MY LEARNING FALL AND RISE
On the first day of school I wondered what my teachers would be like considering a lot of people had told me that junior year was the most important but also the most difficult year. When I walked into the class I recognized people that I knew from my classes last year. This English class seemed different in a way. I noticed that Dr. Preston didn't have his room full of posters and pictures like the other English teachers. I wondered what we would do in the class and how the year would go.
When the bell rang he began to explain that the students in the class would decide what type of learning we wanted to do. Then simply walked out of the room. In that moment I knew this year would be interesting and haven't been disappointed. My class decided that we wanted to work on the computer and not out of the textbook. When he walked back in some students told him what we decided on. We then made our blogs and chose how we wanted it to look.
He explained we would have to post our thoughts and opinions on certain topics. We would also have to memorize poems and post a video reciting said poem. We have a journal which we write in everyday. It took a while to get used to considering I've never done anything like that before. Now I can write and be comfortable with and I think that my writing has improved which makes me really happy. I also wasn't used to having a teacher that did't pressure us to do the work but let us choose what path we wanted to go on. That was pretty weird but kind of refreshing.
There was a point this semester where I had given up and didn't want to do any of my work for any of my classes. I didn't feel like myself and was in a tough place. I fell behind on work and everything piled up. It was a stressful time. That week Dr. Preston noticed that a lot of the students hadn't been doing their work so he gave us that day to catch up on any work and that's what I did. I posted my blog posts and did the work for my other classes. I was relieved that I wasn't the only one who didn't do the work. It gave me the opportunity I needed to get my stuff together and I did. I realized that I couldn't do that again or else it would be too stressful for me so I try my best to do all my work.
There have been other times where I missed an assignment but usually if I have any questions or need help I ask. I either ask the teacher or I ask a classmate or even a friend that has the class for a different period. It's easier to do an assignment when you understand it. For some reason before this year I was too scared to ask for help. I think it has to do with the fact that most of my teachers from previous years always expected us to know and understand the material. I thought that if I told them I didn't understand something then they would get mad at me or think I was dumb. With my teachers this year I feel like there is a form of trust that they won't judge me but help me to further my understanding and make sure I succeed.
Today I can now say I'm a blogger and I post on my blog which I couldn't say at the beginning of the year, Before I wasn't comfortable with the idea of posting my thoughts or writing for anyone to see but now it's not such a big deal and I don't mind. At the beginning of the year I wouldn't be comfortable writing how i felt in a journal and have someone read it. Now I think it's a bit of a relief to have somewhere to write this stuff down. Before I was a quiet and shy learner which means that I kept to myself and didn't ask questions and now I'm comfortable talking to others and comfortable asking questions when needed. Having a blog and writing journals really helped me open up and make new friends.
During class one day Dr. Preston began telling us a story about something odd that had happened to him when he was in college. He pulled us in with interesting details and made us believe everything he said. Once he thought we were deep enough into the story he simply screamed out and scared us. I jumped and my heart started racing. Immediately after that I started laughing after seeing everyone else's reactions and picturing my own. It was one of those days that I'll remember when looking back at high school and I'm glad.
When the bell rang he began to explain that the students in the class would decide what type of learning we wanted to do. Then simply walked out of the room. In that moment I knew this year would be interesting and haven't been disappointed. My class decided that we wanted to work on the computer and not out of the textbook. When he walked back in some students told him what we decided on. We then made our blogs and chose how we wanted it to look.
He explained we would have to post our thoughts and opinions on certain topics. We would also have to memorize poems and post a video reciting said poem. We have a journal which we write in everyday. It took a while to get used to considering I've never done anything like that before. Now I can write and be comfortable with and I think that my writing has improved which makes me really happy. I also wasn't used to having a teacher that did't pressure us to do the work but let us choose what path we wanted to go on. That was pretty weird but kind of refreshing.
There was a point this semester where I had given up and didn't want to do any of my work for any of my classes. I didn't feel like myself and was in a tough place. I fell behind on work and everything piled up. It was a stressful time. That week Dr. Preston noticed that a lot of the students hadn't been doing their work so he gave us that day to catch up on any work and that's what I did. I posted my blog posts and did the work for my other classes. I was relieved that I wasn't the only one who didn't do the work. It gave me the opportunity I needed to get my stuff together and I did. I realized that I couldn't do that again or else it would be too stressful for me so I try my best to do all my work.
There have been other times where I missed an assignment but usually if I have any questions or need help I ask. I either ask the teacher or I ask a classmate or even a friend that has the class for a different period. It's easier to do an assignment when you understand it. For some reason before this year I was too scared to ask for help. I think it has to do with the fact that most of my teachers from previous years always expected us to know and understand the material. I thought that if I told them I didn't understand something then they would get mad at me or think I was dumb. With my teachers this year I feel like there is a form of trust that they won't judge me but help me to further my understanding and make sure I succeed.
Today I can now say I'm a blogger and I post on my blog which I couldn't say at the beginning of the year, Before I wasn't comfortable with the idea of posting my thoughts or writing for anyone to see but now it's not such a big deal and I don't mind. At the beginning of the year I wouldn't be comfortable writing how i felt in a journal and have someone read it. Now I think it's a bit of a relief to have somewhere to write this stuff down. Before I was a quiet and shy learner which means that I kept to myself and didn't ask questions and now I'm comfortable talking to others and comfortable asking questions when needed. Having a blog and writing journals really helped me open up and make new friends.
During class one day Dr. Preston began telling us a story about something odd that had happened to him when he was in college. He pulled us in with interesting details and made us believe everything he said. Once he thought we were deep enough into the story he simply screamed out and scared us. I jumped and my heart started racing. Immediately after that I started laughing after seeing everyone else's reactions and picturing my own. It was one of those days that I'll remember when looking back at high school and I'm glad.
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