REFLECTIONS ON WEEK 1

1.  Are there any factors that you think are going to affect your participation or experience in this class? Access to a computer?  Mobile/smart phone?  Transportation?  Friends/family? Schedule?

• TIME: My biggest factor is time.  I play two sports, work, take three other AP classes, and I'm in ASB.  This weekend for example I had a soccer tournament and had only Friday night and Sunday night to get all of my work done...STRESSFUL!  I also don't have a smart phone.  I still have my first phone, but I'm hoping that my phone predicament will change soon so that shouldn't be to big of a factor...I hope.

 2.  Think of an awesome best ever learning experience that changed you. What did you learn? Where were you? What happened? Who else was there? Did it teach you anything about how you learn (or pay attention... or remember, or think?) How did you know what was happening?

• Freshman year in Mr. LeClair's class we read Lord of the Flies and did an Island Project.  This was the first time that I thoroughly enjoyed a reading assignment.  Allyson Brown and Rachel Shedd were in my project group and we had a blast working together.  We listened to Journey and sang along out of key as we worked on our scrapbook.  While reading the book I learned how to look for symbols and deeper meanings.  It almost became a game trying to decipher what the symbols were throughout the book and what they meant.  I also found myself becoming more engaged in the class.  Until then I was really quiet and afraid to speak up, but after we read Lord of the Flies I became comfortable with public speaking in front of that class.  It still took me a while to break out of my shell in my other classes, but second period English became my outlet to express myself.

 3.  What are you most [excited/concerned] about in this class? What do you look forward to in learning?  How do you think it can/will make a practical difference in your life?

• I'm most excited about the fact that this class is DIFFERENT!  I'm so tired of reading chapters out of the text books and taking notes.  This class is already far more engaging.  I'm most concerned about the work load.  I already explained why in question one.  I look forward to hearing and seeing all of my classmates' ideas and inputs.  I feel that it will be very beneficial to see and be a part of others peoples work so I can see their take on a new ideas compared to mine and hopefully learn something new in the process.  I feel that this class will help my writing skills greatly improve which will help with the composition of my personal statements.  We are being forced to explore new ideas that we would normally think about which I believe will expand our creativity in writing and help us become open thinkers.  We also aren't just learning English, but are also learning about everyday things.  Your Journalism 101 post for example teaches us to be more careful and mindful about the pictures we post online.