For my sophomore year of English with Mr.Howell, we did many essays and response logs related to the books we were reading in class. I started out with an okay writing fluency and learned how to include evidence and insight in my writing. When writing about Westley in Princess Bride, using evidence and insight was very essential. The fact that “Westley saved Buttercup from Inigo, Fezzik, and Vizzini” proved that “he loved Buttercup deeply”. I’ve learned that it is important to analyze what you are reading so you can have a better understanding of the story and appreciate it. I hope to become a better at realizing what the author is implying with the actions he gives his characters.
We also had to compare the Princess Bride the movie to the book, and write a short FCA about it. At first this wasn’t an easy task because you really had to understand both the movie and the book to be able to compare the slight differences. “The movie has to consider the fact that the kids will be watching it; meanwhile, a higher age group will be reading the book.” In this FCA we had to incorporate sentences that had semi-colons followed by adverbs, such as in the previous quoted sentence. We also had to include good transitional words, which really helps when you are talking about a story so the sequence of events is clear. I have improved my ability to add certain sentence types into my writing, however I would still like to approve in that area because I know I still have more room to grow.
In English class we also did a lot of essays. I started out doing alright, but I needed more fluency and I needed to do better revisions to my work. In one sentence I wrote “Although Boxer- honorable, hardworking…” and a couple sentences down I wrote “Boxer, the hardest working…” These two uses of the description hardworking made my writing appear redundant. I learned that it is best to go through my writing and change similar words to create more variety and richness. In addition, I need to do more proofreading so I can avoid silly mistakes.
As the year progressed, I improved a significant amount. I learned how to incorporate parallel structure into my writing, and the correct use of punctuation. My sentence, “In conclusion, bringing out the students highest potential, balancing freedom, and giving each student and equal opportunity for success are really understandable goals that we should set,” is a good example of my use of parallel structure. I believe parallel structure is a good way to include multiple ideas or things into once sentence. An instance of my improvement in correct punctuation would be as follows: “Student praise is also an important issue- not just for those who do their work all the time…another issue is when teachers favor some students over others; usually students who are doing really well.” Learning how to use parallel structure and a variety of punctuation enhanced my writing, and I hope to be consistent in adding them into my writing in the future.
In English class, we learned that it was vital to be able to listen to your peers and take notes to see different opinions. When faced with the difficult question of saving 17 people you don’t know or saving your own baby, such as an in the book The Bean Trees, we all had different ways to look at it. Some believed that they would rather “save their own flesh and blood”; while others believed they would rather “save more people”. Although it was a tough decision, eventually made a choice based on my opinion and listening to what other people had to say. I improved because I realized that listening to other peoples opinion is important when discussing anything, even literature because there often can be more than one right answer.
Another situation in which there is more than one right answer, or perhaps no right answer at all, was when answering the difficult question about the repairman. He was a really good repairman but he was stealing time. We were torn between the options of praising him or getting him in trouble. Kayla believed that perhaps the “worker was twice as fast as the other two workers”, making it okay for him to take the extended lunch break, which means it would be okay to call and just praise him. However, Sean believed that he should call and “say they did a good job but say he was stealing time”. These two opinions were so different from mine, which I believed that you should not call at all which would lead to “no praise and no trouble… so you don’t get involved.” It is all about problem solving. I learned that when stating your opinion its best if you can back it up with reason and I hope to become more persuasive with my view.
This year in English we only did a few presentations. At first I did not do so well on these because they could have been better in several aspects. I need to prove on my visuals and creativity because I only got a “2” on the rubric sheet; I only had “a few unique touches” during my autobiography speech. Although I was confident, “attempted at varying rate for emphasis”, and faced the audience, they were all still areas in which I could have advanced on. I learned that all of these things help create a better speech and keep your audience intrigued. However, I did remain consistently audible which is key when presenting so people can hear and understand you.
Later on in the year, my speech skills developed a little more. Katlyn and I worked well in a group. We kept things “insightful” and “organized” with “clear steps”, as we showed the class how to make a time capsule. In our speech we included all elements, which is obviously significant when explaining how to do something to someone; you want to address any possible problems. Just as any other speech, it is a plus to have “distinct enunciation” to avoid confusion. I improved in my enthusiasm and my body movement. I hope that the more speeches I do the less nervous I will be doing them. Overall I learned a lot this year, and I hope things will only get easier as time goes on considering the skills I have acquired when it comes to reading, writing, listening, and presenting.
10.6.09
almost done.
