ELA 10B Blog

My goals at the beginning of the year where not to bad or hard to accomplish. My reading goals where to read 25 books by the end of the year. I have read around 10 or 12. I definitely didn’t accomplish this reading goal, but I did get to read really good books that I really enjoyed. My other reading goal was to read at least 1 realistic fiction novel. I did get to accomplish this goal. I read The Hours by Michael Cunningham and The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. They were not my favorite novels but they where definitely different than what I am used to. I can’t find my other reading goal, oops. But my writing goals were to push myself, write during the entire time, and try be more clear in my writing. I was able to really push myself during writing by writing the Tragedy Project paper. Normal I write a paragraph and I am done. With the tragedy paper I was able to write 6 pages. Which is more than double than what I can normally write. I was able to write the entire time during 15 minutes. Normally that is hard for me, but as we kept writing it became easier and easier. My last writing goals was to be more clear on what I was writing. I am still not the best at writing what I mean, but I have improved a little bit, which is still progress.

The area I grew in the most was how much I could write. This year I could only write half as good as I can now. My goal is what really helped me push myself along with how much writing we did this year. I was able to grow with writing through the Pecha Kucha Project and the Tragedy project. Both of those projects are what forced me to be better at writing. With the Pecha Kucha I had to shorten what I wanted to say but still make sense. That project helped me be more concise and precise. The tragedy project helped me grow in how long of a paper I can write. As I stated early I couldn’t write as much as I can now because of that project. Although some of our other papers did help me become a better writer those 2 had the most impact on my writing.

Where was most effort:  I put an equal amount of effort in everything I do. But the project that I had to put more effort into was the Representation project. I put the most effort into this project because there where steps that I had to follow. Such as find the book, finish the book, read other resources, find connections, and make a video using media. I was able to finish the book rather early, The Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. Although it was easy to finish because it was so amazing. I also put a lot of effort into making the video. I remade it probably 6 different times because I wanted it to be perfect.

I would say that the risk I took that had the greatest reward was choosing the book for the Representation project. I wasn’t sure if I would like Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi. I was weary of the book because I normally like to be able to pick the book myself. I know we had the option to chose differently but I wanted to try it. I think I learned a lot about myself as a reader when reading this novel. I thoroughly enjoyed Children of Blood and Bone. It was a risk because it wasn’t something I would normally do. And it had the greatest reward because I was able to read new books that I will definitely continue reading. I was rewarded with having a new favorite series. Although I didn’t risk to much it still had a really great reward.

I added to my literacy repertoire by reading new novels and by expanding what I normally read. I was able to read realistic fiction which isn’t something I tend to read unless forced. While I didn’t necessarily love the novels I chose I will definitely be willing to expand my reading areas. I was also able to add to my repertoire by writing blog posts. The blog posts helped me grow as a writer. While doing the reflective blog posts helped me be able to reflect on what I have accomplished. It has helped me be able to look back on what I have been able to accomplish. The blog posts have helped me grow with writing because I have had to really think and make sure that I effectively evaluated myself and what I had been able to do.

This marking period I was able to expanded the novels I read during the Trending Topics Project. I was able to grow in what I was reading, who I was reading the novels by, and by being able to use a new source to convey my ideas. I learned quite a bit this marking period about myself and what I read.

I grew in what I was reading. I had never realized that most of the characters on my bookshelf where white. I have novels with Asian and Hispanic or Latina but NONE with African or African American characters. I was really disappointed in myself. I didn’t even know what I was doing. I was creating a bias in the novels I read. The novels I read are not showing representation. After this project I know I will be a lot more careful about what I am reading. I want to expand my perspective. One of the things I read was that people would complain about characters of color because they couldn’t relate to them. But we are all people and I don’t understand how they couldn’t relate to them. With the Trending Topics Project I was able to realize that I was creating an unintentional bias in what I was reading. The standard I was able to meet with growth was critical thinking. I

was able to look at what I was reading in a different perspective. I was able to grow in who I read the novels by. I never really paid

attention to the authors. The main reason I would know who certain authors are because I really loved their novels. And I never really cared about who they where, I just knew that I loved the novels they wrote. The Trending Topics Project really opened up my eyes to what I was reading and who it was by. I never realizes that their might be bias in who I was reading novels by. I never even thought of the fact that what I was reading was being stereotypical or untrue. I didn’t necessarily live by what the author said but I didn’t realize what I was reading either. I now know that I will be a lot more careful of the authors I read and what they say. The standard that I met with this area critical thinking again. It was a little bit different because I will be looking at authors from different areas than I did before.

