Exams are just around the corner and I know how stressful that can be. This blog post is meant to be a helpful guide to keep your sanity during this crazy time.
1. Sleep
The first thing is to make sure you get a lot of sleep. Sleeping is very important so that you can be fully rested and fully focused when actually writing the exam. When deprived of sleep it is more difficult to remember and retain information, you can actually leave out entire sentences when taking notes! More sleep means a better memory and a better ability to focus, so get some shut eye before the big day!
2. Don't Procrastinate
Procrastination is not a good thing! Although it may seem like a much better idea to watch Netflix than study, IT IS NOT!  The weeks before exams are meant for studying, so use this time to avoid having to cram!
Cramming the night before is proven to be ineffective! Attempting to memorize all that information at once is impossible, your brain will not be able to remember it all, so staying up late "studying" is a waste of time!
3. Dedicated Study Time
Even though when you are handed the review, it may seem like a lot, it is actually quite simple to get all of your review done if you dedicate time everyday for studying. Bide your time evenly every day until the day of the exam! Study for 1-2 hours every day, that way you don't get overwhelmed by the information or frustration and give up!
4. Take Breaks
Like I said earlier, there is no way your brain can take in tons of information at once! So studying for 6 hours straight will do you no good! It is best to study and review when you are relaxed rather than being at the brink of a melt down! Sleep when you need to sleep, take a break when you need one! Just remember, too many breaks means nothing actually getting accomplished.

5.Eat Well 
Eating well is so important! Your brain needs fuel from food to properly function. On the day of the exam is is best to eat protein rich foods that boost brain function such as eggs, nuts and yogurt. It is also important to avoid foods that will limit your brains function like cookies, cakes or muffins. These foods require extra work to digest, taking energy away from your brain! Most importantly, drink water! Dehydration can make you feel faint and will most certainly take your focus from the exam.
6. Stay organized
Staying organized can help you to feel in control of the situation. Also keep your room clean, a cluttered room is a cluttered mind! 
Make sure to have a schedule, it will help you to remember what to study and when to study it so that you do not feel overwhelmed. 
Having a to-do list is vital, stroking things off that list will help you to feel accomplished and will show you how much progress you're making.
7. Study Right
Each subject calls for different study methods! For example, in math you are actually practicing solving the problems where in a class like history you are reading over notes and memorizing facts. 
For subjects that involve calculations, it is important to make sure to practice before the exam.  If you can't do a problem before the exam, you definitely will not be able to do it on the exam. In other subjects it is helpful to reread and even rewrite your notes to instill the information into your memory.

Hopefully these tips and tricks will help you to survive the insanity of exams, so good luck and din't procrastinate!
 
This year I was involved in a youth council called KYAC (Kitchener Youth Action Council) that met every Thursday in the downtown community center. Basically what happens is the group of youths that show up discuss issues in the community as well as giving their input to guest speakers who attend our meetings.

Kyac was such an amazing way to get some of my community hours! I loved being involved in what happened in my community and being able to give my opinion on what should be done to improve it!

Through KYAC, there were many other opportunities for volunteering in our community such as helping with local food bank drives and assisting in bike trail clean ups. While doing these other volunteering acts I realized how much I was helping my community, even by just doing this small act. 
Another thing I loved about KYAC was the people that I met there. I made so many new friends and forged new bonds with important people in the community like mayor Carl Zehr. Another great person that I met was the woman who ran our weekly meetings: Marla Pender. In a room full of twenty or more adolescents, she was always calm, cool and collected. She always made sure we tried our best, gave helpful input to our guests and pushed ourselves into other volunteering experiences.

Even though KYAC did give me a good chunk of my  community service hours , I would still be attending every meeting if I didn't receive any hours.
 
It's that time of year again. The time when you're tested on every single piece of knowledge you have acquired this year.

Seriously, exams don't make any sense to me. 
The first thing that gets me about exams is that they aren't testing how much knowledge you have retained, they are testing your ability to memorize information. 
Let's be honest here, you remember some things taught to you in class but how you end up getting the grade is studying your butt off for the 2 weeks before exams cramming information into your head. The sad part about this is, most students end up forgetting all that information as soon as they walk out the school doors for summer vacation. 

I think that a solution to this is having more frequent and smaller quizes/tests. With more and smaller tests, each test will be weighted less which means if you mess up on a test, it won't be detrimental to your mark.

Something else that bothers me about exams is the weighting of it. A final exam is worth 25-30% of your overall mark.I don't understand why that makes any sort of sense to anyone. 


What an alternative to exams you ask? The answer to that is summatives. Yes, summatives are nearly just as hated as exams but what I have in mind is a little different. I think that summatives should be very student directed. Within a set of guidelines students can create their own project in a way that displays their strengths. Students will be able to show their creativity and also be able to do something they are interested in!

