Core Competency Reflection

Personal Awareness& Responsibility

Strengths:
1. I understand learning takes patience and time.
Throughout my 11 years of school, I was exposed to variety of different learnings and education.
By now in my 12th year, I perceive that learning takes patience and time due to several reasons,
but mainly two components, skill development, and failure and resilience. Sometimes, learning
requires skills to be involved. For examples, if you are beginning to learn a new instrument or
mastering a new language, you will need time to build your skills, and your body and mentality
to get used to the skills so you can fully own it. Or for instance of studying, you need to adapt a
skill/method that can regulate yourself to study for a topic, quiz, or a test. Perhaps it could be
reviews before bed, study aid, etc. Failure and resilience are also an aspect that makes learning
take patience. Learning often involves making mistakes and encountering setbacks. Overcoming
these challenges and continuing to learn from them requires patience and the willingness to
persist despite setbacks. These are the reasons that supported me to perceive that learning
needs patience and time.
2. I understand my decisions and actions can affect me.
How I understood that my decisions and actions can affect me is through the awareness of
consequences that follow my choices. The consequences often have effects on me positively or
negatively of neither. The awareness and experiences of consequences allows me to make
informed decisions, take responsibility for your actions, and adapt my behavior based on the
outcomes. Which evinces that every action and decision that I choose to do will result in
shaping my ideology by the outcomes. In the start of my English 11 course, I chose to
procrastinate my homework and spend time with my friends as I thought it’d be more valuable
to have memories. But, as the time went by and more assignments were assigned, the
homework that I procrastinated created a snowball effect, which made all the other
assignments harder to finish on time. Also, procrastinating became much easier to commit after
that point.

Weakness
1. I can express my needs and seek help when needed.
Because of my introverted personality and fear of rejection and disappointment, I find it difficult
to express my needs and seek help from others. For my marketing project from grade 9, I had to
team up with my peers to work together. However, my classmates showed no willingness and
commitment to work. Even though I was extremely frustrated, I couldn’t inform my teacher as I
thought it was my responsibility to collaborate with group members. Eventually, my teacher
noticed that our group members weren’t working productively. So, he warned the group
members and from then, they started working productively. As a result, I acknowledge that I
need improvement in expressing my needs and seek help when needed.

Social Responsibility
Strengths:
1. I am aware of my community and environment and work independently and
collaboratively for the benefit of others.
I consistently balance independent initiatives with collaborative efforts to better the lives of
others. One example of my independent work is my regular involvement in local environmental
clean-up volunteers hosted by a school organization, Envision, where I took my initiative to
organize and execute clean-up drives to benefit the environment and the community to become
cleaner and more sustainable.

2. I have positive peer and intergenerational relationships. Social Responsibility.

Throughout my years in secondary, I have consistently shown empathy and inclusivity by
actively connecting and building relationships with peers and friends, even mentoring them
about the problems and issues they face in times. One of the examples was the case of my
friend who was going through emotional trauma due to breaking up with her boyfriend. I
suggested her ways that she could overcome, and eventually after time, she was able to get
over with her trauma and returned to her original emotional state. Also, my dedication to
intergenerational connections is evident through my respects towards the elders and seniors in
all places. As I have ethnic identity that highly values Confucianism, I generally show great
respects and honors towards elders.
Weakness:
1. I can identify and appreciate different perspectives on issues and use and evaluate
strategies to resolve problems.
In a class debate for my Law Studies 12 in grade 11, I struggled to fully grasp the nuances of
opposing viewpoints, often oversimplifying the arguments. Here shows the room for
improvement in the capacity to use and evaluate strategies to resolve problems.

Critical Thinking
Strengths:
1. I can assess my progress.
For Chemistry 11 course from last year, I proactively sought feedback from peers and the
teacher, using this input to make necessary improvements. Also, I maintained a detailed notes
on what aspects of the course I need to study more to lead up to a preparation for the final
exam. I consistently reflected on the assignments and tests for my personal growth, which
allows my progress in the course build greater progress. This reflective practice allowed me to
evaluate personal goals, recognize areas where I have excelled, and acknowledge the room to
improve. All my commitment to self-assessment undoubtedly contributed to my continuous
growth.
2. I can analyze and make defensible judgements, draw conclusions, and consider a variety
of perspectives.
For a Mock Trial from Law 12 last year, as a role of foreperson of jury, I exhibited exceptional
critical thinking skills by presenting deliberation from the member of jury considering multiple
viewpoints including both the prosecuting and defensing sides. During the conversation within
jury, I was able to appeal my analysis on the case and my idea of verdict considering verity of
perspectives. At the end, I could draw a consensus within the members of jury, then deliberate
it to the Judge. This shows a great ability to make judgements, draw conclusions, and consider a
variety of perspectives.
Weakness:
1. I understand the purpose for my work and consider my audience.
On a presentation from Law 12, while I generally comprehended the purpose of my work, there
was room for improvement in considering the audience more effectively. Because of focusing
primarily on the content, I failed to tailor my delivery to engage and resonate with the
audience’s level of understanding. While the presentation must include a class activity, I only
introduced an activity where I picked three volunteers from the class, which consequence as
only allowing three people to be engaged in the activity.

