When I first started to email some people that I knew I felt weird since I don't email anyone at all. Its weird to email instead of texting them but i still did it. As I got responses they made me feel good about the things I have done even though at the time I didn't feel so good about them. Theses messages made me realize that although I go through good or bad things I'm not the only one who knows about it because my friends see my success and told me about what they saw and how they felt about it. Four strengths that i have come to find out about myself are braveness, hardworking, dedicated and being a leader. 

MY LEARNING FALL AND RISE

On August 12 I was just someone who was used to the same old structured class learning through a book and moving onto working in a packet. As a learner I was just used to being in a box that almost everyone was put in . I thought that my English class was going to be like my other classes. When Dr.Preston said that he wanted the class to choose between learning through a book or open source learning I was surprised. I didn't quite understand what open source learning was, but to me it meant we didn't have to read out of a boring book so I thought open source learning would be an interesting experience.

My experience with the journals was something odd. I've tried writing in a journal before, but I could never keep up. When I first started writing it was hard for me to fully put down all my thoughts of the journal topic since I wasn't used to writing like that ,the same goes for my blogs. This reminded me of the quote from On Self-Reliance "We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that divine idea which each of us represents". This quote made me realize that I was half expressing myself because I was too afraid to show my true self. Memorizing was actually quite hard because I didn't have a strategy on how to memorize the poems, however I eventually developed a strategy for myself and learned it faster like that. Posting myself reciting the poems was quite embarrassing but I still did it which made me proud of myself. Over the last four months I have definitely improved on almost everything. Even though I improved I am still learning on how I can improve more especially on my writing. 

Throughout the 4 months I have been here I think the time I felt the most tension was when I was studying for my vocab final. Since I was already busy studying for my other finals I didn't really have much time for the vocab final. I thought I would never have enough time to study for it and that stressed me out a lot. In the end I made a quizlet so that I could study while I walked to my classes and on the way to my house. I had memorized most of the Lit Terms and some of the Tech Terms. When it came to the Final I did my best even if  I didn't write every single definition correctly. Throughout this time I was reminded of the poem A Dream Within A Dream because the poem was about how our life is going to go by really quickly even if we don't think so at times. The poem reminded me that this time will pass whether I want it to or not.

Four months is a long time especially when its revolved around school. Finding a good routine to follow is hard to do, but when you are a busy person you are usually already used to it. The first half of school was stressful but I got through it. It took me a short while to come up with a routine that I could work with but I am satisfied with it. My routine starts from when I wake up. I get ready, go to school, attend all my classes and take notes, after school I either take the bus home ,stay for community service, or go to the public library to do my physics homework. By the time I get home I make myself food if I have time or I go to my room to rest a bit. Then I start my homework which is typically math. When I finish that I get ready for bed. I usually do my English work in the morning because I have an hour to kill due to the bus always picking me up early. This has contributed to my success by not being stressed out all the time to finish everything on time and knowing that I always have time to finish something. This reminds me of The Laughing Heart because the author tries to persuade the reader to take charge of their own life which is what I try to do.

Having had the experience to learn through open source learning has changed the way I learn now. I have found ways to learn and memorize important things. I have been able to apply this to my other classes and it has helped me out. When I first started I would barely understand what the class was discussing but now I perfectly understand what we are doing. This class helped me by coming up with strategies that will help me learn. Not only do I use these strategies in this English class, but I also use them for my other difficult classes. When I wrote my favorite journal on 12/04/19 and blog 

"First Impression of a Dream"  I wrote with my thoughts only. I wrote/typed everything that I was feeling and thinking. After I read it I was satisfied with what I wrote. Something in this course that made me smile was when we were reading On Self-Reliance  I smiled so big because Emerson stated things that everyone could relate to. This class has been great and I hope that other teachers take Open Source learning into consideration.

How Did I Do?

I had my interview today. I would like your feedback whether I should improve on anything or what I did good.

FIRST IMPRESSION: ON SELF-RELIANCE

My first impression of the article "On Self-Reliance" was that i thought it was speaking many truths that we don't really talk about but we subconsciously think about. I like the way the author worded the essay because it wasn't simply straight forward it was more complex but that is what made it more understandable.

