[KC]: Shaped by a Shift

This week I suffered a loss - a death in the family. In going through this and following the same procedures that I know all too well (grieving, coping, comforting others, etc), I couldn't help but recognize the reflection that comes with losing someone you love. Perhaps it's this whole business of commencement addresses and personal statement writing; perhaps I am simply hyper-aware of reflection because of the units through which we've been working. Nevertheless, I found myself reflecting on my life. And, here I am, in the late hours of the night (or early hours of the morning, depending on what type of person you are) -- the time of night when only sketchy activity wakes and weird-looking animals stir about -- reflecting on the reflection that I've done this week.

In a sense, I am commencing a new chapter of my life. There's a shift in my narrative, albeit a small one. You see, my life has changed because this family member has left it (in the physical sense). Again, it's a small change, but it's there. I've realized that even though it may not seem like my life is different because my day-to-day routine isn't changing and my goals remain the same and my focus hasn't shifted, what I knew my life, in the complete sense of the word, to be will never be the same. No family dinner will ever be the same. The dynamic of it has changed. There is now an alteration in what it once was. Sure, we will celebrate the life of this loved one. We'll look back on past dinners and reminisce about the times that she made us all laugh. We'll re-tell her jokes so that the spirit of who she was lives on. We'll continue her traditions, which we all groaned over. Every. Single. Year. Yet, we always went along with them because it made her smile and gave her an excuse to tell a story -- her stories were the best. We'll feel nostalgic about the times when she was here. Still, that's exactly what it will be: nostalgia. I think that's what got me reflecting, the truth that every memory I will ever have of her has already been made. There is no potential for more, and everything involving her will always have a haze of "the past" over it.

So, it comes down to this: we are a product of not only what we do, but also of what life does to us. Essentially, we can't control everything that happens in our lives. Each interaction, each major change, each minor change for that matter, will alter our story just a bit. There will be a rift in what we have known to be the normalcy of our lives, a fracture in what we're used to. We will leave that experience different in some way. But, this is a good thing. It shows growth. It allows for it. And, it presents an opportunity to reflect -- on what you've done, on who you are, on who you want to be. I think these rifts, no matter how small they may be, are what truly develop our character. They force us to embark on a slightly different path, a slightly different story. Embrace them. We can look at them as a crack or we can view them as a restructure, but either way they create a new depth, something we haven't felt before, something we have yet to discover. It's in these depths that we start to find our gems, the qualities that shape us, the things that bring meaning to our narrative. And trust me, all of our narratives matter.

[KC]: Hidden Intellectualism Assignment and Preparing for the JIGSAW

Hello, people.

Be sure to finish reading your jigsaw article you were assigned today (Remember, I assigned a number between 1 and 5. Based on that you are to read your assigned article in the back of the packet.)

Take a look at the slides from today. Make sure you review this and then complete the Stop and Respond for the "Hidden Intellectualism" in our packet.

Here are the places to stop in the text: 

Support

     Going into high school no one was fully aware of what it was going to be like. Especially me. Being raised in a tough environment as a child, I figured this would all just be like everything else just more stress, more pressure, and most importantly for me more loneliness. Having no one around for me just like elementary and middle school. But much to my surprise things were not like that at all. I was surrounded by a more support than I ever imagined. Being helped with school work, with home problems, on the soccer field, and friends. I am now able to look back at memories that have changed my life. Everyone has special memories with friends or teacher that they will all look back on and feel a special connection with. We have all been so honored to attend a high school with such a great student and faculty staff.

     Being able to use our experiences that we have learned here at this amazing school, we are now able to use these experiences and move on in our lives as adults. We have been put through such great support system and we don't fully understand what we have. Once we leave and we are living our grown lives whether its college, the workforce, or the military, we will see what we had now. It will not be very clear at this point because we have the support right in front of us and it has been there for a long time already. we will never lose support, it will always follow us with family and friends, but this type of encouragement we have right now as seniors will be the strongest we have ever felt it. That is a great aspect I am going to miss once I leave this school.

