Category: Digital Literacy

English assignment #2: PTI synthesis about expectation.

PTI Synthesis

After reading Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, my class and I were required to write am essay/synthesis about it. Our job was to connect the expectations set upon Junior (the main character) in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the expectation set upon Sherman Alexie in his life, and the expectations in our own lives.

Criteria Met:

Communication and Collaboration:

4. I constructively build upon or synthesize the ideas of my peers.

Before I started my synthesis, I had a discussion with one of my classmates about expectations that were put upon Junior in the novel. I came up with an analogy about Juniors life and expectations and my classmate added onto it with his own idea. I then built onto his idea constructively, and included my analogy in my assignment.

Digital Citizenship:

15. My work demonstrates a positive, productive, and empathetic worldview.

I tried my best to keep my work positive and not harsh, but still realistic. The synthesis was about a controversial topic and had some personal parts as well. I tried to approach the synthesis from different perspectives and I was curious about the topic. The worldview on this essay was very empathetic and I tried to find out how expectations affect our lives and the world positively, not just negatively.

 

Science Assignment: Reproduction Info-Graphic

Reproduction info-graphic

In this project, everybody was assigned a different organism. We then would research and create an info-graphic about the reproduction of our organism. I was assigned the Burmese Python. I researched about the reproduction of the Burmese Python, and I then created an info-graphic about it.

Criteria Met:

Creativity, Innovation, Technology Operations and Concepts:

5. I enhance the impact of my research or presentation through creative use of technology.

Using technology creatively impacted both my presentation (info-graphic), and my research. The use of technology allowed me to find in-depth and engaging research. It also allowed me to improve the design of my info-graphic. I was able to add images, charts, shapes, and other design aspects to improve the flow and engagement of my info graphic. This enhanced the impact of my info-graphic, as it improved design aspects and engagement of it, which allowed my peers to learn more about the reproduction of a Burmese python.

7. I design my work with consideration given to aesthetics and design, such as consistent color schemes, symmetry or organization of visual elements, and overall layout.

When designing my info-graphic, I tried my best to all of my important research included in it, while still making it look good. I had to put a lot of consideration into what the overall layout of the info-graphic would be like, so I would be able to fit everything I wanted to. I also needed to consider how I would make my research more engaging, so I used aesthetics and designs such as charts and images. I also tried to keep an interesting color scheme, and I also considered how the design of my info-graphic would keep all of the information and images organized.

 

 

English Assignment #1: ZIP

ZIP Research

ZIP Video

ZIP Annotated Bibliography

ZIP is an inquiry based project, where we come up with a question/topic, answer it, and create an artifact that represents our learning. This project is called ZIP because it is really fast. We had just over a week to do this entire project. This included our research, the creation of the artifact, and the annotated bibliography. My inquiry question was What Factors Lead to Soccer Being Played All Over the World. While researching, I also a similar question in mind, which was Why is Soccer the Most Popular Sport in the World. I did extensive research on my question and I then created a video to show my learning.

Criteria Met:

Communication and Collaboration:

3. I respond to the work or ideas of my peers in a way that is compassionate and productive.

We presented our ZIP projects by going around the room and spending roughly 8 minutes at each persons project. While we were learning about the persons topic/inquiry question we needed to fill out a sheet for feedback.  I tried my best to respond to the work of my peers on the sheet nicely, while still giving them feedback on what they should improve. I would say that my feedback was both compassionate and productive.

Creativity, Innovation, Technology Operations and Concepts:

6. I determine and use the most effective medium to present my work.

ZIP is a very inquiry based project. We got to choose many things for the project, and one of those was the way we present our work. The only restriction was that it wasn’t a speech type presentation, and it had to fit the time limit. I determined that the most effective way to present my work would be as a video or slideshow with a voice over. I used Macromedia flash 8 to add images and small animations into the presentation, and I then recorded a voice over over top of it. I believed this would be the most effective medium because it allowed people to learn both visually and from hearing.

8. I challenge myself to increase my technological literacy by working with apps, software, or mediums that I have not used in the past.

When creating my artifact of learning for my project, I wanted to create a video/slideshow with a voice over. I had never done this before, so I wanted to challenge myself to increase my technological literacy by trying it out. The main app I used was Macromedia Flash 8, which I had not used for this purpose before and I now am starting to use more. I also had to d a voice over which I did using a software on my computer. I had not used this mediums in the past for this purpose, so it was a real challenge, but I am glad I did it.

Research and Information Literacy:

9. I critically assess research sources for Currency, Reliability, Authority, and Purpose.

While creating our project, we needed to make an annotated bibliography/works cited. When doing this I was checking my sources for their currency, reliability, authority, and purpose. I was needed to check this because when properly citing my sources I needed to know this information. This helped me make sure my sources were current, reliable, authoritative, and purposeful, which overall improved the quality of my research.

Socials Assignment: Part Time Indian (PTI) Presentation

PTI Powerpoint

PTI Script and Research

Before we read Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, our class was put into multiple groups. We all received a topic that related to the book, and were asked to do research on the topic, as well as to create a PowerPoint presentation about it. My group and I got the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as our topic. After doing extensive research, my group decided to present our PowerPoint in a debate format to add some engagement to our presentation.

Criteria Met:

Communication and Collaboration:

1.I use digital spaces to plan and execute collaborative projects with my peers.

In this project, my class was split into groups of 4. As we were creating a PowerPoint presentation, we used PowerPoint online to collaboratively work on creating it. We also used other digital spaces, such as Word Online, so all of our groups research would be together. We used even more different digital spaces such as outlook to effectively communicate with each other. Using this digital spaces, we collaboratively planned and executed our final presentation.

Research and Information Literacy:

11.I go beyond google and use databases to find scholarly research sources.

When doing this project, we mostly used databases to do our research. We found databases on the Gleneagle library, and the database we used the most was Gale Canada in Context. This database allowed us to bet a Canadian perspective on our topic, and it also allowed us access to scholarly research sources.

12.I look at controversial issues or topics from opposed perspectives to gain a more complete understanding.

Out topic of the truth and reconciliation commission was very controversial. It got us asking many questions like should we try to reconcile with the first nations, how can we make up for what happened in the past, and should we even give the first nation anything? To help us get a better understanding of these questions and our topic, we created our presentation in a debate style. Different people argued different sides of the topic, so we could get multiple perspectives on it, and get a better understanding of different worldviews.

Digital Citizenship:

13.I attribute credit to ideas that are not my own by preparing a Bibliography/Works Cited and by using in-text citation.

On the second to last slide on our PowerPoint (see top for link), we have all of our research sources properly cited. This gives credit for some of our ideas. Also, on the last slide, we have all the links for our images.