There are only six weeks left before high school is over with. I hate to say that I will miss it, but I will. The past four years have been truly life changing. When I first came to Valhalla, I was completely different than I am now. Freshmen year, I was on cheer and concerned with socializing. There is nothing wrong with that, but now I have a different focus in life. It is to live to my potential, which I am aware that in most classes I haven’t really been. This class has taught me how to create things I wasn’t aware I was capable of and to reach limits and surpass them. I wish that I had known about this class when I was little so that I could have taken it all four years. In this year alone I feel I have accomplished more than most.

This August will be one of permanent change when I move to Flagstaff, Arizona for four more years of my life. Then I can look back on these posts and reflect, yet again, on how much I have changed in four more years.

This semester I have been blessed with AMP. AMP is Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose. Those are the three steps to becoming successful at things people enjoy. I am extremely grateful for this and this class because it has changed my outlook on how school should be run.

I am a senior this year and am taking very difficult classes in my last semester. Throughout my past school years, I had thought that the only way to do things was the way the teacher told us we had to do them and that that, was the correct way. I was being fed lies. Many times in class, teachers give boring powerpoints about things we have already learned or heard before. Generally, powerpoints consist of the teacher standing in the front of the room with a picture and description, waits for us to write it down, asks if we have questions, then goes to the next slide. Although this valued method of teaching is preferred among high school teachers, it is not valued to students like me, the auditory learners of the world. I am not the type of student who can see something and memorize it. On the other hand, anything that is said to me is retained. So teachers that don’t speak or discuss, are my nightmares. Another flaw to the fantastic system of powerpoint lectures is that they only benefit the slow learner (unless you are in a class of other people that are exactly like you… in most cases you won’t be). The teacher waits for EVERY student to finish writing down EVERY DETAIL. Being a quick learner, this is the most frustrating thing for me and it causes me to:

1) Dislike the material. It becomes instantly boring to me if it is moving slowly. Similarly how watching paint dry is boring to everyone in the world.

2) Dislike the student writing everything down. There is no need to write down sentences like, “The next slide explains this in more detail.” It takes up my time that I am beginning to feel I am wasting.

3) Dislike the teacher. If the things being “explained” are slow and uninteresting as it is, then on top of it, the teacher doesn’t make it appealing and is moving like a snail, any interest I may have had is now gone.

Now I have heard before, “Just adapt to this. Be considerate of other people. Not everyone can be a quick learner.” Well, this may come as a shock, but AP classes are challenging and fast paced. Who would have thought? Given that I, like many other AP students, take multiple AP classes in a single semester, sitting in a classroom, waiting on one kid to finish up writing his note play-by-play is not ideal. I need to use all of my time beneficially and waiting on lecture notes is not how to do so.

Why not do other homework in that class, you may ask. Well because then I get yelled at for being “off-task”. Again, a flaw with the current situation.

What solution do you have for this then? It sounds like this might be a problem for other students too. Well I never have any problems in this class. I can do what I want, when I want and I always feel that I am doing something worthwhile. I can go at a faster pace at my own computer because everyone is doing their own thing on THEIR OWN computer. I am not held back from going ahead because I am able to do everything at my own pace. If I need to re-watch a video, I can without holding anyone else up. If someone else has a question they can ask or simply search it without bothering anyone else. The best part? The videos are visual and auditory. So they benefit both types of learners.

I would have never realized this before had I not taken this class. Also, being autonomous led me to create this pie for my english class. Pie is Point, Illustration, and Example. Saying this out loud helps me pass AP writes. Which is leading me to become an AP master. Which fulfills my purpose for being in high school (aside from getting into college of course.)

AMP stands for Autonomy Mastery and Purpose. These three words directly encompass what this class is about. Autonomy, getting to decide what I do. Mastery, becoming brilliant at it. Purpose, discovering why I do it. All these things amount to greatness in this class, and in life. This class has allowed me to do whatever I want in a way that works for me. I can achieve greatness in a way that I can’t in AP Government, or AP Environmental Science. In those classes I don’t feel productive. In those classes, its forced, not fun. This class is fun and there are no rules. I choose to be productive. I choose to succeed.

This year is now half way done. I am half way done with my senior year. Next fall I will be at college. This is my last semester in San Diego. I am in shock of how quickly this has gone. My progress in this class this year has been fantastic. My work is so much cleaner and visually appealing than when I started. When I started this class I thought that this picture looked good. I can see now that it is terrible. It blossomed into a clean, elegant logotype that now acts as my blog header. I am so thankful for this class, and being able to take it. I guess I should thank Mr. Halverson for not letting me be his TA (for reasons I still don’t understand.) With out this class I would not have learned so many life skills I will need for college. Which is this fall. Something I still can’t grasp.

 Although the month of January is almost over, I made this calendar for my desktop. Now I know what day it is all day everyday. I have been pondering ideas for a february one, but I am not sure what I am going to do. I don’t want it to be the typical hearts and pink so I am going to find a more obscure, lesser known holiday to showcase instead. I think I will focus on the fact that it will be National Bird Feeder month and it will most likely go unrealized because everyone else is focused on Valentine’s Day.

This week, Mr. Skocko gave us permission to do whatever we want, how we want, as long as we are getting something done. I tried doing this in other classes and the teachers didn’t go for it and I got a negative response. I want all of my classes to be this way because I feel that I get the most out of this class when I work in this way. Most of the time in AP classes and other things, doing things the “normal” way doesn’t work for me. Sitting in a class taking notes about something I know nothing about, takes any interest I may have had for that subject and just destroys it. I don’t really know of anyone who enjoys that. Some people may do well in classes like that, but the numbers are small, and those people but in extensive amounts of work outside of class. By being able to do what I want, I can choose something that I find interesting, and learn about it in a way that I find stimulating. This is much better for everyone, and I think everyone would agree.

Over the course of this year, I have gotten much better at Photoshop, blog posting, using flash, and I have developed many life skills that will take me to college. This class has helped me blossom into the person I want to be. I’m really glad that I chose to take this class because without it, I probably would be staring at weird looking pictures that are one thousand years old (AKA AP Art History).

This year has gone by so quickly. It is almost frightening to think that finals are merely days away and that I’ll be graduating in less than six months. This year has been one of changes good and bad, but at least it won’t be a year to forget. As I move into 2012, I will be making active efforts to do things a little differently. Hopefully, I can impact the world before it ends.

This is the week before break and as a present, Mr. Skocko gave us five days of Photoshop privileges. I created this lovely picture pirates attacking this beach. My younger brothers inspired me to do this because ever since they were little, they were in love with pirates. They would tell people, “When I grow up, I am going to be Captain Hook.” I don’t think they understood that to have a hook for a hand they would have had to cut off their hand….

Either way, I love this picture, and they do also.

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I claim 500 XP for agreeing to fulfill my destiny by doing whatever I please in the MacLab.