Reflections on Week 1

1. I think the only thing that might affect my participation in class would be wrestling. Wrestling is a very demanding sport on both the mind and body. We also miss quite a bit of school going away to tournaments. As long as I stay on top of my work I should still be successful in this class.

2. The two best lessons that have been taught to me were from teachers here at Righetti. Mr. Provost was my Algebra II teacher sophomore year. He had caught a few kids cheating (I wasn't one of them) and was very upset. He stated that the reason why he was so upset was that kids only cheat on teachers that they don't respect. It put it in a different perspective for me on the whole idea and then it clicked for me. I realized that I was more willing to cheat in classes where I did not respect the teacher or the course. The second lesson was one by Mr. Greeley in AP World History my sophomore year as well. He was trying to explain what perspective, point of view, and bias were in text. He asked, "Who killed Jesus?". Some kids answer Pontius Pilate but he was looking for a more generic answer. Finally a kid answered, " The Jews did.". This was the answer he was looking for. Mr. Greeley asked the student where he had gotten the information and the kid responded with the Bible. The next point Mr. Greeley made changed my whole view on text. He pointed out that if you weren't Jewish in that time period, in that area, then you were an atheist or a Roman. Naming the Jews as the people who killed Jesus wasn't the entire truth. These two lessons changed how I viewed learning.

3. Each year, I've come away from my English class with a view on learning and really, life as a whole. This year seems like a very engaged class which excites me. I've always been one to engage in debates and Socratic seminars and I'm excited because there are a lot of intelligent students in the class. I've been known to be arrogant at times. What I hope to gain most from this class, is respecting others and being able to admit that I am wrong or someone else might have a better idea than my own.