STORY OF MY LIFE

About two years ago in summer I was invited to go to a six day training in Florida for an organization I am in. The time is different over there than it is here in Santa Maria because Florida is three hours ahead of us. Since I was not used to the time there I would usually fall asleep around two in the morning. On the third day I was in Florida my room mate and our friend decided to explore the hotel we were staying in so we took the elevator to the highest floor. When we got there it seemed as if someone else had just gotten there too because the elevator in front of  us had barely opened as soon as we arrived to that floor. We though nothing of it so we just walked out of the Elevator and walked down the hallway. We kept hearing the elevator beep as if someone kept pressing a button for another floor. After we explored the highest floor we decided to go back down so we went back to the elevator and as we walked closer the sound of the elevator was still going on. So when we got to the elevator we tried to take the other elevator that was in front of the creepy one but when we pressed the button for that one to open the elevator that had been acting weird opened instead. My room mate and our friend got scared so we decided to take the stares but we got scared at how creepy it was. We ended up going back to the creepy elevator and tried to go down back to the lobby but for some reason  the elevator wouldn't move. On every floor that we presses the elevator would close then open back up. We tried one last time and it was finally going down. As the elevator was counting down from eight to one the elevator went farther than one and went one more floor down. At that point I was thinking that I was in a scary movie but when the elevator opened all we saw were two more elevators in front and things crashing into each other so we went back in and presses the help button in the elevator and told security that we were stuck on that floor. We didn't want to wait long for the security to come so we decided to go to the other elevator and try to go back to floor one. We finally got to the first floor and as we were walking to our rooms the security guard stopped us and asked if we were the ones who got stuck . They ended up asking us questions and we were all scared because we didn't want our advisers to find out that we had been wondering around at two in the morning. This whole experience was scary but at the end we all laughed it off and ended up sleeping on one bed since we were tired and our friend didn't want to go back to her room.

THE VALUE OF MY TIME

For me ever since my freshman year I have enjoyed volunteering not because it looks good for colleges but because I am able to meet new people from everywhere and create new friendships. Community service relieves my stress and gives me a sense of success because when I come straight home after school everyday I always feel like my life is a depressing routine that goes on forever, but whenever i'm volunteering i feel good because i'm usually always doing different things that are fun and at the same time I am helping and fighting for our community to be a better place for everyone.

INVESTING IN ME

Honestly I don't know how I will start fundraising for my life after high school. I'm hoping that I will get scholarships to be able to pay for college or university (whichever one I go to). For now I am looking for a job to be able to save up for college and hopefully I am able to still be working while I am enrolled in college or university.

LETTER TO A MENTOR DRAFT 1

Dear mentor,

I'm pretty sure that I already know who you are and I want to say that I am great full that you are my mentor because of what you push me to do with my life. Although I am currently confused on what I want to do with my career I hope that you are able to keep encouraging me to do my best and focus on what's really important.

Poem Recital for THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyVQd9Zaf3A

LET ME WALK YOU THROUGH THE PEDESTRIAN

Leonard Mead in the short story of The Pedestrian  by Ray Bradbury was put in a situation in which he had no control over so he feels many emotions towards that police officer that had stopped him from walking. The police officer questioned Leonard for walking at night he knew that causing a scene would do him no good so instead he chose to write about his experience of being seen as a mentally ill person. Through the usage of tone, plot, and character Leonard is able to convey all of the emotions he felt when he was being interrogated by the police officer for a guiltless act.

This story starts off with Leonard taking a walk late at night and minding his business. This time frame is in 2053 a time where everybody is is consumed in their technology. A random police officer finds him taking a walk abnormal so he stops him and forcibly asks him what he's doing and why he's doing it. In the plot of the story a man doing a simple thing, but the police officer finds the man suspicious since literally no one in that time frame takes a walk just to breathe or to see. Leonard uses this plot to make his readers feel confused as to why he is being stopped and interrogated by the police just like how he felt.

Through the usage of tone Leonard is kind of like an outcast because he describes how the streets are quiet, and how he how in almost every house the lights are flickering from the home owners TV. Leonard is different from the others because instead of being at home and watching TV or being on his phone, he's instead taking a walk something that no one else does in that time period. In a way some people may relate to walking out at night just to calm themselves down, but others find it weird because they are always on their phone. To further show that he is an outcast a police officer stops Leonard for his odd behavior and ends up taking him to the Psychiatric Center

Leonard Mead is indeed a very interesting character because of how different he is. In his time frame everyone is always using some type of device, but he doesn't it and it is considered odd if he isn't using it. Like for us it is considered odd to be using a Nokia phone or to dress up with gowns from the 1800's. This shows that in his time it is reasonable to consider the thought of walking outside alone just to breath air is weird but of course to us now it confuses us because we're still not to the point of always being stuck to our devices.

