Write two paragraphs, one for each topic, one for "something new" and one for "something memorable." You may mention multiple examples or expand on one example. Your paragraphs should be a minimum of 150 words and maximum of 200 words for each topic.
Be specific and detailed in your writing. Use your best sentences and proofread carefully. Work is due before class time on Wednesday, January 15. Post here and bring a copy, properly formatted, to class to hand in that day. Thank you everyone.
My comments will follow yours and will be posted before the end of next week.
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13 comments:
Something New
I would like to mention two things I have never experienced before taking Mr.Brad’s class. First, Mr.Brad used a lot of lively materials, such as articles, TED Lectures, poetry, presentations and movies, instead of textbooks. Lack of casual textbooks was a bit embarrassing for me, getting used to formal style of teaching, but this way encourages students to think comprehensively and critically and use language as a tools for impressing your own thoughts. The second new thing for me was a writing poetry as an assignment. I had the hard opinion that good poetry should be done in rhymed format and looked down on the given non-rhymed models that Mr.Brad had offered for “Here I Am” and “A Note”. If in the first poetry (“Here I Am”) I was successful in the keeping of rhymes, by writing “A Note” I realized that my efforts to follow the rhymed structure destroyed some internal elusive connections and my poetry was a bit primitive and superficial. I understood you should not be narrow mind about poetry; it is a deep and diversity world. So if you want to enlarge your horizons, use the language creatively and to be open-minded person, I recommend trying Mr.Brad’s class.
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Something Memorable
Speaking about something memorable I would like to refer to the poetry one more time, not to main of course (I am not so arrogant!) but to the beautiful poems by talented poets writing in English. It was the most interesting and enjoyable class for me. The watching of “A Thousand Kisses Deep” by Leonard Cohen, the Canadian famous poet, performed by himself, impressed me so march that I involuntarily applauded when he finished. It seemed, beautiful and powerful words about love, which were spoken by this elderly talented poet, make him again young and fall-in-love man. Later, at home, I found more poems by Leonard Cohen, many of them became the songs. I am grateful for the opportunity to know the world of contemporary English poetry, absolutely unknown before, it was very useful for studying the modern language and for my vocabulary. Also I appreciate for possibility to read Shakespeare in his original language (We have to choose any poem in English for sharing it with class); I have never thought I would do it. All of this allowed me to enrich my language skills enjoying the process of studying. Thanks for teaching and enjoying!
196 words
Something New
From English 11 class which began last fall, I met a lot of new things. The group work was the most special experience for me. At first, I got a little perplexed and perturbed. I’m a shy and an introvert, and I had been accustomed to cram school and strict atmosphere of Asian classes. So I couldn't actively participate in the first few discussions. But I knew this is a chance to get rid of my passive attitude, to make me move forward. Even if I was so nervous when I spoke in English, I tried to express my opinion clearly. I was very happy to share my view with classmates and teacher. Furthermore, I wrote poems for the first time in my life, and recited them in front of an audience. To be honest, I have read very little of poetry before. Because I've think, poetry is too abstract, tricky and arrogant. However, my thinking changed completely while I wrote my own poem. A particular attraction of poetry that I found is its enrichment and unrestricted expression. I spent a profitable days in English class during this semester.
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Something Memorable
What I personally liked the most in Brad’s English 11 class was, every day dealt with different and new topics. Some days we discussed about a social issue, and some we wrote about my own story or reviewed famous author’s short or long stories. We exhausted one topic of discussion and then, started another. Brad showed us several TED lectures, and three movies. Through watching TED Talks, I learned how to stand the front of an audience. They all are good speaker, and they showed “This is a speech which can persuade people.” After class, I searched many other lectures, of course. Moreover, we watched one of the famous silent films of Charlie Chaplin, “City Lights”. It is a well-made movie, doesn't have old-fashioned senses. Charlie Chaplin is a genius! He is an extremely talented actor and director. I wondered, it wasn't strange to us whom live nowadays. And I also really loved “Wag the Dog”. This film is a stinging satire on politics. It made me consider about the power of media. I can remember every single class days, and I believe that those all memories will add greater depth to my thoughts.
