Core Competencies

June Park

identify 2 strengths and one area of improvement for EACH core competency (see handout sheet
with core competencies attached)

Personal Awareness & Responsibility

Strengths
1. I can express my needs and seek help when needed.
When I have questions and or uncertain about something I am able to reach out to classmates
and teachers for help/ clarification. For example, when I was unsure about how to make my
website using weebly, I asked my classmates for help and when I had a question about an
assignment in class, I asked my teacher to clarify so that I fully understood how to complete
the assignment.

2. I understand my decisions and actions can affect me.

From when I was young, I was taught that all my actions have consequences whether they
are good or bad. In elementary school, they us that because what we say and do impacts us
and others around us, we should be careful and think because we act. For example, one way I
learned that actions have consequences was when I was when I first started high school.
When I first started high school, I was in grade eight and I did not do my work consistently
which eventually caught up to me and the consequence I received was a bad grade for my
midterm. After getting my first C, I decided to change and made sure to do all my work on
time and communicate with my teacher when I had trouble or extra help. With my consistent
efforts to do well in the course, I was able to bring up my grade by the end of the course
which was the consequence for all the effort I put in to change for the better.

Area of Improvement
1. I can set goals, regulate my emotions and persevere in difficult situations.
When I am in a difficult situation, I have a hard time feeling motivated to work though the
difficulties and get back on track. When I am stuck in difficult situations, I tend to become
stressed and feel overwhelmed which also draws me back from completing tasks. To
improve, I could set long and short-term goals to motivate myself and making sure that I am
on track with all my work to prevent myself from feeling stressed and unmotivated.

Social Responsibility
Strengths
1. I am aware of my community and environment and work independently and
collaboratively for the benefit of others.
I can work independently very well but can also work well with others when necessary. For
example, I was able to work on individual assignments quite well on my own but when I am
put into groups for discussions or tasks, I can contribute to the group my communicating my
thoughts and ideas. When we were first introduced to our capstone project, Mr. Green had
put everyone into random table groups. Although I am quite shy and have never talked to
 anyone in my table group before, I was still able to collaborate well with my group and
contributed and communicated well to complete our given task.

2. I can identify and appreciate and different perspectives on issues and use and evaluate
strategies to resolve problems.
I think that when solving or to have a better understanding of certain issues, it is very
important to identity and acknowledge different perspectives to get the best solution/ answer
to the issue. For example, when I have a problem and need to find a solution, I ask close
friends and family members for their opinion. I ask for their opinion because I know that
everyone thinks differently and therefore will have a unique perspective and answer for the
problem I need to solve. After listening and taking everyone’s opinions into consideration, I
am able to weigh out the pros and cons to find the best solution for myself.

Area of Improvement
1. I have positive peer and intergenerational relationships.
I have a hard time making relationships and connections with people sometimes especially
with new people. For example, when I transferred to R.E. Mountain, I was scared to make
new friends and I connect with fellow classmates and peers. I would wait for other people to
talk to me first and that is something I would like to change. Once I came to CLC, I realized
how important it is to go up and make connections and talk to others. Relationships and
being able to communicate with others is very important in life. To improve in making
connections with others, I will try to talk and become friends with one new person in my
classes. I try and work up the courage to talk to others first and strike a conversation.

Critical Thinking
Strengths
1. I can analyze and make defensible judgments, draw conclusions, and consider a variety
of perspectives.
I can make defensible judgements and draw conclusions by considering various perspectives.
When making judgements I like to consider different point of views of various people to be
able to make an unbiased but reasonable and ethical decision. An example I have of making
judgements and conclusions with various perspectives was in law studies last year. In law,
we were talking about if it is ethical to have solitary confinement as a punishment. By
researching and considering different perspectives of both sides from various sources, I was
able to make a defensible judgement and conclude that solitary confinement would not be a
form of punishment to any extent as the research that I have done showed that that the cons
outweigh the pros.

2. I can assess my progress.

When working on assignments for classes, I am able to assess my progress in the course and
adjust my work ethics and habits according to do well in my classes. Throughout the course I
communicate with my teachers and check in to see how I am in class. If I am having trouble
with certain aspects of the course, I ask my teachers what I can change to meet and exceed
their expectations to do well in the class. By receiving feedback from assignments and
assessments, I am able to reflect and learn from my mistakes. For example, last semester I
 had three academic courses in which I wanted to do well and achieve high grades. To do well
in all my classes I constantly assessed how I was doing in the course and prioritized which
courses I need to focus on to achieve my goal.

Area of Improvement
1. I can analyze and critique my work and my learning (explain/how)
Personally, I have a hard time taking criticism but as I grew older, I learned that getting
criticism can help me grow, learn, and expand my knowledge to improve myself or whatever
I am working on. One thing that I can do to not take criticism personally is to embrace the
opportunity as am I am able to learn from my mistakes by hearing feedback from another
person as they have different perspectives.

