This unit we played badminton and pickleball to improve our hand eye coordination and to improve our athletic capabilities knowing how to serve, smash, drop shots, etc. I feel that I did really well in the badminton unit when I knew how to do all of the skills I learnt. However, I did worse on the pickleball unit because the ball type was so much different then what I was used to, and so it led to me failing at some of the skills such as defending on court. Overall, it was a fun unit to explore, and I hope to continue some of these skills into the future.
Throughout my Chinese journey in 2025-2026, I believe that it was very successful. Here are some artifacts that show my successful journey in Chinese 8
First of all, I got a 3 or above for all of my ETK tests, and I have completed most of the assignments that the teacher gave to the class. One of my goals for this year in Chinese, was to not get a 2 on any of the assignments that I do, or complete in a test.
SInce I have completed all the tasks and gotten a meeting or above in Chinese, and gotten my goal complete, I think that I achieved success in this class for the 2025-2026 SAS year, in 8th grade.
We chose our music (Feel It Still) By listening to random songs and finding what is suitable for us, which was one drum player, one trumpet player, and one clarinet player (Me). I learned that with good effort and practice times, we can all individually succeed to perform a piece of music successfully. I was scared about doing this task again, because of the performance I did with another group in grade 7, where I have not successfully did the task. Some challenges I had along the way were not many, but it was definitely adjusting with the group and makw adjustments along the way so that we improv. some of the parts to make it truly our own piece. Some factors that contributed to our success was that there were no judgement of which music piece we choose, it was just choosing what might fit the best for both parties. It was truly a pleasure to play with Evan and Ethan, and I would definitely do this performance task again, with a different piece.
Active Learner Habits
Describe three strengths you bring to math class.
Example sentence starters:
-One strength I bring to math class is that I am very energetic in my math class, and I focus when it is time to focus.
-Another strength I bring is that I can tell other people on how to solve the problems in math class, when they are struggling.
-A third strength I bring is that I can encourage others to join in the group discussion, and raise my hand often if I am confident about the answer.
Area of Growth
Identify one Active Learner habit you want to improve during second semester.
Example sentence starters:
-One habit I want to improve this semester is the consistency of the focus I put in math. I noticed that I have some times that I did not focus in math class, and I regret that.
Plan for Growth
I will work on this habit by trying to focus more in math class, and to come in fully prepared, and try not to sweat a lot before coming into math class. I noticed that because I sweat so much, I tend to be distracted before and during the first half of class. Removing this would help massively into my focus.
2. Math Notation and Communication
Reflection:
- Write one sentence answering this question:
How has my math work improved?
Example sentence starters:
- My math work has improved because I use so much more mathematics notations than before.
- Over time, my math notebook shows growth in my explanation skills and speaking math language.
3. Evidence of Understanding of Key Concepts
Reflection (for each example):
PUMPKIN PROJECT
1. Describe your story and what real-life situation it modeled?
The story follows Kai, a determined student who has just received his acceptance to Zhejiang University after overcoming the challenges of a national exam. However, his joy is overshadowed by the stress of a delayed acceptance letter, which threatens his admission due to strict timing rules. The narrative models the real-life situation of students facing logistical challenges when transitioning to university, highlighting the importance of timely communication and planning in academic pursuits.
2. What part of your project are you most proud of?
I am most proud of the detailed description of the two routes Kai could take to reach the university. By breaking down the journey into distinct legs with varying speeds and conditions, I was able to effectively illustrate the complexity of decision-making in real-life scenarios. This aspect not only adds depth to the story but also allows readers to engage with the mathematical concept of piecewise functions in a relatable way.
3. What was the hardest part of creating your piecewise function?
The hardest part of creating the piecewise function was accurately representing the varying speeds and durations for each segment of the two routes. Balancing the need for realism with mathematical clarity required careful consideration of how to segment the journey while ensuring that the function remained easy to understand. Additionally, I had to ensure that the transitions between different speed segments were logical enough.
4. If you could revise one part of this project, what would you improve and how?
If I could revise one part of the project, I would improve the explanation of the piecewise function itself. While the narrative provides a clear picture of Kai’s journey, I think a more explicit breakdown of how to calculate the total travel time for each route using the piecewise function would be better. This could include step-by-step calculations or visual aids to illustrate how the different segments contribute to the overall travel time.
5. What did this project help you understand better about piecewise functions?
This project helped me understand that piecewise functions can model a real life scenario. They allow for the representation of situations where conditions change over time or distance, as seen in Kai’s journey. I grew an appreciation of learning piecewise functions, because it helps with everyday decision making.
