Throughout the course of the year, many values were influenced and taught. One of the heavy influences was to find the deeper meaning in different contexts. Also, through searching for deeper understandings, then came the introduction to our inner selves. We express ourselves in almost every aspect of our assignments, being that we write them all. But through writing we also acknowledged our tone of voice that shows even with our formal writing, such as essays. There is a distinct form of writing that is shown in many of our projects. One of the most important things to consider is that we all began the year with different strengths and through the curriculum and experience; we made our weakest points as highly held as our strongest. Personal developments and habits were expressed as the year progressed.
It wasn’t so much that I learned “new information” or drew spectacular analysis on something that can be heavily supported by four things, because I don’t really learn the same point from more than one document. I feel that if the point I make isn’t differed at least a little with new information presented, then I am not learning or I am not learning anything valuable. With the harder assignments, everything was formed around dissection. First, thinking of an idea and then trying to develop it into something general so that more things can support it. The more specific understandings were rich also, but limited. There was a keen diversity in the types of lessons learned.
The other challenging part about having Understandings is that opinions change as more knowledge is gained. It’s hard to solidify a topic that only a portion of things is known about. There’s always more than one side to a story. I learned that last year and I still can apply that to everything. Most things are based upon opinion in history- the way people think things happened, and try to make them facts as much as possible. But who is to say what is a fact and what is fiction?
That question was proposed that stuck with me throughout the year. That is who defines what makes something, and what makes something not what it. Even with statements that are fact, there is an opinion in it. What can really be proven within the systems we have today, such as the English language? Where did our world derive from?
“Many questions without the answers to” is the theme presented this year. It was represented in our class Cortes Trial. Sometimes we doubt our abilities as thinkers. That was shown in our Spiritual Thinker assignment where we researched a spiritual thinker and became that person for a day. It was really interesting to push past our own mindset. That is often expressed in poetry, which is why the Poetry Unit was one of my favorite units for this year. Being enlightened also sparks personal accomplishments. The Enlightenment assignment talked a lot about the drug of ignorance that is spread among society because we stop asking questions. It seems children behold that wonderful skill, but it deteriorates from our brains, as we get older. We lose confidence in our ability to be vulnerable.
