GLOs Portfolio

Hi Mom and Dad,


Here is my GLO Portfolio...

http://www.wix.com/mikayla_domingo/gr_10_glo_portfolio

Now that I have just showed you my General Learner Outcomes Portfolio or otherwise known as GLOs Portfolio demonstrating that I have met the GLOs through school activities and outside activities as well.

I have one question for you.
What did you learn about my achievements and experiences in MeneMAC this year?

This I Believe

Team.  When I was five years old, the word team became apart of my vocabulary.  The word, “team” means a group of players forming one side in a competitive game or sport. I have been apart of many sports teams for soccer and volleyball.  However, teams are everywhere not just in sports.  I have been apart of academic teams for class projects.  And then in the future, I will be apart of a team for work.  After my many years of being apart of a team, I believe, “We win as a team and lose as a team,” “We succeed as a team and fail as a team,” and “We achieve our goals as a team and fall short of our goals as a team.”  Our team is our second family, the people we trust no matter what.  During times when things are tough and not going our way, we need to stay and work together and do not start blaming one another.

Volleyball.  Is a team sport and cannot be done by one person.  You need to trust that your teammate will do their job whether it is to pass the ball up, or block the ball, or serve the ball in, or set the perfect set, or spike the ball down for a kill.  However, it doesn’t always work that way.  In volleyball, it is never guaranteed you will win every set and match or always do your job right.  It is a game of risks, skills, and strategy.

My coach always preaches, “When we start to go down, we as a team need to stay together and play as a team not as individuals.”  In one Saturday volleyball tournament at McKinley High School gymnasium our team was tested on whether we could stay as a team or fall apart.  It was the first set against Oahu Volleyball Club also known as OVC.  We were losing 4 to 10.  Nothing was going our way.  We couldn’t get a pass, set, or hit going our way.  I was sweating and totally exhausted from playing my butt off just for us to losing.  I tracked the serve coming towards us I moved my feet to where I thought the ball was going to land and then PACK.  I shanked the ball to the left.  I was frustrated and I couldn’t comprehend why I shanked the ball.  Then my setter started yelling at me, “Lets go Mikayla, I need a pass, come on.”  After that play, I was angry and when I finally got a pass up the hitter couldn’t finish it.  I started to yell and blame others for losing out of frustration.  We ended up losing the set 25 to 8 and then the second set 25 to 12.  We couldn’t win a game after that we just went downhill. 

Our coach said to us after the game and tournament, “You guys didn’t play as a team, you all played as individuals and got frustrated with one another.  Volleyball is a team sport you can’t play it without your team.”  He then let us to go home.  As I was riding in the backseat of the car, I thought about what he had said to us.  I realized that, “My volleyball team was too mad that we were losing and blaming each other so much that, we fell apart as a team instead of sticking together, which is what a team should do.  There is no I in team.”  Now that I have learned as well as witnessed that as a team we are family and we need to stick together even though things are not going our way. 

Now, I feel that I have to apply what I learned about teams in sports I need to school group projects.  Academics and school is very important to me so when it comes to group projects I tend to take over and do most of the work, making life that much harder for me.  I need to trust that my team will do their part and when times are tough I need to work together with my team to get through it instead of blaming them then doing the whole project myself, which is the main cause of my stress.  Now I know I need to work with my team and not blame my teammates because my grade is on the line.  This.  I.  Believe.  

Project Icarus Journal #4: Process Paper: How you shaped and produced the “impact activity?”

For my “impact activity,” I am making a cookbook of all the Filipino desserts I learned how to make.  During the time when I learn how to make the desserts with my aunty, I would write down the recipes to remember to put in the cookbook.  The Filipino desserts that I will include are banana lumpia, banana fritter, halo halo, suman, bibingka, cascaron, and puto.  Using my Photoshop skills, I intend to make a soft cover cookbook including the recipes and pictures of the finished desserts.  A lot of time was put into it to make it attractive and to pass on from generation to generation.  It was not that difficult to make and it was actually fun to make.

            The process of shaping the “impact activity” was not that difficult.  I first wanted to make a video of me baking the desserts but I felt it would just be watched and then I can’t pass it on to my children and connect them to their culture and roots.

Project Icarus Journal #3: Reflective Journal: Response to your learning

During the course of my lifetime, I have developed many passions.  Every since I was young I always had a “sweet tooth” and love for dessert.  Whenever we have parties the first place on the dinner table I would go to is the desert table.  Then when it is time to eat dessert I am the first one there and would have to take a bite or small piece of every single dessert dish.  As I eat the dessert, I savor the taste of every bite.  My love for desserts grew when I first saw my mom making a cake.  I was just watching and she let me try, I had so much fun making it.  I even got to lick the spoon of the extra batter and then taste the cake.  Now, I make all the desserts for parties.  This project allowed me to stretch and learn about my cultural side of me.  I learned how to make different Filipino desserts to go back to my roots and culture that I am not too close to.  I got to spend time with my aunty and learned about my culture.  My step to learning about my culture is learning about how to make the desserts.

            Learning has been apart of my life since we had to go to school and in sports from about 3 years old.  I have always tried my best and done hard work in school.  My motivation to do well and learn is the feeling of success you get when you accomplish something.  When we first started this project I already knew that I loved to make desserts, when I was learning to make the different Filipino desserts, there were times where it was hard to make since the recipe was kind of complicated and confusing but I still prevailed because I wanted to finish it until the end and be able to say, “I know how to make that dessert” or “I made that for the party.”  This motivation has led me to many accomplishments in school and in sports.

