I’ll be honest with you; walking into language arts class at the beginning of this school year, my initial vision of what to expect was very unclear. After years of sitting in class and writing while listening to mono-toned teachers read stories until the bell rang, I was not too excited about learning, period. However, my journey as a learner, reader, and writer this year has particularly allowed me to understand the importance of consistency and hard work. Of course, revision is also of high importance, as Mrs. Hunnisett says. Through this growth, I have also realized my passion for learning, reading, and writing through which I am able to grow in knowledge and wisdom about myself and the world around me.

Similar to everyone else, several areas of my life are occupied by both strengths and weaknesses. As a learner, however, a strength which I possess that has truly allowed me to achieve growth is my ability to accept and acknowledge constructive criticism. Often times, when writing, for example, I strive to learn of the adjustments that can be made which will improve my skills. Nonetheless, a weakness of mine is my pace of reading. Being the slow reader I am, requires me to re-read a prompt several times to fully grasp the concept and absorb all the necessary and additional information. Therefore, my goal is to transform this weakness into a strength.

Consistency is crucial in growing as a learner; it is important to constantly revise mistakes so that one can grow further. In my case, maintaining my reading consistency in the future will allow me to become more skilled at reading comprehension. My realization of my passion for learning has allowed me to become more enthusiastic about attending not only LA class, but also school in general. I have developed an interest in achieving true understanding about others, myself, and the world around me.

I started to lose the appeal to read during my early teen years. During my free time, I would do anything and everything but read. After realizing that it was a mandatory task in order for me to progress well in LA, I began to read during the summer before 10^th grade. An interest in reading began to initiate in me as realized the benefits, both mental and spiritual.

Personally, I have grown to love realistic fiction books; they allow readers to understand the circumstances of others. Those in Western countries often do not realize the tragic events and occurrences that take place throughout the world. Realistic stories like A Thousand Splendid Suns and Sold speak out about the lives of many wounded individuals.

However, during the beginning of the year, I struggled with reading comprehension, especially in terms of understanding non-fictional texts, although they are fairly simple. I understood that if not consistent, it is very hard to pick up a book and become consistent again. As I began to read more, I gained an appreciation for writers in general, and attained an interest in learning more about the world around me. I plan on reading more books frequently and consistently, thus improving my reading comprehension and knowledge.

Just like reading, writing was not a hobby which I was interested in. As writing became a constant requirement and hobby in Language Arts class, I began to find an attraction in placing my thoughts onto paper. I have developed an unimagined passion for writing. Never would I have thought that it would be something which would bring happiness to my soul. Although I am not particularly strong in speaking, I find it undeniably simple to express my feelings through writing in a way that I am not able to do through anything else, other than through drawing. The first piece I wrote this year through which I realized my love for writing is my piece called Light. As I was writing this, I realized that it had much to do with a lot that I endured the year before.

As my love for writing grows stronger, I would like to share more about my experiences: my joys, my sorrows, my aha’s in life. It would be an absolute blessing to get the opportunity to write and publish my own book and touch the lives of others.

My shift from an initial stage of boredom to a state of excitement to learn, read, and write has heightened my expectations for future LA classes. The attentive behavior, fellowship, and acceptance of students in the class I attended this year with have allowed me to gain an appreciation for different values and opinions. My realization of my passion of learning, reading, and specifically writing, has definitely encouraged me to seek growth as a student, a friend, a daughter, and a sister. As my expectations are fairly high now, I pray that I will be blessed with a similar, if not, the same class in the upcoming years. I am truly thankful for such a wonderful journey and experience in which I was given a marvelous opportunity to learn, grow, realize, and share.

As a learner:

To be honest going into language arts class this year I had no real expectations. My attitude was go in, do your work, and get out as soon as possible. Language arts has never been one of my strong suits and I could never find a way to improve. This year in class I learned how much of an impact reading can have on your skills as student in general. I also learned how to analyze and understand texts on a whole different level. I also learned how much of a difference an awesome teacher can have on you, not only as a learner but also as a person. A few weeks into the school year I started to realise that I was actually excited to go to L.A class and that made me realise that comfort is directly related to opening up in a classroom and preforming at your best.

As a reader:

I always think of myself as a sufficient reader but never as good as I want to be. When I get my hands on a book I’m interested in I tend to read it as soon as I possibly can which I consider a strength. One of my biggest weaknesses regarding reading, however, is that I can go months without reading because I am really bad at finding books I want to read. My goal for reading is to read all the books on my wish list by the end of next year.

As a writer:

I’ve always considered writing as my “mark wrecker”. I am aware of how raw and undeveloped my writing is and I am trying improve and develop it. The biggest obstacle for me regarding writing is putting my ideas into words effectively. My goal is to be able to transfer my ideas into words efficiently by the beginning of grade eleven L.A by practicing throughout the months.

As a student:

As a student in general I’m not as satisfied with my marks as I want to be. The biggest academic obstacle for me, over all, is my attention span and my lack of organization. I, from time to time, find myself thinking of absolutely irreverent things in class when I’m supposed to be paying attention. If I could, I would change the amount of time we have to sit in a desk per class because, personally, it is hard for me to pay attention for a straight hour and a half. In the end I am happy with my growth as a student from last year and I plan on improving over the next few weeks.

My Reflections as a Learner:

In this class I have learned many useful things that help me understand people and their actions. Whether it was through Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, or Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. If I could design my own ELA 11/12 class it would have no desks, instead it would have sofas, bean bag chairs, with a laptop to be used by each student, rather than the traditional paper and pencil method. I believe my strength as a learner is that I can understand things better if I can see them happen, meaning I am more of a visual learner. My biggest challenge in English has to be my writing as it is hard for me to put my thoughts onto paper. In my opinion I am best at learning how to study novels and analyze them.

