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​I have learned many interesting and life assisting things throughout this years English class, but one of the things that will stick out to me the most is the language that I have learned coming into this year and leaving this year. Like I have my language has grown with me, and it has shown through my work and not just in English class, but also in other assignments that require me to write or express myself. With the help of Mr. Block and his English class, my growth has shown in my work. Here are some examples in which my writing has shown growth from now compared to the beginning of the year and my previous years as a student.

         Language evolves within a person. As a class we were just heading into our poetry unit and I wrote a poem about my stuttering. A line from my poem that stuck out to me or really shows how I've grown is like a butterfly I fell as if I'm encased in steel. I feel like that was my language in the beginning of the year, trapped. Now that I have grown, my language has as well and it has broken out of its steel shell that it was encased in becoming this very elegant language that it has become which I am proud of. This is just one of the ways my language has evolve over the years.

         Another example where my language has evolved along with me is in my Language Autobiography. I expressed my difficulty dealing with language itself. Since I am a person that stutters language is not really said to be my friend. In the autobiography I compared my stuttering and everyone else's speech to mine. I said "I’ll try to keep at my own speed by switching lanes and letting everybody go past, but it’s hard. My brain is a sweatshop. All of the work it has to put up with and the only reward is knowing that you’re living to do it all again the next day." This describes how I feel everyday. My confidence has risen since that moment. Which shows the growth and the evolution of my language and myself as one.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

These 2 examples will always be the main part to my evolution with my language. This is what started it all. From me coming out of my shell to actually using the new language that I have achieved. Not overcoming my speech problem, but just knowing how to use it now it one of the abilities that I have acquired in my evolution of language. I am thankful that all of my hard work that I have done this year and all of the assistance that I have received from Mr. Block and Ryan as well. Without them and the projects that we were given, language would not have evolved the way it has inside me.

During this year in my English and World History courses, I found myself at many times integrating my choice career of psychology and various other aspects of behaviorism and psychoanalysis into whatever it was that I was writing. I found that as the class and myself began to cover more and more material, there became more and more opportunities for my work to be influenced by my love for the brain and the way people tend to think and act. Again, as the year progressed, I began to think on setting the topic of any work I did in History or English as almost exclusively related to the mind. Now, in retrospect, someone reading this who had never read previously read anything I’d written would more than likely begin to think that my work was very one-minded and repetitive. However, this dedication to relating our coursework to psychology also inspired me to incorporate many contrasting ideas into my coursework. 

Now with that being said, let’s take a look at some of the work that I churned out throughout this year that I thought best reflected the my reasoning in the above paragraph.

The first piece of work that I would like to delve into is both the start of my psychoanalytic-based essays and the most profound out of all other material in my opinion. Here’s a snippet of some analysis from my Lord of the Flies Essay: “His views on young boys and their insatiable desire to extirpate the restraints that their fathers place upon them, and the sinister being that all humans keep masked within the darkest reaches of their minds are both conspicuously exhibited in Lord of the Flies. In society, the insidious and immoral thoughts that our mind keeps repressed further envelops Freud’s rationales that our brain censors our dreams, so that we may not fully see what we really are at heart. A blood-thirsty creature with a sadistic and ominous nature that lives in all of us.” I feel that this quote, as well as the 4 others listed in this reflection, represents the way people change drastically in different environments based on mindsets and reactions to what they are surrounded by in said environment.

            Next up is one of the many journal entries we wrote during the school year.

This one was English Journal #26. The prompt was “Define privilege. What are some of the ways that privileges exist in the United States?” To which I replied, “Privileges are something you are granted, not something you are entitled to. They can be taken away.” I think that this also relates to my behaviorist and ethologist connections I make throughout my work. The different places you are, you are influenced to think differently, or in this case, take for granted what privileges you have.

            Now we can transition back to quotes form projects/essays. This is from my “Memory Poem” from our Poetry Unit.

“Scoffing at curse words

Evolved into using them in conversations every day.

Learning about parables in Religion textbooks,

Being taught how to behave as young women.

Loving to be good,

Turned into loving drugs and debauchery.

"What did you get on your last English test?"

Turned in to "Which guy did you hook up with last?"

Yeah, those kind of girls.”