-196 words
Something New
I have experienced new, interesting and useful things in Mr. Brad’s English class this semester. One was “An Image Presentation” and another was poem writing. “An Image presentation” is new to me in this English class. Taking an image that showed something important in my community was an interesting practice; it’s enjoyable to see many different imaged and listen to my classmates’ stories related to their communities. By listening to Mr. Brad’s comments about those students’ works, I learned how to do better next time. Most students felt nervous and excited when they try new things, and I am not the exception. Having an opportunity to be a “poet” was excited but nervous to me. During this term we were assigned to create two poems: “Here I Am” and a list poem “A Note”. Although Mr. Brad gave us his sample, we needed to follow to the pattern with our own idea. These were definitely challenging tasks to student who had no such experience before like me. Through those presentations, I found the most beneficial part to me was being an audience. By sharing our poems and processes, we could learn many useful skills from each other to overcome our difficulties during writing our own poems. In brief, Mr. Brad’s unique teaching style was beneficial to me.
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Something memorable
Through these few months study in English 11, I have grasped many opportunities to absorbs knowledge in this class, and again our teacher was the cause of all this. Mr. Brad has used countless techniques such as, “TED Talks”, to motivate us to think deeply and critically. Our brains work by connection, so he always shared his life experience to help us understand the meaning of beauty in Patrick Lane’s article (“Looking for beauty in life” and “ The Thrush”). It always remained me to recall and find the beauty in my life and don’t take it for granted. However, the most memorable part to me was that our teacher never made the class boring. Before Christmas break, he let us watch a silent movie, “City Light” by charlie chaplin. Since I was not a fan of silent film, this movie changed my perspective. I could not stop laughing while watching the scene of the tramp’s friendship with the drunken rich guy; the love between the tramp and the blind flower girl was sad and romantic. All in all, this was truly a unforgettable experience for me to treasure in my heart.
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Something New
For me, using the blogger page, to post my homework as a comment, and read out loud to my classmate was quit fresh, new and unique. It was the first time I used a web page to do my school assignments. However, it encouraged me to do my home work better. Thus, I should say Mr. Brad have chosen an effective way for his students to do their home work. Moreover, the second new thing for me was, how Mr. Brad used materials, articles, and movies, to open up and talk about the new subject he was going to teach, every time. It helped me, maybe other student too, to understand the subject better. For instance, before we write the poem "Note" he gave us so many examples, such as "Thousands kisses deep", a famous poem or pervious student's poetry, to show how exactly to write a good poem. It helped me a lot to be successful in my job. This was actually new for me because, I had never experienced any other teacher, like Mr. Brad before. There would be open discussion during the class and thus, made students contribute what they understood from the class.
Something Memorable
Being in Mr. Brad's class was the most memorable moment and best opportunity in, itself. That is because I have learned lots of stuff in his class such as, writing proper sentences grammatically. I can say that Mr. Brad's class was also a class of building confidence for students, by various presentations, group meetings and talking about your ideas which he planned for us to do. Moreover , it is really sad that this lovely class would be over soon, but I can say I have so many memories out of this class already. One of my favorite memories, which I will never forget is when I presented my poem in front of my classmates and I was sure I will have so many problems and mistakes in my poem, but I was wrong. Mr. Brad marked my poem quite good, which shocked me but I was happy with his remarks. I am so glad that I have been in Mr. Brad's class for this semester. It was an awesome and suitable opportunity for me to be in such a good, fun and interesting class like Mr. Brad's class.
Something New ..
There are a variety of new extraordinary things I have learned this semester .It didn't begin in an easy way at all. Brad (Our teacher) introduced students to a blog that was a unique way for sharing assignments. “Here Am I” was the first assignment. Brad explained clearly with a few sample of poems on a homework sheet. On day one, two and three I couldn't get more words to finish the poem; I was terrified! I didn't sleep well!. The hardest part was choosing the meaningful words to fit perfectly in a100 word poem. I was exhausted. I put myself together and tried again. There was one last line left. I completed it 30 minutes before the class and posted my poem. It went to a wrong place.(I said earlier that it was new.) Brad fixed it and it was ready for the presentation. Sigh! This task gave me the biggest headache but it also built my confidence to adjust to the interesting materials: a fiction –Ghosts, a film-Wag the Dog, a comedian- Louis C.K, a psychologist -Sherry Turkle and a poet –Patrick Lane. This class had a fresh lesson plan and resources. I enjoyed it.
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Something Memorable..
