I learned about the proper technique of a underarm serve.
Improvements.
I improved my bumping, setting and serving power and technique.
What I liked?
I like playing volleyball and since I’m relatively new it was fun to improve and practice my basic skills and also play some games. Also I’m really looking forward to this unit next year because I have gotten a lot better since then.
Why this unit was good.
The unit was good even though I new all of the techniques Mr. Macfarlane was teaching, this is because I wasn’t perfect at any of those techniques and getting practice was very useful for me.
I learned about long serves, short serve, overhead shots and drop shots. Since I haven’t played badminton before I improved in all aspects and I’m looking forward to this unit next year because the games were easy to pick up and play.
I didn’t know anything about Dystopian Fiction before this unit but now I know that Dystopian Fiction is about a world that is pretending to be perfect but is secretly messed up and dark (Illusion of Utopia), for example in the Giver the community seems perfect where everyone is fed and happy but there is deep secrets that make the book dark and dehumanization like birth control and release being killing old people and babies.
How does Dystopian Fiction invite me to think about real life?
Dystopian Fiction makes me think about when something bad happens in a book I can see how that could connect to real life and it can help me understand how this is similar to the real world or if maybe the things in the book are actually better solutions than in the real world.
I enjoyed The Giver because it made me think hard about difficult topics and the content was very interesting and hooked me into reading it since so many weird and strange things were happening throughout the book.
How have I improved my ability to write Academic Paragraphs?
After writing so many academic paragraphs I improved my transitions, topic sentence, and how I put in my evidence and reasoning.
How am I better now interacting with others in Literary Discussions?
I now know how to validate, paraphrase, and respectfully challenge others, I also know how to better put my thoughts into words and think deeper about the book.
During this unit, ‘Why should we care about the past?’ I worked on
Making observations, inferences, and wonderings
Using photos and articles as evidence
Writing a CER paragraph
Asking and answering open and closed questions
Taking part in the Otzi Mock Trial, my role was Prosecution Lawyer 4.
What did I learn? Why should we care about the past?
We should care about the past because it helps us learn from their mistakes
Understand different cultures from the past
Inspire us to create or improve things
Learn how pre-historic people live
Learn the differences and the similarities
Same diseases, human conflict is the same
Very innovative
Very resourceful
Very skilled
What worked well?
I am proud of the following work, my participation in the mock trial, my CER, and my Inferences.
I am proud of the work above because my closing argument was strong during the mock trial. My CER was very convincing, and I improved it using AI. Also, my inferences had deep thoughts connected.
What did not work well?
I found some of this work challenging, my open and closed questions during the mock trial, improving my CER using AI, and improvising my questions during the mock trial.
I found the work above challenging because I was sick during the draft process which caused me to have fewer questions and less time to prepare them. It was challenging to improve using the AIs’ feedback and keep the parts that I liked or ignored the bad feedback. The expert witnesses were sometimes unconvinced by my arguments since I was cross examining, so I had to improvise to be convincing.
Personal Relevance
Collaboration and communication skills are important in my future because in the future I will surely need to communicate and collaborate with others whether it is a group project or just daily collaboration.
This is a photo of my work about me in the mock trial.
We did a bake sale in groups, on day 1 we brainstormed three recipes. Then we decided which recipe to do and explained why (we chose brownies). Lastly we used the sheet to determine both the imperial and metric amounts needed for each ingredient in our recipe we did this by using equivalent ratios and rates the homework that day was to create a bakery name and signature item coversheet also a recipe card. On day 2 we determined the unit rates with unit labels and figured out the respective calculations for each ingredient. On day 3 we gave a clear mathematical explanation for cost of 1 batch of the recipe how many servings was in one batch, then we used scale factors to figure out the cost of one serving. Afterwards we determined the percentage markup and sell price and using a model and finding out the profit on each sell. As homework we had to create a math poster that summarize what we did on day 3. Then we had the bake sale where we sold our goods to people at the high school patio.
What did I learn?
I learned how to work with a partner and convert imperial measurements to metric amounts using equivalent ratios and rates. I also learned how to determine the unit price of an ingredient with proper unit labels, I learned how to convert the unit price to cost per batch with multiplication. I figured out how to calculate the cost of one batch of the recipe using scale factors. I also learned how to markup by percentage using a mathematical model.
