Core Competency Reflection

Personal Awareness & Responsibility

Strengths
1. I can set goals, regulate my emotions and persevere in difficult situations
When I joined cross country I had no previous experience with running. To
improve I had to create a schedule for myself since the practices my coach has
weren’t enough for me, not if I wanted to push myself. So I did a bit of research
and I set goals and worked a schedule to fit around it. Sticking to the schedule
was a bit difficult. Largely because I wasn’t seeing results right away. Even more
frustrating when I wasn’t doing as good as I wanted to during races. But learned
to regulate my emotions during my races by reminding myself I will be better than
this for the next race. And to just persevere right now. I consider this my strength
as in the end I did stick to the schedule and was able to reach my running goal of
running 5k in 30 minutes.
2. I am learning to take care of myself
When I chose not to do ib I learned how to take care of my education and mental
health. The only person who could really make that decision was myself as
ultimately, I’m the one who knowns my boundaries and abilities. And I really had
to learn how to take that independent step of doing the right thing for me. While I
don’t know 100% how my life would’ve turned out if I picked the other path, I
have a strong feeling I did the right things for me. Most importantly though I’m
happy and I can make big decisions for myself.

Weakness
1. I can express my needs and seek help when needed
I did pre-calc 12 twice because I didn’t know how to ask for help when I needed it.
I tried to figure it out myself and that plan failed horribly. I got trapped in a cycle
of not getting it, trying to find explanations online, procrastinating then giving up.
I ended up getting a mark I was not happy. I knew that if I was going to take it
again I needed to do it right. So I asked my parents for a tutor. And it helped
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immensely. Not only did I get a mark I was happy with but the process was so
much smoother and I understood the concepts which sets me up for success in
future math classes.

Critical Thinking
Strengths
1. I can identify and appreciate different perspective on issues and use and
evaluate strategies to resolve problems
In grad council we were brainstorming ideas for the winter snowball dance
where I was able to see other peoples ideas and consider the factors of why
they had them. Was that movie-based theme really popular right now? Is that
theme more budget friendly? Therefore I could understand what people
wanted so the theme that was picked could still have components that pleased
other people. For example, we settled on polar express but we had to scrape
starry night, which I knew was popular because it was simple and cheap so I
was able to come up with a compromise of doing a starry night section with
just a bunch of lights. It had the “whoa” factor that starry night has while still
keeping the popular polar express theme. In identifying the different
perspectives I was able to transfer it over in the resolution.
2. I can analyze and critique my work and my learning
I do link crew and this year due to the amount of grade 9s I meet up with 2
different groups of grade 9s on different days. This means I do the same
activity twice. And when I do the activity the second, me and my partner make
sure we analyze how the activity went with the first group. What went well
and didn’t. How can we prevent these mistakes and awkward moments from
happening again. Its crucial to identify where the problem is because
consistently messing up in front of the grade 9’s will result in them not respect
you. Because the activities are done with a partner it’s important that I’m
being accountable for critiquing my own part in the activity and how that
affects the group. Accordingly when I access my performance I think back to
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when the activity was taught and demonstrated to me. And which parts and
details I should’ve been paying more attention or asking more questions
about.
Weakness
1. I can explore and create new ways to represent my leaning around a variety
of problems, events, issues, and needs.
I finally had my last literacy assessment of my grade 12 year. In the assessment
it tested what I’ve learned and developed in my writing and comprehension
skills. It gave a random prompt and articles relating to it for evidence. The
prompts were about a variety of world events and issues. The writing portion
of the assessment was to express your opinion on the issue. The first section
they made us write a standard essay. But the second part they mentioned to
be creative in our answer. I considered doing a poem. However I shy away
from it. At the moment I said it was because of time constraints and so I
couldn’t create something good. After the assessment and hearing that other
people did a poem, I immediately found myself regretting not doing the same.
I realized that I had always wanted to it but I was scared of trying something
new. It will be a journey, but I shouldn’t be afraid to take steps in exploring
new ways to represent my learning. I hope I can think back to this moment
when I’m faced with a decision like this again.

