Semester One
Essays:
This assignment was to write a letter about ourselves and our life. We had to include our family, likes and dislikes, and any other aspects of our life. I learned how to describe myself in an interesting way. This was a simple assignment that I was able to quickly get done. However I would have added some more interesting things going on with me. I could also have made the sentences more complex.
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Alyssa and I were to pick a hero from history to represent for a new Sony video game. We included the most important events that shaped his life. There were also quotes to prove that he was a worthy hero. I learned a lot of things about MLK and how he influenced society. Not only did I learn from this assignment, I was also able to become closer with Alyssa by working with her on this assignment. I would not change the way we did this assignment because I think we did a good job of campaigning MLK.
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For our resilience narrative we had to pick a moment in our life where we had to get through adversity. I chose the time my best friend moved away. This assignment helped me learn the importance of her moving away and how it has shaped me. However, I would go back and try to make the sentences more detailed. My thoughts about the whole story were jumbled up and I kind of just spit them out on to the paper. Overall the whole essay could be more ordered and redone with more 9th grade level sentences.
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My group decided to address the topic that parents should not confiscate their teens devices as a punishment. We think this is because of issues like emergencies, school work, and relationships. I learned a lot of different views about this topic. I was also lucky to have a group with smart and hard working people. So in our case, I would not change anything because we worked well together and got our work done quickly. The only issue we had was that I wish we put in more effort into our rebuttal paragraph because I don't think it was as strong as the rest of the paragraphs.
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Other Assignments:
For this assignment we were to choose an influential song and explain the meaning of it. Anna and I's song was called "Crying Shame". The song was about conflict in the world and how we need to change so there is peace. I learned about this specific song and the fact that there are so many other songs out about controversial topics. This assignment also made me realize how the world hasn't changed much and that these topics are still relevant today. The one thing I would have changed about our presentation is that the slides should have been shortened so you were just listening to our voice.
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This assignment was to read To Kill A Mockingbird and pick important quotes that related to the theme. Picking the different quotes and explaining them gave me a better understanding of the theme. In addition, I was able to read the quotes in more depth to indicate the underlying meaning. I also learned more about the characters and their actions. I think I did a good job at explaining these quotes too, and would not change anything for the assignment. My only improvement could be using more complex quotes to indicate the theme rather than more of the "basic" quotes.
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For this assignment we had to read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and answer the questions in strong answer format. From this assignment I was able to grasp a better understanding of the overall themes of the book. It also gave me more insight into the main characters mind and traits. In my first S.A.F. one of my changes would be sticking to one main idea. I think in that certain paragraph I sort of rambled on about a few different perceptions of his brain instead of sticking to a certain one. The second S.A.F. has more of a distinct idea that I think I did a good job proving with the provided quotes.
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AnaLysis
Fortunately, my strengths have helped me prosper throughout English 1. A few of them are my creativity, intelligence, and my ability to pick things up quickly. My ability to pick up lessons quickly has helped me with grammar, vocabulary, and more, because of my memorization skills. These strengths have allowed me to quickly understand things and come up with unique ideas.
Although I have strengths, I also have weaknesses. These are things like procrastinating, speed, and presentations. I really need to work on my time management and speed because I work super slow and am usually unable to finish an assignment or read a book in time. Also, as confident as I try to make myself believe, deep down I am still nervous and this affects my presentation skills. Hopefully I can work on these skills in the future.
I have also improved a lot this year though. Some examples, are grammar, writing, and speaking. Without this class I think I would still be writing without commas and other spelling and punctuation that is needed. Also, as much as I didn't like them, I think the SAFs and Free Writes helped me improve on my writing abilities. Lastly, although my speaking is not the best because of my shakiness, I think I have also improved on my presentation etiquette.
For next year in English 2 I hope that I can become a faster reader. Not only will this help with projects, I think improving my speed will make me want to read more. I also want to improve on confidence while presenting and assuring myself that I can do it. Not only do I hope to improve my weaknesses, I also hope that I make more friends and have fun in my English class next year.
Although I have strengths, I also have weaknesses. These are things like procrastinating, speed, and presentations. I really need to work on my time management and speed because I work super slow and am usually unable to finish an assignment or read a book in time. Also, as confident as I try to make myself believe, deep down I am still nervous and this affects my presentation skills. Hopefully I can work on these skills in the future.
I have also improved a lot this year though. Some examples, are grammar, writing, and speaking. Without this class I think I would still be writing without commas and other spelling and punctuation that is needed. Also, as much as I didn't like them, I think the SAFs and Free Writes helped me improve on my writing abilities. Lastly, although my speaking is not the best because of my shakiness, I think I have also improved on my presentation etiquette.
For next year in English 2 I hope that I can become a faster reader. Not only will this help with projects, I think improving my speed will make me want to read more. I also want to improve on confidence while presenting and assuring myself that I can do it. Not only do I hope to improve my weaknesses, I also hope that I make more friends and have fun in my English class next year.
Reflection
English 1 Honors has been a challenging, interesting, and eventful class. Not only did I learn new things, I made new friends and had fun with them during class (at appropriate times, of course). There were periods during this course where I struggled with lots of work or certain things we needed to know. Usually, I view English classes as sort of useless because I feel like we just read passages and learn the same thing each year. However, this semester I learned new grammar, vocabulary, etiquette, and more. I never knew half of the grammar rules, vocabulary words, or things to do while presenting that I know now. All in all, English 1 has been an interesting class that I learned a lot from and I think will use these lessons in the future.