In this unit, we focused on creating a WOOP goal centered around healthy relationships. I chose to improve how I handle conflicts, mainly because I often raise my voice during disagreements. For instance, when my parents and I have different opinions about what chores I should do, I usually react suddenly to defend my point and allow my emotions to take over. This often leads to heated arguments, making the situation worse rather than fixing it.
To be more specific, last week, I was disagreeing with my mom about my screen settings. Instead of calmly discussing my pov, I raised my voice, saying that I deserved more freedom on my screen. This only caused both of us to be frustrated, making the situation worse. I recognized this pattern, and I decided it was time for a change.
I set a clear wish: to resolve conflicts in a calm and respectful manner. To achieve this, I took a series of steps. Firstly, I learned to pause whenever I felt an argument starting. Taking a moment to stop is important; it allows me to think about the situation rationally. For example, when I got mad at my dad over my homework, I took a deep breath instead of reacting immediately.
Next, I focused on calming myself down. I practiced breathing exercises to help control my emotions. Once I felt more calm, I made an effort to see the other person’s perspective. Understanding my dad’s concern about my overdue work helped me realize he was trying to care, not control.
Finally, I aimed for compromise. Instead of insisting on my way, I decided to offer solutions that considered both my wishes and my parents’ concerns. By using this approach, I not only improved my conflict resolution skills but also strengthened my relationships. Through this, I learned that healthy communication is key to maintaining respect and understanding in any relationship.
For our group project, we researched depression.
During my research, I learned the official definition of depression, symptoms of depression, how to avoid depression, depression stigmas and treatments, and surprising facts and statistics. I learned that common symptoms can include exhaustion, change in eating patterns and even physical problems! I learned that a strong relationship with friends and family, regular exercise, good nutrition, good sleep and mindfulness techniques can all be protective factors against depression. A persons attitude towards depression and how it is perceived is a common stigma that can be prevented through proper education. Medicine, therapy, and even electroconvulsive therapy are all treatments for someone who has depression.
Some surprising facts I researched are that globally about 5% of adults suffer from depression, 700,000 die of suicide annually, and there are 6 main types of depression; perinatal depression, seasonal depression, bipolar disorders, persistent depressive disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and disruptive mood dysregulation.
This research changed my thinking because at first, I thought depression just appeared randomly from the type of life you have, but now I realize there are many types of depression caused by completely different factors. I also used to think that therapy was the only treatment for depression, but now I know that there are multiple types of treatment based on the type of depression.
Some data I found includes information about how common depression is and how it negatively effects many aspects peoples lives rather than just their emotions, and can be inherited through genes.
Here is a visual of our presentation:
During the presentations I noticed that many of the disorders can be linked together or have a cause-and-effect with another disorder. For example, many of them linked to depression or anxiety. One thing I learned in the presentations that stood out to me was that anxiety is more than just constant panic and fear and can affect people in everyday situations.
During class I learned about how social media purposely tries to get people hooked on technology, which changed my thinking so I started thinking less about how I might blame myself for wanting to grab my phone, and more towards the strategies I might use so I don’t fall for these physcological tricks.
Some assignments that we did include a wellness app review, where we made a WOOP goal and used a ‘humane’ app to help us. From this project, i learned that some apps are available to use as tools and It made me wonder if big companies could change social media apps to make them more humane.
Here is an image of my WOOP goal:
Another assignment for health this unit was to make a body positivity social media post, where we had to work with a partner to spread a more positive message on a social media sight by making a post. From this assignment, I learned that there is rarely any realistic portrayals of body image on social media because of filters and beauty standards, and it can severely impact the mental health of anyone who spends a lot of time on these sites.
Here is an image of me & my partners positive social media post:
In language arts class, I have made improvements in my ability to complete assignments and engage with the material. At the beginning of the year, I often found myself rushing through my work or submitting it late because I was touching fish. However, I’ve become more organized and spend more time during class focusing on my assignment. For example, I now spend the whole class time doing my work and making sure it is quality work before I submit it. This increased focus has resulted in higher grades for my Ai supported guitar essay.
