The Conclusion

My writing has developed so much since the beginning of the year.  It was funny looking back and remembering writing all of those blogs.  I couldn't believe how many we have done!  I definitely feel like I used to be too formal when writing my blogs.  They didn't sound like me talking as much as my blogs do now.  Also, I realized that I have developed sooo many more strategies for analyzing books and writing in general since the beginning of the year.  I read my blog about personal questions in Great Expectations, which wasn't even that long ago, but I could have brought up so many other ideas and questions that I know I had.  I just didn't think about all of the things I was confused about, and how they may relate to the story.  I also thought it was funny looking back on my "So many paragraphs, so many skills" blog, because  I definitely haven't struggled with the problems I had then in my recent essays.  I remember how it was difficult to just write a five part paragraph, but now that seems so easy compared to writing essays containing three of them, which isn't really all that difficult if you have a good topic.  I liked looking at the comparisons I made from literary works to real life, because if I had to do it again, I probably would have picked the exact same examples.  Like my comparison of Great Expectations to Mean Girls in the "Making Connections" blog, that's exactly what would pop into my head today if someone asked me.

I think that my blog is a really strong indicator of the way I think and the way I see English.  You can see a lot of my strengths and weaknesses by reading my blog.  Also, you can see my development as far as English goes for my freshman year.  I think that my writing and the way it all sounds also tells about me as a person.  You can see the things that I was passionate about, and the things that I really didn't care about all that much.  Like the poetry out loud blog, it isn't all that great and I don't exactly sound excited about it in my writing, because to be honest I was dreading it.  Yet my Great Expectations blog is more interesting to read, because I was happy that I finished the book and also happy and surprised by how much I actually liked it.  I would say that my blog really says a lot about me, and how much I have grown as a writer and even a reader.  I can't believe how my writing has changed as time has gone on this year, and as Robert Frost said "Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back."  I know that I will keep growing, and not go back to bad habits or writing styles that I had at the beginning of the year.

Reflecting on a Memorable Assignment

I would say that I definitely remember Poetry out loud the most.  I still remember all of the time I spent reading that poem, and I can still recite it to this day.  Although it was kind of stressful, it turned out well in the end.  I didn't forget any of my lines, and I placed in the top ten in the class.  It was different than any other school assignment I have done.  I also hadn't done anything with poetry in a long time, so it was cool reading and listening to so many poems!  I liked how we made it so legit too, with the little reading area in the library and the judges and everything.

I am definitely proud of how I did in Poetry Out Loud, and I think that the experience made me stronger! Reading a poem that you memorized in front of your class and judges can be a little intimidating, and I was pretty convinced that I was going to forget my whole poem when I went up.  However, it turned out fine and I was happy with how I did, and just happy to be able to stop repeating that poem in my head every minute making sure I didn't forget it!

A Good Experience with Poetry

I still remember doing our fourth grade poetry unit at Centennial.  It was like my favorite part of the whole year.  We didn't have to follow too many specific patterns or get too specific, I just liked writing a lot.  We made a book with all of our poems in it, and we got to decorate it and everything.  I also remember reading "The light in the Attic" in elementary school, and I loved those poems.

I haven't had much experience with poetry since.  When I hear the word now, I think of Poetry out Loud, which wasn't my favorite experience, but wasn't terrible either.  It was just a little stressful cause I waited too long to start memorizing my poem, and I felt like it kind of took the joy out of it and caused a little too much pressure.  However, I have liked what we have done in class with poetry lately!