Humanities Final Portfolio 2013

         “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” ― Albert Einstein. 

This past school year in English and History, I gained a better understanding about what is currently going on in the world. I learned that there is so much stuff going on around us that we are unaware of. Not only did I learn what’s going on around us, but I also got a better insight on the use of language. Language can be your own unique way of communicating. Whether it’s art, poetry, making up your own words, or just speaking how you grew up speaking, language can be versatile. Overall, I gained a better understanding of what is going on in the world around me. 

One of the things we learned about this year in History was the Renaissance. The Renaissance  involved a lot of art. Artists in the Renaissance used art to express themselves, or to express their admiration of people and places. Art in the renascence was a big form a language for the artists who made them. It was their way of communicating to the community. On one of my Renaissance assignments I wrote, “Artists discovered how to paint in three dimensions, bringing realism to their subjects. They broke away from the religious traditions of the medieval world, and the created new genres of art.” I got this from the research that I did on the Artists in the Renaissance. The artists communicated to the community by catching their eye with new genres of art. Here is one of my Renaissance assignments. This affects the world today because many of these Artists became famous legends. Today, the world is inspired by them because they made a statement saying that, you can speak through art. 

                               "Poetry is the universal language" -William Hazlitt.

Another form of language is poetry. One of our units this year in English was a poetry unit, and in this unit we had to create different types of poetry. Throughout this unit I got to communicate my thoughts and feelings into poetry. Actually poetry is one of the ways that I communicate my feelings, and also just writing. They are forms of my language because I’m free to write them however I please. I can say what I want, and not have to worry about what people may think. Here is one of my lines of poetry, “My heart was calmly waiting for me recognize what was right in front of my eyes...”. You can read more here. At the end of the unit we had a poetry festival where everyone shared their poems. Each poem was different because everyone had their own way of writing, and that’s what makes poetry a universal language. Another example is English journal #21 where I wrote about my opinion on having a mask. Society doesn't always allow us to speak freely, so we use art to speak for us. 

We also had language unit in English. In this unit we had to write a language autobiography about our own language. In my autobiography I talked about how I purposely make an effort to have perfect grammar, because I don’t want to be judged by society. Of course I still make mistakes, but I purposely correct myself. In my autobiography, I stated, “I let the use of grammar control me so much, that when I say something incorrectly I automatically feel ashamed. I get embarrassed and I come down even harder on myself. At other times I’m afraid to speak up because I’m afraid of how I will sound, that I may not sound right, or that I won’t make sense.” I came to the realization that language is whatever you want it to be, not what society wants it to be. This year in English helped me realize that one of the ways the world defines you is by how you speak. 

Not only did I get a better understanding about language, but I also learned that You have to step out of your comfort zone to embrace change. In English, we had to make a podcast called “Crossing Boundaries.” In this podcast we had to interview someone who crossed a boundary, and it could be any boundary. My interviewee was crossing the boundary of harshness to sensitivity. In the interview, the interviewee stated, “I had to learn how to be more sensitive. See, I was cut throat, I was told to be honest......and I was even honest if it hurt people, and I really didn’t care.” Being harsh was my interviewee’s “comfort zone”, and it wasn’t until something traumatic in her life happened that she decided to change by becoming more sensitive. After she stepped out of what she was comfortable with, she was able to humble herself by being sensitive. 

Another assignment we did in English was a descriptive essay. In my essay I described my experience going house hunting. My mom and I had never moved, so it was pretty new going house hunting. Moving involved adjusting to our surroundings, and we didn’t know where we were going to move. We had to step out of our comfort zone anyway, and take a leap. Since we were ready for whatever we would come across, it was easier for us to embrace moving. Now, because we did step out of our comfort zone, we moved, and adjusted to our surroundings just fine. To embrace change in this world, you have to take a leap.  

In conclusion, my knowledge and understanding has definitely expanded in History, and English. I’m very much aware of what’s going in the world that I was never aware of before. I’ve learned so much about current events in the world, past events, and things that happened in history that affect us today. I’m very grateful that I’ve learned what I’ve learned this year. Many of the things that I’ve learned, I will continue to carry with me. Like Dr. Seuss said, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” I know that carrying the things I’ve learned with me will open many doors for me to go many places.