Throughout this grade 10 year in ELA I feel as though I have gotten a chance to further improve my skills as a reader and a writer by exploring different areas of writing and finding my own style in a way. Coming in this year from grade nine I felt as though I wasn’t very sure how I was supposed to structure an essay or make clear and easy connections with prompts very quickly, and that showed in my PAT; however, leaving Ms. Hunnisett’s class I am very confident in my abilities as a writer, a reader, and I’ve learned certain things that I feel have made me a better overall student.

Writing has never really been something that I enjoyed… At all. It was more like I did it simply because I knew I had to and even then I wasn’t always really sure exactly what the heck I was actually doing; especially last year being introduced to a new way of essay writing that left me entirely to focused on trying to figure out what a thesis and theme statement were, rather than on my actual argument. I’ve noticed that this has changed for the better over the course of this class since now I have a set process in my mind of how to do a properly structured essay and that leaves me with my focus completely on expressing myself.

I’ve always been a fairly opinionated person, wanting to have people listen to what I have to say and actually understand and pay attention, something that can be hard as a teenager. When writing, now I can see that it’s a good way to do just that. The blogging has influenced that significantly as well, because the closest I have ever come to a blog is Tumblr and that doesn’t really count in this case. It allowed me to try something new and it acted as a good outlet for me to write how I desired to with a clear purpose of simply expressing my feelings on certain subjects. I do want to work on making sure I don’t ramble and get straight to the point. I feel as though I’ve matured as a writer and even though I still don’t necessarily like doing it because of the hassle, I most certainly have grown to appreciate the art of writing.

I love to delve into the realms of my imagination, and that of others so it’s clear to me that my favorite genre is fantasy. I’m an avid daydreamer and I thrive on thinking outside of the box, the only problem is that I don’t know how to take the time to sit down with a book and read without really being prompted to. That being said, I love reading a good book and It fills me with joy to enjoy a story that I can give to my imagination to feed off of. Once I start reading, if I love it then there will be close to nothing that will prevent me from finishing it as soon as possible, sometimes a huge book in one sitting. So I really would like to work on being able to actually sit and start a book by myself because that’s really the only thing standing in the way of any significant improvement as a reader. This year I feel like it’s been a sort of balanced pro versus con kind of experience in terms of literature because I actually read much less than last year, yet I did come to the realization that even though my friend Lina isn’t here to feed me books and make me start them, it really should be my own responsibility. This year has made me notice that I shouldn’t rely on her to make me read, otherwise I’m being a total hypocrite when I tell my mom I’m ready for independence… So I am making a goal for myself to pull up my big Paula pants and find a way to manage my time more efficiently so that I can force myself to learn to do something useful other than playing sports, playing video games or sleeping all day, and READ TO FEED my mind.

As a learner what I have taken from this class is to explore a more creative side to my work after having experienced blogging and making a creative since before I didn’t really do well connecting my creativity to literature and now I find it much easier to do so. My strengths as a learner I would say are being able to catch on quick and gather from various perspectives and ways of doing something in such a way that I keep investigating or asking questions until I fully understand and have made my own unique approach, as well as being able to express myself effectively. I find that my way of thinking and how I go about being very analytical/ philosophical in my daily life allows me to go into the depth of a piece of literature or a type of art, or life and gather what I believe it to mean with a way to back up my opinion. I truly think that this year has really showcased that in my eyes and I’ve only improved and have gotten a much more open-minded approach to everything in life.

So  far I think grade ten has gone well for the most part. My goals next semester are to prove to myself that I can maintain a 90 average in my favorite subject, science, make the badminton team again, and to improve my time management.I also want to work on improving my relationship with my dad because although I love him with all my heart, lately we’ve just been bickering and having unnecessary conflicts and I want him to never forget that I adore him. Life is pretty good right now: I’ve started thinking about university, my career path and the best way for me to have great marks by grade twelve which have led to a conflict of “do I want to sacrifice my happiness and take Spanish class again just for the grade or do I want to take a different elective.” Negative I would just say is myself having temper issues and not really knowing how to deal with frustration with myself and other people.

All in all I’ve had a really great and influential English class this year and I couldn’t have asked for a better growth experience as a student, person and writer, and I hope the next semester and couple of years go smoothly.

 -Amaryllis flower

Me as the learner:

One of the most important things that I’ve achieved from this class is wanting to read. I hated reading. but last year when I read Of Mice and Men I thought of reading more, but throughout the year I never actually got to find another book that I enjoyed. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite novels and that was my ” Aha” for wanting to read more which is a goal for 2015 for me. My strengths as a learner is I’m able to understand lessons or anything efficiently and quickly visually while, on the other hand, my weakness is that I get distracted very easily and by basically anything that’ll make a noise.

