End Of Year Metacognition

Days of Reflection

       I often find myself in situations where I don't know why I'm there or what I should expect from it, but when I do find myself there I usually stick to the same advice, "fake it till you make it". In many ways my eight grade experience exemplified this advice. The year started out on a high note with Windsor mountain, a trip that I feel impacted all who attended. When walking into my first class I wasn't sure what to expect, but judging from what I had heard about my new teacher, Fitz, I was guessing it was going to be pretty good. As the first few weeks settled in I immediately felt comforted by the class. We actually were writing in the first few classes, not just reading along to a lame book that nobody enjoyed, actually writing, usually about whatever we wanted. It was heaven.

       When we finally started reading partway through the year, I was surprised, it was challenging but not boring. Tom Sawyer definitely opened the door for the rest of the year. Th year carried on following what I said earlier, providing challenges that were accomplishable but still made me work for my grades. 

       During this year, there were times where I feel that I could have done myself several favors. A lot of times during this year, I had no idea what I should do with myself so I did everything. Soccer, Scouts, school, it added up. I would go days without getting enough sleep, desperately staying up, trying to do my work, only to be further behind the next day. I was faking it and barely making it. It took me a while, but I was starting to realize that I needed help. I started talking to my teachers more. Seeking extra help and actually getting sleep. It was a tough process but one that I needed and it definitely helped improve my academic performance in all my classes including English.

       During this year, my writing has definitely improved. Last year my biggest problem was my long rambling pieces with no aim or power behind them. Having a constant supply of rubrics and writing sheets this year helped give me direction and the power behind my words. My analytical reading has also improved this year with my new note taking strategies that I can use while reading.

       Outside the classroom this class has helped me not only with my application essays, but also with my interpersonal skills. When doing interviews I could better formulate sentences by planning ahead what I was going to say. It was weirdly like writing in real time. This also helped in coordinating my Eagle Project through emails and while writing my project proposal. 

       This year was a tough one, but not an unpleasant one. My skills grew along with my confidence. I made some new friends and as I now leave the Fenn school, I can say goodbye knowing that this past year has been one of the best.

Teaching Empathy

Punishment actually worked

A great teacher who is full of excitement for her students can change their lives

Deval Patrick

      It can be hard at times to remember that teachers are people too. Throughout my time at Fenn, I’ve always tried to resist the thought that teachers are soulless creatures, born to shove knowledge down students throats, but nothing has helped me in this more than Fitz’s eighth grade English class. It was the first day of eighth grade and I was walking into my brand new English class. “Oh boy, I better be good this year” I probably thought “this is going to be one of the teachers writing my high school recommendations. But as the weeks went on I soon learned that with my rambunctious classmates, it wouldn't be too much of an issue. As a former goody two shoes, old habits die hard and I still hold onto the coveted thought of graduating without ever needing to serve a recess recall, but one fateful thursday afternoon I was hit by a bombshell. “ALL OF YOU SIT DOWN” yelled a (rightfully so) furious Fitz “My day wasn't good before this class, and it certainly hasn't gotten any better”. After a solid 30 seconds this was followed by a “GO SIGN UP, ALL OF YOU!”. One day and one excused recess recall later I was already laughing about the situation, but I did teach me a lesson. Teachers have feelings and emotions too, however much it seems like many don't, and students need to respect them as any other person.

An Independent Journey

And an Unexpected Result

The most courageous act is to think for yourself. Out loud.

Coco Chanel

      There comes a time in every mans life where he must realize and explore his independence, Through the Tunnel by Doris Lessing is a celebration of this realization in a boy named Jerry. Through the Tunnel follows Jerry and his mother on their beachfront vacation. Jerry's mother loves him dearly so when when he asks to go swimming on another remote part of the beach, she is cautious, but agrees “He mustn’t feel he ought to be with me. I must be careful.” When Jerry arrives at the section of the beach he sees a group of boys “burned smooth dark brown and speaking a language he did not understand”. He swims closer to them and they way him over to them but when they realize the language barrier between them, “they proceeded to forget him”. This doesn't bother Jerry though and he follows them around watching them swim. When he sees the boys swim through an underwater passage, he decides to prove himself because "To be with them, of them, was a craving that filled his whole body". So he trains to swim the passage and finally prepares to swim it with two days left in his trip. 

He was no longer conscious. He struggled on in the darkness between lapses into unconsciousness. An immense, swelling pain filled his head, and then darkness cracked with an explosion of green light. His hands, groping forward, met nothing; and his feet, kicking back, propelled him out into the open sea.

       After finally completing his challenge, proving that he could take risks, Jerry looks out over the ocean; he sees the boys he once admires and doesn't want to be like them anymore; he realizes that he was his own hero. Through the Tunnel tells an inspiring tale about the journey to independence that I would encourage anyone to read. 