I grew in the sources I used to convey my ideas. Through the Trending Topics Project I learned about new website. I was able to learn and experiment with adobe spark. I was able to figure out how to get my presentation on their and record my voice over. Normally I am not good at that kind of thing, but I was actually able to figure it out. The standard I met with this area of growth was being authentic. I was able to create a presentation through this project and make it my own. I put my own twist on things and make it how I wanted it to be.

I was able to grow this marking period more so through what I was reading. I learned a lot about and area I was quite ignorant in. I will push myself to read more next marking period, so that I will be able to meet my goals. I learned a lot through the Trending Topics Project. Such as what I am reading, who its by, and sources that are available to me. I learned a lot this marking period and grew as a person.

This marking period I didn’t really grow as a reader but I grew in what I read. I was able to read novels with a new perspective and view of what I was reading. I read a total of 600 pages. The amount of pages I read per week was 100. Which isn’t a large amount but we had a lot of other stuff we did. I felt that I paced myself really well. I didn’t read a ton but I really enjoyed what I read and learned a lot. With the trending topics project I learned a lot about representation and that really helped me grow as a reader.

I did all my reading at my house. I mainly read during class time. But I did a lot more reading outside of class than I normally do. I read on average an hour a day after class. I grew as a reader by reading outside of class. I was able to finish my book earlier than I expected. I mainly read my book in the afternoon during my “free” time. I did some reading outside, when it was nice, but normally inside. I did my normal reading routine. I didn’t really grow in how long I can read. But I did reinforce that I could read for a long time on end.

I challenged myself by reading out of class more often. My sister was a really big encouragement to me because she would read with me. I read at least an hour a day. Which is more than I have done since the summer. I plan to continue to challenge myself to reach my goal of 25 books. So far I have hit about 10 or 11 books. Not a ton but better than none at all. I will challenge myself to read at least 2 novels next marking period. 

I learned that I need to widen the number of novels that I read. I also learned that I need to be more aware of what I read and make sure it is unbiased. I found out that I have unintentionally formed a novel bias that I want to break. I learned I need to expand my reading horizons. Other than that I didn’t learn a lot about myself as a reader. I plan to continue to push myself and try for the best possible. 

When the state first shut down the school told us that we would be out of school for a couple of weeks but that we needed to clean out our lockers. So I cleaned out my locker. I was able to hug some of my friends that I probably won’t be able to see again. Three of my best friends last year were exchange students from Thailand. I was able to give two of them hugs  before they had to leave for Thailand. I am not a very social person, and I don’t tend to miss people, but I do really miss them. I personally benefited greatly from the lockdown. I was able to finally be myself, an introvert. I once stated “ in an extroverted world, it was nice to finally be able to be an introvert” and I stand by it. I am truly sorry to all of the families that lost someone or to the people who fell into a depression. But the lockdown wasn’t hard on everyone. I really enjoyed being home. I had my sister, my mother, the family dog, and my sister’s dog. So, I was not alone. I finally got to enjoy life without being constantly stressed. About literally everything. I was able to read, listen to new music, play board games, and video games. I started listening to my new favorite band, NCT. I am a total fangirl over NCT. I was able to read books that have been on my list for a long time. My family put our pool up, so we swam a lot. I learned a lot about guinea pigs. And at the end of summer I was able to adopt two adorable guinea pigs.  I still have bad anxiety but it was nice getting a break from constant stress. I had fun with my family and grew a lot as a person. I have a lot more confidence  in myself. The main thing I missed during quarantine was my friends. The saddest part of the pandemic for my family was that we found out my mother had uterine cancer. And it was hard to move around the pandemic with that. She had to have surgery and my sister and I couldn’t even be in the building. My sister was able to wait outside the hospital but she couldn’t even wait inside the hospital because of Covid. Thankfully my sister and I could wait for her after her radiation. But it really took a toll on my mom. It definitely would have been easier without the pandemic but we were able to work around it. That was the major downfall for my family. Other than it was a really nice year. Just because of her cancer my mom never stopped staying positive and having fun.