TOPICS A-B-C
Show Your Thinking:
I chose questions 4 and 7 (Extension) that best described my thinking, because I showed my statistics skills that I learned in Unit 2 such as regression plots and scatter plots. Throughout unit 2, I learned a lot of new things more on the statistics side. Statistics was never my strongest field in mathematics, having the lowest score overall in my MAP skill level test. I think I improved the most by reviewing terms like average/mean, and learning new plots such as scatter plots. However, one skill I still have to learn next time, is to interpret data better. I think statistics is very hard, because there aren’t one correct answer, and could draw and interpret data sets in multiple ways. I need to know how to do this, because I struggle a lot. The biggest challenge on this assessment was that I needed to interpret data correctly. This was a big challenge because I couldn’t decide the correct way to interpret this data. There was no real strategy, and I studied more than other tests to prepare this test.
Goal Reflection & End of Sem 1 Reflecting:
Last unit, I set a goal to turn in all of my assignments in time. Although I still had some missings (1), I still think that I improved massively, and here is why. I created a plan for semester 1 to use some of the tools the school provided me, which was very helpful because the G8 teachers provided us a tool to use on the first semester of school which was microsoft to-do, which was a very good tool to stay organized. Thorugh this, I showed my strength to hand in assignments in time, stay organized as possible, and to listen in properly for new instructions. I want to still improve my attention span in class, and to find new seats when my friends are near, since it might distract me from having to do work in-class.
Next Steps:
Next steps for this process might be to determine who distracts me to most in class, and who could be beneficial in my academic learnings in school. I will get stuck with this goal, because I always want to sit with my friends in school. I would try to stay away from them in class as much as possible, to improve my academics moving on.
Final
Overall, I believe that these examples show that I improved massively in my mathematical collaboration, and how I use mathematical language to help people be more clear.
Show Your Thinking:
I chose questions 4 and 7 (Extension) that best described my thinking, because I showed my statistics skills that I learned in Unit 2 such as regression plots and scatter plots. Throughout unit 2, I learned a lot of new things more on the statistics side. Statistics was never my strongest field in mathematics, having the lowest score overall in my MAP skill level test. I think I improved the most by reviewing terms like average/mean, and learning new plots such as scatter plots. However, one skill I still have to learn next time, is to interpret data better. I think statistics is very hard, because there aren’t one correct answer, and could draw and interpret data sets in multiple ways. I need to know how to do this, because I struggle a lot. The biggest challenge on this assessment was that I needed to interpret data correctly. This was a big challenge because I couldn’t decide the correct way to interpret this data. There was no real strategy, and I studied more than other tests to prepare this test.
Goal Reflection & End of Sem 1 Reflecting:
Last unit, I set a goal to turn in all of my assignments in time. Although I still had some missings (1), I still think that I improved massively, and here is why. I created a plan for semester 1 to use some of the tools the school provided me, which was very helpful because the G8 teachers provided us a tool to use on the first semester of school which was microsoft to-do, which was a very good tool to stay organized. Thorugh this, I showed my strength to hand in assignments in time, stay organized as possible, and to listen in properly for new instructions. I want to still improve my attention span in class, and to find new seats when my friends are near, since it might distract me from having to do work in-class.
Next Steps:
Next steps for this process might be to determine who distracts me to most in class, and who could be beneficial in my academic learnings in school. I will get stuck with this goal, because I always want to sit with my friends in school. I would try to stay away from them in class as much as possible, to improve my academics moving on.
1. Describe your story and what real-life situation it modeled?
The story follows Kai, a determined student who has just received his acceptance to Zhejiang University after overcoming the challenges of a national exam. However, his joy is overshadowed by the stress of a delayed acceptance letter, which threatens his admission due to strict timing rules. The narrative models the real-life situation of students facing logistical challenges when transitioning to university, highlighting the importance of timely communication and planning in academic pursuits.
2. What part of your project are you most proud of?
I am most proud of the detailed description of the two routes Kai could take to reach the university. By breaking down the journey into distinct legs with varying speeds and conditions, I was able to effectively illustrate the complexity of decision-making in real-life scenarios. This aspect not only adds depth to the story but also allows readers to engage with the mathematical concept of piecewise functions in a relatable way.
3. What was the hardest part of creating your piecewise function?
The hardest part of creating the piecewise function was accurately representing the varying speeds and durations for each segment of the two routes. Balancing the need for realism with mathematical clarity required careful consideration of how to segment the journey while ensuring that the function remained easy to understand. Additionally, I had to ensure that the transitions between different speed segments were logical enough.
