Reflection (7/1/13-11/1/13)

 discussion study guide

This week in English, we did a lot of poetry and kicked off the week with a nice game of 1 truth two false. I had been given an interesting word, "diction", and I had no idea what the theme of the game was as there was even "Kalashnikov" in it until we read the poems in our anthology. I had a newfound appreciation for some poems such as "Fatima" and "Clearance" as I analyzed the backgrounds of the poems (e.g: "Fatima" had a background of the Sarajevo war and ethnic segregation in it) and I learnt so much about "Clearances", the poem which I was most unfamiliar about, until Ms. Abena told us about the culture of Irish cuisine and its familiarity with potatoes. I found the poem really heartwarming after I  found the key behind the symbolism of potatoes within it and I could almost vividly imagine the poem inside my head. Out of all the poems, "Fatima" and "Clearances" have to be my favourite.

I chose to write on "Clearances" for my analysis essay as I felt that it was a breakthrough revelation after understanding its symbolism with potatoes. However, besides the symbolism, I also learnt to compare the writer's perspective and talk about the emotions that the poem carries in my essay as I feel that I could imagine the poem in my view.

We also played out the poems, which I initially thought it wouldn't be helpful but at the end, had indeed helped me in understanding the poems better. While acting out "For Rita With Love", I learnt that "Rita" could possible have Down's Syndrome and when I tried embracing my classmates, their genuine reactions of being freaked out was unfortunately real. I would not be able the situation of the poem ever  if I hadn't seen the faces of my classmates. This gave me an appreciation for the poem as I really learnt more of it's subtle significance. I saw how by being kind, people actually think of it as an odd manner because it's uncommon to be nice and kind. To hug other at random. To say, "I like you" to strangers.

Lastly, we discussed about our Study Guide project and I felt that questionnaire helped us all to see how we REALLY felt about working on the project. I was glad that we were all honest about how we weren't putting enough effort into the project but at the same time, we were not going to give up as we knew it would be beneficial at the end. We had a productive discussion and concluded that each chapter will be worked on among pairs. I think that as soon as we finish the project and put it aside, we will be able to focus on preparing for the exam.