 

Author’s note: 

We were asked to write our experience of a year of living in a pandemic. My own experience wasn’t bad. Some major things happened in my family but it was not because of the pandemic. I think we all had different experiences. Mine was definitely one of the better ones. I didn’t lose anyone close to me during the pandemic and my mother is recovering very well. My family grew closer and learned a lot more about each other.

 

Revision Decision:

I didn’t really revise anything. This piece is more so just my personal experience. I did add a couple sentences and I took like one sentence out. But nothing major.

I was able to grow a lot this trimester as a reader and writer. The projects this trimester really took me out of my comfort zone. The Tragedy Project really helped me grow as a writer. The Pecha Kucha Project helped me grow as a reader. The blog posts help me realize my goals and step back and look at how I am growing and where I am growing. I would say that I grew more this Trimester than I did last trimester. Like I said this trimester pushed me a lot.

We didn’t do a future me, but my goals where mainly to finish my two AP Lit books. I also wanted to grow in what I write about and be more concise. I didn’t finish my reading goals, although I did almost finish The Hours by Michael Cunningham. I would say that I met my writing goal. I was able to accomplish being more concise with both the Tragedy Project and the Pecha Kucha project. Both of those really put me out of my comfort zone. Before the Tragedy Project I had never had to write a three page paper let alone a six page paper. It took me a while to figure out where I wanted things and when I wanted them. Before we had to present the Pecha Kucha I was practicing it. When I was reading it, I realized it didn’t flow very well and didn’t always make sense. Thankfully, I practiced. If I hadn’t my presentation would have been a lot worse. I think with the Pecha Kucha being timed it actually helped me. It relieved some of the stress because I knew I wouldn’t have to spend over a minute per slide. I was able to reach my writing goals but not my reading goals. I plan to work harder next trimester to surpass my goals.

The area I mainly grew in through blogging was being able to become a more critical thinker in what I was writing. When typing the creative writing piece I had to look at what I had revised and what inspired me to write that piece. I was able to grow through the creative writing because I saw why I was writing a piece. When I write a piece and don’t look at the why, I will normally forget that piece. I believe some of the pieces I wrote within this class may stick with me. I was also able to grow with the reading and writing analysis blog posts. These posts really made me look at how I had grown as a reader or a writer. The reading blog post showed me that I can be very unmotivated when reading a book that I am kind of interested in. The writing blog posts helped me look at the fact that I had grown a lot more through my writing. They helped me step back and look at what I had either not accomplished or what I had accomplished.

I would say that I put a lot of effort into was the Tragedy Project. I worked rally hard to write those six pages. I am used to writing what I want to say and moving on. With the Tragedy Project I had to look more at the why I found it important rather than the what is important. With my tragedy paper I probably revised it three times, at least. I started my paper off as just a layout. I then started writing my paragraphs. Once I had written everything I thought I could write, I hit a road block. I didn’t know what more I could talk about. I felt that I was done and that if I wrote any more it would just start to be rather redundant. The next day I reread it and I realized that I did in fact have more to write about. If not for this project I would be a lot less confident as a writer. I was really able to grow as a writer and really push the limit of what I can write.

I believe the Pecha Kucha Project was a risk on my part. The area I chose could have had a lot of feedback from the AP Lit novels I picked or it could have none. Going into reading the books I didn’t realize how similar they would be. If they hadn’t have had the one character I needed, this project would have gone a lot worse. I was able to find characters in both books who looked at people and their own life in very similar ways. This “jump” had the best or richest reward because both of these novels pushed me out of my comfort zone. If I hadn’t read those books I don’t know if I ever would had read a book similar to those. I still might not read them, but at least now I will be more willing to look at and read more books that I had before.

