Final Exam
Oh boy, there goes my last year of middle school… Twining back the clock and I see myself as a young doubtful 8h grader. Frankly, my favorite subject was English and eve though I never seem to show it, I believe I showed much more effort in English than all my other subjects. Throughout the year, we, as a class has driven our minds into literature and poetry. Novels like “Lord of the Rings”, “The Wave”, “Anne Frank” and “The Tempest” was what we went through in this 10 months period. The plots have the least of importance because I’ll only focus mainly on the moral and lessons. Poetry was also a major part of this journey.
Let’s kick off with FEAR! Knowing from what I read, the writers of the listed novels had an interest of using fear in their writing. Before I explain what I understood through reading, have you ever wondered what makes us decide against our will; and if you did, you’ll probably be rewarded with a black eye and a chipped tooth. Think of it, if you were ganged-up on and was forced to take their orders, would you dare disobey them? If you were in that situation, you’ll probably feel hot inside and weak outside. That heat is fear. Being driven into doing unwanted things are always because the fear of the consequences is controlling your mind. For example, Jack from “the Lord of the Rings” used fear of the monster to control the children. Adding on, “The Wave” and “Anne Frank” had World War II involved. People fear losing things, people fear pain, and people fear death, people was separated, killed and lost. That’s why people had no choice but to support Hitler. Even though this fear may be an element not worth having, by looking on the bright side, fear had helped us too. This devil is what controls them to prevent taking stupid action, like jumping of a forty-floor building. Thus, making them sweet little angels. Come to conclusion, I don’t know if fear is good or bad, but I know it helps people make decisions. There is no way to get rid of fear, because it comes from inside of you. It’s attached to your heart, and at every beat, it changes your life forever.
Next in line is Poetry. Yes it may seem boring and hard. Looking at its formation can already cause you a headache. But, if you had a chance to explore and write poetry, things can turn out different and entirely changes your view towards poetry. Why do people read or write poetry? Well, it’s all up to them, their curiosity is able to force them to read and write without any food or sleep at all. From what I learned, poetry is an excellent way to present moral and lessons to people. Poets puts hopes and efforts into poetry because they think it’s a right way to let people learn, besides sitting in a corner for hours try to read a huge thick book of philosophy. By writing poetry, we express our views and thought into something interesting and hopefully, would be appealing to the reader. If the reader understands the point, he/she may probably try to make a difference. Oh sure, poetry may sound like for smart people or old people, but you’re wrong. Anyone can write poetry and no one can judge him or her by how wonderful or terrible it is. It’s a way of putting your thoughts, desire, and soul into your writing. It could be better than rather writing a thousand word journals of long dull sentences. On the other hand, reading poetry is entirely different. In my opinion, reading poetry can improve your self-esteem because readers are often reflected by what they write. Who knows, it may be your next hobby. So go out and try reading and writing poetry, express all you can throughout your pen and paper.
After being through all these, I have well suited the ESLR of an Academic Achiever. It hasn’t always been a pleasant journey but I survived. The coaching of Mr. Raisdana was always been the guidance light to me. He taught well and opened my eyes to a much wider space. By learning along with him, I realized that English was more than writing essays, or speaking fluent English. It was a way to have fun and increase our knowledge by sharing. Now I finally understood that nothing is done in one try, I had to and will still do in the future, revise and keep on improving my work until it satisfies me. It has also not been a solo job whole year either. Working with friends and peer was a big challenge to get through; things may work out fine. But for good or worst, we get to know each other better. “Go on the net to look up on this that and those.” The Internet age has arrived and I was able to cope with this. It was hard at the beginning but after a little supervision, I started blogging and using the wiki. This was an excellent way to exchange ideas and information.
This was truly an awesome year and I held many memories and experience. I thank all my teachers who had the patience to deal with me and directed me from the start. They are the ones I look up to, pay my respect to and listen to. Despite the few days of 8th grade left, I won’t hesitate but to enjoy it to the fullest. To all the teachers who are leaving, I wish the best to you all and hope we’ll keep in touch. Overall, this was my first year and a spectacular one too!
