Dear Block 3 Classmates,
 Can you believe our freshman year is almost over? It is crazy because I remember sitting in English class for the first time. This year, our class had high points and low points. We did great 1st and 2nd quarter, but when 3rd quarter came around we kind of slipped a bit. We had a rough time. I think we were all just tired and 3rd quarter is always the roughest of the school year. I would say we had negative attitudes because every time we walked in the room we were reminded of the negative energy. However, throughout out this time we got to know each other a lot better. We worked with pretty much everyone in the class because we had lots of group projects. In 4th quarter, we picked ourselves back up.
  I think we have had a very positive 4th quarter. Everyone  seems to be more positive as we finish out this year. However, sometimes we do have a few issues engaging in side conversations. This is because we all are so ready to get out of school! I have learned a lot this year in English Class and I am definitely going to miss our class! I think overall we have had a fun year. Hopefully some of you will be in my upcoming English classes!
 

Evaluation of Participation 4th Quarter

Fourth Quarter, I feel like I did a good job participating in class. I mostly always came to class prepared. I always had my homework waiting to be checked and I always brought my books needed. I tried to limit my trips to the bathroom and to get water. Actually, I stopped going a ton less then I did in 3rd Quarter. I always checked my email. I made sure to check my email more than once a day. I mostly emailed assignment to you, and I would do so before class just to be fair to those who turned it in by not emailing you. I feel like I had a relatively helpful attitude. I was always engaged in class discussions. Especially during reading Macbeth. I have a bunch of notes that I took during class and I also listened carefully to what you had to say. I asked many questions that were relevant to what we were talking about. I also listened carefully to what my classmates had to say. I did my very best not to engage in side conversations.
 In class, I always stayed focus on what our task was. I always completed assignments with minimum discussion among my neighbors. I also helped the people around me stay on task. I tried to aim among the minimum as far as completing tasks went. I never completed an assignment half way, I made sure I gave my all into a assignment. I feel like I have grown a lot  between the third and the fourth quarter. Our class had some issues third quarter, and I tried to have a positive attitude about fourth quarter. I was definitely more positive in the classroom fourth quarter. I feel like I also participated more in this quarter than in any other quarter this year. I definitely talked more in class discussions. I think I had a really positive and good fourth quarter.

2011-2012 outside reading

  I have probably read more books this year than I have any other years. I have also learned a lot about myself as a reader. I have found many authors whose stories really interest me. For example, I discovered Sarah Dessen's books this year. I also spent lots of time reading the Shiver series. There are three of those books and I read all of them this year. I have also found out that fiction interests me more than nonfiction. I tend to like stories that have plots that are too good to be true. I am not big on sad stories. I also enjoy reading about characters who are my age. I feel like a book is more relatable when the characters are your age. 

  Actually one of the things that surprised me was the fact that it is possible for me to enjoy reading. This year I think I really found books that interest me enough to enjoy reading them. Many of the books I read did not have themes related to the kinds we talked in class. However, I did notice a lot more literary elements than I would have not having had study them. I am very pleased with the outcome of my reading this year. I will continue to read books that interest me. This summer and in the years ahead I plan to keep reading stuff that keeps me interested. I know that I am definitely going to read the second book in the Hunger Games  this summer for my free read. I am really excited about that because I have heard nothing but great things about this series. This week I read a total of 160 minutes and I finished my book. I read a total of about 100 pages.

  

Lady Macbeth

  I want it. I want it so bad it hurts. I want to be famous for once. I want to have the title of queen. I want to be waited on hand and foot by servants who resemble who I am now. I want to sit on top of a thrown and give out orders. I want to have the power of royalty. I want all these things, but I cannot get them myself. I need the help of my husband, and he is not helping. I don't want these things, I need these things and I wish my husband would wake up and understand my wants and needs.
  Sometimes I wish I was just a man. If I were my husband, I would wait no time to kill Duncan. However, he is so hesitant. He is so afraid of the consequences. However, fame and power is definitely worth the consequences we could face. I feel so much more manly than my husband. He is such a little girl. He only thinks about himself and no one else. If he thought about others, he would kill the king for me. More importantly, if he loved me, he would kill the King. If he does not do so soon, I will do it myself. I want to be queen. I need to be queen. And it will happen soon.

This Year's Writing

     Anna Spring

     Dr.deGravelles

     Block 3

     4/28/12  

My Freshman Writing Throughout the Year

     This year has been a year of improvement for my writing. I started out this year with my weakest paper, and I actually ended this year with my best paper. I made improvements in areas of writing including organization, grammar, and word choice. These are the three areas of writing that I think I have improved a tremendous amount throughout the year. I am pleased with my improvements, and I hope to continue to improve my writing through out the next years of high school.