Overall, this short story is very interesting because Leonard made this story to make us feel what he felt throughout his experience. Leonard was able to convey his emotions into writing. Through his use of tone, plot, and character he was able to get his readers to think the same thing he was while being interrogated by the police officer.

FIRST IMPRESSION OF A DREAM

While reading "A Dream Within a Dream" I didn't quite understand it so I had to reread it a couple of times for me to understand. What I understood from this is that the sand that is getting away is like time and how time passes quickly it shows how at the end of our lives we may think of life as a dream. Our life may be great, sad, bad, or confusing, but in the end it will all seem like it went by too fast like how a dream does. This poem makes me feel like I should be doing more exciting things, things that make me happy, not wasting my time of unnecessary things. I want my life to end with me knowing that I did something to impact the world or peoples lives positively.

MY ESSAY ESSAY

I believe that Goodman Brown was dreaming when he went for a "walk". I believe that he is getting some type of signal from his conscious that everyone is not as innocent as they pretend to be. I think that all the leaders in government and church are not in the night forest with the devil.

YOUNG OLD GOOD BAD

I believe that Stephen King was affected by this story because this story shows that even the most kind and innocent person you know always has a bad side to them. This can say that we will never fully know the true colors of those around us. All we will ever know is what they choose to show us.

Young Goodman Brown Questions

1. I think Hawthorne's purpose for writing this story is to show that even the most innocent or nicest person you know has a dark side you could have never imagined.
2. I agree that Faith's name fits her personality because she's a caring person and loves her husband dearly. In the end Brown doesn't have faith in her because he did not greet her back.
3. The pink ribbon mean how good and innocent Faith is.
4. I believe that everything Brown witnessed was a dream because there was a passage that said " Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest, and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch meeting?" which means that if he had dreamed that then he wouldn't have dreamed about the devil disguised as a man.
5. I believe that the old man is actually the devil because in the text "But the only thing about him, that could be fixed upon as remarkable, was his staff which bore likeness of a great black snake " a snake represent evil and deception.
6. The staff are snakes and they represent evil and temptation. I believe that the staff make him keep on going because at one point they tell him if he's tired then he can use the staff to help him.
7. I believe that if Brown had not ventured through the forest then he would have stayed the same because the forest is what made him look at everything so much more differently. Brown would have still trusted everyone and everything.

Literature Analysis (Fiction) QUESTIONS

Book Title: We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

In this book Marin( main character) is a young woman who had left everything behind to forget her painful past after her only family had died. She ran from her reality and went to her new  college in New York somewhere where no one knew her or of her past. Her best friend comes to visit her for 3 days in hopes to convince Marin to move into her parents house for her breaks. Marin does not want to go back to her hometown somewhere where it is filled with memories. I feel like the the theme is grief because she is not grieving as she should. She doesn't seem to want to accept that her grandfather is really dead and in order to do that she pretends as if it never happened and tries to forget about it. Based on the authors tone I feel like she is someone who has probably gone through some very hard things in her life. She is more of a night person than a morning person someone who drinks when she's having a hard time and eats whatever is easiest to cook like toast with avocado, scrambled eggs, etc. 

THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE

I have always thought that at least one person has looked through my messages I've never doubted it. What I learned is that to keep my email or other accounts secure I have to change each password every 30 days. Even though it sounds easy to change it I always have trouble memorizing passwords and especially if I have to change it often, but i'll do it to keep my information secure.

FOR THE WIN

Something that i'm really proud of is being able to express how I feel about certain things in my journal. It's somewhere where I don't have to feel like it's an assignment that has to get done. For me it's something where I can say what I truly feel.

