Blogging Around

I read Kate H's blog in which she discussed how her writing changed throughout the year. At first she put a lot of time and effort into crafting her blog but as the year progressed she treated it more like a journal. I commented the following:

It was interesting to read your blog post and I agree with a lot of what you said. For me, however, blogging still takes a long time and I put a lot of effort and energy into the form and content of my blogs. I've had teachers from across the country read my blog (specifically about collaboration) so I think you would be surprised by the broad audience that exceeds just our English class!

Next, I read Alyssa's blog. In her post she talked about her struggles with blogging and the things that made the experience worth while. I commented the following:

Alyssa, I really enjoyed your post. I too often found myself in a mess of thoughts struggling to focus on something specific enough for a blog. I wrote one blog about the dialectic between the individual and the community and it ended up being super long because I could not concisely formulate my ideas. It happens to other people too! I also really love reading other people's blogs and I wish we did more of it. It's really interesting reading about other people's ideas and I'm glad these blogs are public.

Metacognition: Blogging

This year has been my first experience with blogging. I use this blog primarily for English class but also for chemistry. Both classes have really taken advantage of blogs to supplement the class. I think that my experience with blogging this year has been a positive one. I've found it refreshing to be able to share my ideas with anyone who is willing to read them. I like being able to organize and edit my thoughts before making them public for my peers and the world to see. In this day and age we leave behind a technological footprint and it's nice to know that my blog is part of that.

I think that blogging should continue next year and that students should have the opportunity to blog more freely at times. This year we were occasionally given the option to choose a prompt. I think it would also be nice to occasionally blog prompt-free as my chemistry class does. This allows the blog to become more personal and show a new side of the blogger.

However, one of my favorite prompts is the "Blogging Around" prompt. I think that, although it is great to write blogs, it's also wonderful to read what other people have to offer. In English it is interesting to read about the views of my peers on English-related topics. In chemistry I am able to read about an array of different things that my classmates have to share. 

I think that what can be most improved about this blogging experience is integrating it into class a bit more. It would be nice if we could discuss our blogs in class or have our ideas recognized when they correlate with what we're doing in class. This has occurred several times this year and I think it's been beneficial. For example, I know that in one of my blogs I pleaded for a collaborative assessment after we finished one of our books. It was extremely rewarding that this actually happened and that maybe my blog influenced this. Even if our ideas and opinions are not used, I think it would still be nice to have some sort of recognition.

One way that the above could be accomplished is if the teacher whose class we write blogs for commented on them. I know there are a lot of blogs for a lot of students but if every once in a while I received some feedback I would feel more validation for this experience. Until recently I didn't really feel like anyone willingly read my blog and that was rather discouraging. 

Overall, however, I think blogging has been very successful. Mr. Allen has often mentioned that the blogs have helped him get to know us in a unique, efficient way. In chemistry, they serve as a way to connect us and build our class community. I hope that as classes continue to blog they begin to integrate the blogs into class curriculum and thus use blogs to their full potential. 

Best of Week: Growth

This week while discussing The Life and Times of Michael K we reread a poem we had encountered earlier in the year. The poem is called "Stone" by Charles Simic. I remember reading the poem earlier and thinking nothing of it. It seemed like a simple, insignificant, pretty poem. I liked it but it was really nothing special. I felt that, with some thought, I could craft the same poem myself.

However, now that I've reread the poem, I see it rather differently. Because I have so recently read Coetzee's novel I found that a lot of the same themes were present in Simic's poem. There was no doubt in my mind that the poem itself had been inspired by the novel. Now when I read the poem I deeply appreciate it. I see a hundred little things I had skimmed over before. I find meaning in the rhythm and structure of the poem. 

This experience, although just a small in-class exercise, provided me with some profound insight. It is so great to see how much I have learned and grown this year. When I first read the poem I was so sure of myself. I was positive that I had seen into the rather empty core of the poem and that there was nothing for me to gain from such a simplistic, mediocre piece. 

