Question 1- Prove or disprove, using supports/examples, that you have grown as a learner through the ELA class activities.
I believe that I have grown in many aspects of my English skills throughout this ELA course. As a writer, I feel I have gained more confidence in what I write and present. This confidence has boosted my skills many areas of English this past year. One of the main examples I feel I have grown most in is developing deep insights toward a variety of topics. For example, I felt very confident in my “I am Sam” responses in our Google Doc and put a lot of thought into the comments I made. This insight skill is not a skill I once used regularly until this year, and I tried my best to apply this skill to many assignments and projects. This is an example of my growth throughout the year.
Question 2- You have completed speaking, writing, and visual representations in this ELA course;
a. Which of these comes most easily to you? Give an example and explain why this strand of ELA is easier for you
b. Which of these do you struggle with the most?
Throughout this past year, I have identified that visual representations are a strength of mine. This skill of putting a topic into a visual form is something that tends to come easy to me. I truly love this strand of ELA, which is possibly why this skill comes easier to me as I am motivated to complete it to my full potential. An example of a visual project we did this year is applying colours to emotions throughout the movie The Majestic. I absolutely loved planning and creating this assignment
A strand that I struggle with a little bit more is speaking. When it comes to public presentations, I loose the “presentation” aspect. In our recent inquiry project, we presented our research in a slide show. My feedback said that I made little to no eye contact with the audience. This is a strand that I plan to improve in as I am set to present more in the future.
Question 4- Give an example of the planning/development of an assignment that you are most pleased/proud of.
Throughout the entire year, the project that I planned the most for was the ELA inquiry project we most recently planned and presented. All of my planning was done on the Notability app on the iPad. Here is my planning for the speech aspect step by step-
First, I created a mind map to clearly set out what my presentation was to include.
After research, I created a rough draft of my speaking aspect in my inquiry presentation. This is only the first section of the rough draft itself.
Next, I asked Mackenzie (fellow classmate and dancer) some questions on the topic to get a second opinion. Her input greatly impacted the speech section.
Lastly, I created the good copy of my presentation. I edited the speech as I went along writing.
I am very happy with the speech part of my inquiry project!
Question 9- You developed your blog this year, adding samples of a lot your work. In doing so, you’ve tweaked it to include a fair representation of your personality online. What skills do you think you’ve developed through using the blog? List two positives and two negatives of the blogging work you’ve done this year.
Positive-
Through the use of our school blogs, I personally have developed a mature online personality. I am now very aware of how I act, and what I put out to share online. Online safety is a very important skill to have developed in this age, so the use of these blogs has been very beneficial to help us learn this skill. Having my work shared on this encouraged me to do my best work. Knowing that my work would be shared world wide made me work harder to achieve my best work possible.
Negative-
As for the negative aspect, I have had an experience in which my blog post I had been working one did not save. I was working on my iPad on Edu blogs, and I left the page for a moment. In doing this, the post I had been typing for at least an hour had all been erased. Besides this one mishap, I have genuinely enjoyed my first blogging experience.
Question 10- Staying organized can make all the difference in being on top of your work. What strategies , if any, do you use to stay aware of current deadlines and work?
At the start of the school year until around right after Christmas break, I used a to-do list method. I have a notebook where I wrote the date of every day, and wrote reminders, tasks, and, personal notes to myself that I would then read after school. I would cross off the items one by one as I completed them. This was a very beneficial method, but slowly I stopped using it. I became very busy with dance starting up again that I completely forgot! This method of organization worked very well for me, so I plan to bring back this method next year for grade 10.
Question 11- What learning goal would you set for yourself next year to achieve more success and developed skills in ELA? Be detailed in your goal explanation and give evidence that this area of your abilities needs improving.
I have recognized that an area that needs improvement within myself is public speaking. We did an inquiry project recently that involved a presentation in front of our class. I was very happy with how I did in all aspects of the project, except for the speaking part. I made little to no eye contact throughout the presentation. It is very important to me that I improve as a student, so next year I plan to focus on improving this aspect of myself. I will do at home practicing to boost my confidence when a speaking presentation project comes up, if one does.