Semester 2 reflection

In conclusion for this year’s course, I am really glad that I chose this course. It is definitely worth taking and I really enjoyed it. My favourite part of this course in this semester, would be studying The Kite Runner. I really like reading, and have read this book before. However, having the opportunity to study this book in depth, gave me a much better understand of it. I see things that I didn’t see when I read the book two years ago. Also, having enough time to watch the movie in class definitely helped me in learning bout this book. It made me think and able to compare the book to the movie, seeing what’s missing and determine which adaptation of the story I like better. This has trained my reading as well as analyzing skills. I do think some kind of reading should be kept in this course, and it would preferably be a book that has a movie adaptation, so students can compare them.

We did many different writings in this class, and they are really useful in the future, for example the research paper, personal statement and college essay. I found the research paper useful, because it helped me understand the MLA format, something I never came across with. Also, it is something that we will definitely have to do when we go to university. It’s good for us to at least have a chance to do it while we’re in high school, as a preparation for university’s work.

While we were working on our own poetry we didn’t really have time to look at others people work. I found the poetry sharing party a great way to end this course, for everyone to appreciate what each other has been working on for the past few lessons. It was a great experience having Mr. Driedger’s son over to teach us some songwriting techniques and turning some of our poetries into songs. Even though the time he was here was really short, still most of us managed to have a try on turning poems into songs, and the ending result was really cool. Some of the songs are so catchy that they are still stuck in my head. Working with Mr. Driedger’s son also made the poetry unit more fun and gave us the chance to learn more.

For the movie review unit, I think we can shorten the time used on it, even though I enjoyed that unit, I think we should have spent more time on other units instead of this, like for example we could have spent more time on the poetry workshop or on The Kite Runner. That to me would be more beneficial. Or even just spend more time discussing about our works in class, can help us to see what can we improve on in our works while working on it.

In your opinion s it important to still study Shakespeare in school?
            I do think it is necessary for us to study Shakespeare in school, even though his works are old, they are classics that everyone knows about. Through studying his works, it helps us understand English literature better, seeing how English used to be in the past, how the grammars were used. In my opinion, Shakespeare is a good storyteller. Although in Macbeth, some of the details seem a bit weird and stupid, that doesn’t change the fact that Shakespeare’s able to write a story that’s so vivid and tragic, that stay in people’s mind for a long time. Lastly, I don’t think stories in general can ever be outdated, for when you read a story, where you are and what century you are in don’t matter anymore. You step into another world- the story’s world when you read it. Therefore I don’t think Shakespeare is outdated.

Comment on the use of film as a learning tool in this class

As I’ve mentioned above at the beginning of my reflection, I think film is a great way for us to learn and develop a greater understand towards the book that we’re learning. Take Macbeth as an example. Even though the film adaptation of Macbeth changed the setting to modern time, the storyline stays the same, so that helps us understand the play better. By actually being able to see the play visually, with music background, it helps us to see the whole picture of the play, enable us to actually visualize the play. Also, by watching the film, it is testing your own understanding of the text, for while you are watching the film, you compare the film to the text, looking at the similarities, the details which the movie captured nicely, or finding parts which you think the movie left out or didn’t do such a great job on.

Why should students write a research paper?

Research paper is something that most of us will come across when we study in university. Before doing this homework, I was clueless about research paper. From the MLA format, to citations, I was completely having no idea of what should I do in order to write a good research paper. It was good that we spent some time learning about the citations. I think that would be the most useful part of writing the research paper unit, as we don’t only use citations in research paper, but it’s applicable to other essays as well. Also by writing a research paper, we had to come up with a good thesis statement on our own, making us think hard. Research paper is not like a book report at all, it is definitely something I think we should learn how to write before graduating from high school.

 

Dialogue- shakespeare sonnet 30

(phone ringing)

A: Hello?

B: Hey, it’s me Rach. You okay? You going to school tomorrow, right? I understand it’s going to be hard for you.

A: Rach! I’m…not doing great. Of course I am coming. Hmmm it’s just so hard to believe she’s really gone. Seriously gone.

B: Who could have imagined? (sigh) Hey, meet me there early. I know you need someone to talk to. You don’t have to go through this alone.

A: Mhmm. So….sudden. Thank you so much I really don’t know what do I do without you.

B: See you round. You know I’m always there for you.

(at school the next day)

B: Hey! Are you okay?

A: Hey…not really. I miss her.

B: Don’t we all miss her? I’m sorry this happened. I know she’s your best friend, and it must be hard for you to lose her. I’ve never been that close to her, but I know she was an amazing friend and a blessing to all the people around her.

A: She’s too special. Why did that stupid car have to crash? WHY didn’t the drunk driver get killed? Why her? SHE DID NOTHING WRONG AND YET IT’S HER WHO DIED.

B: Everything happens for a reason. At least we know she lived a great life.

A: Last time I talked to her was a year ago… Stupid. So stupid. I didn’t make an effort to talk to her for ONE WHOLE YEAR after she moved away. If I only knew… I’ve missed my chance. She’s gone.

B: Hey, hey listen to me. It’s not your fault that you lost contact with her. You’ve got your life and she’s got hers. But that doesn’t mean you forgot about each other! You don’t have to talk to each other on the phone every single day for hours to be called best friends.

A: Still. I should have been the one making sure we stayed in touch. At some point I just… stopped and hoped she would be the one who starts talking. I missed the chances. What on earth was wrong with me? You know how much that year could have meant to me, to her?

