Letter to Classmates

The school year is almost over, and I'm sure all of you are just as excited as I am. No more tests, except for exams, no more papers, and no more projects. We will still have summer reading but that won't be too bad, I hope.  The books sound pretty good, but I'm still confused about what In Defense of Food could be about because I have not looked and it has a strange title. I have heard that the diary of a part time Indian book is good so that makes me feel better.

I don't know if any of you are thinking the same thing as I am, but I am really wondering which English class I will be in and who else will be in it. I think it would be funny if most of us from this class were in the same class next year. I am also wondering which teacher I will have. I have heard about both of the teachers and they both sound like they have a challenging class. I suppose though that I won't have to worry about that until a few months from now.

Macbeth as Macbeth (Play then Character)

I used to be one of Duncan's most trusted friends, oh the fool. I killed him in his sleep because I wanted to be the king. I am now a traitor no better than the old Thane of Cawdor. The only difference is hat no one knows what I have done. This fault lies with those accursed witches and their prophecies. They told me I would be the Thane of Cawdor and king, and a short while later I was the Thane. I thought to myself, if I did not do anything to become thane then I need not do a thing to be king.

All was fine until Duncan named an heir to the throne. Then my patience was gone and I was split between my loyalty to Duncan and my lust to be king. I did not have a clue of what to do until that "lovely" wife of mine decided for me. We went to his chamber in the night. I had to do the deed. I became delusional as a tried to kill my ruler, but I did it. We framed the guards and I though it was over until Lennox and Macduff came to get the king. To protect my story I had to go see the body again with Lennox. Now I can't get the image of Duncan lying there dead covered in his golden blood. I haven't a clue of how I am going to get away with this.

Me as a reader

I have learned over the course of this year that I like reading more than I wish to admit. Most people in our grade hate reading so others, like myself, tend to agree even if it is not true. I think I am similar to the way I was reading at the beginning of the year (this is irrelevant but beginning is such a strange word with the double n in the middle). What has surprised me though, is what I think about when I am reading.

At the beginning (there it is again) of the year, I would read a book and only see the plot. A great example is that when I was in 7th grade, I read The Catcher in the Rye. My sister was in 10th grade at the time and was reading it too. One time we were talking about it and she kept pointing out things like symbolism and hidden meanings that I had never noticed. Now ever time I read I keep thinking of these things. Just like in Macbeth, when I see cesuras I think to myself, " Oh look, a cesura." I would have never done something like that before.

Participation

General Procedures: C
I am usually prepared for class every day. I always wait to be dismissed, and I don't think I ever needed to go to my locker or the bathroom during class. Sometimes I don't check e-mail every day, and recently I have not been turning things in on time.

Lecture, announcements, and whole class discussion: B
I always listen and take notes, but rarely ever comment because I don't like talking in fear of being wrong. I usually don't ask questions because I either understand everything or someone else asks my question. I always listen to what my peers are saying and don't have side conversations.

Individual and group work: A
I always try to get the work done and stay focused on the task without distracting others. I try not to get off task. I sometime try to keep others focused on the task, but I have learned that they usually don't like to listen to me. I do my best to follow instructions, but I don't try to go past the minimum often.

Growth: C
I participated at about the same level all year. The only thing that really changed is my turning in homework, which got worse, but that usually happens to me in the second semester. Third quarter is always worst and fourth is better, at least better than third.

Outside Reading

 After talking with Brom, who is kind of an expert on dragons, Eragon decides to name his dragon Saphira. One day while in town he see two hooded figures who are looking for the stone he had. The same stone that was actually a dragon's egg. he hurries home so they don't see him. When he gets back he tells Saphira about the men. She starts telling Eragon, through their mental connection, that they are murders and thiefs.

Obviously disturbed by this knowledge of them, Saphira takes Eragon and flies away.  Despite Eragon's attempts to stop her, she flies far away. When they land Eragon angrily demands to be taken back. When he tries to walk he realizes he injured his legs. He finds out that his legs had been rubbing up against Saphira's scales the whole flight and the skin was rubbed away. They have to spend the night in the forest and Eragon sleeps under Saphira's wing to keep warm. Through out this whole part of the book, it is clear that Eragon's relationship with Saphira is growing.

