Dear fellow classmates,
Can you believe it? We are reaching the end of our freshman year. It seems like just yesterday that we all walked into that classroom for the first time. We have all learned so much from the class, English 1 in general and our class as a whole. On the academic side, we learned many new techniques and other things that will benefit all of us in the future. We learned new vocabulary, grew as writers, and also read some books that were very interesting. But we did not only learn things related to acedemics, we also learned from each other. We learned proper class room behavior- which we are still working on- but we have certainly improved since the beginning of the year. There are many important things that I took away from this class.
I think that we all have come a long way in this class. Sure, there are still days that we may not do the best, but I think as a whole we have improved and will hopefully carry that on to our english classes next year. It will be sad leaving this class because we have gotten used to each other and grown close, but I think that we all should have a positive mind going into next year. If we have a positive mind, and remember all of the things that we learned this year we should be successful next year. We have grown this year in many ways and I think that now we are ready to go to English 2 with pride.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Participation for the 4th Quarter
General Procedures: I am well prepared for class everyday. I never forget to bring my notebook, reading material, or class reading. I never forgot to bring my free reading book when we had the chance to read in class. As for waiting to be dismissed, I don't remember being too anxious to leave class early. Going to use the restroom was never a top priority during class time, and I don't think that there was one time that I left class to do so. I don't like missing important announcements in class. I check my email daily, and communicate and respond as quickly as I can. I tried to make sure that I turned in all of my assignments in the beginning of class. And I consider my attitude to be cooperative and helpful. I try to have a good attitude in class all the time.
Lecture, announcements, whole class discussion: I listen very closely to everything that you (Dr. D) says. I take helpful notes and try and ask relevant questions that will benefit my classmates. My comments are also relevant to the discussion and appropriate. I listen to my peers' questions and listen to the answer because it will benefit me. For the most part, I do not engage in side conversations. I do all I can to pay attention and listen in class.
Individual and Group Work: I focus on the task at hand, and do the work that is put forth. The only trouble that I have is that my group members usually are not focused on the task and it is hard to keep them on the task. I do not distract others and I do the most that I can to have relevant conversations. I follow the instructions and do my absolute best.
Growth: I think that our whole class has come a long way this year. We all had a rough start, but we got through it. I know that I (and the rest of the class) have done better in the second half of the year. I think that I have gotten more comfortable and therefore participated more and more as the year went on.
reading for this week:
45 minutes macbeth
100+ minutes of The absolutely true diary of a part-time indian
Lecture, announcements, whole class discussion: I listen very closely to everything that you (Dr. D) says. I take helpful notes and try and ask relevant questions that will benefit my classmates. My comments are also relevant to the discussion and appropriate. I listen to my peers' questions and listen to the answer because it will benefit me. For the most part, I do not engage in side conversations. I do all I can to pay attention and listen in class.
Individual and Group Work: I focus on the task at hand, and do the work that is put forth. The only trouble that I have is that my group members usually are not focused on the task and it is hard to keep them on the task. I do not distract others and I do the most that I can to have relevant conversations. I follow the instructions and do my absolute best.
Growth: I think that our whole class has come a long way this year. We all had a rough start, but we got through it. I know that I (and the rest of the class) have done better in the second half of the year. I think that I have gotten more comfortable and therefore participated more and more as the year went on.
reading for this week:
45 minutes macbeth
100+ minutes of The absolutely true diary of a part-time indian
Sunday, May 6, 2012
In Perspective of Macbeth
I didn't want to do it. I really didn't. That was really a terrible thing to do considering how kind and good he was to me. He gave me the honorable title of Thane of Cawdor, and I give him a knife to the heart. I feel absolutely terrible and guilty. I honestly will never forgive myself for what I did. I want to blame my wife for convincing me to do such a deed, but then again, it was ultimately my decision. I just couldn't sit there and let her call me a coward. I wouldn't be stripped of my manhood. I shouldn't have let her get to me. I should have stood my ground and been a real man about it. In the end, I will have to deal with the awful decision I made, which will not be a fun. Not fun at all.
My wife has been so strong through this whole thing. She has been stronger than I have. I should be the one who is calming HER down, not the other way around. She acts as if she has done this before, and knows exactly what should be done. I am the one who has killed someone before, but war is very different. In a war, you are killing your enemies, but in this case, it was a friend. I don't get it. I don't get how she stays so strong. How does she stay so cool when she has just committed a murder of a king? Every time I hear something, I jump, and everything startles me. I just sincerely hope that this all is over soon, and I can be a strong king.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
common errors list
1. Use a comma or the word and to separate 2 adjectives (it sounded like an amazing, inspiring story)
2. Make sure to stay in one tense
3. Use a semicolon when you link two independent clauses with no connecting words.
Commonly misspelled words
4. Anxiously
5. Restaurant
6. Absolutely
7. Definitely
8. Obviously
9. Experience
2. Make sure to stay in one tense
3. Use a semicolon when you link two independent clauses with no connecting words.
Commonly misspelled words
4. Anxiously
5. Restaurant
6. Absolutely
7. Definitely
8. Obviously
9. Experience
Reflection of my writing over the past year..
