steve’s blog

This year in 8th grade, I have learned so much from the books we read, units we have gone through, and some events we have participated. In my opinion, I have grown from a beginning of teenager to an advanced teenager from this class. I am tired of ESLRs now because we have used it enough to understand the meaning of ESLRs. We also read some books, such as Lord of the Flies, Anne Frank, and the Tempest. All the books has its own characteristics, but some of them were pretty much similar. This essay will be rephrasing Critical Thinker and Self-directed learner and will explained my personal growth I felt this year as a result of the work I did in this clas.

In my opinion, one of the major ESLRs that people are involved in is Critical Thinkers. Critical thinkers are people who think out of the box and challenge on new topics with varieties of sources and strategies. I think I’ve been a decent critical thinker throughout the 8th grade by creating Lord of the Flies project, Anne Frank project with my partners, and the poetry book. In Lord of the Flies project, I made a diary for the project for specific character that is Piggy and only few people chose to complete that project. I solved problems using a variety of sources, which means that you resolved difficulties with many different sources because I found information on the book, friends, and Internet sites. For Anne Frank project, I had two partners and we created a movie about Anne Frank’s life and the backgrounds around her.  It was first time for me to design and create a movie but I gathered, analyzed and processed information from a variety of sources which means that I collected information, then think about it again with more details and finally I dealt with it. We found many motivating images about World War II and Anne Frank. Finally, when I was composing the poetry book, I was a critical thinker because I selected, monitored, and adjusted problem-solving strategies, which means that I chose a topic, and then observed it and I modified the problem-solving strategies. I selected the way that my poetry will look like, then observed other people’s designs then changed it in improved way.

I’m certainly sure that I learned more than enough and understood the books we read. We read Lord of the Flies, Anne Frank, and the Tempest. In Lord of the Flies, there were many characters with different personalities and believes. In the book, when I compared what Jack and Ralph did, I learned that I should always listen to other people’s opinions cautiously and share mine too with them so I can make an enhanced community. I also learned from Jack that I shouldn’t use violence to people to do whatever he wants because dictatorship can’t last long enough. From the Anne Frank book, I learned that people can’t live forever but writing does live forever like Anne Frank’s diary and it is now the 2nd most books that are sold after the bible. I also learned that I should express my feelings on writing if you don’t have anyone to communicate your ideas with. Anne Frank was in a house where only her family and few families that she lived with but she still didn’t give up and survived from depression, disappointing, sadness, and irritation. I should learn from her that I shouldn’t give up anything because even Anne Frank didn’t give up with much worse background. For the Tempest, Prospero gave opportunities to people who have given him such a tough life. If I were Prospero, I would have just killed them in the worst case they can die. Prospero tricked Caliban because Caliban basically did everything to Prospero but he got nothing better then he found Stephano and treated him as his ruler. Caliban didn’t learn from his mistake so I should always think before I do something so I don’t make same mistakes.

I believe that Self-directed learner is also one of the key ESLRs. Self-directed learners are people who challenges on risks, acknowledge their responsibilities, and reflect on their goals. I think I am an average self-direct learner because I understood the significance of self-directed learner. When I was making a poetry book, I was a self-directed learner because I took creative risks in developing untried ideas, which means that I challenged on new ideas to be different from others. I was creating a poetry book that was unique from other people’s books. For the Anne Frank project, my partners and I were self-directed learners because we monitored, adjusted and documented work in progress which means that we examined the project, then modified it and published the final piece. For Lord of the Flies project, I was self-directed learner because I identified my needs and applied appropriate learning strategies, which mean that I classified my needs, then affected appropriate learning strategies. I considered about what I need for the project to make it creative and exceptional then I used diverse strategies to create the actual project.

Overall, I think this year has been a superb year and I earned many values. The ESLRs has certainly affected me. ESLRs are just an outline for the best world you can have. If you can be related with all the ESLRs that were mentioned, you will be able to do whatever you want. I also learned new information on books of how I should act and how the world is going. I can now be able to think carefully before I do something so I don’t make the same problems. The ESLRs will stay in my mind forever and I will try to improve myself with ESLRs and the possessions I learned from the books.