By far, this course has changed my way of learning from not only making myself be understood when learning a new aspect of a subject but to also escape from the use of paper, pencil, and textbook. I fee that if it wasn't for the vote of either doing the open source learning or the typical method of working with the textbook. My learning wouldn't have genuinely progressed to be more efficient and useful. Yes, back then I would need guidance from my teachers to do a specific assignment or task but now I would define myself as a do it yourself learner that requires not as much guidance than before. Within the beginning of the four months my biggest struggle was how to mange your time on doing each assignment since that in this class it's all about time management. Later on I've learned how to understand the amount of time you're planning to spend on a specific thing can really improve your decisions and learning. This shows how we are dedicated as individuals by taking our time to be more mindful on the things that we need to work on. Because of this, I will give maximum effort so that my expectation is to be perfection and mindfulness.
If I had to pick one of the things that we have read throughout these four months would have to be The Richard Cory poem. This poem has stayed with me since day one. The reason why it grasp my attention was the story itself. "Richard Cory" is the story of a man who seems to have it all. The people of the town are clearly of lower financial class. They look up to him and want to be just like him. In the end, though, they learn a valuable life lesson. Richard Cory kills himself, showing the people of the town that some things can't be purchased and looks can be deceiving. The whole purpose of writing "Richard Cory" is to show that wealth and status don't ensure happiness. Also, what you see from the outside doesn't ensure you that everything is okay within the person. Yes, Richard Cory seemed happy and lived the perfect life but you can't judge or have the right to your opinion if it doesn't consult you in anyway. When it says, "And he was rich-- yes, richer than a king..." it writes that he has it all. Everyone in the town wants to be him based on the outlook that he has everything. But, it appears to be that his life is lacking happiness. Due to this, he kills himself because he is unhappy Sometimes in these situations it may look that they are happy but again you can't think or say something that you don't really know. When we had a discussion on You're Not Entitled To Your Opinion, we said that "It means that no one has the right to stop people's thinking/ saying whatever they want." We can't stop from what they are going to say but give out valid facts on why they shouldn't or correct wording to use. Having an open mind and an one on one conversation you can learn a couple of things on what not to say just like with Richard Cory's situation. With his suicide, Richard Cory shows that having even the greatest financial wealth and status does not mean that a person has everything needed for a fulfilling life.
When I was writing my favorite blog post and journal entry my mentality state was to change my self- talk. The conversations I had with myself were a direct reflection on my mindset. I tried to avoid telling myself "I am not good enough to achieve my dream," because if you do then your thoughts will create your reality and your mindset will hold you back from having the life you want. To upgrade your mindset, change your negative self- talk to an empowerment speech, which I did. By saying, "I can do this" or "I got this," genuinely helps not only have a positive mentality but encourage you to do good on your work. I also changed my language of writing. Changing your inner thought dialogue and the story you're telling, changes the way how you want others to read your comprehension and understanding. With this it will promote a mindset of abundance instead of having a lack of laziness.
Overall, I found that working in a learning environment that has different regulations from any typical English class has taught me to be more okay on not following the learning system’s obligations that is from using a textbook, a sheet of paper, and pencil. The scope of having open-source learning has truly help me gain new methods that I could never come to understand in any normal English course. The varied material offered is rich and expansive, is taught in a manner that develops a greater knowledge about technology. But to also present the works in a way that is enjoyable as well. Not only did the course made a big difference in my learning but more thoughtful to the works of the English Language and educational.
