Naiomi Desai
Dr. Preston
AP Literature and Composition
6 June 2015
Masterpiece
Academy
What
is a Masterpiece? It is an artist’s best work through the use of various
mediums about a topic that the author has passion, knowledge, and dedication
on. Montaigne’s use of the word ‘espouse’ creates a sense of the emotions
mentioned above and allows the readers to interpret that Montaigne espouses
writing. Throughout this year, all of the students, some more than others, have
learned to look beyond the typicality of authority and its requirements and
focus solely on the necessity of learning and its importance throughout an
individual’s life. With experiencing the class by being treated as college
students and colleagues by the teacher, the students definitely were given the
choice to create a unique atmosphere and set a unique agenda for the class. We
were trusted with a great amount of trust and many of us earned it with the amount
of hard work and effort that we showed in our work. Even though we didn’t
always honor and respect the trust we were trusted with, we were certainly
aware of it to an extent.
One
piece of work that I read that rang true to me was “The Kite Runner” by Khaled
Hosseini. The protagonist, Amir, and the obstacles that he goes through in his
life spoke volumes to me because the culture he grew up in was extremely
similar to the one I grew up in. Another piece was “The Poisonwood Bible” by
Barbara Kingsolver. Even though I do not have siblings for me to connect with
the characters of the book to that level, I could still comprehend and
sympathize with each of the difficult choices that the characters had to make
in their lives. Kingsolver includes the theme of growing up and learning
through one’s experiences and all of us could connect because we are in the
same situation, learning and rowing up. Finally, the last work that we read in
the class, which I could connect with, was “Hamlet” by Shakespeare. I related
to Hamlet’s inability to make definite decisions because we are all at the age
of adolescence where confusion with self-identification is extremely high.
These works even though can be read and related to by any individual, in this
era – young adults are the ones that would truly be able to extract the meaning
behind the plot, themes, characters, etc.
This
class reconnected me to my passion of writing through all the creative writing
assignments done in class, especially the masterpiece. I was able to get back
to poetry and write lyrics to a song and then sing it to present it in front of
an entire class. Initially, I wanted to major in literature to continue my
passion but I have decided to write personally, for my self, and learn and grow
from there by having an audience read it once in a while.
The
process of Open Source Learning itself has made me laugh out loud throughout
the year, not because it is ridiculous or unreasonable but because such a
technique is available, where a students’ thoughts, opinions, and preferences
are taken as much into account as the authority’s, if not more. It almost seems
unreasonable and unrealistic to be true but this class proves as a stepping-stone
for the other traditional environment classes to follow. One criticism that I
do have is for a little more motivation provided for the students by the
teacher. This motivation can be in form of a grade or an award but it would
definitely increase the participation of students and their enthusiasm about
learning.
Most
of the Masterpiece presentations had one unifying theme: journey. Whether that
journey was of life, high school, learning, growth, community, etc. The theme
of journey then connected all the classmates in a manner that might not have
been possible otherwise. The first example is obviously mine. My masterpiece
was, me trying to unite the seniors and attempting to pull them out of a
stressful and mentally and psychologically requiring year. In attempt to do
that, Jisu and I wrote a song with a video that depicted any typical
high-school student’s journey from a nerdy, scared, and confused freshman to a confident
and definite senior. Another example of journey is Shailynn Joseph, when she
made a video about herself and how she became who she is. A similar video was
also made by Susel Garcia, who started the video out with herself as a little girl
and showed herself growing up. Two more examples are those of Lillyana
Navarette and Millicent Angulo. Both of these young women used the theme of
journey to describe how they came to be passionate about what they are:
medicine and basketball. Lilly shared personal stories while Millie used a
family tree to come about it.
I
have always been taught to consider myself as somebody who’s a learner: a zero
in the world. My dad always says that if you consider yourself a hero, then the
chances of you learning and being passionate about acquiring knowledge in life
will be close to nothing. I learn from a toddler all the way up to my elders.
Everyone and everything, even, has something to teach: it’s a matter of our
perspective that allows us to learn and what we learn. I have found a mentor
ever since sophomore year; but this year, she did help me with college and
scholarship applications. I am not a hero. I am merely an ordinary person, who’s
getting through day to day problems and becoming more experienced with each
obstacle.
The
journey of life is like the rain: unexpected but a necessity. It’s necessary to
be in pain. It’s necessary to have problems. It’s necessary to be in the heat
because a human being is a traveler in the world. With heat comes shade. With
journey comes rest. With pain comes happiness. You just need the determination
and hard work to keep moving. It’s the traveler’s job to keep walking.