            “Hard Work” is my best skill that I have mastered that will support me as a lifelong learner.  I always work hard in everything that I do both in academics and in sports.  During this project, I worked hard to meet all the deadlines and really reflect on my experiences in the journals.  I worked hard to fully immerse myself in the Filipino culture.  In order to learn how to make these desserts, I had to really stretch and push myself to understand and learn about the culture not just the fact that I am Filipino.  I had to accept their ways and work hard to become closer to that side of my family and my roots that signify who I am.

            School is important.  The core purpose of school is to educate you and allow you to become a better person.  Even though I don’t absolutely love coming to school.  I would like to think I still would come to school.  Like I hate missing school especially when I am sick and I fight my mom so that I am able to come to school (it is unusual since it is normally the other way around).  School makes me a better person not only by educating me but also by building my character and work ethics.  School allows me to make something out of myself in the future whether it be as a baker or as an engineer or accountant.  Without school, children would not become better people, which is why I am grateful we provided with a school.

            

Project Icarus Journal #2: Essay: Data and Information Gathering

For my Project Icarus, I wanted to learn how to make Filipino desserts to get in touch with my roots.  In the past I have only baked through recipes of common American desserts like cupcakes, cakes, and pies.  Whenever we have parties with the Filipino side of the family my aunty is the only one that makes the Filipino desserts that I love to eat but never had the time to learn.  My aunty has agreed to be my mentor and she has decided to teach me how to make these desserts and help me compose the recipes for the desserts I learn into a cookbook so I am able to pass it down to keep my family culture from dieing out.

            The first thing I had to do was figure out which desserts I was going to learn.  So I talked to my aunty and dad about the desserts I love so I could figure out the name of the dessert.  We decided to make banana fritters, banana lumpia, halo halo, suman, bibingka, cascaron, and puto.  My aunty lives in Moanalua, so I have been staying after school and weekends to learn all how to make the Filipino desserts that I love to eat.  At first it was easy to make the ones that I was sort of familiar in making since I have seen it be done before and it is sort of easy to make like the banana fritters, banana lumpia, halo halo, and the suman.  I had kind of a hard time with learning how to make the bibingka, cascaron, and puto because it is a complex process and I had no directions to follow with the exact measurements and you have to determine if it is good by feel and your eye.  I also had a hard time of trying to multi-task by trying to learn how to make the dessert and trying to type out the recipe at the same time.  However, I still got the whole experience because my aunty would make me do a whole batch by myself from start to finish do I could fully immerse myself into the dessert and the process of making it.

            This project not only allowed for me to learn how to make these incredible Filipino desserts.  It allowed me to learn a little bit more about my roots and culture since I am not really close to that side of the family.  I learned stories about my father and about the cultural background behind the desserts and cooking of the Filipinos.  When I was learning how to make these desserts, it really brought my family together.  My dad will always help out in making the desserts so he could have a taste of it afterwards and I got to spend time with my aunty.  Then when we are finished we all (my mom, dad, brother, aunty, and uncle) sit on the table and taste the dessert I have made, which is the best part.

Project Icarus Journal #1: Learning and Research Process

Describe your passion.

For so many people, eating desserts are their favorite part of dinner.  To me cooking, baking, creating, and making the dessert is the best part as well as tasting the dessert in the end to see if you got it right.  Whenever we have a party to attend to and we are bringing desserts, my mom gives me the recipe and says, “Make the dessert please.”  I always reply with, “Of course, I love to.”  On my grandfather’s birthday I always make my famous banana cream pie for me since it is his favorite.  I start by stirring the ingredients together for the crust, then pressing the crust into the pan, and putting it in the oven to bake at 340 degrees for 15 minutes.  Then I whip together the cream by mixing 2 cups of milk and 2 packages of banana pudding.  After the pan has cooled off I lay slices of banana on the crust and pour the banana pudding on top of the bananas.  Lastly you lay the cool whip on top of the banana pudding.  After you put the pie in the refrigerator and wait till it is time to serve dessert.  When I see my family members faces light up after eating my dessert makes me smile.  Thanks to that experience I know baking and creating desserts is my passion and I now have to bring the dessert for my grandfather’s birthday from now on. 

What resources will you use for your learning?  And when/ how will you access those resources?

One of my resources is Myrna Ulep, my aunty that bakes and creates almost all of the delicious desserts at family parties.  I intend to go over to her house and make the different desserts and get the recipes while interviewing her.

What questions do you want answered in your research and learning?

• Why do you bake and make all of these desserts?
• Do you feel like the culture really shows in food?
• How are able to bake and make these desserts without a recipe and just by taste?

How will you “take action” on your passion?

            Since I am pretty good at baking and creating common desserts, I felt I could expand.  Since I am not really close to my Filipino family and don’t really know the Filipino culture, I wanted to learn how to make some Filipino desserts like banana lumpia so I am able to learn a little bit about my culture and get back to my roots. 

White, Black, and Shades of Gray

When you were a child your parents always told you what was right and what was wrong, which seemed pretty simple at the time.  As we grew older and matured, our parents weren’t there for us all the time to tell us right from wrong, so we started to cross the line between good and bad quiet often, making bad decisions most of us regret.  Even when we become adults or even grandparents we will not always know what we are doing is the right thing to do.  By doing this assignment, “White, Black, and Shades of Gray”, where we made our own moral scale based on our previous experience really opened my eyes to my past experiences, life, values, and morals.

As I made my moral scale, I needed to bring up experiences in the past where I want to keep hidden in the back of my mind because I was ashamed of what I had done.  By bringing up these past actions, I felt disappointed in myself and my choices. But in doing so, I have been able to reflect on my experiences and what I have learned from each one.  By doing this I realized that I have grown from all of these good and bad decisions I made. I realized that we will continue to make decisions in the future whether we are right or wrong that will allow us to continue to mature and learn from each one making us better people.