I AIN'T GOT TIME FOR THIS

I am someone who is usually always busy after school. If i'm not home then i'm usually at club/organization meetings or doing some type of community service. It's what I love to do, but sometimes it can get stressing especially if I have a lot of homework. My day starts by waking up at 6 in the morning going to the bus at 6:30, go to my second period and then go through all my classes. When it comes to after school if I can I take the bus home, but if I have something to do that day then I go to the Mrs.Patty's office and hang out there with my friends and talk until it's time for a meeting or community service. I usually get home late and do some of my homework. If  my brother decides to take me to school (doesn't happen all the time) I get to sleep around 6 to 7 hours but if I take the bus then I sleep 5 to 6 hours depending on what time I go to sleep. I usually have fun though so that's what keeps me from being extremely tired.

TODAY I WAS THINKING

• Mindfulness-a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique

I think that the one minute of mindfulness is a great idea because throughout the day we all go through stressful classrooms and sometimes feel like we're not completely there. I think that a lot of people usually just tell themselves "let's get through this class and go to the next" and then usually feel like their mind is there but not all of them. The one minute of mindful thinking makes me feel like i'm completely present in the classroom.

The Earth on The Turtle's Back

• This story is a myth
• A myth is a story that explains something that we don't understand

This story tells us that we can accomplish our dreams no matter how big they are they are all achievable . I honestly believe that this is true because there are many people out there that have worked really hard to get to where they are right now. 

SO THIS GUY GOES FOR A WALK

This story paints a good picture in my head all I see while i'm reading it is these really tall trees with fog all around them, owls ,crickets, and water dripping down onto fallen leaves.The main character does seem really paranoid when he is going through he forest. When a serpent was brought up I remembered about the Garden of Eden because in the Garden of Eden a serpent represents the devil and deception.

THE FIRST 50 PAGES

Book: WE ARE OKAY by Nina LaCour

This book is quite interesting. When I first saw it I thought that the cover was kinda cool. When I read what it was about I wondered if it was going to be a good book. As I started reading it it was okay, but there wasn't any type of emotion from the character. She spoke with no emotions I figured she's depressed because of the way she is living and how she talks about the things around her as if it has no real meaning. As I got closer to reading almost the first 50 pages I realized that this book is actually quite interesting. From what I understand of this character she doesn't want to deal with her reality so she ran away and tries not to think about it until her best friend comes to visit her and talks about her deceased grandpa trying to make her face her reality. What I really like about it is that it points out an unhealthy coping mechanism that people turn to in real life.

HACK TO SCHOOL

What is this class about?

I believe that this class is about finding what inspires us and being ourselves whether it be online or offline.

What is the easiest part of this class?

I think that easiest thing about this class is our daily journals because they always get me thinking deeper and I don't have to rush to finish it everyday.

What is the hardest part of this class?

The hardest part would be the multiple blogs we have to do and memorizing poems.

What have you learned so far?

Iv'e learned to think deeper about other things and to question them.

What is your big question?

My big question is why do we have to go to school for years to only go back to school if you want to work a couple of decades to retire and then die?

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES OF A HACKER

As I was reading "Conscience of a Hacker" all I could really wonder is what got him to start thinking like how he does? I'm not saying he shouldn't, but I would genuinely like to know when or if he's always thought the way he has. What I have noticed is the way he conveys his message by the use of tones; repeatedly saying "damn" criticizing and identifying others. The way the author uses syntax could get others to wonder how we as teenagers are too because of how the hacker points out the things he dislikes of people his/her age.

I CARE ABOUT YOUR UNDERSTANDING

For this post I chose to rewrite my welcome post. I went back to read it and I was not satisfied with how it came out. I want others to understand what I really meant when I wrote it.

 Welcome.
Hello everyone :) I hope this blog becomes my safe space; somewhere where I get to express my opinions. I am person who really cares about what is going on in this world and wants to make a change. Although I can't completely change it right now I hope one day to actually have impacted many lives in the future( in a good way that is :)). I hope that the reader feels free to comment on any of my posts and tell me what they think of my posts ( tell me whats wrong or how to fix it especially :)).

THE MAKING OF AN ESSAY

Notes:

• Montaigne
• the word essay in french means to try
• Essay for this course is to try to make yourself understood

Response
 For me I kinda like writing essays but not really. The part I don't like is the planning part of the essay especially having to find evidence and giving an example. However, I do like when i'm done with the planning and actually start writing then getting into writing the essay to the point where I lose track of time.

