My English Final Essay

For my English Final, I wrote an essay and I thought it was okay writing so I decided to post it.
The topic is our Essential Questions: Why does communication matter? How do we decide what we communicate to others and express ourselves?

When I think of an English class, I think of a bunch of grammar lessons, reading, getting put on the spot to answer questions about the topic that we are talking about in the class discussion, making speeches, and more; but when I got the chance to be in one of the best English classes in 8th grade with Mr. Mandis, I was able to show off my ability of understanding the world of Grammar.
In 8th grade, we started the year by reviewing grammar and the world of writing. We were taught about Subordinate Clauses, Independent Clauses, Adjective Clauses, Prepositional Phrases, and more; but that is not what I needed help on. The one thing I needed help on the most in 8th grade was my confidence in my writing. I always thought that someone was going to criticize my writing and tell me that it wasn’t good enough and to do more. Of course, I was wrong. I had taken many writing courses, but I still thought that my writing wasn’t good enough for a High School class. My teacher at the time, Mr. Mandis, thought that I had a talent in writing, yet he did not think I was only good at writing essays and other prose, but also he thought my poetry had a great future.
The next year in 9th grade, I met Mr. Oldani and Ms. Dalton for my English 9 and Global Studies classes. I was encouraged to explain my thinking on many occasions. One of them in the third trimester was in a poetry scrapbook assignment. I thought that this was my chance to let all of my poetry skills work their magic, so I spent my time during class writing and organizing my poems so that they fit into pictures and formats of my choice. I also figured out during the third trimester that I am a Kinesthetic Learner. For people who do not know what a Kinesthetic Learner is, according to The American Heritage College Dictionary the definition of Kinesthesia, which is the noun form of Kinesthetic, is “The sense that detects bodily position, weight, or movement of the muscles, tendons, and joints.” (Pope, Schonthal, and Tamm 763-64) So a Kinesthetic Learner is a person who learns by sensing the position, weight, or movement of an object that he or she can touch, pick up, or move. I am a mixture between a Kinesthetic Learner and a Visual Learner. So I learn by touching, picking up, moving, or seeing something. For me, it is harder to just sit down and read a text without having a visual in the text. So I read a lot of graphic novels, books with pictures, and things that can make an image pop into my head for example the book Romeo and Juliet by the one and only William Shakespeare. His work really makes me think about what is happening. It really helped when Ms. Dalton said that we were going to be watching the movie while reading the book.
I found out that the best way to keep myself on track in a class is by having the teacher base the class around something we call an E.Q. An E.Q. Is an essential question. Normally there is more than one E.Q, but the essential questions work together like a well written poem. For English 9 trimester three, we had two essential questions they were “Why does communication matter? How do we decide what we communicate to others and how to express ourselves?” An essential question is explained to us at the beginning of the trimester and we figure out ways to answer it in our final.
During the trimester, I found many ways to answer the EQ. One of the ways that I thought of was writing a book about it, another way was writing an essay about it, but the essay would start out with a little background about me before entering the EQ. For my final, I chose to write the essay so I could show Mr. Oldani and Ms. Dalton some of my, what I call, mediocre writing, but what they might call some of my good writing. I define mediocre writing as a piece of writing that could be improved, but is still a good enough quality to be used as a piece in a class. I, personally, never had to write what I call a bad piece. A bad piece does not exist in my mind. “Every piece of art and/or writing is good in one way or another, but other pieces may be better” (Mandis) is the rule I go by. The person that told me that was my 8th grade English teacher, Mr. Mandis. He has had a lot of influence on my life and my writing. If Mr. Mandis did not tell me that, I probably would be the shielded teenager that doesn’t share his or her ideas with anyone. The teenager that has a major trust issue. The teenager that won’t open up to anyone about anything because they are scared about what others might think of him or her. This is one of the reasons why I find communication important.
One of the other reasons I find communication important is because without it the world would be in a worse state than it is today. Without communication, I couldn’t get my ideas across in writing, text messages, emails, or even in a conversation. In my mind, without communication the world would go into a deep depression that was never ending since no one would be able to say “May I have some food sir? I am homeless and I do not have anything to eat tonight.” or the president couldn’t say “Yes we can” or my mother couldn’t say “Go do your homework then go to bed!” Without communication, people in the world couldn’t get ideas out and solve the problems that are in the world today. You know the war in Iraq that technically has been going on since the early 1990’s or so, but just recently became a bigger issue than it needs to be? Well, without communication I am guessing that the war that we are in right now in Iraq wouldn’t be close to resolving itself and it probably would have turned into World War Three, which is something that would of crashed the economy of many countries like the United States of America. Our economy would probably be one hundred times worse than it is now. Honestly, it could be lot worse than it is now. Just think about it for a second, what would happen if your parents didn’t raise you in a home in the neighborhood you grew up in? Would you still be here if your parents didn’t tell you not to drink and drive or do drugs? What would happen if your parents just did not communicate to you your moral and ethical values that you probably value today? Would you still be here working or going to school where you are now? What would happen if the president didn’t talk to congress, the house of representatives, or the senate about passing bills and just let the people take control? Do you see how communication matters in this world? If you don’t, then you really need to get a serious reality check. The people of this world that we live in today rely on communication either by electronics or in person to communicate their ideas about whatever they need to get across. People in this world rely on that cellular phone to call their boss when they are sick or when they need to call their teenager to say that they need to take the bus home since they have a meeting. The role of communication in the United States and everywhere else in the world is way over my head. It is the most important tool that someone can have. Wait a minute, let’s back up for a second so I can explain what the tools of life are.
