Letter to the class

Class,
I think we have come a long way this year. Our writing skills have improved a lot. We have been introduced to all sorts of different writing topics and assignments. I hoped the writing this year prepared you for the future like it did for me. It has shown me my strengths and weaknesses of writing. I have also found many ways to improve these problems from fellow classmates in peer reviews. We have also learned a lot about annotating literature and analyzing plot. We have read three different books with each a different meaning from the other. I hope that in the future we are prepared enough for more advanced classes!

-Nick

Evaluation

A: General Procedures - I always come to class prepared. I always have my books and utensils ready for class. I have had my free reading most of the time. I never asked for water/locker/bathroom breaks this whole nine weeks. I have had a great attitude toward our class and what we learned in it.


B: Lecture, announcements, whole class discussion - I have been taking many notes in our class. I do not think they are much help to me because they are basically summaries of the class. I feel connected with class discussions sometimes, but if they are out of my grasp to understand then I do not pay much attention.

A: Individual and Group Work - I love doing group work in this class. I like seeing everyone's opinions about the subject. When it comes to individual work, I stay on task and get the job done. I have never had any problems with staying on task when it comes to working.

B: Growth - I have gotten more mature and understanding about English over the past school year. I do not think I have reached my full potential. I just do not understand many things and it is hard for me not to give up. Throughout the year I have pushed through many hard assignments and confusing ones at that. I hope to do better in English II with the materials taught to me in English I.

Outside Reading Reflection

My outside reading has taught many things throughout the year. First of all, it has gotten me back into reading more often. I find myself wanting to go to Barnes and Noble every once in a while to find a new interesting read. Also, I have learned that I am not understanding the subtexts of the story that well. I hope to improve on this so it will not affect my future in literature.

I am close to finishing The Hunger Games. It has taken me awhile due to a few papers and projects. I hav been having fun comparing the movie to the book. I think its a scientific fact that the book is always better than the book. I am surprised at the minor differences that can change the whole perspective of the story. I have enjoyed this book so far and looking forward to beginning Catching Fire.

The Hunger Games - 150 Mins -

Thursday - 50
Friday - 50
Saturday - 50

Lady Macbeth's Perspective

When will I be queen? I mean how many more people do I need my dear Macbeth to kill? Killing Duncan was not a problem, but we came close to being suspected. If it were not for me, Macbeth would not know what is best for him. As soon as I become Queen I will control all of Macbeth's actions.

I am sure just a few more killings will make Macbeth and I king and queen. I hope we can get away with it without fault. Hopefully Macbeth does not realize that I am using him. If he does, what might happen to me? I will keep pushing Macbeth into thinking this whole "killing spree" is easy enough. I will be queen in no time!

Common Errors List

Commons Errors List

1.     Punctuation Outside Quotation – EX: “The Right to Bear Arms”,  (Research Paper)

           

2.     Subject/Verb Agreement – EX: “government have always wonder” (Research Paper)

3.     Armadillo Road Kill – EX: He shoots the animal, but does not leave. “Everything is slow, a creepy Secondary Era slowness like a drip of water.” (Literary Analysis)

4.     Staying Inside the text – EX: I have no example for this, but I tend to wander off during planning the paper.

5.     Comma Splice – EX: I notice that forest park offers many activities such as,  a dog park… (Profile)

6.     Article Error – Ex: Across from field, I can see the enormous gym. (Profile)

English 1 Reflection

             All of the writing we have done this year has shown me my strengths and weaknesses, such as my common errors, and aspects of writing. Every time I re-read a graded paper, I always noticed that I made a mistake, grammar or organization errors. I also noticed these errors during the peer reviews. The writing we did this year included Narratives, blog posts, and a Profile. All of these assignments involved a variety of methods of how to successfully plan and write the paper.

            People always said that in High School, we would have to write many papers. This information for me was a shock, because of my organization and supporting details. I figured out that planning my ideas in some sort of visual chart, such as a flow chart, helped me organize my thoughts in order for me to write my paper. I eventually became routinized in planning my ideas (which I had not done before). In doing so, I started strengthening my support in my papers. The rubrics you gave to us before most papers also helped me when I was proofreading and going back to add or remove certain statements.

            I then noticed another problem I had with writing assignments. Recently, I discovered I had a disorder in reading comprehension. It explained why I was not grasping the concept of the paper. In other words, I did not understand what to write the paper about. I usually felt confident about papers that I had written, until I received a grade for it. I sought help from you, Dr. deGravelles, and we focused on the Literary Analysis. The Literary Analysis was the paper where my disorder shown itself the most. My thoughts were very unorganized and the sentence fluency was tough to follow along. I then found a simple way to help this aspect of writing, which was once again making some sort of flow chart.

            I had gathered lots of information on my research paper topic and assembled them into ‘noodlebib’ notecards. Them when it came time to write the paper I had taken a few days trying to cram in more information and repeat ideas just to try and reach the length requirements. With haste, I turned in the paper confidently with out proof reading it that well. When I received the grade for it, I was astonished at how horrible the conventions of the paper were. I had many repeated words, run on sentences, comma splices, and punctuation outside quotation. I then doubted myself on why I chose such a difficult topic. In the comments for the paper, you specifically said,  “You need to put a lot more work into proofreading”, I agree with this statement. I have learned and will try to make writing a paper as easy as possible next research assignment.

            The WrAP assignment is a different story that mainly involves time management and limited planning. Since we only had two class periods to plan and write it, there was no way I would be able to make a successful above average grade. Of course, when the assignment had been graded a returned, organization was the lowest scored of all of the aspects. So, I still need to work on support or it will come back to get in later school years. I hope to resolve this issue in the near future. I feel it would greatly improve my writing grade.

            The highlight of writing in my year of English 1 was the Profile. I had made the highest grade on it out of all of the other papers. It is also the paper that showed my common error the involved keep the same perspective throughout the whole paper. Every paper throughout the year taught me another issue I had when writing. It seemed as if every different paper we wrote involved a different style of writing that challenged us to find new strengths and weaknesses.