Course Improvement/ Suggestions

Overall I believe this course was very inspirational. I was able to learn new things and I am walking away from this class with a whole new way of looking at life. One of my favorite works that we read in this class was Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. This story made me realize somethings about my life such as that we all need to enjoy life instead dwell on every little thing that happens. In life there are certain little things that matter so much that we will all remember a long time from now. Tuesdays with Morrie gave me this new way of looking at life. I realized throughout the book that there were many things in life that I was doing wrong. My attitude definitely needed to change some what and this book showed me that. One of my least favorite activities that we covered in this class was the How to Video. Even though some of this videos were very entertaining to watch, I feel like if they are being done they should be on a serious note. I think these videos shouldn't just be a source of laughter for some people they need to be taken seriously. I wish we read more inspirational pieces of work like Tuesdays with Morrie. That book touched a majority of our hearts and I think we should have read more like that book. I also believe we needed to shorten up our survival unit. Although i enjoyed this unit I think it needed to be a little shorter than it was. In the years to come I honestly think this class should stay the way it is. We all had a lot of fun joking with each other throughout the course of the class and we shared some laughs along the way. I don't think this class needs any changes done to it, I love the way it is now. Overall in this class I think I did very well. I may have missed a few assignments but my grade was always great. I believe I did a great job in this class as far as I'm concerned and I can't thank anyone else but Mr. Currin for believing in me and helping me succeed in this class.

Survival

Our survival unit was one of the longest units in our English 12 class. This unit was clearly all about survival. In this unit we covered survival skills, and read multiple books that were clear examples of survival. The three books we got to choose from were entitled Unbroken, Into the Woods, and Lord of the Flies. We also watched a series of episodes entitled Survivorman. Each of these episodes consisted of the producer, Les Stroud, travel to different areas to see if he is able to survivor for a week without very little resources other than what is there for him on the island. For each of these episodes we were required to write an essay on three survival skills that he possessed in that episode. Also, during this unit the class was asked to compose a How to Video of our choice. During our survival unit we also participated in the March Madness Bracket for the NBA. I believe the most essential survival skill would be individuality. I think this because in order to survive a dangerous situation the only person you can really depend on is yourself. If you rely on just you then I believe you have a higher chance of surviving. Survival is all about independence, you need to obtain food, clean drinking water and shelter. You cannot obtain those things by depending on anyone else because those people are just looking out for themselves not you. I really enjoyed this unit because it really gave me a new way of thinking about life. In order to get anywhere in life, there is no one you can depend on except yourself.

Speak Truth to Power Project

My Speak Truth to Power Defender was Sonita Alizadeth. She is an Islamic women who's parents tried to sell her into marriage at the ages of fourteen and sixteen because that's was is known in their country. Instead of listening to her family and being bought into marriage Sonita fought against it. She did everything she could to escape her country and come to America where she would be safe. Sonita succeeded, she made it to the United States and attends college and also speaks out about child marriage. This project was very enjoyable. I was able to learn new things about Human Rights that I never knew before. I learned that there are a number of Human Rights Defenders all over the United States and even in other countries around the world. These Defenders are trying to speak out about their human rights that are being violated where they live. I learned that defenders can be as young as my defender was. When she started speaking out against child marriage and child labor she was just fourteen years old. I believe this project was very successful because we were able to capture each defenders story into a video for everyone in our class to witness. Overall I learned that if there is something you feel isn't right then fight for it. I believe that certain things shouldn't just go unspoken, if something isn't right I believe it should be changed. I think any person in any country should be able to speak out about certain things that they deem not right or unconstitutional.

Veteran's History Project

I learned a lot from this project. I got to hear straight from the veterans, and I got to hear their stories about their experiences in the war. My veteran's name was James Starkey. He was born in Buffalo, NY in 1977 and graduated from Orchard Park in 1996. After high school he went to college down in Florida for 3 years and played baseball while he was there. He also tried bar tending and serving at local bars but he was unable to find his place no matter what he did. Since Mr. Starkey was unable to find his place he decided to enlist at 29 years old. He chose the Army because when he walking into the recruiting place that was the first branch that approached him. After Mr. Starkey completed his basic training he was sent out for combat. He served in Afghanistan from 2011-2012. His unit was the last to completed a full year deployment, they have been moved to nine months now. Along with Mr. Starkey, twenty-six other guys decided to stay an extra 31 days with no extra pay. James Starkey was one of the men to serve on the front line and he gained many bad memories from that time. One of those memories include finding out that one of the soldiers stepped on an IUD and when his truck went to find out who their truck hit one as well and his Sergeant was killed right next to him because he decided not to wear his harness. Even five years after his service he still faces nightmares and goes to counseling because of his traumatic experiences. This project was definitely one of my favorites because it gave me an opportunity to hear what their experiences were like and I was able to hear straight from the source and not many people have that opportunity. I believe this project was very successful. Everyone has their own story and our entire class had the opportunity to capture and save those stories for future generations. Overall I learned that there are just somethings that people think they have to do for themselves. I also learned that everyone has their own story, but each and every story deserves to be heard around the world rather any story is great or even awful.