Creative Thinking
Strengths
I can create new and unique ideas that may provide new perspectives that
influence how people think about topics
1. In grade 9 my social class had a unit about human rights. One day we were
having a discussion and my teacher asked us if we thought internet should
be a human right. I was the only one who put my hand up in favour of
making it a right. Which meant I had to come up with a reason myself,
defending my stance. I was able to use covid as an example, where I
remember saying how the world as moved to a tech era and now it was a
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necessity for people to have tech in society. I was able to influences a few
people in my class about my points and my points brought up new
perspectives on the question.
I can take my ideas evaluate, develop, and refine them and make something
productive out of them
2. For my Capstone I am making a website of meals for collage students who
live in a dorm. The way I’m going to think of the meals involves taking ideas
I already have and developing them to fit my current criteria. This is one of
my strengths hence why I choose to do it for my capstone. I can not only
develop my ideas but refine them a point of putting them on a website.
Weakness
1. I can persevere, and understand that failure can be productive.
For a science project I had to create a container to protect an egg from breaking
after being dropped from the roof. I was in elementary at the time so I didn’t have
a dynamic idea of science and any other concepts necessary to build the
container. Therefore when it came to the egg dropping day, mine had a slight
crack. I was very disappointed. Especially so when I learned why other people
,who had succeeded, containers worked. When I heard the science and fact based
explanation I was angry at myself for not knowing. At the moment of making
those mistakes all that’s in my head was that ‘oh it sucks that this mistake got in
the way, I could’ve done this and that’. Regret is all I’m feeling. What I don’t
realize is that I was just learning from my mistakes. When I’m thinking of ways it
could have gone differently had I done something else, that’s me learning from
my mistakes. I often need to reflect to realize that my failures can be productive
and I need to just persevere through them to feel the effects.

Communication
Strengths
1. I can reflect on the processes of learning and share what I have learned
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When I did pre-ib I was able to see how I would handle an advance and
rigorous academic course. Afterwards I did A LOT of reflecting on my time
there. If it was my style, would benefit me or not. I would eventually decide
that it wasn’t a method of learning that worked for me. The big decision there
was to not do ib. A bunch of other people at the school also make this decision
and because I’ve already gone through it, I was able to share my experiences
and knowledge with them. In hopes that it helped them make a clearer
decision.
2. I can engage in deep and meaningful inquiry for a variety of pruposes and
audiences
In math my teacher would introduce new topics to us by having us investigate
a problem that used the technique behind the new chapter we were doing.
Like in elementary school when you teacher would give you blocks to figure
out how multiplication worked. Math is not my strong suite but I was still able
to have meaningful conversations with my peers and make steps to
understanding. Everyone in our group would have to use our past knowledge
to solve the problem and so I was constantly working with new people who
had different expirences in math with different concepts.

Weakness
1. I can work with others students to plan, inquire, and solve problems
When I work with other students there is a pressure to say your ideas faster as its
not going at your own pace. And when saying your idea or thought you have to do
it in a clear concise manner for everyone to understand. In careers we played an
escape game. Communication was important in it especially because we were
working against the clock. I struggled to say what I wanted as the fast pace
environment was scrambling my brain. In the future I believe I just have to
practise and do my best to collect my thoughts when I’m working with other
students

Personal & Cultural Identity

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Strength
1. I understand how what I value has and will shape my choices.
In determining my post secondary education my values have had a lot of
importance. There are a lot of options I could choose but its ultimately what I
value. I value taking a more secure path rather than one with more surprises. For
example I never wanted to do business because I never liked the open endness of
it. The fact I could do anything with it didn’t seem “freeing” to me, just more to
worry about. I’d rather do something that has a definite job at the end. Like
dentistry. Because of my value here its determined what courses I picked in high
school, what extracurriculars I’ll be doing. I’m very aware of the impact of my
values as I always try to make sure my they are my own and not the influence of
anyone else’s.
2. I understand what’s important to me.
This statement can be applied to almost anything. You can look at it in a broader
sense of life and love. Or in a smaller way. Like when you plan a party or chose an
outfit. I believe I understand what’s important to me in all circumstances. Because
understanding is different from actually doing. I understand going to university is
important to me but does that mean I won’t procrastinate? No. But I am 100%
certain in my ability to understand.

Weakness
1. I know my strengths and what makes me unique.
I know a lot of my strengths but applying them and figuring out how that makes
me unique, I struggle with. I joined the debate team for a year. During that time I
was always focused on how my weakness set me apart from everyone else. I had
a hard time seeing how my strengths gave me an advantage and could make me
an unique debater. Going forward I would try to implement a growth mindset
which would help me think of “uniqueness” as strengths.