What worked?
Our team adapted at the bake sale because our brownie servings were smaller than expected so we dropped the price from 15¥ to 10¥ (200% markup to 100% markup) which caused in us having more sales. Our profit was also positive (161 ¥).
What did not work?
Our original price didn’t work because people considered it overpriced which was because we overestimated the demand. Our teamwork was not the best so we ended up arguing often.
How is this relevant for me?
When I want to figure out the game cost or in-game purchases for a game I want to create I could use these concepts to figure it out.
The criteria for the egg car was that it design and build a car with a safety system that will deliver an eggs afely down a ramp.
What did I learn?
We see Newton’s 1st law in action with the Egg Car when the egg’s Inertia tries to make it fly forward. But an unbalanced force (the wall and seatbelt) stops it from staying in motion.
We see Newton’s 3rd law in action with the Egg Car when the car hits the wall and the wall hits the car in a equal and opposite force making it stop.
What worked?
The Egg Car’s seatbelt worked well because it held together and made it so the egg’s inertia didn’t make it fly out and crack. We had to design it so it wasn’t too dense so the egg didn’t crack but also make it sturdy enough to hold itself together.
What did not work?
I saw a different car that was too flimsy and heavy which caused it to fall over and not roll on the track eliminating it. To solve this problem I would shorten the length of the car and add more tape to keep it stable.
Personal Relevance
It is important to know Newton’s Laws because the science is used to develop safety mechanisms inside the vehicle. Which help stop the passenger from hitting the steering wheel and which keep us safe. When a car gets hit the seatbelt is the outside unbalanced force that stops the passenger from flying out of the car.
In unit 1 we worked on graphic design in Inkscape so we could laser cut it into different objects like, Coasters, Keychains, Fridge magnets, and earrings. We started with the basics in Inkscape and moved into planning out our objects, I chose to design a coaster for my dad. We started by figuring out our client and what they want, then searched up some designs online, we ideated our Ideas on paper and then started designing in Inkscape. After we showed our process and tested our product.
This is from Unit 2 3D modeling where we made chess sets based on different things my group chose desserts and I did a cookie pawn.
The balloon car was built using a balloon, wheels, a plastic board, a two small straws and one big straw, a rubber band, and hot glue/ or tape. It had to go as fast as possible go straight and work only using the force of the air coming out of the balloon. We used it to learn about how to make a testable question, a hypothesis and plan an investigation.
What did I learn?
Newton’s 1st law the law of Inertia says an object in motion/at rest will stay in motion/at rest unless acted on by another unbalanced force. We see this law in action with the Balloon Car when we stuck our finger into the straw to hold the air in we can see the balloon car was in rest until we pulled our finger out of the straw creating an unbalanced force which pushed the balloon car forward making it in motion.
Newton’s 2nd law says the law of acceleration says the more mass on an object the more force needed to accelerate that object (F=ma) We see this law in action with the Balloon Car when we increased the mass of the balloon car using weights which made it accelerate less.
Newton’s 3rd law says with every force there is an equal and opposite force. We see this law in action with the Balloon Car when the air pushing out of the balloon backwards created and opposite reaction pushing the balloon car forward.
What Worked?
My understanding of Newtons laws worked well because I was able to connect them with different scenarios in many of our experiments. I think my ability to plan an investigation worked well because I was able to plan an investigation with the balloon car including a testable question, hypothesis , and controlled variables. We had to collaborate with our partner which helped us work faster because we could plan together and finish both our investigations quickly.
What did not work?
It was a struggle in the beginning because me and my partner weren’t completely on task. To solve this problem we worked together and realized if we wanted to finish we would have to stay on task and do the tests quickly. It was a struggle when me and my partner were designing and building our balloon car because we our balloon kept detaching to our car because we didn’t want to use hot glue so we used tape this led to problems with our data collecting but we figured it out and got accurate results.
Personal Relevance
I see Newton’s 2nd Law in real life when I struggle to push something but when someone else helps it increases our force and creates an unbalanced force. It is important to know these Laws because it helps scientists understand the forces around us and how they react with objects. The Balloon Car was like a regular car in the real world, when someone pushes the pedal the gas/electricity pumps the engine making the wheels spin pushing the car forward. It’s like how the balloon car pushes air out of the back making it move forward.
