Narrative Reflection

The theme I tried to convey in my essay was to find purpose within yourself, as looking elsewhere is to be an endless search. Beginning with a sullen state, depression suppresses my identity and outlook on life. I then find a purpose within a dream, representing the intangible and impossible to grasp aspect of purpose (when external). As the hunger for purpose festers, the side effects of delusion and desperation appear making everything worse. In the end I learn through the experience that all things will come naturally; I have no need to rush.

I felt as though my theme of self discovery fitted well with the “learning requires exploration of ones identity,” and it is what I reflected upon as my First People’s Principals to Learning. I use this principal in every facet of my life, and I consider it one of the most eye-opening aspects to learning.

For the core competencies, I believe Personal Responsibility and Awareness are the most prominent themes in my essay. It deals with self determination, regulation, and awareness; all crucial skills to learning/living. These competencies helped me mature and grow independent. I was able to see this as I wrote and edited this essay; I have come a long way. I learned that I am now able to determine what is worth my time, good for me, and important long term.

Circle Talk

– Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story.

I believe this to be true, as all my learning experience results from the history memories and stories of my ancestors. This can be applied to all people, especially my close blood relatives. I can see this message in action with my grandparents to my younger siblings, as they repeat and consider many of the things that they have said as important and worth promising. I do this to my younger siblings and cousin, and perhaps because I am biased the things I teach (that I have learned from my relatives) make more sense as I age. Listening to my peers in English today also proved this theory.

Partner Paragraph – Ocean

What I found as I interviewed my partner; was that his name was as unique as his interests.

When asked about his dream, he gave back quite a surprising answer. “I don’t know.”

His confidence, and how he was undisturbed about not being sure what to do was a refreshing and new answer. On the topic of food, however, he was sure that his word was not to be misconceived. To directly quote, “Most vegetables and fruits,” were the objects of his dissatisfaction. To be specific, his least favorite foods were broccoli and Brussel sprouts. And as we can gather from this, he expressed how he prefers sweet over salty, the common way the listed vegetables are prepared.

Moving on from the topic of food, Ocean very much enjoys films and books that carry the theme of animation. The last book he had read was a guide book to the well-known video game Pokémon. His favorite movie is Zootopia, a fictional film about animals learning to cooperate to create a harmonious environment to live in.

He enjoys gym class, where we are given time to socialize and are free to roam. This surely is what sets it apart from other classes. Although he likes to get up and about, there are times where he chooses to wind down and watch YouTube; specifically the channel Mr. Beast! Famous for giving away generous amounts of money, Mr. Beast is Ocean’s favorite Youtuber.

Although night time is associated with darkness and mystery, Ocean finds this time to be quite favorable. Perhaps this is why he chose winter as his favorite season, where the sun says its goodbyes quickly and daylight does not last long.

Even though all the things I learned about were interesting, the way he approaches his future, resonated with me very much. Everything I learned about him was new and unique, very much like his name.