Socials Reflection

Looking back

When I look back on myself going into TALONS social

studies, I was not sure what to expect. As the term got

going I was still not totally sure how it was going to play

out. As we started moving into the philosophy quizzes it

started to dawn on me how self directed the social

studies term was going to be.

Meeting the PLO’s

As this midterm assignment started to take form, I took

what probably was my first proper look through the PLO

package. I realised that there is a sizable section of the

PLO’s that refer to the process and the skills, instead of

the facts and technicality's as I originally thought.

My successful PLO’s

A1

A2

A3

B1

D1

PLO A1, A2, and A3

The A section of the PLO’s refers to the process instead

of the facts.

First off, PLO A1

PLO A1

PLO A1 is:

Apply critical thinking skills, including:

Questioning

Comparing

Summarising

Drawing Conclusions

Defending a position

PLO A1 (Cont)

I feel like applying critical thinking skills is something that I

am especially good at. I think in general it is something

that all TALONS students have a knack for. It is something

that is done in class with quad discussions, class

discussions, role plays, and twitter debates. Personally I

think some great examples of this can be found in any

of the times that I spoke in front of the class or on my

twitter account. Both formally and informally I think I

would do exactly what is described in the PLO.

PLO A2

PLO A2 talks about assessing data and research:

Accessing information

Collecting data

Evaluating data

Organising information

Presenting Information

Citing sources

PLO A2 (cont.)

I think the only time that we did this in social studies was

with the CRAAP testing but it is something that we have

been doing all year in science. In socials though, our

CRAAP testing was the main source of analysing data, I

made a blog post about the link that I chose that can

be found here.

PLO A3

Communication, that is what this PLO is all about and

that I can do!

Being able to communicate ideas clearly and

effectively is what I consider to be one of my biggest

strengths, I think this is the PLO that I completed to it’s

fullest extent. Through my final address, blog posts,

speaking in class, and even this! These are all places

where I feel I am providing my opinions, ideas, and

arguments in an oral or written form.

Second PLO strength (PLO B1)

PLO B1 talk about the effect of gender roles, ethnicity,

daily life, and the arts.

In the early going of this project, I decided that the most

effective plan of attack for my twitter debates with John

A MacDonald would be to target his treatment of

minorities. While I realise that George Brown may not

have been an angel in that regard, or even made those

arguments, I decided that considering the role that the

minorities played in our version of confederation it would

be the smartest thing to focus on from a political

standpoint.

PLO B1

John A MacDonald's treatment of the minority

groups was something I was able to

communicate quite clearly as proved by the

next few tweets

Third PLO strength (PLO C4)

PLO C4 is all about being able to explain things like

The BNA act

The branches of government

The components of BC’s provincial government

The components of municipal governments

How did I meet PLO C4?

I think PLO C4 was one of my most successful PLO’s. Even

though it was not stressed to much in class, nor was it

extremely vital to my character. The reason I feel I have

such a good grasp on all of the government levels as

well as the British North America act. Is because during

the socials role-play my grandparents visited from

Ontario, my grandfather who was a university professor

and is also very interested in politics was extremely eager

to discuss what we were doing in socials.

PLO C4 (cont.)

My discussion with my Grandfather started around

George Brown as there is a college in Toronto named

after him. This conversation eventually drifted into

general political systems, mostly comparing the

government system then to now. It was interesting

comparing the Maritimes, Upper Canada, and Lower

Canada, to modern day provinces. Something that was

mentioned in class that relates to this topic is when we

discussed the role of the house of commons.

Areas for improvement

I think there were a few PLO’s that some of my

classmates will have learned about that I have not. I feel

as though depending on your role play character, you

could have succeed in different PLO’s.

PLO D1

This is a PLO that mainly focuses on John A MacDonald and the

national policy that him and his party put into place. I think this would

have been a very valuable thing to learn about and something that may have assisted me with my twitter debate or even my final address.

I read through most of Jamie’s blogs and I am not sure if that is

because we are going to learn it later in the term or it was just not in

the blog posts.

Even as I am writing this I am still not sure exactly what the National

Policy entails but I hope it is something that I will get to learn more about in the future.

PLO C2

This PLO focuses on the economic side of confederation.

Things like geographical, social, and political factors that

contributed to confederation. While I know about the

political factors but I don’t know too much about the

economics. In the future I think the fur trade and the HBC

are two big topics that I feel I could know more about.

Because the socials term has been fairly open ended in

terms of what areas of confederation we study but I am

open to the possibility of learning more about the

economics of confederation in class.

PLO B4

The third and final area for improvement comes with the

“change of national identity”, what this PLO describes is

so vague, it is such a loaded checklist involved. I don’t

think there is anyone in the TALONS classroom that can

say they have completed all of the items on that list. It

covers everything from ethnic diversity to the Boer War

and everything in between. I think this basically entails all

of the Socials 10 curriculum so there is certainly a pretty

big area for improvement with this PLO.

What have I learned?

Now that we are half way through the socials term,

looking through the socials PLO’s, I think I can safely say

that I have a pretty firm grasp on most of the PLO’s that

relate to confederation Canada. Though as you saw in

this presentation there are some areas where some

improvement can be made.

I think throughout this term I learned all about George

Brown and his effects on Canada, as well as quite a few

political details. I also think that I contributed quite a lot

to in class discussions as well as on Twitter.