.

Power Tech: Mouse Trap Car

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Mouse trap car
Mouse trap car top view

In this project we had to build a car that was only powered by a mouse trap and could reach 15 feet in a short amount of time. My final car was challenging to make because I had to come up with a new design after my original one didn’t work.

The first thing I did was draw my design on a piece of paper. After that I gathered all the supplies I needed to make my car. I measured and cut the wood and glued everything together. I tested out my car but it wasn’t working so I tried to change it up. I re-did my car and this one was way much better. I wanted to build a car that would go fast so I had to make it very light but also sturdy enough so it would go straight and not all over the place. My project in the end passed but it wasn’t the best. It went 19 feet in total but it kept turning to the left.

Math Progress Reflection

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Experiences coming into math 9

I’ve been pretty happy with my grades in math through the years so getting good grades makes me enjoy math more. I struggle with fractions in math and I also struggle with understanding it too. Once I understand the math I’m doing, I get really good at it. At first I was not worried about high school math but once I got the work, I started to worry a lot about it and was anxious about how well I would do. I don’t really have anxiety about math but once I’m doing something that is a little more challenging I get anxious.

My progress so far in math 9

At the start of the year I wasn’t too confident that I would do well in math 9. Now that I have done some work, I am more confident that I will do well in math. Math 9 is easier then I thought it was going to be. So far I am proud of the homework I’ve completed, the test and quizzes I’ve done and the notes I’ve taken. I didn’t know how to take notes at the start of the year but with the note sheets we get, it helps me a lot. I also have been getting marks that I am proud of on my homework, test and quizzes. Some areas I can improve in is asking for help. If I am stuck on a question and it is taking me a long time to complete, I should go ask for extra help. Something I will do differently to prepare for my next test is actually study. I should sign up for flex the day of my test so I can have a refresher of the things the test is on.

Goals for my final mark

I will be happy with a B as my final grade. I would also be happy with a C+ but I will try my best to get a B or higher. I think I will be able to get a B as my final grade if I keep doing what I’m doing right now. To improve my grade and maybe get higher then a B, I will start to study for tests and get extra help if I need it. If I am able to get all my work done in class and get decent marks on my tests, I know my plan is working. Someone that can help me with my plan would be my teacher and parents.