Harry Potter= 80 min
Eragon=85 min

Writing Wrap-up essay

Throughout all of my writing this year I did not improve or decline in any of the traits of writing steadily. For the most part, ideas and organization have been my best traits. They are A’s or B’s in most of my papers. In one paper my ideas were a D and organization was a C. All of the other traits were A’s and B’s in that paper though. This was in the profile paper which was the paper that I had the most trouble with in the significance of my subject so it affected the ideas. Voice and convections have also always been an A or a B. I don’t really understand why they seem to stay the same. My guess would be that I spend more of my time trying to improve ideas.

The most confusing trait of writing for me is sentence fluency. My rating for it always seems to be A or C. I don’t understand why this would change so much while the others stay mostly the same. I also have trouble with trying to improve sentence fluency. The other traits seem to be much more straight forward and easier to improve. I also do well in support and details. These are not always graded, but when they are, I usually do well.

Over the course of this year my essays have improved in ideas and support but I still need to improve on writing more developed introductions and conclusions, using more vivid details, and being able to meet the required length. For my first papers of the year my ideas were lacking in significance and support. In my last paper, my ideas were important, had evidence that supported them, and included my own input. My introductions usually include what is needed, but I don’t present it in a good way. It always comes out awkward and doesn’t make much sense. By the end of the year this had improved a bit, but I think I still need to work on it more. I also have trouble with conclusions. Sometimes my papers don’t include much of a conclusion and the just end. When there is one, I have trouble summing up the paper without repeating the introduction. I don’t explain things that I say enough that need to be explained in the conclusion either. This has always been a problem for me.

I sometimes have trouble with details and meeting the required length. I don’t do well with details most of the time. They usually are not descriptive enough or there is less than what is needed. My descriptions are sometimes too repetitive which is not good either. Details are not always that important, but I think that I should get better with them for the times that they are necessary. Another part of writing that I have trouble with is meeting the required length of papers. I don’t know why I that I am not good at this. I think it is mostly because I condense my information too much and don’t support or explain my ideas as much as I should. I think that this will probably be the easiest part of my writing to improve on, if I am correct about why I don’t meet the length requirements.

The feedback I receive usually matches my understanding of my writing. I agree with people when they say the way I say something is confusing and can easily be misinterpreted because I do that a lot. I used to not agree with this because I thought my writing was fine the way it was. I changed this after I started getting comments about the way I said something being awkward or someone misunderstanding it. Now I read it out loud and little mistakes like that are obvious. The way I evaluate my writing has also changed since the beginning of the year. Like I said before, I usually read my paper out loud so I can catch some mistakes. I also read my writing looking for things like ideas and support and not just grammatical errors. I think that my writing has overall improved as a whole because of this.

By the end of next year I want to be able to write well developed and understandable conclusions and introductions and improve my sentence fluency. To improve my introductions, I will spend more time putting them together and make sure they are organized well. For conclusions, I will make sure to explain everything well and try to pull all my information together at the end. To improve both of them, I will also get someone else to read them and tell me what they think my point is and if anything doesn’t make sense. To improve my sentence fluency, I will spend more of my editing time looking for mistakes in sentence fluency and try to make sure my sentences don’t sound too repetitive. If I am able to accomplish all of this, then I am sure I will be able to improve my writing as a whole.

Common Errors List

Ambiguous Pronouns: pronouns without clear antecedent (He looks tired.)  

Not using question mark (Are you going to watch.)

Using it’s instead of its: (It held out it’s hand.)

Using effect instead of affect and vice versa: (Your drinking problem will effect your health.)

Using who instead of whom: (She is the daughter of who?)

Double possessive: (That dog of Bob’s is ugly.)

Outside Reading

I didn't get any reading done for Eargon, but I have been thinking about it. I have noticed it before that the main character or hero in most stories is some person who seemed to be of no importance before the story began. They also almost always have no parents for some reason. I don't understand why it is usually like this. Do some people easily relate to this situation so they enjoy reading it more?

This Kind of makes me wonder what some of these stories would be like if you changed the background of the main character. You could make them rich, have parents, and lots of friends. I wonder how little changes like these could influence the whole story.

Poems: 73min
Song Analysis: 20min
Harry Potter: 60min