            This quote is a perfect example of ethology. The girls I used to associate with started to act certain ways to certain things. Like for example, chuckling at curse words when they were younger, to acting certain ways around boys they had crushes on. It all changes through maturity.

            Not to say it has become a compulsion, but I generally do take a great deal of interest in incorporating psychology into whatever it is in literature that I analyze. This is what I feel is the best reflection of my work throughout the year in both classes.

Research: I did a fair amount of research to teach myself on nickel and how was it made.

Collaboration: My classmates and my teacher basically critiqued my drawings and helped me choose which one was the best out of all of them.

Reflection: I reflected and sometimes I think of what would it look like if I did the same drawing again but a lot much better and nicer.

When I first enter Mr. Block’s class, I struggled with language, identity, mask, boundaries, and relationship. Throughout the year, I develop a deeper understanding. I used to view language as one specific language such as slang, or dialect. I used to follow what everybody else thinks, but now I realized that I have changed a lot compare to the beginning of the year. I have my own point of views. I have my own identity and my own voice this year. English class and History class had brought me out of my shell. Reading book after book, and building connection with the book. It helps me create a better understanding on why the author wrote this book. After going on trial as the Aztec and the corporation, my point of view has shifted many times. It’s also wonderful to start the class with a journal entry because I am getting a chance to hear other people responded to the questions, especially challenging ones. 

In the beginning of the year in English class, Mr. Block started with something small by practicing how to write a descriptive essay. He built us up from scratch and helps us work our way up. When I first started, I had many negative comments about how my scenes are not filled with enough details or how it doesn’t make senses. I will stare at the image, trying to find the right words or phrase to describe it. After having a class discuss on what to look for when writing a descriptive scene such as: the smell, the texture, the color, and the touch. Though enough practice, my skills improve. (Descriptive Essay)

  On journal #3 when I had to describe a trip by being descriptive. I always have trouble thinking about my surrounding, but after many practices, it had become my strength. I started of describe every little details and how it feel. One example that I used was, “ I can feel the cold breeze shivering down my neck to my leg.”

Throughout the year, the language essay opened me up the most. I was able to express myself through words. I also learned so much by describing my experience on being Asian American. I discuss a lot about how I adopt to my second language, English. Also my experience as being Asian American while English is my second language. It was hard for me at first because I don’t usually express my hardship. So for me, it was a little personal, but it felt good when I express everything in words. “The struggles of language bring out the negative image by doing negative things to fit in” (Language Autobiography.) I used to think that in order to fit in, you must hide your identity and put on another mask. This quarter help me reflective on how much I change throughout times, but the end of this assignment, I realize that I had accept my identity.

  When Kate, from the Philadelphia young playwright came to SLA to help us with our play, I was having trouble thinking about a topic, however, on the next day, I flash back into my language essay and I was so motivated on writing my play basic on language. Through this play, I put in some of my personal experience into it. When some scenes were perform, I was so proud of myself and I love how the audience loved my play. I was being really creative with my play by adding character that speak three different type of language, Mandarin, Cantonese and Foochow. I was so fascinated with the effort I put in, and how creative it was. The actors that I choose was having many problems trying to pronounce the words right. But it is amazing to get them to speak my language with a short amount of time.  I decided to give my play the title called, “Manipulation,” because people can get manipulated base on what people tell them.

  The most fun part was that it never gets old for me to write about language or do something creative that involved language. On journal #25, we had to find different types of boundaries. One boundary that pops to my head automatically was Language, once again. As a class, when we listed all the boundaries, we had to be creative by creating a podcast about one of the boundaries. Of course, I chose language. I had so many people in mind to interview, but when Mr. Block came up to me and said you can interview your mom. I hesitated a little because my mother spoke broken English, but at the end of day, I chose to interview my mom and my aunt. I tried my best to get my mom to speak in English, but it wasn’t working at all. So I told my mom, just speak in Foochow and I will translate it. It was super hard for me to find a creative way to translate it, because I don’t want to make it boring or confusing. When I interviewed her, I did a small voice over her interview when she spoke each story. It was incredible difficult, but I manage to pulled it off. (Crossing Boundary: Language)

1. your cut out?, 2. in your still life drawing?

I used the colors and shapes

Why does it help an artist to see in negative space?

It allows you to see two sides of the artwork 

Does seeing in negative space enhance drawings, why or why not?