For my sophomore year of English with Mr.Howell, we did many essays and response logs related to the books we were reading in class. I started out with an okay writing fluency and learned how to include evidence and insight in our writing. When writing about Westley in Princess Bride, using evidence and insight was very essential. The fact that “Westley saved Buttercup from Inigo, Fezzik, and Vizzini” proved that “he loved Buttercup deeply”. I’ve learned that it is important to analyze what you are reading so you can have a better understanding of the story and appreciate it. I hope to become a better at realizing what the author is implying with the actions he gives his characters.
We also had to compare the Princess Bride the movie to the book, and write a short FCA about it. At first this wasn’t an easy task because you really had to understand both the movie and the book to be able to compare the slight differences. “The movie has to consider the fact that the kids will be watching it; meanwhile, a higher age group will be reading the book.” In this FCA we had to incorporate sentences that had semi-colons followed by adverbs, such as in the previous quoted sentence. We also had to include good transitional words, which really helps when you are talking about a story so the sequence of events is clear. I have improved my ability to add certain sentence types into my writing, however I would still like to approve in that area because I know I still have more room to grow.
In English class we also did a lot of essay. I started out doing alright, but I needed more fluency and I needed to do better revisions to my work. In one sentence I wrote “Although Boxer- honorable, hardworking…” and a couple sentences down I wrote “Boxer, the hardest working…”. These two uses of the description hardworking made my writing appear redundant. I learned that it is best to go through my writing and change similar words to create more variety and richness. In addition, I need to do more proofreading so I can avoid silly mistakes.
As the year progressed, I improved a significant amount. I learned how to incorporate parallel structure into my writing, and the correct use of punctuation. My sentence, “In conclusion, bringing out the students highest potential, balancing freedom, and giving each student and equal opportunity for success are really understandable goals that we should set,” is a good example of my use of parallel structure. I believe parallel structure is a good way to include multiple ideas or things into once sentence. An instance of my improvement in correct punctuation would be as follows: “Student praise is also and important issue- not just for those who do their work all the time…another issue is when teachers favor some students over others; usually students who are doing really well.” Learning how to use parallel structure and a variety of punctuation enhanced my writing, and I hope to be consistent in adding them into my writing in the future.
In English class, we learned that it was vital to be able to listen to your peers and take notes to see different opinions. When faced with the difficult question of saving 17 people you don’t know or saving your own baby, we all had different ways to look at it. Some believed that they would rather “save their own flesh and blood”, while others believes they would rather “save more people”.
We also had to compare the Princess Bride the movie to the book, and write a short FCA about it. At first this wasn’t an easy task because you really had to understand both the movie and the book to be able to compare the slight differences. “The movie has to consider the fact that the kids will be watching it; meanwhile, a higher age group will be reading the book.” In this FCA we had to incorporate sentences that had semi-colons followed by adverbs, such as in the previous quoted sentence. We also had to include good transitional words, which really helps when you are talking about a story so the sequence of events is clear. I have improved my ability to add certain sentence types into my writing, however I would still like to approve in that area because I know I still have more room to grow.
In English class we also did a lot of essay. I started out doing alright, but I needed more fluency and I needed to do better revisions to my work. In one sentence I wrote “Although Boxer- honorable, hardworking…” and a couple sentences down I wrote “Boxer, the hardest working…”. These two uses of the description hardworking made my writing appear redundant. I learned that it is best to go through my writing and change similar words to create more variety and richness. In addition, I need to do more proofreading so I can avoid silly mistakes.
As the year progressed, I improved a significant amount. I learned how to incorporate parallel structure into my writing, and the correct use of punctuation. My sentence, “In conclusion, bringing out the students highest potential, balancing freedom, and giving each student and equal opportunity for success are really understandable goals that we should set,” is a good example of my use of parallel structure. I believe parallel structure is a good way to include multiple ideas or things into once sentence. An instance of my improvement in correct punctuation would be as follows: “Student praise is also and important issue- not just for those who do their work all the time…another issue is when teachers favor some students over others; usually students who are doing really well.” Learning how to use parallel structure and a variety of punctuation enhanced my writing, and I hope to be consistent in adding them into my writing in the future.
In English class, we learned that it was vital to be able to listen to your peers and take notes to see different opinions. When faced with the difficult question of saving 17 people you don’t know or saving your own baby, we all had different ways to look at it. Some believed that they would rather “save their own flesh and blood”, while others believes they would rather “save more people”.
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