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
Sunday, April 29, 2012
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
Sunday, April 15, 2012
analysis of "Umbrella"
In Rihanna's song "Umbrella," she uses lots of poetic techniques to convey certain meanings and feelings. For example, she repeats the word Umbrella many, many times in the song. In the song she goes on about how she will always be there for him, and that she will be there forever. The image of the umbrella serves as a symbol of protection that she gives him. In the song it says:
Now that it is raining more than ever
know that we'll always have each other
you can stand under my umbrella
you can stand under my umbrella
This shows that she uses symbols to show how she will never leave him alone, and he can always trust her. She uses rain and an umbrella because rain a lot of times sybolizes a bad day, or hard times. She says here, Now that it is raining more than ever, implying that they are going through a rough time, meaning that this may be the worst fight that they have gotten in. She still says that they will have each other, and she will protect and be there for him. I can visualize her standing there holding an umbrella with him under it and her comforting him. She also uses a lot of rhyme to make the song flow and give it good rythm.
In the song, there is a repetition of the words- together, share, friend- gives the song a sense of helping people out. The tone of this song may not be like other Rihanna songs, because this one seems sweet, concerning, and giving. Not only does she repeat the word umbrella, but she repeats the sylobols also. I think all of this repeating of the umbrella shows the level of concern and care that she gives for this guy she is talking to. So throughout this poem, Rihanna uses many different levels and styles of repetition, rhyme, and symbolism to convey her message.
Now that it is raining more than ever
know that we'll always have each other
you can stand under my umbrella
you can stand under my umbrella
This shows that she uses symbols to show how she will never leave him alone, and he can always trust her. She uses rain and an umbrella because rain a lot of times sybolizes a bad day, or hard times. She says here, Now that it is raining more than ever, implying that they are going through a rough time, meaning that this may be the worst fight that they have gotten in. She still says that they will have each other, and she will protect and be there for him. I can visualize her standing there holding an umbrella with him under it and her comforting him. She also uses a lot of rhyme to make the song flow and give it good rythm.
In the song, there is a repetition of the words- together, share, friend- gives the song a sense of helping people out. The tone of this song may not be like other Rihanna songs, because this one seems sweet, concerning, and giving. Not only does she repeat the word umbrella, but she repeats the sylobols also. I think all of this repeating of the umbrella shows the level of concern and care that she gives for this guy she is talking to. So throughout this poem, Rihanna uses many different levels and styles of repetition, rhyme, and symbolism to convey her message.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Outside reading
This week I continued to read my french book, a poem called "hanging fire", and I also continued "It's Not Summer Without You." I finished reading my french book, and I have a new one. Reading these books improve my French speaking my broadening my vocabulary, teaching me new things, and also by being exposed to a book that is meant for French kids! A family that is pretty close to us is moving to Paris in a few weeks. They have a little boy who is in first grade. I think that it is pretty cool that I would be reading the same books that he would probably start to read next year. Maybe I can lend him some of the books that I finish reading, haha. I am excited that I can say that this year in French I began to read chapter books; that is not something I could have done last year, or even earlier this year. I am proud of my accomplisment. There isn't much to analyze in a 2nd grade level book, so I just figured I would write about the effect that the books that I have been reading has had on my life.
My other book, "It's Not Summer Without You," just keeps getting better. I really like how this book is written. It is first person, and you get to hear a lot of her thoughts. I almost think of it as a Diary, but maybe that is just me. It is hard to put this book down, because it is just so engaging. The scenery and images of the beach remind me of my beach house in Water Color. It is a little town that sounds a lot like that area. The only thing is I am not sure that they have crazy parties in Water Color, but you never know... I am really hoping that she gets her happy ending, because if she doesn't I am sure that a lot of people will be upset. Anyways, I can't wait to see how this turns out:)
150 minutes of reading:
"It's Not Summer Without You"- 85
French book-50 minutes
"hanging fire"- 15 minutes
My other book, "It's Not Summer Without You," just keeps getting better. I really like how this book is written. It is first person, and you get to hear a lot of her thoughts. I almost think of it as a Diary, but maybe that is just me. It is hard to put this book down, because it is just so engaging. The scenery and images of the beach remind me of my beach house in Water Color. It is a little town that sounds a lot like that area. The only thing is I am not sure that they have crazy parties in Water Color, but you never know... I am really hoping that she gets her happy ending, because if she doesn't I am sure that a lot of people will be upset. Anyways, I can't wait to see how this turns out:)
150 minutes of reading:
"It's Not Summer Without You"- 85
French book-50 minutes
"hanging fire"- 15 minutes
"hanging fire" by Audre Lorde
I read the poem called "Hanging Fire." An overall summary of the poem would about an insecure girl who has lots of worries on her mind. The author ends each stanza with "and momma's in the bedroom with the door closed." The author is trying to show us that the girl in the story feels like she is being ignored by her mother through all of her problems, and she keeps repeating it to make sure we make notice of it. Also in each stanza is her saying "what if I die", or "will I live long enough?" I think that this girl has very negative thoughts has a very low self confidence. She doesn't think that she gets enough attention, and she may be somewhat depressed. There is not one line in this poem where she says something positive. Another thing that she repeats a lot is the future. She talks about a lot about, what will she do for the next party, or what will she wear tomorrow. This indicates that she worries about the future a lot. So she pretty much worries about everything, or at least it sounds like it from this poem.
The word choice that the author chooses to use makes the reader feel bad for the girl in the poem. She uses I a lot, which means that she is mostly worrying about herself. In the second stanza- starting at line 19 and ending at line 21- she says that she has nothing that she wants to do but has too much to do. I think that here, she used a good choice of words to help you feel bad for her. She could have said here that she was always busy. When she says that she has nothing that she wants to do, she makes it seem like that she never has any plans, which makes you pity her. I also noticed a kind of opposite pattern. In the first stanza- in the second and third line- she first says that her skin has betrayed her, but then in the next line says that there is a boy that she cannot live without. She quickly jumps from her skin (which she has personafied here) leaving her in bad conditions, to talk about a boy who she can't live without. Then in the second stanza- in the 19th and 20th line- she fist goes on to say that there is nothing she wants to do, and then goes on to say that she has too much to do. So she switches from nothing to do, to having too much to do. So I think that this girl has a lot of worrying and bad thoughts in her mind, and this is made clear in the word choice, and layout of this poem.
The word choice that the author chooses to use makes the reader feel bad for the girl in the poem. She uses I a lot, which means that she is mostly worrying about herself. In the second stanza- starting at line 19 and ending at line 21- she says that she has nothing that she wants to do but has too much to do. I think that here, she used a good choice of words to help you feel bad for her. She could have said here that she was always busy. When she says that she has nothing that she wants to do, she makes it seem like that she never has any plans, which makes you pity her. I also noticed a kind of opposite pattern. In the first stanza- in the second and third line- she first says that her skin has betrayed her, but then in the next line says that there is a boy that she cannot live without. She quickly jumps from her skin (which she has personafied here) leaving her in bad conditions, to talk about a boy who she can't live without. Then in the second stanza- in the 19th and 20th line- she fist goes on to say that there is nothing she wants to do, and then goes on to say that she has too much to do. So she switches from nothing to do, to having too much to do. So I think that this girl has a lot of worrying and bad thoughts in her mind, and this is made clear in the word choice, and layout of this poem.
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