Life Lessons

A new version of english

Fifth period.

It’s the last class of the day (my sixth is practice) and usually I would be dying to get out but this year was different. Fifth period was something new. Fifth period was my English class and honestly, I never understood English.  My mind set was basically “I know English so why do I need to take four years of it? What a waste of time. ” I mean I’m I can write decent essays and comprehend books well enough to get A’s on comprehension tests, but I never really saw the point of it.  I mean that’s all English is right? This year that mindset completely changed.  This year, English became something different.  It wasn’t filled with mindless endless essays and mindless tests.  Instead it involved life and truly understanding the meaning of it.  It involved things that school had seem to forgotten.  Not only did it change my view about English, it changed my views about my life.

On the first day of school, I was literally terrified to walk into fifth period. Thoughts were running through my head.  I’ve heard from other people that English year was going to be different. Wait what? English is just book, essays and tests… how can that be different? So naturally, I was utterly terrified and started to be super nervous and other thoughts ran through my head WHAT IF I MADE A BAD IMPRESSION ON THE FIRST DAY?  So on that first day, I didn’t say anything. I literally just sat there doing the activity we did like a mindless robot. Me being scared about making a bad impression made it so that I made no impression.

Well I was right, English was different but not in a bad way as I had expected.  Essays became blogging, Socratic seminars became B.R.A.W.L’s, boring projects became innovations projects, and lectures became life lessons. Oh and rubrics were thrown out of the picture

Confused? Don’t worry I was too.  Here’s a super quick rundown of everything.

*disclaimer: these experiences are all of my experiences and therefore will be changed based on the person and their personal opinions. Also, these words cannot embody the entire experience*

Theriault Talks- aka life lessons aka the best days ever.  These are basically talks about anything that doesn’t have to do anything with school.  The topics can range from fixing your toilet to what do on a first date.  Filled with great pictures and amazing laughs these talks are sure to brighten your day… and help you in life.

B.R.A.W.L’s- The amazing replacement of Socratic Seminars*. B.R.A.W.L’s are you coming into a group.  You making questions.  Answering these questions.  Presenting your questions. Getting points for answers.  Sadly, you can’t get the entire feel of B.R.A.W.L’s without being in one. Overall they allow you to analyze works of literature without wanting to stab yourself.

*Socratic seminars are basically where you sit in a circle and one person says a point of sparknotes and then everyone else just repeats it.

Innovation Projects- Come up with a project that will last you a semester. Do anything you want. Find a need and fulfill it.

Blogging- What I’m doing right now. A new more practical form writing. Allows you to write about what YOU want and makes it much more interesting to read.

Overall, my experience in fifth period this year is something that I would have never expected.  I learned this year that life isn’t about grades, rubrics can’t define who you are, trying new things is the best way to experience life, to stop worrying about grades all the time, Fountain Valley High school is the best, the best place to go on dates, fixing toilets, being nervous is ok, failing is ok, being different is ok, not being good at everything is ok, oh and other English related items.

So this post can’t express my English class.  I mean how can you express so much in words but I would just like to say that even though sometimes it seemed like I didn’t enjoy it I really did and I can only hope for a class that would give me the same experience.

All this was possible thanks to my teacher, Mr. Theriault.