Donna’s Portfolio

Mixed Media Self Portrait

May 15, 2026 / Donna

Throughout this unit, we created a self portrait through first, creating an image of ourselves through procreate where we learned how to use shadows and highlights, and then stuck it on a larger canvas that had symbolism made with a variety of materials.

Some of these symbols include the desert dunes made out of spray-painted newspaper in the background, the “flowers” made with crumpled paper, the sun and crayon wisps inspired after Rapunzel, a printed desert bird on my shoulder, and the color grey which was the main color of myself. The desert dunes are a reminder of the experience I had a few years ago of when I went to Xinjiang and experienced the vastness of the desert, symbolizing being a risk-taker. The flowers symbolize the more creative part of me, especially music, trying to express the beauty of it through the beauty of flowers and nature. The sun and background drew with crayon indicates the love that I have for my sister, with the pattern of the sun being very similar to the trinity knot that symbolizes sisterhood. Next, the desert bird on my shoulder is to symbolize the freedom that I want to have in my life, and finally the grey color used means the peace that is always there within my heart.

During the creation of my artwork, I took experiments and risks to express my identity through exploring a huge variety of different materials. For instance, I tried using different types of paper, the more crinkly type, newspaper, and normal paper. I think that this created more diversity within my artwork. In addition, I also believe that taking the decision of making my portrait simply black, white and grey was also a risk as I needed to use my symbols extremely effectively to make sure the artwork is engaging, memorable and really pop out. Finally, I also made sure to place my symbols in an engaging format. Since my portrait is the first thing that the audience sees, their eyes travel right to find the bird because of the popping yellow beads/colors on both of us. Next, their eyes lands on the frame next to the bird, which are the flowers made out of materials. Since the sun and background all have very similar colors, their eyes travel up and around to the other side of the canvas where there are also flowers and finally coming back to myself. The background with the sand dunes also add better depth to the canvas with myself and the desert bird being the foreground.

Pickleball PE Reflection

February 27, 2026 / Donna

Throughout this unit, I have grown and adapted as a physical learner. Before this unit, pickleball was an extremely foreign sport to me as I have never tried to seriously play it before. This looked like me not even knowing the basic rules and court lines, legal serves, and how to return the ball in the most effective way possible.

However, after receiving a lot of peer feedback and many classes of continuous practice, not only did I know how to follow the basic formatting of the sport, I also learned how to find my opponents weak spots and serve/return it to ensure a greater probability of winning. Finally, I also learned how to collaborate with my partner more proficiently as well. I learned how to coordinate with our attacks and defence as well as planning out how we were going to play beforehand.

Orchestra Semester 1 Progress Reflection

February 11, 2026 / Donna

In orchestra this year, what stood out was my performance during rehearsals and concerts by leading my section. What also stood out was demonstrating audience etiquette as I always try to remain respectful and quiet when others are playing, not just in concerts but also during practice. Speaking of practice, I can also use useful practice strategies such as specifically focusing on techniques but also basics such as scales while with a metronome.

However, one aspect in which I definitely need to improve is bringing a pencil to class as I almost always forget to get one. I should also try connecting music to my interests, through chamber music or composition unites. Finally, I should also try to be more active in class by speaking up about my thoughts, no matter the question.

Therefore, I need to improve in always remembering to get a pencil before rehearsal starts and explore how my interests can connect to music such as brainstorming and using the internet for inspiration.

Finally, I did extend my learning this year by gaining more experience by being section leader during our concert pieces and improving my ability of listening by going through our emembles.

Group Clay Vessel Reflection

February 5, 2026 / Donna

I showcased my abilities as a creative learner through this project as I first tried my best to create a unique, original vessel. Unlike creating a normal vase or pot, our group tried a different approach by using the original sphere that we created using 2 pinch pots to create a sort of a “snow globe”. I also showed my abilities by being flexible with my thinking. When we were creating the base of the vessel, we encountered some troubles with connecting the base, the pinch pot, and the sphere, but we were able to adapt and change our methods in attaching and blending out to get a better result. I was able to showcased my ability as an active learner embracing failures with a growth mindset, especially when we had to reattach a lot of cracked high-relief additions to the vessel and when we had to recreate the base many times. Finally, I also showcased my active learner skills through good organization. Despite me and my partner missing one class for the project, we were able to get on task as best as we could as soon as we got back and managed to finish on time.

The primary way as to how a sketchbook contributes to an artist’s creative process is by allowing for a free space of experimentation and idea brainstorming. From our own experience in this activity, our group members were able to jot down our own ideas of what the vessel might look like, choose one that we think has the most potential in creativity, and finally make edits together in the sketchbook itself. For example, one of our partners had this creative idea, but the final product looked different from their initial draft because we continued to adapt with our own ideas and finalizing the sketch in the book.

