Final Reflection

The final assessment for the course was by far my favourite because of the amount of creativity I could have with it. I got to choose a career that appealed to me and pretend to be an Event Coordinator. I choose this career because it is a very creative career and it is very social and I personally have both of those attributes in myself.

I choose to write an event contract for my final piece because the career of an event coordinator includes very detailed work and must be very precise. A contract is a very detailed and well thought out document that will make sure that clients who are planning an event are serious about the event. It is also the first start to the event process, contracts are the starting stage that will start the ball rolling for the event.

My document was very detailed and in my opinion, could have been used in a real event coordinating situation. I made sure that all liability was removed from myself and the venue and that my clients understand what was being done and what they were signing up for.

Looking back on my writing at the beginning of the course and looking at my writing now, I can see worlds of changes for the better. I have learned skills that I will continue to use for the rest of my life. I knew the basic principles of writing coming into the course but now I have learned how to take those principals and put them to so much more useful and develop my ideas into amazing pieces of writing. This course was not only enjoyable for my last semester of high school but it so beneficial to my everyday life and my future schooling. The group work has also taught me that having peers edit your work is better than any editing software out there.

My classmates have been so friendly and extremely helpful, which is awesome because that’s what I was afraid of when I took this course, I was afraid that I was going to feel like I had no one to help me and that we were all doing the same thing but no one talking to each other. It is the complete opposite, my classmates were so nice to me and were so amazing at editing my work and making my writing better.

This class also helped me feel more mature because of the amount of self-direction that we have and the sense that our classmates are like our co-workers. Being self-directed can be great or it can be terrible but for me, I think that I have done my best and outperformed any bar that I had set for myself by a long shot.

I would truly recommend this course to anyone because of the amount that I have enjoyed it and the amount of knowledge they will retain that can make everything in the life so much better. I am so happy that this course was offered at my school online because the classroom setting is not my thing. With online courses, I can do my work in the comfort of my home and not feel embarrassed about doing something not completely right. Instead, my classmates in online were always there to help me do my best and make sure that I was on the right track.

I am truly sad to have the course coming to an end and I will miss the experience of this. I was sad to see the last news post on the course because although I am happy to be moving on from high school I am sad to say that today is the last day that I will be doing work for this class and being able to talk with my classmates and my teacher.

Thank you for an amazing semester Ms. I wish you all the best!

Jacob Beach

Summative Assignment for Cycle #1

Audience: High school teens in grade 12

Purpose: To relate and let everyone know that everyone is stressed too.

Everyone that is in high school will know what I am talking about. It feels like everything that happens to us now and the decisions we make now are the most important in our lives. It feels as if the whole world is looking at us waiting for us to make the wrong decision, at that very moment we just wish all the stress would go away and you could rewind back ten years to the days where nothing stressed you out, the days where you could come home from school and your only worry was what show to watch. Not the two assignments you have due, the three tests to study for. To top it all off, you work until ten o’clock and it all has to be done for tomorrow.

With that being said, our parents are the best people to give us advice and help us with this difficult translational stage in our young adult life. They want the best for us and will do anything to motivate us to do so. It feels like they won’t give us a break. They nag us to save more money, do our best in school, and even when we do they always say, “that 98% should be a 100%.” They think that we are superheroes and we can do it all. Technology has become such a large distraction, no matter what we are doing our phone is with us. It will be ringing our dinging and always distracting us, yet we continue to keep it glued to our hip, it’s just how our generation has grown up. It is almost an addiction that we subconsciously feed into. Expectations of us are so high and we just need the encouragement without the constant pushing from behind to move forward at a speed that we aren’t ready for.

Some may say that we need that constant pushing from behind in order for us to do our best, but there is a happy medium for the amount of push that we need in order to succeed. Too much push may result in retaliation and success will not happen and if it does it will not be the best. When we are pushed too much we shut down we get mad with the gentle nudge that has turned into a full on shove and although it is in the right direction we hate it. We want to have some say in what we do. If we are told where to go and how to get there chances are we’ll get there, but everyone will get there differently because we are not the same… At all.

Personally, I am extremely thankful for what my mom has done for me in the amount of encouragement that she has given me because I feel that I am doing the best that I possibly can but I can’t wait for my life to start, and for the schooling to be done.

On the other hand, the good old days look good too: the playing on the beach all day every day all summer rather than working, playing with friends and staying out until only the street lights guide you home. These are the days that all of the wishes would never end, no matter what we did when we were younger, but that’s not reality. Reality is waking up, going to school, working and then coming home to do homework. Hopefully, you have a few minutes to socialize after you have gone non-stop all day.

All I know is that growing up is a huge reality check and you just have to keep telling yourself it will get better because it will. Parents are right when they tell us that this is the hardest time of our lives and remember it’s happening to all of us. You aren’t alone.