English Final
By Nicolas Ciner
English Final
So Mr.Raisdana, it’s that time again. The time where you must once again leave another batch of students and continue with your never-ending quest to spread knowledge throughout the minds of the young. But you’ve taught us well, and even as you ask us to write down what we’ve learned throughout the year, we think back at all of your lessons and advice given to us. More importantly though, I want to share what I’ve learned.
You may notice that I’ve switched back to writing a paper rather than a letter. It just makes everyone’s life easier. Anyway, we were taught some pretty heavy things this year, things that most adults would not bring up in a conversation or even talk to with their dogs (and I know I’m using the word thing but at least I’m not using thingy) Anyway, one of those things was the effect of fear on individuals. We see it everyday, from a bully trying to take money from a little girl with empty threats to wars built solely upon it. More importantly however, we saw it in this classroom. Take the Diary of Anne Frank for example, or even WWII. Germans that had not a single violent bone in their bodies did unspeakable crimes to Jews for fear of what would happen if they didn’t. The constant threat of death kept everyone on the edge; moods would change uncontrollably and Anne would constantly turn against everyone in their hide out without reason. Moving a little bit away from reality, we come upon the infamous Lord of the Flies. Even though this if a fiction book, fear plays a key role. The Beast is perhaps the greatest example. What starts off as a campaign to find the Beast ends in murder as the islanders move apart and ultimately separate, to be joined under Jack. Perhaps the greatest example under the rule of Jack would be the murder of Simon. Without going much further into that, let’s move onto the last example, the Wave. The Wave is very similar to what happened during WWII and the relationship between the Nazis and the students in the Wave is quite astounding (with the exception of mass extinction in mind) Students were forced to take sides and beat people who would not join them; deny entry to those who didn’t follow them. It was an unstoppable force, and once you were in, it was suicide to go out.
Moving away from the morbid effects of fear, I’d like to talk a bit about my personal growth as an actor. This year it seems, I’ve had quite a lot of opportunities to improve my acting skill. Not just in being someone else, but in speaking and communicating through speech, as an actor should. Drama is the prime example, as it let me break my comfort zone by being someone else in front of a whole lot of people. More specifically, Drama taught me how to move my body as I spoke and how to watch other peoples’ body language to know their true intentions. Another great example was the debates we had in class. Whether it was over WWII or human nature, debates were the best place to learn when and how to speak and retaliate or lie low and wait. Debates could get pretty heated, and it was hard not to get cut off by someone the moment you said something, so the next best things were discussions. These could also be about anything, but they taught me totally different skills. Discussions taught me who to talk to, how I should address them and how to stick to relevant topics. However, needless to say, discussions could get pretty dull, so I’d stick with a heated debate any day.
The Effective Communicator ESLR had to be the ESLR that wrapped up what I had learned. This is the ESLR that I’ve been improving upon all this time, and it only seemed fit that it earned a place in this paper. As an Effective communicator, I collaborated with others in appropriate learning situations to achieve group goals. I definitely completed this skill during the Anne Frank project where my teammates and I calmly (as if) decided who was to write the paper while the other made a movie. Another example would be the Teen Life Project, where I incorporated technology as a tool. This was definitely achieved as there was no other way to talk to my counter parts from half way around the world and by using the wiki spaces and MSN, our project was at last completed. Listening respectfully and asking questions to facilitate understanding and achieve insight. That was one of the major skills I accomplished during the Poetry unit. You’d be surprised at how hard it is to write a haiku without lighting it on fire and chucking it into the Thames, but by asking the write (I mean right) questions at Mr.Raisdana, I pulled through.
Well, what else is there to say Mr. R? You’ve taught us how to write in a way that we didn’t even know existed, and for that, we’re all grateful. I wish there was more I could tell you about my learning experience as your student, but the time frame you’ve given me just about gives me time to write a big thank you. So, uh, thanks.