Creative Thinking
Strengths:
1. I can use the environment around me, including others, and my unconscious mind to
generate new ideas.
I demonstrate remarkable ability to harness the environment, engage with others, and tap into
my unconscious mind to generate innovative ideas. During a recent group brainstorming session
for Chemical Switch Lab in Chemistry 12, I skillfully incorporated diverse perspectives from my
team members, then introduced an ingenious idea based on the data we learned from the
lessons. This also showcases a talent for idea generation that consistently pushes boundaries
and inspires fresh perspectives.
2. I can persevere and understand that failure can be productive.
In Pre-Calculus 12 from last year, despite initial difficulty with complex equations, I persisted,
finding help from my peers and practicing until I mastered the materials. This perseverance not
only led to improved grades but also honed my problem-solving skills. My perseverance could
only exist because I had failures. In the beginning of the course, I struggled hard on the tests.
However, because I had resilience and understanding of the learning process, I was able to
convert my failure to an incentive to improve, which demonstrates that failure can be
productive.
Weakness:
1. I can create new and unique ideas that may provide new perspectives that influence how
people think about topics.
I generally have unique ideas. However, I find some difficulties making people grasp the full
understanding of my idea. For instance, during a class discussion on environmental
sustainability from English 11, I was able to introduce a fascinating idea. While the idea was
intriguing, I could improve by providing concrete examples of its application, making it easier for
peers to grasp its full potential. Also, in times, my creative suggestions overshadowed the
practicality of the solutions proposed, hindering the team's ability to implement viable ideas.
Due to those kinds of aspects, there are still improvements that I could make.

Communication
Strengths:
1. I can work with other students to plan, inquire, and solve problems.
For a group project in Computer Programming 11/12 from last year, I was able to take the
initiative to lead the planning phase, coordinating meet ups and setting clear objectives. During
the meet ups, I encouraged the members to open a discussion and ensure that everyone’s ideas
and voices are implemented to our project. During the time where there was conflict within the
group, I was able to stand neutral and help negotiating to come up to a consensus. This
demonstrates my ability to work with others.
2. I can reflect on the processes of learning and share what I have learned.
I can possess a strong capacity for self-awareness and effective knowledge sharing. For a novel
study from English 11, I performed a thoughtful reflection piece that not only delved into my
personal growth but also provided fresh insights into the book's themes, enriching class
discussions. I was able to connect and convey my emotions to the plot and the themes enabling
the learning to be reflective to myself, leading to valuable sharing.
Weakness:
1. I can listen, learn to contribute meaningfully to discussion and debate, consider different
perspectives, and build consensus.
In times, I am overly focused on my own idea and thoughts, that I neglect or lose attention to
other people’s opinions and perspectives, which leads to losing track of the topic and fail to
build consensus. For example, during a group discussion regarding experiment lab from Physics
11, my urge to drive my idea was too strong that I tended to neglect and disregard my group
members’ ideas. This failed to give members the passion to engage in the lab and shows that
there are rooms for improvement.

Personal & Cultural Identity

Strengths:
1. I can define myself in terms of my relationship to others and to the world.
I likely excel in building meaningful connections and empathizing with diverse perspectives
through club and organization activities. Within clubs and organizations, I perform great
relationships between the members in diverse ways. I also ensure to build relationship to the
world by contributing to multicultural experiences or by actively participating in community
service initiatives. As it is important to refine our self-definition from internal influences, I
believe that it is also important to perceive external influences to refine our identity of a
community, while ensuring that our self-definition remains authentic. Balance is significantly
important in most times.
2. I understand what is important to me.
As I am an immigrant from another nation, I have different cultural and ethnical background.
Once I was new to Canada, I was very shy and felt ashamed of my different ideology. However,
after years, I learned that my ideology is not something to hide from people, for it identifies
who I am. From then, I was able to not solely rely on external influences but find my personal
values. This instance enabled me to classify what is important to me and what is not. Although
our ideology keep change over time and influences, I am firmly sure on what the important
things are to me now.
Weakness:
1. I know my strengths and what makes me unique.
As of now, I could not confidently pick out one significant talent or achievement I made. All
things that I’ve done for 17 years of my life seems great but looks insignificant at the same time.
Due to this uncertainty, I am not confident at stating my strengths and what truly makes me
unique. I deeply hope that this last year of school could embrace a confirmation of my strengths
and uniqueness.