In the last month, we have been going through the Transition process, where we learn more about and prepare for our transition from Grade 10 to Grade 11. During this time, we have listened to presentations and talks on careers and subjects, met up with the Grade 11s to discuss subject choices, and have looked over the transition information website to learn more about the subjects we are interested in. This has been a long process, and while it is tiring and hard, it has been useful for me, as I have been able to take time to think about my future and the subjects and topics I like, as well as learn more about possibilities for the future. Here are some of my reflections and takeaways from the process:
We were introduced to the process with an assembly from Ms Dinsdale, who is part of the UAC team. During the assembly, she encouraged us to start thinking about our futures, including the careers we might want to do and the fields we might want to work in or study. However, she also reminded us that many careers in the future would be new and that even the best plans didn’t work out perfectly. I think this was a good reminder, as it took some of the stress of choosing the “right” subjects away. We also learnt about some tools we could use to determine what fields we would be suited for, such as the MaiaLearning tool and other personality tests which give advice on possible lines of work. I also found these very useful during the process, as I got the chance to explore some careers which I had never thought about before and think further about fields of work and study that I might be interesting. However, I found that some of the careers recommended to me by these tests didn’t appeal to me or suit to my interests, and so I had to do more tests and research to find a range I could work on.
The next step in the process was to learn about subjects and the process to choose them. We were walked through this by Ms Dawson and Ms Yacou and were given some resources to start our journey, including a curriculum guide. In addition, although the subjects evening was cancelled, we were able to access information about each of the subjects through the transition website. I found these resources useful, as I could easily learn about each of the courses I was interested in, and even listen to some of the advice from G11a on how they chose their subjects and what they liked about their respective classes. In addition, having everything in one place that was easily accessible and easy to refer back to was very helpful.
The final step of the process was choosing our subjects and filling in our forms. We also had to get signatures from each of our respective subjects teachers, to show evidence that we had conversations about our subjects with them. While this was tedious, I appreciated it as it forced me to think more carefully about my subject options and talk to my subject teachers about them. We also had to reflect on our contributions to other aspects of the learning programme and fill that in on the back of the form. This was also tedious, but useful, as it gave me a chance to reflect on my high school experience so far and think about what I might want to do next year.
Personally, I found the transition process hard but valuable. Although it was easy for me to choose some subjects, I had a hard time choosing between some. However, I do think I learned a lot from the process and got a chance to truly reflect on my experiences so far. The conversations I had with my parents, teachers and friends were also valuable. Finally, although the process was stressful, and reminded me about the immense workload in IB, it also helped me to feel more excited and look forward to at least some aspects of G11 and 12. I’m looking forward to talking to my UAC advisor and thinking more about IB and my future, and I hope it all goes well!