EDCI 335: Blog Post 1

I grew up in Vancouver and had the luck of attending an International Baccalaureate high school. My art teacher encouraged me to enrol in the certificate program for art but it came as a surprise to me when my English studies teacher did the same. Art was always my passion and it seemed like a no-brainer but I didn’t feel like writing was my strong suit whatsoever. I’ve never liked poetry or been keen to read novels for fun until I enrolled in IB English with Mr. Dawson. That class changed my whole outlook on understanding media.
Learning and unpacking language from books and movies became a pastime for me. Suddenly I wanted to write stories and talk about literature all because of this class. I equate this shift in enjoyment to two things, but really just one, 1) the students I was surrounded by and 2) the way Dawson taught. For the first time, I was surrounded by students who volunteered to be there. This was an opportunity only passionate students signed up for. Everyone was there to discuss with each other and learn from one another. In my high school experience, this felt like the first time everyone around me had an enthusiasm for double entendres and Shakespearean sonnets. That excitement is contagious. At the end of the day, the only reason the student body was so enthralled in this class was because Dawson knew how to engage us. He knew that simply getting us to read chapters 13-24 and following it up with a quiz would never create a didactic ecosystem of eager learners. He would read aloud to the class and allow students to do the same. We would have open and loud debates about differing concepts and characters. We dressed up with suits and briefcases to reenact Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”. Don’t even get me started on literary devices. We learned through the process of doing and not only did this engross us in the subject matter but it built a tight group of students who valued and challenged each other’s points of view. I am a better student for that class and simultaneously have become the most annoying person to watch a movie with.