I Write to...

I write to entertain. I love to entertain. I love to engage and enthrall and immerse people in what I have to say. I prefer doing this by speaking, but writing is definitely one of my favourite mediums. At the moment I'm writing a speech for a public speaking competition. Writing it makes me anticipate the moment I get to step on stage and share my thoughts with people. I think of ways I'll say it, and the way I write it dictates that. Putting a word all in capitals suddenly has so much more meaning to me when I'm reading it. It won't mean the same thing to anyone else unless I read it. I write to express. I write to say the things I can't say on my own.

My Definition of Education

The act of preparing an individual for something, in life, a job, or in any other given situation. Someone with experience shares and passes on that experience to someone who is inexperienced. Anyone can educate.

What Makes a Good Teacher?

This is my response to the Rhode Island Teacher Resignation video. I'll post the link at the bottom.

Honestly, good on this guy. He's got morals, and he's not willing to compromise them for a paycheck. This is what a teacher is. A teacher is so much more than someone who sits at the front of the class during the school day. A teacher has to want to teach, and has to enjoy it. It makes me really happy to know there's still plenty of teachers out there who love to teach. I'm not saying that there's not a lot of them. In my school, more often the not, the teacher is phenomenal and much more than a text book reader and talking head. But often, their creativity for lesson plans and new ideas for teaching are repressed by old rules and regulations. I believe that teachers should be given a little more leeway when teaching, as it's not black and white. There's is no right way to teach every single kid, because every single kid is different. Everyone learns differently, so you can't teach them all the same way. Most teachers understand this, but have difficulty catering to each students needs because of a restrictive system. I applaud Stephen for taking a stand for what he believes in.

If you'd like to see Stephen's resignation and message to teachers and kids, click here.

Don't Take Away the Books!

This is my response to an article on the Telegraph entitled, "Catcher in the Rye dropped from US school curriculum."As the article puts it, "Schools in America are to drop classic books such as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye from their curriculum in favour of 'informational texts'."

English class is not the place to learn about how to insulate buildings. English class is the chance to learn how to express yourself, and learn how others express themselves. For as long as I can remember, reading novels has been my favourite part of English class. As a student who loves reading, but barely finds the time to go out and get a book, English was a fantastic excuse to immerse myself into another world for a few minutes a day. The emotions and feelings that came along with the brilliant mental images still stay with me, and affect me today. I can remember all sorts of small passages from books like Catcher in the Rye and Death of a Salesman. Although many may consider fiction a waste of time, it’s actually a very beneficial tool to our development as people. While reading, we take on another person’s life, and experiences.

If you'd like to read the article, click here.

            

What They've Left Me

Thank you Andrew Miller, for the pipe in the basement. 

Thank you J.D. Salinger for the carousel in the park and watching his sister go round and round, 

Holden's hunting cap and sitting in the dorm room, and the diner with the nuns. 

Thank you Cormac McCarthy for sitting on the beach with the sky all dark, the basement and the people chained to the walls and the man without legs, and hiding and watching the truck.

Thank you Mitch Albom for the Vietnam war vet and the Blue Man.

Thank you Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee for the politicians arrival in a small town.

Thank you Harper Lee for running in the dark with a ham costume. 

Why Fiction in English Class is Important

We tend to get pretty wrapped up in our own lives sometimes. This can make our views and opinions pretty one-dimensional. Characters in books have this awesome ability to show us something else, something new. They help us achieve a new perspective, or a new feeling on a topic. Reading removes us from ourselves, and that is the value of an English course, and mandatory readings. It reinforces the idea that reading is important, and doesn’t just have to be done in an English class. It helps us see things we could never see on our own. 

Grade Eleven - Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman is also always going to stick out of in my mind. I remember sitting around the Harkness table, and everyone getting a chance to read a part. Mr.Leach loved to read out Willy, and made it really enjoyable. Because of some things I was going through in my own life, reading the play was sometimes a bit of a struggle on my own. With Mr.Leach’s hilarious accent, and the enthusiasm of the class as a whole, however, it was a great experience.