Author: Holden

Wood Bugs Project

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Wood Bugs Project

 

My Reflection

Developing Ideas – I make my ideas work or I change what I am doing. In this project the task at hand was to design and carry out a structured experiment that could be performed in a controlled environment. One thing that I found I did very well during this project was really creating and developing ideas and being able to use them when designing and carrying out the actual experiment. One example of me making ideas work during this project was when myself and my group mates were tasked with taking an idea we had formulated for the whole experiment and transferring that into a structured, proper project. I feel that I was really able to make my ideas work when doing this project, there were many different factors we had to take into consideration when discussing what kind of rules, time limits, and boundaries were needed to make this whole idea of “Do Wood Bugs like Fruit” happen. I also felt that I had to be flexible during this project because there are many different variables when it comes to properly carrying out an experiment, Being able to cooperate with my group mates to be able to change a specific variable without having to alter other variables was a difficult yet achievable task. When we had finished the experiment I felt extremely accomplished and proud of my work because I felt that I was successfully able to make my ideas work and carry out the task. That is why I feel I succeeded in being able to change or make my ideas work during this project.

 

Building Relationships – I can be part of a group. During this project we were tasked to perform the experiment in small groups of 3-4 people. One thing I feel I did very well was having the ability to cooperate with everyone in my group and being able to include and consider everyones ideas. One major stress factor for me during this project though was that I just moved to the area and did not know anybody in the class. So when we were informed that we had to do this project in groups it startled me a little bit, but I was able to persevere and very comfortably work together with my group mates to produce a project that I am proud of. I feel that my ability to work well in a group during this project and being able to use and include other peoples ideas really made it work well. Working in groups can sometimes be difficult for me because I like to use my ideas and I constantly strive for what I feel is right and will turn out the best, but in this project I pushed that mentality aside and was able to confidently utilize and incorporate my group mates ideas into the project. When I used other peoples ideas and let them take the reigns of the project at points it ended up giving variety and provided creative ideas that I never would have thought of. When my group and I were coming up with ideas for what the actual experiment was going to be, a group member of mine and myself had very similar ideas for what the project was going to be framed around. When we took our ideas of what we wanted the Wood Bugs to be tested on and how we wanted to carry it out, we came up with “Do Wood Bugs like/eat Fruit” and that ended up being an excellent and very interesting concept to test. That is why I feel I greatly demonstrated that I can comfortably work and function in groups.

 

Self-Regulation – I can persevere with challenging tasks. One thing I feel I could have done better when performing this experiment is persevering when getting faced with challenging tasks. At certain moments during this project it felt like I had hit a mental wall and I felt like I could not carry on. When we were formulating ideas at the beginning of the project for what it was going to be about at some points me and my group members couldn’t come to an agreement no matter what we tried to compromise with. Eventually we came up with a great idea, but it was at that moment when we couldn’t come up with a group idea where I felt like just stopping because things were not working out. One thing I plan on working on is being able to work around challenging tasks or being able to face those tasks head on and using my group to formulate a solution. I feel that if I am able to work towards that skill then I will become a more effective group member. For those reasons, I feel that I could have done better when being faced with challenging tasks during this project.

My Extracurricular Soccer

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My extracurricular is competitive Soccer. I chose to pursue Soccer from a very young age because of a strong influence from my Father. My Father played soccer his entire youth and then once he graduated from High school he decided to pursue a career in professional Snowboarding. When i started playing Soccer i was about 3 years old. My Father enrolled me in Tim-bits Soccer and I started playing twice a week. At the time I really did not enjoy playing Soccer. I thought that it was way to hard and because I wasn’t good at it that I should just quit. I cried and cried to my dad about quitting but he refused. He made me play wether it was rain or shine. Once I started going to school I began to make friends, and later I would learn that they played soccer as well. Knowing that I wasn’t the only person playing soccer made me feel like I was part of something. Throughout my first years of soccer I joined a real team. The only downside was that I lived in such a small town, meaning that we only had enough 5 year olds to make 2 real teams. Only having 2 teams eventually worked out because everyone that was playing on those 2 teams I became close friends with and still talk to up to this day.

Over the next few years I began to become very familiar with the sport. Soccer became more of a lifestyle, rather than something that my Father would make me play. Once I was about 8 years old I had been playing for 5 years. During those 5 years I played soccer as much as I could. Wether it was with my team, with friends at the local field, or just with my siblings in the backyard on the mini net. At about 9 years old I tried out for my first real competitive team. The only thing was that I was trying for this team as an underaged player. The team was a U12 rep team. U12 means that the appropriate age to qualify for that team was 11 years old. So when I showed up to the first tryout as a 9 year old I was stared at like I was completely lost. The tryouts went for 2 weeks and were very difficult, even more difficult for myself because I lacked a lot of psychical strength. After the tryouts I was forced to wait for 1 month to await results. One day during the summer I was sitting in my backyard eating ice cream with my siblings when my mom came to me and told me that she had some news. I immediately thought that she was gonna tell me that I didn’t make the team. I thought that if that happened I would just quit soccer, but when my mom took out her phone and read the email saying that I made the team as an underaged player I was over the moon. Making that team really continued to fuel my love for the game and really made me want to take Soccer to the next level. In that same year me and my team went on to finish as the 2nd best team on Vancouver Island.

