Sunday, May 13, 2012

Letter to Classmates


Dear classmates,
 Over this entire year we have all gotten to know each other  a little better by taking on the challenges English 1 has presented us together. I think that when we are all interested and in tune at the same time we have really productive classes and class discussions. Our class was really good about turning things in on time and for the most part we were pretty good with participating in class. We always asked a lot of questions and were eager to move around when we worked, which is why I think we are doing pretty well with Macbeth. 
Of course we had out fair share of problems too. I think some of out main problems was leaving during class or leaving early, side conversations, complaining and not being happy. We actually all worked and thought of ways we could help fix these classroom problems we were having. We brought into effect the points game/ system, we had our sign out sheet, and we have all been trying much harder to participate. I think we have had a pretty good year together as a class and I hope we can continue that throughout high school. 

Yearly over view




This year I think  I did a really good job as far a participation goes. I always came to class with everything i needed i never forgot my Lord of the Flies, or Nervous Condition books. I always had all the materials I need that would include things like pencil, pens, paper, anything extra e were asked to bring. My class as a whole has a problem with wanting to leave early even if we finish class early we want to leave before the bell. 
I think I used my time well between classes to tai scare of what ever I need to do so I could be focused in class. My class had a problem with too many people leaving to often during class, we tried different ways to fix this. I always checked my e-mail and assignments daily, I try to do that for all of my classes. I turned in my assignments on time no matter what they were I don't think I had more than one or two assignments late the entire year. I think I do pretty well in participation although I do learn better by just listening and watching  sometimes I will ask questions to make things more clear. I was pretty good about side conversations I think at the beginning of the year I was bad about it but it has gotten regressively better. When we were put into groups my rule in the group was dependent on the type of project, i tried to always do what i knew could attribute to helping my group. My participation from the beginning of the year to now has changed a lot I learned a lot about my learning style this year and it has helped me become a better student. 

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Outside reading over this year


Over the course of the year I've definitely changed a lot as a reader. I used to just not really enjoy reading over all but it has really grown on me over the course of this year. Ive tried different books this year and expanded the variety of books I usually read. I knew that it always takes me awhile to read but over this year I have read more often and know I can read more in a shorter period of time. What has surprised me is how I have become so good at picking books I know I will like and actually be interested in and want to read. 
I have adapted to thinking about the things we look for in annotating. Now when I read I always look of characterization, plot, and theme. For me, next in reading I think I am going to try to continue to pick books that fit my interest and also try to read more challenging books. Over this year I have become a much more involved and encouraged reader. My reading times this week was Son of Neptune: 150
Macbeth: 20 

Lady Macbeth's Perspective


 If I were to be in the story Macbeth form the point of view of lady Macebeth I think it would entirely change the way I view things entirely. From the first time we meet lady Macbeth you can tells he is  very violent, aggressive, and hostile. From my point of view I could never think the way she does, that murdering someone isn't a problem or isn't a big deal and its forgettable. When she sees Macbeth back she tells him of her plan when he refuses to do it she becomes angry. Screaming at him and pressuring him to kill him, knowing that by doing that by doing this  Macbeth will get the position of power that he wants she uses that against him. 
When the time comes for the murder Lady Macbeth persuades him into doing it. Once Macbeth commits the crime he feels almost out of body and so full of guilt he can barley handle it. Lady Macbeth at first is a little on edge but soon becomes much more comfortable with it. She views the murder almost like it was nothing, like they didn't even know the king. She feels so comfortable with this that she even uses the kings blood to cover it on the guards and put the daggers by them because macbeth was too shaken up to do so. Lady Macbeth is not lady like at all she does not have a guilty conscience and is completely comfortable with murder and does not think of the consicuinces. 