    My first paper was a literary narrative entitled “Love You Forever.” This was a very personal piece of writing for me because I described a childhood book that means a lot to me. Although I am proud of the subject of this paper, it was my weakest piece of writing. I left out many commas in this paper.  I also think there could be improvement in the overall voice of this paper. I left out a great amount of details that could have been added for the better of this essay. However, I think that my sentence structure of the sentences of this paper is really strong. I also got a high grade in that area of the rubric. Overall, my literary narrative had a strong subject, however it was not well developed.

     My second paper was the WRAP essay that we wrote in class.  I got an overall score of a 22.5 out of 36 on this essay. I am not very pleased with this score. However, I got fours on all areas except development, support, and sentence structure. That means that I actually had a four on word choice, which is surprising to me because that is one area that I struggle in most. I also got fours on my organization and mechanics. I think I have good organization skills, and I think this actually is something that is strong in all my papers that I write. I think I did not do so well on this WRAP assignment because we only had two class periods to write the essay. I am the type of person that gets pressured when it is only a short amount of time, so I felt the pressure to finish early. My essay is also really short, so I think that if I would have taken just a little bit more time to stretch it out, I could have gotten a higher score. However, I read this essay numerous times, and I am actually pleased with it.

         The next paper that I wrote after the WRAP was my profile. I wrote my profile about my mom and the way she decorates our house every year. This was a subject actually means a lot to me. Writing this paper was easy because I had so many ideas to put in my paper. I got B’s in all categories except in organization. Once again, this is evidence that I tend to have strong organization skills. While reading this paper, I noticed that I repeated myself multiple times. This is something that I haven’t really improved on through out the year, however I am going to continue to work on not repeating myself.  Like my narrative, I think that I could have added a lot more detail to this paper. Overall, I feel like I improved between my narrative and this profile. My profile was definitely a step better than my narrative.

       My literary analysis is probably my favorite paper that I wrote. It is the one I am most proud of because going into writing it, I had no idea what a literary analysis was. I was surprised that it actually had a strong turn out. I got A’s in most categories, however I got a B on voice. Voice is something that I definitely struggle with, even now. I tend to sometimes have an informal voice, which is something that I am definitely going to continue to work on correcting. I do think that the voice improved between the literary analysis and the paper that I wrote after it.

     The paper I wrote after the literary analysis was my Global Issues Paper. This was the last paper I wrote, and I can confidently say it was my best. I got A’s in all the categories except for source quality and source integration. Those two things were a huge struggle for me while writing the paper, and it does not surprise me that I got a B in those categories. I was very pleased with my A’s in word choice and and voice, because in my papers before this one I got B’s in those categories. I think this is a huge sign that my voice and word choice while writing papers has improved a great amount from the beginning of the year. I am pleased with the outcome of this paper. I think it is the icing on the cake of a good year of writing for me.

      Overall, I am happy with all of my papers from this year. It makes me very happy to look back at my first paper and compare it to my most recent paper. It is amazing to see how much I have improved. I feel like I have improved so much in just one year. I will continue to work on the things that I struggle with in my next years of high, and I look forward to seeing what my writing will be like in a few years. If I have improved this much in one year, I can only imagine how much I will have improved in three years.

   Common Errors List:

1. Not adding enough details. 

2. Usage of informal words. 

3. Issues introduction quotations and citations. 

4. Forgetting to add commas. 

5. Making my paper have a strong voice is something that I struggle with. 

  

Outside Reading

This week, I read a total of 100 minutes reading The Lullaby and 50 minutes reading my science and history books.

Outside Reading

   This week, I have continued to read The Lullaby by Sarah Dessen. I spent a total of 120 minutes reading that, and I spent 30 minutes this week reading and analyzing poems. I am not going to lie, I was very tempted to quit reading The Lullaby at the beginning of the week because it was at a boring point. I also just got the sequel to The Hunger Games, so I really want to read this. However, I continued The Lullaby just to see if the plot picked up a bit. I am glad that I continued reading because a lot started to happen in the part that I read.
 For one, just like I expected, Remy and Dexter break up. However, I do not think this is the end of their relationship forever. I have a feeling they will meet again after Remy goes to college. They broke up because Dexter overheard Remy talking to someone about how she will break up with Dexter after Summer. I think that it really hurt Dexter's feelings because he seemed to think that the relationship would last for a while. Dexter also just got a gig with his band and they will be going to DC, so he will be busy with his own things. I am about one third the way finished with the book so I am sure that not much else will happen. I am really sure that Dexter and Remy will get back together, however I am not sure that it will end with "Happily ever after." There has to be some kind of obstacle or conflict.