My favourite part of the year this year was our introduction
to the poetry unit where we talked about creativity. I think that this
resonated with me so powerfully because I like to think that I’m a creative
person, but when we looked at videos and examples of true creativity and
ingenuity I realized that I can do so much more to make myself more creative. I
used to enjoy painting and drawing, and I hardly ever do that anymore. This was
a bit of almost a wake-up call saying ‘stop focusing on your task list and take
a minute to enjoy yourself and make something beautiful!’
I really disliked the entire The Road unit. Although the book had some interesting concepts
behind it, I really disliked the way the author actually wrote it and the
storyline itself. I also didn’t like having to do a large project for the unit,
because when I have to do large projects I generally get really stressed out
and grumpy, which really isn’t very much fun for me or the people around me. Furthermore,
we had to present in front of the class for close to 20 minutes, and I really
hate public speaking. Overall, the whole experience of this unit was boring, stressful,
and less than enjoyable.
If I had to do something over again, I think it would be A Midsummer Night’s Dream. However, I
would change the focus of this unit from the play itself to analyzing and
interpreting Shakespeare so that it was easier to understand as we continued
reading. I enjoyed this play, but I think it would have been better if we had
learned more overt skills to help really understand what Shakespeare was trying
to convey, in this play and in plays that we will study in the future.
