Love - Hate Relationship with Poetry

     Throughout my many years at school poetry was always an obstacle that I tried to avoid. I found poetry tedious and boring, always requiring me to think outside the box and be original. You can say ignorance is bliss, because for several years I always told others and myself that, "I suck at poetry, and that I hate it." This quickly changed when I went into grade nine, and I had Mrs. Wilson as my teacher. We had to do a poetry assignment where we had to write multiple different poems based off of one theme. I hated the process, the countless minutes of me staring at my screen blanking on how to start, how to continue or how to end each of my poems. I put all I could into those poems but I was not sure whether they were good enough to get me a decent mark. I waited anxiously for a week, and when I finally got it I was shocked, I had got ninety percent. The best part though was that she came up to me, and told me in person how much she liked them and how she recommends me to submit one of my poems to a poetry book that Lourdes publishes every year. That one incident in grade nine gave me the confidence I needed to really try and develop my skill in poetry, and ever since then I have improved greatly. Poetry to me is all about self-expression, about how you are able to translate raw emotion at one point in time to written word. To this day I still hate the gut wrenching process of developing poems from nothing to a piece of art. Through the last couple years and especially doing this poetry assignment, I have forged a greater appreciation towards poetry, and the end result of putting so much thought and emotion into one piece of writing. To the point where I feel a great attachment to ever word I write, because it's a part of me. Whether I'm aware of it or not I write about what is transpiring in my life, for example a poem I just wrote called Forever Changing represented my constantly changing point of view, interests, emotions and the future I see for myself, but originally it was supposed to be a poem about autumn and how the seasons change. Poetry is a method of stress relief, a way to release any built up feelings that is residing below the surface. Poetry has shown me the beauty in simplicity, to just write and keep it simple and to not over complicate it, and this has transferred to my everyday life whether it be at work, at home or at school, poetry has many underlying messages that can be learnt from. Poetry and me may have a love - hate relationship but if anytime I feel dreadful I will write, and I recommend to anyone to write what they feel at that moment they will not regret the outcome.  

The Key to Success

     Being a student who has gone through almost fourteen years of education, you quickly pick up on what works and what does not in a learning environment. Although, both students and teachers have obligations that they must meet before they walk out of class on the last day of the semester, I feel that the need for the students to truly excel is misunderstood in the eyes of some educators. As a student I feel that there is a lack of communication between the two parties that must be addressed, because students want to feel engaged in what they are learning, but if the learning environment is turned into a hostile war zone where they must continuously try to tip toe around their teacher without messing up or being put in their "bad-books", the student will not enjoy or want to be in the classroom. This can lead them to develop an unhealthy pattern of not caring what happens around them at their school. If projects or assignments give some space for self expression, where the students can make their project unique, I believe that it can help develop relationship between educator and student as the educator begins to have a sense of who each student truly is. The key to success is communication, because if students have a voice in what their opinions are in the classroom the educator and the ministry can develop a method that benefits the students and the teachers. So that students have the material they need to make the transition into post-secondary as easy as possible. So by students speaking up about their needs, the school environment can become a welcoming environment where students want to go to everyday.    

The Essence of Belonging

     J.K. Rowling a British novelist best known as the author of the Harry Potter series.  Has gained worldwide attention, won multiple awards, and sold more than 400 million copies of her books. They have become the best-selling series in history, and been the basis for the inspiration for other writer's and their novels. Through her continuous perseverance she has overcome many obstacles in her life, and has become the epidomy of "rags to riches." J.K. Rowling was born July 31, 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England. In 1990, while she was on a four-hour-delayed train trip from Manchester to London, the idea for a story of a young boy attending a school of wizardry "came fully formed" into her mind. Later that year, Rowling's mother Anne died. Rowling was writing Harry Potter at the time and had never told her mother about it. Her death heavily affected Rowling's writing and she introduced much more detail about Harry's loss in the first book, as she found a way she could connect to her character emotionally.

     One of J.K. Rowling's quotes about writing was, "The stories we love best do live in us forever, so whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." I personally feel a sense of enjoyment from this quote, because I have immersed myself for countless hours as I read all of the Harry Potter books and I always felt so engaged in the setting, the characters and the plot. Most of us have one book or several books that we have a feeling of belonging, how no matter who you are you feel connected to a character or piece of the overall story that draws your attention. The books we read clearly depict either who we once were or who we are today, and no matter what walk of life you follow it will always be there. An essence of you, to turn to whenever you wish to go home or to the place you consider to be home if that be a book. I believe this is what J.K. Rowling was trying to convey with her quote, that what we read or our history will always be attached to us like our own shadow.