This is my Mid term for my socials class

1. Socials Reflection

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. My successful PLO’s
 A1
 A2
 A3
 B1
 D1

5. PLO A1, A2, and A3
The A section of the PLO’s refers to the process instead
of the facts.
First off, PLO A1

6. PLO A1
PLO A1 is:
Apply critical thinking skills, including:
 Questioning
 Comparing
 Summarising
 Drawing Conclusions
 Defending a position

7. 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.

8. PLO A2
PLO A2 talks about assessing data and research:
 Accessing information
 Collecting data
 Evaluating data
 Organising information
 Presenting Information
 Citing sources

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.