4. If you could revise one part of this project, what would you improve and how?
If I could revise one part of the project, I would improve the explanation of the piecewise function itself. While the narrative provides a clear picture of Kai’s journey, I think a more explicit breakdown of how to calculate the total travel time for each route using the piecewise function would be better. This could include step-by-step calculations or visual aids to illustrate how the different segments contribute to the overall travel time.
5. What did this project help you understand better about piecewise functions?
This project helped me understand that piecewise functions can model a real life scenario. They allow for the representation of situations where conditions change over time or distance, as seen in Kai’s journey. I grew an appreciation of learning piecewise functions, because it helps with everyday decision making.
The purpose of the project was to explain romantic connections between the protagonists and the antagonists. The conclusion of the analysis was that the relationships that Rose has with Jack and Cal have been very negative, and should be fixed.
Some important health topics that have been learned in health this unit was how to keep boundaries, the dangers of sexting, and healthy relationships.
How to keep boundaries: In health, I have learned how to keep boundaries an d concepts of consent by a video that was shown in health class, which was very important to know, because when one doesn’t know how to keep boundaries, one would be in a lot of trouble, and would be negative socially.
The Dangers of Sexting: In health, I have learned the dangers of sexting. Although I already knew this topic, and the dangers behind sexting, it is still an important concept to talk about in grade 8, so that all the grade 8 people know the dangers of sexting, and know that it is unfair and it is an act of assault and to humiliate the other on the other side of the conversation.
Healthy Relationships: In health, I have leaned how healthy relationships are important, and learned the characteristic of a healthy relationship, as well as a unhealthy relationship. This was important in health to learn, because most grade 8 people did not know the importance of having a healthy relationship.
This unit we learned about swimming survival skills and water polo. We spent some lessons learning about survival swimming and just swimming in general, but most of the lessons were dedicated towards water polo, switching from defense to offense.
One glow for this swim unit was that I learned the techniques of passing and tactics by coach Michael.
One improvement I still need to make is the defensive capabilities in water polo. I noticed that on the attack, I am very agressive, but on defense I play too chill sometimes.
This unit talked about different mental health illnesses and the stigma behind each illness, with the students learning that the mental health illness shown isn’t what the majority of the public think.
Anxiety: I used to think that anxiety was a illness where it makes you more nervous than other people. However, after the presentation, now I think that anxiety are repeated episodes of feeling terror, and that one of the causes for anxiety is genetics. My thinking changed like this, because I saw many stigmatization of anxiety from the presentation such as anxiety can be defeated very easily, when that isn’t the case.
Depression: I used to think that people with depression usually doesn’t know what to do with their life, and had a bad childhood such as signs of PTSD causing depression. However, after the presentation, now I think that depression can be found in everyone with the circumstances, and is a condition where one doesn’t have any interests in activities for a prolonged period of time. My thinking changed because the presentation clearly represented that everyone could have depression.
Obsessive Compulsive Disorders (OCD): I used to think that OCD is an organizing disorder, and that OCD is not a disorder that is terrible to have, and that it could have benefits. However, after the presentation, now I think that OCD is a mental illness also comes with thoughts of violence. My thinking changed, because the presentation talked about many negative symptoms that come with OCD, and it changed my thinking that it is actually a negative mental illness.
Addiction: I used to think the same and for this illness, Ii think the same way because I learned what addiction is.
Eating Disorder: I used to think that eating disorder is people binge-eating all the time, but I now think that it isn’t as simple, and many people after binge-eating go through mental toughness and hardship. My thinking changed after hearing about the different mental illnesses.
Summary: I thought many of these mental health meant people that are very unfortunate, and I had many misconceptions that mental illnesses could be fixed easily with therapy etc. Now I think that mental health is a huge problem, and my thinking changed like this after I heard of all the stigmatization of different mental illnesses such as Anxiety, OCD, PTSD, Addiction, Eating disorder, Depression. I thought that the majority of the public thinks the same way I did before, but I feel like this is why more mental health conditions cause more harm than needed. Due to public stigmatization.
FIndings: Some surprising findings I had is that mental health conditions can be stacked on top of each other, such as one having PTSD and OCD at the same time due to the right circumstances. This surprised me because I thought that mental health illnesses couldn’t be stacked on top of each other.
How I view myself and the others: After this project, How I viewed the world has changed massively, because now if I have a friend that has a mental illness, I would probably support that a lot, rather than stigmatize the whole situation.