My At-Home School Routine

My at home school routine as an 0nline student has changed drastically with the times. I wake up at around 8:30 am-9:00 am, and am usually starting to do schoolwork on my laptop at 9:30 am. My workload for the day, or in other words, what my goal for the day is, varies. Usually, I finish at around 3 pm. I then proceed to spend the rest of my day exercising, practicing my saxophone, drawing, etc. I complete most of my schoolwork on Microsoft Teams, but some of my Science work is done on Microsoft OneNote; on my trusty laptop. Assignments are handed out and turned back in teams, and my Science notes are done in OneNote. Considering that there are five people (my family) working in one house at once, I’d say that my at-home working environment is pretty good. It’s relaxing and comfortable, and there aren’t really ever any big noisy distractions that happen constantly. My sister and Dad (who have actual jobs) work upstairs in their separate rooms, while my brother and I work at the kitchen/living room table downstairs. It’s familiar, and I can get up and take breaks whenever I feel like I need one. Speaking of having more choices, I am also in complete charge of my work schedule. I can prioritize certain assignments, and lay out everything I need to do so that I can get things done in an orderly fashion. This works my Thinking daily because It is completely up to me how much time I spend on assignments and on what days in order to get the best quality work handed in and on time. I am constantly critical thinking to set goals for the day by reflecting on the assignments and projects I need to get done. I go by what I think I need to do first, rather than a strict block schedule. This gives me more freedom, but also a lot more responsibility.

Assignments & Projects

The most successful assignment I’ve done online is the “Introduction to Inkscape” project we did for Woodwork. This was really fun, but also challenging to do. We were given many may tutorials to watch, and we had to submit something we made on Inkscape to demonstrate our understanding of the basics. Inkscape, like photoshop, is a free and open-source vector graphics editor. It can be used to create or edit vector graphics such as illustrations, diagrams, line arts, etc. I’m very proud of what created because of how much time and effort I put into it, as well as the satisfying mark I got for it.

Here’s my “Introduction to Inkscape” project: Zhou_April_sample

The most difficult project I’ve done online is the “Meiosis Video” for Science. What makes this project the most difficult to this day is the editing portion of it. After filming it, even transferring the videos from my phone to my laptop was a struggle. Afterward, I had to record a voiceover and match the voiceover explaining the process of meiosis with the videos. I also added music, which was more work for me but entirely worth it in the end. Adjusting the speed, cutting, and rearranging took a long time and it was definitely a learning experience. Making everything fit was a major obstacle, but I got past it eventually. I am also very proud of this project, and the positive reaction from my teacher when I turned it in.

This is my Meiosis Video:

My Digital Footprint

My online activity as an online student has impacted my digital footprint in a  positive way. Because of how much I communicate with fellow students and my teachers through emails, teams, etc., all of my questions about assignments and learning online are seen by classmates. I try and support others as much as possible by answering questions and putting my questions out for everyone to see (on teams). When teachers or other students provide help and answers, everyone can see and get something out of it. An example of this is below in the attached pictures. All of the content I create and post for school, however private they may be to my class, are still a part of my digital footprint, and I’d like to think that that adds to my positive digital footprint as well. The research I do to complete assignments is included in that too.

In this picture above, I asked Mr. Kachor about a question I was really stuck on, and he answered. This didn’t only help me learn, it assisted others too:

This is a group chat with people who are in Mr. Kachor’s classes. We get the same work, hence all of us in the same group chat. We help each other as much as possible, and this is an example of how my questions help others as well.

The project I’m choosing to talk about is the wooden table project we are currently working on for my woodwork 9 class. This process involves learning how to design our own tables and use machines to make them.

IDENTIFY

When we were first introduced to this assignment, I recognized (identified) that being focused and precise were two main things that I would need to succeed. The main challenge in creating this project is getting comfortable with unfamiliar machines. Some other challenges are the amount of focus needed to turn irregular pieces of wood into usable (flat and smooth) pieces of wood, and the accuracy of the measurements.

