Masterpiece Final Essay

Miki Kagawa
Dr. Preston
AP Literature and Composition
June 1, 2014

                                             Achievements in Open Source Learning

It wasn’t a normal classroom with books and teachers lecturing on a topic. Instead we sat and stared at the projector screen looking at all the viable resources on one website. This eye-catching method was called, Open Source Learning. Imagine the trunk of an oak tree which represent the main blog, and the roots that spread out are the students’ blogs. As a student in AP Literature and Composition, I was required to create a personal blog where I can express my ideas, thoughts, and of course, homework. At the beginning, it was hard to adjust to this new idea of utilizing the internet to do work. But soon, it was a kickstart and I became more comfortable connecting with the teacher and my peers. My learning has been espoused because this new way of learning was intriguing and not traditional to the usual textbook and paper notes. 

The high level of trust is given to those who got their work done and post efficiently. The assignments that are given daily and they should be complete, but sometimes the ones that don’t do the work also are passed by. Many of us had to earn the trust of complete each individual assignments daily. It was the proper thing to do to check the students blogs weekly to see if the assignments are completed. Along with the trust, we are honored by the grades we received for each progress report and final grades. Colleagues helped each other finish assignments to receive credit, which was extremely important for open source learning because we are able to share our ideas or help each other when one is confused or off track. With the blogs, we are able to make up assignments by searching members or simply scrolling down the main blog.

First,  Brave New World by Huxley was the most traditional book and assignments we did in the course. We went by chapters discussing and analyzing both in class and online. This assignment I felt was traditional and most educational to the students in the course. Bernard from the book was more human than anyone else in the book, which made it feel like there was a connection to reader and Bernard. Bernard was a silent sufferer and often I feel that I am not able to say things I want to in class. Another classic literature we discussed in class was, Hamlet by Shakespeare. Memorizing the speech, “To be or not to be” was a common curriculum to for an AP Literature and Composition class. Hamlet, who possessed anger and hatred towards his uncle. Anger towards school work and college acceptance made it feel like Hamlet was with many of us during the time we discussed Hamlet. Finally, Macbeth by Shakespeare is another core curriculum for a typical high school student. Macbeth was one of the last literature the class discussed and the guilt that Macbeth had within was something many of us can relate to. The characters were all very relatable and have “followed” me in my journey throughout the course. These books are what made this class a typical high school course, which I enjoyed because one of my goals were to learn and read more world known classic literature. 

I would have never taught that this course would reconnect me with my passion. After shooting my other passion of science with dry ice and water, my masterpiece group decided to film me swinging fruits with golf clubs. It’s funny because golf is a sport where people don’t watch, it’s based off of the score. The masterpiece demonstrated my passion for golf which disappeared as soon as golf season ended back in November. After that, I supposed that I  would never pick up another golf club again. As soon as we started filming, I lined up against the apple and swung that club. It was a realization of how much I enjoyed golfing and that it was my true passion. Without the final masterpiece or the course itself, I would have never rekindled with golf which I truly love doing. After reconnecting with my passion, I will continue to play and with the course, I will find other passions that I have found taking the course such as science in literature. Brave New World was one of the few books that I fell in love with because it Huxley combined literature with science. 

There were many times in class when I had a laugh. In the beginning of the year, I had a laugh while different groups were presenting their Cantebury Tale. Each different group were to discuss what happened to the characters in the fictional story. I remember laughing at Daniel and Ashley’s group because the way they described the scene was so modern that it was hilarious to listen to. Another time laughing moment was the winter presentations. I loved Edmond, Shane, and Colter’s video where they built their catapult. The video was serious and intense that I had a good laugh. The final presentations were great and that was my favorite time out of the course. 

Passion was the most common theme in the masterpieces. First, personally in mine. Swinging fruits and water balloons are not the same as swinging a real golf ball, but it is truly my passion. Jason Limon’s wrestling powerpoint showed that he loved wrestling and he was very knowledgable about it, you can tell the way he was presenting his powerpoint that he enjoyed the sport. Allyson Brown’s genetics powerpoint showed obvious love and passion for the subject. She was very knowledgable and even got some hands on experiences with genetics where she showed to the class. Colter Knight’s presentation of traveling and story of becoming a life guard also was passion towards his love for traveling around the world and nature. Along with becoming a life guard because he enjoys swimming/surfing. Finally, Ashley and Bianca’s passion towards comics were shown on their tumblr page where they created a comic about psychological issues (Ashley’s passion to become a psychologist). Each individual listed had an aura and almost talked and talked about how much they loved or knew about the topic. There was excitement within because they are presenting to others what they are truly in love with. Whether if it was a sport or lesson of genetics, there were passion in each individual presentation. 

I believe that my hero’s journey has just begun. This adventure was just the introduction and the future is to see what I do with the knowledge I have obtained. My goals for the future are far, but the steps I need to take are precise and important. This adventure was finding what I wanted to do with my life and to see if I can do it. From the beginning, I was still unsure of my future outcome, but now that I have gotten in to my first choice college, it was an understanding to me that  I can achieve my goals. Getting accepted to the college of my choice made me realize that I’m not the invisible person in the classroom. I conquered my challenge and fear of being left behind for college. Throughout the journey I found that peers do want to help and get involved with your ideas. This network we created together will be used for the future, but my journey for the AP Literature and Composition course ends here.