Personal Awareness & Responsibility:

Strengths:

1. I can express my needs and seek help when needed.

After being a student and active learner for most of my life I have most definitely run into obstacles.
What I do about these said obstacles is what has allowed me to improve my learning and quality of work
as a whole. I found the key is to take advantage of the support around me. I have learnt to ask teachers
when I do not understand something. I ask my peers when I need a new/different perspective or reason.
Instead of being slumped and giving up I use different resources which may or may not be provided
immediately to fight through.

2. I can set goals, regulate my emotions and persevere in difficult situations.

While working I occasionally find myself veering away from the task at hand causing procrastination and
work that is the best it can be. I have learnt to combat this by setting goals to spread out the workload.
This effectively allows me to work harder in shorter amounts of time as opposed to one large sloppy all-
nighter. For example, I think of big assignments as a hot dog. It is very hard to eat a hot dog whole, so
you need to cut it up into manageable increments. Say I have a final project that will take me roughly 10
hours to complete. I would plan out my work around 1-2 hours per session. This allows me to not feel
overwhelmed and helps me know where I stand compared to the due date.

Areas of Improvement:

1. I use a variety of strategies to manage my personal well-being.

As a male teenager I find myself loosing light of my well-being. This includes the amount of sleep I get
each night, eating healthily and personal time for myself. I understand the importance of the things
listed but it is hard to fit them into my busy life. I sometimes struggle to get enough sleep because I am
up all night talking to my friends. It is hard to eat relatively healthily because of the amount of effort it
takes to do so. I also rarely find time to unwind and relax because of all the things I want to do. To
counter all these issues, I should start making weekly plans to give myself the time to do things I need as
well as things I want to do.

Social Responsibility

Strengths:

1. I have positive peer and intergenerational relationships.

My personality type is being an extroverted entertainer. I think this allows me to be more social and
comfortable with others and makes it easier for me to build relationships. I value good relationships
because they help me learn new things and are good for moral support. I also have intergenerational
relationships because I understand the importance of having good references and network. For
example, I could be working on a job sight and make friends with the other workers around me. Later in
life I could use the connections and friendships I made to benefit me. Some examples include house and
personal maintenance or getting a new job in another field.
 2. I can identify and appreciate different perspectives on issues and use and evaluate strategies to
resolve problems.

I believe I am an open-minded person who is always up for new and better ways of doing things. I
always want to be as efficient as possible. If that means doing something how I would not normally plan,
then I am okay with that. For example, in a group project I am never the one that has the mindset of
“my way or the highway.” I believe hearing all opinions and having civilized discussions on how to do
things is the best, most effective way of working with a group.

Areas of Improvement:

1. I value diversity, defend human rights, advocate for others, and act ethically in all my
interactions, including online.

For someone who is always online I can admit I don’t always defend others as much as I should. I know I
would in real life but online I possess a bad habit of not thinking deeper into things. I think I do this
because I only see others as profiles who I don’t know, I don’t connect them with deep feelings. This
most definitely does not mean I would go out of my way to hurt someone. An example of this would be
on social media if I see something that is mildly wrong, I am not going to report or get upset. That does
not mean I will support it. I feel like I am neutral.

Critical Thinking:

Strengths:

1. I can ask good quality questions, gather relevant information, and come up with well-developed
conclusions.

I believe gathering more information on a topic will result in a much more polished well-rounded final
product. This means unturning every stone of information and knowing all the details. I have struggled
in the past with winging projects and they all underachieved. Knowing this I try my best to get a good
amount of knowledge of whatever I am doing before I start. This would be shown in chemistry class if I
had to do a lab on a certain reaction. If I had no background information, I could be unsafe and
unsatisfied with my results. On the other hand, if I had done my research I would know what to expect
and take better notes resulting in a better final product.

2. I can analyze and critique my work and my learning.

As someone who always wants to do and be the best at whatever I am doing I try to learn from all the
mistakes I make. This allows me to improve by learning what to do and what not to do next time. This is
so effective because 90% of the time there will be a next time. I also have the mindset of “never is a bad
grade the end of the world.” An example of this would be my first writing assignment I was given this
year for English class. I had done some things well but others I struggled with such as transitioning
paragraphs. From now on I will always try to have smoother flowing sentences and paragraph
structures.

Areas of Improvement:

1. I can assess my progress.

Creative Thinking:

Strengths:

1. I can persevere and understand that failure can be productive.

I have learnt from experience that failure can be productive. This happened when I used to do dance.
When I started, I did not have the most groove or rhythm. I would practice every day and listen to music
to gain the ability to flow with any song. After a while, I learnt that every song has a basic beat per
minute. This means that the song follows a certain pattern that is easy to follow once you understand. In
conclusion I learnt that failing allowed me to dance better than I ever had before.

2. I can use the environment around me, including others, and my unconscious mind to generate
new ideas.

As I said before, I think I am a very creative person. This allows me to come up with new ideas and
perspectives from almost anything. This means I am always thinking of ways to change things up for the
better. An example of this could be as simple as whether I want to sit at a high table or a low table in
school. If I sit at a high table, I can swing my legs and be freer to move. On the other hand, I could sit in a
spinning chair if I sit at a low table. It is little things like these that allow me to branch out to new ideas
and ways of thinking.

Areas of Improvement:

1. I can take my ideas evaluate, develop, and refine them and make something productive out of
them.

I am a very passionate person and I love to try new things. I always have new and creative ideas where it
comes to a point where I don’t act on every single one. I feel like I am always interested in new things
such as photography. I have always loved taking photos, but I can sometimes be hesitant to fully
commit. I think if I do not over think as much I would not feel as hesitant. This would allow me to give a
good effort without worrying about failure.

Communication:

Strengths:

1. I can work with other students to plan, inquire, and solve problems.

I am much more of a people person than an independent worker. This means I thrive off other
perspectives. I can combine ideas and conquer problems using a group. For example, I once did a project
on the great depression as a group with a few other classmates. I found it easy to bounce ideas until we
all had a good understanding of what we were doing. In the end we created a very smooth flowing
presentation. This happened because we were all on the same page.

2. I can listen, learn to contribute meaningfully to do discussion and debate, consider different
perspectives, and build consensus.

When there is a conflict, the best way to overcome the situation and find a consensus is to talk it out. I
believe this because it allows both sides to voice their opinions and act accordingly. I do this daily on
smaller levels. An example of this is choosing where to hang out with friends. Some want to go out to
eat and the others want to go play basketball. Using quick thinking and being an open-minded person, I
can help come up with a solution that may sound like this. “We should go play basketball because it is a
nice day and is much easier to go out on our own. Although tomorrow we can go eat because it is
supposed to be raining plus, we can go somewhere else after.” This benefits both sides using a certain
context.

Areas of Improvement:

1. I can reflect on the processes of learning and share what I have learned.

Like I said before, I struggle with reflecting on my progress and the processes of learning. I want to get
better at doing this because it lets me, and others know how to improve. I can learn and share my
experiences which overall helps everyone.

Personal & Cultural Identity:

Strengths:

1. I understand what is important to me.

I know my morals and ethics and that is my outline to how I act every day.