Having a variety of different things in your life can make you grow stronger. Sticking to something you know well prevents you from growing. Taking chances and including new things in your world is what life's all about. And it's exactly the lesson I learned in this week's AEP class.
Logging in at 8:32 a.m., I headed over to "Typeshift" when I quickly glimpsed the announcement in our stream. I finished in a minute and ten seconds and posted it at the usual spot.
Starting the class right away, Miss Disa sent our entrance ticket link. Waiting for us there were three sticky notes each containing a word: friend, mate, and partner. Instructed to write their meanings, I grabbed a pretty, light pink post-it and began typing.
Did you know that friend and mate are actually different? A
friend is someone you know a little about, but you don’t hang out with them
as much as a mate does. To be honest, I didn’t really even know there was a
difference until we did that activity two weeks ago.
Moving on, after we were finished, Miss Disa explained to us
the different meanings of each. She grabbed her tablet and drew pink stickmen
to represent their relationships.
Surprisingly, this method was very effective! I guess I’m
more of a visual learner after all.
Then, Miss Disa got into a rather serious talk about partners.
She explained that lots of people use this term to say they’re in a
relationship with someone without giving them too much background. For instance,
if a woman is married to another woman, she doesn’t have to say she has a
wife if she doesn’t want to. Instead, she can say she has a partner.
The conversation got to the point where we talked about
gender neutrals, people who don’t know which gender they are. I’m really familiar
with this topic since some of my friends have actually come out to me.
I’m glad
that she addressed this to the class. It really shows how Miss Disa
thinks we’re ready to learn more about the diversity in our world.
Anyways, we moved on to the next activity with a new mindset, one much more open. It was the same task we were assigned to do two weeks ago, specifically the one where we had to match the words to their correct definitions. Wow, I am sure getting a lot of deja vu.
Once again, the board kept shifting every time someone accidentally touched it (including myself). Not to mention the straight line problem last time too; however, I did discover a line tool to help with that. To fit the atmosphere, I also chose the same lime green color. Hopefully the luck didn't already wash off.
This time, we were a lot faster in answering. We finished in about 3 minutes and were ordered to read the answer in this order: myself, Meral, and Shasmeen. (Apparently, James has dropped out of AEP and moved to ESL class, so it'll just be us, girls, from now on.)
It was quick and short, but we went into a more in depth explanation this time. Our teacher mainly focused on estate and inheritance. They are quite similar, except for the fact that estate means everything will be bequeathed to particular people; whereas, inheritance means only a portion of the total possessions will be bequeathed to their loved ones.
Now you may be wondering what bequeath means. Until an AEP meeting, I had no clue either! It's pretty much another word that means giving. For some strange reason, one of my TV shows that I watched right after also used the word. Crazy, right? I guess it's a more common word than I thought.
After that little breakdown, we had our ten minute break. It was after this when we started completing even more tasks.
Miss Disa had posted the full definitions of estate and inheritance on the board. I got to read the inheritance sticky note, while Meral read the other.
By 9:28, that's when Miss Disa started freezing. Her voice was a bit choppy, but it cleared up eventually.
The day was packed with activities that just kept coming and coming! The next one was an excerpt that we needed to read in thirty seconds. I speeded through, trying to grasp and soak up all the information I could.
The thirty second timer was up and we basically had to summarize the whole passage into two sentences. Our teacher hid the passage, so that there'd be no cheating. I chose a light yellow post-it notes and wrote how it was mainly about how parents should accept their kids being adults as they grow older.
Eventually, she showed us the excerpt and told us to modify our definitions to match the passage. Mine had pretty much the same concept as the text, so I just shortened it.
I have to admit that these exercises seem to be effective. They force me to speed up and enhance my summarizing skills, which can make me faster at answering homeworks, seatworks, exams, and tests in not only AEP, but in other subjects too!
Finally, Miss Disa told us that our last activity would be done as a team or individually depending on the poll she would post. I voted for "teamwork" because I figured that it would be a lot faster and more efficient. Plus, I didn't think I could finish the work all by myself in the time remaining.
I waited for the results to come in. There seemed to be one person that had voted for individual; so, it was up to the last person to decide.
Thankfully, they also picked "teamwork," which I was both thrilled and relieved to see. We all started right away, picking different questions to answer.
In total, I answered four questions. It was actually pretty fun, since I got to take my time. However, Shasmeen did disappear during the last two-three minutes, meaning I needed to answer more questions faster to make up for it.
On the positive side though, there was also some pretty cool music that gave me the feeling as if I were in an arcade game? Strange, but empowering I guess!
Me and Meral finished at the last second and finally relaxed. The last few minutes of AEP were spent in total silence while we filled out our exit tickets.
I talked about how productive I felt. We accomplished a lot that day. From activity to activity, we completed them all! Not to mention how it wasn't as stressful as last time. I chose a sticky note that resembled a bright, juicy orange, which represented my mood: happy and proud.
Recalling the lessons, learning about different kinds of people, and experiencing a variety of things were some of the things that really amazed me in this week's class. Seeing the variety in our world has opened a door to a path full of future growth. It fills me with the hope and pleasure I need to look forward to our next meeting in AEP.
