It was the month of August. The month everyone has different emotions. The first day of school. In that case, it was my junior year. To me, a school can be fun but stressful and Knowing that I had an Ap class got me excited but nervous. This class was Ap Literature. It was my fifth class of the day. This was the class where everyone's stomach wants food and people start paying attention. But most of the time people just want the 50 minutes to be over with so they can socialize. As I enter my Ap literature class I see everyone else sitting down. I wonder to myself where are my friends. I tell myself this is what happens when you come in late. I was looking for a spot to sit at and all seats were to be taken. Guess where I end up sitting. I end up sitting in front of the screen. The screen was twice my height probably even bigger and taller. The moment I realize that was when I had to lift my whole head to see my teachers face. This day was strange and unbelievable.
As I was Paying attention to my teacher I realized that he was different. For the first time I enter a class and the teacher is not talking about the paperwork and rules. I was so lost. I knew then that this class was going to be different. I thought you were going to be a teacher that gives us a lot of work. My first impression of you talking about open-source learning and how we had an option to use textbooks was amazing. I was happy but also confused because I wasn’t sure how a blog was going to teach us. I also didn’t like technology. To me, technology is a hate and love relationship because I get frustrated when my phone or any piece of a device doesn’t work but I enjoy being in contact with my friends. Most of the people wanted to try open-source learning including me. I wanted to try it because it wasn’t a textbook and for once and it was different.
For the past few months, I have been writing journals, blogs, memorizing poems, and posting videos. I enjoyed every moment of open source learning and I’ve learned so much from it by doing blogs, journals, memorizing poems and posting videos and other things. The most important thing I’ve learned from this class was life. The reason why I enjoy this class is because I see my improvements. Being able to have a different learning style is incredible to me because I get to experience my way of learning and By doing so I tested my skills in many ways in this class. I don't have the words to say how much this class has taught me in the past four months. But ill start by saying that all the things my teacher has taught me were for a good reason. I mean I won't lie I was struggling and getting used to letting my emotions and learning flow away. When I first did the blogs I felt weird because I was used to reading in a textbook and not on a blog. I never even knew what a blog was. I also felt the same way with poems because I've never even memorized a poem in my life. Although I was used to taking a video of myself I didn't feel awkward about that. Overall the open-source learning was like riding on a roller coaster.
The most tension I felt was when I had to memorize a poem. I knew that my memorization skills weren't the best and that the poem would take days for me to memorize it. I had other homework assignment and the best way for me to memorize it was to take an hour out of my time to focus on it. I had no sleep that night because I had come home from my practice and I knew at some point I had to do it along with my other homework assignments. This was the hardest part of my day, being able to memorize a poem and vocab words. The way I handled this new experience was to stay calm and not procrastinate at all. I would always do my work. If I didn't finish it in class I had it for homework. I knew that this was class had a lot of online learning and I was ready for it. I made sure to never miss a blog post for me not to stress as my fellow scholars would. Although I would never miss a journal entry ad blog post or essay I was able to see the stress some of my classmates would feel I am positive I won’t procrastinate in this class.
As a learner, I've improved a lot. I've seen myself grow in these past few months while being in this classroom. I have improved in my memorization because I was really bad at memorizing things until now. I Can memorize the vocab words and not take an hour on it. I feel accomplished because memorizing hasn't been one of my best skills up till now. I've also learned how to write a resume, cover letter, and references. This classroom has taught me a lot and I know I Am a much stronger leaner than I was at the beginning.