I was able to grow my literacy repertoire this trimester through how I grew as a writer and reader. I believe that with the help of these projects I was able to push my limits. I feel that I mainly grew as a writer this trimester. Although I did grow as a reader, my skills as a writer are what significantly increased. Through these projects and blog posts I can actually see improvement. At the beginning of the year, last trimester, I said it would be a “miracle” if I grew as a writer. Thankfully this trimester that “miracle” happened. I am so much more confident in my writing and feel that I will be able to grow more as a writer next trimester.

During the Pecha Kucha project I learned a lot about myself in my reading and writing. I learned that I am not always a good reader and can be rather unmotivated when it comes to reading. I did also learn that, as a reader, I can be really interest in books I would have never glanced at before. As a writer I learned that I can make sure to narrow things down and place them in a certain order. I also grew as a writer by being able to not spend too much time on one subject and quickly move along. I didn’t grow in monumental ways or life changing ways but with small and positive improvements.

I grew as a reader I was able to read, not fully sadly, two novels that I would have never even spared a second look at. The Pecha Kucha project really took me out of my reading comfort zone. I read The Hours by Michael Cunningham and The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. These are not what I was expecting. These novels really took me into to mind of the characters I was reading. It was really amazing reading from different characters mindsets, but also rather scary. It was scary to think that this could actually be how people think and see things. I like knowing that the characters I read about are purely fiction. I did learn a lot from these books and I think it helped me grow as a person and a reader. The standard I met with this growth area is that I read a different genre than what I am used to. Both of these novels classified as domestic fiction. I looked up what that meant because I wasn’t sure. It means that it is a novel focused on home life and family life. I normally read about a group of people out to save the world or a powerful woman who takes matters into her own hands. These novels where very far from my normal and I am glad that I was able to read them. But, I don’t know if I will stray to far from my reading comfort zone  again unless it is necessary. 

The second main area I grew in through the Pecha Kucha project was with how I write. Meaning I tried to stick with what I found the most important. I was able to narrow done everything I wanted to say, so that it would fit into my time period. I definitely had a lot to say about these two novels, but I tried to just focus on my main points. The standard of growth I met with this area is the inquiry. I was able to ask a question, what psychological effects or impacts do people have on others, and answer this question through reading the two novels as stated above. I don’t think everyone has the same impact or effect as in the novel but I do think we sometimes have very negative impacts on people.

The third area I grew in was being able to place what I want to say. I had a really hard time trying to figure out what order I wanted to say things in at the beginning of the Pecha Kucha project. After practicing my prestation the first time I realized that it didn’t make a ton of sense and didn’t flow well. As I practiced it I figured out what to say when. I also cut the parts that felt like I was making up. I wanted to make sure that my presentation flowed well. I figured if I get stuck on something then I can easily move on without missing too much information. I learned a lot about placement during this project. The standard I met with this growth are is writing with being able to use my information to accomplish my own purpose. I used the questions asked by you to best figure out what goes where and how it will make sense. I was able to work on my slides and the purpose behind each slide. When making the slide show I wanted to show pictures of people interacting and showing positive and negative emotions through those people. I feel like I was able to convey what I meant and what I wanted to show through the presentation even if I was nervous and stumbling over my words.

I grew in small ways, but hopefully these will lead to bigger improvements in the future. I was able to grow in news ways. Through the Pecha Kucha Project I was able to grow as a writer and a presenter. I hopefully will grow even more. I am thankful the opportunities the Pecha Kucha gave me and how much I was able to grow through this project.

My reading analysis for this trimester is a bit different. The number of pages I read 321. Which means my average is 26 pages a week. I didn’t really grow much in page numbers, but I grew through the books I read. My current average is less than what it used to be. But recently I have not been as motivated to read as I should be. My average has been going down but I plan to increase it next trimester. As for how long I can read, it depends on what I am reading. If I am totally in love with the book then I can read for very long period of times. But, if I do not enjoy the book I am reading I can only read for about 15 minutes or less.

I read The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen and The Hours by Michael Cunningham. I read these to novels for our Pecha Kucha project. They where both really good, but they where way out of my comfort zone. I tend to read more YA dystopian novels rather than realistic fiction. They both are domestic fiction. I liked these books, but I would not read them again. When I think of reading I think of escaping to a different world. But with these novels I stayed on Earth. These novels were harder for me to read because I like action and adventure, not so much the small talk. I did learn a lot through these books. After reading these  novels I will probably stick to my usual books. It was really hard for me to want to read these books even though I was interested in them. That seems to happen a lot when I am reading realistic fiction.