I think that the Canadian government should bring back exam exemptions. Why, you ask? Because it motivates students to do better in class so that they don't have to write exams because EVERYONE HATES EXAMS.

All in all, I don't like exams, you don't like exams and I think more small quizes would be better
 
Yes folks you heard me right, Zugzwang is no more.

I think that I could possibly be slightly more torn up about losing my country, but there's really no sadness here. Now I'm not necessarily jumping up and down with glee, I just don't think that Civic Mirror and I were the right match.

Don't get me wrong, I think that there were a lot of good qualities to Civic Mirror and I definitely enjoyed learning about politics in such a way that we were the politicians. But there were other aspects of the simulation I just did not care for. 

Personally, I think that many people got really caught up in it and forgot that it was, you know, a game. I think that many people also took things other classmates did in the game quite personally, when actually those classmates were only trying to win the game. 

That's another thing I never quite understood about civic mirror: HOW DO YOU WIN???
Every single person had negative status points, most had negative or no well being points and I just don't understand how we were supposed to win...
Did anyone win? Did I win? I guess we'll never know.


Circling back to when I was talking about the good things of Civic Mirror, I really enjoyed the politics of it. I thought it was so fascinating to see friends turn into enemies in the House Of Commons and to see classmates stab each other in the back. 
When I was in the HoC, it was my favourite part of the entire game. Having my voice heard as well as having influential input was fabulous. Not to mention the fact that I actually got elected into the house, which means that enough people actually liked what I had to say and had to offer to put me in there! 

As a final goodbye to our (not so) beloved Zugzwang, I will sing the national anthem... That I just made up... right now.
Zugzwang, Zugzwang
you're kind of weird and lame
Zugzwang, Zugzwang
this is really just a game.
 
Even just reading this title makes me cringe, year round schooling?

I know that as adolescents, as soon as Christmas passes we're already counting the days till summer vacation.
But if we ignore the fact that July and August are filled with days of doing nothing and relaxing after hard months of schooling, there may actually be some benefits of having school all through the year.

The thing about year round schooling is that we wouldn't not have any vacations. We would be able to spread out the 5 weeks we get in summer, all through the year. Think about it like this:we could get those 5 weeks and spread them evenly through the rest of the year.

Aside from the matter of getting all of our well deserved holidays, school year round would help us students in the future. Think about it like this, from the 25 of June to the 8 of September students forget 2 months of knowledge! And let's be honest, when I get back into the classroom in September, I sometimes forget how to hold my pencil. So basically, sitting in school for 2 months was wasted! Two entire months you sat in class working hard(or not so hard) were completely lost. 

So would it not be better to be in school for the same amount of time, but with the holidays spread throughout the year?
Personally I don't know what I would choose. I love summer vacation, sitting in the sun and at the beach and having not a care in the world for 2 months are amazing. But being able to retain all the knowledge I gained though out the school year would be wonderful because Waking up at seven am every day is not something I will continue to do if it is just going to be wasted. 

This is just something to ponder while you're cramming for exams and lusting after long, hot summer days!
 
Today, rather than than going to class, my Futures Forum class went to a learning symposium. At this learning symposium there were many other Futures Forum classes, teachers as well as many important people from the WRDSB. 

At this symposium we were assigned tables with 1 or 2 other people from our class as well as teachers and/or board members. The point of this gathering was to initiate conversations between student stake holders and adult stake holders. In these conversations the hope was for everyone to have an understanding of what the other needs, as well as how we can integrate the teaching style of Futures Forum into other, regular class rooms.
I really enjoyed the event and am so happy that I got to have my input heard in a matter that matters so much to me! Being able to tell adults what I want from my school and what I want in my classroom in order to better my learning, was something I really enjoyed. Mr. Kemp always asks us to take charge of our learning, and this is a way I have really done that!

I know that none of the changes we suggested will be implemented over night, I am just glad that people are listening to what we want and that changes could potentially occur because of what said.
 
For our culminating project Sarah and I are creating a documentary about body image.
We are going around asking women a set of questions to see how they really view themselves.
While out trying to find people to film we stumbled upon a roadblock: no one seems to want to be on video

All of the women were hesitant and shy about speaking about their bodies, how they viewed their bodies and especially if they thought they were beautiful! The funny thing, it that these women are insecure.. about being insecure. So this point raises and interesting question: why are we all so embarrassed of ourselves?
Most of the women were fine with answering questions but as soon as we brought up the fact that they were being filmed, all of them became shy and embarrassed, many even said they were too ugly to be on camera! 
That is what made us even more passionate about doing this documentary, we really wanted to show people how little self confidence women have, in hopes we can all be kinder.
Even the models we see in magazines wish they could look like their own images. 
- Cheri K. Erdman
 
     Today in class we had a poetry slam. 
I think that everyone did really well and that even if their poem or presentation weren't excellent, going up there and doing it is really what's important.
At the end of the poetry slam we were asked to pick 3 favourite poems. My 3 favourites were by Ethan, Nathan and Tyler&Nasir. 