Despite my progress, I struggle to be consistent with my reading and writing passport. While I enjoy writing and reading, I often find it challenging to maintain a consistent pattern of doing my homework. There have been weeks when I’m very motivated, and I complete several entries, but then I fall behind during busier times. For instance, during a recent project, I didn’t update my passport, which affected my ability to reflect on my reading. I think that being more disciplined could help me stay on track and fully benefit from this tool.
One of my strengths in language arts is my ability to write effective essays. I have developed a strong skill set in organizing my thoughts and presenting them clearly and persuasively. For example, during our recent essay assignment on our passions, I crafted a well-structured essay that addressed the prompt and included thoughtful analysis and supporting evidence. This allows me to communicate my ideas effectively and improves my overall performance in language arts.
Artifact 1:
Artifact 2:
Since Unit 1, I have grown a lot in my understanding of social studies concepts and my ability to engage with a project. At the beginning of the unit, I found it challenging to figure out what I was going to do for my project, since I was given a lot of choice in most of the projects for the unit. However, when I was left to research & analyze these topics on my own, I learned a lot about my topic and developed a better understanding of economics and activism, particularly during the inquiry project. I can now analyze how economics and historic events shape issues such as war, which has improved my critical thinking skills.
One of my strengths in social studies is my ability to research and present information clearly. For example, during our inquiry project, I thoroughly researched climate change and created a well-structured presentation that highlighted the change in activism over 30 years.
However, I recognize that I need to work on my participation during class discussions. While I have some insights, I sometimes hesitate to share them. An example of this was during our debate on euthanasia, where I had a presentation ready but was not contributing too much.
Artifact 1:
Drama The 3 little pigs Brecht fest
This video highlights my growth throughout the year. At the beginning, I struggled to project my voice and didn’t incorporate many Brecht techniques, but by the end of the unit (when this video was taken), I was louder and clearer and met several points on the rubric. In our group collaboration, we found something that worked well was having distinct roles, while trying to use Brecht techniques that didn’t align with the story did not work as well for us.
In the final video, I participated in a performance of a variation of “The Three Little Pigs,” aiming to incorporate Brechtian techniques.
Through this project, I learned about various drama techniques, but mainly Brecht’s methods. I improved my voice projection during presentations and became more engaged in contributing ideas with my group. I also learned to organize and present our play effectively as a team.
Artifact 2:
One of my strengths in math is analyzing data and statistics, mainly in word problems or with a visual strategy for solving the equation.
I can analyze data by creating scatter plots to identify trends and correlations between variables, which helped our group in the pumpkin explosion project draw an accurate conclusion from our data. Another one of my strengths includes graphing; for example, I use scatter plots to visualize relationships in the data we collected during our experiment. As evidence of my skills, I usually receive 3’s on assignments related to these topics.
Grades:
Some of my area’s of growth for math include completing my math assignments on time. For instance, I often forget to do my homework and don’t have it fully finished by the due date.
Another goal I have is to better understand the concepts in this unit. To be more specific, I want to practice distributing numbers to get the variables on one side in an equation (ex; 3(x+4) to 3⋅x+3⋅4 to 3x+12)
Grades:
I think I improved my understanding of mathematical concepts and my ability to solve algebraic equations. For example, I am now more confidently solving & simplifying equations and use a more effective method for simplifying. I can also apply these skills to real-world problems, such as a word problem where I have to figure out the point of intersection when 2 people start a business with different cost rates.
Evidence of Organization
Science Notebook
Table of Contents
My science notebook became more useful as the school year continued, as I took more care to add details and clarity to my work.
Notebook model in Term 1:
Notebook Model in Term 2:
Evidence of Active Learner Habits
My Active Learner Rubric
Active Learner Grades Term 1:
Active Learner Grades Term 2:
One thing I think I have grown at throughout the year is doing better quality work. This is because my new active learner goal was to regularly complete work that met the standards, and as seen in my active learner grades, I was able to achieve that goal by Term 1.