2026 Visionboard

February 5, 2026 / Donna

This is my vision board updated in semester 2.

All of the book photos are inspired after my goal of reading more
There is a lot of night and sleep pictures that are also inspired after my goal of sleeping at least 8 hours
Some of the calendar (on tech) photos try to remind me of time management importance.

IM8 Semester 1

January 20, 2026 / Donna

1. Active Learner Strengths:

One strength that I bring to math class is making sure I turn in all assignments and work on time, whether that be classwork, homework or other specifics. Another strength that I bring to math class is reaching out to my teachers and peers to ask for feedback and questions if there are any key concepts that I am not clear with, and finally, a strength I bring is actively collaborating with my group mates in certain activities with good teamwork, such as during the “Designing a word problem” or the pumpkin explosion challenge.

However, one active learner habit that I want to improve in semester 2 is being more active in group discussions (with the whole class) that challenges my ability to speak up in front of others. This is an area of growth for me as I rarely speak up in class, but I recognize that it is an important skill to practice. Therefore, I will work on this habit by trying to speak up at least once per class, whether that be on a small or big question. Once specific action that I will take to achieve this goal is to seek encouragement from my peers or tablemates, which could help me a lot.

2. Math Notation and Communication

My math organization has improved over time, as although everything was quite messy, including my text, handwriting and self-check (they all seem a little half-hearted), at the end I was clear with the structure of the page and used things like rulers to make it seem more orderly.

3. Understanding Key Concepts

2 examples that show my understanding of mathematical concepts:

Unit 2 Final COL: In my summative of unit 2, one question that is evidence of my best thinking is the first critical thinking question, as I was able to identify how there are so many other factors in the result of a students test scores, such as sleeping and simply just the time you spend studying, not just because someone listens to music while doing so. This is a clear improvement from before the unit, as I thought correlation may have just been the same thing as causation, but after practice, I realized that was not at all the case.

Design a Word Story Project: Before this project, I thought that piecewise functions were only limited towards math and school. But after completing this project, I realized that they could also be applied to day-to-day life as well, such as simply shoveling snow. Therefore, I now understand that this could be used by certain companies or people to find out different aspects of life. The strengths also include the story being both original and we also thought of a lot of different scenarios in which the snow plow plowed snow.

Donna-Yuan-L4-Unit-2-Design-a-Story-Problem-3765158-1 Download

Overall, my work shows my understanding of key math concepts as it is evidence I am able to carefully arrange my work in a organized way which still shows my thought process, and represents how I am able to apply my thinking to certain activities or tests that have satisfactory results in the end.

Art Sketchbook Cover Design Reflection

January 19, 2026 / Donna

My sketchbook cover expresses my identity in several ways. First, I have a lot of wavy lines all over the cover which represents the staff/stave in music, showing my love and my hobby for music and playing the cello. However, I also changed the background story of them by changing it into a pool that shows my sport of swimming, and a bowl of noodles that represents my love for food. Finally, there is a huge donut in the top left corner that represents my character/name as one off my most used nicknames is “donut.”

Some of the design strategies that I used on my cover was using the same medium of ink (posca markers) that made the artwork consistent throughout. I also tried to use contrast in colors to help the piece become more vibrant and engaging for the audience but also still making sure it doesn’t become too messy.

I intended for the audience to engage in the layout of my composition by first drawing their attention to the huge pink donut in the left corner because of the emphasis with the color as the pink is really vibrant with the shape being round compared to the rest of the page that creates a contrast with the wavy lines that puts emphasis on it. Then, the audiences eyes goes all the way around the sides of the sketchbook as the consistent wavy lines creating a repetitive pattern that is flowy and fluid to create a sort of a “wrap” for the entire cover. The attention then finally goes to the Chinese characters in the middle, also creaitng contrast from the other shapes, which is telling the purpose of the book.

PE Badminton Unit Reflection

January 19, 2026 / Donna

In this unit of badminton, I learned a lot more than what I had previously expected. Before this unit, I didn’t know any specific tactics of badminton, but now, I learned the different strategies, especially for doubles, such as the specific rules and how to strategically serve it over the net for the other side to return it with more difficulty.

Some of the key moves that I learned was the backhand low serve, which makes it difficult for the other side to return it low too, which I mastered. One of the goals that I set before this unit started was to learn how to return the birdie, such as dropshots, clear shots, backhand serves, forehand serves, hairpins so on. I think I mastered most of these moves, but some that I struggle with are backhand shots, forehand serves and hairpins, which I need work on. Through feedback from my friends, I also started to learn how to spike the birdie over the net which I previously did not know how to do at all.

Therefore, if I do practice badminton in the future years, I would try to practice those shots that I still struggle with to improve my fluency and skills in the sport.