 

After that season concluded I was at the point in my athletic career where I really had to decide whether or not soccer was really for me. I knew that soccer was something I loved and something that could really keep me at my best physically and mentally. Since that day soccer was absolutely everything. I played at the highest level I could at my local club up until I became too old. At that point I was 13. After that year I decided to go and tryout for the Upper Island Storm team. They are a club that plays in VIPL (Vancouver Island Premier League). When I tried out for the very first time I had quite a hard time. The amount of kids to choose from was a vast amount. Anyone Vancouver Island could try out for that team. The very first year I tried out I was sadly denied. Hearing that I was cut really shoved me the wrong way. I was extremely disappointed in myself but all I wanted to do was work hard and train so that I was ready for next seasons tryout.

 

At the following seasons tryout I felt strong, confident, and talented. I felt like I was working towards something that I was so very passionate about and all I wanted to do was make that team. Roughly a month later the results came out for the team and I had made it. My confidence had skyrocketed. During last years season with Storm we had managed to win the entire league on Vancouver Island, the BC Mayors Cup, and we achieved the Silver medal in Provincials. Playing with that team really taught me what it meant to be apart of a team and to learn how to love and respect everyone you play with regardless on their background, or beliefs.

 

Soccer is something that I have loved my entire life. Playing this sport keeps me at my best in absolutely everything I do. It keeps me humble and has taught me how to treat everyone with the upmost respect. Soccer is a lifestyle and could not comprehend who or where I would be without this sport. That is why I chose Soccer as my extracurricular.

 

 

Take your kid Work day

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Name: Holden.S

Advisory #:10

Name of your host: Ashley Barnes                              Relationship to you: Aunt

 

The Interview: (ask your host these questions)

 

  1. What is your job title? Elementary School Teacher
  2. What is your job description? Elementary or Primary school Teacher.

 

  1. What are the duties and/or tasks you perform at your job? Educating children various subjects.
  2. What qualifications do you have for this job in the following areas?
  3. training? Volunteer hours.

 

  1. Education? Bachelor of Arts/Geography, Bachelor of Education/Primary, Post Graduate.

 

  1. c) Experience? Teaching practicums – Grade 4, 2. Teaching Adult education courses, Secondary English courses, Teaching of lower primary grades 5 years.

 

  1. d) Skills and attributes (personal qualities): Patience dealing with various situations throughout day, ability to multi-task, good with time management, dealing with parents and students and being extremely personable.
  2. What are some of the things you dislike about this job? Lots of overtime without pay or boosted salary. Lack of E.A support, class sizes, and properly distributed educational help. Really not having the ability to reach out to every student, especially the ones that are in need the most.

 

  1. How do you anticipate this job changing in the next 5 years or so? Having a hope that things will change in support of smaller class sizes and compositional help with reaching every student

 

 

Student Reflections:

  1. Give three reasons why you would like this job (be specific):

I feel that I would enjoy working as a teacher for many reasons. One reason that definitely sticks out for me would be having the opportunity to properly educate and prepare the youth of our world for the education system ahead of them. Personally, growing up and doing all of my primary schooling in a really little town on Vancouver Island, the focus on education was not as heavy as it is in bigger cities with denser population like Vancouver. Then when I recently moved to Port Moody and started my secondary school career at Heritage Woods, I immediately was blown away by how important education is over here. That is why I feel that teaching would be slightly suitable for myself because I could have the opportunity to really prepare kids for what a heavy workload may look like. One other reason why I feel that I would suit this occupation would be because I really like interacting will all different kinds of people in all different age ranges, and I feel that teaching would be an excellent way to do so. Having the chance to connect will all different kinds of kids would be very interesting. One last reason why I would like being a Primary school teacher would be having the chance to make what you teach on a day to day basis completely personalized. Of course, you would have to follow the curriculum you are given but you are able to use that as a guideline and teach what you feel is most important. For those reasons that is why I feel that I would like having a job as a Primary school teacher.

 

  1. Give three reasons why you would not like this job (be specific):

I also feel that I would possibly not enjoy working as a Primary teacher for these specific reasons. One reason that I defiantly could not be a teacher would be because of the amount of organization and preparation necessary every single day to be able to properly educate your kids. I feel that I would have in mind exactly what I would want to teach, I just am an extremely unorganized and unprepared person. One other reason why I could not be a Primary school teacher is due to my inability to multitask. After being in a classroom and seeing what my Aunt had to do to be able to bounce from 1 kid to another and also be explaining a topic to the entire class was extremely impressive and I know that I would never be able to do such a thing. One final reason why I could not be a primary school teacher is because I feel that the job would not be that stimulating. I think it would just be very repetitive and every single day would just be the same. That is why I feel I would not like being a primary school teacher

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Is this job for you? Why or why not?

I don’t think that this job is really for me because as much as I love connecting with all different kids of people and having the opportunity to educate the youth, I just feel that this isn’t the kind of job that would get me out of bed every single morning. I know that jobs may not be something that you love and enjoy but I also think it’s very important that if you don’t feel that you could do this exact job for the next 15-20 years then you are doing the wrong thing and you should pursue what really makes you happy. I also feel that to be a primary school teacher you would really have to enjoy working with younger children, and I just really don’t have the tolerance or attention span to work with young kids all day. For those reasons I feel that working as a primary school educator would not be the right fit for me.

 

  1. Explain the value of the TYKTW experience in relation to your ideas about your post-secondary (after high school) plans (education? training? travel? work?).

I think that TYKTW is a very important thing in relation to my ideas about what I want to do with myself after I graduate. I think the reason that it is so very important is because it helps open your eyes to the work force ahead of you and can help you narrow down what you may want to potentially do after you graduate. For me, after attending TYKTW it made me really think about what little time I really do have before I am graduating and being forced to find a job or try to attend post-secondary education to further my knowledge in a specific topic. That is why I think that TYKTW is so important and why I feel that every kid should attend it.

Image of TYKTW day.