Evidence of Understanding of Key Concepts
These grades show that I improved after getting a 2/3 and had 3 meetings in a row after that because I studied.
Evidence of Growth In Science Skills
The term 1 grade 8 science standards include Standard 1: Developing & Using Models, Standard 2: Constructing Explanations & Designing Solutions, Standard 3: Engaging In Argument from Evidence, Standard 4: Asking Questions & Defining Problems, Standard 5: Using Mathematics & Computation thinking & Standard 6: Obtaining, Evaluating, & Communicating Information.
Some Improvement I would like to share in my learning is from Standard 1.
As you can see, I was getting a lot of 2/4’s for my assignments, but I improved my understanding and began getting 3/4’s.
The purpose of this project is to investigate your passion and see what you can do with what you learned about it.
My passion project is about training my dogs to do new tricks. I chose to train my dogs because I love animals and I wanted to understand more about animal behaviour and how it impacts dogs in training . This interested me because I thought that if I finally taught them to learn tricks, not only will I get to spend more time with them, but I also get to share with other people what I found was the best way to train dogs through my own passion project.
This photo is my action plan for my passion project, from my original planning process to my final presentation.
January 16, 2025 / Aya Williams
Introduction
The purpose of my conference is to share my learning journey and reflect on my area’s of strength and area’s of growth.
I’d like to share:
- What I’ve done and what I still want to achieve
- Some areas of growth, struggles, and some of my work
- My goals and how I plan to achieve them
My Vision Board
Some of the things included on my vision board are:
- To focus on studying (last year’s goal)
- To commit to my new goals (this year’s goal)
- A focus on my wellness
- A focus on my future career
These are important because:
I included last year’s goal to focus on studying because I think it reflects how much I have tried to focus on being more consistent with my schoolwork.
I chose commitment to my new goals as my goal for this year because I felt that the most effective way to achieve my goals are to stick to them the entire time.
My health and wellness is also very important to me because focusing on my mental health and physical health not only make me feel better, but it makes me more productive in school.
I want to focus on my future career because my vision is to build a business career for myself and improve my knowledge of business to prepare myself for university.
My Goals Are:
1. To improve consistency of turning in assignments on time.
2. To stop homework procrastination
3. To focus on my wellness
Transdisciplinary Transfer Goal (TTG)
The TTG I chose to reflect upon throughout the year is effective collaborator “Hold themselves and others accountable for team agreements”
I chose this because I think I have some strengths in collaborating but I could also improve my collaboration skills a bit more and be more willing to collaborate with other people.
Core Subject: Math 🧮
I will now share my progress in Math…
Core Subject: Science 🧪
I will now share my progress in Science…
Core Subject: Language Arts 📖
I will now share my progress in Language Arts…
Core Subject: Social Studies 🌏
I will now share my progress in Social Studies…
EnCore: 🧘🏻♀️
I will now share my progress in Drama…
My Strengths 💪🏻:
Some of my strengths are…
Organization
I always have my stuff when I come into class and am very good at organizing my to-do list.
Flexibility
I can be very flexible and work in any environment, and don’t have trouble adapting to changes in an assignment.
Focusing
I can focus on my work for a long time once I begin working (key word: begin).
Areas of Growth
Some of the skills I would like to grow in are…
Prioritizing
I often chose to do work that is not the best use of my time and have trouble prioritizing my work to do the most important task first.
Directions
Sometimes I have trouble understanding directions that are not as clear and it can affect my willingness to do my work when I don’t fully understand it.
Due Dates
I often struggle to turn in my assignments on time.
Highlights of the year:
My favorite day of the year was the first day because it was very exciting and I got to learn a lot of new things about my classes.
Closing
Thank you for listening to my progress towards my goals over the last year. Do you have any questions?
