Grade 7: Discovering Ourselves as Students

Posted on September 8, 2011 by admin

After today’s session, I have learned many things that surprised me the most about myself. In class, we took an opinion survey in our Executive Functioning packet that focused on things to do with school and being a student. There were many points to rate ourselves on. For example, a couple of the issues were, ‘I like school work best when it makes me think hard’ or ‘I like school work best when I can do it perfectly without any mistakes.’ We were to give ourselves a score from one to six on how well the question described you. Then we added up the points according to what number score we gave ourselves and matched the result answer with the range the profile number falls into. We then read the section that applies to the result to see if the sentences matched the way we think and feel about our school work. The sentences that I read applied to me as a student but I did find out that I may have had a tendency to care more about my marks then the actual learning. Now I appreciate that learning for the sake of learning should be valued more. I have also realized that although some of my past marks weren’t as high as I would have liked, the more I enhance my intelligence by making mistakes and can still have fun while I’m learning! –Grade 7 Student

Grade 7s Ponder Growth and Fixed Mindsets

Posted on September 8, 2011 by admin

In class today, we learned about what it meant to work harder, and how to achieve better marks. Lots of people think they know the answer to this question, but it turns out that they really don’t! We learned that to “work harder” really meant to change your method of learning; not just to look over your work over and over again or to do it longer, but to use a different tactic or strategy of learning. Knowing HOW to work harder will really help me in my school work.

Another method of learning we learned in class today is to use the right tools. For example: if you hire a handyman for your house, but he brings no nails, drill, or hammer, how does he work on your house? The same goes for learning. If you always use the right tools to learn, you will succeed.

The last discussion in class today was about growth mindsets and fixed mindsets. People with growth mindsets tend to succeed more, by embracing challenges instead of avoiding them unlike people with fixed mindsets. They do not give up as easily as people with fixed mindsets, are very persistent, are not afraid to try, learn from mistakes, and do not think that if someone succeeds that they will not succeed or feel threatened by them. Clearly, what I have learned today will change the way I complete my schoolwork in grade 7. –Grade 7 Student

Grade 7: Preparing for Success

Posted on September 7, 2011 by admin

LCC grade 7 students are spending the first week of classes in a special orientation program to help them prepare for a successful Middle School experience. Here are two reflections from our grade 7 students:

Today we had a class about your brain. We did an activity where you were supposed to be an event planner. Part of the time, the entertainment, food, and the location of the event were chosen by you, and the other half of the activity was you rolled a die to determine place, entertainment and what you ate. Luck, or chance, was mostly to do with this, and the thing is, to be a successful student, you can’t rely on luck alone. To be a successful student isn’t really about being smart. It’s about having good organization, writing things down so you remember them, and planning ahead and not leaving everything to finish on the last night. If you never do well in one subject doesn’t necessarily mean you’re bad at the subject, it may just mean you forgot to do an assignment or didn’t ask for another explanation in class even if you didn’t get what was going on. The successful student tries hard, studies for tests, does their homework on time. All in all, there are not really unsuccessful or successful students. There are simply those who don’t try their best, and those who do.–Grade 7 Student

Today we learned a lot about the brain. We learned things that I didn’t know yet. Even though we learned a lot of things about the brain, there are three things that really amazed me about it. I learned that you only use approximately 12% of your brain. I learned that the brain controls everything that you do such as walking, talking and moving around. Those things were pretty neat but the coolest thing about the brain that we learned today is that your brain is like a big filing cabinet. You have different sections of the brain that remember important things that you hear everyday. The brain is really neat and very cool to learn about. There are many things I still don’t know about the brain but I think that it is the coolest part of your body. The most fun I had all day was learning about the brain and I can’t wait to learn more about it tomorrow.–Grade 7 Student

Learning by Experience in Thailand

Posted on September 7, 2011 by admin

On August 21 I found myself in a new part of the world. I kept telling myself, “I am in Thailand. I am in Thailand,” but somehow it never fully hit me that I am on the other side of the world without anyone I know or can to whom I can go.

As I travelled to The Regent’s School I kept certain Thai rules in mind that I had read in a guide: never touch peoples’ heads, no revealing clothing (shoulders & high thighs) and NEVER say anything disrespectful about the King His Majesty or the Queen. At first, these rules seemed pointless to me because these types of behaviours were never a problem at home, but I knew that here I would have to adapt for the next six weeks.

After an hour-long drive from Bangkok airport to Pattaya, I arrived at the school. After leaving my bags in my large three-person (at the time) empty room, I went for a small tour of the beautiful red brick campus with two new boarders from Lithuania. The thing that has stayed with me was the humidity in the air. What I did not know then was that the next day scorching heat would also be part of the daily weather here in Thailand.
Like most youths, I can dismiss the advice of my elders, so when I was told on that August night that the “pesky tiny gnat-like flies” bite and leave nasty marks, I had the uncomfortable pleasure of seeing what they did to me the next day. Any mosquito bite would have been ten-times better than the marks that these almost invisible flies had left!

The next day, things started to become more promising as I had my first hot meal (which was delicious) and went swimming with all of the girls in the boarding house. Little did I know that when I returned from the pool, my roommate would be waiting for me. Antaya and I got along the minute we saw each other.

Everything, so far, is great here! I’ve met many new friends, experienced a whole new way of living and learned to be even more independent. There are still a lot of things to be done here such as elephant trekking and visiting “Community Partners.” It is just the beginning of the trip and I already worry about when it will end. —Olga Jablonski ’13

A Welcome Experience at the Welcome Hall

Posted on September 2, 2011 by admin

Today we started our Youth Philanthropy Initiative by volunteering at a grass roots organization called Welcome Hall Mission. This organization affects the lives of many; the young, the old, families and new immigrants through their many services offered. This organization serves as a shelter, a food bank, a rehabilitation centre for men, women and youth, and as a counseling centre.

The grade 10 Woods House advisory visited this centre yesterday to give much needed help. We made food packaging for the people who will be coming in today, we inventoried school supplies from their recent ”back to school drive,” and we organized clothing that would later be given out to the clients of the Hall.

Working with such a great organization that helps so many people in our city was a fantastic experience. Knowing that the food we were distributing would go to kids and families who really needed it felt good. It was great to work with our advisory. As a whole I think we all realized how fortunate we are and that in a city like Montreal, there still is a great amount of poverty. –Alexa Dlouhy ’13