Finishing Masterpiece's Essay

Alexus Wilson
Dr. Preston
AP English
9 June 2015
                                                   My Own Bildungsroman
                     
                       In the start of this year I had decided that I was going to be taking a full class schedule unlike my other classmates and actually be taking two English classes; this one and ERWC. Since the beginning of my existence I have always known that I've never been much of a writer and that I'd much rather be reading a piece that writing it. So to make myself better and to slightly torture myself I took all honor/AP classes in high school and this year I pushed it with taking the two English classes. I thought that if I forced enough English into my system that it would eventually wear off on me and I would get better. I can say that I've slightly improved and any improvement I'll gladly take, but like I said I'd rather be reading a novel than trying to write one.
                      This year and this class particularly I had to adopt the meaning of espousing learning. Most of the elements of this course is finding something you're interested in a delving deep into it a learn all that you can about it; which was basically our masterpiece's. This course is really preparing you for the next step of learning because in college we can't expect the professors to be doing all the work, no the students are going to have to do all the learning and studying independently and if you don't, then you don't learn. I'm literally lazier than a sack of rocks so I had to really work on improving my independent learning this year.
1. Espousing Learning
                       I can say at some points I have espoused learning, but like any couple we have our differences and then end up sleeping on the uncomfortable couch for a week. It was a lot harder transitioning from the old way of learning that I had endured my whole life, open a book, read, answer the designated questions, then you're done, rather than the process that our whole class had to do. The first day of class when Preston had basically said there or no rules as long as you posted things to your blog about facts, opinions, hobbies, homework all that jazz, you would essentially get an "A"(because Preston doesn't believe in letter grades).
1.1 Deserve the Trust?
                      Like me and the rest of the class we had to go through the period of timidness because we couldn't possibly trust the words that just came out of Preston's mouth, but blowing our minds, he kept his word and never went back on his word. Granted once some of the kids figured out that Preston wasn't like the rest of the teachers, they took advantage of the trust that Preston had given us, and even me at times betrayed that trust. I loved the fact that Preston gave us the respect and trust that we humans deserved instead of treating us like the stereotypical not trustworthy, up-to-know good teenagers. I can say for myself that I worked pretty hard to honor Preston's trust and in the instances that I didn't I was straight up with him and never tried to pull a fast one.
2. Favorite Literary Authors/Characters
                     Someone who can relate to my journey is Pip from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens who undergone his own amazing journey. John Grady Cole from All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy , and last but not least Macbeth from Macbeth by Shakespeare himself. When Preston first assigned Great Expectations I was so excited to be finally reading a novel by Dickens himself, a great novelist. The reason I was so excited was that I was trying to broaden by reading by reading some of the classics, like I read Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, one by Steinbeck and Dickens, but due to a conflicting it's very hard to find spare time to read for fun. But back to point, Preston had assigned the book and i had started to read it, but i never got around to finishing when i was supposed to. Then one day, long after the book was assigned, i opened the book to where i last read and finished the book. I don't know why i was so surprised, but i liked the book so much that I had to tell Preston that I had finished It even though I was supposed to finish it along while back. Pip was so an awesome, dynamic, and learning character. Every little or big situation that Pip was put through you wanted to root for him. At the end of the boom Pip felt like my best friend because I felt like i knew him so well! That's just evidence of how good of an author Dickens is. People who have read the book know that Pip goes through a great journey and Dickens is so good that the reader can relate to the situations even though the novel took place awhile back. All the Pretty Horses is honestly one of the best books that I read this year and I really recommend it. If you like adventure, cowboys, Indians, romance, tragedy, comedy, then this book is for you. Cole was so an amazing character because he was so physically and mentally strong and he was put into so many hard situations, but he always came out of them a better and stronger man. Macbeth was also a pretty amazing character even though he kind of deserved the ending he got. I envied Macbeth's power and warrior personality in the first few scenes, but like any regular person we have flaws and his was that he relied on the word of mythical creatures on a prophecy that was due to be his downfall. I enjoyed reading the transition Macbeth went through from being an honorable warrior to a deceiving king.
3. Reconnected with my Passion?
                   I would like to say that my passion has never really left. I don't think that a passion can actually leave, meaning that even though you may move away from it, it's always going to be there, whether in the back of our mind, the representations in our house/work/school environment and there will always be something that will trigger your passionate side. One of my passions would be music and I'm actually listening to music write now as I type this thing. I don't play any instruments or sing, even though I think I'm not that bad, but my mother tells me other wise. I just love to listen to it. I can honestly say that i love all types of music except country (sorry country lovers). There's just something about country that makes me hold my head and groan because i can feel an incoming headache coming on and country music and my ears are just not compatible. Other than that I'll listen to basically anything. My masterpiece project was to try and put a cool concert together, but like everyone knows life comes along and you lose time of the things you want to do. Basically I have been dying to go to a concert because my last concert was when i was in 6th grade and that's not acceptable for a music lover and i decided that that was going to be my masterpiece. Part of the reason I haven't been to a concert in awhile is because my family struggles off and on with our financial problems and I hate asking for money to buy a ticket when i know we don't have the money for it. So my thought process was that if i couldn't go to a concert then i would bring the concert to me. My goal now is to try to get a really cool band to come here to my town and play. Cool bands don't really ever visit our small town and if i got one to come, i would be ecstatic!
4. Something that made me laugh.
                  One of my most treasured qualities that I love is my ability to laugh at mostly everything, all the really silly/nerdy things, the really serious jokes, anything that can be remotely funny I'll laugh at it. So believe me when i say that I have had a lot of laughs this year and in this course. One that's really coming to mind was when Preston was gone one of the days(shocker...just playing) and he had asked the sub what the class wanted to read for our next novel and at the time 50 shades was the hype..I hope you know where I'm going with this. So I don't know how but our class told the sub that we wanted to read 50 shades and the next day when Preston was there we were kind of hoping the sub hadn't left any notes from our discussion for Preston. Sadly the next day Preston being Preston brought up that we wanted to read 50 shades?? We were so embarrassed at first but we actually discussed the pros's and cons of reading that novel and I'm cracking up just writing about this situation. That moment is definitely one of the funnest, awkward, and unexpected one's that I had in that class.
5. Unifying Themes in Masterpiece's
                   Many of the presentations that I witnessed in my class had the themes of either tying in there passions with a designated media, making connections with people, healthy and informative transitions into college, world peace, art, and nature. My classmates and I had a vary diverse group of passions and ideas and I can't stress how happy I was to see the finishing products of every one's masterpiece's. I can honestly say that I enjoyed every one's masterpiece and I could really tell who the person, even if I didn't know them that well, was by how they presented. Everyone put in a lot of work and that's bound to happen when you work on something you are passionate about. Like when Haley Kestler at the end of her presentation pulled out a collage of magazine's that hang by her bed that she collects, it really showed you she was and her personality shined through and that's how every one's presentation turned out. All the presenters would have pieces that showed the audience who they are and their true passions.
6. Finished my Hero's Journey
                   I would like to keep this one simple and answer no. I would like to continue my journey for whatever passion/hobby/skill that comes by way and never stop at just having one passion. I would like to become the master at my passion then move on to my next activity and master that, and so on. The question of whether I'm a hero, nope I don't I'm a hero yet. I haven't full filled some of the necessary hero qualities and let me say that It's a daily struggle to make sure at the end of my journey I'm a hero.