It was a remarkable when Brad announced to the whole class," I'm impressed with all of your work" at the end of the presentation of our poems. Our job was to create a new version of the poem, "A Note", and base it on the original by Wisława Szymborska. The task we needed to compete was to follow structures and syllables of its model. Each of us presented her/ his own, we were cheerful to share our personal passion. [ Brad’s opinion is matter to me ;it’s honest! ]It was special to hear it that one time. Patrick Lane was an inspired hero in my writing as well. I imitated his” Season, A memoir in a Garden”, to create mine. I used long, short sentences, strong verbs and repetitions to describe how I see the Beauty of Summer. It reflected my teen background. I described a diffident way of looking at beauty that I illustrated in my 600 word short memoir. I adapted what we learned in class by combining a plot , setting, character, conflict and theme. After I saw my mark, I was elated. My memorable moment ended with a big smile and pride. Thanks for unceasing learning skills.
--201 Words--
Something Memorable
For me memorable moment is writing a poem “Here I Am”. It was too difficult for me. I spent hours and hours trying just to figure out how to do it. I was thinking, if this first homework so hard how I’m going to survive until end of the semester? I couldn’t even sleep Saturday night thinking how to write that poem. I woke up next morning, it was Sunday. I was rushing to finish my homework before my children make me busy with breakfast and make me crazy with endless use of computer. I wrote first what was on my mind and surprisingly, I like it. I posted my poem first. I was so happy. I wasn’t so happy when I find out that we going to do our presentations in order how we posted poems. I did my presentation first, which was so scary and stressful. Now, it’s end of the semester. I’m not scare of make presentation anymore like I use to, and I really appreciate hard work of poets and writers. 175 words
Something New
“From today your life is going to change.” That was the introduction statement that I heard from an instructor Food Safe Course a few year ago. Course material wasn’t spectacular as an introduction, and I remember only introduction. This introduction statement perfectly applies to Brad’s class because I changed my view on technology, I understand better autism, and I did write a poem. For me, the hardest and the most interesting assignment “Learning to leave in a Digital World” make me think more about myself in this Digital World, and more aware that use of technology can expose my privacy and I cannot ignore it. Assignment about Digital World teach me something new and story about “Temple Grandin” deeply touched me and help me understand better people with autism. With Temple Grandin I learned that society needs to change perspective on mental illness for benefit of all of us. O yes, in Brad’s class I did something imposable for me; I write a poem. That was challenging experience. I believe that we all change with what we learned in English class during this semester. 186 words
Something new
This is a sparking English 11,with little gems of thoughtful fire scattered through almost every class. As a second language student, I consistently think it is challenged and fantastic course for me, although I never got a high mark and the process of studying is hard and painful. I do learnt a lot by this unique lively teaching style. Frist, Keeping the learning materials fresh, Brad, always used the story or article from TED or Globe and Mail, such kind of idea easily matched pules of the times and made our topic interesting and modern trend. Second, group discussion, presentation note and the “blog ”posting all are excellent interactive teaching styles. During our group discussion, we not only shared the point of view from each other, but also learnt the communication skills, moreover, he even tactfully arranged new partner in different groups each time to change idea completely. But my favourite is classic films and poem. Considering diversity of the literature, it is indeed offering an opportunity to appreciate the masterpiece and improving my literary taste in various field. after enjoying “The City Light” I have to admit body language is more powerful than word itself. (198 words)
Something memorable
Brad’s class gives us an opportunity to share others ideas through their article and group work. Each classmate is friendly and cooperative, so it made this class memorable forever.
First thing ,Brad asked to show an own favourite image and explained descriptive details of the image, Every classmate showed completely different picture. when I admired their works and listened to their explains, I was suddenly aware of that each image actually represented one own world, which are totally different from each other, their topic was their interesting and even was their central of life at that time, Brad let us step into others and changed our inside world! - that was a wonderful experience but I often neglect. Second, I noticed a lot of my classmate when he(or she) first time stood in front of my classmates to read his works he was nerves, even his voice was trembled; however the second time, I noticed that he could speak more easily and was full of more self-confidence, I realized he had overcome the anxiety of his first experience. By this way, brad helped his student overcame one after another difficult, So many student have same thankful voice is memorable indeed. (198 words)
John Yu
Something New
Being a student in Brad’s English 11 class has made me become so open minded about learning new things in different ways. I was so use to using textbooks and watching teachers write formulas and definitions on the chalkboard for assignments and homework. But in Brad’s class we learned to work together as small groups and brainstorms ideas that are then shared with fellow classmates, it helped broaden ideas and thoughts amongst yourself and others. I also believed it helped me become a stronger writer and a better listener as well. I remember the first day of class we were asked to be put in a small group of 4 to try to get to know one another, at first it felt very awkward because no one wanted to start off the conversation, but as soon as we realized how interesting it was to work with one another from all ages and experiences it began to make me feel very comfortable and thankful to have met such wonderful individuals. If it wasn’t for small group work or speaking out loud we would probably still be experiencing that awkward feeling like the first day of class.
