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.

Blogging Around

After reading several of my classmates blogs I made the following comments on blogs I felt especially connected to-

Corey wrote a blog about his future and I found it was very real and I could relate to it well. My comment was:

I think it's good to keep your mind open about what you want to do in the future. I too am undecided about where I want to go, my major, and my future career. I have been looking at some colleges online and many of them mention you don't need to rush into a major. That's always comforting to hear! :)

I also really enjoyed Brandon's blog about the length of classes at GBN. Although I love the block schedule, it was unique to see Brandon's valid points.

My comment was:

Although I don't see this is a likely change to our schedule, it sounds like a great idea! It's so frustrating when a class ends before material is clarified. I wish we had more time in history so we wouldn't be as stressed about getting everything squeezed in before the AP test. I also think it would be a good idea to have these 'shortened classes' at the end of the day. I find that when I have an academic class at the end of the day it can be difficult to focus. Especially on a Friday afternoon!

Metacognition: Poetry

A huge amount of thinking has gone into my poetry. My 7th grade English teacher was really into revision. We revised everything multiple times and she really taught us how effective that can be. I think what has been more effective about my thinking process while writing this specific poem is that I've been happy to revise. I'm well aware that writing can always get better. Additionally, I see poetry as an art form and therefore I know that there is a huge realm of possibility for what a masterpiece my poem can become. It is essentially to keep in mind the fact that nothing is perfect on the first try.

Because I have the above beliefs, I've found myself doing a crazy amount of revision. I don't grow too attached to any specific draft of my poem, because I know it will be constantly changing. I think this is both helpful and harmful. This is helpful because I'm able to revise and let go of aspects of my poem, even if I've worked extremely hard on them. This is harmful because, I'm still unhappy with the drafts that I turn in. I see that my poem is changing, but I cannot tell if it's genuinely getting better. I think the trouble I'm having is that when I started my poem, I never envisioned it becoming what it currently is. This isn't necessarily good or bad, and I think I just need to spend more time making sure I'm satisfied the draft I turn in.

Revising poetry is difficult for me. I've never written this many drafts of a single poem in such a short period time. I'm used to revising essays and I find that extremely easy. Poetry, because of the level of beauty it requires, strikes me as more difficult in the revision process. I am, however, proud of myself for not being afraid to change my poem and taking the risk to hopefully make it better.

I've always enjoyed writing poetry but I was surprised by how difficult it was to revise my poem according to some critiques I received. I was able to successfully revise sections I was unhappy with, but I found it difficult to revise sections that I didn't necessarily see the problem with, but Mr. Allen didn't like. I'm actually very glad this happened. I think it's important to be frustrated during the writing process, and the last revised draft I handed in was certainly the most frustrating and time-consuming one I've written.

I don't think my poem isn't quite near done, but I don't expect it to ever be. The drafts I've written, although not perfect, clearly demonstrate the effort and time I put into this process. I've enjoyed writing and revising this poem and it is very rewarding to see the progress I've made both in my thinking and my writing.

Best of Week: Asking for Student Input

This week has been one of the most stressful, overwhelming, and difficult weeks of Academy. My peers and I have collectively felt extremely frustrated and hopeless. However, several moments this week have been fantastic. The best of this week was when Mr. Allen asked us when we wanted to have our English in-class writing assignment. He gave us the option of either Monday or Tuesday and asked the class to decide. I told everyone to raise their hands so we could vote on what day worked best. 28 students voted for Tuesday, and therefore that is when our King Lear in-class writing assignment will take place.

Although this may seem like a small deal, to me it was extremely significant. Aside from being a kind gesture on his part, it was meaningful to me and occurred at the perfect time. I was feeling so aggravated the entire week because of the immense homework load in one of my classes that came completely out of the blue. I was caught off-guard and thus felt extremely irritated by the busy work that I was being given and the crazy amount of quizzes. Myself as well as other students approached the teacher to try to better understand what was going on, but we were ignored. The entire situation was and remains extremely disheartening.

What made this week a little more bearable was being given the option of when to have our English writing assignment. By asking for student input I felt not only relieved of unneeded stress but also important. By being able to express when would be more convenient for me to have this assignment I felt like I mattered. I know teachers often tell students that their input and ideas matter, but sometimes it becomes far too hard to believe. 

This entire week I felt that not only my input didn't matter but that my teacher didn't even care about how ridiculously stressed out the entire class was. Although that specific teacher still makes me feel that they do not care, I know that at least one of my teachers really does. This was very comforting and although I'll still have to do the in-class writing assignment it is great to know that I had a say in when this would take place and that my thoughts and feelings matter.