When I was making my way through middle school and high school I was never very enthusiastic about school. It wasn’t that I struggled with understanding the material, I just didn’t really have the motivation to do the work. When I did pay attention and do the work I would sometimes find myself thoroughly enjoying what I was being taught.
This is true for the trigonometry class I took in high school. In high school I was known for making decent enough grades to get by because I was never really interested in the material. However, when it came to trig I was often very eager to go to class and learn what was next in the curriculum. This class relatively changed my whole view on school.
Before I took trig, I would just do the bare minimum to pass. However, going to trig and working out the math problems really shifted my whole perspective. I was fascinated by it. Finding the missing variables and the missing sides to a triangle, challenged me in a way that made me want to sit there and figure it out until I got it. It was almost like a game.
I would go home after school and start with my trig homework first, just because I liked the challenge. It was refreshing to genuinely be interested in school since I never really was before. After taking that class I tried to find something that interested me in every class. I found that when I was genuinely interested in what I was learning, school felt more like something I wouldn’t really mind doing, rather than it feeling like a chore or obligation.
Taking trig completely shifted my perspective about learning and going to school. I went from being someone who only did what I needed to do pass to someone who genuinely enjoyed what I was learning.
Author: Jonathan Pallares
A genre that I interact with on a daily basis is Gaming. Gaming is for everybody, whether its to relieve stress and have fun, or to be the best player in the game. There is no set convention for video games as they have a wide variety and allow players to play games that are just right for them. Some games Have a story mode while others don’t, and some may also have a multiplayer mode only, while others have both. Every game has features in it that make it unique. For example, a type of video game Genre is Battle Royale, which is where 100 or more players jump out of a flying vehicle to a certain location on the map and proceeds to loot as the safe zone gets smaller until you or your team are the only ones that remain. Games that land under this genre are H1Z1, PUB-G, and the most popular Fortnite. The reason that Fortnite is now so popular is because of its one unique feature that makes it different from all Battle Royale’s and that is building. In the game you are allowed to build forts to help cover and protect yourself from enemy fire. Unique features like this allow a wide variety of games with different features, abilities, and playstyles which enables everyone to find an enjoyable game that suits them, This is what makes video games what they are today.
After reading Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue”, I’ve come to a realization that this is an autobiography, as she tells us about first hand experiences with her mother, and her “broken English”. She also talks about her life and how it has been affected by the English language, like how she would help her mom by pretending to be her on the phone.
After reading “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, my views on writing as a process has changed. In my writing process I like to take time during my first draft and gather ideas to make sure my draft is well put together, then tweak a few things for the second draft. In the article Lamott talks about her writing process and how she believes the first draft does not have to be great and you should write down the first things that come to your mind so you can take good ideas you’ve written down and use them in your second draft. I do not use any steps of Lamott’s process however, there are many beneficial steps she uses that I will include in my own writing to help improve, such as; writing down everything that comes to mind in my first draft. After reading “Shitty First Drafts”, I have come to the realization that this process is very beneficial in many ways like helping gather new ideas and being able to write freely. As of now my views on writing as a process has changed and with this new process I will be able to improve as a writer.