DorothyXinl's Portfolio

Unit 2 L4 Design a Story Problem

January 9, 2026 / Dorothy

Dorothy Lao – L4 Unit 2 Design a Story Problem – 4089929 Download

In Math Unit 2, I designed a story that represented a piecewise function. My story was about Angela fighting Cockroach Boss in her video game. I created a linear graph based on the change in the Cockroach Boss’s Health Points throughout the game. During the game, Cockroach Boss was first attacked by Angela’s fists, then activated the invincibility shield, then was attacked by Angela’s steel sword, then drank a revival elixir, and finally died when being attacked by Angela’s big axe. It models the real-life situation of a battling the boss in a video game.

I am most proud of adding enough mathematical elements inside the story while making it fun and interesting. This is because a lot of the math problems I have solved before are really boring, and for my question, I am proud of making it more interesting to solve.

The hardest part is performing all the calculations and also typing out the correct mathematical notation on my laptop. Since all of the segments on the line graph had different slopes, it was a bit difficult and confusing to calculate the slope and write out the correct intervals.

If I could revise the project, I could try and incorporate some nonlinear functions into my story. This is because some times, the Health Points of a game avatar either decreases at a random rate or drops drastically. Decreasing or increasing at a constant rate is not very realistic in a real life game scenario.

This project helped me understand piecewise functions more clearly and build on my knowledge on linear functions and equations. By using a real-life situation to approach this project, we were able to connect these math concepts to our daily life, which improved my understanding on piecewise functions. In addition, by combining this mathematical concept with creativity, it made this unit more fun.

Art Mixed Media Self Portrait

December 12, 2025 / Dorothy

1. I want my audience to understand my personality, values, and interests from my artwork. For my personality, I want people to know that I am a cheerful, optimistic, calm, and resilient person. The palette of warm colors such as red, orange, yellow, and gold I chose for the background and the symbols communicated optimism and happiness. The manta ray I created symbolized my calm and resilient personality and my ability to move fluidly through challenges just like a manta ray. For my values, I want the audience to know that I am a person that sees friendship, loyalty, and perseverance as very important parts of my life. The Celtic heart knot I tied and stuck onto the canvas represented this value. The knot symbolized my belief of loyalty and the bond between me and my family and friends, as the continuous and intertwining lines represent lasting connections and bonds. I also collaged a huge calligraphy stroke in the background of my portrait, which represented my belief of perseverance and acceptance. In calligraphy, one stroke cannot be undone, so this symbolized how I want to move forward persistently without letting mistakes stop myself. For my interests, I want people to know that I really appreciate Japanese culture and enjoy creating artwork and handicrafts. The fireworks I created symbolizes the Hanabi festival in Japan, and especially how I love going to Japan for vacation. The origami crane also symbolizes Japanese handicraft and also my love of art.

2. During the creation of my artwork, I took risks and experimented with different techniques, supplies, and colors to effectively convey my message. I have never really tried collaging to create an artwork before, so I experimented with collaging. I searched for suitable scraps of paper in the baskets to incorporate into my portrait and tore them to try to create this messy aesthetic that all collages seem to have. I tried to incorporate some 3D elements inside my portrait too, and to do this I have learned how to tie a Celtic heart knot and fold an origami crane throughout the process. I also used some supplies I have never considered using before. For instance, I used glitter pens, posca pens, and even correction liquid pens to create my piece. I also used reflecting silver-colored paper that originally looked off from the theme of my portrait. I also used very monotone colors (black, gray, and white) against a bright background (red, orange, yellow) which I normally won’t choose. I was afraid that my portrait would not fit against the contrasting background, but the overall project looked fine at the end.

PE Water Polo Reflection

November 25, 2025 / Dorothy

GLOW

I did well this unit by learning tredding water and playing a basic water polo game. I knew how to swim the strokes and I also learned about water safety.

GROW

I think I can improve on transitioning from offense to defense as it is very important in water polo games. I can also improve on tredding water as it can help me float. I can also improve on catching the ball when my teammates pass to me.

ELA Socratic and Story Reflection

November 21, 2025 / Dorothy

E1_Nov 19, 2025_Dorothy Download

I picked this artifact because it represented my information as a participant in the Socratic Seminar, including the number of times I spoke, the length I spoke, and the timestamps I spoke in, compared to the average of the class.

This showed me as a communicator that has detailed responses, since I spoke for a time longer than average even though I spoke for the average number of times during the Socratic Seminar. This means that each of my responses was pretty detailed and lengthy.