Reading habits: When do I read? I tend to read during the reading time in class. I will occasionally read out side of class. My reading goal was to just read The Hours by Michael Cunningham and The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. I didn’t finish either of these books, but I was close to finishing The Hours. I definitely read during the 15 minutes in class. But other than that I have not been very good about reading. I didn’t have as much motivation to read these books. I did read a different book this weekend, which I am really enjoying. That was probably the first time I read out side of class this trimester.

What I learned about myself as a reader this trimester is that I can be really unmotivated as a reader. I did step majorly our of my comfort zone with my reading books. Other than that I didn’t learn anything new about myself as a reader. My goals for next trimester is to read at least 5 books to make up for the books I haven’t read this trimester. I plan to stay within my comfort zone so that I will be more motivated to read the books I pick. And hopefully be able to actually finish the books next tri.

If I could see into the future,

what would I see?

Would I see equality and kindness,

or would I see cruelty and hatred?

Would I see peace and happiness,

or would I see neglect and brutality?

 

If I could see into the future, 

would I see a nation truly united?

People expect change to happen overnight.

And if it doesn’t go their way they result to violence.

We need to end violence and hatred.

 

If I could see into the future,

would I be able to see the sincerity?

Because I don’t see how anyone can be considered less than human.

Do we all not have hearts, eyes, lungs, faces, a passion?

Do we all not come from the same thing, love?

 

If I Could See Into the Future,

could I answer these questions?

I guess I won’t know until it happens.

But I know I will be praying for the best.

 

Author’s Note

I wrote this peace thinking about how awful people are treated because of their race, color, or sex. I truly don’t understand people who are racist or sexist. I wrote this piece questioning what the future will hold. And I don’t think in my lifetime I will be able to answer some of these questions. My future children may not even get the chance to answer these question. I hope that I can make a better future for my children and their children. I hope that people will be treated as people. I hope that I will be able to be a part of a change for equality. Because at the end of the day we are all humans.

Revision Decision 

When I originally wrote this piece I didn’t have If I Could See Into The Future in italics. I really wanted to stress this line. I didn’t really know how I was going to space it and if I was going to space it. But I felt that more emphasis would be placed on If I Could See Into the Future. My main revision decision where just trying to really emphasizing the most important parts. Those where main things I revised.

Within this trimester I felt that I grew a lot. The main thing I grew in is my writing skills. When we started the tragedy project I definitely didn’t have as much confidence as I do now. With the Shakespeare drama project I didn’t know how I was going to be able to write six pages. I normally can’t even write one paragraph. But, I was able to do more than I thought I could. The first thing I grew in was how much I could write without it being redundant. The second thing I grew on was extending my view while writing on a paper. I was only going to focus on one of the characters in my paper, but in the end I was able to write about five characters. The third thing that I grew in is what I write about. Meaning I could narrow down what I wanted to talk about and get my ideas out.

At the beginning of the Shakespearean drama project we where told that we would have to write six pages. It nearly Kills me to write any thing more than a page. I am a short and sweet Kind of person. The most I have ever had to write in class is two maybe three pages. I didn’t think I could write six pages without being extremely redundant. As I started writing my paper I realized that I actually had a lot to write about. As I started each paragraph, to get the paper flowing, I had already written three and a half pages. After I wrote what I wanted to within my paper I was on five pages. I honestly got stuck after I hit five pages, I didn’t knew what more I could write. So, I went back and started to revise my paper. After reading it I realized that I had more to add. I was even able to get rid of the unnecessary sentences, which shortened my paper. Even though it did shorten the paper it still met the limit. But ended up helping the flow. The main standard that I met with this growth is be able to apply what I have read into a paper and form my own opinion and provide textual support. I normally don’t put as much textual support and try to focus on more of the “I say” part of the paper. But in this project I added a lot more textual support to back up my claims and further my readers understanding of what I am trying to convey.

