2025 June M 11th grade YS1 11

  July 29, 2025 Uncategorized  0 Comment

Fairfax High School student grade 11 word count: 1000

Today at the Green Stairs Academy, I walked in late and greeted everyone. The teacher told me that even of i am late, I have to shoot him a message to let him know I'm late and I'm still coming. The teacher began telling us to help reorganize the room and think of smart ways to reorganize everything. While we were doing this, he was assessing us to see if we would plan and think about everything that could happen before we do it, like thinking 5 steps ahead. 

Then the teacher told us he wasn't going to lead the class today and that a different teacher would, and we began by picking out books we liked. The point of this was to learn how to pick out books and see if we like them by looking at the title, then flipping over the book and reading the summary, then flipping through the book and kind of analyzing what's happening.

We then began reading for 15 minutes, and after we finished, we would tell the teacher what we read about and why we chose the book . I chose the book About Stocks for Dummies because I wanted to learn how to invest. After this, we began switching books around and reading each other’s books. I didn’t understand why we did this, but I didn’t like any of their books. While we read, the teacher told us to read with our finger on the outside of the line we are reading, because it helps us consume information faster.

Later on, the teacher went into a deep discussion about how to handle disagreements in a smart way. He used an example from when he went to New York City for his daughter’s graduation. He described how people in the city had strong but opposite opinions about the situation in Gaza, but most of them weren’t even listening to each other. He explained that real leaders don’t let emotions take over during disagreements. Instead, they should listen, understand the other side, and respond with logic and calm thinking. That lesson really stood out because I realized how easy it is to react with emotion when we don’t agree with someone.

After that, the class switched topics again. The teacher started talking about different types of careers and how they each require different ways of thinking. He asked us to think about whether we’re more like an architect, an engineer, a trader, or a lawyer. An architect plans everything out before making a move. An engineer focuses on technical details and execution. A trader reacts quickly and makes decisions on the fly. A lawyer is focused on arguments, structure, and logic. He told us to start thinking about what kind of mind we have and what kind of work we’d enjoy doing in the future.

That conversation led into a real-world example about Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz trying to merge. He explained how it failed because of a culture clash. The German engineers at Mercedes designed everything on paper first with full precision before starting anything. The Americans at Chrysler were more hands-on. They built clay models and made changes as they went. The German side wanted everything detailed and finalized before any building began. The American side was more experimental and hands-on. That difference caused the companies to lose billions of dollars. The point of this story was to show how important planning, process, and communication are in leadership and teamwork.

The teacher also went over past essays and pointed out how some people missed entire sections because they didn’t take notes or write down the structure ahead of time. He said that we need to get used to breaking the essay down into parts, remembering each topic we covered, and thinking about how to write it all clearly.
Before class ended, we had a whole moment where the teacher focused on body language and professionalism. He corrected how some of us were sitting in our chairs and told us that how we carry ourselves really matters, especially in interviews. He said if everyone has the same GPA, what sets you apart is how you present yourself. Slouching, shaking legs, or acting distracted makes a difference in how adults or employers see you. He said to practice sitting with good posture and calm body language now, so we don’t have to fix it later when it really counts.

Then we started talking about active listening. He said that just sitting and looking at the teacher isn’t enough. We should be writing things down as we listen, focusing with our eyes and ears, and using our brain and hands at the same time. He explained that’s what top students do in law school. Listening passively only helps you remember about 60 percent. Taking notes while listening pushes you to understand and remember more. He said we should do this in every class, not just this one, because it builds good habits.

We then went over the homework assignment and how we have to turn in a 10 min presentation about a topic we like and explain it well. Then we we had to create an essay for the whole year about all the topics wee learned about this year so we went over all the tropics briefly then we talked about a fathers day essay .

That's all we learned today thanks