Goals

       At the beginning of my English 12 class I had set a variety of goals for myself. Some of these goals I have met and some of them I haven’t met. One goal I set for myself was to get nineties in every semester that I had this class. I have reached this goal because in every semester I believe I have reached at least a ninety. only one of my marking period grades missed a ninety, however my grade in that marking period was a 89 and that is still acceptable for me. I also wanted to get good grades on all my assignments and to make sure all my homework was done. I met this goal for the most part because I may have not turned in a few assignments but on all of my essays and bigger assignments I had gotten high grades on and that is what I was aiming for during the course of the class. Completing some of my goals were not that easy especially keeping my grades in the 90's. This wasn't easy because I wasn't just worrying about this class, I had every other class to worry about as well. For the most part my grades stayed the same throughout the course of this class. I have also added some goals for next year. Since I will no longer be in high school my goals have shifted slightly. Some of these goals include college, future family, and my future all together. One of my goals is to get accepted into one of the colleges of my choice. I have decided to take a year off since I have decided to attend college in Florida. This will give me enough time to go visit the colleges I'm interested in, look at the neighborhoods around each college, and find a place to live, or decide to dorm if I need to. My college choice are Miami University, Tampa University and Jacksonville University. Each of these colleges have the major that I'm interested in. That major is marine biology. I would really like to work with marine animals, and be able to deep sea dive to see what lives deep down in the ocean. Another one of my goals for next year is to have my future planned out for the most part. I will reach this by going to the college of my choice, focusing on my school work to get good grades like I do now, and by keeping my priorities state. 

Freshman - Senior Reflection

My high school years have been the best years of my life so far. High school has given me the opportunity to learn who I really am, who I can really count on and what I can do in my life after school. I have a lot of memories from my high school years since it is only now just coming to a close. I remember my freshman year was a little rough. Coming in as a small freshman is always bad. I was terrified of the seniors when I came into the high school. They were basically ten times bigger than I was and they had control of the school at that time. However, freshman year was also the year I began getting involved. I joined clubs, I went to dances such as Homecoming and Snowball. I also had a great group of friends my freshman year. My sophomore year was the year I tried out for a sport for the first time and to my surprise I made the team. I had tried out for the Varsity Cheerleading team and ever since then I have been on the team and have gotten to work with a wide variety of people. My best years of high school are my junior and senior years because I had finally become an upperclassman. Junior and Senior year I was finally able to go to prom. My senior prom was definitely the best. I had an amazing time with my friends dancing, eating dinner, and have a bunch of laughs. We also had an amazing time after we got to spend more time together, which we all hadn’t done in a long time. My junior year brought on a new cheerleading coach, Coach Hale. Over the years, I have gotten close with her. She has been the one adult I can talk to or vent to when I don’t want to talk to my parents. Coach Hale is always there for me, she has made my junior and senior years of cheerleading memorable. I would have to say I am very happy for how far I have come in my life. I have reached my goals for this year and I couldn’t be more proud of myself. It is hard to believe my high school days are coming to a close because that means in less than a month I will be out in the real world dealing with responsibilities that I have never had before. Senior year has been very memorable, even with the ups and downs that I have had. It has made me the person I am now. I have gotten to enjoy my last year on the fall cheerleading team, my last dances (Homecoming, Prom, etc.), and the last time I will see a variety of my classmates. Soon I will be saying goodbye to 90% of my class to never see them again for at least 10 years. I will always remember my high school days and going through every school with the same class, adding or maybe even losing a few people along the way. However, I have enjoyed growing with the class that I have throughout the years, even though we haven’t gotten along. We have shaped into amazing people and I couldn’t be more proud. 

Sixth - Eighth Grade Reflection

  I believe my middle school years definitely weren’t the best years of my life. I faced many challenges in my sixth through eighth grade years. Some of those challenges include bullying. During middle school I wasn’t exactly liked by my class so I was always the little girl that got picked on for anything they deemed worthy. I wasn’t as cute as most of the girls so they often called me ugly, or fat, or anything else they could think of. I also faced challenges with my grades. When I was in middle school I didn’t work that hard in my classes so my grades overall, and on tests were not great at all. In order to get where I am now I was made to focus on school work first before friends or doing anything else. One memory I have from middle school is going to all the fun night dances. Those were times where I could just have a good time with my friends and enjoy the life I had. In middle school I had the opportunity to make a bunch of friends that I still have today. In middle school I also had the opportunity to learn how to make smoothies, pancakes, a grilled cheese and many other foods. I got to do this in my Family and Consumer Science class with my teacher Mrs. Zelasko. Even though middle school wasn’t my best experience I still found a way to enjoy it with the help of my family, friends, and teachers that I was able to talk to. 

Kindergarten - Fifth Grade Reflection

  There are many things I remember about my kindergarten through fifth grade years, but there are also a variety of things that I cannot remember. One thing I remember from my primary school years is having our big water fight, where we would bring in liters of water and spray each other with water when summer and the hot weather came around. Another memory I have is from my intermediate school days. I remember my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Niedel, slapping Jacob L’s desk because he had fallen asleep and after he did that the entire class stared at him till he woke back up. It was so funny. My final memory of fifth grade was when all the fifth grade classes went outside to shoot off the rockets we had been building throughout the year. I remember my kindergarten teacher. Her name was Mrs. Malik. She was the nicest teacher I have ever had. I remember getting the opportunity to go outside to play on the playground or in the snow when it was winter. We would be told to bring our snowsuits, gloves, hats, and boots the day prior and then the next day when we had free time she would take us all outside and we would get to build snowmen, make snow angels, and have snowball fights. My primary school years were the best because those were the days that I had no responsibilities or a future to worry about like I do today. The primary school gave me the opportunity to enjoy being a child before the real world hit me later on in life.