Designing a Story Problem (Piecewise Function Project)

January 9, 2026 / Donna

1. Describe your story and what real-life situation it modeled?

The story and real-life situation me and my partner made was a man (Billy Bob) plowing snow on different roads. Since the roads had different structures and functions, the speed at which the snow plow moved also differentiated, which we showed with our graph. There were also specific intervals in between which disrupted the snow plowing as there were breaks or even malfunctions. For example, Billy Bob had to have a lunch break, and when the snow plow malfunctioned on the hilly roads, he had to stop his work to get it fixed before continuing again.

2. What part of your project are you most proud of? Why?

The part of the project I am most proud of is the story that me and my partner created, as I think it was both original and we also thought of a lot of different scenarios in which the snow plow plowed snow. We also included a lot of different details that made the story a lot more interesting to read and graph.

3. What was the hardest part of creating your piecewise function?

The hardest part of creating our piecewise function was figuring out how we were going to solve the questions that we created. The questions that we created could not be easily solved by just looking at the graph, so we had to go back and look at all of our points that we plotted to find exact sections where we had to cut or continue. For example, what would happen if the snow plow had not malfunctioned and Billy Bob just continued to plow snow. We had to delete the intervals in which he stopped and went to get it fixed and find the final time.

4. If you could revise one part of this project, what would you improve and how?

If i could revise one part of this project, I would try to improve being more specific with what questions we had to create. Although our questions couldn’t be directly found on the graph, they were also a little too shallow as it all it was required was some more complicated math. Therefore, I would try to come up with other questions that could challenge our thinking further.

5. What did this project help you understand better about piecewise functions?

Before this project, I thought that piecewise functions were only limited towards math and school. But after completing this project, I realized that they could also be applied to day-to-day life as well, such as simply shoveling snow. Therefore, I now understand that this could be used by certain companies or people to find out different aspects of life.

Donna Yuan – L4 Unit 2 Design a Story Problem – 3765158 Download

Math Unit 2 Reflection & Semester Check-In

January 9, 2026 / Donna

Part 1: Unit 2 Part A+B COL Reflection

In my summative of unit 2, one question that is evidence of my best thinking is the first critical thinking question, as I was able to identify how there are so many other factors in the result of a students test scores, such as sleeping and simply just the time you spend studying, not just because someone listens to music while doing so. Another question that is evidence of my best thinking is the entire L4 question 7, where I was able to show my critical thinking skills by applying what I know from the real world as well as from the data graphs to make inferences about for example, does the evidence actually support the claims, or determining whether a linear model for a residual plot is appropriate.

Throughout unit 2, the skill that I improved the most at is making inferences about the data from residual plots. Before this unit, I did not even understand what residual plots even are, but now I am able to identify its purpose as well as how it could support specific claims from the data points. One skill from this unit that I still need to improve at is figuring out specific aspects of a function on a graph that is good and is bad. This is one of the questions on the COL where I struggled the most, as I failed to identify a unique feature of a sample graph where the line of best fit is good for the scatter plot. The biggest challenge for me on this assessment was one of the L4 questions (6), where I had to think for a long time about what I knew about scatter plots, the association, the regression equation, as well as the correlation coefficient and the residual plot to figure out whether a linear model is appropriate for a set of data or not. I think I struggled here as I was not sure how to combine all aspects of info that I had into one clear inference, and had to slowly sort through my thoughts. One strategy that helped me during this test was first going through the entire test before writing a word so I could distribute my time evenly. For example, I knew I had to think for a much longer time and write more during the L4 section, therefore, I tried to quickly go through the L3, make quick checks and then immediately move on.

Part 2: Goal Reflection & End-of-Semester Check-In

Last unit, I set the goal of trying for L4 options more often. I think that I completed this goal pretty well, as I did attempt to directly work on option 3 on some choice boards, and did manage to push through to finish the L4 section on this COL. What helped me make progress was first, my friends encouraging me to challenge myself, but it was also a challenge at the same time too, as I wasn’t really confident in my abilities to be able to complete the tasks if it was too difficult.

3 strengths that I have shown last semester is turning all work in on time, reaching out to my peers and teacher if I need help on a certain question by asking, and collaborating with my classmates on certain group activities (including the pumpkin explosion). However, 3 areas where I need to improve is making sure to self-check my homework after completing it, being a lot more active in group discussions and triple-checking my work on assessments to make sure I didn’t make any small mistakes.

In the next unit I want to be more active in class by providing my thoughts in group discussions. However, this goal may be challenging as I would either be scared that my answer was wrong, speak in front of my other classmates, or just don’t have the energy to do so. However, if I get stuck or need help, I can reach out to my classmates for moral support, and ask for their thoughts to add on to mine before speaking.

Donna's Portfolio