Presentations of Learning

For the past couple of weeks we, in Innovation Lab, have been preparing for our presentations of learning, where we discussed for five minutes how we have worked and developed in the capacities from the Vision of the Graduate. After that, we discussed with the InLab teachers, for an additional 5 minutes, anything else we wanted to discuss. Before our presentations, we wrote about four of the capacities shown below, but only presented about two of them. 

Above is the Vision of the Graduate that we used as a basis for our Presentations of Learning.

 

The first of the capacities I chose to speak about was the ability to recognize and respect other cultural contexts and points of view. Innovation Lab is the perfect example of example of a diverse community. With students from different countries and with vastly different heritages, it is important for us to recognize and respect other cultural contexts and points of view. That is why, during our community get together, we had a strong emphasis on diversity. All the students in Innovation Lab brought in an artifact that reflected their nationality or heritage. It allowed us to see how diverse Innovation Lab really was, and to not only learn about the heritage and background of others, but our own. This is one of the examples where we, as Innovation Lab, further tried to develop the skill of recognizing and respecting cultural differences, similarities, and views. I have had a strong connection to that point from the Vision of the Graduate for a while. Especially having gone to a school where it is not uncommon to be in a class with students from 12 to 15 different countries. During 9th grade, in my eyes, there was not as much focus on this point, so I was happy to see that it came back into play this year in Innovation Lab. Besides diversity day, I had practice in understanding cultural contexts through my Sophomore Research Paper. Comparing and contrasting American and Australian culture and understanding how these cultures affected their approach to gun violence was a huge part of this project, and definitely help my practice to understand other cultures. I think I have grown in the area even more this year, and I hope to continue that growth. Overall, I think I was quite successful in demonstrating that I am able to dissect cultures and understand how they affect views, opinions, and mindset in my SRP. The importance of practicing the skill of understanding other cultures lies in the fact that it teaches us to be openminded, which allows us to continually shape and shift our own beliefs. I think it is important to keep us from having too rigid stuck beliefs, and understanding and respecting other cultural viewpoints is a great step in preventing that from happening. I have definitely fallen into the trap of being too close minded and that is something I definitely want to prevent from happening again. Through continuing to focus on this skill from the vision of the graduate, I hope to be able to stay away from that trap.

The second capacity I chose to write about was  collaborating with others to produce unified work and heightened understanding. Innovation Lab is all about teamwork. Almost every single project I have participated in has been all about trying to work together to produce better work or develop a deeper understanding of a topic. Developing teamwork skills is a gigantic part of Innovation Lab. Being exposed to so much teamwork has allowed me to develop teamwork skills as a person. It has helped me become a better communicator with peers and provides me with the ability to work effectively in a group. On top of the project, there have also been very specific times where all we focused on was group work, with none of the distractions around us. An example of this is the penny challenge, where we built a bridge out of a single sheet of paper and a few other materials in order to try and stack as many pennies as we could. It exercises like these where I find myself really seeing what it takes to be an effective team, and this understanding can then be applied to projects. During the penny challenge, for example, my group, before we even started, discussed what our plan would be and who would take what roll. These two things, I believe, are essential to group work, and activities like the penny challenge have taught me how to continue developing those skills. I then attempted to apply that focused and newly acquired knowledge into the STEM and Humanities projects. One of the projects that I think revealed the most struggle with teamwork was the Battery power project, the specifics of which were mentioned earlier. At times, not all of our group members were on the same page which caused for inefficient group work. I believe that enhanced and improved communication is the key to success in resolving those kinks and bumps in unified work, and that is something I will keep in mind going forward.

Overall, my Presentation of Learning went well. I was quite nervous beforehand, but once I started talking that nervousness faded away. That was also largely due to the fact that I practiced my presentation up to six or seven times to feel more confident. I think that the five minutes of more free discussion with the Innovation Lab teachers was extremely helpful. Together with them I was able to explore new areas that I had not thought of on my own. Ms. Hawes mentioned my way of leadership. She called it leading from the back, which means I lead generally through encouragement and asking people if they will perform a certain task. We proceeded to talk about the idea of leading from the front which would generally include making a concrete list of tasks and then assigning each of the members in a group one of those tasks. We talked about how I would go about applying that strategy of leadership as well. I believe the first step is to recognize that is an option and that it can be more effective at times. Then, I need to start recognizing when I would apply this style of leadership, which might take some time, but hopefully, with the help of teachers, I will be able to achieve that. After that step, I will start on applying it more effectively, and ultimately that will bring more efficient group work. We then continued to speak about combining leadership with my inherent curiosity to learn more and understand the ins and outs of why things happen. It has now become a goal of mine to drag others with me in my curiosity. I think it will help and support the community and myself, as getting others involved will help me get a deeper understanding as I would be able to get multiple points of view. Overall, I think the Presentations of Learning were very successful and I was able to continue reflecting on myself as a learner and individual.