INSPIRE

The ‘inspire‘ part of this project was where I got all of my ideas. The woodwork room is always full of projects different people made which for some reason haven’t been taken home. During the design process of this assignment, I walked around looking at these projects with a tape-measure in hand every class. I found out that for different purposes of tables, different features were added.

INTERPOLATE

For the ‘interpolate‘ part of this project, I began to understand the table I was going to make. I made connections between what other people chose to do with their tables and what I wanted mine to be. Things like shelves, drawers, contrasting wood colors, and leg types are all up to the creator and what they want the table to be. I understood that success from this project not only came from coming up with the perfect purposeful table and building it.

IMAGINE

For the ‘imagine‘ part, I decided on a final design (size, wood type, rail type, leg type, etc.) based on what I saw in other successful projects. I pretty much took what I saw from other successful projects and changed it to fit my intentions. After looking at all the different aspects of building a table, I finally determined what the result would be. I haven’t started building it yet, but we are learning how to use the machines.

INSPECT 

From what I can tell, there’s still going to be a long stretch of creating this project before I can get to the ‘inspect‘ part of this project. However, I can imagine, approximately, how it would go. At this point, I would’ve finished my table already. This project is different from most projects in that if I made a mistake or didn’t execute all steps correctly, the teacher would help me or I would fix it myself. However, if I didn’t do the steps perfectly on my own, I would reflect on that and think about what I could improve next time. Looking back at the skills I have acquired, I would acknowledge how they’d come in handy later on.

https://create.piktochart.com/output/43054152-untitled-report

John A: Birth of a Country 

My Paragraph Summary 

This true story is about the forming of Canada in a span of around 10 years. It’s about how Canada became an independent country through confederation. Confederation (where the British colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick were united to formally create a separate country), took place in 1867.  The main people/characters are John A. Macdonald (Conservative Party Leader), Quebec Leader George-Étienne Cartier, and George Brown (Liberal Party Leader and owner of a Toronto newspaper). They (Macdonald + Cartier and Brown) are in a constant political battle as they continue to deal with problems regarding English/French separation and the locations of the provincial capital (moving between Toronto and Quebec City every few years). The main plot is the Liberals losing hope in their current government and striving to split Canada back into Upper and Lower. The Conservative Party, on the other hand, is looking for a better solution that would bring Canada together instead of splitting it up. John A. Was the original proposer of the idea of confederation. His Idea was for the British North American colonies to Confed and create one country called Canada. Not only are John and George against each other politically, they also dislike each other as people and are constantly at each other’s throats. Both had completely different visions for the future of their country and battled to govern the shape of Canada’s future.  Meanwhile, Macdonald is caring for his son and his sick wife, and Brown eventually marries Anne Nelson. John and George need to decide on whether they should set aside their differences and work together for Canada. George Brown and John A. Macdonald end up coming together and eventually bringing Canada into confederation. Between then and 1999, six more provinces and three territories joined Confederation. 

a. This is a paragraph I wrote in Mr. Iaccabuci’s S.S. 9 class when we were wrapping up the confederation unit. I wrote this near the end of October. The paragraph was supposed to be based off of a movie we watched in class in addition to what we’ve discussed in class. My goal was to thoroughly explain the history of Confederation. I wanted to make the 5 “W”s and the 1 “H” clear.

b. What makes me proud about this paragraph is how much detail I was able to fit into the paragraph. I’m also proud of the paragraph structure and how easy it is to understand despite the number of facts. It displays a clear understanding of almost everything I’ve learned in this unit in S.S. 9.

c. While writing this paragraph, I did come across some struggles. I had problems with mixing the movie with what we were told in class. I had to make sure that the pieces fit well together in the paragraph, and so that part of it was a bit of a struggle.

d. If I were to do it again in the future, I’d do more research on the topic before handing it in.