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Writing Reflection

                                                  Yearly writing Analysis

            Looking back at the writing I have done this year I can unquestionably say there has been a lot of improvement and growth in myself as a writer. At the beginning of the year I wasn’t very confident in myself as a writer and I had trouble getting my ideas across in my writing. I have learned so many different types of writing there are like our profiles, and our literary analysis’. The varieties of writing we have done this year has definitely made me have to really focus and try to modify my writing.  A huge part of my trouble was working and incorporating all of the literary elements and trying to do that correctly and well.  As the year progressed I noticed it began to come much easier for me to incorporate these aspects of writing and doing much better quality work.
            At the beginning of the year my main problem was organization and making my point clear. One of my biggest struggles was while writing the Profile, and the Rhetorical Situation. Looking back on the writing I have done in the past I noticed how I could fix the mistakes that I had made. I observed in the reviews I got people were not very sure what preciously I was trying to say in my writing; things were unclear. Another thing I’ve noticed in my previous reviews was I would have a strong opening but as the paper would go on the writing would wither away and become uninteresting. Along with the other trouble’s I was having in my writing my reviews mostly consisted of the same things. As far as my editing goes I think my papers would have benefited from more revisions and feedback. Numerous mistakes I made in my papers towards the beginning of the year were largely problems that were easy to fix and was just carless mistakes.
            I also made many improvements since the beginning of the year, one of which was being more descriptive. I became more aware of how giving vivid description creates imagery for the reader and how much more my papers would gain from including this in my writing.  One of my extensive problems was sentence fluency, to which I have made a vast improvement on. Just by reading my papers you could tell the sentences didn’t always flow together and they were a bit choppy. I’m glad I was able to see and use the criticism my papers received because it made me realize what I needed to fix and how simple it would be to just try to pay more attention to my weaknesses while writing.
            I knew a great deal of my strengths and weaknesses when we began writing, Many of the people who revised my papers agreed with what I thought I could improve on. I also got criticism on things I had not realized I was having trouble with, so I also learned what I never noticed needed improvement. I agreed with almost all of the feedback I was getting this year and I tried to change whatever I agreed was wrong with the paper as long as it wouldn’t change my writing drastically. A good example of this for myself was the Literary Analysis; I don’t think I included enough of the revisions I had been given which really could have improved my paper. After reviewing all of the comments I received, I tried to make the revisions I was given and I attempted to focus on what I knew were usually my main problems. I zoned in on fixing the main problems in my paper then I looked more closely at the smaller more detailed mistakes I was making.
            Some of my more recent papers show that I have altered the mistakes I was previously making but at the same time it also shows new things I need to begin to focus on. One of my main problems was with citation and still a bit of organization. I have improved in my research and how I present my ideas on the paper because I have focused more closely on that. My sentence fluency has been better and I think if you compared my writing from a few months ago to now you would see how much improvement has been made. 
            Based off the feedback I have received this year I now know what I need to mainly focus on and what to look out for. I also now know what some of my strengths in writing are like ideas, and research so I now know to incorporate those as much as possible in my writing. This next year I am going to spend much more time on my writing. I’m going to spend more time working on my rough draft so that once it is revised I will have a pretty good paper to work with. Lastly, one of my main goals is to continue to work of organization because I have had trouble with that this year. I think that if I am to continue working on these writing techniques I will become a much better quality writer and do better work.
           
Common Errors list:

-       Comma splices
-       Organization
o   Putting all of my ideas on  a topic into my writing in an orderly, sensible way.
-       Citations
-       Grammatical errors 

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Just Reading 4/22

Finished Hope Was Here  by Joan Bauer - 80 minutes
Science Textbook- 60 minutes

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Reading Response

 This week I have finally finished The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. I really enjoyed the book it was interesting and it had so many twists and turns to make it so interesting. I think towards the end of the book it began to dry on a little in my opinion but by the very end of the book Rick Riordan picked it up again, and again as always has an ending that leaves the reader hanging. When the book is coming to an end the main characters return back to camp after finishing there task. After returning they have all changed so much each of them has grown and become much more wiser in the past week and all now know what purpose they have at the camp.
   After finishing this book I'm not very sure what I am going to read next. I know we are going to be starting Shakespeares  Macbeth so I'm not exactly sure which book I would like to read along with it. I was thinking about reading the ellen degeneres biography that my friends recommended to our english class. I haven't ever read anything like that before so I figured I could read a different type of book I've never read before.