     In Ethan's poem he talked about how creativity is an endangered species and that our thoughts are the one thing that are truly our own. I really liked his poem and he presented it quite well. One thing that I think he could do better if he presented again is to emphasize certain words or phrases to make his point more clear. As well as speaking more loudly and clearly to be understood and heard all over the classroom.

     Nathan's poem was amazing. Although he did stutter and lose his place a few times his delivery was amazing. He used an amazing tone of voice, punctuated and enunciated his words perfectly. In his poem he spoke about self confidence and also told the story of a girl who had a lack of self esteem. He told the story really well and you could hear genuine emotion in his voice. I think that if he presented again he should have his poem memorized, then his poem would be a 10/10.

     Tyler and Nasir collaborated on a poem. I originally thought that their poem was going to be poorly done and they would be under-prepared. But I was pleasantly surprised when their poem began. They told a story about 2 kids in foster care and through their lives things got progressively worse until they decided to rob a bank. After they robbed the bank both ended up being shot by the police and dying. 
     I think the poem was rally good and the story was amazingly written. If they went again I hope they would speak louder and more clearly because I had difficulty hearing and found that they were mumbling most of the time. Other than that their poem was amazing and they obviously put a lot of effort into the poem. 
     
     My poem was alright. It was about how I lost my faith and how I don't believe in god as well as why. I think that my presentation was mediocre. I stumbled over my words and lost my place on the page. I also didn't look up from the page once, even though I had my poem memorized. I was nervous and it felt better to hold the piece of paper in my hand. I think that the way I spoke and delivered my words was better than the other elements of my presentation. Overall I think that I did a good job.

The slam was a huge success and everyone who went was spectacular. I think that everyone showed so much courage by even standing up in front of the class and reading their poem because poetry is a very personal thing most times. Also the cookies and juice were a 10/10 and I think I would really like to have another poetry slam in the future.
 
    The future is terrifying. This is known fact. 
     The future is even scarier when people are throwing statistics at you about how poorly the job market is doing. Or how young people's unemployment or underemployment rates are sky rocketing.
     I am scared.
     I am scared of failure in university. I am scared of not finding a job in my field. I am scared of debt. I am scared. 
     But the thing about the future, is that it's not too far off. The future is tomorrow, next week, next month and next year. So to prepare myself for all of these nexts, I of course turn to the internet. 
     Whist on the internet I find many things that help to dilute my fear of the future.  I found that there are universities that offer programs that will help me get to the exact place I want to be. And within these programs there are plenty of internships to apply for.
 I am scared of the future but i'm also excited.
     I am excited to be on my own. I am excited to make little decisions in my life. To decide what colour I want to pant the walls. To decide where I hang that painting. To decide the furniture that goes in my home. I am excited.
     But other than these seemingly insignificant things, I am excited to work.
     I am excited to find a job( maybe) that I love. I don't need to love it every day but I want to love it in the long run. I am excited that I can show people that I can work hard. That I can make something of myself. 
     The future is scary because it is unknown. But preparing yourself will lift some of the fear and allow you to see how bright your future can be.
 
      School is generally hated amongst most teens, myself included some days. So what is the ideal school system? The system that would make all students want to come to school? Well, I'm not sure what the ideal school system is but in my ideal school system there are 2 main things that should be changed from the present system.
      1. Smaller number of students in classes. Having fewer people in your class would mean that there will be less distractions from your work. Decreasing people will decrease noise and people to be distracted by.
      This would as well increase the worth of the teacher. Your teacher will be able to spend more time with you and help you to increase the effectiveness of your learning. Also, these smaller numbers would mean that more teachers would be hired, thus creating jobs for aspiring educators.
2. There should be a larger focus on self directed learning. Learning is important and you learn every second of everyday. But no kid wants to sit in a class listening to some teacher babble on about something they could not care less about. That's why I think that it's important for students to be able to choose what they want to do within the guidelines and curriculum of the course. 
     For example, if you're in history learning about World War 1 you can research certain things that interest you within the war, rather than being limited to a certain battle or section. 
      Most people assume that teens don't care about learning or school or anything but their friends. That may be true in some cases, but if this plan was put into action, I think that many teens would enjoy school and learning far more than they do now.