This week I have learned a very valuable lesson. I've learned that, no matter how sure I am about something, there is still so much for me to learn and gain. I've realized that I shouldn't overlook simple things and assume that there is nothing for me to appreciate there. "Stone" and The Life and Times of Michael K have helped me to see that in simplicity there is often profound insight and I should keep my eyes open for it. 

I feel that this week I have felt what the goal of our first semester final was. We were supposed to explain how the texts we have read helped shape and change us throughout the year. I feel that, even more than in January, I have now truly seen and experienced my growth. "Stone" has served as a way for me to measure the shift in my thinking and I'm very proud of it.

Blogging Around

After reading several blogs, I chose to comment on a couple. 

I read Dylan's blog post about the Jane Eyre writing assignment. He wrote about his feelings while writing as well as the process and final result. Since I'm still a bit confused about the writing assignment I left the following comment:

I really enjoyed this post Dylan! Margot and I also worked with the same topic and I experienced similar feelings while writing and after completing the assignment. I feel it was very different from most writing we have done thus far in Academy. I think it's interesting that we all felt a bit weird about it and then, as a class, we ended up showing Mr. Allen that we still have plenty to learn. I feel like maybe we missed something about the aim of the assignment and therefore didn't execute it as well as we could have.

I then came across Emily's blog. I noticed one of her posts was about collaboration. As is exhibited in previous posts, I'm very interested in collaboration so I found it unique to read about her thoughts. She talked about how collaboration benefitted her on her Jane Eyre writing assignment. I commented the following:

Great post Emily. As you probably know, I have many thoughts on collaboration and I think you addressed some good points in your blog. I think that you approached collaboration in a different fashion than Margot and I did and I see that what you did was very beneficial. It's interesting to see how students from the same class working on the same assignment can collaborate in such a variety of ways and produce such a wide range of final products.

Metacognition: Short Stories

We finally finished our first full draft of our short stories. I'm pleasantly surprised with my ending. At first, I was completely dreading having to end my story. Similarly to my poem, I liked my beginning best and felt that it grew weaker and weaker as it continued. To my pleasant surprise, I think I found a good ending for my story! When Mr. Allen was talking about how our brain had been brewing our ending for a while; even if we were unaware of it, I must admit, I was pretty skeptical. I thought there was no way an ending would just come to me. I had about two or three predictable endings in mind, but as I was writing I hit an entirely new one!

Although I'm sure my story is far from perfect, it was exciting feeling like I succeeded, especially because I had been doubting myself for so long. I thought that, because everyone was stressing over endings, mine would be mediocre and dull. Even if it turns out to be pretty subpar, I personally like what I've done. However, I'm still happy to change it, continue the process, and see where things go.

Not only was my ending a surprise, but so was the middle, action-filled part of my story. For me, the easiest and most enjoyable part of writing is vivid descriptions. I found establishing my character at the beginning was a ton of fun for me and I got to play around with her personality and surroundings. However, I became frustrated with the section in which I needed to put pressure on my character. I didn't know how to make the situation sound genuine without losing the attention of the reader.

The middle, pressure point in my story has served as the most difficult obstacle. I don't think it's anywhere near done, but it is improving. When I read my story aloud I actually begin to feel the tension--which I think is a good sign.

I've always prided myself on being the type of person who thinks for themselves and doesn't follow the crowd. However, when it came to writing this short story, that's not how it happened. The negativity and anxiety of some of my peers towards writing an ending rubbed off on me and made me feel unsure of myself. This process has once again shown me that I'm not like everyone else and shouldn't let the views and perceptions of other people change me. If I didn't listen to my classmates complaints I likely would have had less trouble writing an ending and would have therefore been capable of contributing more time to working on my middle.

However, there is no benefit in speculation now. I have learned from this process and hopefully will carry these ideas forward and improve for the next experience like this whether it be through writing or any other process I undergo with my peers.

