Reflections On Week #1

1. The only factor that might affect my participation and experience in this class, as of now, is myself. I am the only thing that will hold me back, I am utterly afraid of sharing my opinions, essays, and any form of work and honestly don't know how I have been accomplishing it up to this point. The only other thing that may hold me back and affect how I interact with the class would be transportation. Since I am one of the few students in AP English who live in Guadalupe it does get a bit complicated to be able to get together after school with a group, or meet up during the week or weekend. Another factor that may potentially affect my experience is the loss of my smart phone. Once my current contract is up my brother said he is no longer willing to pay my bill, and this may create an issue.
2. The best learning experience I have ever had took place my sophomore year with Mrs. Byrne. Mrs. Byrne is an excellent teacher who was constantly challenging me and my classmates. Her class required hard work and dedication and that was probably my favorite part about it. Another thing I really enjoyed was that I always got feed back, whether it was on an essay, the Inferno project, or a poem we had to write about ourselves, Mrs. Byrne always provided some honest commentary. I also really enjoyed being in a room with highly motivated teenagers, everyone was always constantly trying to out do each other, and the competition required us to work even harder. The atmosphere in her room is also very pleasant, she provides a safe and open environment, where students actually wanted to share their ideas and argue their points.
3. I am excited and eager to become a more open person, to become willing to share my ideas/point of view. I know Dr. Preston is providing me and my classmates with an open environment and this will influence the manner in which I act when faced with the opportunity to share what I think. I look forward to learning and discussing literature, reading is one of my passions, even when it is for schoolwork. I will never take the easy way out when it comes to books, unless it is to clarify an idea I didn't understand, and use spark notes or any such website. This class will probably influence the way I think and process ideas, already my opinion has been changed with some of the arguments presented in our first Socratic seminar. Another thing I am eager to do is keep learning how to use the Blog, to keep posting my thoughts, and learn from my classmates.