I read several blogs and commented on a couple.

Crystal's blog was contemplating what would happen if life was a short story. I wrote the following comment:

Crystal I think your blog was great. I have to admit that initially when I saw your title I didn't think any sort of astounding insight could be reached on such a topic. Haha, you surely proved me wrong!

Your post initially reminded me of Sophie's World and the multiple layers of reality and story. It's interesting that what you wrote in one short blog evoked so much feeling within me and raised questions that an entire novel tried to achieve.

Your post mainly makes me reflect on my life. If I had only a few pages to write it down, what would I have? At times I feel like there is so much complexity in my life and so much going on that I could write volumes. At other times I feel it would be impossible to write anything significant at all. A we're learning more about short stories I've thought about this more and more.

I think this could generate great discussion. Even if one doesn't believe in God or Fate or something 'more' propelling their story; what would they themselves write?

I also commented on Eli's blog. He wrote about how much he enjoyed writing the story fragment. He specifically talked about how the process occurred and why it was something unique and new. I wrote the following:

I really loved writing the story fragment too Eli! I think Mr. Allen was right. It doesn't need to be perfect on the first try,but you need to write and let the writing become something you didn't ever anticipate it could be.

I think it's interesting that you discovered your character before your plot. I too prefer to write about someone rather than circumstances. I think it will be interesting to go through the writing process of a short story and see it morph. I haven't written much fiction in high school so I'm eager to see what I come up with and what everyone in class writes.

Good luck with your short story! Great post :)

Best of Week: Discussion

This week we did a lot of discussing in Academy. We just started our short stories unit and have discussed a variety of topics. However, when thinking about this past week it is not the stories that stick out to me as most significant, but the discussions we had about them. I've often found that the problem with class discussions is participation. I have several teachers who count 'participation points' and therefore everyone is eager to make comments in order to raise their grades. While theoretically this may sound like a good way to get kids engaged, this idea often flops. Students end up either making one comment and then zoning out for the rest of class or repeating a previous comment just to get points. I've found that in classes where teachers make it clear they are marking down participation points the discussion is not much of a discussion, but rather everyone raises their hand just to satisfy the class requirement. When a discussion is structured in such a way, I find it is difficult to reach any sort of insight as a group. 

They say two heads are better than one, and I believe it. But this means when they are working together. That was the beauty of our discussions this week. Whether an obvious question needed to be answered, or we were digging for deeper insight into the form and content of the story, we did it together. I truly felt like everyone was listening to one another and therefore the conversation flowed. There were some great comments made and then rather than the next student trying to simply repeat the great idea previously stated, they built upon it. This pushed the discussion forward and helped to make everyones comments more meaningful. 

I think the skills our class displayed this week will be very beneficial throughout the future. Not only will they help with other class discussions in high school but they will also help in the 'real world'. I think that being able to discuss well will help when communicating with others. Regardless of what field I choose to go into, there will likely be a heavy emphasis on communicating successfully with others. When you can converse well and reach insight with a team of people, you are likely doing pretty well. I hope that I continue to improve such skills and that they impact my future in positive way.

What If?: We Got Graded On Collaboration

This week, we had an in-class test on The Heart Of Darkness. Mr Allen encouraged us to talk to one another to brainstorm for the exam. Whenever we have an in-class essay he always tells us to talk to someone whose intellect we trust and come up with something. He tells us that this is the best way to study for such an exam.

This got me thinking, what if our grades were based on the level of collaboration we did rather than the 'final' product? I though of this because a number of us had some great team work and collaboration the night before the exam. A bunch of us went on skype in a chatroom and to audiochat. We answered questions for each other and tried to explain and work things out as a group. We then continued to write an extensive google doc together. The final product, which I used to study from, was an eloquently long study guide we had compiled together. The document morphed into the early morning hours as the majority of the class added their knowledge and questions.

I think that, generally, this experience helped all of us on our exam. Although I still don't know how i did on it, I feel I did better than I expected. However, I think the truly brilliant aspect of this assignment came not in class on Wednesday, but Tuesday night when we all worked together. We've had many opportunities to collaborate before whether it be with a small group, the entire class, the entire academy, or even people around the world. Some of these instances have been complete and utter failures. At first I thought collaboration is simple, but I was incredibly wrong.

I think what we did on our own Tuesday night attests to how far we have come in our work with collaboration. I think we did a great job and have really begun to collaborate effectively. While collaboration is not a skill I anticipated to gain from the Academy, it is perhaps one of my newest and most beneficial skills.

It would be interesting to be graded on collaboration, and I think as education continues to evolve this will become more and more common. Mr. Bretag did a presentation for the Student Advisory Board about technology and the group mentioned that collaboration would become a huge part of education and technology. In the TED projects we did this year, collaboration was part of the grade. I think this was done pretty well, but still has room for improvement.

Collaboration is an important tool in school and the real world. I think every class should find a way to incorporate collaboration into the curriculum. 

Connection: Mr. Kurtz and Hitler

This past week we dove into The Heart of Darkness. At first I was totally lost and overwhelmed, but as the book progressed it really started to speak to me. By the time we reached Part III I was not only enjoying the reading, but picking up ideas that had likely been over my head in the first two parts. What struck me most, other than the answers to the guiding questions, was the depth of each character. In 78 pages Conrad managed to craft deep, complex characters who were easy to relate to and timeless.

When reading about Mr. Kurtz I could not help but writing Hitler! all over my page. Something about him really reminds me of Hitler. I think this is primarily because of his eloquence. Kurtz, like Hitler, was able to dazzle people with his words. Kurtz, like Hitler, was also legendary. Everyone knew him all over the world. Although typically we are used to hearing about people who hated Hitler, there were and certainly still are many Ne0-Nazis. 

To me the Russian trader and Marlow were such Nazis. They bought into what Kurtz said and did. The Russian said Kurtz was not to be judged as any other man should be. This same idea could be applied to Hitler because if Hitler was judged by the standards which everyone is held to; he was certainly no hero. In that same respect, Kurtz was also a monster. He saw heads as decorations and -like Hitler- had no regard for the lives of others.

Kurtz especially reminds me of Hitler in his rise to power because of his concern with the perspective of others. What I mean by this is that Kurtz was extremely worried that people back in Europe would not admire him and he would not receive credit for his accomplishments. Similarly, Hitler on his rise to power was consumed with fame and appreciation. 

I plan on rereading The Heart of Darkness again because so much of the meaning was unfortunately lost on me initially. I think that when I do reread it I will see even more connections between Kurtz and Hitler. I think Heart of Darkness is full of connections between it's characters and situations to things that have happened thus far in history as well as many things that are occurring now.