Final Reflection

1- What are the three most important things you learned this year?


One important thing I learned this year was the importance of opening up to other people. When I heard each and every single one of those speeches, I admired people's strength and ability to talk about some really personal stuff to the class. Although I did end up really liking my speech, I had just wish I had taken it to a more personal level like my peers did. I wanted to experience the feeling that they felt when they gave their speeches. Again, I did like my speech I gave, but had wished I had found the strength in me to be able to open up to my class.


Another important thing I learned is that you can still have fun while learning. In ELA, it doesn't always have to be just work. We don't just have to be brainless robots who just do work on command and relive
that same cycle over and over. We do have our fun moments sometimes. We did have some fun times in the class and shared a few laughs. Each day was different from the last. We never had to only work, we were all comfortable enough to joke around a little and enjoy ourselves every once and awhile.


The last thing I learned in this class constantly was to never lie to Mrs. Larson. I am assuming a lot of people are writing this in their blog as well, only because it is very true. In the end, no teacher should be lied too. This not only applies to Mrs. Larson, but to every teacher in this building. That is just very disrespectful and shows how untrustworthy you really are. It just makes it harder for them to trust you ever again. I feel no one should have to lie to Mrs. Larson and that they should be completely honest with her. If you do lie, she will find out and give you a consequence.


What is something we did this year that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?


Something I did this year that I will always remember was the relationships I built within this class. At the beginning of the year I was really disappointed to find out that all of my friends from last year had moved to the summit class. I wasn't able to go with them unfortunately. As time went by, I realized that you know what, that's ok. It's ok that I didn't get placed in an accelerated class, it's ok that I couldn't be with all of my friends, because I made even more friends being where I'm at now. As the months went by, I really liked being with the people in this class and have made so many more best friends. I did have friends in this class from before, but I enjoyed actually being in a classroom with them. I would never switch places and be in any of the other classes, my place is and always was here.

3- What was the nicest thing someone in our class did for you this year?


The nicest thing the people in my ELA class have ever done for me was give me a giant group hug when I was sobbing after the speeches. After I had heard Archie’s speech, I was literally sobbing. When I had heard what happened to him and his mom, it had reminded me of something that happened to my family. I was easily able to relate to him and that just made me very upset. After all the speeches, I was still upset and started to cry again. Everyone just crowded around me and gave me a big group hug. I couldn't see who was there, so I will just refer to these people as “the class.” It was just a really nice thing they did and is something I am sure I will always remember this forever.

4- What is something you taught your teacher or classmates this year?


What I hope I taught my fellow peers is that to not give into racism. In my speech, I tried to explain that we can not mistreat people who may be different from us. Our world revolves around humans differences. We need to embrace these differences instead of discouraging them. I was mostly referring g to religion and how we can not just judge certain people just because they practice. I spoke about my Muslim uncle and how despite we had some differences, I still liked him for who he was as a person and learned that he turned out to be a great guy.

5- In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements? What is something you accomplished this year that you are proud of?

I felt I made a real improvement in my writing. I did say this on my last reflection blog last year, but I do feel like I improved a little more this year. I feel a lot more comfortable writing blogs compared to the beginning of the year. Despite me writing a good amount too blogs last year, I felt that since I was able to blog again this year, I got more in the gust of things if you know what I mean. I am able to successfully write about any topic I am assigned to write about and always get a good grade on it. I know some people may not like blogging I honestly don't think it's that bad.


6- What was the most challenging part of this year for you?


I think the most challenging part of this year was having to learn about the Holocaust. That whole word just bring so many scary images of the poor Jewish lives that were taken from our world from Hitler. It wasn't hard to learn about it, it was just difficult to see some of the images we saw as we went through the lesson. It was especially hard to read the book Night. That book was so sad and I was considering putting that book as the best book I've read this year. It was just so powerful and painful to imagine what this man had gone through as a teenager.

7- What was the best piece of writing that you did this year? Why do you think it is your best?


I think my best piece of writing was my speech. It wasn't really about the amount I wrote, it's the message I was trying to explain to my peers. It was different from a blog where you just sit and read it on your iPad, instead I used my voice to tell my story. I used it to tell my story and explain why my message is so important. Like I said, it was a unique twist to the usual. My speech showed me how powerful you can portray your emotions through your own words rather than simply typing something up for a regular blog.

8- Of the books you read this year, which was your favorite? Why?


The best book read this year was A Child Called It. This book is very powerful and can get emotional. I have to admit, I was getting a little emotional during some if the hard parts. I won't spoil any of the book. It's about a little boy who survived Year sir mental and physical abuse from his abusive alcoholic mother who tortured this poor kid everyday. It was painful to read through his traumatic experiences. The way this kid who is now an adult portrayed these events in his writing really got to me. It was overall a great book that showed acts of strength and perseverance.

9- What advice would you give students who will be in this class next year?


Advice I'd give to incoming students is like I said before, be prepared to work hard and strive for your absolute best. Like I said, a lot of material is going to be covered within this room. You will learn so much in such a short amount. A school year is honestly not that long with all the time that goes by. Your middle school years go by so uncontrollably quick. Along with learning a lot, you have to also factor in the work and the amount of time you have to give up to to get your full educational experience. That means you must and I mean you absolutely must do your homework. You get homework in this class everyday and you should by all means do it and not be a slacker.