In the past year, I (as a writer) have grown. I have pushed myself to go beyond my comfort zone, and done things that I have never done before. Before this year, I had never had to come up with my own thesis and analyze pieces of information to support that thesis. I have learned new techniques in writing that will be extremely helpful for me in the years to come. I can now look back on my writing in the beginning of the year and just see the improvement in my writing. I love looking back on old essays and seeing what I thought to be a great paper, when compared to what I am writing now is nothing close to it. I think that this year especially I have learned very useful things. I learned how to write a correct paper with a thesis, and a research paper. I know that I will be writing a least one of these each year, so I am glad to have learned the proper ways and techniques. Also throughout this year, I have seen changes in my score sheets. I have noticed that in some areas I improved, and some I still need some practice. Now at I know what I can see what I can do next year to further improve.
Since the beginning of the year, my essays have improved in word choice and voice. In the beginning of the year, I was receiving 8.5s or Bs, but by the end of the year they had gone up to A’s. My scores in the ideas category, sentence fluency, and conventions have been consistent throughout the year. I have a special case with my development of my organization. On the first few essays, it was very strong. Although when we did the two papers with a thesis involved, my organization grade dropped. I think that the reason for that is because those papers are not as straightforward and easy to write. You could tell that after the introduction you would flow into the beginning of the story, or the background information. But with a thesis paper, it is less obvious on what goes next. After writing more of these kinds of papers, I hope to become better with that. The reason I think that my grades on organization are lower just in the thesis papers is because of the grade I received on my WRAP. Organization was the highest score on my WRAP this year, which is good news, because it shows me that I am capable of doing well in this category, but I just have to learn how to do it on different styles of writing.
I have been introduced to many new styles and techniques in writing in the past year. This is the first time that I have created a thesis and wrote a paper based on that thesis. I was a little intimidated at first by the thought, but after many steps on how to correctly write a thesis, it wasn’t as hard as I thought that it was. Then the second time around, it was a little easier. I also wrote a thesis paper in French. We analyzed a theme from a movie that we watched in class. I never thought that I could have done that in the beginning of this year. My ability to write a thesis has definitely improved, and I think that with every paper that I write it improves even more. I also learned many new useful techniques that will benefit me later on in my writing. One thing that I learned was that instead of using words like “is hanging,” I should use “hangs.” This was brought to my attention while writing the profile essay.
The feedback that I received this year matches the understanding of my writing work this year. For example, like I said earlier, I had trouble organizing my literary analysis. I wasn’t sure which paragraphs should go where exactly, because it sounded right to me, but obviously it could have been arranged better. I respect that constructive criticism because I know that I as a writer can learn to do better with experience. I was also told that in my literary analysis, each paragraph should make a connection to the actual thesis. That was something that I was unaware of, but will be good to know for the future. I have noticed that over the coarse of this year, I have learned to be more accepting of corrections or suggestions to my papers. I know now that it doesn’t always mean that my paper is necessarily bad or wrong, but it can always improve. I think that it is easier for me to see my own mistakes now than it was before. This will benefit me in the future because I will be able to evaluate my own writing better.
Next year, I intend to improve my writing even more. I always want to improve on writing, and every year I do just so. Next year specifically, one of my biggest goals is to improve my writing of a thesis paper and become more comfortable with them. I hope that by the end of next year, my organization of these kinds of papers will have improved. Another thing that I hope to do better on next year is the WRAP assignment. I feel like if I improve on that, then I can be sure that my writing has gotten better. And although my word choice has developed this year, I would like to develop it further. As a whole I want to make my writing better, because I know that there is always room for improvement.
After analyzing all of my work throughout the year, I am happy to see the big picture of my development for this years writing. I am glad to see the improvement on individual categories, and in my overall writing. I also now know what I need to work on for next year, and what I have to pay more attention to. As I look back to the beginning of the year, I can tell how much I learned this year. I aspire to do the same next year by improving my technique, skills, and overall development. I known that with every paper I write
Since the beginning of the year, my essays have improved in word choice and voice. In the beginning of the year, I was receiving 8.5s or Bs, but by the end of the year they had gone up to A’s. My scores in the ideas category, sentence fluency, and conventions have been consistent throughout the year. I have a special case with my development of my organization. On the first few essays, it was very strong. Although when we did the two papers with a thesis involved, my organization grade dropped. I think that the reason for that is because those papers are not as straightforward and easy to write. You could tell that after the introduction you would flow into the beginning of the story, or the background information. But with a thesis paper, it is less obvious on what goes next. After writing more of these kinds of papers, I hope to become better with that. The reason I think that my grades on organization are lower just in the thesis papers is because of the grade I received on my WRAP. Organization was the highest score on my WRAP this year, which is good news, because it shows me that I am capable of doing well in this category, but I just have to learn how to do it on different styles of writing.