High School : Commencement Speech

When I attended my first day at Mayfair, I was so scared to go to school. I was scared because I could remember to myself a new school a much bigger school with older kids. My first thought was are they other kids going to like me or are they going to be mean to me. I remember my mom telling me that everything is going to be ok that I shouldnt be worried because that the kids were going to like me for me. When I got to school to I didnt know what to do at all all or where to go and I just can remeber I just wanted to go home and that was all. Thankfully I had my sister and my brother with me at this school.
Looking back, through the years from 7th to now I can just say to myself that I shouldnt have been worried at all if people like me or not. During my years at Mayfair I made a lot of friends and I lost a lot of friends but that didnt stop me from going to school at all. I just learned to grow as a student a much better student around class.

[KC]: Peter Elbow Paperslide Self-Reflection

After your group has presented, each person in the group needs to submit the following: In a one-page TYPED letter, reflect on the whole process of engaging with Peter Elbow’s Writing With Power.

The reading:

• What did you learn? Would you put your technique into practice?

The preparation:

• Who did what? How did you break up/discuss the material? Who made the slides? How did preparing the script go? Note the contributions (or lack of thereof) of your groupmates.

The video:

• Who did what? Note the contributions (or lack of thereof) of your groupmates. Who talked? Who flipped the slides? Who filmed? Who uploaded?

The exit pass:

• After looking through the exit passes, do you feel that the students grasped the material? Why or why not?

[KC]: Exploring Key Concepts Activity

What’s Next After High School

Activity 3: Exploring Key Concepts

Words are more than lists to memorize for a test; they are concepts, the ideas that allow us to distinguish ourselves from one another. Some of us feel “courageous,” others feel “cautious,” and yet others may feel “indifferent” or “unconcerned.” The task here is (1) to find the words that best match ideas about who you think you are at this stage of your life; and (2) to begin to unpack these words for the information they provide about your attitudes and assumptions, skills and abilities, plans and goals. The more language you have to describe yourself and what you are bringing to the next stage of your life, the more opportunities you have to represent yourself accurately.

What follows is a rather brief list of words, certainly not a comprehensive list, that will help you find words that name the values and abilities you are bringing to the next stage of your life.

Look through the list, and choose 10 words that best fit your sense of self. Write them down in your notebook in the section you have titled “What’s Next?”

absent-minded active adventurous analytical angry appreciative artistic book smart complicated cool curious dependable determined developed devoted disciplined respectful responsible scientific

self-aware self-promoter self-reliant self-starter selfish serious shine at work shy person small steps enterprising enthusiastic family person fearful goal-setter habitual happy helpful hungry impatient

Inarticulate indispensable influential inquisitive intellectual kind social person street smart stressed talkative trustworthy truthful underachiever valiant warrior wishful worrier leader life of the mind

light-hearted low self esteem mindful motivated optimistic organized outgoing passionate patient persuasive pessimistic positive self esteem procrastinator realistic

Now, think of ten words of your own, and add to the list.  Then, in your notebooks, rank your 20 words from most important to least important in describing who you are right now.

Since these are things that describe "the values and abilities that you are bringing to the next stage of your life," rank them in the order of what YOU think is most important in making up who you are, meaning which words describe you BEST to LEAST. Obviously, they all describe you, which is why you chose them. Of the 20, which best describes you (#1) and so on.

Keep Going

With the end of senior year approaching us, it feels as though we have to do everything we can to make it memorable. Leading up to our final year, my ideas and plans on what I wanted to do kept expanding like as if there wasn’t an ending to high school. Now that the time has come, I can pretty much say that my high school career has been very eventful and am thankful for our graduating class for making these memories happen. High school is pretty hectic, (on a small scale) I mean I don’t know if it’s because we’re all going through puberty but I have to say it got emotional at times. Some advice I would like to share is to keep going. Even after we graduate and some of us may fall into a rut just keep going. You’re life is what you make it to be so don’t settle.

Growing up in a family that values education, you’d think I’d have a strong will to do my best in school, on the contrary, I didn’t put school first which leads me to my next point and that is to value education because essentially you will always need it, especially after high school. You may be wondering, what’s next? That answer is up to you to figure out. Once we graduate, we are left discovering the world on our own. There is going to be little to almost no restrictions once you become an adult and hopefully in high school you learned to make some responsible decisions on your own and if not then you have a whole life ahead of you. Go ahead make mistakes and learn from them. You have to experience setbacks to give you a raw and different understanding of life. Make memories and have fun.

Cierra Pin