Final Reflection Blog

Final Reflection - Please incorporate these nine questions into your final reflective blog for the school year. Keep in mind these questions should be focused on your time in Mrs. Larson's Accelerated English Language Arts classes.:)

1- What are the three most important things you learned this year?  

     I learned a whole lot this year in Mrs. Larson's class. I learned a lot about current events through our AOWs. When we were able to chose our articles I was able to learn about many things in one class period. I became more aware of what is happening in our world today. With the help of my piers I was able to be more informed about terrorist groups, laws, and even diseases occurring worldwide. Another important thing I learned that will be very useful in my future education experience is learning how to properly annotate articles. Learning how to properly annotate articles will help me with understanding what they are trying to say and what their main points are. Annotating is very helpful and very useful for understanding articles that might be a little tough to read. Learning new vocabulary was very important as well. By having vocabulary tests every week I was able to add to my knowledge and my vocabulary. I found new meanings and new words to use for my papers and for my every day vocabulary. 

2- What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?

     I think one thing that we did this year that I will remember for the rest of my life is the butterfly project during the holocaust unit. I think I will remember this project because of the fun I had thinking of ideas while reading my poem that I was given. I had fun creating the actual butterfly and I think it turned out better than I thought it would have. Learning about the holocaust was very interesting and the activities we did helped me when learning more about the events that occurred and helped me create the butterfly.

3- What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?

    There are a lot of very nice and very intelligent people in this class. They have all been very helpful and very nice inside and outside of this class/school. One of the nicest things someone in this class was help me with my work when I didn't understand it. They explained everything to me and helped me correctly do the assignment. 

4- What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?

     For one of the AOWs where we were able to chose our article I chose one about the transgender community and how they are finally starting to get some recognition  They used to be in the shadows for a long time but social media and television is starting to recognize them more.

5- In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?

     I think that I made my biggest improvements in blogging. I have been able to have better quality blogs. The content has increased and I have grown in this a lot. I have better grammar in my blogs and I have better quality paragraphs that show that I improved in writing. Overall, blogging and writing are my biggest improvements in this class.

6- What was the most challenging part of this year for you?

The most challenging part of this year for me was being Abel to manage all of my work. In every class we were given a lot of homework. Being able to manage all of it was quite hard because I was pretty busy. I didn't always mange my time well and would sometimes wait till the last minute to finish my work. (Mainly the weekly work like the AOW's and Blogs) but manage my time with all of the other work I had to do was a struggle. When I had a. Lot of homework in other classes, I would do all of it beogre my weekly work and most of the time I was stuck finishing it on Thursday when it was do Friday. Overall, homework/study time and managing my time, was something I struggled with this year.

7- What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?

I think my best piece of writing this year was my speech. My eight grade speech was my best because I worked really hard on it for a long time. All my other papers took my quite a while as well, but I'm most proud of my speech. This was one if the few pieces I wrote that I did more than 3 drafts for. I love the way it turned out and I am proud of what I wrote. I think it's my best because I put a lot of effort into it and it turned our pretty well. I was able to write from the heart and not for a specific topic.

8- Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?

     I think my favorite book that I read this year was Tuesday's With Morrie. I really liked reading Tuesdays With Morrie because it was interesting. I also liked the storyline and it was even better because it was real. I really like reading books based off of true situations like Morrie and Mitch. I learned some life lessons and aphorisms from this book that will help me through my life.

9- What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?
Some advice I would give to the future students, don't wait till the last minute. Try and get your work done as soon as possible. When I say this I am mainly referring to the Aow and blog. As a student in Mrs. Larson's class, it's best to get all work in as soon as you can. The longer you wait, the more is going to be added as new assignments appear.

Aphorism Project

Aphorism: “Don’t let go too soon, but don’t hang on too long.” 

     "Don't let go too soon, but don't hang on too long,"  was spoken by Morrie during the Audiovisual Part Three in Tuesday's with Morrie. Morrie was being interviewed for the TV show "Nightline" when he mentioned his newest Aphorism. He told the interviewer, Koppel, that he wanted to die with serenity. When Morrie talks about not letting go too soon he means that you should't give up too early. Morrie has ALS and he isn't letting it get too him, he is trying to stay healthy for as long as possibly and doesn't want to give in too early. When he mentions "not hanging on too long", he means that you can't stay forever. If you are ill and your life is coming to an end, you don't want to put yourself in pain and hang on until it's officially time for you to go. You should die peacefully and the way to do that is not hanging on too long but facing the fact that it's time to go. 

     I've used this aphorism in my life a few times. There was a time when I was in a friendship that wasn't all that great. It seemed like every other week there was an issue with each other and I knew that wasn't normal. I didn't want to let go of the friendship because I knew the other person was going through a rough time in their life and that they needed my help. I didn't want to be a part of this friendship if it was going to stay this way. Things did get better after a while. But then I realized that things were once again changing between us. I knew that it was time for me to leave the friendship. She was moving to a new school and we decided to lose contact with each other as a mutual decision. We didn't want to hold on to a bad friendship too long but didn't want to let go too soon when we still could see each other every day.

      I agree with this aphorism for many reasons. One of those reasons is because I think that it is not good to hang onto something that is hurting you. If you are in pain or are hurting because of a relationship or because of a person, you can't hang onto them. You don't want to hang onto something when it's hurting you. You don't want to put yourself in pain when there is a way to prevent it. But, you can't give in too easily. Some situations call for certain measures. If you were faced with death, you can't give in and let yourself shovel up and die. You have to push and stay alive. But you can't hold on too long, where it puts you in pain to breath.