200- words
Something Memorable
One of the most memorable moments that I had in Brad’s class was when we were watching a film, a true story about Temple Grandin, an autism child that went through so much growing up, but was still passionate about become the best scientist in the world. I thought it was such an inspiring film that also helped me have a better understanding of autistic individuals. One other assignment that really stood out to me was when we really got into poetry. For most classmates it was a very difficult assignment and to others it was like a diary that was read out loud to speak about your inner thoughts and feelings. I remember listening to classmates explain different types of ways that helped them brainstorm and write poems, some with music and others by writing multiple versions of the poem. I thought it was so interested to hear everyone’s difficulties whether it was from having troubles expressing their vocabulary, or presenting it in front of the class. I could see how confident everyone became when presenting. Even some with their poem memorized. I will always take these memories and the advices that I have learned from Brad and my classmates with me for the future.
-208 words
Something new that I learned from Mr. Brad and his class is that he teaches you in a unique way and it’s different from any teachers that I had in high school. He gives you a lot of examples and try’s to teach you perfect with his extra instructions. Him given us lots of instruction was a something new to me because in high school there is no teacher that do that all if someone don’t understand something will get in trouble. For example if you don’t get what the teacher is talking about and need more help and go ask her/him they’ll get mad at you and tell you that you should listen more or you’ll get send to office. That’s what you get for not understanding the topic. Extra instruction helped me a lot and that’s a great thing about him.
Something memorable that I will always remember about this amazing class is that everyone was fun and we had a lot of fun working together and helping each other to learn more. For example when we were in a group we talked about a lot of things discussing things that we didn’t get and trying to explaining it to each other. For example when we did the “Ghosts” story I had a totally different understanding than my fellow classmates but when I heard what they got from the story changed my understanding and that helped me a lot when I was writing the test the day after. This class was a lot of fun and I enjoyed learning everything about writing poems, essays, and many other interesting things.
Something New
Adult Learning Center has been something that I have never experienced before. It was an eye opening experience, having classmates twice as my age and still eager to learn a totally different language. Since day one, everyone was new to this class (English 11) and so was the environment, filled up with students as young as 17 years old ranging up to 40 years old. It is great to see these parents trying their best to learn something. The group work in this class was something new; it gives everyone a chance to build self-confidence and share their opinions. Group work gives every teammate a strong sense of team work; to work on their weakness and learn something new from other teammates. The group work taught me cooperativeness and assertiveness, I enjoyed every single group discussions and learned many new ideas from my colleagues. Overall, my experience at the Adult Learning Center was something new that made me experience school with adults classmates.
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Something Memorable
“Here I Am” assignment was one of the most memorable experience. I was amazed, as an audience, watching my classmates present. Seeing a classmate for only couple of times and not knowing anything about them, but after the presentation Here I Am, I learned a lot about each one of them. I remember having difficulty rhyming my poem for “Here I Am”; it was stressful to begin my lines, but it was flowing easy afterwards. Watching Temple Grandin an autistic girl who had difficulty socializing with people. It was memorable, learning about autism and the kind of challenges they face in their daily life. Temple Grandin was a talented animal scientist, in addition to her autism. Basically, I have many memories from English 11 class to remember for the rest of my life, I’m fortunate for being a part of this class.
