Zoe's Portfolio

Zoe Zhang | 2024-2025 | Grade 8

Introduction:

The purpose of my conference is to share my progress and growth of my learning journey through grade 8 so far.

I’d like to share:

• What I’ve done and what I still want to achieve.
• Some areas of growth, and work I am proud of.
• My goals and how I plan to achieve them soon.

My Vision Board:

Some of the things included on my vision board are:

• Item 1
• Item 2
• Item 3
• Item 4

These are important because:

My Goals Are:

1. Improve in Photography

2. Improve in Playing Musical Instruments (Bass Clarinet & Guitar)

3. Improve in Chinese Skills

Transdisciplinary Transfer Goal (TTG):

The TTG I chose to reflect upon throughout the year is to be a better creative learner by demonstrating flexible thinking throughout group projects, and individual work.

ARTIFACTS:

Core Subject: Math 🧮

I will now share my progress in Math below.

Strengths:

• Organized Materials
• Homework Completion
• Clear Notes

Areas of Growth:

• Reviewing Concepts

Artifact 1 – The Before and AfterMy Goals for Student Led Conferences

Core Subject: Science 🧪

I will now share my progress in Science below.

Strengths:

• Organized Materials
• Group Collaboration

Areas of Growth:

• Reviewing Concepts
• Time Management

Evidence of Organization:

Table of Contents

Earlier Organization (Progress)

Later Organization (Process)

How useful is my science notebook as a learning tool?

My science notebook is a well-organized, and is a carefully created artifact of my learning in science class this school year.

Evidence of Active Learner Habits:

Active Learner Rubric (January 2025)

Science Grades 2024-2025

Growth in a Active Learner Habit:

I showed growth in the section, “contributes as class / group member,” since my science grades shows that especially for group projects / activities, I received a good grade from collaboration and work.

Evidence of Understanding of Key Concepts:

3 For 3

Understanding of Key Concepts:

Using my 3 For 3 scores, I would say that my understanding of key concepts throughout the school year is poor, since I receive low scores on the practices.

Evidence of Growth in Science Skills:

Science Standards:

1. Active Learner
2. Critical Thinker
3. Developing & Using Models
4. Constructing Explanations and Designing Solution
5. Engaging in Argument from Evidence
6. Obtaining, Evaluating and Communicating Information

Earlier Project

Later Project

Using my slides from two different presentations, I would say that my science skills grew by making simplified, and more engaging presentation slides.

Core Subject: Language Arts 📖

I will now share my progress in Language Arts below.

Strengths:

• Organized Materials
• Writing Passports
• Group Collaboration

Areas of Growth:

• Public Speaking
• Time Management

Areas of Growth:

Artifact 1 – The Before and AfterMy Goals for Student Led Conferences

Core Subject: Social Studies 🗺️

I will now share my progress in Social Studies below.

Strengths

• Organized Materials
• Clear Research

Areas of Growth

• Group Collaboration
• Writing Projects

Specials: 💬

I will now share my progress in all of my specials classes (encore classes) this year.

P.E:

What feedback would you give to yourself about your performance in PE class? What aspect of your performance would you like to work on?

A piece of feedback I would give to myself about my performance in PE class is to possibly be more active during the class activities. That is an aspect that I would like to work on on-going.

Can you describe a time when you worked well with your peers in a team activity? What made that experience successful?

A time when I worked well my peer in a team activity was during the pickle ball unit. What made the experience successful was that both my partner, and I tried our best, even if it was challenging at first.

Explain how you help your team achieve success when playing games in PE class.

I help my team achieve success when playing games in PE by participating, and cheering on my team when necessary.

What challenges did you face during PE classes? How did you overcome them?

A challenge that I faced during PE class was soccer, since I wasn’t as comfortable with passing the ball. I overcame this challenge by trying my best each class, and to work with peers.

What new skills or techniques have you learned this semester? Which skills do you feel most confident about? What skill do you want to work on next?

Some new skills that I have learned this semester is pickle ball serving strategies, volleyball serving, and many more.

Band:

What are your strengths as a musician? What evidence do you have?

Some strengths as a musician is that I have clear tone, and I come prepared with all of my materials.

What are some skills you have developed on your instrument this year? What evidence do you have?

Some skills that I developed on my instrument this year is to go lower down on the lower register.

What are some challenges you still have on your instrument or in band?

Some challenges that I still have on my instrument is that I struggle with extending my range to the upper register, and so as having clear timing.

What is your practice routine? What strategies will you use to practice more, to address your current challenges? Please explain.

I personally don’t exactly have a practice routine, since I only practice during class time. But some strategies that I will try to use to practice more is to try practicing at least once a week outside of school.

What specific goals would you like to set for yourself on your instrument this semester?

A goal for this semester is to try my best to extend my range to the upper register, and as well as try to to turn in as many playing assignments as possible.

ARTIFACT 1: AI Responding Project (Zoe & Miranda)

This artifact shows my growth over time because it visually represents that my communication skills, and duet skills are improving / improved.

ARTIFACT 2: Winter Concert 2024

This artifact shows my growth over time because it visually represents that my rhythm coordination with the group are improving / improved.

Passion Project (Zoe & Emilee):

My partner and I’s passion project is called “eazy peazy tie dye streetwear (workshop).” This passion project is about creating a small clothing business consisting a mix of tie dye based clothing (t-shirts), along with traditional street-wear clothing (hoodies, sweat pants); expressing both our prominent passions of arts / design (whether through tie-dye, or online logo design) and fashion.

My Strengths: 💪

-Pay Attention to All Directions.

-Putting Best Effort into All Assignments.

-Being Friendly to Classmates and Teachers.

-Staying Organized with Work.

Areas of Growth: 👍

-Spend Less Time Procrastinating.

-Engage More During Class Discussions.

-Improve in Reading / Writing Chinese.

-Improve Playing More Articulated on Bass Clarinet.

Highlights of the Year:

One of my favorite trips was Honor Band because I got to meet, and perform several songs with a lot of new people from different schools.

One special moment was the VMM Group Cover Song Performance because it was my first time learning guitar and sing with others on stage.

One unique event was the Roblox Game Jam because it was a fun experience to create a game with my friend throughout the 2 day workshop.

Closing: 👋

Thank you for listening to my progress towards my goals over the course of this school year. Do you have any questions? Hope to see you next time! Bye!

HEALTH 8E2

The impact of cell phones on teen social-emotional health and relationships.

1. Based on our evidence, and claim, it revealed that there are several positive impacts of cell phones on teen social-emotional health and relationships. Such as providing precise learning resources, communication attractions within online apps, coping from stress and anxiety, and much more.
2. My opinion about how increased cell phone access might impact my social-emotional health and relationships next year is that it could cause distractions, but so as provide precise learning resources to support my learning. I believe this would happen next year because I usually do get distracted by my cell phone at home, but I occasionally do use it as a resource to help support my learning, and now that I will have an increased access to my cell phone in high school, I would most likely use it for the same purposes. I think my parents would agree with this reasoning, because from my experience, my parents do find me “sort of addicted” to my cell phone.
3. The strategies that I would use to cope to ensure that my cell phone does not decrease the quality of my emotional health and relationships at school next year could be to try to minimize how long I stay on my cell phone per day.

Quotes:

1. “Education Week” states that parents want their kids to be able to have access to call them, if there is an emergency, and could be used as a tool for learning purposes. This serves as a positive social-emotional health concept.
2. “EdWeek,” states that phones impact high school’s relationships well because it can help for more easy communications for classmates at school, and about school work. This serves as a positive social-emotional health concept.