Me as the reader:

I never read books like at all unless it was for a school assignment during grades 5-8 and that affected my marks, but I never really cared. Now I’m finding books that interest me a lot and I’m getting back into reading this year and I hope I’ll stick to it. My goals for the future to read would be reading at least 2 or 3 books per month so I can make a habit of reading and become more successful in that field. My favorite genre of books would be fantasy or something along those lines. I’m going to start reading the Harry Potter’s because everyone’s read them and I want to know what’s so amazing about them.

Me as the writer:

My writing ability is improving throughout the year and I’m doing alright. My vocab needs to be implemented into my essays and such better because that I believe is my major struggle. My organizational skills are improving a lot more than last year and the year before. I’m not drifting off to a different topic anymore and I’m providing my evidence a lot better in my essays as well comparing to the past few years. I’m just going to keep reading so I’m able to keep up with the grade level vocab.

Me as a grade 10 student:

So far my years flying by pretty quickly. There are some weeks where I have tons of homework and those weeks feel like years. I’m challenging myself to play more sports because I’m getting lazy and reading more this year as well. Life is going pretty good so far; I have my homework problems but those problems usually go away. I have stress about the future and university as well, but I’ve already planned out what I’m going to do. All I’m doing now is studying for exams and playing video games for hours so yeah life is pretty good.

Transitioning from 9th to 10th grade is quite nerve-wracking for someone that finds peace in routine, someone like me. Coming into my 10th year of schooling I was afraid of all the unexpected changes I was about to encounter: the new people, classrooms, and the most terrifying change of all, new teachers. People had told me that Ms. Hunnisett was one of the nicest teachers you could have, but I didn’t believe much of what they said until I got to experience her, and her style of teaching, firsthand. Her approach was less head-on, more of a “here’s your assignment, now you choose how to do it” type of technique, which I found to be both effective and fun, mainly do to the fact that I’ve spent the last 10 or so years being taught in an autocratic style. In just one short semester of ELA 10-1 with this remarkable teacher I’ve grown not only as a writer, but as a reader and a learner as well.

Although I don’t aspire to become a writer in any way, being able to find my own writing style was a goal of mine coming into ELA 10, because it would help me with future writing assignments I’d have to complete in my upcoming high school journey, and I think I’ve done it. I say think because nothing is definite when it comes to learning; my level of understanding on everything in the world around me will only increase with years to come, so I’ve found that it’s best not to close myself off from new views and ideas. For now, my newfound style of writing is something I’m happy with.

Another thing that I’ve learned about myself when it comes to writing is that I enjoy reading the work of writers that is somewhat unorthodox; writing that doesn’t follow any rules like joining clauses, or making sure that a participle phrase clearly refers to a proper subject, or using parallel construction to make a strong point and create smooth flow. I understand that these rules are set for a reason, but not all writers follow them, and that’s what makes them more fun for me to read. Being able to write is a required skill most people need in order to get a job, but it’s that want to write, that urge to convey your thoughts in written form for others to read, that distinguishes true writers apart from everyone just trying to get by.

I’ve always loved reading, yet I’ve never been much of a reader, and that hasn’t changed too much this year; however, I now know that I haven’t been challenging myself enough when it comes to reading. I’ve learned that I haven’t been as into reading because the novels I have been reading have been short and basic when it comes to vocabulary (which may surprise some considering my overall vocabulary level). This year I’ve come to know that reading helps you learn in many ways; for example, it helps you grow your vocabulary, and learn life lessons that are indirectly taught through the themes of different novels. With this in mind, I’ve made it my goal to read more challenging books in the years to come.

So Ms. Hunnisett has helped me find my voice when it comes to writing, and taught me the importance of reading, but how is it possible to teach someone how to learn? The process of learning isn’t something that people are taught from a young age, it’s just something we all do. My way of learning has always been direct. I’ve always done things the way I’ve seen them done, never stopping to question “Why that way?” or “What if…”, and I would’ve continued to think like this had I not met the sensational, Ms. Hunnisett.

Ever since the second week of school, when we started doing Say/Mean/Matter charts for our film study, I’ve been fascinated by the way she thinks, the way she sees everything around her. She’s taught me that even the simplest pieces have deeper meaning and many stories of their own to tell. Words can’t describe how much she has changed my way of thinking, because of her my perception of life has become so much more positive. For the first time in my life I’m not worried about my marks or my grades or my future, which is something I’ve been dreaming of for years. Ms. Hunnisett, you turned an otherwise unmemorable semester into some of the most unforgettable 5 months of my life, and for that the only thing I can say is

thank you.

