Cassie

=__Biography__= My name is Cassie and I am a grade 11 student as Gleneagle Secondary School. I enjoy graphic design and writing, specifically writing poetry and stories. I am going to university to become a graphic designer, even though I was set on being a marine biologist for years - until I discovered I'm more of a chemist than a biologist. I grew up in Coquitlam and have lived in the same house since I was three years old. I'm a huge LGBTQ rights activist, love tattoos and piercings.

//Here's a picture of a pizza. Just for you.//


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 * Class this week was good. Students responded very well to the teaching curriculum under extreme pressure circumstances and created a well put together project. Although students easily got distracted, many of them were focused and worked very hard to please their team mates in group projects, and created a sense of friendship and displayed good communication among peers. It is clear that this class has a good sense of understanding of the material and knows that in order to pass the class; all of them must work together and stay focused. Occasionally students got off track with their assignments but for the most part they all created a good atmosphere for a work environment. Every student in this class is dedicated to working and achieving a high grade, and is obviously very talented in this subject. Many of them are not afraid to ask for help and make this class room a very trusted environment and I look forward to working with them over the next semester.**
 * To become a better peer tutor, I believe I could help the kids in my class focus better and help teach instead of tweaking their assignments and having them watch, I should be making them tweak it while I tell them what to do so they are aware of what to do next time. I believe that there is a good level of trust and communication between me and my students and that most, if not all, of them will come to me and ask if they have any questions at all about what to do, which is very helpful to me as a peer tutor. I think that to become a better peer tutor I also must remember that I am a peer tutor, and not a fellow classmate, even if the class has become somewhat of a close knit family, I'm still there to create a learning environment and not a playful enviornment to goof around in.**
 * I feel that I have made a great connection with all of my students and many of us look at each other as equals and are all aware of eachothers strenghts and weaknesses and know when to ask for help and who to go to first. None of the students in my class really have any trouble opening up to the people around them and create a comfortable atmosphere. I've seen the students grow so much in confidence and capability as well as communication with each other, they've all grown together not only as individuals but as a team which is important in my class. One student I've seen particularly grow not just this year but including last year has gained so much confidence and skill level in herself I find myself proud to even say I know her because she has come so far in who she is, and what she is able to do.**
 * Peer tutoring has been a very different experience for me, mainly because at the beginning of the year I was the one who was expected to know everything, although it was a challenge because it was all new software and programs I was unfamiliar with, so it was a lot of give and take with the students. Having to be the responsible one in the class is a challenge for me because everyone is so close with each other and I'm used to being a jokester with the kids in that class, so sometimes the friendships I've developed with the students are often difficult for me to forget about when I'm attempting to be more of an officiater than a friend. Although with my other classes I obviously have some teacher to student interaction, and some student to student interaction, the class I peer tutor is a lot more of all kinds of interaction because we have to work as a team, and this changes everything about the class.**
 * Many of my strengths lie with technology and the little shortcuts not many people know about, and this is a great advantage towards my class due to the fact our entire in class curriculum is on the computer. Yes, there is work for them to do outside the classroom and I am always available to them in that area, they know that my real strengths are to deal with the technical sides of our class. Just today I helped a student with her assignment and everything she struggled with. The fact that I was able to help teach her new technical skills this far into the course makes me feel like I'm still useful around the class for reasons besides encouragement and tweaking. I feel like this is really a course in which I excel and which I enjoy, and I love being able to see other students gain the same love for this course as me.**
 * The last couple weeks have been, for the most part, a bit crazy. With schedules of the students trying to fit with the class schedule and everybody trying to hit deadline for their stories, at the same time that marks cutoff was coming up for other courses. The class was obviously a bit disoriented the past few weeks from being so busy as I noticed a few more mistakes than usual, but I'm still proud of them. It was hard for me to really participate in "production nights" this week as I had quite a rugby game as well as an appointment that I couldn't change the date of. However, while there the students and I worked well together and I was surprised at how much I was still able to teach them about the software we're using. The placement is going well and I'm glad to be in this class.**
 * Peer tutoring for me is one of the most joyful experiences. Not so much because of the peer tutoring itself, but because I love the class I work in and the students I work with. To relay one meaninful conversation would perhaps be hard because many of the conversations I have with the students of that class are actually quite personal and I doubt they would want their trust to be broken, and I don't want to break their trust, however, I can tell you that all of the students in my class are so open towards not only me but also the teachers of the class and we all have an extremely good relationship with eachother. This class is almost like a family to me, as it is almost every year. All of the students work so hard and I'm so proud to say I'm helping them in any way possible.**
 * My class is one of the most amazing groups of people I have ever had the pleasure of working with, and I can't help but be more than just a peer tutor with them. This group of students has grown into a group of family and friends, where everybody respects eachother and eachother's beliefs. I feel like I've learned new morals and created new goals for myself by being around these kids, and I hope I've helped them in the same way. I always try to make sure to create a good atmosphere in the classroom and be helpful, and try to not only notice the struggles they're having in the class, but also their moods and attitudes and see if I can help them in those categories too.**
 * I believe that this class is an extremely good experience for me as a student and as a social being, it has helped me to become a better, more responsible person. The other students in the class are so great and have learned so much it's sometimes hard for me to be as helpful as I used to be, they've all come such a long way, but it's still great to be able to help them in any way possible. Whether it's something technical or something personal, I love knowing that I can be here for them inside or outside the classroom. Many of the people in the class are no longer scared to ask for help whether it's from friends or from me, and that, in my opinion, is better than everyone coming to me. It means that I've managed to help teach the majority of kids the skills needed to excel in the course. However, I sometimes wish that I could be a bit more help with things other than technical stuff, and a lot more help with the stories during the interview week.**
 * I know I must have said this so many times, but this class couldn't mean more to me. It has help me grow as a person and I've seen other people grow into great human beings, there are people I didn't think would get much farther in skill that excelled like you wouldn't believe. This class has created an amazing atmosphere and it's so obvious that we're a complete family, it's beyond fantastic to see everyone there for each other in everyone's time of need; whether it comes to school or personal problems. I feel like I have so much to say and I can't even put it all down in words because the feeling of reward that I've gotten from this class is indescribable. This class has just grown together and I doubt that many of us will lose touch throughout the rest of high school and even after maybe. I hope that nobody in this class feels out of place because I believe everyone made a connection with everyone; students, teachers, literally everyone who had anything to do with being a part of this class. This classroom has helped me grow and has even helped me learn new stuff about the class itself; new programs we worked with and better social skills are just a couple of things I developed while being with this amazing group of people. Every single year I've taken this class and we've always grown into a family, and yes, being a peer tutor was a different role in the class, but I still feel like there was so much learned this year. It was sometimes hard to remember I was supposed to play the role of responsibility and I would joke around with the other students, but I found that a balance was always a good thing, everyone knew what worked best and we grew into a routine that couldn't have been a better experience for me at all. I love every single student and teacher involved in this classroom and I wouldn't trade this experience for the world.**