B: Yes you’ve missed a year. A year that you could have done so much things with her, but why focus on what you’ve missed? How about those five years you shared with her? Are those memories not more important, more worthy to be remembered? Don’t dwell on what you’ve lost. Be thankful for what you’ve had.

A: It’s just so hard to be happy. But yeah I guess you are right. Thank you so much. I can’t be more thankful to have met her. I have more great memories with her than bad ones. Five years that I’m always gonna treasure, why should that one year matter?

(reading the sonnet and fade to music)

Research Paper

Alicia Cheung

Mr. Driedgerd

Advanced Composition

18 February 2011

Older Generation affects young ones’ ways of thinking

Since the moment one is born, one is affected by the people and environment around them. The development of the way one thinks is especially important during our childhood.  Therefore, the people who one spends the most time with, parents, have the most influence on one’s body image, political views and habits.

Everything a parent does how they act, speak and live definitely have a huge impact on their children’s habits and their ways of living. Babies look up to their parents to see what’s right and wrong to do. Parents are our role models. We learned from them. William Shakespeare once said “The voice of parents is the voice of gods, for to their children they are heaven’s lieutenants.” We can see how even the slightest thing a parent do can have a big influence on the child’s life. The power they exert over the future behavior of their child is enormous. Even after the child’s left home, after the parents have left the world, there will always be part of the parents which will remain in the child forever. (“The_power_we_exert_over_the_future_behavior.” )

Body image is ones feeling about ones body and appearance. Negative images can lead to the road of eating disorders, isolation and depression. (Peoples) From the book Thin is the New Happy, (Frankel) Valerie Frankel said at the age of eleven, she was told by her mum that she was fat. Since then she had been going on different diets, for she did not have confidence in the way she looked. She felt like she had to be thin in order to be beautiful and to be loved.  The idea of “it’s not okay to be fat” had been fed to her throughout her childhood, and the effect continued in her adulthood. Under her mum’s influence and words of discouragements, Valerie felt like she needed to be slim in order to earn people’s love.

Valerie Frankel quoted her mum defending herself for feeding Valerie negative self-image of herself “And I admit one hundred percent that it was about aesthetics for me. I was not concerned about your health. I wanted you to be slim because I don’t like fat. That’s just who I am. It’s cultural, part of my family history growing up. My mother was relentless about my brother’s weight. Until the day she died, she was on him about it.” (141). As we can see, Valerie’s mother got the idea of fat not being acceptable from her own mother. She developed the thinking of “everyone have to be thin” during her childhood because her own mother was relentless about her brother’s weight and passed thus on to Valerie’s mother. It is clear that the older generation has the responsibility to portrait a healthy body image to the younger generation.

Most political opinions are formed during childhood. Many Political Ideas are passed down from Parents to young Adults through them expressing their beliefs. (“Political socialization.”) Parents do not need to be talking about politics with the child in order to affect his/her voting behaviors. Simply through casual conversations made during dinner or while helping homework, their opinions can already have an impact. The reason why parents can be so influential in a child’s future voting behaviors, is due to the constant relationship between parents and child. If a child was born in a Democrats-supporting family, most likely the child will grow up supporting the Democrats and not Republicans. For they grew up having the idea that what the Democrats are doing are worth supporting and the values of the Democrats have been planted in their minds since childhood. This effect is more obvious in countries with a strong political background, such as England and the United States.  George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush are an example.

Society is dealing with a serious problems of people engaging in negative activities, such as consuming alcohol, drugs or smoking. If parents are involved in these activities, their children are most likely going to follow their footsteps.(Staff) Parents are a child’s lifelong role model. They teach their child sets of important moral values that will stick with them for life. They also point out what is right and wrong for a child to do. Although the idea of alcoholism, drug addiction and smoking are commonly seen as negative addictions that people should not get involved in, when one sees his/her parents making mistake, he/her would tend to follow them instead of correcting them.  For people as leaders who are supposed to be wise and know the best chose to do so as well. Not only because they set a negative example for the child, but also because growing up with parents who drinks or abuses drugs can leave emotion scars. “The research increasingly shows that children growing up in homes with alcohol- and drug-abusing parents suffer – often greatly,” said SAMHSA acting administrator Eric Broderick. (Staff) That results in the child having a higher possibility in becoming an addict and developing emotional or behavioral problems.

The influence the older generation has on a child is definitely huge and they have the responsibility to make sure what they are passing down is beneficial to the child’s growth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Peoples , Kristin. “Ways for Parents to Inflence Teen’s Self Image Positive Self-Image Tips for Teen Daughters.” Suite101 17 Oct 2008 : n. pag. Web. 10 Feb 2011. <http://www.suite101.com/content/teach-daughter-to-love-herself-a73852&gt;.

 

Frankel, Valerie. Thin Is the New Happy. St Martins Pr, 2008. Print.

 

“Political socialization.” Wikipedia, 2011. Web. <Political socialization>.

 

Writer, Staff. “Addiction Passed Down Through Generations.” Drugs Addiction n. pag. Web. 17 Feb 2011. <http://www.drugs-addiction.com/featured_addiction/addiction-passed-down-through-generations.php&gt;.

“The_power_we_exert_over_the_future_behavior.” Columbia World of Quotations. Columbia University Press, 1996. 17 Feb. 2011. <Dictionary.comhttp://quotes.dictionary.com/The_power_we_exert_over_the_future_behavior>.

Streams of Consciousness Poem

Newspaper Article Poem (song attempt)

Metaphor Poem