Semester Reflection

This year I learned a ton of stuff, most of it being things that I didn’t even know language arts was involved in. Of course I learned core language arts stuff, like how to use commas and things like that, but I can’t really use that in the real world. No, with what I learned from hearing and reading great stories like that of Paul Rusesabagina, will help me a lot more in my social aspects of life than any other tool or punctuation technique.
I learned this year from stories like Hotel Rwanda is how to use your own intellect and charm to bring others to your side or sway them from causing you harm. Paul did this all throughout the movie, and very well at that. The only time I saw him break form was when he threatened to blackmail General Bagostora, but even that was a good lesson in that it showed how sometimes fists and physical harm are not the only way to take down one’s enemy.
One thing, though we studied it very little so far, that really stuck on me this year was the art of telling a good story. For example, in my First Day of School Memoir I originally just stated what had happened that day and left it at that. My story had no characters, no emotion. It was just a lifeless heap of garbage. But, from reading the stories of other students and authors who were masters on spinning a good tale, I learned how to fulfill a readers desires for action and connection even with the most boring of subjects.
Although I didn’t actually take anything huge from the individual debates, I took something from them as a whole. I realized that no matter the subject matter or debate issue there will always be one person who disagrees. The world is made up of different people with different mindsets unique to themselves. And I know it’s just a classroom that I examined with only about 30 kids, but it was a prime example to show how differently people think, not as a community or race, but individually.
One more thing that I learned this semester that has to do with writing more than the rest was how to develop pathos, or to make the reader feel sorry for you. I found this works especially well when you’re trying to get something you want. For example when I said in my Paul Rusesabagina letter, “All of them, men, women, and children slaughtered like animals,” I felt like I made the reader for sorry for Paul and made them want to stop the atrocities he faced. Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t but I think it went over well.
Alright the final thing I learned this semester was how often history repeats itself. Think about it, in all of the stories we read or heard there was a group of people that were discriminated or harmed (besides maybe Squirrel Cop) in one way or another. The South Africans, the Rwandans, and the Australians were all just an indigineous people minding their own business until the white man came in and took them out. They all share the same story, besides a few minor details. All relate to greed. I hope this history doesn’t repeat itself again.