Behind The Front

Video Essay by Evan Lanzendorf

All quiet metacognition 

       I’m not going to lie to anyone reading this and say that I have even an inkling of an idea of the pain, suffering, and dedication soldiers devote to their country and their comrades in war, but if the events in All quiet on the Western Front are even close to what real people have experienced, then I firmly believe that everyone on earth should read this book. 

       Reading this was hard. It was a gruesome detailed book, but it’s details of said pain at necessary.  After reading this, one doesn’t often just stop thinking about the events depicted, or

at least I didn’t. When people use the cliched yet everlasting “if we do not learn from history, we

are doomed to repeat it” All Quiet On the Western Front exemplifies such history. So we must learn from books like these, so that things stay quiet on the Western Front.

The marks of Insanity

Tests tests everywhere
Tests tests they’re in my hair

6 in a week
Yeah sure that’s fine
Why don’t you get to sleep on time

Quiz grades
Sink your self esteem
Just study
Don’t worry
You won’t get an e

stay up late

its not that hard

you shan’t worry 

will say the bard

Resigned Violence

Themes in chapter Eight

In chapter eight of All quiet on the Wester Front, I feel that there is a constant overwhelming theme of resignation. After coming back from the front, beaten and scarred, Paul should be overjoyed in the previous chapter when he gets home but all he can feel is disgust knowing that everyone thinks highly of the war and that soldiers are heroes. In a strange way he’s almost relieved when he boards the train to get away from leave, but when he gets to the camp, he finds even worse situations. Not only is he stationed with demoralized, traumatized, shell-shocked soldiers, he’s also made to guard Russian POW’s. He doesn’t know what to do and starts questioning whether anyone should be in this brutal mess of a war. All he wants is to go back home, forget the war, and protect and provide for his family, it even when he does see his family, the give him the food that they need most. It’s a sad, slow chapter, but ultimately, a necessary one.

Good Times with Friends

The Power of Dumb Fun

      Sometimes a bit of dumb fun can bring people closer together. It was behind the door to my friends room where me and Owen Omally learned this. Me and Owen had always been good friends but had never really gone through much together. Unfortunately as the tides of a small war located entirely witting one house changed, we were about to go through some major shit. In this war there were two sides, Jerry’s and Bodes. We were on Bode’s side and had been winning until Elliot staged a coup. Now as we sat across from each other in the dark, listening to the footsteps slowly approaching from down the hall we nodded at each other. On the count of three it all came apart. Nerf guns blasting we threw open the doors. It was four against two and we were immediately outgunned and taken to the basement for trial. It was a short one, and we were both found guilty of crimes against the new republic but they were dropped pretty soon after pizza arrived. All in all it was a pretty silly experience but that didn’t really matter to me. We were having fun In stupid ways and that’s all that really mattered to me; having fun with friends. It’s experiences like these that have cemented memories of dumb fun with friends into my head.

The Despair In War

         Through the muck and glory of war always shines the bright red glare of despair. “All Quiet on the Western Front”, has helped to strip away the blinding glory of war from my eyes and show the horror and despair that has been faced in the past. Reading Chapter Six not only repulsed me to the point of feeling physically sick, it forced me to be critical and pay attention, even when in the heat of the moment (something that I often have trouble with). I had to visualize each gruesome second, feel every bullet and know each soldiers pain, in and out of battle, after all “Bombardment, barrage, curtain-fire, mines, gas, tanks, machine-guns, hand-grenades—words, words, but they hold the horror of the world”. Chapter six starts with the company under fire from the enemy. The bombardment lasts days and when the final day of the bombardment comes, all are relieved. Their relieve only lasts for a minuet though, as soon as they hear the cries of a charge despair sets in. They are quickly overrun and they are forced back to another line where they regroup and launch a counter attack. Fatigued and injured they somehow chase the French back to their own lines and steal some provisions before heading back and hunkering down again. While reading this book I could resonate with the main characters despair. During the book he’s constantly conflicted over his situation. Driving up to the front line, getting bombed to hell, seeing fresh recruits get slaughtered like pigs, driving off the front to rest and repeating the process. Even though I have never been in a situation like he has been through I could feel his pain and even though I’m not even halfway through this book I would recommend it to anyone who hasn’t already read it.

My Ideas for Socratic Discussion

In our Socratic seminar one of the topics I feel we should discuss is the necessity of war. In my mind, war is a worst case scenario. An idea when all other negotiations and talks of solving conflict have failed, but as time has gone on I feel that war has become more commonplace. A way of settling conflicts from the start. All Quiet on the Western Front reflects this use of war through the moral of troops and the primality of their battles. The other theme I feel that we should talk about is the theme of primality. When the author describes battles and bombings, the primal state of man is always apparent. You can clearly see how everyone involved turns into a beast, killing without thought.