Last Blog

Yep, school years ending so this is the last blog we've been assigned in class.

*Sigh*

First off, I’d like to say I’m proud of what I accomplished this year. I don’t think I’ve read as many books as I did this school year since fifth grade, which is amazing considering the amount of work I’ve been dished after elementary school. Since middle school I’ve been too busy to read (except for quick read like fan fictions and manga) but being forced to read a certain amount of books each week really got me motivated.

Secondly, I like the fact that I got to do something like this this school year as being a responsible young lady I was able to delve into a greater variety of topics and challenges than a ten-year-old me would have. Yes, that was a good thing because I got to experience masterpieces like Memoirs of a Geisha and Dorothy Must Die, something I would have vetoed reading years ago due to my age, but at the same time I got to read books like Perfect. Is there a difference between the acceptable age that a person should read about certain topics and view certain topics? It’s practically the same thing, the only difference is if it’s depicted in words or images, each time you get that same feeling through that this should not be in the hands of an adolescent. I’m just saying, you let sleeping dogs lay and expect them to stay on their turf; when one suddenly comes into your territory it catches some people off guard and usually is filed away as an unpleasant experience. But I digress, young adult fantasy novels usually have too much fantasy in them and/or questionable content if you ask me.

Third, reading has rekindled a hidden passion in me that I though was long dead; writing. Have you ever noticed that a good book can inspire metacognition in oneself? You get exposed to so many new concepts and people and that in turn fuels your own desire to create new concepts and people and the next thing you know your theater teacher is putting a limit on the scripts you’re writing in class because she knows you wrote 70+ pages of awesomeness. Or that could just be me and my salty self, don’t mind me. But in all seriousness, having an example to inspire one abandon the shackles of procrastination and follow the path they’ve take and start writing down my reveries. You wouldn’t believe the amount of new concepts for stories I’ve had thanks to the inspiration I’ve gotten from reading, and I’m determined to see these ideas come to light. Problem is finding time to make that happen, but what the heck, I love a challenge.

Fourth, my actual writing has become truer to myself, bolder, and maybe my grammar has gotten a bit better too. It perplexes me how people don’t get their blogs done yet seem to have a fine time keeping up with their social media feeds. Be real with me for a second classmates, how can you fail a blog entry if you just do the 250 words and reflect rather than summarize? You can’t! It’s that easy!! Not only that, but you don’t have to write a formal essay each time because I surely haven’t and look how good my blog grade is (just kidding, unless you’re my teacher you can’t). The freedom the blog gives is not something to be passed off as a place to vent all your darkest secrets nor go on a rant each time you blog; it is to be used to develop young voices into more precise, confident and convincing adult voices for next school year and for that I’m deeply grateful. I’ll admit it was a challenge to read the right amount of time each year, but it was a challenge I’m grateful for and don’t think should be changed. People are busy, but that’s no excuse to not force them into developing their minds, especially with how lax the public education seems to be now a days (seriously, does anyone try?). Just because you kid says they don’t like medicine doesn’t mean you don’t give it to them, you say ‘it’s for your own good’ and then make them drink every last drop so they can get better. This is the delicate nature we have maintained in class all school year and if some children won’t drink their medicine then they can stay sick and suffer.

Finally, I’d like to say I had so much fun this year with the way we got to read whatever we wanted. Compared to my last English teacher, we had assigned books and AP at least two (or whatever) books to read each quarter and I practically died each time I had to read dry Jane Austin novel or a slow read such as Lord of the Flies. Even the reports we had to write on those books were dull and made me not want to read on my own time. Being able to have a choice allowed me to keep interest in my reading and want to develop my skills more than I did the previous year. The one thing I’d change is the minimum amount of books we have to read each semester. Granted, I never had a problem with reading two books a quarter like I first anticipated, but two books a quarter seemed to be too few. If we were to improve our reading over the course of the year than it should have started out at two book the first quarter, gone to three the next, then four, and finally five the last quarter. Call me brutal, but that’s a good way to make sure that your students are improving their reading and becoming more consistent readers. Heck, it might even help with the blog grades as it’d force people to read more books in a shorter amount of time instead of the bare minimum of two so they would have to read faster or read outside of class, either way boosting daily reading grades.

Well that all folks, I’m shutting this blog down after this and leaving it to be lost in the void known as the internet. I do hope my rambling hasn’t troubled any of my non-existent readers too much nor have you felt offended about any shade I gave your book and plan to bring up my unkind remarks if I ever try to run for anything political. I do plan to continue reading though as it’s always (with exceptions) a pleasant experience. See y’all next blog!