This semester was unlike any other, it was full of challenges and changes, but I believe it also helped us grow. We grew as a group and individually as well. I do not know if I would like to relieve this semester but I did enjoy experiencing it. So many things made this year so different, from the pandemic to the new school year or the lack of new connections, almost everything was different. This course in particular was especially different. The focus on grades was much much smaller, and instead of focusing on English as a solitary concept, we were allowed to see how I related to the world. The assignments were also not just busy work with no meaning and helped us express our thoughts to others. I really appreciated that I could go look at my peers' blogs and see what they were thinking just as they could look at my blog and see what I am thinking. It felt like the work we did actually meant something because at the very least it would go up on our blogs. It felt like we left an impact no matter how small.
The thing that I found the most meaningful, the most impactful (at least on me), was that though I was alone I still managed to feel a fraction of that special feeling you get in a classroom. That special feeling I suppose would be similar to a family. Perhaps a name like the classroom connection would make sense. It's made up of both people you like and don't like but it's still there and you can talk to them about your ideas, though they may not agree. That's another thing about the classroom connection that is wonderful, you have an expanded pool of ideas, opinions, and beliefs that differ from yours. These differences can help push and change your ideas, isn't that so wonderful? This has helped push me to work hard to create something I'm proud of.
This year has been difficult, but this difficulty and the connections with my peers have helped me create work that I am proud of. My blog is something I am very proud of, in fact, it probably includes some of my best work in this school year. I worked very hard to make it simple and clean, not only that but this blog also managed to capture some of my thoughts which makes it easier for people to understand me. I didn't always think the same way as my peer and I could see how we differed in our blog posts but that was my favorite part. Seeing how people were so different, seeing how much our thoughts varied from person to person. Of course, not everything was as great as my blog but that is okay. I can always improve.
Though I can always improve, I wish I had worked more on staying on top of my journals and read more. I found myself skipping days in my journal, I had told myself I was too busy but deep down I knew I could have made time if I really wanted to. It would have been nice if I made it a better habit instead of skipping every other day telling myself I'll do it tomorrow. "I'll do it tomorrow," really is a dangerous phrase. I also wish I could have read more for this course this semester than just a single book. I prioritized watching anime and reading an old book on the history of technology, okay I don't regret that but I wish I had more time just to do it. Reading more than one book for this course was also made difficult by the fact that the public library was and still is closed. I used to love just walking by the tall shelves of books and then finally choosing one that sparked my curiosity. I still find myself wishing I was in a classroom with all of my friends but, this course still taught me valuable skills and I appreciate that.
Being in a classroom with all of my peers definitely would have made it easier to learn but that does not mean I did not learn skills to help me in the future. One of the best skills I learned from this course that will help me in the future is technology skills. These technological skills will be invaluable in the future which will connect people through the internet and where people will express themselves more and more on the web. I have learned how to create my own blog and use the tools available to make it simple so people can understand me. Usually, on my blog, I would post my thoughts and opinions on the texts I had read. Then later in the day, I could receive a comment on what someone thought of my opinions and thoughts.
As I said before, I would usually post on my blog about texts I had read, three that I've read this semester are Les Miserables, Richard Cory, and The Fifth Wave. All of these texts had an impact on me and most of that is due to the literary techniques they used. First Les Miserables used run-on sentences to better express how the characters felt. Then Richard Cory used rhyming, every other sentence ended in a word or phrase that matched the one before it. This use of rhyming made this poem particularly impactful because the rhyme goes to the end and kind of just leaves you there wondering what just happened. Lastly, The Fifth Wave used a lot of symbolism. This use of symbols just makes it even more crushing when they are destroyed or symbolize something gone. In the end, I was glad I got to be in this course and express myself through this blog, so thank you for reading. I hope you'll check back in to see what else I have written about.
I absolutely will!
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