Creative Thinking
Strengths
1. I can take my ideas evaluate, develop, and refine them and make something productive
out of them.
I am able to take my ideas and create my thoughts come to life. For example, last semester in
textiles class we had a upcycling project where we took a clothing item we did not wear
anymore and turn it into something completely new. For the project I designed my own tote
bag that I wanted to make from an old pair of jeans I had at home. After the design process, I
started to develop a plan to create my bag exactly like the design. When I finished making
the bag, I added some embroidery to the bag to refine and elevate the overall look of the bag.
In the end, I was able to fully produce a bag from what started as a design idea.

2. I can create new and unique ideas that may provide new perspectives that influence how
people think about topics (explain/how)
I can influence others from a different perspective by contributing my ideas in the topic
discussions. For example, in a Socratic seminar, my group and I had to influence my class
thought about the topic. To persuade them, I told the class my ideas and perspective in which
was new to them. By giving them a new and unique perspective of my thoughts, I was able to
influence the class about how they thought about the topic in the seminar and that is how I
learned

Area of Improvement
1. I can persevere and understand that failure can be productive.
Learning how to understand that failure can be productive is something that I always
struggled with. I am a bit of a perfectionist and cannot stand failing my assignments or tasks
but as I grew older, I realized that failing and trying again is all part of the learning process.
Through failing and trying again I am able to learn and reflect on my mistakes so that the
next time I do something similar, I could approach the task differently than the first time to
achieve a better result. One thing I can do to persevere and understand failure is to focus on a
growth mindset and to let failure happen. By experiencing failure little by little, I can slowly
ease myself into failing and not being disappoint but instead to take that as a learning
opportunity and persevere through it.
Communication
Strengths
1. I can listen, learn, and contribute meaningfully to discussion and debate, consider
different perspectives, and build consensus.
In my history 12 class, we had a mock trial and had to put the treaty on trial to find out if the
treaty of Versailles was just or unjust. Through this activity I was able to listen and learn to
the discussion and consider different perspectives. For this activity I was unable to debate as
I was a new reporter and a part of the jury but instead, I was able to meaningfully build
consensus with the jury to come to agreement to see whether the prosecution or defense team
had made a more convincing statement at the end of the trial. As the jury we had to consider
the perspectives of both teams and unanimously built a consensus that the prosecution had
made a more convincing agreement throughout the trial. Through the trial I was able to
communicate, listen, discuss, consider different perspectives, and build consensus with my
peers.

2. I can work with other students to plan, inquire, and solve problems.
Last semester when I was in chemistry 12, I was working on an assignment and could not
finish some of the questions because I did not understand how to solve them. I reached out to
come of my classmates and asked them if they could help me to understand how to approach
the questions in the assignment. When I asked, my classmates also did not solve the
problems in which we all started working together to solve the questions. We all contributed
to the work, shared ideas and eventually got all the problems solved together as group.
Through this experience I was able to learn how to work and contribute with other students to
plan, inquire and solve problems.

Area of Improvement
1. I can work with other students to plan, inquire, and solve problems.
I would like to work on working well with other students in my class. I have always been shy
and did not enjoy doing group work with students that I am not familiar with. Usually when
working in a group of students that I do not know, I wait for someone else to initiate the
conversation. I will start to go out of my comfort zone by being the first one to talk and
initiate conversation and discussions with my groups whenever I am working in groups even
if I don’t know the people in my group.

Personal & Cultural Identity

Strengths
1. I understand what is important to me.
I know and understand what is important to me and can prioritize my tasks according to how
much it is important to me. For example, everyday, I make a to do list for all the tasks I have
to do during the day whether it is homework, chores or things I have to do for work. I
prioritize my to do list by importance and by the due date. Right now, school and work is the
most important to me and will prioritize my school work before my chores and other tasks
that are not as important as my school work. Because I know what is important to me I can
make decisions and prioritize things that are important to me.
 2. I understand how what I value has and will shape my choices.
I understand that things that I value and have importance to me will impact my decisions that
I make. For example, last year, I had a math and physics final in the same week, and I needed
more time to be fully prepared to take both. Since school and doing well on my finals were
the most important to me, I decided to take a few days off work to take that time to study for
my finals. Other than school, work was also one of the this I prioritized because I was trying
to save money but at that time I decided to take some days off since doing well on my finals
was what I valued more at the time.

Area of Improvement
1. I understand how to use my strengths and abilities to my advantage, and I can explain
how I can use them to contribute to my community.
Everyone has their own strengths that that are unique to them, but I have yet to figure out
what my strength therefore cannot use my strength to my advantage to contribute to my
community. To find out my strengths keep an open mind and try new things so that I can
keep looking for things that I am good at. By keeping an open mind, I can gain more insights
on what my personal strengths are.