Metacognition: Jane Eyre Collaborative Transcript

I finally got my wish! In one of my previous blogs I explained why I felt that a collaborative assignment would be the best way to exhibit our understanding of a text read in class. To my surprise, that's exactly what happened with Jane Eyre! 

Our assignment was to create a transcript in which Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte, and a fictional academy student had an insightful discussion. Margot and I worked together to create a transcript about love, a central theme in the novel.

What surprised me most was how many times we revised our work. I initially thought that the best way to go about this would be to outline it, cram in the required connections and quotes, and then spruce it up with some eloquent language. Hah, not at all. Although we started with an outline, we later realized that if we wanted to create a compelling, realistic, flowing discussion; that's how we should write it. So we scratched our outline and began by writing a pretty dull discussion.

However, looking back, this was a good move for the assignment. We were more likely to reach an insightful conclusion and realization if we were fleshing out the details before we reached the end. This somewhat reminded me of the short stories we are writing. Rather than creating the framework for the piece, we just jumped right in and wrote; even without knowing how it would all end.

This is a rather new concept for me, which I must admit I'm not crazy about. I'm a big fan of structure, planning, and knowing exactly where things are going. However, Margot brought up the idea of just writing it out. Not only did this turn out to be more efficient, but I think it also helped me look at this assignment through a new perspective. I was surprised at my drive to do this project even though I was unsure of where it was really going. This is one example of where collaboration really helped. I would have never been able to produce a high-quality transcript in such a manner if I had not collaborated with Margot.

This assignment has showed me that although I may perceive myself as an expert collaborator, I still have a lot of work left to do. I thought it was great that we created rules/expectations for collaboration. At first I looked at these rules as unnecessary and a bit of a pain, however they were truly helpful. I'm proud of the responsibility I took for my share of work and the way in which I collaborated. I think that, while I have adequate collaboration skills, more assignments like this are required in order to polish such a set of skills.

In the future I hope to try even more things out of my comfort zone. It isn't often that I do work far out of my comfort zone for school. Luckily, standard projects are simple and comfortable for me. However, I hope that next time I have an unconventional assignment I step even more out of my comfort zone. Whether that means less structured planning, or letting go of my controlling leadership role in a larger group assignment, I am eager to do so!

Change of Mind: Love

In class we watched Once before we began reading Jane Eyre. Since we've watched the movie I have purchased the soundtrack and have listened to it very often. Since I'm either listening to the music or singing it in my head, I've had a lot of time to think about the movie and its effects on me.

When we watched Once we made a list of many observations on the board. What struck me most was the ending of the movie. The guy and girl chose to go back to their significant others and lovers from the past rather than embarking on a new path with someone new. For the girl, this was logical because she had a child with the man. For the guy, played by Glen Hansard, he had love and desire left for his ex girlfriend whom he wrote his music for. So in the end they both did what was "logical".

Hopefully whomever is reading this is as dumbfounded by this as I am. Love, logical? Since when? I understand that some reading this will likely claim I know nothing of love, but be as it may, I never saw love as logical. Classics like Romeo and Juliet are full of love, passion, and rash decisions. Countless other examples in pop culture have portrayed love as reckless and far from logical.

But something about Once made it real. I felt like it was a documentary of sorts where the audience was looking in on lives unfolding. This is where my change of mind occurred. I had always thought, as many do, that love is head over heels, irrational, and overwhelming. While this holds true at times and for certain individuals, this was not the case in Once.

I think that the movie showed the viewer that sometimes what feels "right" isn't always the easy, convenient thing to do. It showed us that in reality, not everyone is heroic and courageous enough to take the leap of faith into the unknown abyss. Sometimes people make the sacrifice to go back to what is familiar rather than taking the risk of ruining everything for something new. 

I think in one sense, it's heart breaking that people can turn away from love. But I understand that and it's not that Once has so much changed my mind, but it has more so opened it. However, sad as the cowardice and caution of the human spirit may be, it's comfortable to know that even when deep emotions are stirring we still have the ability to remain logical and look out for our best interests.