I have been introduced to many new styles and techniques in writing in the past year. This is the first time that I have created a thesis and wrote a paper based on that thesis. I was a little intimidated at first by the thought, but after many steps on how to correctly write a thesis, it wasn’t as hard as I thought that it was. Then the second time around, it was a little easier. I also wrote a thesis paper in French. We analyzed a theme from a movie that we watched in class. I never thought that I could have done that in the beginning of this year. My ability to write a thesis has definitely improved, and I think that with every paper that I write it improves even more. I also learned many new useful techniques that will benefit me later on in my writing. One thing that I learned was that instead of using words like “is hanging,” I should use “hangs.” This was brought to my attention while writing the profile essay.
The feedback that I received this year matches the understanding of my writing work this year. For example, like I said earlier, I had trouble organizing my literary analysis. I wasn’t sure which paragraphs should go where exactly, because it sounded right to me, but obviously it could have been arranged better. I respect that constructive criticism because I know that I as a writer can learn to do better with experience. I was also told that in my literary analysis, each paragraph should make a connection to the actual thesis. That was something that I was unaware of, but will be good to know for the future. I have noticed that over the coarse of this year, I have learned to be more accepting of corrections or suggestions to my papers. I know now that it doesn’t always mean that my paper is necessarily bad or wrong, but it can always improve. I think that it is easier for me to see my own mistakes now than it was before. This will benefit me in the future because I will be able to evaluate my own writing better.
Next year, I intend to improve my writing even more. I always want to improve on writing, and every year I do just so. Next year specifically, one of my biggest goals is to improve my writing of a thesis paper and become more comfortable with them. I hope that by the end of next year, my organization of these kinds of papers will have improved. Another thing that I hope to do better on next year is the WRAP assignment. I feel like if I improve on that, then I can be sure that my writing has gotten better. And although my word choice has developed this year, I would like to develop it further. As a whole I want to make my writing better, because I know that there is always room for improvement.
After analyzing all of my work throughout the year, I am happy to see the big picture of my development for this years writing. I am glad to see the improvement on individual categories, and in my overall writing. I also now know what I need to work on for next year, and what I have to pay more attention to. As I look back to the beginning of the year, I can tell how much I learned this year. I aspire to do the same next year by improving my technique, skills, and overall development. I known that with every paper I write
Sunday, April 22, 2012
just reading for this week...
This week I read for 150 minutes:
all 150 minutes I spent on finishing my book "It's not summer without you"
That is all for this week:)
Monday, April 16, 2012
Reading...
I am almost finished with my outside reading book. I really want to see what the end is like, but then again at the same time I really don't want to finish it because I want it to go on forever. I went to the beach for a few days over spring break, and I thought of the little town as the town where my book is set. I imagined one of the houses as their summer house, and a little grocery store as the store that they visit. It is so amazing to see it almost come to life. The only thing that could have made it better is if I could have met the real life characters there. I am truly in love with this book. This is defineitly a different tone from the first book. I think that this book is a little more happy, because the main character is happier in this book. I really hope that the ending to this book is good and doesn't leave you hanging because I want a clear, happy ending so that I can imagine that they will be together forever.
Even though I am sad to be finishing this book, I know that there are many other good books that I can read next. Thanks to all of the wonderful reccomendations that my classmates have given to me I won't have a hard time choosing. I am in between "Pretty Boy Summer" and the Ellen Degeneres book that Isabella read. They both sound really good, but really different at the same time. I will probably end up making that decision shortly after I finish this book that I am reading now. I also recently finsihed reading my french book about the Titanic. Over the break I watched the movie Titanic because it has recently come back into the theaters for the 100th aniversary of the sinking. I thought that it was pretty cool that I had just read a book and watched a movie on it.
!50 minutes of reading:
60 minutes: poems
40 minutes: French book
50 minutes: outside reading book
Even though I am sad to be finishing this book, I know that there are many other good books that I can read next. Thanks to all of the wonderful reccomendations that my classmates have given to me I won't have a hard time choosing. I am in between "Pretty Boy Summer" and the Ellen Degeneres book that Isabella read. They both sound really good, but really different at the same time. I will probably end up making that decision shortly after I finish this book that I am reading now. I also recently finsihed reading my french book about the Titanic. Over the break I watched the movie Titanic because it has recently come back into the theaters for the 100th aniversary of the sinking. I thought that it was pretty cool that I had just read a book and watched a movie on it.
!50 minutes of reading:
60 minutes: poems
40 minutes: French book
50 minutes: outside reading book
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