The second area I grew in through the Shakespearean Drama project was being able to extend my view farther and talk about more than one thing. I was able to talk about 5 different characters, when I normally will only talk about or focus on one character. I would say that my growth in this area can be related to critical thinking. I was able to expand my critical thinking in order to talk about different characters and how they can all relate back to each other. The paper I wrote made a lot more sense knowing where other characters where and how they see themselves. Knowing how the characters in King Lear react to each other an how there interactions differ from person to person made it easier to write about the different characters.

The last area I grew in was being able to narrow down my ideas and explain my ideas. Normally I will focus solely on the what and not the why, but with this project I was able to focus more on the why. For the lens I used for the project it made more sense to focus on the why, rather than mainly on the what. The standard I met is authenticity. I looked at King Lear through a psychological lens. I focused on where the characters of King Lear are on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. I placed the character according to what I thought they fit, but others might place them differently or even similarly but with a different reasons. It all depends on the persons perspective. But with being able to narrow down to what I thought was important definitely shows authenticity.

The Shakespearean Drama project really helped me grow in my writing and the skills that follow writing. I was able to grow and learn more about my writing along the way. I was able to grow in the amount I write, who/what I write about, and being able to narrow down my ideas so that they make sense. This project helped me grow immensely. It also helped boost my confidence in my writing. It was a very helpful project to me and my writing.

I grew during this marking period quite a bit. I would say that I grew in three different areas. The first area I grew in is how much I can type during a short period, the second is being able to organize my thoughts in an easy to read way, and third area that I grew in is being able to expand on my thought and ideas. What really helped me grow as a writer is the “What is tragedy?” project. We had short period of time to write, but I wanted to get my ideas out. Thus, that pushed me to be able to write faster and more consistently. The project also helped me be able to write my ideas in a more precise and concise way. The last thing that I improved in is that I can expand my thoughts and ideas in a shorter period of time. At the end of this project I felt as thought it was very beneficial to me as a writer.

The first are of growth is that I learned that I can write/type faster than I thought. When we began the project the amount I could write in 5 minutes was around 100 words, but as we progressed and I wanted to write about tragedy I could write around 200 or more. I can write semi-fast when I am excited or am very into what I am writing about. It might have been the fact that I was very interested in tragedy, or that I grew to like writing about tragedy but the amount I would write definitely increased. One standard I met is being able to accomplish goals of being able to write the required amount during writing time. It wasn’t a short term goal I thought I could accomplish, but I was able to by having the short writes everyday. The “What Is Tragedy” project is what really help me to accomplish this goal.

The second area I grew in is how I organize my thoughts. With the shorter amount of time allotted it helped me be figure out to organize my thoughts so that I could get all of them out there. One standard I met with this goal is my strategy when writing. I able to adjust how much I write and what I thought was the most important to put down. I would go over my thoughts to be able to make sense and figure out what my main points where and how to explain them the best way possible. Having all the articles and resources that where given to us also majorly effected how I my writing and my final paper on tragedy. The articles helped me further my definition of tragedy.  Which in turn helped me organize my thoughts. With all the information given to us to write and form our opinions on tragedy I was able to express my ideas. I tend to write my ideas in really long sentences or really short sentences. Which makes a paper quite redundant. But I was able to cut back on redundancy.

The last area I grew in was the ways I could expand my thoughts, with out over doing it. One standard that I met with this goal is being able to write a piece of work tailored to my view on tragedy. I don’t tend to go in depth about what I am thinking, which ends up making my ideas very vague and not well explained. But I was very invested in writing about tragedy. As my thoughts on tragedy expanded and became more detailed, I wanted to make my paper just as detailed as my ideas of tragedy are. I was able to make sure to get my point across and make sure I didn’t over do it. I tend to under or over do it. The quick writes also helped me in this aspect. The quick writes had limited time so I wanted to get my ideas out, so I got straight to the point. Which was a major help when writing my paper. 

As a writer I grew quite a bit this marking period. The quick writes that we did everyday majorly affected how I write. I can write more during shorter periods of time. I can organize my thoughts and ideas in a way that expresses what I want it to. And lastly, I am better about expanding my thoughts and ideas. Overall the project helped me become a better writer. I plan to expand my writing skills, but I very happy with what I accomplished this marking period.