In Response to Sky Karasik's Letter:

Sky's letter to our class this week was about school. More specifically the lessons that we learn from school especially the lessons that are not mandatory or expected but rather the ways to shape me as a student and person. That is why our assignment is to write about 3 things we have learned this year that were not directly related to academics.

The first lesson that I have learned is organization. While this may seem to be a given when thinking about school, I believe that it was a concept that I truly did not stress in order to reach success in my school work. However, at the end of the first semester this school, my history teacher had reminded our class of the same thing he had stated since day one: organization of our notebooks. I had attempted to follow this organization but not as clearly as I hoped I did because I was then left with a lot more work to do than I would have had if I had just stayed organized. This lesson taught me to take this concept outside of school work as well. Evidently I learned that no matter what I was doing, organization kept the process smoother and easier even if what I had to deal with was chaotic.

The second lesson that I have received this year has been preparation. Many people follow different philosophies when approaching a big exam, event, project …etc. While some believe in waiting to the last minute and others believe in "winging it" I have discovered that the best (and seemingly only) way for me to do well, is with preparation. The teacher that specifically taught this concept to me this year was my english teacher. But more importantly I learned that not only is preparation key to succeed in class and outside class, but it is clearly displayed and pays off by the end product. Hard-work plays a large role in preparation as well as the idea of understanding the information that I am dealing with. My teacher has taught me that the best way to ensure success in the class is through this hard-work and preparation and for that I am very thankful.

The last lesson that I will mention in this letter is the idea that opportunity knocks but once. My MUN teacher made our class memorize a poem called Opportunity at the beginning of the school year filled with many messages about taking every chance you get. Over the course of this year I have learned to recognize the strength and importance that this concept holds in not only school, but in life. Many times we are faced with a choice between doing something because it is a good opportunity or not doing it because either you might fail, it takes too much effort or some other excuse. Unfortunately, the latter wins a lot. However, I have attempted to defy that statistic and work towards taking every opportunity that floats my way no matter how many obstacles I may have to climb over.

Thank you for reading this week's Blogging By Talia. I am very glad to reflect on some highlights of knowledge that I have learned this year as the school days are coming to a close. I hope to apply these three concepts (as well as many others not mentioned) to my school work but more importantly, my life. Because I am certain that the things that I have learned that may not pertain directly to school, still give me knowledge.