Art Artist Investigation

November 3, 2025 / Dorothy

1. Kool Koor’s background in the graffiti culture of the Bronx significantly influenced his painting techniques and styles he demonstrated when he came to class. The elements of art, line and color, and the principle of art, layering particularly reflected his background inside. In the artwork he taught us to create during class, he used swirling and thick lines to build his painting. These lines are similar to the ones that made up most of his graffiti paintings. Since in graffiti, everything starts with and consists of a line, Kool Koor included the main technique and element of graffiti into his studio work. He also uses vibrant color during our class. The paint we used are bright and solid, and mainly consists of primary colors. Graffiti is also characterized by bright colors, so Koor is most likely influenced by the colorful palette of graffiti and applied the colors onto his studio work. Overlapping layers were also present in his artwork. Strokes of another color were applied directly over the previous layer, which created a layering depth effect. Layering is also another fundamental technique in graffiti art, where artists use layer different colours or trace letters with darker shades to create an outline or a shadow. So the graffiti techniques and elements of the Bronx influences his style in his work during his workshop.

2. I think different environments can impact an artist’s process and artistic choices since the availability of materials, physical space, and audience is different. These factors can influence the appearance of the painting at the end. For example, in the 1970s and 80s, graffiti artists used bold colours and applied paint more violently and messily, conveying a more rebellious message because of the environment. They only had rudimentary and limited supplies such as spray paint and had to quickly tag places due to its invalidation and urban decay after subway graffiti’s golden age. Kool Koor’s street artwork was also like graffiti. His painting conveyed freedom since his audience was the mass public and he hoped to spread the message. Studio artists have completely different styles than graffiti artists because of the different environment. In studio, there is a wider range of available materials for artists to utilize. The artworks are also displayed in a closed space instead of open air, and conveyed more universal and diverse themes as it had a different audience. For example, Kool Koor’s studio work was a lot more clean and less violent with the application of paint, and he also started using different materials and spices like cinnamon and turmeric inside his “Meisha” and “Sands of Time”. He also conveyed a more universal theme of time inside his recent studio artworks. However, even though his style evolved, the elements of vivd colours and thick bold lines of graffiti were still present in his studio work, as I felt when trying out his painting style. During his workshop, we also drew thick and bold lines using vivid colours, which showed graffiti’s environmental influence on his painting style.

3. My East Asian culture and environment will influence my future artistic choices for my self-portrait mixed media artwork. The symbols that I will incorporate, fireworks, origami crane, and calligraphy stroke, are all East Asian elements and also represent part of my identity. The fireworks and origami crane are influenced by my love and appreciation of Japanese culture, since I travel to Japan for vacation very often. The fireworks represent my most cherished memories of holidays and my appreciation this culture, especially the Hanabi Festival (firework festival). The origami crane is also a key element in Japanese culture, and represents my creativity, love for art and handicraft, patience, and appreciation for Japanese culture as well. The calligraphy stroke is another main element of Chinese culture, and represents perseverance and acceptance and the concept of one stroke cannot be undone, and also my Chinese roots. These elements represent my culture and identity.

Math Unit 1 Sticker Project

October 25, 2025 / Dorothy

For this sticker project, I created a bunny pizza, which combined my love for food and my want of a pet, especially a bunny.

I really enjoyed that I had the freedom to choose what sticker I wanted to create. Working with transformations and exceeding level rotations, reflections, and dilations was challenging but still fun to incorporate into my work.

I wish that there wasn’t a requirement for hand-written steps, because hand-writing uses a lot of time for me and typing on the computer would be more efficient and less time-consuming.

Math Unit 1 Reflection and Goal Setting

October 25, 2025 / Dorothy

Select two questions from the Unit 1 Celebration of Learning that reflect your best thinking in this unit:

1. I chose L4 Question 2 Part A as evidence of my best thinking because I was able to be familiar and solve questions involving negative dilations and reflecting across non-axes lines, which exceeds the material we learned in class. It also reflects my critical and dimensional thinking as I was able to recognize whether the order of the transformations matters.

2. Another evidence of my best thinking was L4 Question 2 Part B because it demonstrated my application of what I learned during class and also my dimensional thinking skills. I was able to think of an alternative rotation around a point that can transform the figure back to the same position.