My Reflections as a Reader:

Before this class, I knew that my reading was pretty good, however I never really liked it. Now I believe I am transitioning into a reader, but it is still a work in progress. In the future I want to be able to continue to read and be able to read more difficult texts. The reading genre I enjoy the most would probably be in the crime/action genre.

My Reflections as a Writer:

My writing skills are pretty weak, but I can see them improving slowly and I hope that by Grade 12 they will be better. I think I can get the ideas in my writing however the organization and style can be an issue for me as I am writing. In the future I would like to be able to write without any problems. Writing that I enjoyed was the essay we did on the Truman Show.

My Reflection as a Grade 10 Student:

My school year is going by very well and I happy to say academically there are not many challenges I am facing. For next semester I would like to be able to focus on being prepared for tests and having good habits when it comes to studying. My life in general is great.

What did I achieve as a learner, reader and writer this year? It isn’t much but enough to squeeze 350 words from. I can recall an “aha’ moment, the only “aha” moment, but never used it for various reasons. As a reader, I personally think I grew from last year through suggestions from Ms. Hunnisett. Writing, to me, is difficult but I have seen what my strongest writing style which isn’t used enough. As a person, I’m more excited about next semester, not because I had bad teachers.

There was an “aha” moment that struck me as we were watching The Truman Show. I remember telling Ms. Hunnisett the special thought-process going through my head and she told me to share it with the class the next day, it was the end of class mind you. The next day arrives and I’m sitting in ELA class without a thought of my “aha” moment because I completely forgot it from my knowledge. It was a depressing day now that I look back on it because I can’t remember any other “aha” moments. It was as if I was never meant to be honored in ELA class but my reading made me feel better about it.

I never liked reading for fun because no one ever brought any books home that consisted of more than math formulae and science theories. This lead me to read news and other non-fiction texts, mostly news and facts, which has now made me appreciate non-fiction novels. But that’s not the important part. It was near the end of the semester when Ms. Hunnisett talked about the only book I completed in class and threw my name into the lecture. I was extremely proud of my ability to read that day because I knew what she was talking about. The best part of the lecture was the mostly blank faces.

As a writer, I realized that critical essays suck pretty early in my school career. They could have been better if they had more freedom but no, critical writing had to be about something people wouldn’t look twice at. That is why I like writing from perspectives, especially those that are vague and underdeveloped. This way you can relate it to anything with little proof. Who needs proof when it’s interesting to read or will be looked at more than once because of the curiosity created in the reader.

This semester I had great teachers that helped me pass my courses. My highlight would most certainly be Mr. Nayak and his use of puns in math. Never in my life have I heard so many puns. I will most probably miss all my teachers but can’t wait until next semester because I have P.E! What else could anyone ask for other than P.E next semester. Money would be great but in reality is empty, love will only break your heart, and friends come and go. But P.E is different, P.E will make you breakfast in the morning, call you for friendly advice in the middle of the day, and won’t leave your pocket empty.

Arthur Radley was a great man, a helping brother, and a contributor to society. He wasn’t as bad as everyone made him out to be. He never was a monster, he never ate raw squirrels, and he certainly didn’t have a scar on his face. As he was growing up, he made mistakes but quickly learned from them. Arthur changed his ways after his teenage struggles and became a better man that many will never understand. He was a symbol of good in our community and today you’ll know what his life was like.

Arthur greatly represented greatness through his integrity and his affects on people around him. He never tried to lie his way out of problems or use people for his own gain. My brother would be fair to all and give gifts whenever he could. He never tried to be superior than others whether or not he was more knowledgeable which left a positive affect on people he talked to. He was great because he fought for good and never for the sole purpose of harm. I saw it in him when he was just a little boy learning to get along with others. Once at the park, when he was very young, he saw two little kids arguing and saw one of them punch the other. Being the man he was, he quickly ran to the two kids and stopped the fight by beating up the aggressor. Sure he should have called a teacher or parent but he did what had to be done. His virtue of greatness made him more helpful around the house and even my work.

My brother loved helping people with a passion and never regretted giving a helping hand. He would try to assist anonymously because he never liked being the centre of attention. He would help our mother around the house with all the chores but also had  a sense of humor. Once, he was cleaning the dishes with our mother and quickly splashed water on mom’s face and ran. As he tried to get away, he slipped on some water, fell into the table and flipped it over. My cold coffee slipped all over his clothes and I couldn’t help but laugh. And another time, he sneaked out of the house in the middle of the night, got my work done just so I could spend the weekend with him. He wanted to learn to read and write but he did this every Friday just so he felt as if he contributed to our family. These are the kind of moments I’m going to miss most about my brother. His jokes and his willingness to help any in irrational ways just to be part of society.

Our society, mostly, frowned upon Arthur because of his past and our father’s unreasonable ways of fathering us. But, even through the though times, he would give suggestions to political representatives but through paper and in the middle of the night. He was the leading force behind ending racism in all communities because he never understood why it existed. He never wanted to leave the house in the day because he loved diverse kinds of people and didn’t want to be criticized for it. Whenever there was any kind of dispute at night, he would quickly rise to the occasion and help settle the dispute. He was a sheriff when the law was sleeping.

Arthur Radley was a great man, a helping brother, and a contributor to society but he did so unnamed. He didn’t think what he was doing was good because he considered it human nature but he always wanted to be a hero. The damn bastard didn’t realize you need to be known to be a hero but I loved him just the same.