Since my last blog a lot of things has taken place in my life. I went to my first NCTE conference and it was one of the best learning experiences of my life. A big fear of mine is talking in front of people and I faced that fear at the conference. I learned how to network, share ideas, and how different teachers think. I also learned that I’m not to bad at rapping. I have never really had the opportunity to express myself like I have being in the #bowtieboys and that has really changed me as a person.
The biggest thing that has happened to me this past year is that I have completed my first year of high school and I am now a sophomore. Freshman year taught me the fundamentals of high school and allowed me to discover the best ways I learn. Even having a year of high school under my belt, I wasn't prepared for the hard work sophomore year would bring, and from the looks of it, I don't think junior year will be much different. Last year I decided to challenge myself and take research bio. I took this class because I am not the best at research and I wanted to get better, but I feel like as every project goes by I am becoming more and more confused. During my freshman year I felt a lot more focused in my classes because for most of them I was intrigued by the topics we were learning about, but this year I can't find that same spark of interest for the majority of classes. I keep wondering how to make myself interested in a class that I have no interest in. I try to concentrate but end up half listening, kind of like when you autopilot read through a book.
One thing that I haven't lost interest in is my sports cross country and track. I have survived two seasons of cross country and one season of track. My stand out drive to become the best that I can be from my freshman year has stayed with me landing me a varsity spot in all of my seasons. I keep getting faster and have no plans of slowing down anytime soon. Surprisingly enough, I don't think I am being given as much work to do outside of school as my freshman year. Rather than having more work, I now have less things that are much harder to complete. This was definitely out of my rhythm and something that I have not quite gotten used to. I was very good at completing my work with the best effort and turning it in on time my freshman year and I credit my sports for that. When I got home I knew I had a lot to do and no other time to do it. I would do it all, go to sleep, wake up and go to school, go to practice, go home and do my work and repeat. I’m having trouble finding that same rhythm from last year. The amount of work I get assigned almost acts like an illusion. It doesn't look like a lot so I will save it for the morning but only to realize that this one page of homework will take me an hour to complete. Freshman year I actually had a lot of physical things I saw and new I had to complete but took much less time to do.
I have always been a big procrastinator and it is definitely showing this year. I've noticed a flip from my freshman year on how I work on things. During my freshman year I would save work for home knowing I could get it done. This year I work my butt off in school to try to get everything done before I get home because I know I will most likely not do it then. That's why I absolutely love study hall and the A day B day system at my school. I feel like study hall is such a life saver for people that have extra curricular activities that limit their time to do schoolwork. Also the A day B day system lets students relax a little bit more because everything is not due the next day.
I think I would benefit a lot more from less homework and more in school work. I know that sounds like a really obvious answer but it is how I work best. This is why my favorite class is english. In English it is usually what you don't get done is homework and I love that because it gives me a choice. I can work hard all class and have no homework, or I can have a more chill class and work at home. Other classes are more work in class and have separate homework which isn’t my favorite. Although it’s not my favorite method for getting my homework done it has taught me to manage my time and plan ahead, which has strengthened me as a student.
Great post Christian. I loved reading about what a positive experience NCTE was for you. You should be very proud that you were able to face your fears and come out on top. It was amazing!
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