Final Portfolio

   

                This English class not been like anything I've had before or certainly like what I was expecting at the beginning of the year. But as the year went on I adapted and started understand why Mr. Neuf ran his class like he did, we learned to share ideas and think as a class but most importantly we learned not to give value to the letter grade we got on our report card but rather to develop ideas and learn as a class for ourselves.  This semester I learned a lot of valuable lessons. Some are traditional skills that you would learn in a normal English class, and some are technology skills, communication skills,  how to share and communicate my  opinions or views on something.  I also learned that sharing my ideas  or how I was going to approach a certain task with other people is okay, it's actually beneficial, there is always going to be someone who knows more than me on any given subject, so talking things out can expand my knowledge!  

For  the first category I do know that some can believe I have some trouble with this category because of social media, which is true I do enjoy a good tweeting spree like the next person but I always get my work posted on time. I have recently had some issues with edmodo but if you check all the time stamps on my blog posts you can see that I posted everything either the day it was due or before. In that aspect I feel am I am very responsible, the edmodo submissions are a bit complicated but you can refer to all the blog posts and the due dates and they all match up. I always took responsibility for my work, I was on vacation for the first week, when classes started and during my trip on my time I continued my work I finished the novel by myself and did the work as soon as I got back. I have a fairly good attendance, there is a few lates but they were all explained.  I always came to class prepared and ready to learn. I liked where I was seated mainly because me and Avery make a good team, we have similar ideas so that makes working together a lot easier. We always help each other and help each other grow not just as students but as people! I always behaved appropriately in class, I was never told to `` lower the volume `` and I always spoke respectfully to my teachers, peers , and online.  Considering my strengths and weaknesses I know I always was positive and tried to make everyone feel welcome and encouraged that was something I was very good at, I also handed everything in on time and to the very best of my ability. One of my main weaknesses was spending too much class time on other websites that were not necessarily blogger or edmodo.  Another big weakness that I have to work on is my grammar and spelling, I did most posts on my I phone and that made things like grammar, capitalization and spelling harder to control because of settings, and programs like auto correct. I have no missing assignments, so that another  strength I have.  Out of 33 I think I  deserve a 29 in this category. 

 In respect to the next category, I have selected 3 Prescribed Learning Outcomes (PLOS)  that I will show evidence to support my description. Firstly I have selected the PLO A8 ``speak and listen to make personal responses to texts, by

– making connections with prior knowledge and experiences

– relating reactions and emotions to understanding of the text

– generating thoughtful questions

– making inferences

– explaining opinions using reasons and evidence``  

 I feel I did well in this category because each subsection represents what I did this year, I have completed all of the above. Below I will post some screenshots supporting why I believe I did well in the following categories. I always contributed to the group conversations, by adding small details I had looked up or had previously known. I do try to relate what I read to experiences I've had in past, or am currently dealing with, it helps me related to the article I'm reading and helps me understand where the character are coming from. I am very good at asking deep questions and generating meaningful questions, where that is to predict what's going to happen in the end, or why a character is doing something. I also am very good at  inferring what is going to happen in books and articles.

 The second PLO I chose isB2 read, both collaboratively and independently, to comprehend a variety of information and persuasive

texts with increasing complexity of ideas and form, such as         

– articles and reports

– biographies and autobiographies

– textbooks, magazines, and newspapers

– print and electronic reference material

– advertising and promotional material

– opinion-based material

– student-generated material

I really love to read, One of my favourite books is Breakfast at Tiffany's. I books are good, but I adore a good issue of vogue. One of my favourite things to do is check Perez Hilton`s blog. It's a celebrity gossip blog but I love reading it!

Another interesting thing I like to do is check my classmates blogs to see what they like and how they write and compare and see how I can improve my writing. The third PLO I chose was C6 select, adapt, and apply a range of drafting and composing strategies while writing and representing,

including

– using a variety of sources to collect ideas and information

– generating text

– organizing and synthesizing ideas and information

– analysing writing samples or models

– creating and consulting criteria

I do this a lot privately when I prepare  my writing, I  try to organize my information and decide how I'm going to use it and lay it out. I usually try to look at other examples to see how I want to structure my work. Visiting websites that have used certain writing techniques helps me a lot for example if I want to write a short story or poem  I will usually read one before to get an idea of what I'm striving for. There are many more PLOS but those are the three I picked to describe my learning this year. In section 2 I overall think I deserve a 29 out of 33.

For the third category,  I really do believe I did well in this section because I would always try to help my peer, table mates and people around me improve, it did not have to be on a huge scale but all the little things matter! One example of how I edited my work after some comments my teacher made was when we had to write the post explaining what love was, and we had teamed up with a partner and Mr. Neuf read Avery`s first and commented on what we had to improve on and before he even go to mine I had already made all those changes! I'm very good at sharing my ideas on line especially when we are having a conversation on edmodo. A few times some of my comments got other students to look at our main point differently and therefore understand our task more clearly. I have commented to inform my peers on something they could improve on from my point of few in their comments below their post. I am 100 percent super supportive of other peoples opinion and have never had any issues listening and talking about what I believe is right and if I'm wrong I have no problem admitting it.  This was a great skill to have for example when in class we had to say what we were think the conclusion to the novel was. I will stick by my opinion (unless proven wrong)  but I will not discard anyone else's! When it comes to research I always participated in the group discussions and shared all the information I had looked up and knew from previous experiences.  I think I did my small part to make our English class a successful one! Out of 33 in this category I  give myself a 31. 

Overall this year has been filled with fun experiences and I've had a great time, made new friends and learned a lot more than I would have in a traditional English class. I am grateful for the friends I've made, and things I've learned over the months. Though I am sad its over all good things must come to an end. Adding all the marks up from each pillar it comes to a total of 89. 29  in the first category, 28 in the second, 31 in the third and that one percent for putting up with Neuf that wasn't really a challenge because he is a super cool guy!