The tools of life, in my mind, are the following things:
A way to communicate your ideas across to other people (Example: A Cellular Phone or Computer)
A way to be educated (Example: Home Schooling or a Tutor)
A way to have a steady income (Example: Being a Teacher or a Doctor)
A place to go to that you know is safe (Example: A Homeless Shelter or A Dorm at a College or University)
A way to prepare a meal (Example: Hunting or Going to a Restaurant)
Access to Clean Water (Example: A Water Bottle From A Store or A Water Fountain In A School or Other Building)
A place to practice your religion freely (Example: A Church or A Temple)
A country that makes you feel safe and secure (Example: The United States or Canada)
The reason all of these are important is because the way someone feels about where they are and the way that the person receives the things that someone needs in order to live. Anyway, back to my Essential Questions.
I have found many ways to relate the tools of life to books and things we read in class that we are supposed to relate to our essential questions. I have found many of the tools of life in the following books:
Hole In My Life
Romeo and Juliet
Speak
Lord of the Flies
I found out that when I find most of the tools of life in books, I could relate the book to our essential questions. For example, in Romeo and Juliet the miscommunication caused a big break down between the two lovers and in the end caused them both to commit suicide all because of a giant miscommunication of Friar John not telling Romeo about Juliet’s fake death. Another example of the second essential question, How do we decide what we communicate to others and how to express ourselves, is in the book Speak. The main character Melinda shuts everything out of her life and doesn’t communicate with the outside world all because of the accident at the party. Also in Lord of the Flies when the main characters, Jack and Ralph, have different views on how they should run the island and they cannot find out a peaceful way to use both of their views and end up in a big fight. In this case, even lives were taken because of the collision of views. It is just like when two, or more, countries are fighting for some reason and they just end up in endless warfare and arguments.
The way we decide on how to communicate the idea depends on the situation that the person is in. It can go from writing a formal letter to just standing up and speaking his or her mind. For example; if someone is trying to harm something like an animal and you feel like the person shouldn’t treat the animal that way, you might stand up for the animal and say “Stop!” or something along those lines, but if you are addressing the president of the United States of America you might speak a little more formally and not address the president by his first name since it is just more polite and formal to address someone who is more than your friend in a more formal fashion. For example, I call my teachers at school by his or her last name like Ms. Dalton instead of saying “Hey what’s going down, Nicole!?” The way we communicate depends on the situation and how you value the person, in my mind at least. Most people wouldn’t go up to the president and say “What’s going down Barrack?” They probably would be more respectful and say “How are you doing President Obama?” or something of that nature. I do not know one person who would disrespect the president of the United States or someone of higher power to them. Another example of addressing people properly is in the old English parliament. People would be addressed by his or her social status in the parliament. For example, in the kingdom of Æfira, created by a group of students at Riverdale High School, we address everyone by his or her proper title like The Countess of Ranell, Lord Advocate, Police Commissioner Ms. Ilana Walder-Biesanz or as most people at Riverdale High School know her as Ilana Walder-Biesanz, Senior Class of 2009.
In my mind, every person in the world should have the following:
A Title that they should be addressed by instead of someone saying “Hey You!” (Example: In the kingdom of Æfira, created by a group of students at Riverdale High School, we address everyone by his or her proper title like The Countess of Ranell, Lord Advocate, Police Commissioner Ms. Ilana Walder-Biesanz or as most people at Riverdale High School know her as Ilana Walder-Biesanz, Senior Class of 2009.)
At least one way that they feel comfortable with communicating with other people (Example: Someone being more comfortable with communicating by email instead of in person)
A way that they feel comfortable addressing others (Example: Addressing people by his or her last name)
At least one situation that they know that they can communicate through the problem or issue (Example: If someone was beating another kid up the person could speak up and say that the other person shouldn’t do that)
The tools of life that were mentioned earlier in this essay (Page 2 near the bottom of the page)
The basic needs of life which are Food, Water, and Shelter and at least one luxury thing in their life (Example: Food, Water, Shelter, and an Aston Martin V12 Vintage sports car.)
Even though I know that not everyone can afford in this economy an Aston Martin V12 Vintage sports car, and even some people cannot afford the basic needs in life, I have a feeling that sometime in the future, even if it is not in the next few years, the whole world will be in peace and harmony and will work together to make sure that everyone will have a place to live, something to eat for every meal, and something to drink when they need it. I do not think that everyone will have a luxury item like a sports car or a beach house or a giant house with a twenty three car showroom, marble entry way, three car garage, sea plane dock on a river, helicopter landing spot, and other details, but that does not mean that the person cannot live a life of happiness and joy, it just means that they have less money than the person who owns a house like that. What someone has in their possession does not make the person, what makes a person is what they act like, his or her personality, how they react to things, and many other things in life. I’ve learned through many Essential Questions that I need to open up to people, be more respectful to people, and try to show emotions to the world of my friends instead of hiding them. In conclusion, I have learned many things throughout the year in English 9 and I hope to continue learning more in the future, but the one thing that I think that will stick with me is the first time that I thought that I had successfully answered an Essential Question in a class. That moment made me so happy. It felt like the class all of a sudden made sense and everything was coming together like a puzzle that a first grader and their older sister or brother are putting together. It is the feeling of success and the feeling of achieving something in my Freshmen Year of high school at Riverdale High School.