3. Throughout this unit, I improved the most at dilations, especially negative dilations. Since this was my first contact with dilations, I felt very confused at first and struggled to complete practices accurately when I chose Option 3 in the Dilations choice board. After understanding the concept through more videos and practicing more questions, I began to develop a more solid understanding of negative dilations, and my improvement can be seen from my application of this topic in the L4 Question 2 Part A.

4. I feel that I still need to work on proving and justifying congruence in more complex shapes. In the L4 Question 1, I missed a step to prove that the shape was congruent and assumed it was a parallelogram and the lines were parallel. I could improve by remembering to prove every single step and not assume without evidence.

5. Three of my strengths so far this year are being meticulous and paying attention to details, being able to perform transformations accurately, and being able to learn new concepts quickly.

6. Three things I want to improve on next unit is to ask questions when I’m not sure or confused, speak up and answer questions more in class, and to challenge myself even more with difficult questions.

7. In the next unit, I want to complete questions quicker and more efficiently while still ensuring accuracy. Something that might be in the way is that I might make careless mistakes under time pressure and that sometimes my logic would be not continuous. If I get stuck or need help, I can ask my teacher for assistance and guidance.

Language Arts Unit 1 Reflection

October 10, 2025 / Dorothy

In Unit 1, we mostly learned about grammar, including the parts of speech, sentences, and shades of meaning in words. We did this through a FBI agent simulation, where we taught an alien who did not know any English the grammar skills we learned in class.

I was proud of my ability to teach my alien grammar skills and also sensory details, which helped his language become more vivid and professional. I was also proud of enhancing my grammar skills and learning about connotation and denotation, which I identified in my alien’s paragraph and could include in my writing in the future.

I could definitely improve on my planning skills, especially on scheduling a meeting for both the alien and independent time. I should not wait for the last week to schedule the meeting, because a lot of spaces would be taken. Next unit, I should plan ahead and arrange a meeting way before the last week.

Art Unit 3 Reflection

September 23, 2025 / Dorothy

On our recent field trip to the Museum of Art Pudong, I got to see how exhibitions can influence the ideas, beliefs, and experiences of the audience through the intentional curation of artwork.

Exhibits often show multiple perspectives of one artwork, which can help the audience better understand and perceive the artist’s intentions. One such example from the MAP was “After the Red Moon”, created by El Anatsui in 2023. The exhibit showcased three different perspectives of the artwork, including the Waves, the World, and the Wall. Through these different angles and perspectives, I was able to develop multifaceted views and thoughts about this piece. In one view, I got to see how all of the recycled materials worked together to create a long, colorful tapestry that was hung from the ceiling. In another view, I got to see a close-up on how all of the bottle caps and metal scraps are connected together. In another view, I got to see how the hung tapestries create a reflection of the earth when shone with light.

This helps me better understand the intentions of the artist, El Anatsui. Since he is an artist of African descent, he wanted the audience to understand the cultural intentions and significance behind this piece, especially about African culture. He incorporated the fishing culture and the Transatlantic Slave Trade into his artwork, by weaving bottle caps from traded beer into a tapestry shaped like a local fishing net, which I got to see close-up in the World. Through the multiple perspective that I got to see, I understood the intention of El Anatsui and learned more about African culture, influencing my belief and ideas.

Curators also put artworks of the same era and art technique together, which can help the audience better understand the cultural background, history, and the intentions of the artist. For example, in the exhibit Paths to Modernity, the Self-Portrait of Van Gogh, Van Gogh’s Bedroom in Arles, and Portrait of the Artist was placed in one room. Two of the paintings were painted by the same artist, Van Gogh, and two of the paintings have a similar theme: self-portraits. This can help the audience think and ponder about artworks of the same theme, which can lead them to better understand the historical background and cultural intentions of the artist.

Additionally, the curator puts together art pieces of the same painting technique, an example being Pointillism paintings being together in one room. This can help the audience see paintings of the similar theme and era and develop a deep perspective and understanding of Pointillism artists.

PE Unit 1: Table Tennis

September 4, 2025 / Dorothy

In this unit, I practiced my table tennis skills through playing singles and doubles. I learned forehand, back hand, and serves, and we practiced these drills with a partner. We also played matches with other people to take these skills into play.

My goal for playing table tennis later on is to try to keep a rally for more exchanges during practice and also be more successful to hit balls back during matches with our opponents. I also want to improve on serving the ball, so that I can have a higher chance of not losing. I can do this by watching some tutorial videos and practicing more in PE class next year.