Life is a garden. Similarly, like a garden our lives are filled with different and colourful flowers like our emotions, relationships, eduction, knowledge, circumstances, lessons, mistakes, etc…. Everyday we all learn from our actions and we all teach someone from our experience. Therefore, in the past six months at Foundations For The Future Charter Academy (FFCA) I have learned lots of things like to read, write, adjust into a new environment, being independent, hardworking and more from my teachers, peers and my surroundings.

As a learner in my English Language Arts 10 (ELA 10) I’ve learned lots of things, but the one that was new to me was to write a strong essay with a strong theme statement. In my past years I never learned how to write a critical essay or even a theme statement. So this was all new to me. As a learner, my strengths are that I can learn anything that’s new and I can learn it quickly. My greatest challenge is doing my work perfectly, especially when writing essays. There is a saying “practice makes perfect”-anonymous. I do not follow that say at all. As a learner this is also my greatest challenge that I do not practice what I learn. Honestly, I find it a waste of time and sometimes boring to practice the same thing again and again. This is where I a trying to keep working on. Well, I am good at learning everything, but I am best at learning new things and the things that I find more interesting; I tend to go deeper and learn some more about them. As a learner there is lots to for me.

For some people reading is their interest, for some people it is their passion; and for others it is their life. As a reader I did not really have any identity before. In my past years I would only read around five to six books a year. However, in the last six months I read more than five books. Everyday my reading is improving, as well my vocabulary. As a reader my significant goals for this year and for the future are to read more challenging books, to read all the books that are on my reading list and to read at least thirty books a year. Mostly my interest are in reading science fiction, historical fiction and drama. However, I also enjoy reading romantic, comedy and fantasy books. When I read I find peace, I feel relaxed and I find solutions for all my problems. For me, reading is now my life. 

 As a writer I believe that a paper and pen are always a writer’s best friends. They don’t complain or demand; they bring our emotions, our imagination into words. They keep an individual’s writing a secret. As time passes my writing is improving everyday, especially when I came into FFCA. I see a huge improvement in my writing and the way I organize my thoughts. Right now I only have one goal in mind which is write strong essays especially the topic sentences and the theme statements. To improve my writing I am trying my best to write a journal everyday about my day and what I learned or enjoyed.

As a grade 10 student I feel really confident that it was a right decision for me to come to FFCA as I learned so much from there. At the beginning of the year I sort doubted my decision of coming to FFCA as it was completely a new environment for me and I had never been to a charter school before. The greatest challenge for me was to adjust at FFCA. My goals for the next semester is to work hard. As I said before that life is a garden and there are always changes, fun, lessons and mistakes that happen everyday in our lives. In general, my life is full of changes, challenges, lessons to learn, the mistakes that I regret and fun that I have with my friends and family. Life’s keep moving on. I want to say thanks Ms. Hunnisett for being an awesome ELA teacher and for helping me throughout the semester; because of you I am able to write a good essay and a good theme statement. I wish that I get you every year. Thanks Ms. Hunnisett!!!

Courage  has long been considered one of the greatest qualities to have as a person. It is often said that one must live courageously and not cower in fear. We are told by the world that courage is essential and that we all must find the courage to do something, yet they do not realize that this bravery is what prevents a peaceful world. The inevitable fact is that there will never be anything that the world can agree on. There may be a majority ,but someone out there will always have a different perspective than everyone else and if these ideas clash, there will be conflict. However, before one can voice their opinions, they must possess the bravery to do so. Without courage to speak their thoughts, they would simply keep quiet and not share their opinions with anyone out of fear. Perhaps in a world without courage, there could be peace. If humanity agreed on everything regardless of whether it was their true opinions or not, there would not be a need for any conflict. One may be able to find peace by discarding their inner bravery.

In Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch shows great courage when he takes up the Tom Robinson case and chooses to defend an African American. Rather than conform to the majority’s opinion, he stood up for his beliefs and argued his point in the court as best as he could. But because he went against the norms, he evoked the rage of the other Caucasians such as Bob Ewell and the lynch mob.  Had Atticus simply declined to defend Tom Robinson, Maycomb could have held its peace. However, Bob Ewell also showed courage when he attacked the children. He believed that Atticus was crazy for having defended an African American and wanted to take revenge for his embarrassment. He worked up the courage and tried to harm Scout and Jem but ended up dying. Without courage, Bob Ewell would have been too afraid to attack the children and would have simply held his grudge to himself and left Atticus and his children alone. Mrs. Dubose was another figure of courage found in the book. Despite knowing how grumpy and rude she would become, she remained determined to overcome her morphine addiction. Had she not possessed the bravery to overcome her morphine addiction, Scout and Jem would have never had to face hostiliy from Mrs. Dubose. They could have been peaceful neighbours, but she ended up becoming a source of conflict due to the courage within her. Had Maycomb County been a town where citizens lived in fear, it would have been peaceful, but the boldness of the citizens has exposed it dark side to all.