EVERYTHING IS A REMIX

Notes:

• A remix is to combine or edit existing materials 
• You don't need great skills to remix
• almost everything is a remix
• You can always see pieces of the original stuff in the new one
• Creativity is considered divine
• Expect something that is like no other

-How do we create?

• domain knowledge
• copying
• transforming 
• combinations

CONSCIENCE OF A HACKER

I thought the " conious of a hacker" was very interesting because the auther often repeated lines like"They're all alike" this prase made the main character sound annoyed. The main charcter would often repeat "Damn" making sound pissed about everything. The author made this character unique by not making her/him like everyone else. I wonder why he was so mad at just about everything. 

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

I feel like getting to know someone is important because it is better than judging them without any reason. Instead of judging someone based on their looks, or actions we should first get to know them as a person and then think if we like them or not. What we did in class was actually quite fun we got to know some interesting facts about people that we never could've guessed. We always assume things rather than actually finding out especially in people and that could always turn out bad.

TODAY I ASKED A QUESTION

My big qustion is why do people always have the need to be superior to at least someone or something? When we were children we loved asking questions we were always curious about everything. Now that we have grown up we avoid asking questions. In Gordon Mackenzie's book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball, he explains how he observed a class full of 1st graders and when asked a question all of them sprung out of their chairs excitedly. He also explained that as he asked the same question to each grade going up less and less students would rais their hands. 

COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES OF A HACKER

diction is a word an author chooses
syntax is the way an author aranges words
tone is the authors attitude towards the audience or the topic or the characters
"The Mentors" use of diction effectively conveys his message by repeition of some of the same lines and words. The mentor also uses profound language and compares everyone to him saying that he is not like everyone else making a tone.

My memorizing strategy 💭

Whenever it comes to memorizing anything I always read the first line then I close my eyes and reite it for about five times. When I open my eyes again I read the next line and close my eyes again this time I recite both lines five times and do it again for the next line. Each time reciting from the beginning and adding in the line I had just memorized. I think it's effective because i'll never forget what the first part was. With a poem like "Richard Cory" it took me about an hour because I would often make up words that were not there and put them in one of the lines so I often had to go back and recite that specific line 10 times.

Second Socratic Seminar

Notes-

1. A right is something others must honor/obligate
2. An opinion doesn't get us to the truth
3. Saying you "have a right to your opinion" doesn't require someone to do,say, or feel anything
4. We need to focus on an issue instead of using emotions 

First Socratic Seminar

Notes: 

The Socratic Seminar is a method that is used to find the real truth.

Why do people end up hurting the ones they love the most?

Is it still love if someone cheats in the relationship? 

I think that people will hurt the ones they love the most unintentionally by trying to protect them from something and end up lying about what they are trying to do for them or trying to do what they think is best for the other person when in reality it is probably not what the other person wants.

In my opinion if  someone cheats on their partner then that means that they don't love that person. You may ask why? Well I believe that if you are inlove with someone then you would never do anything to intentionally hurt them in any way.

The Right to Your Opinion

While reading this article I started thinking that there are opinions that sound like two different things in two peoples minds. That is why we have to question it or give a reason to the opinion that was stated. If we do not agree with another person based on their opinion on something, that does not mean that you would have to change your way of thinking and they don't either. We could try and explain why we have that opinion and maybe the other person would change their opinion or we could stick with our opinion and neither person changes their opinion which is completely fine even if your opinion or theirs isn't right.

The Socratic Method

I think the Socratic Method is very interesting because they question you a lot and make you think deeper into what the topic is about. For example whenever we're discussing with someone about who should get a more important role in a show we ask questions criticizing the person they are defending. These questions are intentionally criticizing to make the other person think deeper in their decision as to why they chose to defend that character in the show. This is why I think that the Socratic Method is very interesting in making people rethink if their choice is correct or wrong.

Richard Cory

This is a video of me reciting the poem of Richard Cory. Honeslty it took me about an hour to memorize it but whenever I got to recording myself reciting the poem my brain shut off whenever I thought I was doing good. So finally After so many tries I decided to post this one. I messed up a little but I tried my best.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6XXT6wCBsQ

Welcome

Welome everyone

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog :). This blog is a place where I will get to express my opinions out to everyone. I hope whoever is reading this will feel free to comment on any of my futue posts and share your opinions whether you agree with me or not on any of my opinions.