142 words
Something New
As a student in English 11 I've gained more knowledge that I usually wouldn't from other courses. Mr. Brad has taught each and everyone of us what we needed to be taught, it's not only writing and reading like you'd expect from English class. We were taught in a unique way that has improved my ability of learning much easier. I didn't expect this as a student in the beginning, but he had us students in group discussion about most of the subject ; I thought it wouldn't work because no other teacher in High School has the same teaching style as Mr.Brad. It was new to me to share our ideas in a group and to get and give feedback on our assignments. It has made me into a better student than I was, because I used to be shy kept my homework to myself or teacher but that didn't give me the mark I needed. Everything I learned from this course seemed like something new like when we were doing our presentation it was up on the projector so people not only hear what you're saying but also read for themselves. It makes it easier because sometimes you can't hear the presenter so than you'd have to read it.
Something Memorable
First of all I'd like to start this paragraph by saying every single moment in this course was memorable. I cherish every moment of English 11 to bad it came to an end, and hopefully we will meet again in English 12. English 11 was a experience that truly became memorable. I could never imagine a teacher making there students in small groups to discuss their homework or assignment, and it worked. Working in groups was something new and memorable because when you try something new in the future it becomes something memorable. The presentation "Here I am" became a memorable experience because it was our first presentation, and we improved so much from then. Not only "Here I am" was memorable but when we started poetry. It was fun studying the aspects of poetry and also how to write one, because it was difficult to most but also fun. Mr.Brad helped us work on our weakness and built that knowledge bar up but through this short period of time it not only was a typical English course but a memorable experience that soon we will remember in the future.
Something New
As I've said before, new students and a new term always brings me new challenges. With luck, we get along together. This term, as always, I had to provide you with good reasons to adjust to my rather unique approach to educating my students. What is really new is how much it takes out of me, as a teacher, to get you all to bend a little in your opinions about an English classroom. I shudder to think of myself years ago doing exactly the opposite to what I do now. Because I started out as a fairly commonplace teacher, my new style does require a fair amount more energy than would be typical at this stage in my career. This term, I used Patrick Lane and Alice Munro to jump start your writing of a personal memoir. I had never done this before but, with your assistance, it seems to me that it went very well. The unit on technology using TED was also new. That may be my biggest problem—I am never quite satisfied with my materials and am constantly reinventing them! But then not doing so would not be me, and that would not be how I have decided to teach. So, for the time being at least, I look forward to challenging myself yet again to provide the best and most educational experiences possible in my classroom.—218 words
Something Memorable
My students are always memorable! All of us are unique individuals struggling to overcome unique challenges. I said it last night when I did the evening registration session: “This a great place, full of people from everywhere in the world.” We are human. Our experiences may vary but our basic nature does not. This term I remember the tears some of us shed (of happiness, perhaps) when we saw Charlie Chaplin’s face as he was finally “seen” by the flower girl in “City Lights.” I remember students taking risks in poetry, standing in front of us and exposing their lives, their hopes, their dreams. I heard laughter as we delighted in our discussions. I learned from you all. As the semester ends, you have left me with the irreplaceable memory of moving from a sea of unknown faces in a classroom to unique individuals who shared a common purpose. Congratulations to you all for sticking it out and getting it done. Without you, I would not be a teacher, for without students I am nothing. —175 words
Something New
Going to school only twice a week was a new experience, usually I used to go five days a week when I was in high school. only going to class for two and half hours then going home felt very different since I am used to being in school all day. It was a very interesting experience being in english 11 in an adult school I had to adjust to this new life style. Instead of waking up at 7am to get ready to go to school I would wake up later and start class in the afternoon which for a little while felt good. Later on this starting leading to me abusing my privileges instead of sleeping on time I would go to bed really late and then wake up and be late for school. Going to adult school taught me how to be responsible and take care of myself which means I learned not to stay up so late so I would not be tired the next day. It is true when adults say you need eight hours of rest and being punctual is very important. 190 words
Something Memorable
The best part of this class was Brad’s teaching I liked how he taught it was very unique. I had never seen a teacher explain the assignment then hand out a piece of paper with the instructions explained on it. The paper also had details on how our class was done that day such as at the beginning we watched a video, later we did group discussion and at the bottom was the homework instructions. Having the homework instructions written on paper made it very easy to understand and remember it helped a lot. Group discussions was another memorable part of english 11, hearing others ideas sometimes showed me my thoughts were wrong on certain assignments. This helped me realize that I needed to edit my work and fix it, if it was not for group discussions my assignments would have been a disaster. Using the blog page was also memorable because reading Brad’s comments on there gave a good example of how the homework should be done. Those examples helped me understand much better how to do my homework and I would not get confused. 192 words
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